My beautiful grandchildren

I am surprised this is still up and available since I have not used it in a long time. I, however, have now decided it is a great way to show pictures of beautiful grandchildren!

Three days of Christmas

Stockings all ready for Santa Nana

Ski jump master

Truman is home

Sledding is still king on Jill Ann Dr.

All the presents are open and let the fun begin anew.

Stockings are ready to "open"

Lana's first White Christmas

Mistake of a picture and I do not know how to delete. Truman

is in Kiersten's hands and Kellen trying to tempt him with his toy.

Christmas begins-----

Maybe our Christmas adventure began this year on Tuesday, December 15th. Lauren and Jamie took a trip two hours north of here to see a woman about a dog. Not just any dog, but a non-allergenic, non-shedding, little bitty dog. Lauren wanted to pick out the perfect one, not just look at a picture on the Internet. It is a hava-poo, or some such spelling. They chose the dog, came home without it so the kids would not suspect. The second part of the venture was carried out December 19th when the dog was obtained. Lana and Abby drove back to the lady's house and actually got the puppy. Lana, Abby, and puppy then spent the night at Patty's. The puppy Foster slept on the couch cuddled up with Jacob's girlfriend, Kaitlyn. Lana and Nathan then brought the puppy to my house while they went to church on Sunday, as we were all going to Patty's----this puppy took a lot of work to hide. The puppy spent the week before Christmas with Lana and Nathan. (If anyone is getting the idea that Jamie was or is sold on this dog, you are very wrong. He is warming up to him, but although he was part of the process, he was not a willing part. And according to Lana's accounts the dog probably thinks it's name is "D--- it", as Nathan loudly proclaimed that phrase when the puppy misused the bathroom.) And now our story comes to Christmas Eve.

Lana and Nate came to my house to help prepare our Christmas Eve feast. Lana had a scrumptous recipe for pork roast and cranberries. While Lana and I cooked, Nathan did some of the various tasks I had for him. The dog, which Lana and I decided to call Dasher, was everywhere-----he loves people. As a result he had several near death experiences, he is very small. The four of us had a great time, and then it was time for Lauren's family to come here---thus Dasher had to be taken away to Lauren's house to stay until the Fosters left my house. Everyone got here. All this time it was raining---the rain of torrents and gobs, but in Knob it was still 45degrees. We ate and ate and played games and enjoyed each other very much. At 5:30 we stopped to get dressed for pictures and Christmas Eve service. The children are old enough that the pictures went very well, only two of the adult males made faces. Then we all left for church, where Kiersten had a solo to sing and Jamie and I had a reading. Not as many people as usual came, but there was still a good crowd. Kiersten did a great job, Jamie and I were adequate. The temperature at the time we left church was 32, but still raining. We had the usual party here after services, minus a few people who were out of town----all of which called while everyone was here. We again ate and enjoyed until 9:05 when we heard the ice hit the kitchen windows. People left in rather a hurry. With just the family left the grandchildren read the Christmas story then------Lana and Nathan sneaked away to retrieve Dasher, and Leslie's family left to go to Clinton. I was not so happy about that, but Scott assured me he would be fine driving. Lauren and Jamie helped clean some, so we could stall for Dasher's departure and arrival. One group left and the dog and two came home. After filling socks, listening to the sleet hit the window, we all settled down for a worrisome winter's nap.

I woke up about 3:30, looked out the window to see beautiful snow falling---not any longer sleet. As I was looking at the snow, I saw two deer going between my house and the neighbor's. They were amazing. The snow gives that kind of soft light and glow to everything so that the deer really looked magical. I went to my other window to look in the backyard and there were five deer just standing around my huge cedar tree---a wonderful sight. I almost woke up Nathan and Lana it was so wonderful. Morning came with a text message, "We are up and starting." Meaning we needed to box up the dog and get on our way to Lauren's with the "best" present of Kiersten's and Kellen's Christmas. We bundled up----Dasher had his sweater on, and we were off in the snow and ice. The two children obviously were thrilled beyond my telling. However, although several people had what we thought were great names for the dog, Dasher, Bailey, Rudolph etc., Kiersten and Kellen had their own idea and took 20 seconds to decide on Truman. Truman romped, and he was in his home. What a day and it was only 8:30am.

