I'm Back

Hello again!!! Yes, I realize I have not blogged since last April. Must coincide with when I became obsessed with Facebook. :) But this evening I ran into a childhood friend who said she keeps checking my blog, but it's always the same thing. Thanks, Sue, for the nudge.

We were at a restaurant celebrating my father-in-law's birthday. Following our hostess to our table, we passed by a party going on in a private room. As I glanced that way, I saw my friend's younger brother. I wondered if there was any chance Sue was there. After all, it is Christmas time, and there is a possibility she might be visiting from Oklahoma. After we ordered our meals, I just couldn't stand it anymore and decided to "mosey" by the party room again. Yes, Sue was there, as were a number of others I knew quite well. They were celebrating her father's and his wife's birthdays. What a wonderful re-connect we had. Yes, we correspond each Christmas and have had chance meetings such as tonight maybe every 2-3 years. However, for the first 18 years of our lives, we lived less than a mile apart (as the crow flies) and spent much of our growing up years together riding the school bus, riding horses, car-pooling to school, playing at each other's houses, even living together for a short time in college, etc. So, even though our encounters these days are hit and miss, and our visits are short and sweet, there is a bond of friendship that runs deep and I cherish each moment we have to share.

A friend loveth at all times. Proverbs 17:17

Busy April

I can hardly believe April is more than half over. It's been a busy one.

I went to a Christian Writer's Conference in Girard, KS on the 3rd & 4th. It consists of a variety of workshops, etc on all different types of writing and always includes a guest author. It was the second time I had attended. The first time in 2006, the author was Deborah Rainey, and this year it was Kim Vogel Sawyer. Both were great in instruction, information, and inspiration. My bonus this year was that I stayed at the same bed & breakfast inn as Kim and got a chance to get to spend extra time visiting with her. What a neat person! Glad I can call her my friend.

Jessica's baby Kevin turned one on April 6 and we went out there on April 11 to help him celebrate. Nolan was a big help opening the gifts, but Kevin truly enjoyed his birthday cake!

Took pics of Amy's kids and whole family at church on Easter with them all dressed up. I thought the pics turned out great. By the way, Derrick is responsible for shopping for all the kids Easter clothes. What a guy!

After church we went to my Mom's for a light lunch, then a group of us helped her go through things and cleaned out her garage.

I've been working some extra days at the nursing home along with my regular days there and at Dr. Pease's. It sure makes me look forward to my days at home.

Hannah got her first bucket calf for 4-H. Her name is Princess and she loves to follow Hannah around like a pet. What a fun time for all.

I'm getting excited to do the first half of the BAK (Bike Across Kansas), but am getting frustrated with the weather interfering with my training. Today was nice once the fog lifted, so got some miles in today.

Basketball, Basketball, Basketball

Yes it's finally over for the season. And yes, I realize there are still plenty of games on TV, but we're done traveling to games for the year. Didn't go to a lot of local HS games, but did get hooked on Sterling College. Our friends, Danny & Linda, have a son, Mac, who was a senior on the team which got us there. But they were so much fun to watch, that we went to nearly every home game, a few of the away games, and even went to Branson, MO after they qualified for the NAIA Div II national tourney!!! Of course it doesn't take much prodding for an excuse to go there. :) Watched BBall, shopped, ate out, visited grandson Drake's grave, and just had fun with our friends.

Mac also received the Champion of Character award at the tourney (pic) which is determined by leadership, servanthood, respect, responsibility - in other words Mac is a great all around guy and Danny & Linda were quite proud of his award.

Then this week was the NJCAA tourney in Hutchinson which we have season tickets to. So it was off to Hutch every day this week. I managed to get out of...I mean, I reluctantly missed Friday because I worked at the nursing home that night.

Only found time to ride my bike once this week. I really need to get with it consistently if I'm going to be able to ride 50-75 miles/day for 4 days by June. But I did go 23 miles! The weather doesn't sound too conducive to riding this next week unless I just get someone to take me to OK and ride home with a 30mph tailwind.

Hi again!

I know, it looks like I've forgotten all about this. I haven't forgotten, just don't have time when I think about it, and when I have the time, I don't think about it. How's that for an excuse? :)

Last night, Hannah had her first slumber party with 6 other little ladies to celebrate her 8th birthday. Needless to say it was a night filled with lots of squealing. I was honored to be the Bingo caller for them. We ate pizza & cookies, then I went home. Too old for the all nighters anymore.

Well, I actually took the big step this week and registered for the BAK (Bicycling Across Kansas). I'm not going CLEAR across Kansas - that's eight days and over 400 miles. My plan is 4 days and just halfway across. The 4th day goes through Abbyville (a key factor in deciding THIS is the year). That day ends in Halstead, but I may just conclude my trip in my hometown. I bought a road bike this week and have about 37 mi on it already - 18 today in the beautiful weather. Got home about 10 minutes before a storm moved in. Yes we are in Kansas - you've got to jump at those perfect weather times, because there's a good chance it will change rapidly.

