Tracks in the Snow

Like many other places around the country we were blanketed with snow the other day. It started out rather light and we didn't get near as much as people I've talked with both north and south of us. My snowman banner doesn't look so out of place today.

After a fresh snow I like to go out and see what tracks in the snow I can find. We no longer have any pets so it's interesting to see what roaming cats, dogs and sometimes rabbits venture onto my property. I see there's been a cat up on my front porch...

...and walking around in the front yard.

Below are my tracks to and from the mailbox. I could walk out to the driveway and around but the snow wasn't all that deep.

These are dog tracks going up my driveway. I should have put my shoe print beside the dog track so you could see how large they are. The track goes up the drive but not back down. Dog must have had a destination to go to.

Pardon my expletive with the next set of tracks but WTF!!! Since when is it okay to jump curbs and drive across lawns? I realize that dogs and cats trespass, but they're innocently ignorant of man's laws concerning property. Some people's children, anyway.

Happy Tracking!

I'm Still Here!!!

Have you missed me? I've missed you. You don't have to answer that. :) To catch you up it was a really busy weekend last week and I had a head cold on top of it. Thursday and Friday of last week my daughter and I cleaned out my Aunt's apartment. Mom helped on Thursday and gave us directions on where a lot of things should go and met with friends of Aunt Leta's that came to collect mementos. See the storage containers in the picture below...

I purchased 14 of the large white ones, 13 of the smaller size on the table plus one large flat box and 1 smaller flat box. Every one of these boxes were filled. My Aunt was an artist and a seamstress. The serger sitting on the table was hers. One box is full of nothing but paints and supplies. Several boxes are nothing but material. There's thread, yarn, beads, buttons and all sorts of crafting tools and supplies. In crafting, there wasn't much my Aunt didn't do. She did beautiful work. One of her recent projects was making teddy bears for the Wellington Police Dept. One of the Red Hat ladies told me they had planned on contacting Larry Hatteburg to tell him about her work but she passed before they had a chance. Thursday we got home around 11:30pm and Friday we didn't leave till we were done. All we left in the apartment that I still wanted was Aunt Leta's big heavy chest of drawers that mom said she'd had 'forever', bringing it up from Texas with her when she moved here, a metal typewriter table and an office chair. My daughter and I talked about coming back in on Sunday to get these, but we weren't sure how we'd get them in the back of the truck, her tailgate is difficult to get down. We made it home around 1am and I had to be up and ready to go at 7am on Saturday.

Saturday was the Big Boys Toy Show at Century II in Wichita KS. We were setting two screens up at the show this year. One screen next to the Entercom booth showing the main stage and the second screen at the Roller Derby with the track on the screen. The first event up on the main stage was the Tanganyika Wildlife Demo...

The Tanganyika Wildlife Park is a few miles outside of Wichita. They raise wild and exotic animals.

You'll notice the logo on the shirt above says "Jack Hannah's Into the Wild". Tanganyika provides the cats that Jack Hannah shows on TV.

I had a difficult time getting good pictures of the cats. They were constantly moving.

I had to post two pictures of the cat above. That picture because I thought it was a good shot of it's face and the one below because it's so cute.

The little fella below was the only bird they displayed. With all the animals they gave a lot of information. How they live in the wild, interesting facts that you might not have known and whether they are endangered or not.

We set up our green screen at our booth again this year. There was one glitch though, we couldn't get the picture to show up on the TV we brought for it. With the second projector over at the Roller Derby on the second screen we didn't have a way to present the green screen. So the only time the green screen was available was when there wasn't an event on the main stage. Which turned out to work just fine.

Below is an over view of the show. This picture was shot from the stairs to the balcony where our camera was sitting for the Roller Derby screen. You can see our big screen on the far back wall, right of the big doors and left of center.

