Strawberry Picking

On Friday afternoon, we got to leave work early and go strawberry picking at a local farm. It was a beautiful day and a nice relaxing way to start the weekend. My co-worker Jeff took some pics of the outing and I have attached several. The rest of them are here.

Memorial Day BBQ

On Saturday evening of Memorial Day weekend, we had a very informal BBQ at our house, mainly with people from my work who were around for the weekend. It was a beautiful day and everyone brought their dogs, so Willie had playmates. We had a great time- don't you love 3 day weekends?

S'mores!
Bo Jackson, also named after a famous baseball player, and Willie's best friend.

Staci's favorite pic :)

How about a laugh?

This makes me laugh - hope you enjoy it!

Wet nose

We took Willie to Jordan Lake on Friday evening - which gave him an opportunity to do the two things he loves simultaneously - chase tennis balls & swim.

My Great Aunt Evie

The following is an article written about my Great Aunt Evie who is such a special person to me. She has had a very interesting life, this just scratches the surface. She is pictured here with my Grandfather.


Osawatomie native Evelyn Slayman, who served as a military code-breaker during World War II, poses with her brother, John, who was drafted to fight in the conflict. (Photo by Dustin Kass)

From Secretary to Code Breaker, Slayman Embraces Secret Life
By Dustin Kass, dustinKass@miconews.com

For decades, Evelyn Slayman never talked about exactly what she did while serving during World War II. The Osawatomie native never chatted during the war with her roommate, a fellow Woman Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service from Connecticut who worked on secretive activities as well.Evelyn never told her mom exactly what she was doing during her time in Washington, D.C., telling her only she was doing “something like shorthand, only a different kind of shorthand.”

A commendation she earned for her service even came with a note reading, in part, “because of the nature of service provided,” the U.S. Navy requested “no publicity be given upon your receipt” of the honor.It wasn’t until she ran across a book about 20 years ago, 40-plus years after serving, that Evelyn finally opened up about what she did.

After decades in silence, she finally talked about the three years she spent in Washington, helping break the Japanese code during the war.Evelyn was born and raised in Osawatomie, the second of three children born to Catholic parents. Following her high school graduation in 1936, she took a year of secretarial training. She held several different positions before landing a job with the U.S. Department of Agriculture.Then war struck. Evelyn’s brother, John, was drafted, chosen to serve despite having a wife and young child at home. The situation did not sit well with Evelyn, but it also spurred her own involvement.“I thought it was so wrong for him to have to go,” Evelyn said. “But that’s why I decided to go into the Navy. I wanted to help my country.”

Evelyn, just 23 years old, enlisted and soon spent 30 days training in Stillwater, Okla., before traveling to serve in Washington. With her strong secretarial background, she envisioned herself serving as a secretary to an admiral or other high-ranking officer. Instead, Evelyn spent the next three years doing something far more crucial: helping crack Japanese military codes. It was an important job, even if the task wasn’t particularly exciting or glamorous.“It was boring as hell,” Evelyn said. “Here I was doing stuff every day that an 8-year-old could do.”Evelyn and other WAVES worked eight-hour shifts in a building just across the street from the barracks where they lived. Grouped eight women to a table, Evelyn spent six days a week taking papers with five-letter groupings on them and matching up a number with each letter, using the code given at the bottom of each sheet.

As time went on, Evelyn sometimes noticed the names of Pacific islands or other locations in the codes. Even then, though, secrecy was paramount, and she didn’t share the information with any of her coworkers. She instead watched the newspaper to see if the location was mentioned in a battle.“Sometimes, you’d think, ‘We may have helped capture that town,’” she said.Evelyn and the other WAVES didn’t spend all of their time working, taking advantage of living in Washington. They would go to the movies and spend days off shopping. Evelyn and her friend, Ruthie, also particularly liked going dancing.

