Fun at Grandma's

Thad had an overnight at Grandma's last night. He slept on a blow-up mattress on the living room floor and I took the couch. At midnight he woke up, climbed up on the couch and looked at the clock. "It's 12-zero, zero. How many minutes till breakfast?" He sat there awhile, then started taking one arm out of his pajama tops. "I've been saving this," he said. He then put that hand under his other arm pit and made bathroom noises, if you know what I mean! This morning he cooked himself a frozen waffle, no syrup. In the picture he is eating M & M's. At Grandma's you get to eat M & M's at 9 am, especially on Halloween.

Great Grandma Catherine goes to Indiana

This past Sun. - Tuesday, Kathleen and I journeyed to the northern suburbs of Indianapolis with Great Grandma K. (Catherine). She stayed overnight with the very gracious Dave, Jodie, & Emma Allenson who now live only 9.3 miles and 16.2 minutes from Aaron and Kara. In a metro area, that's considered "close"! We stayed with Aaron's and the 3 grandboys, but Grandma got to go shopping and sightseeing with Jodie on a gorgeous Monday and also got to see the homes and kids of 2 of her grandchildren (Jodie & Aaron). We all enjoyed our time together immensely.
The pictures show the Allenson family in their beautiful "new" home, Grandma with the Klop boys, Grandma with Aaron & Kara. And, I could not resist putting on a picture of little "always-smiling" Cooper, age 1.5

DESTIN WITH LYNN AND MIM

We arrived in Destin on Sunday Oct 18 to meet Lynn and Mim and were fortunate to stay in Mark's beautiful condo there. After a week of rainy, cool days, we were finally able to enjoy some warm, sunny days - perfect for taking a walk, sitting by the pool or ocean, playing Boggle or reading on the balcony. And of course going shopping! Also went to the Gulfarium one morning where we saw dolphin and sea lion shows and stopped at a "Whataburger" for lunch before taking an exploratory drive back to the condo - I was getting a little worried that we might not find the condo from the backroads, but we did! Here are a few pictures: Lynn and Jerry at their respective computer stations; me in the pool by the fountain; and Jerry sitting on one of those chaise lounges.

ARRIVING NEW ORLEANS

We did not reserve a room in New Orleans ahead of time, so when we entered Louisianna, we stopped at the Visitor Center on I-10 to get information. The attendants there were very helpful. They get faxes every morning from the hotels that have rooms available for that night - so they helped us book a room at a place called the Chateau. Pictures looked good, in the heart of the French Quarter, $89 a night including parking -- what could be better, right? We booked it, they gave us directions and off we went . . .

Now, if you've ever been to the French Quarter in NO, you might be able to imagine our first impression. It did NOT look like the picture at all! I thought "this is a dump" and Jerry said "looks like a flea-bag hotel to me". We had to park on the sidewalk (very narrow streets) while the valet emptied our car as I went in and registered. He then took our stuff up a narrow, steep, dark stairway and opened the door to a very small room, left us there, and as he took our car to park it, we wondered if we'd ever see it again.

That's me waving from the balcony. This picture, which we took later in the day, doesn't look so bad actually. By then, we realized that all the buildings were the same as far as being old. We also discovered that there was a courtyard with a pool behind the building.

Well, as we explored our small room, we noticed that it had all the amenities - tv. phone, fridge, bathroom supplies - even wifi service. It was clean - just old and small. A somewhat flimsy door went out to a balcony overlooking the street. So we just "accepted it", used the facilities, prayed the guy wouldn't wreck our car or that we wouldn't get mugged, and set off on an adventure! We were two blocks from Jackson Square - more about the activities there in the next post.

