Eye update

Today I went for my 2-week checkup on the right eye where I had the cataract removed last month. According to the doctor, it is doing wonderful and with glasses, they can correct my vision in that eye to 20/20. I can see  20/20 without glasses for reading. Before I had the surgeries, my left eye was corrected to 20/50 and the right eye was corrected to 20/30. Before I get my new glasses, I am going to have the film removed on the left eye by a laser procedure on Aug 9th. With the film, the left eye could only be corrected to 20/30 today. I decided that there is no reason to wait and see if it gets worse and then have to get new glasses after it is removed. I'll just do it now and get it over with. 8-) However the laser will mean I keep doing drops longer and I HATE doing drop because it is so hard for me to hit my eye ball the first time. I have found that practice does NOT make perfect when it comes to me putting eye drops in my eyes. Oh well......

The following Ziggy comic was in the newspaper today. I love it!

I was telling someone last weekend that if I have to evacuate my house and could only take a few things then my trip books are what I would grab!  But if I couldn't rescue them, there would be a mass reprinting of the books. They are so valuable to me because of the memories in them.

Happy July 4th

Dinner tonight: Years ago I used to BBQ on a grill and usually my Christmas dinner when I was in California was a T-Bone steak that I cooked on the grill. Sometimes the plant didn't shut down for Christmas and if the guys had to work then I didn't take Christmas off - to me it would not have been fair.  I didn't work all day but went to the plant at least once during the day or evening and did some paperwork after saying "hi" to everyone. Anyway, after Larry came along, he took over the grill and did a fine job. I haven't grilled since he died until today. You can't have a gas or charcoal grill on an apartment patio or balcony in Overland Park and it's the same in many cities. However, a way to get around it is to have one of the little 14" Smoky Joe charcoal grills and put it out in the yard at least 10 feet from the building on the ground. So that is what I did and today was the first time I used it. I cooked a perfect medium well strip steak and had a salad with it. I could hear Larry on my shoulder giving me instructions... 8-)  My goal is to learn how to cook salmon on the grill.

Weekend: It was a pretty laid back weekend for me. Vivian came over Saturday morning and we mostly just hung out here at home and visited, looked at old pictures, etc. Saturday night we went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant that I have never been to before and had a wonderful dinner. Sunday morning we went down to Union Station for a leisurely breakfast before the crowds got there. We hadn't planned to but the new streetcar was not crowned so hopped on it and rode it for the whole loop down through downtown, to the City Market and back to Union Station. Vivian had never been on a streetcar/light rail before so it was a treat for her. Then we went over to Kauffman Gardens which is probably my favorite place to go around KC. I LOVE it and am always interested in seeing what are blooming. They totally replant it 4 times a year so it is always changing. Here are some pics from the gardens:

Meet Crazy, the garden cat. Yes, that is his name. He is one fat, lazy cat. He has the run of the place and his feeding dish, bed etc are in the conservatory. A sign over his dish, in big letters, says "Do Not Feed The Cat. He is fed regularly and is getting too fat from everyone feeding him." He just wanders around and ignores people although he did come up to Vivian and let her pet him which is the first time I have ever seen that and I have seen him many times.

This is a pink double echinacea. I have never seen one before and it sure is pretty. 

A very large bumble bee setting atop this echinacea having lunch. 

This guy didn't want to be left out so posed perfectly on a limb in the garden. 

It was a good weekend!

Summer Sunday

Since I will be having my right cataract removed tomorrow, when I usually do this blog, I thought I would write it today while I can still see the computer screen. The biggest surprise for me after they did the left eye was that when I took the patch off several hours later, that eye was totally blurry and I could only see light and dark. It took a few more hours before I could make out shapes but it was much better by bedtime. Not what I expected based on what other people told me about their experience. But this time I know what to expect - at least if it is like last time. 

Yesterday was my last class/public speaking for the year - at least as far as I know. I found out today that there was 92 people at the meeting yesterday of the genealogy society. It has been at least 20 years since I stood in front of that many people and spoke. It doesn't bother me if I am prepared and I was prepared for yesterday. There was 27 slides in my PowerPoint and it was good - even if I do say so myself. 

This was the cover slide and the title of my talk. Besides talking about why a person should do their own story for their descendants, I walked them through how I do my spiral bound books that most of you have seen. The closing thought was "If we don't leave a written history of our life, we will just be faces that stare out from a faded picture or a name on a chart."  

