Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Wednesday from the Wiles

I am so amused that the Bull family has so many actual bull stories to share! I feel somewhat inadequate as I don't have a single bull incident to report! I will comment, however, that the 'Steve pulling the dead bull from the pond' story sounded very 'Dances with Wolves'-esque. At least he had a tractor instead of a horse and didn't need to drink the pond water! That's progress.

We are still spending much of our social time attending wedding showers, baby showers, and weddings. I guess we're at that time of our lives. This past weekend, we traveled to Des Moines to attend Kelly's roommate's wedding. Kelly was a bridesmaid and had a horrible time procuring the lovely dress. I will try to condense the saga.....bridal store kept saying the dresses had been shipped...they had not...measured the girls over their clothes...arrived just two weeks before the wedding...Kelly needed hers shipped to DM....it arrived in a soot covered, crushed box...dress enclosed in plastic so was OK....needed alterations...oh no! The good news was that she found a lady who works out of her home and did a perfect job of shortening 3 layers, including one chiffon, steamed it for her and charged her only $15, declining the $20 Kelly offered her. K and I thought that was quite a bargain. Would you agree, Connie? The wedding was lovely and the torrential downpour held off until the end of the ceremony. There were no other events scheduled for the church, so we had a very liesurely receiving line and hung around until it let up. Some nice church person noticed a car or two about to take on water at the lower end of the parking lot and moved them for the surprised owners. It didn't even look like rain when we went in.

The next day we helped Kelly complete her move from her campus apt. to her solo apt. She will miss her roommate, Sarah, who is moving to Tulsa, but has a nice place with a great location in Urbandale (west suburb of DM). She treated us to lunch at her new HyVee store where she is now employed, and we all shared Chinese. You mentioned how good the food was at your new HyVee, Connie, and we agree!

We are really appreciating our ideal weather so far this summer. Last year, in contrast to most of you, our area had the hottest, driest summer on record. I spent many hours watering trees and shrubs. This summer is much cooler and , so far, much wetter. We returned Monday evening to 3.1" in the gauge. I have things blooming that I didn't even remember I had, as they did nothing last year and have spread like crazy this June. My theory is, that if they survived last summer, they developed a hardy, deep root system which now enhances their performance. Perhaps Paul could tell me if this could be so, or if the plants are just enjoying the nice weather.

Ed took lots of digital pics this weekend, but, as MJ observed, I am of the bloodline that doesn't know how to get them from camera to computer. Perhaps Ed will add a couple over the long weekend.

Naperville has a Ribfest as a fundraiser for Rotary Club or Kiwanis or one of those every July 4th weekend. While yours sounded like fun, Connie, ours is soooooo big and crowded (and I've heard very expensive for eating) that we avoid it like the plague. We will probably have a picnic with friends and take in some of the big fireworks in the area. Last year we went to Lisle (suburb immediately north of our house) which has a hot air balloon festival, concerts, carnival, etc. We attending a concert of the National Guard Band, if I remember right. (It was some military group.) We had actually gone earlier to hear another singing group which was followed by the band. They started with some old 'Big Band' stuff and we thought we'd stay awhile since Mom and DAd were along. The band was outstanding and included vocalists and a variety of music.
I will definitely go again if they are playing.

I can't begin to tell you all how much I am enjoying this blog! Keep posting!

Love,

Janice

Hello from Warrens

Half way through summer already. Wow. I'm on vacation next week..i've taken off the week of the 4th for, I suppose, the last 21 years, as the 2nd is Joe's birthday and I always liked having that week off to be a 'stay at home mom'... when he was younger, we'd have to have a kid party, then a family party, then the 4th of July...and by the time i went back to work i felt like i'd been in the kitchen for days. Not quite so many parties anymore, but the week still goes by quickly.

After 6 months of hard weekend work, we finally have renters ready to move into Mom's house in late July. A young couple coming from Kearney..just getting married in mid-July...she will be employed at Papillion schools and he has his own home construction business. Gretna should be a good place for that business! We are so delighted to hand the keys over to them and let them take care of things for a while! Hopefully they won't have to call us much with maintenance issues...

John is working on the road-widening project north of Gretna where it will become 2 lanes each way all the way from Q street to Gretna. He likes these projects so much better than standing out on the interstate somewhere and he usually gets to see all kinds of people he knows when he's on some local project like that. He's getting the bug to go fishing, so i think he may try to do that before the end of July.