After the Jackson Square experience, we came back to rest a bit before heading out for the nights activities. All of a sudden we heard sirons and commotion - Jerry said go see what's going on out there - so I went out on the balcony and there were police cars and they were trying to handcuff a woman who was yelling obscenities at them and really putting up a fight! (Just like the Cops show on tv!) I told Jerry - you gotta get out here and see this! So we watched and it was probably about 15 minutes before they took her away. By that time there were not only the three police cars and one motorcycle visible in this picture, but two more cars and another cycle. From what we could gather, apparently she had attacked a woman on a bicycle who she thought got too close to her. There were several witnesses that they were questioning etc. and quite a crowd gathering to watch on the street as well as on the surrounding balconies.

But, even after all that, we were brave and headed out to see what we could see. We got back to the hotel about 10 pm - and I'll bet what we saw before 10 was nothing compared to what we would've seen after 10!!

NEW ORLEANS

The last leg of our trip was a quick trip into New Orleans. And what an experience that was. We saw it, but were glad to leave it there and come home to our quiet life. I did not get very good pictures, but here are a few. We stayed in the French Quarters near Jackson Square which is where these pictures were taken. This picture is of us standing in front of some art work which surrounded the square. The artist took our picture - probably thought we'd buy a picture, or at least give her a tip, but we just said "thanks"!

Jerry wanted to take my picture with the guy in the beads - he'd been dancing around, taking pictures with people, etc. - but I didn't want to pay him, so just snuck in as someone else was taking a picture.

Here we are watching a wedding party dance to a band before they all took off dancing around the square following the band. Fun, huh? We actually saw three wedding celebrations - two in the park and two came out of the church and celebrated.

Later in the evening, we went to Bourbon Street and found a reasonably quiet restaurant where I had a delicious BBQ Chicken/Rice dinner and Jerry had a Burger. Bourbon Street was beyond interesting - a place where "anything goes" - but we will not go again. Once is enough . . .

Empty Shelves

Both kids came home for a few hours yesterday afternoon.  When they left, my pantry and refrigerator were bereft of:

two boxes of graham crackers

a box of raisins

a box of Ritz crackers

microwave popcorn

a new jar of peanut butter

two jars of jam

the yogurts I had planned to take to work this week

a 12-pack of Diet Sunkist drinks

Do I have college age children or what!

Update on Keith

Finally I am getting back to posting! Keith is doing very well. He had a cystoscopy yesterday.
He did very well. The only thing is that they had to leave the catheter. So that will be a paion for a couple weeks. He is up most of the day and walks around the house and does his exercises.

Day before yesterday I became very nauseous and vomited a couple times. I went to the Dr. and he said I have a stomach virus. I am on clear liquids yet today and he gave me something for the nausea. What next! Larry had to take him for the cysto as I just wasn't able to go with him. I am feeling some better today, but feel weak.

It is raining today and the farmers in our area are getting nervous. There is still a lot of corn and beans to harvest.

I enjoy reading all of your posts.

My Missing Child Story

Last night was the last night of my class and since group presentations take various amounts of time we actually were out a bit early. Because of that I was almost home about 9:45 p.m. Ready to turn onto the street just before mine, I noticed a boy of about 8 or 9 crossing the street carrying his shoes. I was on the phone with my sister and told her that it seemed bizarre. It was too late on a school night for a child that age to be walking alone, and even though it was warm for October 21 it was too weird to be walking barefoot. I got off the phone, turned around and watched him for a minute while waiting at the intersection. A sheriff’s car drove by so I hoped the officer would see him as he had walked out onto the street and back onto the grass a couple of times. The officer drove by him.

I turned and saw the boy had crossed the street which is the second major thoroughfare of town—four lanes of undivided street with fast moving cars and semis. I drove a bit quickly to the sheriff’s satellite office about three blocks away hoping the officer was headed there.

I didn’t see a car at city hall so I called 911. Right away I said I didn’t think it was an emergency so if they needed to patch me to a non-emergency dispatch and tried to quickly explain the situation—what I had seen and where it was. She began asking very specific questions about where I saw the boy, which direction he was walking, which side of the road, etc. When I said that an officer had driven by the boy she said all the officers were on another call, but then she told me to hold and went to another line.

