Gina's Special Rocks are Unloaded

Gina and I have continued working in our garden. Between getting all the leaves picked up, pruning all of the plants, pulling up weeds, and cleaning out the pond has kept both of us busy. We finally reached a point on Tuesday that we were able to unload all of Gina’s special rocks that we (she) had brought back. We both commented to each other that we didn’t realize there were so many special rocks. Gina said, "Now that the rocks are unloaded, I can have fun putting them in their special place". Gina calls these rocks special because as she was searching for them they all spoke to her in some way.

Those rocks cover an area of 16' x 8'. Trust me it's a lot


Gina's favorite special rock, to her it's an Eagle head


Gina up on the ladder training her Jasmine


She really is up there


She's thinning out some Iris's next to the stream

Ashley made it to Phuket, Thailand, which is where she’ll spend two weeks. Shane made it through his first day of therapy and is really doing great. Our nephew and his fiancé, Rickey and Lacey drove in from Mississippi for the weekend. They are getting married on June 26th in Natchez. Which happens to be one of two primary reasons for coming back to Louisiana this summer. Saturday night we went to my sister’s house to eat some boiled shrimp. They were delicious!!

That's Dana, me, Lacey, Rickey, Rickey Craig, and Josh a friend

Sunday we went to church and were greeted with a special treat. My sister was singing during the morning service. She is the associate minister of music and spends her time teaching music to children, which she's been doing for twenty-five years. Besides that she sings beautiful and I love to hear her but just do not get the chance to hear her enough.

Monday morning found us talking about Memorial Day and how if it wasn’t for all of the men and women who were willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice we wouldn’t be the Great nation we are today. We not only thank them but honor them for what they gave to Gina and I. It’s because of them that we are able to enjoy the life we live. We hope everyone enjoyed their Memorial Day. As you know Tuesday was spent unloading rocks. Wednesday found Gina trying to decide where she was going to put all of those rocks while I spent the day taking care of personal business.

The first thing was after watching the morning news and hearing that AT&T is dropping their unlimited data plans on the IPhone and IPad starting June 7th. Well, that was one of the reasons I ordered an IPad with 3G. After giving it some thought I called Apple and changed my order to get only the wi-fi version and I’ll continue to use my air card with my Cradlepoint wireless router. Next on my list was canceling my cell phone service with AT&T and transferring it to Verizon. After researching cell phone plans I decided Verizon's network was the way I wanted to go. I didn’t actually go with Verizon but I bought a Straightalk phone that uses Verizon’s network. We’ll see how it works. The reason for switching is no contract and 45 dollars a months for unlimited talk, text and browsing and good reviews. I guess it wasn’t a good day for AT&T in our house. It’s amazing that within five minutes of canceling my service with them that they sent me an offer for 300 dollars to come back. Gina and I both like fixed bills and not something that can fluctuate and Verizon’s 3g coverage is better than AT&T or Sprint. I say that because I have both a Sprint and Verizon air card, and had AT&T phones. The switch was easy and we were able to keep our same phone number.

Jimmy, my brother who works for Swan’s stopped by yesterday evening since I told him I wanted to buy some food from him. We bought some Cordon Blue and stuffed potatoes. Since it was already seven o’clock and neither of us felt like cooking and Nicole and Shane were coming over for dinner we decided to have what we just bought from Swan’s. The food was good and we’ll probably buy more.

I almost forgot. We have so many birds around here and they are all laying eggs and hatching right now. Most of them are either Cardinals, Blue Jays, or wrens. There is one Wren who was determined to build her nest in my pin box that no matter how often I pulled her leaves and twigs out she kept bringing them back. I finally gave up and decided to watch her and within three days she had built her nest and laid her eggs.

Not bad for three days of work

I only hope they’ll be gone in 22 days. We have five birdhouses and they are all full. We even found a nest on the ground under our deck. They are just everywhere.

This fellow is just leaving his nest


His first flight and hanging on to a tree


It was amazing to watch this fellow learning how to fly

We’re enjoying our time here at our house except for the heat. We would much rather be in some 60 or 70 degree temperatures like Mike and Pat keeps telling us about in Custer, South Dakota. He even told us that last Saturday morning he woke up to 37 degrees. Gina and I both think we could enjoy some of that. We will real soon. As our friends Jim & Ellie said the other day. It’s hard to write when your taking care of business and not adventuring out and seeing all this Great Country has to offer. We’ll be back traveling real soon.

Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Happy Birthday Ashley

We have slowed down a little. However, Gina and I have been working all day everyday out in Gina’s garden. The biggest problem is that there is a large Oak tree in the middle and we did not pick up any leaves back during the winter. So to say that there were a lot of leaves is a huge understatement. We’re almost done and all the flower beds are looking great.

