Andrew Sings

Several of you have asked if I could post something with Andrew singing. This trio was put together a couple of hours before a Sunday evening service recently. Andrew loves to sing - he would sing to a rock if the rock would listen. In case some of you don't know - he's the first tenor on the left. I hope this posts OK - it took me an hour to upload it!

Confession

When Carol mentioned keeping a special dress in a closet, it reminded me of my younger years sleeping in Aunt Ada's room in the big house. I slept there often when we visited from La Grange. One of my favorite things to do was look through Aunt Ada's closet. She was in college and I was about in 8th grade. I was too afraid to mess much with her dresses, but I did play with her shoes. She was so in to high heels, and I would try on every pair and strut around the room. She had a shoe bag hanging on the inside door of the closet and there were heels of all colors. It was so much fun. Do you remember that bag of shoes, Aunt Ada?

Happy Birthday, Dad / Lynn / Uncle Lynn!

Without detracting from all the GREAT Washington DC posts, and knowing we can't possibly remember everyone's special day, but since my dad is of "reverential age," may I please mention to all that today he is 79? Happy Birthday Dad!

Ralph & Catherine in Washington D.C.

Shelley's great post prompted me to reveal what I have discovered since Dad died in March. This is not to undermine Shelley's interesting post (keep commenting on her's!), but I've been going thru mom's scrapbooks, pictures, etc. and have been absolutely shocked at the number of personal letters, invitations to Presidential inaugurations and Balls, and momentos Dad received over the years. As many have noted, he never bragged nor talked much about his close encounters with many famous people before, during, and after he and mom resided in D.C. from '86-91.

I am making a scrapbook for the family and anxious to share it with you all when possible. Just a few of the things in the scapbook include: personal (to Dad), signed letters from: Secretaries of Agriculture Orville Freeman, John Block (many), Clayton Yeutter (many), and Edward Madigan. Also signed letters from Senator Chuck Percy, Gov. James Thompson (many), Senator Richard Lugar, Senator Strom Thurmond, Senator Jesse Helms, Congressman Bob Michel, Republican National Committee Chairman Lee Atwater, Senator Alan J. Dixon, Angela (Bay) Buchanan, and others. Mom was the one who saved all the letters!! He (and Mom) had occasion to see and hear Pres. Reagan and Pres. Bush Sr. several times. And, as you may know, he met with Pres. Reagon in 1980 for 45 minutes in Chicago's Palmer House to brief him on current Agricultural issues of the day, just prior to Reagan's first election. Dad talked, Reagan listened -- resulting in a photograph together and a personal "Thank You" letter from Reagan.

Dad was also a member of the Capital Hill Club which held many breakfasts for members with distinguished speakers. Here's a few of the speakers he was invited to (and he attended), to hear: Sec. of State George Schultz, Alan Simpson, Newt Gingrich, Ed Rollins, Alexander Haig, Richard Lyng, Jack Kemp, Judge Robert Bork, James Baker, Edwin Meese, Robert Michel, Dan Quayle, Ambassador Jeanne Kirkpatrick, and others.

In view of him seldom mentioning these things, please allow me to now do so. I just thought it might be insightful to the full lives he and mom have lived and would be interesting to the inner-family...especially us old-timers who would remember most of these names, etc.

Cleve

Memories of DC

With the Inauguration last week and Uncle Jerry & Aunt Ada spending time in DC, I got to thinking about the different times I was able to visit Washington. I pulled out some old photo albums and had a good time looking through them and remembering the details of the trips. Here are a couple of photos/memories...

In the summer of 1986 I flew out to DC to spend a week with Grandpa and Grandma. It was a very fun week and I enjoyed the special attention from my grandparents, especially Grandma's foot rubs at the end of each day of sight-seeing. Attached is a picture of me and Grandpa at Mt. Vernon (I believe that was his favorite tourist sight ??).

