Where Are the Butterflies?

The other day we were out and about, and I was snapping pictures of all kinds of flowers. I was hoping I'd see some butterflies. (As a friend on FB said they were so thick this year..) But no way, never saw even one...darn.. But I saw lots of pretty flowers...smile.. This was a  planter downtown!

I was just sure I'd see one on all of these flowers, but nope.. Not a one! I'm not sure what those red flowers are, but look kind of out of place in some ways. What do you think? Anyone know what they are??

 

And here is another view of those red flowers...

 

Another PicMonkey photo...smile..

I always love to see flowers cascading over a whiskey barrel...pretty huh?? But no butterflies. smile..

 

This week our 'handyman' has been working on putting the door in. (We really had to use him as we'd paid for the door etc.) Well, he is still here working and its after 9 o'clock... He finally left.    

 

And then we have a Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in our city now, (of which our tax dollars are helping to fund--sad) and they have out door concerts. Well, the sound waves travel up to our house...uggg And tonight Deep Purple (a hard rock band) are playing starting at 9:30 until 11:30. Poor Rusty has been so nervous and upset with all the hammering and sawing going on downstairs and now boom...boom...boom! So, this has been our day and night in a nutshell. I hope yours in better...ha! ha!

 

Blessings to your weekend! 

Great Seminar and more...

 

Yesterday our skies in the afternoon were quite overcast and cloudy. The clouds were very pretty, but no matter what setting I put my camera on they didn't look as pretty as they really were.  

 

Last night we had a MS Seminar to go to...just across the river! Not far at all. It started at 6 p.m., so we left home at 5 (remember I said it was just across the bridge..smile..) When we were approaching it..all we saw were cars....all across the bridge...... Yikes! They were working on it..so had it down to a single lane of traffic. But....we got across and headed to the restaurant. The weather was extremely HOT,

and we saw a few boats out on the river, trying to beat the heat!!







 

They had a small room for us, and we did get there at a decent time. We got a good place to sit at a front table. The waitress came around and bought our drinks. The program coordinator had a problem with her computer. So that kind of slowed down the presentation. They also had about double the people than they expected... The tables had 8 people instead of 6..squeezed together. Then the waitresses came around and gave us our menu's and told us we could order 'anything' we wanted. Now this was really unusual, as they normally have a set menu.. I ordered a "surf and turf".. and Tom ordered a bone in ribeye steak. (one was $45 and one was $50--can you imagine??) So they got all orders, and then 'whoops' they said...they just found out..it had to be anything under $28. smile.. So, that made a smaller choice, but a good one. (And made a lot more sense..) Finally, the doctor started speaking and we got our food. Their kind of like a "lunch and learn" only it's a dinner and learn. smile.. After she spoke, they had an ambassador speaking also. He has been on the drug they spoke about for a couple years and was very happy with it. Finally, we finished eating (btw the salmon was 'amazing'!!) Then they came around with a dessert menu.. (over kill...ha..ha...) Tom got the ice cream sundae (pictured) and I ordered the cheesecake.. (I brought mine home and had it this afternoon...) I will ask my doctor about this pill they were talking about. Sounds too good to be true, no more shots! But I know there are a lot of side effects. So, we'll see...

 

 

Goodness, for us it was a late night. On our way home, we spotted the Hard Rock guitar all lit up!! When we finally got home around 9 p.m., we felt we needed to stay up for awhile, to let our food settle..ha.. Since we got up early, I finally was ready to go bed!!

 

This morning we had to get up early again to take my SIL to get a test. Then we did a little shopping. Nice day, but again very HOT, worse than yesterday! These huge sunflowers were really enjoying the sun today!! They must be about 10 foot tall. We go by them all the time...Tom was finally able to stop, so I could get a photo...smile..

 

By the way today was our 28th wedding anniversary!!!

 

 

Time once again for bed.. Hope you're in for a wonderful weekend!

Gambling...

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Several years ago Iowa approved Riverboat gambling. (This was one of the photos I actually took.) It was pretty, but we only went on the original boat one time and were never on this last one.

 

Well, the group who held the license decided they wanted a land based casino....my, what a fight. There were three  groups who put bids in on it (including the boats owners). Two of the groups had their own funding, but the one who got the bid...has to be partially funded by TIPS...a tax on us tax payers. (sad) Personally, I'd just as soon it all went somewhere else... But time will tell if it's a good investment.

photo by G.R. Lindblade

 

Well, Hard Rock got the bid, they opened the  casino the other night and they are the ones who shot off those fireworks...upsetting our poor little boy.

photo by G.R. Lindblade

 

Look at the line up...I think this was the "big shots" for a lack of better words, really I think it was the VIP's. We've never been to a Hard Rock...so guess we don't know what we're missing...smile..

 

photo by Sioux City Journal

 

Now, look at all these people waiting to get in and start gambling etc.  In so many ways I feel sad, seeing this, but if people enjoy going to these Casinos etc. and having fun gambling, so be it. Now, those nickel machines might be fun.

 

Just hope when they open the hotel, they don't shoot off any more fireworks...lol

 

Hope you've had a nice weekend.