The Blue Angels

The U.S. Navy Blue Angels flight demonstration team is in town for an air show this weekend. The F-18s have been practicing their maneuvers over our house all week, and I have been loving every minute of it! Each time I hear one of the jets go screeching past I run outside to have a look. I have taken, or rather attempted to take, about 20 pictures of the speedy planes, but have not had much luck. They are simply too fast and disappear out of the frame before I can snap the photo. I do have a lot of lovely pictures of plain, old blue sky! Here are a few shots where I actually got a Blue Angel or two in the picture.

Here is one jet zipping over our neighbor's house.

Two F-18s in the bottom of the pic flying over our backyard.
I snapped this photo in the nick of time!

Mini Netbook

I recently became the proud owner of a brand new mini netbook computer. Lately, I have been increasingly envious of people using their iPhones and Blackberry phones and iTouch-type devices to access the internet almost anywhere. I knew that Jim would never want me to spring for anything that required monthly payments, though, especially because our current cell phone plan is so reasonable. (Cheap) Then, I saw a commercial on television for a mini netbook. Sold! Mine weighs a bit over 2 pounds and has a 10-inch screen on which I can actually see things. Or, at times when type is unusually small, I can easily enlarge the website. The netbook came complete with a wireless card, so I can connect to the internet anywhere there is a wireless signal. It is advertised that you can carry it around in your purse, but, really, I would have to empty everything out of mine to fit the computer inside. I love the size, though. It is the perfect cross between an iPhone and a laptop.

Horsing Around

On Saturday, Jacob attended a four-hour "Equestrian Camp" sponsored by our community's leisure services program. Who knew that there was a riding stable tucked off a rural road only 10 minutes from our house? The camp promised to teach students how to groom, handle, saddle, and ride horses. As I suspected, "handling" included grabbing a pitchfork and cleaning poop out of the stalls in the barn. Much to my surprise, Jacob claimed that tossing horse feces into a wagon wasn't nearly as gross as he had anticipated. During their actual lesson, the teacher initially guided the horses around with a rope before letting the students ride on their own. Apparently, Jacob caught on quickly, and was able to "trot" his mare, which, for some reason, impressed and excited the instructor. When we picked him up after class, Jacob raved about how much he looooved everything having to do with horseback riding. This could prove to be an even pricier gig than his fleeting interest in guitar, tae kwon do, drama, and swimming combined. I will have to be cautious about what classes I sign him up for in the future.

Keweenaw in Pictures

We arrived back home yesterday evening after a stop at the Soo Locks and an uneventful drive down I-75. Here are some pictures from our trek to "The Copper Country."

Richie, Jacob, and Jim decked out for the mine tour.

We had fun digging holes at the beach. Richie actually climbed into his creation.

Jacob and Jim at the Keweenaw County snow-mometer.

The boys found a nice waterfall.

Jacob and I at the top of Brockway Mountain Drive.
(It was very windy and I didn't want my hair to get messed up.)

Jacob and Richie climbed up "Jacob's Falls" near Eagle River.

I think Jake enjoyed the BBQ ribs at the Michigan House restaurant.

The Upper Peninsula

Our trip to the U.P. has been nice and relaxing after the frantic-ness of last week. We toured a copper mine, hung out at the beach, ate pasties, and visited numerous northern Michigan tourist attractions. If nothing else, our travels over the past few days have shown us that many people in the upper peninsula lead much slower-paced lives than we do - particularly the people that work in restaurants up here. I'm not saying that the waitresses we have encountered haven't been friendly and knowledgeable, but, wow, service has often been excruciatingly slow! I kind of envy folks who take the time to smell the roses, though.

Unfortunately, I do not have any of my camera cords with me, so I will have to wait until we arrive home to download my pictures. We are heading south tomorrow, so I will go through my trip photos and post some of them soon!

On the Road Again

Bev's funeral on Tuesday went quite well. Family, friends, coworkers, and neighbors stopped by the funeral home in droves, and many joined us after the service for hors d'oeuvres and drinks. My niece, Pattye, and her 13-year-old daughter, Jenna, stayed with us the entire day. I cannot begin to tell you how much Jacob appreciated having his cousin by his side during such a difficult ordeal. Jenna - you are awesome!

On Wednesday, we went to the funeral home to pick up flowers, pictures, and paperwork. Jim spoke to people at the bank regarding Bev's accounts, and then made numerous other necessary phone calls. We spent the rest of the day madly doing laundry and packing our suitcases, as we left this morning on our previously-planned trip to the upper peninsula.

