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Life in the Loony Lane

~ Getting through life one chuckle at a time.

Life in the Loony Lane

Category Archives: Places

Goodbye, Beautiful Fall

29 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Nature, nostalgia, Places, Wyoming

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We were gifted with an absolutely gorgeous fall this year – and it didn’t seem to want to go away, which was fine with us.  The pumpkin patches were beautiful, combined with an array of colorful and oddly shaped squash, delicious apples, corn shocks, and fields of bailed hay – always very photogenic.  I am a sucker for old wooden wagons, antique tractors, and hayrides to complete the picture. 

But it is winter now, 14 degrees last night with snow on the ground.  We have everything as ready as it can be for the four feet (or more) of snow that comes our way and keeps us company until July.  Well, maybe not quite that long.

For those of you that love playing in the snow, this may be a good winter for it, if the predictions I’ve read are accurate.  I’ll just take pictures of it.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
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It’ll Be Easy, They Said

22 Saturday Oct 2022

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Humor, Places, technology

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Change your cell service, they said.  It’ll be easy, they said.  

I didn’t want to change cell service, but I had no choice.  Old people like me prefer not to change much of anything!  I have a natural aversion to big companies, but I wound up with one!  We all thought everything was just ducky since it was all working.  Then I got an email telling me to get my service changed.

I told them I already had, two weeks ago. Upon checking they determined that my number had not been ported- out, or not ported- out properly – I was never sure which.  So – they did it and that’s when everything became not so easy!

Nothing would work!!  Nothing. 

All kinds of things were going on behind the scenes between three entities and I kept checking with them.  Nothing was getting any better.  More weeks passed with the email messages continuing,  telling me I needed to get it changed. Everyone was trying, but nothing was working.  Two more port-out attempts were made before they said, “You are completely out of our system now.”   Two days later I got another email telling me to git-r-dun.  Sigh. Still – nothing was working.

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Ghosts of Eldo Past

03 Wednesday Feb 2021

Posted by June in events, history, nostalgia, Places, Senior Citizens

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Tags

bandstand, carnival, classmates, diner, growing up, high school, home town, Memories, Missouri, Nostalgia, Park, picnic, rock wall, romance, spring water, weddding

I was a skinny 11-year-old girl going from store to store in downtown El Dorado Springs looking for work. Being tall, I could pass for thirteen but they had a way of asking my age first thing, so I had to admit to being only eleven.  I was usually told they’d had kids thirteen years old but never eleven.  No employment was found.  Not even at the drugstore I loved so much with its amazing smells,  paddle fans, ice cream, and comic books.

Later, when I was old enough, I did find employment at the 4-Corner Diner.  Then I could buy the black and white saddle oxfords, can-cans for underneath my dresses, even those hideous hoops that were in style.  How on earth did we manage to sit down!  I seem to remember that they went out of style pretty quickly.

The three-story school building that we attended had concrete steps and I don’t recall ever using a handrail – or even if we had any.  I just zipped up and down them, no problem, and never stumbled.  Now I would have a hard time with them even with a handrail.

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Happy New Year, Everyone!

01 Friday Jan 2021

Tags

celebrations, greenery, Holidays, holly, wine

As we start the new year out we are filled with memories of the past 12 months – the most difficult period of time in history for most of us. Hopes and prayers for better times in 2021.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
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Posted by June | Filed under Places

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Santa’s Sad Saga

13 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by June in Places

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Tags

Christmas, Holidays, Santa Claus


I ran into Santa recently and we had a nice chat over cookies and milk.  He was considering  new career choices and asked me what I’d do if I were him.

I quickly told him that I’d get a different job.  Well, maybe not, the way unemployment is right now, but it’d be  worth a try.  I’d at least stop having white put on my traveling suit.  Those chimneys turn it into read and soot!  I’d also stretch gift delivery time into a lot longer than one evening! It must really tire out the reindeer to travel so far in one night, and who can afford to pay overtime anyway?

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Bridges Well Built

16 Sunday Jun 2019

Posted by June in Places

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Wayne's covered bridge

A little boy named Wayne Baker, along with a few other children, were told by one of their teachers that they “weren’t worth wasting her time on.” So she didn’t.

