catchin' up

I thought I should do a little catching up or clean-up if you will of previous posts that long to be updated.


Regarding goin' huntin', the total score was mama rose 2 v. mooses -2. I still have the traps set but no signs and no victims so I guess that is the end of that saga.


Weather in the Heartland this year seems to be as crazy as every other year. The temps get into the 50s by mid-week then the snow comes on Fridays. What's up with snow every Friday? Two weeks ago we missed the really big snow because we did not get the moist air from the Gulf as expected. If everything would have lined up as expected we would have had to measure the snow in feet not inches. We only got 7.5 inches that round. We were supposed to get more snow last Friday but I was on my way to the land of the creepy crawlies so I am not sure what it did here. Yesterday morning we had a thunderstorm complete with small hail then the snow started. We received about 4 to 5 inches of snow this time. It is beautiful after it snows. This is a picture that someone sent to one of the local TV stations. I am not sure this squirrel enjoys the weather as much as the cookie!

The adventure to the land of the creepy crawlies was great. I got to see my California kids. I did not see any of Raj's eight-legged friends but I did get to see a very cute little snail. I did not stand and watch him very long as I assumed he would soon be someone's dinner and I wanted no part of that!


I volunteered to get bumped for the second leg of my flight home. It was a tough decision but someone had to do it! My layover was in Houston so you can tell it was quite a sacrifice! Amber was a trooper; she drove an hour (with the children) just to spend an hour with me! It was great but a little crazy. I had to apologize to Jared for not being the grandparent that he really wanted to see. Sorry, I am not Grandpa!


I think that is enough housekeeping. Strange, I can hear Raj's voice in my head as I type "housekeeping". Sorry, inside joke though you are more than welcome to ask Raj about it the next time you talk to him.

land of the creepy crawlies

In one week I will be visiting my daughter, son, and daughter-in-law in the land of the creepy crawlies! (Scroll down to the pictures when you get to the linked blog.) I am sure that Southern California has some great traits but it will be hard to overcome the creepy crawlies! Have I mentioned that I am terrified of spiders, especially the ones that can kill you or at least make you very ill? Who am I kidding? I cannot stand any creature that has more than two arms and two legs and even some of them frighten me! Full confession: I am also very frightened by the ones without any appendages.

I must be brave. Isn't the first rule of being a parent to not show fear? Or is that the rule when dealing with wild animals? Either way, I think I failed that test!

weather in the heartland

When I was a child we were always taught that we lived in the Midwest. Several years ago, maybe even a decade or more ago, someone came up with the bright idea that we live in the Upper Plains while people east of the Mississippi River actually live in the Midwest. Will someone please explain to me how that is even geographically possible? I am not too bitter about that; I just feel displaced!

Anyway, I love living in the Heartland, Midwest, or Upper Plains (where ever). Most residents of this part of the country have great core values and are generally pleasant to their neighbors and co-workers.

One great part about this region is the weather. There has been a long-standing joke "if you don't like the weather, stay around about an hour and it will change". The sad part is how true that statement really is. The early part of this week the weather was awesome. We had unseasonably mild (translated warm) temps ranging from 45 to 60 degrees (warm enough for shorts and flip flops). Mid-week we had one day of very strong wind then today, the snow!

For several days the weather geniuses have been predicting the snow but they never really know exactly where it will hit, when it will hit, or how much snow we will actually get. Today they came pretty close to getting it right. They predicted the right path it would take and how much we would get. The storm got in a hurry though so it started sooner and ended earlier than they had predicted. Overall it was an impressive job of forecasting.

The best part about the storm was the fact that the area schools started announcing last night that they were canceling classes for today and the snow was not even predicted to start falling until about 10:00 this morning. All of the Metro schools (except one) announced by this morning that they were canceling classes and we had not even seen one snowflake which usually angers many parents. I am sure that was a tough call for the Superintendents to make. Before 9:00 a.m. we realized that the weather guys/gals were right this time as the snow came in with a vengeance!

I have not heard the weather report tonight but the prediction was for thunder snow today. Thunder snow is an awesome weather phenomenon during which it thunders and lightnings as the snow is falling. I think it is yet another sign that God has a great sense of humor. During thunder snow the snow accumulates at a very fast rate, usually two or more inches an hour. It's awesome! To put that in perspective for those of you who do not get to play in the snow, a normal snow storm may take two hours or more to drop one inch of snow. I did not hear any thunder but the rate of accumulation was consistent with thunder snow.

If all goes well tomorrow I will try to take some pictures of the snow to share with you.