CHRISTMAS SHOPPING?!?!

Yep. We've not done any of our shopping yet. That's how busy we've been. But it's cool. I know pretty much what I want to get......it's just a matter of getting there. Denise and I were sitting on the couch watching the news a night or two ago.....and the News Anchor announced that there were only 12 days left to shop. Our eyes got big and we looked at each other in amazement. It just never dawned on us.

This week. I've been trying to wean Rosie. But it's not working out. I bought a product called Eze-Wean. It's really medieval looking. I'll have to get a picture of Rosie with it on. But what I'm learning is there is nothing easy about weaning a horse. I can't feel sorry for Rosie or Champagne......because it's ultimately better for her to be weaned. Why? Champagne can't physically support Rosie's nutritional needs and take care of her own. Champagne is looking really 'poor'. Rosie is almost as big as her mother. Horses are herd animals. There's a really strong bond there between Mare(mother) and Foal(child). It's hard to separate them and watch how they act. But it has to be done. After the mare stops producing milk....then they can be reunited. But until then.....it's time to grow up Rosie! I'm not joking when I say that I've learned a lot from Rosie....from day one!

Hopefully it will all work out to get our Christmas shopping done this weekend. Saturday...we're going to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks. I'll let you know how the movie is. Until then.....

DOUGLAS OR FRASIER?

SEASONS GREETINGS! I guess you can tell what this blog is about. Yep! Today we put up our Christmas tree. We ended up getting a Douglas Fir. First time I've ever had one. You know...it's quite nice. It's very fragrant and full. I know it's hard to tell from the picture (which I had to take with the flash off.....so I wouldn't wake up the girls). You get the general idea of how the tree turned out. We're a bit late getting our tree up......but we're busy folk and the time had not presented itself yet. Today was nice. I started to feel like celebrating the season. We listened to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.......trimmed the tree and had a great time. By the way, I highly recommend TSO for anyone who would be interested in some jazzed up rock and rollin Christmas tunes. Good stuff! Any-who......it's time to shut down for the night. -JGR

FUNNY FOTOS

Greetings! My sister sent me these two 'toons. I thought they were cute. You know what? We've still not put up a tree yet. That's on the agenda for the weekend at hand. My job today is to arrange furniture and clean up. I hope it all goes well. We'll see.

IT'S COLD IN DECEMBER

Greetings. Like I said in the title.....it's cold in December. It always takes me a while to get acclimated to the change in temperature. I feel sorry for Peppers......every time we take her out to (YOU KNOW)....she usually ends up shaking and in a hurry to get back in. I wondered how Rosie would deal with the cold......she grew a winter coat. Wouldn't that be awesome......it gets cold outside.....God give you a warm winter coat. I thought that maybe that's why some animals gain weight.....but that wouldn't work for us. We'd just have more surface area to keep warm. I'm usually fine once I get working. Anyways....

What's new. We're really looking forward to the Christmas vacation (from school). It'll be nice having several weeks off from school. The break we had at Thanksgiving was just a teaser. We've been working hard to get our house in order. We've done a lot.....but seems that there is so much more to do. WE CAN DO IT!

I went skeet shooting yesterday with Bobby Sparks and Ray Pickard. That was fun. It was a nice morning. I took a couple of my shotguns. I was surprised.....I did better with the least likely candidate. I had a single shot 20 gauge I gave a guy practically nothing for.....it's a simple gun. It's pretty, but I never thought it to be much of a gun. It almost looks like something you'd find on a stage coach. Maybe it was it's simplicity or maybe it was the pressure of having only 1 shot to hit the skeet......but it worked well. Bobby Sparks had his new shotgun there. It's really a nice gun. It's a Remington Over/Under. It's sharp. Why are we skeet shooting? We're going to a Sportsman's Retreat in February. Bobby and I went last year....it was a blast. This year Ray is going as well. I'm really looking forward to it.

Well...it's back to work now. -JGR

TOOF-LESS

Hello. Hope all are doing well. This has been a very busy for us all. Between family get togethers...work....school and road travel.....this week has flown by. Carolina lost a front tooth Thanksgiving. It was way past due to come out.

This photo is from our get together last year at Christmas. Carolina, Ivan (blue shirt), Andrew (green) and my sister Carol.

IT'S LATE......

