Finally!!

This is a quick blog today. I just have to show you this picture.

THANKS TO; Mikey, Brad & Kandie, and especially my brother Dave. You guys are the greatest!

NOV. 5, 2008 SNOW DAY

Imagine my surprise when I looked out the window and saw a blanket of snow...over the blanket of leaves. Yep, first it rained for 3 days and then it snowed, all day. It was really strange to look out and see snow on the neighbors pine tree boughs. I talked to Dave and he says it's really great weather there right now. The rain they had has dried up. In fact, Dave said he wished it would rain just a bit so it would clear up the dusty air. He misses "green, Iowa green or brown or anything but sand color".

I started work yesterday (Thursday). It was sooooo good to be back in the shop with Gretchen! It kind of killed me though so I am waiting until Monday to return. The Christmas season has started already!












My sweet Ranger giving me his "Really?" look when I told him Laura was coming home.










Something you don't see too often. Simon and Ranger drinking out of the same bowl at the same time.

NEWS FROM IRAQ!!

NEWS FROM IRAQ!!
Dave is going to come home on leave for Thanksgiving! He is supposed to leave Iraq on my birthday if everything goes well. He said there could be a delay in leaving but that's normal. He will be home for about 2 weeks. We are all so excited to see him!! Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. Dave figured the leave falls about halfway through his deployment.

I haven't gotten many pics from Dave but here is Shane Klein and Dave playing for the church service.


I know I haven't been blogging at all for 6 weeks. There just wasn't anything to write due to a totally boring life, not doing much at all. Things are looking up though. The test was last weekend. I pulled all the plants from the backyard gardens. I couldn't push the yard can back up the hill though. hehe. I really have not done anything that physical because I pay for it by not being able to walk for about 3-4 days. I was just fine that night, Sunday and Monday! I've decided it's time to go back to the kitchen shop. I don't want to miss Christmas at the shop! It's my 3rd holiday season.

I guess I had more to write about than I thought! My brother Dave and wife Elaine (my big sis) visited some this fall on their Goldwing. They were here for the Davis Rally (big motorcycle event) in New Hampton, bought a trailer and needed a place to store the old trailer. The next weekend, they came down to pick up the trailer. I'm not sure if it was the next weekend but Dave came down alone and spent nearly the entire time in my garage, building shelves so I can park my car in the garage this winter! He worked so hard! Everything is off the floor except my goodwill stuff, which is going this week.




The stuff in the middle of the floor is my goodwill pile. I just can't believe all he got done and how could he work like that? I didn't hear of any hospitalizations after he got home so I guess he's ok. hehe. Thanks Dave!!

From the Commander

Every once in a while, we get emails from the Commander of Dave's unit but today, we received one from the Battalion Commander. I thought you would all like to read some parts of that email.

"Attached is a picture of our battalion "T-Barrier" at Camp Buehring, Kuwait. There is a tradition that each unit that moves through the Camp gets to paint a T-barrier with a unit scene. Without a doubt, ours is among the most artistic in the entire Camp. We will also complete several here at Balad. Each company will get to do one, plus the battalion as well."

This is a good explanation of the Combat Patch...
"To mark our time spent thus far in the middle east, we had our "combat patch" ceremony on the significant date of 11 September. All of our troops had earned the right to wear the 34th Infantry Division's "RED BULL" patch on the right shoulder of their uniform to signify their service in a combat theater. It was a proud day for all of us."

It's a proud day for us at home too!

Dave's Address & Stuff

Wow! I have been so busy...NOT! Busy playing Mahjong Titans on my laptop, watching movies and episodes of the Shield from Netflix, and....well that's about it. I did get out and about last week though. Julie picked me up and we went to Beck's for dinner and tried to catch up on the last year. We've both had a very busy life but we still love each other! I'm really missing my job too. I want to go back soon but my body isn't cooperating. I'm still having good days and bad days but my left leg is sooo much better!

Dave calls me about every other day; my morning, his evening. It is so good to hear his voice. I am including his address so send lots of letters.

CW4 David R. Morse
HSC 834th ASB
34th CAB
APO AE 09391

My sweet lil' ol' daughter

Very funny.....
And people say she looks like me. I just don't see it.

Mike, Carrie, and Laura were my helpers today. Mike put up the main light in my room-my hero! (I haven't had a real room light for a lllooooonnngggg time.) Carrie vacuumed, dusted, and did some other general cleaning (she put me to work). Laura worked on her room in the porch. My house actually feels...special again. THANK YOU MY DEARS!

