Weekly Journal

January 2, 2007

2007-01-02T20:22:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
We went up to Chicago to see my daughter and her family, this is a picture of Szuki (I probably spelled it wrong!) Our grandchildren Ari, Austin, and Camille are all growing up so fast. Austin likes to run and has several trophies and medals.. He and his dad run together. Camille is going to go to Paris and Belgium this Spring on a school trip. Better than when I was a kid, our big school trip was a trip on a train to Brookfield Zoo. Arianna is eight years old and reads better than a lot of adults I know.

We celebrated Christmas at our house on Christmas eve and had all the family from Florissant there. Everyone had a good time. The girls were giving Brian a hard time because of his Christmas vest. He and a buddy bought them by the womens department and the girls were saying it was a girls vest. I thought it looked ok. I've posted a picture on my web site.
Tuesday we went up to Chicago, (Mokena), to visit for a couple days and saw my Aunt Lavergne and my cousins Bev, and Geneva too. Came back Thursday and celebrated the New Year at our house with our good friends Joe and Pat.

Lois has had a tough time since July 06. First her kidneys almost quit and she had to go in the hospital for a few days, then the meds she had to take to cure that messed up her diabetes and made her feel bad. Then after Thanksgiving her back went out and she has been having trouble ever since. Maybe once we get her back fixed she'll be over all this nonsense.
We had a really bad ice storm in December, the second time this year the power was out in some places for over a week. We lucked out this time and had power, only was out for 2 hours. My daughter Roberta was not so lucky, her power was out for 3 days and she had to stay with us. Her and her husband Mike and her two dogs! What fun!!! I'm glad we were able to help her out and no damage was done to her home.
I wish everyone a healthy and happy new year for the whole year.
John G.
http://www.grandpag.com

2006-07-28T12:03:00.000-07:00

July 28, 2006

2006-07-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

My Brother Bill and me in Victorville, California last May.
Here in Florissant, Mo. we had a big storm last week. Over 700,000 people without electricity. We were luck to only be out for one day, but lots of homes and businesses were out for a week, still some on the fringes don't have any yet!
A big branch broke off of our maple tree in the back yard. It sailed right between the power and phone lines to our house and an electric wire for the neighborhood. Guess someone was watching out for us. I never realized how much I took for granted our electric service. Lois and I were sitting in our house staring at a bunch of candles and listening to a portable radio. No TV, video games, or air conditioning. How boring!!!
It's been so hot and dry here, I checked on my tomatoes and they are just now ripening, but they are cooked on the bottom and no good at all. Even the squirrells don't want them
I've posted lots of pictures on my web site of the places we've been this last three months. We visited my cousin Jim, and my brother Bill in Nevada and California. Thank God we weren't there during this latest heat wave. Need to start posting more.
Later http://www.grandpag.com

May 8, 2006

2006-05-08T16:28:00.000-07:00

We had a nice Easter at Roberta and Mike's house. Bert hid some Easter eggs and Kaylie her mom and Amy helped her find and open them
Great Fun!! More pix at my web site

http://www.grandpag.com

We will be going to Las Vegas next week,(16th May). Then on to Lake Tahoe and Sequoia National Park. We will be traveling on the second week to San Francisco, then make our way down the Pacific coast line and over to see my brother Bill. My cousin Jim and his wife Gerry live outside of Vegas in Henderson, so we'll get to spend some time there too.
Hopefully not lose all our money in Vegas!! We haven't been anywhere since Christmas so I'm anxious to go. School is over so Lois and I will have more free time on our hands.

I've been working in the yard, getting flowers and tomatoes planted. Also wound up painting our chain link fence myself, after our painter bailed on us. I think I got as much paint on me as the fence. Iooked like the Tin Man in the wizard of Oz. I even have a pair of silver shoes now.

All for now, I'll try to send some pix to my web site from California

January 8, 2006

2006-01-09T06:53:00.000-08:00

Just finished putting away all the Christmas decorations. Takes 3 days to set up and 3 to put away, nice to see but it sure is a lot of work!
We had a good trip after Christmas to Chicago. Visited with Suzankaye, Jim and our three grandkids. Ari is wearing glasses now. Here she is with their new dog Zookie. We all went to the Field Museum and saw the "Last days of Pompeii." The exhibit was very interesting but too crowded. Pompeii was buried under 60 feet of scalding hot mud from the volcano, and the showed figures that they had exhumed. Some skeletons and a wax recreation of some people in their final minutes. The movie was very interesting also. Of course Austin went to see the dinosaurs, the most famous on exhibit is "Sue", the T-Rex. The regular dino exhibit was closed for renovations.
We also got to see some of my cousins, Geneva and Beverly. My aunt Lavergne and boy friend also made it. We all met at Country buffet and spent about 3 hours visiting.
Lois and I are back volunteering at Lawson school. When I went to my kindergarten class, one of the boys told me he really missed me a lot and wondered if I missed him. Of course I told him I missed him a lot too.
It's nice to have the house back to normal again. No trips planned yet, thought we might go to Florida, but looks like not now.

