Brother to Brother

Little Samuel was born this afternoon and his brother got to meet him this evening. The photo, sent by Suzanne just resonated with me as little Chas meets his brother for the first time. You can see in Chas's touching the wonder of he has towards this special new person who is going to change his life forever. It is poignant to view and vicariously touches all of us. Welcome to life Sammy! Your brother will show you the ropes!

Wordless Wednesday - Christmas Season

Rain, Rain, Go Away

Can you believe it, we had a little rain yesterday. Yes, even in Las Vegas we get rain - less than 10% of what we got in the midwest, so when we get rain here it's like driving on ice for the locals. They all slow down - well most of them anyway. When we got up yesterday morning we looked out and there was only a low gray cloud cover to see. We thought, "Well that's not so bad. It's nice to have a little cloudy weather and some rain." However, by the time mid-afternoon rolled around the comment from the front room (the alternate quilting room) was, "Where's the sunshine?" It didn't help that we had this little drizzle (or what we like to call a Las Vegas downpour) going on all day and night.

This morning we got up to another day of predicted rain showers. Thank goodness the weather forecasters in Nevada aren't any better than the ones in the midwest. As it started to clear we went out to get the last of those Christmas packages mailed and the sunshine was peaking through. As we looked east to the strip it was shrouded in a low fog that made the hotels and casinos appear as more of a distant mirage. It was sort of cool. As we looked west the mountains behind our home had a light snow covering and those further away in the Red Rock Conservation Area had snow, clouds and the like. It is absolutely beautiful to see the sun, clouds, and snow on the mountains.

By the time I left for work at noon we had beautiful cumulus clouds with breaks of sunshine coming through. Yes, living in Las Vegas with its 300 plus days of sunshine is wonderful and we certainly enjoy it.

I took this a year ago, but this is the view we often see in the winter when we
look west.

Sharing and Rethinking Some Sharing

As JoAnn and I have had children leave home and had more time for each other we have discovered we are share more and more experiences together and enjoying it. We've always enjoyed driving together to see new or old and beautiful country. We more recently have had fun making salads together. We pull all of the vegetables, spinach, condiments, and other things. While one of us builds the salad the other steams the vegetables. Those salads are sooooo goooood! We've made bread and cookies together. We fold clothes together although there are some of her clothes that I can't fold. We put up Christmas decorations together. We garden together and the list goes on. While I don't help sewing, she values my opion, or at least asks when it related to colors. I reciprocate by asking about ties (when I wear them).

However, we have one sharing experience we are having to rethink. For years we have sat next to each other and shared the hymnal during sacrament meeting at Church. If you sit behind us it probably looks comical. The hymnal almost continuously goes forward, backward, up, down with each of us trying to find the right distance and location for our bifocal and trifocal lenses. We laughed about it last Sunday as we realized that our hymnal was constantly in motion. It's a good thing we know most of the songs and only periodically have to look at the words. I can only imagine what it looks like to watch us from the pew behind us. I suspect we will figure out how to make this work so we can continue to share.

Wordless Wednesday

Black Friday

We have never buckled under to "Black Friday" in our house. We find Friday morning a great day to stay away from stores, shops, and other commercial public places. This year, however, we thought we might do something just a little different - after all Krissie & David were visiting and we wanted them to have a Las Vegas experience.

So, with that in mind, we made some decisions. While the rest of you were standing in line, pushing and shoving to get those "bargains" we were sound asleep - at least until about 5:30 am. We roused everyone from bed, bundled up and headed out for "Black Friday!"

We didn't go far, but we don't have to to have our kind of "Las Vegas" experience. We drove out to Red Rock Conservation area and watched the sun rise. In this case it's more of a sun drop since the sun hits the tops of the mountains and works its way down. It is a beautiful site. While it was a little cool for Las Vegas, watching the sun come down the mountain was worth the wait - we all thought so!

This is JoAnn's personal favorite. Those are the Spring Mountains in the background.

We watched the sun come down the mountain and it was a beautiful vista. We weren't alone, but that was fine. We like watching the sun set at the beach, but this is just as awesome. It's a renewal.

Following our sunrise watch we drove about 4 miles down the road to a little area called Calico Basin, named for the rocks that look like a calico material. It is one of our favorite areas to visit. It has a small spring and meadow and is so peaceful and beautiful - especially at 6:45 in the morning. I took the following photos while we were there. There are more photos on my flickr account.

