Thanksgiving in Connecticut

The Prathers spent Thanksgiving in Connecticut with my best friend, Norma. She and I have been friends since 2nd grade! We left Tuesday night after work, driving into the wee hours and arriving about 3 or 4 in the morning. That was cool though, since that's when Norma gets up for work! (Ugh!) Her son Dean taught Kip a couple riffs on his guitar, and we all had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, thanks to the skillful carving of the expert, Lon.

Every weekend, we try to take Blizzard to the dog park for an hour or more of fun and socialization. It seems to consist mostly of sniffing the other dogs' butts, but there is some chasing involved as well. Once in awhile a minor skirmish will break out, but we've never seen anything serious. The park is an acre or two of fenced-in land in a rural area, nice for the dogs, and a great way for dog owners to get together, too. We've seen all kinds of dogs here, from the common Retrievers, Labs, and assorted mongrels, to Greyhounds, Dobermans (Dobermen? ha ha) huge Sheepdogs, Standard Poodles (not the little ones, but full-size)... Blizzard always sleeps good after a day at the dog park!

Halloween '07

First Kip decided he wasn't going trick-or-treating this year. Then he changed his mind and dressed all in black with a skeleton mask on. At the last minute he decided he didn't like how it looked, and asked Lon and me what he should do. How's this for a last-minute costume? I like how my pumpkins turned out, too. I got the ideas from the Internet, but drew them freehand.

Off to the Races

Saturday October 13th Lon, Kip and I went to the Maryland Million horse races at Laurel, Md. We've gone every year with Charlie and Ruth, for at least 10 years. Some years we do really well, and the big winner will buy dinner for everyone. This time I just wasn't feeling it, and couldn't pick a winner to save my life. I finally started winning with a few longshots I picked to show, but never recouped what I had lost. I must have been too busy studying the program to take any pictures of the horses! They were all so beautiful. Maybe next year it will be my lucky day...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

For Kip's birthday, Lon had given him 4 tickets to an O's game. His friend Suzanne had never been to a pro baseball game, and she quickly got into the spirit of things! The Red Sox started the game with a 2-run homer, which deflated us. We came back with a run. Boston got two more quickly, and we were sad. But all it takes is a couple of home runs, and a grand slam by a rookie, and suddenly it was 8-4 in our favor, and then 11-4, and we were so excited! Boston scored another run late in the game, but it was too little, too late. Baltimore broke its losing streak, and we were witnesses. YAY!

Back to School

School started for Kip September 4th. He has a very good attitude this year. On a 1st day survey, his Science teacher asked, "What does school mean to you?" and Kip's answer was "Discovery". I like that. I told him if he did well the first marking period, he could have his choice of guitar lessons or tennis lessons. Let's see if that motivates him enough.

Labor Day

Charlie & Ruth invited us to their place on the South Fork of the Potomac in WV for Labor Day weekend. We swam in the river and fished. At night we hung out at the campfire and ate s'mores. Charlie made a delicious concoction of bananas, chocolate chips, and marshmallows, wrapped in foil and baked. Yummy! Blizzard swam for the first time. He didn't want to, but Kip and I had swum across the river. After howling and whining for a couple minutes, Blizzard jumped in and came up paddling. Very funny to watch!