Sunday, August 4, 2013
Camping in Medicine Bow National Forest
Wow, after sitting at the computer for 2 hours working with photobucket I finally figured out how to put a slide show on my blog. YOU had better enjoy and say all sorts of wonderful things about me! Ok, the normal person would have figured it out in 5 min.
Well now that I am all stressed out from the computer, let me tell you about our vacation. We headed to Wyoming on Wed afternoon. We planned to camp in the Medicine Bow National Park. We called ahead to find the best camp ground and to make sure that we didn't need extra protection from bears. We got to the first camp sight in plenty of time to set up before dark. Unfortunately there were not a lot of sights available, and those that were had no trees around them. (Pine beetles have hit this area hard, and the forest service has had to cut a lot of trees down so they don't fall on campers) So we head to the next camp sight, Sugar Loaf. There are more openings here, but surly there is a better one down the road! Story of my life. To make a long story short, after visiting another sight, and turning around 4 miles into a 14 mile trip to another camp ground, we ended up back at Sugar Loaf, setting up in the dark. No fire, No enjoying the evening, just off to bed.
The next morning, Mark and I were up bright and early. I headed to the bathroom, and on my way back I heard someone walking behind me. I turn and look, and there is a big bull Moose. I whisper Yell at Mark, as the dog is coming out to greet me and the Moose. Mark grabs the dog, hands him to me and heads for the camera. My Hero! Luckily the Moose just wanted to get out of camp, and was not in a fighting mood. After the girls got up, we went for a hike, and played in the snow, on August 1st! We ended up moving camp sights that morning, as we were in one that was reserved for Aug. 2nd. We were able to do the red neck moving of the camper which involved sliding one bed in, keeping the camper raised and driving really slow to the next camp sight. Unfortunately then next camp sight was on the other side of the camp ground, so everybody got to see the move. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of that. That afternoon, the rain clouds came up, and dumped on us. The parents of the group decided that this was a good time for a nap. We ended up eating in the camper, but the rain did stop long enough to get a camp fire going so we could sit and enjoy. The weather temps were great if you were an Eskimo! That night at 8:00 pm the temp was already 48.
The next day we headed to Saratoga WY. There is a hot spring there, and more importantly Hot Showers! We were starting to smell each other! After doing some work on the computer I brought just in case, we headed back to the camp sight.
Saturday, we headed home, but stopped in Laramie at the Wyoming Territory Prison. We had a good time, but did not stay as long as I would have liked, as we had a dog in the car that was getting hot as his shade moved.
We are home now, working on the laundry and getting ready to go back to work. Next week, the girls and I will head back to Cheyenne to shop for school clothes, while Mark stays and works, and the dog guards the house.
Hope this isn't the last blog for a while. Will try to do better now that I know how to get the pictures on!
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Ok so it's a little late, but that has become a theam with my blog, and I would hate to change things and mess everyone up.
My plan was to not stress about the Christmas letter this year, and simply write one on New Year's after all the Christmas rush was over. Well you know what they say about best laid plans... I guess I had too much Christmas, because a head cold with killer sore throat hit me New Years Eve day, and I was down for the count. So, I guess those that read my blog will be the only ones to see my Christmas Letter this year. Ok, maybe an abbreviated Christmas letter, as most of you who read this will have read previous blogs of mine.
Kyra got braces on her teeth on New Years Eve day. Since I was sick, Mark and Lexi took her over to Scottsbluff to get them on. She hurt for only a day or 2, and seems to be doing fine, as long as she doesn't play "spoons" and get elbowed in the mouth by her Pastor. She had a multi cultural fair at school this year. Her country was the Netherlands. Texas Grandma made a costume for her to wear, and a nice patient of mine, lent her some wooden shoes to wear also. She and her Dad made a wooden windmill, and all her artifacts and landscape items went on a table to display to the school and the community. She had so much fun researching and finding everything, and so did her parents. She just had the food day (everyone brings in food from their country for the class to try) this last Friday. Kyra and I made a "Thousand Layer Cake", which took forever as each layer had to be cooked under the broiler for 2 min, and there were 12 layers.
Lexi is a teenager. Enough said! She has discovered boys, or should I say they have discovered her. No fears, Mark got a new gun for Christmas, and is not afraid to use it! Lexi's "boyfriend" was here for Christmas this year. His name is Zac, and he lives in Michigan. He is the nephew of our minister and his wife. I have never heard so much giggling in my life! Zac is a good kid, but kinda glad he lives hundreds of miles away. I am not ready for my baby to be dating. We did let them go out to dinner one night while Zac was here, but had spies in the restaurant that reported back to us. Yes, we really did. After the date, we picked them up and they came out here and watched a movie with the entire family. The day Zac left, Lexi started practice for her traveling basketball team. We will have 3 tournaments, and all of them will be closer this year.
Mark continues work at 21st Century Equipment. He has really gotten back into hunting this year, bringing home 3 deer, that have to be cut up on my clean counters. I hate the outdoor channel! Actually it is good exercise for him, and since someone else is going to make the sausage and jerky, it's a win for me. Mark has spent most every weekend, but when he was working, since the fire fixing fence at the ranch. They are done for the winter, as the ground it too frozen to do anything, but will start again this spring I am sure.
I continue to work for the local hospital, but work everywhere but in town most of the time. I mostly split my time between Sidney or Scottsbluff nursing home, and sometimes do both in the same day. Not much has happened with me this year, so will not talk about boring things!
We hope everyone has a blessed New Year!
The Douthits
My plan was to not stress about the Christmas letter this year, and simply write one on New Year's after all the Christmas rush was over. Well you know what they say about best laid plans... I guess I had too much Christmas, because a head cold with killer sore throat hit me New Years Eve day, and I was down for the count. So, I guess those that read my blog will be the only ones to see my Christmas Letter this year. Ok, maybe an abbreviated Christmas letter, as most of you who read this will have read previous blogs of mine.
Kyra got braces on her teeth on New Years Eve day. Since I was sick, Mark and Lexi took her over to Scottsbluff to get them on. She hurt for only a day or 2, and seems to be doing fine, as long as she doesn't play "spoons" and get elbowed in the mouth by her Pastor. She had a multi cultural fair at school this year. Her country was the Netherlands. Texas Grandma made a costume for her to wear, and a nice patient of mine, lent her some wooden shoes to wear also. She and her Dad made a wooden windmill, and all her artifacts and landscape items went on a table to display to the school and the community. She had so much fun researching and finding everything, and so did her parents. She just had the food day (everyone brings in food from their country for the class to try) this last Friday. Kyra and I made a "Thousand Layer Cake", which took forever as each layer had to be cooked under the broiler for 2 min, and there were 12 layers.
Lexi is a teenager. Enough said! She has discovered boys, or should I say they have discovered her. No fears, Mark got a new gun for Christmas, and is not afraid to use it! Lexi's "boyfriend" was here for Christmas this year. His name is Zac, and he lives in Michigan. He is the nephew of our minister and his wife. I have never heard so much giggling in my life! Zac is a good kid, but kinda glad he lives hundreds of miles away. I am not ready for my baby to be dating. We did let them go out to dinner one night while Zac was here, but had spies in the restaurant that reported back to us. Yes, we really did. After the date, we picked them up and they came out here and watched a movie with the entire family. The day Zac left, Lexi started practice for her traveling basketball team. We will have 3 tournaments, and all of them will be closer this year.
Mark continues work at 21st Century Equipment. He has really gotten back into hunting this year, bringing home 3 deer, that have to be cut up on my clean counters. I hate the outdoor channel! Actually it is good exercise for him, and since someone else is going to make the sausage and jerky, it's a win for me. Mark has spent most every weekend, but when he was working, since the fire fixing fence at the ranch. They are done for the winter, as the ground it too frozen to do anything, but will start again this spring I am sure.
I continue to work for the local hospital, but work everywhere but in town most of the time. I mostly split my time between Sidney or Scottsbluff nursing home, and sometimes do both in the same day. Not much has happened with me this year, so will not talk about boring things!
We hope everyone has a blessed New Year!
The Douthits
Sunday, November 25, 2012
Once again it has been forever since I posted a blog. It has been hard to post a write up of our lives, without the pictures. I am bound and determined to get some pictures on this blog, and if I don't I may never write again. Or I may just change photo services, and do it that way.
Since last I wrote, Lexi has been in Volley ball, and is now in Basket ball. She has a game on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Her class is able to go to Washington DC this spring, so we came up with a fund raiser to help her pay her half of the $1550 that she needs to go (Mom and Dad are paying the other half). We made and sold pies for Thanksgiving. A week ago Saturday, we baked 28 pies. The first pie went in at 7:30am and the last went in the oven at 8:30pm. We still have 4 pies to make, as some people wanted theirs after Thanksgiving. All told, she will have made a little under $500.
