Hello Everyone,

I had a great time in Lincoln and it was great to spend some time with my mom, sisters, daughter and two of my nieces. I hope everyone made it home safely and recuperated.

I went to the Relay for Life with Sarah and had a great time at it. It was very inspirational.They held the event in a very large building, it was an indoor soccer field and a practice field for football. It had a full sized football field indoors. It was connected to the rec center so restrooms were close. At 11 they did a luminary service and shut off all of the lights and lit the luminaries that lined the track with purple glow sticks. They had a stage with a singer at times and all sorts of games and activities around the building. At 11 a group was on stage and a 19 year old girl spoke of being diagnosed with cancer last summer. She spoke of her experience with chemo and surgery. Wow! They then lit individual luminaries reading a part and saying if you are walking for you mother or father I light this luminary for you, then brother or sister, ect.. They had lights spell out HOPE on a wall and lit each letter separately and read what they stood for. Then everyone walked around the track in silence with music playing. It was very emotional. Sarah walked until around midnight and then we ordered a pizza to be delivered there. I met a boy that Sarah is dating. His name is Isiah and he seemed like a very nice young man. Very normal.

Sarah and I got a room at the Super 8 motel. We got back to bed around 2 a.m. I was exhausted and went to sleep right away. We were abruptly awakened at 7 a.m. by a very loud boom and a bright flash of light. It was very scary. At first I was not sure where I was and then I said "Sarah" She was sitting up and bed and said what was that. I knew it was lightening. I grabbed a pair of jeans and put shoes on and went to the lobby. Our room was on 3rd floor and the first floor was full of water. I asked a maid what happened. She said we were hit by lightning and smoke was coming out of the laundry room. I went back to the room and Sarah and I got dressed and packed our things and went back to the lobby. This motel had kind of a different lay out. You walked into the lobby but you had to go down about 4 steps to the first floor and up about five to the second floor. The breakfast area was on the level where you stepped down the steps it was flooded with very dirty water. I asked if they wanted me to knock on doors but the maids were already doing that. A very loud high pitched alarm was going off. We stayed for a while to watch the firemen. They decided there was not a fire but the lightning had struck and busted the water main. The city water dept. was on the way. We left and went to Sarah's dorm room. It was raining very hard and thundering most of the day. Sarah took a nap in her bed and I sat in the tv room for a while. The rain let up so Sarah and I went for a walk. We did not really feel like shopping we were wet and tired.

That afternoon we showered at the dorm and then went to Sarah's speech banquet. It was in an area of Lincoln called Havlock. It was like a totally different town. Like a small town inside the city limits of Lincoln. We had a great meal, they served prime rib, garlic roasted potatoes and steamed vegetables, a salad bar and then a dessert bar. They talked on how the team did at nationals and said goodbye to two coaches. I got on the road home around 8:30. It was a good trip. I did not get any shopping done that I had planned but it was nice to spend some time with Sarah without being rushed. If it had been a sunny day I may have been in a better mood. I loved the Grace Snyder quilt exhibit.

On the home front Seth was busy. He had a track meet on Saturday and then headed for the Order of The Arrow Ordeal at the lake near North Platte. He was only going to help as an OA member but once he got there they said he should go for the next level and join the Brotherhood. It cost $30 to do this and of course he did not have the money. Roger Thompson, a man Seth has gotten to know through boy scouts paid it and told Seth he did not have to pay him back he would get it out of him. Roger is the director of Game and Parks in North Platte. He also gave Seth a Beaver hide to have(I don't reallyknow why Seth wanted it). Anyway Seth was very excited that he is now in the Brotherhood. On my way home from Lincoln Seth and Denny kept calling me to see if I was awake. I got home around midnight. I was really fighting sleep so I stopped in Lexington and went to McDonald's . The races in Lex were just getting done so McDonalds was busy! But I got home ok. Ginger was so excited. I guess she thought I had left her forever.

I just want to let you know that if you do want to make a donation to the relay for life in Sarah's name. I just went to google, and then relay for life university of nebraska, then Donate, I put in Sarah Wilson and then clicked on her name. Then I went to luminaries and purchased the luminaries I wanted you also can just make a donation and it will credit to her name. The American Cancer site was too big to figure out how to donate in Sarahs name. I purchase three one for Louise, Ruth, and Kate. Then because of the cash from church I purchased others but they were from other people. Thanks for donating if you can!

