新搬来的四个爆乳邻居_幼儿网站

Rest in Peace, Molly

Rest in Peace, our beloved pet, Molly, the mini-schnauzer, who died yesterday of congenital heart problems and stroke. She’s been the loveliest dog ever, a friend to our Ginger, and the love of our lives for many years. She was a typical little dog who thought she was big and tried to scare off most of the big dogs in the neighborhood, but loved all of the people (and even a few dogs in the last month or so).

Her favorite thing had to be eating (even though she strangely never got fat doing it), and looking out the balcony to see what was going on in the world. Her favorite spot to sleep was always on our bed between us.

We miss her so much already, but she’ll always be in our hearts. Run free, sweet Molly. Find Ginger at the Rainbow Bridge.

How to Measure Flood Water Height and Velocity

Since our potential puppy and her current family and mommy are living in Roscoe, Nebraska, where the South Platte River is currently flooding, I’ve been doing some reading on the USGS.gov site about measuring water levels, discharge and velocity. It is only something you would probably read if you were a civil engineer, a biologist, farmer, or someone affected by a flooding river.

I am a person slightly affected by a flooding river from afar. Frankly, I can’t see puppies floating down a flooding river. My field of vision goes black and I feel like I”m going to vaporize. Ok, it just makes me sad, to understate the feeling, to think about.

So, living withing 20 miles of a river that has previously flooded didn’t help much, because I wasn’t in danger from the flooding. But in this case, I started to research by reading this site: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/lbf/?n=southplatteriver. If you scroll down to South Platte River at Roscoe, you will see a history of how the river has flooded recently and detail of what the anticipated affects were.

In the impacts section, you’ll see what various water levels affect different areas of the city. At 10″, the flood water would reach something called a “gage house floor”. A gage house is something the USGS builds to house equipment that can measure the flood water height, velocity and discharge. It can also record various other things, like weather conditions and precipitation. I read about it here: http://nd.water.usgs.gov/gage/how.html.

In the end, we end up with a chart like this, that shows how quickly the water is rising. As you can see, this one rose about 11.5 feet in just a matter of hours. Now, the water is receding, which is good. Just a little higher, and it would cover i-80, which is a main travel corridor. It’s already caused flooding to quite a few houses and businesses, I’m sure. We’ll see when the news comes on.

I’ll be looking forward to hearing from our breeder. It will just be nice to hear the people and the animals are safe where she is.

“The Little Girl”, by my Father

I finally remembered where this was written down and decided to post it here where I could find it. It was written by my Dad in 2009. I admired it so much and was going to have it framed, but he beat me to it. It hangs in my room above my dresser. Sometimes when I am getting ready for bed or getting ready for work, I re-read it and it makes me smile and say “aww” in an “I feel loved” sort of way. 🙂 It is a piece I will always treasure.

The Little Girl . . .

. . . the first years and selected vignettes.

The Little Girl was a surprise. Not unwelcome, mind you. Never a fleeting thought of that.

Not that there wasn’t some concern. Daddy had finished his third year at university, and Mommy was working. With scholarships, Daddy’s summer job, Mommy’s work, and some student loans, they were getting by – but just barely.

The concern ended at the first heartbeat. But . . . PARENTS! How does one become a parent? Where’s the book? Where can one take a course? Is panic appropriate? We’re only kids ourselves.

Mommy and Daddy lived in a second-floor walk-up flat with hand-me-down furniture, no air-conditioning, and a bunch of critters that ran for cover in the kitchen when the lights were switched on.

This would not do. Not for The Little Girl. Daddy and Mommy cornered the landlady. Either evict the critters, or find new tenants. The critters were gone within a week. The Little Girl was not to learn “Bug on ME!” for a while. Then, Daddy made his first-ever credit purchase – a Sears window air conditioner, back when it was still Sears, Roebuck & Co.

The Little Girl made her appearance in mid-summer. Good timing that, because university was not in session and Daddy was able to continue summer work to save up for the fall semester. The Little Girl was born at 7:11 a.m. She was destined either to be very lucky – or to manage a convenience store. Daddy hoped for the former.

Vignette: In those days, fathers were not allowed in the delivery room, so Daddy waited. When the nurse told him it was a little girl, he rushed to the nursery. With his hands and nose pressed against the glass, he saw Her. Daddy cried. Of happiness, of course. First born. A Little Girl. THE Little Girl.