Kyra is deep into her multicultural fair. What the heck is that you may ask? Her class at school is putting this fair on Dec. 5. It is like a science fair, only each kid picks a country and sets up a table with all the things from that country. Kyra chose the Netherlands/Holland. We have had a lot of fun researching and finding things for her table. Mark and Kyra are at this minute working on her Dutch windmill. My Mom is making an authentic Dutch costume for Kyra to wear that day. I have ordered a dutch hat and now all we have to do is find some wooden shoes. They will have a day of food from each country, after Christmas, and Kyra is making Dutch thousand layer cake. Will let you know how that turns out.
Thanksgiving was spent at the ranch with Marks brother and family and Lonnie and Verona. The guys and kids were gone most of the time fixing fence. The kids did have fun discovering the barn and "cleaning" it up to make a club house. I had to come back one day early to see a home health patient, then spent the day Saturday cleaning before my family came home and destroyed the house again.
We are now waiting for the snow storm that is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. I hope we get a dumping, even if I have to stay inside with my kids all day. It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving, and sure doesn't feel like Christmas with 70+ temps.
Will go for now, and try to be better about keeping my blog up to date.
Laura
Since last I wrote, Lexi has been in Volley ball, and is now in Basket ball. She has a game on Tuesday and Thursday this week. Her class is able to go to Washington DC this spring, so we came up with a fund raiser to help her pay her half of the $1550 that she needs to go (Mom and Dad are paying the other half). We made and sold pies for Thanksgiving. A week ago Saturday, we baked 28 pies. The first pie went in at 7:30am and the last went in the oven at 8:30pm. We still have 4 pies to make, as some people wanted theirs after Thanksgiving. All told, she will have made a little under $500.
Kyra is deep into her multicultural fair. What the heck is that you may ask? Her class at school is putting this fair on Dec. 5. It is like a science fair, only each kid picks a country and sets up a table with all the things from that country. Kyra chose the Netherlands/Holland. We have had a lot of fun researching and finding things for her table. Mark and Kyra are at this minute working on her Dutch windmill. My Mom is making an authentic Dutch costume for Kyra to wear that day. I have ordered a dutch hat and now all we have to do is find some wooden shoes. They will have a day of food from each country, after Christmas, and Kyra is making Dutch thousand layer cake. Will let you know how that turns out.
Thanksgiving was spent at the ranch with Marks brother and family and Lonnie and Verona. The guys and kids were gone most of the time fixing fence. The kids did have fun discovering the barn and "cleaning" it up to make a club house. I had to come back one day early to see a home health patient, then spent the day Saturday cleaning before my family came home and destroyed the house again.
We are now waiting for the snow storm that is predicted for tonight and tomorrow. I hope we get a dumping, even if I have to stay inside with my kids all day. It doesn't feel like Thanksgiving, and sure doesn't feel like Christmas with 70+ temps.
Will go for now, and try to be better about keeping my blog up to date.
Laura
Monday, September 3, 2012
Douthit Fire
I am sitting with a bagel and a cup of coffee. It is Monday morning, Labor Day. Hard to imagine that just 5 days ago I was in a quandary of weather or not to head to the ranch, to help with the fire that had just started the night before. Let me take you back and tell everyone what happened to the best of my ability, and from my perspective.
Tuesday 6:00pm- Verona called Mark to let him know that a fire had started on the home place of the ranch. Lightning struck in the yard, but the fire was headed West (thank the Lord, otherwise all the buildings would have burned before anyone got there). We were in Scottsbluff at the time of the call, and after getting home, Mark decided that he better go up and help.
Wednesday Morning- I talked to Verona. The fire was bad, "boiling". What to do? Stay or Go? First I called Harold, he moved patients to other days, and said go. I was to work in Sidney that day, so called Pedro. "No problem, you need to go." Next was Scottsbluff. "We will handle everything, go." Last but certainly not least, I called Sarah. "There's a fire at the ranch..." Sarah- "Yes the girls can stay here, go" So I went, with the knowledge that everything at home would be ok.
I first saw the smoke about 27 miles from Crawford. Of the 2 fires the Douthit fire was larger than the West Ash Creek, amazingg how things change. When I got to the ranch, Verona was feeding firemen in shifts as they came in. The fire was North of the house. What happened in the hours since, are somewhat of a blur. About 2:30pm, the fire came down the hills behind the house, from both the East and the West. We moved all the vehicles in the yard to the area that was already burned, and watched as the firefighters held the line. With fire lines and some back burning, the house and buildings were saved. Words cannot describe the feelings that go through a person, seeing men and women that have no vested interest in your land putting their lives on the line to save what is yours, all without pay. So any that may stumble across this little blog, thank you. It's not enough but its all I have.
The fire to the West of the house was held contained that afternoon. To the East the fire headed toward our old dump and the cabin (not ours). Fire crews from Harrison, Gering and Ardmore SD, worked all night back burning and fighting to keep the fire from crossing the road. They were succesful.
Thursday Morning- The winds shifted, and the West fire jumped the line! Here we go again! The fire burns all day and ends up on "Top" in more open ground. The feds take over the fire and the Smoke Jumpers come in and start back burning, to control the fire.
About 1:00 pm I head in with Mark to Crawford to take him to the Dr. The day before he smashed his thumb trying to unhook equipment from the tractor, so he could plow a fire line. Got to the Dr., and was not able to put in stitches, but he got a tetanus shot and antibiotics, and we were on our way again, after picking up supplies at the fire hall and grocery store.
Thursday- Sunday Morning- Most of the fires are contained. The People left are riding fire lines, making sure that fires don't flare up, and also watching tree roots, which can burn under ground, then come up outside the fire guard line.
I came home Saturday late afternoon. I was invited to Sarah's for supper then was picking up the kids. I dropped the Dog off first and fed him. What a wonderful thing to walk into a house that is so clean, when the house you ran out of on Wednesday morning was so dirty, and then a hot meal on top of it. Thank you Sarah!
I picked the girls up and ate dinner at Strawns, and that is the first the girls saw and heard how bad and close the fire was. Again I have to thank the Strawns for keeping the girls lives as normal as possible. That kept the stress off my shoulders of worrying about them.
Mark came home Sunday morning, after one more night of riding fire lines. With the shifting high winds, nobody wanted to leave until they were sure!
You may ask yourself, what did I have to go up there for? My job was to make sure that fire fighters had water or Gatorade, food and anything else they needed for them to do their job. Once the fire was out of our yard, we had to go looking for the fire fighters. The back of my Yukon was packed with coolers of water, Gatorade and ice. We also have found through experience that they want a hot meal, the sandwiches get old quick. We had sloppy joes, brats, fried chicken. For breakfast it was sausage gravy and biscuits, scrambled eggs and sausage or breakfast burritos. We also carried wet clothes to wipe off hands and faces, chapstik, bandannas, pain relievers, decongestants, and anything else that we thought they might need. Our trips out were anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on how far the fire was and how many fighters we found.
So much more happened, but to write it all would fill more time and pages than I have time for now. As memories come up, you may hear more.
I don't like naming names in thank yous as I always forget someone, but I would like to thank the following people that became my rock, so I could be someone else's rock:
Charlee- you make everything bearable
Donna Norgard- I asked, and you made sure it was there
Pat- You came and worked, and was willing to do anything
Sarah- Never once called to ask how things were going, knowing I would call you when I had time, and sometimes when I didn't, sorry for hanging up on you.
Mom and Dad- You were willing to come and help, waited for my call.
My Co-workers who made it possible for me to leave.
Thank you!
Tuesday 6:00pm- Verona called Mark to let him know that a fire had started on the home place of the ranch. Lightning struck in the yard, but the fire was headed West (thank the Lord, otherwise all the buildings would have burned before anyone got there). We were in Scottsbluff at the time of the call, and after getting home, Mark decided that he better go up and help.
Wednesday Morning- I talked to Verona. The fire was bad, "boiling". What to do? Stay or Go? First I called Harold, he moved patients to other days, and said go. I was to work in Sidney that day, so called Pedro. "No problem, you need to go." Next was Scottsbluff. "We will handle everything, go." Last but certainly not least, I called Sarah. "There's a fire at the ranch..." Sarah- "Yes the girls can stay here, go" So I went, with the knowledge that everything at home would be ok.
I first saw the smoke about 27 miles from Crawford. Of the 2 fires the Douthit fire was larger than the West Ash Creek, amazingg how things change. When I got to the ranch, Verona was feeding firemen in shifts as they came in. The fire was North of the house. What happened in the hours since, are somewhat of a blur. About 2:30pm, the fire came down the hills behind the house, from both the East and the West. We moved all the vehicles in the yard to the area that was already burned, and watched as the firefighters held the line. With fire lines and some back burning, the house and buildings were saved. Words cannot describe the feelings that go through a person, seeing men and women that have no vested interest in your land putting their lives on the line to save what is yours, all without pay. So any that may stumble across this little blog, thank you. It's not enough but its all I have.
