Melissa's Idea Garden

I have to say that moving is way down on my list of things to do. I think I would much rather have a tooth drilled than move, really! After we left the fair on Wednesday, we headed to the U-Haul place, content that we had filled in all the info on line and it would be a snap. Well, it took about 20 minutes to do the paperwork at the store...get this... even though we filled out information on line about the kind of vehicle we were driving and all, I had to do it ALL AGAIN! Grr.... Then we went out to hook up. Based on when we reserved the u-haul, we thought they would be providing us with a ball. Nope...we had to have one...so the gal suggested going to a nearby automotive sales/repair place.

First I went to the Jeep place, he refused to work on my Nissan, but gave me directions to the Nissan place. They said they would be happy to put it in, but they don't carry balls in stock. So, then I had to drive to the automotive store (right next door to the place where I was to get the u-haul). First we had some miscommunication and he thought I wanted the receiver which he didn't have in stock, but then when we figured out what I was talking about, he had plenty balls in stock for minimal money. Back to the Nissan place and the kind guy there installed it. He had mentioned a bolt, so I figured tools would be involved...there was a pin and a cotter pin....I could have done that. I spent about an hour doing what I could have done in about 5 minutes had I known the proper place to go and how easy it would be to install...LET THAT BE A LESSON TO ALL WHO READ THIS.

Back to the U-haul place, got the U-haul and headed to the apartment. Daniel had a friend from work who came by to help load up the heavy stuff. I headed back out with Katrina for twine, more packing tape and a lock. Daniel's new Palm Preo decided to stop working, so I couldn't call him to make sure what size key lock I needed. I got the long-necked version because I wasn't sure how thick the place was where the lock would be inserted.

Back to the apartment and on with packing. We worked for a couple of hours and got most of the big stuff packed. By this time I was exhausted, because I had been on my feet for most of the day either packing or at the fair (from 7-8:30). I am not used to that, my feet are not used to that.

Thursday morning, I was up at 7. Got showered and resumed packing. There was laundry to do, some cleaning of the apartment to do, final packing. We were finishing up when Daniel arrived about 12:30. We had to go to the airport and return Daniel's rental car. By 2:45, EST we were on our way. Daniel was determined to get home without stopping. So he drove from 2:45 pm until 5:40 this morning. That's right folks, the maniac drove straight through! We drove through 4 different rain storms, a couple were very heavy. We stopped for dinner, gas and bathroom breaks. At 4:30, I was praying, we would find an open gas station before we ran out of gas (I have an 18 gallon tank and needed 17.85 gallons...phew!)

After we got gas, we had one more hour to go. We were all tired. I had dozed off briefly a couple of times and Jack had too, Katrina slept a little more than that. So the last hour, the three of us tried to help keep Daniel awake. We all were a bit 'punch drunk.' We were doing tongue twisters and mixing them together. But we made it home and tumbled into bed, except for Katrina.

She had had enough sleep that she didn't want to go to bed. I told her she could go in the playroom and do something quietly. I sank into sleep. 75 minutes later, she was standing over me...saying "Mom, Mom...." She had fixed me breakfast in bed. Waffles and a glass of water. My eyes felt like sand was in them, I was soooo tired, but it was so sweet of her to want to mark my birthday with breakfast in bed, so I ate (I sort of remember doing this), then went back to sleep for about 75 minutes when the phone began to ring. Between 8:50 and 9:00 am, there were three phone calls! The phone goes some days with only three calls all day!

So, I got up and started doing stuff. Animals had to be fed for one thing. Then, Katrina and I watched some TV before starting to unload the truck. Daniel and Jack were still asleep. We discovered that the long-necked long had twisted around during the long, bumpy drive (roads in WV are horrible and we had to pay 3 tolls to go through). Anyway...the lock was jammed on the U-Haul and we couldn't remove it. Katrina and I got everything out of the truck before Daniel got up. After he showered, he went to work on the lock. ANOTHER TIP HERE...UNLOCK BEFORE USING CROWBAR. We were unable to unlock the lock, but not remove it. I had pushed it back together before coming back to the house. Daniel got the crowbar out and managed to bend the lock until it went around where we could get it off, but then the key wouldn't work...because the lock had been damaged...great safety feature! Really! But now we couldn't get in.

