Japanese magnolia.

Tonight's picture is one Don took this evening of me with my Japanese magnolia in bloom. I love that Japanese magnolia! Take a look at the pile of bags behind me; that's from our work in the yard on Monday. You can see, I haven't weeded in the area where I was standing; that will come soon. Right now the iris greens are getting strong and there are a few daffodils left out there. I probably won't have time or energy to pull any more weeds this week.

That day that we did all the work in the yard we also cleaned the rest of the house. I can't believe I lived through that day, but God has made me so strong! I sure am grateful for that. It's nice to have the house all clean; I sure thank Don for doing the vacuuming or I would have had to do it in two days. He was a huge help in the yard, too!

Today I couldn't make our old printer work, so we bought another one. We buy a printer every 18 months or so. I just don't have good chemistry with printers, I guess. Anyway, I got the printing done, so I can relax, again. If it's not one thing stressing me it's something else, but it's a challenge to not let it get me down. Sometimes I let the stress win, but I'm much better than I used to be at it. Cancer really loves stress, so I just have to be stronger than the stress.

The 'wild guys.'

Tonight's picture is the wild guys; Mason and Gabe. They will go after anything that is slimy . . . if it's interesting at all they dive for it and slime doesn't hinder them a bit. If there is a salamander they'll find it, and they found at least one in Branson. I got a picture of it, even. Gabe got at least one lizard, too. They're amazing. I don't know if it will always impress the girls, but they pretty much keep their Grammy impressed. I thank God for keeping them safe because they trust Him totally and have no fear. On Face Book some of Gabe's friends were teasing him for going to church and said "God is dead." Gabe wrote back and said, "I've loved God all my life." That was the end of the conversation.

I was having a good day until a guy Don is dealing with sent a document we need to copy, sign and fax to him. Fine, except the printer doesn't want to work. So, now I've spent 3 hours working to get the printer to print. This is not good for no stress levels. So, I'm off to work on the printer, but I've got the blog done. Tomorrow will be a better day because I'll go buy a printer if I have to do that.

Otherwise, today was a gorgeous day; it got up to 82 today! Woo hoo! I love this kind of weather!

Yardwork!

Tonight's picture is one I took of Gabe at the waterfall at Westgate Woods in Branson. It was our hiking day and the weather was great and this waterfall was such a great place for a picture. Gabe is 16 and he's just the coolest kid. He amazes me over and over. Don't let the jacket fool you; it looks like a wreck, but it's a piece of his art. He's very artistic; really all of Tricia's kids have a flare for art, a gene that came through strong from their dad.

Today was gorgeous here! We never got to walk because we worked all afternoon in the yard. We figured we got enough exercise out there and we got a lot done. There were those windmill weeds all over the place and lots of leaves from the fall still hanging around, trapped in places, too. I think we have about a dozen big bags out there for the bag men to take as soon as they come for them. It feels good to have accomplished all that, but my whole body is griping about it. I so give thanks for being able to do it, though! I pulled gobs of weeds out of my flower bed out back, too. There are still a lot more weeds to pull, so there is plenty more work for me to do out there.

I can't get over that I can do this stuff! The last two years I had to pay someone to do most of the yard work. Maybe I can do it all myself, now! Woo hoo! Thank you, God!

Biggest and littlest in this family.

The picture tonight is Nate with Raynie on his shoulders. This was the day we were hiking in Branson. This is the biggest brother carrying the littlest sister. Nate turned 18 while we were in Branson and Raynie will be 3 in July. He's a great big brother.

Today was a big day. We had a fish fry after church and then we had a devotional at the nursing home at 3 this afternoon. So, I stayed dressed until after the devotional. Then I crashed. It's allergy season and I'm so scared of getting bronchitis. I got it last fall and coughed for 8 weeks afterwards. That coughing wears me out and scares everyone around me, so I really want to avoid that. But the antihistamines make me so sleepy. I use the netipot, and it helps, but I still need more help or my throat itches me to death. I'm just going to have to use the netipot more and use the antihistamines less or take an afternoon to sleep it off every few days. That's what I did today. I was like a walking zombie. I'm refreshed, now, so I thank God that this is a pretty simple problem. Nothing like breast cancer, so I am in a constant state of thanks to Him.

