Anyone know how to build an ark?

Last night we had a horrific thunderstorm.  Officially we had over 10 inches of rain.  Our rain gauge overflowed at 6 inches so I'm not sure, but I bet it was at least that amount.  There was thunder and lightening and flash flood warnings all night.  Fortunately, it did not flood here, but it did in many parts of Houston.  The day before, there had been a major flood in the hill country.  My brother-in-law Ches (Val's brother) has a vacation house in Wimberly in that area.  They were there for the Memorial day weekend and his neighbor called and woke him.  He looked out the window and the water had come up to his deck.  The little creek he is on had risen over 40 feet in an hour.  About 300 houses were washed away.  Not sure how many deaths.  

Also when we got up today, saw this on our bank going down to the lake out our back door.  I think we had an alligatornado come through.

 We are planning on leaving here on Saturday for the trip to California.  We will stop for a couple of days in Santa Fe and a couple of days in Sedona before heading out to dry, dry California.  With all the smart people in California, why can't someone figure out how to normalize the water in this country??

Starting to think about trip to Carlsbad

Well, spring finally came and we have had a string of gorgeous days punctuated by a few days of torrential rains and high winds.  But I think that it won't be much longer until it starts to get hot.  And that is my clue that we need to start thinking about our annual summer trip to Carlsbad. We are planning to leave here at the end of May and spend a couple of days in Santa Fe and Sedona on our way out, arriving around the 5th of June.  We will be driving Val's new CR-V.  Yes we finally traded in the Acura.  It was still running perfectly and would probably have gone on for another 10 years at least, but Val needed a somewhat smaller car and one that she could really feel was her own.

Fort Sumter

We have not done too much this winter, but we did take a spring trip to Charleston, Beaufort, and Savannah.  Neither of us had been to those old historic cities and we loved it.  There is a lot to see and appreciate.  Charleston was a major city where the Civil War actually started at Fort Sumter.  The fort is a little bitty island in the harbor that still stands, sort of. Charleston was also the center of the slave trade prior to the civil war and there is a museum at the old Slave Mart where this all happened.  


Beaufort is a well preserved city that the Union occupied early in the war so the city was spared the destruction of many other southern cities. There have been a lot of films made in this part of the country including Forrest Gump, Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, The Big Chill and lots of others.  It was interesting to see where some famous scenes were actually filmed.


Savannah is interesting in that it is well preserved and is built around many squares.  If you think about most towns, there is a central square.  But in Savannah there is a square about every other block.  There is a lot of wrought iron like New Orleans and brick and cobblestone streets.  The much of this material was brought from England as ballast on ships and then dumped to make room for cotton, rice, tobacco etc to go back to England.  

Before we came home we went to Charlotte, NC to see the Kings Mountain battlefield that was the site of a major revolutionary war battle where Val ancestors fought to defeat the British.  At the time the war in the north was at a stalemate, and the British were beginning to look to taking over the south.  They occupied a ridge on the SC and NC border called Kings Mountain.  The colonists who volunteered to fight were mountain men who crossed the Appalachian chain.  They used guerrilla tactics to soundly defeat the British and this changed the momentum of the war.  It was said to be the turning point.

Dreary days here

This has been a pretty cold and wet winter for us.  Whereas most of the country with the exception of the far west has had record cold and snow, we have had nearly constant drizzle, rain and cold (for us 50℉ is cold).  I emptied the rain gauge yesterday and it was at 5" for the past week.  We had some leakage from our deck on the 4th floor and after about three months, it is almost repaired, we think.  The weather has impaired the ability of the contractor to do any outside work.  Anyway, spring is almost here and we are ready!! 

We're planning a trip to Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA next month.  Neither of us has been to these grand old southern cities and we are looking forward to it.  The weather should be good and flowers should be out.  It will be good to get out for a change. Can't wait.

Not much new

Just another update.  Not much new.  We attended a wedding for Val's granddaughter that was kinda different.  It was in a barn that was part of a working farm.  Sawdust on the floors and all.  Very Texas with lots of boots. The wedding went very well outdoors (was a nice day for January) and then dinner and dancing.  Gumbo and Catfish and hushpuppies for dinner and, of course, cake.  It was fun.