One night, the pair decided to attend a dance sponsored by elected officials from Missouri. At one point in the night, those gathered started doing a dance called the Paul Jones, where the women form a small circle in the middle of the dance floor, and the men formed a larger circle around them. Both circles move in opposite directions, and, on cue, the men pair up with the women standing before them.At one of the stopping points, Evelyn found herself facing a man a little shorter than her who looked familiar somehow.

After a few moments, she realized her next dance partner was Harry Truman, the Missouri native who was the vice president at the time. When Evelyn describes this brush with history, however, she doesn’t have much good to say about Truman’s efforts on the dance floor that night.“He was a terrible dancer,” Evelyn said, springing to her feet to demonstrate.“I was a pretty good dancer,” she continued, the spry 90-year-old looking into the middle distance as she held an imaginary, and apparently very clumsy, partner. “He had no rhythm in his body whatsoever. I was happy when our turn was over.”It just one of many experiences she treasures from her time in the service. Those experiences still resonate to this day.“I’ve been thankful so many, many times for being able to do it,” Evelyn said.

Masks

(from left to right- Donald Trump, me, George W. Bush, my co-worker Jeff, Simon Cowell)

I am going to Nashville for a work trip today and one of the workshop sessions required some funny mask personalities. We made these at work and thought they were too funny to not take a quick photo.

Friday Night Bulls Game

On Friday night we were lucky enough to be invited to the Bulls Game by Maria & Justin. We had a beautiful night for baseball and Maria & Justin's tickets were in the FRONT ROW! The weather was a bit chilly but the rain held off and made for beautiful sunsets. We had a blast with fun friends -it was a great night.

While we were there we saw two local celebrities, John Edwards and Wool E. Bull (the Durham Bulls mascot). I guess you can see who I waited to get my picture taken with....

Happy Mother's Day

Wishing our moms and all the moms we know a very Happy Mother's Day. It was my first mother's day being Willie's "mom". It's been such a fun nine months. We are so lucky to have Willie as a member of our family.

Ireland - Take 3

Day 5

Killarney, County Kerry

On Wednesday we woke up and left beautiful Cobh to travel to Killarney. On the way, we stopped at the popular desination of Blarney Castle. The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt several times and is currently a partial ruin with some accessible rooms. At the top of the castle lies the Stone of Eloquence, better known as the Blarney Stone. Tourists visiting Blarney Castle may be positioned upside-down and kiss the stone, which is said to give the gift of eloquence. There are many safety precautions, but it is quite high and the positioning definitely made everybody very dizzy. After a long day in the car, we were ready to check into our new B & B and settle in. We walked to dinner in town and enjoyed a great dinner & Irish music at a local pub.

Beautiful Blarney Castle

An outlying building, taken from a window inside the main castle.

Mom asking the "handler" not to drop her :)

My official photo, coming up from kissing the Blarney Stone.

A view from below of the Blarney Stone, you slide all the way down and kiss underneath.

Horse and buggy available for hire in Killarney.

View of the river & bridge from our B&B room in Killarney.

Day 6

Killarney, County Kerry

We took off on Thursday to drive the popular Ring of Kerry. The Ring of Kerry is a tourist trail in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. The route covers the 170 circular road with beautiful scenic views throughout. From breathtaking cliffs & ocean views to gorgeous countryside & quaint towns. We made quite a few "photo opp" stops throughout the day, along with planned stops at Muckross House and Lady's View. We finished the day with a great dinner - one that was voted our most favorite on the trip - The Laurels Pub, Killarney.

One of the many great photo opps.

How cute was this pony carrying the tiny dog?
Shot from the car
Breathtaking view along the Ring of Kerry

Muckross House - this house had 65 rooms! Extensive improvements were undertaken in the 1850s in preparation for the visit of Queen Victoria in 1861. The house and the grounds are now a National Park.

Split tree in the Killarney National Park

Ladies View is a scenic point along the Ring of Kerry. The name apparently stems from the admiration of the view given by Queen Victoria's ladies-in-waiting during their 1861 visit.

Our favorite group dinner - amazing food and authentic pub atmosphere.

