Warm day - grilled out - played on patio

While Ben was grilling the hamburgers, after the Texas winning football game on TV, Kaylee and Grandpa played on the patio and in the back yard. Kaylee likes to swing.

Ben says the slide is her favorite.


She also likes the Diago truck - she mostly goes backward!


It was another very good day! ;-)

More Birthday Photos

Kaylee liked the cake Arrion decorated!

Arrion liked the DVD that Allison sent!


It was a very good day! ;-)

Birthday Party

This is a good representative photo of the birthday party for Arrion! Happy Birthday!


Here was a good one of Kaylee after she got home from "school" today!


It was a another great day! ;-)

Arrived in Austin on 23rd

Arrived in Austin at Rathsack home about 2 p.m. on Sept 23rd. Alex was at school, played with Kaylee for awhile alone. It was raining, so Arrion took the van to pick up Alex outside the neighborhood off of the bus. Kaylee and grandma waited for them to arrive back. Good photo of Kaylee at that time. She has matured. She goes to Tues & Thurs "school" now as well.


Alex showed grandma what he was doing in school today.


Arrion took Alex to Karate - Kaylee played with dollie; couple good pictures.





The kids both go to bed early... we do too!

It was a very good day! ;-)

Scenic 7 Byway

We took a vacation day on our way to Austin... will arrive there on Wednesday. The vacation aspect involved taking Arkansas Highway 7, all an Arkansas Scenic Byway, most a National Scenic Byway, from Harrison through Russellville to Hot Springs... making several stops along the way. We actually got to Henderson Texas where we are spending the night.

Perhaps more, later, but some highlights. Of course, we crossed the Buffalo National River (private site; NPS; NPCA; .


We went by the Hollis CCC camp - where Annette and Larry visited in May 2005.


We stopped on a mountain top for a picnic lunch.


We stopped at a ranger lookout, Nancy took this one:


We also stopped briefly in Hope, Arkansas, and photographed a couple of Bill Clinton's boyhood homes.... photos on that later.

It was a very good day! ;-)

Wisdom Keepers

At the age of 20, you know everything. At 70, you're not so sure.

These words could be mine, but they do come from an article in AARP Magazine that is worth a read by persons of all ages - and it is not too long. The article, "The Pressure to Be Wise," is written by Margaret Atwood about a video series under production by Dr. Joe MacInnis and her reaction to being a part of it.

If you don't read the whole article, be sure to check the last couple of paragraphs. Good thoughts... likely will cause you to read the rest.

By the way, in the same issue of the magazine (cover has Bruce Springsteen on it, Sep/oct 2009) is an article on "Best Places to Live: The Simple Life" listing the their top 5. We have lived in two of them! Tucson, AZ, and Ames, IA. The others are Greenville, S.C., Montpelier, VT, and Logan, UT. Hard to disagree!! ;-)

It is another very good day! ;-)

Development to the east

Last Saturday, I walked up the high hill in the back development, remembering to take my camera. You can clearly see the development to the east, where the big scoop was finishing up the upper tier of levels. You can also see the trees that were not removed back in the summer of 2004 - 5 years ago - when we were so upset about their activities.


For comparison, here is August of 2004, just after the clearing had been done.


Below is the July photo, with all the green still there, before they cleared it. Interesting.



Life goes on. It appears they may have actually cleared, built up and leveled a space for an eventual Convenience Store in front; to complement the tiered storage building in the back. Now, however, they primarily are selling rock, and it appears that will continue indefinitely.

Today, we made a trip over to the storage; brought a car load over, and it all fit in the cabin - obviously good planning by us both!

It was a very good day! ;-)