Jay flew to Orlando last night to visit a friend who has been put on hospice care. He was supposed to leave from Cedar Rapids at 6:30 and with the winter storm his flight was delayed until 9:30. I was able to track his flight on the airline’s website using its tracking tool.

Leaving Illinois...

Leaving Tennessee...

Close to Florida now...

It’s pretty cool to be able to watch as his flight moved from one point to another. And, it was espeically nice to know that he landed safely and is having a nice visit with our friends.

He used to go golfing in Orlando every year during this same week — the first full week in January — and when he was gone, we usually got alot of snow. Lucky for me, we got the snow before he left this time!

Jay and I won this Jagermeister plastic blowup helmet with two t-shirts, Jager flip flops, a shark clip, and two leis during one of the football games at a bar over a year ago. I saved it as I didn’t really want to just throw it away. When I was wrapping gifts, Jay and I decided to give it to our nephew Adam! I wasn’t positive he would like it but he really did. He immediately put it on and was thrilled saying he couldn’t wait to wear it to a Bronco’s game. We were also thrilled as it is gone from our house…

Leis, two t-shirts, flip flops and a shark clip came with the helmet!

Adam poses for the camera in his helmet

Adam admires his helmet...

We celebrated Christmas 2009 at the my sister’s home. Adam and Ashley who now live in Denver and Russell and Gillian who live in Providence were home so we had a full house. It was a fun time. Becky made these picture scrapbooks for the three girls, Ashley, Gillian and Lindsay. These were the first gifts that were opened.

Lindsay reading her picture book.. Lindsay Comes of Age

Ashley views her picture book.. Ashley Joins the Family

Gillian checking out Gillian Lives Large

After the presents were all opened, we enjoyed visiting with each other. I tried to catch Becky and Gillian in a candid shot but, of course, they wanted to pose! Great picture of mother and daughter…

Gillian and Becky take time out to pose for my camera!

We’ve set the date for the Jones Family Reunion… July 2011 it is… Adam is going to book a week at the YMCA camp in Estes Park, CO. We’ll keep you all posted with the exact dates. Mark your calendars Lloyd E Jones Family!

And I knew it would! As Jimmy Buffet would say, “It’s my own darn fault”… Several months ago, my hair dryer burned up one morning and, of course, it quit working. So I got out my travel hair dryer – the one I keep in my travel kit. Several times I told myself that I needed to go get another hair dryer but haven’t. The last couple of weeks, my hair dryer started making a funny sound. Each day as it got worse, I told myself that I’d better stop and get a new hair dryer before this one burned up.

Yesterday, it was worse and today, it happened! I was drying my hair, the noise got louder, I heard a snap and then I saw very red hot coils… And I only had just started to dry my hair. I looked all over the house hoping that I had another and couldn’t find one – I even checked in the basement on Jay’s tool bench where he used to keep one to use when he waxed skis. No luck there either. So I finished getting ready for work, left the house with wet hair that was getting curly as each moment passed! I stopped and bought two hair dryers — one for every day and one to put back in my travel bag. I got to work and was able to get to the bathroom without being seen to finish drying my curly, unruly hair! What a way to start the day….

One of my many “trips of a lifetime” was the one I took to Australia in 1989. My father was there visiting my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Bill and I made the trip so that he wouldn’t have to fly home alone. I first flew to LA, then to Hawaii, then to Sydney and on to Melbourne where my cousins, Janis and Bill, picked me up to take me to their home in Hamilton. I stayed there for a few days visiting with Janis and her son, Ty, as well as some of their other friends. The next leg of my trip was to the Sunshine Coast…

I took a bus back to Melbourne to catch a flight to Brisbane and then on to Mooloolaba where my aunt and uncle lived and still do. I saw kangaroos, koala bears (held an 18 month old), took a hot air balloon ride with Aunt Ruth, visited a pineapple plantation and took a bus trip to the Gold Coast. I did lots of Christmas shopping while I was there and had to purchase another piece of luggage to get everything I purchased home! We also celebrated Ruth and Bill’s 45th wedding anniversary.

Last year my sister talked me into getting on Facebook where I have reconnected with old friends and stay connected with relatives and friends. It’s been fun! Recently, my cousin, Janis got on Facebook and so is her son Ty. Ty and I are now friends once again. Recently he posted a picture he took on one of his visits to Mooloolaba of my aunt and uncle and his mom. I am posting it here…

Ruth Frost, Bill Frost and Janis Frost

My nephew, Tom and his son, Davis made it to Oshkosh for the fly in and made the return trip home. They went with two other pilots. Tom and Davis flew in a Cessna 170. Dan is in a Christian Eagle (single seat), and there is one other plane with two people in it.

Tom's Cessna 170

The Cessna 170 is the plane that Tom inherited when his dad passed away three years ago. He spent the last four months completing redoing the interior with new seats, new paint, new carpet, and a ton of cleaning to get it ready for the trip. Tom grew up in aviation and soloed on his 16th birthday. He recently got his intrument and commercial ratings.

Tucked in the hangar for the night... enroute to Oshkosh Fly-IN

Mt Rushmore from the air...

Jennifer, Julia, Tom and Davis

Davis reports that he is planning to go back to Oshkosh in four years and this time he hopes to do more of the piloting!

Our nephew, Tom Weiss and son, Davis have embarked on quite an adventure. They are flying to Oshkosh, Wisconsin from Roseburg, Oregon with another pilot, Dan Sprague, for the EAA Airventure Fly-in and Airshow. They left Roseburg yesterday and flew to Afton, Wyoming with a gas stop in Caldwell, Idaho. They camped under their wings at the Afton airport. Davis is updating Facebook via his phone to keep us informed of their whereabouts.

Packing or Unpacking the plane...

Everything has its own place in the plane and fits!

Davis Weiss and his father, Tom

Today, they flew from Afton to Custer, South Dakota with a gas stop in Casper, WY. Once they landed in Custer, they are going to take a side trip to see Mount Rushmore. Tomorrow, they fly to Redwood Falls, Minnesota with a gas stop in Pierre, SD, and then on to Oshkosh, Wisconsin the next day. They plan to spend three days camping at the Flyin. You can read more about the flyin here. They will head for home on July 31st and will be in Roseburg on August 3rd — plan to fily a similar path home.

In addition to Davis’ facebook posts, our niece, Jennifer, can keep track of their flight progress using this link. It is a spot check system in Dan’s airplane, and Tom is right with him so she can log in to see where they are.

What a cool adventure they are on! I will post more pictures as I get them.

I got to work this morning to find a flock of geese .. they landed and were resting in the field on our property. There were what seemed like hundreds. Not certain why they chose our lot to land. Could it be that it was once a field of oats? I snuck out to take a picture of a few of them.

Lots of geese

They left not too long after I took these pictures… I wonder if they will be back!

I’ve wanted to try growing tomatoes in the upside down bag for quite some time now. This year I finally ordered and setup the Tomato Tree with a stand and planted 4 tomato plants. It’s a little different than the upside down ones — there are three holes in the side of the bag on this one — I thought there were four holes when I purchased the young plants so I put two plants in one of them.

I think we are going to have more tomatoes than we know what to do with! But I’m looking forward to harvesting the crop. I already have some green tomatoes and lots of yellow flowers. I took pictures earlier this month and will take more this weekend.

Tomato Tree with Stand

Close Up of tomato tree