Tennis Balls

So, Doug & I try to explain Willie's love of tennis balls. To say he chases them is merely the start. We actually had to ban tennis balls in the house, because he tears through the house to get them. We put them outside in various places and days later he remembers where they are. He dreams about tennis balls. Here is a funny video to show off his obsession. Keep in mind, this was shot after playing fetch for 15 minutes. If you get tired of throwing the ball for him, he just plays by himself. His favorite thing is to drop it on the concrete to see it bounce.

Carolina Jasmine

The Carolina Jasmine that we planted last year really grew up the trellis at our house. Plus, it finally bloomed last week -beautiful!

Family Weekend in KC

Madison & grandma - she is such a monkey.
Madie with her dad.
Madison & Aunt Katie. One of the few times she sat still for a photo op.

This way! Madison with her Great-Grandpa.

My Great-Aunt, Grandma, mom and Madison.
Such a big girl.

We had some quality family time last weekend. My brother Aaron & my niece Madison flew in from California and I flew in from North Carolina. We met in Kansas City for a weekend with Mom because Aaron leaves for a six-month deployment next weekend. It is always great to spend time with family and this was no exception.

Madison is 20 months and getting so big! And it was so much fun to spend some one-on-one time with her. We hung out at home, saw some friends, did some yard work and visited my Grandma, Grandpa and Aunt Evie at the retirement home. As always, weekends so quickly - but I'm so glad I got to spend some time with Aaron before he shipped out.

Madison Singing the ABC's

Aaron, Grandpa John & Madison with a hat trick.

Ireland - Take 2

Day 3

Malahide

We work up early (jet lag is a serious thing) and got on the road. On the way out of town, we visited Malahide Castle. It was a beautiful day and a great way to start our first full day in Ireland.

Malahide Castle

Mom and me in front of the castle

I thought this was so cool, how they grew flowers in the shape of star.

Beautiful entrance to the castles graveyard.

Rock of Cashel

We left the Dublin area and began to travel south. We stopped at the Rock of Cashel, a beautiful historic site on our way to Cobh. We didn't tour the Rock of Cashel, but the beautiful weather provided us a chance to take some photos.

From the car, a dark look at the Rock of Cashel

Statue at the Rock of Cashel

I thought these ladies were so cute, sitting by the Automatic Barrier sign.

One of the older buildings, below the main structure.

View from street level - near the shop.

Cobh (Cove)

Leaving the County Tipperary, we traveled further south to our destination for the night - the seaport town of Cobh in the County Cork. We checked into our B&B, wandered around the town and grabbed dinner at the local hotel. Not many places are open on Mondays in Ireland.

Our luggage in stuffed into the back of our "Minibus".

Cathedral of St. Colman

Beautiful view along the water

Day 4
Cobh

We had another beautiful day to explore the city of Cobh. Cobh has a lot of interesting history, including being the last port of call for the Titanic as well as the closest port to the Lusitania disaster. We had the opportunity to take a walking tour of the city called "The Titanic Trail". We also viewed the beautiful St. Colman's Cathedral and visited the Heritage center which explained the Titanic, Lusitania & coffin ships (refering to the ships that carried Irish emigrants escaping the effects of the potato famine). We ended our day with a drive to Kinsale- a nearby seaport village. We shopped and ate dinner in Kinsale and then went back to Cobh - for our last night in the area.

Immigration Building that processed people leaving on ships - including the Titanic.

Memorial for those lost on the Titanic, dedicated by the only living survivor of the April 15, 1912 disaster. Interestingly enough, we did the tour on April 15, 2008 on the 96th Anniversary of the sinking.

Statue to memorialize the fisherman in nearby villages who saved many aboard the sinking Lusitania.

Aunt Mary, Me and mom outside St. Colman's Cathedral

View of the harbor from above - said to be the second largest natural harbor in the world

Ariel view of the town

Statue on the waterfront of Annie Moore and her brothers. Annie Moore was the first person to be admitted to the United States of America through the new immigration centre at Ellis Island, New York on 1 January, 1892.

Mom & me in Kinsale