December 20,2005

2005-12-20T09:43:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Chris and Michelle's birthday last Saturday. Brian and Amy are home from School for the holidays, so it was nice to see everyone again. Kaylie had the most fun helping to open all the presents. Everytime she tore open some tissue paper, she ran over to Bert and gave her some.
We had home made Lazagna to eat. Sue outdid herself, best ever!!
Kim and her boyfriend Shawn were going out for dinner, so I got a picture of the both of them. Kim looks like a model from Vogue! Chris even let me get a picture of her opening her presents, (very rare). More pictures can be seen at my web site..... http://www.grandpag.com
We'll be going up to Chicago to visit Suzankaye and family after Christmas. Should be able to see some of my Aunts and Uncles and cousins. Hopefully all get together like last year for dinner someplace.
Winter is upon us already and it isn't even official yet. Lois and me are always cold, guess we may have to go to Florida to get warm! No plans though, might just pack up and leave next month. I can't believe it is almost Christmas, still have to finish up decorating downstairs for our Christmas eve get together.
Lois and I wish everyone a Merry Christmas..... or whatever you celebrate and a happy healthy, prosperous New Year!!

November 18, 2005

2005-11-18T07:02:00.000-08:00

Bert and Mike took a trip to their new lot at Goose Creek. They took their camper and the dogs, Dudley and Dreamy, unfortunately it got very cold that night and they all were cold... even the dogs!
Bert suggested they get a motel, but Mike thought if they all slept together they could stay warm enough. The two dogs and Mike and Bert snuggled in together, and they turned on the heater, but... the battery didn't have enough power to run it. They are seriously thinking of having electicity run in for there next overniter. Both Dreamy and Dudly look a little forlorn in this picture. Had to stay on a leash, couldn't run in the woods, and were cold all night besides. Looks like they were trying to tell Mike, "Let's just go home!!"

November 2, 2005

2005-11-02T07:45:00.000-08:00

Just heard from my cousin Beverly, she is going to be a great-grandma again, (this makes two!). My cousin Diane had surgery for a tumor, we'll keep her in our prayers. Lois and I will be going to Chicago on the 27th of December for 3 days to visit with my daughter Suzankaye and family. Our grandkids up there get to celebrate Christmas twice! Hope to get together with all the rest of my family also
Check out the planet Mars in the eastern sky for the next few weeks it will be the brightest in the sky. Mike has a telescope so we are going over tonite to look at it. See if we can see any Martians!! I think we'll take a trip Friday to Defiance Missouri on route 94 south. It's a nice ride along the river and we can stop at Daniel Boones home for a visit. Maybe go to Jefferson City also to the state capitol. The tour there is very interesting. Last time we were there I got to climb up a narrow winding staircase to the top of the capitol building, quite a view from up there.
Have to take down the Halloween decorations and put up Lois's Christmas stuff. We have more stuff than some stores! The entire top of our entertainment center is covered with her Christmas Village, actually some of the village has gone suburban and continued down in the basement.
Had lots of rain on the weekend but it's perfect now, around 70 degrees and a bright blue sky for the fall. Took some pictures of my kindergarten kids, I'll post them on my web site later today.

October 21, 2005

2005-10-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Today is my daughters birthday, won't say how old she is but she keeps looking better and better! I was planning on going up last week, but the hotel we stay at was full, and the other hotels around were way too high! We'll be going up in a couple of months for Christmas anyway.

I made some sugar rock candy to show my kindergarteners at Lawson. Boiled one cup of water and melted a little over two cups of sugar. Put a string with a weight on the end supported by a pencil and in about a week I got some very nice crystal sugar candy, better known as rock candy. I put some red food color in one of them and it turned out pink. The teacher hung it up in the classroom, since October is breast cancer aware month ... denoted by wearing pink.

