Christmas vacation 2008

Our Christmas Holiday gathering(s) actually began on December 20 when Adelphia, Andrew and the kids came over to borrow our generator since their power was off because of the ice storm. Blake and Apryl bought over presents for Ethan Elizabeth and Elisea
On Sunday evening the 21st we took the two Great Grandmas over to Blake and Apryl's for our Christmas gather with them.

Christmas Eve night Karen, Skyler and I decorated our Chrismas tree. We had celebrated Chrismas with Blake's family the weekend before Chrismas. Christmas morning Karen and I exchanged a few gifts and had a late breakfast. In the early afternoon Scot and Cindy from Church came over for a late lunch, turkey and all the fixings, and to spend the afternoon and evening. Cindy is with child and their families live beyond the distance they can travel so we decided to have them over for the day. We played settlers in the evening and ate a lite dinner.

Friday was a day of freezing rain and messy roads, there was nothing moving on the highway until afternoon. In the late afternoon we went sledding with Blake Apryl and the boys. the sledding was fast, but walking back up the hill was tought. In the evening we went over to their place for dinner.

Satuday was Trae's birthday Blake Skyler and I went goose hunting early and then I went to Noel's to work on getting the garage door installed during the middle of the day. In the evening we all went to Trae's to celebrate his birthday.

Sunday evening Dec. 28th Adelphia, Andrew and their kids came over for our Christmas gathering with them. We had pizza and watched three excited little kids open presents and play with colorful toys.

We had a nice time with them, and enjoyed spending time with with their family.

On Monday I headed in to Warsaw to get some maintenance work done on my old car and ended up at Noel's to set more doors. We finished hanging the doors on Tuesday morning and then I headed home to start working on replacing mom's furnace since the exisitng one started acting kind of wierd. Ron and I did some tear out work to get access and to take measurments and decided to start demo the next day.

Wednesday Dec. 31, I started early working on painting a few decoys and in the afternoon worked on the furnace some more. That project got to be pretty complicated since the furnace that dad had bought 20 years ago as a replacement was now a 20 year old, new, furnace that was not a direct match, so there was a lot of modifications that had to be made. We got everything hooked up and the furnace would not run and it was New Years Eve and we all had places to go and things to do, so we planned to finish it on Thursday. Mom went to Blake's. Karen and went to Dick and Jan's for the evening. We got back to our place a littler after 1:00. I chacked on mom and made sure the space heaters that we had hooked up would keep the place form freezing up for the night.

Happy New Year!! Blake Skyler, Ryan and I went goose hunting at New Years day at 5:00 AM, it was a short night. There was another beautiful sunrise. We did get a couple of geese, but it was cold and a lot of work toting, setting, repacking and loading decoys, layout blinds guns, extra clothes and two geese.

After the hunt we went to Blake and Apryl's for lunch. Ron and I finished working on Mom's furnace in the afternoon and got it working. In the evening I went for a four mile run and then Blake Apryl and the boys came over for dinner at our place.

On Friday January 2nd I worked on a few decoys that I have been trying to complete, that I had actually started several years ago. Skyler and I went Ice fishing in the afternoon and actually did quite well. We saw a great sunset and caught enough bluegills for a nice fish fry for dinner that evening.

My brother Dave and his family started gathering at mom's for their Christmas Friday night. My sisters Judy and Carolyn and brother Ron came as well. Blake, Apryl and the boys came over on Staurday for lunch, Brandon and his family got there late Saturday morning. Mom's house was really hopping for a while there.

Sunday was fairly quiet. Blake, Apryl and the Boys came over to Mom's for lunch and to visit with Carolyn who was the only one still at mom's on Sunday. We all had lunch together and then everyone headed out by early afternoon.

I spent the final few hours of the Christmas holiday trying to finish up the decoys (six readheads and six ring necks) that I had been working on off and on for a week or so. I still have to deal with attaching weights, but most of the tedious work is complete. I am satisfied that the decoys will be usable.

Deer hunting December 20-21 2008

Saturday morning I went deer hunting, since this was the last weekend for the season. I got to the woods early since I knew it would be kind of noisy crunchy sort of.

I found a spot that would give me a fairly good view in a couple of directions. It was a nice morning cold grey ice coated the trees which kind of glistened, I even saw a few deer.




As I headed down our lane on my way home from the hunt I followed Andrew and Adelphia. They came over to borrow our generator since they along with 75% of all Fort Wayne residents lost electrical service. We had a nice visit with them. Blake and Apryl and the boys came over too so we had sort of an impromptu Christmas. Had some lunch and loaded up equipment and some water. The headed home shortly after lunch.
Blake and I went deer hunting in the late afternoon Saturday. We tried to set up a drive, but nothing budged. Near the end of daylight we set up on a hill overlooking the farm and watched deer move in and out of some fields quite a ways from where we were hunting. We had Christmas with Blake, Apryl and the boys that evening, at their place. We took my mom and Karen's mom with us. It was a nice time everyone seemed to enjoy the time together.

Sunday morning at 3:00 AM our area and much of the county lost electrical power because of the ice and wind that started blowing during the night. Power was finally restored about 2:30 pm. I spent most of the afternoon trying to make sure things didn't freeze up both at our place and at Clarice's. I was just getting some wiring ready to connect the furnace to a portable generator when power came on. It cycled off and on several time for the next several hours, but it was on enough to get some heat going.

Late in the afternoon I went hunting deer one last time for the season. Did I mention that it was -3 degrees and 25 mph wind? It's a good thing the electricity came back on so I could go hunting. I spent about two hours sitting out on the edge of a corn field in the blowing snow and ice. I was trying to be in an area where we saw the deer moving the night before. I saw a whole herd of deer (18), but none in range. Oh well maybe next year.

Karen's sister Marilyn, and her husband Doug and son Pete stopped by Karen's mom's place in the late afternoon, so we had dinner with them and they exchanged gifts, with Karen's mom. I went back to Clarice and Jon's place to check on the heat and feed the cats. The college girls they have staying at their house, while they are away, have gone for Christmas break so we will be doing the cat chow routine.

December 19-22, 2008 Ice

The drive into work today was interesting. During the night it warmed up from 18 degrees to 29 degrees and started sleeting and then raining. Everything is pretty well covered with ice. The main roads were covered with ice/sleet rubble. Where you could see pavement it was wet ice. The wipers on the car froze into a chunk that created interesting patterns on the windshield. When I got to Fort Wayne the city streets had 6-8” slushy water in all low spots since the storm drains were clogged with ice. Sidewalks have about ¾ “ of rough slippery ice covering them. The trees covered with ice are pretty.

On campus some of our mature trees are ruined.
The weekend turned out to be really cold so none of the ice melted. On monday the sun came out so it provided a pretty scene with all of the trees covered with ice and the sun shining through them.