My Week

 Sophie is staged in this photo but she is "Bad Ass".

Well I left off with an unfinished job on the empty string on my weed whacker.  I went to Lowes, Farm N Fleet, Walmart and Target looking for string for my Toro.  Then one last attempt at Ace Hardware and I found it and got the only 2 on the shelf.  I did use it a little when I got home but it was really hot and muggy.

Look what came in the mail! Amber's AKC Rally Intermediate title.

I know the guys like to help me take down the welcome home banner after the honor flight but the strings were a tangled mess. I usually carefully keep them straight. All of it will need restrung on the spot at the airport for length.  had a system. I appreciate them with the ladder but they are not careful with those strings. Glad I checked because last time I came home too late to fix anything and right to bed.

Tuesday I took Amber to training class and then to volunteer at the Lincoln Tomb.  It poured rain in the morning so I brought my brown dress in case of mud.  I changed there.   I was master ceremony at the flag lowering just before the Land of Lincoln Honor Flight.  Since we had a great down pour that morning and I had volunteered since 2PM, I wasn't sure of the weather later during the 7PM time of the flag lowering so I brought my change of clothes.  I dressed in my brown camp dress in case of mud.

 Here I hold the microphone so that the commander can present the flag that flew over the Lincoln tomb the previous week to member of the audience.  He was from Michigan.

I changed and went to the airport which wasn't far from the Lincoln Tomb.  I had to put the "welcome home" banner up with new strings and cut to length for hanging since the last time I used it, I let some kind hearted volunteers take it down and it was a tangled mess. While waiting for the honor flight to return, we noticed that there was a storm delay in Washington DC and commercial flights had priority.  I started to snooze off so I knew it would be late and by 10:30 left.  Many of those that brought children who had to go to school had already abandoned the homecoming celebration. 

Thursday I got the special order pipe angles needed for Amber's hoop practice.  I had to get some poles that are available locally but had to get them home sticking out the window.  Notice the veteran parking place sign at Lowes. (no my car is not dented).  Ah here's the ultimate goal project:
http://www.flyingpoodles.com/2011/07/02/making-nadac-hoops/

 Then  I went to our Civil War Roundtable.  The topic was by Kathy Heyworth presenting “Civil War Soldiers with Secrets: Women in Uniform”.  Kathy based her program on Shelby Harriel's  topic when she came to the Illinois State Military Museum.

Friday felt like a "tale of two Kathys".  I went to the funeral for a 96 year old Navy veteran who was a member of our Catholic War Veterans.  It was also sentimental anniversary of my sister, Kathy's death.

Don Werner, our Catholic War Veterans representative, read our memorial prayer ~ Our Dead  ~ along with Joan and myself.  Don left after that.  A check was left for her memorial.  Also in attendance at the service was Marylin Guthrie and Grace Miller of the Women's Overseas Service League.

The homily was serious as well as funny.  Father said she was an avid Cubs fan and Catholic.  Once she saw the opposing team member make a sign of the cross and Kathy said "Cancel that"

The interveterans Burial Detail had a veteran walk through.  John Carrigan spoke after the military rites of how she helped with the memorial at Oak Ridge.  He got emotional.  John Carrigan of Rochester, president of the World War II Illinois Veterans Memorial

http://ww2il.com/scholarship-program/

Kathy's story and photo here (This photo was in a frame at her funeral but every time I tried to take a picture of the picture, there was glare.  Once home, I discovered an good photo online)

http://ww2il.com/VetStories/SmithKathy.pdf

In the evening I took Amber to "ring ready" practice.  She seemed very intimidated by another dog named Hannah.  Amber lost a bit of concentration.

Saturday I made 4 hoops .... well 2 still need to get the topper hoop ... for Amber's practice in the yard.   I had 2 hula hoops that were on sale at the Dollar General from last year.  The hardest part was the four hole connector which I had to order online.  Some have made these by adding an extra connector for the legs but I hear that those tip over easily.  After that the rest of the PVC parts were local and easy.  I re-read the instructions and the sides on this one illustrated were too tall so it has since been fixed.

Sunday I coaxed Moe to go through the hoop.  

Then I went to a PGR Deployment Send Off for Illinois Headquarters 206th Regional Support Group US Army Reserve, Springfield, IL 24 Aug 2019.  We had a flag line as the troops got on the bus and then escorted the buses to the interstate as they departed for Fort Hood for training before their deployment.  Here's a link to the news media for the ceremony the day before departure.
https://www.sj-r.com/news/20190823/deployment-ceremony-celebrates-soldiers

Sunday morning I was the first reader at Mass.  I had some difficult city names in this reading you can see here:
http://usccb.org/bible/readings/082519.cfm
I wore short sleeve jacket that I hadn't worn in a long time.   I found a business card in the pocket from Galway Ireland.   That means I hadn't worn it since 2011.   Time to move it out of the closet.