The three of us came back here to warm the Wassail, make coffee and start a fire. Starting a fire was by far the hardest, as all the wood was beyond wet. Leslie's family made it back, although Leslie said she could not have driven, Lauren's family with Truman got here and we started the stocking opening. From there we moved to the upstairs gifts, then downstairs. It took us two hours and I loved every minute of it. We did not have that many gifts, but we go really slow and take lots of cinnamon roll breaks. We played, ate and went sledding. No one was out, but us. It snowed the whole time, and the street was once again a sledder's paradise. It was so cold, but just the perfect day. This was Lana's first White Christmas! Once we came in, we ate some more, then played the dice game. By then the kids were anxious to go to their house to play the new Wii Fit. So we all moved to Lauren's. I actually got better at the ski jump thing, but I did not try the Wii sing. ( Patty and Kathy had decided early Christmas morning to postpone our Chirstmas here until the 26th, they thought the roads would be better. The only thing wrong with this was Staci's family did not get to come. She was going to be with us for the first time in nine years. She did go to Kathy's on Christmas day so that was good for everyone, the cousins were just not together. ) Leslie and I came back here to tidy my house and get things ready for more Christmas the next day. Lana, Nate and all the grandchildren stayed at Lauren's. Lauren and Jamie got even more company about 10 Christmas night when one of her friends came with husband and two children to spend the night. They were at a Grandmother's house when the electricity went off and they needed a warm place to stay.

December 26th was our third day of Christmas, and produced a beautiful all day snow. Patty's family and Kathy and Kevin came anyway. All of my family was back, plus Truman. Again we ate, opened presents, played "silly Santa", exchanged our girl gifts and some of the older kids and all of the younger kids went sledding twice. Which meant we needed more warm things to drink and eat. Kathy and Kevin had to leave, but Patty's family and mine played "Scum"---a card game that has some interesting social meanings? Lana thought the rules vastly unfair. Finally it was time for everyone to leave. Sad for me, but all good things------and this Christmas was the very best of things!

But the story was not over. I was about to finish picking up and cleaning the salt and dirt off of the various parts of the house (sledding is also messy), when Lana called to say they were locked out of their house, and coming back to get their keys. Lana and Nathan had planned to leave Sunday for Oklahoma for her family's Christmas---so they took my car and went home to unpack and repack. Only they left all their keys here with their car. (I am afraid this follows a long line of family key-misplacers. Wayne and I were locked out of more than one house, always with strange consequences. Jamie has crawled in head first through a garage window many a time in their old house. It is a family curse, I am sure.) Shortly there after Lana called to say they were now stuck in their driveway in four foot drifts. Their landlord had tried to come help them, but he went in the ditch at his house. Jamie to the rescue. Jamie came here to get the keys, two Mountain Dews and a shovel. The original plan was to free them, get them in to repack then they would come here to spend a night and go to Oklahoma Sunday. The actual plan evolved into freeing them, they repacked and drove to Oklahoma---leaving right away Saturday night. Children never stop worrying me.

Children and everlasting pets

Creativity on a rainy day

State Park Fun

Everyone who has been blessed with children and pets knows the pattern----children may grow up and leave, their pets remain with you forever. Not only that, but often when your dear ones acquire independence and a new pet, that pet comes to live with you eventually. This has happened to my sister twice, with Peter the cat and Ellie Mae the dog. Ellie Mae came from an even stranger route than usual, but the final result is Patty's youngest child came driving in her driveway with Ellie Mae. The dog is friendly and enthusiastic whose main past time seems to be sitting in the middle of their busy street. I think she just wants to make new friends. However, we all find it somewhat amazing that she is still alive and not the relative thickness of pancake. People stop, honk, curse and the police have even turned on a siren trying to encourage her to move. This dangerous trait, plus her frequent night barking, finally drove my brother-in-law to a desperate plan. I went to their home last weekend, and there in the yard was a large homemade sign with the words FREE DOG printed on it. Now we all laughed at this idea---who would stop, on a whim, to take a dog. He reasoned that anything they have put out for the garbage, that was remotely useful, got taken by someone. We still laughed, we were sure no one would stop. We were wrong---someone stopped. To be fair they did not take the dog, but someone stopped! Maybe this week Ellie Mae will be someone else's headache. Meanwhile, I have two cats who need a new home, I think I need a sign----TWO FREE CATS--TAKE ONE OR BOTH.