I found an old friend on Face Book and it's been fun to recall old times and catch up on new times with her for the last couple of days. I thank God for wonderful friends and family and the gift of communicating with them. We are blessed in these times to have ways to communicate that we didn't use to have.

Happy Birthday, Sadie . . . oops a day late! (13)

Sadie turned 13 yesterday and I didn't even realize what day it was until today when Don said, "Yesterday was Sadie's birthday." We celebrate her birthday and Nate's and Rob's when we go for spring break, so we had already celebrated, but I would have mentioned it and called her if I'd realized it was the 26th, yesterday. Part of being retired is never knowing what day it is; it's also part of chemo brain! This picture is one I took when Trish and Sadie and I hiked farther than anyone the day we hiked in Branson! I know people are always holding their phone up and taking pictures of themselves, so I held up the camera and got this shot. (I took another one and didn't get me in the picture, so practice helps!)

Today and yesterday have been so windy here. It's always windy in Oklahoma, but it's been brutally windy. The windows rattle; the furniture on the deck rattles. It sounds like the house will not stand in this wind, but it does and we thank God for that! We think it's cold, but it's not. I am so impressed with my little daffodils; they withstood the snow and now they are standing up to this wind. The ones I brought in are giving up the ghost, so if the wind will slow down a bit I'll go get some fresh ones to enjoy.

We had a ladies brunch at church today and I learned how to make quiche for it. I practiced yesterday and made another one for today. I've always loved quiche, but I never knew how to make it. Trish encouraged me, so I got a recipe online and it was easy! I'll enjoy having it in my recipe file, now. I don't usually use recipes, but this is a goodie. Tomorrow we're having a fish fry and I made chocolate chip pies to take to that. I think that's what reminded Don that yesterday was Sadie's birthday because we had chocolate chip pies for the birthday celebrations in Branson. It's a family favorite.

Reflecting on our last snow.

The picture tonight is one Don took whatever day it was that we had that last snow. It was really cold looking with snow all blown around the window. It doesn't show very well because it was so bright outside, but I wanted to show the snow in the window. We don't get that much snow very often, so it was pretty neat and it gave me a chance to wear my favorite fleece shirt. It melted pretty quickly and we've had mostly nice weather this week. It was even pretty warm today, but it was so windy that it felt cold enough that we didn't walk. We just didn't feel like fighting the wind to stand and walk!

I cleaned all the ceiling fans today! I was on a roll with the ladder, so I cleaned the top of the refridgerator. I usually forget that because it's way out of my sight. We could invite some tall people over, but I haven't done the dusting and vacumming, yet! I'll do that soon and then invite someone tall to come visit next week. I did dust and vacuum our room and bathroom today. It's in great shape, now. Don wanted to vacuum the rest of the house for me, but I didn't feel like doing the other cleaning that needs to be done when he does that (dusting and the hard floors), so I asked him to wait a day or two. Maybe we'll get that done Monday. He's wonderful to help me! I am so grateful that I can do this stuff, myself. I really could do the vacuuming, but it's sure a big help when Don does it!

I keep reflecting back to how I felt this time two years ago (even 3 years ago) and I can only be so grateful to God for seeing me through to this point. We are so very blessed! Have you thought about all He has done in your life?

Light fixtures are fixed!

The picture tonight is one of Don and I at the waterfall at Westgate Woods in Branson. It was taken the day we hiked; it was such a wonderful day. It was a great day like that here, today, so I chose this picture. We walked and collected sunshine in they yard. I love it when it's warm enough to do that without being killer hot like it will be in the summer.

Last night I watched Survivor and then went to work on the bathroom light fixtures. A cordless drill sure is a great thing when it's charged! It's great to have the tools you need for a task. When I was up on the counter and my foot cramped I was reminded that people much younger than me usually do this sort of thing. My feet never cramped when I was 30! What makes me think I should climb up on the cabinet must be a part of my brain whose 'maturity' was stunted by chemo. Anyway, it felt good to accomplish a task even if it was 10:20 p.m. when I finished. I slept like a brick. I'd sure rather have a physical task like that than a computer crash. Things I can look at and touch make better sense to me than the abstracts of computer technicalities! Whatever is thrown my way is what I will tackle. I thank God that I'm able to do these things. I even cleaned the ceiling fan while I was up there. Now, I have a goal to clean all the other ceiling fans in the house before we go to Houston. We'll be wanting to use those before long and I don't want to blow all that dust everywhere!

