Snowy Christmas Eve 2010

The Brockman family in their back yard.

Kenley loved being outside in the snow.

Kim and Kenley enjoying the snow.

A wintry day, glad we were there and did not have to drive far in this stuff.

The motel parking lot and trees. I thought the trees looked great.

Grandma and Kenley standing in the snow.

Had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my daughter and family. The snow was beautiful!

God's Wonderful Handiwork!

These two photos were taken the same morning by two different people from two different areas of our city. Mr. Skelly took one around 7 a.m. and Julie took the other on her way to work, and she starts at 7:30 so I'm sure it was almost the same time.

I love photos like these. It shows how great God really is!

She will be missed

Armilda Jean Sheppard.....Known to many as Jean and to some of us as Grandma. Even tho she is my mother-in-law we called her grandma when Kim was small and never quit calling her Grandma.

This morning she went home to be with Jesus and is not suffering anymore.

We will miss her but knowing she is not suffering will make it easier for the family.

Thank you guys for your prayers for the family.

A mouse I will not kill.

Oh, wait, I do have a mouse in the house. But this mouse I will not kill. Oh, wait he is not alive. He hangs on my refrigerator and peeps out from behind the candle.

This refrigerator magnet is one of my favorite. It was lots of fun to make and I have put it on my refrigerator for the Christmas season.

Unwanted Guests

Oh, yes, have you ever had any unwanted Guests? This past week we discovered that we had a unwanted guest.

He was not invited into our home. He came unannoucned and unwanted.
I heard him in the bedroom and Paco heard and saw him in his cage....When I got up to see, Paco was hissing at me like a snake.... not knowing why Paco was falling off his stick at night. Then sitting here eating breakfast, this 4 legged creature runs across the living room floor and across the counter down thru the stove and away......OH NO....GO AWAY...

One of my girl friends named him.....Hemmr-Hoid....because he is a pain in my rear. :)

I bought a trap, but it didn't work. So I got sticky paper and a clip like trap. Bated it with peanut butter...
The first night to no avail....
But the second night before it got dark wham..... I got him.
He simply could not go anywhere on that sticky paper.



I ended up using the flash light to completely put him out of his misery... I rebated the clip like trap and the next night caught his mate.

If any of you out there have any problems with these 4 legged guests in your house...This clip like trap works great.

I also bought moth balls that Bud threw under the trailer in hopes of keeping any more from coming into our home. Mice and spiders do not like moth balls.

Since I have caught them, Paco has not fell off his stick at night time. I would say they were having a feast in the bird cage....it was a buffet for them.
Hope none of their cousins were out there. If they came in with them, they have not made themselves known to us yet. But I am ready. The trap is still on the kitchen counter.

Traveling by plane can sometimes take a long time.

When arriving at Sioux Falls to get my plane on Saturday morning.
There was this lady who came to the States to see her brother from Brazil. She spoke very little English. Her brother helped her check in and gave them information where to reach him if they needed him.

And finally arriving at the gate. There were tons of people. My first thoughts were, I sure hope these people are not waiting for our plane.
There was a young man who came thru security just behind me. He was going to be in airports all day. And stated that it would be a very long time before he got to where he was going to go. With a number of different airport stops before he got to his destination.

I don't remember where he told me that he was going.
Then there came this lady, I would say she was older then me. She sat down beside me and started talking. She had been at the airport since 4:30 a.m. they were to fly out at 5:30 and their air plane had a fuel leak. She declared the pilot who brought the plane in knowing the emergency light was on when he left Chicago early that morning should be fired.
The fuel leak was so bad there was fuel on the ground....The pilot who was to take it back to Chicago refused to take that plane and all of those passengers had to wait till the brought in another plane to fly them to Chicago.

As I left Sioux Falls this is what I saw and I had to wonder if that was the plan that needed repair. It is sitting away from the run way at a not so normal spot to see planes.


Back to the lady. As she sat there she and I talked about the fact that they were lucky to have found the leak and refused to fly the plane, that it might have saved their lives.

I do not know why but she proceeded to tell me that her second husband was murdered. And how her daughter was in an abusive marriage, etc.
She said her grandkids didn't believe it that her husband was murdered.. So she had to send them a copy of the newspaper clipping to prove it to them. And that it was on tv in later years.
It was as tho she needed a sounding post and I was that post. I just let her talk. Figured she could relieve some of her frustration of having missed her future connections and might not even get to go home that day.

