Blue's Clues

As I was getting Katie tucked in for her afternoon nap, she told me that she wanted a bubba, which means a sippy cup with milk. I was walking around the house looking for the sippy cup that she had at lunch and could not find it. I asked Katie where her bubba was and her helpful reply was, "Look for Blue's clues." Yes, she watches too much television.

Desperate For Tomatoes, Ketchup and Mayo

Not much going on here at Corinth West except the outside temperature. It'll be a hot one today.

Last night I pre-ordered season five of Desperate Housewives on DVD from Amazon. I checked out various websites and even Ebay, yet Amazon had the best deal. I have all of the other seasons of the show and continually watch them. Season five doesn't come out until September 1, so I have to peruse seasons 1-4 for a few more weeks.

I drink an enormous amount of soda during the day. I have backed off on the Coke, but now I guzzle down creme soda, grape soda and red creme soda. Needless to say--but I will--most of my caloric intake is from soda, so I decided to switch over to Crystal Light. A few weeks ago Katie asked what it was, I told her it was my juice. Today when I asked her what she wanted to drink with her lunch, she answered "Momma's juice." Therefore, Crystal Light will be known from this point forward as Momma's juice.

Below is Rick's Wednesday picture. It's of Katie eating her lunch which consisted of a cheese and tomato sandwich, chips and Momma's juice. Speaking of tomatoes, that is the only food that Katie will always eat. Most kids like hot dogs, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, etc., but not our Doodlebug. She loves tomatoes and will eat them like apples. Also, if I would allow it, she would drink ketchup. That's her other favorite "food." As you will notice in the picture, Katie deconstructed her sandwich, which is what she always does. She then eats each part of the sandwich separately. She also likes to dip her barbeque potato chips in mayonnaise. One day I let her make her own sandwich. I stood in the kitchen amused as I watched her get the bread out of the pantry, mayo out of the frig and a butter knife out of the drawer. She made a mayo sandwich and ate the whole darn thing. I guess that makes mayonnaise her third favorite "food."

Philly Rick's Monday Pictures

I checked my camera and I was wrong. I have taken pictures of Katie in the last few days. I just forgot to download them to my laptop. So, without further ado, here are Rick's Monday pictures.

This is from Saturday. Because we were outside a fair amount--Rick was installing the new AC/Heat unit--Katie got to play outside a fair amount. Here she is swinging away like a happy monkey.


This is from Sunday morning. Katie wanted to have a birthday party so she got a tablecloth and spread it on the coffee table. I cut two pieces of cake and stuck a candle in each. We sang "Happy Birthday" three times--once for Katie, once for me and once for Rick. Of course Katie made a wish and blew out the candles all three times. As a side note, according to Katie her Daddy is four years old. Also you will notice that Katie has on the same outfit both days. Sunday she found the outfit in the clothes hamper and insisted it had another day's wear left in it.

Air Conditioned Once Again

I haven't posted in a few days so here's the quick low down on Corinth West.

Rick arrived home Friday night and was up early Saturday morning. He tested various parts of the AC/Heating unit and discovered that it was the compressor that died. We had just replaced the compressor two years ago, so it was still under warranty. However, we originally paid $315 for the compressor and the price was now $400+. Rather than dump more money into that unit Rick decided to install the new unit that we bought last summer. (Yup, we had a back-up AC/Heat unit. For those of you who know Rick, that will make you laugh.) Anyway, he managed to get it installed in one day and we were up and cooling by dinner time. The new unit is more energy efficient and quieter, so I hope to see a little bit of change in our electric bill.

Speaking of electric bill, our highest ones are typically for the months of July and August. Last summer we did numerous energy efficient upgrades to our house and this July's bill was $140 lower than last year's. The upgrades will pay for themselves in a few years.

Rick flew back to Philadelphia on Sunday, so he was only home for one full day. As he was leaving, I thanked him for stopping by and fixing the air conditioning. When he travels back-to-back like that it truly feels like he's a visitor just stopping in for a chat and a cup of coffee.