My other animal encounter this week was with a small frog which is now deceased. It was getting cooler so I attempted to shut my front casement window. I wound it shut only to have it stop short of shut. Since the windows are as old as the house, I was concerned this one was truly broken. I was already calculating the budget for a new one. Then I cranked it open just to try again, and a three inch bloody frog dropped from the top of the window. Briefly a small foot clung to the window sill then dropped with a slight thud on the ground. It was creepy. I was afraid to go outside to look in case frog parts were everywhere. When I finally did look the next morning, all I could see in the vines was a belly up frog. Eccccc!

The leaves are turning, the air is clear and almost crisp. My favorite time of the year. Today we have had a whole day of rain and slight thunder. A most pleasant day, since I had no school and two of my grandchildren here to play. I just hope the unwanted creatures of the world stay outside and off my window, and give me a chance to enjoy all the beauty of autumn. (Yes, and does anyone want two cats---one or both? And yes these two cats came via my children!)

The End of Summer

Is it wading or swimming? cousins

Creek wading trip on the old bridge near Poppy's

BFF's Bryce and Kellen

Our trip to the city for lunch, wonderful! Me,

Lana, Heather, Patty, Kathy and Aunt Peggy

The National Zoo!

What happened? How can summer be over, before I think it ever began? Tomorrow school starts. Today is the last day of morning deck sitting, late nights, late risings, squirrel chasing, bird watching, playing with grandchildren, wading in the creek, swimming, random sitting, and oh so many luxuries. How did the end come so soon? Yes, I know there will be more times of fun and maybe even some fun normally connected with summer activities, but for actual reason---summer is done when school starts. I like my job, but come on it is August 12! We, I, need more time. Ok, so all that said, I am trying to change my attitude---right now.

I have a few left over summer musings. I just heard a little news type ditty the other day talking about a toaster convention. I am so telling the truth. What do they do? I do not see any thing that interesting about collecting toasters, but some must love it? I will admit it makes the Barbie people we met seem way smarter. We did have, and heard, even more strange conversations when we were at the hotel in Washington. Keep in mind there were people from ServPro there and Barbie doll collectors. So we heard people talking about dolls priced at $5000 and other groups talking about the worst mess they had ever cleaned after. (I think the one that won the prize in our estimation, was the ServPro woman telling in detail about cleaning up after a death in a bath tub---left undiscovered for five days.) Groups of dressed up over the top collectors telling of their many trips around the world to idolize Barbie, and then workers telling of horrendous loses people have in a fire. We were serenaded by the group from France singing "You talk too much" in French. They assured us they were just singing that because it was the only song they all knew the words to, we were not sure that was true. We were inundated with green for ServPro and bright pink for the Barbies. All of this was fun to watch, if not always to listen to-----but toaster conventions? What is there? Pop up or oven?

Last week in the Item there was this from the Police Beat (a very comical source of entertainment in our paper). " Trespass warnings, 200 block of S State. Officer warned a group of adult subjects to stay off the railroad tracks when trains are running." I consider that darn good advice! I'll put it right up there with the directions on a lawn mower-----"Do not place hands or feet under blade when blade is in motion." Or those on a hair dryer-----the ones that have a picture of a shower and a line through that. Expressing the idea we should never dry our hair while showering. Again, a good idea. Also during a recent shark week advertisement, I heard a man answer the question, "How do you dive for shark research and stay safe?" The shark hunter replied, of course, "You stay out of the shark's mouth." Wow what logic we need to be reminded of to stay safe.

So here I am anxious to go to school. See, I changed my attitude. Wondering how I will manage to get all these tidbits of info while at school, or how will my birds get any food, or how in the world will I wake up at 6:30, but excited to see my students and go forth to help them learn. Right?!

