Girdner Family Reunion

In June (yes, I am really late posting this) I went to Cottonwood, AZ for a Girdner family reunion.  This reunion occurs every 3 years and is for family of James Pleasant Girdner (called JP) and his wife Nola (Lockhart).  They had 4 kids: Glen, Dale, Stanley, & Eva.  Stanley is my Grandfather. 

I flew into Phoenix on a Thursday, visited with some friends at the airport (who used to live in Santa Rosa) and then met Dad and Millie's when they arrived about an hour later.  We rented a car and then met Willis, Susan and Jimmy for dinner and then off to Cottonwood we went.  It was dark when we arrived and we were tired.  

Friday, we went to the high school gym which would be the home base for our reunion for the next 3 days.  The family is from Cornville really but a lot of family history is in Cottonwood too.  Dad went to school at this high school, but now it's a museum.  

Somebody went to the trouble of building our family tree and posting, by family, on the walls of the gym.  Each person had their own sheet of paper, often with their photo on it and it was placed in birth order in org chart fashion.  It was very visual and I appreciated it.

Four self-guided tours were prepared and everyone choose where they wanted to go.  I was torn between Grandpa Stanley's Hydroelectric sites, the Cottonwood Cemetery and Jerome.  Dad wanted to take Millie to a museum in Jerome so I decided to go with them.  Uncle Marvin, Sharon and Aaron came too - all 6 of us in the rental car.   It was a squeeze but it was fun to be together.  We were able to visit the Cottonwood Cemetery on the way. Once we got to the museum site in Jerome I was surprised to find a power plant there that my Grandpa worked with so I got to see some Grandpa Stanley Hydroelectric history after all.  

The photo on the right is the turbine; which means even more to me now that I'm  working for a company that makes turbines for power generation. The photo on the left is the generator.  This power plant was taken off-line in 2004.  Amazing, isn't it; that it was in operation that long?  Even though this is cool, the highlight of the whole 3 day week-end was listening to my Dad answer the questions of the Ranger behind the counter at the museum.  Dad mentioned to him that he lived in Jerome as a boy and that started the questions.  I learned things about my grandfather's work (I never knew that Grandpa worked in the mines (as an electrician), about Dad's childhood, about mining in Jerome and more).  It was a fascinating conversation to listen to; I was finally that proverbial fly on a wall.

There was something special about this reunion, at least for me.  Maybe it's just that I'm finally old enough to appreciate it or maybe it's because of the trivia game we played (as shown to the left here), but I gained a profound understanding about what a special upbringing the grandkids of JP and Nola had.  Yes, there were hard times.  Yes, the cousins moved around, sometimes they moved a lot.   But, the 1st cousins (my Dad and his cousins) were a close bunch.  They played together and worked together and built a lot of memories together.  They played in the creek and swam in the swimming hole in the summer they rode on cattle drives and put up hay and so much more.   I'm a little bit envious because I had some great memories with my 1st cousins but we were as close as Dad and his cousins.  I also became aware, for the first time, that the siblings (JP & Nola's kids) had cousins in Cornville that they were raised with.  2nd cousins came to this reunion too.

Finally,  I would like you all to know that I come by my love of horses and cowboys naturally.  Here is my Dad's Cowboy 1st Cousins - Bob and George.  They were raised on a ranch with horses- I think their Dad was the first horse-whisperer.  :-)    

On the last day of the reunion, actually the last hour, some 2nd cousins (Ron, Sharon and I) got to talking about the history in our family and how little we (I especially) know and how quickly it will be lost.  We also  talked about how to preserve it.  We finally came up with the idea of sending an email once a month with a question for each of the 1st cousins.  They "reply-all" when they answer so they can see each other's answers.  We'll do this for 30 months.  Sharon volunteered to compile the stories and will bring the results to the next reunion in 2014.  With each round of questions I learn a whole lot and gain a whole lot of pleasure reading their stories.  

Picking berries

In April it was Strawberry pickin' time. Then the Raspberries started ripening; they come bits at a time over a long season. Now, it's Blackberry pickin' time. They too ripen over time. So far we've picked a whole lot and there's more than that still ripening on the vines.