Then in 1989 Crystal and I got to fly out together to spend a week with them. One of the highlights of our trip was getting to wait on the White House lawn to welcome home the President. I think we had a special pass to do this since Grandma volunteered in the mail room. It was a very hot 103 degree day and we had to arrive early. We were given a little American flag to wave and we packed in on the lawn to wait (I have a leaf from the White House lawn saved in my album). Two hours later the helicopter arrived, President Bush (George H.W. Bush) gave a speech on his diplomatic travels, and then he started walking our direction. I put my camera over my head and started snapping as fast as I could (for anyone who remembers the 80s culture - I believe it was a pink LeClic disk camera). Of course this was before digital cameras so I had to wait until I got home and developed the pictures to see if I got anything. And I did! A great picture of the President as he shook the hand of the gentlemen in front of me.

I would love to hear any of your favorite memories of Washington DC, whether it was a trip to visit Ralph and Catherine or any other time. Pictures are always fun too!

P.S. Also had this Inaugural invitation tucked into my photo album. I think Grandma gave it to me during the 89 visit. Pretty cool!

Obituary

Tommy's obituary was mentioned in the comments in the post below. It is a lovely tribute. Click here to link to it.

Jerry and family, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Customer Service

There is a new hair salon near our house and I wanted a perm so decided to try them out. Part of my problem is, I always want to do it spur of the moment because I never know what my schedule will be day to day. It was about 1:00 pm. The sign out front said, "Walk right in!" so I did! It was a tiny little shop, but there were 2 occupied chairs getting haircuts and 4 girls standing at the desk. The one at the computer didn't say hello, how can I help you, just "What's your last name?" I proceeded to give her all my information and she typed it all in. Finally, I said, I would like a perm if you have time this afternoon." All four jumped in, "Oh no! We only do perms by appointment! You have to schedule that ahead of time! We can't do that on a walk-in, etc., etc., etc.!" I politely said, "Well, I won't be staying then." One of them then said, "We have to schedule perms and we already have one at 2:00." OK, I get it! I walked out thinking, "None of those girls look like they know how to groom themselves, let alone customers...and besides, what? They can only do one perm a day?" There was no attempt to set up a scheduled time, no please come back, nothing. Four girls standing there doing nothing. I went down the road and gave my cash to someone else.

Plant Woes

I brought my beautiful fern in to the sun room this fall...now everytime I water or touch it, there is much refuse on the floor. Today it was on my list to clean up the plants. Sadly, there is not much left of my fern. I shook it and stripped it clean, and much of the fern is now on the floor. I'm just hoping some of it lasts through the winter and it revives when I take it back to the front porch. Now I must go back and clean up the floor. What a mess!

PRAISE THE LORD

We arrived home about 2 pm Saturday, unpacked the car, cleaned up and went to Timber Ridge in Morton and spent about an hour with Jerry's brother. Tommy was mostly unresponsive, but resting comfortably.

This morning, Jason and Janice came down from Downer's Grove and went with Jerry to Morton while I stayed home with boys. When they got there, the nurse told Jerry that Tommy's condition was deteriorating and he would probably die today. Jason and Janice stayed there for awhile, then came home, picked up the boys and went on home. I went to Morton and joined Jerry. Tommy passed away peacefully at 4:49 pm. Jerry's dad died 30 years ago on January 25.
We are so thankful that we came home and were able to have the sad but sweet time of watching him pass on to be with Jesus. And we know his parents and sister were there to welcome him home. I keep thinking of the song lyrics "the blind shall see, the dumb shall speak, and the lame shall leap for joy." Praise the Lord that he now has a new body and is jumping for joy on the golden streets of heaven.

We want to acknowledge the love and care he has been given at Apostolic Christian Timber Ridge. Various young girls and men would come into the room, go up to Tommy and rub his head, arms, etc., talk gently to him, some bowed their heads for a minute or so, one little girl even knelt by his bed for several minutes. They would tell us how they had taken care of him and some shared a story of him. Jerry, the Hospice nurse and I would get all teary-eyed just watching them. It was amazing.

Thanks for all your love and prayers. Jerry and Ada

The Weekend

My folks are here this weekend. They came so that Dad could see an orthopedist friend of ours to get a second opinion on his hip problem. The verdict confirmed what his dr. at home said - that when it gets bad enough (and it's not there yet) he'll need a hip replacement. But it's not that bad yet. We went shopping this afternoon and then cooked up the wild turkey breast that Mike got last spring during turkey hunting season. It's very good - I don't even like wild meat but this has a lot of flavor to it.