Eventually Wayne went to Oakland,California to find work and landed there the day before Pearl Harbor was bombed. He found work at a shipyard where he gained priceless knowledge in cutting and welding. Wayne was later drafted and after Continue reading →

Flutes, Woodpeckers, and Bob

04 Friday Jan 2019

Posted by June in Blog, Flutes, Humor, Music, Places, Senior Citizens, Wyoming

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img_1559

 My husband has decided that he wants to learn to play the flute.   I feel fortunate that he chose a relatively quiet instrument.  During early marriage, he decided to learn the guitar, but was too busy with work and family so gave that up.  Now in “later marriage” we’re back to learning music again.  Thank goodness he has his man cave.  I can close the door.  Maybe lock it if need be! Continue reading →

Lloyd Baker, Centenarian Surveyor and Singer

28 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by June in Blog, Events, History, Humor, Places, Senior Citizens, Wyoming

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Born in Afton, Wyoming in 1911, he was raised on a farm south of Etna and graduated from the University of Wyoming in 1940 with a degree in civil engineering.

With very primitive tools, Lloyd performed his first survey in Cokeville, Wyoming, about 75 miles down the road from Etna, the town he settled in when he “came home.” The loop within those few miles took him from coast to coast working as a surveyor.IMG_9727 Lloyd Baker age 106

Wyoming was calling him home, however, and he returned to Etna in 1974.  After obtaining his license, he established Lloyd B. Baker and Associates which continues to this day, now with  Astech GPS, Traverse PC, and Visual Cadd software.  He told me he could find any point he needs to on his 4-wheeler with tracks, under the four feet of snow we usually get during the winters. Lloyd continued working until past the age of 106.  He said he didn’t see any reason not to!

Baker loved to dance and especially loved to sing.  He entertained at two rest homes in the valley on Sunday evenings. He could still mostly remember fifty songs.  One of those, “A Nest, The West, and You, Dear,” he sang for me, which was a delight. 

Cheyenne Frontier Days was a highlight for him this past summer.  It was the first time he had attended and had the delightful privilege of being photographed with ten beautiful Rodeo Queens! 

Lloyd had always been an advocate of taking care of your body.  He believed our bodies were meant to last a thousand years and if we give it what it needs for nourishment and don’t give it junk that is not nourishing, we’ll be fine.  He relayed to me that he had arthritis once but it was interfering with his work, so he quit drinking milk, starting using real butter instead of margarine (which he feels is plastic) and stopped taking his vitamins.  It wasn’t long before he felt fine.  Lloyd ate a little meat, had a bit of “sweets” after each meal – always carried Peanut M & M’s in his pocket,  consumed no chlorinated or fluoridated water, no bleached flour in anything, and was a believer that proper elimination is a must.  He also used no soap.

Lloyd had five children,  17 grandchildren, over 40 great grandchildren, a couple of great, great,-grandchildren. 

The last time I saw him I asked, “ What are some of the benefits of being a 107?” He quickly replied, “Everyone treats you better.  After 100 you get treated a lot better.”

Lloyd left us on July 9th, 2018.  He’s probably already surveying the heavenly clouds!

TELL YOUR FRIENDS – JOG WITH MY BLOG!

© Copyright 2013 Life in the Loony Lane | June Johnston. All Rights Reserved
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Speaking of Love

08 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by June in Blog, Events, flowers, Food, Humor, Love, Places, Valentine's Day

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IMG_1319

February is the month when you will find the florist’s shops overflowing with roses.  Floriography was a method used by Victorians to send messages to others without uttering a word – thus the roses became symbolic of love, especially for Valentine’s Day.

There are several other flowers or plants that suggest love as well.  Lovegrass is a very beautiful perennial with ornamental, wispy plumes. Its Greek name is eragrostis:  eros meaning love and agrostis meaning grass.   It’s also used as fodder for livestock. Continue reading →

Fly, Turkey, Fly!

22 Wednesday Nov 2017

Posted by June in Blog, Events, Food, Humor, Places, Thanksgiving Day, Wyoming

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The first Thanksgiving in this country has many variations including what was for dinner. (Hint: it wasn’t beef.) They had whatever they could get their hands on which included different kinds of birds, deer, and crops they had grown. The cornucopia, also called the horn-of-plenty, is a symbol of those crops.
The origin of the turkey as the preferred bird for the meal is also debatable but the story I like best is that in the 1950’s the Saturday Evening Post ran a Thanksgiving cover (painted by Norman Rockwell) of a family around the dinner table with a scrumptious turkey as the main dish. It caught on like wildfire!
We all strive for the perfect
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  • It’ll Be Easy, They Said
  • Ghosts of Eldo Past
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