Time flies.......the insects that just won't quit....

"I really don't know what to call normal anymore", I thought to myself, etc., etc........    I just looked at the last post & it was a month ago tomorrow.  There was a more "normal" time of life, when I'd be on Xanga a couple of times per day, hopping from this blog to that, hither and yon.  Just keeping updated with all of your collective posts.    Then came the overnight e-mails of anyone's Xanga that I subscribe to that has made an entry.   Then came the page that keeps all of the photo & video & blog entries at one spot, so I don't have to surf for them any more.

In today's world (which is the world of a torn-up house for the last several months), I'm happy to have simplicity, but miss going out & seeing some of the neat stuff that you guys put out there.  Not even to mention the fact that I've been quite lax in my own posting, to say the least. I was nearly ready for some of you to start referring to me as Dr. Nate!!!!  (sorry, couldn't help a last pre-marital jab or two   

Hopefully, I'll be putting up a couple of shots of the soon to be completed living room.   Amber came over last Saturday and helped me get the living room walls and ceiling all primed.  MAJOR improvement from the months of different stages of drywall.  Some drywall up, some not.  All drywall up, some mudded & taped, some not.  All drywall up, all mudded, some sanded, some not.  Etc.    The other night when Deb went out to check out the colors that we threw up in one spot, she said "Oh, I even like the white!"......  Which brings me back to the original line of "I really don't know what to call normal anymore".  When we started this mess, we had white walls in the living room.   Now, 10 months after the original demolition date when we gutted the place, we are back to "Oh, I even like the white!".         Do you see the cruel irony?   It was really cute when she said it & we joked back & forth a bit, comparing it to all of the color that my grandma had her living room painted with this spring.   You can't tell it has color, it is the lightest non-white white I've ever seen.  Josh argues with her to this day that it doesn't HAVE any color.  We know it does, but it is not worth mentioning.  Then I got to thinking later...... all of this work, just to be thrilled to be back at white walls again?  Doesn't seem right, but then again, so many other areas of the layout have improved.  For one, we don't have any TEXTURE anymore!!  Our room was beyond what you'd have called texture.  It was a very poor plaster repair, followed by at least two even worse "texture" jobs (one of which seemed to do little more than mix up a batch of mortar & do a quick once over with a 3/16" triangle groove trowel).  So at the end of the day (to coin the MUCH over-used catch phrase of sports talk radio), we're both happy to have smooth white walls, with two 2'x2' color samples on them.

So, until you get to view some fairly completed pictures, don't expect a whole lot of Xanga activity, other than a random babble such as this, and a random comment back to you, or a pic here & there.

Keep your pics & stories coming..... although I'm not currently holding up my end of the Xanga bargain, I really enjoy reading what y'all send!

Many Thanks......

 Thanks to all of you who have updated, relayed stories, shared pictures etc., of the campout, which we sorely missed this year.   Couldn't let the info out earlier to very many people b/c of "secrecy" issues, but Deb and I were fortunate enough to be given the gift of two airline tickets to Dulles International Airport in Washington, DC. by my folks.  The catch was, we had to keep it quiet.  My parents were going out to Bridgewater, VA for our niece's 8th birthday, then bringing her and our other niece (her sister) back to Peoria for nearly 3 weeks.  Myah is the 8 year old and Maddy is the 13 year old.  Both adorable red-heads.

Anywho....The catch was, Debbie & I were "surprize" guests, so we really couldn't talk to any sources that have much contact with my sis & her family, so that "our" part of the visit wouldn't get out of the bag.  As it turned out......surprize worked, but just a little too early.   My sis & her fam were to be in the "cell lot" at the Dulles Airport......people just coming to pick up arriving passengers go to the "cell lot" & await the cell phone call telling them their "peeps" have arrived and are ready for pick up.  Deb and I were to come out while Dad & Mom were loading the van w/ luggage & surprize them.  As it turned out, as we approached the luggage carousel to grab our bags, we looked down & met eyes with my sister, who was repeating "Get OUT"....which was cool.   So she got her surprize indoors instead of the curb.

The ride home was a joy, as it is a 7 passenger van & there were 8 of us.  B/c of Deb's bad back & my parents being in their 60's and the two young ones legally obligated to be in a seatbelt...... I bravely volunteered to be odd man out (actually quite normal for me).  For the first half of the 2+ hour trip, I sat wedged between the right & left captain's chairs in the middle of the mini-van.  Once I'd completely lost feeling in my left side, lower posterior, I got up, faced the back & leaned between the two front seats with my legs stretched out toward the back.  Still no fun, but a "different" kind of no fun.  All in all the ride went pretty quickly & we were thankful for the free ride from D.C. to Bridgewater (saved a rental). 