Mary Lee has been busy with friends all weekend and is babysitting right now. Last night we went to very exciting basketball games at our school and beat our main rival 75-72. The game went down to the wire.

Andrew will come home next weekend for a retirement gala for my former administrator who retired at the end of the year. He is singing at the festivities and also made a video over his Christmas break that will be shown, parodying the retiree. I've not seen it but imagine it will be very funny.

That's what's going on in South Carolina right now!

HOME

Thanks, you must've been praying. We arrived home safely about 1:30 pm today, went to see Tommy and he seems to be comfortable. We're glad we're here for whatever happens. Jerry will go back to see him tomorrow and also Monday to talk to the hospice nurse.

We had one close call on the Interstate around Indianapolis when we came upon some boxes which had fallen off a pickup truck and were laying across the left lane and half of the next lane over - which was our lane. A semi was infront of us and slowed down and swerved to miss the boxes so we followed him and kept going. The pickup was backing up (!) and going to remove the boxes?? I'd say it was the makings of a many-car pileup but don't know if it happened or not. There was not heavy traffic which might have saved the day.

We also traveled a short way on the Pennsylvania Turnpike - toll road. We entered through the EZPass which accepted our IPass - then exited in the cash lane. DUH! The guy wasn't real happy with me (wouldn't you know it, I was driving!). We had to take down our transponder and give it to him to scan so he would let us go. Oh well, we're just a couple of country hicks trying to act like we know what we're doing!
Love you all, Ada

HEADING HOME

We are leaving for home in the morning (Friday). Reports about Tommy's condition are not good and we'd like to get home before the Lord takes him home. Please pray for our safe travel and for Tommy to be comfortable.

We have been truly blessed to spend time in this church/house and to get to know the small group of people who live and worship in this area. We look forward to maybe returning here sometime in the future.

Ada

DEBIT CARD

We just got our first debit card before coming to DC. It's too bad I never knew how fun they were. It's amazing! I can go the store, swipe the card ,and it not only pays for my purchase, but gives me cash back!! Jerry just rolls his eyes at me.

Also want to let you know that we drove down to DC this afternoon. Saw the sign that said "leaving Montgomery County; entering District of Columbia"- drove about 3-4 blocks then turned around and came back. But now we can say we were in DC on President Obama's inauguration day! How about that!

Barack-oli

Nathan was the hit of his school today. He wore a Barack Obama t-shirt that Heather brought back from Washington DC. He told his teachers who was on his shirt, and they thought it was so cute, they asked all the other teacher to ask him who it was. When one of the teachers he didn't know asked him, he was too shy to answer. A little girl sitting next to him was not so shy, and she answered for him. "Barack-oli" she proudly announced. As in broccoli! :)

NEW LIGHT

Yesterday, Barry Steffen and Jerry put new flourescent lights in the lunchroom. There were some lights behind the cornice by the windows and one can light in the ceiling on the other side of the room. Overall the room was dimly lit. So Barry came with 6 new can lights to put in the ceiling, however when they started cutting the holes they ran into a glitch that I don't fully understand, but it wasn't going to work. So he want out and got the flourescent lights instead and they got the job done and it looks good - maybe even too bright! Jerry said he would patch the unused holes and clean up the mess. He was really exhausted last night, but can work at his leisure the rest of the week to get it all cleaned up.

We went to IHOP for breakfast this morning and are now settling down to watch the festivities today. Just heard that the METRO Red Line - which is the one we use - just hit a pedestrian at the Chinatown station - we know just where that is - and the line is closed there so people will need to make adjustments and change lines before they get there. It's good we're staying here. I can't even stand and watch the Gridleyfest parade without my back killing me!!

HELLO AGAIN

I try not to take up too much space on this blog, but since I'm known as the "most prolific", I wouldn't want to lose my reputation, so here's some more info from DC.

To update on Tommy. He's back at Timber Ridge and they say he's resting comfortably. They are taking good care of him and the Hospice nurse will check on him 2-3 times a week. They say we need not hurry home. Drake and Angela went to see him -- thanks, kids, that was very nice.

Last week we spent another day at the Capitol - called Tim Johnson, our congressman - and his assistant took us and 4 other people from Illinois on a personal tour. We got to go into the House and sit in the front row on the right (republican) side for a short lecture. also got to go through lots of tunnels from the office buildings to the Capitol. Interesting. Also stopped at the Pentagon City mall and went shopping. It was a large 4-story mall with a huge food court at the bottom and open all the way up. I got a new cashmere sweater from Talbots.

