HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and healthy new year!!!!

We have recovered from Christmas and are just relaxing for the rest of the kids vacation. Paige leaves on Wednesday for Utah for a snowboarding trip. Ryan will be working everyday, but he loves it and Sydney just wants to get out on her "new" surfboard. Dylan made her Christmas!

Love to you all and happy new year!

Janelle

It's a Girl!

What a Christmas present! Andy and Kristin had their baby girl today, just a couple of hours ago. She weighed in at 6#, 13 oz. and measured 18" long with dark brown hair. Her name is Hadley Noelle Nelson (the Noelle isn't a for sure yet, but pretty sure) and arrived via c-section. She's got 10 fingers, 10 toes and both she and mom are doing fine. She's made a beautiful day, even more lovely!

Have a good weekend and a very happy new year!

Love and laughter, Joan

Let There Be Light!

Yipee! Yea Hurray! Ta Dah! Last night, at 9:00pm, just 1 1/2 hours shy of day 10, the lights came back on! After Gene shut down the generator and threw the main breaker, I stood outside listening to the generators all over the canyon turning off, and then it was quiet. Ahhhhhhh. I will never take a light switch for granted again! So today, I have quite a bit of cleanup to do, now I can actually see how dirty my house is, and stuff to put away. I think the dogs are happier too, they didn't like the noise of the generator. The snow and ice are melting quickly, and the day time temps have been in the 40's (heat wave). The forecast calls for snow on Saturday, but that doesn't scare us! Actually, snow for Christmas is a lovely thing.

Nashville Perrys and Mobleys, you guys travel safely, and I'll phone Janelle's house either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, or maybe both. Have a good weekend!

Love, Joan

Staying Alive

Well, here it is, Day 9 after the storm, and still no electricity. The storm itself was really wild, during the night the sound of tree limbs snapping off and falling, pulling more tree limbs down, sounded like gunfire. Not much sleeping Monday night. Tuesday morning the entire state was shut down, so Gene did stay home. We were lucky that no trees fell on our house, just a small one on the garage (no damage) and one barely missed the propane tank. On day 4, a neighbor came by and asked if we could use a generator, as he had a spare. DUH! So he came back and hooked it up for us, and that has improved our quality of life a ton! The house was staying plenty warm with the propane heater downstairs, but without electricity, we didn't have water, so the generator allows us to have water, and run the water heater and some lights, and of course, the TV. Not all at the same time though. I'm still cooking on the camp stove, the generator isn't powerful enough to run the stove/oven or clothes dryer. Gene and I have both lost some weight, so we're calling this the "Ice Storm Diet". And we've played cards almost every night, usually Gin and I am the undisputed champion. Gene can't decide if I'm really lucky or really good. Yesterday, the power company showed up, in the canyon and they were there again today, so that's got to be good news! I took some pictures with my new phone and apparently, I can send them to an email address, so if I figure out how to do that, I'll try to send them to Melinda and perhaps she can post them. The 2" of ice absolutely coated everything in crystal clear ice, and it was beautiful and fascinating even if it was devastating. Like nothing you've ever seen before.

Well, since I'm writing this on the church computer (today is my day to work in the office), I'd better wrap this up. Take care and I'll let you know when we get powered up.

Love, Joan (aka Nanook of the North)

The Ice Man Cometh

Brrrrrrrrrrr! It's mighty cold and frosty here in KS. We had freezing rain/sleet/snow all weekend, and we are now expecting up to 2" of freezing rain, beginning tonight about 6:00pm and continuing for 24 hourse. Oh joy. This of course, will probably mean power outages also. So, we got hay and water to the horses, lamp oil and candles, a full propane tank, bottled water and ice melt. I've asked Gene to take tomorrow off and let the docs that live in town cover for him.

In the meantime, things are going well. I can't believe it's almost Christmas! We still don't have a tree; we would have purchased one yesterday, after church, but because of the slick roads, we didn't go anywhere over the weekend. May have to just cut down a little cedar tree and call that good. That's a "cowboy Christmas tree". We hope to go to Andy and Kristin's house, this coming weekend, weather permitting. Gene and Andy want to go bird hunting Sunday morning (Andy is running out of "fun guy time" as the baby is due Dec. 27. And we need to get the doll house to Carole's girls (the moving van is arriving at their house on Monday) so it can go to Arkansas with them. Gene and I worked very hard on that little doll house and it looks so cute, I can hardly stand it! Yesterday, I made new curtains for it. Last night while he watched TV, Gene washed all the plastic furniture. Once the doll house is gone, we're going to need to find a new hobby!

That's really all for now, I'll let you know how we weather the storm. If the power goes out for any length of time, our new phone system won't work, so if you need to reach us, try our cell phones, we'll try to leave one turned on 785-770-7121 or 785-770-7128.

Hugs and kisses to all, and an extra one to Aunt Lois, I hope you're feeling okay.

Love, Joan

John's new partner in prayer