Which One is Dad?

Jayne called and said that Caitlin wanted a picture of dad when he was in the military. She wanted pictures of both of Chase's grandparents when they were in the Airforce. Mom had these pictures of dad and Uncle Bob when they were flight engineers for the B-36. 

So, which picture is dad and which one is Uncle Bob. 

Both are dad. According to mom, uncle Bob was on a flight on the day the pictures were taken. After they took dad's picture, they took another one of him and put Uncle Bob's name on the second one.

She also had this picture of the twins that was taken for a newspaper article. They were the only identical twins in the SAC.

And this picture of dad when he was in the Air Cadets. I see a resemblance to some of the grandsons. Does anyone else?

Christmas at a Glance

A brief synopsis of Christmas.

Santa John's workshop: Chest of drawers for Matt and Erin, hutch for Annie , not pictured, hutch for Thomas and Monica, mini stools for Ian, Lily and Molly, and table or Chris and Meg.

Mrs Santa's workshop: 7 rice neck warmer bags that I called Grandma Hugs for the grandkids and Monica, wall quilt for Matt and Erin's family, Christmas tree skirt for me, and 9 felted wool ornaments. 

Traveling to the Midwest after Christmas: going over I-70 through Colorado the day after Christmas because I-80 was closed, going home through Wyoming on I-80 during a ground blizzard between Cheyenne and Rawlins and trying to find a place to eat after said ground blizzard in Rawlins. No fast food just a place called Buck's Watering Hole. The deer rear end was the first thing we saw when we entered the bar and grill. It actually wasn't bad, but I was worried.

Time spent with Grandkids: we stopped in Kansas City for two days with Chris and Meg, then drove to St. Louis for 3 days with Matt and Erin, then everyone went to Chris and Meg's for a family New Year's Eve. It was so great. 

I learned three things on this trip. First, I let Erin and Meg work out our scheduling issues with timing, sickness and activities. Once I let go of thinking like a mom and became the grandma who was just happy to be there, it was really nice not to have to worry about things. And, they did a great job. Second, we talked to Matt and Erin about their issues with the church, agreed to disagree and it was better to have it out in the open. Third, while I enjoy grand babies, I really love having older grand children. They were so cute and responsive with us. When I gave them the Grandma Hugs neck warmers, they were so thrilled. Ezra put his around his neck and gave me an unprompted hug and said "look, I'm between two grandma hugs." I taught Lily a little embroidery and needlepoint and every time I sat down she said "grandma, can you help me stitch now?"  They all got Kindles for Christmas and instead of being off in their own little electronic world they would go snuggle with John while he was reading his Kindle. I love this picture, it says it all.

Joey, the Wonderdog

I did some deep cleaning this week to get ready for mom's and my quilt goup and vacuumed up some of the last dust bunnies comprised of Joey's fur. It was kind of sad.

We had to euthanize Joey our Austrialian shepherd on Christmas Eve. She had been failing for a year due to old age and we knew this was coming. In fact we would assess her condition every time we bought a new bag of dog food. It was such a hard decision to make and we, especially me kept putting it off. She seemed pretty happy, even though she couldn't see or hear much anymore, got very antsy and would pace round and round the house and kept falling down. It seemed like her legs just couldn't hold her up anymore.

The day before Christmas Eve Annie and I were making peanut and pecan brittles and Joey was right there hoping to catch a morsel or two when all of a sudden all four of her legs gave out and she did a hard belly flop onto the wood floors with all four legs splayed out. The look on her face was heartbreaking as she struggled to get up and I knew it was time. Brett had told us that it was better to let her go before she got so bad that she was incontinent, couldn't walk and was suffering. He said a well loved dog will always act happy to see you, no matter how bad she gets, but we would know when it was time. 

John and I both cried Christmas Eve morning as we said good bye. We had to take her to the pound because it is hard for Brett to get the drugs and dispose of the body with new federal regulations. I was worried they would judge us or that they wouldn't understand why we were doing this. In fact I couldn't bring myself to go. John took her. He said the pound was great, very caring and understanding as he cried when he took off her collar and leash. 

This is the last picture we took of Joey the week before Christmas. She tried to play with Kili, 

Thomas and Monica's German shepherd, her BFF and it wore her out. No matter how tired and sore she got she loved to have people over and would wag her butt and dance around so they would pay attention to her. 

Joey was the best dog ever. When we got her she was a fluffy little fur ball and we named her after an Australian baby kangaroo. She had such thick fur. When we gave her her summer shave she always looked ten pounds thinner and like a puppy again. She even acted younger. She was so patient and loyal. Children loved her soft fur and protective instincts. She was well known in the ward as we had several families watch her when went on trips and they would always ask if we minded if she stayed at their house so the kids could play with her and love her. It was a no brainer, stay with a family that had 5 kids to play with or stay alone at home. It was great because Joey always got a vacation when we did. 

Her herding instincts were strong and no matter where we were or who we were with everyone was adopted into the herd. When we took her on the river it drove her crazy to have the boats separated by water. If we were the lead boat she was ok, but if she saw the other boats she wanted them close. When the grandkids stayed with us she would do her rounds several times a night to make sure everyone was ok and slept at the top of the stairs so she knew where everyone was. She would have loved to sleep in the kids rooms but they didn't like her bad doggie breath and alertness keeping them awake. 

I still look for her whenever I come into the house from the garage or on the back patio, patiently waiting to be let in. She is missed.