I turned around to see if I could still find the boy. The dispatcher came back on and said that they were looking for a boy in the area. She asked his race, hair color, etc. and wondered if I could still see him. By now he had turned down a side street. I told her I saw him and he was wearing a dark sweatshirt and maybe camouflage pants. I asked her what to do, do you want me to stop? She never really would say except don’t scare him. Because she was slow to answer and I was driving slowly wondering what to do I decided to drive by him to not be slowly following him and then scare him. I told the dispatcher I had driven by him and should I turn around. Yes, turn around.

Just before I got to him, an officer with lights off pulled up to the boy. Within five seconds two more cars pulled up. I had pulled over and thanked the officers for getting there quickly that I had called 911.

The officer wanted my license plate number to know who he was talking with and who had made the call. I was a bit afraid it was for that U-turn in the street I had made about a minute earlier.

I told both the dispatcher and the officer that I wasn’t sure about calling 911 that it seemed a bit extreme and chances were it was a neighborhood kid who had just stayed out too late and was going home.

Both thanked me for calling 911. The officer said, “We’ve been looking for this kid since 5:30 and he had threatened to kill himself.”

VACATION REPORT

We're having a wonderful, relaxing time in Destin with Lynn and Mim. Weather is sunny (finally) and slightly cool but comfortable. Jerry's been sitting on the beach and Mim and I took a long walk yesterday. I'm hoping to jump into the beautiful BIG pool today and get some water exercise.

Planning to go to Another Broken Egg Cafe for brunch today, then having taco's for dinner (substituting a hamburger for Jerry). Food planning is a big event! Hoping to do a little sight-seeing today and tomorrow.

I'll try to send some pictures tomorrow.

Update?

What is the update on Uncle Keith? Hoping no news is good news, but wondering if he is doing OK? getting better and stronger? home?

My Daughter the Hunter

Mary Lee came home this weekend specifically to go hunting with Mike. They left at 4:30 this morning and should get home in the next half hour. Mike said she was a real trouper - sat in a stand most of the day. She didn't get a deer, but can you tell what she did get?!!! (Picture taken with a phone camera so it's not the best.)

Digital v. Film

I just posted out on my own blog about a fall color plane ride I took earlier today. I took my old "film" camera with the much better lens to take some pictures. I now have to go get the film developed which made me think that I can't remember that last time I did that since I've had a digital camera for six years.

When was the last time you had film developed? Does it seem strange to you to do that? I'm guessing some in the next generation have never done so since digital photography has now been around for quite awhile.

Weird Change

Am I the only one who is getting posts in a teal-green color instead of what it was? Also a different size font? I didn't make any changes, and can't seem to get it to change back to black. It may be a Blogger issue, or maybe Cleve has changed it? I'll watch it. Let me know if it's difficult to read, or if you like it better. Thanks.

Casey Knobloch family happenings

Kids at wiener roast at church.

Picture with actor that portrayed Grandpa Ralph Klopfenstein at the Gridley Cemetery walk, he described life when he was 18 yrs. old and the Gridley railway shootout.
Wade behind the red microphone performing at the El Paso Corn Festival.
Mara (the one pulling her pants up) performing tonight at the El Paso-Gridley football game.

SUNNY SOUTH???

We've been waiting to get to sunny Florida and can't seem to find it. First stop on the way was Savannah Georgia - very interesting and history-filled city, but it rained the whole day we were there! Then we arrived in Jacksonville Florida and it was cloudy and partly rainy today. So we did our best to enjoy both cities in spite of the weather.

We took a trolley-ride around Savannah which was enjoyable, had dinner and browsed the shops on River Street, ate lunch at Lady and Son's restaurant which is owned by Paula Deen and her sons (Jerry's still trying to figure out who she is), and went to a live musical, Hurray for Hollywood, in the evening. Heather and I got up early in the morning (8:30) to walk in the rain and stand in line in order to get reservations at the restaurant. You can see the picture of the Lady and her sons in this picture of Heather.