Joe's lawn mowing business has turned out great. He currently has about 20 weekly mowing customers, and 5 fertilizer customers. He's bought a second large mower and yet more equipment to fill up our garage with. We gasp when he keeps wanting bigger and bigger stuff, but he has no fear and is sure he can pull it off. Most of his business has come from word of mouth and referrals. He has our yard looking like a million bucks and wants to re-landscape our front yard yet this summer, so i'm all for that. I usually don't get that kind of enthusiastic cooperation for projects like that! Here's his rig..

And here's a couple more Football 101 pictures Debbie sent me. It WAS a lot of fun and so impressive that the entire coaching staff would give up a whole day to amuse 900+ women! That's John Blake, the former Oklahoma coach and now a member of the UNL defensive coaching staff with us in the first picture (somone correct me if those facts aren't accurate!!) And most of you probably recognize the second guy...suki and I had left shortly before he arrived at the after-party where this was taken...while we may be able to post pictures on the blog, we obviously lack the perseverance gene present in the rest of the family!




That's it for tonight..
love, Sue

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Ribs, Ribs, Ribs

Hello everyone from RIB CENTRAL. Where's that? This week it's in Platte County. Saturday and Sunday the little town of Duncan hosted their 3rd annual RibFest in beautiful downtown Duncan. Over 5,000 people attended and enjoyed ribs, very thin potatoes, funnel cakes, beer, and some very listener-friendly music.
Stan and Nancy came from Geneva to share our culture. We all were impressed with the organization and workers who helped things work so well. The area was blocked off with MANY cattle panels which were lined with orange snow fencing. There was only one entrance and all had to pay a fee to come in. Five rib vendors were present and we sampled from most of them. Before leaving we voted for our favorite. Next year the top two will return and other vendors will bid for a chance to participate. My personal favorite was Baby Huey's from Fremont. YUM!
Sponsors of the event were the Volunteer Firemen, Duncan Wrestling Club and the VFW. Gary Schlesinger (father of Husker/Lion Cory) is the chief of all. It was a beautiful summer evening and a chance to see lots of people, including some of Tom's buddies.
After we left the Rib Fest we toured Duncan Lakes, a little sand pit development on the Platte south of Duncan. Then we pointed out Dorothy Lynch's home on Hwy. 30. Yes, the salad dressing is made in our area. On the way into Columbus we stopped at Pawnee Park and toured the Andrew Jackson Higgins National Monument. It's an impressive area honoring the man who invented the "Higgins Boat." This water craft carried our troops ashore in many places, most importantly on D-Day. Higgins was born in Columbus. One of our high school history teachers came across this fact and eventually led the effort to establish a monument to Higgins' accomplishments.

This weekend a bank parking lot in downtown Columbus will be the site of another rib eating venue. Columbus is celebrating its 150th birthday and the ribs are part of the general celebration. There will be more vendors this week, including Famous Dave's.

Congratulations to you,Kelly on your graduation and new job. I'm sure all will go well with the boards.

I am still enjoying the memories of Football 101. What a fun day with our family and other women who appreciate the game. Coach Callahan's enthusiasm and passion for the game were contagious.

Suki, we appreciated the sad tale of Steve and Chuck's bull. It reminded Tim of a cattleman who came to his livestock equipment display years ago. The rancher was lamenting the loss of his very expensive($20,000 - $30,000) bull. It was very hot on the first day of the bull's duties. He decided to cool off in the pasture pond. He emerged minus his main breeding equipment-----a hungry snapping turtle couldn't resist the dangling treat!!!!!

Time to close--
Connie

Sunday, June 25, 2006

I have no clue how mom got computer access...

The reason I say this is because I wanted to update you all and let you know that our computer got fried by lightning before the 15th. Or was it after?? Either way, we have no access to a computer right now. i'm sitting on my friend's Mac and I HATE macs! Anyway, I wanted to let you know that is why we haven't posted for awhile (minus the 15th and today) and e-mails.

I now am a gatekeeper at the complex this summer for softball. It's okay, but I got sunburnt yesterday and it hurts!!!! Oh well. It wasn't even that hot out! Not bad pay, but could be better :). Oh and internship is going well, but I don't want to continue school. There's a LONG story behind that.