We had to drive to town and get bolt cutters. On the way, we picked up Daniel's car from the Lynchburg airport. By the time, he got home and had some lunch, it was about 3 pm. We emptied a bit more than 1/3 of the stuff in the u-Haul and it has been put away. I am tired and I think they are going to let me go to sleep soon.

So, that is how I spent my 43rd birthday. But, I have been promised a nice dinner on Sunday and Daniel has gotten me so many things over the last few months (including the flip camera, a really nice ipod, a kindle and then all of our travel), I really didn't expect or want or need any presents. I am happy to be alive and well and to be loved by family and friends. It doesn't get better than that!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:02 PM | Permalink

Okay, the last four days, including today, have been busy, so I have fallen a wee bit behind. Time to catch you up.

Tuesday morning, the kids did some school work before we headed to the State Farm Water Park. Last year, we were given passes one day to the State Farm Water Park, it is for State Farm Employees, not contractors, and their guests. We were really tickled to get to go, but the day we ended up being able to go was so cold (last July) that I sat there under a towel most of the time. The kids of course were fine with the chilly, misty day, but it still dampened the experience. So we asked if we could try again this year. They were kind enough to extend us passes for one day, and we got to enjoy three hours of lovely warm water, before thunderstorms closed the park. The kids had fun with the two diving boards, two water slides, lazy river, splash area, and swimming areas. I played a lot with Katrina and I read some until we had to go.

Once we returned to the apartment, I did a little packing, then got showered and ready to go to Daniel's going away party. We left the children with strict instructions for them to spend the couple of hours in separate rooms and not bother each other (they have a terrible tendency to pick on one another and argue). We met at a local pool hall and about 10 people that Daniel has worked with came by for a couple of hours more or less. We played some pool, chatted, shared a couple of drinks and some food. Got home and did a little more packing.

Wednesday was McClean County Fair Day. We were very excited about this because we belong to a 4-H Homeschool group in Virginia. We went around 9:30 because we wanted plenty of time to see the project exhibits and livestock competition before lunch and before the rides started at 1, because we had to leave at 3. Unfortunately, since it was the first day of the fair, we weren't allowed into the exhibit area because the judges were busy judging. There were some amazing sites though that we peeked through the doors. Sewing projects, entymology, geology, cooking, and more. They had some commercial exhibits set up as well for local businesses. We enjoyed talking with people from Operation Santa (a project to send Christmas gifts to soldiers) and with people from the local 4-H community.

The kids got to see what it was like to sit inside the cab of a combine and Katrina petted baby pigs. We wandered around inside, before heading over to see all the critters. We watched a bit of a horse judging competition, petted a donkey named Ginger and talked with her owner briefly, and then visited ducks, sheep, turkeys, chickens, swine, goats, geese, and rabbits. It was loud with all many of the critters speaking out (especially the sheep who were getting baths...) and it was a bit...um...smelly, but it was really neat. There were so many beautiful rabbits, particularly!

We visited the petting zoo, went through the Army semi-truck exhibit (helicopter simulators), and enjoyed fair food (funnel cakes, grilled corn, foot long corn dogs....). Then it was time for rides. We enjoyed a variety of rides and attractions: a fun house, carousel, ferris wheel, bumper cars, slide, tilt a whirl, climbing play place, motorcycles and spinning pumpkins. We also had fun playing some midway games. We chose those where there was a winner every time and you could trade up to larger prizes. Alas...3:00 came and it was time to end our fun and go pick up the u-haul.

You can see pictures from the fair at flickr.

And here are videos from our time at the fair:

McClean County Fair Slide

Katrina's first time driving bumper cars!

Katrina's first rock wall climbing attempt

Posted by Melissa Markham at 7:03 PM | Permalink

Well, yesterday was day 8 of our great Illinois adventure. On Thursday, we will be heading back home, but whe still have a lot to do yet.

I spent yesterday morning getting my webmail set up. I have been using Outlook for ages, but some times when we go out of town, Outlook doesn't want to work properly. The problem with that is that I never set my webmail page up with my contacts and since I don't have everyone's email memorized, it is a pain. Now my contacts are all imported into my webmail and I was able to set my spam settings on my webmail account to automatic delete. Now instead of getting 200 junk mails a day, I am down to 10. Thank goodness! While I played computer guru, the kids did school work, then we went to Anderson Aquatic Park in Normal yesterday. They have a huge little kid area with lots of splashy toys and a fun slide.

