Smart kid-June 28, 2014

When we were here last year we gave Hannah a push toy car that plays all sorts of music and has all kinds of sounds including an engine idling. She figured out very early on that she could get adults to push so she did not have to use her own energy. Smart kid. It was fun at first but in time it gets to your back. That created another smart kid. Derrick took the device that he uses to shut off the sprinkler system in the wintertime and uses it to push Hannah and the car. That makes them both happy.

Necessity is the mother of invention.

 

We had a fun time this morning with both girls. However, Hannah went out of her way to be sure we paid as little attention to Zoey as possible. So while holding Zoey, I made sure I talked to Hannah the entire time. I was thrilled to get to hold Zoey even though she was mostly asleep while I did that. She's a sweet little thing. I don't have to tell you we are tired, do I? You can believe me when I say tomorrow will definitely be a day of rest for us.

 

And I hope you have a wonderful day of rest, too. Enjoy your Sunday.

A Walk in the Park-June 27, 2014

Earlier this week it was suggested to us that we take Hannah to a really nice park in Loveland. We started the day here in the coach. The weather was "iffy" at best, but doing nothing was not an option. So, I packed us a picnic lunch and off we went to North Lake Park in Loveland. We along with Jerry's parents took Derrick there when he was Hannah's age. I cannot believe it has managed to remain open all these years. And it's now a beautiful park.

The first thing we did was ride the train. Hannah was able to sit by the fake steering wheel which she played with the entire trip.

She was very intense.

 

The scenery was very nice and soothing.

 

"Escargot" is one of several bronze statues in the park.

This one has a great personality and a loveable face.

 

This was Hannah's favorite. She probably would have spent the

whole time in this swing. After only a few minutes of this,

she started singing to herself. It was so much fun to watch.

 

She really liked the slides, too, but Jerry took her to the top and I caught her at the bottom so there was no way to take pictures. We had our picnic and then played some more. Every time the train rode by, she waved at the riders. They loved it. And we loved watching it.

 

It rained on us on the way home. It stopped when we got ready to take a sound asleep Hannah into her house. Then when we got home the skies opened up and poured, again. All three of us had a wonderful day. Another day of fun memories.

 

Tomorrow we will babysit both girls. I am so excited to get to play with Zoey and let her stretch her arms and legs for exercise. She does not get held except during feeding, so I am going to hold her until she puts up a fuss.

 

 

 

Blogspot down-June 26, 2014

BlogSpot has been down for two days so I was unable to log in and let you know we are still kicking. We did take Hurricane Hannah to Lowe's yesterday and I can assure you we will never do that again! She refused to sit down so we alternated holding her hand and letting her walk. Then she took Jerry's hand and started pulling him through the store. Yes, she is that strong. She can completely cut off the circulation to your fingers. She was squealing "Hurry, run, run, run. Grammy's coming after us. Run!". I was not into that game because I was pushing the cart full of heavy stuff. She was laughing and giggling the whole time. People in the aisles just moved out of her way and let her go. It goes without saying we were completely wiped out when we left there. But, in spite of it all, we were laughing almost the entire time. And there's nothing better than laughter generated by the Hurricane.

There's a fireworks show going on southeast of us, so pardon me while I go sit up front and watch it.

Depending on the weather we might go to a park tomorrow.

Hail still there-June 23, 2014

At 10:30 this morning there was still some hail on the ground.

Evidently Hannah has never seen it because she giggled for

a long time after she touched it. It was very, very cold.

 

The next farm south of us had corn that was stripped and sugar beets that were flattened. Both will come back so it's not a loss. But that's how close we were to really bad weather yesterday. It stopped a mile away from Derrick's house, so he is fine also. They predicted it would happen again today, but it did not warm up enough. We both personally predict it will not storm here today, thankfully. This weather is crazy. We always check the weather in Las Vegas and trust me, this is better. As I type this it is only 102 in LV. We'll take this over that.

Dodged a bullet today-June 22, 2014

The mugginess and stillness of this morning told us a storm was rolling in somewhere in this area. The storms covered a lot of territory. Derrick sent a text and said a big one was building north of us. We had to go outside to see it because we are under the cover of a building. It was a shocker. It did not take it long to get here.

This was at the moment the storm moved from one side of our

building to another. And, yes, it was truly that black. Note the slivers

of green color. That means hail at the very least and a tornado at its worst.

 

Heavy rain mixed with pea and marble sized hail.

No damage.

 

About 45 minutes after the storm the hail that had washed off

the roof was still on the ground. It almost looks like soap suds.

 

 

Jerry thought he could throw this "snowball" at me.

Nope, that didn't pan out for him.

 

Then the storm went past us and headed northeast.

That area has been hit much harder than we were.

 

Everything is fine. It was just another day of weird weather in this state. Derrick was not hit hard either so his huge garden is safe. Today was his day of irrigation. He had water from noon to 8:00 PM. What a waste of energy when a storm like this moves through and the irrigation water is not needed. Feast or famine. Always.