I talked about how you don't have to just write a big book but can do a cookbook and used Vida's book as an example.  Two people came up to me after the meeting and wanted the recipe for the Chicken and Noodles that I used as an example of what is in the book. I had several of the books that I have done on a display table that people could look at after the meetings and the table drew a big crowd. Allow me to brag just a bit and say I got a lot of compliments after the meeting. Plus, here are  a couple of the emails that I got last night. "Just wanted to let you know that I thought your program today was the best we have had since I joined the group" by someone who has been a member for about a year. A long time member wrote "Your program this morning was the firs one I've heard that made me feel that I might actually be able to write my life story. Writing a book is so intimidating but what you described mad it seem possible." Mission accomplished for me"

Life after teaching: Today I am cleaning off my desk and getting ready to think about something besides teaching classes. Most people don't understand how much work goes into getting ready for a class or do one of these presentations.  It is good to get them behind me. 

 For you not on Facebook, I took this earlier in the week while out for my morning walk. I was so focused on taking the picture that I didn't see this giant bee coming in for a landing and was then too shocked to move. He only stayed for a couple of seconds and flew off. A thistle isn't much of a plant but I think the flowers are really pretty. 

Monday Misc - June 20, 2016

Another Monday....Some updates....

Last week's carotid artery dopler test: I don't have the official results yet from the doctor but I don't have any problems according to the tech who did the test. There is 1 small spot of plaque in each artery. She explained everything to me as she went along and I got to watch the screen so could see what the inside of my carotid arteries look like, blood flowing through them, etc. Kinda neat! I just assumed that since I have so much plaque in my heart arteries that it would also be in the neck arteries but not so.

Last Friday's Neuroscience Happy Hour: I am hooked on this series of lectures at the Prairie Fire Museum. Last week's topic was on migraines. Some of what I learned...  A severe headache, even if not a migraine , effects the whole brain chemesty. There are 4 kinds of headaches - migraine, general, tension and sinus. A "general" headache is really a low-grade migraine.   Migraines usually happen less frequently as a person gets older. Migraines can start with children as early as 4-5 years old and a person's tendency for them can be inherited.  You can have a migraine headache without the aura (seeing flashing lights, etc). People with migraines respond to environmental things that don't bother other people such as odors, temperature, food, alcohol, etc. The goal for doctors is to control migraines in people rather than the migraines contolling the person. They cannot be cured. Next topic is OCD, ADD and ADHD.

Long-lost niece found: Terrie, my oldest brother's daughter, lived with Darryl (my ex-husband) for 2-3 years back in the mid-1970's, when we were living in Denver, while her parents were still in Japan. Her dad was in the Navy and she came back to live with us when she graduated high school. Anyway, I lost touch with her around 2001 after she left her husband in Alaska and moved to Georgia to be near her widowed mother.  I have tried many times over the years to find her or her mother. Terrie's mother died in January of this year and her obituary popped up as a hint in my genealogy software program. In the obituary was where the children were living. So back to Facebook I went for the another search. I found Facebook pages for Terrie, her brother and her daughter who now goes by her middle name - not the first name that I had been looking for. None of them had been active on Facebook for a long time. However, I went ahead and send a FB message to Terrie's daughter in February. Last week I got a message back with Terrie's phone number in it. So after looking for 15 years, I called Terrie on Saturday and we caught up a bit. She lives about 30 minutes south of Memphis in Mississippi. I feel a trip coming up.....

Odds and Ends - June 19th

Nothing major happening this week - just odds and ends of stuff that is taking up time.

Classes: Two classes down and one to go. Last Monday I taught a 1 hour class on "Why Should I Do a Timeline?" to 53 people who attended the genealogy class. We ask everyone to do evaluation forms on various aspects of the class and the "speaker" scored a 4.85 out of a possible 5 so I guess I did o.k. On the 25th,  I speak to the Genealogy Society's general meeting on "Writing YOUR Family History" with the emphasis being on writing it for you or your immediate family. If a person is writing a family history,  they usually do it on past ancestors - like 3X Great-grandfather, etc but not about current people. People don't like to write/talk about themselves. I will be glad when this last class is over and I can get on to other things.

It's HOT outside: I have had several people who know I moved here from the desert ask me how the hot weather here compares to the summers in Tucson. I will take the weather here because even when the heat index is 100, there is a breeze when you go outside. It isn't just the "oven heat" like it is in the desert. Plus, because of the humidity here, I can breath much better.  In the desert, in the summer when the humidity was so low, I felt like I was breathing in a closed plastic bag when I was outside.

