August 2 2009

As most of you know we lost one of our brightest last month. Scott Burkitt was killed in a one car accident & as he requested his organs were donated to help others. According to the doctors,Scotty, by his donation helped to save 6 lives. The memorial service was July 25th & was a great tribute to Scotty. All of our children & most of their spouses were able to be there. It was a time for all of us to visit & to renew our faith & to realize that we never know when God will call us Home. Mark, Amy & family still need our support during this trying time. Everyone has gone back to their various homes & jobs & the tendency is to get all involved in our lives & forget about the things that have happened. I urge you to remember that it could just have well been one of your own that this unfortunate accident happened to. So praise God for His blessings & remember to pray for Mark & Amy. Since I last wrote to you spring has gone & we are almost half way through the summer months. It has been unseasonably cool these last few days & my tomatoes aren't ripening like the should. But the weatherman says that we it is going to be warmer this next week so they will probably ripen fast now. I have dug about half of my potatoes & have over 100 pounds. I will have sweet potatoes later & maybe a few carrots. We have seen deer & a groundhog in our front yard as well as the many birds that flock to the feeders. There are rabbits & ground squirrels & occasionly I get a whiff of a skunk when I go out in the evening. All things considered it has been a great year. The Yankees & the White Sox are winning & Tiger is back on the golf course. I think that I will close & go watch him play. So long until next time and Gob bless all who read my ramblings. Gramps

Spring 2009

March came in like a lamb and went out like a lion, But overall we had a great spring. I was able to get my garden tilled early but then had to wait for it to quit raining long enough to plant. I did get my potatoesa in early and we are now enjoying potatoes from our garden. I picked enough green beans that we had green beans and new potatoes for the 4th of July. I had a problem keeping ahead of the weeds due to trhe weather, but am now keeping them under control, Had a great Memorial Day weekend. Kathy and Kent came in on Friday and stayed a couple of days. My 80th birthday was the 26th so we celebrated during the weekend. K & K gave me a gift card to Home depot & Lane sent me one to LL Bean. Had phone calls from everyone plus lots of best wishes on facebook. Marsha & Scott got me on of those traveling sprinklers. It works great. I just lay the hose down & put the guide wheel on the hose & turn the water on, It follows the water hose & waters the lawn as it moves. Due to all of the rain this spring I have had to mow the lawn at least once a week. I just mowed it today for the 4th time. Sure am thankful for a good riding mower. June 30th was Iva's 78th birthday. We didn't do anything special. I had ordered her a Kindle DX from Amazon. It arrived early, so by the time her birthday arrived she had already downloaded several books & is really enjoying it. For those of you who do not know what a Kindle DX is check it out on www.amazon.com. A couple of weeks ago I looked out our patio door & saw a deer in our front yard. She just wandered around like she was looking the place over. We saw her again the next day in the cornfield that is west of us. We have lots of birds at our feeders & like to sit here & watch them. The other night we had a whirlwind go through our trees & it dislodged a robin's nest. The next morning it was on the ground along with 4 baby birds. The mother robin fed one of them until it was able to hunt for its own food. I don't know what happened to the other 3. I didn't see any sign of them when I mowed that area today. Robin was here for part of the weekend. She had her grandson (zamen) with her. He is 2 1/2 & is quite a handful. I took him for a ride on the mower & he liked that, but he kept turning the engine of & then didn't know why it stopped running. The first 2 weeks of summer have been pretty nice, not to hot in the daytime & cool at night. I think that will change next week though. I expect to see some triple didit temperatures before we get through this summer. We have had 2 more greats added to our family. Both boys & both born in June. About a week apart. We also added another granddaughter with Lane & Karla's adoption on a little Chinese girl. So our family just keeps growing. Melody is expecting & Chad & Sarah are getting married when he comes back fro Afganhastan. I am about to run out of space so will have to close for now. May all who read this be blessed of God & enjoy the riches of His blessings. Gramps C