Katie is........well......Katie. Always challenging, always changing, always learning. She has been 100% diaper free for a week now. Prior to last week, I was still putting her to sleep wearing a diaper or pull-up. I finally decided to take the last step in potty training and she has done great! We took a very relaxed approach to potty training and she decided when she was ready. Our original approach to potty training was aggressive, but she just dug in her heels. Katie is extremely independent and often wants to do things by herself. Backing off and letting her manage potty training made the whole ordeal stress free for both Katie and us. Granted it did take longer, but the battles we did not have made it worth it.

I've been busy doing little home improvement projects. Today I installed a chain lock on the front door to keep Katie in the house. She finally figured out that the sleigh bells on the front door are what alert me to her sneaking out of the house, so she started to get really quiet about it. I had to install the chain lock at the top of the door so it is not accessible to Katie. However, she does know where my step stool is and she knows how to unfold it. That means next up is to put a lock on the utility closet where we keep the step stool.

Well, that's about all for me. I haven't take any new pictures of Katie, but will need to do so since Rick is out of town. He looks forward to his daily Katie picture. Katie and I are going to take an after dinner stroll. Here's hoping it will tire her out a bit. (Yes, Dear, I will take the .410 with me.) Ciao!

Big Girl and Sweaty Momma

We've been busy here at Corinth West. Tuesday Katie had her annual check-up with her doctor. She is doing great and weighs 40# and is 39" tall, which puts her in the 95% for her age. When I checked on line, her height and weight is the average for a five year old.

The other day I was soaking my feet because my heels felt a little rough. When I was done, Katie wanted to soak her feet also. I left the room and when I returned this is what I found......

She had stripped herself naked and squished herself into the 2-gallon bucket. When I asked what she was doing, she answered, "Taking a bubble bath."

Last night while watching TV, the lights dimmed when the AC started to kick on. Then I heard a breaker trip. Everything was working in the house, so I emailed Rick--he's in Philadelphia--to find out if that was a working breaker. He replied that it was and of course it was one for the AC/Heating unit. When I checked the air coming out of the ducts, it was not cold. So the Doodlebug and I are without AC until Rick comes home. I have drawn all of the drapes, closed all of the mini blinds, set the ceiling fan a whirling and fetched the box fan from the missile base. It won't get unbearable in here until about 4 pm. I could call the place in Anson to come over to fix it--Rick thinks it is the contactor in the condenser unit. However, Rick really hates other people working on anything because their work never lives up to his standards.

Well, that's about it for Katie and I. Take care and don't take your AC for granted!

Day At The Zoo

Today Katie and I spent quite a few hours at the Abilene Zoo where my MOPS group held our pre-registration play date. Katie and I left Corinth West at 8:30 am so we could be at the zoo for 9:00 am to help set up the registration table and food tables. I worked the registration table for 1/2 hour before I took Katie into the zoo. I didn't have to work at the food tables in the pavilion until 11:30 an, so that gave Katie and I one hour in the zoo.

