"Today is a Good Day to Drive!" .....Van-Go

Kathy found Curtis Hicks' production studio where she had videos changed to DVDs. Curtis showed us all around the photography studio, sound booth and production office. They have been at this location for just three months so lots of improvments are still in the works. You can contact Curtis for your own reels of imagination at e.curtis@ck1productions.com and check him out at www.ck1productions.com We are enjoying viewing the DVDs of Kindergarten Winter Olympics, American Alphabet Gladiators, Kindergarten Celebration and there are still more to see. What a hoot seeing our creations, watching the joy on the children's faces- children now in highschool!

We enjoyed an evening at our favorite watering hole- Buffalo Wild Wings. Food was yummy. Trivia was stimulating. Spending some time out together felt like being on the road again.

August 27, 2007 We showed up with pizza at Maria's boat and enjoyed a sunset on the water.

August 22, 2007 The Plum Senior Center hosted Senator Altmire who is fighting for Medicare and Social Securiy benefits for older Americans. After listening to his words of wisdom we can look forward to higher fees for our supplimental insurance plans like Highmark. The bill contains a section keeping millions of uninsured children and adding millions more that are qualified to have medical coverage. Don't know how tha fits in with Medicare and Social Security. We worked up a spreadsheet budget for these two young people and passed it along for them to personalize. We wish them luck!

Sit down and enjoy a cup of coffee with us.

Ripe on the vine.

August 24, 2007 We drove up to New Castle, about two hours from Jayne’s, where our dentist is located. Our first stop was Conney Island Hotdogs. They are the best hotdogs smothered with chili sauce and onions. They are so good. Then we went to see Dr. Carmen Cagno, a great no-pain dentist. His son-in-law, Mark Ziegler, has joined the practice. Will got Mark and liked his style. He is young, fresh out of school and ready to attack teeth. Will has had on going pain and they found it to be a bad root and so started a root canal, a process that takes several visits. Dr. Mark sent Will home with painkillers and will continue the root canal next week. Kathy was to get measured for a night guard to help with her grinding teeth problem, but when we got there the girls in front found that her dental insurance doesn’t cover it. The devise is made for TMJ that the insurance doesn’t cover. Maybe we could call it something else! The fact we were going to use the devise for a different reason didn’t...

August 20, 2007 Pittsburgh is filled with white skies and rain. The temperatures have dropped a bit too, but shorts are still the clothing of choice. Kathy climbed up a ladder to scrub the roof of the Roadtrek, stretch and reached causing her a sudden pain; she pulled that siadic muscel in her back. After the first afternoon of laying on an ice pack, taking pain pills to get some sleep, stretching and moving to try to get the nerve back into its slot, she finally had to make a doctor visit. The outcome was: go to a physical therapist. Yoga class has been a challenge, but get a little easier each time. The worst is the numbing sensation that goes down her leg. Will has been having his share of doctor visits also. He started two new meds; developed an itchy rash and still has no comfort for the symptoms he originally went to the doctors for. It seems to be a game of try this try that. Jayne is healing nicely, doing everything around the house except cooking dinners. If anyone knows of a ...

August 18, 2007 Will took Kathy out for a birthday lunch; she liked the Margaretta at Chili's. We met up with Carmine and Robert for dinner at Red Lobster. Kathy got a package in the mail; what a nice surprise! Thank you Jen and Jill. Will bought her a new photo printer and she is making prints like crazy!

Birds of a feather flock together.

August 14, 2007 Jayne is doing very well. She went to a picnic at one of the neighbors and was the hit of the party. Kathy visited with her financial advisor, Ron Giesler and found her portfolio in order. Then she drove to the South Hills and spent the rest of the day with her sister, Sueann. The took Little Foot, just a few months old to get his first shots at the vets. Will stayed at home and took advantage of the dry day by mowing the grass.

Happy Birthday Kathy The first celebration was at Carmine's house with her sisters. The second was on Maria's boat. she got calls from friends and family. Dima was the farthest away in Central Siberia. Brother Nick was next in Atlanta, GA. Thanks everyone for calls and emails and happy times to be remembered long after they are gone. Boat picture by Cliff. More pictures in the gallery.