I was just watching the Today Show. They had a family on there that reported the Cheerleading coach posed nude for Playboy magazine. The coach was fired and the family that reported her was getting harassed from other parents. They said she was a great coach. Apparently a girl was kicked off of the team for being late to class three times. It was this girls parents that then reported the coach and said if we are going to play by the rules it goes for everyone. I agree with the parents! Apparently not everyone does. How can parents of young women not see this as wrong? The cheer leading coach is someone these girls admire and look up to and should respect. If they have posed in a magazine nude I feel the girls would see this as ok. They were not old pictures, and she was proud of it not sorry she did it a long time ago sort of thing. She was not telling the girls it was wrong and she made a bad choice. She was saying on tv that morals are a matter of opinion. The girls in that school could not be cheer leaders if they had racy pictures on facebook or anywhere on the internet, they could not be late for class because they were suppose to be leaders.
What has happened to our society that we lash out at the parents and not the coach. I think the other parents should have been supporting the parents that reported the coach. It would have been better of course it they had not done it out of anger about the girl being kicked off of the team. It should have been done before this. The reporting parents said they would have done it anyway or if it was a teacher or football coach.

I would like to hear you opinions? Maybe I stand alone. Should this Playboy Poser be a Cheerleading coach?

Hi to everyone.

I haven't written for a while but I have had a busy weekend I would like to share with you. This weekend Seth and I switched roles. I went to a Boy Scout camp out and Seth stayed home. I went to a Leader Training weekend. I had a good time. There were about 17 of us getting trained and several trainers came in. Probably about 25 were there most of the time. It was raining all day on Friday and still raining when I got to the camp to set up. The camp was held at the lake near North Platte, we have a boy scout camp there called Whispering Cedars. So I did not have to leave home before 5:30. I believe I have more of an in sight to what Seth feels before a camp out. A little apprehension and nerves. The rain let up when I set up my tent so it did not get too wet. Others from our troop were Russ Hoatson and Doug Zimbleman. They are great guys and I am so glad they have joined our troop. They will be great Leaders for our boys. Also one of the men that was leading this training was our Scout Master Jim Parish. So I knew I was in very good hands just like I know any boy from troop 293 is in very good hands when they go camping. There were leaders from all over there including, Gothenburg, McCook, Superior, Cambridge, Ogallala(Carman Troxall) , North Platte. We learned about knot tying, fire building, flag ceremonies, dutch oven cooking, water safety, high adventure camping, first aid,compass use, church services, Order of the Arrow, Eagle Scout orientation, service projects, how to sharpen knives and tools, skits and songs. They kept us busy from 6p.m Friday night to 3p.m Sunday afternoon. We were lucky and it stopped raining on Saturday and really was a very nice day. It was cool but I think I would rather need a sweat shirt instead of get a sun burn. It made the coffee taste better and the fire feel good. It rained on us again on Sat night while we slept but Sunday again was nice. I even planted a Silver Buffalo Berry bush at the camp with my name on it. On Friday I froze and did not sleep well but Saturday I got a couple of extra blankets from my car and Russ gave me a couple of Hot Hands packets to put in the bottom of my sleeping bag I slept really good. I was definetly ready to get a pop and a shower on Sunday.

While Seth was home alone he said he really missed me. He vacuumed and wash clothes. He even went to church by himself and gave the announcement of Sarah in the Relay for life and asked for donations. He actually got 30 dollars raised for her. She now has 60 towards her goal of 100. If anyoned wants to donate you can go to American Cancer Society, Relay for Life and Sarah is listed under Selleck. You can purchase a luminary for $10. The luminaries line the track they walk on. Sarah will be walking 11 to midnight on Saturday April 25th. I was very very proud of Seth for doing this for his Sister.

On Sunday our lawn mower would not start. So Seth and I loaded it up and took it to Denny and loaded up his to take to our house. We got the lawn mowed. It really needed it.

Seth was in the track meet in Grant. His weight mans relay team got 3rd place. He was happy with that. He got a medal and lettered in track. He threw the shot 28 ft. The best thing for me was Seth finally got excited a little about track. I said I think he can throw 30 at the next meet and he didn't argue with me and say no I can't. To place at meets you will have to throw at least 40.

Donating for the Red Cross

Thursday night Seth, Denny and I attended a volunteer appreciation chili supper. It was sponsored by the Red Cross for donating blood platelets. I donate on a regular basis and I was very inspired by the supper. I saw lots of people I know. Several from Boy scouts, 4-H, and church. Amazing isn't it that a lot of the people who volunteer their time for these organizations also are volunteers for the red cross. For being a first time donor in 2008 I received a t-shirt, a certificate and a red cross box full of candy. Others that have donated at certain levels got plaques, the one that has donated 624 times received a gift. I really enjoy donating the platelets. The people are always so happy when you come in and you feel really appreciated. At this supper they had people who have been on the receiving end talk about their experience and need for platelets and it brought tears to your eyes to hear their stories and realize that you really are needed. Platelets only last 5 days so they need lots of donors and often. I also like it that I can do something to help someone but I can schedule it as my own schedule allows, not have to attend meetings, or work closely with other people. I don't mind working with people but sometimes it seems like you work hard and are not very productive. When I go to give platelets they ask me,"How many lives do you want to save today" and I have to decide if I will give a single, double or a triple bag.