Car problem: Yesterday I left a restaurant with Vivian at about 1:30 - hottest day of the year - and the air conditioner in my vehicle wouldn't work. It was just blowing hot air and I do mean hot - like you had the heater on high. It was working fine up until then. So I called the dealer and they got me right in this morning plus gave me a loaner car since they didn't know how long it would take to fix it. I got a call a little while ago that a valve broke so they were fixing it and then recharging the air conditioner. I can pick it up in the morning. One thing about them, I can get a loaner anytime I want it and I get relatively new vehicles of the same kind I have. Today I got a new RX350,  like mine,  with less than 10,000 miles on it.  I wait if I'm just in there for an oil change and it will only take a couple of hours but could get a free loaner for just an oil change.

Until next time....

Happy Monday!

Heart Doctor: I saw my heart doctor last Thursday for a routine yearly checkup. Again, I am impressed with the doctors at KU Med. This guy is the head of the cardiology dept and only sees patients 2 afternoons a week. Yet he and the resident take the time to read my file in the computer BEFORE they came into the room to see me. I don't feel like just a number that they have no idea who I am or what my problems are like it was in Tucson. He took me off one of the meds that I have been on for a year since it didn't bring my triglycerides down like he hoped it would. Cholesterol is good so that med is doing it's job along with walking and diet. Because of family history, he is scheduling me for a carotid Doppler (ultrasound of the neck artery).  They didn't do the neck when they did the heart a couple of years ago. I like that he said "yes, you are a high risk but go live your life and do what you can that is within your control - you can't change what you inherited." We talked about me going back to taking Trilipix, the only med that worked on triglycerides for me,  but he wants to review all my liver numbers first.

Neuroscience Happy Hour: I went to another one of these last Friday night and learned all about Parkinson Disease. Bet  you didn't know that the stethoscope was invented in 1816 so a male doctor would not have to put his ear on a woman's check to hear her heart? The doctor's other tidbit comment was "There is NO advantage to getting older." He was speaking medically because otherwise I would have to disagree with him. Parkinson is a neurodegenerative disease like Alzheimer's or dementia is. It is on the increase because people are living longer. He compared the body to a car as we get older.... The engine (brain) and transmission (heart) may still be good but all the other parts are wearing out. The production of dopamine (enzyme in the brain that makes us feel happy/good) slows down as we get older so we don't enjoy things like we used to. If you have hand tremors when you are holding something but it goes away when you rest your hand in your lap then you do not have Parkinson's. The head movement of Michael J. Fox is not due to the Parkinson that he has but is a side effect of the medication he is on for the Parkinson's. The next Happy Hour topic is on migraines and I plan to be there. Where else can you learn from a doctor while enjoying a glass of wine and appetizers?

Otherwise...: I'm still plugging along on preparing for the classes I am teaching this month. I'm prepared for the first one and making progress on the 2nd one. I'm also working on the trip book from when Nancy was here for a visit last month. The pictures are all in the book and am writing the text. I'm also doing some planning on things to do when Jane comes out for a visit next month from Tucson. Busy week coming up.

Memorial Weekend

I don't know why people in the west don't put flowers on graves at Memorial day like they do in the Midwest. Just a difference in regional traditions.... I enjoy it after having been gone for so many years and not doing it. I think I am more aware of it now maybe due to having had more birthdays and also my interest in genealogy. It is just that taking a minute to remember family members and friends.

Anyway, here is what the back of my vehicle looked like when Vivian and Karen left here last Saturday.

 We put flowers on 18 graves this year. This is the 3rd year we have done it and now have the process down pat. I have a list of people to get flowers for, take a marking pen to the store and we write the names on the flowers when we get them.  Then they are sorted in the car depending which cemetery we go to first.

Last year on Memorial weekend,  Vivian and I worked a very long time to clean her mother's tombstone and get the dirt, algae, etc off it.

Above is what the tombstone looked like before we cleaned it. Below is how it still looks this year after we got done cleaning it. We were surprised that it still looked so good this year.

I talked to a company that makes tombstones and he told me what to do and that is what we did and it worked. He said to use Dawn dish soap,  water, scrub with a soft bristle brush,  a really lot of elbow grease and rinse really good with water when done. There are a couple more tombstones that are starting to discolor but decided to wait another year before doing them and do it in the fall when it is cooler.