We took a day trip to Clarksville last Sunday. The trees along route 79 by the Mississippi river were just starting to change. Lots of reds and yellows among the green. When we got to Clarksville we visited some of the shoppes (lots of craft and antique). A tugboat was about to go upstream through the locks so we decided to watch. They have a great viewing platform where you can watch the tugs push the barges in. They closed the lock on the low side and let the river water fill up from the other side. We could see the tug and barges rise up about twenty feet. Then they open up the other side and pushed them out. I posted some pictures on my web site. We ate at "Joe's Crabshack" at Mid River Mall and interstate 70. I was quite impressed! Although it did seem kind of strange to see all the waiters and waitress wearing shirts that said, "I Have Crabs!"
Here is the url for the pictures http://www.grandpag.com/index20daytrip.htm

October 8, 2005

2005-10-08T22:49:00.000-07:00

Had a party for Brian this evening. Amy and Brian both came back from college for the weekend to celebrate his bday. Kaylie has gotten out of her "No!" stage, last time we were there everytime I called her she said "No."
My garden is just about done for, tomatoes have lots of green ones, but no ripe ones hardly. Had to dig up all my aloe vera plants as the weatherman predicted frost last nite, of course he was wrong. The elephant ears are as big as an elephants ears and as tall as I am.
Went to the show last week and saw "Corpse Bride", I liked "Nightmare before Christmas better. There seemed to be a lot of singing in the first half, but I don't remember any of the tunes, and I didn't like the ending, kinda sad.
Guess we won't be going up to Chicago this month, the hotels are pretty full next week. Probably because of the Sox games, I guess.
About all for now.
John G.

September 14, 2005

2005-09-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Last week went to the St. Louis County air show and fair. Bert and I went, Mike was working there directing traffic so he got some free tickets. The air show was great, got a few pictures of the planes, F18, F15, and a Harrier. They had helicopter rides there on a Vietnam era "Huey" They ended the show with a flyby of a WW2 P51 fighter flying alonside a F15 fighter jet.
Still hot here in Florissant, MO. , mid 90s but it's supposed to cool off this week. Started back to school, helping out two kids from the first grade and the kindergarten. My kindergarten teacher got transferred to a different school out by Spanish Lake. She was very upset about having to leave, and had some tears. I promised to visit her. It was a shame, because she had been only working 1/2 day at Lawson and then 1/2 day at the other school. She did this to help out the other kindergarten teacher last year, since it was her first year teaching kindergarten. It turned out that by volunteering to help out at the other school, she lost her seniority so that was why she is leaving. I guess it's true "No good deed goes unpunished!"

August 22, 2005

2005-08-22T22:21:00.000-07:00

Went to the movies Sunday, (Regal St. Louis Mills), saw The Wedding Crashers. Started out slow but got pretty funny as it got going. Had a good ending! Had an Oasis meeting for school, last Thursday. They had an author of a childrens book, "The Glass Heart", read to us. Kathleen Killion read her book and shared with us that she was a cancer survivor, and the book mirrored some of the people in her life. A very inspirational speaker.
She had us all draw a picture of a heart then label under it what feeling we had. She is getting together pictures from the schools and is going to have an exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center in February. If they have room, my heart will be there too.... I'm anonymous, no name! I'm going to have the children that I mentor draw a heart and put down their feelings under it, with their name and send it to her. She saw two of the pictures the kindergarten kids gave me as a thank you last semester and asked for copies of them, which I sent to her.
I ordered two books, had a hard time finding them, finally found two at Amazon.com, of course.
That's all for now, hoping to visit my daughter near Chicago next month or October

August 16, 2005

2005-08-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Had a big storm Saturday, Roberta's power has been off for 3 days. She bought her frozen food over Sunday. We had bb sized hail that decimated my garden. My poor elephant ears look like someone shot them with a shotgun. Most of my zinnias are flattened, have to do lots of pruning, but they all will come back. I just heard from my cousin Beverly up in Chicago, that her daughter's husband just died. They found him in his sleep, he had been sick for quite a while. Only 43 years old..
We were needing rain and now it rains all the time, feels like we're living in the tropics, very humid out there, fortunately not too hot tho... lower 80's.
Suzankaye and family went to upper Wisconsin and spent a week in the woods. They had a good time getting away from civilization for a while, really roughed it ... only had local television!!!
Warning to all.... If you have an electric razor with a worn out head, you can be cut! I was shaving this morning and noticed that my razor was kind of hurting me. I looked at the screen and it had a sharp spot on it. When I looked in the mirror, it looked like I tried to cut my throat, bloody scratches everywhere. Any way that's my public service announcement for today.