When I opened my email, I had a long letter from Dave! He has been in Kuwait for 2 weeks now. I have pictures of what he has been doing and seeing this week.

"Pictures One & Two are our helicopters packed on the mid deck of a Bob Hope class vessel."
(Looks like a parking garage to me!)










"Picture three is a Chinook helicopter going up through the hatch taken from the mid deck inside."











"Picture four is taken from outside the boat and shows a Chinook coming down to the dock. It gives you an idea of just how large the vessel is."













"Number 5 is a row of Chinooks after we towed them to the helo marshalling and assembly area"

"Number 6 shows some Black Hawks 'dense packed' in that same area. We had to stack them up while we assembled, ran up and test flew the first ones."


"We had to wait while more than a hundred of the new armored convoy vehicles were unloaded before we could start pulling aircraft off the boat. Those vehicles each weighed over 42,000 pounds and are about the size of a utilities service truck, except they're completely armored. There was also a huge fleet of up armored Humvees on board the boat. Amazing."

A Baby, A Beauty, & Two Dogs

Hello all of my dear family and friends!! I thought I would give you an update on ME. I am about the same as far as good days and bad days; however, I have done a couple of fun things outside of my little box (2912 Lovejoy). Sunday, Carrie & Mike had a small get together and I actually drove for the first time, out to Readlyn. That was the day I decided I'm not ready to drive. Anyway, I even spent the night. Guess who was there? Corina. Okay, so I'm posting pics of that cute little doll on my site too but who can resist? Say hello to Holly! Holly was there too. For those of you who don't know Holly, she has been friends with the girls since Carrie and her were 3. It was really fun to have her by herself and talk with her some more. She's an ambitious college student and a very sweet young woman. It's so much fun to see since we watched her grow up with our girls. I also got out and went out for lunch at Applebee's with my two lovely daughters. This is what we had to drink with our "little lunch".
Thank you to all of you for offering your assistance during my recovery. I promise, I will call if I need you! (you'll be sorry!) Thank goodness for Netflix!
Last but not least: This is what we hear every month when they test the defense sirens, two dogs:(Play Video)

Carrie's Big Baby??

See a very happy Carrie? She tuned it and it sounds great!

Big Baby Taylor that is. When Dave was leaving for his second deployment (supposed to be Iraq) he couldn't see taking his favorite guitar to a place with temperature extremes, sand, and unpredictable shipping. He bought a big baby Taylor. After he came back, Carrie adopted it because it was just a bit smaller than a dreadnought and fit her so well.

Fast forward to Iraq 2008, Dave wants to take his big baby again leaving Carrie with only regular sized guitars. Weds night I was browsing the ads and found a big baby complete with gig bag, tuner, stand, and strap "nearly new".

Congratulations on your new Big Baby Carrie!

From Dave

Dave actually got an internet hookup for a little bit and sent these pictures. His descriptions of the pictures: "Me in our big ol' tent. There are about 40 people living here. The others are the outside of our area and my favorite, the locals sucking out the port-a-john."
Here is what he says about the temperatures there: " I thought I knew what hot was - whoa..... Well, I'm getting acclimated - slowly. I don't even want to know the temp today. The folks here think it's the hottest day so far, but it doesn't matter. I've heard people say it feels like a hair dryer, but it's more like an oven - a Convection oven."

He may not be able to access his blog all the time so I will share what I can to keep you all updated on Dave.

He Called!

Dave called from Kuwait this afternoon! He couldn't hear me very well but I could hear him just fine. He said he has already been in a sandstorm and a very unseasonal summer rain. He was just letting us know he made it over there okay. Sounds like he will be in Kuwait for about 2 weeks and then will head up to Ballad (sp?). It's already lonely without him here.

As far as my recuperation is concerned, I have good days and bad days. When I have good days, I try to do too much and then I have a bad day or two. Carrie & Mike come over fairly often and last night, Carrie cooked supper. Mike is helping me by taking my ripe tomatoes and peppers from my garden and canning salsa! It's so good I could just about drink it. Laura is back in school full time and she also has her internship at the groomer. It'll be a while before her schedule settles down.

I hear Ranger calling me. He's on the wrong side of the door again. Later...

The Big Question?????

The Answer is? YES

Sorry about the sideways pic, I'm still figuring this stuff out.