I'm taking the Quarterly to the printer this morning and then have to get back to getting ready for the class I teach on the 13th. PLUS, I have to prepare for the one I'm doing on June 25th so those are my focus this month! Then I don't have any more classes to teach for the year at this point. I don't mind doing them but it is so much work to do the PowerPoint, research, etc to get ready for them.

A Different Weekend...

I realized this week that I'm am back in the habit of "working" during the week and taking weekends off. That makes no sense as my "work" (genealogy class prep, etc) can be done any day but it is just habit. Right now my volunteer stuff is taking a lot of time but it will significantly drop off at the end of June when all the classes I'm teaching will be over for the year. Oh well.....

On Friday night I went to the Museum at Prairiefire's Neuroscience Happy Hour that is on Fridays, 6-7:30 p.m.. It is an informal presentation by a doctor from St. Luke's Hospital Neuroscience Department. I 'm a member there so get their emails and I ignored the first one a couple of weeks ago about a class on Dementia but decided to go last Friday and am really glad I did. Besides enjoying the free wine and appetizers, I learned more than I ever wanted to know about Time is Brain: Guide to Recognition and Treatment of Strokes. The doctor was the head of their stroke department and knew her stuff. I learned I have a moderate risk for a stroke based on my blood pressure, cholesterol, smoking, A-Fib, weight, exercise and family history of stokes. Some of the questions on the risk survey were just yes or no do you have them while other questions for what is my blood pressure, cholesterol, amount of exercise, etc.  I know I have a lot of plaque in the heart arteries but did not know that I also have it in the brain arteries - it it is in one place in the body then it is in other arteries also. I always thought it was  plaque in the heart that broke off and traveled up to the brain. Now I know the plaque is already in the brain and can just break off in the brain and travel to a smaller vein where it causes a blockage. I  learned that 32,000 brain cells die every second during a stroke or 1.9 million die every minute the blockage is there. There is only a 3 hour window for them to give you the pill that may break up a clot from the first onset of a symptom. We hear that our blood pressure should be in the 120/80 range but for someone over 80, it should be under 150/85 - a higher allowable limit that someone younger. She also showed a video of a new procedure where they can go up through an artery in the groin to the brain and pull out a clot.  It was all fascinating!  They are scheduled through August with different topics on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. I will definitely pay more attention to the emails I get from them on future Happy Hour's at the Museum.

Yesterday I went with a friend to the Johnson County K-State Research and Extension's 2016 Garden Tour. There were 6 homes, all owned by Master Gardner's, and we could wander around their yards and see what they had planted, how the yard was designed, etc. We only went to 4 of the gardens and that took a lot of hours. Of course one garden was my favorite - I would love to have it in a yard. However, I am not willing to spend the amount of them she and her husband (both Master Gardeners) spend each week on their yard. They have lived there for 18 years so it wasn't done overnight. It wasn't just the plants, but she is wonderfully artistic and had so many creative ways to use yard art to add interest in the gardens.

Over the table on the patio, is a chandelier where she replaced the bulbs with little bowls and then planted cascading plants in the bowls. 

This was an automobile wheel that she cleaned up, painted and them put ceramic tile on it and turned it into a planter. It was beautiful. 

Interesting mix of flowers, yard art (sun dial) and shrubs. 

And yes there were lots and lots of flowers. 

So back to "work" tomorrow and working on my next class which is 2 weeks from tomorrow....

Koala Flats and other zoo items

Yes it was pretty cool this morning - 45 degrees when I got up but it was sunny. So I headed out to the zoo after stopping by the Farmer's Market for some more strawberries that were picked yesterday and some bread that was baked last night. I have learned to be at the zoo when it opens and I head straight to an exhibit I really want to see. Most people go through the gate and then meander towards nothing in particular. Even when I go to a zoo in another town, I print out the map ahead of time and know which exhibits I want to see. I know... 8-)

Koala Flats:  Burra and Coedie, are brothers who were born at the San Diego Zoo in Aug 2013. They are being rented out to the KC Zoo for 8 months and will then return San Diego. The 2 flew here on Southwest Airlines accompanied by their San Diego handler while sharing a row of seats.

 Meet Burra. I think they are absolutely adorable! 

Koalas ONLY eat eucalyptus leaves. So....since eucalyptus trees don't grow in the Midwest, the zoo gets 2 shipment a week from San Diego, via Southwest Airlines, of eucalyptus branches. The branches are cut and stuck in 6-8 containers around the enclosure - mostly by their "trees".  According to the zoo docent, the absence of local eucalyptus trees is why we won't ever have a permanent exhibit of koalas at the KC Zoo. 