The fire to the West of the house was held contained that afternoon. To the East the fire headed toward our old dump and the cabin (not ours). Fire crews from Harrison, Gering and Ardmore SD, worked all night back burning and fighting to keep the fire from crossing the road. They were succesful.
Thursday Morning- The winds shifted, and the West fire jumped the line! Here we go again! The fire burns all day and ends up on "Top" in more open ground. The feds take over the fire and the Smoke Jumpers come in and start back burning, to control the fire.
About 1:00 pm I head in with Mark to Crawford to take him to the Dr. The day before he smashed his thumb trying to unhook equipment from the tractor, so he could plow a fire line. Got to the Dr., and was not able to put in stitches, but he got a tetanus shot and antibiotics, and we were on our way again, after picking up supplies at the fire hall and grocery store.
Thursday- Sunday Morning- Most of the fires are contained. The People left are riding fire lines, making sure that fires don't flare up, and also watching tree roots, which can burn under ground, then come up outside the fire guard line.
I came home Saturday late afternoon. I was invited to Sarah's for supper then was picking up the kids. I dropped the Dog off first and fed him. What a wonderful thing to walk into a house that is so clean, when the house you ran out of on Wednesday morning was so dirty, and then a hot meal on top of it. Thank you Sarah!
I picked the girls up and ate dinner at Strawns, and that is the first the girls saw and heard how bad and close the fire was. Again I have to thank the Strawns for keeping the girls lives as normal as possible. That kept the stress off my shoulders of worrying about them.
Mark came home Sunday morning, after one more night of riding fire lines. With the shifting high winds, nobody wanted to leave until they were sure!
You may ask yourself, what did I have to go up there for? My job was to make sure that fire fighters had water or Gatorade, food and anything else they needed for them to do their job. Once the fire was out of our yard, we had to go looking for the fire fighters. The back of my Yukon was packed with coolers of water, Gatorade and ice. We also have found through experience that they want a hot meal, the sandwiches get old quick. We had sloppy joes, brats, fried chicken. For breakfast it was sausage gravy and biscuits, scrambled eggs and sausage or breakfast burritos. We also carried wet clothes to wipe off hands and faces, chapstik, bandannas, pain relievers, decongestants, and anything else that we thought they might need. Our trips out were anywhere from 1-2 hours depending on how far the fire was and how many fighters we found.
So much more happened, but to write it all would fill more time and pages than I have time for now. As memories come up, you may hear more.
I don't like naming names in thank yous as I always forget someone, but I would like to thank the following people that became my rock, so I could be someone else's rock:
Charlee- you make everything bearable
Donna Norgard- I asked, and you made sure it was there
Pat- You came and worked, and was willing to do anything
Sarah- Never once called to ask how things were going, knowing I would call you when I had time, and sometimes when I didn't, sorry for hanging up on you.
Mom and Dad- You were willing to come and help, waited for my call.
My Co-workers who made it possible for me to leave.
Thank you!
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Ok, this is for my sister, that asked so nicely for me to get to blogging again, so she would know what is going on in the Western part of Nebraska.
It's hot... the end. Ok maybe not. It is hot, but not as hot as in Texas. We had quit a bit of rain at the beginning of summer, which caused us to be cool, then the heat turned up, and we were hot and humid, witch is unusual for this area. We have finally cooled down and we are able to open our windows at night.
Most of my summer has been spent working. My bosses son was in a very bad car accident on May 14. Harold was with his son Zach for almost 2 months straight, so that meant I was doing both jobs here. Let's just say that keeping my head above water was about all that I could manage.
I was able to get a garden in, actually 2 gardens. Mark opened an new spot this year and we tried our hand at potatoes. We are actually very good potato farmers, who knew! We had 3 rows of corn, and just put that up this last weekend and got 30 pints, plus that ears that we ate. We are now picking green beans, and I have put up 11 pint and a half jars. We have pumpkin and winter squash plants that think that they should be the only things growing in the garden. (If I get the slide show loaded, you will see)
Kyra was in a lawnmower pull at the county fair 2 weeks ago. For those of you that don't know, a lawnmower pull is like a tractor pull only with... you guessed it a lawn mower. She was in the 700 lb class. They could pull 150 feet. Mom being the optimist that she is, stood at the 75 foot mark, thinking that she would not be able to pull past that point. She took off like a shot, and was still going strong at 75 feet. So mom jumped up and ran to the end of the track. She pulled the sled 148 feet. The furthest in her class, winning her 1st place and $20. Yes, she used my mower that I use for mowing the lawn, and I told her and her Dad that if anything happened to it, they were both in trouble!
We are leaving in 2 days for our summer vacation. We had a trip planned earlier in the summer, but with Harold gone, I could not get away. We are going to Wyoming. We are going to stay in a hotel or cabins, and do all the touristy things up there. Then we are going back to Casper to go school clothes shopping. The girls start school August 25th, so we are getting this one in under the wire.
I hope to write next week and tell you all about our adventures. Until then.
It's hot... the end. Ok maybe not. It is hot, but not as hot as in Texas. We had quit a bit of rain at the beginning of summer, which caused us to be cool, then the heat turned up, and we were hot and humid, witch is unusual for this area. We have finally cooled down and we are able to open our windows at night.
Most of my summer has been spent working. My bosses son was in a very bad car accident on May 14. Harold was with his son Zach for almost 2 months straight, so that meant I was doing both jobs here. Let's just say that keeping my head above water was about all that I could manage.
I was able to get a garden in, actually 2 gardens. Mark opened an new spot this year and we tried our hand at potatoes. We are actually very good potato farmers, who knew! We had 3 rows of corn, and just put that up this last weekend and got 30 pints, plus that ears that we ate. We are now picking green beans, and I have put up 11 pint and a half jars. We have pumpkin and winter squash plants that think that they should be the only things growing in the garden. (If I get the slide show loaded, you will see)
Kyra was in a lawnmower pull at the county fair 2 weeks ago. For those of you that don't know, a lawnmower pull is like a tractor pull only with... you guessed it a lawn mower. She was in the 700 lb class. They could pull 150 feet. Mom being the optimist that she is, stood at the 75 foot mark, thinking that she would not be able to pull past that point. She took off like a shot, and was still going strong at 75 feet. So mom jumped up and ran to the end of the track. She pulled the sled 148 feet. The furthest in her class, winning her 1st place and $20. Yes, she used my mower that I use for mowing the lawn, and I told her and her Dad that if anything happened to it, they were both in trouble!
We are leaving in 2 days for our summer vacation. We had a trip planned earlier in the summer, but with Harold gone, I could not get away. We are going to Wyoming. We are going to stay in a hotel or cabins, and do all the touristy things up there. Then we are going back to Casper to go school clothes shopping. The girls start school August 25th, so we are getting this one in under the wire.
I hope to write next week and tell you all about our adventures. Until then.
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
3 weeks in one blog
Ok, I know it has been awhile again! I really do not have an excuse for not doing the blog. My new computer is so much faster with everything. I can download pictures while writing the blog, without the computer freezing on me. Somehow though, I don't seem to find the time to get the blog done.
I like to write the blog on Mondays, as I usually have the morning off and just comming off the weekend, I can remember what we did the week before (sometimes). Well today is Wednesday, but feels like Monday to me. Mark and I along with Marks folks headed to York NE on Monday morning. We were attending a funeral for a friend of the family. This gentalman, had been hunting at the ranch for 47 years. He brought his kids, son-in-law and then grandkids as they got old enough and became interested in hunting. He was diegnosed with acute lukemia 6 months ago, and past away last week. It was a sad time, but also a nice time as we were able to see several hunters that live in the area, and aslo got to meet the families that never came to the ranch. We drove in wind to York on Monday, and to keep things exciting we drove in wind back to Bridgeport on Tuesday. Of course the wind was blowing from the wrong direction both days, so the gas mileage was non-existant.
The girls stayed here with Pastor and Sarah. Tyson stayed home and garded the house. The neighbors fed and looked after him.
Things are mostly the same around here. Basket Ball is done for the year. Lexi's team played in a tournament 3 weekends ago. They did pool games on Friday and Saturday with the tournament on Sunday. They went into the tournament undefeated, and won their first game. The next team they played was a very good team, and we lost 24-6. The girls had fun, and improved so much from the first game that they played. We are very proud of all of them.
Kyra and I went to North Plate NE 2 weekends ago. She had a Girl Scout event called "Meet me in Paris" The did all things French. It was an overnight stay. Unfortunatly they did not have enough beds, and I had already given away my air matress, so myself and another mother were put in a hotel for the night. Kyra had a blast, and I got a good nights sleep, win win.
On the way home from North Plate, Mark calls:
Mark: Do you mind if I put a hole in your wall?
Laura: What!
Mark: Well, you wanted the fireplace out didn't you? So I took it out and now there is an 8 foot by 8 foot hole in the wall of the upstairs living room.
