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mcbery

Name: Miriam
Country: United States
State: Indiana
Gender: Female

Interests: I have a lot of interests. Children, grandchildren, family, praying for them and our world, daytime talk radio, animals, photography and playing with pictures. I like shopping, eating out, Xanga, good humor, and lots of other stuff.

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Member Since: 4/20/2006

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Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Elkhart County 4-H Fair and a Little More

PS - I thought I'd put an update at the top for those of you who would want to do this. Leroy David Mullet was killed yesterday when his van rolled on top of him and crushed him. His wife posted this morning. She is now alone with 8 children. She is at the top of my subscription list if you would care to go over and say some encouraging words to her and prayers. Her daughter Elizabeth (Jesus forgives and forgets) is on my list too. Her daughter Rachel (westerngal89) is on my friends list. So that's for those of you who want to share a prayer for them today. Thanks!!

The Fair is fun but sometimes I feel like this grouchy farmer. The dummy's voice actually said he saw a lot of Wal-Mart outifts in the crowd. He didn't say if he was for it or against it.

We sat the children down for a picture and Baby L. was picking flowers as fast as he could and throwing them on the ground! Oh no!

It was warm too.

Bryce thought this made a good picture!

Of course the rides are a highlight for the children. Austin was VERY upset because a few of the 'rides' he really wanted to go on said, 'No open toed shoes'.

There weren't very many children with real shoes on. You would think they'd leave those rides at home or behind or on the truck.

I told the girls they were wild drivers.

There were some dummies at the fair.

After hearing how much it would take to fix my teeth, Lee & I decided to join the dummies tied to a stick at the fair. Actually I didn't tell Lee yet. I thought he'd be happier if I just stake him out at the fair. Then when I went to use the restroom the wastebasket lid popped open by itself and scared me. Ah ha! That's why it costs so much to fix teeth.

I think I'll buy a lottery ticket. Maybe I'll get hit by lightning. Maybe I'll buy a corvette instead. Maybe I'll upgrade my Facebook house. Maybe I'll just play around with pictures. Yes, I think that will suit my budget.

This bird lady was a little goofy. Just think how happy we could be as dummies at the fair. We wouldn't know what's happening in politics. 'No worries, for the rest of my days. It's a problem free, philosophy, Hakuna Matata!'

No, I don't think I'd want to be a dummy at the fair. What would life be like without a passion for it? Not too much fun.

I guess DJ construction got a little plug on my site.

They're good people. Elkhart County is losing a lot of jobs with gas prices the way they are. The trailer factories around here are really hurting. Monaco is shutting down all 3 of the Wakarusa plants. That hurts the tax base for Elkhart County. I hope they don't take it out on us. I can think of a few things and people they could cut down on. Then I hear Al Gore saying we need to eat less meat to save the planet and I think, I REALLY AM GOING TO JOIN THE DUMMIES AT THE FAIR! They don't care. They just stare and don't wonder where has common sense gone?!
Wouldn't it be nice to have no worries for the rest of my days?

Grandpas shoulders are big enough for two.

If you see anyone you know in this audience you can point them out.

I tried to find

I didn't find her yet, but I will. So many people are there, it's hard to find yourself sometimes!

On another subject. We went to look at a house for sale this week. I won't say where for obvious reasons.

It's been empty for awhile and a basement window was open. Oh no, there weren't bats in the belfry! They were in the basement. Lol!

The children went screaming into the street! Just kidding. Call me weird, but I love the smell of musty old basments. Mom and Dad used to have one. Maybe it's the memory of Dad and going down there storing apples we helped wrap in newspapers, potatoes and all the shelves with green beans and tomato juice. We used to tell scary stories about basements. We got deliciously scared and jumpy when we told the story of the bloody bones that went, 1 step, 2 step, I GOTCHA! Then we'd jump out of our skins with fright when the storyteller grabbed us. What fun! Lol! I tell a different version to the children than we used to hear. It's a story about a little boy who went to the store to buy some things. It ends up with a scary person coming up the steps while Johnny is cowering under the blanket and all at once I say, 'Gotcha!' and the children scream.

This basement was a rabbit trap too! Rabbits should know better than to jump through open windows! They can't get out like a raccoon can.

This one melted out of it's skin. There was another one too.

Afterwards we went and got some ice cream to wash the taste out of our minds.

The boys had a nice trip to Arkansas.

Marietta's brother went along.

I was so happy that it didn't cost an arm and a leg and a tooth to play with pictures that I had some fun with them.

Actually I like this one better. Rodney didn't like this one of him but I do.

and

went too. They had lots of fun.