 Eucalyptus is very low in energy and can be very toxic to most other animals. Koalas rest about 20 hours per day when they are detoxifying the poison in eucalyptus. These guys woke up twice int he 30 minutes I was watching them. Once when the keeper sprayed some disinfectant on the floor prior to washing down the floor and the second time was when she prodded them awake. After a few minutes they went back to sleep. 

One advantage of having a zoo membership, is that I can come as often as I want. I go, see what I want to see that time knowing I will be back again and again and again.....

This "baby" orangutan is 7 years old and usually has his security blanket - a burlap sack. Part of the time he had it completely over his head. 

The little guy and his mommy. Orangutans stay with their mother until they are about 8 years old. Then they will breed the mother again when she has kicked the baby out on his own. 

I am fascinated by jelly fish - they are so graceful in their movements! The little "tails" only come out when they move. 

And of course, I had to get a few flower pictures in while I was there.

I'm not sure what this is but it was bright and colorful.....

And just a plain Shasta daisy with a bug having lunch. 

Even though it was cool, it was a beautiful day and the place was packed when I left at noon.

2 down and 2+ to go

This week I taught 2 classes for the genealogy society that I belong to. On Monday, I taught a 1 hour class in which I compared the 4 most popular genealogy software programs. It has been many, many years since I created a presentation like that and I used to do it routinely when I was working. This was the 2nd in a series of 9 monthly classes we are doing. I'm the coordinator for the series in addition to teaching 2 of the classes. The society has never done anything like this before and we had no idea how many people, if any, would come. Last month we had 34 people and this time we had 46. I already have 26 registered for next month! We ask the attendees to do an evaluation on the class when it is over and as a speaker, I got a 4.82 out of 5. Of course, I would have liked to have a 5 but that is unheard of so was happy with what I got. I'm teaching the class next month and then I am done  teaching - others are teaching the rest of them. Next month my topic is "Timelines" , which if you aren't into genealogy the subject won't mean anything, Yesterday I did a 45 min class on building a Website - very simple for the society writing group. No evaluation on that one.....  Plus I have to get the June Quarterly done!!!!!  My desk is always a mess but I know what is in which stacks. 8-)  However, I left my big desk in Tucson and am using Larry's much smaller desk which doesn't have as much room on it for stacks. Hence, there are stacks of folders, notebook and papers on the floor around me...... I need to get started soon on the 2nd class I am teaching next month which is on "Writing YOUR Life Story".  Can't wait until July 1st when my classes are all done and I have some play time.

Shingles update: After 3 very long months, it is mostly gone. I still have one place on my arm will randomly feel like someone drove a hot knife into it and after a few minutes the pain is gone. It was broke out at  one time in that spot but not any more. I keep hearing about people who had after-effects for months and sometimes even years. At least the back isn't bothering me any more.

Koalas:  I read yesterday that the 2 koalas have arrived at the zoo here from San Diego and are on exhibit. I immediately looked at the weather to pick a good day to go and there is nothing but cold weather for the next few days. May go anyway....  They are only here for a few months and then go back home. Hopefully, we will get a permanent pair. I think they are so, so adorable! Stay tuned....

January trip:  While Nancy was here, we talked about taking a trip in January to LA and asking Jane to go with us which she has agreed to do. I will meet them there.  Nancy and I are on a mission to visit as many of the Presidential Libraries as we want to knowing we probably won't get to all 13 of them. Some of them don't interest us... In LA we will visit the Regan and Nixon libraries. I can't believe I lived there for 7 years and never went to visit them but those years were all about work. I have already visited the Kennedy, Truman, Clinton, Johnson and Eisenhower. The Hoover library in Iowa and the Carter library are also on our lists for sometime in the future. To me they are fascinating and I have learned so much about being a president and the person - not just what we see on TV.

Later....

Art and flowrs

We are TIRED!  I tell myself it's because I have had another birthday since the last trip.....

We got back from Abilene around noon yesterday. After unpacking, we went and had lunch and then went out to the Arboretum just to go for a walk. It was so nice out there and the flowers were beautiful.

This morning we went down to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art to see the "Reflecting Class in the Age of Rembrandt & Vermeer" exhibit. The exhibit was good but we both expected more paintings by Rembrandt & Vermeer. There was only 2 by Rembrandt and 1 by Vermeer. It was more about the the 17th century Dutch painters depicting the class levels of the Dutch people.