They have a life size chess board and Katrina and I enjoyed playing with that. I had a picture, but it was too fuzzy to share.

They have two large one slides, a diving board area, a 5 foot swim area, then a 3.6-5 foot swim area. I read most of the time we were there. After we were there for an hour, Jack was ready to leave (Xbox Live has been calling his name and he can't play it at our house). So I called Daniel who picked him up on his way home from work. Then Katrina and I stayed until 8. The last hour or so, I played in the pools with her. Afterwards, we had to stop and check out the nearby playground.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:56 AM | Permalink

Well, the last three days have been pretty tame. Friday, the kids decided that they just wanted to hang out around the apartment. Daniel got home early. We did some packing. It's hard to do too much as a lot of the stuff he uses pretty regularly. He has an awesome keyboard out here and he played some and we sang with him. That was fun.

Saturday, Daniel and I watched movies. We watched an old Steve McQueen movie called Bullit. It was very good and even though an older movie, it was one that I didn't see the end coming. We also watched A Haunting in Connecticut. After seeing The Haunting of Molly Hartley (0 stars on that one), this was a definite improvement. Then we watched 12 rounds. It was also a tolerable movie to watch. Very fast paced, though one can't help but wonder if the hero of the story really could do all the things he did. Then we watched The Unborn. Another good movie. And we finished up by watching Coraline with Katrina. A bit of a dark tale, but we really enjoyed it! Hopefully, Katrina got the message that home isn't as bad as one might think;)

Yesterday we each kind of did our own thing. I am reading a really good book. Jack has been enjoying playing XBox Live here because our satellite connection just doesn't support it. Katrina was outside some, inside some watching some TV and playing with her Littlest Pet Shop Critters. Katrina and I did take a walk. She loves being outside. There is a pond here behind the apartments that is a bird refuge. There are tons of wonderful bushes, berries, flowers just right for birds. On this side of the pond there are bushes next to the pond that are loaded with red berries. If I was a bird, I would love it!

There are also all kinds of flowers:Queen Anne's Lace is the one I knew. Then there are blue flowers, purple flowers, morning glories (okay, I know another one) and lovely yellow flowers!

We stopped for awhile and threw bread to the fish. They were very happy to get the bread, and very skittish. They would eat any of the bread that floated, we had to squeeze it up so it would sink. We got video of this and when I figure out how to link to it, I will.

Then we walked around the other side of the pond. It is cool because on the pond side, there are tons of bushes and on the other side of the pathway, home owners or the city has planted cherry trees and what I think are juniper trees. It makes a lovely area to walk through!

During our visit, we have noticed a little baby bunny that frequently visits. Katrina caught a couple of shots of him yesterday. Isn't he cute and tiny???

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We spent yesterday morning doing school work. Then in the afternoon we went to Fairview Family Aquatic Center. This is a water park in Normal, IL. Unfortunately, they are in the midst of remodeling so the two giant water slides had been dismantled in preparation to be replaced. But the children still had a lovely time. There were slides, a diving board, two lap swimming lanes, and a zero depth pool with tons of fun children amusements. The kids liked the water slides and the diving board the best. And while there Jack taught himself how to dive. I got that on video and when I can figure out how to put it on you tube, I'll share the link.

Jack said this water slide was best
Katrina agreed.
Katrina made friends and they spent a bit of time playing with a water toy that enabled them to first stop, then pour a bunch of water onto the person waiting below. Katrina liked it when it was her turn to get water poured on her.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:24 AM | Permalink

I spent most of my morning yesterday blogging while the children did some school work. After lunch, we went to the nearby pool for a couple of hours. There weren't very many people there and without a diving board, the kids lost interest quickly. We are going to be going to a water park today with a bit more going on.

After supper, Katrina wanted to go play at a nearby park playground area so we went for about an hour. Parks here in Bloomington are wonderful. There are multiple ponds and lakes, trails to walk on, picnic tables, benches, spectacular playgrounds, and geese. We are here during a cool summer (shhh...don't tell the global warming people...oh yeah, that's right, it's global climate change now...). So the weather has been spectacular just to be outside. Not humid, not hot, and a lovely breeze. The only reason that Katrina and I left after an hour was we had told the guys we would be home them. I should have called and prolonged our stay!

