Can you believe that this is the 31st of August already. I can't! It seems to me that we just got back from Florida the other day and now we'll be going again in 2 1/2 months! Man, time flies when you're having fun!!
This morning I went over to Fairfield (actually east of Fairfield) to help a friend pack for a BIG move. Unfortunately we didn't get a whole lot done and we left her with a mess on her kitchen table! Sorry, Chris! Chris has some decisions to make on what all she's taking with her and we couldn't help with that process. So, we gabbed instead!!
About 5:30 we went to the Club where my brother was making his famous Bloody Marys. They were good as usual! Unfortunately, my stomach didn't feel very good when we got there and the tomato juice and spices are talking to me now! I just chewed a Rolaid, so I'm hoping that helps!
Tomorrow I've got several things I want/need to get done. I've got to take my car to Blackwells for an oil change among other things. It's supposed to be almost 100 degrees tomorrow - pretty unusual for Sept. 1st.
More later...
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Thank You Lord!
Thank you so much for the rain! We actually got 3/4 of an inch of rain and we needed it so badly!! I never dreamed we'd be begging for rain after the wet spring we had! The rain was so nice - it came down gently for most of the morning. I had the cutest thing happen outside my window this morning. One of the little hummingbirds was sitting on his perch about 2' from my window while it was raining. He would stretch his neck up high and flutter his wings and turn and stretch...I think he was actually taking a shower! If there hadn't been rain on my window I'd have had a video of him and I'm sure I could have won on America's Funniest Videos!! All day he kept coming back - I got lots of pictures of him once the rain stopped.
More later...
More later...
Monday, August 29, 2011
I Am Tired!
I got up really early (for me)! Juliene, Jan, and I left for Des Moines at 7:50 AM~ We hit lots of places - Michael's, Valley Junction, JoAnn's, Memory Bound in Ankeny, Archivers, and Hobby Lobby! We didn't stop for lunch until 3:45 PM!!! It was a fun, wonderful day! Perfect weather, good friends, and good shopping! We ate lunch-dinner at Chips in Ankeny...for $8.00 we had rotisserie pork loan, steamed vegetables, and a baked potato - plus homemade chips for an hors d'oeuvres! Great food for a great price! As an interesting tidbit, gas is $3.44 in DSM!
I just heard the cast for Dancing with the Stars - I'm not sure I'm going to like this season! Maybe I'll be surprised.
More later...
I just heard the cast for Dancing with the Stars - I'm not sure I'm going to like this season! Maybe I'll be surprised.
More later...
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Fun, Fun Day!
We sure had a fun day today. Church was great as usual...Pastor David is on Chapter 3 of the book of Ruth...very interesting story! We had a great crowd there today...several new people! Bryan even went to church with us. He hadn't brought church clothes, but we assured him he'd be fine in shorts - and he was!
After church, while I was getting games ready for our church carnival/ice cream social, Dave and Bryan cooked dinner. We had a choice of boneless pork chops, marinated chicken breasts, or chicken grillers on the grill. Dave also cut up some potatoes and onions and cooked them on the grill. Great job, guys!
Bryan left about 1:45 so we had a little while before we needed to be back at church. We both took mini naps in our chairs!! Then I left at 3:00 and Dave came to church later. We had a great turnout at our event! We had 38 cake units for our cake walk and they ran out in about an hour. Dave won a cake, but gave it to some child to take home. I worked at my station for the full time and I was busy until about the last 20 minutes. We closed all the games down at 6:00 and now we're all tired! We had horse rides, bean bag tosses, face painting, basketball shooting, ladder golf, guessing games and a clue hunt - all of this besides the cake walk, and cake and ice cream served by the Deacons.
I'm going to bed early. Tomorrow is another big day. Three of us are going to Des Moines to several stamping stores!! Should be a fun day! More later...
After church, while I was getting games ready for our church carnival/ice cream social, Dave and Bryan cooked dinner. We had a choice of boneless pork chops, marinated chicken breasts, or chicken grillers on the grill. Dave also cut up some potatoes and onions and cooked them on the grill. Great job, guys!
Bryan left about 1:45 so we had a little while before we needed to be back at church. We both took mini naps in our chairs!! Then I left at 3:00 and Dave came to church later. We had a great turnout at our event! We had 38 cake units for our cake walk and they ran out in about an hour. Dave won a cake, but gave it to some child to take home. I worked at my station for the full time and I was busy until about the last 20 minutes. We closed all the games down at 6:00 and now we're all tired! We had horse rides, bean bag tosses, face painting, basketball shooting, ladder golf, guessing games and a clue hunt - all of this besides the cake walk, and cake and ice cream served by the Deacons.
I'm going to bed early. Tomorrow is another big day. Three of us are going to Des Moines to several stamping stores!! Should be a fun day! More later...
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Super Saturday
What a beautiful day today was. I've turned off the air conditioning and opened up the house! I just love weather like this - reminds me of football days in Ames!! Love it!!
I have been working on some samples for our Stamp Camp. Here's one that I'm quite pleased with - except I think I should have tied the bow a little tighter. The Rich Razzleberry rectangle is stamped by inking up a clear stamp block, then misting it with water and putting it on paper. Makes a very interesting backdrop for other stamps. In this case I used the maple leaf from Autumn Splendor. The "blotches" on the bottom left of the purple rectangle are caused by not having enough ink on the clear block. I like the effect, though!
