THANKSGIVING 2010

Bless us, O Lord, and these Thy gifts which we are about to receive from Thy bounty, through Christ our Lord. Amen.

My personal morning & evening prayer:

Thank you, God, for all of my blessings. Please keep all whom I love and cherish safe and warm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! YOU ARE THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON GOD'S EARTH! I LOVE YOU, AMERICA!!

Summer 2010

there is no love better than this... and no laugh sweeter...

the water was ice freezing cold -- but kids don't seem to mind... near 100 for today and tomorrow and Monday, so the water will warm and cold water probably added... hard to get him out of the pool (although he is NOT crazy about the floating on a raft thing -- YET LOL! )

WELCOME BACK VETERANS.org

I know you'll be celebrating Veteran's Day this Thursday. But if you are looking for an extra way to honor our Veterans, this might be up your alley.

Major League Baseball and Welcome Back Veterans are asking people to share their message of thanks to American veterans:

http://www.welcomebackveterans.org/thanks

They will be displaying many of the messages on the Welcome Back Veterans website, and making sure all of them are sent to Veterans themselves -- to show them how much we all stand behind them.

Hope you can take a second to take a look and join the movement.

Exploring Arizona: Williams and Wildlife Zoo/Aquarium

Have tickets to the Antiques Roadshow in Phoenix this weekend... taking Indian pottery, a lamp from the 1890's, some Currier & Ives prints (not valuable, but I want to learn how to tell how old prints are... and DH and I are treating ourselves to a weekend at a ritzy hotel for our anniversary... also seeing my dear brother while we're in the Big City (LOL).

Here are some pics from a recent excursion through the back country to Williams, AZ (Gateway to the Grand Canyon) (if you go, be sure to visit American Flyer Coffee Co. -- DELICIOUS coffee and really nice people!! ) and pics from a trip yesterday with Tom Terrific to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium (Note to self: do not go to Phoenix for outdoor activities in July... 115 degrees... oh yeah -- it's a dry heat @ 8% humidity LOL)

you could say that...

[bad] weather on the red rocks...

came around a bend and this old boy was trotting along

where the deer & the [pronghorn] antelope play...

oh beautiful! for spacious skies

part of the Perkins Ranch

open range state... no fence between me & him... (not Perkins cattle btw)

tracked this dog across a wide open field...

who then sat and howled at us like a wolf!!

BBBIIIGGG fish

baby pygmy goat in the petting zoo

shark tank

fish

twin baby white tigers!!

touching horseshoe crabs & starfish!!

There Really Is No Place Like Home

Arrived home Wednesday afternoon... a few hours later there was a high-pressure gas line explosion and fire very near our home (contractor setting guard rail posts punctured the line) and then the electrical power was shut off for the next 4 hours while firefighters fought the fire in 90 degree+ temps (Noah was working at a fire station on the other side of town.) In the meantime, traffic was re-routed around the fire through our narrow and winding little mountainside community as we recognized immediately that our entrance gate was on one side of the mishap and our emergency fire road exit on the other, so we (our community residents) graciously called authorities and offered the use of our private roads to the town... threw open the gates while police and public works vehicles escorted many, many hundreds of cars Pied Piper-style first one way through the development and then returned with vehicles going the other way. This continued well into the night and through the next day. Since we had no electric and no gas (and no breeze!), we and the neighbors all brought out lawn chairs and watched the parade go past!! People were very grateful to our community and many waved and many called out their thanks to us -- although many people wondered what we were doing out on the road in our lawn chairs!! Later Wednesday evening the fire was controlled and the electricity was restored although the damaged road remained closed most of Thursday... we are a group of "doers" here and not a bunch of whiners... no one got on television wondering who was going to take care of them, or pay them or GIVE them anything... There was a problem, we had the solution and got it done.

DH, son Evan (directing traffic in the picture above) with baby Tom in his arms, SSM, Tom, Geri, Jacky & El

All pics except the group pic above were taken by Jacky... the group pic was taken by a road worker in a brief lull in traffic.

Then to top off the day, I stubbed and broke one of my toes in the wee hours of Thursday morning (sigh).

The following images are from our last day on the road through New Mexico and to our home in Arizona.

Arizona is a Free Range state -- no fences required (in most areas) for livestock. This little colt ran in front of our car on a frontage road with his mother casually looking on... but we were watching him and he was not in any danger from our car...

Oh, Beautiful for Spacious Skies

Oh YEAH! Stunningly beautiful vistas and interesting sights out every window... Colorado to New Mexico today...

Airborne near the AF Academy this morning... can you imagine the view???

if you look closely (or open this larger), you can see the antelope on the left...

PS: Dear Barack: If there is only one President of the United States, perhaps you should start ACTING like it. When someone in the media invites you to trash a sitting US Senator and war Hero who is entitled as is every other American citizen to voice an opinion on your performance, the PRESIDENT of the United States says Sen. McCain is entitled to his opinion and moves on. Your answer today proved just how classless and clueless you are and just how much you have to learn about being a gentleman.

PPS: The driving focus of health care is NOT cutting costs! It is providing quality health care. Twit.

Fruited Plains and Purple Mountain Majesty

Friday morning we were sleeping in at our hotel when the sister we were visiting called to say that there was a tornado right where we were... I forgot what living in the Midwest can be like.... so we pop on the TV, see the red blips, hear some sirens and say, "OK... maybe we should get dressed in case we have to head for the basement" (we didn't).

Of course, the record rains are not helping the farmers or their crops...

Yesterday we were off to see the wonderful ArmyWifeToddlerMom and got to finally meet her DH and huggable little ones! The most sparkling and happy people with whom to spend an evening! ADub cooked an absolutely scrumptious dinner. PN and SR were wonderfully behaved and the most engaging "little people"!! A wonderful time was had by all and we hope to see them again very soon!!

Today we drove across the great heartland of America -- where people still make things and grow things and work sun up to sun down and have (for the most part) avoided the consumption excesses that seem to plague so many of those who live in the larger coastal cities... and tonight we are with family in the land of the great Rocky Mountains!

Still snow on some peaks!!

We are just days from returning to the home we love so much... and while the breathtaking beauty of this country is undeniable, and the technology and bounty (such as wind farms, combines, corn fields as far as the eye can see, railroads, automobiles, etc.) are awe-inspiring, it is really the people along our journey that have made this trip so memorable and fun!!!! Hilary & John & Mr. Z, Jas, G, Ash & Av, James, Karen, Sue, Jim, Fran, Sue, Ruth, Shane, Michelle & Katy, Dick, Lin, Bob, Mish & Hata, ADub, Mr. ADub, PN & SR, Karen, Mark, Mary, Dan, Tim & Chris... We miss Tom Terrific, Noah, Ev & Virgil and our own beds... We will not miss the rain (there has been plenty of it -- although fortunately none on any day we have been driving!) nor the humidity and walls of mosquitoes and other bugs that we had forgotten live in the woodsy areas of the US. I swear when we get home, I will not set an alarm or drive longer than a few miles for at least a few weeks. All in all, we are having a BLAST!!