This painting by Paulus Moreelse was probably my favorite. I am just in awe of the finite detail (below picture) of the painting in the lace, her jewelry and all the pearls she is wearing. It looks more like a photograph than a painting.

This Vermeer, titled "A Lady Writing" is good but didn't do much for me. 

After lunch in the courtyard cafe, we went over to Kauffman Gardens to check out the early summer plantings which were beautiful. As many times as I have been to the Gardens since I moved here, they are always different. 

Even these ornamental onion plants are really pretty. 

Nancy leaves tomorrow and the house will seem very empty....

Abilene, Kansas

This morning we drove over to Abilene which is about 2.5 hours west of KC. Nancy and I are working out way down the list to visit all 13 of the Presidential Libraries so wanted to visit the Eisenhower Museum and Library here in Abilene. This is the fifth presidential library that I have been to. We were interested in learning more about the Eisenhower White House years but most of the museum is devoted to his military life which was a disappointment for us but we did learn a lot we didn't know.

Ike and Mamie are buried here in the Meditation Chapel. Behind the marble wall is a small chapel.

Ike's family moved into this house when he was a small boy and he lived in this house until he was 18 and left for West Point. The house sits on it's original site and is now on of the Museum grounds. Originally it was about 800 sq ft and they raised 6 boys in it. It was added on after the kids all left home and is now about 1100 sq ft. The original furnishings are still in the house.

I have not thought about the 50's bomb shelters in years! This replica of an bomb shelter built to the government's specification pamphlet is shown above. The shelter required 6" x 6" wood posts, 1,776 bricks and a 24" x 24" window. Inside, a well stocked shelter would include a Geiger counter, snakebite kit, a chemical toilet, 2 gallons of toilet chemical and an air pump for mattresses.

The marble in the library lobby was beautiful and this picture does not do it justice! The marble on the walls is book-matched Larado Chiaro marble from Italy. The took one big slap, but it and them matched the pieces back together to make it look like a continuous design. The dark marble in the floor is from France and the light color marble in the floor is from St. Genevieve, Missouri along the Mississippi. It was really beautiful.....

We head back home tomorrow and then hit the art museum in KC on Friday. Nancy goes home on Saturday.

Pony Express and Walter Cronkite

I was just too tired last night to do the blog so will catch up today.... We headed back home in the morning yesterday from Omaha and guess what the weather was? If you said "cold, windy and rainy" you were correct.  We ran out of the rain after an hour and then it was periodic light showers the rest of the way home. St Joseph is 1 hour from my apartment so we stopped there to visit the Pony Express Museum and the Walter Cronkite Memorial.

Pony Express Museum: Of course I have heard about the Pony Express all of my life, studied it in school but didn't really remember a lot of the details. The museum was small but quite interesting and refreshed what I was taught in school many, many years ago.

This is the restored building that the first Pony Express rider left from heading west on April 3, 1860. A rider would change horses every 10-15 miles and  there would be a rider change every 75-100 miles. There was 190 stops along the route between St. Joseph, Missouri and Sacramento, Ca. The average one-way trip took 10 days. I was surprised to learn that the Pony Express only lasted about a year and was replaced with the telegraph.

A replica of the first rider leaving the station. When he rode off, a canon was fired so the ferry boat captain could be waiting at the dock down on the Missouri river which was a short distance away. The ferry would take him across the river and then the train went through Kansas a ways and then went up into Nebraska, northern Wyoming and onto to Salt Lake City before going across Nevada to Sacramento. I was surprised that the route didn't just go straight across Kansas.

Walter Cronkite Memorial: This memorial is located on the campus of Missouri Western State University in St Joseph. I have so many memories of watching Walter Cronkite tell me what was happening in the world. The most memorable are when Kennedy was shot and then when Armstrong Landed on the moon.

This is  a display that is perhaps 30 feet high with his most memorable newscast segments on it. Near by is an interactive display where you can select on of these segments and watch it on a 36" TV screen. Yes, we watched a few of them... 8-)

The other really interesting thing was a replica of his news room in New York City that he broadcast the evening news from.  It was not only a studio but also a working newsroom.

Newscaster Nancy is ready to do the evening news at Cronkite's desk as it was when he set there. On his right were several teletype machines to feed breaking news. The machines were in soundproof cabinets so the sound wouldn't be heard on the air. The map behind her is the one that was behind him on the news. Lots of memories at this museum.....

Tomorrow will be another day around  town here before we head off to Abilene, KS on Wednesday for the Eisenhower Presidential Library.