There are a lot of geese here and we enjoyed watching them wander around until one tried walking across the road, then we were hollering at him to go back. He almost became goose fricasee!
This piece of equipment is a balance beam and a see-saw all in one. You can sit on it and bounce one another up and down similar to a see-saw movement without the jarring. Or you can walk across. We did both.
She jumps and lands on her feet! Swings are probably one of my favorite pieces of playground equipment and Katrina agrees. And check out the stuff under her feet. I don't know exactly what it is, but it is very unlikely that a child could fall on it and get hurt. It is soooo comfortable to walk on!

One more time on the slide before we go...wheeeeee!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:31 AM | Permalink

Monday, July 20th, we were up at 5:30 a.m. We got ready to go and left Virginia around 6:30. Before we left, Daniel told me to drive safely...and what did I do, when backing out of the drive way, I backed into his car and knocked out his parking light (good thing I wasn't going fast)...geez!!!! I almost decided to stay at home at that point as it didn't seem like a good start to me.

As we headed towards Roanoke, I was dismayed to see ominous skies up ahead. By the time we reached Roanoke, we were in the midst of a good old-fashioned gullywasher during rush hour traffic. The rain was pouring down and up (the roads were flooded in places and when we drove through the enormous puddles, the rain came up as well as down). Had the windshield wipers on full blast and everyone was going 10-20 mph under the normal speed limit. Boy, was I glad when we drove out of that...and I was still debating the wisdom of this trip.

The rest of the drive was beautiful. We drove across West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana and into Illinois without incident. We stopped every couple of hours either to eat or get gasoline or just to stretch our legs. We arrived in Bloomington at 9:30 EST. We got unloaded and of course Jack was busy trying to get his piece of home here...computer on, XBox working....you know the important things!

Yesterday, we got up between 6 and 9. I was up at 6, Katrina was up at 9. There wasn't anything for us to eat in the apartment, so we headed to McDonald's for breakfast. Katrina loves their pancakes, plus this McDonald's has a really cool playplace. Unfortunately, as we sat down to eat breakfast, Jack had a mishap. He opened his syrup and it poured down his shirt and all over his pants and seat. Now, I have to tell you, it couldn't have been more than a tablespoon of syrup, because the container was mostly full even after some slopped out, but to look at him, it looked like the whole container had dumped out.

This made for a very uncomfortable and sticky Jack. We finished our breakfast and instead of heading to the grocery store, came back to the apartment so he could shower. While he was showering, I looked up information on the McLean County Fair that starts next Wednesday. It is the largest 4-H Fair in the country. We are thrilled that we will be here and get to go one day.

Before we left, he realized his computer was no longer working. His power supply had been acting up, and now it decided was a good time to stop working completely. We left and headed first to Best Buy where we picked up a universal power supply and a couple of things for entertainment. Then we raided some cardboard dumpsters in our quest to find boxes to pack up Daniel's stuff in for the trip back home. Then we went to Meijer's. Man, that store is huge!!!!!!

Katrina had wanted to bring her kite with her since we don't really have a place to fly it at home, but it was left behind in VA, so first we went to see if we could find one. Meijer's was completely out...bummer! We got our groceries and checked out. Then we made a quick stop by Toys 'r Us and they still had about 20 lovely kites, so I picked up 2 and we headed home. We got groceries put away and had lunch. Then we headed out to the McGraw Park. They have big fields and a splash park and playground and it was a windy day.

We got the kites put together. Jack really didn't want to fly kites and it showed. His kept crashing. Plus he had never really flown a kite, so once Katrina's got up in the air, I took his and played around with it. Once I got it up in the air, he took over. We caught him smiling! They played with the kites for awhile. It is a treat for those of us who live in the middle of the woods to be able to run across an open flat field with our kite soaring in the wind.

"Hey, I think I am getting the hang of this now!"

"I am not having fun, really!" Jack proclaims, but he is unable to hide a smile.

"Hey, look, Mom! No hands!"

Jack and his kite buddy.

Katrina relaxes while...




her kite flies overhead.

Katrina helps her butterfly to swoop about.

After we pulled in and put away the kites, we moved over to the splash park. I had told Jack, we might stop over there and to bring his towel, but he didn't. Katrina did and she was having a blast. I told her she could play for five more minutes in the water (she had already been over there for awhile) and then she could have 10 minutes on the playground before we left. Jack lasted about 3 1/2 minutes... before he ran into the water. Water and kids...they just go together!

