Swedish Weaving again!

Phil & I have been to Cathy's house in Pueblo several times to buy Monk's Cloth.  Cathy has moved to Wheat Ridge and closed her business.  But she still does SW and is very good at it.  She sent me a couple patterns that I think are awesome.  The pattern is Tilting Blocks.  Cathy did the first 2 photo's and the third is the one I want to do from pinterest.
I will get supplies Wed. when we go to Las Cruces for Dave's knee surgery!

Dave needs knee surgery!

We spent most of Feb 6th in Las Cruces Dave had an MRI of his right knee.  He twisted it deer hunting in Oct.  All tears are on the outside, 3 total.  27 years ago he had the same knee done and we rehabbed in Kenia, AK at his Dad's.  I hope it is as Dave thinks and as easy as before.  However he is a bit older now!

Debbie Martin

February 6 at 6:14pm · 

Three places are torn. Crutches for 2-3 days.

They are moving on!

We were at the Legion yesterday and the RummyKub tiles were running out from to many players so I went and sat with Charlene.  She informed me that her & Roger were moving into a mobile home for rent.  They will sell the truck and 5th wheel and they are done with full timing after 9 years.  We are still going since 2005.  Changes are in the wind for a bunch of the group.  I have been having house blues for a couple years now.  After many thoughts of where to move last summer we narrowed down Montana to either Helena or Hamilton.  We really like Canyon Ferry Res. area, 15 miles East of Helena.  The Hamilton area is a lot prettier but I think with the lake Dave & the kids will be happier there.  Crazy Jerry lives in Hamilton.  We visited him this summer.  We also saw Chuck and Lil in Helena.  Chuck died here in EB in Sept.

My ode to George!

 "There's a very special garden
Where the trees of memory grow 
Nurtured by the kindness 
And concern that good friends show. 
The roots are cherished memories Of good times in the past.
The branches tender promises that souls endure and last.
It's a place of peace and beauty
Where bright new hopes can start
It's memory's lovely garden That soothes the hurting heart"
~Unknown

George returned today! Ashes to ashes!

It was been an emotional last few days.  Dave went Monday, Jan. 29th to pick up Patsy, George's sister, from the ALB airport.  We has never met her so we didn't know what was going to happen.  Dave took her around town to show her points of interest that she would need then dropped Dave at home.  She came in to meet me and gave me a hug.  That told me everything was going to be ok.

Monday night we went to Casa Taco for dinner.  Bill and Maurene came also.  We ended up finding out that Maurene and Patsy went to college in WY at the same time!  Small world!

Tuesday Patsy ran errands and we went to play pool/shuffle board at the VFW.  Dave & Martha offered to host a roast for George at their house. We choose only really close friends for the function. Bill/ Maurene, Bob/Terri, Mel/Bonnie, Dave/Martha, Dave & I and Patsy.  Loren/Marilyn were ill and did not attend. We ate pizza and shared stories of George.  I put together 2 photo albums. One for Patsy and one for Dave & I.  The stories were awesome and the night was as well.

Wednesday Dave & Patsy went to Hatch to close bank accounts and ended having to go to Las Cruces for one bank.  When they returned we cleaned out the apartment.  Patsy came over with George's ashes.  She didn't expect them back until Thursday.  Tomorrow she leaves with George's truck and side x side.

I didn't know that George's passing would result in meeting and getting to know a new friend.  Since George was a such a private guy it was nice to hear about his life from Patsy.  We look forward to meeting, Bert. Patsy's husband, someday.

It's sad to lose another friend!  We'll miss you George!

The Great Penguin Migration - GEICO

If I had time in a bottle! Looking back 2009.

I guess I'm getting old!  The time frame of the last 12 years of full time RV'ing has gotten away from me.  So in looking for photos, of George, I decided hey, how about checking out the old blog?  So I woke up my blogging skills, redid the blog format, yippie ! And I went thru every month since 2009, made notes and took some photos.  Dave said "But what about 2005-2009?"  So I pulled out the old HP laptop that was viruseded, yah, that is my word! Sure enough there were those years on the old laptop.  But there is work to do there so I am starting with 2009!


2009
Big year: Bahama trip (Smokies, FL), Great River Road (IA), Indio back to EB!


Bahama trip with Maggie Girl



Vera's 86th BD





Great Smokies

  


Worked at Shadow Hills RV Resort Indio, CA.






The job at Indio was NOT good so back to EB we came!


Cliff/Karen, Me/Dave, Mayno, Ken/Phyll.

Welcome back to year 2018!

Face Book has taken over most blogs.  Dave and  I are in mourning over George Hittle's death.

Here's the FB post:

Debbie Martin

January 24 at 2:54pm · 

Ok here we go. I think we have caught everyone but we may have missed some folks. I wanted to wait until I could get to this photo and for a bit of the shock to wear off. We lost a wonderful man, George Hittle, Saturday morning. Dave and I have gotten closer to George every year for the last few years. We have had moose about run us over at his WY home. He loved our kids, Luc and Sarah. The kids, Dave and I will greatly miss the Cookie Man! Ride baby ride!