Katie gravitated toward the giraffes and I don't think it was necessarily because she loves them but because they were the one animal that she could see from the distance. Anyway, there is a high bridge that spans the giraffes' pen, so you get to look down on the giraffes, as well as feed them. Katie desperately wanted to kiss the giraffes. She liked the zebras and wanted to kiss them too. She wasn't really phased by the lion and lioness and I think that is because she viewed them as just big cats. At the zoo, there is a railed platform/dock that reaches out into a large pond. There are water fountains in the pond and Katie stood at the railing and just stared into the water. I think she also enjoyed the breeze that carried the spray from the fountain into her face. (It was a hot day!) Also on the dock you can throw bread into the pond for the ducks, swans, geese and catfish. I didn't realize that you could bring bread from home, so we were without. Then I really felt like a loser as Katie longingly watched the other children pitch bread into swarm of catfish. However, Katie made the best of the situation and began to pretend that she too was throwing bread in the water. She even wiped her hands together over the pond to get the "bread crumbs" off of them. On our way out, we stopped in the Creepy Crawly Pavilion and checked out the snakes. The girl was fascinated by the snakes and not one bit scared. I'm not sure if I should be happy or worried about that. While standing at one snake enclosure Katie said loudly, so everyone around us could hear, "Daddy shoots them." I hope there weren't any tree-hugging people within earshot. In my experience the people that frown upon our program of shooting rattlesnakes are also the ones that don't have to share their yard with them. As a side note, it was funny that as we were walking around the zoo airplanes were landing and taking off from the nearby airport. Whenever that happened, Katie pretty much was like, "The heck with the animals momma, look at the plane!" So I guess it's a toss up as to what part of the zoo is Katie's favorite: the giraffes, the snakes or the planes that fly overhead.

Now for the pictures........

Katie on the bridge to the flamingos. She was a little unsure about the board that was coming up.

Just as I snapped this picture of the pink flamingos, a flock of birds took flight.

Mr. Giraffe looking for a hand-out.

The bridge over the giraffes.

The feeding frenzy in the pond where Katie pretended to feed the cat fish.

I usually don't like to take pictures of the animals when you have to do so through a fence, but what the heck is that hanging to the right of the lion and lioness? The zoo hangs food for the animals and I swear that looks like an arm!

Well, that was the day at the zoo. We toured the gift shop before heading out and all Katie wanted was a leopard printed paper gift bag for $2. One gentleman in the store commented, "Looks like you'll be getting out of here cheap." (I can hear it now, "My mommy and me went to the zoo and all she bought me was a paper gift bag for $2.") Anyway, I was able to put the bag back when Katie's attention was diverted by the little wagons that the zoo rents for parents who want to tote their kids around. Katie climbed in one, put the seat belt on and exclaimed, "Momma I need this." The same gentleman from earlier burst out laughing, as well as the ladies at the check out counter. I had to explain to Katie that they were not for sale and she took it pretty well, all though on the way home a very tired Katie began sobbing. I couldn't understand her at first, but finally deciphered that a little fishing pole with magnetic fish that she saw in the store was her heart's desire. Couldn't she have told me that while we were there? Oh well, Katie has her annual doctor's appointment tomorrow in Abilene and if we have time we'll swing by the store at the zoo. (Yes, yes, yes, I know. I spoil her rotten.)

The Three Year Old Birthday Girl

Well Katie and I both came down with the Brazilian virus that Rick transported home. Katie was ill for one day, me for two and unlucky Rick was ill for almost a week.

Friday was Katie's third birthday. Because I was under the weather, I wasn't able to bake Katie a birthday cake as I had promised her. Super Dad Rick came to the rescue, ran into town--well not literally, he drove-- bought a cake and decorated it himself. Here is a picture of his cake art.


Since we didn't want people getting sick, the party was limited to Rick, Katie and I. I felt so sorry for Katie and attempted to make up for it by decorating the house with oodles of balloons. Below is a picture of a balloon tree that I made. When Katie was taking her nap, we placed her birthday gifts around the tree.


Here's Katie blowing out her candles. Rick had called his parents and put them on speakerphone. We sang "Happy Birthday" to Katie and his parents stayed on the phone as Katie opened all of her gifts. She was rather funny while opening her presents. She would rip a piece of the wrapping paper off of the gift to expose a small corner of the treasure within and then would immediately exclaim, "I got something!!" She didn't know what it was, but boy was it something!


Below is the Birthday Girl checking out her presents before the mad ripping of wrapping paper began.


