Independence — my old house

I used to live here .... on the left side of the house, there's an entrance, which is where my apartment was during my time in Independence. Of course, the house was a DIFFERENT color. It was a minty green, so to see it during our recent trip, it was a SHOCK to say the least.

Oh, and that big picture window in the front .... DRAFTY. I woke up one winter and felt a BREEZE coming through the window toward my bed. Ugh. LOVED the look of the house + its character. Un-loved the drafty/uninsulated walls, though!


We went up and looked around (I don't think anyone was living there at the time). When I saw this was still there, I got sort of excited. I added that when I lived there 4 years ago. And my touch still lives!


I don't have a photo of the exterior handy, but see the Boog there? By my little bitty flower bed. You can also see a *little* of the light green color ... but not as much.

Independence — random factoids + the park

The wall along the cemetery is also another Depression project .... workers got creative, though. THey put people in the wall. I think there's even a horse somewhere.

But I must admit, Erik was not as thrilled with/entertained by the wall as I was .....

BUT he loved the monkeys!


The first monkey from space .... originated from Indy.






The park also has cement animals ... sort of interesting. :) I think I once took a photo of a kid sticking his face into the alligator's mouth...

Erik took that tortise foe a ride, though!!!


I was certainly thirsty!!!!!!




This is also interesting ... Lillie's Quilts used to be located in Sedan, but everyone from Indy went to Sedan to go to the shop, and so it was moved to Indy. Niiiiice. :)

Elk Falls — Pay Phone

How long has it been since you've seen one of these bad boys? Seriously .... think about it. And how long has it been since you actually USED a pay phone? My last time was probably in high school.


Erik couldn't resist looking at the number and calling, just to see if it worked. So he called and talked with Miss Susie. He said "Can you hear me?" and of course she COULD because he was standing 3 feet away. Silly GOOSE!


And also ... the variety theater .... looks like the place has seen better days. Poor lonely building!

Elk Falls — Odds + Ends

There's this super-cute little pottery studio. If you're ever in Elk Falls, you gotta stop by!




We saw this chair on the way to the studio. On it, it said "crime scene." Not sure what that's all about ..... but funny, I guess.


Then, they took us over to their new farm area .... I didn't even know the place was there!!!!! It was very interesting!


Beautiful, eh?


This old piano was hanging out in the house, which really showed its age. But they're going to totally re-do it and I will want to check back in a few years when it's ready. :)


The main reason we wanted to go here was b/c the lady who lived there had people in the depression commissioned to make these concrete animals and other things in the yard. It's REALLY interesting.






I gotta say, the little toenails were pretty adorable. Clever, eh?


This is a fun fact: when this was made, it contained a rock from each of the states in the US. They were even labeled at one point .... but some of the rocks have grown legs and walked off .... :(


Beautiful, colorful flowers!


Seriously interesting looking tree. I bet it's awesome for tree climbing!


Interesting little detail.


They put in a bathroom in the barn ... isn't that faucet/sink combo awesome?!?!?!??


The back wall of the barn was repaired from reclaimed wood from other buildings around the place. I love the color .... and that it re-used it. :)


Grabbed this quick pic of the 'high school gym' ... for people who have never been in Southeast Kansas ... it's just a whole other country down there. ;)

Elk Falls — Outhouse Capital of Kansas :)

Well, on our way down to Independence, I insisted we stop in Elk Falls, the outhouse capital of Kansas.

Laugh if you will ... but it's true. They tell me it's a self-proclaimed title, but no one else is exactly claiming it.

The "official" tour is the weekend before Thanksgiving. So at the end of June, we were a *bit* out of season. Oops. Anyhow, if you have time and are interested, check it out in the fall.

In the meantime, here are a few of the outhouses that we checked out.


The postal outhouse is always pretty amusing. :)


I laughed SO hard when I saw this sign .....

Erik made the comment 'all these outhouses and no public restroom in this town' .... I think Erik had to take a leak and leaked in this actual outhouse. ;)


I think this is from the phone company. Cute!


HA!


And the insides are decorated, too! :)


This was new since my last visit about 5 years ago.


tee-hee-hee

Speaking of Indy ....

So, as I said, living in Independence was a fairly lonely experience for me. I'll talk more about that later ..... but today I want to encourage you to vote for good old Indy. Why? They are one of the top 10 tennis towns in the country, and they want to be No. 1.

Having lived there, I can attest that this town is GAGA for tennis. And I think all of the other cities up for the title are BIG places .... Independence has probably 8,000 people in the entire town. C'mon, root for the underdog!

To vote, CLICK HERE. You will have to give them your e-mail, and confirm the vote from your e-mail.

Thanks!

NOTE: I have a TON of posts about our trip to Indy, so I'll probably be making 2 posts/day. Can you handle that?

# 90 — Visit Miss Susie in Independence

YAY! Glad to knock one off the 101 in 1001 list!!!!!

I have a LOT more to share about our trip to Independence .... but there are 180 photos to go through and prep for putting on this blog. :)

The reason I wanted to go visit Miss Susie is that I lived in Indy for more than 2 years .... and guess what, folks? It gets LONELY down in the southeast corner of the state. Heck, I even felt that way out in Hays. My friends + family are so far away ... so I like living where we are, because I'm close enough that I get visitors more frequently. :)

Slacking on blog posts!

Sorry all!

I have more updates to make on my 101 in 1001 list, but life is busy right now ... so just know I'm aware of my slacker status. Tonight I should have more time to pre-write some blog posts for the upcoming days.

I'm also on "baby watch" for my friend. I'll be documenting the birth of baby ... if the little one ever decides to make an appearance!!!!!

In other news, my sister's wedding album JUST showed up. I can hardly WAIT to post about it on the Heartland blog (early next week).



Also, have another album design done! On the Heartland Blog NOW! :)

C'mon ..... share, share, share!

Ok all ..... the short story is Erik and I are in the market for a "nused" vehicle (new to us, but used).

We have some ideas about cars that apeal to us ... but we are looking for a site of some sort that gives reviews about different makes/models of cars. Anyone have a site or reference for us to use? Please leave a comment and we'll love you forever!!!! :)



In other news, I (KAREN!!!!!!) tore down a portion of the wall between our kitchen and dining room. It has opened the space up IMMENSELY! Yes, I checked and it wasn't a load-bearing wall. Yes, there was electricity in it. Yes, I used a sawsall (it was SOOOO empowering). Erik helped by holding a 2x4 so I could saw through it .... oh, and he suggested a better location to re-locate the light switch to. He's a great help! :)

I *did* take photos, but am exhausted after spending 40 minutes worth of moving rock yesterday afternoon. So you'll just have to wait on photos. Sorry, y'all!

#46 — Keep my car clean (i.e. no junk rattling around in the back seat/on the floor) for 3 months}

.... CHEEEEEECK!!!!!!!!

Wow. This has been a long 3 months! Why did I ever make it for 3 months? Why not just for a month? Anyhow, throwing JUNK/TRASH over my shoulder was SUCH a habit ... my car looked like a landfill. But now I'm in a better habit of putting my trashin my purse-like-bag. So now IT'S a landfill! ;) Just kidding.

Glad to check this off of the 101 in 1001 list. Woo-hoo! 38 items checked off this list now! :)

I'm currently on "baby watch" waiting for a friend to go into labor ... so then I can check off #52.