Our 6 days in Sioux Falls.

We were looking for something to do and found out that Abe Lincoln was going to be at the Old Courthouse Museum.  

It was a beautiful building!  Oh look, Abe is over there!

Dave, Abe and Leon.

As we were walking in we noticed  some school buses.  There were 2 buses of 4-5 graders and 2 buses of 3rd grade, 2 hundred kids. They did well during the presentation.  Abe started off with "Well today I would be 207 years old!"  He did a great Abe!  Dave was so impressed we went back that evening for another show.  I would like to see Ben Franklin.  We drove around in the evening looking for deer.  One night we found them and some huge turkeys.  I am making paper beads so I helped Carlie make a necklace.  The next evening we made a couple more.  

We had some excitement at the campground one morning.  Dave & I slept thru it, I guess!   The cops were there quite a while.  We never heard what happened until a few days later.  Dave took the kids out to the south of the park where the kids discovered a kid hitting golf balls.  Well, of course, she ran and then the kids ran after her.  Then all of a sudden a man comes out of the trees and yells to Dave "I'm going to drop those dogs!  Dave yells back "You do and I'll drop you." Everyone calmed down and the kids were playing with the little girl.  I bet neither of the guys were really packing heat!

The weather was cold and rainy all the time we were there.  The kids enjoyed the doggie park at exit 4 on I-229.  Bye Leon, Doris and all!

May 9th, Pender to Sioux Falls, SD.

The car is done and Jeremiah helped the VIRGINS hook it up for the first time.
Off to Sioux Falls!

Here is the Falls in Sioux Falls, SD.

My brother, Leon and his wife Doris!

Leon has a friend who let us walk around his beautiful property to look for mushrooms.

Us = 0 mushrooms. DAMN!

The place was awesome!

Let's sit here and just hang out!

May 6. oops forgot chocolate banana bread and the Veterans Memorial in Pender, NE.

I took some banana's to Kari's thinking the girls would like to mix them up.  We ended up making chocolate banana bread.  I didn't like it at first but then YUMMY!

The other day when I was out for a walk in Pender I went to the Vet's Memorial. I was impressed at the towns commitment to the US servicemen and to all the wars that were fought for our freedom.  So we stopped for a photo taking session on our way back home from Kari's.

This is the writing that I wanted a picture of.  I am going to retype it so it is easier to read.  It is a powerful message. 

May 6, Columbus, NE.

We are enjoying the sun and wind.  We took off to visit Kari, Jerry, Shae, Avery and Gabby.  The drive was around 90 miles from Pender to Columbus. My sister Donna was worried about Kari's dog Ali and our kids getting along.  No problem!  I don't think Ali liked them much but those girls had a blast with them.  I thanked Kari for letting us spent time in a house.  That sounds funny, doesn't it?  But it's true!

Avery and Shae.

We made paper bead necklaces. It was soo fun!

Shae and Gabby.

Gabby and Luc.

Kari and I shopped and bought flowers. Gabby is helping Mom plant.

I like this picture.  I got everyone except Jerry in it.

The end result of their creations.

There's Jerry, Kari and Ali. Ali is a red lab. Hum....

Kari planting her purchases.

Photo of the girls and Luc and Sarah.  Bye Columbus!

The day has turned into the date: May 5, Pender, Nebraska

Today is our second day at Pender, NE. The new Honda is participating in the Fit Program here at Blue Ox.  The company uses the Fit Program to make it's prototype for their tow bars.  We took the tour of the plant yesterday.  This company is what made this country.
Today I decided that if a person needs motivation to exercise the best thing to do is to stand in front of the mirror naked.  That should do it!  So I put a new battery in the pedometer, laced up the shoes and off I went.  First stop was the donkeys across the street.  I tried to talk them in to coming to the fence put to no avail.  Then I spotted lilacs.  I had to have one so it took the walk with me.  This is a cute little midwest town. The last few days the country has been green flat to a few hills and very green.  Dave says the last few mornings he has heard a pheasant on the morning walk with the kids.  Do you know which pheasant makes the calls?  Male or female?  One of the cute issues around town is the Quilts of Pender.  A lot of the house have a probably 3x3 foot wooden quilt in their yards somewhere. Spring is here too!  I saw Columbine blooming, strawberries, tulips, crabapple trees.  Jeremy, gave us the tour yesterday and he said we just missed 2 weeks of rain.  The accumulation was 7 inches. Thank you God we missed it!
We had been having TV problems since we arrived here.  Every one around us was getting TV but us.  Dave crawled up there and damn there was the cable cut in two!  So when Donna mentioned Survivor Dave decided to run a new cable from the antenna to the box and BAM TV.
Today after my walk we checked out the local cemetery that I noticed on my walk.  There were 2 stones that touched my heart. One for sure was a Service Women.  The other is a guess he was of a Serviceman.

This one made me cry!  I'm in the picture too!