Random Collection of Pictures August 2025

The month of August won't be as simple as June or July were. Three blog posts to cover everything. But in this post, I get to write about my discovery of Lucky Creek in Osborne County!

We started the month with our anniversary and ended the month with my birthday weekend. Celebrating our anniversary at our favorite waterhole.

Our favorite Cherokee history park, Red Clay State Park, hosted a Cherokee Cultural Celebration weekend. We went on the very quiet day of Sunday -- we heard Saturday was packed with no grass to lay a blanket down on. Here is a celebration shirt and sticker I bought (for family importance context, G's grandfather was Cherokee)

I did a lot of exploring of maps and old maps in around Stockton and Alton. For some reason I got caught into this "rabbit hole" just searching. But hey, hey, I found some Luckey Family history! Great-grandfather W.O. Luckey history, Woo! Did you know that the creek that ran on W. O. Luckey's land is still called Lucky Creek?

I highlighted in yellow an old map that has W.O. Luckey name and the named creek on it. This would be barely in Osborne County, west of Alton. I highlighted in green the cemetery where they were buried. Now I understand W.O.'s interest in the irrigation program from Webster Lake (information my mom told me several years ago). Notice how the South Solomon clips the northeast corner of the property.

A wonderful article from someone about the Rooks County fair and 4-H. I was a member of the 4W 4H club for many years. I still remember turning all of the records to the courthouse after the club was dissolved during my 7th grade year. I highlighted the food stand part of the article - I still remember working the food stand and hearing motorcycle racing going on. I also learned what 4W meant - never knew.

I thought this was an interesting article - the downside to being the best.

A Facebook memory popped up for 2014. Wow - what a busy weekend of moving days that was. 

A funny farm meme lol

And speaking of farms, I used a picture of the east pasture of the Hunter farm for a campus project of where you come from. 💖 Found so many fossils in that layer of exposed chalk.

G and I went to Gatlinburg for a one-night stay. We enjoyed the Apple Farm Restaurant again. We stayed in the same room as we did in May - the one with a balcony view of the Great Smokies. I had originally planned to stay two nights and go back home, but G had made other plans! We went to Morristown for me to explore my Taylor family roots and then to Newport to hang out with friends and visit a zoo. Those two posts will be on the Wordpress site.

Random Collection of Pictures July 2025

Pixel and her mommy came down to visit us in July over the Independence Holiday. Pixel just turned 5 in June!

I didn't see the cake but here is a picture of it!

We had a great time with Pixel and her mommy over the holiday weekend and the following week. We went hiking at Red Clay State Park.

Red Clay state park is beautiful.

We went to the dog park in East Brainerd and had a picnic at the city park. Pixel was tired running around in the Tennessee heat.

We went to Nashville for my Tennessee PTA board meeting and Pixel and her mommy left for home from Nashville the next day. But G and Pixel had fun looking out the hotel window.

Meanwhile at work, July is Park and Recreation Month and I had another awesome display of pictures submitted by my colleagues and me.

G and I went to South Pittsburg, TN for breakfast at Big Bad Breakfast. We left home at 11 am but got to eat breakfast at 10:30 am. lol time zones! Then we went to nearby Bridgeport, Alabama to check out the Trail of Tears bridge that runs alongside a train bridge. As I suspected from previewing the site on the Internet, it didn't feel safe walking around there. So got some distant bridge pics.

I used Google Street View to go down the alley behind the old Tennessee PTA office. Guess whose car is still pictured (I guess they don't update the alleys too often).

The TNLA Executive Board roster was updated in July. You might see a recognizable name.

A beautiful picture of Suck Creek Road which is just across the river from downtown Chattanooga. Sure changes fast from city to rural. 

The High Plains Aquifer is losing its saturation. Not good news for Western Kansas. This was the 1997 map.

A friend of mine was lucky enough to see the Dakota Badlands. It's been a while since my last visit.

A picture of the people lined up in Stockton for a police officer funeral procession.

This picture popped up in my Facebook memories. Wow do I miss my dad and mom. Ten years ago would have been July 2015 - Burton Family Reunion, meal with mom's sister and our family, staying in Hays. And less than a year later afterwards - Dad was gone. 

Random Collection of Pictures June 2025

June was uneventful as far as trips or family meetings. Which is ok because sometimes we need to sit back and enjoy where we are now planted.

I did make a trip to Sparta for the June board of directors meeting for the Tennessee Library Association. Whew - that was a long meeting (contracts, bylaws, etc). Caught a view of a cloud inversion over the Sequatchie Valley on the way to Sparta.

In June, I prepare for Park and Recreation Month by visiting a local park as a focus point.  I chose the Sculpture Fields at Montague Park. I took a few photos of the sculptures for my guide. Also a good view of Lookout Mountain in the background.

 

A random selfie I took while walking on campus

I found this interesting guide to storing condiments.
 

G and I go to Western Sizzlin occasionally in the the next county to our west - which is also in Central Time so we can leave late and still be early for lunch. Here is the view of the Southern Appalachians from the parking lot.

I dug up one of my columns from Tennessee PTA newsletters to share with incoming officers about what I learned about leadership - specifically the differences between leadership and management.

 I ordered more Sandzen note cards from Lindsborg, Kansas. There is a Sandzen gift shop located there.

Father's Day was in June! Got a nice ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins. And G took me on a road I took before from Stevenson, Alabama and over the top of Sand Mountain to Trenton, Georgia. A nice short day trip. I took a bit more time to admire the Snodgrass bridge structure over the Tennessee River near Stevenson.

 

 

I added text to a picture of Teter Rock for my Instagram account. 

The City of Lawrence corrected a wrong and did the right thing - the Sacred Red Rock was returned to the Kaw Nation. Now it took a while to get the stone prepared and moved and reinstalled. The “Sacred Red Rock” is a twenty-eight-ton red, quartzite boulder of long-held spiritual and cultural significance to the people of the Kaw Nation. The stone was moved from its original location to Lawrence in 1929. Now the stone is in Kaw Nation. A picture of Kaw Nation Memorial.

The Kaw Nation Memorial is adjacent to the Flint Hills Trail State Park. The trail was honored as Rails-to-Trails Conservancy's Hall of Fame in August 2025.