On Friday, we went back downtown and toured the Spy Museum. I thought it might be boring, but it was very interesting and fun with interactive things to do. If any of you young families take your children to DC - put this on your list of things to do. I think adolescent kids would love it. We kinda wished Heather could've seen this with us.

Sunday was a big day, with singing at the nursing home (quite a few of the residents sang the old hymns along with us - 'bout made me cry), packed lunch bags, and had dinner. I wanted to take a picture of the bag-packing, but my batteries were dead. We had the biggest crowd so far at church -- 20 people. Everyone left about 5:30. It was a good day.

Quiet today. I just googled and mapquested a Walgreen's as we need to go get our prescriptions refilled! I thought you'd be interested in that tidbit of information. Don't really have much else planned for the week. Pretty cold here. Not going downtown tomorrow.

Jan. 18 at Calvary UMC

Surely if we all shared summaries of moving Sunday services, this blog would take on a different mood, and likely turn many away. However, we had such a moving Sunday, I have to share.

We've been going through a series called "God I have a question." They set up a website where we could go and ask questions, and then they grouped them into big categories to discuss one each week. We are about 3 weeks into it. Today's subject was "Why does God let bad things happen?" At the end of service, they played this video on the big screens. It was a bit of a tear-jerker, so some were sniffling.

Then Pastor Randy spoke again, and said, "This is about to become one of those services you will not soon forget. I was passed a note as that video played, letting me know that Rachel Vincent passed away this morning." Now there was an all-out sobbing session.

Rachel is Kelsie's age. About a year ago, she had a tumor removed from her leg. Treatment was a success, and she soon was back to normal. She went to Work Camp with the kids this summer, and started to school as a Senior this fall. About Thanksgiving time, she was having pain in her lung when she breathed. It was a tumor, but doctors advised that a family trip to South Carolina for Thanksgiving would be OK, and treatment would start when they returned. Well, the treatment didn't work. I am sad today for what Rachel's mom, who works near me at SF, is going through right now. I wish she could have heard the sermon, and listened to that little boy talking about his calf. I am thankful my kids are healthy, and that their problems aren't life-threatening. God is good.

Happy Sunday Morning

My mom mentioned that she had missed out on some of the older posts. FYI - whenever you go to the "New Post" screen, you will see a tab that says "Edit Posts." If you click on that, you will get a listing of all the posts, 100 to a page. You can just scroll through that and get an idea of older posts that you may have missed and would like to read and/or comment on.

I moved the "birthday party" to the side so that people can still post and yet not have the fun of that move too far down too fast. You can still comment on the original post if you like, right below this one.

Thanks for the nice comments about being the administrator. But it would have been a boring blog if I had had to do it all myself. The participation has been what has made it such an enjoyable thing.

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful, and blessed Sunday today. Mary Lee and I are alone today (Mike is at work), so it will be a quiet afternoon.

Happy Birthday EJK Family Blog!

It has been one year since the EJK Family Blog was started! Maybe Uncle Perry won't object to my sneaking in a snapshot of his birthday last fall as representative of the birthday of this blog. I'll put the picture of Grandma and Grandpa Klopfenstein back up at the top again soon, but this is a celebration that calls for some temporary changes.

It's been quite a ride. For those who like statistics, there have been 513 posts over the past year, which averages out to 1.4 posts per day. 28 family members have joined; most have posted at least once and many are regulars. Edit to answer Cleve's question: There have been 15,644 total hits as of this entry, and right now we're averaging 58 hits per day. Not bad.

We've gotten introduced to new babies and re-introduced to family history. The pictures, both current and from files, have sparked much discussion and brought back a ton of memories. (Thanks especially to Dad and to Cleve for posting most of the historical pictures.)
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The most commented posts:
10/6 - Dedicated to Catherine Klopfenstein, posted by Cleve, 10 comments,
10/9 - Updates, posted by Mary M., 10 comments,
1/10/09 - College Graduate , posted by Cathy, 10 comments,
9/11 - Lipstick on a Pig, posted by Drake, 14 comments,

and the two most commented posts of the year were

9/23 - Grandma in the Peoria Home, posted by Ann, and
8/31 - Unknown Jobs, posted by Eric, each with 16 comments.
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And now, for some AWARDS. You can't have a momentous occasion without awards! If I left you out, please don't be unhappy, and if you don't like these choices, you can have a word with me. But I think you'll agree. . .