The Little Girl was a happy baby. Tow-headed, giggly, and with a smile that would melt a heart at forty paces. That fall, Daddy switched to mostly night classes so he could be with The Little Girl during the day, and Mommy could bring home something of a paycheck. Balancing the checkbook. Loans. Struggles. More than a few worries. But, with one wrinkly-nosed grin from The Little Girl . . . the worries didn’t matter. And, by the next summer, The Little Girl was zooming around like she owned the place.

Vignette: Mommy and Daddy took The Little Girl outside and set her in the middle of a blanket. To the little hand touching the grass it was barbed wire, and her world was an eight-foot square. She didn’t seem to mind. Neither did her blue bunny.

The Little Girl didn’t notice, but Mommy had a little surprise planned. In the fall, something called “A Little Brother” showed up. The Little Girl didn’t know what to think of A Little Brother, but within a year, she was The Big Sister, and proud of it. She still is.

Vignette: See Mommy carrying A Little Brother into the house, See Daddy carrying The Little Girl. See Daddy slip and fall in the mud in the front yard. See The Little Girl covered in mud with a puzzled look. See Daddy laugh. See The Little Girl laugh.

Two years later, Daddy graduated. He had a real job. Mommy and Daddy threw all their broken-down furniture over the balcony to be hauled off, packed up a couple of beds, a crib, a TV, The Little Girl and A Little Brother and moved. Omaha. Gateway to the west. Where The Little Girl still lives. With a Little Girl of her own.

Later, Mommy and Daddy moved. The Little Girl was older, and on her own. Then came summer and The Little Girl’s birthday. It was a Wednesday. Walking through the garage at work, it was the first time they were separated on her birthday. Daddy cried . . .

Little Girls make you do that, but you wouldn’t trade them for the world.

I Love You Just the Way You Are

I may be a little late to understand this, but suddenly, this “great love song” seems more like a song about a man who wasn’t interested in putting much effort into his relationship. Essentially, even though he doesn’t give much feedback to his significant partner, she should instinctively know that he loves her anyway. Is that horrid? “You always have my undying passion, although I might not seem to care.” Seriously?

The One Direction Blanket

The 1D blanket is a bit interesting looking. It looks like they are sleeping on her in a kind of 2d way.

Missing my dog.

I just had a migraine (well, just the aura), and I’m thinking about how Ginger would sit by me when I wasn’t feeling well. I miss her now, because she isn’t here. She didn’t have to stop doing anything to comfort me. She just knew when to sit by me and wait.

Once upon a time, I memorized a little poem that I can say when I miss someone who’s gone. It’s this:

Turn Again to Life
Mary Lee Hall

If I should die and leave you here a while,

be not like others sore undone,

who keep long vigil by the silent dust and weep.

For my sake turn again to life and smile,

nerving thy heart and trembling hand

to do something to comfort other hearts than thine.

Complete these dear unfinished tasks of mine

and I perchance may therein comfort you.

It’s about the words, but it’s also about the repetition. It’s almost like a prayer, only not.

Then there is this advice I gave to Britty when she was upset about life and couldn’t stop crying (somewhat like me, I think):

Breathe in the roses

Blow out the bubbles

Instead, I just have a parrot staring at me. 🙂

Riding the London Tube

I haven’t ridden a subway system since I went to Chicago on business years ago. It was all exciting, as we have just buses for mass transit in Omaha, which isn’t very exciting, really.

Once we arrived at Ian’s mother’s and step-father’s house, it was a quick walk to the train station, where deciding which ticket to buy seemed like rocket science. Luckily, the guy at the ticket counter was able to help us pick. 🙂 The machines were just confusing.

The trains to King’s Cross weren’t so bad. There were usually places to sit, but we liked to sit all together, so sometimes we stood together instead.

After arriving at King’s Cross, we had to find the right line of the subway to take. The metro line is nice, and air conditioned, but the Circle line was quite crowded and not air conditioned.

You would think getting in a tube carriage PACKED with people would be unsettling, but you can always pack more in! 🙂 Everyone just wants to go, packed or not. It’s a good time for people watching and figuring out where people are going. Like the girls who are all dressed up with their hair freshly curled and totally not falling apart at all, even in extreme heat and humidity. I wanted to know how they did that. I have no idea.

People were riding with their kids who had just been at hospital for tests. Students from Italy (I know because their backpacks said they were from Italy) where heading somewhere or another.

There were a few times where it was announced, “People sitting in cars blah through blah, this train is not leaving the station. You must instead go to car blah blah instead.” Ok then. Or, “Sorry for the misunderstanding, but this train may be going to Vermont instead of London. If you don’t wish to go to Vermont, please exit and wait for the next train.”