It's late right now......I should be in the bed.....but for some reason now is a good time to BLOG. Pretty much my days have consisted of working on a house off of South 6th Street here in Gadsden. Today I pretty much finished up my work. I'm really surprised at how nice the duplex turned out. Hopefully the new tenants will feel the same.....but regardless.....it's done and how sweet it is to say it so. Now I look forward to a few days of spending time with my wife and our favorite little girl in the whole wide world. I know that I have lots of work to do around the house, but right now that's on the back-burner.


So what's going on with us? We're hoping that Peppers (our chihuahua) is pregnant and on her way to a litter of puppies. Time will tell. She's only about 4 months old here in this picture. She's now just over a year old. The father (of the soon to be born puppies) belongs to Denise's sister Vicki. She lives in Huntsville. JR (the father) is a Yorkie. These should be really cute puppies. F.Y.I......we no longer have those pillows in the background of this photo. They were systematically disassembled by Peppers over the last year. There were 3 originally.....now we only have 1......which she sleeps on. I remember her being so little that we would have to help her up onto the couch or the day bed.....now she jumps like a little rabbit.


What else? I'm preparing to take the Alabama Home Builder's exam here in the next 2 months. Hopefully soon I'll be a licensed Contractor.


Here's a side thought. I'm really thankful for photo's. You just don't realize how much people change until you see a photo of them from years ago. Carolina for example....... this photo was from about 4 years ago. To see this amazes me......she's grown so much. I remember her being this little......but it's still unbelievable. I'm certain you understand what I mean.
Her most recent school picture. How amazing is that!?!? Time really does go by so fast. Hopefully I'll stop and think about 'it' more often.....look at people....pay attention to details......before they are thoughts and memories. I guess it boils down (for me) to being thankful for what I have and those who are in my life. With all the stuff going on in my life....it's easy for me to just let the days go by. Once they're gone......just gone. Something to really be thankful for this Thanksgiving. -JGR

NOVEMBER

Greetings! So what's new in our lives? Thanksgiving break! HORRRAY! A well needed break. We're all doing well. I've been so busy.....that my BLOG was neglected the whole month of October....and so far this month. Most of my hindrances involved my internet not working. And when it did work......I never knew when it was going to cut off. Kind of like playing roulette.....it was a risk to get involved in something over the net....not knowing whether it would be completed or not. I will give Bellsouth/AT&T credit......they stuck it out and seemingly have fixed the problem. We're all glad here my house to have a working connection to the 'net'.

Carolina just got her school pictures back this week. I hope to have one up in the next couple of days. They turned out really nice. Of course...I am partial to the girl.

Denise had her class draw book covers for a contest that the Gadsden Public Library had a few weeks ago. As it turned out......they were the only ones who entered the contest. So, everyone was recognized in the classroom and given a certificate and a prize. They were so happy. I took pictures of the children...I'll try to have that here in the next few days as well.

As far as I go......I've been focusing my time on finishing up a couple of projects I have had going for the Beck's. I'll be so glad when they are done. Denise and I are trying to get our house in order. I've done some minor remodeling and our house is pretty cluttered. I'm planning to build a storage building behind my house. That will free up a bunch of room and unclutter our living quarters. I hope to do this over the next 2 weeks.

I'm looking forward to catching up on 'things' around the house this next week. I hope all goes as planned.

By the way....yesterday was Denise's birthday. I got her an electric guitar. I'll put some pics of it up. It was a shell of a guitar when I bought it......I purchased replacement parts from Stewart-MacDonald. It rebuild nicely. I changed the pick guard and knobs to pearl. Very nice. She really liked it. She's been learning to play the guitar for a while now. I'm proud of her playing and her progress. She's a natural.

INDIAN PRINCESS

Fitting......at a time between Halloween and Thanksgiving.....to introduce to you our resident Indian Princess......Carolina....(A.K.A. Pocahontas). She had a wonderful time this year 'raking' in the candy.

THE NEWS....

Greetings! Rosie is now 5 months old. She's almost as big as her mother. It's almost time to wean her. That's going to be interesting. Time to hit the books again. When Rosie was first born I read several books that focused on training and the initial year of life. But now, it seems that the time has come to go deeper. She has changed a lot. Her first 3 month.....I would characterize her as 'wild' and 'stubborn'....but now she's different. She still has her moments. If something scares her.....she bolts (runs as fast as she can). She's become very easy to handle. Her mother....Champagne.....probably weights a 1,000 lbs.....but I can lead her with one finger. It's amazing that such a powerful animal can be so willing to follow and be lead. I'm very proud of Rosie...as you can tell.....I look forward to seeing her everyday.

