Almost Christmas!

Decorations are up and presents are under the tree so it must be time for Christmas!!!! Need to work on my Christmas cards sometime soon - maybe Bruce will help!

I haven't blogged for so long, probably don't have anyone following anymore. It seems we've been super busy running to the Doctor, the Dentist, the Doctor, and again the Dentist. Oh well, things are getting fixed. We have realized we are like our equipment, we need to go in and be repaired or overhauled once in a while. Bruce has been working on his plane, mostly painting, and repainting - ditto, ditto. So many coats of paint have to go on the fuselage, wings, and all other body parts. But he is making progress. Sure is gonna be pretty when it is all finished. I had been sewing until I broke my Bernina, and now I am recovering from elbow surgery so all sewing is on hold. All my Christmas shopping is done however - or very, very close! I have deemed it so! I'm looking forward to all my grandbabies being here, and parents are invited also. I'm not sure we could manage six by ourselves. :) We look forward to seeing family and friends, so if you are in town, drop by to see us!

The L2 with a new coat of paint!! Isn't it a pretty olive drab!

Wings are finished now, so Bruce will begin on brakes, motor, and other things I don't know what they are called! Quite an overwhelming project, but will be very awesome when completed. I have taken my stained glass stuff down to the hangar as well, so we both work on our "projects" at the same time. Pretty fun!!

Silent Wings

Bruce and I decided to fly the 182 and head off to Lubbock, TX Friday to see the Silent Wings Museum which features gliders used during WWII. We learned a lot, and it was a beautiful display of memorbilia and preservation of history. We practically had the whole museum to ourself. Bruce is restoring an old L2 and needed to actually look at some to see how they were painted among other things. I took a picture of us right before we left. If you ever get a chance, stop in at the airfield and check it out!!

The airfield at Lubbock was called South Plains during WWII as a training facility.

It was fun having the museum to ourself!!

This is a CG 4A Waco glider which could carry either 15 troops, a small bulldozer, a jeep,
or small artillery or supplies to the troops. Can you imagine gliding that down with no power at all.

I'm checking out the inside of the glider. I had no idea they were soooooo BIG!



A little history on the glider program of WWII. Very Interesting!!

Bruce standing in front of the Aeronca L3 which was used for deadstick landing training.

The front of the glider opens up and jeeps and other equipment could be unloaded behind enemy lines. They were very important during D-Day with 85% of their missions being successful or delivering their supplies in tact.

Bruce checking out the inside of the glider.

Me hanging out with the waxed GI's. They also had some realistic recreations of WWII classrooms, clothing, and barracks. The weather was gorgeous, and the people were very nice. Was a wonderful day! Hope we can fly to another destination very soon!

Farm Play!

It's always fun when the grandkids come to visit, but I feel very special since Theresa didn't get to come and she entrusted Kelton and Katie with Moi while Eric and Papa did an annual on the Cessna 140. I must say - we all had a great time. So much to do and so little time to do it in. So on Saturday, we fed Blackie and the Donkey, played on the giant pumpkins, played with L.T. and Emmy, rearranged sand in the sandbox and made some wonderful mountains, carried leaves, rode bikes and 3 wheelers, Nana also gave 4 wheeler rides, and entertained each other in the house. Whew! Did I say we were busy - even got a nap or two in plus Kelton watched a little Nascar before they headed back on Sunday. We had an absolutely beautiful weekend. Eric and Papa also showed the 140 to an interested buyer from Kansas City. So I'm glad they got that done on Saturday. We grilled steaks outside and Papa's corn on the cob was a huge hit! Katie and Kelton ate really good!! (Must be my great cooking! or just the activity we all were involved in) Works up a girl's and boy's appetite. Kelton had never rode on the new John Deere so Papa started it up and chugged around the farm. Katie wasn't too thrilled with the green tractor. They all headed home Sunday afternoon. I'm sure Daddy kept the snacks pumped to the back seat!! Everyone will be home at Christmas time so things will be quiet until then. HO-HUM!!! Guess we'll keep busy working until then! The roofing business is officially shut down - so we can take off if we want to now. Although we have plenty of guttering jobs to keep us busy.

Papa and Kelton hauled off a dead stump, and Kelton thought he said he was going to haul

off a dead skunk! Hee Hee!!

This is good stuff.

Kelton wasn't thrilled riding a pink bike - but it'll do!

Katie is always intrigued with L.T.

Katie is so cute waving at the dogs "Bye".

