Kaylie's Our Gymnast

Bob's Christmas Message

Bob sent Christmas wishes with this photo. He refers to it as his Christmas card photo. Looks like snow but it is actually the dust of Afghanistan picked up by the flash of the camera.

He writes that there is no snow where he is but it did recently rain for 8 hours straight and flood their tents.

He also wrote that he is leaving right now and will be out in the field over Christmas. He hopes to be back in camp by New Years. He added "We have lots of activities planned and we even get to go camping. I'm sure between the shining stars at night and the camel herds it might even feel biblical".

He signed off with "On a serious note, we all know what Christmas is really about and I do wish you and your family's the best. God Bless".

We'll miss you here Bob! Stay safe.

Kimkay Thaws

I'm currently in Santa Ana, Orange County California working. It's in the 70's everyday. I'm love'n it! What the heck are we doing living in below zero temps? Makes no sense to me.

Palm trees, green grass and flowers? So far away from ice, snow and frost bite.

Bob's Back in Afghanistan

Bob wrote a couple days ago and sent this photo. He's back in Afghanistan. He's only been gone from here a week and it seems like he's been gone a month. I hope the time starts going by faster than this.

Crow Wing Historical Society

This past Sunday we went to the Crow Wing County Historical Society Museum. It's in the old old Jailhouse on Laurel street in Brainerd. I say old old because there's a jail between the museum jail and the current jail that sits vacant behind the museum jail. The old old jail (museum) was the actual jail when we moved here in 1976. I thought it looked scary.

They've done a nice job in making it into a museum. There's lots of stuff about the Railroad. The Sheriff's quarters were open and available to tour on Sunday. My grandmother Myrtle O'neil Peterson cooked for the prisoners there for awhile in the 60's.

Check it out at: http://www.crowwinghistory.org/

Kiehra's Basketball

This past Saturday Kiehra had double header basketball games. They won one and lost one.

She made one basket during the second game.

When she was on the bench she passed the time writing on the coach's clipboard....hmmm the other kids where watching the game.

Makita's Birthday

Friday was Makita's birthday. We really whooped it up. We went down to the VFW and had a nice big prime rib dinner. They sure do know how to feed you down there. Then over to Sheps for some celebrating. I believe this is one of the 5 shots Makita downed that night. Yikes.

Thanksgiving Weekend

Let me preface this by saying "Yippy" to staying out of my closet office and away from my computer for four whole days. I haven't taken a day off since Labor Day weekend and let me tell you...the walls start closing in.

Thanksgiving was great. Bob, Joy and the girls were able to join us for the big old 26 pound turkey. Makita was called to a house fire about a half hour before turkey cutting time. Mike got stuck carving the turkey again. The Thanksgiving house fire thing is becoming tradition. Kurt and Robin stopped by to see Bob and watch his slide show and videos. All in all there were 16 people in and out that day. On Saturday Shirley helped us decorate the Christmas tree.

On Saturday night we went over to the Brainerd Sertoma Winter Wonderland.

Basement of Franklin Junior High - now Franklin Arts Center

Here I am in front of one of the two huge boilers in the basement of Franklin (old middle school).

Makita and Stella look around the boiler rooms at Franklin. I'm not sure what that other lady is doing? Howling at the moon? Screaming for help?

Here's a second boiler. Yikes....

Field Trip to Franklin

I went on a field trip with the Brainerd History Group to the Franklin Arts Center last week. Franklin was a middle school built back in 1932. One shop we visited was Fankie Gumbo Potters gallery. Bill Grange did a demo for us.

Originally from north western Minnesota, Bill and his family settled in the Brainerd Lakes area of Central Minnesota. With a Master’s Degree in Art and Education, Bill taught high school art until he retired in 1999. During his teaching career, Bill spent his “recreational” time making pottery and painting in the medium of watercolor. Now that he is retired, he as become a full time studio artist.

Bill became interested in pottery while taking summer course work through the University of Montana in the early 1960’s. There he studied under (and made good friends with) Rudy Autio, Peter Voulkos, and James Leedy. These three men, along with Soji Hamada and Warren MacKenzi, are the founders of the American Pottery Society.

Typical characteristics of Bill’s pottery are A hand built rose, holly berries, or leaves
Blue or green(ish) glaze, Painting of northern scenery in cobalt directly into wet clay
Northern scenery imprinted into or cut out of the piece with more than one glaze to define the imagry. All of his pottery is safe for food, oven, and dishwasher.

Of late, Bill has been working with clay from Georgia. This clay comes in several natural earth colors and has a texture he especially likes for shaping on the wheel. Often he glazes the inside of the piece, keeping the natural beauty of the clay to the outside.

Bill is no slouch as a water color artist either. There is a poetic sensitivity toward the subjects of his work. Subtle secondary color use enhances his work and captures the viewer. Bill’s watercolors and his pottery have won him numerous awards and have been purchased by people from all over the country.

To quote Bill, “Art should be for everyone. I don’t want to limit myself to a specific subject, (though I love to portray landscapes and nature), size or price range. Everyone who wants to, should be able to afford something of mine”.

