8th Month +8 Months (August 2012 2 of 2)

Katie, Oklahoma Agriculture's brightest star, and a two wheeled visitor from the east.

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2012: The first week.

The first week of 2012. Full of bones, breaking and entering, and the Big D.

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The Return of the Groove Master

That's what the Classy Cats used to call me, anyways. True story.

So the first Sunday in August found us gearing up for our annual concert in the park.  By us I mean "Not Worthy," the worship band from church, and by "the park" I mean Stevens Park in GCK. I was pretty excited, as it had been a LONG time since I had had what you could pretend was an actual gig.

We got a little spit of "rain" while we were setting up, so everybody scrambled to cover all our gear.

I decided to go all out and play the full 7 piece this time. 

You may be wondering why we set up on a trailer instead of in the band shell. It has to do with sound quality and shade. The band shell is fabulous for something like the Municipal Band, where no one is miked and everyone is blending their sound and there is someone up front making faces at you if you are playing too loud.  But for a high volume miked situation where everyone has their own monitor mix and are playing really loud because for once we aren't playing in a church and it would be really nice just to crank it up and have some fun and if not now then when the band shell really causes problems. It makes Mark cranky because he can't control the mix as much as he would like. (The real reason is that I play too loud (see previous sentence) and by the time everyone tries to compensate it is just a big mess.) Also, a big chunk of the stage has no shade, which makes everyone (musicians AND instruments) cranky--'specially when it is a hundred and bazillion degrees out.

And here is a view from my seat.  They had a big cookout/picnic, so most people were sitting out in the shade eating.

Cephas wanted to be closer to the action.

And my little family came back in time for the show. Here's Anna jamming afterwards.

We actually had a really nice shower Over East that night.

We only got about .20" at the Gray Havens, so I decided I'd go ahead and a shot at killing weeds over there.

There were some very lovely (as in "pretty," not as in "rainy") clouds to keep me company checking the motors that evening.

I spent the rest of the week trying to take it easy, per doctor's orders.  Dad and Katie took it easy too.

The Roaches came through on their way to Denver, so we had a chance to meet their newest addition, as well as compare him with Katie.

The big kids had a grand time, too.

The next Monday Katie and Anna and Dad and I all went to the zoo while Betsy was at work.

We met a bird there.

He was pretty friendly.

I don't recall what kind of bird he is.

And I apparently had some irrigation engine trouble that day since I took this picture walking down the pivot road to reset the sprinkler.

One thing that I hardly ever seem to do is take pictures when things go wrong with the irrigation engines, probably because it just makes me cranky. Come to think of it, this whole summer has been unusually short pictorially for me.  Although between the back troubles and Drought troubles and a couple other troubles which shall not be discussed here, I am surprised I was ever in a picture takin' mood.
Luckily there is nothing like a nice walk through the corn at evening to set your spirits aright.

Katie's First Road Trip.

First some comparisons. Abby 'n' Katie, Abby 'n' Anna.


14 Day old Anna on top, 12 Day old Katie below:

Katie had no idea of the crazy week in store for her.

On Tuesday the 22nd, we drove to Wichita after Anna's Parent teacher conferences and after everyone still in the building got to hold Katie. Once there, Katie and I went to Chipotle and then I went for a drive with Kent and Heath and Chris in Heath fancy-pants Banana Republic car.

I had meetings all day Wednesday and Robert stopped by the hotel to meet Katie. Her she is, contemplating how much fun it would be to urp all over Robert's suit.

After the meetings we headed over to Andover to meet Kent and Jenni and Peter and Piper.

Piper schooled me in the staring contest so bad that I totally forgot to take her picture :(

Then we headed out to supper with the whole Hammond family. There were a lot of people to meet.

Like Kathryn.

And Christian.

And Anna's bff Lilian.


And Finney.


And cousin-to-be Trisha.


And of course, Aunt Favorite.


Then, after a quick stop at the Howard's, we headed to Nardin. Spenco was there to greet us at the door.

And there were more meetings. Like Margaret.

And Spencer.

The next day was a nice, lazy one.


Except for Spencer and Anna's after school dance party and pillow fight.


Then Jim came home. He decided Katie would look great in a campaign.

And then Marg took some pictures.




Later that evening we met up with the Texas Lobys at Taco Mayo. They were on their way to visit K-State.

That night Katie showed off her mad head raisin' skillz for Jim.

And was generally pretty cute.


Anna spent some time relaxing on Friday, as we decided there was no reason good enough to drive with a newborn on icy roads. Even a reason like meeting Clementine :( Being responsible is stupid sometimes.

Anna chilled in her dance club...

And worked with Margaret in her office.


And Jim and I visited the FSA office...

And visited the twin towers of Nardin.

We had a lot of fun.

And then Joanna came.

And Drew.

And Anna read a story to Drew.

The Texas Lobys returned late that night . We got to see them for a little bit more before they headed off to Stillwater to see the OSU game. I decided I was too tired to add any more driving to the trip, Plus I got to see the 'Cats beat up on Mizzou on the TV.


Mark came by to meet Katie and to spread fertilizer.

And Katie and Jo bonded.


I went over to watch Rod and Jim sort cattle.
I like cows. Especially in small, non-monetarily involved doses.

Rod was taking his calves to market.

Then we checked up on Mark.

I like Jim's wheat 'cause it's green colored.

Back at the house Katie showed of her thumb sucking trick.

And then Lainey got to come meet her.

And Anna read some more of her book.

We stuck around a little bit more so that Anna could try on a cheer-leading outfit.

And Marg could get more pictures.


And so we could witness the birth of an evil empire,

And just be cute.

Finally, we went over to meet Darrell and Jeanette.

Then the camera battery died, so we knew it was time to head home.