Life on the High Plains

What a nice picture of our Thanksgiving dinner...with the exception of that girl in the back who has her mouth wide open and mashed potatoes hanging out.  Who could that be?  It's not Ellen or Jillian or Mary so who does that leave out?  Dana, where did you learn your manners?  Hopefully this won't be your behavior when you're having Christmas dinner with Adam's family.  I'm so embarrassed. :)

Brian has a remote controlled, gas powered car that Cody likes to play with.  Unfortunately, the car got wrecked shortly after this video was taken so it's out of operations for a while.

The pies are baked, the turkey is roasting and we're just waiting.  (I made the apple pie, but Schwans is responsible for the pumpkin pie.  Mr. Beans said it would be a horrible Thanksgiving if we didn't have a pumpkin pie.) Dana and Adam are going to be here in 1 hour and 46 minutes (more or less). Target opens in 14  hours and 9 minutes! Happy Thanksgiving and have a great Black Friday!

Mr. Beans, Mary, and I made a last minute decision to go see the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular at the World Arena last night.  Luckily there were lots of tickets available and what a nice surprise it was when we got our $50 tickets for $28 because the World Arena gives a military discount. Here's Mary and I doing the Rockettes pose. We didn't have time to stop and eat dinner before the show, but we found a great little barbecue place at the arena.  Mary had the brisket and I had the smoked turkey.  It was very yummy and not the typical World Arena food. Mr. Beans stuck with a hot dog which he said was delicious. No pictures were allowed, but I did manage to sneak this one right at the very end.  I have only one word to describe the Rockettes -- PERFECTION! It was an awesome show and even Mr. Beans enjoyed it.  If you see Mr. Beans make sure you don't say "long legs" around him.  He says it's inappropriate. It was a f...

I don't understand the problem that everyone has with the full body scans and pat downs that the TSA performs to keep all of us safe.  Would you rather be dead?  Their job is to make sure that we all get to where we're going alive.  Just take a moment and remember 9/11.  Instead of "opting out" or complaining to the TSA agents, why not thank them for their service to the country.  Or better yet, opt out of flying.

Today I helped host a bridal shower for a co-worker.  For favors I pulled out the soap making supplies.  The wedding colors are teal and brown and I tried to make teal colored soaps.  I couldn't quite make teal, they came out more turqoise.  Tressie and her mom drove in for the shower.  Tressie is the happiest baby, she is so much fun to be around.  I was shopping the other day and came across this little santa dress.  It was so cute and because I was going to see Tressie today, I knew she had to have it.  As  you can see by her big smile, she loved it.  (Check out Tressie's Blog )   Here's the bride.  Just like Tressie's mom, she's an amazing woman.  Not only is she great to work with, but she can do almost anything.  Her house needed a new roof and instead of hiring a contractor, she did it herself with the help of her fiancee and a couple friends.  The wedding is January 15th!

And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. Genesis 1:3-5

Broncos 49 - Chiefs 29 We'll be back at Invesco Field on Sunday, November 28th when we get to introduce Dana's boyfriend, Adam, to American football.  (Hopefully we won't be around so many obnoxious fans at that game.)

Well, we decided not to go to the Air Force game today.  It was just too darn cold.  Instead we picked up Mr. Beans and headed to the holiday festival in town.  We got there and realized everyone else had the same idea.  We couldn't find a parking spot and the line to get in was about a block long, so we decided not to do that either (much to Irv's and Mr. Beans' delight).  There was a movie theatre close by so we went to see Unstopable with Denzel Washington.  It is a movie based on a runaway train in Pennsylvania.  It was a great movie, kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. After the movie we decided to go grocery shopping.  Mr. Beans was thrilled by this decision!  He loves to go shopping!  (NOT).  Look what we found at the store...Tim Tam, Australia's favorite cookie (or so Pepperidge Farm claims).  Dana brought us several packages of Tim Tam from Australia last Christmas and I asked her to bring us mor...