August 10, 2007 The space shuttle Endeavor lifted off with Barbara Morgan. Many of you know the story of the Challenger Explosion with Christa as the Teacher-In-Space. The former Idaho elementary schoolteacher was Christa McAuliffe's backup for Challenger's tragic mission in 1986. She was invited by NASA into the astronaut corps 12 years later. The Columbia disaster further delayed her going on a mission to space. Well, she is now aboard the Space Station. Barbara has waited two decades for this trip into space. Kathy has waited too. Kathy had a few opportunities to spend time with Barbara. They met in Hawaii when Kathy was chosen as an International Faculty member for Challenger Center of Space Science Education in 1992. They romped on the lava bed, froze atop Mauna Kea, intellectualized a space anthropological site, joined the fish and coral of the Pacific for a swim, constructed a communications section of Marsville with a super team of Hawaiian and Pacific Rim teachers, sho...

August 9,2007 Boom rumble crash. No electric for hours. Rain rain rain....water rushed from the driveway across the street, down the roadway and into the yard. We had a pond in the front yard that seeped into the basement bringing in about 10 inches of muddy water. Will started the Roadtrek generator and connected the sump-pump to get rid of the water. Because the county did not replace the drains when the sewers were put in or when the road was paved we get all the run off from the road down our driveway. It brought along with it all the gravel. Brett and Kaleb, the boys across the street, came over to help Will block off the garage for the next storm cloud coming within the hour. The garage is filled with about an inch of mud...yep, even Kathy's storage room. Will will have some clean-up to do when the sun comes out in a few days. Meanwhile we are just trying to keep from being flooded away.

August 8, 2007 We stopped at the Pittsburgh Zoo to visit the Polar Bear exhibit. We had to walk around the entire zoo to get there because they make you follow a one-way path. Most of the animals were napping in the heat of the afternoon. The lions were up on the top rock looking around. The Komodo dragon was getting a check up by about five staffers. The black bear cub was up looking for something good to eat while his mom slept. The elephants were moving their ears like butterfly wings trying to stay cool. We were pleased to see the two polar bears up on the rocks napping, better than pacing in front of their cage entrance. Otters were so cute swimming and diving. Sea lions were in murky green water; the new filtration system hasn’t kicked in yet. But our favorite sea lion played fetch with us. Will tosses his cap in front of the glass tank to Kathy and the sea lion swims across inside the tank. The Pittsburgh Zoo is a natural habitat area committed to conserving wildlife and their h...

August 7, 2007 Doctor visits have occupied our days recently. Jayne got all the staples removed and the drainage tubes removed. Her oncologist gave her a daily pill to reduce the chances of cancer returning. She is doing wonderful, making her own breakfast and lunch, doing dishes and laundry and spending the rest of the time with her word finds. We are happy, but frustrated that she is doing too much. At 90 years old, however, she gets her way. She is determined to be a breast cancer survivor for many more years! Will drank down a gallon of colon cleaning juice and braved the anesthesia for a Colonoscopy. Results were: everything is normal in there. That is good, but he still has the symptoms so will return to the doctor for more discussions. Will’s favorite activity is still playing Fate; he is in the eighth generation. Between doctor visits and Fate he is keeping the yard looking great, catching up on TV commercials, and trying to beat his score on computer solitaire. The newest exam...

August 3, 2007 Summer sun shines bright in Pittsburgh. We have put the air conditioner on and spend the afternoons inside staying cool. The mornings are spent on the front porch sipping coffee, enjoying our bran high in fiber cereal with blueberries or banana and watching the birds and squirrels. Will works in the yard keeping it trim. The old tree trunk has finally rotted; eleven years ago it was a place for the children to climb up on and dig out the center. We sifted a few buckets of peat and put it around the plants inside and out. The grass in the back yard, a half acre with big old trees here and there is a rich green and damp. That means mosquitoes in the evenings, but that is okay because by that time Will is inside watching TV and or playing Fate. Kathy works on her craft projects and reads, bakes bread, and tries out new recipes from magazines. The neighbors are getting lots of treats! Jayne is healing nicely. The doctor removed the two drainage tubes and most of the staples....

July 30, 2007 Our morning routine has Will and Jayne empting the drainage tubes from her recent surgery then Kathy changes the bandages. Will fixes Jayne her breakfast and carries it up to her room. She sits up in the chair and relaxes. Will is still going to aerobic classes up at the Senior Center; Kathy joins him for the yoga class once a week. This week we were all warmed up in Yoga for some big stretches when an elderly gentleman came through the dimly lit room with quiet music in the background and Colleen, the instructor, giving commands in a soft even tone…raise your arms full like the sun and back to heart center…. About a minute later one the administrators comes over with the elderly man pushing a rickety clackety cart and proceed to chatter while unloading some supplies. We left. We only have yoga class once a week for forty minutes so why they had to do it just then made no sense. We found out later that Chuck is to come in and apologize next week to the class and that the ...