Thanks to Savannah Getaways House rentals

When visiting Savannah, I left behind at the house we were renting, my camera worth several hundred dollars. It has been returned to me having gone through the hands of housekeeping and the rental agency. I had quite calmly resigned myself to not seeing it again. This will be a reminder to me that there are honest people in our world and motivate me to do the same for others. It is interesting that daughter had posted on a similar theme this week. Let's keep the trend going.

President's work

As I have previous mentioned, I am President of a local women's club. There are about 50 members. It has been in existence for maybe 25 years and many of the women have been officers or been on committees. This year when it came time to get a roster for election, I could not even get volunteers for the nominating committee. So I took it upon myself to contact every member and ask if they would take a job. The result is that I have filled every position except one.

The reason they said no when I called was 1)I have held jobs for many years or 2)I spend most of the winter months in a warmer climate. The majority of the members are retired and have been in the club a long time so it seems valid. It was interesting to call them because I have been in the club about two years and don't know many of them well. I learned about their health, family commitments and travel plans. I actually took notes for myself to know them better.

Second Doctor in the family

Last Thursday G and I attended our son-in-laws Doctoral Defense. The Title was "The Response of Molecular Gases and Modulated Plasmas to Short Intense Laser Pulses". Through no fault of the presenter most of it sounded like a foreign language to me. G seemed to understand more than me. The good news is that he did great; they only asked for minor revisions. We are proud of him and so happy we could be there.

After a day of celebrating with him and his lovely wife, we drove to Pittsburgh where we visited friends and learned about the city. We spend a few hours touring the University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning. It is 42 stories tall and has about 30 "Nationality" rooms which are class rooms decorated by various countries. During the week they have classes in the rooms, but the public can tour when there are no classes. We discovered there are many more interesting things to do in Pittsburgh, which is a bit over two hours drive from our home.

Still alive and well

Today we had our 105 gallon hot water heater installed It hooks into our geothermal furnace It took several evenings of work on Gerry's part to get the plumbing right. Previously there were two smaller heaters so he had to redo the plumbing so everything was hooked to the new one. Even after all his work, it took five hours to get in installed. Now we have an used furnace, used air conditioner and two water heaters to dispose of.

I have over-scheduled myself for the next two weeks, but all the activities should be fun. Thursday I leave for Savannah, GA for six days, am home part of one day then leave for MD for Andrew's defense. The day after returning home, I am hosting my book club at my house. Instead of reading a book, in April we each read a favorite poem, which I haven't chosen yet. So life is busy for me.

Weather changes

We had rain for a week, which caused all the snow to be gone. There was a lot of flooding around us, water over roads, and such. Our house stayed dry except for where it seeped in by the window wells in the basement. Gerry has covered then since. But, last night the snow returned: about 4 inches so it is all white again. Thankfully, we will not need to use the snow blower.

Today is clean the house and cook ahead meals day since tomorrow Shawn and a friend of Gerry's are coming over to help Gerry put together a tractor that has been apart for over a year. We really need to get it out of the shop (so other things can go in!!!).

Back from vacation

It has been over a month since I posted. The time was spent in Miami (at Renee Michelle and Andrew's house), Miami Beach (with both children and their families), the Bahamas and Key West (with sister Marge from MN). She, by the way was on the last flight out of Minneapolis before they closed the airport due to a blizzard. I returned Thursday and have not even downloaded my pictures. I will post some when I get to that. First I need to make sure there are no overdue bills. I won't even go into the difference in weather. All I can hope for is that Spring comes soon.

Vacation planning

This last week I have been preoccupied with planning events and trips. Our immediate family is planning a week together in Miami where Renee Michelle resides. Her brother and family will join Gerry and I for our first vacation together. We get to get the summer clothes out. Yea!! I will stay for about 10 days longer and vacation with my sister.

I have finalized several things for my trip to Savannah with three friends. Then there is my mother's 90th birthday party sometime this summer. Don't have all the details on that worked out. How did we do these things in the past without the internet?

Gerry is outside at this moment charging the battery of the tractor so he can plow snow. He will be ready for the sun and warmth.