Jim, Jacob, Irma, Richie, and I drove to St. Ignace today, and are spending the night at the Kewadin Casino Hotel. We will continue on to Calumet tomorrow, where we plan to frolic on our little piece of Lake Superior property, play tourist, and, eventually catch up with my cousin Dave who is visiting there from California. The weather has been just frightful in the Keweenaw peninsula recently - highs in the 50s, rain, and wind. Luckily for us, the precipitation is supposed to stop and the temperatures are predicted to rise close to 70 degrees. I will try to post some pictures as we travel along.

Her Way

As many of you have heard, my mother-in-law never made her anticipated transition to hospice care. Bev passed away at five o'clock this morning in her hospital room. Fighting pneumonia proved to be too big of a burden for her frail body. Jim and I spent most of today driving from the hospital to the assisted living place to the funeral home to Bev's old house, and here and there and everywhere else in between. Tomorrow will be more of the same, and then the funeral is planned for Tuesday.

Heading to Hospice

My mother-in-law is still in the hospital ICU battling pneumonia and two secondary bacterial infections - not to mention her end-stage emphysema and congestive heart failure. Her lungs are so damaged that the doctors say that even the strongest antibiotics are no match for her afflictions. Even using an oxygen mask with dosage settings as high as they will go (15!), her breathing is extremely labored. The doctors have decided that since she is a "Do Not Resuscitate" patient (her own decision made years ago), they can no longer do anything for her. They have informed us that she will probably not live more than another week, and have suggested that we choose a hospice in which to place her. That will be our task for Friday.

Bev's Alzheimer's is, of course, as prevalent as ever, even though she can barely talk. When I visited her today, I was changing her wall calendar and told her that it was Thursday. In all seriousness, she struggled to whisper to me, "I don't even know anyone named Thursday."

Knowing her, she will most likely outlast the one-week life-expectancy predicted by the hospital physicians.

Flying Wallendas and Fireworks

Every June, our township hosts a three-day-long community festival. There are carnival rides, a car show, concerts, art demonstrations, a parade, food & beverage tents, fireworks, etc. This year, the "Flying Wallendas" were hired to entertain the festival-goers with some of their acrobatic highwire feats. Jim and I were very impressed with their show. Jacob - not so much. But, then, we older folks actually remember the Wallenda family's daredevil stunts from long ago, always performed without safety nets. I vividly recall the fatal fall that took place at the Detroit State Fair Coliseum in 1962, killing two Wallendas. (Not the most pleasant of memories from my youth!)

After partaking in numerous festival activities over the past few days, we invited friends and family over to the house for a little shindig prior to Saturday's pyrotechnic extravaganza. We all drank, snacked, chatted, & played Rockband. The weather cooperated nicely, and the fireworks display was grand, as usual. It was so good to see everyone - I hope we can all get together again soon!

Carla Wallenda on top of the 110-foot high "Swaypole."

Julia sparkled before the fireworks started.

Five Minutes of Fame

Adam returned home on Monday from his 6-week-long Vortex2 tornado chase. Besides catching fleeting glimpses of him on The Weather Channel from time to time during that period, we were excited to discover that some of the pictures Adam had taken were displayed on our local NBC station. Yes, my son emailed photos of his tornado encounter to Channel 4, yet I, his mother, have not yet seen them. He also completed a phone interview with the WDIV meteorologists while he was still on the road. After being preempted twice last week - first for breaking news about some flooding, and then for the final Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup playoff game - Adam's interview and story finally aired on Tuesday. The video of that broadcast is available on the clickondetroit.com website, and is labeled, "UM Students Have Close Encounter With Tornado." See here. If you would like to view the earlier story that Channel 4 televised when Adam sent them his tornado pictures, click here. That one is titled, "Project Studies Tornadoes." The videos will only be available for a few weeks on the WDIV website, but we did tape the one with Adam's interview on our totally-out-of-date-and-humiliatingly-old-fashioned VCR. Hopefully someone we know with a DVR has a copy of one or the other of the Channel 4 stories because eventually our VCR will be obsolete, and our tape will undoubtedly become worthless. I guess that will teach us not to rely on 1990s technology anymore!

What's Up With This?

We came across this sign while we were traveling in Delaware. It was not exactly the most welcoming "Rest Area" we encountered during our trip! We didn't stop there because, obviously, it was not permitted. We are certainly curious to know what Elsie Walker did to deserve her own official "Rest Area," and, at the same time, we are puzzled as to why she does not allow anyone to visit there. Interesting.