Numero Dos

Like I said. I can see a distinct improvement over the first one. Now all I have to do is decide who to give it to. Cindy says I should keep it, paint more, and do a show.

Enjoy

Hi all. Just to let you all know, I am doing OK. I still don't know whether Rose and I will get back together or not, but at this time I just keep telling myself that it is the choice that she has made, and I feel confident that I could not have changed the choices that she made regardless of whether or not I could go back in time knowing what I know now. I also feel that I did not treat her wrongly, so I do not beat myself up thinking that I should have done something differently. I am staying in contact with her, I either talk to her or text her almost every day. Some days I think that she will be back soon, other times I think that it is a lost cause. I have made up my mind and I have told her that I will give her some time to decide what she wants to do, but I will not put my entire life on hold while she tries to decide. She will have to make a decision whether she wants to be married to me and be a part of this family or whether she wants some other life, and she will have to make that decision fairly soon.
On another note, Nate and Amanda and their kids are home for Christmas until the 28th. Bambi & Kevin came over tonight, so all the kids were here for a while. Really enjoyed the time together. The kids are all getting so big & I really do enjoy them.
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and get lots of time to spend with your families. I do love you all. Love, Bob

First of Many, or Getting Better All the Time

OK,don't laugh. Here it is. You can skim down a few posts to see the original. I'm quite pleased with it (for starters), but I can see every mistake I made. I'm going to have to create a learning curve for grass. (Looks like little, crawly worms, doesn't it?) But the perspective and the lines are quite close, so I think that I just need experience.

I think for now I'm going to focus on close up shots of beautiful flowers. I have a picture of apple blossoms that I took a few years back in PA and I know a place here that has a vine hanging over a fence with gorgeous purple flowers.

Here's to Numero Dos. Merry Chritiquing!

I have the painting done and framed. Still need to get a picture to upload. Looks pretty good, or at least I think so.

Starting to get ready for Christmas

We went to the tree farm last Sat. with Tara & Tom and got our Christmas tree--it's in the garage. And today I shopped for gifts for my volunteers. If I get to work tomorrow, I'll start wrapping them. We're supposed to have a storm so if it's really bad, I'll stay home and start baking cookies. I have scheduled cookie packages for all of our patients to be delivered next week so the volunteers will be bringing in their cookies on Mon & Tues. Then on Wed. afternoon, we'll package them up and spend Thurs & Fri delivering them. Plus I have to bake some for our house. We've already gone to one Christmas party and have two more on the schedule. Did a little bit of shopping last Sat evening and probably will do more this weekend. No decorating done yet in our house.

How's it going with you?

First Attempt!

For the first time in my life, I'm going to paint a picture. This photo came from my front yard and has been sitting on my computer ever since. There is a pencil sketch on the wall in front of me. Yesterday I drew outlines on a canvas and am just about ready to start putting paint to it. I have been reading one of Cindy's books on color. She is giving me some technical advice, but the end result will be mine entirely. When I get it finished, I will post a photo here.

Hi all. Been a while since I wrote anything. Been busy, just got back from a few days at Mike Mitchell's. Hunting, got a couple of shots, but nothing to show for it. Oh well, there is still some time left in the season. Nate's are coming home tonight for the weekend.

Wanted you all to hear it from me before rumors get spread around, Rose has left us for the time being, and maybe permanently. Roger and I went to Mike's on Friday night, and on Saturday Morning she left, took her clothes, her truck, some savings, and a few other things. She apparently met a friend (male) who had flown out from Nebraska at the Buffalo airport and they drove together back to Nebraska. I just talked to her for the first time since she left, she said that she doesn't know what she wants to do yet.

I will let you know as much as I can as soon as I can. I would ask for our sake (both hers and mine) that you keep this info to yourselves at this time unless someone asks, then if possible share as little as possible. She may at some time come back (I am not real optomistic at this point, and I am not certain what I want), and I would prefer to share the news with people as I feel they need to know. Please do not judge her harshly, for my sake if not for hers.