79, cloudy and wet!

Drenched and happy!

Jack couldn't resist the pull of the double Stargate!

Katrina conquered the rock wall!

Then we returned to the apartment and spent the evening relaxing. Wednesday will be another day!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 11:00 AM | Permalink

On July 19th, 2009, we had an amazing day of sadness and joy. Our pastor, who has pastored our church for 18 years, was giving his last sermon at our church. Pastor Tim also teaches my Sunday School class. We were able to get through the class without anyone being sad.

The service however, was a bit more difficult. Deanna presented Pastor Tim with a plaque for 18 years of service and they were both a bit wet-eyed. Then our choir director had handed out the words to the song Friends by Michael W. Smith.

The congregation sang this song for Pastor Tim and his wife Ruby while different members took the opportunity to walk up to them and give them a hug. This was a very teary and special moment.

After Tim's sermon (1 Corinthians 13) which was full of our love for one another and reminiscences, we had a baptism. There were 5 children baptized. One young man, had been baptized when he was younger, but he told Tim that he didn't really feel like he knew what he was doing at the time and he wanted to be baptized again. The other four children, including Jack, had at some point or another asked Jesus into their hearts, but for one reason or another had not gotten baptized yet.

Jack receives his bible and certificate.
Jack gets baptized.

After the service, we had a farewell meal for Ruby and Tim. They will be sorely missed. We are all looking forward to seeing what God has in store next for us and for them.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 10:42 AM | Permalink

No lazy summer days here...though we are fitting in tons of summer fun:) Since coming back from the beach, we have been doing school work (trying to get ahead to make up for when we go to Australia in the fall).

Jack spent five days at Go Tell Camp with other youth from church. He came back happy, tired, and full of stories about the inspirational messages he heard while he was there.

While Jack was at camp, Katrina's friend, Kaley, spent most of that time with us (and many days thereafter). The girls have been taking full advantage of summer and enjoying being able to visit and play as much as they want to. One day while Jack was at camp, we met some 4-H friends and went swimming at Miller Park Pool.

For the 4th of July, we planned to go on a cool hike that is held every year here in Bedford County. It is a sunset hike up to the top of Sharp Top Mountain. . Normally there are two ways to get to the top of Sharp Top. Ride a bus that lets you off near the top or hike up from the bottom. I have never ridden the bus, we have always hiked. On the 4th of July, they let people walk up the road to the top. Once at the top, you can see fireworks displays from a multitude of surrounding communities. However, the weather deterioriated and we weren't looking forward to driving an hour only to be told the hike was cancelled or worse, get on the top of the mountain in a Thunderstorm...so we stayed home and lit up our own fireworks. We did fireworks for an hour and had a blast. One of the benefits of living on a country road!

The week after the fourth, we spent running the roads. Jack had an orthodontist appointment, the kids had piano lessons. They both had friends to come visit. Jack enjoyed being able to spend time with his friend, Eric, who we hadn't been able to catch up with for a few months. Jack got a hair cut. I got a perm. We got the piano tuned. And we went to Miller Park Pool again.

Then we got to the week of the 13th. I took my Xterra to get the oil changed and tires rotated before our trip to Illinois. We bathed the dogs..boy, that was fun! Ginger absolutely, positively hates water... Plato loves it though!

Then on the 15th, we hopped in the Xterra and headed for Roanoke. First we met some homeschool friends and Bruce, my oldest, at The Red Palace for an excellent Chinese buffet. We were on a bit of a schedule, so we arrived about 10 minutes before opening time (11) and at 5 minutes til, we realized the door was open. We spoke with the people inside and they said we could come on in. So we sat down to a yummy lunch. At exactly 11:45, Carole told us it was time to wrap it up and move on. We paid and headed 'across town' to get to the Valley View Grande Cinema. We all had used Fandango to get tickets for the 12:20 showing of Harry Potter: The Half-Blood Prince. After the movie, we talked a few moments, then headed our separate ways. The movie was good for what it was. You really can't compare the movies to the books because they leave out so much.

