Steve's Last Official Day

Chasity Fry

Dec 26 at 10:34am near Pensacola, FL · 

Well yesterday was not only Jesus' Birthday and Christmas, it was also Steven's last official day in the Marine Corps so today he is officially a civilian, it's bitter sweet BUT I am extremely happy that we will not have to be separated anymore or have to deal with anymore deployments with the military :-)

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Little Helpers

The professor's and my grandson Tek has been working on walking alone for a month.  We expect him to take off across the room solo any day now.  He is only 10 months old but is a very determined little person.  And a very sweet, mellow baby.

When I thought about what we should get him for Christmas, I decided that he needed something to help him reach his goal of walking alone.  A baby carriage or stroller just did not seem like the masculine approach that we needed.  I started searching for a shopping cart that was really sturdy for him.

It arrived several weeks ago in a large box.  One of these days, I knew I would have to open the box and put the cart together.  Finally the other day with less than a week until Christmas, I asked Tek's mother to help me put the shopping cart together.  She is brilliant at lots of things including putting furniture together and writing poetry.

She opened the box, reached in and pulled out a completely assembled cart, "There you go, Mom.  All done."  Neither of us could have been more delighted.

While the box was still sitting in the living room both Turk and Tek came into the room.  Turk spotted the box and immediately went to open it up.  When he looked into the box, he decided to reach in and pull the shopping cart out.  It had been a breeze for his mom, but impossible for a 2 year old boy who was just a bit taller than the box.

Tek's mom thought that we should immediately take the box away, but I suggested that we leave it there for a moment to see if he could solve the problem.  Even though he looked into the box again he could not come up with a solution to getting the toy out.  I wonder when he will be able to solve the problem.  Maybe we should have showed him that if we turned the box on the side, he could pull the cart out of it.  I think that he probably would remember that approach next time he met the problem.  He is a very smart little guy.  However, neither one of us wanted him to start playing with the cart.  He will have lots of time in the future to take it away from his tiny brother.  Sigh.

  

Lost 113 Pounds

The BYU Wellness challenge this month is gain no more than 2 pounds over the holiday season.  I think that I need the Pickles' scale this year.

Thank you, Brian Crane for years of laughter.

Broken Branches

After the snow storm last week, many of our neighbors' yards as well as ours had broken branches from the weight of snow and ice on the boughs and leaves.  The professor and I worked to cut up branches and stuff them into our garbage can on Wednesday.  Fortunately all of the branches fell out of the can into the truck when it came by on Thursday.  However, we still had a very thick branch that the professor  was struggling with a hand saw to cut up.  

As I was sitting here by the kitchen window this morning, I saw two trucks with a load of branches each.  They stopped across the street and the drivers talked for a moment.One drove away and before the other could leave, I ran out into the street with my slippers on and asked if they could haul away the huge branch we had left.  Like magic it was gone.  

I think that the good Samaritans were the ward scouts with their leaders.

When I got up at 7:30 this morning, the professor  told me that we were going outside at ten to rake leaves in the backyard.  So when he came to the kitchen around ten, I told him that I had done my yard work for the day already.  I told him that I had got rid of the branches.  Of course, he did not believe me.  He was ready to go deal with the branches.  

By the way, it is raining out and the professor has a cold, so I told him to go back to bed and watch TV and grade papers.  He is still out in the garage.  I don't know what he is busy doing.  At least he has not suggested that I go to rake leaves.  Phew!  

Oh, I spoke too soon.  Do you have any idea how much heavier wet leaves are than dry?  Where is my math genius when I need her?

Can it really only be a week since we were walking on the beach in Sarasota?  

Trying to Adjust to the Cold

Not only did we return to winter but it was very definitely fall when we left.  We came home to daytime highs that did not get above freezing for a few days.  Here is a bit about our adventures:

Before we left the professor and I knew that the forecast was for snow in Utah on the weekend that we returned..  However, that did not do anything to prepare us for the snow when we got back.  We forgot to put a snow brush or scraper into the car!!!  I got the luggage and the professor went to the extended parking to pick up the car.  He was gone for a very, very long time.  I waited outside with the luggage for him to pick me up.  I had a faux leather jacket and gloves on but my hands started freezing.  My feet were fine.  I finally pulled out a pair of socks from my backpack and put them on my hands over the gloves.  They happened to be the wonderful wool socks that the professor brought me from Poland yesterday.  Too big for my feet and gray and orange stripped.  

