Happenings, then Continuing with Our Road Trip

Since I will be posting details of our July road trip for some time to come, I thought that I would break it up a bit with things that are going on at home and in the wider family as a whole.

…starting at home.

I noticed a couple of brown spots in our lawn a few days ago…and I assumed that it was the norm as we always see a few such spots in late summer.  Then we looked out the window a couple of days later and this was what we saw!  The lawn was headed downhill fast…

Our neighbor Sherry told us that it might be ‘army worms’ and that they can kill a lawn in just a few days.  Laurie sent a photo to our lawn conditioning service and he showed up the next day to treat the condition.  He verified that it was army worms, telling me that until this year he’d only treated one lawn for the problem…but that now, his phone is ringing off the hook with the same problem. 

That night, our local news stations featured a bit on the problem…as it seems to be everywhere in the greater Knoxville area.  Time will tell how our lawn recovers.  Another treatment is needed in 3 weeks to kill the eggs and then we will likely have to re-seed the lawn.

This is what the area across the street from our house looks like…with plenty of trees and brush.  It shelters our home from the late afternoon sun and it provides shelter and browse for our local deer, turkey and other critters…  

Wait, what’s that yellow sign behind the mail box?

More bad news!  The sign on that lot right across from our house is a ‘for sale’ sign… The price is $25,000 but given the rush to buy and build homes here in our area, it will probably sell and sell soon!  As of the end of July, 275 homes were under construction and our POA sold 60 of the lots they own in July alone.

We’re not looking forward to losing our woods, the evening shade and the critters, but we knew that it was inevitable.  We just ‘can’t wait’ for the early morning and day long sounds of construction...so much for going to bed late and then sleeping until 9 AM… 

…back to our July road trip.  We were still in Omaha Nebraska at this point.

Mixed in with all of our adventures and exploration while visiting our son and his family, we did take a break to eat from time to time.  In this case, we stopped and tried a place in Omaha’s Blackstone District called “Cheeseburger’s”.  This store front operation is definitely a ‘joint’, with customers ordering at the counter and then being called up to pick up the order.  It was bit dark and dingy for my taste.

Here is a close up of Cheeseburger’s menu board.  It’s simple and straight-forward with burgers, hot dogs, chicken fingers (3 ways), French fries, fried onion rings, fried pickle chips, homemade chili, milk shakes, malts, soda and beer.  Prices are reasonable as one might expect with relatively low overhead in this type of operation.

None of us ventured beyond the burgers and fries although I was tempted to try the spicy chicken finger sandwich.  The fries were fairly good and the burgers were credible if not great.  They are definitely better than the usual fast food burgers.  I just had a hard time getting past the ‘dinge’ and the feeling that I was in a cave.  It was quite busy so perhaps I’m just too fussy.

It should be noted that seating was somewhat limited in this smallish retail space, but Cheeseburgers does proclaim upfront that they are “a take-out joint”.  There are 2 locations in the Omaha area.  This restaurant is located at 4007 Farnam Street.  Website: Cheeseburgers- Omaha - A Takeout Joint (ineedcheeseburgers.com).

Laurie took this photo of yours truly with our oldest grandson and my youngest namesake, David III.  He's now back at New York University for his Junior year.

…now skipping from our trip back to a notable family accomplishment.

This little girl, armored for battle, is Laurie’s great niece, Charley Kate.  She is only 6 years old but she is a ‘killer’ on the ice.  She loves hockey and she is an aggressive competitor.  She was recently named as a key member of a local St. Louis Missouri area, formerly all boy’s hockey team!

I don’t know if she lost this tooth playing hockey or not but we do love the fierce look on such a sweet face!  Score lots of goals… Go get them Charley Kate!  Perhaps there is a college hockey scholarship in her future…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them…

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave