Hug your pet!

Had a bad lunch today. I was letting Abe out in the backyard when I noticed a couple of poodle like dogs running up the sidewalk in front of the house. I had never seen them before so I really didn't think anything of it. Then not more than a minute later I heard a thud followed by a dog crying. Abe of course got all upset so I put him in the truck and went out to find out what had happened. Meanwhile there was a lady walking up the alley calling out names. I asked if she was looking for two dogs and she said yes. At that point a guy in a black Lexus about a 1/3 block away said he had just hit a dog. The dog was sitting by the front drivers side tire. The lady of course went running up to it and I walked up there to help. The dog of course was terrified and hurt. The owner was in tears and the guy that hit the dog felt so bad. All he could say was that the dog ran out in the street and that there was no way he could stop in time. The dog owner shuffled the dog out of the on coming traffic area and in front of the car that hit the dog. Of course the dog was trying to bite the owner as she was trying to pick him up. She finally just grabbed him to get him in her arms. The dog swung its head around and bit the lady in the chin. Meanwhile I am trying to get cars slowed down and to pass with caution. I looked over at the corner and saw a lady and a guy in an SUV that had seen it all happen. The lady had been driving but she just sat there with her hand over her mouth and crying.

I walked with the owner to help her find her other dog as all she could say was that she had left a 14 year old in the house with two infants. I told her no problem that I would help her find her other dog. Sounded like the 14 year old had let the dogs out and not shut the gate to the backyard of their house so that is how the dogs had gotten out. Anyway the 14 year old had found the other dog and got it in the house. Another neighbor came to help out and we tried to talk to the owner as to what she needed to do next which of course was to take the dog to the vet and then get herself looked at. Not sure she would need stitches but it was not a little scratch by any means. Of course it was hard to help her as she had the dog in her arms and he was so terrified that he would not let anyone near him or the owner. I think the dog has either back, leg or hip injuries by the way he just sat there on the road.

As I left the owner was putting the dog in on the porch of her house and calling her husband. I felt so helpless. I walked back to the truck were I had placed Abe and gave him a big hug and kiss. He could tell something was wrong. Even now here at work this afternoon he has spent more time then usual laying under my chair. Not sure what will happen to the dog if it will have surgery to repair the damage or if they will have the dog put to sleep. Just a very sad ordeal.......

Don't forget to hug your pet today and everyday!

Sushi-time!

Hit Tokyo Japanese restaurant last night with the roomy (Kris), Kris's brother-in-law (David) and niece (Maren). We got the table talked into just ordering sushi for supper!..YUM! We had a green dragon (excellent-pictured above!), peanut and avocado, California roll, Philadelphia, tempura sweet potato, tempura pumpkin (very good and was very mild) and tuna avocado..of course edamomay (sp?) also. These were all great. I was very proud of Maren and Kris as they are not HUGE sushi eaters but dug right in and had a great time and even enjoyed the combination we had ordered.

The big let down of the meal was their ice cream. The waitress called it by another name but we have had green tea ice cream at other Japanese places but this was very odd. It had almost like a gelatinous coating on the outside of it. We even went so far as to describe it as melted gummy bear consistency and of course this led into jokes about the gummy bears squealing as they were melted in the pan...but I digress.... It was hard to get a bite of this desert with the little fork that looked like it came from a relish tray. The other thing is that they serve it in a size that was also surprising. It looked like a very small hockey puck maybe even a third of the size of a normal hockey puck and same shape. I had the sesame seed flavor, David and Maren had the green tea and the Kris had strawberry. The strawberry was the best and like David said of the sesame seed one is that after the first bite it was like someone hit you over the head with the sesame seed! It was intense sesame flavor. Not so sure I would order those again but we are a bit adventurous with food and that made it fun plus it gave me something to blog about today since I went all out yesterday!

Meridian Trail

I know I have posted a LOT today...record for me but I ran across this article and had to post it! This will be nice when it is done as long as it is kept up! (hope this dude is ok with me copying his article on to my blog....I left his name on it just in case!)

Above is the picture taken by me on the South Dakota side of the Meridian bridge. This bridge links Nebraska to South Dakota on Hwy 81. There is a new bridge being built (much to my dismay!) to the west of the old bridge or to the right in the picture above. The top part of the Meridian bridge is for traffic heading north into South Dakota and the bottom is for heading south into Nebraska. It used to be an lift bridge back in its day but all the weights were taken off a lot of years ago. The span between the two towers would lift up to allow river traffic to go under the bridge.