As for the rest of us.......everything is good. We're just really busy. Between Denise's school and the work that I do.....we are wiped out everyday. We really look forward to the weekends. We have Carolina and don't have to work. Nice combination.

My only comment on this last picture is.....I don't have a thing for spiders or anything like that. Most of the time I'll just kill one rather than look at it. This picture really turned out nice.


Click on the pic....it blows up nicely!

OCTOBER DAYS

Greetings! I thought I would share these pics. These four pics are from two places in Gadsden that I've always wanted to visit. The first and second pic are from a small island viewable from 759. If you're driving toward Gadsden....it's on the right.....away from Gadsden on 759...it's on the left. But seeing as how we are in a drought and way below on rainfall....the Coosa is very low now. Several feet lower than normal. What is normally an island is now more of a peninsula. I do a lot of driving all over town......I've always admired the land and water behind the mall and directly across 759. My father in law was nice enough to take me out there one day last week. As it turns out....he used to graze cattle on that land when he was younger. He told me of the days when there wasn't a body of water out there...but two intersecting rivers....Black Creek and Wills Creek. They joined together and together they ran into the Coosa. He told me about the Indians who used to live in the area.....that particular spot was very popular for them to congregate. I was privileged enough to find an arrowhead there....a very nice one. We even found a road where cattle and wagons used to move on. It was amazing to see what's normally not seen. Especially driving up/down 759...it's easy to not notice. The pics above is a view from inside the small cluster of trees. It was a very beautiful day.....very breezy and comfortable temperature. The pics below is a view from the bank (normally a bank when normal water level). If you look out there next time you drive by you'll see a really nice sea wall and lanterns that run the bank of the river (at normal water levels). If you continue on around....you'll eventually get to where this photo was taken. It's hard to tell...but 4 or 5 feet ahead of me is a 5 foot drop. The low lands are really green with new vegetation. Eventually you'll get to a spot where water still runs between the two......it's only about a foot deep. We found a spot to walk across that wasn't too muddy and we didn't sink down into the mud just on down to the right of the photo. Besides the arrowhead.....we found lots of golf balls....really old glass bottles....lots of huge clam shells...some 6 to 9 inches long.........a large turtle shell (empty)......lots of aluminum cans.....and no snakes. I was shocked to not see any snakes. I had always heard the island called 'Snake Island'.

Denise's family has some land down on the Coosa river. At one time they had a pier. But years had not been nice to the pier and it's pretty much in ruin. Water levels being low as they are, provided an opportunity for us to go visit the pier and walk around under it. I was amazed at how much the river had dropped. There was a good 15 feet of shore to walk on and another 5 feet of super shallow water. It was very nice. Carolina was with us this day.....she really enjoyed the adventure. Below is a pic that Denise took. It's one of those creepy spiders! All we took were photos. Left everything else as it was. "Leave only footprints....take only photos" as the adage goes. I had a quick flashback to my liberal college days! Sorry. Walking down on the Coosa river is something that I had always wanted to do. For sure.....I'll be back down there again!

ALMOST OCTOBER

Greetings! I thought today would be a great day to update my blog. I wanted to add a couple of pics. The pic above is one that my wife took a few weeks ago on a particularly nice evening. The pic below is of my wife and Rosie. We're amazed at how much Rosie has grown over the past 4 months. She's really had a growth spurt in the last month. I've had to adjust her halter several times.

This morning I went out to mow the grass. There was a chill in the air. Really feels like fall. I'm excited about. Spring and Fall are my favorite times of the year. I've really grown to love football. This is what I call football weather......nice! Gets me excited. Not to mention.... it's a nice time to just be outside. I get's that it for now....thanks for visiting.

PRESIDENT WHO?