Hello everybody! I think today is Saturday...I have had a hard time keeping track of the days & dates since last Friday. How humiliating! To buy my bike on Thursday and wreck it on Friday...there are no words. I remember most of the details up until they started injecting morphine, and then things get a little fuzzy.
This was the 2nd and 3rd ambulance rides I have taken. They need to put better shocks on those things, it was terribly bumpy. They took me to Allen Hospital and something was up with their MRI or CT machines so they transferred me to Covenant. Turns out I have 4 fractures in my pelvic bone. Guess what? It really hurts!! I was so ready to come home Thursday and they were still evaluating my skills on dressing myself, bathing myself, getting in and out of bed (the hardest). I showed them; once I was dressed in my own clothes, there was no stopping me! I walk with a walker (no snickering!) and have to take it easy for a while. My bike will probably be healed before I am.
Dave was able to stay home for another week to get me taken care of and settled at home. That was a wonderful surprise because I thought he would be gone before I got home. Carrie has been a tremendous help too. We had Laura's b-day party the night of the accident and Carrie tore herself away from the ER to help make it happen. We made Laura stay home and enjoy herself. Thank you to everyone who came to the party and helped Laura celebrate.

Thanks to all who have visited, called, sent best wishes, etc. I'm thankful for all of my family and friends who are there. I'm also thankful that I had great nurses and CNA's at Covenant Hospital who were so kind and careful with me.

Oh, the big question is: "Will Lois ride again?" (see answer at the top of thie post)

I'm sitting here looking at my blog trying to think of what to write first. Dave got home at noon Tuesday and we have been doing fun stuff and family dinners and motorcycle shopping. The promised pictures of Dave aren't on my camera but will be soon. The focus has been on the motorcycle shopping and the motorcycle.

Once we signed paperwork and got the bike on our own, I relaxed and the riding went quite well. For those who are concerned: I wear a helmet & jacket when I ride. The hat is for helmet hair, you have to hide it somehow!

Here it is: 2009 Harley-Davidson XL Sportster 1200 low. It's very shiny with it's vivid black paint and lots of chrome. It's fuel injected so I don't have to remember to turn on/off the fuel valve. The turn signals are self cancelling so that's one less thing to worry about. I've gotten it all the way up to 30 mph and in 3rd gear!!

Three nights & a wake-up

It's not long now! Dave will be home Tuesday evening!! He hopes to be home in time for the send off for the Medivac unit. I just know the time he's home is going to fly by and I just want to stop time for a while.

ACTIVITIES OF THE HOUSEHOLD PETS (AT LEAST 2 OF THEM):




Simon seems to sleep anywhere just comfortably.

You know how you can hurt yourself and man, it really hurts but you don't even get a bruise to prove it? Well, this bruise is a doozy! It's one week old now and getting more colorful every day. Doesn't it look like a continent or something?

Next time I blog, I'll have pictures of Dave!!

That's gonna leave a mark!

For those of you who didn't know, I took the Rider's Edge course to learn how to ride a motorcycle. Today, I finished my fourth and final day. Both Saturday and Sunday were spent on the "range" for at least 8 hours each day. They put us through grueling exercises that taxed muscles I haven't heard from in 30 years. I always tried my hardest, even though the result wasn't always what the instructors were looking for. hehe. I tipped my bike over 2 times, both times were just stupid mistakes that were embarrassing and of course, I was the first to do something to feel stupid. Today we were back out at the range about 7:45 am ready to mount up and ride. Today is where I really felt the skills we were learning were really starting to go more smoothly...right up until I forgot to put my kickstand down and got off the bike with it landing on top of me. Good thing I took an icepack with me today! ha. We had our final evaluation on the range and if we passed, we could go take the written test. I PASSED!! I PASSED I PASSED I PASSED!!! Here are some pictures from class.

This fella is Marty. We both had to think a bit before we realized that we really did know each other. We met through Kevin & Mary Kahl who were our neighbors across the street for several years (and we still miss them). Marty was a great champion for the underdog (me) and helped me get through it with encouragement. Thanks Marty!Our fleet of Buehl Blast motorcycles (500cc).
See me? I'm the one with the orange hanky in her back pocket (thanks to Laura for the pics of me riding!)
We shared the range with FEMA trailers for the families who lost their homes in the flood.
Last but not least, my left leg with bruises that have just started getting their ugly colors. I hope I never have to "power walk" again!