When I finally got to Chicago I knew that I had a 3 hour 55 minute lay over. So I was not in a hurry to get off the plane and to the next gate. Taking my time getting there and finally finding my gate, I passed a McDonalds. And since I was hungry I got myself my favorite---a McRib meal.

Sitting there reading and waiting, I had a lot of time to observe people.

Couple one.... retired.... came flying in and sat across from me. Her carry on fell over and she picked it up, and he said something to her then got up went away from the sitting area in 1/2 a huff. When he came back---he had a McDonald's bag. As he sat down he proceeded to give his wife one thing after the other out of his bag.... rammed a napkin onto her lap, then the sandwich, very gruff looking and in a really foul mood. She sat there calmly and never said a word. Later I saw them when they boarded their plane. He was ahead of her and left her to deal with the bags. Had to simply wonder "Why was he in such a terrible mood?"

The next thing I knew there was this much, much older couple who sat down on the same row I was in leaving one empty seat between us. Oh, what a sweet couple.... She sweetly ask him if he was okay and if he was hungry. He assured her that he was fine just tired, and yes it would be lovely to have something to eat. Sweetly he told me they were in route To Rochester.
He looked oh so frail..... When she returned with their McDonalds it was so sweet to watch them help each other with their food, Such tender loving care they showed between them.Then it dawned on me...I don't think they were going home. The were going to Rochester..... where the Mayo Clinic is... and he did look awful frail. I truly hope that if that was where they were going, that the Doctors were able to do something to help them. They were so sweet!


Boom, here comes a lady and plops down between us. She took one look at me and said , " I have been away and on air planes for over 24 hours. I am so glad this is the last leg of my journey."
She was hard to understand. Her accent told me that she was not born in the United States.
More like a British or Sweden accent.. (I'm not good at deciphering where from) But a sweet lady who was totally exhausted.

I had to wonder....are there people out there watching me and what are they thinking about me?
Hoping that perhaps speaking to the lady about Thanking God at being alive and listening that just perhaps I made a little bit of a difference in her life that day.

Not your typical Hotel on a Friday night.

Normally on a Friday night when you are in a hotel you hear people. Kids running up and down the hallways. UNLESS YOU ARE IN CANISTOTA, South Dakota and are a guest at the Ortman Hotel.

To the right of my door.

To the left of my door.

Even the kitchen area on the 3rd floor was empty of people.

All week there were people in these halls and in the kitchen. Especially around meal time, since a lot of the Amish cooked their own meals... One night they even made pizza in the micro wave. I waited for a little while then run water thru the coffee pot to get hot water for a cup of tea.

They told me it was good, but I know it took forever for them to get it cooked till it was done.

But Come Friday noon, this place became like a ghost town. I believe I was the only guest that was staying the night in this hotel on Friday night.

One Amish lady from Indiana ask if I was going to be afraid. Jokingly I looked into her eyes and with a glimmer of silliness said.."Oh, I will definitely be scared..Cause you guys are not down the hallway from me!"

No, I was not afraid. This was not the first night that I have spent the Friday night alone in this hotel. Knowing the front door was locked and that the people who run the restaurant had an apartment upstairs on the 4th floor , God was there with me. I was not afraid.

You see, most people when they come to this town for treatments leave town after their treatments on Friday morning. But, since my plane did not leave till Saturday I stayed the extra night. Rick was worried about me getting my suit case downstairs since the elevator is VERY, VERY OLD and they have to run it, and nobody would be there on Saturday morning to do so.

I told him not to worry, I only had one suit case and it would simply slide it down the stairway.

I had to laugh before I went when his wife, Trish had called me questioning the fact that I was booked for the Friday night also. As it was a bit unusual since all the guests normally left on Friday morning.

My reply to her was, "But Trish, I really do not want to sleep out in the cold that night. Yes, I want the Friday night also as Joni is not taking me back to the airport till early Saturday morning."

The restaurant closes on Friday at 2 p.m and reopens for Sunday Brunch. So Saturday morning I finished off my cereal that I had in my room. Disposed of all my uneaten food and made my way to the lobby to wait for my ride.