Shane, our son-in-law had surgery to replace his ACL on Thursday. He is recovery well and will start physical therapy on Tuesday. Thursday night found us going over to Phil and Wanda’s house, which are our other son-in-law’s parents.

Happy 26 Ashley


Me, Gina, Ashley and Parker


Phil, Parker, Wanda and Ashley


Parker, Ashley, Paige, Josh and their four children
(Cameron, Caleb, Colby, & Carson)


Even Paw Paw Lemoine stayed up late to celebrate with Ashley and to wish her well on her trip to Thailand

They had planned a small get together to celebrate Ashley’s birthday before she departs for Thailand Friday morning. We are very close to Phil and Wanda and their children. Friday morning Ashley and Parker stopped by to say bye as they were leaving for the airport in New Orleans. Ashley’s trip to Thailand is for two weeks while she completes some requirements for medical school. Around lunch we took Angel and Zoey to get groomed at Petsmart. After five months they were really needing their hair cut. Later in the afternoon Parker came by and picked me up so we could go to the Apple store. I have been looking at the new IPad and wanted to go play with one to see if they are as good as the reviews say that they are. Plus Parker has a friend that he graduated college with that does personalized training after they buy a new Mac. I was very impressed with all aspects of the IPad and believe it will do everything that Gina and I will want it to do. I would have bought one there at the store. However, they didn’t have any in the store so my options were either go on a waiting list or order it online. As soon as I got home Gina could see my excitement and disappointment. Her respond was quick, just get online and order one for my Father's Day present. She didn't need to tell me twice. Come on Father's Day. LOL On the way back home we stopped and picked up Angel and Zoey and they looked beautiful.

Our Beautiful Girls Zoey and Angel

This morning we heard from Parker to let us know that Ashley made it safely to Bangkok and was resting in a hotel room. She still has to catch one more flight tomorrow down to Phuket, which is where she will spend two weeks.

Mike and Pat called us Thursday night to let us know that they are parked on their lot in Custer, South Dakota and were getting all settled in. We are so glad they made it up there and can now relax a little. The past two months have been real hectic between buying a house, moving in and then the sudden lose of a son. They need a little relaxing and as Mike says "what better place to relax than in God's Country.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.

Settling Back Into Our House

Settling into our house in Louisiana, even though it's only for a little while. We have been moving so fast since we arrived back at our house that's it’s nice to finally slow down just a little. Now that Shane has graduated we’re now focused on getting Gina’s garden cleaned up and looking beautiful so she can find places for those “special” rocks from California and Arizona. First, Shane along with Gina and I would like to thank everyone who sent comments and emails congratulating him. We also want to give a BIG thank you to Rickey, our brother in law for cutting our grass and for keeping our yard looking good.

Sunday found us relaxing and going over to Paw Paw Jack & Maw Maw Sue’s house to eat lunch and visit with them. On Monday, we both decided to get out and work in Gina’s garden.


I wouldn't call this work when you can cut grass at 12 mph


Now this is what I call work but Gina calls it "having fun"

Mostly we cleaned up leaves and cut the grass. (In our mutual agreement Rickey doesn’t cut the grass inside of Gina’s garden since my 62 inch lawnmower doesn’t fit inside the fence of Gina's garden). Overall Gina is pleased on how well it looked since we had a harder than normal winter and it did snow twice here. The winter was hard on some plants. However, most of her plants did survive. The biggest lose was our three palm trees. We still have a lot of work left but we’ll get there.

Yesterday, we called and spoke with Mike and Pat before they left North Ranch. They were already hitched up and ready to pull out. They got on the road heading north by eight o’clock. We prayed with them on the phone and wished them safe travels. After Gina got off of the phone she picked up Aunt Nell & Uncle Jim so she could bring Aunt Nell to the doctor. After the doctor she took her to get a manicure. Aunt Nell is doing well considering she’s 83 and is still recovering from breaking her hip three months ago and required her to have a hip replacement surgery. We invited them along with my dad to our house for coffee and dessert last night. Gina had made some fresh banana pudding and I cannot tell you specifically that it tasted good since I do not like bananas. However, they all said it tasted great which I’m sure it did since they all had seconds and there wasn’t much left.

Aunt Nell and Uncle Jim


My Dad

After they left we received a phone call from Mike and Pat to let us know that they had arrived safely at Utah’s Goose Neck State Park. They also let us know that they would not be posting a blog on Wednesday since they did not have internet service. They will get back on the road this morning heading for Craig, Colorado. This should put them close enough to make their arrival on to their lot in Custer, South Dakota sometime late Thursday.


Gina & I hope everyone has a pleasant and wonderful day, enjoying what our Father has so graciously blessed us with.