I have 4 tickets to the Air Force vs. University of New Mexico football game on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.  The forecast for Saturday is a high of 40 degrees with rain/snow showers.  I've been trying to give these tickets away, but nobody will take them! We also have 4 tickets to the Broncos vs. Chiefs game in Denver at 2:05 p.m.  Forecast for Sunday--partly cloudy and a high of 37 degrees.  With the way the Broncos are playing, I probably couldn't give those tickets away either.  If I did, Irv would probably kill me because he invested a few hundred dollars in them.  I guess it's time to get out the long johns, hand warmers, gloves, and beanie caps.  GO BRONCOS!! By the way, Irv is home and he will not give me even the smallest clue as to where he has been.  The guys I work with say he was on a "secret trip" to Vegas.  Hmmm.

I have one clue to Irv's whereabouts...there's a Panera Bread close to where he's staying.  How many Paneras do you think there are nationally, or internationally for all I know.  I thought I'd better go to our Panera to make sure he wasn't there.  The only thing I found there was my favorite Greek salad which I brought home to enjoy with a class of sweet Riesling. Yummy! I wonder where I should go look for him tonight.  Actually I'll probably have to go straight home after work because the "S" word is in the forecast.  I guess our wonderful fall is finally coming to an end.

I had an exciting day at work this afternoon.  Around 2:30 today a coworker's husband walked into the building saying that he was having a stroke.  I sit by his wife and she immediately called 911.  I took the phone from her so she could go help her husband and believe it or not, it took me three tries to get through to someone at 911.  (Our residents don't like to pay taxes and therefore we have reduced services which nobody really thinks about until they need one of those services.)  Anyway, the ambulance got there in about 2 1/2 minutes followed by the advanced life support crew.  What great guys...they were quick and professional and one of them even drove my coworker's car to the hospital because she was too shook up to drive herself.  They were in and out of the office in about 10 minutes.  The people that work in the back didn't even know all this went on.  I haven't heard an update on him yet, but hopefully he's okay.

Mary was the family photographer at Brian's homecoming.  She got some really good shots, but this might be my favorite.  A picture of my new boots!  Mary, thanks for reminding me how much I love these boots!

I dropped Irv off at hangar #123 yesterday.  I'm going to pick him there in a few days when he calls.  Where he is between now and then is a mystery. Is this plane a clue to his current whereabouts?  If you see a tall, good-lookin Kansas City Chiefs fan who belongs in Colorado, give me a call.

...and my baby is happy again.  Thank you Lord for bringing them all home safely.

We have two geriatric cats in our house--Zima, age 17 and Tabitha, age 14.  Neither of these old ladies has much patience for the two dogs.  The dogs take full advantage of the aged felines and routinely eat their food and disrupt their naps.  We recently decided to make a safe "dog-free zone" for these ladies.  By adding a gate to the door of one of our spare rooms and cutting a hole that only the cats would fit through, we created a space just for cats.  However, the cats like to be comfortable so their needed their own bed.  They now have a queen size bed. Now they're happy kitties, especially if a sunbeam shines into their room and they get to enjoy it without interruption from the dogs. Of course, if you want to come visit we'll make the kitties share their room.

Brian's unit is leaving Iraq today.  He'll be in Kuwait for a day or two then he'll be on his way home.  I thank God for keeping him safe this last year and I ask his continued blessing for a safe journey home. It has been a long year for Jillian, but she did a great job supporting her warrior while he served his country. 199 days until the wedding!

 On Saturday night we headed to Falcon stadim for the next to last home game for the AF Falcons. The game started at 5:30. It was a beautiful day for football. Then the sun went down.  It was a little cold.   We decided to leave at half time.  The Falcons were having a rough time.  Then we heard on the radio that they rebounded.  The final score was Utah 28 - Falcons 23.  Pretty good showing considering Utah is ranked #15.  If only AF could have held onto the ball (5 turnovers). It was fun.  Next game is November 13 vs. UNM (the worst college team in the country).

Pappy is getting Mr. Beans ready for his secret mission. Did anyone see where Mr. Beans went?  I can't find him. Bella is ready! Mr. Beans is not afraid of spooky old trees and ghosts! Or skeletons either! Don't mess with Mr. Beans' mom! Mission accomplished! Happy Halloween!!