I had fun playing with this one and focusing on colors
as opposed to people. The women were horrified I took
the photo, but as a Grandpa I can get away with it.

David and I came into the meadow from a hill above it. I'd never done that before
and the colors and the light were awesome. We were the only ones there!

It's hard to find the fall colors in this photo, but the colors are about as good
as they get anywhere in southern Nevada right here.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

click on me to make me bigger

Wordless Wednesday

The Quilt Shop is Open

We were blessed to have 2 of our children visit this week. Well, a child and a spouse, but once they become a spouse they are adopted into our family (in a literal sense). David and Krissie flew in from San Diego on Monday to help me and JoAnn out since JoAnn went into the hospital early Monday morning for a condition that has been resolved and is NOT life threatening. She came home on Wednesday, tired, hungry, and physically exhausted. She had been sick for 3 weeks, but we really didn't understand that until she got to the hospital. However, that has little or much to do with this post.

Because David & Krissie were here I was able to go back to work on Wednesday for what was left of a busy week. JoAnn finally made it home about 6 pm and she went almost directly to bed. We were all exhausted and went to bed early. Thursday was another busy morning at work and I took the afternoon off to spend time with the kids. David and I were busy reorganizing the garage and driving around picking up shelving, tearing down existing work benches, and cleaning up. At some point we came inside and the girls announced they had been to the quilt store!

I looked at them incredulously, thnking to myself, "Your mother just got out of the hospital and you took her to the quilt store! What is the matter with you?" They could see me warring with my emotions and began to laugh. Now I was confused. Finally they said, "We went to Mom's quilt store!" They had me, but it wasn't for the first time.

JoAnn reminded me that the last time we had Sister's Weekend at our house that I was sitting on the computer in her office when I watched our daughters come in several times and go through her well organized quilt storage area. For the girls it was like being in a quilt store and they all readily agree it's one of the best quilt stores they have been in. So Krissie, our lone unrepentant non quilter had finally repented and was quilting to making Christmas gifts for her sister-in-laws (no secrets revealed here). She learned pretty quickly under the steady hand and eye of JoAnn. Krissie did most of the work once she understood the basics.

It's still good to know that we can help our children in small ways that allow them to grow. We do enjoy having our children around and look forward to when we live closer to some of them and not have to depend on a visit to have them over, but it becomes part of a daily routine.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Plumbers Delight

A few years ago when we lived in Terre Haute we had to replumb out entire home. It seems that sub quality copper piping was used throughout the home. As we investigated alternatives we finally went with flexible plastic pipe (which has no influence on this blog) and they made the installation in 1.5 days at considerably less cost then estimates for copper pipe. I investigated the viability of the flexible plastic pipe and received ringing endorsements from contractors I trusted. It was not only a short experience, but it was painless. It was almost as if they weren't there.

The living room wall - before

Same wall, during! Plumbing for the spare bathroom (on the
other side of the wall)

We are in the midst of the same experience in our new Las Vegas home, but this time it's the result of a class-action suit and we don't pay anything. There are some differences, however. In Indiana we had a crawl space. In Las Vegas we have a slab. In Indiana the plumbing was under the house in the crawl space. In Las Vegas it is in the ceiling. For a midwesterner the whole idea of water pipes in the attic is scary, but then we don't get very cold here. In Indiana they had to cut a two holes in our walls, and that was to get to the showers. In Las Vegas it was a different story.

On Thursday morning the first crew showed up to plasticize the house. We literally had plastic sheeting handing everywhere. When I got home from work it was like living in a maze. Then the plumbers showed up. I was gone by then and JoAnn figured out in a hurry she was best out of the house also. We easily had over a dozen holes in our walls. The good news was that all of the plumbing was completed on Thursday and on Friday the wallboard and plaster crew showed up to patch the holes and prep the house for painting. By the time they left at 3 pm all the holes were patched in the house and garage.

Outdoors with NO covering!