Warren Buffett and the Stockholder's Meeting

This was a big day for me in that I checked an off item that was on mine and Larry's Bucket List. Larry LOVED Warren Buffet and in time he has become a favorite of mine. He is able to explain stock stuff in easy to understand words. He is the 3rd richest man in the world yet lives here in Omaha, Nebraska in a house he paid $31,500 for in 1958 on an ordinary street of Midwest houses. Warren is 86 years old and his Charlie Munger, his partner, is 92 years old.

Nancy and I got up at 5 a.m. today and caught a 5:45 shuttle. It was cold, windy and pouring down rain. There is only one covered walkway from the street to the arena and that is where the shuttle dropped us off so we didn't have to stand out in the rain although it was blowing under the awning at time. There were several other entrances where people were standing outside in the rain. The doors were supposed to open at 7 but opened at 6:30 so we could get in out of the rain. Next came security and then a long walk to the arena. By the time we got into the arena, at least 1/3 of the 20,000 seats were already taken but we lucked out and snagged 2 good seats by an aisle. We got out seats, left our jackets to hold them and went in search of food - soda, packaged pastry, orange juice, coffee and water - not much but it worked.

The pic above shows the stage and the large monitors so we could see them. Bill Gates and his wife, good friends of Buffet, were also there. This is the first time that the meeting was streamed on Yahoo Finance - before it was only heard in the arena. They showed a movie at 8:30 that was various commercials for some of the companies BH owns and some short funny movies of Warren and Charlie. At 9:30 Warren and Charlie started the Q&A. That went on for 7 hours with an hour break for lunch. They did not know what the questions would be in advance. Questions ranged from really technical stock questions that I didn't have a clue what they were talking about to how could they be such a big shareholder of Coke when all that sugar is so bad for you? Warren's answer to that was that he consumes about 600 calories a day in his Cokes and at his age is going to do what brings pleasure to him and it is up to people to make decisions on what they want to do. Besides the coke on the table for them, there was a big box of See's Peanut Brittle and Fudge on the table between them that they ate on.

This is from Yahoo Financial with Warren on the left and Charlie on the right. You can see the candy is between them.

We left at noon and caught the shuttle back to the hotel. We had had enough of crowds, etc. I heard there was around 20,000 people there - about 1/2 of last year but then last year was the 50th Anniversary of the meetings. Both Nancy and I were amazed at how many young people were there - in their 20's and they were totally absorbed in what he was saying. There were people there from all over the world!. Fun day and I'm glad I did it but doubt if I will do it again. Been there, done that.... 8-)

Since the weather continues to be not tourist friendly, Nancy and I are heading back home tomorrow instead of on Monday. The zoo is the only thing we will miss.

Botanical Gardens and Shopping

Another cold, windy, cloudy day - not the weather we  hoped for! This morning we went to the Lauritzen Gardens which is Omaha's botanical gardens. The garden was started in 1982 and today covers over 100 acres with a new, very large conservatory. There were a lot of things inside so we didn't have to walk to much outside in the cold wind. 

There were several tulip beds that were beautiful. The tulips are such a beautiful flower and their life is so short when in bloom. 

More than 30 brilliantly-colored glass sculptures, created and curated for Lauritzen Gardens by nationally-recognized kiln-formed glass artist Craig Mitchell Smith punctuate the landscapes of the Marjorie K. Daugherty Conservatory and the floral display hall. His unique and unparalleled technique of cutting colorful sheets of glass in the shapes of brush strokes and using his kiln as a canvas is similar to the way a painter works with paint. He lays out shards of glass like paint on a canvas and fires these pieces until they melt and fuse into a beautiful form. Smith evaluates every flat flower, petal by petal, and adapts the glass to its finished three-dimensional shape. ABOVE is the back of some sunflowers.

The front of one of the glass sunflowers. 

Another one of the glass flowers. His technique is definitely different from glass I have seen in other exhibits. 

This water lily is real.  

We had lunch at the gardens in a really nice little cafe and then headed for the Century-Link Arena for the Berkshire-Hathaway Exhibit event. It is basically a huge trade show make up of companies that is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. It was just overwhelming with so much to see and so many people! 