Love, Bob

The Last Piece Is In Place

The carport, sunporch, & deck were added over the last couple of weeks so the house is completely framed. This addition makes it look much larger even though it's only the size of a two car garage. But because of the height, it looks big. Wade has been shingling the roof since the weather was so good and working on the insulation too. It's coming along really well and keeping him busy. No nibbles on this house--actually very few lookers--so no reason to rush to finish. And with the holidays coming, I suspect traffic will become even slower.

I just remembered that today is Mom's birthday and her death day. She would have been 83 years old. I still think about her a lot.

Miss you, Mom. Happy Birthday!

Knauer Knews!!

Hey..How are you all? We are doing pretty good here...Boring life but busy....work, sleep, do papers, work, sleep, clean house, do papers...get the drift?? But anyhow...Life goes on and seems to be going faster and faster...can't believe it's almost Christmas time again...Good grief!!

Well don't think I ever updated about our trip...Will post some pics later when I get aroundtoit...but we went almost 2300 miles. Left on Thursday am and came back on Monday afternoon...It was way too many miles for that many days...Don't think we'll do that again..We just went into Ohio and Michigan (as Roge said--it's too far to go to Wisconsin and down into Indiana too...As it was we ended up driving a lot of interstates just to get somewhere and then to get home at a decent time..Don't want to do that again but ...we did get to see some fun stuff and we did enjoy ourselves. Went up to Cleveland Ohio and saw Lake Erie from there--had to get down and taste the water there--never saw waves on water that wasn't salt water so wanted to be sure...That was fun... Then checked out the Cleveland Browns stadium--not a browns fan but....still was cool to see something you only see on TV. ... Then went on to Michigan. saw a lot of flat land and alot of trees--some colorful some not--went up the West side of Michigan, so saw Lake Michigan, and alot of pretty county there. then went up to Mackinaw Bridge and crossed into the "Upper Peninsula" . The Mackinaw Bridge and the Upper Peninsula were worth the whole trip....The U/P is very remote and not much up there--makes you realize how the country was years ago before we all were here...We really liked it up there and liked seeing all the lakes..Went up to the northern end so we could say we touched Lake Superior too...Would have liked to travel across the U/P and came down through Wisconsin but knew we just didn't have enough time to really enjoy it... Maybe another year...We were kinda disappointed in that we were surprised at how flat Ohio and Michigan are...There are not a lot of hills...Of course, I thought "go north--see hills" like in PA--found out that wasn't so...So we decided we are more "hill country" people and will travel to those more next time.. Wherever that may be....But we still had a good time and enjoyed being by ourselves and also being away from work and stress here so it was good....

well, I'd better go...will write more again soon about the rest of our life...write soon everyone...

hello

Just wanted to tell everybody I love you and your all awesome people

"So Long, Farewell, Aufweidersehen, Goodbye"

What a week it's been. I'm glad it's almost over. Don't ever want to go back.

I started feeling a little funny last Sunday, but didn't think too much about it. By Monday morning I knew I had the flu, but worked most of the day anyway. (I did knock off earlier than usual.) Monday night was bad, bad, bad--fever, chills, nasty headache, diarrhea, painful joints, etc. Tuesday was a repeat that didn't start to let up until afternoon. Wednesday was better, but I didn't do anything. On Thursday, I went to Starbucks for a cup of coffee and cleaned around the house a little. That night, I went to Wal-Mart and bought some Pepto-Bismol and Alka-Seltzer. Yesterday, I went to a large kitchen remodel we are doing just a few miles away and worked all day. Had at least seven men there and got a lot done, but I was whipped at the end. I'm feeling fairly good right now, considering, except for my hands, head, belly, and just generally overall, which aren't back up to snuff.

I've had to force myself to eat simply to maintain, lost a lot of strength which I need back. For about three days, all I had were two bowls of chicken noodle soup and a couple Reese's cups. I did chug the water though, didn't dare to get dehydrated.

I haven't been sick for years and this one made up for all those others that missed me. I think this has been the worst flu I've ever had. Since Cindy was in "Joisey", no one was here to feel sorry for me except the dog, and he spent at least as much time sleeping as I did.

