Better Pic

Here is a better picture of our beautiful little granddaughter. She was maybe 1 1/2 hours old when this picture was taken.

SHE'S HERE!!!

Alyssa Faith Bennett arrived by C-section at 1:04 PM today, Thursday, September 11, 2008. She came in at 8 pounds, 4 ounces, and 20 1/4" long. She has a round little face and dark, curly hair. She is absolutely beautiful and absolutely adored. Here are some pictures.

Grandma's New Gears

Carol published a post about selling the sparrow (the name for her van), and if you haven't read it you need to do so. We also purchased her a replacement vehicle, a 2007 Toyota Avalon. It is one cool automobile, and she is one cool grandma driving around in it. Here are some pics. You may notice my red pickup truck hanging around close, but maintaining a respectful distance behind.

My Mom's Birthday

On Monday, July 21, my mother turned 89 years old. The weekend preceding, Carol, Emily and I went to see her, along with my sister, her husband, and her daughter. My brother and much of his family also live in the same town as my mom. We gave her a party on Saturday morning with all of her children and their spouses, her sister, two grandchildren and a couple of great-grand children present. I got to feed her some of her favorite foods - watermelon and a vanilla milk shake, which is about all the present I could think to give a person in her condition that she might enjoy. It was a good time for me, and I think Mom and the others enjoyed it, too.

Out with the Old

Out with the old......















And in with the new:

After 15 or so years of dedicated service to the household (and we bought it used), we decided it was time to replace the old lawn mower. All of the Bennett boys and some of the Bennett girls have interesting memories of mowing the lawn with the old Craftsman, which added interest of acting like it almost almost ready to conk out on 5 second intervals to an otherwise dull task of cutting grass. Farewell, old Craftsman, hello new Toro.

A happy PS: A neighbor from down the street took the old craftsman to tinker with it, and return it to good working order. Let's hope it makes in another 20 years!

Arkansas Road Trip

Last week, Carol and I took a 3 day road trip through Arkansas. Thursday afternoon, we hunted for diamonds at Crater of Diamonds State Park, billed as the only diamond mine in North America. Somebody must have gotten there before us. We found some nice jasper and quartz, but no diamonds, then we spent the night at DeGray Lake State Resort Lodge.



Here are some pictures of Diamond Daryl, and my most precious find.





Friday and Saturday were spent in Heber Springs, having a great time checking up on my mom and visiting with my siblings and siblings-in-law. On Friday afternoon, I swam for about 20 minutes doing easy back strokes in the motel pool, before it had any other guests using it. One of the more interesting aspects of the trip was improvising arrangements for me to sleep in firm, inclined position for my back in the motel/lodge rooms.

And here is a picture of my Sis, my Mom, and me. I have seen that look before.

Getting Back Into the Swim of Things

It's been over a month since I have been swimming (since April 22, to be exact). That cracking the back that got me hauled away to the Emergency Room by ambulance in the middle of the night on May1 - 2, really curtailed a lot of activities, foremost of which was swimming, and the pre-fracture pain had slowed the swimming down prior to that time, also. Anyway, today I made it back into the pool for a mixture of walking and easy stroke swimming. Not counting the walking, I only swam a very modest 200 to 300 meters, but it felt like a wonderful start. Hurray for swimming!

By the way, I will probably have to stay in my brace for another couple of months while the back finishes healing, but it is healing nicely. Thanks to all for your prayers and concern. - DWB