Augie's New Best Friend

Last night Josh's brother and his girlfriend came over with their dog-- a miniature dauschund puppy named Barney. Augie and Barney had a great time eating Augie's food and trying to kill each other. Little Barney was only 3 lbs. but he put up a good fight.

I won the office Oscar pool!

Thank you, Marion Cotillard!

I won $38 in the office pool. By the way, if you haven't see La Vie En Rose, it's excellent, and it's out on DVD.

Proud New Parents to be

Yes, it's Nathan and Tracey. They are so excited and happy. The baby is due sometime in October.

OK, So I'm Talking to MYSELF

Well here you go self,
I'm gonna be a GRANDMA!

Pictures of the day

Here we are at the Blue Parrot Campground just outside the Villages. We ate breakfast outside this morning. Also took the Silver Wing out for a couple runs today. It was warm and sunny, hate to mention it. Am I the only one bloging now?

The weather outside is frightful, but Florida is so delightful

Well, for those who do not know. Grandma is now with Robert, Luz and the kids. Her electric was still off so Bob went down to get her today. I checked the Ameren website and as of 8:30 pm this evening still no electric. Jerry and I had dinner with Aunt Ruth and Uncle Hank at the old folks Denny's. We all ate off the Senior Citizen Menu. It's just like Spring Training for old age! Tomorrow we move the RV to another park closer to the Villages. Also, I plan to take Uncle Dick to the local Miracle-Ear to see if I can crank up his hearing. Wish me luck.

Happy in Seniorville.
MUMMY

Travel'n Down the Road trying to avoid the snow

Hey, guess you guys are caught in the ice, snow, and winter nasty. Well, the old folks are doing just fine cursing down the highway in the vintage rig. All has been well and if Jehovah wills, we will sleep in Florida to night. Not so good for Grandma. The ice has cut off electric in Cape and most of Jackson. There is also alot of ice storm damage. Kyle went over to check on Grandma this morning. She has heat just no electric and a fat cat. You can not contact her by phone until the electric is restored. Kyle will check on her tomorrow, if the electric has not come on Robert will go to get her Wednesday evening.

Love you all.
Mom and Jerry

Busy, Busy, Busy Bee -- HillFord

Yeah, it has been a while since the Ford/Hillford pair has posted on Sister Hill.... all i can say is that we have been busy with everyday things:

1. Superbowl Sunday/Crazy Thunder Snow Storm Day

2. Recovery Monday

3. Laundry Tuesday

4. Giant Snow Storm Wednesday

5. R.A.D. (basic self-defense course offerd at my place of busniness) Class

Mom sent me a package with W2's and key lime, cupcake pajama pants... Very cool!!!

The animals are well, except for a few bad habits they have picked up this week:

1. Sawyer "I wanna eat things out of the trash can" Ford

2. Hank "I am going to act like I don't want to eat until you put my food up and then I want to eat" Ford

3. Mo "I like to stick my paws in my poo" Ford

Lovely.

Miss you all very, very much.

Joyce and Jerry, travel safely! Give Ruth and Rita hugs and kisses from us!

Anyone is welcome to give me a call if they get board, I would be happy to hear from you!

Super Tuesday in Missouri

I just thought this was interesting...

Missouri is one of the nation's most reliable bellwethers in presidential politics. For the last century --1904 to 2004 -- it has voted for the winning presidential candidate in every election but one: going for Adlai Stevenson over Dwight Eisenhower in 1956.
The state's Democratic base is around urban areas such as St. Louis and Kansas City. Republicans tend to rely on strong support from the more rural central portion of the state, including Springfield and Jefferson City, the state capital.
Strong union support is an important factor for Democrats. Almost four in 10 voters in the 2004 Democratic primary came from a household where someone belonged to a union.
Sixty percent of voters in the 2004 Democratic primary were self-described moderates or conservatives.
Almost a quarter of all voters in the 2000 GOP primary were self-described members of the religious right; 56 percent were self-described conservatives.

Job Update

I met up with Chris, as well as economic development researchers from around the state, today, in Jefferson City. The meeting went well, and everyone I met was extremely nice. Sounds like I am going to be starting work the first of March. Chris is supposed to be sending me the paper work this week. I'm excited to finally be officially employed.

I also went to Mardi Gras over the weekend. I did not find a beaded yarmulke, however.

Beef

So recently, I've been reading this book called "The Omnivore's Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. In it, amongst many other things, he discusses the difference between grass fed and corn fed beef. Basically, cows in nature are grass eaters (hence the four stomachs) and most American (and Canadian) beef today comes from feedlots where the cows are fed corn, which they are not engineered to process. The result is a host of health problems for the cows before slaughter, and then then a host of health problems likely passed on to us, the eaters.

I get into this because I just found a link to Fruitland American Meat, which has a butcher shop (in Jackson?) where they sell local grassfed and organic beef. After reading "Omnivore's Dilemma" (thanks, J.T.), I'm definetly not impressed by the term "organic" anymore, but grassfed and sustainable I can get behind. Anyway, the next time I'm in Cape, I'd like to try some of their beef, and if you're looking for a good read, "Omnivore's Dilemma" is one of the best things I've read this year.

http://www.amazon.com/Omnivores-Dilemma-Natural-History-Meals/dp/0143038583/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202160924&sr=8-1

Any thing Super on Superbowl week-en

I went to continuing education Friday and Saturday morning. Usually it's an endurance test, but they actually had some good speakers and of course I got some ideas. Juanita spent Thursday and Friday nights with us because of the snow. Anybody got some good snow pictures?