Laura: Well, I did want the fireplace out, but NOT THIS WEEKEND!
*Note to self. Always leave a job for your husband to do while you are gone, or you will come home to the job that he finds for himself.
After working all day Sunday, I told Mark he better take Monday off, as I did not want the house opened to the garage for the rest of the week. Mark and I worked hard all day Monday, and by 5:30 p.m. we had a wall up that was insulated and sheetrocked. We still have taping and texturing to do, but we also need to scrape the popcorn off the ceiling in the living room. We are going to put down new flooring and paint, so will be a while at this project.
You may ask why we took out our main source of heat? The wall where the fireplace was, was 11 foot wide. The fireplace with all the brick took up 8 feet, with a little room in the corner. It was such a waste of space in a very small room. We are going to put the airtight stove back in, but it will go in the basement, which is a better place for it anyway, since we all know heat rises. Plus the thermostat is upstairs, plus we have a lot of windows, so when the sun is shinning, and the stove is running, the furnace rarely comes on. The upstairs is warm to hot, and you freeze in the basement. I think that we will use the basement in the winter a lot more if the stove is down there.
Well that should catch everyone up on our lives. If I can get the camera to work, there will be a slide show at the beginning of this if not... sorry.
I like to write the blog on Mondays, as I usually have the morning off and just comming off the weekend, I can remember what we did the week before (sometimes). Well today is Wednesday, but feels like Monday to me. Mark and I along with Marks folks headed to York NE on Monday morning. We were attending a funeral for a friend of the family. This gentalman, had been hunting at the ranch for 47 years. He brought his kids, son-in-law and then grandkids as they got old enough and became interested in hunting. He was diegnosed with acute lukemia 6 months ago, and past away last week. It was a sad time, but also a nice time as we were able to see several hunters that live in the area, and aslo got to meet the families that never came to the ranch. We drove in wind to York on Monday, and to keep things exciting we drove in wind back to Bridgeport on Tuesday. Of course the wind was blowing from the wrong direction both days, so the gas mileage was non-existant.
The girls stayed here with Pastor and Sarah. Tyson stayed home and garded the house. The neighbors fed and looked after him.
Things are mostly the same around here. Basket Ball is done for the year. Lexi's team played in a tournament 3 weekends ago. They did pool games on Friday and Saturday with the tournament on Sunday. They went into the tournament undefeated, and won their first game. The next team they played was a very good team, and we lost 24-6. The girls had fun, and improved so much from the first game that they played. We are very proud of all of them.
Kyra and I went to North Plate NE 2 weekends ago. She had a Girl Scout event called "Meet me in Paris" The did all things French. It was an overnight stay. Unfortunatly they did not have enough beds, and I had already given away my air matress, so myself and another mother were put in a hotel for the night. Kyra had a blast, and I got a good nights sleep, win win.
On the way home from North Plate, Mark calls:
Mark: Do you mind if I put a hole in your wall?
Laura: What!
Mark: Well, you wanted the fireplace out didn't you? So I took it out and now there is an 8 foot by 8 foot hole in the wall of the upstairs living room.
Laura: Well, I did want the fireplace out, but NOT THIS WEEKEND!
*Note to self. Always leave a job for your husband to do while you are gone, or you will come home to the job that he finds for himself.
After working all day Sunday, I told Mark he better take Monday off, as I did not want the house opened to the garage for the rest of the week. Mark and I worked hard all day Monday, and by 5:30 p.m. we had a wall up that was insulated and sheetrocked. We still have taping and texturing to do, but we also need to scrape the popcorn off the ceiling in the living room. We are going to put down new flooring and paint, so will be a while at this project.
You may ask why we took out our main source of heat? The wall where the fireplace was, was 11 foot wide. The fireplace with all the brick took up 8 feet, with a little room in the corner. It was such a waste of space in a very small room. We are going to put the airtight stove back in, but it will go in the basement, which is a better place for it anyway, since we all know heat rises. Plus the thermostat is upstairs, plus we have a lot of windows, so when the sun is shinning, and the stove is running, the furnace rarely comes on. The upstairs is warm to hot, and you freeze in the basement. I think that we will use the basement in the winter a lot more if the stove is down there.
Well that should catch everyone up on our lives. If I can get the camera to work, there will be a slide show at the beginning of this if not... sorry.
Monday, March 7, 2011
Basket ball and snow
It is 6:15 a.m. on Monday morning. I came down to the computer to check the school closings. We had about 4 inches of snow last night, with more on the way in the next 2 days. So far the school is running on the normal schedule. I hate it when I wake the girls up, go through the fight of getting one of them out of bed...Lexi. Then find out the we have a 2 hour late start, and have to put up with grumpy kids for said 2 hours. In the schools defence, a lot of times they do not realize how bad the country roads are until the buses start trying to get down them, so late starts often are announced late.
We did the basket ball this this last weekend. Lexi's team played in the Bridgeport tournament. We played "Pool" games on Friday and Saturday, then went into the tournament on Sunday undefeated. The first game the girls won, and that put them playing Sunday night at 6:00 in Bayard. We drove over in some snow, however it was melting so the roads were not bad. The girls played hard, but lost to a much more experienced team. We stayed for another half hour to watch a friends daughter play, but after several people came in saying how bad the roads were getting we decided that we better head home. By that time we had 2-3 inches stuck to the road, and it was still coming down. We made it home with only a few slips around corners that Mark was told about from the backseat drivers. I had put on a pot of soup before we left for the games, and that sure tasted good when we got home.
Back to work and school now. I have a feeling that there may not be any school tomorrow as we are suppose to get 6-18 inches of snow by Tuesday, we will see. I do not have to go to Kimball so far this week, so that is a good thing if we end up getting as much snow as they are talking. Kyra and I are suppose to go to a Girl Scout overnighter in North Platte this weekend, so I hope the weather cooperates.
Will close for now. Will try to get some pictures up later, a friend used our camera last night for her daughters game, so will have to get it back before I can post any.
We did the basket ball this this last weekend. Lexi's team played in the Bridgeport tournament. We played "Pool" games on Friday and Saturday, then went into the tournament on Sunday undefeated. The first game the girls won, and that put them playing Sunday night at 6:00 in Bayard. We drove over in some snow, however it was melting so the roads were not bad. The girls played hard, but lost to a much more experienced team. We stayed for another half hour to watch a friends daughter play, but after several people came in saying how bad the roads were getting we decided that we better head home. By that time we had 2-3 inches stuck to the road, and it was still coming down. We made it home with only a few slips around corners that Mark was told about from the backseat drivers. I had put on a pot of soup before we left for the games, and that sure tasted good when we got home.
Back to work and school now. I have a feeling that there may not be any school tomorrow as we are suppose to get 6-18 inches of snow by Tuesday, we will see. I do not have to go to Kimball so far this week, so that is a good thing if we end up getting as much snow as they are talking. Kyra and I are suppose to go to a Girl Scout overnighter in North Platte this weekend, so I hope the weather cooperates.
Will close for now. Will try to get some pictures up later, a friend used our camera last night for her daughters game, so will have to get it back before I can post any.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
I am not quite sure why I am writing a blog this week. I could just copy and paste last weeks blog to this week and there you go! Ok, maybe a few changes are in order.
We were able to go to Casper WY to the "Tell the Good News About Jesus" Convocation last weekend. It was nice to get away. We ended up travelling to Casper via Cheyenne, as I had to see patients in Kimball on the way. We got to Casper about 5:30 p.m. and then headed to a restaurant. Back at the hotel, the girls headed down to the pool, and I sat back for some R&R. The pool rules were parental supervision for children under 14. I figured the girls could both swim better than me, and since the pool was 3 foot deep at the deepest, They would be ok. The rest of the night was spent with everyone sleeping but me, due to a stomach ache that kept me up most of the night. It's hard to be awake in a hotel room as you cannot turn on lights or TV, as it would wake everyone else up.
The next day was spent shopping, then the first session of the convocation started at 2:30 p.m. Once again this year they had it in a room that was too small for the crown, and the more people that came in, the hotter the room got. After not sleeping the night before, I was not in the mood to put up with the crowds, so headed back to the room to rest. That night we ordered pizza for the kids, and the adults got to go out on a double date, with the Strawn's.
The next day, the girls went to a VBS at a local church, while we went to the Saturday sessions. I don't know if I wasn't in the mood, or had too much on my mind, but I did not get as much out of this years convocation. It was good, just not as good as 2 years ago. After the day was over, we headed to Jay's house to celebrate Jay's and Kyra's birthdays. They made lasagna and we had banana splits for desert. The next day we ended up heading for home about 10:30 in the morning, because it looked like bad weather was heading our way.
