Solar Eclipse 2024 - April 5-9

On Friday, April 5, Bill and I travelled in the RV to Cape Girardeau to spend a long weekend with the Missouri Whitakers and watch the solar eclipse on Monday.  Owen, Evangeline and Laura have April birthdays, so we will celebrate them as well. It always takes us longer than we expect, almost 8 hours on the road.  I was excited to see the kids and they were excited to see us.  We spent most of the day Saturday around the house, just playing and hanging out.  Our only excursion was a trip to Walmart with all four kids in tow to buy groceries for the weekend. I bought a pork butt and got in in the crock pot for BBQ later Laura and Mike arrived later in the afternoon.  It was a nice day so we had burgers and hot dogs on the grill.  More games and March Madness on TV.  These two were peas in a pod watching the game:

Grandad and Owen

Sunday morning the Whitaker family went to church.  I shredded the pork and cleaned up the mess.  We will have a baked potato bar for supper with pulled pork for those who want it. For lunch, I made bacon and pancakes. We had a fun afternoon which included watching more March Madness.  After supper, we shared birthday gifts with Owen, Evangeline and Laura.

Home from church

Pancake brunch

Fun and games

John doing his own thing

Spectating

Owen's cardboard box creation, a ring toss game.  This was part of his birthday party activities.

Monday, April 8 - Eclipse Day.  

We were invited to the farm of a friend of David's who was hosting an eclipse viewing party.  They had a beautiful place just outside of town, a perfect setting.  We arrived early enough to set up and have our picnic lunch. The eclipse was amazing (but my pictures are not.)  

A beautiful setting

Getting ready

Friends and family gathered to share this awesome event

Progressing

We were surprised that event with just a crescent of sun, we still had lots of light.

Totality

Sunset effect

When the eclipse was finally over, Bill, Laura, Mike and I drove downtown and walked out to the riverfront. 

Downtown  Cape Girardeau

Looking upstream toward Cape Rock

Back at home, we had another pleasant afternoon on the deck and playing in the yard.  There was a selection of left-overs for supper and one final March Madness game.  

Snowed In! - Jan 14 - 24

January 14: Temperatures dropped all day and it started snowing after dark.  

10:30 pm

January 15:  Low 25, High 31; snowed all day.

By noon, 

By 2:15 pm there was about 5 inches

By 6:45 we had almost 9 inches and still snowing

January 16: Snow has finally stopped falling but the temperatures kept falling, from 24 down to 9 in the afternoon.

We ended up with almost a foot of snow!

January 17, 3 pm, I finally ventured out and walked a down to the corner.

January 19: Highs are still barely above freezing at 34 and overnight low was 11.  Not much progress melting, despite the sun.

The pond is still completely snowed under.

Chili time!

Day 4 and the snow is still deep and we aren't going anywhere!

January 20: We are finally seeing some melt from the sun, but temperatures remain below freezing, down to 7 last night.

January 23:  Yesterday and today the afternoons have warmed, today to 56.  We were able to get the KIA out yesterday, but the 2nd driveway is still too slick to risk the RV.  We were scheduled to leave for our Florida trip yesterday.  Maybe tomorrow!

January 24: On the 12th day the ice and snow finally began to melt but we still didn't feel like it was safe to get the RV down one driveway and up the other. Instead we spent the day finishing our packing and preparations in anticipation of a Thursday morning departure. 

Begin Again - Jan 3 - 14

January is a time for new beginnings, maybe some resolutions to improve myself, maybe just get back into a "normal" non-holiday routine.  Jan 1 and 2 carried forward the holiday. David's family was with us and Laura's family, minus Claire, joined in celebrating the day. The Whitaker's got away at 9 am on the 2nd, so we had all day to clean up and put the house back to normal.  We even had time for walk.  On the 3rd, since we had nothing scheduled, we took down the tree and packed away Christmas until next year.

Wayne B had a fall on Christmas Eve so Wayne and Kathy's Christmas holiday was spent in the hospital.  He suffered a few broken ribs, no head injuries.  His limited mobility is now further limited by pain and weakness.  After more than a week, he was transferred to Knoxville Rehabilitation Hospital.  There he received excellent care and therapy, but recovering even limited mobility will be a long process.  Our hearts go out to both of them.

On Thursday, Yoga resumed.  It was great to see friends and stretch my body.  Friday, I had lunch with Marie at Mimi's in Turkey Creek.  I always enjoy our time together.