She once again was blessed with a mountain of gifts. From Rick's parents she received sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, and two different Leap Frog refrigerator games. One game has a record button on it and she gets a kick out of hearing her voice on playback. The other game is a spelling game with removable letters. From her Auntie Margie and cousin Danielle she got Disney Princess jammies and a Disney Princess insulated lunch bag. However, Katie has decided the lunch bag is a purse and uses it as such. From her Auntie Diane, Uncle Keith and cousins Courtney, Lindsay and Allison she got a Disney Princess cup with a crazy straw attached, Disney Princess flip flops, a Disney Princess t-shirt, as well as a cute terry cloth skirt. From her Auntie Dana and Auntie Gina she got a Dora The Explorer Hut, which she absolutely loves. You know how Katie loves her hidey-holes. Well, now she has a portable one and desperately wants to sleep in it. She has also been using it as her secret hiding place. The other day when I picked it up to move it there was a small mountain of her treasures underneath it. Rick and I got Katie a Disney Princess keyboard, a shirt, aTinkerbell outfit--the one that she is wearing in the pictures--and a V-Tech Kiddie Zoom Plus Digital Camera. And boy oh boy does she love that camera. The first two hours she took 200+ pictures. Apparently Rick and I both managed to fall asleep at the same time during the afternoon and Katie took it upon herself to take numerous pictures of us sleeping. Also the camera produced evidence that she was in the office while we were napping. She's not allowed in the office, so her photos basically busted her. She's still too innocent to think not to take pictures of places that she is not supposed to be in. Prior to buying her the camera, I researched online the different digital cameras for kids. The V-Tech is by far the best camera out there. Fisher Price also makes one, but the reviews were horrible. If you are thinking of getting your child a digital camera, definitely spend the extra $15 and get the V-Tech. It's only 2.0 MP, but the pictures come out decent.

Katie's fancy new hidey-hole.

Despite limiting the birthday party guest list to the infirmed, Katie had a wonderful birthday. A big THANK YOU to our generous friends and family. After the gifts were unwrapped, Rick surveyed the shreds of wrapping paper, ribbon, bows, toys and clothes that covered the living room floor and said "Looks like we have to add another six feet on to the house to accommodate all of her presents."

Experienced Eagle Eye vs Newbie

I was just looking at the picture of the rattlesnakes that we killed yesterday. You can tell the one that I shot. It's on the left and it's all mangled. I didn't shoot it in the head, but right in the middle of his body. All of the ones--seven--that Rick shot are missing their heads. He is such a good shot and can blow the tiny head off of a baby rattler.

Update From Corinth West

Katie turns three on Friday, but I had to nix the birthday party plans. Rick returned from Brazil with a virus and has been horribly ill. We were concerned that Rick had the H1N1 virus(swine flu) so we went to Hendrick's ER on Monday night. (While in Brazil, Rick ran into people wearing masks and in the airports there were signs warning of the swine flu.) In the ER they swabbed Rick's nose and thankfully he does not have the flu, just some other virus. The ER doctor basically told him he had to "cowboy up" and ride the virus out. Because we are a huggy, kissy family, Katie came down with the virus yesterday; hence, the cancellation of her birthday party on Saturday. I am still going to buy a cake and get party hats, but only the contaminated--Rick, Katie and I--will be at the party. Of course I will not become ill until after Rick leaves on Sunday--he's going to Philadelphia--so I will have to single-parent while being sick as a dog. It always works out that way.

Rick only took two pictures while he was in Brazil and both are from Rio. He used his Blackberry's camera, so the quality is not the best. The first picture below is a group shot. The man to Rick's right is Marley who works for my husband's company in Brazil. He was also my husband's traveling companion from Sao Paulo to Brasilia to Rio. The man across from Rick and Marley is the Rio driver/security guard Roberto. According to Rick, Roberto has lived a very interesting life.


The next picture is one that Rick took of Sugar Loaf Mountain in Rio. The clouds are obscuring the very top of the mountain.


I was hoping that Rick would have gotten a picture of the Christ the Redeemer statue that overlooks Brazil, but it is difficult to get a good shot of that statue while in Rio. You either need to be in the ocean or outside Rio. Rick didn't have time for any touristy thinks while in Brazil.