We went to California for Boyd's 80th birthday.  It was a family occasion at the Santa Ana Country club in Costa Mesa.  We stayed at the Irvine Jamboree hotel.  That area is pretty different from the time we had the scout jamboree there 60 plus years ago.

We watched the Superbowl yesterday, like everyone else I guess.  I was for the Seahawks and they should have won. What lousy play calling.  One yard to go, 3 downs to try and a runner that seemingly could make a few yards every time he had the ball.  So they pass and it is intercepted! Can't believe it.

Not much on the agenda for the next few months.  I have had a problem accessing my blog on this site.  It keeps getting hijacked to some other website.  Wonder if it is a virus or what?  

Just a quick update

I wanted to share a couple of things with y'all.  First, Val and I went to see Val's mom Dorothy at her nursing home for their annual Christmas party.  It was so wonderful to see the group that it almost makes you laugh and cry at the same time.  Here is a video on YouTube of the Christmas Bell Ringers.  Val's mom is in the red sweater second from the right and doing pretty well for 95.  If you look closely, you can see her wink at us about 10-15 seconds into the song.  

Second, here is the newsletter that I sent around to some folks including some of you.

Getting Ready for Christmas

I can't believe it is Christmas already.  There really is something to the belief that the speed of time passing is inversely related to your age.  When you are young Christmas always seems to far away, but when you are old, it seems like it comes every other month.  C'est la vie.

Anyway, we are settled back in Sugar Land.  After returning from California, we stayed here for a couple of weeks and then went to Panama City Beach for our (now) annual trip to check on the condo there.  Although I am partial to the Pacific Coast beaches, there is certainly something to be said for the beautiful sugar-white sand beaches, the beach dunes, and the crystal clear water on the Gulf Coast.  This time of year is perfect there with mild temperatures and almost no tourists.  Our condo building is the large orange high rise in this picture.  We are on the 21st floor and look right down into the water.  Here is a link to some more pictures.

Now back home have a tiny tree and some lights outside.  Val is the decorator and is making the place look festive.  We will be here on Christmas. On Christmas eve we will drive to Beaumont and see Val's "children" and grandchildren. Then on Christmas we probably will go to Lorrie's. This Friday we will go to see Val's mother, who is now 95; there is to be an early Christmas party at her nursing home.

Last weekend we went to Galveston Island to see the annual Dickens on the Strand Christmas festival.  It was fun to see a lot of folks dressed up in old-timey clothes.  Here is a link to a slideshow of the festival.

  

Back in Sugar Land

Well we are finally back in Texas.  We decided to drive home a long way.  We had lunch with Boyd, Helen, Ken and Mo this summer and decided we should go back to our Kansas roots and see the plots of farmland that were left to us by our Dad. He left two plots of 160 acres (1/4 sections) that have been sharecrop farmed in grain.  Both plots have had an oil and gas lease to various companies but nothing had been done about this.  Dad always said that there would be oil there!! Well about a year ago, an oil drilling company decided to use newer techniques to drill on an adjacent plot to one of ours and to extend horizontally into our land.  And they found modest amounts of oil and gas.  We are not going to be like the Beverly Hillbillies, but each of us is now getting a monthly check for our share. So we had to go see what was happening. So the three Nies brothers along with Cory (Ken's son), Boyd Jr., Lorrie and Craig all met in Wichita, KS. There we met with a cousin of ours (Clifford Nies and his wife Joan) who graciously spent an evening and a day touring the area. Clifford is a well-known home builder in the area (Nies Homes!!) who is still very active.  He is about Boyd's age. We also had our farm manager, Tim McKinney showing us the plots.  It was really fun to see everyone and another part of the country. Here are some pics.

Nies Cousins

Nies Bros

All of us with Clifford

One of the plots

Clifford looking at oil stuff

Grandfather Nies

Grandmother Nies

Kansas Cemetery