I'll post more pictures from Big Boys Toy Show later after I get them all processed. After the show I convinced my son to load up Aunt Leta's dresser and the other things in the equipment trailer, there was plenty of room. This worked on so many levels. The trailer is lower to the ground than the bed of the pickup and has ramps on top of that. So running that heavy dresser on the hand truck down the elevator, out the door and up the trailer ramp was a breeze. Added bonus, I didn't have to go back into town on Sunday! All done, apartment cleared out in three days. Thanks kids, I couldn't have done it without you!!

The Passing of a Good Neighbor

Josie Mae Ownbey (Huffman)

NORWICH - Ownbey, Josie Mae (Huffman) passed away Friday, January 15, 2010 after a brave fight against pancreatic cancer with her children by her side. Josie Mae was born on December 11, 1928 in Selman, OK, to Jesse William and Ollie Mae (Weese) Huffman. She attended grade schools in Waynoka and May, graduating in 1946 in Selman, OK. After graduation she worked at McIntyre Drug in Buffalo, OK. On February 7, 1952 she married Thomas Wayne (Bud) Ownbey in Wichita, KS, where they started their own family. In Wichita she had worked at Dockom Drug Store and the Wichita State Bank. In 1967 the family moved to Spivey, KS, where she worked at the Kingman County extension office and later retired from Cessna Aircraft in Wichita, after moving to Norwich, KS, in 1976. She was a member of the Bethel Baptist Church of Wichita, but after moving to Norwich she was active in the Norwich Baptist Church. After from Cessna she always kept busy. She enjoyed working with the Election Board of Kingman County, Norwich Township. She worked several years at Farrar Corporation in Norwich and she was a Companion/Aide thru the State of Kansas for many citizens of the Norwich area. She enjoyed her time as a Hat Lady taking their small adventures. She was always willing to lend a helping hand to anyone who asked, whether it was baking for a social function, driving a friend to the doctor, or watching a loved one for others in the community. She is preceded in death by her husband, Wayne; her brother, William (Bill); and her youngest son, Dennis Ray. She is survived by her brother, Walter (Dorothy) of Enid, OK; Wanda Wyscaver of Buffalo, OK, and Velma (Gene) Jones of Oklahoma City, OK; sons, Thomas Patrick, Jerry Wayne (Donna); and daughter, Marcie Mae (Brian Coppage), all of Wichita; grandchildren, Nancy (Mike) Marshall of Hazleton, KS, Michael (Ashley) Boyle of Irving, TX, Jennifer (Brady) Burtchett of Eureka, CA, Jared (Cyndi) Ownbey of Potwin, Kevin Ownbey of Wichita, Kayla (Bobby) Whiteside of Potwin, KS, Devin (Christine) Smallwood of Udall, KS, Joseph and Sara Waddell of Wichita; and 12 great-grandchildren. She is loved and will be missed many friends and relatives. There will be a viewing Monday, January 18, 2010 at the Norwich Baptist Church from 12 p.m. until 7 p.m. A funeral service will be held at the Norwich Baptist church on Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 10 a.m. She will be laid to rest in the Ownbey (Golden Rod) Cemetery NE of Buffalo, OK on highway 64 at 3 p.m. Wilkinson Funeral Service of Buffalo, OK is in charge of the service.

Josie lived across the street from us from the time we moved in here. A person couldn't ask for better neighbors than what we've had. Josie, you will be missed. Our condolences to her family.

Aunt Leta

My Aunt Leta left us peacefully yesterday morning. She had been in a 'deep sleep' ever since being revived after she had collapsed in the lobby of her apartment complex Sunday afternoon. She will be missed by many people; her Red Hatters group, her friends at Southwest Presbyterian church, neighbors that she drove to appointments and on errands, and family that she shared her time and many crafting talents with.
Just some old photos from my mother's album.

You can find newer pictures of Aunt Leta if you look at my blog posts that are of family gatherings.

