Old Christmas Picture

Came across this old photo. Can you name all these people? I'm stumped.

Common Courtesy

On a recent Saturday morning, I was walking out of our public library, about eight steps behind a man in his late twenties and a young boy about five. As we approached the door, the man looked behind and saw me, pulled the boy slightly to the side, and then I heard him say "Let the lady go first." So I went first and thanked them. What I wished I'd said was "Thank you for making my morning, with common courtesy that in these days seems to be all too uncommon--and for training your son well."

So, have you had any recent experiences of "uncommon courtesy" or any examples of where young people appeared to have been well taught the kindnesses of polite interaction?

Where Do I Work?

I read my mom's story below to my co-workers today. Of course, they laughed. One of them told me that if they came in one day and I'm sitting in someone else's office, they'd just gently guide me back to my office.

Too Funny to Keep to Ourselves

Mother K once said: "When I forget, you consider it senility, but you think nothing of it when you forget." Bear her words in mind as you read the following:

Yesterday (Thanksgiving) we joined Mary's family for the usual traditional dinner. All the family contributes food and when we arrived, we rang the doorbell and walked in through the unlocked door. What a surprise to see that unfamiliar folks were already eating; Mary had not told us of these extra guests. Can you believe that we were at the house next door? The design is much like that of the Mary and Joey's home--same sidewalk leading to the porch and the dining room immediately to the right as one enters the front door (that was as far as we got!). Had we not been so intent on getting the food into the house, the different house appearance would have been obvious. The next door host met us immediately and said, "Are you looking for Joey?" The whole thing was too ridiculous to be embarrassed. We beat a quick retreat and are still laughing at the blunder.

At our age--Date Night?

Last night Lynn and I attended a premier showing at the Huntsville Space Center of the film "The Mysterious Islands." I'd been reading about this film for weeks and we were delighted to get a notice that it was to be shown in Huntsville last night. The theater was packed with what Lynn estimated to be 800 people. The Islands are no less than the Galapagos Island and the purpose was to retrace Charles Darwin's trip there in the 1830's. The film director is Doug Phillips of Vision Forum along with an entourage that included Dr. John Morris of ICR. The photography is beautiful as it shows the many unusual aspects of the Galapagos Islands, including the animals found only there such as the salt-spitting marine iguana, the blue-footed booby birds, and the very old tortoises.

Another most interesting feature was the conclusion of the film showing that both Robert FitzRoy, the admiral of the HMS Beagle, and Darwin, who is no stranger to any of you, spent five years together at the Galapagos Islands as naturalists, exploring these unusual islands. The conclusion for Darwin was that life originated by chance and for FitzRoy that God was the Creator. Both men had the same evidence, showing that our world view depends on our starting points and how we choose to look at evidence: man's opinion or the absolute authority of God's Word. The film can be purchased from AiG, ICR, VF and other sources. Incidentally, this week marks the 150th anniversary of the publishing of Darwin's book titled "The Origin of Species....,or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life." The last part of the title is usually omitted and you can easily guess why.

It Works!

Was awake early, and having seen in the Meijer flyer that the Little Tykes Basketball was on sale for $19.99 (reg. 34.99) today only, I decided to get up and go get it. One hour and 15 minutes later, I'm home, and my ticket says $362.26.

Happy Christmas shopping, all you suckers out there!

New topic...

I loved reading about all the wonderful men in the family...we didn't hear from any men though, hmmmm....

My next question is about company cooking? I can specifically remember a few disasters I have experienced in preparing food for guests:

I had a group of ladies I didn't know that well in for a business luncheon. Our main course was to be Taco salad. I had the big bowl of salad on the counter and was preparing the meat mixture. Shelley was little and was sitting on the counter next to the salad bowl. In front of all the women, the bowl fell on the floor and salad flew everywhere. They all said, "Oh, wash it off, and we'll eat it anyway!" Which we had to do as it was all we had.

