Feb. 14-22

From out of the deep freeze in MO!

It was almost balmy today - am thinking into the 30s for a high - as compared to the windy, freezing conditions of the past few days.

We have not done a great deal in the past 8 days - one quick trip to the NKC area - Target, Kohl's, Barnes & Noble, Red Lobster, and Sam's. When we filled up with gas upon our return to Chillicothe - many cents less than what it is today - I about gagged with the cost. We definitely won't be making just fun trips, but will do several things when we go.

Abby is stretched out across my lap with her head on my left arm - not necessarily conducive to typing. Trixie is at my feet as Abby was first to get to my side.

We have been doing quite a bit of reading and will spend much of tomorrow (Saturday) watching several basketball games.

We had planned on going to Warrensburg today to watch Drew F. compete for the college, but when we saw on tv this a.m. that Warrensburg schools were closed due to the bad weather - we opted to stay home.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog was that when we were on 135th St. in the south part of the KC area - we saw a coyote cross the road in front of us.

Be safe.
B.

Feb. 10-13

From a sunny, but still a little cool MO,

We really haven't done much the first few days, but we had a super outing today.

I had read in the KC paper on Sunday about an art exhibit by Nora Othic at Avila University. The title was something to the effect of 100 Views of Marceline. My mother lived in Marceline until she left for California to marry my dad. Both mom and dad graduated from the Marceline High School. Anyway, we took off for Avila U. this a.m. - located south of 435 on Wornall Rd. There was a couple there about our age who had relatives in Marceline so the four of us having a good time commenting on the various pastels and oils that we on exhibit. I had hoped to find a drawing of a home that relatives had lived in, but if they were there - I missed them.

We then went on south to 135th street and then west to eat at WilJenny's - probably my favorite place to eat, but just so far south we don't get there very often. From there we headed to the Borders on Metcalf and also Whole Foods - didn't find the black cherry concetrate there so we headed north to Briar Cliff and bought a couple of bottles. We were back in Chillicothe by about 4:30 - not bad since we left here after Jim had his double breakfast with old geezers.

Be safe.
B.

Feb. 2-9

From a coolish MO,

We still have some snow on the ground since the last snow. Jim of course cleaned the driveway - didn't have the patience to wait until the guy with all the good equipment showed up. If he doesn't slip on the ice next time, he will probably keel over as his breathing is reminding me of the weeks before he had by-pass surgery. He is breathing heavily by the time he comes from our basement to our main level.

We watched the Super Bowl - of course - found some advertisements amusing - and of course I was cheering for the underdog -seems to be in my character.

We have also watched several basketball games this past week and I have also gone through two or three books. Jim has also finished one or two books. He is back at reading another Dorothy Dunnett book - with an unabridged dictionary on his lap.

On Friday, we made a big road trip. First we headed west on hwy 36 - saw the horrible wreck involving the 18 wheeler and a pick up truck that looked a great deal like ours - actually scared a couple from here who saw the gray truck. The accident had occurred a couple of hours before - truck had pulled out on highway 36 from a side road - into the front of the 18 wheeler. There are so many of these kinds of accidents on highway 36. The visibility is good, but I guess people get in a hurry.

We stopped at Roger's in Liberty so Jim could get some more fishing items, went on to Briar Cliff to a health food store as I was looking for black cherry concentrate, went to Sam's for styrofoam trays for Velma, and then we headed south to highway 50 then east to Warrensburg.

One of the boys from here does the 35 pound weight throw as well as the shot put for the CMU team. The boy from here placed third in the first event and came close to qualifying for the final puts in the shot put.

We hadn't eaten since a little after 8:00 in the a.m. and Jim decided we would continue on highway 50 to Sedalia and eat at Perkins. I love the omelets at Perkins - not as good as the Omelet Parlor (in Venice - maybe), but better than we can get locally. We finally got back to Chillicothe about 6:00 - a long day.

We typically do one or two errands each morning - post office, maybe WalMart, maybe HyVee, and anything else that might come on our agenda.

We don't anything out of the routine on our agenda for the upcoming week.

Be safe.
B.

Jan. 26 - Feb. 1

From a tolerable MO,

We escaped the large snow amount that much of southern MO received - good news for us. We probably ended up with one inch - or a little more.

We really haven't done much the past several days - watched basketball on tv, tonight watched the first part of the Millrose Track Meet, Jim has eaten breakfast with the guys, I have joined the ladies for breakfast and lunch, we have done quite a bit of reading, and haven't been aging gracefully!

We went to the Social Security office this morning as we had an appointment for me to file for Medicare benefits. We had scheduled an appointment with someone that we trusted - and ended up with a trainee - along with her supervisor. I think all went well, but needless to say it took longer than we had planned. On Monday we will go to a local insurance agent to see about drug coverage as well as supplemental.

I think since I last put news down, I have ordered tickets to see "Cats" at the Johnson County Community College in March. We are looking forward to this.

I ran off data this evening about the 2008 Texas Relays and we are toying with the idea of going - we'll see how we are feeling and what major storms are coming our way. We have talked about doing this for a few years.

Jim is experiencing pain with his left hip and left knee. Of course he doesn't want to admit that the fall on the ice between Christmas and New Year's might be the problem - so we will see how things progress - or regress.

One of the things we did in December when we went to LA was to go to the book signing of CINESCOPES - co-authored by niece-in-law, Risa Williams. She and the male co-author are to be on the Early Show on Feb. 5. We are looking forward to watching the show.

I am on back-up for Mobile Meals computer work in February so I am not sure just what will transpire there.

Be safe.
B.