Thursday, December 27, 2007
Meridian Trail Project Awarded $170,000 Grant
By: Nathan Johnson (yankton.net)

Officials are ecstatic about the recent announcement of a grant to fund the majority of a recreational trail along the southern shore of the Missouri River.
The Nebraska Department of Roads recently announced that the Nebraska Meridian Trail project had been awarded more than $170,000 in Transportation Enhancement grant money.
The remaining cost of the estimated $213,000 project is expected to be covered by matching funds from the Lewis and Clark Natural Resource District (L&CNRD), Cedar County (Neb.) and the City of Yankton.
"It is exciting. We were finally able to accomplish phase one to get the trail started," said Tom Moser, the manager of the Hartington, Nebraska-based L&CNRD. His organization has tried to secure funding for the project during the course of three years.
The planned 10-foot wide, 6,200-linear-foot recycled crushed concrete trail will begin near the Gavins Point Dam and run parallel along Highway 121 to Aten, Neb. It is the first phase of what is being considered a four-phase project that will eventually connect the dam to the Meridian Bridge and the Corps of Discovery Welcome Center along Highway 81.
Moser said he hopes that funding can be secured for a phase per year.
"I'm real hopeful on that because, when the old Meridian Bridge gets turned over as a trail for the City of Yankton, we need someplace to go," he said. "That's going to pull a lot of weight when we go back with a funding application in subsequent years."
The total cost of the four-phase project is undetermined, Moser said.
Now that funding has been obtained for the first phase, he said an engineering and permitting process must be completed before construction commences.
Moser said he hopes that construction can begin in the spring.
It's gratifying to see entities in both Nebraska and South Dakota cooperating to accomplish something that will benefit the entire region, Moser said.
"You've got a beautiful trail going along the north side of the (Missouri) river to the dam," he said. "Wouldn't it be super to be able to get across Gavins Point Dam and come back on the Nebraska side to see something a little different?"
Moser said the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has plans to build trails that connect to the Gavins Point Dam itself, as well as the Visitors Center on Calumet Bluff.
The Discovery Bridge, which will cross the Missouri River at Yankton, is expected to be complete before the end of 2008. Once it becomes operational, the Meridian Bridge will be converted into a recreational trail. The City of Yankton is currently working on plans to make its downtown area more appealing to pedestrians and bicyclists. It is also considering plans for the wooded area it owns on the south side of the Meridian Bridge.

Drug testing passport

The professional bike racers biological passports should be ready for the 2008 season.

The passport is an individual electronic record for each rider in which the results of all blood and urine testing is collated over a period of time. It will also have results of each individual urine and blood test with markers for blood and steroid parameters.

The UCI will increase the number of test in 2008. Each rider will be subjected to 6 or 12 test depending on what article you read. In order to carry out the testing in the right conditions the UCI will have to be informed of the whereabouts and training schedule of EACH RIDER. (HHMMM....I hope Robobank and Micheal Rassmuson are reading up on this!)

After all the test have been compiled a panel of seven experts will decipher the possible variations of each riders haematological levels.

Of course this is going to cost a LOT of money but the UCI, Teams, Riders, WADA and the French Ministry of Sport are all helping to offset the cost.

I hope this works. Some people have their doubts also. The one thing is that I hope they have security in place to keep people from tampering with the passports. To me it sounds like a nightmare trying to keep track of every ones whereabouts and training rides. This coming from people that can not run a lab correctly...was that my outside voice?....SORRY.....Yes I still think Floyd Landis was innocent!

It will be interesting to sit back and watch!

Christmas recap

I know I am late with the Christmas recap but since I got tagged I thought I should take care of that issue first!

Christmas was great with lots of great gifts, laughs, food and not much sleep. I was happy to go back to work to get some rest!..hahaha. The funny of the weekend was a slip of the tongue so to speak by my roomies brother-in-law. We were talking about movies and the Johnny Depp movie Sweeney Todd came up. He got the first name Sweeney correct but the second word Todd came up as a female anatomy slang personal / undercarriage area that starts with a T. Pretty funny. We laughed and laughed. I was glad I didn't have a mouth full of libations or food at the time as it would have found its way all over the table. I am sure others were grateful also. I called him Sweeney the rest of the weekend.