We left with Bruce and headed back to his apartment. The kids played Wii and we talked and visited for a few hours. Ryan got back from work around 5:30 and we visited some more before heading to Red Robin for dinner. I love, love, love their hamburgers! Then we headed home. About 30 minutes into our hour long drive, we ran into traffic. There had been an accident. We sat there for awhile thinking we would be allowed through, but we learned that a car had flipped and both lanes were blocked, so we turned around and found an alternate route home. It took us 2 hours total to get home that night.

Then on the 16th, we were up early as we were headed to meet 4-H friends at Holliday Lake State Park in Appomattox. It is about an hour drive and we had some stops to make along the way. When we were 1/2 way there, we ran into sprinkles. It was overcast and we were not happy that the rain that was supposed to arrive later in the day looked like it might show up earlier. But, fortunately, there were never more than sprinkles and by early afternoon the sun was out and it was a beautiful day! We swam, jumped off the dock, and rented paddleboats. When we went to the boat house to rent the paddle boats, I indulged in my Monopoly and playing card obsessions. They had a Virginia State Park Monopoly which I bought, they also had some really cool playing cards - I bought three decks! One had birds, one had vegetables and one had flowers.

The paddleboat adventure was fun. We took turns. When Katrina and I came back in from our turn, we paddled up to the dock and then I reached over to hook us up. As luck would have it, the boat moved backward at the same time. I was leaning forward and fell into the lake...the bottom was slimy, my pride was in tatters, but I was fine! There was no way to climb out onto the dock, so I had to swim around the point to the swimming area. A life guard came over to fuss at me until I told her what had happened... Boy, was I a bit embarrassed!

Well, one more cool thing happened before we disembarked for Illinois, but that will be another entry.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:27 AM | Permalink

Huge blob of Arctic goo floats past Slope communities - It isn't oil. It is biological. It may be some sort of algae bloom, but no one remembers ever seeing anything like it. I am wondering if it is the Blob! After all, they did find the remains of a bird (bones and feathers) in it....

The tiddler who caught a monster: Schoolgirl angler nets record catch that's twice her size and weighs 14stone - This is an amazing story! This young English girl has broken the world's record too!

H1N1 pandemic spreading too fast to count: WHO - This story just scares me! I am not only worried about the overall affect on the world of a pandemic, but I have plans to go to Australia and New Zealand in two months...geez!

Treatment neutralizes muscular dystrophy in mice - This is an awesome story! I once worked with a child with muscular dystrophy. She died when she was 4 years old. She was an amazing little girl. I know Jerry Lewis must be smiling.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 6:48 PM | Permalink

Schoolgirl angler nets record catch that's twice her size and weighs 14stone - This is an amazing story! This young English girl has broken the world's record too!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 2:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Summer has always been a time of mystery to me. I remember the old Country Time commercials where they showed people sitting on front porches enjoying a cold glass of lemonade or children playing in the local swimming hole or father and son fishing from a bridge. My summers were never like that.

When I was five my mother went to work and I spent summers with babysitters. The sitters were only watching me and didn't have other children. I enjoyed reading and playing in the fields, but overall, summers were lonely times for me. I longed for school to be back in session so I could see my friends. When I was about 12, I started staying home alone. The upside of that was that I was in my own house and had more access to things that kept me occupied. Plus a couple of years, my parents got us a membership at a pool. They would come home at lunch and take me there for the afternoon. I loved those days spent swimming and among other kids.

We didn't take vacations when I was a child. I can remember a couple of short trips, but overall summers were just months to be endured until school began again.

Now summers are full of one event after another. I spend days between working, projects, some homeschooling and taking the children to one event or another. I work very hard to make sure they have friends to play with as often as we can arrange it. I don't want them to be lonely during those summer months like I was. Of course, this means lots of time spent in the car since we live out in the middle of nowhere. Add to that our traveling plans and summer is speeding by.

Hopefully the kids are enjoying their fun filled summers:)

Posted by Melissa Markham at 9:16 AM | Permalink

Lynx kittens are sign of hope in Colorado.  Ain't that just the cutest little thing you ahve ever seen? 

The discovery of ten lynx kittens this spring marks the first time newborn lynx have been documented in Colorado since 2006, heartening biologists overseeing restoration of the mountain feline. Lynx were wiped out in Colorado in the early 1970s.  Approximately 200 lynx from Canada and Alaska have been released in Colorado in recent years.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 5:09 AM | Permalink

First the shameless plug. I mentioned awhile back that Daniel and I are working on a new business venture. I am learning a lot in the process. Have you ever heard of neuropathy?