Once again...I say 'WELCOME' to The Normal Life Blog. I tried to find a photo of the President of Iran...(I won't attempt to spell his name...not to mention...say it). Yesterday evening I sat watching Glenn Beck talk about his visit to NYC. I was a bit taken by people who welcomed him into this country. I know that he is apart of the U.N. and can be apart of international functions, but to be welcomed into a country where he is the enemy. I don't say that lightly. I really believe this man is one of many who would love to see this country destroyed and everything we stand for lost forever. The Armed Forces of this country are fighting now in a foreign land....fighting people who are (in part) funded or supplied by this man. I don't understand it. I know I wouldn't want him walking around my hometown. To me....it's all propaganda. He mentioned that he wanted to visit Ground Zero and meet with some surviving 911 family members. RUBBISH!!!!!! I'm not trying to spew hate or be like this man in any way.....I just don't agree with allowing him to run around NYC like a tourist....or even worse....someone who is welcomed into this country. Alas.......enough said. BTW....I know this photo is a bit offensive (it is to me)....but it's the most fitting.

As a whole....we're doing well. Sometimes no news is good news. Thanks for visiting.

RING AROUND THE ROSIE

Well.....I'm back to doing one post a week now. I guess life does get busy like that from time to time. School is going well for Denise. She had a wonderful OPEN HOUSE last week. Her children had a great time. We gave away some prizes to those who came. This guy won the drawing for a movie card to the theater in the mall. He was pretty happy. OPEN HOUSE was a success.
I really had no specific reason to put a pic of Rosie on the blog. She's doing well. She likes to follow me around now. She still gets a little wild. I've figured out that she is trying to play with me. That would be nice....but she would probably hurt me pretty bad. She's so strong. I'm really glad that I've been working with her since she was a few days old. Well I guess that's it... thanks for stopping by!

A HANDFUL!

Greetings! I thought I would put a photo of Rosie up. She is a handful. But she's a joy and a pleasure to work with. But she's still a handful. This is her curious face. I get this a lot from her. I guess being 3 1/2 months old.......she's still curious about a lot of stuff. Her mother, who is over 12 years old, isn't too curious about things. She'll just give you a glance and that's pretty much it. She's a gentle horse. I bet she weighs over a thousand pounds...but I can lead her with one finger. Amazing. Rosie weighs about 300 lbs......and I can't pull her anymore. If she doesn't want to go.....she won't.

Denise is doing well with school. It's a bit overwhelming sometimes. She really loves the children in her class. She really works a lot. She'll put in a 12 hour day....everyday...easily. But she loves it. I know it's a lot more than what she expected. God opened this door for her to work at this school. He put her there and He will sustain her and help her. We believe this.

Today we also want to remember our troops....and why we fight.

BAPTISM OF CAROLINA SWINDALL

A while back...Carolina was baptisted at 12th Street Baptist Church.

AH Yes....Monday.

Greetings! Glad you stopped by!

We have had a busy week! By last Friday....Denise was ready to pass out and sleep. I wasn't too far behind her. Besides being tired...we were doing really well. Our weekend was nice. Denise did a lot of her school work during the week so that we could spend our time with Carolina and really focus on her. She was wonderful this weekend. Friday night we went to a coffee house. David Finlayson had invited me to play with himself and Gina. Carolina enjoyed herself.... playing with Kelsey (David's daughter). By the way...I recommend the cheesecake there. I guess I could tell you the name of the place....it's called... the Coffee Vine Cafe in Rainbow City. I like coffee shops. They are usually decorated up nice......smell like coffee and have some inviting desserts to eat. Anyways.....we left early.....I hated to....but we were so tired and needed to get some sleep.

Next day, we got up after a good long night of sleep and went to an afternoon matinee. Carolina chose 'Mr. Bean's Holiday'. When I was growing up I used to watch Mr. Bean with my father. I wasn't sure what to expect.....but I was surprised. It was a funny movie. Carolina really enjoyed it. Mr. Bean's so silly...it's hard not to laugh at him.

The rest of the weekend.....was restful. Denise and I love spending time with Carolina. We're amazed at her. I've learned a lot from her over the past few years.

Now...here it is....Monday once more. Time seems to fly by so quickly.