Meanwhile the professor was trying to scrape more than a foot of accumulated snow off the car using a t-shirt and his arm.  And of course, he did not pack any gloves to take to Florida.  Thank goodness he did take a jacket.  

So we definitely were not prepared for the cold even though we should have known better!  

Now that we are home we are trying to adjust to the cold.  Our house should be winterized.  However,  for some reason the master bedroom is toasty warm and the rest of the house is cold.  As a result the professor usually has the temperature for the entire house set so that he is comfortable in the too warm room.   More Brrr.  

For the first time in years, wearing umpteen layers is paying off.  

Just to let you know, it is currently warmer during the day in Helsinki than it is in Provo.  And for sure it is warmer in the apt on Liisankatu than it is on Cherokee Lane.  Brrrr  My slippers and socks and three layers topped off with a sweater are keeping me relatively warm, but I noticed that my nose is cold.  Meanwhile Dad has turned the fan on in the bedroom because it is too warm.  HOLY TOLEDO!

One of the sad notes about the foot or so of snow that fell in two days is that we lost several branches from the trees in our front yard.  The boughs just snapped off and fell to the ground.  The ragged edges need to be cut smooth so that they do not become infected or invite tree parasites.  

As a result I  have spent a good part/bad part of the afternoon helping the professor drag around broken tree branches and help stuff odds and ends that he cut off into the garbage can.  I hope it all falls out tomorrow into the city garbage truck.    

Odds and Ends: Mostly Odds

Noah driving the Mini Cooper on December 25th, 20ll

 
On Nov 13, 2012, at 6:20 PM, Leanna wrote:
 
Tonight when Noah was driving the Mini Cooper, I heard him say "holy Toledo!" and I knew he'd been hanging out with Grandma. 

We love grandma! 
 
Kristen 

Windy day in Paradise

On Wednesday we set out to visit a beach on Longboat Key.  We were warned that it might be difficult to find a public beach.  Most property owners on the key would rather that no public beaches existed so the signs are very small.  Of course, parking is difficult.  We had no trouble finding the key, but we did not see any signs big or small indicating a public beach.  At the end of Longboat we crossed a bridge and almost immediately saw Coquina Beach, a large public beach.  It was on the Gulf side and had a playground as well as a beach stretching along the water.

Wednesday was a very windy day.  When we found the beach we discovered that there were white caps and more surf on the gulf than usual.  If you look closely at the palm trees you can see how strong the wind was blowing.

One of the interesting aspects of the beach was that in one area there were long concrete barriers built out into the water.  Around them were boulders.  I tried to find out why these concrete barriers had originally been constructed but have failed to find out anything.  

In Bradenton I noticed that there were several older houses built on stilts.  We didn't stop to take any photographs but this is the idea.  Other houses had a cinderblock ground floor with the "real" house beginning on  the second floor well out of the way of the risk of flooding.  

We came across this park on Longboat Key.  It was created for Joan Durante by her husband James.  We set out following a trail.  We figured that at some point we would come back to the parking lot and pavilion.  Although it was a very windy day, the trail leading through the mangrove was sheltered and pleasant.  Part of the pathway was crushed shells while other sections were board.

A water fountain made for all heights and sizes.

If you are in need of a lot of privacy, this is not the public restroom for you.

Sarasota Florida

 We took the 'red eye' on Monday night/Tuesday morning to Atlanta and then from there flew to Sarasota, Florida.  This was an entirely new area for the two of us.  We have been to Tampa before but never this far south on the Gulf of Mexico side of Florida.

After checking into our hotel we got directions to go to Siesta Key and the beach there.  It turned out to be a great beach with hardly anyone on it.  Unlike California, individuals and corporations can own sections of the beach in Florida.  The beach we went to was a public beach with life guards on duty 365 days of the year.  It must be the pits to pull duty on Christmas Day

A corner of the beach was fenced off and had quite a few "mountains" of sand.  It took us a few minutes to realize that the piles of sand were for sand sculpturing.  The picture above has a row of dolphins sailing across the horizon.  I never did figure out what the elaborate work on the one below represented.

First Snow