The best thing in Jacksonville, of course, is Kelsie. We've toured the campus of JU, went to a play on campus titled "All My Sons" - a very interesting and thought-provoking play and very well performed by students some of which were Kelsie's friends. She seems to be happy and doing well here. Heather has been traveling with us, so we are really in "grandparent heaven" and enjoying time with grandchildren. Last night we had dinner at the Landing along the St. John's River before the play - forgot the name of the restaurant.

One last picture - I took this from the car as we were on the way to Walmart to make a few purchases.

Yes - we are having a great time and looking forward to another day and a half - then on to Destin!

I'm moving.

Now for those of you who have commented about my many moves and not knowing where I am, I'm only moving locations for work. It's kind of nice because we had to move out a facility in early February. We are now moving to the facility across the road from our old one so it's 2 miles closer to home. And 2 miles can make a huge difference in the morning at 8:00 instead of 8:05 or to be honest 8:15 instead of 8:20!

For five years I've been sitting in this style of furniture, and now I'll be sitting in this. But the best is that I'll still sitting in this chair. How's that for shameless advertising?

Sarah's Narrative

Well hear is the story From me....: (age9)

Lucas Gudeman is are auger cart driver. Tuesday his wife Diana and his children- Collin 5, Hally 3, Bryce1, came to be on the farm with him. They finished one field and came back hear and hung around. Then the men desited to not go back out that day.Diana was ready to go, and could not find Collin! Lucas said he would go find him & so he went to look for him wile Diana got the other children redy to go. Lucas couldn't find him so he started to ask around. Prety soon Matthew was helping look. And then Diana joined the search. Prety soon I came out to look too. Then Andrew said he saw him go in the corn field. Now this corn field has rows a mile long!Diana went in to ask Mom if he was in the house. Mom said "no " so se went back out to help search. Her other two were in the car waiting. We were searching the WHOLE farm for him! Matthew climed up a bin alittle bit but for one thing, the latter was on the wrong side of the bin! It was startind to get seirus! people were looking in the field. Diana asked me if I would take her otherkids into the house to watch them. He had been missing for about a half hour now. So I had quite afew little ones in the house ,because Mom went out to talk to Dad about what to do. I was then in charg of Julia , Andrew , Hally, Bryce and Laura.(but I didn't need to watch Laura much)

Oh, I almost forgot, they turned off the the corn dryer somewhere in there so they could hear better. It was getting scrryer all the time. They decited to call for more help. U. Bill and Breden his boy came to help look. It was pretty obvious that he was in the corn. Lucas, Diana, Matthew, & Brenden did this thing where they combed about 10 acers!! On there way back from doing that they saw Tyler (one of Bill's sons) and there hired man on the road. ( I think the hierd mans name is Eric) They flagged them down and they came to help. Now they were on a difren't plan and Lucas, Diana, Grandpa E., Dad, Matthew, Bill, Tyler, Brenden,& there hierd man were looking. Sherly they will find him now, huh? Grandpa got in the semi and honked the horn (they have loud horns). (Grandpa didn't look in the field just on the farm) He thought he'd maybe fallow the sound. (I thought it was a pretty good idea). It's getting darker by the minet now. THEY NEED TO FIND HIM SOON!!!! Every one was praying the same simple prayer.- Lord help him to be found soon and SAFE! Now they had a sherif on the way. When the sherif arived he said that he had a dog on the way. He said that they would need to get every-one eles out of the field. So him and Gradpa were trying to figger out a way to get everyone else out. (other wise there would be too many sents). Meen wile in the field Tyler did not know they had this new plan. He was off on his own and about to start a new row. He took off his hat and prayed..- Lord help him to be found safe and soon & lead someone right to him. Then he took off . He was walking fast because it was about dark.(note: the silly feeling inside my stomach kept getting bigger!) As Tyler went along He faintly herd Lucas yell COLLIN... So he desited he would too. So he yelled COLLIN...... Then came the anser I'm over here. And who just was the voice from? COLLIN! AND HE WAS FOUND!! Yeah!