A few years ago I had my neighborhood ladies in for dessert after our Christmas eat-out. I had made a frozen pie of some sort. Again, in front of everyone, the glass pie pan slipped out of my hands and crashed to the floor, shattering glass everywhere. The frozen oreo crust and ice cream pie stayed intact, and they all thought it would be fine to eat it. Thankfully, this time I had a couple of other choices prepared, and I did not take the chance of serving any glass with my dessert.

Years ago, in the big house in Gridley, I hosted my family for some holiday meal. I remember I was proud of myself that I had fried chicken that turned out pretty good. Mashed potatoes, etc. But when I passed the food, they all took chicken, then the mashed potatoes, and when I came back in with the next item, I saw they had all made a little scoop out of their mashed potatoes all ready for the gravy...Gravy?? I never once thought of it.

I know I have tons more...but what are some of your entertaining disasters??

A Thanksgiving Tribute

I was recently asked the question: "What about your spouse are you most thankful for?" I thought about it for awhile, and decided I am especially thankful that Dave is absolutely "trustworthy." What he says, he does. What he believes, he lives. The decisions he makes are always for our best interest, as far as he is able to determine. He would never purposely betray me or lead me astray. Just thinking about it made me appreciate him more.

What about your spouse (or if you don't have one, a friend, parent, etc.) are you thankful for?

INJURY

Sunday I walked right into the couch and injured my little toe. The bruising began Sunday night and is still growing . . . Thankfully I was able to refrain from saying a nasty word - especially on a Sunday morning! It only hurts if I pivot to the left quickly or if Jerry pulls it to the left to see if it hurts!! ha ha

Klopfenstein Christmas Dinner

Perry's are planning to host the annual family Christmas dinner on Saturday, December 19, 2009 @ 12:00 noon. You are all invited and should be receiving a post card in the mail soon.

Aunt Mary

There were fourteen responses to an early November blog entry especially about cutting the lawn grass. That was indeed an experience in the early 40's. Yes, Cleve, I well remember the little well pump outside the back door. It was fascinating to pump away and then the water came! Next to the well pump was a huge apple tree. I'd usually stop to get one on the way back to school from eating lunch at home. (No such thing back then as a school cafeteria.) Everybody went home for lunch. In the fall the big red juicy apples were a delightful part of walking back to school for the afternoon that finished at 3:40.

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In addition to the well pump and the apple tree was the "privvy"! If you walked within 20 feet of this facility, you would easily pick up the scent that was not light. It would nearly gag a maggot! There was something charismatic about needing to use this facility. How time flies by! If there was a big family gathering like Christmas there was only one bathroom for 50-70 people so the folks had to resort to the "privvy". It beat nothing or the alternative!

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And then the "shop" was like a mystery house. It was always interesting to just look around for the old stuff that was stored there. And Bert Bluminshine drove around the side of the building and drove into a "garage" from the back side. My dad, EJK, usually had a few cows and the 2 or 3 lots back there were fenced off. We boys had to always watch the cows particularly if they would break out.

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If some of you older Grandma Sophia descendants would record your memories, I'd be happy to assemble and help retain some of the great history that is gone upon demise. How about it. Let some of the family who are not on this blog know about it.

FRIDAY THE 13TH

I have not feared Friday the 13th since my 13th birthday which was on a Friday and nothing bad happened. So those of you who are "fearful" -- just give it up!!!

Jerry is up and out early this morning for his weekly breakfast with buddies. I kinda miss it now that I don't have to take him. He thinks he's pretty smart these days, now that he can just up and go wherever and whenever he wants all by himself. And I think it's wonderful also! When he gets home, we plan to clean the house, and later we're going out to dinner with friends.

Here is a picture of my latest creation. The snowmen are appliqued - my first time using this process and it was fun.

A Note from the Not So Sunny South

Hello all, from the piedmont of South Carolina, where we have been socked in with rain and wind from Tropical Storm Ida, for about 24 hours now. It's not been so bad that we couldn't go about normal activities, but I am very glad to be home for the night and not have anywhere to go. I can hear the wind and the heavy rain as I type. This is expected to go on until at least tomorrow afternoon.