Yesterday, after work, I was pickin' Blackberries so I could take some to Laura and my next door neighbor came out and helped me pick while we chatted. Then, her friend arrived and she helped pick too. Remember, we have no fences around our yard. It stuck me how uniquely Southern this little experience was (is). Rachel, my neighbor, knows that she can pick all the berries on her side of the bushes (I planted them on the property line) but she wasn't picking for herself. She said she had all we wanted and she was filling up my bowls (4 large ones all together). It's just another thing I love about living here. (There are so many that I'm going to start sharing and labeling them.)

So far we've had Blackberry cobbler and I've made Blackberry jam. Someone at work told me what he likes to so with them and we're going to try it. He washes and dries the berries and then promptly freezes them. Then, he'll put a portion of frozen berries in a whole and pour sweetened condensed milk (or evaporated milk mixed with sugar) over them and stir quickly. The milk freezes onto the berries and it makes a creamy frozen treat. Now doesn't that sound wonderful? We'll see if it's as good as it sounds. There are berries in the freezer now.

Summertime in Chattanooga

The sun is shining bright (and hot) these days. We stay inside a lot but we do venture out when we dare.

There are some "cool" places to visit in weather like this. One really great spot is downtown, between the two aquariums. In the shade of the buildings and trees, there is a water feature that is adored by kids and adults alike. A long winding "creek" makes it's way from one end of the property to the other. It's a great place to cool off. And it's free! This is just one more reason to add to the list of why we love living here.

On Memorial Day, Larry and I headed for Cloudland Canyon State Park just over the border into Georgia. We decided to visit the two waterfalls. We were warned about the 600 steps. No kidding! It was down first and then back up after. It was about 97 degrees that day too. Whew! We did a lot of resting.

We live in a beautiful place. We've only begun to explore all that TN and GA have to offer.

Grandkids

It's been a while since I've posted anything featuring our grandbabies. Today Larry and I took Abi to Rock City (again). It's become our newest favorite place. Abi likes going with us and with every trip she gets more brave about going through the "halls". Halls are dark narrow places between or under rocks. Today we gave her a flashlight but she only used it a couple times. Two or three trips ago she insisted on being carried through the scary parts. Today she walked to every one of them I think.

Cora is growing like a weed! She gets more and more cute every

time we see her (about once a week). Pretty soon she'll be going to Rock City with us.

Yesterday Laura and I made freezer jam with Strawberry from my yard. Cora was happy to sit and watch most of the time. She loves her Bumbo Seat. Abi took an active role, picking out which Strawberries she wanted to eat out of the bowl.

It's so much fun being a grandma!

Spring has so much going on!

If you watch the national news regularly, then you already know how active the weather has been during this long Spring. I've even mentioned (in this blog) a tornado in Red Bank about two months ago. Well, today was another eventful day.

This morning, at work, we all headed for tornado shelters again. I never heard a thing (no wind, no train sounds). There was no worry, no panic, no nothing. But, come to find out, a tornado (or very strong wind) passed by again. Our campus sustained some minor damage. Across the Tennessee River though, a section of trees on the ridge was destroyed. Our power went out and after two hours we were all sent home.

There was obvious damage on the way home. Trees down, tree litter strewn about, bent signs, and I think windows blown out of a tall building downtown. In my little community just 10 minutes from there were lots of trees down. Power is out from work to home and beyond. I heard over 70,000 homes are without power. Larry has our generator running which is how I'm able to post right now.

There was 3/4" of rain in my gauge from that one storm. Then later in the day, another line of storms moved through. We got another 1.5" from that storm. The weather man says there is more to come tonight. Whew!

I'm thankful we live in an area where tornadoes are not usually all that common. This has been an unusual year. Nashville and Westward gets hit harder than we do. Being on the edge of the mountains helps I think. It's one reason we chose East TN and not something more West of here.

Having made that point, I will tell you that Larry was in Nashville yesterday and today for a class with TEMA (like FEMA but on the state level). They shortened the class and dismissed early. They're bracing for another possible flood in that area.