Gary's went to Canada the over the 4th. I guess these are a little late. Since I don't know exactly where they were I'll say this is a fountain with sharks in it. Maybe Dena will tell me what it really is. Lol!

It's such a pretty picture of the children. I looked at this turtle picture and thought, 'That turtle has one arm that's alive!'

Thanks to all of you for prayers you sent our way! This verse is a promise! The Hague doesn't affect Baby L's
situation. I'm thankful for that, but that is scary too. The Hague is a world court (I think) and is now authorized to oversee any international adoptions. Scary! Local courts are scary but a world court could be the scariest thing ever!

I had fun yesterday. After I found out how much my teeth would cost I played around for nothing.

Ok, I'll quit now. If you go to the fair, look closely at the dummies. One of them might be me!

7:11 AM - 30 eprops - 17 comments - email it

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Holmes County and Relatives From Texas - Cousin Mafia! :-)

It was so nice for the cousins to bond again. Ummm... maybe a little too much bonding went on in the motel. I was blissfully unaware that somewhere in the darkness we had a band of cousins playing live 'Mafia' in the darkness of their room. Lol! I learned the card game of 'Mafia' at camp when I taught a games class. The children taught it to me and it was their favorite game. In the version the cousins made up they were the 'live cards' and the 'bodies' thumping on the floor when they got 'hit' (murdered) caused some complaints.

I would have loved to be helping. I love a good mystery! One person is the killer and there's a doctor who goes around healing everyone. The one who wins is the one who manages to stay alive and guess who the 'Mafia' is. Even through sad times the younger generation is such a wonderful reminder of life, and joy and happiness. Just don't get a motel room on the floor above me and play 'Mafia'. I want to get some sleep!

I am going to jumble the pictures up a bit. That's the way life is, jumbled, for me anyways. That's Dad holding
me and Grandma holding Grace. Now I'm a Grandma. Life goes on. Life is sad. We have to say good-by to those we love. No good-byes in heaven.

We've had some reunions since 2001? I wonder what the big reunion is going to look like in heaven. I don't want to miss it and I pray none of the rest of our families and you who read this will miss it either! No taxes, no government regulations, no politicians. Oops!! Did I mean to say that?!

There's the Texas cousins feeding the bison. Texas is so far away! We don't see Ted's much either. He is really tied down with cows and farming in Wisconsin. I guess you'd call him a cheese head.

We had such a nice surprise today when we got home. Valerie and her family from Maryland were here. They said hello to the bison too. She was going to leave me a mystery note. She knows I love a mystery.

They couldn't stay long but I am glad they stopped in!

There's Bryce wearing someone's glasses. Aww, Bryce you are adorable! He's so cute. Looks just like his grandma! Lol!

There's the girls at the family center in Sugarcreek.

It was raining before the funeral and the sky was stormy. They weren't sure they could be at the graveside to cover it. Many of our people have a tradition of helping to cover the casket gently with dirt. It's one of the last things we can do for our loved ones.

When we came out after the service the sky looked like this.

The road to Mt. Hope is beautiful and hilly!

I noticed the Amish in Holmes County have different looking wheat shocks than our Old Order Mennonite neighbors here in Indiana. They look like little straw houses in Ohio.

There's my cousin Jesse's boy, Jeff. They are so proud of him. I am too! He is one of The Few, The Brave or is it Proud (?), The Marines!

There he is with his family at graduation. He served 7 months in Iraq and is in South Carolina right now. He came home for his grandpa's funeral. Grandpa was very proud of him too, I'm sure.

The highlight for the girls was swimming at the motel.

I love watching them swim...............

and splash!

We stayed at the Comfort Suites in Berlin.

Grandpa made some funny waffles!

I was taking a picture of the cousins and guess who popped into the picture!

There's all those ornery cousins! If you see us you might want to spend the night at another motel. Lol!

My dear brother and his lovely family. Tim, his wife Karen, William and Alex in the back and Teresa and Victoria in the front.

That's us just before we left for the funeral. Julie was crying because Jen stepped on her finger.

The boys went to Arkansas and Rodney called and wondered what would happen, because he drove through and I-Pass accidentally?! I have no idea! I guess we'll find out. I might have a knock on my door and be handcuffed and in jail by the time they get home!

We had such a refreshing rain today!

We went to pick blueberries and had a visitor join us. He was biting at the fence trying to get to the pond. He'd forgotten how to get in. I do that sometimes. I went into Elder Beer-man last week and when I walked out the door my car had disappeared! I looked all over! It was not there!! I was about to think someone had stolen it when I realized I had walked out the wrong door. Sometimes I feel so stupid!!