Friday was also the occasion for a family birthday celebration, mine!  Laura and Mike hosted, Amanda was there and Kathy was able to come as well.  Laura, with my consent, chose take-out from our new Indian cafe.  We all enjoyed the different flavors of Indian food. 

My actual birthday, Saturday January 6, started at the One Heart Community Closet at Church.  I worked there with Monica and Raquel.  We had about 10 clients.  Bill took me out to dinner to celebrate.  We chose Conner's in Turkey Creek.  It was wonderful.  I started with their calamari appetizer. For my entree I chose the small filet.  They are well known for both.  I was delighted with the evening.

Sunday was an unusually busy day.  Sunday School and church as usual, then a funeral visitation for Denim Beeler, a young man about Laura's age who succumbed to cancer, leaving a wife and two sons.  From there, I went back to Trinity for the Habitat Kick-off Celebration and Dedication.  We had a good crowd representing the four UMC churches who are partnering for a build, Central, First Farragut, Loudon, and Trinity. The lot where the house will be built is just a couple of blocks from Trinity.  Then some of our Trinity people gathered back at church to "undecorate" and share a bowl of Chili courtesy of Walter.

Habitat Kick-off

Blessing the building site

Monday continued the busy schedule, starting with UMW meeting at 10:30.  I picked up Susan so she didn't have to drive.  After the meeting, I made it back home before 1 pm to meet my new house-cleaners, Monica and her mom and cousin.  Monday ended with a Finance/Admin Council meeting back at church.  Whew!

Tuesday's big event was a hair cut.  Wednesday, I attended the GSC Exec Board meeting as acting secretary and later visited Jim A.  He is not doing well. Thursday was Yoga as usual.

Friday, January 12, Laura had rotator cuff surgery.  She was home under Mike's excellent care by mid-afternoon.  Friday's weather was unusual.  The high temperature of the day was 58 at midnight as temps fell steadily all day.  

Sunday was another day of falling temps, starting at 43 and falling to 28.  We had a guest speaker from Wesley House Community Center.   After church, we had our regular Meet & Greet lunch.  On Saturday, I baked a spiral ham, cooled, deboned and plated it for my contribution.  I had no left-over to bring home, but I had left-overs from the unsliced portion.  Before dark, snow began to fall.  We had no idea what we were in for! 

Just the beginning, 10:26 pm Sunday night, Jan 14

Christmas Holiday

Christmas Morning:

Mike, Laura, Claire and Amanda spent  Christmas Eve night with us as they have done almost every year for 20 years.  We had our traditional taco supper after the Christmas Eve service at Trinity.  We didn't have to get going too early Christmas morning since everybody is grown up.  The girls "Santa" gifts are still laid out for Christmas morning.  We had fun and plenty of gifts to open.  Our Christmas Day celebration lasted until mid afternoon when everyone was ready for a nap.

December 26:

David's family arrived early afternoon.  The Matzeks came over and we had Christmas all over again.  Such fun to have everyone together!

I am so bad at selfies!

Owen is catching up to Claire.

Wednesday, December 27: John David's 5th Birthday!

We started the day with a pancake breakfast for John with the whole gang (except Mike who had to work)!  I was too busy making pancakes for 11 people to take any pictures.  

After lunch, David and Trisha left for their Campus Movement Christmas Conference in Chattanooga.  Owen, Allison, Evangeline and John David will be with us until they return on New Year's Eve.

Claire and Amanda came over every day and played with the younger kids.  We didn't do anything special, just played a lot!

December 29

Craft day for the girls and science project day for Owen.  He did a good job setting up and carrying out his experiment testing the acidity of household substances by comparing the volume of CO2 bubbles produced.  Allison and Evangeline picked up embroidery very quickly using a kit I gave them for Christmas.

December 30

More games, indoor and out.  Clue, BananaGrams, Stomp Rockets. Fun!

December 31

David and Trisha made it back for late lunch.  We all went to the Matzek's for supper and celebration, but we didn't stay up to see in the New Year!

January 1

New Year's Day at our house with hearty snacks for the big UT football game, the Cheez-it Citrus Bowl!  We won!  We all enjoyed our last day of beging together.

January 2

They were loaded and ready to leave by 9 am.  We had a great holiday and will miss them all.

We got the house back in order by mid-afternoon.  It was a nice day, so we went for a walk by the river.