Sat, May 11, 2024:  St. Louis, MO:  A few days ago we were having lunch and ran into this guy who told us about this pet cemetery in Florissant.  Mike has lived here all his life and has never heard of it or seen it.  So, after lunch we drove around and found it.  This is a really neat place, supposedly only for vets, is listed as a historic site for perpetuity, provides burials, services and head stones.  There is a section for working dogs.  A group of vets volunteer to maintain the place.  Really nice.

The Working Dog Section

This guy must have been killed in the line of duty.

Thu, May 9, 2024:  St. Louis, MO:  Severe storms yesterday—morning and afternoon.  High winds, tornados, softball size hail, and torrential downpours causing flooding.  But we dodged a bullet AGAIN.  We just got some rain.  It went south of us.  Counting our blessings today.  And no storms in the immediate forecast.  A beautiful day today—sunny and 70s. 

Best wishes to my sister Sandy who is in the hospital right now.  Get well soon!

Sun, Apr 28, 2024:  St. Louis, MO:  Celebrated 31 years together yesterday.  Went to the ballet to see the beautiful production of “Sleeping Beauty” accompanied by the Springfield Symphony Orchestra.  Wonderful to see the physicality and grace of these dancers.  They make it look so easy.  After the ballet we went out for dinner.  A really nice day!

  

Tue, Apr 23, 2024:  St. Louis, MO:  Drove Mike to the Washington University complex of medical buildings downtown. It was pouring down rain.  Forest Park Parkway had a lot of standing water.  Dropped Mike off and then parked in the Euclid Garage across the street.  Was supposed to meet him outside the building.  But this complex is so huge, I couldn’t find him. I finally went up to the 11^th floor where his surgeon’s office is and hoped he’d eventually show up.  He did.  He got scoped and got a clean scan.  Yay! He'll be scanned twice more before we leave for Florida. We watched golf at Augusta National last weekend.  Tiger did so well on Thursday and Friday, even though the weather was terrible.  He made the cut when a lot of other players didn’t.  But he ended up 16 over.  Augusta National is so beautiful!  Our nesting birds are doing well.  I thought the robin abandoned the nest.  But Mike felt inside the nest, and there were 3 eggs in there—still warm.  So, she’s still on the nest. Life is good!

Laura, Mike, and me

  

Sandy and I playing rummy cube

My brother, Ron

Tue, Apr 9, 2024:  St. Louis, MO:  Well, our deck has been taken over by a nesting sparrow and a robin.  The sparrow is nesting in our little bird house on the deck and the robin is nesting atop our light on the deck.  A robin nested there last year—maybe it’s the same one.  She had such a hard time building the nest because it was so windy.  All her nesting material ended up on the floor of the deck.  But, she didn’t give up.  The nest is a little messy, but she got it done.  Now both she and the sparrow are sitting on eggs. 

The sparrow's nest.

The robin's messy nest.

 

Mon, Apr 1, 2024:  New Albany, MS, to St. Louis, MO:  Left New Albany at 8:10 this morning under cloudy skies heading for I55 and Memphis.  I55 going through Memphis is a real CF—especially since there’s a lot of construction right now. Going through the construction areas, I just took my time and figured everyone else could just kiss my grits.  After getting through the mayhem of Memphis it’s just an easy drive through rural Arkansas and Missouri.  At Sikeston, MO, we fueled up, had lunch, and Mike took over driving.  We pulled into our driveway at 3:00 under sunny skies.  And 82! 

Sun, Mar 31, 2024:  Dothan, AL, to New Albany, MS:  Left Dothan at 8:30 this morning.  I drove until just south of Birmingham where we stopped for some lunch and then Mike took over driving.  Pretty cloudy today, but warm and no rain.  Another 7-hour day.  We checked in to our hotel at 3:30.  Trying to talk Mike into flying down this Fall and then renting a car.  But it’s going to be a hard sell.  We wouldn’t even need to take luggage since we have lots of clothes in the fifth wheel.  Anyway, it was 80 when we pulled in here.  Tomorrow, we leave for home.

 Boat Ride to Indian Key

Florida Keys