Bryan came today. It's been fun seeing him and having him here. We didn't do much. He actually went to the Habitat house to help his dad for an hour or so. The guys went to the Recovery Room and to El Rancho Grande for supper. They brought home chips and salsa as well as tenderloins!!
Tonight we've just been sitting outside watching the hummingbirds and our resident bumblebee (who loves the hummingbird feeder)! It was a great evening for sitting out!!
More later...
I have been working on some samples for our Stamp Camp. Here's one that I'm quite pleased with - except I think I should have tied the bow a little tighter. The Rich Razzleberry rectangle is stamped by inking up a clear stamp block, then misting it with water and putting it on paper. Makes a very interesting backdrop for other stamps. In this case I used the maple leaf from Autumn Splendor. The "blotches" on the bottom left of the purple rectangle are caused by not having enough ink on the clear block. I like the effect, though!
Bryan came today. It's been fun seeing him and having him here. We didn't do much. He actually went to the Habitat house to help his dad for an hour or so. The guys went to the Recovery Room and to El Rancho Grande for supper. They brought home chips and salsa as well as tenderloins!!
Tonight we've just been sitting outside watching the hummingbirds and our resident bumblebee (who loves the hummingbird feeder)! It was a great evening for sitting out!!
More later...
Friday, August 26, 2011
OMG
I can hardly believe that it's already August 26th! Before you know it, we'll be heading south again! I just can't figure out why time flies so fast!
We had stamping club today. Made a couple of really cute cards. We did this folding technique again. Last time we did it we had to cut our own slits - this time a guy from eastern Iowa has come out with a die to cut the slits for you! What will they think of next??
Tonight, Dave and I went to the Country Club for dinner. We invited Nan to meet us there. It was a fun evening - we haven't seen her for several weeks. She is on call, but her phone didn't ring until she was just about done with her meal. Unfortunately she'll probably have to go to work and won't get to just sit around. Our meals were really good. I had a special which was pork medallions with crystallized apples - scrumptious!! Nan had coconut shrimp and Dave had a steak sandwich (open-faced). I brought home half of mine, but Nan and Dave ate all of theirs. I'm stuffed, so I can't imagine how full they are!!
Tomorrow's a big day - Bryan's coming down. It'll be fun to see him again!
I have a favor to ask. Please keep brand new baby Ethan in your prayers. He was born today and his intestines were outside of his body, so he was in surgery last I heard. This is our friend from church's first grandchild. Thank you!
More later...
We had stamping club today. Made a couple of really cute cards. We did this folding technique again. Last time we did it we had to cut our own slits - this time a guy from eastern Iowa has come out with a die to cut the slits for you! What will they think of next??
Tonight, Dave and I went to the Country Club for dinner. We invited Nan to meet us there. It was a fun evening - we haven't seen her for several weeks. She is on call, but her phone didn't ring until she was just about done with her meal. Unfortunately she'll probably have to go to work and won't get to just sit around. Our meals were really good. I had a special which was pork medallions with crystallized apples - scrumptious!! Nan had coconut shrimp and Dave had a steak sandwich (open-faced). I brought home half of mine, but Nan and Dave ate all of theirs. I'm stuffed, so I can't imagine how full they are!!
Tomorrow's a big day - Bryan's coming down. It'll be fun to see him again!
I have a favor to ask. Please keep brand new baby Ethan in your prayers. He was born today and his intestines were outside of his body, so he was in surgery last I heard. This is our friend from church's first grandchild. Thank you!
More later...
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Summer's Here to Stay!
Thank goodness for lower humidity. Dave was able to get the driveway completely coated today. Tomorrow he'll look for any thin spots and fix those. Then we just need for it to cure for a day and we can get our vehicles back in the garage!! Yay!!
Juliene and I met this morning to finalize all the plans for our Holiday Stamp Camp on September 22nd. We're making 5 cards and we got all the supplies ordered today. That's a big load off my mind. Now I just have to get a flyer made up this weekend - then we'll start making packets for guests...I think this sounds a little like work!!!
More later...
Juliene and I met this morning to finalize all the plans for our Holiday Stamp Camp on September 22nd. We're making 5 cards and we got all the supplies ordered today. That's a big load off my mind. Now I just have to get a flyer made up this weekend - then we'll start making packets for guests...I think this sounds a little like work!!!
More later...
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Super Wednesday!
I wish I would start each day's blog a little differently, but I guess I'm in a rut! Since these are my ponderings, I like to ponder the weather too! If you get tired of hearing if we had a beautiful day or an icky day, just skip to paragraph #2!! Today was another beautiful, but hot day! The little hummingbirds weren't even terribly active today. I'm pretty sure they feel the heat too!
Dave worked on the driveway again today. At least there was a nice breeze blowing and the humidity level was down. He got the first layer of top coat on the long part of the driveway...tomorrow he'll work on the square part up by the garages! Since the cars are parked on our lawn, I'll be glad when he gets done with this project! Bryan's coming this weekend, so if it isn't done by the time he gets here, it will be before he leaves on Sunday!