As a side note, on Thursday I walked out behind the house and there was a hole in the back of the house - a BIG hole. The insulation was laying on the ground and there was no covering over the hole. You can take me out of the midwest, but you can't take the midwest out of me. All I could see in my imagination was rain (and we get so much here!) and critters. I moved the insulation to the patio and went inside and cut a sizable piece of plastic and covered the hole. When I talked to the foreman in the morning it was clear he did not have a midwestern mentality. He didn't see any problems. I did, but it's that midwestern perspective.

I'm writing this on Saturday morning while I wait for the painters to show up. It's 9:12 am and all the other crews have been here at 7 am. The painter showed up at 2:30 pm. On Sunday we discovered, while sitting in Sacrament, that our neighbors from 2 blocks away were hogging the painter on Saturday morning. Today (Monday) it's cleaning, hook the dishwasher up (5 days without a dishwasher!!!), and the walk through. Actually, it looks like no one was even here and we got a new paint job and all the left-over paint!

Cousins! Kissing Cousins! Really?

The other evening I was having a nice quiet evening at home surrounded by plastic sheeting hanging from the ceiling (that's another blog) and enjoying the NFL opening season game when the phone rang. On the other end was granddaughter 3 who is daughter 2 of daughter 3. Still with me? After a little grandfather - granddaughter banter, mostly by me, she finally said, "Grandpa, I need help with my genealogy." Since that is a topic near and dear to my heart, I said, "Sure, what do you want to know?" She asked for our birthdates, birth places, realized she didn't need our death dates and then went on to ask about other relatives. After getting my parents, she asked, "Who are your dad's parents?" I shared all of the relevant information with her, followed by my mother's parents. Then it was off to JoAnn's parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents. Remember, this was done a little randomly, meaning we didn't always follow a family line, and I'm several hundred miles away on the telephone. When I asked questions the answers were sometimes a little vague. She concurred she was building a pedigree chart, but I wondered why we went to great-grandparents on only one side. That was when she shared she wanted to go back 8 generations and would need to call again! Eight generations is a lot of names.

The next morning I talked to our daughter, her mother, Suzanne, and asked the burning question, "How does Lexi's pedigree chart look." I got this guffaw from Suzanne and she finally said that Lexi came to her and showed that JoAnn and I were cousins. We're not, we aren't from Kentucky (apologies to my family in Kentucky), and were not even remotely from related families. Not that progenitors haven't done that, but not for over 300 years as near as I can determine.

JoAnn and I had a good laugh over the idea we were cousins - maybe even "kissing cousins." This is what makes grandparenting so much fun. We get to see how children interpret what is said and how differently they see the world from us. It is a joy for us to have such wonderful grandchildren and children. Not that we are biased.

Wordless Wednesday

Hattie just a little on the tired side during our visit
in July.

Remembering Summer

Family reunion time in Iowa with almost all 16
grandchildren sitting still.

Summer is officially over. How do I know? School has started, or in my case, I'm back to work at the university. But what a great summer it has been. For the first time in 10 years I took the whole summer off - granted, not by choice. But the reality is that I'm more prepared for fall then I have been for a number of years. I know there are those who scoff at a "summer off," but that's one of the reasons I went into higher education. Most of those summers over the last 35 plus years have involved travel, research, writing, and an occasional class. This summer I had great hopes for all of those things and the travel provided the best experiences of all.

It's not an official reunion without cake
and ice cream - and LOTS of it!

Trips to Idaho, Utah, and Iowa were stupendous. We were gone for almost all of July and into August and while we thought that was a little long, there were a lot of years when a 3-week vacation was standard for us, but as the children left home and started their own families we found we had not single, but multiple destinations to visit including, at various times, Utah, Idaho, New Mexico, Iowa, Michigan, California, Colorado, New York, North Carolina, Missouri, and England. That idea of a single summer vacation has morphed into year-round vacation opportunities that are usually shorter. Much of the notion of a 3-week vacation was built around the need to drive from the mid-west to California. Now we hop a plane for those longer destinations.

Summer used to be a time for our families to visit us, but since we moved to the desert there is less interest in seeing us during our summer head and more incentive for us to visit further north - or to the California beaches.

The Allen's hamming it up!

Yet, our summer trips remain a staple of our opportunity to visit family. We have a longer period to stay at each home and we can try to get quality time in at several homes. This summer we were able to spend time with the Bake and Bradley families in Idaho, the Hansen's in Utah, the McLean's in Iowa, and JoAnn spent time with the Dunn's (less David) in San Diego. By the time late August got here we were ready for a quiet few months at home, but we are already planning Christmas in Idaho with a new grandson.