We were a little afraid he was going to turn around and start biting our toes!

The mommy duck hatched out 4. There are still 3 of them. She watches over them and they can sleep. Her eyes are always on the lookout for danger. Kind of like God watches over us, so we can get some sleep. She knows me and doesn't worry too much when I come around.

One of the mama ducks is limping. Maybe she was fending off a predator?

.

God bless you with a good week-end!

PS - Glenn Beck had a list of ridiculous laws people make and I remembered one this morning. In Chico, CA it's illegal to have a nuclear weapon! It's a $500.00 fine if you detonate that nuclear weapon! 'Ok, so I fired a nuclear weapon here's my $500.00. Oops, I just vaporized city hall! Too bad!' Lol! There is going to be a DVD made of the show. I would HIGHLY recommend it.

9:09 PM - 26 eprops - 16 comments - email it

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Update - Glenn Beck Live 08 -Cousins and Summer Fun, Sadness and Laughter

July 18 - 2008
5:20 AM

The screen didn't say God bless America, God bless Glenn. I put it there, but that is my prayer! It was so funny and inspiring. If you ever get a chance, go! The boys were laughing and quoting him almost all the way home. We went to Mishawaka. The theater was pretty full. There were empty seats but not too many.The crowd was laughing and cheering almost all the way through it. Marcus Latrell (spelling?) was in the Dallas crowd. It was a very touching moment when Glenn introduced him. I was so blessed and it gave me hope to know there are so many people who love Glenn and believe in what he believes in, God and America. I loved the polar bear jokes. If they don't understand 'Shoo, Shoo! Shoo, Shoo! SHOOT!' If there's oil under George Washington's head in Mt. Rushmore, Glenn will drill right through it to get the oil. As I recall there were 2 things Glenn will do as president, 'Build very smooth roads and very big missiles!' Lol! Oh yes, he would keep the lights on and cut our taxes too. Why can't we just have Glenn for President?! He was so right about so many things. It's not the people in Washington DC who have the answers, its us! We, the people!! Where do we get the answers? From God! I wish I could tell Glenn I love him and pray for him. God raises up people for such a time as the this and I think Glenn is one of those. Lord, Please keep him safe and healthy and don't make him mad enough that he really does shoot his neighbors. Lol! It was just so funny. My sisters weren't really enthused about going but they enjoyed it too. Gloria said,'I didn't realize he was so funny'. We took James, Marietta's brother along. He never heard of him, I don't think. He was quoting him on the way home too. I saw him laughing all through the show too. It was in a word:

My brother's family from Texas was here when we got the word that my uncle Tiny had passed away. It changed all of our plans as most of us headed to Holmes County. Vernon was his given name, but a lot of us knew him as Tiny, not because he was tiny. He was the opposite of tiny.

Friday evening we got together at Mom and Dad's. This is one of my favorite pictures of the evening. I told the children to throw the bowling pins at me. I love those mid air pictures!
Here's Alex, William and Michael doing their tough football stances.

I wonder what I'm doing wrong that's making the pictures all load at the top again. It's probably something simple. Arrgghhh! William plays football in school and Alex plays some too. They played cousin football in the backyard.

That's Michael getting tackled by my grandchildren. It was such a beautiful evening.

I heard on Fox news while we were in Ohio that the next time you go through a drive through it may be someone from another country that takes your order!? I'm thinking twilight zone! There's so much of that out sourcing being done. I thought maybe that's what happened to NIPSCO. We had quite the merry-go-round with them. When the boys bought a house I called in and got the orders going to switch the utilities into their names. I had to go to a 'Western Union' place where I had to deposit cash to get it started and then we started getting the bills and I never noticed that it was only an electric bill! In other the house we have in Nappanee the gas and electric is on the same bill. I was too busy and of course the boys don't pay attention to details. They came and turned off the gas with no warning! The upstairs was our fault, I admit that, but trying to get something done on the boys behalf was the most frustrating thing ever! Even though Todd and I were both on the phone and he told her I was an authorized user of the account she would not let me say or do anything. Todd had to say it. I was the one who paid to turn on the service in the first place. So we sat there muddling through it and it dawned on me, NIPSCO had out sourced their service to the north pole where a lady was busy with 5000 other utility companies around the world and she put us on hold for half an hour then her pet penguin picked up and said sweetly, 'Your call is important to us. Thank-you for holding. At our firm you are a person and not a number.' Who can get mad at a penguin? After awhile you get another message, 'Thank-you for holding. Your call will be answered in the order in which it was received.' Soothing musical sounds serenade your ears while you wait. All of a sudden it dawns on you that they have more important things to do, like watch polar bears float to the equator with their beach umbrellas, sunglasses and sipping on a wonderful tropical drink! Arrgghhh!

