Day trip to Joplin, MO

We're about an hour and a half west from Joplin, MO so we decided to take a road trip over there to see the area and check the rebuilding progress after the tornado.  I have to go to work so I'll let Isabel take over the blog post to describe what we saw from her perspective.  

ok, so, this is joplin missouri after the tornado this spring

most of these were houses,

some were old so they are just tearing them down

but some were brand new

the tornado only covered about two miles

some houses were destroyed

and some just had walls ripped off

i think only three or four had foundations left

houses weren't the only things ruined in the storm, 

many buisnesses were destroyed too

and the occasional power pole was bent over

this one might be hard to tell but there used to be a building or two there

that was the temporary homedepo 

and what used to be a sign

                                       
                                                         in the end..there was alot of damage,
                                        the pictures may seem bad, but its worse (and almost depressing)
                                                                              in person.              

Yes Dorothy you really are still in Kansas...

OK, so back in the early 1900's the town of Independence decided its youth were pulling too many pranks during Halloween so they turned Halloween around backwards and invented the Neewollah Festival.  It runs for 2 weeks right around Halloween time and the entire community gets involved.  It's also billed as THE biggest event in Kansas each year.  Among other events, they hold several parades two of which we attended.  I always thought that Kansans were a reserved conservative group, but the parade we attended proved me wrong!

Here's most of the town lining up to take parts in one of the parades.

Here's the loyal fire dog, which it seems most everyone knew by name waiting patiently for the festivities to begin.

Let the weirdness begin!

I can't really describe it so I'll let the photo speak for itself. These are both Kansas farm boys

Where in the world would you go with your new scooter?  A parade of course!

Guys in bras raising awareness for breast cancer

They may have gone a little too far in this case though.  Consider yourself lucky I didn't show the front view.

Of course every parade has an egg transporting chicken on a lawn mower

The award for the most normal float went to this group.

The sign reads "Extra Ketchup hot flashes and rum"

Sadie's favorite group

Second to the end

The end (except for the street sweeper that followed).

Mom couldn't stop laughing and Isabel was clearly affected by all she saw.

Happy Neewollah everyone!

Sadie Update...

Our internet connection here in coffeyville has been less than optimal so it's taking a while to upload photos... so I figured I'd upload just a few photos to see how long it's actually taking--and who better to upload than Sadie?  Sadie now gets her daily exercise by chasing her favorite ball around the field near the trailer.  When she gets tired she runs to the side of the field by the hay bales and lays down to sniff the breeze and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine.  Here she is taking a break in the action.

Home at rest thinking about chasing her ball...

This is her "ready" position.  "OK, go ahead and throw it already!"

and here she is bringing it back.  She does this several hundred times a day and would do it non-stop if we let her!

That's it for the Sadie update.  Now let's see if I can upload some other photos...

Out and about in Coffeyville

There are a few museums right here in Coffeyville so we took the time this week to visit 2. The Dalton Defender Days were taking place the weekend we arrived, but we just happened upon it so we have no pictures of the event itself.  We started this weekend out by visiting the actual Dalton Museum.  As you probably know, the Dalton Gang spent a lot of time in this part of the world robbing banks -- until they reached Coffeyville.  They had the bright idea to rob two banks at once.  The only problem was there was a nearby hardware store with a lot of available guns and there was road construction, of all things, which forced them to change their route into and out of town...  to make a long story short, they didn't make it out.  Here's their post robbery photo outside the bank.

Here's there route

A few scenes from town.  These people look a little seedy too  -- can't be locals...

very suspicious...

Luckily our hero showed up just in time and scared away the vagrants!

Here's one the actual banks that was robbed

Then we were off to the Brown Mansion.  Mr Brown made his fortune in oil and natural gas, among other ventures.  We'll add more when we have time to add some detail.  Until then, here's a side view of his house.

Here's the visitor entrance.

Diana and Isabel sitting out front

Out and About in Independence, Kansas

After our first week, which seemed like a month, we finally had a few days off and an opportunity to get out and see the surrounding area.  It's about time too as Sadie was starting to stare longingly out the window.

 The Little House on the Prairie was located near here so we made this our first destination.  Here is the Little House on the Prairie where Laura Ingalls and Family lived.  The cabin itself is located about 10 miles SW of Independence.

After the Ingalls family moved on the site was used to house a post office and one room school.  The post office is shown here.

Here's the inside of the school

and here's the outside.

Here's another view of the cabin from another angle.

Now off to Independence.  It has become one of our new favorite places as it has a great city park with, get this, a zoo that is totally free. We couldn't believe it at first, but you are able to just walk right in at several locations through simple push gates.  I had a picture of the zoo, but I can't find it now.  We'll visit again so stay tuned for photos.  In the mean time, here's a train engine that is located in the park as well.

Isabel and I decided to hold a race down the slide.  It seemed like a good idea at first, until I actually climbed all the way up and got this view.  Notice Diana sitting at the bottom standing by to call 911 if necessary.

Some weird caterpillars at the park.

Night Shift... Oh, my feet!

OK, we're a few weeks into this gig and our feet (ankles, calves, knees, hips, shoulders, back, neck, etc) hurt!  We signed on to be "pickers" which means you order something from Amazon.com on the computer and Diana and I get a shopping cart and walk around a 1-million square foot plus warehouse to pick it out off a shelf for you.  The item then goes onto a conveyor to another group of folks who packs it up and sends it to you.  There is also a third group of folks who keep the shelves stocked with new stuff.  But we're your personal shoppers -- you order it, we pick it.  The only thing is, you're not the only one ordering online, that would be too easy.  There are millions of people ordering, all the time, so we are shopping for millions of people!  Did I remember to say that Amazon carries absolutely everything in the world?  I can be picking mini-sd cards for your computer, then 12 packs of coconut water, then a laptop computer, costumes, shirts, wrench sets, organic rice, motor oil, etc, etc, etc.

Due to proprietary processes, we can't take pictures inside, but safe to say, it's the biggest store you've ever seen in your life!

Diana and I are on night shift so we work from 5 pm to 3:30 am four nights a week.  Things are getting busy now though, so we get OVERTIME this week!  It's kind of bitter-sweet since we want to make more money, but we also want our feet to heal from all this walking!  Did I tell you we walk anywhere from 12 to 15 MILES per shift?  That means we can walk up to 90 miles a week!

We are getting used to it though.  It gets easier with time and we're learning new tips each night.  One tip is bring a rain jacket since we walk to work and you never know what the weather will be like when we get off shift!  There are no windows at the warehouse so imagine our surprise when we got off work the other night to find it pouring down rain!  We got really wet on the way home.  Here's Diana accepting her fate ( I know it's a bit dark, but it is almost 4 am!).  At least we din't have to shower when we got home!

Here's another fun thing to do when you're walking home at 4 am!  Get your picture taken next to the warehouse sign!  Too bad you can't tell it's us in the picture...  We may have to come back when the sun is up, but for now, it's off to bed!  Good night (morning)!