Summer has been good to us. We have enjoyed it. We expect to continue to enjoy it in the future and while it remains the foundation of our vacation, we now visit year round because we love seeing our families. We feel blessed by these opportunities.

Grandma celebrating her birthday with all of her very
best friends - her family!

Hurricanes and Typhoons

Watching the television reports of hurricane Irene brought back memories, especially after I communicated with friend of mine who took his daughter back to New York for the start of the fall semester. We start classes on Monday and yesterday I asked him what his status was (text message) and he responded he was trapped until Tuesday afternoon. I've been through two typhoons (that's the Pacific Ocean version of a hurricane and I like the name better) in my life.

Note that there were no
windows, just louvers.

I'll start with the second, since it was less dramatic. I was teaching strategic planning to members of the Hong Kong Olympic Committee when my host told me that class would be over in 30 minutes. My response was, "We still have 2 hours." And he said, "Not now, we have a stage 4 hurricane coming and all public transportation stops in 2 hours." Needless to say, I got done in my allotted 30 minutes and let everyone go. That evening all of the big stores were closed and all of the mom and pop stores were open, including the restaurants. The storm missed us and hit Macau, so the next morning we were back in class.

Some 40 years prior to that I experienced my first typhoon as a youngster living on Guam, in the Marianas archipelago in the Pacific Ocean. It was in 1956 or 1957 - I really don't remember. We lived on Anderson Air Force Base and had a couple stay with us during the storm. They lived in quarters that weren't deemed safe. Our housing was on high ground at the north end of the island and we had no windows - just louvers and screens. Hence, you can imagine that keeping water out was a challenge. Fortunately we had all rattan furniture and carpets - long before it was fashionable.

Guam is a beautiful island in the Pacific. It recovers
quickly from disasters. This is what I remember most -
the beauty of the island.

We filled up the bathtub with water, for drinking purposes and then mopped the floors all night. Finally about 2 am everyone went to bed and got up in the morning and mopped all the water out of the house. There was a couple of inches of water in places, but the storm had passed. Not far from our home was a great outdoor theater that we often went to. It had completely collapsed. I don't have a photo of that, but the photo below is of the gymnasium, or what was left of it.

The gym was really a big quonset hut that couldn't survive
the heavy winds. It gives an idea of the force of the winds.

For us kids it was a real adventure. We had know idea how ferocious a typhoon could be and what damage could be caused. I think of Dennis and Juanita and their family as they ride out hurricane Irene and know they will be okay.

The Joy of Play

JoAnn and I love watching our grandchildren play - together and alone. Of course their play is sometimes loud and other times quiet and it is usually the latter that parents worry about. When you have 15 children together ranging in age from 16 to 2 years of age there is a lot of diversity in what is considered play. For the teens it is texting, texting, and yes, more texting interspersed along with a few video games. For the younger children it verges on a lot more spontaneity and physical play. Joshua had a brand new play structure in the backyard that immediately captured everyone's attention who was under the age of 12. I would go out on the upstairs patio and see the youngest ones playing on the structure, running around the house exterior, and having a wonderful time. No one was in charge, but everyone was together. The photo shows six grandchildren from 3 families having a great time - each one of them individually engaged in active play and using their imagination.

The above photo, while only showing Joshua, shows how engaged he (along with his cousins) were with his Thomas the Train set. The train set usually had 3 to 5 children gathered around it, all engaged in a different form of plan. It was amazing how they were all individually engaged and yet didn't seem to get frustrated with the others. There wasn't a lot of space for 3 to 5 children, but they made the most of it each time. They were all pretty much at the age where playing together is still a novel idea.

Playing with Grandma is also very important. All of the kids enjoy playing, and learning from, Grandma. Joshua and Chas loved having Grandma working with them on a puzzle and teaching them to work together. I'm not so sure the "working together" idea was fully grasped. Grandma also found time to eat a little dinner out at the farm with Lexi and Meagan. They are both at an age where food is more important than it used to be, but fun is even more important. Finally, there is the first grandchild with a "driving permit." I personally find that scary, but while we were in downtown Des Moines and found an Italian festival she found the car of her dreams. Of course Grandma was there to share it with her.