That saying ,"prayer changes things is true"!! Any way Collin was behind Tyler about 12 or 16 rows over. It's a good thing he called when he did cause Tyler was walking fast. Collin was laying down. He was only scrached up alittle. He definately didn't realize how urgent it was! He was WAY out in the field! Later we found out that he had sang some songs wile he laid there. So Tyler picked him up and started homeward. He yelled I've got him so the other hunters herd him and Dad told the sherif. I guess the sherif had to see Collin before he could cancel the dog. When Tyler first picked him up he asked"How are you Buddy?" Collin replied "I'm tired". "It was a long walk". ( when he got tired he laid down). He must have got new shoes, anyway he said" My shoes are muddy!" Tyler said I don't think your Mom will care!"

So the sherif cancelled the dog and left. Evrry one was so releved that it turned out how it did!

Everry one was pretty shook up! He was lost for an hour.(or more). Any wayit was late so Mom had made extra supper and they ate with us. Priase the Lord it went as well as it did!

SeeYaSoonSarah Sarah

P.S. It might not be in quite the write order.

Saraj

Elizabeth's Account of a Traumatic Event

10/13/09

I'll let the children type their own version of our experience tomorrow as they are all pretty shook up and want to write about it (just like me!).

Lucas Gudeman has been hired to run the auger cart this fall (he works for Ben's company, Cherry Tree Kitchens, usually and they are giving him time off). This is only about his 3rd day of work here since it's been so wet, etc. Anyway, his wife, Dianna, came late afternoon to ride w/ him and brought along their three children: Collin-5, Hallie-3 and Bryce-1. They got done picking the field they were in and were discussing what to do next and Dianna and the children were hanging around the house for an hour or so. She was in helping me & all the children except the babies were playing outside. Around 5:30, they decided not to pick any more, so Lucas and Dianna were ready to go home and couldn't find Collin. We looked in the house, they looked all around the shed, asked all the children, etc. and Andrew reported that he was last seen hiding in the corn. Thus began an hour-long search by Lucas, Dianna, Matthew, Bruce, & Dad. I kept all the other children in the house and tried to get some supper for them. After 20 min. or so we called Bill and his boys to come and help, and after 30 min. Bruce called the sheriff. Keep in mind, it was about 45 degrees and late enough in the day that it would soon be dark. I lined up all the children at the couch and we prayed for Collin's safety and that God would give wisdom to those searching for him.

Finally, at 6:30 Bruce called to say he was found! Tyler found him and they figured he had wandered 1000 feet in the corn field! It really was a miracle he was found in such a short time and there wasn't much time to spare w/ darkness setting in and the cold temperature! What thankfulness and relief we all felt!

All's Well that Ends Well

The following is an account written by our oldest grandson, Matthew:


Yesterday night (10/13) we had a big scare.