NICEST POST OF THE YEAR: Dedicated to Catherine Klopfenstein, posted by Cleve on 10/6/08.

MOST TOUCHING POST: 2008 Slide Show, posted by Shelley, 1/9/09. (2nd place to Serenading Baby Julia, posted by Carol on 12/5/08.)

MOST CREATIVE TOPIC STARTER: Who else but Judy!

MOST PROLIFIC POSTER: Ada! Thanks for all the updates!!!

and, by far the BEST QUOTE OF THE YEAR can be attributed to somebody who's not technically even registered on the blog (though her dad is): It was posted on May 15, 2008, and is credited to Grace Christensen, who made the statement,

"So on the Blog there's somebody named Judy Nog Blog?"

That is a moment to be remembered in Klopfenstein history!
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Thanks to all who have contributed and kept this going. I look forward to another enjoyable year of checking in with the Klopfensteins on this blog.

Grace's First Orchestra Concert

A few months ago I posted a video of Grace's first violin lesson. She has been practicing since then and she had her first concert earlier this week. It was really great. Michelle and I were so surprised at how well the kids did. We expected a lot of screeching but it was actually very good - I might go as far as saying the music was beautiful. Michelle will probably be mad if I tell you she almost cried. But she probably won't read this so let's keep that on the down low. Our video camera wasn't working well so I compiled a rough video from what we did capture. Enjoy! And stay warm - it is -13F here right now...colder tonight.

COLD / SNOW

We awoke to a cold day - 29 degrees - and a dusting of snow on the road. A few pictures: first, the weekly newsletter - which I think is cute - from the Baptist church that is so kind in helping us out with faxes; second, the puzzle I pulled out yesterday; third, the few from our back door. We have not been in the locked building outbuilding, but I believe it is storage for yard tools, mowers etc.

We might go to the Pentagon City Mall today. Jerry can do some "people-watching" and I can do some serious shopping. Who knows what else may happen before this day is over

PLANS CHANGE

While we all like to make plans, circumstances often force us to change those plans. This trip is turning out like that. First of all, we have given up any idea of trying to get to the inauguration activities on Tuesday. 1) it's going to be quite cold, 2) we don't want to get trampled in the crowds on the METRO (and actually the closest METRO stations will be closed that day and you have to get special passes), 3) there will only be 5000 porta-potties available on the streets but with the projected number of people, that comes to 600-800 people per potty and I don't want to take the chance!!

But on a more serious note, we have had a small cloud over our heads beginning on the way down here when we got the call that Jerry's brother, Tommy, was hospitalized with pneumonia. Most of you probably know that he is seriously handicapped and has been living at Timber Ridge in Morton for about 20 years. After about 4 days, he returned to Timber Ridge and we heard he was doing better, eating, etc. After a few more days, we got a call at 2 am saying that they took him back to the hospital and he was unable to eat or drink.

To make a long story short, as we were getting on the METRO this morning to go downtown, Jerry's cell rang and it was someone from Hospice that they are taking Tommy back to Timber Ridge to keep him comfortable until the end (2-4 weeks). However, they need Jerry to sign some papers to let Hospice take care of him. Of course, we have no fax so we got the idea of going to the Baptist where we park our car when we ride the METRO to see if they have one. They are very nice and will let us do any faxing from their office. So now we're waiting for that.

We for sure hope we can stay here until after next Sunday as our church family here is planning to sing at a nursing home after church, then pack lunchbags for a homeless shelter, then have a potluck dinner. But what will be will be. We know the Lord is in control and these things happen for a reason. Please pray for Tommy to be comfortable, and for us to have patience and peace.

Sorry if this got long. Ada

QUIET WEEK EXPECTED

After a busy weekend, we finally have some time to ourselves. I think we slept a lot yesterday and went to bed at 10 last night and got up at 8:30 today. Hopefully, we'll have more energy today.