Like if I DID continue school, I'd want to transfer either to UNL or UNO. But you know what??? Mom's not letting me. Hey Joe, hit me up about UNO and let me know what you didn't like about it please. I"m curious to know. Oh and UNL...if anyone goes there now, let me know. I can't keep track of all of you who are in college!!! So yeah, I don't even want to get a 2 year degree from CCC. I just am TOO BURNT OUT on school and want to get a full time job, move out and be on my own. Now I'm looking at security jobs like loss prevention. But there is a degree at CCC specifically for security, so I will talk to Lauri (my advisor and teacher) about that either next week or the week after.

Otherwise not much else to write. I'm off for now. Yawns. I got up at 12 today and am so tired. I have to be at school this week for work at 7:45 am. Grrrr..I hate that! So I need to run errands and get some groceries and fireworks! So I will talk to you all later!!!! Bye bye bye!

Suz

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Staying Up Late with the CWS - Suki



Hi to all,
Wanted to write a quick note and share some pictures of some of our recent adventures. First, Cassi mentioned she wanted to accompany her father on one of his evening "cow checking" trips. (Actually I sent her out to find out if he had a second family somewhere because he was gone so much :o) She found it interesting but was totally disgusted with the amount of slobbering, crap and flies bovine bring. She enjoyed the newborn calves but was intimidated by the huge bull (no pun intended). A few days earlier, Steve and Chuck's other bull lost his life with an infected penis. A bit of an occupational hazard, wouldn't you say? The next day Steve found him stone cold dead in the lake. Sad. Steve waded in the murky, death-ridden water up to his chest, hooked him up with chains to a tractor, dragged him out, dug a deep hole and buried him all by himself. He even showed Cassi the makeshift grave. Can it be any more gross than that? Father's day was great. Cassi took Steve to a CWS game and it was a nail-biter to the very end. Later, Niki and Cassi helped me put on a cook-out with Grandma and Grandpa, Matt and his parents from Aurora, Dave and Linda, Marty and Gigi and all the little girls. A perfect evening to eat outside. We toasted four great fathers on that special day and celebrated Marian's birthday as well. That's probably enough for now. Except for the CWS games, I find I'm watching sports I never watched before like the NBA and even World Cup Soccer. Time for bed. Love to all.

Monday, June 19, 2006

New job--Kelly

Hello to all,
I wanted to update you all on my life post-graduation. I have started work at Hy-vee pharmacy in West Des Moines and have really enjoyed it so far. The picture is from my white-coat ceremony 4 years ago when I started pharmacy school. Now I get to wear my white coat everyday as an almost-pharmacist. I still have to pass my board exams which are coming up at the end of June and July 5. I hopefully will pass without any problems but a prayer never hurts:)
My roommate is getting married this weekend and I am in the wedding plus I am moving to a new apartment on Sunday with the help of Mom and Dad so the next few weeks will be very busy with working full time, the move, wedding and studying. Have a great week everyone!

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Hello, from Mary Jo

Does anyone else carry a residual uneasiness from childhood when we have hot, dry days and STRONG winds? Today's a real downer for me. At least we have a thickening cloud cover and some chance of rain tonight.

I still remember the year I was turned 10 years old was a horrific summer and I was aware of a general air of anxiety in our house. On the very day of my birthday, the corn died and turned white before our eyes. That is a powerful memory.

Maybe it wouldn't disturb me so much if Paul wasn't farming. Of course, it's not the same thing...we have another source of income, which is a huge difference...but it is still wearing. I asked him this morning why he still thought farming was fun. He just smiled.

Speaking of Paul, he is feeling very well and seems to have all of his strength, plus more, back. He goes in to the cancer center monthly for general blood work and every three months will have blood work to detect cancer markers and to see the oncologist. The Dr. says everything looks very good. Of course, this will be a several-year process. After 3 years, the chance of no recurrence is better; and five years is considered to be the time you can talk about being cured. As they say, one day at a time.

Don't worry that the parole officer will have the Meyer household under surveillance, Nancy! Suzanne is accompanying a female officer from Grand Island for 120 hrs for an internship this summer. She usually goes with her two days a week, and they've hit lots of communities. She must have a huge territory. Suzanne never says anything about the people or the cases they work on. She is very aware of the confidentially issue. However, she does seem to be interested in the work. I think it would be pretty depressing; but obviously, it's work that needs to be done.