We had snow over Christmas about 5 inches of white fluffy snow. It was really pretty coming down in big flakes but the roads were not fun coming back from the farm. I got the sidewalk and driveway, we loving call the luge, all scooped off over lunch yesterday and then the roomie helped with the upper part of the driveway and also when the plow finally came by last night we got that all scooped. That would have been nasty if we would have waited until this morning to scoop. Oh well it is done and I have to say our sidewalk and driveway look to be the best kept on the block from this snow! We do have a snow blower but I decided to scoop to work off a little of that Christmas cheer! I did notice that the fire hydrant for our area, across the street, might need some scooping so might do that at some point soon. Seems to be some nasty fires this time of year and the people who should be taking care of the fire hydrant have not so I will take care of it I guess this time.

Tagged

I have been tagged by Cycle SD dang it. Not really sure how all this works but I know I am suppose to write down 5 things that people do not know about me then I am to tag other bloggers. The problem is that the other bloggers are ones that have been tagged already!..not sure how to handle that!

1) I competed in the Junior Olympics back in the 80's throwing shot put. It was at Wake Forrest University.

2) I raced motocross when I was younger (teenager). Mini-bikes and enduro class. I race in a 100 mile race that was brutal. It was riding the same course over and over and over. I was so tired and sore by the time I got off the bike that my dad almost had to pry my hands off the handlebars. I have a few trophies for my dirt bike accomplishments.

3) I wrote some sports for the the Yankton Press and Dakotan. Just the little snippets from area schools.

4) I can run a metal lathe. I worked at the Freeman Company in Yankton for a while and ran a metal lathe and centerless grinder. The Freeman Company made parts for airplanes.

5) I competed in a bike race (back in the early 80s) at the Living History Farms in Des Moines, IA. I finished first in my class but found out later that my sister really beat me as I was following a couple guys in front of me that missed part of the course and since they missed part of the course I did also. I told the officials that but they still gave me a frozen turkey (the race was around Thanksgiving time) for my efforts. I kept asking myself as I was riding in the race..What that HELLl was I thinking? When the race was over all I could think about was how fun it was!

Happy Holidays

The holidays are coming upon us at a very rapid pace now. I am dreading the trip to the grocery store tonight..UGH! Oh well....we are picking up some libations so it will be worth the trip or at least kill the pain of the trek once we get home! This will be my last post for a few days with all the holiday events going on, I will be very busy so just wanted to say...

May you find the true meaning of Christmas this year and hold it in your heart all year long!

Travel safe and may you have a great Christmas!

Velodrome crash

Biking update

Micheal Rasmussen is going to sue his old cycle team Robobank. The Dane, who lied to the UCI (international cycling union) about his where abouts during some training ride, is saying that his team Robobank knew all along where he was training at but yet they fired him. This could get ugly. I hope everyone has paperwork or proof our it will turn into a he said they said thing. The real thing here is that he missed 2 drug testings. A missed drug testing is not good. It is almost as negative as having a positive doping blood test. We will have to see how this all plays out.

Team LPR has a few good riders for their team this year. Paolo Savodelli (former Disco rider) Danilo diLuca, Damiano Cunego and Paolo Bettini.

Where is Ivan Basso? He has been banned from the sport until October 24, 2008. In the mean time he is trying to have a positive image by riding for Intervita a non-governmental organization to benefit disadvantaged children in the southern hemisphere. Will this make him look better in the public eye?......We will have to see.

Another rider I that is fun to watch during the TDF is Tom Boonen. He is a sprinter for team Quickstep so for all you novice TDF people out there, he would not be in contention to win the TDF but he would shoot for what they call the GREEN jersey. This is the sprinters jersey. Anyway Big Tom was named Belgian Sportsman of the Year! Congrats Toms but honestly, I am not putting anyone down from Belgian but how many star athletes do they have in that country? .....hhmmm......

Trek will be the bike of choice for the Astana team this year. Like that is a BIG surprise!
With a big chunk of the team and the directer being from the old Discovery team, which was a Trek team, Trek was the logical choice to follow

Christmas lights

Last night we went out and about in town looking for the Christmas lights. We went to Brandon to see a light show set to music with all proceeds going to The Banquet. The show was ok but not even close to how good the Crooks one is. The good thing is that the donations go to a good cause. We hit Fireplace Lane, Train Lane, Penguin Lane, Churchhill Lane, Polar Bear Lane and looked at some random house decorations. I have to say that some of the lanes had a lot to be desired. Seems as though some people didn't care. A lot less people living on the lanes had not decorated than in years past. Of course there is the occasional house that is OVERCOME by Christmas. It looked like someone has puked Christmas all over their front yard. For those people...sometimes more is NOT better! I guess maybe they are trying to make up for the people that do not decorate outside.... GOD ONLY KNOWS!