I may have mentioned that Byron and Carol were here to preach Sunday. We picked them up at Reagan National Saturday and they went back yesterday morning. We had a good time with them - they were very congenial to get along with. We also had a pleasant surprise at church when Marcia and Mindy Campbell showed up. They were visiting relatives in the area. Therre were 16 people in church (6 from Gridley). Sunday evening, Henrietta Meyer, Michelle Bachtold, and Joe Hinrichsen (a law student) met us and Stollers at a TGIFriday's for dinner.

There is a large woods behind the house - I went for a short walk on the rough path yesterday. Interesting. Don't think I've ever been in such a natural wood before. I could just imagine how a cigarette could ignite the awful inferno such as we see in California, etc. on occassion.

According to the information we are receiving on TV, we will probably not try to go downtown on the 20th. Last night they especially warned the "elderly" or "those having difficulty walking" to stay away from the expected crowds.

Ada

Brrrrrr!

It was so cold...
we had to kick a hole in the air just to get outside.

Almost feels that way here in central Illinois. Suppose Michigan is colder yet. You southerners can be appreciating your milder temps in the middle of winter...we are having a wintery winter so far this season!

Hope all are well, safe, and warm!

A post for no reason...

Things are busy as usual around here. Heather turned 20 on Dec. 19. We made it through Christmas. And now we've got of toys to play with. I hear some crazy racket going on in the living room as I type this...

College Graduate

Congratulations, Staci!

Graduate of Robert Morris College, with honors.

ALONE AGAIN

We're alone again as Heather left today. Finally I took a few pictures of the house from the outside. On the right is the living room. The church is the windows to the right of the garage. Heather is waving goodbye. I spent the afternoon doing laundry, cleaning, and grocery shopping. Jerry spent the afternoon sleeping and watching tv. Well, I admit I took a good nap also. Heading for bed right now!!

2008 Slideshow

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Since I don't have enough to do already (ha, ha), I made a year-in-review slide show with some of my favorite pictures from 2008. Some of you may have seen this already, so I apologize for the duplicate. My mom encouraged me to post it on the family blog for those whose e-mail addresses I do not have. Enjoy!

TODAY'S HIGHLIGHTS

It is now 9 pm and we've had another busy day. We began, of course, on the METRO. Our first stop was the White House Visitor Center then on to the White House located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. As we got there, a military band was marching down from the House to some buses waiting on the street. At the same time the main gate was opening to let a limo in. I think somebody really important was in the limo; however, they were late for the party as we just saw the entertainment leave!

Heather got a lot of pictures of everything, but they are all on her camera. I have only the one of us at the White House. Hope you enjoy it.

We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Viet Nam Memorial, the Washington memorial, the Old Post Office tower, the Holocost Museum, maybe a few other things I'm forgetting, bought a few souviners, and walked about 50 miles! We did catch a cab from the Viet Nam memorial to the Holocost Museum - we just couldn't walk anymore. (and by the way the cab driver advised us to stay home on the 20th)

The weather was pretty good, a little chilly and windy at times, but no rain!! It has been a real joy to have Heather with us this week and we'll hate to see her go tomorrow.

Ada (sorry if my spelling is a little off tonight!)

MYSTERY PICTURE

Heather and I thought this picture would be a good one for you to identify. What is it?

RAINY DAY!!

The pictures: Heather in the Orchid Garden, Heather in another garden at the Botonical Gardens, and the back (north) of the Capitol building - note the gloomy, rainy day.

We were a little lazy this morning after our late night. It was cold and rainy - so Heather and I had to go get rainproof coats before heading out_ guess we didn't pack very well!! We found a discount store and found some bargains on our coats. Heather also found some cute shoes! And I got a purse - my fabric purses get pretty soggy on rainy days!

It was about noon when we got downtown DC. We took the tickets that we'd gotten from Durbin's office yesterday to get into the House and Senate Chambers. Unfortunately it was time for both to be "out to lunch." Jerry went on into the Senate chambers to sit and wait (they were supposed to reconvene at 2:15; Heather and I went to the cafeteria to have a snack. When we got to the Senate Chambers, we noted where Obama's and Hillary's chairs were. We also wished we would have been there yesterday when Burris was denied access. Anyway, finally a few people began coming onto the floor and some Senator went the podium and asked that there be a recess which was was granted by the Chair!(bang the gavel) So it was all over. DUHHH!!