As for the MOPS retreat, it didn't work out so well for me. I had to take Katie with me and she refused to go to sleep. I am not joking when I say she snuck out of her loaned bedroom at least 30 times. I finally gave up and packed our stuff and headed back home at 11:30 pm. I missed so much of the meeting and was really disappointed in Katie. She had pinkie-promised that she would be a good girl. Matter of fact, when driving away from the retreat I burst into tears because I was so looking forward to the time and bonding with the other steering team members. I guess I was feeling sorry for myself because I kept on thinking that I don't ask a lot of Katie when it comes to my needs/wants and she just didn't seem to care. However, I don't think she understood. Also, doing the single-parent thing starts to wear on me after a while especially being out here in the boonies and that is why I was so looking forward to the retreat.
Oh well, what done is done.

That's the condensed update from Corinth West. As I posted yesterday, we have eight less rattlesnakes and Rick ordered the part for the fogger, so we will be smoking out more rattlers very soon.

A Mommy and Her Babies

This is a touching story about a momma and her babies, but let me warn you the only touching was done by the shell of the .410.

I was walking around the property after dinner when I checked out a hole along side the entrance to the missile base. In the hole I could clearly see the diamond pattern of a rattlesnake. I went into the house and Rick came out. He agreed that it was a rattlesnake. Rick got his insect fogger from the shop and poured smoke into the den and one by one a mommy rattlesnake and seven of her babies exited the den. There is at least one baby left in the den who apparently is the smartest of the bunch because he never vacated but did poke his head out. Rick also thinks there may be another large one in the den, but it was starting to get dark so we packed it up. Unfortunately, I broke the fogger so Rick has to fix it, but if I hadn't done that I am sure we would have cleared the whole den. Oh well tomorrow is another day and today was a super-duper day in regards to the rattlesnake count. Below is the requisite picture of the day's kill. Oh yeah, I even shot one of the babies when Rick had gone down to the shop! That's my second kill.

The Eagle

Just a short post to let Rick's friends in Brazil know that the eagle has landed after 20 hours of travel. However, his luggage is still traveling. Hopefully it will show up today or tomorrow.

The Lost Voice, The Lego Nazi and The Memory Keeper

Today Rick gave a major presentation and apparently he talked so much he used his voice all up. This is not the first time that he has lost his voice. It has happened on a few occasions when he has had to teach a four-day class. Anyway, when he called tonight it was pretty much a one-sided conversation because of his strained vocal cords. The only thing that will bring his voice back is a good night's sleep.

After my meeting, Katie and I stopped at the Wal-Mart in Stamford. They had a lot of toys on clearance and just in time for Katie's birthday, which is next Friday. They had a big toy clearance right before her birthday last year, so I guess we timed her birth just right! Anyway, I checked out quite a few of the toys and will get Rick's opinion. Hopefully they will still be there a few days from now. If not, I have back up gift ideas. However, my original point in bringing up the toy clearance was that I did buy her a Lego front end loader. It was a little build-it-yourself kit and a little advanced for Katie, so I ended up building it for her. She was quite excited when I finished with her "tractor", as she calls it. However, I must admit I was a bit of a Lego Nazi. She wanted to help but I was afraid she would lose parts and I found myself reprimanding her for touching HER not-quite-finished toy. Sometimes I am such a schmuck and a toy hog.

Speaking of Katie's birthday, this year it totally snuck up behind me and went "BOO!" 1 1/2 weeks before the date. Katie is our only child and August 14 is also my father-in-law's birthday so I don't know how it happened. In any case, I am leaning toward a small party here at home. When we had her Michigan birthday party a few weeks ago, she was pleased as punch with just a cake, party hats and stickers. So, while she is still at the age of easy amusement and elation, I'm going to stick with small parties. I considered renting the pavilion at Stamford Park, but most of Katie's friends are from Abilene. I also thought of renting a pavilion in Abilene, but I am too late to pull that together.