This time 2 years ago I was taking a radiation treatment 5 days a week and still wearing a baseball cap to keep my head warm. I'm wearing a baseball cap today to keep my hair off my neck and face (it's hanging out the hole in the back). Back then I was taking a nap or two a day and now I'm climbing around and fixing things. It's wonderful to feel good; I thank God for recovery! (I still love a nap here and there, but it's a luxury, not a necessity to get through the day.)

Spring is here!

This is Sadie and Raynie, playing 'pulley bone' on our hike in Branson. Break the rotten stick and whoever gets the biggest piece wins. Raynie loves it when her piece is the biggest: "I WIN! I WIN!" Sadie is a doll to humor her. All the kids make Raynie special; they all amaze me. She's everyone's baby.

Today has been nice and warm, to our surprise. They predicted a 70% chance of rain, but we haven't had a drop. It's been partly cloudy, but we walked and gathered sunshine in the yard. I even got my echinacea and daisy sticks pulled from last year. Now the new growth can come through and make me happy! Spring is definitely right around the corner, if not here.

I've also been working to repair my lights in our bathroom They're the ones with round bulbs that hangs over the mirror and they've been loose for the last 3 years. Yesterday I thought one was falling on me, so I decided to fix them. Fixing them is a bigger job that I thought. It's really hard to get to those places! Of course both my drills are dead, too. I've got them charging and I'll be 'loaded for bear' after supper. But, I want to watch Survivor, so maybe I'll do it after Survivor.

I'm so grateful for the energy to attempt any of this. I thank God for giving me my life!

More sunshine in Hobart!

This is a picture of Sadie on our hike in Branson last week. She's sure growing up fast! She's a precious, sweet girl; we couldn't be prouder than we are of her.

Today I made plans for our trip to my Itazuke reunion this fall. It feels good to be making those plans. I still have to get our registration in and make the hotel reservations for DC, but I have our reservations in a condo at Shenandoah Crossing in Virginia for on the way and on the way home. I've always wanted to go there, so this is a good opportunity to spend some time there. I hope Ruthie and Phil will go with us; that would make it even more fun. She's feeling lots better, so by fall, I hope she'll be up for a trip. I thank God that she is doing so much better!

We had another gorgeous day today. We walked and they came home and collected sunshine in the yard. I love these kinds of days and thank God for them, too!

Challenges; whew!

The picture tonight is a relaxed me at the waterfall at Westgate Woods in Branson. It was such a beautiful, sunny day and we were having so much fun exploring and hiking all over the resort's woods. It was a wonderful day.

Today I felt like that most of the day. I got our trip to Gatlinburg rearranged to go with the right date for our family reunion the first thing this morning. I am so grateful for people who could think straight to help me get it fixed! I'm mostly grateful that our family takes the time to get together every year. Even more than that I thank God for a wonderful family; we've been so blessed to have each other and I'm pleased to be in the Fox family. Then later today it warmed up so nicely here, and Don and I got to do our regular walk. It was wonderful and I felt so good.

This morning I got a message asking if I wanted to upgrade to the new Mozilla Firefox. I love Firefox, so I said, "Sure." Nothing worked right all day, after that! I couldn't go anywhere on the Internet! Baffled, I switched over to Internet Explorer and things worked fine until I sat down to do the blog tonight and I couldn't get 'inside' to post the blog! I had to uninstall Firefox and install it, again. That seemed to have worked, so I'm relaxing, again. Whew! It's been challenging, but I made it through the day. In the meantime I got our sheets changed on our bed, so I'm ready for a bath and to climb into a fresh, clean bed. Whew. It feels good to have challenges and not be whipped by them. (It was close at times, though! Now, let's hope this posts!)

The hugs keep us going!

This picture is one I got of Gracie giving Poppy (Don) a big hug. This is the kind of thing that keeps us old folks cranking. All the kids are great hug givers!