I didn't do much today. I had to give blood at 1:30 and then I came home and sat in my chair for an hour or so. I cleaned up my studio because it was so bad I couldn't even work in there! When I work on projects, I make a BIG mess!! It's more fun to make the mess than to clean it up - haha!!
I also got all of our Alaska pictures uploaded to Snapfish.com so Jami can look at them and so that I can make a memory book of our trip. I'm sure it's going to be hard limiting myself to 20 pages of pictures!
More later...
Dave worked on the driveway again today. At least there was a nice breeze blowing and the humidity level was down. He got the first layer of top coat on the long part of the driveway...tomorrow he'll work on the square part up by the garages! Since the cars are parked on our lawn, I'll be glad when he gets done with this project! Bryan's coming this weekend, so if it isn't done by the time he gets here, it will be before he leaves on Sunday!
I didn't do much today. I had to give blood at 1:30 and then I came home and sat in my chair for an hour or so. I cleaned up my studio because it was so bad I couldn't even work in there! When I work on projects, I make a BIG mess!! It's more fun to make the mess than to clean it up - haha!!
I also got all of our Alaska pictures uploaded to Snapfish.com so Jami can look at them and so that I can make a memory book of our trip. I'm sure it's going to be hard limiting myself to 20 pages of pictures!
More later...
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Summer is Back!
Summer is back with a vengeance! It was 95 today and is supposed to be 92 again tomorrow! Plus, it's really humid! At one time this afternoon, we had 6 sparrows in the bird bath with 2 waiting!!
Dave worked outside all day. He is putting tar in the cracks in our driveway. He got all the cracks filled today and tomorrow he'll fill in the holes with a trowel. Then on Thursday and Friday, he'll put a thin coat over the entire driveway! I'm sure glad the heat doesn't bother him! There's no shade on our driveway!
As for me, I went to the dentist and found out that instead of losing a bit of my filling, I actually broke off part of the tooth. My dentist was able to just smooth off the tooth for the time being. Now, if I just stop chewing ice, it'll probably be okay for a long time! Stopping my ice chewing is really going to be hard - I've basically been chewing ice ever since I was a little girl!
More later...
Dave worked outside all day. He is putting tar in the cracks in our driveway. He got all the cracks filled today and tomorrow he'll fill in the holes with a trowel. Then on Thursday and Friday, he'll put a thin coat over the entire driveway! I'm sure glad the heat doesn't bother him! There's no shade on our driveway!
As for me, I went to the dentist and found out that instead of losing a bit of my filling, I actually broke off part of the tooth. My dentist was able to just smooth off the tooth for the time being. Now, if I just stop chewing ice, it'll probably be okay for a long time! Stopping my ice chewing is really going to be hard - I've basically been chewing ice ever since I was a little girl!
More later...
Monday, August 22, 2011
Beautiful Day!
Another gorgeous day in the neighborhood! I love fall-like weather and there are more and more signs of fall every day! The hummingbirds are eating more, there are more butterflies, including monarchs, our Maple tree has some red leaves, the locusts are deafening, the corn is starting to turn brown, and sudden death has hit the soybeans!
I had a terrible night last night. For some reason I couldn't go to sleep! At 3:38 I finally took an alprazolam and then I fell asleep! I may take one tonight, just so I can get to sleep at a normal time. I had a massage this afternoon so I am really tired tonight! I also lost a piece of filling today - chewing ice - so I've got to go see my friendly dentist in the morning - yuck! I just got this new filling right before I left for Alaska...I sure hope it's not compromised! I'd hate to think I have to do that all over again. Since it doesn't hurt, hopefully it can just be "filed off" so I don't have a rough spot.
I've got some things I've GOT to do tomorrow, so I'm hoping for lots of sleep tonight! More later...
I had a terrible night last night. For some reason I couldn't go to sleep! At 3:38 I finally took an alprazolam and then I fell asleep! I may take one tonight, just so I can get to sleep at a normal time. I had a massage this afternoon so I am really tired tonight! I also lost a piece of filling today - chewing ice - so I've got to go see my friendly dentist in the morning - yuck! I just got this new filling right before I left for Alaska...I sure hope it's not compromised! I'd hate to think I have to do that all over again. Since it doesn't hurt, hopefully it can just be "filed off" so I don't have a rough spot.
I've got some things I've GOT to do tomorrow, so I'm hoping for lots of sleep tonight! More later...
Sunday, August 21, 2011
Good Sunday for...
a cruise! After church, we took the '56 Chevy and drove to Attica, Iowa, just to eat lunch at Kin Folks Eatin' Place. Great barbeque! We both had brisket and potato salad today (they make the BEST potato salad!!) Dave had baked beans (which are more like pinto beans) and I had watermelon for my other side. They also make homemade ice cream, but believe it or not, we were too full for ice cream :(!! We even drove home thru Albia where my favorite hot-fudge-sundae place is, but again we were too full! I wish I had a dish of ice cream right now, though!! We neither one wanted supper!
Church was good! Pastor Sara preached today. It's always a joy to see her! She talked about the women who were instrumental in Moses' life - the midwives who refused to follow the Pharoah's orders to kill all of the male children, Miriam his sister, Moses' mother, and the Pharoah's daughter who found him and wanted to keep him. Good job, Sara! I really like it when we have visuals so we can really "see" the story!!