It's all about play and fun. It's about practicing for life. It's about learning to work with others, but in the end, it's about family and joy and love. I could have talked about adult play too, but this one is for the kids.

Family Reunion: SquirtGunslingers (Wordless Wednesday)

Where has the time gone?

It seems like just yesterday, or maybe the day before, that I was courting my beautiful bride in Modesto, California. But yet, it's been 44 years today. It was 107 degrees the day we were married and thank goodness we didn't take that as an omen. It would have been the wrong one. Our adventures over the last 44 years have wonderful. Who would have thought that all these years later we would have 7 children, almost 16 grandchildren, and lived in so many different and exciting places.

Neither one of us had a clue about where our life would take us, but the trip has been wonderful. I count my blessings when I look at my bride - and yes, she is still my bride - even if we both have a little time on our side.

Happy Anniversary Lover! It has been fun and I'm looking forward to the next 44 years. Maybe we can do it together on our own 4-wheeler!

Wordless Wednesday

Family Reunion: Lunch in Ames

I have taken a long summer vacation as is obvious by the lack of postings, but it has been time well spent. JoAnn and I spent most of July traveling to Idaho, Utah, and Iowa. The latter was for our family reunion.

A long set of tables and no talking
from end to end - at least quietly.

Iowa has a particular hold on the McLean family. We go back several generations in Iowa, on both sides of my family and as a family, we lived in Ames and Cedar Rapids for a total of 13 years.

As a child I have such fond memories of summers at my grandparents' homes in Des Moines. During this trip I showed at least one daughter and granddaughter where my dad's parents lived and where my mom's parents final home was. Then we drove through the state fair grounds, which was busy getting ready, and talked about experiences I had there.

For all of us going to Ames and Hickory Park restaurant was wonderful. JoAnn and I remember the original Hickory Park, located in an old converted gas station where you would stand outside in the cold (or heat) waiting for a table. You ate dinner or ice cream (there was too much food to eat both), but never both. We first went to Hickory Park in 1977 and as our children grew we took them. Usually we didn't have enough money to take the whole family all at once, so it was special occasions when we took a child. When Donna turned 12 we went with our Bishop (I was the first counselor) and his son and had ice cream. It was great and I still fondly recall that experience.

It was unanimous among our family, long before we got to Des Moines, that we would all go north to Ames. Tim called ahead and made reservations. When we all arrived we asked for a table for 29! In 1977, there were only 6 of us, and 2 were tikes and only 1 was in school, we never imagined we would have dinner for 29 ANYWHERE! But here we are 34 years later and our family has blossomed. And yes, we missed David and Krissie, but the USMC calls and they respond.

Most of the grandchildren sitting in front of a big screen
television taking in cartoons while the patiently (?) waited
for our table

As I looked down the loooooong table at all 29 family members comprising 7 of our 8 families I realized just how wonderful our family has become. Everyone was busy talking, listening, eating, corralling children, and having an awfully good time. Plus, following lunch, many planned to run by the old homestead (it was a townhouse) for additional memories. It is these types of activities that help our family to build long-term relationships. It is going to be too soon before our grandchildren start leaving the nest and building their own families. I wonder how big our table will be next time we go to Hickory Park?

The view from the other end of the table. Mike and Allison
on the right and Ellen on the left.

I hope everyone is getting ready for Denver in 2013.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday on Thursday - Lunch for 29!

Celebrating the 4th of July in Las Vegas

This evening JoAnn and I drove a little over a mile to an open gravel field and watched an arc of fireworks demonstrations covering 270 degrees of the compass. We live about 800 feet above the valley floor so we have a great view of most of the city and the strip. There are probably many cities where you can experience 270 degrees of fireworks, but from our perch we could see all of the Las Vegas strip and the many fireworks, plus those over in Henderson, almost 20 miles away, and many different casino and neighborhood fireworks. It seemed that in every direction we turned there were fireworks. They may not always be the most spectacular fireworks, but they were pretty darn good. There were probably 50 or more cars out in the gravel field with us. We don't worry about driving on the grass in Las Vegas. There isn't any!