The good thing about it, and some previous rains this fall, is that our lake is now full! No drought conditions at this time, and it's no longer painful to drive on the bridges that cross Lake Hartwell and see the cracked shoreline that was way, way too big.

I'm thinking of the Knoblochs in Alabama and wondering how Retta is doing - and how the kids are doing in anticipation of this move. It's difficult for teenagers even if it is the best thing all around.

Mike and I drove to Greenville yesterday to take the kids out to supper at Olive Garden - Andrew turned the big 21 today. He's celebrating with friends tonight. My little baby boy is 21 - that can't be. Where did the years go? Mary Lee took us to the art department to show us her drawings. She loves her drawing class. I should have thought to take some pictures of her work.

If you possibly look at my personal blog you know that last Friday night was the school play that I directed. It's now four days later and the cast and I are still kinda "floating" about how well it went. The kids did a super job, far better than I ever expected. The only drawback. . .we didn't prepare for what to do if a live cat throws up onstage. Somehow that didn't make the list of anticipated possible problems.

Extreme Home Makeover

Sunday, November 8 watch Extreme Makeover Home Edition. It's on ABC at 8:00 pm. Eastern. Last winter I met the father at a wheelchair basketball tournament. The coach of the team is the former girls basketball coach of the school I was at in Ohio. He and his wife are friends of mine. The show actually taped quite a bit of a wheelchair game between the show's cast and the team.

The Terpenning family's father is the last Vietnamese orphan airlifted in the 70s. He had polio, and in addition to his own health issues has taken on the care of his younger brother as well.

Great story, great family. Catch the show if you can.

Update Alabama Knobloch's

This has been quite a week for our family.

This past Monday I interviewed in Lawrenceville IL at Automotive Technology Systems for an open Quality Manager position in their seat plant supplying to Toyota. We got back to Alabama on Monday evening about 8:30 pm and went into work and worked the night shift.

On Tuesday about 6:00 am, Retta drove herself to UAB West and checked into the hospital with another bout of Pancreatitis (3rd time in 4 months). I went home and slept a couple hours and then spent the evening at the hospital before going back to work for night shift. BTW, night shift at the plant meant 4pm to 6am for managers.

On Wednesday morning I went to the hospital and slept in the vacant bed in Retta's room. Spent the day there and went back to work that evening.

On Wednesday afternoon they also found the cause of Retta's pancreas issues and will do a procedure week after next to correct it. The opening to her pancreas is constricted and prevents the bile from exiting completely. The procedure will be to go in and open this up so it is not constricted.

I worked Wednesday night and on Thursday morning at 7 am I met with my HR Manager and "left the company by mutual agreement". I am officially unemployed.

Thursday afternoon I also received an offer from ATS in Lawrenceville IL to come be their quality manager. I start work there on November 22nd.

Friday, Retta came home from the hospital, and we told the kids we were moving. Oh my, teenage female hormones are something.......tears, tears, tears, drama, drama, drama.

It has been a stressful and hectic week, but God has been in control of it all. His provisions are amazing and I am so glad He gives us the opportunity to experience His grace for us. We are trusting Him to have our home sell quickly so the relocation process can occur quickly.

Thanks for everybody's prayers.
EDK

PS: Roll Tide Roll.......Chris and I think we are going to go to some Illinois Football Games next fall. It should be easy to get tickets.......

GOOD MORNING

Nathan and Heater spent the night with us. It is now 7:15. Nathan and I have watched Thomas the Tank (FYI - Thomas is the blue train and Percy is the green train ), made coffee, and had some cinnamon toast, and are playing with the cars. As you can see, Heater is still sound asleep - as is Grandpa but I didn't think he would appreciate my taking his picture. Fortunately Nathan has not yet learned any unusual armpit sounds! But he's begging for playdoh so I gotta go.

Four Months Old!

