Potpourri from an Afternooon Ride In Gelderland

It may be difficult to see but the oldtimer on the bike was wearing his wooden shoes! Yes they do wear wooden shoes but usually with leather liners to make them snug and comfortable!
A typical quaint Dutch farmstead just off the dike near the Waal River. The Waal is the Southern branch of the Rhine in the Nederland. Just in case you don't know the Rhine splits into two upstream and then sort of becomes one again near Rotterdam.
The area is potato country. Fields are plowed and ready for the spring.
The "Big Road" bridge spans the Vaal while barge traffic moves up and down the river! The water in the foreground is apparently flooded area for water control downstream.
Cows in their shed loafing and eating! I would guess this herd numbered 40 or so Holsteins.

The Sun Shone Today in the Nederland's Gelderland!

As the sunshine warmed the Dutch countryside the weeks accumulation of frost on the trees and ground melted off but the freezing temperatures of the past few days left the flooded areas along the dikes frozen stiff! Hundreds of folks were out enjoying the almost endless skating rinks there as is the tradition here. We then went through the outdoor market in Wagenining where each Wednesday and Saturday shoppers can find a big assortment of fish, meats, cheeses, fruits, vegatables, bakery, fresh and live herbs, of course, fresh cut flowers and live plants, and more and if course visit with plenty of people doing their Saturday shopping! Beth bought a bunch of budding tulips and Buga got a loaf of bread which she gnawed on for the next hour or so and ate the "whole thing" by herself!

The Last Roses of the Year!

Outside the door here in Zetten are the final attempts of the big yellow rose bush to color itself. These have survived a week of below freezing temperatures as indicated by the mid-afternoon frost on the grass and trees! Its winter here in the Nederlands!

I was looking at this egg carton the other day and thought there is something wrong with it! Could it be the Queeen's way of keeping down cholesterol levels? Or does it have something to do with the weights and measures and counts system?

Where is Sun?

Here in Holland when approching the shortest days of the year the sun has barely reached into the sky at 1 o'clock. In the picture you can see it peeking thought the shrubs! I'm guessing its shining from about 30 degrees and therefore doing very little to warm anything! This area is at about the same lattitude as Edmonton, Canada. These are the days of total darkness for those way up north! That must be a hard life!

We left the snowcovered landscape in Green Bay

Rebecca was the first of the family to see me from her vantage point on her Dads shoulders!

The Journey told as told through Saturday!

After shopping around and packing around and loading the car around and driving around to Green Bay I left the Grand Caravan in the hands of the GRB parking attendants and left the driving to NWA. We had a good uneventful trip to Detroit and then on to Dusseldorf where Rebecca and parents were waiting for me to get me and my goodie filled bags! Yesterday was busy helping the soon to be non-expats pack, taking care of the baby, cooking, and being a nuisance in general. Today was jet lag day or it seemed that way at least. I overslept to start. I think that the 9:45 am awakening was the latest in more than a year. Then this afternoon I conveniently missed being a participant in a bike ride to a nearby village while I napped! Lucky me! Then of course the rest of the day flew by and now I have been recruited to babysit while the folks go off to a movie! How much do American baby sitters make per hour?

HIPPA News

Tuesday the local needle inserters were switching over to a brand new computerized information system. The DCH lobby waiting area was packed with people as I walked in and I wondered if some epidemic had struck the area and I hadn't heard about it. Any way I got to the ACU and got into my chair and the PN comes up to me with this little tiny laptop perched atop a rolling platform and explains that she need to get my full medical history, medications, and height and weight and whatever the hell else from me and that we had to hurry cause she had to get the same info from everyone else coming in! So here I am.....however many years old with a medical history equally as long......attempting to remember all my stuff. Surgery, broken arms, suicides, immunizations, and on and on. At the end I told her that I am here now to be infused with Aralast to boost my antitrypsin deficiency. She punches some buttons, then asks me to spell that.....which I did.....she pushes some more buttons.....looks up at me and says...."It doesn't look like thats in here so we'll skip it for now"! Oh my! Any way as I was saying about HIPPA news, as I sat there for the 3 hours I was treated to hearing the full medical histories of at least 5 other folks who came in and sat on either side of me! I heard of their cancers and blood deseases, HIV infections and hepatitus problems, of their lung deficiences and stomach ailments, of broken bones and colonoscopies, and on and on. Where are the HIPPA rules here I wondered? Maybe they were suspended for the day!

I Thought I Lost It Forever

Last week and weekend C and I switched my email to Gmail and it took some new passwords and usernames and then for the past three days I havent been able to get into this blog. I finally did enough things to get to it. I finally reset my new google account password to the exact same existing new password. Silly huh? And that even gave me back my old google calendar!

Oh Christmas Tree! All set for The Clas Man to drop a new pickup truck under it!