I sprayed myself with Bugins and Amber rolled all over me like I'm road kill or something.

Monday was National Dog Day.  Sophie and I had a therapy dog visit on the calendar and that was our celebration.  I had a massage appointment in the afternoon.  Ahhh that was nice.  Then in the evening, I went to the VFW for an executive board meeting which was mostly about an increase in prices.

Nice week weather-wise.  Off and on periods for the air conditioner.    

My Week

Well the kidos are going back to school and school buses abound the neighborhood.
Tuesday morning I went to the start of a new session in our agility foundations clinic.  I also enrolled in some upcoming agility classes.

Here is one of Amber's "turbo moments".  She has this "sugar rush" moment sometimes.  She does this daily and sometimes in the house.  I think she needs agility as an outlet.

After our dog clinic, I went to lunch with our Womens Overseas Service League.   Then I changed there for the Lincoln Tomb.

 This is my Garibaldi blouse. 

 It's a replica of this:

One of the visitors to the tomb shared this photo to me taken the evening before of a fox resting on Roy Bertelli's grave.  He was a famous accordion player. 

 Later, I saw the fox after the flag lowering ceremony on my way out.

 Here she is crossing Governor Tanner's tomb.

Thursday morning I skipped yoga for Mass of  the feast of the ASSUMPTION of Our Lady Into Heaven.  This is a beautiful painting of the Assumption - Mary being carried to Heaven by Angels The Assumption or The Dormition, a fresco in the Cathedral of San Pedro de los Milagros (Saint Peter of the Miracles) in Antioquia (Colombia).

Thursday evening I went to Lincoln's New Salem to see the screening:  "In the Declaration all men are created equal:" Abraham Lincoln in Illinois, 1830 to 1860 a new film by the Witnessing History Education Foundation, Inc.  I had a small part as an extra and you can only see the back of my bonnet and applauding Lincoln's speech.  Here's a podcast regarding the film.
https://witnessinghistory.org/abraham-lincoln-in-illinois/
I had mentioned the film in and earlier in my November blog .

Friday I helped out at the state fair's Looking For Lincoln event from 10Am-4PM.  I volunteered at the state fair at the Looking for Lincoln area. I talked about the Soldiers Aid Society and needs of the soldiers. A few kiddos just wanted their treasure hunt card stamped but I wanted them to briefly hear about the cause first. There were some young boys that really seemed interested also. Meanwhile, this butterfly was on my shoulder for a good 10 minutes.

I had a photo with Mr Lincoln so he looks extra tall.

I came home and walked the dogs. Rinsed out my underpinning, took a little nap and at 7PM went to dog practice.




Saturday I went to a civil war reenactment in Galesburg, IL for their Heritage Days at Story Park.  It poured in the morning so I came there in regular modern clothes with a change later in the port-a-john.  I did find a little lost girl that I took over to the first aid station.  When I asked for help in finding her mother, the crew said they knew her because she got lost before.  She's a repeat lost child.

 The attraction this year was a replica of the Hundley.

 On the Rendezvous side I met a mountain man with his Alaskan Malamute name Takota.

 The battle:

Sunday morning Memorial Mass for the deceased Catholic War Veterans.  Some of us and their wives went to breakfast afterward.

I watched "Any Bullet will Do"
https://www.theaceblackblog.com/2018/09/movie-review-any-bullet-will-do-2018.html

I had some daylight left after the movie and an unfinished chore so I decided to do some weed whacking but soon ran out of line.  It'll be there tomorrow when I get new line.

My Week

Tuesday evening I volunteered at the Lincoln Tomb giving tours and stayed for the flag lowering ceremony.

Here's Lee firing the cannon just as the flag hits the down position.

Some of the statues in the tomb had memorial pennies on the pedestal.

 

 We had a visitor stop by and he gave me a copy of his signed book.  He was on a book tour and he liked the tour I gave and stayed for the flag lowering ceremony.

Friday evening I helped a little at the Halls Harley Davidson Thunder Night stop at our Chatham American Legion.  The leaders of the post made arrangements without consulting the legion riders.  There was no band just music.  Sons of the Legion prepared tacos and gyros. 

Illinois State Catholic War Veterans met in Springfield at St Joseph Church Hall.  Our local post was well represented.  

Here is the head table with the leaders from LaSalle. 

Sean came over to do laundry on Saturday because he'd be busy at the state fair on Sunday.  He was there when I returned from the CWV meeting.

