The Vacation Is Over

I've been off the blog for four busy, busy months. As most of those reading this know, I spent a month of that time back in Duarte, CA, helping to care for our friend Jean Moore, who took a nasty tumble down her condo stairway. She seems to be doing quite well and is almost back to her old self.

For me, I'm still happy to be in Mayberry, or should I say, Alma, Nebraska, winter notwithstanding. In fact, it has been an extremely moderate winter. We had four days in December when the high temp was six degrees F, but for the most part we have had no evil winter weather. Today our high will be 48 degrees F and by Thursday we'll be at 55. It was that temperature last Saturday, so I took my trusty Mercury Sable to the local car wash and gave it a badly needed cleaning. Why do cars seem to run better after they have been thoroughly washed and vacuumed?

Winter fishing has not been available here. The ice out on the lake is simply too thin to support a person and the ice around the shoreline has made it impossible to cast out. Northern Pike and Walleye are available in the winter here, but getting a lure out to them is next to impossible. Of course, I've got to get my 2009 fishing license this week. Being both a veteran and a senior citizen, it costs me only $5.00 for the year.

Both my girls are doing fine and my granddaughter, Enchantra, will graduate from high school in May. I'm not saying that the school is small (as is Alma), but the graduating class consists of 18 seniors. She has taken her ACT exam and passed with flying colors and plans to attend Concordia college in Seward, NE. She likes the school's computer graphics reputation and wants to be a professional in that field. Seward is a bit south of Lincoln, NE. so she will about three hours away if we want to visit. Concordia is a Christian college operated by the Lutheran church's Missouri synod, which means it is a serious place and is not known as a "party" school. Of course, if kids want to party, they'll find a way to do it regardless of their location. Enchantra has been awarded a scholarship which will pay for part of it and she has applied for a Pell grant as a result of her ACT score. She is a talented artist and I am delighted that she wants to use her gift of art to build a career. She fits right into that old saying, "Get a job doing something you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life".

I am relieved to be back on this blog. I've been jotting down some notes on things I want to write about and I have finally broken through the logjam of inertia. More a bit later.