Quick! Grab the Sleds! It's Snowing!

We woke up to snow this morning. Thick, wet, perfect for snowmen and snowballs, and sledding. Our hill is the most popular hill on the block so a bunch of kids spend part of the morning sledding and playing in the snow.

Since it's headed for 50 degrees this afternoon, they were smart to get out there this morning. Not much will be left by this evening.

I didn't get any sledding pics since I was out of batteries for my camera. But when we got home from the store and loaded up our camera, we got some great shots of their handiwork. Have you ever seen mini-snowmen with whole cloves for the features?

Look closely at the Warren and Marcia snow people. Mine has a flower on her hat (since I'm a big gardener, this makes sense). Warren's has a cheesehead hat (we did live in Wisconsin for a while once) and a straw mustache.

What fun!

Thanks for the Snow People, Kids!

Waving Hello to Laurie

Waving Hello to Laurie
and Other Adventures in the Twin Cities

Yup. I actually waved hello to Laurie, figuratively not literally, but waved just the same. The waving to Laurie was one simple email I managed to get out of the hospital. Their WiFi wasn't really working much that weekend, so I was happy to get one email out. Fun to surprise her with a virtual wave!

We had to make an unplanned trip up to St. Paul last weekend to be there for my father. My sister, Laura, and her husband, Bill, were also there. Actually they'd been there all week and needed us to take over for the weekend. We gladly pitched in.

Dad had some complications after a total right hip replacement. Things happen, so we were there to help him get past them. We drove up Friday and back down on Monday. Very glad we did. He needed his family with him.

Our daughter, Sarah, flew up from St. Louis and nursed her him through the worst of it. If any one was the "hero of the moment," I would say Sarah was. Really sweet to see.

I'm happy to report that my Dad is now in rehab and doing well. We felt good about leaving him there. He's in good hands.




At one point, we got to show Sarah where we met, the old Chimera Theater, now a History Museum, in downtown St. Paul. She was very interested, newlywed that she still is.

When we left for the Twin Cities, we had to try to beat the snow bearing down on Kansas City from Colorado. No snow as we turned north on Hwy. 35. Yay! We raced through Iowa, feeling the snow at our backs.

When we drove back down on Monday, the area was really strange: the ice was still on the trees from last week's ice storm and now snow was added to the landscape. Here's a photo taken from the car in the southern part of Iowa.

When I got home, it was Maul the Kitty Time. Hamilton got bunches of hugs. I always try to make up for leaving him behind when I go on an adventure. You can tell he's putting up with me, not terribly angry, because his eyes are at half-mast and his ears are forward. Cat Language, for those of you un-versed in the language of the cat.