Friday Amber had a thorn in her paw and we had to limp our way home since I couldn't find it on the spot.  I later found it when I stepped on it. It's like a goat head. 

Here I am at the state fair veterans expo.  I had arranged to have a table side by side conjoining the Catholic War Veterans and the Womens Overseas Service League so I could watch both.

Below are the three women from our organization that was in the parade.  Linda rode on the Navy Club's float.  Linda went to get her veteran pin wearing a women vet T and the lady from IDVA dared to ask if she was a veteran. I can understand that the pins are reserved for veterans and protected as such but the assumption is still male.

 

Here I am with Linda and WW2 female veteran named Wanda Alexander. 

 

After the parade was over, on the way back, there was a big photo frame.  So this is what we had to do.

 

I was so exhausted after the parade about 5PM that I didn't want to wander around the fair on my own.  Instead I came home and unloaded my car and walked the dogs.  That turned out to be a wise decision because after that we had a big storm.

Meanwhile, Alan has been fixing up his house.  Here's a before and after or rather side by side of the replacement trim on his garage door.  He's been fixing things up since he found a little air compressor and saw on Craigslist.

 The wood was so rotted that it would never hold paint.  I hope he can change the trim in my house.

My week

Monday I sold a microwave cart that I no longer needed since my kitchen was remodeled.  I met in the parking lot at Noodles.  She also inquired about my Rouge.  I told here I got it through Enterprise.  She had a 2002 van that was on it's last wheels.  She is stretching it partly because we are both fans of Dave Ramsey.  I told her that I wish I had bought in summer rather than Feb because it was so busy.  They told me that par of it was the need fore ice accidents needing a replacement and young people getting their tax rebates.   I also told her what car to look for.  I told her that the evening before I had an exchange at HyVee and there were 3 Dodge Rams in the parking lot to look for.

Tuesday there was no dog practice so I did my double class at PowerWorks.
I then went to the Lincoln Tomb at 1PM - 8PM for tours and the Flag Lowering Ceremony.

Since it was cheesecake day, I stopped at County Market for some in this dress.

Thursday's yoga was canceled so I attended the other split group exercise on TRX and cycle.  I cut the grass in front even though the whole yard didn't need it.  Most to chop the tops off of the crab grass.  I think next year I should get a lawn service because my weed n feed is not working.

Thursday evening I went to a presentation on "Stealing Lincoln's Body"at the Lincoln Presidential Library to a big crowd.

Friday morning I woke to some dog barf.  I later learned it was from Amber.  She's been eating greens and that showed.   I had low energy but was determined to get a few things done.  I needed to put a liner inside the hat I wore to the tomb (see above photo) because the straw was pulling out my hair out of a carefully organized, period correct hair do.  I ran into a difficulty also where I had to sew some of the straw plait together.  I do like the brim hat over the spoon bonnet that tends to muffle my hearing aids a bit.

Saturday I took Amber and Sophie to the Dog Days of Summer.  This event was supposed to include Dogs on Ice at the Nelson Center skate rink that I registered for but it was canceled due to a lack of participation.

The girls had a paw print made. Sophie assumed the position on her back.

 Amber's turn to get her paw paint but she wasn't as easy.  I ended up holding her.

 

 We had a photo taken

Then the girls had ice water.

They had a kissing booth for dogs but I get kisses from Amber and Sophie.  In fact, a kiss on the cheek was one of Amber's trick dog test.

 Sophie met a lot of new friends.  Amber preferred to sniff butts.

The three of us checking out the piano and other trick dog props with Sandra who owns Pawsitivity.  She also evaluated Amber for her AKC Canine Good Citizen.

I left by 10am after the police dog demonstration.  Then I attended the American Legion color guard at 11:30 at Knight's Recreation Center.Chatham American Legion color guard performed the opening ceremony for the car show on Saturday.

 We stood for the National Anthem while the 3 girls sang.  We were still at attention when the girls went strait into singing another song.  I still have "Boogie Woggie Bugle Boy" singing in my head.

After that I fixed a dish for the church picnic at 4:30 at the Knights of Columbus on Lake Springfield.  We had Mass in the grass and a potluck followed.

I got Amber's AKC Novice Trick Dog certificate in the mail.  I notice that her previous titles are also listed (RN- rally novice, and CGC - canine good citizen)

Sunday I went to the purple heart ceremony at Oak Ridge cemetery.  It was a beautiful day and the Patriot Guard Riders took shifts standing by flags during the hour long ceremony.  Here's a link to the news for this event.
 https://newschannel20.com/news/local/remembering-who-sacrificed-for-our-freedom