Life on the High Plains

 Silly Dana 1980   Mary as Pocahontas 1984  Our little pumpkin, Jillian 1988  Jillian as Minnie Mouse 1989  Look what we did to Jillian 1987   Princess Jillian   Halloween in Germany 1990  Princess Dana 1984  Dorothy and the Wicked Witch 1991  Alabama Belly Dancers 1987  Jillian as Pocahontas 1995 This is the closest thing I have to a halloween picture from my childhood.  This photo was taken in 1962, I was two years old in Payson, Arizona.  I don't have many halloween memories from my youth.  Notice my brother on the right side of the picture -- priceless! Happy Halloween everyone!

Last year when Irv and I went to Australia one of things we wanted to do was to go on the Sydney Harbor Brige Climb.  Here we are all suited up and ready to go.  We had to wear these suits and we couldn't carry anything with us including a camera. Aren't we attractive? After walking to the bridge we had to put on safety straps and be clipped to the safety lines that go the length of the bridge.  Then we had to climb up, and up, and up to get to the top of the bridge.  We did this on vertical ladders that are between lanes of traffic on the bridge.  We went up about four stories on vertical ladders.  I think the scariest part for me was having the traffic zoom by below us. Now like I said, we were all strapped in meaning we had to stay in our place in line.  I have some advice for anyone who doesn't want to get behind a "slow poke" on the bridge climb...don't let someone who is afraid of heights get in front of you because you can't pass them....

Garlic hummus and garlic pita chips for dinner.  Irv must be out of town on his super secret, incognito, nobody can know where he's going trip. Guess what the girls and I did last night...Sound of Music Sing Along Event at the theatre.  210 minutes of singing along to the songs from the best muscial movie ever made in the company of an entire theatre full of Sound of Music nerds.  We've even been on the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg.  Great fun (even if Mary wouldn't sing)! When you know the notes to sing You can sing most anything Do, a deer, a female deer. Re, a drop of golden sun. Mi, a name I call myself. Fa, a long, long way to run. So, a needle pulling thread. La, a note to follow So. Ti, a drink with jam and bread. That will bring us back to do...oh oh oh

I was looking through some photo albums trying to find a specific picture (that I never found), but I did find these pictures that brought back some memories.  Luckily, my dad writes good notes on the back of photos or I wouldn't have been able to pinpoint the year that these were taken. We lived in Germany from 1989 to 1992.  During that time my mom and dad came to visit twice and we had some great adventures. In June 1990 we took them to Berlin.  It was one of our more interesting trips.  The wall wasn't completely down by then and to drive to Berlin from West Germany we had to drive through a section of East Germany.  Since Irv was in the army then we had to be "briefed" on our expected behavior while in East Germany.  Our drive started at Checkpoint Alpha where the Russian guards examined our passports.  We then had to drive to Checkpoint Bravo without a certain timeframe.  We couldn't go too fast or too slow and no pictures or video could...

I have to apologize for not keeping my blog updated last week.  I went to Wichita for a techie conference  and decided to not take my computer with me. It was a little strange and I felt like something was missing, but I survived.  When I got home late Thursday night I was sick with a bad cold and I haven't felt to inspired to blog since then.  (I promise to one day soon fill you in on social engineering, virtual desktops, and the Next Generation Solution, but for now you'll have to read more about Mr. Beans.) The last football update.   :( Mr. Beans ended his first football season with a tie game ending their season with a 4-2-1 record.  Mr. Beans only got to play in four of the plays, but he got a tackle in one of them.  He has greatly improved since August.  I really think the Broncos ought to consider hiring Mr. Beans' coach.  Here's a short video of one of Mr. Beans' plays this week.  Watch for #94....

The Browns played a good game on Saturday.  Once again I arrived late and missed a conflict between a parent, the referee and the coach.  I'm never there when the good stuff goes on.  Unfortunately, the kids are there and it's too bad they have to witness such immaturity amongst the adults. Anyway, #94 played really well.  I wish I had video to share, but I had my new camera set at too high a resolution and the short video clips are too large to upload to Blogspot.  Next week I'll try to do better. It's a big week for Mr. Beans' team.  On Thursday evening they get to go to the Air Force Academy and practice with the Air Force team.  How exciting!  I'm going to be out of town, but I know Irv will take pictures for me to share on the blog. Saturday is the last game of the season (thank the Lord).  The game will be followed by a celebration at Pizza Hut.  Mr. Beans says he has grown to like football, but he will be playing soccer...

I got new Yokohama tires on my Rogue this week so I'm ready for the S-word.  There's only one problem--see Pikes Peak in the backgroud of this picture?  There isn't any of the S-word on top of the peak.  It's October 16th and 75 degrees.  What is going on? There may be some of the S-word in this week's weather forecast, but that's okay.  I'm going back to Wichita for a conference this week. Any by the way, have you ever seen a cuter, I mean tougher, football player?

JP left for California on Thursday to serve as Maid of Honor in her best friend's wedding.  Irv and I get to keep Little Kitten while she's gone.  Little Kitten looks very sweet and charming, but she's actually the Devil.  I can't even pick her up and cuddle her.  She likes to sleep on my legs at night, but when I reach down and try to pet her she hisses at me.  She attacks the old cats and hisses at the dogs.  The only "person" she really likes is our lab, Keira.  The two of them are good buddies for some odd reason, maybe it's because Keira let Little Kitten suckle on her ears when she was a tiny kitten.  I'm pretty sure her parents were feral and if given the choice, she would be feral also.  I say we make her a barn cat while JP's out of town.  I'm sure she would love sleeping in the hay and catching mice, and if she's smart enough to stay in the barn she wouldn't have to worry about being eaten by a coyote.  What...