Lucas Gudeman, who goes to our church and is the son of Brad, is our auger cart man this fall. Yesterday afternoon his family (his wife, Diana, and three little kids, the oldest is named Collin) came to ride with him. Well, our dryer and wet tanks were full and we were done with the field so we decided to quit just then. Pretty soon Diana decided to leave, and we were done with Lucas. But soon Lucas came up to me and asked me, "Have you seen Collin?" I said, "No, but I'll look for him". First I looked around a little bit and didn't see him. Andrew was standing in the waterway so I asked him, "Where's Collin." He pointed to the corn and said, "He went in there to hide." At that point I didn't really belive him, I thought maybe he went in for a couple minutes to see what it was like and then came out. Pretty soon though, it became apparent that he was not on the farm or in the house. I ran through some of the corn looking, and yelling Collin's name into the corn from the waterway. After a while Lucas and I decide he must have been in the field so we decided to "comb" through it. Lucas went in one row until he could just barely see the waterway, and I went in the same row until I could just see him. Then we crossed the rows looking both directions and yelling for Collin. Finally we decided to go out and see where we were at. We found we were near the end of the waterway, by the culvert. By that time Brendan and Bill were here and Brendan was driving the four- wheeler down the waterway yelling Collin's name. So Lucas and I had Diana and Brendan help us do the same thing we were doing earlier. We covered a lot more of a swath and went a lot further west into the field. After we got to a certain point we decided that he wouldn't have crossed rows any farther than that as it was hard work even for us. Common sense told us he chose a row and followed it north. But which row? As we walked back towards the house we saw Tyler and Bill's hired man, Eric Olson from Black Hawk, come down the road in the pickup. Brendan flagged them down and told them to help us. We got back to where we thought he went in, and they decide have someone go in every eight rows and head west, and then swing around to the north following the rows of corn. I was too tired to do much more. Dad told me, "There'll be a Sheriff coming so you can wait for him." I had known it was serious all along but that is what really woke me up. Then they headed into the field and told Brendan and I to search the waterways of that field with the four- wheeler. The Deputy pulled in about that time, Grandpa and Dad talked to him, and Brendan and I took off for the waterways. We didn't see anything and when we were done searching Brendan called Bill on his cell phone and asked if they had found Collin yet. Brendan hung up and said, "They found him!" We zoomed back up to the farm. Later we got the facts. I guess he was found about just as the Deputy arrived. The Deputy had a German Shepherd Dog lined up to sniff out Collin's trail and find him, but there was no need for that. I guess Tyler was in his row heading North when he decided to cross some rows over. Just then he heard Lucas yell Collin's name and then yelled it himself. A little ways away he heard a small, "I'm over here", and he followed the voice right to Collin. Then he yelled, "I've got him," and brought him out of the field. The others didn't totally know he was found until they were all out of the field. All's well that ends well, but Collin was way out in the field and I belive it was all the prayers that helped Tyler find him. Everybody said a small prayer of some kind.

It was a huge scare but God made it work out O.K.

Rainy again today.

~MoreLater Rainwatcher

P.S. I forgot to say that when Collin was lost my first thought was to climb the bins and look out into the field and see if we could spot him out there. I did climb up a small distance to look out but I couldn't see anything. So my Sammy last name is Binclimber as well as Rainwatcher.

P.S 2 We shut off the dryer so we could hear better, as it is very noisy. Also Grandpa was honking the horns of the semis, as they are extremely loud. They were hoping Collin would hear it and follow the sound. He later reported he did hear them but didn't know what they were.

Crops Question

This morning on the Weather Channel there was a picture of the corn crop in Dunlap, IL, and a small piece about how the crops in Illinois are damaged due to cold weather.  What's going on?

Mixed Emotions

This was an evening of mixed emotions. I love the garden but it's fall, and I'm ready to be done with it. Tonight after dinner Renae and I went out to pull out tomatoes, peppers, beans, squash, and the worst--corn. We cut some to use for decorating but most got pulled up to go on the compost pile. We laughed when I said, "And to think we were so excited when we saw the first corn stalks pushing through the soil in early June!"

We put the gazing ball, the "Rhoda" figurine (Renae thought it looked like me so she bought it for my flower garden), and the garden plaque into the barn.

I may Rhoda-till the garden on Saturday or it may wait until spring. . .I think I'm finished with this year's garden.

Trouble on Highway 65

Friday and Saturday I went with a van-load of my potluck friends (we've gone somewhere every fall for about 30 years!)to Brown County, Indiana. Friday was a steady rain all day. We made good time in the morning, ate lunch at Cracker Barrel just south of Indianapolis. We got about 5 miles down the road after lunch, and suddenly heard the foreboding sound of a flat tire. Our driver called her highway assistance number and spent about 15 minutes on the phone arranging for someone to come out and change the tire. Soon "Mike" called and said he just had to change his baby's diaper and he would be right out. He arrived and cranked and shook and pulled for awhile, and then told us he couldn't get the spare tire out of the van. So he left. Another phone call to roadside assistance, and a tow truck was on the way. We had five women in the van however, so next they arranged for a cab to come and pick us up. All the time the rain was coming down and cars and trucks were zooming past us. "Junior" came and took 3 of us with him back to town to Firestone. Another "Mike" showed up with a tow truck and finally, after the 2 1/2 hour ordeal, we were all at the Firestone. We wasted another 30 minutes because the Firestone dealer forgot to print out our ticket so the men in the shop didn't know they needed to attend to us. Finally, they attempted to pull the van into their shop...dead van! Apparently we had run the flashers too long. So a new tire, new battery, and 1 1/2 hours later we left Firestone and got on our way. We arrived at our beautiful bed and breakfast in time to eat dinner and see "Driving Miss Daisy" in the small local live theater. If you have read this entire long story, you know how I felt by the end of that long day! (Saturday was beautiful weather and Brown County was a cute little place to spend the day.)