My sister, brother-in-law and two nieces are making plans to move to Botswana, Africa next summer.  Teresa & Greg (sister & bro-in-law) left for Botswana Sunday afternoon from Dulles and had a 16 hour flight straight through to Johanesburg (sp?).  They arrived safely, and are getting to meet some of the people that they'll be involved with next year, are scoping out potenital future housing, and getting a "lay of the land", so to speak.  Greg is a pilot & airline mechanic for Dynamic Aviation.  He has been in Iraq 4-6 times (I'm losing count) over the last couple of years as a civilian.  He is there for anywhere from 2-3 weeks to 2-3 months at a time. 

He received a 4-year degree in Aviation from Letourneau University in Longview, TX - which is why they lived in TX for 4 years     Greg's goal has always been to be a foreign "missionary" pilot and he appears to have found a very good group to work with/for.  I don't know what type of cargo he'll carry primarily, but I think they do any type of relief that is necessary with the agency that he'll be working for.  He told us the name of it, but I've forgotten.  Their plans aren't set in stone, but they could be there for anywhere from 5-15 years (and somewhere I heard 20 at the longest).  It is hard to believe how quickly this next year will likely "fly".  I've been reading Kimber's comments about her son "flying" the coop for a year & it kind of makes me think of what we'll be talking/thinking about next summer.  Excited for them, missing them, proud of them, missing them, wanting/ praying for their safety every day, missing them, etc.

Back to the campout.........we really missed seeing so many of you at which Eminence is our only link, in most years.  Seeing several of the pics, other than the fact that there are new faces (babies) and that the little ones keep aging......people like Calvin Spencer pop up & it is hard to believe he was down there & we missed his antics (but not his sharing night activities      - OUCH!!)  J/K  - I'm sure he had the golf club a-swingin and was in great form as always........oddly, I'm one of those who really enjoy that kind of humor.....sad as it sounds

All of this was to say this.......... last week Deb and I got a lot of walks in while we were in Virginia.  Good for the soul, good for the body, good for Deb's back & her therapy progression.  During one of the walks Deb said, "we're really going to try and make it to the campout next year aren't we?".  I assured her that we were.  Hopefully the next 11 1/2 months will be good to us all and afford those who so want to be there, the opportunity to be there. 

I've heard nothing but good reports from those who've reported, and appreciate so much those who take the time to prepare lessons, do the teaching & preaching, prepare and teach the children's classes, and in every way make this campout such an extrordinary time of fellowship, edification, and love.  We were to be at Prince Road this Sunday with friends, and our friend came down with pneumonia, so we're rescheduling for a later date, but I was really looking forward to see that the "___ Weeks To Go Until Campout" sign was again counting down from 52.   I trust that it is, and thanks again for each who make that such a wonderful time for the rest of us to "re-charge" physically, mentally, emotionally, but most of all, spiritually.  Our "hats off" to you all.

-Rich

Nothing new under the Sun

While there is really "nothing new", I'll share some photos that have been rattling around our camera for a month or better for some. 

What do you think of this close-up of the surface of the moon??  For those with a keen eye, as much as it looks like it, I must confess.................it is drywall compound in the inside of a bucket.   I had no idea that it would go bad after a few months inside of a warm bucket.  Live & learn.    I received a suggestion to skim that off the top & use the under-portion if it were still good.  Might have worked, but I figure if people spend thousands of dollars to remove mold from homes, why would I put mold INTO the house???   To save the $3.57 worth of joint compound???  I think not.   For the record, I don't scrape mold from bread and eat it either   

This isn't the best picture, but I was trying to get the flowers on our dogwood tree and the creeping phlox all in one shot & did manage to pull that off.  The story on the tree is that we're pulling it up to straight after years of a heavy "lean" to the left.  We're doing our best to bring it to the "conservative" position.  Our neighbors had a tree that grew way over this one & over a good part of that side of our yard.  Last year, Tom Prichard came over & trimmed that all away & we began to work on pulling the tree back to normal.  It is doing well in that department, but we were pleasantly surprized at all of the pretty flowers this spring.  We'd had a few here & there, but the morning sunshine the tree now receives must have really done the trick. 

