Keeping busy

The nearly two weeks since Christmas has gone quickly. A face lift project for Heather’s kitchen was started right after Christmas and was in full swing when our friends Dan and Corrie Ryan arrived with their motorhome to celebrate the New Year with us. The celebration was perhaps quiet and old fashioned by some standards, but we enjoyed a touch of Dutch tradition, since both Anneke and Corrie share that background, with homemade split pea soup and Ollie Bollen- or as Corrie described it-donuts on steroids. We were also joined by a couple who were friends of Heather and Ryan. Card games and tall tales were the order of the evening. While no wild and ambitious New Year’s resolutions were made, I think it is safe to say that we were all thankful for the year past and looking forward to another chance to make the most of the 2008.

More can be seen on their visit at: http://theryanrvexpress.blogspot.com/

Among and between the celebrations and the renovations, one constant was the Heather and Ryan zoo, which consists of two cats, two dogs and one lonely rabbit. The dogs were new to us and provided all kinds of amusement and frustrations- I guess as puppies always do. They found it hard to stay out of trouble-whether it was digging holes in the backyard with resulting hugely dirty faces and feet, sticking their noses where they did not belong, like the paint roller pan full of paint or the housebreaking accidents at just the wrong moments.

Too my novice eye, the kitchen project was successfully completed yesterday and all seemed satisfied. With our work done here and our welcome probably wearing thin, it was time to move on.

Tonight we are camped at a casino RV park in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Our first visit to the casino lasted ten minutes and they have little hope of separating us from even a small amount of money.