The amazing Mississippi

I have been fascinated by the Mississippi River and the Upper Mississippi Valley. I walk along the river almost every time I go walking and it is always changing. When we drive to Keokuk we drive along the river. We have been loving the Eagles. We see them here down by the river and sometimes I see one flying from my kitchen window. We see them when we drive to Keokuk and there are so many of them near the dam in Keokuk. They like fishing there. We sometimes will drive down to the river park and watch them. It's been fun watching the geese. Hundreds of geese huddled on the ice sleeping, swaqucking , walking around, flying. No wonder they use down to keep us warm because it is really cold. They actually get frozen in the ice. We also see lots of ducks.

Watching the ice has been so interesting. The river has been completely frozen at times and at other times is partly frozen. It's so interesting to see the piles of ice and different thicknesses. Places look like waves of ice.  The river is thawed now and I'm thinking the deep freeze is over and it won't freeze again. I'm excited for when the turtles come. It's so fun to watch for turtles on our way to Keokuk. They climb on the logs and driftwood in the river. You might see 5, 6, 8,  9, 14, 15, or more on one log. I have a picture of 22 on one log. We stopped to take a picture and they all jumped off. 

The birds are fun to watch. Friday when I walked down to the river I saw a red winged black bird. We have cardinals here, Blue Jays, Red Headed woodpeckers plus other woodpeckers, robins have now arrived, also we have had a small bird that has been here all winter. There are hundreds of them and they fly in mass from one tree top to the other. They can be very noisey. Yesterday I was out walking and it was so neat to listen to all the birds. Today I saw a bright yellow bird when we coming home from Ft Madison. 

Other animals here besides all the squirrels are deer, muscrats, racoons, rabbits, otters, beavers, frogs and turtles. 

The winter has been very cold but also very interesting. The ice storms are something else but the one we had that left everything coated in 1/4" to 3/8" of ice was beautiful. The trees just glistened. The snow is different here than in Utah and California. It will start settling on the walks, roads and cars as soon as it starts to fall. The thunder and lightening are something else. The thunder is rolling thunder and can go on and on. Of course it is rare to have thunder and lightening in the winter except when we have an ice storm but they are starting now. Saturday night was a light show almost all night. We leave our curtains open so we can see it. And talk about rain. It really rained. Up north they are experiencing some flooding. We are getting into our rainy season. It rains more here in the spring and summer with July and August being our wettest months usually. It's all part of the experience and we are enjoying it.

  

50th Cruise

To celebrate our 50th anniversary the kids decided we should do something extra special. We decided a cruise would be just the thing. No meals to prepare, no beds to make, no cleaning, being waited on and best of all no decisions. Everyone was looking forward to laying in the sun and having a splendid time. We did have a splendid time but the sun was being very elusive. In fact we didn't see much of it. In Key West we did have sun, but we didn't see much more of it until we were almost home. On our last day at see we finally got some sun although it was cold. In spite of the weather we had a great time. How could you not when you have the best people in the world with you. We had all nine kids and spouses and 2 year old Jane. What's not to love.  We enjoyed being together.  Now since I don't know what I'm doing I'll try to get this together.

The bottom picture is in Key West. The next three are in Belize. That's Mindy feeding Papaya to a spider monkey. Then we are climbing the Lamania Ruins. Richard is laying on the Kings bed, and that tree is full os Egrets.  We went on a boat to the ruins, that's where we were able to feed the monkeys, see the Egrets and also the Crocodile and many other birds and animals.

Then we went to Guatemala. We all loved Guatemala. What a beautiful country. So lush and green. We went on a boat, then on a hike to some beautiful waterfalls. Then we went to a tortilla making demo and we all made tortilla's. We ate them with lime juice and salt. Yum, yum.  We went to a Mayan village where they have a school to teach the Mayan children how to make it in the tourist trade. That is their biggest industry. We also had fun shopping and when we left they gave us a great send off.

Our last port was cancelled due to rough seas and wind. Of course that gave us one more day at sea and a rough day it was. A few of us felt a little wheezie and some felt a lot wheezie, but we all survived and had fun playing together. Gary did have a little mishap while playing in the pool with his daughters. Unfortunately there was a broken tile on the bottom of the pool which he managed to land on taken a large divot out of the ball of his foot. He ended up in a wheel chair the last two days. He is still recuping, but we did win a cruise ship cookbook due to his speed, accuracy and my finesse. 

Thanks to all our kids for the wonderful time. It was great being with you all. We now are back to freezing temperatures and today a beautiful winter wonderland covered in snow and no wind here in Nauvoo.

Here are some awesome pictures of winter here in Nauvoo.  We went out for a walk today and by the time I got home my cheeks and nose were frozen.  It is cold here but it does make for some really great pictures.  We will thaw out in another week.

Winter in Nauvoo

Winter in Nauvoo is an experience. We had our first ice storm one night and ended up not going to the mission sociable because of slick roads. It was freezing and raining. As soon as the rain hit it was ice and stuck. The next day it was gone. Then a few days later we got a real ice storm. We awoke to a world covered in ice. The car had 1/4" of ice all over it. Everything was frozen. We got a ride to the temple and also a ride the next day. Dad went out that afternoon to see if he could get into the car. He got it started and started chipping away at the ice on the windshield. Then he started on the drivers window. I opened the door on the passenger side and rolled down the window. There was a sheet of ice. I punched it out and it broke like glass. I did the other three windows, then dad got his done. The parking lots were covered in a thick sheet of ice. Even the snow was covered in ice. We walked very gingerly. The roads in Nauvoo had ice and snow. It was incredibly beautiful. The trees were covered in a layer of ice and when the sun shone on them they glistened like diamonds. This lasted for a week until we had the great warm-up and everything melted. 

Ok Sharon, here is another blog.  We had a great time at Richard and Mindy's.  We had fun with the kids and found that Chase is a real deal.  He doesn't mind going toe to toe with anyone.  I don't know where these wild kids come from.  Certainly not my side of the family!  Their new house is really nice although not the quality of the one Richard built.  But it was nice and warm compared to outside which was frigid.  They let us borrow a tree so mom has it all decorated and we are getting quite festive here.  Richard is working hard to support the family and Mindy is working hard to keep everything running smoothly at home.  I don't know who has the toughest job.  We went out to dinner Thanksgiving eve and that was an interesting adventure.  Porter told me what he wanted before we left home.  I had forgotten what it was like to eat with coloring crayon and books all over the table.  But we had fun.  We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Evans' and it was really good.  Then came the tough part -- leaving.  That's all folks!

More pictures

I am still learning.

Freezing in Nauvoo

Since we returned from Utah it has been COLD.  They say "we ain't seen nuthin' yet" but I keep saying we are going to have a mild winter trusting to the power of suggestion.  The temperatures have not yet gone to single digits, however, when the wind blows which seems to be 90% of the time it is considerably colder.  Even when we bundle up with gloves and scarfs and hats and heavy coats it still seems to get through.  But there is warmth in the heart.  Everyone is cheery in the temple and the work goes forward.  I still haven't figured out how my hands can be freezing inside my leather fur-lined gloves.  But the sights are beautiful.  We see hundreds of geese sitting out in the Mississippi River with ice all around them then they fly overhead and mom tries to get a picture of them and she has trouble getting them because she can't see where she is pointing or they are too fast for her.  But we took some pictures of the river where the ice is broken up like giant ice cubes.  She managed that ok since they stayed still.  We took some pictures of David's Chamber which is a little waterfall by us that is now frozen.  It looks quite wintery.