Happy Holidays!

I can hear that old Irving Berlin song echoing around inside my empty head...from "Holiday Inn" for those who don't know it.

Dillon's turkey is something he and Grandma made when the three kids were here last weekend; they each cut, glued picked out their own feathers.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, as was gathering the clan again the next afternoon to go see "Happy Feet". Grandpa started something a few years ago when he bought a round of tickets for everyone to go see "Polar Express" the day after Thanksgiving; even though we are a few less this year, it was still great fun!

Also fun was keeping Dillon overnight that night by himself, as he and I had picked up a few models for his first projects several months ago, but those are hard to do when others are around. So that night we put together a "monster truck" and an F4U-Corsair...photos later (if I'm lucky)!

John and Noel have discussed putting in a dishwasher over the years; this year they decided they wanted that for part of their Christmas and birthdays, so I spent Saturday working on that and hauling sheetrock for them as they are insulating and re-rocking the older grandchildren's rooms.

Sunday I hauled sheetrock for the next room and then tried to do our shopping for the week, finishing just in time to get home and fix dinner for us as Dottie got out of the shower after work. A bit of TV, and my four day weekend was gone!

So now it's back to that 6 days in a row thing for two more weeks...my mind says ouch but my wallet is smiling, lol!

Missed you all, hope things are great; I'll be trying to catch up for the next few days, though Dottie is off tomorrow and we're talking about trying to go pick up our tree!

I feel guilty every year when we do that, especially with my Grandma's artificial downstairs, but Dottie loves the smell and it reminds her of home, so I try not to think about it. If I had more yard I'd buy ones I could plant after...maybe someday!

alan

It's really hard...

to go back to work after 3 days off, especially when you know your spouse is still at home!

We managed to get some things done, made it to a couple of movies, then we spent Monday driving around Hillsdale Reservoir, a place we fished a lot before my last truck died. New ramps, lots of new campgrounds, and a new marina with a floating heated dock (maybe a place to take the grandkids fishing after the holidays) that also sells bait and tackle and has a sandwich shop, etc.. The roads that were almost all gravel are now mostly paved; houses are going up at all around it now. We had looked at a place there 15 years ago that had 25 acres and 5 ponds on it; it's been broken up for a subdivision now and only one pond is on the property now. Had I been smart enough to buy it, breaking it up would have paid it off!

At the time though, I was going into the last long layoff I had from GM, before I had enough seniority to stay when they go to one shift. (Before I had 15 years in I was laid off as much as I worked.) The hour drive each way on a dry day would get awfully long in winter weather as well, not to mention the vehicles I'd have worn out doing it, so all in all it's probably good we stayed here. 7 or 8 minutes to work has a lot to be said for it!

"A Good Year" was awfully good (my kind of movie). "Stranger Than Fiction" was good as well, though a bit disturbing as well.

Monday after we got home we went out and rented "Click" and "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift", and enjoyed them both. Somehow the sacriege of dropping a Nissan motor in a classic Mustang disturbed me, but in the "making of" stuff you could see the Ford script on the valve covers and the big 4 barrel on top of the Ford V-8 in the car they said was "the hero car".

The real treat was the surprise at the end of the movie...

:o)

I'm going to try and catch up with you all before the weekend; Dottie's off both days, I work Saturday again, so it's one of those one day weekends for me. Her birthday is next Monday, so I have a vacation day that day. She's taking her last 3 vacation days and between her weekend off, Thanksgiving Day holiday, and her normal Friday off, she gets 7 off in a row. Needless to say if I get here it will be just for a few minutes, lol!

I hope life is treating you all wonderfully!

alan

Sunday evening...

Where my wife works you aren't allowed to take vacation during "the holidays" so she took the days she had left for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, between her normal Friday and Tuesday off. I get Monday for Veteran's Day from GM. so she has 5 off and I am in the middle of 3.

Sorry I haven't been to visit you all, but we have been enjoying some of our time and tryihg to get some things done while we're both off as well. I'll explain more later...

Hope you are all having lovely weekends!


alan

The exodus from Washington!

No, not really...not until January, anyway! But in the spirit of the coming holiday...lol!

When we came off one of the dirt roads and back onto pavement last Tuesday, I heard something scratching in the leaves. I stopped the truck, and on Dottie's side we saw these wild turkeys. I'm pretty sure when this park was built in 1938 there weren't any wild turkeys left in Kansas; I don't remember ever seeing one as a kid. Their repopulation started in the last 25 years, and seeing them further out "in the country" isn't unusual anymore, but finding them here was a real treat!

Hope you are each having a good week!

alan

Photo Sunday escaped 'til Monday!

Last Tuesday before the frivolity we took a ride around our closest lake; having a truck now we revisted some gravel roads I haven't been on since my boys were little.

The color is a bit past peak, but the worrisome thing is that this was Oct.31st and the trees still have so many leaves; the color has turned even more to rust now, but not many more have dropped...if we get any kind of an ice storm, it's going to be a major problem, and we're getting to that time of year!








I worked yesterday; this morning I rolled out at 9, cooked breakfast and we made it to see "The Prestige" at 10:40. From there, we worked on filling Santa's sleigh, since we don't get too many shopping days together, and now have the sleigh about 3/4 full.

Tonight we cleared 5 hours of "Supernatural" we were behind on, along with me fixing dinner and running laundry, then after Dottie went to bed I caught up with "Battlestar Galactica" from Friday night since she had watched it with Bill and Laura. I also watched "30 Rock" since she doesn't care much for that one...

Now the clock is ticking towards 3 and I should really crawl into bed!

I'm off Tuesday and she took a vacation day, so after we vote I'm thinking about trying to talk her into going to "Keeping Mum". So far I've only told her Maggie Smith is in it...I should mention Swayze as she loves him; if I mention Rowan Atkinson I'll be lucky to get to rent it on video, lol!

I have my fingers crossed for Tuesday, but not enough courage to hold my breathe...

alan

A "Toy Story" kind of day...

I had planned to post this before work on Wednesday, but went Christmas shopping instead...so before another day slips away:



John is wearing a pair of my old bibs from 2 years ago with a pillow to fill them out...I think seeing how big I really was (he was afraid to drive because his stomach was in the way) may have given him more motivation to watch his own weight than anything anyone might ever say!

:o)

4AM, off to bed...thinking of you all!

alan