When we lived in Ohio we joined an electric company that still sends us money every year, Midwest electric. I wish we could get that kind of co-operative out here. I wonder why more electric companies don't form co-operatives and let the people buy into them? We lived out there for 17 years after we were married and were never out of power for more than a few hours. Here in NIPSCO country we've been without power for days already. I wonder what makes the difference? I know Lee did a lot of underground services in there. I don't know if that helped or not but I'm thinking ice and wind couldn't get to the underground. It's more expensive up front but I wonder if it wouldn't be better and why they don't do it residentially around here? Maybe they do?
Tim's children are all getting so grown up. I wish we could see them more.
Uncle John was there too. Sometimes we're a little crazy!

We must be related.

                                                                             Jen is an enthusiastic football player, not afraid to tackle anyone! When we were
                                                                           at the funeral home Saturday evening on the way out she said, 'This is just like a
                                                                            nightmare!!' We took Jen, Julie and Brynn with us to Holmes County. Then when
                                                                            Lee pulled all the covers off of the bed so they could sleep sideways across the
                                                                            it she exclaimed loudly, 'WHAT YOU DID WAS UNFORGIVABLE!!' I wrote both
                                                                           of those down so I wouldn't forget and then I forgot the paper on the motel table.
                                                                           Lee did a final room inspection and found it. He asked me what I think the maid
                                                                           would have thought upon finding it. Lol!

Some funny football stances. Due to the technical difficulty of the picture not showing up, I'll be right back.

The coaches figuring out their next move of around the house football.

That's my brother Tim from Texas and his wife Karen from Iowa originally.

We enjoyed the visit so much. It was too short

                   In that one picture the little boys flopped down on the concrete to rest. Baby L. is starting to walk
               all over. He took off onto the stones and his mouth opened wide at the sensation but he kept right on
               walking! I can picture him playing football too! Keep praying for him. There's going to be a hearing in
              August sometime about his future.

There's Victoria, Tim's oldest daughter.

Linda and her children from Ohio, came to visit on Thursday.

Linda and twin 1.

                                                                Brianna - Donovan

                                                                Kendra and Katrina

There's twin 2. I can't tell them apart yet.

They visited the buffalo. Little miss bison is doing well,
except for the itch she wants to scratch.

I didn't see too much of this quiet spot last week. TJ's are
busy getting ready for Africa. Pray for them. It's stressful for
them right now. Erica was sick so I don't have any pictures
of her from this week-end! She traveled in on Sunday and I didn't
take pictures during the mourning. I just can't bring myself to take
pictures of sadness. I know people do it and I don't mind but I just
don't have the stomach for it. I don't like to see people's pain. I just
want to fix it for them. I've wondered how people whose loved
ones get murdered cope with seeing pictures at trials of their
loved ones all battered and torn and dead.

This was on the program at the funeral. It made me cry, but I thought it was such a touching tribute. I loved it! I decorated it a little.

I also will always remember that Tony Snow died this week-end because that's when my uncle died. America lost a great and truthful Christian journalist last week. I heard someone, I think it was Rush, say that Tony told him death was a promotion. What a wonderful testimony of a gentle person who had a lot of class and passion enough to stand up for what he believed in and to say it too. That's why some people hated him. Lord, give us more people like Tony Snow!
Have a safe week and God's blessing to all of you. If I miss your post please come and tell me. I saw I missed some again and I really don't want to.

PS - To Alex and the other cousins who stop by, I'll have more week-end pictures later.

5:23 AM - 32 eprops - 17 comments - email it

Thursday, July 10, 2008

Pottawatomi Zoo

A good place to visit if you live in Indiana close to South Bend is the Pottawatomi Zoo. They're putting in a big playground too. I think maybe it's a splash park.
Before I add some pictures of it I want to glare at some people through this screen!! Lol! I've used Photo Impact ever since it was a baby. I've gotten so used to it I really depend on it to crop and resize pictures. OK, resize is underlined! That's not spelled right?! Go away you spellchecker!! Anyways when I upgraded to version 11 I had an awful time getting it to work. I had to reformat both of my computers, (well, Rodney did actually) and then I had to reinstall everything! This time I wasn't going to do that because I didn't want to go through all that again. It's version 13. Should've known it was in the same class as black cats!! I tried! I prayed! Rodney thinks it's Windows fault. I have no Photo Impact Pro 13 and it ruined my other installation. I was so mad I turned myself into a chimp and I'm going to run away and live at the Pottawatomi zoo!!
They said if a butterfly lands on you it means good luck. Didn't work for me this time.