For me, Aunt Leta was an inspiration. She was artistic and independent. She didn't just think about doing things, she did them. Having worked on the family genealogy, I know that Aunt Leta came by these traits quite honestly as she descends from a long line of strong, independent women. What a wonderful legacy to be left with. I will miss you, Aunt Leta.

Life, Hoarfrost & Braces

Reality of life has struck again this week. My dear Aunt, my mother's younger sister, collapsed in the lobby of her apartment last Sunday. Today she is in Intensive Coronary Care on a ventilator and we're waiting to hear about tests that have been done. Prayers are welcome, just keep in mind that Aunt Leta would prefer to move on rather than spend any time not being able to be productive. All my life I have remembered Aunt Leta as creating beautiful arts and crafts and it would sadden her to not be able to do this.
Tuesday I arose early to drive my dil and granddaughter to the dentist to get the granddaughter's braces put on. There was a dense white fog and hoarfrost on everything.

I didn't get these pictures till after we returned and I think it had already started to melt.

It was a beautiful country drive in the stark white with black outlined winter wonderland.

The Princess now has a colorful mouth that will eventually give her a mouth full of pretty straight teeth.

Belated Birthday Gift

PK seems to he hogging the bloglight lately. Not really her doing though. For her birthday I promised that we'd shop online for something and finally got around to it last week. Today that gift arrived and her mother brought her by after school to pick it up.
This Pegasus is hugable. It is a soft plastic with a rigid, poseable inner structure. I think she's happy with her late birthday gift.

Journeying

The other day when my little princesses were gathering up to go home I looked up from my desk to see the younger princess laden for her journey. I wish my eye could have captured the picture I saw because the photo below doesn't quite do it.
What came to my mind is that she was preparing to head into 2010 on a wonderful journey, just beginning to create memories of what will hopefully be many, many years. Young and fresh with so very much to be learned if only she desires to learn. If only the spark is ignited. We will most certainly be working on that.

Happy Journeying my little Princess Knight!

A Proper Thank You

Back in July of last year a Princess Tea was held in honor of The Princess's birthday. When their Majesties, King Allen and Queen Christine, received The Princess, His Majesty the King presented her with a gift. She did not know at the time but this gift contained Thank You notes. Among the many lessons that were taught that day she also learned about giving a proper "Thank You" to show appreciation to those who honor you with their good will and generosity. That is why yesterday before the girls went home they helped me design Thank You notes for them to send to those they received Christmas gifts from.
I am very proud of how they eagerly took to their task, writing their own feelings of love and gratitude in each card. Well done my little princesses, well done.

Into the New Year...

Winter has come over us here in the heartland. We've had a couple snow days...
...actually, one was at night. I woke around 4am and looked out the window, everything was white. By noon the next day it had all thawed. This latest snow cover isn't very deep...

...but it's sticking around longer. Baby, it's COLD outside. At least the wind hasn't been blowing to terribly.

I invited the granddaughters over today to try out the ballet video that finally arrived. I purchased it to late to get here for Christmas but I included a print out of the order in with PK's bag of ballet clothes. Doesn't she look cute in her pink and black outfit.

After going through the stretches and positions 1 through 5 the girls spent some time on the music instruments.

These are the more durable ones. I'm not so worried about supervising the use of these. The better ones won't go to the studio till they have a place to be stored.

Since the girls don't have school tomorrow, teacher's inservice, they decided that they were going to stay the night so we went to their house and got their blankets, jammies and cuddle critters. We set up the cots in the playroom instead of going downstairs to sleep in the guest room. The TV for the guest room is in the studio so there's no way to watch movies and the playroom has a computer that will play DVDs.

Sleep well my lovely little princesses!

The More Things Change

At the Christmas gathering my mother handed me this obviously handmade Christmas card...
...very cute Santa with cut pieces of construction paper and other parts notched out of the card itself. But what was written inside is what was REALLY interesting...

I am not posting this to voice any type of political statement or opinion, I just found it interesting that this could easily have been written in 2008. Do you know who was elected in 1968?