Today it's still cold, but it's warm enough to melt the snow except for the drifts. Hopefully tomorrow will be a really great day. It was beautiful, today, but still too cold to venture out much. We're still enjoying the rest of the chili I made the other night. Hopefully spring will be here tomorrow and we can forget the cold weather menu.

I thank God for daffodils! They convince me that spring is, indeed, around the corner. They've been battered by snow and wind, but they are still out there insisting that it's spring. I couldn't resist them and went out and cut a big bouquet today. They are wonderful reminders for me in spite of the cold I feel and the drifts of snow remaining.

A cold March 20th

This is a picture of Don and I at the waterfall at Branson Woods last Friday. It was a gorgeous day and we had a wonderful hike.

Today has been frustrating because I've been working to get our family reunion straight in June. I had the wrong date for it, so I have our condos reserved for a week AFTER the reunion. Now, they don't have space available the week I need them. What to do? I'll call the timeshare people on Monday and see if they can work some magic or have any suggestions for me. I'll sleep on it and maybe come up with a solution when I have a clear head.

We enjoyed eating chili today. It's cold here, but not horrible. We went to the post office and picked up our mail for the week we were gone. I had ordered herbs and vitamins, so there was a lot of sorting to do. I don't have to throw them until we get back from Houston, though. All that sorting was enough to fog my mind, though. Maybe by Monday I'll be clear enough to come up with a family reunion solution that works.

It's almost always really warm in Oklahoma at this time of year, so snow is pretty bizarre. I'm sure glad we were gone for the real winter; this is enough for me. One weekend of snow I can handle. God knows what we can take and what we need, so I thank Him for taking charge! I'm sure I would rearrange it if it were my task, and I'd mess things up a bunch! I like leaving it up to God to figure out the weather and I'll follow His lead the best I can, with thanks.

Home, safe and sound to cold and windy Hobart!

This is a picture I took yesterday when we were hiking. This is Rob, Ryan behind Trish, then Gabe, carrying Raynie, and then Mason. The others were all gone ahead of us with Don. (Tom and Linda, you'll recognize this hike up behind the condo where we all stayed in Branson last year.)

We made it home just fine today. We got home a little after 7 tonight. I'm still unpacking and putting things where they belong. I'm also making a pot of chili to be ready for tomorrow. The weather men say we've got a winter storm coming. We'll get out the warm clothes and hunker down until it's warm again in a few days.

We thank God for a safe trip and a wonderful time with so much of our family. We stopped on the way home at Davy's house and got to see him. He had brought home a suitcase of ours from Hawaii when they were there with us. I'm eager to look and see what I could do without for a month and mark it so I know I never need to take it to Hawaii with me! It sure was a big help to get that stuff home, so we could easily get home with what we had remaining! Thanks, Davy and tell Susan and Bruce and Erica we hate we missed them!

A perfect day in Branson.

This is a picture I got of the whole Oglesby family at the waterfall, here at this resort. On the back, that's Rob, Trish, Sadie, Gabe, Nate and Ryan. On the front is Raynie, Mason, and Grace.

We were blessed with a beautiful day. We hiked down to the waterfall and then back to the condo. Then we had lunch and then went out to the lake for another hike. I have lots of pictures to post later to share some of today's fun. Tonight Rob and Trish are taking the kids down to the landing for a bit and then they'll bring the kids back home to eat. They're going out for a night out with just the two of them. The rest of us will play cards.

God has blessed us with a great week. We thank Him for health and a wonderful week. It's been cool and misty, but it was gorgeous today, so we end the week in a blaze of glory.

Grace SWIMS with ease!

If I confused you last night with Nate's 16th birthday and he's 18 . . . SORRY! You've got to hang tough with me. I'm having a great time, but it's a ZOO around here. Nate turned 18! I was crazy! I've corrected it, so it's right, now, but I know I sent a few people over the edge last night . . . sorry!

Tonight is the promised picture of Gabe and Ryan enhancing the story of their trip here when they arrived the other night. They are all so much fun! That's Trish with them, enjoying the story, and glad to see them as we all were.

