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We lost Pocahontas last night. So suddenly and totally unexpected. We had been canning all day and Sis and I had just showered, dinner was almost ready to come out of the oven. Mom opened the fridge door and it squeaked, causing some of the other cats to freak out a bit. She said that Beatrice was on the birdwatching stool in the kitchen and got all confused by a little decorative statue of bunnies on the windowsill. She fell off the stool onto the floor infront of the food bowl and seemed to have a stroke or seizure of some sort. We tried giving her arnica and we were just standing there and in less than a minute she was gone. All we can think is that her bad breathing must have been a heart problem after all.

Hard to deal with her not there anymore. No more mousies. No more dishwashing frenzies. No more frenzies . . .

Today was a special memorial day. The kittens turned eight years old and Harold's bomber was shot down exactly 71 years ago today. This weekend has been a very fun time in regards to Harold. On Friday, I received a card from a first cousin of his. I had written to her several weeks before, but she is about 88, so I wasn't sure if she would really remember him at all. Well, she did! Her card said that he was best friends with her brother and that I should call her, as she had too much to share to really write. So, Saturday afternoon, Mom and Sarah went up to Mansfield to do some shopping and I stayed home and called her. Oh, what a fun time! Even made up for the fact that I actually had to talk on the telephone! Not only did she remember Harold, but she remembered his family, Uncles, Grandparents and even great-uncles! So, I took notes fast and furiously and as soon as we were done talking, I ran downstairs and typed the conversation up so that I would not forget anything!

This morning, I was leaving virtual flowers for the bomber crew boys on findagrave.com and when I opened Travis' memorial, I got a fabulous surprise! Someone had posted a gorgeous photo of him in his Air Corps uniform! I was so thrilled! Very fun to get on the anniversary. Also, Mom and Sarah gave me a surprise this afternoon. They bought a silver Alaska charm and had the date engraved on the back, so I can have a charm for the Boys on my bracelet. :o)

Along with tax day, the Boys share today with the kittens. Our first litter of kittens was born between 5 and 9 p.m. eight years ago. >^..^< We were blessed with six and we are blessed to have three still with us. So, Happy Birthday to Avis, Iveta, and Max!

Today we celebrate two birthdays. Around midnight, 57 years ago, in a hospital in Havana (not Kansas, Alabama or Texas - the real Havana on the little island that is 90 miles south of the tip of Florida), Dad was born. He was the second and last (?! - I wonder . . .) child and came to Miami before he was five. So, he grew up in the little Havana - commonly known as Miami - in Florida. As we sit here, expecting another severe snow storm, it seems very far away since his tropical origins. ;o) We celebrated by having a fun morning in Mansfield running errands. (You may ask why errands are fun, but we don't go out much, so getting to the "big city" is a big deal in the winter!)  Also celebrating by having two pots of coffee!

Today is also Uncle JD's birthday! He would have been 86 today. As usual, I am always digging for more information about him or Aunt Margaret. Around Thanksgiving, I found the address of Aunt Margaret's second husband's son. I was hoping that there might be something left from her estate that might have been Uncle JD's. Well, after a lot of emails and him digging through the couple of boxes in his attic that were left from his Dad's house, he sent me a box with some photos. It turns out that a big frame with a picture of a bride and a small photo album with photos from a 1976 wedding were from them! Actually, Uncle JD and Aunt Margaret were in four photos and they must have been very close to the bride. Mom's cousin thinks that the girl is the daughter of a friend of theirs who Aunt Margaret baby-sat for. I am trying to find out who they are, as they would remember Uncle JD, but not one of the photos is marked! My new soapbox --- mark all of your photos! The future generations would thank you! Anyway, I am so thrilled because I have never seen a photo of them after the early 1950s. This was so exciting!

Well, I haven't been very faithful about posting lately. Been keeping up with life and sewing. Our movie star scrapbooks have been getting a lot of obituaries added lately! Eleanor Parker, Joan Fontaine, and now Shirley Temple. Sis and I are great Shirley fans. She is the only person who we have movie marathons for! When the news came out that she was gone, I sent emails out to everyone I could think of to save any articles they saw about her. Then, the day after, Mom and I went to Kroger and I went through their little newsstand. Hit the jackpot! Articles in the Mansfield paper, the Columbus paper, USA Today & NY Times! It also turned out that she even got an article in the local paper! Amazing!

Last night, Dad came home with the news that "Ralph" from Green Acres had died on the 18th. I love Green Acres and play them in the kitchen while I am doing dishes. Other than "Lisa", "Ralph & Alf" are my favorites. So, a friend in California was able to pull out the paper from his recycle bin and save the article about her for me! :o)

At home, I have embarqued on a typing course! Hence, the slow typing. ;o) But, it is quite exciting! We sold some more little dolls and I have been making wool felt play food pizza slices to try and sell. Of course, if they don't sell, it will be a good start for the Yogi Bear picnic basket that I am making for my kids. ;o) Sis and I have started writing out Hobbit fan mail. My search for Harold and his bomber crew is still running on.

It was 50F yesterday and rained, so most of our beautiful snow is gone, but I am hoping we will get some more before Winter is over!

We lost Monika today. What an emptiness. The felines may be happy, but I'm very sad. No more chirping at birds or when someone sneezes. . . no more asking for cheese . . . no more frenzy-ing at the food bowl . . . She was so filled with personality.