 

 

Jersey Boys-June 20, 2014

We have not been to a movie in a very long time mainly out of protest for the Hollywood loonies. However, Jersey Boys is a Clint Eastwood picture and we don't hold him in that category. So, we went to see it today. It is fabulous! Unlike the Broadway show, the singers in this movie do not do their own singing, but the music is still fabulous. By the end I had to refrain from getting up and dancing. The most interesting part to the movie aside from the story itself was the fabulous old cars. They were gorgeous! This sure brought back lots of memories to us and all the other old folks in the theater. Great movie. We highly recommend it. It is R rated.

Another active day-June 17, 2014

When we picked Hurricane Hannah up this morning we were told that she had not slept well at all. Neither had I, but we said we would entertain her, so we brought her back here. We played bubbles and kick ball and pick up rocks. Then we came in and had a mew-mew parade. Remember mew-mews are her plush kittens. She has 4 small ones and one big one. They go everywhere she goes.

This is one grumpy little girl. You know how you can tell? See

that index finger on her right hand? She's getting ready to point it

which means she is about to bark out some orders. And when she

barks orders she intends for them to be followed. We laugh at her.

Sometimes she'll laugh, too, and sometimes she gets annoyed

with us. We love her anyway!

 

She has started something that causes us a bit of grief. When she does not get her way, she starts yelling "Help me! Help me!". Derrick said she did it in the grocery store when she wanted a green donut and he refused. He was not a happy camper. And neither was she. She did that to me this morning when Jerry didn't do what she wanted. We are not sure where she learned this, but it wasn't from any of us. If she can do this and she's not yet 2 years old, what will she do when she's older? It's of concern to us! What a stinker she is.

Fun Day-June 16, 2014

Jerry had a good Father's Day yesterday. Every day spent with Hurricane Hannah is a fun day.

Here she is giving instructions again. And Granddaddy knows

how to follow them.

 

Remember me telling you we were taking black olives to the dinner so Hannah could find out what they are?

 

She had a great time and even ate some of them. We really had

a delightful time watching her.

 

We get a day off today because Derrick is on vacation from work this week. We will keep her tomorrow. Wonder what we can find to do that will be new and interesting to her? We're thinking.

 

I did pick up Zoey and held her yesterday. A pillow was offered to me to put her on since that's how they hold her. I declined and held that little baby next to me the way babies should be held. And she smiled at me. We rocked and she fell asleep. She's a quiet little thing. Even her cry is tiny. She is well above 7 pounds now so she is making some progress. So, I had a good day, too.

 

A Day Off-June 14, 2014

It's flag day and our flag is on the front seat. Shame on us.

We did get a day off today and we tried to take advantage of it. We got some housework done, some cooking, some minor repair jobs and then a little grocery shopping. Nothing exciting. It did rain quite hard after we got back home and everything was unloaded.

We will be going to Derrick's tomorrow for a Father's Day cookout. They are cooking the steaks, though I won't eat one, and I'm cooking everything else. It will be a fun time with Hannah. And hopefully I'll get to hold Zoey. We are taking pitted black olives to show Hannah how to put them on the ends of her fingers and then eat them. We anticipate her parents loving us for that! That's something every little kid needs to know!

On a totally different topic, if you get a minute check your listings and try to catch an episode of the Carbonaro Effect. It is a most entertaining and will make you stop and think how he does what he does. I think it's mostly repeats now, but still worth watching at least one episode. It is considered to be a "magical, hidden camera show". Quite interesting whatever it is.

Also, I hope you have seen the Hyundai Sonata commercial with "I'm a Wild One" as the background music. That little red headed girl in the back seat with the toy steering wheel is so adorable I laugh every time I see that commercial. I envision Hannah doing that one day. She's such a little stinker. It must be the hair!

Enjoy your Sunday tomorrow. Rest and relax.

Most of all, Happy Father's Day to all the great dads out there. I surely do miss mine. He was a wonderful man and a fabulous daddy.

Great lunch-June 12, 2014

A change in plans allowed us time to go to Denver and have lunch with Jerry's sister, Judy. It was so much fun. I really enjoy listening them talk about what a character their dad was. Lots of fun and laughter. It is also nice that the food was very good. We ate at Dave's Barbecue. We were there for 4 hours I think but every minute was enjoyable.

Tonight is the full strawberry moon. Well, technically it is not until after midnight, but it was sure pretty rising in the east tonight.

One day I would like to invest in a nice 35mm

digital camera. This was a beautiful sight. So

sorry you cannot tell that from the picture. Imagine!

 

We will have Hannah tomorrow so we look forward to whatever the day may hold. Unfortunately it is supposed to be a hot day so we will have to limit our time outdoors. She is paler than I am and I do not want her to get sunburned. We have lots we can do indoors.

Catching up-June 10, 2014

We did get Sunday off and it was the perfect day to have nothing to do. We sat here and watched out the front window as a storm formed. We are in an absolutely perfect place to watch all of this.

We watched as cool clouds from the north met warmer clouds from

the west and swirled together. They were active rolling clouds.

We were holding our breath because we didn't know where all of this was headed.

