Greetings von Deutschland (again)

I'm pretty sure I've used this title before, I guess I should go back and check my old posts every now and then to see if anyone has read them and responded lately. The problem is that I seem to always get tied up and don't get around to doing this as often as I like. I need to correct that issue!

Anyway where was I, oh yeah, I'm over her in Germany once again. I decided to take a few days off to visit my son before I head to work in Brussels, Belgium and Newcastle, England.

Not much to say, but wanted to share a new photo. Yes he really is that much taller than me now! The photo was taken in front of Eppstein Schloss (castle), we were near there in a small town (Lohrsbach) visiting some friends that we met when we were in Lima, OH (small world!).

It's been rainy over here, typical for this time of year, but it has been a bit warmer than at home (40-50F). The wind and moisture in the air do make it feel a bit cooler though!

Well, hopefully I'll have more to post later. We're planning to spend the day wondering around Old Hanau-Steinheim today in search of my wife's favorite wine!

Bis spater, tschues! ('til later, bye!)

Oh Yeah Before I Forget

One of the reasons we don't get back to KC very often is work. We work, and live, about 10-12 hrs drive from KC (depending on the weather). Of course it's not all bad, if you can somehow manage to earn enough travel points to get free flights. Now that I've brought that up.

Yep, I'm heading out on another trip to Europe tomorrow so hopefully I'll have something more to post, and a decent link to hook up to!

Bis spater, Hasta luego, Later dude's and dudette's

More Reasons to Visit KC in Winter

Just being silly with family and friends





















And of course I can't forget the beer and Bar-B-Q!














For you meat eater's out there, pictured left to right: Pork Ribs, Lamb ribs (above the beans), Beef ribs, and the big chunk of bread to soak up the sauce.















OK, I've got to admit it was well worth the trip! It's a shame we can't get back there more often.

Reasons to Vacation in KC During Winter

Here's few reasons to visit KC, even in the winter!

Our two older sons





















Our Daughter-in-Law















And of course the main attraction!















Of course we visited with our folks while we were back there too!
It might have been worth braving the weather to go back home.

How to Make the Best of a Winter Vacation

Well, the best thing I could think of was to rent a four wheel drive Jeep, grab my Son, My Grandson, and my Father-in-Law, and head to my Father-in-Law's farm to go and jump snow drifts!

Of course it helps if your Son owns his own construction company and has a 1 ton F-350 Super Duty turbo diesel, and tow chains, just in case you mis judge the depth of the drifts!

It was a pretty fun day, and we decided that no matter how old a boy gets, he can still take time to play!

Sorry FC, but the closest we could get to red was the burgundy one pictured above.

Winter Wonderland (my eye)

Well, If you saw my post from yesterday you would have sen the wonderfull work that Lightnin did clearing our drive. Unfortunately this is what we were greeted with this morning!

The sun is out, but the temperature has only raised to a nice 18F. Hopefully the ice melt will begin to work later on.














On the bright side of things, the ice sure make pretty sculptures out of the trees, power lines, light poles, etc.!

Man I can't wait for Spring!

I still Hate Winter

Well, here we are a week later and wouldn't you know it we get another storm. This time Snow followed by Ice and then Freezing Rain. The Freezing Rain is supposed to last most of the day, with a total accumulation of around 6 inches.

This time I was prepared. I copied over files to work on, and finally was able to get linked into my work intranet from home. I've been able to connect from every country that I've traveled to, but have never been able to connect from my house just 30min away. Well, that changed and I'm working from home today!

I thought I'd share a couple of photos of this experience. The first demonstrates the advantages of working from home: I'm still in my PJs and will shower during my lunch break, which is coming up very soon!














The second is why I'm working from home. You may not be able to see it, but the driveway was shoveled to remove the snow (Thanks to Lightnin! I still can't lift anything for another couple of months so she's taken on these type of duties). but there is now a layer of ice about 1/2" thick!

If you read my last post you know that it took me 3 hours to get home from work, just because of a little snow. Just think what traffic would be like today! I'll work from home thank you!

I hate Winter

Those of you that know me already know that I absolutely hate winter! Well, I'll let the rest of you in on the secret as to why:

1st - Cold! If you need to double your body weight in clothing to stay warm to get from the house to the car, and back, you live too far north!

2nd - Snow/Ice! You scrape the windshield to go to work, you scrape the windshield to go to lunch, you scrape the windshield to go back home!

3rd - Windshield Wipers! Oh yeah, you can knock all the ice and snow off of them while your still in the parking lot, but as soon as you get on the interstate they freeze up (but of course only on the driver's side) and you're forced to lean over at a 45 degree angle to see.

4th - People! It snowed this time last year, and the year before, and I'm going to make a wild guess here: It's proabaly going to snow again next year too! If you can't drive in this, then don't! Stay home with the kids, after all the schools are closed. I'd say that they should pass a law that one of your vehicles must be a 4-wheel drive, except for the idiots that think that 4-wheel drive means that they can still drive 70mph. Oh, you forgot about how to stop that thing huh!

5th - Scraping the windshield! I know I already mentioned this one, but I hate it the worst, so it's my list and I'll list it more than once if I feel like it! ;-)

Just so that you know why this post hit me, it snowed 7 inches in 6 hours yesterday. It took me 3 hours to get home, where on a good day it should take 30 minutes! I came in at my normal time this morning and was only driving 45mph at the fastest, and it only took me 30 minutes to get in (of course that's because most people took my advice on #4 above and stayed home, so there wasn't any traffic).

A few years back when we got hit with one of these storms, I sort of snapped and started loading the car to head for Florida. I had fully planned on quitting my job, and moving, and then looking for work down south. Ever since then if it snows Lightnin won't let me near I-75 with a full tank of gas, without her!

Ha, she's staying home today, and I filled up the tank on the SUV on my way in. Hmmm, I know a place to get a great cheeseburger in Ocala! I could be there by dinner time!