We Made It!

Well guys, we have made to Woodland Park and we are settling in. We still have a ways to go, but we've gotten a good start and have began receiving work here. The weather has been fantastic and I totally understand why nobody has air conditioners at this elevation. We haven't used the fireplace yet (we haven't gotten a screen yet) but we have used the heater at night and in the mornings.

I also wanted to update you all on Dad. He is actually undergoing another back surgery today. After running several tests the new doctor decided that there are more discs that are damaged. They won't be sure what all they will work on until they get in there. This time they are going in from the side and plating and fusing the front also. Recovery will be more painful as they will also be cutting through some ribs. Please keep him in your prayers, he is really nervous and will need a lot of patience.

Now that we have everything up and running I'll be able to catch you all up on our Montana trip and the happenings in our new home. I'll write more soon!

Jennifer

House Searching

Well, we have found a house in Woodland Park, Co. Elevation: 8500 ft. It is an adorable little house on the front range of the Rockies. We will be moving in on September 1st.
What a difference there is in the weather! When I left Missouri the heat index was 115 degrees. When I got to Woodland Park to look for a house the high was 59 degrees with hardly any humidity. Ignore the people in the picture (they are complete strangers and I don't know why they're in the picture).

Move Number 6 is a BIG One!

Well, Joel and I are once again moving. At the end of this month (August) we are moving to Colorado, somewhere in the Colorado Springs area. Joel and I fell in love with the Rockies on our honeymoon (I guess I've loved them since I was little). We have decided that since we don't yet have children now is a great time to continue in our wonderings and there is a lot of work for us in the Springs area. Eventually we will probably end up back in the beautiful Flint Hills of Kansas, but not yet. All I know is that I can't wait to be out of the heat and humidity of Missouri - Oh wait, I am out of it!

That's right, I'm actually in Colorado. I drove all 800 miles yesterday (Monday) to find us a place to live. I am staying with Jerry and Shelby. Joel will join me here on Saturday and then on Monday we will continue on to Glacier, Montana! I can't wait! Hope all is well with the rest of you!

Jennifer

College of the Ozarks on CBS!!

Hey All! CBS ran a story about C of O this morning. It is about the work program that every full time student must go through. I had an amazing experience at C of O - It is an amazing school. The video is titled "The Value of a 'Hire Education'". Here's the link:

http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=4303320n&channel=/sections/earlyshow/videoplayer500202.shtml

GO BOBCATS!!!!!!!!

16 days and Counting!

In 16 days Joel and I are leaving for Montana for our “real” anniversary trip! We are going back to Glacier National Park where we honeymooned. This time we are going to spend most of our time “backcountry camping and hiking” and Jerry and Shelby are also going. Our route takes us along the continental divide so we ought to see some AMAZING views! When we were there before we didn’t spend as much time in the mountains as we will this time but we still saw the most gorgeous views I have ever seen! Most of you know that I absolutely love the mountains and their cool, dry climate. This will be a fantastic break from a hot, humid August in Missouri!

We have collected some really cool camping gear that is light and easy to carry into the mountains. This last February we went camping to test some of our gear, including our mummy sleeping bags. It was absolutely frigid, but we stayed pretty warm in our bags. The first thing that Molly did after Joel and I got up was jump in the river (she loves water and the cold). When she got out her fur froze in icicles before she got back to the tent (she didn’t care). BBRRRRR!!



We camped right next to Rush, Arkansas. It’s actually a ghost town that used to be a huge ore mining town. We spent some time the next day looking at the old buildings and caves. It was a lot of fun.


Anyway, if you can’t tell I am VERY excited to visit the amazing Glacier National Park once again! 16 days to go…

The New Beast

How exciting, we have FINALLY bought a new truck! Having a good, solid truck to drive will make our job so much easier and more enjoyable! Ode to the A/C! Yeah, so we decided to replace Babe the Big Blue Ox after it tried to eat Joel the other day...



Here's the new truck. It's a Chevy Duramax Diesel, Heavy Duty, 2500, crew cab, long bed, Z71 off road package - Big Dawg. It's a little bit of a tradition that my family names their big trucks. Jerry has voted that we name it the U.S.S. Enterprise for several reasons, this was in an email we got from him (Jerry hope you don't mind me sharing your creativity):

"well so many big grey and/or silver things come to mind. The Hindenburg...but that blew up. The Titanic...but that sunk. The Bismark...but that was blown up AND sunk. Dumbo...but he was a fat elephant that cried. How about the USS Enterprise...that was huge, had warp speed, 12 phasers, and last but not least-a supply of 250 photon torpedoes." The only other name we have came up with is Max. So here's the beast:




We spent the Fourth at Mom and Dad's. We had a really nice time and got to see just about everyone while we were in town. We of course spent lots of time shooting fireworks and then the next day spent time at the pond fishing and shooting. We also sprayed lots of plants with herbicide. Joel and I planted some aquatic plants in Mom and Dad's pond about two years ago and one of the kinds, the American Lotus has gotten a little out of hand.



I hope you all also had a great Fourth of July weekend!

It's a Twister! And a flood, and hail, and...

What weather we’ve been having! All year it has been weather system after weather system! We started the year by having 70 tornadoes (all on one night) in January. That was followed by an ice storm, followed by another bunch of tornadoes in February, and then the BIG ice storm.

Then the flooding began. Branson had some very bad flooding when the Corp of Engineers were forced to open wide the gates of Table Rock Lake above the town. Water levels in the lake broke the record numbers. Here's a picture of the lake level at the top of the dam.

It rained all day two days ago (it's the same story about every other day) - Parts of Springfield got 7 inches of rain in about 5 hours. There were many flooded roads, some we could drive through in the truck and others we weren't even about to try to cross. Our average amount of rain for the year is 46 inches and we've already gotten 36 inches.

Our garden has fallen victim to a hail storm attack. Quarter-sized hail squashed our squash! Our Zucchini, cantaloupe, strawberries, lettuce, and tomatoes also took on some damage but I think that we should still have a pretty good "crop". Last August my brother Matt stayed with us a week to help with work and just have some fun. He also helped me can some of our tomatoes…Matt, I think I could use your help again this year! Ha, ha! This is before the hail:




Here’s some pictures of the various weather and aftermath of the weather:

Lake Taneycomo flooding Branson

Our Driveway (good thing we moved the car up the hill!)

Some of the trees in our backyard. The trees in the area took a really hard hit and they continued to fall until the ice finally melted. We had a tree on the house but there was no serious damage.

We cooked our breakfast on our porch using our camping equipment as we had no electricity. It got really cold in the house!

You can see how thick the ice really was!

Hmmm, do we dare cross it?!

Our Backyard with the hail.

Oh, so I thought I might include a strange/interesting incident of the day (on the days we have them). Today we got to remove a frozen badger and two red foxes from a house. We donated them to a taxidermist. He was really excited to get them!