It all moved south and tried to form a wall cloud. This cloud opened

up in the middle and dumped who knows how much rain somewhere.

Then it went back together and headed north. Within minutes we had

rain here, too. Otherwise we were high and dry.

 

Colorado had 8 reported tornadoes on Sunday and numerous funnel clouds. There was relatively minor damage.

 

While this was going on little Zoey was on her way home from the hospital. Hannah still has not quite figured out what is going on but she does know how to help hold the bottle.

 

When Hannah was introduced to Zoey, she offered the little one

her treasured mew-mews. That's what she calls her plush kittens.

Part of Hannah's greeting to those she cares about is to hand them

all of her mew-mews. I am sure she did not understand why Zoey

didn't want them. We haven't a clue why Hannah's hair was not

fixed or why she had no clothes on her bottom half.

 

We had Hurricane Hannah this morning and we will have her again tomorrow. Then Derrick is taking 3 days off so we may not see her for a while. We did see Zoey today for the first time. She looks more like Derrick than Hannah did. We are not allowed to hold her. No one except mom can hold her. This nutty doctor she has says it will over stimulate her if we hold her. So, I rubbed her head. Oh dear me, what damage I may have done. I thought babies were made for holding and loving. I'm a bit long in the tooth to find out I am wrong on this issue. This is such a gigantic soapbox I could easily jump up on. But I will spare you.

 

 

 

 

Tired old people-June 6, 2014

Today marks 28 days we have been parked in Colorado. We have babysat Hannah 25 of those. We sat with her for 12 hours today. When I say we are so tired we do not know our names, please believe me. We thought we were getting the weekend off but just found out that's not the case.

If I skip posting for a few days, you know what we are up to. We're up to our eyeballs in Hurricane Hannah!

A nice day-June 5, 2014

The sun came out today and it reached a reasonable temperature so we were able to let Hannah play outdoors. Jerry has wanted to give her birthday present to her early. I have said no, but today I lost and Hannah got her birthday present. We did not make a big deal of it like we will on her birthday. We just want her to be ready.

She really took to this very well. We think we will have her riding

all by herself in a week or so.

 

I also forgot to show you how busy Hannah was this past weekend.

 

Granddaddy had a good helper while mowing Derrick's yard.

She loves riding this tractor.

 

No update on Zoey today. We're all still reeling that she could be in the hospital another month.

 

 

 

A few things-June 4, 2014

Tonight on American Pickers Frank and Mike were picking in Birmingham, Alabama. I nearly fell out of my chair when they went to Rocco and Cheaters Speed Shop. Oh my goodness, what memories. If I had a dollar for every time I have been in that shop I would have the beginning of a good savings account. It has been closed for many years, but they found one of the original owners there and he opened up the shop to let them pick. I still cannot believe I saw that. The original display cases were still there. And some of the chrome rims were still there, too. What a delight.

The Cache LaPoudre River is supposedly starting to drop a bit, but there are still only a couple of north/south roads open for all of these thousands of cars to traverse. It's such a mess.

Update on Zoey: Derrick told us today that she weighs almost 7 pounds but the doctor is displeased with how slowly she eats. She gets tired before she gets full. I don't find it odd that she is not a voracious eater. Not all babies are. Nevertheless, they will not release her until they see her eating like she is genuinely hungry. It could be another month. That bothers me a lot. That baby needs to be held and loved. Lying in a hospital baby bed is not the answer. I think she would eat better if she was being picked up and held and rocked and loved. But I'm not a doctor. I said it before and I will say it again, if I typed out all these parents have been told about a newborn, you would think I came from another planet. Plus this is not their first one so they are not new to this line of work. I am very saddened at this news. But it is definitely out of my control.

It was cloudy and cool for most of today, so we played indoors. Maybe tomorrow it will warm up and the sun will come out so we can play outside.

Terrible flooding-June 2, 2014

Last September we witnessed the terrible flooding of the Cache LaPoudre River. That was from record setting rain. That same river is flooded much worse today than it was then. It is from rain and also snow melt from the mountains. I can tell you that what you are about to see is not the worst part of the flooding. So far the worst we have seen is along the interstate. However, it is almost impossible to get pictures while zooming down the road at 70+ mph. So, please just take my word for it.

This is the river as it appears today. However, this is not normally the river.

You can partially judge the depth by how close the water is to

the lower limbs of the trees. 

 

At this point the river is not normally visible from the road.

Clearly you can see it now.

 

This natural gas well is normally high and dry. Not today.

 

There are normally some nice horses grazing in this pasture. Not today.

 

What is usually a short drive to the grocery store was a nightmare today. So many roads are flooded and there are so few open roads that traffic is horrendous. It will be a very long time before those roads are open. Flood stage of the river is 8 feet. The river reached 9.14 feet this morning. And it's still rising. It is tough to watch.

 

Update on Zoey: She is improving. She is being weaned off of oxygen. She is learning to eat but is slow at it. I'll see if I can get a picture of her tomorrow. We're still taking care of Hurricane Hannah.