Meramec Caverns

Rose and I went to Meramec Caverns today. It was fun. This first picture is what happens after you eat too much at Grandma Peggy's for Christmas! Actually it is a fun mirror. :)

Christmas 2008

Here are a few chistmas pictures.

Santa's New Helper

Santa has a new helper! Rose is on her way to school for the last day before Christmas break. She has candy canes and chocolates for her friends in the bag. :)

The Mom Song

http://blogs.northlandchurch.net/2008/08/11/the-mom-song/

This is the best ever! Thanks to Northland Church and Patti Harshey who sings.

"Acclaimed Colombian Institution Has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs "

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/20/world/americas/20burro.html?pagewanted=all

This man, Luis Soriano, is an inspiration to all of us. He is making a difference in his small part of the world. Two donkeys and he travel through rural Columbia and he carries with him an assortment of books that he loans out in what he calls his "BiblioBurro" He receives no government funding and pays for the books from his own small salary. Recently he has begun to get some small book and money help from others, but still Mr. Soriano is the one delivering the books.

Excerpts from The New York Times article
Scott Dalton for The New York Times

“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings. "

“We can take political talk only so far, of course,” he said, referring to the looming threat of retaliation from the paramilitary groups, which have effectively defeated the guerrillas in this part of northern Colombia. “I learned that if I interest just one person in reading a mundane news item — say, about the rising price of rice — then that’s a step forward.”

Back from the canyon

Well, Curt and I completed our trek from the North Rim of the Grand Canyon to the South Rim. It was a total of 24 "LONG" hard miles. But we had fun. Here are just a couple pictures.

Our vacation is coming up.

Curt sent me this photo to put on my blog. On Sept 24, we will be spending the night at Phantom Ranch. It is the little green patch that you see in the center of the picture. And yes, we really are walking all the way.

Birthday Cupcakes

This is where I am getting a cupcake for my birthday! I hope it is as good as it looks. :)

http://www.pastriesofdenmark.com/

Orwell 70 years later

I found this great site listed in the New York Times. It is a blog that shows Orwells diaries exactly 70 years after he wrote them. They insist that Orwell would have been a blogger. Really interesting stuff.
http://orwelldiaries.wordpress.com/

First day of Junior Year

Doesn't she look happy about school starting? :)

Beautiful Tomatoes

They tasted every bit as good as they look!

My talented husband!

Curt took some great pictures down at the Arch on the 4th, and I thought I would share them. Enjoy.

Flickr

I have pictures now available on , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Everything is coming up Daisies!

Today's flowers. Daisies, Day Lilies and Echinachea (cone flowers)

Transportation

Well, I don't think I will really be using it for transportation, but hopefully I will be using it for fun exercise in the evenings! Below are pictures of my new bike. A Woman's TREK 7000. Note the spiffy seat and handgrips. :) It even came with a bell.

New Tomatoes and Happy Flowers

Here are a couple of pictures of the garden. I have some tomatoes on the plants on my patio. And my perennial garden is really liking all the rain this year. The Astible is in bloom and the Stella D'Oro are just starting. Next week the Daisys will be out.

New Camera

Well, I finally got a new camera after my Sony died. I got a Canon A590is. I hope the Image stabilization will help :) I have been playing with some of the options. Here are some black and whites I took of the pets.

(p.s.) note the new blog link on the side. My Life in a Cube. Very funny cartoons for us worker bees)

Sweet 16

My sweet Rose has turned 16. She is very sweet with her cake and her tiara. :)

Below are pictures are her fabulous first car. Not new, but very cute! Perfect for our girlie.

1960's MOD BABY!

Rose is dressed up to attend the high school drama awards.

At the St. Louis Beer Festival

There were a few beers consumed! But only 3oz at a time. Didn't find any new favorites, but a word to the wise, "Don't try the "Spice Beer!"

Walkscore.com

Here is a neat little webpage. You can type in your address and see what walkscore your home has.
The more places that are withing walking distance, the higher your score.
Ours is 48, and I thought we were pretty good. hmmm
I guess I need to walk more. :)
www.walkscore.com

I need to check out this site

http://www.goodreads.com/

Goodreads is a networking site where you can see what books other people are reading. Check out their opinions about the books. Join bookclubs. Write book reviews.