Here we are with 1/3 of a year gone already! Babies are doing great. They've both doubled their birth weight--Riley is 10lb 10.5oz and Gavin is 12lb 4.5oz as of Tuesday. They both are rolling tummy to back, smiling, and "talking." It's funny, though, Riley hits the physical milestones about 2 weeks before Gavin while Gavin hits the social milestones about 2 weeks before Riley.

Gavin has recently discovered his voice and loves to scream. Riley tends to be quiter and let Gavin do the talking, unless she's by herself. Then she gets a little more vocal. Gavin is really quick to smile and interact with people (looking to be the most extroverted of my children) while Riley likes to study you first (another introvert). When she does smile, though, it's with her whole body. Her smile doesn't just light up the room, it lights up the whole city!

GOOD MORNING

Greetings everyone! Just thought I'd slip in here on a bright, sunny morning and say "Hello." Jerry left for his first day at volunteering at the hospital since his surgery; he was so excited! He has a meeting this afternoon, so he will probably be worn out by the time he gets home. Maybe I'll make him his favorite dinner - homemade pizza. We are so thankful his recovery - though long and difficult - seems to be successful.

I've been busy with my quilts. I finished binding one yesterday and am waiting for the owner to come pick it up. I have three more to prepare for quilting. I want to have enough ready to keep the quilters busy through Jan/Feb when we are in Florida. Sometimes I enjoy this job I volunteered for and other times I get quite frustrated.

Jerry's been working outside, in the garage and shed, and trying to catch up on a variety of MAN jobs that have been neglected. Of course, no matter how much we do around the house and grounds, there's always more.

Corn's still standing in two fields by our house!

Y2K

Yes, Retta is back in the hospital with another attack of her pancreas as Mom posted earlier today. She is scheduled for a "scope" of her pancreas on Wednesday morning to try and find the cause. In the process they will enlarge the duct openings to the pancreas to try and help her condition. However, the side effect is the pancreatitis could get much, much worse as a result of the procedure. Pray it all goes well.

On another note, while driving home from Lawrenceville IL on Monday (a whole other post topic that I'll address in the near future). I had to work night shift when we got home and I had packed a "BSC" shirt to wear to work. Of course, BSC is where I worked when we lived in Bloomington/Normal. Chris brought up the fact that we have two very warm blankets with the BSC logo on them and he stated that he had wondered why we had them. The answer: "one of my suppliers was concerned that our small children would freeze during the Y2K catastrophic events and made them for us." Putting the BSC logo on them avoided any ethical gift receipt issues.

So, the kids asked, "What's Y2K?". Wow, Y2K was 10 years ago. We told the kids what it was and about some of the preparations people made a head of the new year. We only prepared a little, buying a 50 lb bag of rice, instant soup, a couple gallons of water and propane for our camping stove. I still have some of the propane and we donated the rice to VBS about 5 years ago for a craft project.

How did you prepare for Y2K and do you still have any of those supplies on hand? EDK

Hospital again...

Just to solicit prayers for Retta as she has been admitted to the hospital again with the same pancreatitis pain. They are scoping her again tomorrow morning. The doctor is puzzled as to why this continues to flare up. Please remember her and Eric and the kids in prayer.

Rain, Rain Go Away

Today the sun shone all day. I'm not sure the last time that happened. October ended up as the second wettest on record. It appears we could go through this entire week without rain.

It has been rainy or overcast for so long I had to look all around for my sunglasses this morning on the way to church!

EDIT MONDAY 11:45
It was raining lightly on the way to work this morning.

Aunt Mary Martin

We haven't had any history pictures on here lately. I recently found this in my scanned pictures and don't think it's ever been on here - If you can get past the huge unflattering glasses on that woman on the right, it's a nice picture of Aunt Mary on the left.

I did not appreciate Aunt Mary enough when she was alive. But looking back, I realize what a friendly, outgoing, and gracious woman she was, who always took an interest in other people, especially family. She and Aunt Minerva were very similar in that regard.

In the last years of her life, she taught me a new crochet stitch and I used it to make a baby blanket or two, and we both enjoyed the correspondence about that.

Any stories to share?

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.”