I have to make a correction to my last blog.  When I mentioned all the teams that lost games last weekend such as the Rams, the Broncos, and the Chiefs (and as my brother pointed out, the Cowboys could have been included in that list), I said Mr. Beans' team the Browns were losers.  Mr. Beans took that comment very seriously and he can't understand why his grammy would call his team "losers".  He even threatened to tell his coach and I certainly don't want the coach yelling at me.  Anyway, what I should have said is that the Browns lost their game on Saturday to the Cowboys by a very close score of 7-6.  They almost won and they certainly aren't losers.  Mr. Beans did an especially good job of sacking the quarterback. I love you Mr. Beans!!  Now go out there and hit someone!

LOVES BACON! Mr. Beans spent the night on Saturday and he wanted pancakes and bacon for breakfast.  Well, I told him the only way I would cook bacon for him was if he told pappy that the Kansas City Chiefs were losers and he wore my John Elway jersey.  He really didn't want to do it, but he finally gave in. As it turns out, the Chiefs are losers, the Broncos are losers, the Colorado State Rams are losers, and Mr. Beans' team, the Browns, are losers.  Tough weekend for football in our house. One good thing to report though is that Mr. Beans got a sack at the game on Saturday.  Way to go #94!!

A group of us went to see Secretariat Friday night.  Overall, the movie was okay.  Maybe someone who doesn't know a lot about horses or Secretariat's life would have enjoyed it more, but I was a little disappointed.  I recently read the book that this movie was based on.  The book was all about the horse, not so much about the people involved with him.  The movie was more about the people than the horse.  I almost gagged when his owned looked into his eyes and the two of them communicated.  The horse(s) used to portray Secretariat did not do him justice. They used a very aged horse for many of the scenes.  The face markings were inconsistent.  I could go on and on with all the little things that bothered me about the movie.  I was also disappointed that they didn't use any of the actual footage from the 1973 Belmont. One of the most important things they left out was Secretariat's death when he was 19 years old.  How was this...

Secretariat starts tomorrow!  I just noticed the theatre is having a 12:01 a.m. showing.  I seriously considered calling JP to see if she was up for it, but then I realized I wasn't up for it unless I call in sick for work.  (I guess I can't do that now since I've publicly stated that I considered calling in sick so I could go see a movie at midnight.) So I'll have to wait until after work and Irv will probably want dinner before we go.  I really don't understand why he doesn't consider popcorn and coke a suitable dinner. 7:00--Cinemark on Carefree.  See you there! I sure hope the movie is as good as I expect it to be.

My brother, Crusty Gas Guy , recently passed on a Versatile Blogger award to me. I’ve never received one of these before, but I guess what I have to do is reveal seven truths about myself and then give the award to seven other bloggers. I can do the first part, but I’m not sure I know seven other bloggers to pass it on to.  (If I'm doing this incorrectly, please let me know.)  I'm not going to include the obvious truths about myself--my love of God and family.  Hopefully I'll list something that you didn't know about me. Truth #1 – I love living in Colorado.  Could there be anything better than living in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains and Pikes Peak?  What about the 50 mile per hour winds and below freezing temperatures in the winter.  What could be better? Truth #2 – I am a lifelong learner.  I've been taking college classes off and on for almost 30 years.  I could have a Ph.D. by now if I'd limited myself to one course of study.  I'm...

After football practice tonight we took Mr. Beans to Subway.  Last year he graduated from the kid's meal to a 6-inch sandwich, but tonight he asked for a foot long.  Irv and I were a little skeptical, but we ordered his desired sandwich--turkey on white with pepperoni.  That's it, no mayo, no mustard, no cheese, no veggies, just turkey and pepperoni.  Well, he ate about 10 inches of that footlong sandwich and saved the rest for a late night snack. Where does this skinny, little bean-pole of a boy put a foot long sandwich?  Is this just a preview of his future teenage appetite? FYI...Browns vs. Cowboys 10:15 a.m. on Saturday followed by Air Force vs. Colorado State Go Browns!   Good Luck Rams! (you'll need it!)

Ree Drummond, also known as the Pioneer Woman, has a cookbook -- The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  Ree has a blog that I highly recommend if you enjoy stories about life in the country( http://thepioneerwoman.com/ ).  For Megan's bridal shower last week I made the Mocha Brownies from Ree's cookbook.  They were wonderful!  Between the brownie and the frosting there is a pound of butter (that's probably what makes them so good). You can purchase Ree's cookbook at Amazon.com and I've also seen it at Target.  It's not only filled with tasty recipes, it has stories and pictures about Ree's experiences on the ranch.

Mr. Beans' biggest fans had to miss his game yesterday.  Irv had to work and JP and I went to the Air Force vs. Navy game which was at the same time as Mr. Beans' game.  Luckily, the Browns won their game (Mr. Beans can't remember the name of the team they played) so now they are 3-1. MP was prepared though to bring us the highlights of the Browns vs. ? game.  I got a new toy--a Samsung MemoryCam.  It's a tiny little video camera that makes videos in the MP4 format.  Below are a couple plays that Mr. Beans was in. Watch for #94 on the left side of the video. (It's really hard to see) In this one, #94 is one of the team captains on the field for the coin flip. At the Air Force game, JP and I along with my co-workers Kim and Starr had a great time.  Navy brought along a few of their supporters who refused to participate in the wave.  Whenever the wave went around the stadium, the Navy guys would sit down.  The crowd had fun booing them for ...