On July 6th I went to Eric's house to do a little more painting. We met up with my mom and her friend for dinner and then the four of us attended a Germantown Community Band concert in the park. The band is directed by Jim Barnes who was the band director for both of our boys during their high school band years. He retired this year, but is still leading the community band which is in its 17th year.
He started the community band in 1999 which was the year Eric graduated from high school. Both of our boys played in the summer program for a few years. It was so much fun to go to the concert and relive some of the great memories I have of those years our boys were in band. I think Eric really enjoyed it as well. Mr. Barnes was a wonderful teacher and band director. We wish him all the best in his retirement.
On July 7th we drove to Fountain Lake RV Park to visit our friends Dick and Wanda and Dave and Judy. This is a membership park where you buy/lease your lot. We had planned to golf, but the weather didn't cooperate. Instead, we went our for a pizza buffet lunch at Weasels in Waupaca, did some shopping and enjoyed playing some cards. It was a great day with very good friends!
On July 10th we attended a Milwaukee Brewers baseball game with more friends. We enjoyed tailgating before the game. It was Bob Uecker Talking Alarm Clock giveaway day. Bob Uecker has been the radio announcer for the Brewers forever. He's in his 80s and still announces home games. He is a Milwaukee icon. One of his famous statements is "get up, get up, get out of here" when a home run is hit. The clock talks and says "get up, get up, get out of bed". Pretty cool. We are giving our clocks to each of our boys.
Last weekend we had a couple camp in the park from New Zealand. There were riding bikes. His had a small trailer attached to the back where they kept their tent and supplies. I often wonder how people end up at our little park from all over the country and even the world.
On Thursday one of the arriving campers had a big mishap. He made a turn too sharp trying to take a shortcut to the water filling tower. He got too close to a tree and some sign posts and ended up dragging the entire front of his camper along the tree and running over both posts. I heard a noise and saw it happen out the window. Instead of stopping, he just kept going and damaged his entire awning. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Here are the posts he ran over. The tree has scrape marks higher up.
Here's the front of his trailer. As you can see, the awning poles are all bent and out of place. The entire awning is hanging about a foot off of the back of the trailer. I don't know what he's going to do about getting it home, but I would be afraid it would unravel on the road if he doesn't secure it somehow.
He could have avoided the entire problem if he would have just driven through the campground and come back out to have his water fill on the proper side. Our fill area is fine if people have some common sense when coming into it. If, however, they end up in the wrong way, all they have to do is drive through the campground and come back at it from the other direction. Instead, many people just can't take that extra two minutes and try to take a shortcut through a small parking lot. I bet this guys wishes he would have used more common sense.
I was out walking the other day and thought I was in the movie "Birds" by Alfred Hitchcock. Hundreds of sparrows were flocking together and sitting on the power lines. I've seen this kind of bird behavior in the fall when I thought they were gathering to fly south. I'm not sure what prompted this behavior in July. It was a strange sight to be sure.
Yesterday Kevin's sister Mary and her daughter and family came for a picnic. We had a great visit with everyone. Our niece and her husband have three teenagers and an 8 year old. They sure have their hands full, but are doing a great job with their children. Here's Kevin and Mary.
Today we're going to Eric's house. Kevin is helping him put in two new faucets in the kitchen and bathroom. Then we're going out to dinner. Should be another fun day!
Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!
