So yes, I’ve been horrible at posting recently…I guess nothing too terribly exciting has happened.

At the beginning of January, Philip and Susan came down to spend a couple days with Susan’s family before the second semester started.  However, I hogged them for much of the time they were here.  We spent all day Thursday at the Minnesota Zoo (compliments of the free passes you can check out from the library!)

We got there just in time to see the coral reef show, featuring Diver Doug feeding the fishies.  Next, we ran over to the bird show and saw exciting birds swoop over our heads, talk, and other such things.  The bald eagle was defending his territory and making loud screeching noises at us and the zoo people the whole time he was on stage.

After the bird show, we spent forever looking at the monkeys.  Our favorites were the babies.  There was one born in April, one the previous year, and two born in 2005.  We went on the [freezing] Minnesota Trail and saw fighting wolverines and some wolves, along with other creatures that can be found in Minnesota, apparently.

Then we warmed up on the Tropics Trail, where Philip reverted back to his childhood (climbing on statues, crawling through caves clearly meant for the toddler-type, etc.).  We ended with an exciting trip on the Monorail, where our guide expounded on the benefits of eating acorns…?!?

The next day, David and I went up to Fargo, as planned, to have Christmas with my family.  We ended up spending most of Friday afternoon at the nursing home with my grandmother.  My aunt had come up from Texas earlier that week, and she found her unresponsive on Friday morning.  On Saturday afternoon, Grandma passed away; she was 101 years old and ready to go home to the Lord.

My cousin David and his wife Maria were able to come up for the funeral…from San Diego.  I don’t think they knew quite what to think of the cold that is North Dakota in January!

Timothy emailed a history lesson from Iraq involving Grandma’s life, which I read at the funeral.  Here are just a few of the things included in it:

When Grandma was born on 22 Dec 1907,

. . . Czar Nikolas II ruled Russia, Kaiser Wilhelm II ruled Germany, Porfirio Diaz was dictator of Mexico, and Theodore Roosevelt was the President of the United States.

. . . there was not yet any such country as the Republic of Ireland; there was such a country as Austria-Hungary; the countries we now know as Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Bulgaria, and Albania were all ruled by Turkey; and there were only 46 states in the US.

When the Titanic sunk, Grandma was 4.

When the US entered World War I, Grandma was 9.

Grandma was born 15 years before the establishment of the USSR and lived an additional 18 years after it collapsed.

That is my update from the beginning-middle of January.  Since then, we’ve been working lots and occasionally unpacking a random box, and breaking in my new satin copper mixer!