Thanks for all of the recent posts, and please keep them coming. Oh, one more observation: Has anyone else noticed the strong genetic trait us "blood cousins" share? NONE of us have been able to post pictures, whereas Suki, Sue, Ed, and the contributors from the next generation have shared wonderful images with us! Thank goodness the gene pool is getting diluted!! Speaking of that, now I have to refer to the wonderful directions Sue sent us on how to post messages so I can send this thing. GRRRRR

Saturday, June 10, 2006

Quick update and other news

Hi everyone! I just wanted to post today and say hello and to tell you that internship is going great! I was in Thayer and Fillmore Counties today (June 8). Nancy and Stan, we drove by your house and I pointed it out to the parole officer. The only reason I remember your house is because your address is so easy to remember :). And yes, the garage door was open and there WAS a car in there :). But I showed Susan where you live :).

Anyway, class at UNK is going quite well. Students are complaining because it's intense and that there is too much homework etc. They also say how it takes up most of their day. Puhhhhlease! They don't commute an hour to and from like I do! So it takes up most of MY day! But I don't think it's that intense. Mom says that Darlene's classes really got me ready for this writing intensive one. I don't find it very intense and I also don't find it that hard. I also really like the professor because I had him last sememster :). I am currently working on a 12+ page research paper! So far, I handed in my rough draft and he was VERY impressed. So I just have one more point to work on and my conclusion and my paper is done! I also have 2 more reaction papers that are 4 pages each on an article of my interst that deals with criminal investigation. So it's not bad. I have 2 more tests and then I'm done!!!

Otherwise not much else here. Just that I might attend a Introduction to Sex Offender Treatment seminar on Friday. I wasn't for sure if I was going to go, but I'm getting pressure from Susan to go so there is someone there she knows. It will cost me around $200 to do it. So mom really doesn't want me to, but I should. It would be good for me. The good news is that it DOES count for credit :). So who knows what will happen. I will get 1 credit and it's an undergraduate upper class level. So I might do it. Not for sure yet.

Well, I better get going! I just wrote my two reports for my internship for this week and now I have to go watch Firewall the movie. It's due tomorrow and I should watch now because dad will like it...so I think. So yeah, I'm off! Talk to you all laterz :)

Sunday, June 4, 2006

Hello from OKC

Hello Family!! This is Theresa and am glad to catch up with all of your news. And especially grateful to learn that Paul is doing well. I have to confess that I didn't go to this site until tonight. I will try to keep up better with all of your news postings.
We have some new photos to share from the Big XII bb tourney. Mom & Dad Bull came to visit and several folks from Yutan were also here. It was very enjoyable to catch up with Annette Rogers; Virginia Behrens; and Paula & Julie Buck. I encouraged their group to take the Water Taxi ride in the evening and even ride the cocktail taxi if they thought that sounded fun. Keith Rogers said they did enjoy this activity, so much so, that they made it into a "cruise"!! They stayed on it for THREE hours!
Dad, Mom & I visited the OK Sports Museum in Guthrie. What a walk down memory lane that was for Dad. He recalled many stories about several of the baseball players.
Jake & Matt are back home for the summer. Both are working. I'll share about their jobs next time.
I'll need to have Bill or the boys help me scan our pics and post them next time also. Bill still wonders how I operate a complicated US machine at work and remain ignorant to the basics and guts of the PC world. Just a different interest level, I suppose.
Love to all, your lighter cousin!!! tj

Saturday, June 3, 2006

Football 101 from Suki

Hi to All,
Just wanted to tell you all that I had such a great time at Coach Callahan's Football 101 camp Friday with Sue, Connie, Nancy and Debbie. I'll save the details for all of us to share at the Bull Family Picnic, but did want to post these pictures. The player with Debbie and Connie is Courtney Grixby and in another shot we are eating lunch in the press box overlooking the awesome stadium. The tall player with me is Zach Potter, and one shot is all of us at the "On the Dock" party afterwards. Included in this shot is my friend Cyndee and her 86 year-old mother. It was so much better than I expected and just a fun-filled day with great entertainment, great weather, great company, great food and Husker football! Does it get much better than that?

Take care, Suki