2005-08-08T14:07:00.000-07:00

Elephant ears will be bigger than me by October!

Garden

2005-08-08T13:32:00.000-07:00

Starting to get some tomatoes from my garden. I forgot and left some out in the grass after I picked them, and a rabbit thought I put them out for him! He ate some of my small cherry tomatoes, and was just getting around to eating one of the Jetstar tomatoes, my big ones. Oh well, I have plenty to go around. Haven't seen many squirrels this year, I think our resident owl is eating well.
The flowers are doing well, zinnias everywhere. Lois and I go dancing on Mondays to the St. Ann community center, (tonight). Played cards with Tom and Xyla Saturday. She has made a miraculous recovery. Nine months ago she fell and hit her head on the concrete. Her brain swelled and the doctors removed a portioin of her skull. She was in a coma for three months and no one was sure if she would even recover. The doctors thought there might be some brain damage, but little by little she is regaining all her faculties.
Last night played cards with our older friends from the dance, Clay and Reva. He's 84 years old and she's not too far behind. Getting hot again here in Florissant MO. Our typical St. Louis weather.
Some pix of my garden in the previous blog...

July 31, 2005

2005-07-31T12:56:00.000-07:00

Had a good visit with my old friend Frank a couple days ago. Took this picture, we look like a couple of old fogies! Oh wait! We are!!!!
Lois had a birthday party at Chris and Rich's house. Everyone was there, Kim, my grandaughter arrived with her boyfriend, and brought a black curly wig along. She came out wearing the wig and a blue bra over her top. Looked liked Sher, or Maddonna, or both. Everyone got a turn wearing the wig. Michelle also put on the "outfit" and posed for pictures. Wish I hadn't forgotten my camera, but the girls took pictures. The girls could make great actresses. We're going to the casino for Lois's bday (Aug. 3rd). Still hot and dry in St. Louis, we had over 100 degrees for three days last week! Took some pictures of my garden and posted them on my web site...... http://grandpag.com/index10garden.htm
Today is Sunday, decided to take it easy today, playing in my garden and on the computer. All for now.

July 15, 2005

2005-07-15T11:36:00.000-07:00

It's rained all week here in Florissant, Bert and I are going to the Muni to see "Jesus Christ Superstar." No rain for over a month and now it looks like they may get rained out again!
Went fishing last week at Sunfish lake with Mike and we both caught one fish, I caught a bass about 12 inches and Mike caught a catfish about same size. Ari's birthday was last week and sent her up a Barbie doll and a Pegasus horse. No trips planned until it gets cooler. Lois and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary June 28. Went to Harrah's and won a little, still waiting for the big one.

Here's a pix of Lois and me at Branson last May.......
That's all for now.

July 6, 2005

2005-07-06T20:20:00.000-07:00

My hard drive crashed last month so lost a lot of stuff, most backed up but a pain to load back in again. Amy graduated high school and is leaving for college in Springfield MO this fall. Brian has a couple years to go and is going to Columbia. We celebrated my birthday (71 yrs ), father's day, and two graduation parties the same day a couple weeks ago. My daughter came down from Mokena IL , with her family and we all enjoyed ourselves. I think everyone had the most fun at the arcade at St. Louis Mills http://blujayjg.tripod.com/id13.html
Hot as usual here in St. Louis, My tomatoe plants are looking pretty healthy, I've picked 3 tomatos, but they are very small. Seems I bought one cherry tomato plant by mistake!
All for now

2005-05-07T10:26:00.000-07:00

Here I am at the Missouri Botanical Gardens.
Me at Botanical gardens

Stuff in May http://www.grandpag.com

2005-05-07T09:03:00.000-07:00

May 7th 2005
Two months since last entry, Amy's birthday party and Mothers day today. Going to Branson, MO next week for few days. Do a little fishing and see some shows. Valley of Flowers this weekend at Florissant. Went to casino yesterday and lost as usual, started out with 25 cent machines and finished playing penny slots. Played some golf last Thursday and didn't do too bad since I haven't played for a year. Xyla getting out of hospital this week going to assisted care across from St. Johns Hospital. Doing much better after bad setback.
All for now,
John G.

New stuff 3/7/05

2005-03-07T11:24:00.000-08:00

Don't think this is exactly what I had in mind, but what the heck! Had eye surgery a month ago cause I couldn't see out of left eye. Can see better now except have a blind spot in center of eye the may go away eye surgeon says. Good news... Bad news! Having a bday party for Kaylie this weekend, big one year old.