June 20 & 21, 2010

Sunday 20th~~~~~Carol still wasn't feeling too good this morning, so I went to Mass alone, I got to see several people who I hadn't seen yet after Mass and we had a good visit at the church. Carol was up and feeling better when I went back to her house, she said Debbie had invited us up for breakfast, so we drove to Deb's house where we had a wonderful breakfast and a real nice visit. Deb and I noticed Carol's head was nodding as we were visiting, so we quit talking and she never noticed it, she was asleep, so we decided she needed to go home to bed and get some rest from all the nights she was up sick. I dropped Carol off at her house and I drove to White Lake to visit my cousin Sandy, she was outside sitting on her deck where I joined her for a cold drink. We looked at a lot of pictures of her children and grand children and I showed her my family and pictures of my class reunion that I had on my camera. After I returned to Kimball, my high school friend Joyce and two of Carol's daughters came over and we looked up recipes and we played cards until about 11:00. Tomorrow I am leaving for Oregon, it seems like I just got here and it is already time to go home. I am ready to get home to see Kent and two of my daughters and their families who are camping at our park for a week who are waiting to see me. I hope my flight going home is better than the last time I flew home from South Dakota in the summer with all of their storms. Monday 21~~~~~After a late breakfast with Carol, I left for Pierre to catch my plane for home. My friend Bonnie called and she wanted me to stop at the station where she works in Ft. Pierre to say goodbye to each other. There were a lot of antique cars on the interstate on my way to Pierre, they were really beautiful to look at. (picture) I stopped to see Bonnie and we got to talking and I about made myself late for my plane. LOL The plane leaving Pierre was another one of those very small planes that I don't like very much. I was pretty tired when we were airborne, I decided to stay awake the one hour flight to Denver and take a long nap when I got on the flight in Denver to Portland. I read my book for awhile and I got drowsy falling asleep to awaken to the pilot talking on the radio. I checked the time and realized we should have been in Denver some time ago. The Pilot came on the radio again and informed us that the Denver Airport was shut down to all flights coming and going and we were headed to Cheyenne, Wyoming to refuel and wait for the storms in the area to clear. There were tornado's and an electrical storm near Denver and we had to wait for further instructions. They always park the small planes so far out on the runway and you have a long walk to get to the airport when the weather is bad. The airport was so little, all they had to eat was one poorly stocked vending machine (no Cheetos's) and one pop machine. I had skipped lunch planning to eat in Denver on my lay over there, so I was getting pretty hungry by now. We waited there for one half hour before we again boarded the plane for Denver. I called my daughter Kim and I asked her if she remembered the flight from Hell when we went to South Dakota one year when Mathew was two years old. She said she remembered it very well and I told her I was doing a repeat of the same flight. When we landed, I had to take the train to another concourse where the Denver flights were. We were one hour late for my flight: I was told to go to the information desk for information on another flight. Of course there were LOTS OF PEOPLE who had the same problem. I was in a line of people 4 persons wide and 1/2 block long when a lady beside me heard a last call to Portland Oregon!!! She said it was way too far and I would never make it to the location. I took off running with my carry on luggage clear across the airport. When I was almost there I saw the check in desk was empty and no one was in the boarding section. I said a quick Our Father prayer and kept running anyway. I ran to the boarding tunnel and there were two attendants there helping an old man board and they let me board. I was wheezing so bad with my asthma I could hardly breathe, when I got to my seat. There was a man sitting in my aisle seat and he told his wife to stand up and let me in to sit by the window. I was in no mood to be messed with at that point and I asked him what his seat number was, he said I don't know, not budging an inch out of my seat. I showed him my ticket and I said , "it says here I am seat number A 25, so I guess you must have my seat!! I think I shocked him when I did that and he moved over and gave me my seat. I later found out that they had a problem with the luggage compartment door and the plane was held up for that reason and I was so lucky to catch it. I found out this 68 year old granny can really run fast if she has to!!! I bought one of the deluxe lunch boxes they serve on the plane and that was my dinner, the man beside me ordered one too, but I got the last one and he had to order the small one. He was really upset with me for sure by then and never spoke a word the whole flight. That was fine with me, I was happy to have made the connection and I would soon be seeing my Sweetie waiting for me in Portland.
I am posting a picture of Patty Olson who was at the Reunion banquet for those who weren't there to see how pretty she is with her white hair. I haven't seen her since she moved to Texas years ago.