February 28 2009

Winter is still with us. We had 2-3" of snow yesterday and 30+ mph north wind. There have been enough warm days the past 2 weeks to cause the trees to start budding & I am thinking seriously about ordering seeds to start plants for my garden. We now have a new granddaughter. Lane & Karla just arrived back home from China where they picked up their adopted daughter. Her name is Genvieve & she is 2 years of age. Lani & part of her family met them at the airport. Lane & Karla's boys were there as well. lane called today & filled us in on their trip. We had our first visitor to our birdfeeder today. A pair of goldfinches showed up this morning for a short visit, then I saw the male return this afternoon. He still has his winter coat and is not as colorful as he will be later on. Marsha & I pulled up the carpet in our dining room & relaced it with a cermic coated tile. we will do the kitchen next & maybe the bathroom. Scott hired to men to put in our sliding glass door in the dining room. we now have a well lit room & a great view to the West. Becca & Kristi rode their horses into the yard to get a good look at our new sliding glass door. We love it! That's all folks. time to say goodnight and may God be your friend & guide through the coming days. He will never let you down. Love & prayers Gramps

Winter on the plains

Winter has come to the plains of Nebraska, and to the rest of the country as well. We haven't had the snow that Chip and Chelly have had, but we have had wind and sub zero temperatures. I don't venture outside any more than I have to. I also don't stay out any longer than I need to. A lot has happened since I last wrote any news. Another granddaughter was added to our family last year and there will be at least 2 more grandchildren this year. My garden supplied us with lots of tomatoes, potatoes,sweet potatoes and a few green beans. Marsha supplied us with enough sweetcorn so that we were able to put some in the freezer. There is nothing quite so satisfying as setting down to a table and eating food that you have grown. We were looking at the seed catalogs yesterday to decide what we will be growing this year. During the cold winter days we spend a lot of time reading. Central City has a good library and we take advantage of it. I visit it about every 2 weeks and we uaually manage to read 5 or 6 books in that length of time. I hope that you have Rebecca's blog on your computer. Her stories about her time in Africa and the time that the choir was here in Nebraska are really good. She has a way with words that is truly a gift from God. I just read her latest entry and am truly amazed at what she has to say. Lane is in Toronto this week and will be going to Shanghi. The client that he is worling for has plants in Totonto, Shanghi and Luxembourg. He will be viaitig all 3 plants during the next 2 weeks. He is hoping that he will be able to be home the weekend of the 24th. I suppose that everyone is healthy and busy. Robin calls almost everyday and Lani usually calls on a weekly basis. Mark, Amy and kids visited after Christmas. David was home over the holidays and wanted to visit. He is considering going back to collage and getting an engieering degree, which we encouraged him to do. We are always happy to hear from our children and grandchildren. It is time to close this letter, so I will say goodnight and May god's richest blessings be yours. Dad/Gramps

More ramblings

It has been almost 1 year since I last wrote in my blog. It isn't because I don't have the time, but it is mostly due to the fact that I haven't taken the time to write. I enjoy reading my son Chip's blog as well as those of some of my grand daughter's. last week when I was talking to Chip he wanted to know when I was going to write some more. So Chip this is for you. We are glad that winter is over and that spring is putting its new face upon the earth. we enjoy seeing the birds flock to our feeders, especially the finches. It is fun to see the male goldfinches chang from their dull winter coat to the shiny golden spring feathers. They don't loose all of their winter feathers at the same time, but every week we have noticed the change in their color. The trees are getting their new leaves and I noticed today that the lawn is starting to show some green. I think that the inch of rain that we had last night had something to do with that. I have my tomato plants ordered and am planning to plant potatoes this week, weather permitting. Our German shepard puppy is growing by leaps and bounds. She is 4 months old now and loves to be outdoors. I guess that I am about rambled out for tonight. so will sign off by wishing all read this the very best of times and may God and his angels watch over everyone. Gramps

