Indiana, Markleville - Sunday, August 9, 2015 - Combine Cake and a Tour of the Town

On Wednesday we decided to go into Pendleton for lunch and a nostalgic walk through town and then on to Frankton to see if we could dig up proof of Greg’s residence from the early 70’s so he could claim some unclaimed property.  We called ahead to the Frankton post office to see how long they keep records – one year, guess that won’t do us any good, we’ll have to think of something else.

 

 

Earlier in the week I spent a good deal of time constructing a combine cake for the upcoming third birthday of our great grandson Braxton.  This is the base for the cake, it needs to sit up off of the bottom board so “wheels” can be added later.

Yes, John Deere green icing is possible.

This is going to be the hopper for some candy corn.

This looks really rough but it is as far as I wanted to go right now, have over a week to go before the birthday party so this will have to go in the freezer until then.  I just needed to know that the idea was going to work.  For the finished project the whole thing will be covered in additional icing so it all looks even.  I’ll post pictures of the finished project later.

We went to the Bank Restaurant for lunch on Wednesday.

 

 

Love the tin ceiling.  We talked for a bit with the new owner but he didn’t have a lot of time, the place was packed for lunch.

The banks on the tables were a cute touch.

The “lunch-size” tenderloin was just right and delicious.

We walked through town reminiscing about what the stores used to be when we were growing up – fifty years ago J.  Pendleton is a National Historic Registry Community.  The post office has changed the least of any of the buildings, it was completed in 1937 and remodeled in 1966.

Across from the post office where the white car is parked used to be my uncle’s garage where he repaired cars, we didn’t go in but I think it is now an antique/consignment shop.

This is the main street, State Street looking east from the post office.

This is the main cross street and the one that leads to Falls Park, Pendleton Avenue looking north.

I’ve never been in the apartments that are above these stores on Pendleton Avenue but I like the “bump out” on this one.  Back in the day it was probably a very special place.

Saturday evening we spent with son AJ and daughter-in-law Kim and these two very special grandkids, Jackson and Braelynn.  They are growing up so fast.

 

 

Today we spent at the gun club working with Desira and Dan.  We worked with them on Tuesday and Friday also so it’s been a busy trap shooting week.

Indiana, Markleville - Sunday, August 2, 2015 - Family Time

Great Grandson Braxton got to check out the mini trampoline Grandpa Dan and Grandma Desira got him for his birthday coming up in a couple of weeks.  He was still too uncertain of it to get in by himself.  Photographing him jumping was about as hard as trying to photo the laser show last night.

 

We took the pork chops we got yesterday at the meat market to Mike and Amanda’s – they were huge and very tasty.  We enjoyed lunch of pork chops and corn on the cob and had a good visit with them this afternoon.

 

 

Grandson Kyle was pretty proud of his latest Lego project.  I was impressed that he put this together by himself it had all kinds of moving parts, I’m sure it would have been beyond me!

Indiana, Markleville - Saturday, August 1, 2015 - Still Catching Up With Friends and Family

We’ve had a good week, something to keep us busy almost every day.  Tuesday we went to Shelbyville to see a horse belonging to our friends, Barb and Ann, run for the first time since they have owned him.  He looked really good pre-race and the odds of him winning were pretty good.

 

 

But, true to form when we are at the track, he lead for the first half of the race and ended up dead lastL.  If our friends don’t ban us from the track when their horses run I’m pretty sure the trainer will.  Wednesday (when we weren’t there) two of their horses won.  We always have a great time when we are with them but we may have to find a way to spend time with them away from the track at least when their horses are running. 

 

 

Thursday evening we caught up with Greg’s sisters, Sue and Linda and their husbands, Dave and Rex.  We met them in Greenfield at the Wooden Bear Brewing Company.  Sue and Dave’s grandson, Trent, is in charge of the kitchen there.  We especially enjoyed the soft pretzel and beer cheese appetizer – we should have ordered two!

 

 

On Friday the weather was supposed to be nice all day so we decided to ride to Charger in Elkhart to see firsthand how the repairs were coming on our motor coach since they have had it for three weeks.  Nothing had been done L.  They are having trouble finding a side panel that was damaged in the accident we were involved in last year in Phoenix.  No one has any in stock and the manufacturer decided to break the mold so no more can be made.  Not sure who made that idiotic decision, the coach is only 6 years old.  It isn’t like it is ancient and not likely to be still out on the road running and needing new parts from time to time.  The plan at Charger had been to get all the parts they needed and then pull the coach in to make repairs and since this panel was a hold up nothing had been done on all the other things on our list.  We both expressed our disappointment, to put it mildly, and they assured us they would get on the rest of the list on Monday.  Meanwhile, Greg is trying to find someone who might have or can fabricate a new fiberglass panel.

The ride to and from Elkhart was a little over six hours.  We aren’t used to riding for that long, our rides are mostly an hour or two for sightseeing trips.  We were both sore the next morning.

All this week Markleville has been celebrating their annual Jamboree.  The park where all of this is going on is behind Dan and Desira’s house so we are really close to the action.  Every evening there is an antique tractor parade.  We can sit on the front porch and watch them go by.

 

 

 

 

On Saturday the parade included the antique fire engine.

 

 

The antique tractor pull was going on right behind the house.

We finally got to stop at Smith Family Farms Meat Market in Pendleton – what a busy place on Saturday morning.  We picked out some great looking pork chops for a Sunday cookout with daughter Amanda and her family.

Saturday evening we met up with friends Bill and April for a wonderful meal and catch up session at Texas Roadhouse.

The sky was brilliant on Saturday night.

The laser show is one of the highlights of the Markleville Jamboree.  It was a nice display of patriotic scenes accompanied by music and laser lights.  It is really hard to photograph a laser light show.