Back at home and back to work this week. We have had a week of sub zero weather. Tuesday the low when I was heading to work was -15, not to be out done, when I went to work Wednesday the low was -20. Put a wind chill on that and we are talking -50. Nothing has frozen in the house, and the furnace quit running once the wind died down. I ended up sick on Tuesday, running a slight fever, and stomach cramps. Stayed home from Kimball and slept the day away. Luckily, I was better on Wednesday, with Harold still gone, there is no one else to do the work.
Mark was sick Wednesday night and still not great on Thursday morning, but went to work, as there were only 2 of them. Kyra is suppose to have her 10year birthday party Friday night, so I hope that everyone else stays well.
Harold is suppose to be back on Monday of next week. I hope he is able to get back, and so does my house! I decided that I was not going to clean the house before 9 girls came for a birthday party, because I have to clean after anyway.
I hope when and if I write next week, things will have slowed down. If not oh well. Until then.
We were able to go to Casper WY to the "Tell the Good News About Jesus" Convocation last weekend. It was nice to get away. We ended up travelling to Casper via Cheyenne, as I had to see patients in Kimball on the way. We got to Casper about 5:30 p.m. and then headed to a restaurant. Back at the hotel, the girls headed down to the pool, and I sat back for some R&R. The pool rules were parental supervision for children under 14. I figured the girls could both swim better than me, and since the pool was 3 foot deep at the deepest, They would be ok. The rest of the night was spent with everyone sleeping but me, due to a stomach ache that kept me up most of the night. It's hard to be awake in a hotel room as you cannot turn on lights or TV, as it would wake everyone else up.
The next day was spent shopping, then the first session of the convocation started at 2:30 p.m. Once again this year they had it in a room that was too small for the crown, and the more people that came in, the hotter the room got. After not sleeping the night before, I was not in the mood to put up with the crowds, so headed back to the room to rest. That night we ordered pizza for the kids, and the adults got to go out on a double date, with the Strawn's.
The next day, the girls went to a VBS at a local church, while we went to the Saturday sessions. I don't know if I wasn't in the mood, or had too much on my mind, but I did not get as much out of this years convocation. It was good, just not as good as 2 years ago. After the day was over, we headed to Jay's house to celebrate Jay's and Kyra's birthdays. They made lasagna and we had banana splits for desert. The next day we ended up heading for home about 10:30 in the morning, because it looked like bad weather was heading our way.
Back at home and back to work this week. We have had a week of sub zero weather. Tuesday the low when I was heading to work was -15, not to be out done, when I went to work Wednesday the low was -20. Put a wind chill on that and we are talking -50. Nothing has frozen in the house, and the furnace quit running once the wind died down. I ended up sick on Tuesday, running a slight fever, and stomach cramps. Stayed home from Kimball and slept the day away. Luckily, I was better on Wednesday, with Harold still gone, there is no one else to do the work.
Mark was sick Wednesday night and still not great on Thursday morning, but went to work, as there were only 2 of them. Kyra is suppose to have her 10year birthday party Friday night, so I hope that everyone else stays well.
Harold is suppose to be back on Monday of next week. I hope he is able to get back, and so does my house! I decided that I was not going to clean the house before 9 girls came for a birthday party, because I have to clean after anyway.
I hope when and if I write next week, things will have slowed down. If not oh well. Until then.
Monday, January 24, 2011
Short Week
It's Monday, and already the week is gone. I found out Sunday afternoon, that Harold was going to have to take this week off, so guess who is working? Yep, you got it, me! We are leaving for Casper WY on Thursday, so the week is short anyway, and now it will pass very quickly. I will have to be organized, so I can get laundry done, bags packed, and meals made each night. I also have to take Lexi to the orthodontist on Tuesday at 12:20 p.m. for a make up check that we missed last week when she was sick. I am tired just thinking about it.
Last week was uneventful for us. I did go to Kimball on Saturday, thinking that maybe Harold would have to be gone, and since I was also going out of town, I needed time in with a new patient. The weather didn't look good for the day, so I decided by all indications that it would be better to go in the morning, than in the afternoon. I headed out, and ran into snow when I got to HWY 71. By the time I got to Kimball, I was in a blizzard. I worked with my patients as quickly as I could, left paper work for Monday, and got the heck out of there. about 15 miles north of town, I can see blue skies to the West, North and East. I always pick the wrong times to go!
The rest of the weekend was spent doing weekend stuff like laundry and cleaning. We did help a friend unload his moving van, with the first load, they will do the final move from Douglas WY next weekend. Saturday night we went to Stawn's for supper, and card playing (the girl's beat the boys 2-1). Sunday night we had friends over for supper, so had a weekend full of visiting.
So now we are at Monday again. Hope everyone has a good week.
Last week was uneventful for us. I did go to Kimball on Saturday, thinking that maybe Harold would have to be gone, and since I was also going out of town, I needed time in with a new patient. The weather didn't look good for the day, so I decided by all indications that it would be better to go in the morning, than in the afternoon. I headed out, and ran into snow when I got to HWY 71. By the time I got to Kimball, I was in a blizzard. I worked with my patients as quickly as I could, left paper work for Monday, and got the heck out of there. about 15 miles north of town, I can see blue skies to the West, North and East. I always pick the wrong times to go!
The rest of the weekend was spent doing weekend stuff like laundry and cleaning. We did help a friend unload his moving van, with the first load, they will do the final move from Douglas WY next weekend. Saturday night we went to Stawn's for supper, and card playing (the girl's beat the boys 2-1). Sunday night we had friends over for supper, so had a weekend full of visiting.
So now we are at Monday again. Hope everyone has a good week.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
I am sitting here, trying to decide what has happened that is important to write for the world to hear. Probably nothing, but here goes. We have had a couple of weeks of firsts in this household.
2 weeks ago, I traveled to Lincoln NE to help a friend who was having surgery. I ended up leaving on Saturday, as we were suppose to get a snow storm on Sunday. As it turned out, the Western part of the state that was suppose to get 6-10 inches got 2 inches, and the Easter part of the state that was suppose to get 1-2 inches got 7. Welcome to Nebraska. Anyway, I made it to Lincoln without any problems. While there, and before my friend got out of the hospital, I was able to meet up with some old friends (not friends that are old, but friends that I have known for a long time... you get the idea) and visit and catch up on our lives. My friend was suppose to get out of the hospital on Monday, but due to some complications, ended up not being released until Tuesday morning. Remember the "firsts" that I talked about earlier, well here is the first one. I headed out on Tuesday morning to pick up my friend. It was a bitterly cold morning. I looked down at my temperature gage to see when I would start getting some heat in the car. It was starting to warm up, so any minute I should start feeling the heat. A little further, and the temperature gauge is at 1/2 way to the hot mark. Ok, I really should be getting warm now. 4 blocks from the hospital, the bells and sirens start going off... "Coolant is over heating, Shut down vehicle now!" What! How can a car over heat when it is almost 0 degrease out? What to do now. I am at a stop light, no where to pull over, and if I do pull over how will I be able to work on the car when there is no room. And to top it all off, I forgot my cell phone at the house across town. Ok car we are going to get into the parking garage or die trying. I make it in, shut down the car, and walk on trembling knees to my friends hospital room, where I use her cell to call the husband.
Mark starts listing off the things that could be wrong. The most popular thought is that the thermostat is stuck. He tells me, "you can change it." Now those of you who know me, would agree with this statement, and for the most part I too agree with this statement, but not when it is 5 above 0, and I have no tools to work with. Ok plan B- go out to the car and check some things. I get to the car, and the first thing he wants me to do is take off the radiator cap... ok, there is not radiator cap. "Yes there is, I just saw it right before you left" No, I can't find it. "Find the resivore, now follow the tubes back to the radiator, and it's right there." I know where the radiator cap is suppose to be, but it is not here!" "It has to be...(long pause while his co-workers are talking to him) ok, the new vehicles don't have a radiator cap, it is the reserve tank cap that I need you to take off." Ok, that was easy. I take off the cap, and it has ice in the top of the tank. "Your radiator is most likely frozen. Here is what you need to do." Long story short, my friends dad ended up coming to pick us up, then ran me to the automotive store for "Cool-dex" antifreeze. After letting the car run for about 1 1/2 hours, it finally defrosted and got the new antifreeze mix in. I got up Wednesday morning with my fingers crossed and started the car. It ran fine and never overheated, which was good, since I headed home that day. All I can say is thank goodness for my friends father that stood out in the cold with me working on my car and for driving me around to get the stuff to fix it. You may be asking why the car froze up in the first place? Well, this is the vehicle that we got in Casper WY earlier this year, well that guy bought it at an auction in Arizona, and that may be why the antifreeze mixture was not correct. On a side note, I was not able to do much helping of my friend, but she is doing well.