I am definitely checking into this more. I need an excuse to read more. :)

Sunday Dinner at Cracker Barrel

We were fortunate to have dinner with Amanda, Donna, and of couse BETSY on Sunday evening. Geoff and his girlfriend, Emily, came and Rose and I were there. Here is a pic taken by Emily.

Betsy is quite a character. She was seriously into Fried Okra! She liked her new "fancy" stacking cups (empty coffee creamer cups)! It was really a fun time and I am so thankful we could get together.

Check this out!

http://watermelonseggsdesigning.blogspot.com/2008/02/these-are-traly-incredible-you-ll-love.html

This is unbelievable. Watermelon art!

Happy Valentine's day

OK, I just found something that I need to get for my new office when the company moves. Check it out.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/speakers/975a/

It will keep me from getting lonely in the back of the building. :)

Something More to Promote Meatless Fridays for Lent

I was reading the New York Times this morning and there is an article about the high environmental and dollar costs for eating alot of meat. They are telling us that raising meat in feedlots causes alot of environmental damage. It also uses much more grain to create the protein through animals than it does using vegetables. It talks about how Americans consume way more protein than our diets require. No surprise there. It also talks about how resources could be more adequately shared worldwide with an increase in crops grown for human consumption and less for feedlot animals. Below is a link to the article and the starting paragraphs. It gives me an additional reason (on top of health reasons) to cut back on the amount of beef in particular and all meat in general.

Enjoy a few meatfree Fridays and maybe a few extra days during LENT and see if you don't feel better.

"A SEA change in the consumption of a resource that Americans take for granted may be in store — something cheap, plentiful, widely enjoyed and a part of daily life. And it isn’t oil.

article by: Gary Kazanjian for The New York Times

It’s meat.
The two commodities share a great deal: Like oil, meat is subsidized by the federal government. Like oil, meat is subject to accelerating demand as nations become wealthier, and this, in turn, sends prices higher. Finally — like oil — meat is something people are encouraged to consume less of, as the toll exacted by industrial production increases, and becomes increasingly visible.
Global demand for meat has multiplied in recent years, encouraged by growing affluence and nourished by the proliferation of huge, confined animal feeding operations. These assembly-line meat factories consume enormous amounts of energy, pollute water supplies, generate significant greenhouse gases and require ever-increasing amounts of corn, soy and other grains, a dependency that has led to the destruction of vast swaths of the world’s tropical rain forests......" More at

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/weekinreview/27bittman.html?em&ex=1202014800&en=513a010b9f4ded2d&ei=5087%0A

Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt Cookies

This is the saddest thing that I have read in a long time. Please click on the link for the whole story and see the pictures.

"Poor Haitians Resort to Eating Dirt
By JONATHAN M. KATZ – 21 hours ago
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — It was lunchtime in one of Haiti's worst slums, and Charlene Dumas was eating mud. With food prices rising, Haiti's poorest can't afford even a daily plate of rice, and some take desperate measures to fill their bellies. Charlene, 16 with a 1-month-old son, has come to rely on a traditional Haitian remedy for hunger pangs: cookies made of dried yellow dirt from the country's central plateau."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hcJ474CjaJGOUznskl4ZgTHdpxUAD8UFQVR00

Iyoda and the Thought Experiments

I read this article in the New York Times this morning and think that this is just Incredible! The monkey named Iyoda, who was in NC, was able to make the robot in Japan, walk on a treadmill by looking at a TV screen with the Robots legs on the treadmill. Someday we will all be able to type into the computer with just our thoughts. At least we won't get carpal tunnel.

"January 15, 2008
Monkey’s Thoughts Propel Robot, a Step That May Help Humans
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE
If Idoya could talk, she would have plenty to boast about.
On Thursday, the 12-pound, 32-inch monkey made a 200-pound, 5-foot humanoid robot walk on a treadmill using only her brain activity.
She was in North Carolina, and the robot was in Japan.
It was the first time that brain signals had been used to make a robot walk, said Dr. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis, a neuroscientist at Duke University whose laboratory designed and carried out the experiment.
In 2003, Dr. Nicolelis’s team proved that monkeys could use their thoughts alone to control a robotic arm for reaching and grasping.
These experiments, Dr. Nicolelis said, are the first steps toward a brain machine interface that might permit paralyzed people to walk by directing devices with their thoughts. Electrodes in the person’s brain would send signals to a device worn on the hip, like a cell phone or pager, that would relay those signals to a pair of braces, a kind of external skeleton, worn on the legs. ...." http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/15/science/15robo.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin For whole article.