In May of 1992 we arrived in Lansing KS from Kaiserslautern Germany and purchased the house on Bambi Ct. Living in small military apartments for the pass three years we were excited to search for a house with a yard. I had wanted a house that people wouldn’t be directly living behind us. We had lived in a fish bowl for so many years, I was ready for a place our neighbors could not peer into windows when the curtains were open. When we finally found the house there were neighbors behind us but the house was the best we had found in our searches. We were only going to be here for three years so it would work. We had a great yard to put in an above ground pool but the hill side that lead up to that location was not the best. The next summer after the …
This year of 2020 reminds me, somewhat, of our lives in Germany. There were trips planned, freedoms lost, missed times with husbands, wives, children and friends. We were locked down to a small area. Picking food up from restaurants was not a possibility because there were none in our little American community. We had our community center (one grocery store and one department store) to shop at with limited hours. Our German community was cut off from us. It was not safe to shop downtown, to eat in German restaurants or to make a random trip to France on a Saturday afternoon for pottery shopping and lunch. This post explains our lives in 1990-92. It was our third tour to Germany, our fourth city and our ninth year. By this time we were use to stairwell living, six apartments in each stairwell and three stairwells to a building. Our neighbors, …
After a year in Wurzburg we moved to Darmstadt and when I say we it was the Rotchfords, the Lancaster and us. We immediately checked in with the Girl Scout Neighborhood chairman to see what positions she had open. Pauline moved up to a Junior Girl Scout troop, where Kristie and Maria were placed. Meanwhile Lupe and I stayed at the Brownie level as co-leaders as Carmen’s troop leaders. Holan was too young for Girl Scouts, but she attended all the meetings and activities of the troops. Lupe, Fred, Steve and I supported Pauline with the Junior Troop which kept us active with Kristie and Maria. Along with the troop I served on the Neighborhood service unit. We had meetings every month to solve problems troops and leaders were having with girls, parents or the military community. We over saw the calendar and cookie sales on the military installations and …
When we moved to Wuerzburg Germany in 1981, after nine months at Ft Bliss for the Officer’s Advance Course, I had never volunteered. I had not thought about volunteering and did not have an interested in doing work for no pay. Then Lupe and I volunteered to help with Kristie and Maria’s Girl Scout Brownie troop as assistant leaders. Pauline Lancaster, a super organizer and an outstanding woman, was the leader of troop 22. As assist leaders, we helped Pauline plan troop activities along with maintaining troop and the girl’s records. Because we were overseas, the girls wore the North Atlantic Girl council patch TOFS, which stood for Troops on Foreign Soils This was just one of our trips as a troop. Lupe, Maria, Carmen, Kristie, Holan and me are all in this photo. Pauline is standing behind me. Heidelberg Castle (in German: Heidelberger Schloss) is a famous castle ruins …
The week started off with a Christmas program at Sam’s school. This first picture was taken at the first concert of the year. This concert was the 7th grade band, 8th grade strings and the choir. Each performed three songs and all did the final song. All were wonderful but we thought Sam’s did the best!! This is the whole band. The school has a great music program. On Friday we attended Sam’s competitive showcase. This is the dance group she travels with and is in addition to her regular dance classes. Can you find her in this group? A very talented group of kids, who put in a lot of work to make their performance perfect. Their production number was outstanding, hoping they win a lot of awards this year! Saturday morning Sprint hosted “Cookies with Santa.” They had lots of Christmas decorated donuts, cookies, hot chocolate, apple cider, …
50 years ago on December 1, 1969, Steve huddled around the TV in his dorm at Western Kentucky University as the first draft lottery since 1942 got under way. He had just turned 21 three days before and was in his junior year. Within minutes, the relative peace he enjoyed as a college student shattered before his eyes. This is how the lottery worked; each day of the year was printed on a piece of paper. These pieces of paper, representing each potential draftee’s birthday, were placed in blue plastic capsules. Then all 366 capsules (one for each day of the year, including leap years) were placed in a large glass jar. As millions watched on TV or listened on radio, the capsules were drawn from the jar, one by one, The first data drawn was assigned a draft number of “one”; the next date drawn received received draft number …
On Wednesday, the 27th, the kids were here to celebrated Steve’s 71st birthday with cake and presents. Since Derek had to work, birthday cake was sent home for him to enjoy later. On Thursday, while the Shetlar’s visited with his family, we cooked food for Friday. Papa peeled 10 lbs of potatoes; Steve did some food prep and made a new recipe of cookies; Samantha made cookies from her class at school; Kristie made mashed potatoes and stuffing while I worked on other veggies. Afterwards we had a small Thanksgiving dinner for five. Friday, with the entire family together, Holan prepared deviled egg and corn casserole while Steve prepared sweet potatoes. Kristie was in charge of cooking okra and warming the other foods. I was on dish duty. Papa was on rest duty, but did help with the clean up after dinner. We sat down for our family dinner. Of …
Last winter we started talking about changing up the living room by getting a new TV and doing away with the cabinet that surrounded the TV plus all the “stuff” over the cabinet. It was just talk, just couldn’t make that commitment at that time. Finally a couple of weeks ago, Steve started checking the prices of 75 inch Samsung TVs and found some good prices. A trip to Nebraska Furniture started the search for the TV and recliners. While comparing the TVs, it became clear that it wouldn’t cost that much more to put up an 82 inch Samsung Q60. And it was not that much bigger to go larger. On a trip to the PX, we found the same 82 Q60 Samsung from Nebraska to be $400 cheaper and we didn’t have to pay sales tax. Next thing was would it fit in the van . . . …
Traveling by SkyTrain gave us panoramic views of the city. The train mostly ran on elevated tracks, at other times we were underground, We arrived at the Waterfront station, exited the Skytrain, and were confused as to which direction to go. A lady was kind of enough to tell us the door to go out, then to take a left when we got outside. As we approach the turnstiles, we realized we needed our tickets to get out of the terminal. This was the first time we had ever used a ticket to leave a subway, train station or airport. Our tickets were found after digging into pockets and bags. After walking for a few minutes, we had doubts we were going in the right direction. A food cart vendor confirmed we were going correctly, just walk a few more blocks, take a right on ??? street and look for …
It was 4:15 a.m. and Rick was right on time to take us to the airport for a 6:05 flight. As we prepared to land in Denver, we were greeted by the sun rising. After a very short wait, we boarded our plane to Vancouver and was treated to a new snack. It was very tasty and decided we needed to order some when we got home. After arriving at the hotel and storing our luggage, we found a Tim Horton just around the corner for some food. Tim Hortons is a Canadian restaurant chain known for its coffee, doughnuts and connection to Canada’s national identity. As we ate our breakfast sandwiches, we were approached by a homeless man requesting food. It seems that there are over 600 homeless living on the streets of Vancouver and over 1600 living in shelters, detox centers, safe houses and hospitals, with no fixed …