The Saturday after I got home, Lexi had her first basket ball game. This would be the second "first" for those of you who are counting. We headed out to Morrill NE, about 1.25 hours away. Her first game was at 10:00 a.m. All I can say about their first game is that our team did not know what they were doing! Lexi fell on her knee towards the end of the game, and got a nice war wound to show off. Her coach told her there was no crying in basket ball. The next game was at 1:00 p.m. and the team really improved, but still needed some work. The last game was the hardest team of the day, but our girls were able to hold them to 10 points and really did well. From the looks of the other teams they have played together before, so I felt like our team did well considering they had only 4 practices and had never played a game. It will be interesting to see how they improve the next 2 games.
Grandma and Grandpa COWS (Mark's parents) were able to come down for the game. They spent the night with us, then we all headed to Sidney to go to Cabella's. We got home about 1:30 p.m then they headed home. I worked on laundry for most of the day, then we invited friends over for supper.
Well, that should catch you up on what is happening. If I can get the cameras and the computer working, I will get a slide show on here for you.
Until next time.
2 weeks ago, I traveled to Lincoln NE to help a friend who was having surgery. I ended up leaving on Saturday, as we were suppose to get a snow storm on Sunday. As it turned out, the Western part of the state that was suppose to get 6-10 inches got 2 inches, and the Easter part of the state that was suppose to get 1-2 inches got 7. Welcome to Nebraska. Anyway, I made it to Lincoln without any problems. While there, and before my friend got out of the hospital, I was able to meet up with some old friends (not friends that are old, but friends that I have known for a long time... you get the idea) and visit and catch up on our lives. My friend was suppose to get out of the hospital on Monday, but due to some complications, ended up not being released until Tuesday morning. Remember the "firsts" that I talked about earlier, well here is the first one. I headed out on Tuesday morning to pick up my friend. It was a bitterly cold morning. I looked down at my temperature gage to see when I would start getting some heat in the car. It was starting to warm up, so any minute I should start feeling the heat. A little further, and the temperature gauge is at 1/2 way to the hot mark. Ok, I really should be getting warm now. 4 blocks from the hospital, the bells and sirens start going off... "Coolant is over heating, Shut down vehicle now!" What! How can a car over heat when it is almost 0 degrease out? What to do now. I am at a stop light, no where to pull over, and if I do pull over how will I be able to work on the car when there is no room. And to top it all off, I forgot my cell phone at the house across town. Ok car we are going to get into the parking garage or die trying. I make it in, shut down the car, and walk on trembling knees to my friends hospital room, where I use her cell to call the husband.
Mark starts listing off the things that could be wrong. The most popular thought is that the thermostat is stuck. He tells me, "you can change it." Now those of you who know me, would agree with this statement, and for the most part I too agree with this statement, but not when it is 5 above 0, and I have no tools to work with. Ok plan B- go out to the car and check some things. I get to the car, and the first thing he wants me to do is take off the radiator cap... ok, there is not radiator cap. "Yes there is, I just saw it right before you left" No, I can't find it. "Find the resivore, now follow the tubes back to the radiator, and it's right there." I know where the radiator cap is suppose to be, but it is not here!" "It has to be...(long pause while his co-workers are talking to him) ok, the new vehicles don't have a radiator cap, it is the reserve tank cap that I need you to take off." Ok, that was easy. I take off the cap, and it has ice in the top of the tank. "Your radiator is most likely frozen. Here is what you need to do." Long story short, my friends dad ended up coming to pick us up, then ran me to the automotive store for "Cool-dex" antifreeze. After letting the car run for about 1 1/2 hours, it finally defrosted and got the new antifreeze mix in. I got up Wednesday morning with my fingers crossed and started the car. It ran fine and never overheated, which was good, since I headed home that day. All I can say is thank goodness for my friends father that stood out in the cold with me working on my car and for driving me around to get the stuff to fix it. You may be asking why the car froze up in the first place? Well, this is the vehicle that we got in Casper WY earlier this year, well that guy bought it at an auction in Arizona, and that may be why the antifreeze mixture was not correct. On a side note, I was not able to do much helping of my friend, but she is doing well.
The Saturday after I got home, Lexi had her first basket ball game. This would be the second "first" for those of you who are counting. We headed out to Morrill NE, about 1.25 hours away. Her first game was at 10:00 a.m. All I can say about their first game is that our team did not know what they were doing! Lexi fell on her knee towards the end of the game, and got a nice war wound to show off. Her coach told her there was no crying in basket ball. The next game was at 1:00 p.m. and the team really improved, but still needed some work. The last game was the hardest team of the day, but our girls were able to hold them to 10 points and really did well. From the looks of the other teams they have played together before, so I felt like our team did well considering they had only 4 practices and had never played a game. It will be interesting to see how they improve the next 2 games.
Grandma and Grandpa COWS (Mark's parents) were able to come down for the game. They spent the night with us, then we all headed to Sidney to go to Cabella's. We got home about 1:30 p.m then they headed home. I worked on laundry for most of the day, then we invited friends over for supper.
Well, that should catch you up on what is happening. If I can get the cameras and the computer working, I will get a slide show on here for you.
Until next time.
Friday, December 31, 2010
What to do during a blizzard
What do you do during a blizzard? You may ask. Well, for this woman, she is sitting catching up on all the things that did not get done before Christmas. The short list is cleaning the house, and doing the blog. The long list is much too long and is no fun anyway, so we will ignore it! I am also glad that I am not a man. Particularly my "man". Mark was out scooping snow at 7:30 a.m., so he could get a vehicle out to go to town in. I am happy being the "kept" woman that gets to stay in the nice warm house, cooking and cleaning. As long as we don't loose electricity I will be fine. Since I did not get a Christmas letter out this year, this will have to be our late Merry Christmas to everyone.
Now, what have we been doing for the last month. Well, lets see, we have been running here and there, and pretty much everywhere, but don't seem to have gone anywhere. Oh, yeh, we had Christmas in there somewhere. Was that just a week ago? Wow, how the time flies. I know Pastor, Christmas is not over until Epiphany, but I had to get the Christmas decorations down and get my house back to normal. I did well getting the decorations down and put away, I only forgot one thing this year!
We had a very nice Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at the church candle light service, then the 4 of us came home and unwrapped the gifts. Grandma and Grandpa COWS (Mark's parents) came down Christmas day. After church, we opened more gifts then had a nice meal. G & G stayed the night, and part of the next day. The girls had their Sunday School Christmas Program on the 26th, and other than Lexi not being able to say "register", they did very well, even though Kyra had to be an angle again! Not good for a devil child.
Mark and I headed back to work on Monday. The girls are out of school until Jan. 3rd. The girls did a real nice job of cleaning the house and doing chores before Christmas, but have been bums this week. What is up with that? Lexi has done some babysitting, and is suppose to babysit today, but not sure if she will make it in.
On Wed. after working at Kimball, I went through Scottsbluff on my way home. A store there was having a sale on furniture. If you will notice in the Christmas pictures we are lacking furniture in our basement. I sold all our old stuff this summer, and have not found anything till now. Anyway, I wanted a couch, love seat, and a recliner. They were out of the love seat, but since we were thinking of a sectional anyway, we decided to get 2 couches for the basement, and the recliner for upstairs (since it is small). Mark was home, so the question was how to get everything to Bridgeport in the least amount of trips. Mark said "I think you can get the recliner in your Bug" yes, the VW Bug. I said "well, I can try". The guy that was loading the chair for me told me "I was thinking how funny it would be if she drove up in that Bug, then you did, and I didn't think it was so funny any more." Well, to make a long story short, we did get the recliner in the back of the Bug, unfortunately, we were only able to get one couch in the Yukon at a time, so Mark had to make 2 trips to SB.
Today is New Year's Eve. We invited several friends out this evening, but not sure if everyone will make it due to the snow. I guess if they make it, but can't get home we have several beds, and 2 new couches to sleep on!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. See you in 2011
The Douthit's
Now, what have we been doing for the last month. Well, lets see, we have been running here and there, and pretty much everywhere, but don't seem to have gone anywhere. Oh, yeh, we had Christmas in there somewhere. Was that just a week ago? Wow, how the time flies. I know Pastor, Christmas is not over until Epiphany, but I had to get the Christmas decorations down and get my house back to normal. I did well getting the decorations down and put away, I only forgot one thing this year!
We had a very nice Christmas. Christmas Eve was spent at the church candle light service, then the 4 of us came home and unwrapped the gifts. Grandma and Grandpa COWS (Mark's parents) came down Christmas day. After church, we opened more gifts then had a nice meal. G & G stayed the night, and part of the next day. The girls had their Sunday School Christmas Program on the 26th, and other than Lexi not being able to say "register", they did very well, even though Kyra had to be an angle again! Not good for a devil child.
Mark and I headed back to work on Monday. The girls are out of school until Jan. 3rd. The girls did a real nice job of cleaning the house and doing chores before Christmas, but have been bums this week. What is up with that? Lexi has done some babysitting, and is suppose to babysit today, but not sure if she will make it in.