Today was so cool! I went with the kids to the pool and stayed late with Grace because she wanted to stay 'just a little longer.' She's always thought she was swimming and yesterday I noticed she was a lot more confident. Today she absolutely took off swimming! Even today when she first got in the pool she was telling her friends, "I can't go past the 3 feet." Before she knew it, today, she was swimming across the pool and back. Then she got so excited, she swam the length of the pool and back! Then she swam around the whole edge of the pool, and then laps across and back, again. She was so excited and so was I. I took a bunch of videos of her because I knew nobody would believe us. It was so exciting! I thank God for this gift for her!

I have lots of cute pictures from the pool I'll post later. What a fun day it was!

Happy Birthday, Nate! (18!)

Today is Nate's 18th birthday! We're amazed that he is so 'old!' This is a picture I took Saturday night right after Rob and the 'big boys' got here. Nate has on his jacket that they presented to him at the military ball as the battalion commander. Rob is telling the story of their drive to here and Raynie is eager for him to pick her up; Mason is listening to the story; Rob is telling his version as the other guys (Gabe and Ryan) throw in their enhancements. I'll post pictures of Gabe and Ryan tomorrow.

Today they've all gone to Eureka Springs, so we've done some running around and now are back to rest and get ready to greet them when they get back tonight. They love the tiger reserve there and all of Eureka Springs. We love it, too, but we've seen it enough; rest was better. :)

We are having the best time. Spring break is awesome for grandparents when the kids spend it with us! We thank God for the kids and the time!

The 'ides of March.'

This is a picture Don took today of me with Mason, Grace and Raynie. (He took it through the screened in patio, so pardon the screen.) We were headed to the pond behind us to feed the ducks. Trish and Rob took the big kids shopping and I took the little kids to feed the ducks and then to the pool.

Grace has become quite the swimmer since last year! Mason is all over the pool and can swim like a fish. Raynie is happy to sit on the steps by the edge with me.

The weather in Branson is cold and misty, but we're having a great time. We are so grateful for the time together. We played a great game of canasta last night, and another today; it's time to resume! One year we came for spring break and had tornadoes here, so this is better than that! The time together is what's important and the kids don't have school, so they're happy!

Fun times in Branson.

The picture tonight is Sadie; she was sitting on our bed watching TV, as the little kids had taken over her room. We're having a wonderful time! Today Trish took all the kids shopping, except for Raynie. We kept her with us and she and I fed the ducks; then we read her books and she painted while I got lunch ready for the others.

I played Rook today with Nate, Gabe and Ryan. Then Trish, Grace, Mason and I worked a jigsaw puzzle. We cooked baked salmon, baked potatoes, broccoli and salad for supper. The kids are good eaters and great players, no matter what we play. Rob took the little kids swimming and the big boys are gone swimming now and to work out. It's so much fun to be here with this gang! The weather is pretty cold and misty, but we're having fun, anyway.

Ryan is a kid who Nate knew at school and his family was having tough times so he came to live with Trish and Rob and the kids. He's a great addition to our family, so we're blessed to get to have this time to get to know him. This is his first time to be out of the state of Oklahoma, so it's a big deal for him. He makes me feel great. This morning he said, "I went to bed; I slept; I woke up and here were biscuits and gravy; what more could I ask?" What a blessing to have an extra guy around who appreciates everything! Besides that he's tall and can reach stuff for me! He's 16 and it going to the same school as Gabe, now. We thank God for him and all the rest of our family and this time to share.

Happy Birthday, Rob, Nate and Sadie!

This picture is Raynie working on her Daddy's birthday card. His birthday was yesterday; Nate's is the 16th and Sadie's is the 26th, so we're celebrating all their birthday's this week. I've got pies made for the celebration and we'll start when the guys get here. We expect them any moment!

We had a great day today. I got lots of food prepared for the week, so food should be pretty easy. I thank God for this time with this much family. I wish we could all get together one time, but we take them in whatever bits and pieces we can get. It's so grand to spend this time with grandkids.

Happy spring break!

Arrived in Branson!

Here is a picture of Mason, relaxing in Branson. We arrived, got checked in, had supper and Trish and I ran out and got groceries for the week. We're pooped! Mason wanted to go swimming tonight, but it's 11 and I'm still putting away groceries! We'll have to swim tomorrow.