In spite of occasion severe weather, I have thoroughly enjoyed this Spring. The Redbuds, Dogwoods, Azaleas, and more have put on quite a show this year. I have a lot of baby peaches on my tree and, for the first time, baby apples on my Cortland Apple tree. Yippee!! I've been planting like crazy and the woodland is starting to take shape. The mosquitoes are just now becoming a nuisance. I have had about two months of mosquito free gardening time. What a blessing.

Abi and I have Seen Rock City

According to SeeRockCity.com, in 1832, sightseers came and rode mules through the naturally formed streets and avenues of the place they named Rock City. In 1928 Freida began a 4 year adventure of mapping out trails. Garnet Carter introduced Freida's gardens to the world in 1932. In 1936 he began his barn roof advertising. By the 1950 there were 900 barns from Georgia to Michigan and West to Texas with See Rock City painted on them.

It's 2011 and after living here for over 4 years now I can now proudly say I have now Seen Rock City and I like what I see. Abi went with me today and we had a wonderful time. The weather was perfect and she was a trooper. We walked for a couple hours together, seeing water, tunnels, bridges, pretty plants, funny rocks, lots of steps, narrow crevices and even a swinging bridge.

Guess what Abi said was her favorite? (Abi will be 3 years old in May.)

This is a dog friendly place too. Since I purchased an annual pass I intend to go back often and take my trusty friend (who happens to be sitting on my lap right now). Maybe, since it is on Lookout Mountain it may be a nice place to cool off on a hot summer day. I expect it is about 5 degrees cooler on the mountain and perhaps even cooler in the shade of these gardens and rocks.

Anyway, Abi was very intimated by the narrow crevices and low ceilings. Maybe it was the fact that she couldn't see the end or maybe just that it was kind of dark but she wanted to be carried in those areas. She buried her head in my shoulder when we went through "Fat Man Squeeze" (but she peeked). It was a trick to get through that one without scraping elbows or knees but we made it. Just a soon as we emerged she was back on her feet again and ready to go. She would often say "Bye" and wanted to go off on her own. Of course Grandma was always close at hand for those scary moments, like when she found a caterpillar.

Abi wants to go again next week. Next time, I'm taking my own camera (these photos are not mine). As for her favorite part? Believe it or not, she liked the Swinging Bridge most. I carried her the first time. The second time she walked it by herself (with me right behind of course).

Where was Larry today? He was flying in the right seat of a small CAP aircraft in a practice mission. Next month there is a coordinated practice mission with 8 states involved as they prepared for the "big one" on the New Madrid fault along the Mississippi River near Memphis.

Cora's birthday - 1/21/11

The long anticipated day of Grandbaby #2's arrival finally came Jan 21st, 2011. We had no idea ahead of time whether SHE was a boy or a girl.

Laura let me know shortly after 6 AM that she might be in labor. Around 9:30 AM she headed for the mid-wife's place and Cora was born at 12:52PM (yes, that's noon, not midnight).

Cora (short for Coraline) weighed in at 8 lbs, 8 oz and is 19 inches long. Everything went well though both Laura and Cora are exhausted.

(Laura just realized today that their names

rhyme.) :-)

Cora was in need of some oxygen for a short

while to keep her pink but she soon transitioned

to getting deep enough breaths on her own to keep herself pink (alternative color is blue).

Abi's parents prepared her well for what to expect and Abi has taken it all in stride. Abi

stayed with us on Cora's birthday and the next day as well, though we visited with her parents and sister for hours each day.

Cora slept 5 hours straight the first night. How about that! Wouldn't it be grand if she kept that up?

You can't tell in the second picture, but right now it looks like Cora has Ben's hair. It's curly in back. Time will tell if she keeps that look. It's been my experience that what they're born with isn't necessarily what they keep.

Still snow?

Who would have thought we'd still have a good deal of snow cover 5 days after our big snow? It's been below freezing all week. Just yesterday (Friday) it finally got up to 36 degrees. Today at 2:30 our thermometer says 40.

The weather man said this is the biggest snow in our area since the blizzard in 1993 (which we've been hearing about since we moved here) and before that a big snow in 1988. So, this really is

something in these parts.