When I say freezing . . . I mean freezing! This past week has been quite an adventure! Sunday night it dropped to way below 0F and we have had a battle ever since. Monday we managed to stay warm enough, but around 3:30 in the afternoon, we lost our water supply. Dad came home early and tried to see what it was. But, it was still dropping in temperature. Sis and I have actually spent three nights camped out on the living room floor, so that we could put new fires in the stove every hour and a half. We put the sofabed mattress on the floor, but it is hardly a bed of pillows. I have to say, we didn't sleep so well. Monday night was freezing! Literally! We slept about three feet in front of the 500F stove and had six blankets on us (not to mention a couple of cats) and we each had on two pairs of fleecy socks, two shirts and I even slept in my antarctica hat with the ear covers tied down! Still so cold I didn't sleep much. Just kept rolling and trying to keep warm.  We suffered through the next day, unable to even have hot tea! The house was 52F upstairs and 55F downstairs! We actually went next door and showered at the neighbors. Dad came home from work at lunchtime and worked on the well all day. Turns out that something between the well head and the pressure tank froze. He got it defrosted with a blow dryer, but when the water came through, it shot an ice cube through an elbow of the pipe and Dad had to go and get some new supplies and do some plumbing. That fixed the well, but then the pipe to his shower burst and the dining room looked like the bottom of a waterfall. That was awful! It dropped garbage cans full of warm water! So, we were up until 9pm cleaning and mopping up. We also managed to get all the piled up dishes done, as well.  Dad shut off the water, but we at least had the downstairs half-bathroom. Sis and I got her feather blanket and camped out again. Wasn't quite so cold. Dad stayed home all day and worked on plumbing. He replaced some pipe and while it was drying, He and I ran up to Ontario to do some shopping and go to the library. Then back home to try out the pipes - - - and they worked! Praise the Lord! So everyone had a shower!

Yesterday, Dad called from work and said that three of the four engineers that he has work projects with were all home trying to defrost their wells! One guy had his whole well head freeze! They were saying that this part of Ohio hasn't had this bad of a cold storm in 20 years! The Columbus Police depart. had to move out of their building because every pipe burst and the entire building was completely flooded! A skyscraper in Columbus had a top-story pipe burst, and because of the amount of pressure, the ice burst through the pipe and the concrete wall of the building! A water main burst in downtown Columbus and a whole section of the street was flooded! So, it wasn't that we were the only ones!

It was warmer last night, so Sis and I were able to move back into our room. Yay! That sofa mattress is not the best in the world and my back is out something awful! But, yesterday, we were so, so tired that we didn't do much at all! I don't feel tons better this morning. At least the water is on and we are getting a break from the below freeing temps. It is in the 20sF right now! Hopefully it won't fall as low as the last few days.

Our Christmas week was very pleasant and to top it all off . . . we got enough snow on Christmas Eve to make it a white Christmas! Monday, the 23rd, we spent the morning making cookies - Spritz cookies, which are my very, very favorite! Then we all went to the Mount Vernon movie theatre and saw The Hobbit. Our second viewing and Dad's first! It was better than ever! But more about The Hobbit later. ;o) Then we rushed home for a quick dinner and then rushed down to Church for the Christmas Eve service. (They do their candlelight and cookie service on the 23rd, so that everyone can have Christmas Eve to spend with their families.) It was very nice and fun all around!

Christmas Eve we wrapped presents and finished getting the house ready, etc. In the night it began snowing! Yay! Christmas dawned and we all were a bit tired. But excited! Actually, Sis and I had been dying to give Mom her presents since we finished them! But we all got dressed and had breakfast. Mom and Sarah put everything under the tree while Dad and I cleaned up and got coffee made, which we took upstairs with us.

We had loads of fun and took our time so that we could all enjoy everybody's gifts. Gramma Gail sent us two super-fun surprises! A box with a flowering tea set and a set of different kinds of salt from around the world! Sis and I had flowering tea once - many years ago - at Mrs. Keultjes'. It was so cool! This set has six different kinds and one is called "Dragon Lily", so we are going to save it until March when The Hobbit comes out on DVD! Flowering tea is where the tea leaves and flower petals are sewn together into little pellets and you drop it into a glass tea pot and in about five minutes, the pellet opens up into a beautiful flower.  I finally got to give Sis her sketchbook, although it does still have spaces to fill up. But I think that we were most excited about giving Mom her Poirot presents! We made her little dolls of Poirot and "Pat" from Triangle at Rhodes, which is her favorite short episode. Pat came out so adorable, with her souvenirs and her red hair! I also painted Poirot on a glass mug for her and made a matching wool felt coaster that says "I'd rather be watching . . . POIROT". Embroidered the same on a pillowcase for her to use in the backroom when watching movies! Sis and I were particularly thrilled, as it was a secret all our own and Mom could never guess what we were doing!

Mom gave us Hobbit souvenir money and Sis and I had fun in the evening shopping online for our Hobbit souvenirs! We each got a letter opener, a replica key to Erebor, a key and map keychain, and I got a Legolas and Tauriel poster. When they all arrive, I'll have to take a photo. Sis and I are really enjoying The Hobbit!

Day after Christmas, the Keultjeses came for the annual Christmas dinner. This time we didn't do a Cuban meal and we did a soup buffet instead. That was really fun, as it was much more laid back and allowed more time for visiting! It was a really fun evening! Both of the girls had come home for Christmas, so everybody was there!