I've had fun watching the hummingbirds this evening. We stopped at Earle May on our way out of O-town this afternoon and bought another hummingbird feeder. Since we've got one male that is very aggressive, we thought we'd trick him! Joke's on us!! He was possessive of BOTH the feeders!! This evening we've had 6 hummers playing war!! What a delight!
More later...
Church was good! Pastor Sara preached today. It's always a joy to see her! She talked about the women who were instrumental in Moses' life - the midwives who refused to follow the Pharoah's orders to kill all of the male children, Miriam his sister, Moses' mother, and the Pharoah's daughter who found him and wanted to keep him. Good job, Sara! I really like it when we have visuals so we can really "see" the story!!
I've had fun watching the hummingbirds this evening. We stopped at Earle May on our way out of O-town this afternoon and bought another hummingbird feeder. Since we've got one male that is very aggressive, we thought we'd trick him! Joke's on us!! He was possessive of BOTH the feeders!! This evening we've had 6 hummers playing war!! What a delight!
More later...
Saturday, August 20, 2011
???
What day is this? I'm a little confused today! I've thought it was Friday all day. I guess that's because Dave left early this morning, just like a work day! Only instead of work, he attended the Presbytery meeting in Newton. He didn't get home until after 4:00, so it was just another normal day!
I did, however, have lots of fun today. My upline came over and taught me how to put in orders and how to do several things on the Stampin' Up website. I've also now got my own Stampin' Up website just for my customers!! As soon as i figure all of this out, I'll put the address on here and you all can check it out!
Juliene and I are going to hold a Holiday Stamp Camp on September 22nd at 6:30 PM, so put that date on your calendar...you'll all be getting an invitation!! We'll be making a Halloween card, a fall/Thanksgiving card, and 3 Christmas cards!! More details will follow! So, the rest of today I've been working on ideas for cards and making lists of who to invite.
I had the cutest thing happening outside of my window this afternoon. I had 3 hummingbirds playing hummer tag or war or something. Every time one of them would get near the feeder, the others would buzz him. I tried and tried to get pictures of them, but they were moving way too fast!! It was just hilarious watching them. This evening, I even went outside to try to get pictures, but again they were just too quick - the pictures just show little blurs!!
More later...
I did, however, have lots of fun today. My upline came over and taught me how to put in orders and how to do several things on the Stampin' Up website. I've also now got my own Stampin' Up website just for my customers!! As soon as i figure all of this out, I'll put the address on here and you all can check it out!
Juliene and I are going to hold a Holiday Stamp Camp on September 22nd at 6:30 PM, so put that date on your calendar...you'll all be getting an invitation!! We'll be making a Halloween card, a fall/Thanksgiving card, and 3 Christmas cards!! More details will follow! So, the rest of today I've been working on ideas for cards and making lists of who to invite.
I had the cutest thing happening outside of my window this afternoon. I had 3 hummingbirds playing hummer tag or war or something. Every time one of them would get near the feeder, the others would buzz him. I tried and tried to get pictures of them, but they were moving way too fast!! It was just hilarious watching them. This evening, I even went outside to try to get pictures, but again they were just too quick - the pictures just show little blurs!!
More later...
Friday, August 19, 2011
Friday's Thoughts
Here we are on "formal" night! It was kind of fun to dress up! These pictures were taken on the steps on the 6th deck, midship, during the Captain's reception. 
I hope the kids would like to have a copy of this picture because if not, we're going to have sever pictures of us as a couple up in our own home!!
Here's the whole family! Dave's cousin and his wife are next to us and then the two ladies on the right are his sisters and their husbands. We sure had fun!
This is a picture of us taken while we were in College Fjord. Some of the photography crew got into a little boat and circled the ship taking pictures of everyone out on their balconies! That was pretty cool! To my right is Suzy and Greg's room and they're out on their balcony, as well as Pat & Milt. Then two doors down are Steve & Mary! I guess that's the end of Alaska!!
Today was a fun day. We had PEO and initiated 3 new members, including my sister-in-law, Ann. I read the President's part and everything went smoothly! We had 28 people there, I think. Unfortunately, it ran a little long because our guest speaker who was to speak for 15 minutes spoke for 35!!! Then he asked if anyone had questions! So by the time initiation got over, several of the ladies had to leave because they had other engagements. We only had 19 at roll call! After PEO, Judy and I, plus our 3 new initiates, went out to lunch! It was a fun time!!
More later...
I hope the kids would like to have a copy of this picture because if not, we're going to have sever pictures of us as a couple up in our own home!!
Here's the whole family! Dave's cousin and his wife are next to us and then the two ladies on the right are his sisters and their husbands. We sure had fun!
This is a picture of us taken while we were in College Fjord. Some of the photography crew got into a little boat and circled the ship taking pictures of everyone out on their balconies! That was pretty cool! To my right is Suzy and Greg's room and they're out on their balcony, as well as Pat & Milt. Then two doors down are Steve & Mary! I guess that's the end of Alaska!!