Christmas firsts...............

What a month so far. We have had a lot of first for us! 1) We are done Christmas shopping (done at least a couple weeks ago)!, 2) We are done wrapping Christmas presents (we are usually wrapping the day before), 3)We put up the Christmas Tree (had not been done for a few years), 4) We ordered Christmas cards to send out!(of course we have to actually send them out to make this count!), 5) We took pictures of Abe in front of the tree and as you can tell he was REALLY happy about that!, 6) We took our gifts out to Kris's moms already in preparation for the Christmas festivities and 7) The libations are chilling in the garage at Joan's, 8) We are going to drive around with the boy (Abe) after work tonight and look at the lights (we have not done that in a few years either) Abe loves looking at the animated lights.

So, what has gotten into us? I have no idea. I think we started shopping VERY early and got things done than we had all this free time left thanks to using the quickness of internet shopping. I just cringed at the thought of going to the mall and shopping now. Think of all the energy wasted! Physical (my energy is very precious) and just all the vehicles running waiting for the lights to change to make it to the next store or driving around the parking lot to find the parking space closest to the store! I talked with some people from Yankton this weekend that said it took them a half hour to drive from the Western Mall to the Empire Mall. They ended up just going home. UGH......NASTY!

Hit the funeral home this past weekend as it was their annual remembrance of the people that have passed away that they have held services for. It was a little smaller crowd than last year but still good. They have a slideshow of the people that have passed away in the past year and also you can write down the name of a loved one and as their name is read you go up and light a candle in remembrance. I of course was doing well and then we had to sing Silent Night. I could not do it, of course I could not sing it last year either. I had tears streaming down my face. Oh well. Tears are good and all part of healing. You could really tell the people who had just lost loved ones as they really struggled during the service and then I remembered how I felt as I was in the same boat last year. Holidays are hard and there is no getting around it but with each passing year the healing continues. Kind of sad that there were two of my classmates from Yankton there. One who's dad passed away a little over a year ago and another who's dad passed away a couple months ago. It was good to talk with them, give them my condolences and get caught up after the service.

After the service I went out to my Godparents farm for supper. Very good food and of course lots of laughter! They are such great people!

Baseball and Cycling...DRUG ISSUES!

It seems what we have known all along is true. American sports is riddled with people trying to cheat the system. Today the Mitchell report, documented in 409 pages, baseball players that have been linked in some way to people or other players that either sold them growth hormones or steroids. The documents even have canceled checks from individuals showing payment to these people. Some players names were taken out of an address books that were taken during raids from the suppliers homes but all have links back to the "bad people".

Come on people! Drugs give you an unfair advantage over people that have trained hard, usually all their life, or someone naturally gifted. But let's list the big one here.....DRUGS CAN KILL YOU! I know I would be VERY proud of breaking a record and then having an asterisk put by my name that says that I break the record while taking steroids. UGH. Real inspiration to all kids looking outside of one's family for a role model.

Cycling is on the right track even though some of their practices in the labs have some issues. Do people realize that professional bike racers are subjected to drug testing at anytime of day, any time of the year, any where, during racing season or not? They are. Maybe American sports powers that be should sit up and take notice as to what the cycling governing bodies are doing and even what some of the cycling teams are doing. Some of the teams are policing themselves to make sure that people are not doping. Some of the riders are also signing contracts for anti-doping with REAL STIFF fines (a years salary) and suspensions (usually a minimum of 2 years) if there is a breach of the contract.

Cycling, even though in recent years has had some real trouble, is moving forward and getting things in prospective and dealing with the issue and cleaning it up. Seems that in the past the sports that are the "American Pastime", people have turned a blind eye to.

It is time to clean ALL SPORTS UP and give our country something to be proud of!

Mr Armstrong

It seems Lance Armstrong is getting an interesting invite. The Israel consulate in NY has invited Mr Armstrong to help open a new cycle route. The planned route will run from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to mark the Jewish states 60 years of independence next year. I sure hope he can drag himself away from the one Olsen twin to do this!...UGH!

Only in South Dakota or maybe a redneck state

I was in Yankton last weekend. We came out of the Hy-Vee grocery store and what is parked in the parking lot but a 4-wheel drive Ford Mustang. I had to take a picture of it as I had never seen anything like that before. I guess if I had lived in a more redneck southern state (sorry to all you rednecks out there) a person would have seen one but here in South Dakota? My guess is that someone had way tooooooo much time (and money) on their hands to perfect this unique machine. Not sure there is a market for them....well except for the more redneck southern states (again my apologies if you are a redneck)!