Neuropathy is simply described as nerve damage. Nerve damage can result from a lot of different things such as trauma, injury, diabetes, toxins. Diabetes is the leading cause. The nerve damage means that people either experience feelings that aren't there (like you feel pains when nothing is wrong). You can also feel numbness - lack of feeling in your extremities. This can be particularly dangerous. You could injure your foot for example and not even know you have done it. So, if you have problems with numbness or tingling, you might want to check out the website for more information.

Now, there is a beach story that I forgot to share. Our last morning there, we got up to take an early walk on the beach. We wanted to take pictures of the sunrise and enjoy a last quiet walk in the surf. Then we planned to get all of our stuff packed into the car early to avoid the inevitable rush of people leaving and people coming in.

While we were enjoying the beauty and quiet of the early morning hours (we left our room at 5:30 am), we heard sirens in the distance, but didn't think much on it. We took our pictures and enjoyed our walk and at about 6:15 decided to start our return to the room. As we got closer, we began to run into people in their pajamas. Well, it is the beach, so maybe people were just making themselves at home...

But then as we headed towards our building, some spoke to us and told us we could not go in there. Turns out while we were gone the fire alarm had gone off. The building had been evacuated. And most everyone had been allowed back in except for those who were from the 12th floor. Guess what floor our room was on?????

So we walked to the next hotel and got some Starbucks coffee and hot chocolate and waited a bit. When we returned to our hotel, the fire trucks were gone. We asked an employee what had happened. Apparently a couple of someones (probably teens) and decided it would be fun to take the fire extinguishers and spray them all over the 12th floor hallway. We were allowed to go back up as long as we didn't have breathing problems.

We went up and there was a fine white film everywhere. We got to our room and it was fine, and the air wasn't thick at all. We packed up and left post haste. As we were leaving, a clean up truck was arriving. The hotel had to call a special company to come and clean the spray up out of the hallway. I sure hope they found the culprits! And I am so glad that Jack got up and went to the beach with us.

Originally, Jack talked about staying in the room and sleeping in a bit, but then decided to come along. I can't imagine how panicked he would have been if he had woke up to the sound of the fire alarm, we hadn't been there, and then to go out in the hall and have that stuff in the air. Then to come downstairs and not be able to find us as we were on the beach....

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:59 PM | Permalink

Okay, so it is no secret to those of you who come by fairly regularly that I am a big Johnny Depp fan. So today, when an afternoon appointment got rescheduled, I took advantage of having someone over to keep the kids company and I went to see Public Enemies. I do not know how accurate the depiction was and there was lots of killing going on. Can't have gang movies without that.

But I enjoyed the movie. Johnny Depp and Christian Bale each gave excellent performances. What a lawless time it was. I find it interesting that people so often romanticize or root for people like Robin Hood, John Dillinger, etc. John Dillinger robbed banks. He killed people. But he was also charismatic. When he robbed from the banks, he did not take money from the customers in line. He didn't want to be involved in kidnapping. He appeared to want to keep killing out of the equation. He was just after the money and the good life. But, this is wrong. A wrong against society. Not to be romanticized or encouraged. Dillinger was slippery and clever, and a criminal who in the end got what he deserved.

As to Johnny Depp, I continue to believe he is the best actor of my generation. He is talented beyond many that are out there today. It's not just his looks and charm. It is his ability to become the character he is playing. I find it interesting that he never watches his own movies. I love the fact that he plays such a wide variety of roles and does so with such skill. I hope he will continue to entertain us for years to come.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:48 PM | Permalink

Over the last week, we have watched several movies. Don't know why, just sometimes we go through spells. They are mostly older movies and some I may have even shared thoughts about before, but thought I would say a few words here about each.

My Bloody Valentine - okay, this was hubby's pick. Not my type of movie at all. Too much gore. Too many holes. Poor dialogue. Poor acting. I had my eyes closed a good part of the time. Nuff said.

Independence Day - I love Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. I love this movie. It is a favorite and we watch it pretty much every 4th of July. There is great dialogue and the President's speech is stirring and who doesn't love Randy's performance and sacrifice! If you have never seen this movie, do yourself a favor and watch it.