Today was a fun day. We had PEO and initiated 3 new members, including my sister-in-law, Ann. I read the President's part and everything went smoothly! We had 28 people there, I think. Unfortunately, it ran a little long because our guest speaker who was to speak for 15 minutes spoke for 35!!! Then he asked if anyone had questions! So by the time initiation got over, several of the ladies had to leave because they had other engagements. We only had 19 at roll call! After PEO, Judy and I, plus our 3 new initiates, went out to lunch! It was a fun time!!
More later...
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Thursday
The pictures today are from the end of our trip. This is our boat docking in Whittier, where we boarded a bus for Anchorage. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes on one of the most dangerous roads in N. America. I suppose it's because on one side of you is water (where you're watching for whales) with mountains in the distance and on the other side is sheer rock where mountain goats and Dall sheep live! People are probably so busy watching the scenery that they forget to watch the road!!
Whittier is a beautiful little town nestled into the bay and into the mountains. Right after boarding the bus, we had to wait about 25 minutes just to go through a 2.5 mile tunnel through the mountains! If it hadn't been for the tunnel, we'd still have to be on a boat to get closer to Anchorage.
Some of the gorgeous scenery on the way to Anchorage.
We did several things in Anchorage, so there'll still be some more travelogue in the days to come. But for now I'm tired of uploading pictures!!
Today was a day to try to get my desk cleaned off. My desk at work NEVER got this bad!! But, then, I wasn't on Facebook either!! I'm finally down to one manageable pile now! Most of it was from the HUGE pile of mail we had when we got back from Alaska!
I saw a hummingbird again today. It was either a female or a juvenile male...very little. It came up to get a drink, but didn't like what was there, so I brought it inside, cleaned it out, and put new nectar into the feeder. Now the little guy is very happy! He/She's been back at least twice drinking!! That was fun because I haven't seen a hummer for several days now! I haven't seen the bluebird, our wrens, or any robins either...do you suppose they've already left?
Tomorrow morning is PEO. We're initiating 3 new members tomorrow and I'm doing the President's job during the initiation. I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm sure it'll be fine once we get started. There aren't any hard words, at least!!
More later...
Whittier is a beautiful little town nestled into the bay and into the mountains. Right after boarding the bus, we had to wait about 25 minutes just to go through a 2.5 mile tunnel through the mountains! If it hadn't been for the tunnel, we'd still have to be on a boat to get closer to Anchorage.
Some of the gorgeous scenery on the way to Anchorage.
We did several things in Anchorage, so there'll still be some more travelogue in the days to come. But for now I'm tired of uploading pictures!!
Today was a day to try to get my desk cleaned off. My desk at work NEVER got this bad!! But, then, I wasn't on Facebook either!! I'm finally down to one manageable pile now! Most of it was from the HUGE pile of mail we had when we got back from Alaska!
I saw a hummingbird again today. It was either a female or a juvenile male...very little. It came up to get a drink, but didn't like what was there, so I brought it inside, cleaned it out, and put new nectar into the feeder. Now the little guy is very happy! He/She's been back at least twice drinking!! That was fun because I haven't seen a hummer for several days now! I haven't seen the bluebird, our wrens, or any robins either...do you suppose they've already left?
Tomorrow morning is PEO. We're initiating 3 new members tomorrow and I'm doing the President's job during the initiation. I'm a little nervous about it, but I'm sure it'll be fine once we get started. There aren't any hard words, at least!!
More later...
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Feels Like...
State Fair weather outside...hot and muggy during the day and cool in the evenings. It's a sure sign that football is just around the corner! I didn't go out of the house today except to get something out of a PEO sister's car. Other than that, I stayed inside! Dave and I vacuumed the basement tonight and now I'm sneezing! The basement in our house is one of those rooms that gets ignored when it's cleaning time. So tonight, Dave moved things while I vacuumed. It went pretty fast with two of us working!
Back to the Alaska travelogue! After three days of sight-seeing in ports in Alaska, the next two days were scenic cruising days. Unfortunately the first of those two days, we had lots of fog! We could still see the glaciers in Glacier Bay, but it wasn't conducive for good pictures! Besides fog, it was rainy/misty/snowy/windy and downright cold! I even went down to the 6th deck and bought some gloves when my hands got cold!! Glacier Bay has some gorgeous sights! I've commented before about the quiet in Alaska, but in the fog everything is REALLY quiet! Our Captain did blow our fog horn lots during this time, though! There were little fishing boats all around us (anyway, they looked little beside us!) and the Captain was warning them that we were in the area I guess!
On Friday the 5th (our 21st anniversary) the fog started lifting and we had some beautiful views of glaciers and gorgeous mountainous terrain! This shows some of the silt in the glaciers and if you can see the top part of the picture, there are glaciers way up there too!
This is some of the scenery and the beautiful colors we were greeted with later in the day on Friday. I just couldn't get enough of the aqua of the glacier waters against the greens and grays of the mountains.
Tomorrow I'll upload some spectacular glacier pictures from College Fjord. Unfortunately, our cruise was about to come to an end at this point. We still had 4 days in Anchorage, though, so we weren't ready to come home yet!!
More later...