Besides getting our picture taken, I ended up with 2 big shopping bags of stuff. There was stuff from Fruit-of-the-Loom, a rubber ducky of Warren Buffet holding a gecko, candy from See's, some stuff from Pampered Chef, gardening gloves from Wells Lamont, a Dilly Bar from Dairy Queen and a fresh water pearl necklace from Borsheim's Jewelry Store, Prices were really reduced on some items. We saw stuff from BNSF railroad, Justin Boots, and the aisles went on and on. We could have bought casual shoes or signed up to lease a jet plane. See's had 16 cash registers to handle the crowds as did Fruit-of-the Loom. The event was wonderfully organized and smooth running. However, our brains were on overload after 2.5 hours and we staggered out with our bags. 

In the morning, we catch a shuttle at 6 a.m. which takes us to the arena where we will stand outside in line until the doors open at 7 a.m. You have to be there by 4 a.m. if you drive to get a parking space. There is a 100% chance of rain in the morning but we have our umbrellas and ponchos ready. We only plan on staying about half a day - not the whole day. We skipped a cocktail reception tonight at the jewelry store and will probably skip the BBQ at Nebraska Furniture Mart tomorrow night. So far it has met or exceeded our expectations. 

Cathedral, Wagon Train and Train Station

We had planned on going to the zoo today but a little weather got in the way. It was 46 degrees this morning with a wind chill of 41 when we left the hotel about 10 a.m. this morning.  Last night we had decided to do the cathedral first and then the zoo so it could warm up a bit. The warming up didn't happen... We decided it wasn't worth freezing to see animals we have already seen so skipped the zoo. Oh well...another day in the future when it is warm. 

Construction on Saint Cecilia Cathedral began in 1905. It was built in the Spanish Renaissance Revival architectural style atop the highest hill in Omaha. It was cloudy all day so no blue skies in the background....

This is inside the church looking towards the alter. It is a beautiful building although not as grand as some I have seen. The ceiling was especially beautiful and different. 

First National Sculpture Parks in downtown Omaha is just amazing! Beginning around 2000, five city blocks were transformed into a green urban sculpture park depicting a moment in the rich history of Omaha, Nebraska and creating a unique setting in the downtown area for one of the largest installations of bronze and stainless steel works of art in the country and in the world.

Beginning at 14th and Capitol Streets, a wagon train leaves Omaha and proceeds along a dry creek bed (above). There are 4 wagons in the train complete with 1 1/4 size scale wagons, oxen, horses, dogs, men, women and children. The statues are all bronze and steel. The train disturbs a nearby group of bison (not pictured), causing them to stampede down 15th Street onto Dodge, where they flush a flock of geese from a nearby pond (below). There are 50 geese in the fountain and on surrounding light poles. 

The geese take flight in and around the intersection of 16th and Dodge Streets, and the sculpture narrative concludes with these majestic Canada Geese flying into and through the First National Tower Winter Garden Atrium. These parks are just incredible and I have never seen anything like them! I have seen the bronze statues in other places but not something that tells a story and continues on for several blocks. 

Construction on Union Station commenced July 29, 1929. The station opened to great fanfare on January 15, 1931 and quickly became one of the busiest stations in the nation. In its heyday, 64 passenger trains and some 10,000 passengers utilized the facility every day. The last passenger train departed Union Station in 1971 and the station closed its doors. Union Station given to the city of Omaha. In 1975, Union Station reopened as the Western Heritage Museum displaying small regional history exhibits and private collections. The $22 million restoration of Union Station began in 1995 and required the Museum to be closed for a period of six months. In 1996 the Western Heritage Museum is opened and re-named the Durham Western Heritage museum. Other than special exhibits, the museum covers the beginning and continued history of Omaha. 

Through the Grand Hall of the Union Station are these life size bronze statues depicting what went on when the station was in full use as a train station. They are wonderful!

Part of the Grand Hall with the original soda fountain that is still operational and serves excellent ice cream... 8-) 

Nancy and I ate at the restaurant here in the hotel tonight and went for a walk through the atrium area after dinner. A local school that teaches Japanese flower arranging was setting up their annual show.  They do it the weekend of the Berkshire Hathaway so guest staying at the hotel can enjoy it. Some of the arrangements were magnificent!  Below is one of my favorites. 

Tomorrow we are off to the botanical gardens in the morning. There is an indoor conservatory so we should be o.k. even if it is cold again. In the afternoon we are going to venture into the B-H exhibit hall and see what all we can find to buy and support my Berkshire Hathaway stock. There was an article about it in the paper this morning and it said that See's Candy will have 16 cash registers there and all open to handle purchases. Peanut Brittle is their biggest seller because that and a coke is what Warren Buffet munches on during the day-long press conference.