Today before I took my shower, I removed Rick's necklace that currently holds his wedding band. After Katie took her shower--she has started taking a shower by herself and usually after I take mine--Katie noticed the necklace and ring on the bathroom's counter. She stated that she wanted it on, so I clasped it around her neck. She threw a huge fit, so clearly I misunderstood her. After questioning her I found out that she wanted me to put it back on. Her reasoning was "to keep it safe." Last Saturday she saw Rick put it on my neck and earlier in this week when she asked me why I had her Daddy's wedding ring, I told her that Daddy left it with me for safe keeping while he traveled in Brazil. Obviously she remembered both moments and was panicked that I was not doing as Daddy wanted. Her memory continually amazes me.

Another example of her memory is that last night on the phone she told Rick that he was coming home on Saturday. Rick has traveled her entire life and I have always told her what day of the week Daddy was coming back, so I don't know why I was surprised that she understood the concept of the days of the week. The sad thing is that towards the end of her conversation with Rick last night, she said to Rick, "Daddy come home Friday." Rick told her he would if he could, but that wasn't a possibility. Rick promised her that they would play with her Saturday when he got home. Here's hoping he is not too tired to do so, and if he is I am sure Katie will remind him of his promise from Wednesday.

Well, time to kick back and watch a little TV. Tomorrow is another busy day. I have my MOPS retreat, which Katie will attend. It's an overnight retreat and I hope Katie goes to sleep by 8:30 pm so I can enjoy my time with the other MOPS moms. Good night, dear readers, and sleep tight. Tomorrow is another glorious day and one day closer to Rick's return to Corinth West.

Rick's Thursday Pictures

Today I shampooed the carpets, which I love doing. That explains why I do all of the carpeting in the house every two months.

Below are Rick's Thursday pictures. Katie was using her golf club as a hammer and when I asked her what she was doing, she replied, "I'm fixing things."

Apparently the front of the drawer needed a few whacks with the golf club/hammer to properly function.

Then the top of the drawer also needed an adjustment.

Today Katie allowed me to put a pony (that's what she calls a ponytail) in her hair.

In a few minutes we have to drive into Stamford and go to my SCN (Stamford Community Network) board meeting. Katie is an honorary member of the board and I am grateful that they welcome her at the meetings. After the meeting we need to stop at the grocery store to pick up some supplies and then back to Corinth West.

We miss you, Hon. I hope you are having a good day and that the presentation went well. Til later.......

Rick's Wednesday Pictures

Nothing much in which to blab about today. We've been pretty low key and housebound because of the 100F temperatures. Unless we have to go to the store, Katie and I don't venture outside until early evening when we water the flowers and the Topsy-Turvy tomato plant, which I may add is the second plant. The first tomato plant died because I watered it too much. Perhaps we will have tomatoes by October.

Katie opened a bottle of suntan lotion today and wanted to lotion my legs. Little did I know that the lotion was Coppertone Kid's Colored Sunblock and watery. The turquoise blue liquid poured out of the bottle and onto the carpeting in the guest bathroom, so I have to pull out the carpet cleaner, which means I might as well do the whole house.

I've been dragging the last few days. I just don't have the energy or oomph to get to my chores. Tomorrow I have a board meeting and my MOPS retreat is this weekend. Rick also returns home on Saturday, so my next few days will be busy. I hope my oomph is back by then.

When I first met Rick, he took to calling my cat, whose name is Lupe, Lupus Poopus. Well that moniker has stuck and I will call him--the cat, not Rick--that name on occasion. Today I had to laugh when I told Katie to find the cat because he needed to eat his breakfast. And there went Doodles walking through the housing yelling, "Loopy Poopy!"