On Wed. after working at Kimball, I went through Scottsbluff on my way home. A store there was having a sale on furniture. If you will notice in the Christmas pictures we are lacking furniture in our basement. I sold all our old stuff this summer, and have not found anything till now. Anyway, I wanted a couch, love seat, and a recliner. They were out of the love seat, but since we were thinking of a sectional anyway, we decided to get 2 couches for the basement, and the recliner for upstairs (since it is small). Mark was home, so the question was how to get everything to Bridgeport in the least amount of trips. Mark said "I think you can get the recliner in your Bug" yes, the VW Bug. I said "well, I can try". The guy that was loading the chair for me told me "I was thinking how funny it would be if she drove up in that Bug, then you did, and I didn't think it was so funny any more." Well, to make a long story short, we did get the recliner in the back of the Bug, unfortunately, we were only able to get one couch in the Yukon at a time, so Mark had to make 2 trips to SB.
Today is New Year's Eve. We invited several friends out this evening, but not sure if everyone will make it due to the snow. I guess if they make it, but can't get home we have several beds, and 2 new couches to sleep on!
Hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year. See you in 2011
The Douthit's
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Where once there was three
First of all, Happy Birthday to Mark! Not the best birthday for him. He looked in the mirror this morning, and said "man I am sure turning grey." His birthday breakfast consisted of a granola bar, then as we were heading to church we noticed that ours and the two neighbors mail boxes were missing from in front of our house. No time to investigate this morning so off we headed to town. At the end of church, the gal that was doing fellowship noticed that it was Mark's birthday, so announced in church that there were birthday brownies downstairs for fellowship time. After everyone was downstairs, another gal started the entire room singing to Mark. I made the comment that you could roast marshmallows on his face. We headed home after church, and luckily we had an extra mailbox, so Mark went to work putting up a new one. Not only did the fool that hit them break all the posts, but then he took the mailboxes with him. If he is caught, he will be in bigger trouble than just hitting them, as we and the neighbors all still had mail in them, we are talking federal crime here. And besides, our mailbox was a John Deere mailbox that cost a lot of money!
This last weekend I spent cleaning. I mean deep cleaning in the basement. It sure did need it! I also cleaned the play room and the room that Lexi vacated a few months ago. I have about 3 double arm loads of stuff to take to the dumpster, but think that I will wait for a little warmer weather. There is also a dead mouse smell that is coming from the play room closet, but after gingerly removing everything from the closet, I still did not find him. I think he might have died in the walls, yuck! Today after cooking the German chocolate cake, I need to finish the upstairs cleaning, then we will be ready for Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving... My folks are coming up from Texas to celebrate with us. The weather looks like it might hold for their trip, lets hope so, since Mom is bring the turkey. We are hopeful that Mark can get my Dad's tractor done so that they can take it back home with them, again if the weather and road conditions stay good. Mark has the engine put back together, all but the oil pump, which is what we are thinking caused it to start knocking right after Mark fixed it 2 weeks ago. I hope that is it, and it will run well for years to come.
Well, best go for this week. The Douthit's wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
This last weekend I spent cleaning. I mean deep cleaning in the basement. It sure did need it! I also cleaned the play room and the room that Lexi vacated a few months ago. I have about 3 double arm loads of stuff to take to the dumpster, but think that I will wait for a little warmer weather. There is also a dead mouse smell that is coming from the play room closet, but after gingerly removing everything from the closet, I still did not find him. I think he might have died in the walls, yuck! Today after cooking the German chocolate cake, I need to finish the upstairs cleaning, then we will be ready for Thanksgiving.
Speaking of Thanksgiving... My folks are coming up from Texas to celebrate with us. The weather looks like it might hold for their trip, lets hope so, since Mom is bring the turkey. We are hopeful that Mark can get my Dad's tractor done so that they can take it back home with them, again if the weather and road conditions stay good. Mark has the engine put back together, all but the oil pump, which is what we are thinking caused it to start knocking right after Mark fixed it 2 weeks ago. I hope that is it, and it will run well for years to come.
Well, best go for this week. The Douthit's wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Catching up
I was thinking 2 weeks ago, that I would be an every 2 week blogger. Well, 2 weeks later and I am thinking if I can get this blog done once a month I will be doing good! Now I have to try and remember what has happened over the last month.
Now that I have read what happened the last time I wrote, I can catch everyone up.
Our $2000.00 well bill ended up being a $2600.00 well bill. We received the bill on Wednesday, and the guy called to get the check from us on Thursday. We hadn't even told the other households how much the bill was going to be. Everyone was able to round up their share, and we were able to pay the bill by the next week.
Unfortunately, that took the money I was saving to pay the tax/title and license on the Yukon. So have been saving and moving money around so I can pay that this week, to the tune of $1400.00. For those that don't live in Nebraska, that is the correct amount. When I first moved here I couldn't believe how much it cost either!
I discharged all my patients in Kimball, so have been working at the out patient clinic for the last 3 weeks. It is nice to have a break from the drive, but I am going to miss my mileage check at the end of the month, and with Christmas coming up, I will really notice it. I also miss seeing all the people at the nursing home.
Mark has been working on tractors. My Dad brought up his little Yanmar tractor in August. Mark tore apart the engine and after looking at the manual that was written in Japanese, he called a place to get the information needed. He ordered parts, sent back the wrong parts, ordered more parts, had to call for the right specs... but finally finish last week. Kind of. He was running the tractor, but still didn't like the sound, so reved the engine, and it started knocking! I am guessing that is not a good sound since he shut it off right away, came in the house and said I am not working on it any more! In the mean time, Mark went to the ranch to work on his Dad's 3010 John Deere. The transmission was bad. Mark pulled the part that was bad out, and then found a used part to put in. I get a phone call Saturday morning that goes like this:
Laura- Hello
Mark- What are you doing?
This is where I made my mistake
Laura-Nothing
Mark- Could you run by Bridgeport Tractor Parts and get a part for me, and then run it up here? Please!
Laura- Of course I can, I only have a house to clean
So the rest of the day was spent in the car going to Crawford and back. Then the kicker is that Mark can't get the part back in, without taking the entire transmission out of the tractor, so he ends up bringing the transmission home anyway. After he got home, we all loaded up in the pickup and went and cut 2 loads of firewood. The rest of the week was spent trying to get the transmission put back together which was not fun, but I will not go into all the details here. Suffice it to say there was a lot of cussing coming from the shop, and since I was out most nights helping Mark some of the cussing was coming from me! Mark finally got it done on Thursday. He took off work to work on the transmission, and also spend the day with his parents that came down for the Veterans Day celebration at school. Mark and Kyra took the transmission back to the ranch this last weekend, and the 3010 seems to be running well again. Now back to the Yanmar for Mark.
This last weekend was the start of deer season, so Kyra went with her dad up to the ranch, so she could help Grandma feed the guys and clean. She was so proud when she came home with $20 for all her work. Lexi spent Saturday babysitting, so I mainly had a quiet day to work on house work.
Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. I made a turkey and rolls. I stayed and helped clean some, then Lexi and I headed home. Mark and Kyra got home around 2:30 that afternoon. I made soup and chili and bread bowls to put it in. The Strawn's came over for supper and we had a nice visit, it seems like forever since they have been over.
Winter has finally arrived here, so we have been enjoying all the firewood that was cut 1 1/2 weeks ago. Mom and Dad are planning to come up for Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates. One week to go!
Now that I have read what happened the last time I wrote, I can catch everyone up.
Our $2000.00 well bill ended up being a $2600.00 well bill. We received the bill on Wednesday, and the guy called to get the check from us on Thursday. We hadn't even told the other households how much the bill was going to be. Everyone was able to round up their share, and we were able to pay the bill by the next week.
Unfortunately, that took the money I was saving to pay the tax/title and license on the Yukon. So have been saving and moving money around so I can pay that this week, to the tune of $1400.00. For those that don't live in Nebraska, that is the correct amount. When I first moved here I couldn't believe how much it cost either!
I discharged all my patients in Kimball, so have been working at the out patient clinic for the last 3 weeks. It is nice to have a break from the drive, but I am going to miss my mileage check at the end of the month, and with Christmas coming up, I will really notice it. I also miss seeing all the people at the nursing home.
Mark has been working on tractors. My Dad brought up his little Yanmar tractor in August. Mark tore apart the engine and after looking at the manual that was written in Japanese, he called a place to get the information needed. He ordered parts, sent back the wrong parts, ordered more parts, had to call for the right specs... but finally finish last week. Kind of. He was running the tractor, but still didn't like the sound, so reved the engine, and it started knocking! I am guessing that is not a good sound since he shut it off right away, came in the house and said I am not working on it any more! In the mean time, Mark went to the ranch to work on his Dad's 3010 John Deere. The transmission was bad. Mark pulled the part that was bad out, and then found a used part to put in. I get a phone call Saturday morning that goes like this:
Laura- Hello
Mark- What are you doing?