Back to the Alaska travelogue! After three days of sight-seeing in ports in Alaska, the next two days were scenic cruising days. Unfortunately the first of those two days, we had lots of fog! We could still see the glaciers in Glacier Bay, but it wasn't conducive for good pictures! Besides fog, it was rainy/misty/snowy/windy and downright cold! I even went down to the 6th deck and bought some gloves when my hands got cold!! Glacier Bay has some gorgeous sights! I've commented before about the quiet in Alaska, but in the fog everything is REALLY quiet! Our Captain did blow our fog horn lots during this time, though! There were little fishing boats all around us (anyway, they looked little beside us!) and the Captain was warning them that we were in the area I guess!
On Friday the 5th (our 21st anniversary) the fog started lifting and we had some beautiful views of glaciers and gorgeous mountainous terrain! This shows some of the silt in the glaciers and if you can see the top part of the picture, there are glaciers way up there too!
This is some of the scenery and the beautiful colors we were greeted with later in the day on Friday. I just couldn't get enough of the aqua of the glacier waters against the greens and grays of the mountains.
Tomorrow I'll upload some spectacular glacier pictures from College Fjord. Unfortunately, our cruise was about to come to an end at this point. We still had 4 days in Anchorage, though, so we weren't ready to come home yet!!
More later...
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Thinking of Elvis
On this date, 34 years ago, Elvis Presley died. I've been thinking about him all day today. What a wonderful talent he had - his music still lives on after all these years! The crowds in Memphis for Elvis week are astounding!!
We finally got a little bit of rain this morning. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to help a lot. It smelled so good, though! Sort of washed all the dust off of everything for a bit!
I didn't get any pictures for tonight - sorry. I had a sorority meeting and just got home a little bit ago. I'm too tired to do anything tonight.
More later...
We finally got a little bit of rain this morning. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to help a lot. It smelled so good, though! Sort of washed all the dust off of everything for a bit!
I didn't get any pictures for tonight - sorry. I had a sorority meeting and just got home a little bit ago. I'm too tired to do anything tonight.
More later...
Monday, August 15, 2011
Monday, Monday
Gotta love Mondays!! I was really busy today. I had to take the '56 to the body shop. A chrome piece fell off and needed new clips put on. At least it didn't cost me anything this time! Then I had Bible study where we had 10 people today! Fun group - I've missed it! This evening I had an Evangelism meeting at church. We are planning an ice cream social and carnival for August 28th, so this was our wrap-up meeting before that event. I sure hope it's a success!
More Alaska pictures...We were in port at Juneau from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM, so plenty of time for everyone to shop for goodies and to see all the sights. We did the two hour tour of Juneau, some shopping, and then went back to the ship for a late lunch. Tuesday night onboard we ate at the Bayou restaurant, where they had the best steak I may have ever had! It was a 10 ounce filet and it was fantastic! The food was great all of the time. Every morning for breakfast we had a buffet OR you could have eggs done the way you like them...so I had 2 eggs over easy most mornings. The bacon was greasy tasting, so I didn't eat any bacon all week after I'd tried it. Every thing else was wonderful, though!
When we arrived in Skagway this is what greeted us! Skagway only has about 800 people in it...and then add the 10,000 from the ships! Can you imagine! It's just a little bitty town nestled into some beautifully rugged mountains! For some reason a lot of the ships who have sailed to Skagway, put their logos and dates on the side of the mountain at the dock! It was a little strange to see "graffiti" in such a beautiful place.
We all decided that we wanted to ride the White Pass train up into the mountains, so we had arranged for this in advance. Part of the Frushours were train employees, so this was fitting and proper for the next generation to do this!! Here is the train we rode at the bottom of this mountain. It was a beautiful trip - well worth the time! The train travels all the way to White Pass and into Canada. We weren't allowed to leave the train at any time, but it was wonderful to watch the engines switching and to see how we switched our seats so we didn't go down the mountain backwards!!
Lots of fun and absolutely fantastic scenery!
I'll show you more pictures from Skagway tomorrow. It was a cute little town! More later...
More Alaska pictures...We were in port at Juneau from 6:00 AM until 8:00 PM, so plenty of time for everyone to shop for goodies and to see all the sights. We did the two hour tour of Juneau, some shopping, and then went back to the ship for a late lunch. Tuesday night onboard we ate at the Bayou restaurant, where they had the best steak I may have ever had! It was a 10 ounce filet and it was fantastic! The food was great all of the time. Every morning for breakfast we had a buffet OR you could have eggs done the way you like them...so I had 2 eggs over easy most mornings. The bacon was greasy tasting, so I didn't eat any bacon all week after I'd tried it. Every thing else was wonderful, though!
When we arrived in Skagway this is what greeted us! Skagway only has about 800 people in it...and then add the 10,000 from the ships! Can you imagine! It's just a little bitty town nestled into some beautifully rugged mountains! For some reason a lot of the ships who have sailed to Skagway, put their logos and dates on the side of the mountain at the dock! It was a little strange to see "graffiti" in such a beautiful place.
We all decided that we wanted to ride the White Pass train up into the mountains, so we had arranged for this in advance. Part of the Frushours were train employees, so this was fitting and proper for the next generation to do this!! Here is the train we rode at the bottom of this mountain. It was a beautiful trip - well worth the time! The train travels all the way to White Pass and into Canada. We weren't allowed to leave the train at any time, but it was wonderful to watch the engines switching and to see how we switched our seats so we didn't go down the mountain backwards!!
Lots of fun and absolutely fantastic scenery!
