Gobble, Gobble...

On my way to work today I ran into a traffic stoppage. At first I couldn't see what the holdup was, but then they appeared. Turkeys - about a dozen of them. Most of them were toms and they were in full regalia. They were so cool!!! I stopped and tried to get a couple of pictures. They aren't the best, and I didn't catch them with their tail feathers displayed, but I thought I would like to share them with my "loyal readers".

A weekend in Idaho...

We went to Idaho this past weekend to see Alyson, Jim, Lily and Grace. The main reason for going was so that everyone could go skiing on Monday and I could get some alone time with the grandgirls. Devious, aren't I?????

On Friday nite we went to a place called Triple Play, which is an arcade/swimming pool/bowling alley. We had a great time for only $5.00!! I even got to play Skiball - my all-time favorite arcade game.

Lily and Alyson were honing their shooting skills.

Here is Jim honing a different type of shooting skills. As an aside - he is phenomenal at this!!!

Lily chose to use her last token to take a short drive.

Grace seemed thoroughly unimpressed by the whole thing.


On Saturday we drove down to Moscow to visit Bruce's brother, Don and his wife Vicki. The girls had a great time playing with the toys, and the adults had a great time playing with guns.



Lily didn't much like the noise of the guns.

On Monday, I watched the girls all by myself. Everything went very smoothly. I learned a couple of things about my granddaughters. One is that Lily is an extremely polite two year old. She always said please and thank you. The other, is that Grace loves to eat. I fed her three bowls of oatmeal & applesauce and two bottles. She's a growing girl!!! Also, she is very close to crawling. I tried, but we didn't quite master it while I was there.

Here are a few gratuitous pictures of the cutest grandkids in the world.



And one of the silliest Geezer in the world!!



We always love time spent with the kids. It makes us smile!!!

The Big 54???

I don't know if 54 is big or not, but it beats the alternative. Saturday was my birthday and I had a fantastic day. In fact, I had a fantastic weekend. Starting with Friday night, we went to dinner with several friends then went to see a local production of "Hairspray". Both the dinner and the play were fantastic!

On Saturday, we went to breakfast with three other couples - some of our most cherished friends - and had a wonderful time of fellowship.

The afternoon was spent cleaning up from the installation of our new flooring.

Here is our new laminate tile. We did the entry, down the hall to the dining area and the kitchen.



Maybe next year, I will do the countertops.

Continuing with our weekend...

Saturday night we went to some friends' house for a pre-Valentine's day party. There were 8 couples and we played the Newlywed game. I don't remember when I have laughed so much.

Here are a couple of pictures of the two sets of contestants.


Then, to cap off our weekend, after our small group study on Sunday afternoon, we had several people over for a Super Bowl party. None of us were die-hard Steelers or Packers fans, but in our house we were Cheeseheads this weekend in honor of our son Clayton. Go Pack!!!

So there you have it, a recap of the best birthday ever - spent with friends and family. The only thing that could have improved it would have been having my kids here, but I know they were here in spirit.

Thanks to everyone who made my day - dare I say, weekend - so very special. Here's to 54 more!!!

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRR...

Well, little was I to know that the warmest days of the winter would be followed with the coldest. Today's high is supposed to be -4. (yes that's right folks, that is a negative sign in front of that single digit!!!) Oh well, we are to be grateful in everything.



Let's see...I am grateful it isn't -50!!!



It is supposed to warm up by the end of the week, and I must say, most of our ice melted before this new deep freeze set in. I know there are people in other parts of the country whose weather is much worse than here.



We'll see what the groundhog says tomorrow!!!



Stay warm! Here's a little something to look forward to.....

The Great Thaw...

The Bible says to ask and ye shall receive. My last post I was lamenting the glacier on our street. Well, the last few days it has warmed up and the glacier is slowly receding. Hopefully it will make enough progress so that when it snows again - probably next week - we won't be using our automobiles as sleds.

I am thankful for any small dent in the ice!!!

I am also anticipating the arrival of February 2nd - Ground Hog Day. Maybe Punxsutawny Phil will not see his shadow and Spring will be upon us soon!!! One can only hope.

I AM SICK OF ICE!!!!!

We have had the Mendenhall glacier on our street for over a month and I want it to hurry up and recede! That's what glaciers are supposed to do isn't it? We are supposed to have temperatures in the 40's this week, so I hope it will put a huge dent in the ice fields around town.

There, I'm don venting for the day.

HAPPY NEW YEAR...

Well we have bid adieu to 2010 and have welcomed 2011. It seems strange that I am only 53, but have lived in 7 decades. Not sure how it works, but it does!!!

This year has brought many blessings: good health, close ties with family and friends, happiness, enjoyment of God's nature, and so many more blessings that I cannot count them.

Our prayer for this new year is for health and happiness for our immediate and extended families. May God bless each of you.