All-in-all, it was a blast. I felt metropolitan. And, like watching a complex movie for the first time, you always learn more the second time around. Getting the hang of the tube is something you learn about a little at a time. When I go back, I’ll know more about various lines, and may even learn to use a tube map.

Or we may just let the Londoner (shown above) take care of all that. 🙂

What do you mean, “We don’t want to go to Liverpool?” 😀

Cheers!

Puppy Family In-Waiting

This week, our new puppy will be born. Our breeder is Perfect Peace Golden Retrievers, and it appears that our new puppy will be cream colored or very light golden, according to the coloring of Praise and Estes. No matter the color, we are looking forward to our next family member.

It’s been a long time since we’ve had a puppy. I don’t think Ian’s ever had one, but we’ve done some reading and we’re getting prepared. We can’t wait. Wish us luck!

Trip to England – July 2013

In July, we took a long-anticipated trip to England, mostly to see our family, but also to see the sites. Brit had never been overseas before, so it was quite exciting for us to have her go. She’s just 12, hadn’t left America (except for Canada) and hadn’t met her English grandparents and auntie before.

We spent half of our time in North Walsham, where Ian’s dad and stepmom live. It was near the sea, so we spent some time at the sea, ate fish and chips, enjoyed the market, and got to play with Jack the cat. My sister-in-law, Jen and my nephew Hayden made the long trip to the coast to spend family time with us. It was nice to be together.

We loved the weather at the coast. It was relatively cool at night, enough for a sweatshirt, although somewhat warm or hot during the day.

[See a picture album]

We spent the second week in Royston, visiting Ian’s mom and stepdad. It was much hotter there, but we had easy access to London via the train and the tube. We got to see the infamous King’s Cross Station and visit lots of places in London. I’ve never seen London. It’s massiveness was impressive. We spent ages taking it all in… the hustle and bustle, the tourists of every nationality, the people hanging around the river trying to amaze (and maybe take the money of) the tourists with their guessing tricks (lol).

The first trip to London (on my birthday!), we rode the London Eye and went through the London Dungeons Tour. “Do you like raaaats? I loooove raaaaats!”, says Maeve, the crazy girl who’s “locked up in the Dungeon for being crazy”. It was essentially several skits involving the story of Jack the Ripper, Sweeney Todd, and the methods of torture in the dungeons. The actors and actresses were brilliant.

After much walking and sweating (the weather was unusually warm), we went back to Ian’s mum’s house for the day and relaxed. The next day, the Royal Baby was born, His Royal Highness Prince George of Cambridge. So amazing. Loved the coverage once the birth happened. Amazed that the Duchess made it out of bed the next day to show off the new baby. They look so happy.

We then spent some time in Milton Keynes with my friend Jane, who met us at the Snow Dome (or tracked us down, as the case would be) and we spent quality time shopping. It was her first time meeting Brittany and they got along famously. It’s funny with friends. Even if you’re physically apart for almost 4 years, you’re still the same close friends you always have been when you’re back together. It was so good to see her again. We always wish for more time.

The next day, it was back to London, where we saw Buckingham Palace, St. James Park and toured Westminter Abbey. We saw the changing of the guard at the castle, and of course, all the media tents, due to the Royal Baby being born. We saw PELICANS in St. James park. I’ve never seen a pelican before. Westminster Abbey was incredible. I touched the tomb of Edward the Confessor an many others.

Did you know when there is a marriage or funeral at Westminster, the people are surrounded by all of the previous kings and queens buried there? It’s so historic, and we have nothing like this in America, of course. We saw the Coronation chair, where the Sovereign is crowned. We visited Poet’s Corner where Tennyson and Charles Dickens, several Poets Laureate and many other writers and poets are buried. Their words were engraved on their burial places. It was like being lost in time for a moment.

Food! Being a family of foodies, we enjoyed the food we can’t get in America, like amazing fish and chips, carvery at a pub, several cakes and Walker’s crips and authentic Mediterranean food. We enjoyed Pret a Manger, which makes the best sandwiches on fresh baguettes, Nando’s which has amazing chicken and several others. We enjoyed salad for dinner at home and an English breakfast.

Not all on the same day.

We walked a lot to work it off. My feet were killing me many days. Trust me. I miss the walking.

Anyway, lovely trip. Hoping to go back soon, as we miss everyone when we’re gone, and there are many more friends we’d like to visit! Two weeks is never enough.