So Proud......

Last night was Pastor Appreciation night at church. The youth Praise Team led the service and Adrian was one of a quartet of girls leading us in worship. I've gotta say, I'm proud of my girl for getting up there and worshipping. She was so at ease and just worshipped freely. I've attached poor picture and an even poorer video of them singing. Adrian is the 2nd girl from the right.

EDK

Happy Fall

My attempt to bring a little southern home to the Midwest.

ON OUR WAY

It's 5:30 am and we're heading to Jacksonville. Going to pick up Heather in Bloomington. We plan to stop in Savannah GA on the way, and then most importantly, visit Kelsie for several days. I packed, unpacked, packed, changed suitcases, rearranged things last night, continued the process this morning and finally stopped - so what is - IS!
Heather will fly home from Jacksonville and we are going on to Destin to stay with Lynn and Mim for several more days. Looking forward to our trip - we consider it our CELEBRATION of Jerry's recovery. I'm taking the laptop along so will try to post a few pictures of our travels.

Lauren is Homecoming Queen

I'm posting this on behalf of Mark and Molly. Last Friday night Lauren was named homecoming queen at her high school! What an exciting honor - Congratulations from Aunt Ann as well as the rest of the family!

The Great Pumpkin, continued

We were in Indy last weekend and were privileged to observe the delivery of The Great Pumpkin (Cleve's). Here's the delivery team (Aaron's boys) and the happy recipients (in front of Jodie, Dave, and Emma's new house.)

Cathy

Update on Keith

Just wanted to let you know that Keith is still in the hospital. He is still having some urinary and bowel problems. His appetite is improving and he is eager to walk in the halls. He has great determination. Please continue to pray for his complete recovery as he wants to come home so bad. ( And so do I).

Love to all, Alice

Unexpected Riches?

In researching unclaimed funds recently, I found quite a few Klopfensteins in Illinois who have money to claim. I didn’t look for any other names except for my work project.

You can click here to look for money in Illinois or click here for links to all 50 states.

It's interesting what I'm finding for work but nothing yet for me personally.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I don't think I posted a picture of my Nativity wall-hanging yet. And, I don't want to be proud, but I am rather pleased with how this turned out. Lots of hours in this.

DOES IT GET ANY BETTER . . .

Nope - a man and his mower - it just doesn't get any better than this!! Look at that smile on his face.

Although, I must say that I spent a couple hours scrubbing down the deck, and what does he do? Drives by and blows it full of grass!! Oh well, I'll get the broom.

Wetzel & Celis Update

Nothing earth-shattering to report. Just a bit about what's been going on here...

Yesterday we went to a fundraiser that Heather and her friends put on for a friend who died in a car accident. There was a wiffle ball tourney, lunch, baked goods, etc. It was nice to see so many young kids doing something good. The lemonade-shakeups were yummy!

It was also homecoming at West yesterday. Heater had a date, and they ate pizza at our house before the dance. Here's a pic of them:



Kelsie's doing good at JU. We had a nice, long video call today. We miss her, and it makes it better to be able to see her face. She joined a sorority and is playing intramural beach volleyball. Her classes are going good. We went to see her a couple weeks ago. Can't remember if I posted about that or not, but here's a pic of the three of us outside the school of business:



Nathan keeps it lively around here. He's watching Barney right now. Ugh! Last week he hung big earrings on his ears and rode his bike around the block.



