24 January 2026 I just wanted to record about the day I had last week in Hurricane. I had gone down alone so I could be there when they came to clean off the roof. Russ had to lock up the church so he stayed in Sandy. I use the black light and scan the whole house when I go down to look for scorpians, which I haven't found lately so that is nice. But it also shows up all the dust and dirt and in places it was just gross. I've been wanting to clean but just never had the energy, but I did this time, so I spent much of three days cleaning. I also went for a walk every day, once was all the way down to the river by the short way. I haven't been to the river in a while so it was nice, low water, though there had been storms the week before and you could see where the water had come up to. One day I'll be there when it is that high, though it probably was when we first moved in and I just didn't realize it. I remember watching some guys floating down in a kayak. Anyway I wasn't sure when I'd come back, I was thinking maybe Wednesday, but Wednesday came and I was starting slow and just decided I wasn't ready to go back yet. Wednesday was a lazy day. I read, played games, did the puzzle, watched some TV, went for a walk. In the end I had a sense of peace and contentment that was a bit indescribable. I was just so relaxed, with no stress, responsibility, nothing hanging over my head or heart that needed caring for, no sense that I had something I needed to do. It was a most powerful feeling and was so nice. I was glad I'd stayed that one more day.

What a year an a half it has been. January 2020 we moved Louisa out, spent an absolutely fabulous week in Desert Springs, and I didn't think life could be any better, wondered what I'd done to be able to enjoy a place like that. On the way home we put money down on a house in Hurricane. Had plans to go to Uzbekistan with Alice, an Alaskan cruise with the whole family in June, and the south east in the summer. Then Covid hit and everything stopped. I was doing pretty good until the summer heat and the horrible news about covid and the election. I ended up depressed doing nothing but sitting on the couch playing games and eating. It has taken me til now to begin to feel a little better. We spent a lot of time in Hurricane. I can't believe our luck in finding a house in such a great location. Walking distance to the Desert Tortoise preserve, no houses in front or behind us, nice views of the sunset (a big plus), quiet, but easy access to everything. I've enjoyed it best when sharing it with others, the kids, my friends. Russ goes golfing every time he's down there. Mostly with Dan and Ev who also have a condo. I like walking out to the Virgin river gorge for sunsets. So we went to opening day baseball last night. It was great. The fans who were there were passionate and knowledgable. Very fun, we lost but it was a good game with some opportunities. Plus we have plans for this summer and now that it is almost ready to start I'm feeling hope and excitement I haven't had for a year.

Life is good

I am not very good at this :-) Getting ready for Christmas, buying the presents. I did cards again, not sure how much longer I'll do them. They are not as popular as they used to be. Big news is that we are buying a condo for Louisa. We were planning to rent it out for a year maybe while Louisa got more ready to move, but it turns out we can't do that, so she might just be moving out come January. I have felt that she needed to have some time on her own to grow and be more independent, but now that it is here I'm not sure I am ready for it myself. We went through the whole empty nest thing with the boys leaving and I was glad to have them move on when it came time for that. But to have Louisa move out means we really will have an empty nest, and at my age that isn't as exciting as it would have been years ago. And I worry if she'll really be able to handle it. But it is only a couple miles away, we can provide a lot of support. Eventually we'll try to get her a roommate, but it will need to be just the right person so I am in no hurry.

Came home after a little over a week in Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia with Louisa. She wanted to visit Marlaina who lives in Virginia Beach. I went with her so she wasn't trying to change airplanes in an unfamiliar airport. Then I added in many things I've wanted to see that I didn't take the time to when I lived there 43 years ago. It was a great trip. I really like the east. I'm not sure what it would be like to really live there, but it sure feels like home when I visit. We ended up leaving some things out since I really was trying to fit in too much and I was fooling myself thinking I could do Shenendoah in a couple hours. It was wonderful to be there. We stayed in Skyland and I had completely lost my bearings there, but when I finally found the trail up the mountain, then my feet naturally went right to the employee area. We hiked Stony Man and standing on the summit with that gorgeous view of the valley and the mountains, I was overcome and when Louisa walked back I sat sobbing. It felt like I'd come full circle. My life took a pivotal turn there. Then later at Historic Jamestowne I talked with a volunteer who I realized was close to my age, he'd mentioned he'd graduated from University of Virginia in History. I asked what year and he said '79. Had I stayed and got my residency and gone to school there graduating in History like I had thought I might we could have been classmates....it was such an odd look at a kind of parallel life. I could have been him, sharing my knowledge with visitors to Jamestowne. Since last year when we went to Australia, I have been traveling a lot. 15 states (three new ones) in the US and 4 in Australia, two hemispheres, who knows how many miles. I'm enjoying it, but at the moment a little travel weary. I'm ready to stay home for awhile. However, Celia wants to do something next week. We have an anniversary trip already planned for January and Alice and I are working on getting to Kazakistan in April. I'm planning a baseball trip in May, and Lotti Wann has done some humanitarian work with a Park City group who has a trip planned for March that I'm interested in. So I'm not finished yet. :-)

So I'm going to try adding some photos. That seemed to work. Welcome to the world Kaiser. We love you bunches already

A wonderful year

Overall 2016 will be remembered as one with few hiccups and some wonderful trips. It has been nice this year to look back and not have any major job losses, large medical issues or other catastrophes affecting us or those we love. Caleb found a woman who seems to be a good match and we look forward to their wedding next Year. We have been blessed to have two of our boys purchase and move into homes. We had the wonderful addition of Vienna. My parents continue to receive the care they need to survive. The only negative came at the end of the year when we learned that we would be losing our beloved grandson Enoch to adoption. Though it broke my heart there are some good reasons to let him be adopted by his stepfather.

New Year, same story

It has been a year since I've posted. And the thing that is funny is that I was gone 5 of 6 weekends. This must be my time to travel. First I went to the Condor Release in the House Rock valley. The TA meet up is in early October this year was in Sedona. Russ came which made me happy. My trip with Alice was again in the fall. We went to NYC and then drove up through Connecticut to NH and Boston. What a trip. We made it count. I also had a trip to Escalante with the girls to find the circle of friends. Then I went to ASHA since it was in Denver- got to see Enoch. He gave me a hug to say goodbye. It has been crazy. I've worked in-between.