Today Katie decided it was a swimsuit kind of day and has been wearing her Dora suit all afternoon. I am embarrassed to admit that we have yet to set up the pool; however, in our defense, Rick has been gone so much and setting up the pool is not something I can do by myself. Regardless, poor little Doodles will have to be satisfied with splashing around in the tub.

Now for Rick's picture. In the one below, Katie is showing a face that I have had the (dis)pleasure of seeing on more than one occasion the last few days. Rick gets to see the beautiful vistas and beautiful bodies of Copacabana Beach in Rio and me, I get this sourpuss.


The following picture was an experiment. When you get close to a human subject and you use the camera's flash, the flash tends to wash the face out. For the picture below I put my hand a few inches in front of the flash to diffuse the light and ended up with a picture that looks like it is lit with candle light. Next time I will try a white napkin in front of the flash to diffuse the light.


Well, that's the big excitement here--Loopy Poopy and experimenting with the camera.

Rick's Tuesday Picture: Turn That Frown Upside Down

Rick flew from Sao Paulo to Brasilia last night. He'll only be in Brasilia for one day, thank goodness, because no one speaks English except his body guard/driver. He ordered room service last night and had to have the front desk help him with the menu because it was all in Portuguese.

His ride from his company's offices in Sao Paulo to the airport was treacherous. The body guard/driver was a maniac. Like I posted before, crazy driving is the norm in Sao Paulo. Luckily Rick was traveling with another employee, who speaks Portuguese, so the English-less airport was not as confusing as it could have been.

Tonight he flies from Brasilia to Rio where he will spend the rest of the week. He is so anxious to get home and we are anxious to see him. We have only seen each other 12 hours in the last 2 1/2 weeks. By Saturday it will be three weeks.

It's funny how things work out. When I was growing up my dad was frequently gone because of work, and now I am somewhat grateful because it somewhat prepared me for being married to a traveling man. I try not to complain too much because I am thankful my husband has a job and that job's pay allows me to stay home with our daughter. Like all things in life, there is a positive and a negative to every situation and every cloud has a silver lining. If I didn't repeat that to myself several times a day, I would be very blue.

Below is a picture of Katie's Play-Doh creation. I am not sure what it is, but according to Katie it was thirsty so I had to put a few drops of water in its "mouth."


From the looks of this picture below it's going to be a rough day. Someone misses her Daddy. Turn that frown upside down--and that goes for you too Rick!


Trying to turn Katie's frown upside down, I told Katie not to smile. My exact words were, "Don't you dare smile." Of course it worked and you can see her desperately trying to suppress a grin in the picture below.


Rick, nós amamo-lo e faltamo-l. Be safe and learn a little Portuguese!

P.S. Translation: we love and miss you.
P.S.S. I love Babel Fish!

Rick's Sunday Pictures

The following pictures are from when Katie and I were at my Mom and Dad's in Michigan.

In the above picture, Katie and I took a walk down a path that is in the woods next to my parents' house. The path used to be railroad tracks, but long ago the railroad tracks and ties were removed. As a young girl I recall running to the end of our street to wave to the conductor of the train as it chugged along. Long before I was born, the trains used to carry newly mined copper from the mines. The mines shut down when I was four, but I remember finding pieces of native copper that had fallen off of the open cargo cars on the tracks for years afterward. About 50 yards to the west there is also a overgrown path that used to be a stagecoach road.

The plant right in front of Katie is a thimbleberry bush, which are berries unique to the U.P. You can see some of the unripe berry clusters on the bush in this picture. My mom used to make thimbleberry jam from the berries. Thimbleberries are red when ripe and look like little tams. They are slightly tart with seeds.



This picture is of Katie at K.I. Sawyer Airport in Gwinn of where we fly into and out. K.I. Sawyer used to be an Air Force base and once it closed Marquette county took over the space and move the airport from Marquette to Gwinn. When I was a child there also was an Air Force base a few miles north of my Mom and Dad's. While in college in Marquette I learned the term "wing nuts." That is how the locals referred to the people in the Air Force. I have not heard that term since so I think it was a U.P. thing.