War of the Worlds - Tom Cruise. First of all, I really don't like Tom Cruise. Second of all, I liked the original movie best. Third, the best part of this movie was Morgan Freeman's voice over at the beginning and end. Fourth, the gore is just unnecessary and there are too many moments that remind me too much of 9-11.

Signs - another favorite! I love Mel Gibson's performance and Joaquin Phoenix (too bad he seems to have gone off the deep end). This movie is just the right amount of scary.

The Searchers - John Wayne - this is a touching tale. There were a lot of things in it that wouldn't be allowed in a movie today (references, actions...none of which were PC), but it is an excellent story and I never tire of seeing John Wayne. Problems with it include the fact that I don't think any of the Native Americans were actually played by Native Americans. Good parts are the fact that blood and gore was not necessary to be shown for us to know that horrible things were happening.

Cloverfield - actually Daniel and Jack watched that. I saw it once, wasn't overly impressed and didn't want to watch it again.

King Arthur - 2004 version. I am watching it right now. Lots of high quality actors in it. Definitely a different look at King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. I like it.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:35 PM | Permalink

Last week, Daniel and I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

What an unusual movie! It was the first thing that I have seen Brad Pitt in in awhile that I actually thought he gave a good performance. The story concerns a child who is born with the body of an old man. He looks like a baby in size, but his joints, his face...all resemble that of an 80 year old man. As he grows, he begins to get younger. His life is backwards.

This leads to all kinds of interesting conundrums. You know the saying that youth is often wasted on the young...well, this gives a bit of an idea of what it would be like if you were old first in mind, but then as you aged and grew more wise, your body would become young and vigorous.

I found this idea very different and that is hard to come by these days. I am still mulling over the movie and look forward to seeing it again. There were a couple of episodes that could have been left out (they were a bit long and didn't add to the overall story), but that is really the only criticism I have. My hubby didn't like it as much as I did and he felt the movie as a whole was too long.

So we give it 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Posted by Melissa Markham at 8:27 PM | Permalink

The last couple of weeks have been busy and I haven't had a chance to get online...well, that's not entirely true. The first week we were gone, the second week, I just didn't feel like it...



I have had a growing dislike for the computer this year. There are so many other things I would rather be doing. Reading a book, playing with the kids, cleaning the house, working on some project or another. I rarely surf these days or read blogs. But I do like keeping some record of what we are up to...even if it is just so family will know what we are doing.



We were at Myrtle Beach from June 19th through 28th. While there, we had mostly a fun time. We did some of our favorite things like play Putt-Putt, visit the aquarium, race go-karts, look for seashells, take pictures, lay by the pool, and play in the ocean. Daniel, Jack and I were also busy working on our SCUBA certification. That didn't go as well or as quickly as we thought it would.



We each had things that were a bit hard for us to master. Daniel overcame the quickest, but had to work at skills such as mask clearing and putting on his BC while in the water. I had the hardest time with mask clearing. Every time I tried to do it, I would try to breath in through my nose. But after a few days of practice, I was getting the hang of it. Jack just wasn't comfortable with the whole idea of being down deep due to some things he had read about lung over expansion injuries.  He did finally go into the deeper part of the pool, but refused to do the ocean dive. On ocean dive day, the waves were high and I got sea sick...oh well...Daniel got two of his dives in and needs to do two more to get open water certified. I need to do all four of my dives and I think Jack is probably going to stick with snorkeling for now.



After we got back from the beach on Sunday, Jack took off for Go Tell Camp (church camp) on Monday. He was gone until Friday and Katrina spent that time either at her friend, Kaley's house, or Kaley was here. We went to see The Hannah Montana Movie, which I enjoyed even though I found it pretty predictable. We also went swimming at a local pool one afternoon.



Then on Saturday, we were going to hike to the top of Sharp Top (part of the Peaks of Otter) with a group that goes up there to see fireworks on the Fourth of July. However, we didn't get to go.  They were calling for storms, so we just lit up some fireworks we had here for about an hour. We all enjoyed that just as much.



Today, we started up with some of our school. I always seem to struggle to get all of our math and grammar done. I think it is because those subjects have a set number of lessons that need to be done during a year's time. Whereas, other subjects we do, do not.  So we are doing math and grammar so the kids won't be incredibly behind due to our trip to Australia in the autumn.  



There, now ...all caught up...if only I can make myself get on the computer a bit more regularly.

Posted by Melissa Markham at 4:16 PM | Permalink