Speaking of Cindy, last time I talked to her, she had the flu, Amanda and the three oldest kids had the flu, Justin was gone most of the time working, and then the mother-in-law showed up. She was not a happy camper. She'll be flying back to Jax on Sunday afternoon, which will probably make a difference. We'll be flying up Dec. 27 for three days, so might be able to see some of you then.

Berty, how are you doing? I think about you a lot.

Love you all.

Makayla

I got a letter from Makayla on Friday. It says and I quote...

Gramma, That was so nice of you. I was wundring wat you wur dowing to. Love, Makayla I am cey borging.

Now, I'll translate... She was wondering what I was doing also. (I wrote in my letter to her what I was doing at the moment--can't remember what that was.) She is keyboarding (in school). She gets her d's, b's, and g's a little confused and she writes just like she thinks it sounds! Sometimes, I have to think for a little while what she's trying to say...

Beth suggested a great idea. When I write to her, I enclose a self-addressed stamped envelope. That way, she can write back to me without it being an issue to anyone. This is my second letter from her. I was SO happy to get it--I can't imagine how she must feel when she gets a letter from someone. On that note, if you have time to write a short note to a little girl whose life has been topsy-turvy, I'd be forever grateful. Her address is 30 Pee Wee Ln, Duncannon, PA 17020.

Happy Birthday to you to Roge!!

Meant to say something about Dad's on his birthday...Obviously I need a few (maybe a hundred or so) or those roundtoits too, Bob!!! Get this into production and soon!!! But didn't.....so this am...saw that today was the 29th and oh my gosh...here it is Roger's birthday already.... So anyway, Happy Birthday to you....hope it was a good one.....

Cigars All Around!!

We have a new little girl, Sophia Grace, who arrived on the scene last week. I'm not sure which day. She lives with Amanda and Justin, along with the other three. I now have seven grandchildren, six of whom are girls. Girls.

Cindy flew there yesterday morning for two weeks. Amanda needs the help. She developed a hernia during her pregnancy and is not allowed to lift anything until it heals.

They are expecting to drive to Lebanon one day to see Cindy's mother and may stop in to see Beth and Helen. Anticipate a phone call. It might happen.

Cindy will be getting lots of pictures while she is there. I will post some of them for you.

Important Question

Are you all leading dull, boring lives?

Construction Photos Continued

First--looking down into the great room from the loft. Second--the kitchen full of scaffolding and Shadow, the supervisor. Third--looking up toward the loft. Fourth--the fireplace. And last--view of the front windows--all in but the one that was the wrong size.

Construction Photos

Was feeling extremely weary the last couple of days so today I took a half day off from work--the afternoon--and took Shadow out to the new house and spent the afternoon watching Wade work. Well.........I did a little bit. Shadow and I walked to the end of the property and took some progress photos so I'm uploading them for you to see. The first one is from the inside of the balcony. Second is the front and carport side--carport is not yet done. Third is front and balcony side. Fourth is back side and fifth is backside from the end of our property.

Cindy's cousin, Jeff, is with us for a week. He lives in Lancaster County. We're going to Cocoa Beach, which is south of Cape Canaveral, for the weekend. We got two nights at a Best Western for $30. That's right, $30, and 90 minutes at a time share pitch. Of course, the answer is no, not interested, but I can sit through it for 90 minutes.

I need the break. I feel like the Energizer bunny. In addition to my regular job, I'm trying to put Millennium Tile together. We're picking up some jobs, usually piggy-backing off Patterson, but hey, work is work. The situation at Patterson is starting to look a little grim. Construction is way off and we're starting to feel it, so maybe a new startup business is a good thing. We'll see what happens.

Planning our trip

Planning our annual "honeymoon" or anniversary trip... Two years ago went to New England, last year down in West Virginia.. This year we are going to Ohio, Michigan and possibly Wisconsin, Indiana and then back home...Lots of travel time, road miles ....but just to see the country and stop at a few things to see and look at...LOVE IT!! Wish we had more time but....we don't so...this works for now...Planning on leaving Thursday am (the 8th) and gonna be back home on Monday the 12th... Guess we'll have to start flying to a place and then driving back or touring out there--not many places we can drive to...anymore.... If you have any suggestions (you travelers) please let us know asap.... looking forward to just getting away....