We are on dial up, so it's already not working very well. Ugh; the picture doesn't want to post. I hate this part of traveling.

Anyway, we got here fine. The kids were great travelers. Rob and the big boys will be here tomorrow around supper time, I think. That means we'd better get the supper plan going and get our act in gear.

I thank God for a safe trip! Oh! I forgot my other big huge thanks to God! My appointment with the eye doctor in OKC today was GREAT! He said my cataracts are NOT bad enough for surgery, yet! They were ready this time last year, so the drops I've been using are WORKING! Woo Hoo! I sure thank God for that, too. I thought my vision wasn't worse and maybe was better, but it's hard to tell. My vision is about 20/30 and he said it has to be 20/40 before they want to do surgery! I'm so pleased!

Ready for Branson

This picture is one I went back and got from a day when we went to MacKenzie Park last December. What a beautiful place and wonderful memory.

We're getting ready to make more great memories tomorrow! Tomorrow we head to OKC to pick up Trish, Sadie, Mason, Grace and Raynie. We'll go to Branson and check in for the week. Nate is his Battalion Commander, so he has to be in OKC Saturday to lead the St. Patrick's Day parade. As soon as the parade is done, Rob, Nate, Gabe and Ryan (friend, who is living with them) will follow us to Branson for the rest of spring break. We are so excited to get to spend a week with them! We barely got to see them when we came home from Hawaii because I was sick and we wanted to get out of there before I spread the sickness! I'll be so happy to get good hugs from everyone and then spend the week with them. This is going to be so much fun! I'll get pictures and share the times with you.

Now, it may take me a while to get online tomorrow night, so I may be late, but I'll get it posted one way or another. Thanks for your patience.

The car is packed. All we have to pack in the morning is our toiletries and the ice chest. It feels so good to be ready and to feel good. I sure thank God for everyone's good health and for the safe travels we expect tomorrow.

I also have an appointment with they eye doctor in OKC in the morning before we meet Trish. I'm hoping that he'll tell me the drops I've been using for the last year have helped my cataracts. We'll see, and I'll report to you tomorrow night. I feel great and Don's ankle is great! Woo hoo!

Love these mushrooms.

The picture tonight is one I took when we were hiking on Maui before Don sprained his ankle. I thought this was so cool, they way all these little mushrooms were growing on this old log. Click on this to make it big and you'll see them better. Don't you think our God has an awesome imagination to make something so entertaining as this and then someone like me to appreciate it! Don took a picture of me that day, but I was so sweaty; I thought this was lots more entertaining.

Every now and then we get a community of mushrooms growing in our yard and I don't find them so entertaining. There may be some out there now, but I'm ignoring the yard while we get ready to go to Branson. Whatever is out there will be there when we get home and I'll fret with it then.

By the way, Don's ankle is doing really fine. We're so grateful! We didn't walk today; it was too windy to stand, so we chose not to fight the wind. I'm sure I got at least 20 minutes of weight bearing exercise around here and that's what the doctor prescribes, so I'm good. Besides, I'll make up for it in Branson!

Jaxon and Avery

Here's a picture of Jaxon and his big sister, Avery. Avery is 8 1/2 (Jaxon is 6 1/2). She's as bright at Jaxon, but she and her mom were gone somewhere the other day when Jaxon came over for the plunger. I'll have to get their picture sometime when they're inside, so I can capture their blue eyes. You can't see their eyes so well in this picture; I just went outside and snapped a picture while they were playing. They have an older brother, Jarret, who is 13 or 14. These two are almost always together and they give the best hugs of anybody I know besides my grandkids!

Today has been a gorgeous day! It's about 70 outside, and windy, but that's typical for Oklahoma. We walked in shorts and t-shirts and it was perfect. After lunch we laid outside and got some sun. I should go out and pull up some of last year's flowers to make room for new ones. Maybe I'll go do that right quickly! I love this spring time! I thank God for flowers and a revival of growth each spring! I have one lonely daffodil blooming, already; I love it!