Julie took that picture.
Austin called me last evening to tell me they arrived home from Toronto and then he whispered that, 'I missed my Playstation and several other things around here.'

I gave Julie a camera for awhile and she had fun taking pictures. She took these butterfly pictures.

For crying out loud! Everytime I click on a picture it's adding it to the top of my post! Isn't it bad enough that my favorite picture editor is gone now Xanga is playing tricks on me too! Grrr!!!!

They had some camels of the two hump variety. I like ours better.

The one in the back was biting the other one's back and the one in the front was mad. He wasn't looking back to see if she was looking back to see if he was looking back to see if she was looking back at him. He was mad as he could be sitting looking back at her and he spit into her face just to put her in her place. OK, not a real good parody of that song, but they were funny. He stood up finally, if it was a he. Maybe it was him biting her. I don't know for sure.

Such a pretty cardinal was eating a snack with us at the zoo! OK! I AM TIRED OF CUTTING AND PASTING ALREADY!! It must be what I said about Photo Impact. Nova Development must have been listening and now they're getting even with me. Well, they'd better send me something that works or I might show up in CA and demand a refund!!

I'm seeing red right now! I'm going to save this and see if it will stop annoying me. BE RIGHT BACK!! Now why did that decide to be black instead of red?! I'm off to see the wizard!

I was just sitting here reading this and laughing. It's funny how different people react differently to things. Grace, Faith and I got stuck in Ohio during the great blizzard of 78 (?). We were on our way to cousin Naomi's wedding in Holmes Co. BTW she had to cancel her wedding! I remember the drifts on 30 were as high as the semis. We were at a Holiday Inn in Upper Sandusky. Rose was just a baby. We should have stayed there but no, we were young and stupid. After we heard the wedding was cancelled we wanted to go home in the worst way. We had gone early to beat the storm we thought! We headed for home and landed in Bucyrus in a dinky hotel with no food!! We ventured out to get some food. There was a snow emergency and we weren't supposed to be out at all but we had no food! A policeman stopped us and Grace started crying, She was driving. Faith started laughing and I got mad. Grace was driving so the cop said, 'Don't cry, lady, don't cry!' 'We were only trying to get some food!' Grace wailed. Lol! Dad just pointed that out the other day when we were discussing how Mom and Nancy and Gloria get out of speeding tickets. One time Nancy got stopped and she started crying, then mom started crying and then they were all crying. Well, back to the zoo. The wizard wasn't in Emerald City today. He's just a big air head anyways!

It's still doing the top of the page thing. Guess I'll have to live with it. Now it's underlining! Someone stop messing with me!

I know just how you feel fish!

I need some air or water or something!

You can walk in the pen with this one and wallabys too. I was trying to figure out how they keep the emu from chasing people?!

Jen climbed up on the turtle and then was scared to get down. She started complaining that we put her in high trees all the time and don't get her down. Then when we got her down she started talking to the turtle like he was a good friend. That's what she's doing on the picture.

I love to hear her make believe and help too.

I am just getting so annoyed at this cutting and pasting. I have to pay the 10th bills today yet and get ready for company overnight for the week-end and this is not a good sign! I see on my screen green words underlined in blue and suddenly they changed to blue underlined in blue and I haven't a clue what's going on. I think some one is following my every key stroke and giggling evil giggles while they mess me up.

I know just how you feel monkey!

The Prairie Dog must have tried installing the latest version of Photo Impact too!!!

This monkey just gave up trying.

Ok, he's got a rat! Yummy!!

Looks as yummy as this! Just ask Julie what it was. I bit off a piece of the leg. It tasted like a sauteed rubber band. Why do people eat those things anyways? That wasn't at the zoo. It was at a Chinese buffet this week.

The stork is sharing his yummy lunch!

That weird animal is a Takin, whatever that is. I guess only 3 zoos have one. Looks like a cross between a hog and a wildebeest!

I get tired of signs that say how we are harming the habitat of animals. How long are they going to say that? Who's counting and actually going over to see if it's true? When are they going to say we are helping. Why are humans always the bad animals? Just wondering.

This was the funny train conductor. He told a lot of stories.

There's a watusi that looks like it needs a bunch of headache pills!!

Last but not least a zebra.

After cutting and pasting every last picture from the top to the bottom I am very annoyed and still so sad that Photo Impact is gone!! I bought 2 of the version 11s be