Back Yard Thoughts

I love my deck and backyard. It is not really very well landscaped, it is a hodge-podge of over growth and deer food flowers, but I like it. I love all the birds that live in the various over-grown trees, but these squirrels are still getting on my nerves. I really enjoy sitting on the deck, drinking coffee and reading in the morning. The birds sing, the air is usually nice and fragrant and the squirrels walk right up on the deck by me to the bird feed. Seriously! Since Annie the dog is living somewhere else, I am combating the squirrels all by myself and losing. I have started taking a spoon out with me and banging it on the railings. Usually that causes them to sail away, but not always. I think my neighbors are convinced I have lost my mind. I came to a conclusion yesterday. I am going to stop fighting this battle and just buy more birdseed. The birds and I just need some peace.

Also yesterday, as I was listening to the news for really the first time in a few days, I heard an interview with Pat Buchannan-----He is definitely an idiot and a bigot. I just needed to say that.

Washington DC

We are back from Washington DC with 500 pictures taken, lots of dirty clothes, tired feet, and a mind full of impressions. It was a wonderful trip, everything went perfectly and the weather cooperated. The only disappointment was Obama's absence from DC . I am reasonably sure he wanted to meet me, but his Presidential obligations got in the way.

Two observations of things that surprised me in the City proper. The first is how amazingly long the mall is from the Capitol to the Lincoln Memorial. It must be 30 blocks. With that ,the Mall needs a serious grass enhancement program. To be fair, there obviously are a lot of events on the lawns. They were just cleaning up from the Fourth of July and getting ready for a Folk Festival. So I imagine growing grass is a nightmare. We walked all 20 miles at least three times during the week, well at least it felt like it was that far.

The second surprise was how far the National Cathedral is from everything else. I always thought it was right down town, but it is high on a hill two or three miles from the rest of the impressive buildings. Everything else was as I had imagined. It does not take a lot of imagination as we see the Capitol every day on television, but seeing it in 3 dimension is such a thrill. And, OH my heavens, the history there!

The metro is interesting. We saw the longest escalator ever, and people run up and down all of the escalators. Those of us who use the escalators as a resting time have to stand to the right, or be flattened by the physically fit crowd. The most difficult part of the metro is buying tickets. After 20 minutes, three DC natives' advice, the metro helper's patience, and lots of money, we all bought our week passes. Every time we went on the metro, we saw groups of tourists starring quizzically at the ticket machines until some local came to help. As you enter the actual turn style, you place your hard won ticket in a slot and it is immediately sucked up. This startled and worried me as I thought I had lost my chance to ride before we ever started. The ticket does pop up in another place. (This became my favorite part of the subway ride.) I do not like being underground. I want to see the sun.

We loved seeing the White House. Being in those rooms is weird and surreal. I wish I could think of better adjectives. All of the rooms are a little smaller than I believed, but so wonderful to see.

The guides and security people were very nice and amusing. I am thinking they say so much of the same things, nothing is really new, but to us it was fun. One of the official men downstairs was asking another why the screen was up, as the Obamas were not "at home", so it is usually down then. To which another asked, "So, has anyone walked the first dog today?" Patty was relating this story to another fellow visitor upstairs when a security guard-guide heard her and said, "Don't you believe it. We do not take that dog out. We leave him upstairs with a big bowl of water, food and a wee pad," Sure they do. I wish we could have taken pictures. Just seeing all the portraits was worth the visit.

Two observations about the Archives. The Declaration of Independence is nearly faded to nothing. One of the people there said it is because it was taken around a lot in the old days, and no one thought to keep it out of sun light. The Constitution, really only written a few years later, is totally legible. The second surprise, I evidently did not listen closely in history classes, is that our First Amendment was actually the third one of the originally proposed. There were a lot of other interesting exhibits in the Archives. I got to listen to an actual recorded conversation between John Kennedy and the Governor of Alabama about an upcoming desegregation confrontation and whether Kennedy could count on the Alabama's local police, or whether he should call in the National Guard for protection. It was almost creepy and yet intriguing.