For those of you who enjoy springs, here is a dandy for you.  This is Blanchard Springs down in Arkansas.  We stayed at Horseshoe Bend, AR for a week or so and saw a flyer for this spring as well as the adjacent caverns (Blanchard Spring Caverns).  It was well worth the 80 minute drive down to Fifty-Six, AR.  Yes, Fifty-Six is the name of the town......... we also passed through Forty-Four, for what that is worth.   The pictures don't do it justice, but it is really neat the way the water just gushes forth from the mouth of a cave. 

This photo shows a neat double-drop off from what is called "Mirror Lake".  This is a pretty deep body of water that is formed downstream quite a bit from the water spilling forth from the spring in the previous picture.  There must be some good trout fishing in this lake b/c there were several signs about trout limits of 5 per day, etc. and we saw several people with lines in the water, giving it their best shot. 

A little further downstream, we came upon this interesting structure down the hill & at water's edge.  This is what is left of an old mill which used to be functional.  I can't remember the group but CCC comes to mind for some reason.  This was a group of young men in the area that used to be known for their stonework way back when.  They were a government sponsored group that was hired to come in and restore the building to it's original functional condition, but at the beginning of WWI, the group and others like it were disbanded by the govt and re-routed to the service.   The structure was never completed. 

While there, we decided to tour the caverns.  As always, the conditions aren't the best for photography by we did the best we could & got some neat pictures.  We had a great guide, and Deb caught part of him in this photo.  He gave us a little speech at the top before the 21 story elevator ride into the depths.  There was a 10 or so year old on the elevator & the guide asked him what would happen if the cable taking us down were to break.  The boy replied, "We'd crash".  To that the guide responded, "No, we'd be ok.   There's a big spring at the bottom that would catch us. .............................................maybe you've heard of it...................Blanchard Spring".  Of course we groaned aloud to that & he said "oh, and they don't get any better".   He was both informational and witty, one of my favorite combinations. 

Outside one of the newer log cabins at the resort (still under construction, actually) was one of the several carvings that have been left where trees were cleared for construction.  Always at least a black bear and a fish & sometimes multiple bears, depending upon the stump.  Kind of neat I thought. 

I had hoped to get a video clip on here for EO, but I ended up pulling this on as a picture instead of video apparently.  There was a minor stream running through the farm house lawn in Brighton after a big rain that came "all of the sudden" as they've been known to do this year.  It sounded like rapids running through and had a pretty good "swath" running a curve pattern through. 

Here's a story (yes, you have to sing the tune in your head to get the full benefit)

Here's a story, of a lovely lady,  who lost her jewels one full year ago.  Not a full year, but months eleven, and so our story goes.  It's a story, of forgotten jewelry, which was lost last June during a little trip.  Covered much ground, yes that's for certain, from her mind the jewels slipped.

Then one day, it finaly hit her, "my jewel box is missing sure enough".  After such time, to find my jewels, my that will sure be tough.  So Rich Hawley, her handsome husband, was given by her a very special task.  Call each place that, we slept on our trip......

O.K. - this is taking WAY longer than I anticipated.  I'll jest tell ya'all.

Last summer, after our trip to Texas & back north, Deb realized that her travel jewelry box was missing.  I called each of the places that we'd stayed along the way & during our trip & of course, no one could find anything in lost and found.  The problem is that she had several sentimental items in this jewel case (probably would reconsider this practice in the future).

Fast forward to May 21st, 2008.  Deb is upstairs & I on the main level of our home & I begin to hear words, if not hollers, of jubilation.   "TODAY MIGHT BE THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE!!!" was one that I remember.  Guess what I JUST FOUND???!!!!   Since it has come up many times over the last 11 months, I guessed it correctly.  She found it.  I also used Perry Mason-like skilz in realizing the fact that she was packing into a suitcase that had not been used since that time last year.  The catch (and I believe a justified excuse) was that her little flowery jewel case had been put into a black zipper thing that you might keep makeup in.  This masked it in the mesh liner in our suitcase, so you really couldn't see it.

End result??   All the Who-s  in Who-ville are once again happy.

Time to UNHIBERNATE!!!!!!

Saw a cute one today......

Dr. says to patient,  "What fits your schedule better, exercising 20 minutes a day, or being dead for 24 hours a day?"

Kinda liked that one.