This is where I made my mistake
Laura-Nothing
Mark- Could you run by Bridgeport Tractor Parts and get a part for me, and then run it up here? Please!
Laura- Of course I can, I only have a house to clean
So the rest of the day was spent in the car going to Crawford and back. Then the kicker is that Mark can't get the part back in, without taking the entire transmission out of the tractor, so he ends up bringing the transmission home anyway. After he got home, we all loaded up in the pickup and went and cut 2 loads of firewood. The rest of the week was spent trying to get the transmission put back together which was not fun, but I will not go into all the details here. Suffice it to say there was a lot of cussing coming from the shop, and since I was out most nights helping Mark some of the cussing was coming from me! Mark finally got it done on Thursday. He took off work to work on the transmission, and also spend the day with his parents that came down for the Veterans Day celebration at school. Mark and Kyra took the transmission back to the ranch this last weekend, and the 3010 seems to be running well again. Now back to the Yanmar for Mark.
This last weekend was the start of deer season, so Kyra went with her dad up to the ranch, so she could help Grandma feed the guys and clean. She was so proud when she came home with $20 for all her work. Lexi spent Saturday babysitting, so I mainly had a quiet day to work on house work.
Sunday was our Thanksgiving dinner at church. I made a turkey and rolls. I stayed and helped clean some, then Lexi and I headed home. Mark and Kyra got home around 2:30 that afternoon. I made soup and chili and bread bowls to put it in. The Strawn's came over for supper and we had a nice visit, it seems like forever since they have been over.
Winter has finally arrived here, so we have been enjoying all the firewood that was cut 1 1/2 weeks ago. Mom and Dad are planning to come up for Thanksgiving if the weather cooperates. One week to go!
Monday, October 18, 2010
What a week!
As usual, the Douthit's have been running here to there with not much to show for all the running. Last weekend we headed to Casper WY on Thursday night, as the girls where out of school on Friday. We spent the night with Brother-in-law Jay. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed out to look at a new SUV that Mark had his eye on. Mark has said for years that the Tahoe is just too small to take on trips, when you have to take everything in the house plus the kitchen sink (according to Mark), and has wanted something bigger since about the moment when we bought the Tahoe. I on the other hand am thinking, we have the Tahoe paid off, and I don't like car payments. We can get enough stuff in the Tahoe, and if not, maybe we should take less. To make a long story short, we ended up buying the vehicle that we were looking at. It is a 2006 GMC Yukon. It is fairly plain jane, as far as today's standards go. It has cloth seats, and no DVD player. The good part about it is it only had 13000 miles on it. We got a good deal for us, and left WY with it.
After looking at the Yukon, we headed over to Lander WY, which was our original reason for our weekend trip. We were about 1-2 weeks too late to see the aspen in full color, but did get to see some, and enjoyed our time away. We headed back to Casper on Saturday to finish the car purchase, then headed home Sunday after Mark and Jay did a little work to Jay's house. Jay is going to start telling us that we can't come to his house and stay, because every time we do, a new home improvement DIY project is started.
I had suffered through a pain in my face that settled in my tooth all weekend, so called the Dentist on Monday, and they were able to get me in. I guess it had been over a year since my last cleaning, and I am suppose to go every 6 months. Where does the time go? The pain was getting to be less, and after my teeth were clean, it was all but gone. The x-rays did not show anything, but the dentist did say that I would most likely need a root canal, and a crown. I have decided to hold off as long as I can on that, as I have been through 3 root canals, and have not enjoyed any of them. He gave me a script for some antibiotics in case I start getting the pain again over the weekend. So far, so good.
My Mom and Dad headed to Israel on Monday. There is a web sight that friends and family can go to, to see how the trip is going, and you can also send them some notes. I was unable to get onto the sight for several days, so called my big sister, and she called the church to get the correct web address. Looks like Mom and Dad are having fun, and I am sure they will come home with lots of stories of their adventures.
Monday night Harold called and said that he had to have a test run on Wednesday, and could I work for him? Not a problem. Everything turned out fine on Harold's test, unfortunately he could not work the rest of the week, so I was very busy, doing both jobs.
Friday finally got here, and as I am leaving Kimball I get a call from the school. Not a good call to get on a Friday afternoon. I, of course am thinking, who got in trouble and has to stay after school. The news was just as bad, if not worse. Lexi is on the phone, saying that Kyra got sick all over her clothes and books, and can I come and get them? Well, no, unless you want to wait an hour. I'll call dad. Mark picks them up and takes them home. Kyra gets in the shower to clean up. The rest of the night we are reminded how much her tummy hurts. She seemed to be fine the next day, but still complaining that her stomach does not feel well.
Saturday was volley ball. Kyra stayed home, but Lexi was able to play. While she was playing, I went to the church to finish the bulletin, not being able to do it before since I was working for Harold. I then headed back home and worked on cleaning the house. I had not moped my kitchen floor for 2 weeks!!
Sunday we woke up to Kyra still not feeling well, and Mark complaining of a sore throat. We did not got to church, but I am teaching Sunday school, so headed in for that. There were not a lot of kids for Sunday school, so another teacher was going to take my class, so I headed back home to finish the cleaning. When I got home I turned on the water and nothing happened. Grabbed Mark, and we headed down to the well. After blowing 2 fuses, we decided that we had a big problem. Mark found the pump/ well guy in town, and 3 hours and $2000 later we have water again. We had to put in a new motor on the pump and a new pressure tank. We have a 3 HP motor, as we have 3 houses on one well. We knew that the pressure tank was going out, but hoped that we could get by for a while. I guess not! I think that God is punishing me for laughing at the people in town that are having to boil their water due to the e-coli in their water. That will teach me!
We are now back to Monday, and everyone went to school and work. I hope they all stay there!
After looking at the Yukon, we headed over to Lander WY, which was our original reason for our weekend trip. We were about 1-2 weeks too late to see the aspen in full color, but did get to see some, and enjoyed our time away. We headed back to Casper on Saturday to finish the car purchase, then headed home Sunday after Mark and Jay did a little work to Jay's house. Jay is going to start telling us that we can't come to his house and stay, because every time we do, a new home improvement DIY project is started.
I had suffered through a pain in my face that settled in my tooth all weekend, so called the Dentist on Monday, and they were able to get me in. I guess it had been over a year since my last cleaning, and I am suppose to go every 6 months. Where does the time go? The pain was getting to be less, and after my teeth were clean, it was all but gone. The x-rays did not show anything, but the dentist did say that I would most likely need a root canal, and a crown. I have decided to hold off as long as I can on that, as I have been through 3 root canals, and have not enjoyed any of them. He gave me a script for some antibiotics in case I start getting the pain again over the weekend. So far, so good.
My Mom and Dad headed to Israel on Monday. There is a web sight that friends and family can go to, to see how the trip is going, and you can also send them some notes. I was unable to get onto the sight for several days, so called my big sister, and she called the church to get the correct web address. Looks like Mom and Dad are having fun, and I am sure they will come home with lots of stories of their adventures.
Monday night Harold called and said that he had to have a test run on Wednesday, and could I work for him? Not a problem. Everything turned out fine on Harold's test, unfortunately he could not work the rest of the week, so I was very busy, doing both jobs.
Friday finally got here, and as I am leaving Kimball I get a call from the school. Not a good call to get on a Friday afternoon. I, of course am thinking, who got in trouble and has to stay after school. The news was just as bad, if not worse. Lexi is on the phone, saying that Kyra got sick all over her clothes and books, and can I come and get them? Well, no, unless you want to wait an hour. I'll call dad. Mark picks them up and takes them home. Kyra gets in the shower to clean up. The rest of the night we are reminded how much her tummy hurts. She seemed to be fine the next day, but still complaining that her stomach does not feel well.
Saturday was volley ball. Kyra stayed home, but Lexi was able to play. While she was playing, I went to the church to finish the bulletin, not being able to do it before since I was working for Harold. I then headed back home and worked on cleaning the house. I had not moped my kitchen floor for 2 weeks!!
Sunday we woke up to Kyra still not feeling well, and Mark complaining of a sore throat. We did not got to church, but I am teaching Sunday school, so headed in for that. There were not a lot of kids for Sunday school, so another teacher was going to take my class, so I headed back home to finish the cleaning. When I got home I turned on the water and nothing happened. Grabbed Mark, and we headed down to the well. After blowing 2 fuses, we decided that we had a big problem. Mark found the pump/ well guy in town, and 3 hours and $2000 later we have water again. We had to put in a new motor on the pump and a new pressure tank. We have a 3 HP motor, as we have 3 houses on one well. We knew that the pressure tank was going out, but hoped that we could get by for a while. I guess not! I think that God is punishing me for laughing at the people in town that are having to boil their water due to the e-coli in their water. That will teach me!
We are now back to Monday, and everyone went to school and work. I hope they all stay there!
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