Weeks turn like pages in a book.
Days are merely a momentary thought.
This year has grown tall before my eyes.
How quickly its end is near. -JGR

ROSIE

Greetings. Some interesting things have happened with Rosie over the past two days. Saturday I was down at the barn cleaning up 'poo' when I noticed her watching me from about 30 feet away. Just earlier I had put her and her mother up in the stall to feed them. I try to get Rosie out and walk her.....treat a wound from earlier (month ago).....and brush her down. I had just finished all of that....let her and her mother (Champagne) out to graze in the field when I noticed Rosie had come back. This may not seem like a big thing....but it is. Rosie hasn't been weened yet from her mother.....she doesn't go anywhere her mother isn't present. Back to the story. Rosie had come back up to the barn by herself. She was very interested in what I was doing. She came right up to me....sniffing around the rake and shovel.....sniffing me. I didn't do much. My normal reaction would be to start petting her.....talking to her. I didn't do anything. I was raking up the 'poo' and scooping it in a pile just outside the barn. She watched for a few minutes then proceeded to walk over to the pile and 'pooed' herself right on the pile. I was so happy and thrilled that she had done this. She then came back over to me and I began petting her and talking to her. She stayed there with me until I left. For some reason.....Champagne likes to use the bathroom right in the walkway of the barn. Rosie had learned that same behavior from her mother.

Yesterday I went down to the barn....same procedure.....put them up in the stall....got Rosie out to treat her/walk her/ brush her.......all went well. By the time I got back to the barn, Champagne had finished her food and was ready to be let out. I let them both out. This time Rosie took to running back and forth across the field....she was jumping and kicking....just showing off big time. Champagne had walked off about 50 feet to graze. I was raking and shoveling......Rosie came up to me again. This time.....the goats were around. I didn't hold back this time....I began talking to her and petting her. It was nice. Then I noticed a small goat getting closer and closer.......Rosie lowered her head toward the goat and proceeded to nudge him away from us. It seems that I've got a friend.

It's taken Rosie 3 months to get this comfortable with me. She was born on May 21st....and here it is August 20th. Really makes me appreciate God and His wonders. To me it's amazing!

FAMILY

Hello......for sometime now I've been meaning to put a few pics up of my Sis (Carol) and my two nephews (Ivan and Andrew). They live in Dalton Georgia (where I grew up). Ivan is going into the 3rd grade. Andrew has just started kindergarten this year. Carol and I are separated in age by about 18 months. I decline to say in which way. I will add that I do love my Sis and my nephews very much.

Andrew Nicholas Camacho 5 years old



Ivan Alexander Camacho 8 years old



I had to add a pic of my favorite little girl. This is a photo of her from her dance recital earlier this year. The theme of the recital was the 50's. She's dressed in a 'T-BIRD' outfit. I am very thankful for this little girl......she's really changed me for the better.

OLD PHOTOS

I wanted to put these pics on my blog. I thought they were really cool. My father-in-law had these photos from his high school reunion committee. I know that they are from Attalla. The airplane pics are probably from the airport...but I don't know for sure. Any comments are welcome.

There sure are a lot of flowers in the window of the Dairy King. Maybe they doubled as a florist.

TWO BOOKS

I thought that I would do a blog on these two books. First, I would like for anyone to comment on them if they have ever read them. Secondly, I would like to recommend these two books to anyone who has not read them. 'Snakes In The Lobby'......I read this book almost 7 years ago. I picked it up in the Vineyard bookstore one day on a whim......boy did it ever change my life. I had not been saved long......just come out of playing music in bars and entering into the church as a worshipper. The book is basically about a dream he had about christian music and the explanation of the dream. To me, it's like reading 'The Final Quest'......but not as long. I sat and read the book in about an hour. I recommend the other book, 'The Lost Glory', because it's not like other books on worship. He speaks to the issues that every artistic person has to deal with on one level or another. I know that sounds a bit lofty....but I don't want to give it away for anyone who has not read it. I promise you that either of the two books is a valuable investment. I spend 10 bucks on one and 3 bucks for the other. Excellent books.

3rd GRADE

Well....Denise has officially started school. We're both excited about her teaching the 3rd grade this year. Right now as I 'blog' she's working on lesson plans. I went with her yesterday to school and I took some photos (as you can see). Above is a plaque outside her door. Below is her door. We put a lot of work into decorating her room. I'm very proud of how it turned out. Carolina went with us yesterday....she loved it as well.

Below is her bulletin board outside her room.

This is her desk. Looks busy to me. Below is another photo from inside her classroom. I'm particularily fond of the skeleton poster....we put it on a closet door.

As of now she has 16 students (mostly boys). I think that she has 5 girls. I'm sure that she will get a few more students as time progresses. I'm looking forward to this coming year. She's going to be a wonderful teacher.

PUPPIES!