Carving Pumpkins and Fall Fun

I just love the cooler weather and the colors of the fall season. The leaves have been gorgeous with golds, reds, and oranges. Bruce and I got to spend time with K-Kids in Kansas and see Theresa with K-baby boy growing and growing. Things are looking good! We got to see the new fence around their yard, but I forgot to take a picture of that and see all the painting done in the house. That really looks so nice. However, the bathroom downstairs didn't fair the retiling so well, so it looks like its going to have to be tore out and redone. Kelton's bedroom is so cool and bright with all of his nascar and airplane stuff - I loved it!

Katie had on a very stylish outfit when we got there, but of course my camera was in the car and this is the only picture I got of her before we started painting pumpkins. Kelton is a very grown up kindergartener now and really loves school. That is so refreshing to see after being in eduction. He read to me for a quite a while and did so good.

Katie with some of the goodies for Halloween in her cute outfit.


Theresa carving out a K in the pumpkin - soon to reveal the new K-baby's name. What is it going to be???????????? any idea anyone?????? I'm clueless.

Eric and Kelton digging out the gooey seeds - Yucky!

Katie had fun using her new paints on the pumpkin. Papa enjoyed watching all the activities.

Kelton being creative with the many colors of acrylics. He decided to draw his family and did a great job.

Playing, and playing, and playing, all day!

We went for a walk after naptime to the local park and enjoyed swinging and going down the slide, but mostly swinging. When I asked if she was ready to get out - the response was NO followed by pushing my hands away!!

What a cute cheesey grin :) After the park, we went home and played in the driveway drawing with sidewalk chalk around our hands and feed. We made our hands into turkeys. Kelton got home and joined in the fun. Always fun to draw.

Fall brings blooms, prairie, and new crop of calves

Fall has been very busy. Since we got home from MN, we've had quite a bit of drizzle for 6 days, but now the sun is shining and we're back to two crews roofing. Don't know how long we will be able to continue into the fall before it gets too cold! The crysanthemums are blooming now and of course love the cooler weather. However the two vizsalas don't like it so much. I have been cleaning out closets, drawers, and general junk from here and there but I have much more to go through. It's amazing how much "stuff" we have accumulated. One thing I always look forward to in the fall is the beginning of calving season. It is so much fun to see all the new babies next to their mamas. Some are red, black, or white face - you never know till you make the trek to the pasture to check them out. It has actually been a problem trying to find them in the super tall native grass. I found Fuzzy today but had to get awful close before I could see the new baby. She didn't like the dogs or me getting too close. Papa even flew over in Artie and never saw Fuzzy - she was probably laying down but was camouflaged by the grass. Papa had the picture below on his blackberry of K-Sis. She is modeling her Tinkerbell tutu which she had on for most of our visist. I believe she is gonna be the dancer in the family. She loves music.

K-Sis in her usual attire - Tinkerbell tutu.

View from the deck of the fall colors.

Blackie enjoying the sun!

Grandma's baby with her new calf.

The tall prairie and trying to check the calves. Isn't it great.

More tall prairie!!

Fall Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Well, we headed to Minnesota last Saturday with weather being a factor, but it cleared up enough for us to land. The beginning and end to our trip was less than desireable but the in between was great. On our last day Papa had a health problem and ended up spending the night in the hospital but he is doing fine now. Our trip home ended up with storms in Kansas so we had to divert and land and then drive home from Salina. But we enjoyed our time with all our family. We kept busy everyday by going to the Pumpkin Farm, museum, gymnastics, playing outside, school, eating out, reading stories and playing in general. Also Bruce and Shawn got to go hunt ducks in the cold, wetlands. They got 3 ducks. What a great change for us after such a very busy summer and fall. Everyone will be home in time for Christmas.

View entering into Fergus.


KSis greeting Papa in the airplane.

Playing on the balance beam in the hall. Isn't KSis cute in her tutu. She wears it everyday.

Fun in the corn box! A big hit with the kids.


River picture from our hayride vantage point.

Papon family with Carrie behind the camera.

Shelling the corn was fun to watch.

Everyone enjoyed feeding the bucket calves.

We got to take KGirl to her gymnastics practice. She isn't afraid of anything.

We had one fun day outside so I "talked" the kids into having a tea party outside which eventually grew into fixing food for all and having visitors over to eat with us at the Papon Inn.

We took Kman to the Ottertail Museum and he had a great time filling out his bingo card looking for all the cool artifacts throughout the museum. A first grade class came while we were there.

In front of the printing and postal store.

Kassidy loves movies that have to do with animals.