Like I said, nothing "special." Life just going on here! I enjoy reading about what you all are doing.

Update on Keith

I just got home from the hospital. When I left he was walking in the hall with a CNA. He likes to walk 2 or 3 times a day. When I got there this morning he was sitting up in the chair and ate his breakfast and lunch. He took a nap after lunch and then got up for supper. He is in very good spirits, but is ready to come home. He does not have a good appetite. They are still giving him antibiotics IV. There was so much infection from the gall bladder. He has some other stomach and bowel problems but we hope it will clear up soon.

This evening when the therapist came in to give him a breathing treatment she visited with us for a little while. When she left she said "I can sure tell that you two are in love".

Thanks for the prayers. He still needs them.

Love, Alice

GLOOMY SATURDAY

Hey, it may be rainy outside, but "every day is a great day and we're one day closer to home"! That's Jerry's famous saying - he doesn't my sharing it.

It is a great day for staying in my basement room and "playing" with my machine. Today I'm making flowers and leaves. While the machine is running, I am trying to put all my fabrics and equipment in some sort of order. Problem is -- after I "organize" it, I can't find anything, but if it's all laying around in a mess, I know just where it is!!

Just thought I'd say "HI" as I'm sure somebody will be looking on here today. Have a GREAT DAY!!

Retta's home.......

Well, Retta was released from the hospital yesterday afternoon and one of her good friends picked her up and brought her home (as I was tied up in the middle of "yard sort" at the Mercedes plant). She's glad to be home but has some restrictions for the next couple of weeks. She is to eat light and get plenty of rest. She got up and swept floors this morning and over did it, so it's going to be a struggle to keep her resting until she is healed.

They never did find the true cause of her pancreatitis, but the best speculation right now is that it is still gall bladder related. They suspect the first bout was caused by the non-functioning gall bladder and even though she had it removed 2 weeks ago, her pancreas probably was not totally healed and reacted to the new processing methods of her body without the gall bladder. We hope that was it and she has no more attacks. Only time will tell.

EDK

Cleve's pumpkin update

I've heard that you are all wondering about my first-ever pumpkin patch. The final pumpkin of the 6 that I nurtured all summer is still on the vine and has a ways to go yet. The other 5 have been given away to the most appreciative takers. Jodie, Dave, and Emma are getting the final one -- being delivered to them on Saturday.
The picture here shows 3 that were not yet fully grown, but still quite large and enjoyed by the grandkids on Labor Day. This is grandson #2, Carter, showing his balancing skills. Jodie is getting the one in the other picture (which is now even larger). Next year should be better -- I've learned a few tricks to make them even bigger.
Cleve

Aunt Ruth Funeral and Memory

We were happy to represent the nieces and nephews at Aunt Ruth's funeral on Tuesday. It was very lovely, and the pastor obviously thought a lot of Aunt Ruth and respected her walk with the Lord. The sermon title was "She walked with Jesus" (that's close - I can't remember exactly and can't find the bulletin right off). Perry and Carol were there and Ada, as well as my parents.

It was good to see everyone and to connect with some cousins not seen in years.

Angela wrote about how she explained who Aunt Ruth was to her girls. The way I explained it to mine was that she is the lady who got hit on the head at a baseball game! We had gotten Braves tickets and because of my position at the time had been given a suite, which includes food and covered seating. Bruce & Carol and family, including Aunt Ruth, were visiting Mark and family that weekend so about 12 of us went to the game.

We were in and out of the suite and Joey had just said for everyone to be careful . . . that a foul ball could come our way and it would be hard hit. Sure enough, just a few minutes later, a player popped the ball foul and before we knew it, had hit Aunt Ruth! She of course was very gracious about it, although we knew it hurt. She kept up with everything on the scorecard . . . it was fun to watch her contagious enthusiasm.

Let's continue to pray for comfort for Bruce and Linda and their families in the loss of their mother and grandmother.