Well Hon, I hope you enjoyed your daily does of the Doodles. You are two hours ahead of us and hopefully still sleeping. We love you dearly and miss you just as much.

Rick Without Luggage and Cabs Without Bumpers

Rick made it to Sao Paulo and the Hilton hotel; however, his luggage did not. Hopefully his luggage got put on the next flight and will be there this morning. Also, he ended up cabbing it to the Hilton at a cost of 100BRL ($54USD) because the security guard/driver never showed up at the airport. When he called the guy, the driver said he was told to pick him up at 8:00 am. Even after the phone call, the driver still didn't show up. When he spoke to the driver a second time the driver said to Rick, "I take it you're not at the airport." Apparently neither was the driver. Perhaps it was just too early on a Saturday morning for the security guard/driver. That same guy is supposed to pick Rick up tomorrow. Let's see how that works out.

The cab driver didn't speak any English and drove like a bat out of hell. The cab was missing a bumper and stalled at every stop. When Rick asked the driver how far the Hilton was, the driver stopped in the middle of the freeway and turned around to talk to Rick, which was just babble to Rick since he does not speak Portuguese. The cab driver almost rear-ended a motorcycle and crossed three lanes of traffic to get to the exit. Something tells me that his cab driver's driving is the norm and not the exception.

Rick didn't sleep very well on the plane despite the pod sleepers in first class, two glasses of champagne and two Benadryl. He was pretty groggy when I spoke to him. He doesn't have to be in his company's Sao Paulo office until tomorrow morning and it's right next door to the Hilton.

I had to laugh when I asked Rick how the hotel was. He said it was very nice and that they were happy to see him. Matter of fact I had to suppress quite a few chuckles when I was talking to Rick. He gets really funny when he is without sleep. Another example is when he was talking about customs in Sao Paulo. He said the customs people did not speak English and asked him no questions. They looked at his passport and then smiled and waved at him. Perhaps you had to hear Rick describe it in his groggy voice to find it funny or realize that most customs people don't smile let alone wave bye-bye.

I transferred Rick's wedding band to his gold necklace--another item of jewelry that he never takes off but did so for this trip. Wearing his wedding band and necklace makes me feel closer to him while he is so far away.

Doodles is still sleeping and I hope she continues to do so. Last night, she did not go to sleep until 10:30 pm. However, the cat is meowing rather loudly--he wants his breakfast--and will probably wake her up. So I best go and feed the cat. Til later.......or if I get more news from my tired, Brazil-visiting husband.

Brazil Bound

Rick departed for Brazil this morning. Because of storms in Dallas, his flight was delayed out of Abilene. When I dropped him off at the airport there were several planes sitting on the tarmac that were unable to land in Dallas and were deviated to Abilene. Then his flight to Miami was delayed out of Dallas because of an easily fixed mechanical. Because I had booked him with longer layovers the delays did not result in his missing the international flight to Sao Paulo--thank goodness.

He just called me from the Miami-Sao Paulo aircraft to let me know he was upgraded. He was booked in business class--his company allows upgraded travel if the flight is over eight hours--but American overbooked coach, so American was moving some coach to business and business to first. He's on a 777 and in first they have those pod like chairs that convert into a bed and other upgraded amenities. He needs those comforts after a day full of stressful travel delays.

Before Rick left for the airport, he took my gold necklace off of me and slipped his wedding band onto it. He was advised not to wear any jewelry while in Brazil including his wedding ring. He promised me he was going to come back to get it. Perhaps I am being melodramatic but mini-kidnappings--seriously, that is what they call small money kidnappings--of American businessmen are common in Brazil's larger cities and he will be in three of them--Sao Paulo, Rio De Janeiro and Brasilia.

Well, I gotta dash and make Katie dinner. She took a late nap so she will be up until 9 pm tonight.