Hello!  How have you all been?  Sounds like winter is in full swing back in Minnesota and freezing cold.  I feel for ya 🙂  It has been raining for the past few day so I thought I would update the blog.  The weather people have been talking freezing rain, snow and sleet here for the past few days.  They treat this weather just like Minnesotans treat their blizzards.  The cities have gone so far  as to close schools and businesses the day before the storm hits.  That is just in anticipation of the ice storm!  That would never happen in Minnesota. Of course, they only have, like, 12 plows in Memphis.  They must just be sanding and salting the highways there.  We have decided to hunker down and take naps and watch the boob tube till this blows over.  I left Minnesota to get away from the freezing rain so I wouldn’t kill myself walking around on slick sidewalks and roads.  I certainly don’t want to do it here.

Most of you from Sunnyside have probably heard already but Mike and Beccie McCarville from Lil Red Tug showed up here around the 8th and stayed for the weekend.  We were able to go out to eat with them a few times and share some cocktails while they were here. We shared our adventures but some of theirs were way more exciting than anything we had.  I’m glad we didn’t have any adventures like they had.  They have a blog too, it is http://www.lilredtug.com, Mike said he was going to get it updated.  Check it out to see how their trip is going.

On November 14th, my brother Tim drove our van down from Minnesota so we could make the trip back for the big birth of our first Grandchild.  We were hoping we could hang around here with Tim for a few days before we headed back but Jenny called us while we were giving Tim a ride on the boat.  The midwife felt the baby may be 10 pounds.  Wow, that would be a keeper :).  But because of the size of the baby, they wanted to do some things to move along her labor.  She told us she was going in for acupuncture and the person had a 70% success rate.  Acupuncture?  What happened to going bowling, eating spicy food and having sex to start labor?  Will modern medicine never cease to amaze?  Well, we figured we better hustle back to Minnesota.

On November 15th we headed out at 6 AM.  We almost got to the end of the long marina drive when I realized I forgot the bread.  That would have been a furry mess by the time we got back, so back to the boat for the bread.  Then on the road again.  Not too long into the ride Smokie uses the litter box.  Good kitty!  We are off to a good start.  I decide to give him some water.  What does he do?  He walks from his litter box into his water dish.  Crap, now his dish has litter in it.  Smokie!  Bad kitty!  He finally lays down and the miles roll on. This Dodge Caravan we have purchased as our “support vehicle” is very comfortable and roomy.  We call it a “support Vehicle” cause heaven forbid we are driving around in a minivan, those are for Soccer Moms, not for world travels such as ourselves ;). We are glad we bought it.  A few hours down the road Smokie pukes.  He pukes in the litter box though.  Good kitty!  Oh Oh.  He pukes again, this time his face falls in the litter and he gets litter all over his tongue.  ICKY!  He starts spitting and sputtering to get it off his tongue.  Poor kitty!  He is a trooper though to handle a 15 hour drive back to Minnesota.

I take over driving around 12:30.  Buckle up!  Colleen is driving now.  As we are driving along we are comparing the routes on the two Garmins we have.  Ours was just updated this spring, Tim’s is over 5 years old and had never been updated.  The Garmins have us taking different routes.  It is interesting so see how the roads must have changed over the years.

As we are driving along it suddenly smells like s—.  Did Smokie take a dump?  No….it is just cow manure.  The roads are good, but as you know, it gets dark so early now.  I am still driving and we just pull from a from 2 lane down to 1 lane and dang it, we have a semi in front of us that is poking along.  I decide to go for it and pass the semi.  Whew!  That was a close one :).  Sniff, sniff.  What is that smell?  It smells like s—.  Whoops, did I make Gary and Tim poop in their pants from that close passing of the semi?  No…it is only cows again.  After Gary’s heart rate returns to normal, he tells me he is impressed with the power of the van :).  He probably won’t let me drive on any more 1 lane roads on the way home.

We finally get to my sister Debbie’s house at 8 to drop Tim off so he can get his car and drive the 2 hour drive home.  Thanks Tim for coming to get us.  Sorry Debbie, can’t stay, Jenny is holding dinner for us.  We rush to Jenny’s house.  No baby, barely a cramp.  It is going to be a long wait.  We spend the next week hanging around Jenny and Mark’s house while they go to doctor appointments.  The Midwife will try several things to get the ball rolling.  Jenny is having labor pains but they don’t seem to last long nor are they consistent.  While we wait for baby’s Victor’s arrival, I text Pat to find out how Smokie is doing.  Apparently Smokie was a little cranky after his 15 hour drive.  He hissed at Pat a few times the first night.  Poor kitty.  Hopefully Smokie will get used to it, this won’t be the last time he’ll have a long car ride.

About 9:00 P.M., on November 21st, Jenny thinks her water broke so it is off to the hospital they go.  We follow after gathering a few items.  We find her all set up in a Labor room already.  Jenny wants me to stay in the room with her and Mark, Gary decides to get out of the way and waits out in the waiting room.  By 3 AM, Jenny is just not progressing like they want her to.  They decide to induce her.  By 7 AM I come back into the room and Jenny is on oxygen and the baby’s heart rate is dipping every time there is a contraction.  By 7:45 the baby is in distress.  Time to get that baby out NOW!  They take Jenny in for a C-section.  Both Mark and I are a little freaked.  Good thing Martha is there to calm us down.  By 830 Victor is born

Victor

7 lbs 13 1/2 ozs, 21 1/2 inches long.  I must say, he is pretty cute!

Baby Love

Mom and Baby are fine.

Gary and I just stay to celebrate Thanksgiving with family.  That was a good time and too much food as usual.  We decide to head out early on Black Friday but we are going to stop in Hannibal, MO to check out some of the historical sites around there.

We get to Hannibal by around 3 or so.  We have already made reservations at a Best Western hotel.  We are hoping we can sneak Smokie in because it is going to be cold at night.  Luckily we can get him in.  He makes himself right at home

Do you mind? I’m trying to take a bath here.

So, as long as Smokie was making himself at home we decided to check out the historical town.   Of course we couldn’t stay away from any marina in sight.  We came along the Hannibal Marina.  We had passed it while we were traveling down by boat and Gary commented that it looked like the slips were listing.  They were

Docks on shore

The water is down so far that the docks are in the mud.  There is a 1969 Chris Craft Aqua home there like the one we used to have.  Apparently the owner of that boat keeps it in the water all year round.  But….it looks funny

Listing Chris Craft

Look!  Those are his bumbers (or fenders depending upon who you talk to :)) that are way above the dock.  What the????? OMG!

Chris Craft on land

Look at that!  The boat is actually sitting in the mud.  The water has dropped so far there is just water lapping at the mud under the boat.  Man!  That can’t be good for the struts, rudders and props.  Hopefully the owner dug out room for those or he’ll be in for a surprise when the water comes up.

We made it back to the boat without a hitch.  Now we are just hanging around doing normal stuff while we wait to return to the tundra called Minnesota for Christmas.  I will say it is really weird sitting in the pilot house addressing Christmas cards in my shorts.  We won’t be heading farther south until after the 1st of the year.  So this will probably be my last entry till then.  I hope you all have a Merry Christmas.

I leave you with these last pictures.  They have a lighted boat parade and one of our neighbors has entered his boat.  He has spent several days getting it all ready.  It is really beautiful at night.  Have a wonderful day and until next time……….

Boat Decorated

Decorated Boat

More boat

Pretty