And then it was home to catch the last few minutes of the Capitol Fourth PBS show (time delayed of course). What a spectacular fireworks show with the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington monuments framed by fireworks, along with the U.S. Capitol. And then, as a bonus, they replayed the whole show and we got to watch it start to finish. What a great way to spend the 4th - Fireworks, good music, the National Mall, great patriotic music - I love John Philip Sousa's marches. We were blown away by Steve Martin and his bluegrass band.

We were a little far away for photos in Las Vegas, but I captured a couple of photos from the National Mall concert and fireworks, in HD!

We hope everyone had a joyous 4th of July and remembered what the day means to us as our day of liberty and that we honor those who served and those who gave their lives to create sustain our liberty for the last 235 years. This is a great country and it is blessed of God.

Speaking of Comfort

Following up on my reading comfortably post, I thought it was appropriate that I give due diligence to the one member of our family who has comfort down to a science. I'm speaking of our devil cat (daughter's name for our feline friend), the queen of comfort -- Whisper. She can be comfortable anywhere and sometimes in locations we have no idea where she is.

On the back of the sofa chair and almost
always on a blanket - especially one some-
one has made. Jeni in this case.

Her nap locations change based on the season and, I suspect, her whim. She loves the wicker love seat on the patio when it is below 100. When it's over 100 she is under the love seat on the paving tiles or on one of our outdoor chairs. There are also a couple of bushes she loves to be under. She can go to sleep anywhere, but I suspect her outdoor naps are less peaceful than her indoor naps. She is always looking for a gecko or bird she cat fetch. Just in the last few days she has started to come right up to the back door and sleep at the edge of the door. Fortunately it's a sliding glass door so we can open it and step over her.

Our peek-a-boo cat keeping an eye on us.

When she comes indoors on a hot day she walks over to make sure she still has food and then plops down on the cool tile and stays there until she has cooled off. She likes the half on - half off model also. Half on tile and half off carpet, if that makes sense. Sheets, not blankets, are her favorite this time of the year and since we moved the coffee table into the family room it too has become a place to relax. There are some other spots were not quite sure of. She will disappear in the middle of the day for a few hours and we aren't sure where she it, but when it moves her, she wanders in. Her favorite spot, hands down, are our office chairs. We can go into JoAnn's office and find her curled up in deep sleep or in my office doing the same. The sculpted contour of those chairs seems to fit her perfectly. It also makes it harder to get the hair off.

Who would have thought a coffee table would be the
place to be. She can also watch TV from here.

Given the length of this post, it would suggest I'm a little envious. I am. She can go to sleep anywhere, any time. In fact as I look out the kitchen door she is stretched out under the wicker love seat and her eyes are just closing, with paws under her chin. The ears are still moving just a little, like a radar dish just in case something exciting occurs, but no, it hasn't and the eyes artfully shut and she is out. Whisper truly is the queen of comfort.

The previous owner had a shelf above the spring tub and
kept his cacti on it. We keep our cat on it. She loves
the sun when it comes in.

Reading in Comfort

JoAnn enjoys a good reading chair. She has had several over the years. In the early years they were holding chairs for Joann and the current baby, rather than reading chairs. In those days it was and still is a good recliner. It's not about being able to lay back, but about sitting in a comfortable chair and reading.

A few years ago, when Chas was a baby, we were visiting in Idaho and sitting on the glassed in front porch (it was winter) and rocking on a glider chair. JoAnn fell in love with the chair, so when we got back to Terre Haute we went out and looked for a glider. I had no idea how much they could cost, but we found one we liked really well. It remains JoAnn's favorite chair today. She can spend hours in it reading. She has it located between a campaign table and our bed. Almost every evening when I fall asleep one of the last things I see is her reading. 

In May we went to Modesto to see my Dad and his wife. We stayed at my youngest sister's home. The bedroom had a wonderful chair, at least that is what JoAnn told me. She spent quite a lot of time in it and said, "It's wonderful. I love it." When we got back we found one - and we've been looking for over 2 years. It was a process of finding something that we both liked - especially since it is now my reading chair. Maybe not my chair, but on my side of the room. I'm always willing to share and she is beginning to enjoy the chair when I'm not using it and I only use it late afternoons and early evening to read and study. I have found I enjoy it as much or more than JoAnn. Thanks sweetheart for finding a chair for my back. It is great.