Colorado

Colorado Here! A long day of driving but we achieved it in time to enjoy the mountain views. Hot tub time but I can't take the computer in so I'm doing this first. This free wiifi stuff is OK! Tomorrow is white water rafting. Can't take the handy dandy digital camera along so will have to do it the old fashioned way...ARGH, FILM! Which means scanning pictures in instead of downloading them. Interesting old technology that is still in my brain. That's ok. Will try to do word pictures instead of actual pictures. How's that for an idea. This vacation stuff is ok too. More later!

All in One Day

A young boy asked for Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on CD. I checked and our CD was out but we still had the book on cassette tape. I told him he could have that if he wanted. He gave me a funny look and said, "What's a cassette?" (YIKES! old technology already!) When I showed him, he thought that his family wouldn't even have anything to play that 'thing' on.

A grandma came in 3 times in one day trying to straighten out her account. She had several books on there that she swore she'd already returned. By the third visit she was getting a bit upset. Only one book remained that she was certain was back. We held quite a long discussion. I remind myself during these sessions that God is at work IN ME! (patience...kindness...goodness...selfcontrol...) When I couldn't find the book on the shelf I asked her to please check at home one more time. She told me again, that she was very organized, and NO it couldn't be under her bed, behind the couch, on the floor, in the car or anywhere except here at the library! She'd brought it back. Period. End of conversation. So I marked the book as 'lost' and took it off her card. I have to give her credit, after that long tiresome conversation, she at least called me to apologize. It seems she hadn't really brought it back. (imagine) Her granddaughters were supposed to do that and they thought she wasn't done with it. So there it was, sitting on her table at home!

A 5th grader spends an hour playing 'Medal of Honor' (a war game) on the computer, then an hour wandering the library (since he has to be off an hour because of our policy) pestering others and us, then another hour on the computer playing his game again. I kick him off after an hour with 5 minutes left before we close. He says just before he gets up, "Can I finish my homework?" I must have looked confused since we were closing everything up, "Can you finish your homework in five minutes?" He answers "I just need to find one word on the computer" ( he needed to define a vocabulary word and find a picture to go with it.) I told him NO. and not too nicely. It would have been worse if I'd been his mother!



"How many miles in a light year?" That's an easy google answer that I could do without googling but since I hadn't actually thought about this in awhile I did it anyway, "186,000 miles per second. Translated to nearly 6 trillion miles in one year. (almost the national debt. Yikes!)



"Can you renew my (son's, daughters, mine, husband's, friend's) books over the phone?" (yes.)



I know you're good on the computer, can you help me get into my Yahoo account, download pictures, print a page, find this site....



I need to copy these pages back to back. Will you help me do that. (This one I hate because it usually takes me 4 tries before I have it right)



Looking at 8 pages of a Junior Class Reading list "What's good?" (She didn't pick any of my choices)



When's the next computer available?



Did you find my son's bookbag? (Lost and Found has everything from car keys, to billfolds, cellphones, jewlery,hats,coats,boots,socks,shoes,shirts,backpacks,and homework)

Grandson Days

Can I tell you again that the first birthday party was pretty special. He has a whole wide world open ahead. Can't wait to see how he will grow and change. What a privelege to be a part of his life. (not to mention his parent's lives too!) We were talking about our grandparents' influence in our lives. They bring lots of things to the table. They can be like that extra hand. If only it was around more often! Jeremiah still wasn't too sure of us before we left. He preferred playing with mom or dad but we plugged away. One of these days he'll be tripping up here for overnights. I can't wait. I'm thinking we'll have all 3 boys. Won't that be a party worth reporting about!

Birthday Party

Although his birthday isn't until the 29th we celebrated Jeremiah's first birthday today! His mom and dad had a houseful, that's for sure! Not to mention the fact that Mindy had spent days getting ready for this party! Celebrating with Jeremiah were Grandma and Grandpa, Uncle Tom and a host of friends. We ate cake and so did Jeremiah, we ate ice cream and he opened all his presents. It was such fun. Even Jeremiah enjoyed himself. (Just take a look at that picture of him in his new car) He went outside and played in the sandbox, swang in his swing, visited with his friends. I am so glad we could be here. He has been such a blessing to all of us. I continue to be in awe of the way God is at work. He has his hand on Jeremiah's life already. I am excited to see how that will all play out in his life. God has big plans for him!!! Our constant prayer is that he will grow in stature and wisdom and godliness, and that he will live out God's purpose for his life.He has a great start.

Mission Accomplished...sort of

This morning at 6 am-waaaay before it was light enough to take pictures--they pulled the garage out the alley and down the road. I got 0 pictures of them pulling it, sad to say. But the building is resting nicely in a new home. Then, as you can see by the next pictures comes the problem of all the "stuff". Here's where I really could have had a 'garage sale'. At first, I thought Ron had done a great job of getting rid of all the... volumes of stuff... that were stored in there since we moved in. He had, after all, made a couple of trips to the dump. But then I turned around. YIKES! Unbelievable. And I know the rule: It will get worse before it gets better. I have visions of cement being broken up and snow covering the whole back yard before it's all over with. What's a girl to do?

Head 'em up, Move 'em out!

Well, it looks like the new garage might actually be a possibility before the end of the year. The new one will go in the same spot that the old one was in. They even have to take out the old slab of cement. So today they braced up the old one, then jacked it up then stopped and had some discussions. Things I overhear: "don't call these widowmakers for no reason"..."What if we cut these bars? Wonder how hard it would be to weld them back on..." (this in reference to the rack they were using.) Get the big one.... We measured everything by an 8' standard and we wouldn't have had to. (Greek to me)

They started working on this in the afternoon and got it into the alley by 10 p.m. They will pull it out tomorrow. Then we will be left with a slab of cement, ruined rhubarb, and the chore of ... well, lots lef to do! I'll post some more pictures as they pull the garage down the road.

Summer Endings

I can tell summer is ending. As usual, it makes me feel sad. I am always aware of how fast these warm days fly by. Except for gazillions of kids at the library I hate for summer to end. But the big thing about the end of this summer: Ivan moved out today. School starts for him next week, but he has an apartment with 4 other boys on campus and today was the first day he could move in. Back with guys his own age. Who could blame him! He got here the first part of June and has been a fixture around the house. I wondered how it would all go. How can we tell what will go down when we add a complete stranger into the mix? But his schedule and ours meshed pretty well. We took several weekends and headed camping and he volunteered to watch Buster. That was a big help. He helped clean up all the shingles Ron threw in the yard as we were re-roofing the house. Wow! He went with us on some family outings and took a great liking to the grandsons. He joined us for church. He let us know what his schedule would be on a daily basis. He had his own computer so I never had to share. He didn't even hog the remote. Very impressive. We have been his host "family" for two years now, but it has taken us this long to have the time to really get to know him. It was really worth the effort! He can come back anytime.