I'll show you more pictures from Skagway tomorrow. It was a cute little town! More later...
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Beautiful Sunday!
We got up this morning and went to church - we've missed a couple of Sundays so I was afraid we'd have to wear nametags so people would remember who we were! But I didn't need to worry! Last week, Pastor David started on a series about the book of Ruth. We did Chapter 2 today. We had 2 new couples at church today - both young couples - that was nice!
Back to the Alaskan travelogue! Today we're in Juneau...the capital of Alaska. I don't know why they chose Juneau - it can't be reached by road and it's definitely not the largest city! It is a unique town though. It's got an historic district called Creek Street - actually it's a red-light district from the past. Mostly it's little shops now though. Dolly's is still there - complete with girls calling you to come tour the place for $5.00...it only cost $3.00 for 3 minutes to visit Dolly! I guess that's inflation!!
In the middle of the street is a little "creek" with tons of fish and even a seal! I believe these are a different kind of salmon, but you couldn't prove it by me! That's probably why the seal was there - they eat salmon too! 
The seal was the hit of the day - he was just having a great time playing to the crowd!
Here are the girls from Dolly's. They didn't have a lot of business that day. They said it was pretty slow even with all the ships in port!
Today was the day we got to see our first whale too. Here he is. If it weren't for the spout, you'd never know it was a whale. It was black and not very big, but you could really follow him because of his spout.
If we'd been on the other side of the ship after Skagway, we'd have seen a BIG whale breach - jump out of the water. But we were on the starboard side and it's not easy to run across ship when you're on your balcony! Mary got a picture of it, so we'll have a print when she gets them sent to us. Regardless of his size, we DID see this little whale. After this one, we saw several more, along with porpoises...but I gave up trying to get a picture and just watched them! Our naturalist told us when you see birds, you know there are fish...if there are fish, there are whales!
More later...
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Saturday Thoughts!
We had another near perfect day today. Several of us took our old cars to a benefit for Diana at Prairie Ridge today. They had 15 different bands performing and they served food, sold CDs, had auctions - all to help the family. Diana is making remarkable progress. I guess she's now had 6 surgeries, but is standing and talking. Her daughter said she has the best attitude - always joking with the staff at the rehab center. Steve said it's truly a miracle...thank you, Lord!
Tonight, I continue my travelogue of Alaska with Ketchikan (August 1st). Ketchikan was my favorite town in Alaska! If you could imagine it without the cruise ships and 10,000 people from the ships, you would think you were back in the 1800's. It's even got wooden streets!! We docked about 5:30 AM. I had gotten up at 4:30 or so because I was so excited. It was so beautiful and so quiet coming into port. Shops were starting to open already because we weren't the first ship to dock!
We started out with jackets, but shed them very early! This is Milt and me and the next picture is Pat with Dave. Suzy, Greg, Mary, and Steve were already shopping!
I had to take a picture of this trolley because it said Vanness Street - where we live!
We didn't go on this trolley though! Our tour guide here was Alan, who is a Tlingit Indian. He was absolutely wonderful! He found us eagles, black bears, salmon, salmon berries, an eagle's nest, and entertained us with wonderful stories for over 2 hours!!
This is a juvenile bald eagle who got a little nervous with all of these people around him...plus, he might have seen Mr. Black Bear coming around the bend in the stream!!
I guess he was hungry because the stream was chock full of salmon! It was really fun watching him!!
We only got part of a day in Ketchikan. We had to be back on the ship by 1:30 to sail for Juneau. Ketchikan has a population of about 8,000 but swelled to 18,000 with 5 ships in the harbor! Great place to shop for bargains, too. We did learn though that the cruise lines own a lot of the shops in the 3 towns we stopped in. We always looked for signs that said locally owned!
More later...
Tonight, I continue my travelogue of Alaska with Ketchikan (August 1st). Ketchikan was my favorite town in Alaska! If you could imagine it without the cruise ships and 10,000 people from the ships, you would think you were back in the 1800's. It's even got wooden streets!! We docked about 5:30 AM. I had gotten up at 4:30 or so because I was so excited. It was so beautiful and so quiet coming into port. Shops were starting to open already because we weren't the first ship to dock!
We started out with jackets, but shed them very early! This is Milt and me and the next picture is Pat with Dave. Suzy, Greg, Mary, and Steve were already shopping!
I had to take a picture of this trolley because it said Vanness Street - where we live!
We didn't go on this trolley though! Our tour guide here was Alan, who is a Tlingit Indian. He was absolutely wonderful! He found us eagles, black bears, salmon, salmon berries, an eagle's nest, and entertained us with wonderful stories for over 2 hours!!
This is a juvenile bald eagle who got a little nervous with all of these people around him...plus, he might have seen Mr. Black Bear coming around the bend in the stream!!
I guess he was hungry because the stream was chock full of salmon! It was really fun watching him!!
We only got part of a day in Ketchikan. We had to be back on the ship by 1:30 to sail for Juneau. Ketchikan has a population of about 8,000 but swelled to 18,000 with 5 ships in the harbor! Great place to shop for bargains, too. We did learn though that the cruise lines own a lot of the shops in the 3 towns we stopped in. We always looked for signs that said locally owned!
More later...