We went on to the House where one representative was speaking to "nobody" (there was nobody there) about "nothing" - so we left. Do these guys every work?!?!!? We just wasted a good 2 hours for nothing!

So we left the Capitol, walked around to the front (in the rain) which we could not see very well because of all the building of seats for the inauguration, walked on south finally found the Botonical Museum and went inside to get out of the rain. It was quite nice in there. Then went on to the Air and Space Museum (not raining right now) and spent only about an hour there. It was very interesting. Went across the street to get on the METRO, got off at downtown Silver Spring, asked the ticket guy where was the best Pizza and he said Momma Lucia's - and he was right, it was delicious!! Raining gently when we walked to the place - raining heavily when we walked back to the METRO.

Finally we got home about 7:30, took a nice hot shower, and here I am. Oh well, when it rains it pours - and we take what we get. It was a fun day.

Ada

ARLINGTON - KENNEDY CENTER

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a very busy day -- no time to post. We left home about 9 am and took the METRO to Arlington Cemetery where we got on a shuttle to tour the cemetery. We watched the Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. As you probably that is a very impressive ceremony and can make one a little emotional. We also saw the Kennedy gravesites.

We arrived back at our home about 2:30 - rested, cleaned up and headed to the Kennedy Center. We had dinner at the Rooftop Terrace Restaurant (where R & C took me when I visited them one Spring Break). After dinner we saw the play "Shear Madness" - a wild and crazy murder mystery in which the audience participates in determining the guilty party. Heather was very good at remembering details Don't we all look quite glamorous for a "night-on-the-town?" We were VERY tired when we got home around 11 pm.

More tomorrow -- Ada

HEATHER ARRIVED

We picked up Heather at Reagan National Airport about 11 am today. Had lunch at the food court at the Crystal City Metro stop - this is where Ralph and Catherine used to live - I believe on about the 17th floor.? Heather helped me find a compact/flash/reader/writer so I could get my pictures into the computer to send to you. I'm rather proud of myself, but you might get sick of my pictures!! Here is our day with Heather in DC.

THE CHURCH/HOUSE

I can never seem to get these pictures placed as I want them! You can see the church with the books stacked on the chairs. The long white tables are in the lunch room. The kitchen is used to prepare church lunch and also mine to use for us. It is small, but has a very sophisticated stove which I am learning how to use -- and an ice-maker which is a plus! We do spend a lot of time going up and down the tri-level house. More pictures to follow.

An unusual day

Today was quite the unusual day. The first day back to work after Christmas Shutdown is always a strange day anyway. Nobody is motivated to get back to work and everybody is wanting to still be on holiday. However, today was even more unusual.

After two weeks off for the Holiday's (a week longer than normal) I went into the plant this morning at 7:00. On a normal Monday morning the parking lot would have been full of cars and once in the plant, I would have been welcomed by bright lights, sounds of injection molding machines pushing out parts, laughter and music on the shop floor and numerous "good mornings" in the office.

Today was different.

There were two cars in the parking lot, the lights were all off, not a single machine was turned on, nobody was there to laugh, and although the two people at the plant did say "good morning" there wasn't much behind it. You see, on January 1st we laid off 235 of our 242 employees for most of the month of January. I was lucky. I am one of the 7 people who get to work from Jan 5th to Jan 20th. On the 20th, we bring back 15 or so more folks. There is another batch coming back on the 2nd of Feb and then again on the 2nd of March. Why? We don't have any sales.

It has been amazing to watch the impact of the global economic crisis as it moved from the banking industry to automotive manufacturing to general manufacturing to who knows what else. It was tough leaving for the holiday's, telling my employees that I expected them to come back at some point, but I could not guarantee it. Most of them are going from what is considered a great paying job to just $255 a week of unemployment pay. Most of our production employees haven't gotten 40 hours of pay since October (59 lost their jobs in October) as we have been running production only 4 days a week due to weak vehicle sales. Unfortunately, the data doesn't indicated this trend will improve anytime soon.