Today I went to the North Platte Speech meet. It is a big one. There were 35 schools there and they are big schools like Kearney and Gothenburg and Sydney. Seth did his persuasive and entertainment speech. He did good on both but it is really tough competition. We left before awards. We do know that in one of his persuasive rounds he beat a couple of people. Anyway it was good practice. Next week is Ogallala and it will also be a big one but then the next one after that will be our conference which is only 6 schools. Sarah is at a speech meet at Concordia. She is only doing persuasive today.

After the speech meet Seth and I came home around 4 and got bundled up and took Ginger sledding. We had a lot of fun. Ginger loved it! We did not stay very long but after Seth went head over heels and his glasses flew off we decided to quit. His ears were packed with snow. It was a good thing we left because we just got in the car and saw a skunk heading toward us. We drove by it and it raised its tail at us but it didn't get the van directly. But we could certainly smell it.

For supper tonight we had a heart shaped pizza. Happy Valentines day! Denny did give me a valentine. He got me a certificate to a beauty shop for a facial, pedicure and a hair style. I don't think he meant anything by this :) He said he thought it was better than chocolates. I said no but better than flowers.

We got around 10 inches of snow on Thursday night. It started at 2 a.m. and came down fast and heavy right away. It was not too bad at work. On the pits we are somewhat protected but it was not fun coming home. My friend Mary that lives in Maywood did not get home. I think she could have but it was a good excuse for her to stay in town and actually get some sleep. She has two teen age sons and a four year old daughter. She also has a guy staying with her right now that she is not getting along with. Her parents live right beside her so the kids were taken care of. I took heart shaped cookies to work and we made breakfast burritos. I didn't have to get out much. I had an inspection on the first half which went good and then I had about three to do on the second half. One went good but the next one was not running and they could not get it running. I have to have them running for most of my test so I did not have to do that one. The next one was a GE unit and really they should do their own. I work on the UP side and since it took so much time to get that other one running I didn't have to do that one either. So I spent a lot of time on a cold unit and running around in blowing snow for nothing. On Friday night it was cold and again I only had two inspections. The last one again was not running. The machinest shuts them down so he can do his job but this one has to have air to start. By the time he went to start it the air was too low to get it started. There was a unit in front of us that was running so the machinest said who wants to move that unit closer so we can hook up the air. Not Me! It is against the rules to do that. So he moved it and the pipe fitters were on the ground to help. They quickly hooked up the air and as soon as it hit 90 pounds I pushed the button and it started then they unhooked it and Andy backed up that other unit and no one said a word. But when he hit the unit I was on it caused a problem with my CCS. So I had to fix it. Wow! What a night.

Tonight I get to stay home.

Last night was a frustrating night at work. I was not very busy but the one I did work on was very difficult. I was on the same locomotive last Thursday night. I am very lucky that on the Midnight shift is a guy that I consider an expert at working on CCS. CCS is a safety system on the locomotives and it is my job to test, analyze and fix as they come to the service track. My good friend Tom is the one that does the same job I do only in the Shop. It is a little different because in the shop they have more time and at the Service Track we are expected to get them fixed and back on the road. Anyway Tom came out to the service track and took a look at this same locomotive on Thursday night. The locomotive is number 6165. Tom said it was not worth fixing and we should send it out without CCS. They could do this but it could not ever be a leading locomotive but it could still work for power. So I don't know where it was Thursday thru Tuesday but anyway it was back for me to fix. Well I tried and did not successeed. Now I am hoping that another shift will work on it and if they can fix it- Yea!

Last Saturday I was contacted about the death of Doris Black. Doris was Royce's aunt, Gordon's sister. She was married to Louise's brother Edwin.So she was like a double aunt to Royce. Edwin just turned 93 years old. I worry about him because he has been very busy the last few years taking care of Doris. I think he will be very lonely. Doris had a very big heart. She was always helping someone and she was very good to me when we lived in Oberlin. Last May she came to Sarah's graduation. It is hard to believe that she is not with us anymore.

Seth had a late start today. I guess the teachers had a meeting to attend. It was good to see him before he went to school.

I got a package ready to send to Sarah for Valentines Day so I should head to the post office.
More later...