The Capitol is huge, of course, and impressive inside and out. Every state gets to have two statues on display in the Capitol building. States can replace one if they choose, but only two at a time will be kept on display. Missouri's are Thomas Hart Benton and one of the Blairs. Evidently, there has long been talk of sending Truman's statue to replace Blair. I would think. The Presidents get to be in the Rotunda, while every other State Statue may be any place in the building.

Mt Vernon needs a whole day to visit, we had three hours. It is not just the amazing house with 10 bedrooms, but the views, and the massive grounds. George Washington had 635 over night guests the year after he left the Presidency. It is no wonder he needed 10 bedrooms. I would have wanted to spend all my time just looking out at the Potomac.

We saw in the five days------ The Capitol and White House (inside and around),2500 statues, the Smithsonian's Castle, a number of the other Smithsonian's including the Zoo, and the Archives. We also saw the Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, WW II, Korean , and Vietnam Monuments and Memorials. We saw the Supreme Court, the Library of Congress, the National Cathedral, and the Old Post Office with bell tower. Then we saw the Potomac, Mt Vernon, Alexandria, George Town, Embassy Row and the Arlington National Cemetery. I think we did all we could possibly do in just five days. We walked somewhere between 25 and 275 miles and heard 3000 sirens (all the sirens seemed to be going nowhere for no reason.) I could not have imagined the whole week to have been any better then it was.

The Barbies

These are a few Barbie Pictures----Seriously. Some of the pictures of the people are not great. I hated to ask them to stop so I could get a good picture. It would have been as if I were saying, "No one will believe this, please stop and let me take a picture!"

We were entertained nightly by "the Barbie's". I never gave a possibility of a Barbie conventiona a thought, ever. Evidently the Barbies meet once a year to have a gala, and the attendance has to be LIMITED to 1000. (Most years 800, but this is the 50th anniversary, so they upped the limit.)

I am not making this up---in fact I am pretty sure I do not write well enough to convey the intensity these people have for the shapley doll we call Barbie. They came from all over the world---Australia, France, Japan, England, Italy--just to honor this doll. They had a Barbie van, Barbie Beetle complete with a trunk that opened to become a make-up kit, a Barbie surf board, a Barbie bike, and a life-size Barbie dressed in a pink formal. They sold Barbie accessories, traded dolls, displayed treasures, and were awarded new Barbies every night. They had t-shirts, jackets, dresses, purses, hats, tote bags, shoes, flip-flops, sunglasses, and more with the Barbie logo on them.

They were not all women---there were a lot of men attending also. (Some were husbands--others were collectors?) At night they always had a "gala" and many would dress up. We saw a bride, a witch, a Supreme Court justice, men dressed like preppy Ken, women in Barbie suits, Hawaiian Barbie, Japanese Barbie, and 3 adults dressed in polk-a-dotted garb complete with Mickey Mouse ears. I will say again --- I am not making this up.

We saw women sitting at the bar with their Barbies standing (with aide of a stand) on the bar beside them. We met a young man from France who said he works for a TV station and has a Barbie sitting on his desk, so everyone knows he is a collector. He claimed that "Barbie has taken him to interesting spots for conventions, that he would not have otherwise seen." We agreed, although we did not tell him, that unless Barbie was paying for the trips, he could have gone to all these places without lugging a doll along. He seemed to be having a wonderful time with his six other French friends. So maybe it is a way to travel with companions instead of by himself?

They evidently gave prizes and awards because we saw people showing others what appeared to special stuff. Also, there was this one woman people kept saying "Congratulations" to. She would always reply, " Oh, thank-you, I am so happy." After observing her a few times, we are not quite sure whether she was heavily bo-toxed woman or a former man. Whichever, she was very happy.

All of these people were very nice and definitely enjoying themselves. The Fed-Ex and UPS people were kept busy coming to get loot that the conventioneers were already sending home, and we missed the last big hoop-la, where they were bound to get more. We were sad to miss the Saturday night entertainment. They were to have a musical extravaganza, complete with a few broadway performers. The songs were, of course, to feature Barbie in the 50's. This is all true, I promise!