Retta and I have been greatly blessed. We have adjusted our purchasing strategy for "big ticket items" but have not had to "give up" anything to make ends meet. How has the economic crisis impacted you? Has it brought about changes in your workplace? How about your spending habits? Are you seeing the same impact in your towns that we are seeing here in the Birmingham area (Automotive, Steel, Heath care, Banking, Construction, Sales, etc. all affected).
EDK

Heather's on her way!

I just got back from dropping off Heather at the Bloomington airport. She looked really cute in her new jeans and boots, and is very excited to be spending the week with Grandma and Grandpa in DC. She works long, hard hours at the Olive Garden, so some time away will be really good for her. I'm sure that even if Grandma and Grandpa are run ragged at the end of the week it will still be a more restful one than Heather is used to! Have fun!!

CHURCH IN DC

Greetings from Washington DC - or Silver Spring MD. We had the church all cleaned up and ready for prayer this morning. Dave Graf from Akron OH was our minister. There were 13 in attendance. Barry and Doreen Steffen, Joe and Holly Bohart, Henrietta Meyer, Robert Welk, Barb Rapp, and a few others I can't remember their names, the minister/wife and us. It was just like a service in every other AC church - except we stood to pray because we were on folding chairs. It was very cozy and inspirational.

Lunch was ham/cheese sandwiches, chips, potato salad, carrots and cookies. We volunteered to prepare the lunch next Sunday as well as the last Sunday of the month. We can get some really yummy food at the Amish Market!

We've just been "hanging out" at home the rest of the day - storing up energy for next week.

Good Day by Jerry

We started out our day with some apprehension. We were told that it was next to impossible to get a parking spot at the Metro station which is about 4 miles from the church/house...Next to the station is a Baptist church with an empty lot. As we pulled int the lot and went up to the church door, a man in a pickup drove up. He was the "keeper" of the lot. We told him we were the caretakers for the AC Church/House of which he was familiar. He told us to park in the lot and return on Monday to get a pass for the whole month!! (The Lord was with us!!)

We took the Metro downtown, transfered and took another one out to Reagan National Airport to see where we are going to meet Heather on Monday. Took another Metro to the Capitol and ate lunch in the visitors area. Got back on the Metro, (by this time we are regular/knowledgable riders), I believe at one point even Joe Biden stopped us and asked for directions seeing that we were veteran city riders.

Grabbed a Metro back to Silver Spring and are settling in for a restful Friday night-----Today WAS a good day. The only problem we had was going through the metal detectors at the Capital. My titanium hips had Metro police running for blocks around :) :) Jerry

WHAT A DAY

We started out to explore a larger area today so headed down RT 29 knowing it went right downtown DC. Sure enough, we drove right along - not too much traffic, and we only got honked at once! We drove past the "mall", the Washington Monument, followed the traffic past a few other cites - never did see the Capitol or the White House. We did not actually stop and see anything as there was no place to park. We saw the signs for the Reagan National Airport, so we followed them, and now we know where to pick up Heather on Monday.

When we left the airport, we debated whether to try to fiind the two missed places, but since I had to "go" quite badly, we stopped at a McDonalds for my benefit, then had a light lunch. Let me tell you, that was a rather scary McDonalds! So we headed back to our place and found it quite easily though via a different route. We came inside to rest and "regroup".

Our house is a very nice tri-level house from the 60's era. I will have some pictures if I can find my cable to post them. About 2 o'clock we set off to find three items: a toilet-seat extender like we have at home, a battery for the garage door opener so I won't have to get out and unlock the front door and open the garage door for Jerry to drive the car in, and a bulb for out rear turn signal which went out yesterday. Think about that and you'll realize that we'd been driving all around DC without a turn signal! We found the bulb at an ACE hardware. Next we found a CVS Pharmacy. No toilet seat! (and I thought CVS had everything) They did have 5 million batteries, but not the one we needed! Went on and found a WalMart - got a toilet but no batteries! And of course had to wait in line for 20 minutes to check out.

Jerry actually changed the bulb in the ACE parking lot and some man stopped, noticed we were from Illinois and said "How about that Governor of yours?" ha ha "Is it true that your last five governors are in prison?" ha ha Almost hate to admit being from Illinois.

We're now back home and I put a roast in the oven for dinner. Tomorrow we will probably experiment with the METRO system. Hope I didn't bore you.