Great to See Bob

Saturday night there was a nice gathering in Danvers for folks to stop by and see Bob. He just had arrived back in the U.S. on Friday. He's pretty tired and has a nasty head cold. I hope he gets some much needed rest in the next few days before he heads out West hunting.

kare11.com | Twin Cities, MN | Letters from Vietnam reflect lost generation

kare11.com Twin Cities, MN Letters from Vietnam reflect lost generation

Bob's coming home for a few weeks

I spoke to Bob this morning on the messenger and he was in Dubia on his way home for a few weeks. Can't wait to see him! This photo he recently sent was accompanied by this note: "The picture is of some of us in our five star hotel. It was breathtaking. Real it was, it smelled so bad it would take your breath away. " Looks like he needs a shower.

Thank you Veterans!

Happy Anniversary Eddie

This past weekend marked Eddie's first Anniversary with us. He's been a good old boy. Friday night we celebrated by jumping on board Eddie with a couple friends, sat in the yard and tipped a few.

Eddie does however have a problem. His stairs are stuck down. They won't go back up. Son of a bitch Eddie....why? I ask you, why do you torture us so?

Good Luck to my Minnesota Deer Hunting Friends

Tomorrow is Minnesota's Deer Hunting Opener. Kind of like a holiday here. Good luck to all my hunting friends. I'm sitting this out.

Mike Gets His Deer

Mike started his hunting season just a few days early. Yesterday he ended up doing a little deer hunting while at work. And we wondered why he carries a rifle.

Words From Bob

This morning we got word from Bob. He had been out for two weeks. He said "I just got back in to camp this morning. The first order of business was to take a shower. Two weeks without a shower is a bad thing. Some of the guys I met up with and did some work with, haven't seen a shower for over two months. So I'm spoiled. I fly out in 9 days to come home for a while. I really can't wait. The weather is crazy as always here. It's still hot during the day and it freezes at night. We've been sleeping out under the stars and it has been very cold. I really don't think I've ever been as cold as I have been this last couple weeks. I could go on and on but I can tell you all about our adventures when I get home. "

Here's Bob climbing a very gruelling mountain. He had a little different name for the mountain. It' had more symbols in it then letters.

He made it to the top!

Grandkids at Halloween

Kyle was one scary dude.

Tonya, Kaylie and Kalob came trick or treating.

Kiehra came trick or treating as a witch.

Mike greeted his trick or treaters in this very scary costume.

Ready for Halloween

Lord Stanley Cup

Friday night the Stanley Cup was in Brainerd. Unlike the trophies awarded by the other three major professional sports leagues of North America, a new Stanley Cup is not made each year; Cup winners keep it until a new champion is crowned. It is unusual among trophies, in that it has the name of the winning players, coaches, management, and club staff engraved on its chalice. The original bowl was made of silver and has a dimension of 18.5 centimeters (7.28 inches) in height and 29 centimeters (11.42 inches) in diameter. The current Stanley Cup, topped with a copy of the original bowl, is made of silver and nickel alloy.

There were a lot of Minnesota Wild jerseys around but I was smart enough to wear a jersey of a team that has actually won the cup.

The Stanley Cup was named for Frederick Arthur Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby KG, GCB, GCVO, PC (15 January 1841 – 14 June 1908), known as Frederick Stanley until 1886 and as The Lord Stanley of Preston between 1886 and 1893, was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as Colonial Secretary from 1885 to 1886 and Governor General of Canada from 1888 to 1893. An avid sportsman, he built Stanley House Stables, and is most famous for presenting the Stanley Cup. Stanley was a Freemason[1]

Kaylie Turns 8!

On Friday the 23rd Kaylie Jo turned 8. Yesterday we celebrated in full swing, costumes and all. Kaylie dressed as a devil but she's really an angel.

Message From Bob

Bob had a chance to email this photo and a quick note: "In Afghanistan at Camp Leatherneck. The Brit is a friend of ours. We met him awhile back. He is going home and stopped by to see us. Gy. Sgt, Capt. and I spent sometime helping some of his boys out a couple of weeks ago in Helmand Providence. Great guy."

Notice Bob's got a beard now. I'm surprised how dark it is.

Let's Play Hockey

Last night we attended the Minnesota Wild vs the Colorado Avalanche at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. I'm an Avs fan and of course everyone else there (with the exception of one five year old kid and a guy I suspect picked his jersey up at a Thrift Store) were all Wild fans. Currently the Avs are number one in the Division as well as number one in the Conference. And Minnesota is dead last in the Division and dead last in the Conference. But the Wild scored early and stayed with the Avs all night. Third period ended in a 2 - 2 tie. During overtime niether team scored. So off to the Shootout we went. It was very exciting. In the end the Wild prevailed and won. It was a great time.

Towards the end of the game a sheet of glass got broke right at the officials table. There was glass everywhere. Now that was "wild". Ha

Hey is that the Avs putting the puck in that Wild net? Sure does look like it. Cool camera huh? I'd say.

Facing off....

Wild bad boy Bouchard gets in a fight with Avs David Koci. Koci ends up running away. He's not liking what Boogie's delivering.

Niklas Backstrom's tended goal last night.