Note: This was the best picture I got of the Car / SUV/ Sedan Truck thing (whatever you want to call it) as other vehicles parked right next to it and were dwarfed by it!

Tour De France - Who is riding for what team?

It seems that a lot has happened to the cycling team dynamics over the off season. Here is a little something to get you a bit caught up but keep in mind this news changes daily it seems! Plus the opinions given here are mine and are OPINIONS ONLY!

Discovery or The Disco team
Disbanded. This was the end to an AWESOME team. I say TEAM because without the TEAM there would have been no Lance Armstrong winning a record seven tours or Alberto Contador winning one tour or even Levi making the podium. The tarnish to the team was signing Ivan Basso who later was linked to doping and is serving a suspension. Can't help but think that the whole doping debacle messed up finding another sponsor for the ol'boys in blue.

Astana
Was rocked with blood doping with Vino but he has now retired and and totally walked away from cycling. The Astana team is now a mix of mostly old Discovery riders including Levi and Alberto with leader Bruyneel. Astana also was not so kind to some of the riders from last years team. They had not been paid since August. They have been promised that they will fulfill their contract with the riders. If not then the team will have serious issues for 2008. Do you think it was the right move for some of the old Discovery riders? I am not sure. I think there will be huge issues with Levi and Alberto as Levi has been quoted as saying "I want to win the tour!" How is that going to work with Alberto (last years winner) on your team? This will be interesting to watch as it plays out.

T-Mobile
No longer a sponsor and so the old T-Mobile is now High Road. Georege Hincapi the former lieutenant for Lance will be riding for High Road this year. For George's sake I sure hope he wins the Paris Roubaix as this has been his goal since he started racing! Ulrich is fighting his doping charges yet and it sounds like a HUGE quagmire.

Robobank
Mixed up with the whole Rasmussen issue of "where was Micheal" during whatever month. Rasmussen had later said that the team knew where he was and that after all this blew up in the press during the tour he thought about killing himself. Not sure what that would have solved but a widow raising their kid alone. Micheal Boogert "Boogie Man" retired. We will miss his HUGE WHITE TEETH gleaming during this years tour.

Slipstream / Chipolte
The new kid on the block and one to watch. This is an American sponsored team run by an old 7-11 team member Vaughters that signed a lot of players at the end of last years tour. David Zabriski, David Millar, Chris Vande Velde, Julian Dean, Magnus Backstedts (former lead out guy for Thor Husvold) and others. This team will need an invite to ride in the TDF yet but with the players they have signed there should be NO QUESTION! They are also a team that does a lot of blood testing and have implemented their own testing to make sure their team is CLEAN.

These are just some of the teams out there making news but looking ahead to July, for all you non tour junkies that is when it starts, it should be a very interesting tour! Not sure who I will cheer for this year. Slipstream would be cool but OK I am going to sound like a girl here....not crazy about their uniforms! (picture at top of the entry)...I do have certain riders I like to see do well. Hincapie, Husvold (can't help it I am Norwegean), Levi, Zabriski or anyone that wins a break-away ROCKS!

Good weekend

Good weekend even though it did not go as planned. OH WELL. We drove to Bridge City Saturday in the snow for a remembrance at the local funeral home for people that had died in the past year that they have serviced and also for people in the past that they have helped. It ended up with the snow that they postponed the service until this coming weekend because of the snow...BUMMER! Well, all was not lost. My God parents, Rose, Kris and myself decided to go to Fry N Pan for supper. We had a good time talking and laughing like always. Never a dull moment when we get together that is for sure! Then it was back to the Clubhouse to stay for the night. Ends up we got around 3-4 inches and were to get 6+ inches.

I got up and scooped the driveway, sidewalk and two of the neighbors sidewalks and then we packed up except for the boy (Abe) and then hit Hy-Vee for breakfast then off to get Abe and headed out. I am always amazed at how may people drive WAY TO FAST on snow packed roads. There seemed to be a few of us hanging about the same speed but then there are others that BLAST by us. SHHHH...secretly I hope to see those people in the ditch up the road a ways but it never happened this trip. I know that is bad for me to think that but I think it would teach them a lesson. Saturday there was a bunch of them doing that and let me tell you it was white out conditions every time someone was in the passing lane. We made it home just fine but the Bravada is a mess with all the road grime.