So, these are some before and "after" (though it's not really after since it's not over yet) shots. One of our house, one looking up hill

from our front door and the third looking more or less North

through the Dogwood trees.

January Snow

Boy, did we have some snow! It all came during the night (after midnight). By the time we got up there was 7 or 8" of it! It continued to snow during the day but it didn't seem to add to the total inch count. (Please note - the date of 1/4/2003 is wrong in this photo. The camera camera somehow picked that date.)

Work delayed opening until 10:00, so at 9:40 I braved the snowy roads and headed for work. My boss called when I was about a 1/4 away from work and said "We're closing for the day, turn around and go home." He didn't have to ask me twice. I was already wondering if I was being

brave or foolish.

There were perhaps a half dozen cars on the road, making me one of the few giving this a try

which didn't make me feel any better about my wisdom meter. My wheels did a good bit of spinning on the cloverleaf on ramp. I kept them spinning because I was making progress and still heading in the right direction. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it to the highway.

Christmas 2010

Abi had her first white Christmas at the ripe 'ol age of 2. This was the first white Christmas for her parents and her grandparents too. It was beautiful! Fortunately, the roads were passable so it was a lovely, relaxed day with family.

Shame on me for not getting any photos of the rest of the family. With Laura 8 months pregnant it would have been smart of me to record her and Ben so Abi can look back years from now and see her history. Instead Laura took most of the photos with her camera. What was I thinking?

Abi loves to be outside, even when the temperatures are below freezing. She must take after her Grandma. :-)

She is such a delight. She's a lot like her Mom was at this age, willing to please for the most part but with definite ideas of how things should be. Part of that is being 2 but I think there's a lot of personality showing there too.

Here she is with Trisket who was happy to be invited into her lap.

Abi, Laura and I made Gingermen cookies a week or two ago. Abi had the most fun playing in the dough and later adding sprinkles. She didn't care if the sprinkles stuck or not, she just like shaking the bottle and watching the sprinkles fly! I want to add a whole slew of photos but instead I'll create a Facebook album and you can look at them there.

Larry is in the clouds.

Larry was in the clouds on Sunday... sort of. From looking at the photos you might argue that there were no clouds. You'd be right but he was flying high just the same.

Through a fellow CAP Member, Enrique (shown here in the yellow tow plane), Larry got an opportunity to fly in a glider. This is an opportunity that he's been excited about but wasn't sure how or when it would happen. CAP has a glider in TN and CAP wants people to use it but making that happen hasn't been as easy as he had hoped.

He and Enrique got to talking at the CAP

meeting last Thursday. Enrique is a real character... very interesting and very adventurous. He's upbeat, busy, creative and a fast talker with a heavy accent. He's a lot of fun to talk to. Though he loves to fly, hang gliding is his passion.

Anyway, Enrique flies just about anything but helicopters. He often tows gliders up and pilots gliders as well. He took Larry along with him this time. Larry had to wait a few hours as he watched others be towed up and glide. During the wait he was able to talk to other people who

were there to fly and learned a lot. When it was his turn to go up in the glider Enrique piloted until there were up and then gave Larry the controls. They were up for about a half hour but the air was cooling as it was near the end of the day and drew their gliding to an early end. I'm sure there will be more opportunities in the future.

Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving this year was very enjoyable. Dad and Millie came from PA, the Cochran family came from Woodstock and the Snell family (of three and a half) came from 20 minutes away. All together we had 14 in our little house. Fortunately the weather was decent and we were able to spill out onto the front porch. If everyone had as good a time as I did then it was a wonderful day.

The next day Larry and I and Dad and Millie took a very short train ride through a tunnel and to a turn-about, visited a workshop and then back again.

.

Another huge project complete!

2010 - the year Larry built an entire apartment in our basement. He started out moving the existing lights in the garage and framing some of the walls. Then he wired for the apartment. He worked on plumbing next and then more framing. You may recall that I posted some photos when it was framed.

Insulation was next with special emphasis given to sound deadening. That wasn't easy with the kind of joists we have holding up our main floor. In order to add to the sound dampening he also put in two layers of sheetrock on the apartment ceiling with a small gap between them. It added to the cost but hopefully will pay off in keeping good tenants. Then he added the sheetrock to the walls and then taped and textured the walls. The painting, then flooring, then trim, appliances, countertops, window trim, etc, etc, etc.

