The wedding went well and Bob was delighted to have been at this event and to have been able to wish Dorothy and Jason the best in their adventure in life together. Their plans are to move to Austin TX before the "snow flies". This will be a definite change for them both.
After the wedding Bob traveled with his Son and family to Wasilla, near Anchorage, where Sheryl's parents live. They all met with Bob's Granddaughter Amy and husband Nick and Coby, Bob's great grandson. They live in Anchorage. They had a great visit and went out to dinner and to an air show.
After several days Bob and Michael left Sheryl and the kids and flew to Juneau to do some work on the house. There was a project that Michael wanted to finish without having the kids underfoot. You can kind of see the finished product in the picture on the right. Michael had put insulation in the roof and needed to sheet rock and put the knotty pine strips back up. Michael did the sheet rock and Bob cut and stained the strips. What you see is just a small area of what was done.
It rained most days and the temperatures during the day were in the 50’s. Bob was missing the warmer weather. He said his fingers were always cold. Even with the rain they were able to get out to the 4th of July fireworks and the parade. A trip to Mendenhall Glacier is always a must while in Juneau. The middle picture is one Bob took at the Glacier. The picture on the left is what Bob saw out the window in the morning (if it was clear) when he opened his eyes. It is the mountains behind the glacier. Bob and Michael enjoyed each others company and had good father and son time. Bob flew back to Indianapolis on July 14th and Michael flew back to Anchorage to pick up Sheryl and the kids. They took another little vacation before returning to Juneau July 22nd.
I was glad to have Bob home. Even though I enjoyed my time to do the things I had planned I missed having him on the “farm” .
On Saturday, May 10, 2008 we attended Vicki's (Bob's daughter) graduation from the University of Illinois, at Urbana-Champaign. She received her PhD in Plant Biology. This particular ceremony was the Integrative Biology Convocation and was not the entire graduating class of 2008, so it was much smaller. Which was great. Vicki also participated in the graduation ceremony the next day that included all graduates from all departments. We were able to see all the graduates attending this ceremony on stage and Vicki was in the middle, first row, right up front. Part of the ceremony was where those receiving their doctorates are hooded. Vicki's advisor, Dr. Stephen Long performed her hooding.
Introducing Mr. and Mrs. Foutch. Our good friends Tom and Claudia decided to become official and were married April 10, 2008. The Sunday before we were at their house and Claudia told me (Kathy) of their plans and ask if we would stand up for them. They had made the arrangements to be married at the court house the following Friday. They decided to keep it simple and uncomplicated and didn't tell folks until the last minute (some before and some after). Claudia and I decided not to tell Bob until we got to the court house. I told Bob we were going to lunch with them and would meet them downtown. Friday morning it was a task convincing Bob that he should not wear his bib overalls and he finely agreed to wear his jeans (he really grumbled when I ask him to wear his dockers so I backed off). We left the house with not to much time to spare. On our way there the traffic was backed up so I decided to go another way only to find the street closed so we had to go back to the original route. By that time I was getting upset and Bob said "it won't matter if we're a little late". I said "but you don't understand Claudia and Tom are getting married and we can't be late". He looked at me and said "REALLY"! 
We had a new visitor here on the "farm", as you can see, a skunk. Last summer Bob caught a skunk in his trap and after calling out the county animal control to help us let it loose we didn't see it again. Don't know if this is the same critter. It surprised us that it came out during the day and feed near the bird feeder right out the kitchen window. We could observe it's movements and take pictures without scaring it away. We would go outside and as long as we didn't make much noise and didn't get to close it just continued what it was doing. The skunk stayed around for several days but we haven't seen it now for a week or so. 
Yes, it is still winter! This was taken this past weekend. It's a beautiful site to wake up and look out the window and see this picture, a winter wonderland. It is not snow on the trees, it had been foggy the night before, no wind, and the moisture from the fog crystallized.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
last stop before going back and picking up the desk was an apple farm that usually sells apple juice/cider but this year because of the freeze, that happened in this part of the country in March, the apple crop was really effected and there was none to buy. We did get some apples that were very good.
Bob has put the lighted tree up again in the yard. When I took the picture it was snowing and it made kind of an unusual picture. You can see it at night coming around the corner before getting to the driveway. 
The Indy 500 is fast approaching. This is a big event in this area and for all racing enthusiasts who watch the Indy each year. I (Kathy) am fortunate to know folks who have been involved with the various social gatherings that take place during the month of May. For the past two years I have been invited to a couple of radio press conferences that take place at the race track where they interview the drivers. It is held at a motel/restaurant called the Brickhouse. This is a picture of my friend Dwayne and Irene the lady who has given Dwayne tickets each year. Dwayne is an amputee and needs to have somebody drive for him. I made two trips to Indianapolis, last Thursday (5/17) and the Thursday before (5/10). We have dinner and then the interviews begin. There are about twenty folks who sit together at one of the reserved tables who have been involved with the Indianapolis Race Track for many years, either working there or involved with the event one way or another. Irene was the secretary of the owner for many years.
A 2000 Toyota Sienna. It has only had one owner and 57,000 miles. We are both pleased with our purchase. Bob is off this evening with the car to the jam session. You won't see this car racing around the track on the 27th!