Deer in the yard

We had just finished eating and were cleaning up. I had just turned my computer on when my wife said "honey there is a deer in our front yard". Now this may not seem like a big thing to some of you, but for someone who has lived in Lincoln & the vicinity for the last 30 years, it was exciting. I ran to the window and looked out to see this big doe eating out of the bird feeder that I put out for the blackbirds & starlings. Now I know what happened 2 nights ago. We had a storm & it rained most of the night. The wind had been blowing all day and we had some gusts of 30 mph. I didn't think much about when I looked out the next morning & the tray for the feeder was on the ground, actualy it was leaning up against the base just like someone had put it there. We thought that it may have been a deer but I couldn't find any tracks. I dismissed it as a freak of nature. Now I have changed my mind. We have a deer in the area that likes bird seed. I have my tomato plants in & thet are doing great, Potatoes & beans are growing & the rain came at just the right time. I will have to rethink my fencing of the garden though. Chicken wire will not keep the deer out. With those long legs she can just step over my fence. I will have to do some research on keeping deer out of the garden. My workshop is coming along. I moved all of my power tools in last week & have started the process of deciding where the tools will be located. I purchased 4 flourescent shop lights & have 2 of them up. I think that I will have to put in some more outlets. I am considering putting in another circuit just for the saws. We put up finch feeders & have been enjoying watching the finches vying for positions on the perches. We have seen as many as 6 at one time at the 2 feeders. We also have orioles coming to our feeders as well as sparrows & blackbirds. Chelly told us how to really attract the orioles, cut an orange in half & put it on the feeder support. The orioles drink the juice & eat the pulp. The other birds don't bother the oranges. We are constanly amazed at God's goodness. We are so blest. I think that I have about rambled down, it is time for this old man to fold up his computer & think about hitting the hay. Goodnight & God bless each of you. Gramps

April 19 2007 Well April is more than 1/2 over & I still haven't planted my potatoes. I did get the garden spot tilled, but I need to go over it again after I finish spreading the compost on it. I hauled 5 wheelbarrow loads yesterday & am not finished yet. I mowed the lawn & discovered the site where the previous resident deposited the grass clippings. I now have plenty of mulch for my tomato plants(when I get them planted). I did put out my onion sets & rhubarb. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day and enough energy in this old body to accomplish all that I want to get done. I usually run out of steam about 2 in the pm & have to take a break. That usually mans a short nap & reading a couple of chapters in my current book. Then it is time to think about what we are going to have for supper. Maybe you call it dinner, but it has always been supper to me and i am too old to change now. The friendly neighborhood gophers are still around. I have eliminated 3 of them so far, but I don't believe that is all of them. There are too many tunnels for just 3 gophers. I went on line yesterday just to see what other people are doing about the problem. After reading several suggested methods of disposing of the varmits I have come to the conclusion that whatever works for you is the best method. The farmers are out in full force now that the fields are dry and the weather is a little warmer. Huge tractors pulling even bigger tilling equipment and planters are either in the fields or going from one field to the next. If you are unlucky enough to get stuck behind one, just slow down and wait for it to go into the field. It is too big to go around it. Another windy day. I guess that I shouldn't be surprised, after all this is the plains of Nebraska and the wind is a constant source of conversation around here. God must have decided that we needed something to complain about so He sends the wind. I just wish that it didn't blow so hard sometime. Speaking of God seems like we need to be constantly praying for His help. Between the politicians and someone taking out his hate on fellow students and teachers, there just is no end of things to pray about. I think that it was Paul who said we are to pray without ceasing and that sure is true in these troubled times. But Praise God one of these days He will say it is enough and will set in motion the events that will finally complete His plan for His people. I look forward to the day when there will be a complete and perfect peace and there will be no more war or sorrow or suffering. God will take it all away. I will get off of my soap box now and stop my Rambling from Nebraska for this time. Until next time remember that God loves you He really does. Gramps