respublica

Ferdie's first cross country car trip

Sent from my iPhone

Breaking up is hard to do

Concordia Seminary is beginning the process of putting in new concrete in front of the chapel which makes it necessary to remove all of the old. So of course when the heavy machinery shows up, Dale wants to be a part of the work and this morning he got to work the jackhammer.

The equipment arrived the other day and looked like dueling robots.

Then the two boys came over to take a look.

Dale asked who wanted to climb up

Connor got up and gave Opa a fist bump. Christian wanted no part of it. But pretty soon it just got too darn hot out there and the boys ran home for a popcicle.

But this morning the real busting up of old concrete began with Dale in the jackhammer seat.

But first put in the earplugs and get instructions.

The dust rises and it's on its way.

After ten minutes it looked like it was going to be a long day.

After 45 minutes lots got done and was being scooped up and tossed in a big dump truck. Dale's in his glory today, but frankly, we have to get ready to leave town.

Can't umpire when you're stuck in traffic

We were at the Cardinals game last night and for a while there were only 3 umpires on the field. Seems the fourth was late because he got stuck in St. Louis traffic.

I'd laugh but I know it wasn't funny to him.

The most beautiful people working on Capitol Hill

Each year The Hill newspaper puts out a photo essay on which Congressional staffers and other Hill people are the most beautiful. The list includes both men and women, republican and democrat.

Here's this year's most beautiful.

Local gambling and citizen input

Illinois passed a law in 2009 which would allow video gambling in bars, truck stops, veterans halls, etc and now many local municipalities are struggling with whether or not to opt out or give their businesses the okay. All of a sudden any number of metro east city councils are debating this and last night Collinsville voted unanimously to send the question to the November ballot as an advisory referendum.

It seems a tough issue for most cities, they are intrigued by the taxable income and the arguments by bar owners that the profits would help their businesses. But, they are also being lobbied by those opposed to gambling which include many church leaders and people who deal with the bad effects of gambling on families.

Some cities like Swansea just went ahead and voted not to allow video gambling while others like Collinsville and possibly Edwardsville will be getting voter advice during the election. A tough decision for sure.

The mysterious rectangular cello

Recently Madison County saw a string of rural home burlaries thought to be committed by a man now in custody. Some items the police recovered have not been claimed and officials have put out a list in order to locate the owners.

One unclaimed thing is an unusual musical instrument, a rectangular cello. We first saw a photo of this on the local news and this morning again in the Belleville paper. I've never seen a cello like this.

After a bit of googling, it appears as though this cello type is English made and elderly.  Heh. Surely there will only be one person out there missing his/her rectangular cello.

Getting new license plates

We got the title to our new truck in the mail and today I have to go to more than one Missouri agency to get plates. We couldn't just transfer the old ones because a truck requires a different type of license plate. 

So first I have to go to the county courthouse and get a personal property tax waver because we do not pay property taxes in Missouri. Then to the drivers license center and hope I have everything they want which will include paying the sales tax on the truck which we bought in Illinois but have to pay in Missouri, title, insurance proof, and then I have no idea what else. We do not know if we have to have an emissions test, but if we do it will be a trip to some place which does those and then hope they have time to do it. Then back to the license place.

I don't want to do all this.

UPdate: 

And of course there was something we need to bring to the license office which no one has ever heard of before. A copy of the title of our old car. Koetting Ford which has a dealership in Missouri as well as the place in Granite City where we bought our truck, as never been asked for this kind of thing. 

And an emissions test. Buy in Illinois live in Missouri, prepare for a long drawn out license ordeal. Now the truck is at mechanic shop waiting its turn for the emissions test which could mean getting it back later this afternoon. They're busy and I understand that.

Last update:

Ta Dah! We have license plates. Took from 8:30 to 2:30 and lots of running from one place to another, they are in our possession. But, there are no screws to attach them. Bwahahahahaha

The first record album I ever bought

Was Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs by Marty Robbins. Why I have always remembered picking this album for the first purchase I don't know, but I had my first babysitting money and in those days it was cool to be able to buy music. The album cover had a pink background with Marty dressed in black and ready to draw his gun.

In those days westerns were some of the most popular tv shows-Gunsmoke, The Lone Ranger, Have Gun Will Travel, Wagon Train, The Rifleman, Lawman, Maverick and on and on. So this album was a natural, plus Robbins had a huge hit single from this album which I think was El Paso.

Got to thinking about this after wondering if our old albums were still playable and if Marty Robbins was still in the stack. Going to sift through them sometime this week.

 

Chelsea and Justin get married in a vineyard

Last night the wedding of Chelsea and Justin took place in the beautiful setting of the Villa Marie Winery's outdoor landscape. It was sunny and warm hot, but the ceremony was beautiful. Here's a brief look at how everything went.

The guests walked down to where the chairs were set up and were given fans with the program attached. A very clever touch.

Also a bottles of water. 

It was very smart and thoughtful of Chelsea and Justin to provide the water.

Wait! You're going the wrong way.

While everyone was being seated, a string quartet played.

Some prefered to stand in back rather than sit.

Then it began.

Justin escorts his mom Michelle down the aisle with father Jerry just behind. I didn't take photos of the entire wedding party/family because there were two professional photographers doing that.

Dale walks in ready to officiate.

Caitline was the flower girl and did her part very seriously.

But all of a sudden her bag of rose petals slipped out of her hands.

And she very calmly lowered herself down to retrieve the fallen flowers.

Here comes the bride. But that was not the music. The musicians played the Trumpet Voluntary.

The ceremony

And then back to the winery for the dinner

The guests didn't beat the bridal party back to the cool building, but they weren't far behind.

Then most importantly, the signing of the marriage certificate.

Justin's brother Mickie signs as did the maid of honor, Bonnie.

For some reason the guys in the wedding party didn't rush back into the air conditioning right away, but stayed outside.

Inside everyone found their assigned table, a glass of wine a bottle of beer or some other cool drink and sat and talked.

There's Vicar Ekong who prayed the dinner prayer

The women in the above photos all work for the seminary, while at least two of the men are police officers.

Bonnie gives a toast

Eric gave the prayer

And we began the meal.

Lovely late afternoon and evening

 

MoDOT: Many scheduled work zones this week

"St. Louis area motorists should be prepared to slow down and plan for the many work zones that are scheduled over the next week.

The Missouri Department of Transportation has 125 work zones scheduled on interstates and arterials throughout the region during the next several days."

Read it and weep. They're everywhere.