Red Sand Beach

The picture tonight is one I took of a RED sand beach in Hana, Maui. That was the day that we drove over 52 miles of VERY curvy roads and I had taken a couple of pills to keep from getting motion sick. I didn't get motion sick, but I fell over asleep and missed most of the trip. If there had been any reason to wake up, Don would have waked me. He woke me for this. If I hadn't been so groggy I would have hiked down to the red sand, but I didn't trust me to stagger around climbing down and back up to the car. On the drive to Hana there are MANY great waterfalls, normally. However, there were no waterfalls or even creeks because they have had a drought and it was all completely dry. I was awake for a few things and there were only dry rocks where there are normally creeks and great waterfalls. At least we got to see the red sand.

Today we know we are back home. Oklahoma had it's first tornado today. We've had some thunder storms and I thought I should get on here and get the blog done before I have to shut everything down and unplug! At least it's not cold! This is spring in Oklahoma! I thank God for home; we are blessed. I also thank Him for a nice big basement to shelter us from tornadoes!

I put my corporate taxes into the envelopes and they'll go out in the mail tomorrow. Whew! We have our personal taxes ready to go; we're just waiting on one form, and when it comes they can go. It feels good to be done with those details. It's good to get that stress off my mind and I thank God for that, too.

Walkway in the sunset.

This picture is the sunset the day we evacuated for the tsunami that didn't happen. What a blessing that was for us! We enjoyed beautiful sunsets every day. This one shows the walkway that went for several miles along the beach. (I'd guess it's about 4 miles, judging by the time it took us to walk it and also driving the distance and watching the odometer, although we drove on the road rather than the walkway, so it's an estimate.)

Today I've been dealing with printer issues, so it's been an inky mess and the printer still isn't working. So it goes when I do technical things, but it usually works the next day, so I'm exercising patience (after about 3 hours of working on it!) and waiting until tomorrow before I spend any more time on it. The good thing is that I've managed to not get ink on my hands; I usually get it all over me.

God is with us; what a blessing. He has a plan and I thank Him for being in control and for being with us! Have a wonderful March!

Huge beach in Kaanapali

This picture is the beach out by our last condo from when we walked to the end south of us. This is from close to the end, looking back toward our condo. If you see the white buildings that are nearly at the end, ours were the 2nd ones back from there. The first ones back have a green roof, but the ones where we stayed have a gray roof and are a light green. Anyway, you can see that we looked out from our location and saw beach going on nearly forever and it was a great beach! They had a walkway all this way, so we didn't have to walk on the sand. The walkway is back to the right of the trees that you see in the picture. I'll post a sunset picture tomorrow that shows the walkway.

I worked most of the day on catching up on mail. I did have a delight, though: the doorbell rang and our neighbor, Jaxon, was there needing to borrow our plunger. I had created a new spot for it in the closet where the new furnace is, and I didn't remember that, so I had to go on a search for a while. Jaxon is 6 1/2, and he is such a HOOT! He came right back and walked by a wooden figurine of a humpback whale and recognized it. He asked if I'd ever seen a real one (He didn't realize the door he was opening with that question!) and I told him we saw lots of them in Hawaii, so he stayed to look at my pictures. He was so much fun! He loved the pictures and I loved sharing them. He was so anxious to see all the pictures and he was so impressed with our hikes. He kept saying, "I should have gone with y'all! When I was looking for the plunger, Don suggested it might be in the basement since we thought we'd looked everywhere up here. Jaxon's eyes got big and he said, "Do you have a BASEMENT?" I told him we did and I'd take him down there if he wanted to go. We went down and he took one quick look and turned around and came back upstairs. When we got up here, he said, "I thought it would be all webby!" We have a game table, a pool table, about 4 sewing machines, and inversion table and a stereo down there and he was way disappointed in all that civilization. He is such a treat; he was my grandkid fix for today! I thank God for kids; they sure brighten our lives. If you don't have grandkids, borrow a neighbor!

Taxes, taxes . . .

This is a picture I took looking down over the town of Lahaina on the day of the tsunami warning. We were at the high school, about 400 feet above the ocean. Across the ocean is the island of Lanai. I took this picture, thinking it would be a before picture, but nothing ever happened, so there was no after picture. Praise God!