I still have a long way to go before I feel comfortable joining regular traffic. I plan to hone my skills and then find someone to ride with...maybe Dave & Elaine? (hint hint)

Lesson #1

Dave at the Rochester, MN Harley dealership

Last night was the first night of the Rider's Edge class at the Harley dealer in Waterloo. We toured the dealership and were given a quick lesson on the different "families" of bikes HD makes. We saw the service area and the mass of bikes in for tune ups before Sturgis. We were shown the coolest leather motorcycle jacket ever. It has so many features and pockets! It's also $595...awk! Classroom was interesting and will be more so tonight.

What I got from my first session? Harley is the best motorcycle made ever or anywhere, and you can spend limitless amounts of dollars customizing any bike you buy. Oh yeah, and you can get anything with "Harley-Davidson" printed on it.

I want to ride!

Long lost relatives...

It has been raining again in Iowa. Looks like it might rain again today. I'm not sure how much we can hold againtThough it did make our yards nice and green. Other than rain and humidity, I had a great weekend. Got lots done Saturday and nothing on Sunday. Perfect!

I got a call Saturday afternoon from someone I haven't seen or heard from in years. My cousin Dan Minion from Windom, Minn. He drives truck and just happened to have some time as he was coming through Waterloo. We met at Junie's truck stop/restaurant, which didn't take him out of his way at all. It was great to see him and hear how he is spending his life and about his family. I took this cheesy picture of the two of us for proof. BTW, he sounds just like my Uncle Les in the way he talks. I think it's a Mountain Lake thing hehe.

Empty Nest

Well, my birdies flew the coop! It was the day after I took the last picture. Unfortunately, what I was afraid of happened...Maggie got one and brought it to the deck as a gift to Laura. I checked the yard and I guess the other two got away. Phew! I showed Ranger the empty nest and he sniffed it thoroughly. I don't think he understood the birds were gone cuz he still focuses on the area on the deck that was above the nest.

Laura got her internship for school...Yay! She is working at a groomer in Hudson and she has already started working 3 days a week, 10 hours a day! She has been clipping nails, bathing dogs & cats, shaving the tufts of fur between the paw pads, and a bunch of other stuff. She is very happy as she was thinking of going into grooming after graduation. This will give her an opportunity to see if that's what she really wants. So far, so good!

Baby Birds

I took another picture this morning of the babies in their nest. They are getting bigger for sure. I need to keep an eye on their development so when they get out of the nest, our dogs don't get to them first!

What's up?

Tomatoes! As usual, the plant explodes and I can hardly contain it.

Peppers! Sorry the picture is sideways but I just had to show how big these are!

Parsley, Basil, Chives, Rosemary, Lemon Thyme, and 2 pepper plants.

This nest under our back deck has made Ranger obsessive. He can smell the little birds through the space between the boards. I went to throw the nest out the other day and whoa! there are 3 babies in it! If you look closely at the top of the nest you can see 2 little heads & beaks peeking out.

I have been nagged a bit by some to blog, as it has been a while. It's just not real exciting here on Lovejoy. My gardens are growing, there are tomatoes and peppers, parsley & basil. We had a great storm last night with lots of rain, which believe it or not, we really needed. We haven't had rain since the flooding.

We had a good 4th starting with the Lofstuen 1st annual 4th of July party. Mike never disappoints with his grilling skills and fireworks. The best was the grilled corn on the cob! Yummy! Ranger and I went and we stayed overnight. I must admit that Carrie's potato salad was pretty darn good. I was the "old" person there, more like the "grandma" or MeeMaw as Cassie calls me. There were a lot of little kids and Dusty's little 2 month old boy, Ayden.
I forgot my camera so for pictures, see Carrie's blog at www.mikeyandcarrieslife.blogspot.com/

That pretty much says it for today. *************lois

Grump Days

Okay, it's not the way it sounds; I'm not grumpy these days. Readlyn has had a resident Grump in town for years and years. The special event is called Grump Days. They crown a new Grump (an elected position) and have a parade and fireworks, music & food. I went Friday night so I could see fireworks. Anyone who knows Mikey very well knows how he likes to set things on fire, blow things up, and especially doing fireworks. While they were setting up, he introduced himself and ended up with a headset & remote control for several special effects. He's so cool. (I tried to put his picture here but my blog thing won't let me) I ended up staying overnight on Mike & Carrie's new big couch with Molly sleeping at my side. We had a great time.

I need a break!

Monday I started cleaning the garage. Mind you, there was still construction materials in there from 4 years ago. First picture is Monday night after cleaning all day. I cleaned Tuesday and finally Weds. The last two pictures are of the garage, now cleaned & organized, and the load of trash. I had to put stuff for the garage sale back in the garage and a couple of other things but it's clean enough to fit a motorcycle in it!!