Hello everyone! Hope all has been well with you. We're doing great. Denise had her first few days of school.......we're excited about it. She is now a 3rd grade teacher. Carolina began the 1st grade this week. I picked her up from Denise's parents and Carolina commented that she wished she could go to school tomorrow (Saturday). Back in the day that was unheard of with me.....but I guess things are different nowadays. I really enjoyed school when I got into middle and high school.....but elementary was a different story (at least what I can recall........that was over 20 years ago).

As you can tell.....we have puppies. They are so cute....they look like little bear cubs. In a few weeks they will be ready to go.....HINT....HINT.......HINT!

This is our 3rd litter.....so far we haven't had a problem giving then away. They usually go pretty quick. Puppies are fun!

WHAT'S HAPPEN'N !?!?

There are a few things going on in our lives..........

Denise and I have been working like crazy on her room at school. Neither one of us realized the amount of work it was going to take to get the room ready for the first day of class. I'm just talking the physical work of putting things in order......not to mention all of the 'mental' stuff that she has to do to prepare lesson plans and a curriculum for the students. She's the woman for the job! Mostly what we're been doing is cleaning and throwing away years of accumulated paperwork and trash.....dust bunnies and dead cockroaches. It's all good though....I'm proud of my wife.... it's worth it for me to help her get a good start with these 3rd graders!

Rosie got injured a few days ago. Somehow or another she managed to get a 5 inch cut on her chest. As days have gone by, it has widened over an inch. We've been treating her with a topical spray...hoping that it will help in healing. But I believe the cut is way too much for the spray to handle. So tomorrow we're off to the vet with Rosie. There's an Equine Vet in Boaz......so up the mountain we go tomorrow afternoon. My biggest concern is getting her in and out of the trailer.....she quite strong nowadays......and is already set in her ways ( to be 2 months old). More news about Rosie to come.

Our dog Bonnie has had puppies. This is her 4th litter. Her first and second did really well.....the puppies went really quickly when we decided to give them away. The 3rd litter all died. They were born in the coldest part of winter...so they didn't do so well. This time she had one die and the other 4 are doing fine. They are 16 days old. Their eyes are now open and they are beginning to explore. Yet....most of their day consists of sleeping and eating.....exploring is at a minimal. There are 3 boys and 1 girl. They are so cute....they look like little bear cubs. Hopefully I'll have some pics to come.

My work is going well. I'm on a bit of a break this week....helping Denise get her room ready. So...we're both pretty tired when we get home. I'm excited for her. This has been a long time coming. -JGR

A FEW PHOTOS

Hey there! I had a couple of photos that I wanted to add to my blog. Here Dave and I were at the annual Swindall Family Reunion. Everyone enjoyed the lyric and song of David. In addition to David....we were joined by Jeremy Swindall (who I didn't show a pic of...but wanted to mention him). Also, we had a couple of songs from Molly Knight. It was a wonderful affair.

This past weekend we went to Blue Ridge Georgia to a cabin of a friend of mine. Here in the photo you can see Carolina, Ivan (front) and Andrew (rear).....my two nephews who live in Dalton Georgia. The kids had a wonderful time. The cabin was beautiful and the scenery even more so. We had a blast.

SEVEN IS A GOOD NUMBER

What can I say? I was totally blown away by the Deathly Hallows. It was more than I ever expected. I won't give it away...for anyone who looks to read the book. I will say this.... it's the deepest and most emotionally wrenching of the seven. Everything was settled. No loose ends were left in the end. I expect to go back and re-read the book in the next few weeks.

You should have seen us.......Denise, Carolina and I were on vacation in Blue Ridge Georgia this past weekend. We left out at 11pm last Friday night to go to Wal-mart hoping to get a copy of the book. To me.....Elijay Georgia seems to be pretty secluded and out of the way of 'big cities'.... but there was a line. I was shocked at the number of people who showed up for the book release. Denise and Carolina got in line.....I would like to add that Carolina was such a trooper.....it was late and she was so tired....yet she hung in there. I left them to buy our groceries for the weekend.....as I finished up my list....I saw Denise round the corner and coming down the isle toward me....with a huge smile on her face.....she had gotten us two copies.....there was no sharing with this book. She read her copy in no time at all.....it took me a day longer. It was a nice adventure with a great reward. I recommend the book and the series to anyone.

As for the weekend....we had a wonderful time. My mother, sister and two nephews came to join us at the cabin. I would like to add that the cabin was so beautiful.....with a mountain stream and beautiful scenery. We had a blast. I'll have some pictures in due time.