Today Don saw the chiropractor again, and his ankle is doing better and better. He's walking really well and just feels a little pain from time to time. The swelling is mostly gone. We thank God for creating us in a way that we can rebuild and heal!

I've worked on taxes today. It wasn't the big hairy thing that it sometimes is. I turned all my corporation information in when we were in Hawaii and today I was reviewing the return. I had to make some corrections, so we're not done, but it's not so stressful as usual. It's a hassle that I sure wish we didn't have every year! We've got to turn in our personal taxes, yet, but I don't get so stressed over that. I won't get on my tax soap box; I'll go get busy. Have a great weekend!

Happy Birthday, David!

This picture is another one Don took of me as we strolled around the beach at the hotel the last day we were on Maui. This was also the last day I felt good until today. I woke up just fine this morning. Praise God!

The day has been amazing. For starters, it was beautiful! It was 46 and windy, but warmed up to around 66 in the afternoon. We have some siding on the trim of our home and some had fallen off due to the weight of the ice during the ice storm. We saw a guy at breakfast who could fix it and he fixed it before noon! Another guy came to the door before noon asking if we wanted our weeds sprayed, and he was back before 2 spraying the yard. We had gotten out there and cut out broken limbs from our trees, so they were out of the way. We called our chiropractor this morning and got an appointment for Don to see him because his ankle is still hurting and we thought another treatment would be good. Sure enough we got in to see him at 2:45. It sure feels good when things fall into place!

We did lots more, too, but those are the amazing things. (Two loads of laundry, sessions on the power plate, cleaned both freezers and the fridge, etc.) It's great to be home!

Ruthie's son David is old enough to know better today. We're so proud he's our nephew, a great guy to know and love, and we thank God for him.

Happy March!

This picture is one Don took of me as we strolled around by our hotel the day we left Maui. Notice the cruise ship in the background; man those things are huge and this one is a smaller one, I think. You may also notice how cool I was dressed??? Actually, it was kind of chilly, for a change, in Maui. Well, I'm not sure what's so normal in Maui, but I think it's normally around 80; it was in the low 70's this day and cloudy and misting rain, I had on my layers for travel because I thought the plane would be cold but was hanging onto my shorts until the last minute when I put on my jeans. I knew it would be cold in OKC when we got there, plus, the more I could wear, the less that had to go into my 50 pound limit suitcase. Wonder why Don didn't tell me my shirt was all hiked up on that one side? He didn't even see it. He overlooks things like that; that's why he can live with me and be so happy!

I just got up from another 2 hour nap and I think I'm back to the living. My stomach is still not right, but it's working on getting there. I've never heard so much growling! The fever is gone, though, and that makes me feel so much better in general. I'm typing without laying on the computer! I even downloaded pictures from the camera. No way I could have done anything so technical before that last nap. It amazes me how well our bodies can revive! Today I felt like I was taking chemo, again; that was miserable, but a good reminder to me of how grateful I am that I only had to have one day of feeling like that! I suspect that tomorrow I may feel really good, again. I'm even going to take a bath in a little bit. I wanted to take a bath last night, but I was afraid I couldn't get out of the tub, let alone dry myself. Woo hoo! Praise God for health and happy homecoming!

Homesick!

Well, that tells you how exhausted we are. I got sick coming home today. I first thought it was motion sickness, but I didn't get sick on the plane. I lost it in the airport in Atlanta. Also, I felt like I'd been run over by a truck. We had a delay in Atlanta because it was snowing there, but we got home in time to see everyone except Gabe. I didn't want to stay too long with them in case I would pass on this bug. Nate suggested I was homesick! Could be; it was sure good to get home.

They say it takes a village to raise a child and I know it takes a village to run this house while we're gone for 3 months. Special thanks To Joan, who directed the village people! We could never just pack up and leave.

I hope what I have is a bug that will be gone soon! I trust God to take care of me. He's gotten us this far! Don's ankle did just fine on the trip.

There is no picture tonight because I'm on the desktop instead of the laptop and I don't remember how to get pictures off this machine. Duh. I'm too rattled to think. I haven't barfed since about 4 today, so I'm mending, but I still have a fever. I think I'll be good by tomorrow!

Thanks for keeping up with us. Man, home is sweet!

Homesick