Writing this all out makes for a short list but everything takes time - more than it would seem up front. Larry worked very hard for many months. Before he had it fully sheetrock, Laura and Ben found a renter. That increased the pace so the last 6 weeks or so Larry was working really hard on it. He finished the week-end before Thanksgiving, the day before her move-in date.

I'm very proud of him. All the while he was working on the apartment I was outside working in the garden or yard. This didn't contribute to the apartment at all but did contribute to the Okra and Peppers he wanted. :-)

Ruffles' new friend

Ruffles was lonely and needed a buddy. So the search began for another dog. He or she needed to be about her size and low shedding. I found this little white one on Craigslist. I'm guessing she's a Maltese / Yorkie mix. We met at a dog park and they got along very well so I brought her home. She came to us with the name "Flea".

Do you like that name? Not us. So, we thought and thought and came up with "Pringles". Cute, right? That stuck until a couple days ago when Larry said we should call her Scruffy. Now I'm confused (and so is she) because he's calling her Scruffy and I'm calling her Pringles, Scruffy, Flea and White Dog, Abi's name for her.

Whatever her name ends up being, she is a pretty good dog. She begs; you know, hanging around the kitchen while I'm cooking (not Ruffles) and she's a licker (not Ruffles) which we're discouraging. She was also accustom to being on furniture. I think she's more or less got the idea that's not allowed here. That's pretty good for just one week. She is completely housebroken, not much of a barker, loves to sit on someones lap (just like Ruffles) and is just generally pretty good. Best of all, the two of them get along very well. They sleep in the same crate and keep each other company while we're gone. It's a pretty good arrangement.

Wreaths Across America

For the few people who visit this blog, you know Larry and I recently joined the Civil Air Patrol. Larry has hit the ground running - already advancing to 2nd Lieutenant and is learning to be the Public Relations person. I'm still trying to decide what role I want to take on.

At any rate, the real reason for this entry is an effort called Wreaths Across America. The paragraphs below say it better than I can.

The Chattanooga Composite Squadron of the Civil Air Patrol is proud to be the location leader for the 5th annual Wreaths Across America ceremony at the Chattanooga National Cemetery. This year we are also joined by a multitude of other community organizations and groups.

When it was held for the first time in 2006, six wreaths were placed in a ceremony at the cemetery’s Armed Forces Memorial. In 2007, 120 wreaths were placed at the headstones of our local veterans followed by a ceremony honoring veterans and active duty members of all branches of the Armed Forces. In 2008, with the addition of sponsor groups, over 1000 headstones were decorated with sponsored wreaths. 2009 surprised us all with a record 1440 wreaths and over 17 sponsor groups participating, it was our most successful Wreaths Across America ceremony to date.

Our Mission is to Remember the fallen, Honor those who serve, and Teach our children the importance of protecting this country and the freedom we have. Please join us.

Sponsorships are $15 each. Proceeds place a wreath at Chattanooga National Cemetery; help support our fundraising partners, educational and veterans services outreach. Please note that all sponsorships are sent directly to the location and no wreaths are sent to the individuals purchasing sponsorships.

http://www.kitepilot.com/wreathsacrossamerica/form2010.doc This link has an order form although you can order online. Here's a link for that option quite easily at www.WreathsAcrossAmerica.org. Be sure to use Group ID TNCAP192 so our squadron will get credit for your purchase.

Abi the HoneyBee

Abi is two. As such, she didn't want to wear her bee costume for long. Actually, she didn't want to wear it at all but finally went along with it for 10 whole minutes. We quickly snapped some photos while she was still willing to smile about it.

:-)

It helped only a little that Pooh bear was wearing his bee costume too.

You may notice that Abi is hanging onto Ruffles'

leash. She doesn't miss a chance to be the boss of the dog.

I'm so glad that Ruffles is patient and easy going. I got some photos of Abi hugging Ruffles and patting her eyes but I'll spare sharing every single photo with you. I realize I get a bigger kick out of these than you do.