Our Winter

There is one thing nice about living in Las Vegas for the winter, it doesn't have snow.  A few years back I made a discovery, winter is nice when it is less than a month long.  I came to this realization the year we flew from California to attend our son's graduation in Indiana, celebrate Christmas, helped him and his wife move to DC, then drove to West Point for New Years and some play in the snow with grand kids.  After about three weeks, we flew back to California.  That was a nice length for winter.

So this year we flew to north NY to spend Christmas and a New Years trip to West Point.  There was a skiff of snow when we arrived on the  19th.  This is what it was like on the 21st.  Of course By had to make a snowman.  It was heavy, wet snow so it packed well.

 

 Above is what their tree out front looked like after the first snow storm and then below after the second storm on Christmas and more snow with some drifting on Wed. night.

This is his snowman now.

They are on the right side of the duplex.

By and his new cross country skies, fist time out.

With coming here I can get my fix of cold and snow, reminding me of my childhood, and then after three weeks go back to warmer climes.  That is about the right length of winter.

Travel/Road Signs

I have been trying to get this posted, but due to first no internet and then slow interned that wouldn't upload pictures, it is much later now.  But here it is.


As we were traveling south we saw lots of desert, sage brush, and open spaces.  We also came across this sign.  Can you make out what the sign did say?  We thought it was pretty funny.

 

There were several old trees here with some very rough bark.  I knew that you would have liked this Susan, so this is for you.

 

  

In case you couldn't read the sign above it said Extraterrestrial  Highway.  If you would like to know how it got this name you can check it out here https://www.google.com/search?q=extraterrestrial+highway+sign&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

New Woman

The other day B came home with a new woman.

This one only uses one crutch.

This one showers without a stool.

This one gets in and out of the truck without a step stool.

This one even looks different......
.
.
.
.
.
.

.

Thanks, Good, and Bad

Sometimes one is not sure why things happen the way they do.  It is almost like when things are going well, that isn't good, and when they are bad it turns out good.  That could be said about past happenings for me.

To start, our son and daughter-in-law, W and C were looking for a small home, not one almost the size of the one he grew up in.  However, they ended up buying one like the latter.  So then they were wanting to get it painted so that they could move in.  That may seem bad, but we were there and able to help them.  That may sound good, but on the second day of our help, I fell and broke my arm and leg.  Now that may sound as bad as it felt, but I received some excellent care.  Upon discharge from rehab I had a place to go.  Remember that a fore mentioned home.  It only had three steps for a wheel chair ramp to go up and over.  And the house was such that a wheel chair could get around in it.  One can not understand what a blessing this was for me unless they have been in a similar situation.  Now that was bad and good.  We had joked with C about living across the street from your in-laws, not guessing that we would be living under the same roof.  If they had not chosen that home, thing may have been different, in fact, this whole story may have been different.

I want to thank each and every person who helped and supported me in one way or the other through this.  I thank those who sent me cards and gifts, for those who helped me when I couldn't help myself; for having dessert before the main course when ice cream was brought by W and C; for a computer to have in my room at rehab, for phone calls; and for visits, by G, M, and Mundchin as well as others.  I thank my husband for all the things he did and is still doing for me as I mend.  Thanks to the part that each of  you have played in helping me through this.  And thanks to our Heavenly Father who looks after each of us, helping bad or unpleasant things turn out well.

My View

You may already know that when I was released from the hospital following the second surgery, I had a new companion.  This is my view of it.  Originally it was containing a much more swollen leg.

You may notice all the straps.  That is so that it can be tightened to hold my leg in a firm clasp.  They say that this is to support my weight while the bone heals.  Now, I can only put forty pounds on it.  I'm not sure that justifies all this:

•  Loss of circulation to the foot, which now swells more.
•  Soreness around the ankle from the brace sliding down onto it.
•  Pokes and rubs to various tendons and bony surfaces.
•  Added weight to my leg to drag around.

I do say that it does have one good point -- it is removable.  That allows being able to get into the shower and also allows access to areas that itch.

However, from my point of view, the dear Lord never meant for us to be crustaceans.

Thunder Over Louisville

Thunder Over Louisville is the kick-off for the two week long festivities leading up to the Derby.  Now some of you may say that it is just a horse race, but to people from around here, it is way more than just a horse race.  To them it is not just a national event, it is an inter-national event as other countries also have horses entered in the Running of the Roses.  So, with that said, you can bet that the kick-off is a big event.

Unfortunately this past Saturday was heavy overcast for the whole day and in the low fifties, upper forties.  But that didn't stop thousands, yes thousands, from watching.

It started at 2:00 with an air show that lasted until 9:30 when the fire works began. The ceiling was low so the planes didn't get to do all of the things that they would have if the weather had been better.  People lined both the Kentucky and Indiana sides of the Ohio.  The river was the stage.  We watched part of the air show on TV. 

Things that I thought were neat were first a Harrier that came in, hovered over the river about two hundred feet up.  You could see the water being blown.  Then it turned in a circle like a helicopter.  When it was done, it took off like the jet that it is.  Secondly was seeing the Stealth.  However, the neatest part was when it flew in formation with a B 27.  I was surprised that it could fly slow enough.  It was neat to see the two top ships of their times flying together in formation.  Third there were two bi-planes that did some neat flying together and performing stunts together.  Fourth was after dark and as we were walking to the river.  It was a flight of WW11 planes in formation of a cross.  You could only see them because of the lights on the planes.

We decided to try and watch the fire works as every one kept telling us how good it was.  The story is that it is the largest in the US.  After seeing it, I can believe it.  Be sure to turn your volume all the way up to get an idea of what it was really like.  The whole time my chest was pounded.

We drove most of the way and then walked the rest, about a mile or more.  We thought that we could maybe be up on the levee but the trees along the river would still have been blocking the view.  We ended up following some others that went down through the trees and into an area that had driftwood all over.  We found a clearing with just a few bushes and watched from there.  The fireworks was set up on the second street bridge and barges at the ends of the bridge on both sides of the river.  There were no pauses in the show and it went on for almost thirty minutes.

Since they have changed the program some I had fun posting the videos.  I hope they work for you.  If not, let me know.

   

This was their grand finale!

These are just some other shots of it.

At one time it looked like a water falls going off of the bridge.  My picture of it didn't turn out very good.  This was after it was over and the smoke was drifting toward Louisville.  You can see the bridge and get an idea of how much there was. 

Down to Tennessee

Last week we took a side trip down to see B's brother, wife, and their family. W and C went with us. W was a kid the last time he saw them.

We had a nice visit and got to become acquainted with the newest member of their family, Mundchen. She is a three month old, very gentle and laid back mastiff.

While there G and M took us to the University of the South at Swanee and to Raccoon Mountain.

On Raccoon Mountain they pump water from the Tennessee river up into a man made lake at the top of a mountain. They then use the water to generate electricity during peak demand time by releasing it back down to the river through turbines.

I love the sand stone that is all around the campus at the University. Last time when we were there, I said that if we were to ever build a house, I would want some in my entry way. This is an arch in the church that is built of it. Most of the buildings are also built of this stone.



To me it looks like wood grain in the stone.

This is the outside of another building on campus. All of the buildings have a castle style to them.


We were up on the roof of a first floor. Notice the wall that looks like the top of a castle with cuts for defense. The stones were all hand hewn.

G and M took Mundchen for a walk while we went into some of the buildings. We came back and met up with them. You can put your own captions to these pictures.


We had a great time and thank G and M for the nice time. We always enjoy visiting them.