KATRINA 18 months later in Gulfport, MS

WHILE WORKING IN SOUTH MS A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WE DROVE DOWN TO GULFPORT. WITHOUT SEEING THE DEVASTATION YOURSELF YOU CAN'T IMAGINE WHAT IT IS LIKE. MILES AND MILES ALONG THE COAST THERE IS NOTHING, WHERE THERE USE TO BE BEAUTIFUL HOMES, THERE IS NOTHING 3 & 4 BLOCKS IN FROM THE SHORE. YOU SEE FOUNDATONS WITH FOR SALES SIGNS EMPTY LOTS WITH BROKEN TREES WITH FOR SALE SIGNS. JUST STILL NOTHING IS BEING REBUILT. EVEN THE BEACHES ARE DESERTED.

Winer in Mid MO

THE PIC OF ARTHUR CLEANING DRIVEWAY IS THE WEEKEND OF THE SNOWFALL,AFTER THE WEEKEND OF 2 DAYS OF CLOMPLETELY CLEANING ICE OFF DRIVEWAY. PRETTY PICS, PRETTY TO LOOK OUT, BUT NOT IN ITS 3RD WEEK WITH MORE TO COME, GETTING VERY TIRED OF LOOKING AT IT. WHEN IS IT SPRING?

ICE

Some of us are stuck in Missouri in the winter. We have Jason and Susan and Kai in Kansas City, we have Barbara and Arthur and Zack in Missouri and we have all of Bruces and Dads dogs in Columbia. We are all here stuck in our respective home because of ICE yes folks thats ICE. We have electricity and we have food and water (we won't starve yet) but wait..... where are Bruce and Dad and Leslie. why they are in Australia. And what time of year is it in Australia???? Well I'll tell you it is summer and in the summer it is sunny and hot and there is no ice. You can get out and walk and drive and go and see, but alas here in MO where everyone is suppose to leave we are not experiencing that. Ok, you there in OZ, post pictures, post messages, let us know what we are all truely missing. Of course we miss you all too.

thanksgiving part 2

Thanksgiving pictures

And while I'm here, misc pics, Churchill Memorial, Fall scene at Herman and my Christmas village

Here are some pics of the Dept 56 village I have set up.

and some more pics

more baptism pics

Baptism Day

Here is a selection of pics, pre-baptism, during baptism and after baptism party. ENJOY

November 11th a wonderful day

November 11th has many meanings. To most it is a day to celebrate our veterans, to remember the ones we have lost and to thank the ones who served our country to protect our freedom. That in itself makes Nov. 11th a great day. But to me November 11th will best be remembered for the birth of my beautiful daughter Leslie Ellen on November 11, 1982. Leslie you are a wonderful daughter, a beauty, a delight, a treasure to love. You are kind, loving, caring, generous, funny and amazing. Thank you for being my daughter. May you celebrate many many more decades of birthdays. The newest celebration for November 11 is the baptism of my first and my beautiful grandson Kai Robert Bratton. You are a delight to everyone. Jason and Susan thank you for giving us this wonderful baby. I love all of you...Jason and Leslie, Susan and Kevin and now little Kai.

Latest pic

WHAT A GOOD LANDLORD, UP ON THE ROOF FIXIN THE ANTENNA !!!!!

more pics

And now for more 1. Bruce with an attitude after we called him stupid for leaving Chicago tickets at home after we were 90 min. into the trip !! 2. 3 happy and full tummies after dinner in Chicago at Brazilian Steak house. At this point all still smiling because we have the tickets for the golf the next day and the Murano is still running. 3. It is called Labor Day because it must be a full day of labor that requires napping at days end. Or was this also caused by Jungle Juice comsumption????

Picture titles

WOW it actually worked, I got pictures on here again. So since it worked here are the titles for pics in previous blog 1. Proud Papa and Kai 2. The complete happy family. 3. The MEN 4. Smiling grandma with Kai 5. Jason trying to be incognito from jungle juice.

Newest news

Leslie says I need to update so here goes. As of today I own a new car its a 2006 Kia Amanti, pearlized white color with gray leather interior. We still have the Lincoln, but we got an awesome deal to get out of the Murano so we jumped. The Murano had 101,000 miles on it and our traveling wasn't slowing down. We did pay to get the new drive axle fixed after the mishap in Chicago and thought all was well, but a week ago while going out to lunch with Bruce he heard another new sound, we all listened and heard it and basically could feel it too. Thus again to shop and its the rear differential going out, we put new differtial oil in to see if that would fix it but alas it didnt. So instead of another $1300 repair we fell into this great deal with the Kia and took it. We really love the look of the car and the drive is very smooth and quiet. We will pick it up Tuesday morning before we head out for Mississippi again. The other good news is that Monday night I get to go back to St. Louis with Bruce he has tickets for the Eric Clapton concert. I can't wait I'm so excited. So sorry you didn't want to go Zack, so now I can go :) :) :) We have 6th row center seats, should be awesome. John Mayer and Sheryl Crow were good but Eric Clapton, nothing can beat that. Leslie I know you agree, the concert we went to was fantastic. I told you I was jealous of you going in Toronto, now I get to go too. Will try and post more often. Love to everyone