The school where Hannah is a second grader holds a Jump Rope for Heart fundraiser each year for the American Heart Association. This year Hannah was the top money raiser for the entire school and her class was the top class money raiser. On her fund raising packet, there was a place for her to indicate someone to honor. She chose Gramps (my father who passed away exactly a year prior) who died from heart disease. I heard her ask some people at church for donations and she always included that she was doing it in honor of Gramps. He would have been proud as am I.

Jessica and family have been home for 3 weekends this past month for various circumstances. Although unusual for them to be here that much, it has been a joy to have those 2 little boys here getting to know us better. Nolan loves to go with "Papa drive moos". One of the occassions for their visit was Hannah's family party last weekend where the following pic was taken of Nolan, Kevin, Hannah, Curtis' Uncle Rodney (who adores the kids), CJ, & Ty.

I'll finish today's blog now and try not to wait so long till the next one.

Playing Librarian

Yes, that's what I'm doing today. The Little River Community Librarian is ill today, so I volunteered to man the facility. What a great job being among all these books!!! I just don't know where to start! I've put away the returned books and magazines (or mazagines as Ty would say) but am kind of lost at this point. I see things that need to be done, but don't want to mess up Yolanda's system. I brought things from home to work on, but maybe I'll just browse ... . Uh oh, got someone wanting to check out. Gotta Go!

What a beautiful "spring" week we've had. Riding my bike three days out of four in the middle of January isn't exactly the norm. My goal was to get in 50 miles in January and with yesterday's 15.1, I made it! Only 3 of those I had to endure indoors. I thought I'd better go as far as possible yesterday as I figured it would probably be the last nice day for a while.

Curtis & I went out the other evening with camera in tow, looking for the bobcat kittens he has seen. But, of course, none to be found. I'm pretty sure wild animals sense when you have a camera with you. We did find an interesting looking branch that I took a picture of. Let me know if you can guess what happened to it.

This am as I was ready to go outside, there were five cardinals having a snack just beyond the door. By the time I got my camera, there was only one left. I've included it on my Picture of the Week.

One of my many interests, passions is photography. The pic behind my blog heading is one I took last week. As I pulled out of the garage, I could partially see this through the trees. So I grabbed my camera from the back seat (always available) and stopped about 1/4 mile south of the house and took three pics. These are the kind of things you can't plan. They just happen. Whoever says Kansas isn't pretty, hasn't seen grazing cattle silhouetted in front of a beautiful sunrise. Most of the scenic pics I have enlarged and framed are from Colorado, but I'm pretty sure this one will be hanging in my house soon. Hope you enjoy it too!

OK - guess I'm back. Not sure how often you do these things, but I've had comments asking if it was a one time thing.

A week ago today, Thursday, I took my first outdoor bike ride of 2009. I went 10 miles, although after about 1.5 miles, it was obvious to my legs and to anyone I met on the road with my beet red face that it had been awhile. But, it was great!!! The weather was perfect - 58 degrees and just a hint of a southerly breeze. This couldn't be Kansas! But, yes it was, as I was reminded 24 hours later when it was 30 degrees with 30 MPH winds from the north. Then, today was single digits and snow. Well, I'm just glad I got at least one outdoor ride in for January. I'm hoping for 50 miles this month (in & out combined). Maybe I'd better get with it inside (only 3 miles so far) by the looks of things. January IS half over, isn't it?

Today I worked at Sandstone Hts Nursing Home on the 6/2 shift. I prefer the 2/10, but was filling in for someone. All was going really smooth until 8am when we lost water. There had been a major water line break for the city water. OK, think about it - we need water to take pills, help clean those who can't clean themselves, to bathe, to launder towels, etc, wash equipment, ... and FLUSH. Enough said. We made the best of it with a lot of instant hand sanitizer, wipes, etc. Water service was returned about 1:30pm. Just hoping tomorrow's 2/10 shift won't have any major glitches. :)

Well, here I go - starting a blog. I enjoy reading my niece's blog to know what's going on in her life. I'm not sure if my life is quite as exciting as hers, but I can also see this as an outlet for my writing. Yes, I'm a nurse by profession, but my passion is writing (along with cycling, photography, flying, my grandchildren, etc). Okay, so I like to do lots of things ... but by blogging I can share some of my life and express myself to whoever wants to read it without forcing anyone to listen. :)



I'm still putting Christmas things away. We held an open house as a fund raiser for the local 4-H club, which caused me to get a bit carried away with the decorating this year. My biggest problem has been putting my new "million dollar" tree (not quite, but that's what Curtis tells everyone) away. There is NO WAY it's going back into the box it arrived in after being "fluffed" out to look full. I finally got the top and bottom smooshed back into the box and used three large garbage bags cut up, then duct taped around the middle section! Now we just have to decide whether to put it in the storeroom upstairs or downstairs. Maybe we should just leave it up year round...



Of course, my favorite part of Christmas was being with the grandchildren, so I'm adding a picture of them (in front of my "million dollar" tree) dressed in their Santa Suits I bought 1/2 price last year after Christmas. I can't believe I actually thought that far ahead.

Enjoy the New Year!!!