Friday, August 12, 2011
You've Got to Love Days Like Today
As far as I'm concerned, this was an almost perfect day! I had a Dr. C appointment today. He worked on both my knee and my back. Needless to say, I'm a little sore - but tomorrow should be much better!
Tonight I'm continuing with pictures from our Alaska trip. We sailed out of Vancouver at 4:30 PM PDT, which was 7:30 here. The weather was absolutely fantastic and the water was as smooth as glass. We sat outside as long as we could, soaking up the sun's rays and enjoying the views.
In fact, we got a little hot outside so we actually were seeking shade when we first started out. When we left Vancouver, you could hardly tell we were moving - it was just so smooth. We only had one day when it wasn't smooth and that was because the wind was blowing so hard. The waves were still just 1.5-4' so the water wasn't even choppy - it was just the wind buffeting the ship around that made it hard to stand up!! That was our next to the last day on board - good thing it wasn't this first night!
Every time we looked to the back of the ship, we saw another ship right behind us. It's kind of fun knowing that there's another ship nearby when you can't see any land anywhere!!
See what I mean about the calm waters.
The next morning, which was Sunday, Dave and I got up and went to church. It seems, though, that the cruise personnel who was to lead the service forgot to show up...so "Larry" who was a passenger got up and talked about his God journey and another passenger got up and led us in a couple of songs, and another one led us in prayer. It was a good start to the day. We sailed all day on Sunday and on Monday morning, we arrived in Ketchikan at 5:30 AM. I got up at 4:30 and went out on the balcony just to watch...we were right up against the mountains and the quiet was simply amazing. This ship made no noise (except the fog horn) - you couldn't hear any engine/motor noises at all...and at 4:30 AM, there's not much moving anywhere! We docked at 5:30 and were able to go ashore at 6:00 or so. The shops all started opening just as soon as we docked! We were only in Ketchikan for 7.5 hours so everyone wanted to get a head start on purchasing their souvenirs!!
I loved Ketchikan and I'll tell you more about it tomorrow. More later...
Thursday, August 11, 2011
First Day Home
I'm TIRED!!! I slept until 10:15 this morning and didn't want to get up then! Dave's been asleep in his chair for about an hour already this evening. Our vacation wore us out!!
I'm including some picture highlights of each day of the trip. We flew into Vancouver on July 28th and had the rest of that day as well as all day on the 29th to sight-see...then we boarded our ship on the 30th and set sail for Alaska! This is a picture of us, as well as Greg, Suzy, Pat & Milt (Dave's two sisters and their husbands). Steve and Mary didn't join us until on the ship. The night we arrived in Vancouver, we went out to dinner at the Fish House where they had wonderful food and wine! We drank enough wine and laughed until our jaws hurt. Then we gulped when we finally got the bill - this was NOT a cheap vacation! Then on Friday, we took the sky train (which is named inappropriately because most of it is in a tunnel under the city!) to Canada Place where we got on a trolley to see Stanley Park and the city of Vancouver. Stanley Park is wonderful. That is where these pictures were taken.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day - shorts were definitely appropriate! On the way home from the trolley/train ride - we had to walk about 10 blocks to get on the train - I stepped off a curb and sprained my knee (that's my only accident this trip!) and walking got increasingly more difficult during the trip. However, by morning most days, I was feeling better, so I got along fine - I just was a little slower than I wanted to be!!
This last picture is of the totem poles in Stanley Park. They were beautiful sculptures, but the ones in Ketchikan were even better!
Tomorrow I'll take you on a sea voyage to the land of the midnight sun! More later...
I'm including some picture highlights of each day of the trip. We flew into Vancouver on July 28th and had the rest of that day as well as all day on the 29th to sight-see...then we boarded our ship on the 30th and set sail for Alaska! This is a picture of us, as well as Greg, Suzy, Pat & Milt (Dave's two sisters and their husbands). Steve and Mary didn't join us until on the ship. The night we arrived in Vancouver, we went out to dinner at the Fish House where they had wonderful food and wine! We drank enough wine and laughed until our jaws hurt. Then we gulped when we finally got the bill - this was NOT a cheap vacation! Then on Friday, we took the sky train (which is named inappropriately because most of it is in a tunnel under the city!) to Canada Place where we got on a trolley to see Stanley Park and the city of Vancouver. Stanley Park is wonderful. That is where these pictures were taken.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day - shorts were definitely appropriate! On the way home from the trolley/train ride - we had to walk about 10 blocks to get on the train - I stepped off a curb and sprained my knee (that's my only accident this trip!) and walking got increasingly more difficult during the trip. However, by morning most days, I was feeling better, so I got along fine - I just was a little slower than I wanted to be!!
This last picture is of the totem poles in Stanley Park. They were beautiful sculptures, but the ones in Ketchikan were even better!
Tomorrow I'll take you on a sea voyage to the land of the midnight sun! More later...
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Back from the Wilderness!!
We got back from Alaska this afternoon...landed in Des Moines after having flown all night out of Anchorage! I'm exhausted. I couldn't go to sleep on the 6+ hour flight OR the 3.5 hour layover in Dallas, so I crashed when I finally got in the car in DSM! Then I came home and went to bed!! I got up at 8:00 and now I'm going to go back to bed!! I'm too old to pull any all-nighters!!! More later...
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