CHICAGO - OH WHAT FUN

Where of where do I begin. We got started before 9 a.m. We picked up Dad and Bruce, loaded up the Murano and off we went. Of course stopped after an hour for a quick breakfast at McDonalds. You know this group, don't want to go far without food. then we are just at the Lake St. Louis exit and Bruce says, "I don't have the tickets" One look at him and I could tell, this was the truth, not Bruce just being funny, ha ha got ya kinda thing. It was true he had left the folder with all the passes to the golf tourney and to the Field Museum at the house. so at the next exit, we get off and back to I-70 back to Columbia. All in all it added 3 hours to the trip, but we all got to laugh at Bruce and thought it was real funny. We got to Chicago with 10 minutes to spare before our 6:30 dinner reservations. We ate a Brazilian Steak house which was awesome, we all left full and then went to the hotel and crashed for the night. Sun. we got up leisurely and had breakfast, then took a drive thru Western Chicago (or was it Eastern) just looking around and then drove to the parking area for Medina and went to the tourney. Weather was great. We watched a couple of twosomes tee-off on #1, watched some on the practice greens. We had 2 grounds tickets and 2 clubhouse tickets, Bruce and Dad went into clubhouse first to look around and get a drink and then Arthur and i went in. Then we walked down to #1 green and watched a couple of groups putt, then went and sat across water From #13 green (the signiture hole and watched several groups there, behind us was #12 green and watched some there too. Then we positioned ourselves at #2 tee and waited thru 3 final pairings so we could see Tiger. That was that. As soon as he teed off that was it, we walked back to the buses and our car and came back to hotel and watched the end on TV. Next we went to Famous Daves' BBQ for dinner and once again stuffed ourselves. Mon. we had to get up early and drive into Chicago with traffic (which ended up not being bad at all" We had to be at Field Museum at 9:30 for our entrance into the King Tut exhibit. All is well, all are happy and then at a stop light on Michigan Ave. we hear a loud noise on the Murano. Bruce is driving us thru traffic and he has commented that something doesn't seem right. We are a few blocks from our turn by Soldier Field to where we will park and we make the turn, and then there is basically no power, we are going slightly downhill so w/ remaining power and some luck we get turned into the street for the parking garage and make it to the side and that is it. IN Summary: The Transmission to the Murano is gone. Arthur tells us to go the the museum and leave him for the wrecker to come. We have already called our dealership here in columbia and gotten phone # for Nissan dealer in Chicago and called them and they are sending flatbed to tow the car to their dealership. We got go Museum. King Tut is good, but not near what we had hoped for. Finally after walking thru Grant Park and back to Michigan Ave and the Chicago Hilton looking for a rental car place (we then find out it hasn't been in that location for 2 years) we call a cab and go 18 blocks more and get to Hertz, rent a car and go 8 miles to where Arthur is waiting at service dept. of Nissan dealer. The Transmission has totally locked and also broken the left front axle. Needless to say at this point 2:00 p.m. we decided to skip other museums and just get back in one piece to Columbia. Long story short, Perry Nissan here in Columbia is going to retriev Murano and bring back here. Cost to repair in Chicago was way to high. Perry is talking to Nissan Corp to see what they can do. Our service guy at Nissan advises not to change transmission fluid unless warning lights indicate it is needed. Chicago Nissans first word, was it should have been changed every 30,000 miles and ofcourse transmission is going to break at 100,000 miles w/out the changes. This is why Perry Nissan is talking to our area factory rep to get assistance in this. In closing, it started out fun, although longer drive than expected, thank you Bruce. Great to see Tiger and a PGA championship, had great food and great visits, but the Murano didn't like the trip.

Nothing New

I keep checking everyone to see if anything new has been posted. Thank you Susan and Jason for a new post. Thank you Cadence for your new post. Now Bruce and Leslie, I have hinted several times about you all posting some Toronto pictures. Know you all had fun but since I couldn't be there would at lesst like to see some pics of what I missed. My news is nothing, just work on the road and work at home. We (Bruce, Dad, Arthur and I) are going to Chicago for 3 days next weekend (the 19th) for a pro golf tourney. It was Bruces idea and we are all looking forward to it. Go to the Natural History Museum Sat, and a Brazilian Steak House for dinner Sat. and the final day of the golf tourney on Sunday. So MAYBE when we get home I'll post some pics of that trip. Till then, I'll keeping checking for updates from anyone.

I AM GRANDMA

Basically that is all I can say, I would post pictures, but they are still on the camera. Being a Grandma is exciting, but I'm tired and all I did was hold Kai. So Jason and Susan my thoughts are with you. Hang in there all will be well, for the hours of sleep you will miss will bring you many many years of joy into your lives. I'm so proud of you both. Kai is beautiful, loveable, huggable and wonderful. I didn't want to let him go.

Cimarron House

Here are a few pictures of the Cimarron house all painted and moved into. We are really excited to be here and loving it.