My goodness how time flies!

Wow what a few months it has been - and I still have Christmas on my blog - Sorry Jessie. Let me catch up! I flew over to Utah in January to help out with my mom who had fallen and fractured a vertebra in her back and had to have surgery. I was there two weeks and then Erin and her boys drove over with me to Colorado to help Megan, Matt and the family make their big move to Arkansas. I wasn't much help physically but was able to get in a lot of good Myles tending. Bill flew over to help drive and we made the trek to Liberty. Megan and Matt went on from there but their RV broke down just about 45 minutes out from Liberty. They had to leave it and go on so the next weekend we picked it up and drove it to Cabot for them. By doing that we were able to see their new home, neighborhood, schools and town and have a visual point of reference for them. We are looking forward to more visits now that we know the way to get there. When I got back I had a couple of weeks home. Susan and Laura came over and we all journeyed on down to Tulsa to see David, Lauren, Mikayla and be there when Gavin was born. That was a great experience.

After this trip Susan, Laura and I drove over to Colorado and I went on from there to Utah to spend two weeks helping my family get my mother ready and moved into her new assisted living apartment. While there I ended up with the gumboo everyone was getting and wound up in the emergency room with pneumonia. Not a fun time. During that week, James broke his leg and Erin fell while helping at Grandma's and severely sprained her ankle. However, we were able to get mom settled in her new place and she seems to be happy with the arrangements. While there my brothers, Lynn and Karl, came in for a ski trip so we were able to spend time together and that was great!

Today for our great weekend adventure Bill and I went to the boyhood home of Jesse and Frank James - the notorious outlaws of the 1850s. It was interesting to learn about them and see things from their day (I always like to look at old stuff). The picture shows the original grave site of Jesse James - it was in his mother's front yard so she could keep an eye on it. He was moved to the cemetery in Kearney, MO after his wife died but his original headstone was destroyed by souvenir seekers who chipped away the stone until very little was left. The stone that is on the grave now was put there some time in the 1960s or 70s. Bill said it shows signs of people chipping away at it even now. An interesting side note: While the grave was in her yard, his mother would keep gravel covering the top of it and she would sell pieces of gravel to souvenir seekers. When all the rocks were gone she would go down to the river and get more and sell those. At one time the Pinkerton agents came to try to find Jesse and they threw a bomb into the house. When it exploded it killed his 9-year-old brother and severed his mother's arm. She went the rest of her life (she died at 86) with just one arm. I thought another odd thing was Jesse's mother's name was Zerelda and that was his wife's name also. It is an unusual name and to have your mother and your wife of the same name I thought was odd.















To end all this, it is good to be home. Bill was getting really tired of eating just potatoes and salad. We are looking forward to next week when Megan and the kids come for a visit. We are planning all sorts of fun things.