We have been trying to loose weight in our house and boy it has not been that easy. Kris is doing AWESOME and I am slowly loosing a few pounds. We each bought a pedometer and have been charting out steps / cals /mileage. Well, at least I have. Kris is just keeping track of her steps. It has been fun to see how much a person walks in a day. Kris has been kicking my butt with that but I have a desk job and she has a physical job so there is the main reason. Anyway we both decided this morning that more exercise is needed. I guess the bike is going on the trainer and we will have to dust off the treadmill and not use it to hang wet clothes on to dry anymore. We will see. Maybe if I blog about the weight loss it might keep me motivated. We will see! I do know we have been eating a lot healthier the last three weeks and that is very positive. I have not been to the burger joints for lunch and if I do eat out it is Subway which I limit to once a week at the most.

I have to get on the bike again. When I was doing more biking I had dropped 15 pounds but I also had a goal of riding the Bike Mick. Maybe a goal needs to be set again? Something to ponder.........

Funny things mom used to say (Annabelle-isms).......

Mom always had some funny sayings and I am not sure if she would say it because she didn't hear it right the first time (she had a hearing issue) or she was saying it to get a rise out of us or what but we talked about a few of them the other night so I thought I would share them with all of you...God bless her soul....

Annabelle-isms:

• Yogurt she called yoger.
• Discover card was her Discovery card.
• A retaining wall she called a reclining wall.
• "Isn't that a sore eye?" instead of Isn't that an eyesore?
• The famous mark stores we have Wal-mark, K-mark and the mart store was Hallmart!
• The reader meeting was the meter reading.
• When she watched Dynasty back in the 70 it was Dyna-see to her.
• The best are names she could not pronounce....Chuck Knobloch who was with the Twins she just called him padlock..My roomies niece Maren and of course mom always called her Myron.
• Another one we have said over and over in fun is the reference to Harry Potter which was "What is the big deal with this Harry Porter anyway?"

12/9/07 addition

• The color mauve she called "You know that maude color!"

There are so many others that I can not think of at this time but will add to the list as I remember them so keep checking back to this entry! If you have any that you remember her saying send them on to me and I will be sure to add them!

Christmas Celebrations Have Started!

This past weekend we headed to the Clubhouse for some Christmas celebrating. It was a great time! First off we went to Charlie's for the best pizza and then home to listen to Christmas music and talk. Saturday was met with some what strange feelings. It was our real first snow this year. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE SNOW but we ended up with some freezing rain crud, I DO NOT LIKE, on top of the snow which made it strange. A couple of us went out to scoop the sidewalk and driveway and were scooping about 3 inches of nothing but slush! Oh well. We had a fire pretty much all of Saturday which made it toasty and I also decorated a bit to get us in the Christmas spirit.


Saturday evening was wonderful! We had put on a couple kettles of soup, made some bread and had some "family" over (who brought food also) for supper followed by a play at the local theater. A Christmas Carol was showing and what a fun time that was. The cast did a great job. It is the third production we have been to at the Lewis and Clark Playhouse this year and I think this was the best we had seen although Singing in the Rain was right up there also for different reasons. Kudos to the cast for play well done. We headed back to the Clubhouse and had angel food cake and coffee to celebrate Rose turning 74 November 19th! Lots of stories and laughter was had by all.


Sunday we hit the cemetery in Obert to decorate graves for Christmas. It was so icy there that I did end up falling on my butt, oh well plenty of cushion there so nothing was hurt only my feelings! Headed back to Sioux Falls and then out to Crooks to take my roomies mom home. We made a stop in Crooks at a place that has their house all decorated for Christmas and the lights blink to music. Very amazing. They donate all the money to Make A Wish Foundation which gives a person the warm fuzzies. Very cool and you can view it here although this doesn't do it justice at all. http://www.crookschristmas.com/ This place even received national press last year.


On the way back to town we saw a falling star. Now this is REALLY amazing when you think about it. We were coming back from the farm Thanksgiving night and saw a falling star. I had not seen one in a VERY long time. We decided that it was mom saying that she is doing fine and wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving. Then Sunday night we are heading back and saw another falling star. We could not believe it! We think it was mom signaling us again that she was happy we had spent the weekend with friends and family and had a great time with lots of laughter.
I guess you can read into it all you want but it is just odd that coming back from two different events involving family and friends that we had seen the falling stars...AMAZING.


I guess the bight light of one's soul shines on..............