Karen and I took a trip to the east coast a few weeks ago. We went to a Monday night football game in Washington DC, visited the Gettysburg civil war battlefield, and spend a day in Amish country of Pennsylvania. Here are a few pictures of some of the historical sites we saw.

Rotary Trip to Peru August 2009

It was like running a marathon to get there, but after a day and a night and another day without going to bed we finally arrived at the Heliconia Lodge on the Amazon River. After a little rest the fifteen members of our Rotary Club group were ready to go to work. The purpose of our trip was to work on some humanitarian projects that Rotary International had funded for the benefit of two small villages on the Amazon, San Pedro de Manati, and Pucallpa.
Working with the Rotary Club of Iquitos, the Logan Rotary Club was able to get grant money from Rotary International for bathroom facilities and a water purification project for each of the two villages. Before the Rotary projects bathroom facilities were almost nonexistent and water was taken directly from the Amazon without any effort to make it safe for drinking and other uses. As anticipated when we arrived we found both projects were nearly completed. All that was left to do was some final tweaks to the water projects and some painting and finishing touches on the bathroom facilities.
The village of San Pedro de Manati is located on Yanamono Island in the middle of the Amazon River about 25 miles down river from Iquitos. Heliconia Lodge where our Rotary group stayed is directly across the river from the jungle trail that leads to San Pedro. The jungle of the Amazon is extremely hot and humid and after an hour on the trail to get to San Pedro the heat and humidity had taken its toll on our group.
A huge celebration in the school building welcomed us to San Pedro. Public officials spoke and young people sang patriotic songs and demonstrated some of their native dances complete with costumes. After the dancing demonstration each member of the Rotary team was invited to participate in more dancing. We were all good sports did it whether we wanted to or not. I’m sure we provided entertainment for the people of San Pedro with our clumsy rendition of their native dance. I thought the drum beat and the dancing would never end. A trek through the jungle and attempting the steps of the native dance for what seemed like an eternity produced fifteen tired sweat-drenched Rotarians. It was obvious the citizens of San Pedro appreciated our visit.
The same thing happened later the same day on our visit to the second village, Pucallpa, It appeared that the entire village lined the bank of the Amazon to greet us. They sang songs to us, village dignitaries greeted us, they danced, then we danced, it was hot and humid and once again the heat and humidity took its toll. We were all hot, tired and sweaty by the time the celebration of our arrival was over.
Part of the preparation for the trip was gathering of clothes, shoes, books, school supplies, medical supplies and other items that we could leave behind that the locals could use. Each member of the team took an extra fifty pound bag chock full of items for the people, mostly children, of the villages. We left the items with village officials to be distributed as needed.
In addition to accomplishing some work on the Rotary projects we planned some other activities for the families and the children. We brought with us a portable battery operated digital photo printer. While some members of the team worked on the projects, others spent time taking digital photos of family groups. Taking family pictures, printing them, and presenting the photos to the families was a huge hit. Sometimes it was hard to get the families to smile for the photo, but after they received the photo smiles were everywhere as they admired themselves and their family.
Because of the intense sunshine and ultraviolet exposure on the Amazon most of the people have developed an eye condition called pterygia which is wedge shaped fibrous growth on the surface of the eye. In extreme cases the growth may progress to the cornea and cause vision problems. Logan residents Dick Criddle and his wife JoAn have conducted screening in many countries in South America to find out how common the condition is and to try and figure out what can be done about it. The Criddles supplied us with the necessary information and procedures to check the villager’s eyes for pterygium. They also provided, with the help of Hope Alliance, a suitcase full of reading glasses of various strengths to be distributed to the people in the villages as needed. Unfortunately out of the approximately 150 people we examined for pterygium only a few didn’t have it. Those who didn’t have it were young enough that their eyes hadn’t been exposed to the sun’s ultraviolet rays for decades like some of the older citizens. Many of the older people were fitted with reading glasses.
At one of the eye testing sessions I was designated as the one to determine who had developed pterygium in their eyes. In my very crude and limited Spanish I would greet the person, ask them their name and invite them to sit in front of me so I could look into each of their eyes. When I finished the eye exam in very crude and limited Spanish I would attempt to tell them on a scale of one to five if they had developed pterygia and how far it had progressed. It was important that I knew their age so when I asked them their age I had to listen very carefully so I could get it right. Most of the time they spoke so rapidly that I had a hard time understanding, so I would ask them again, but this time please slow down, so I could understand them. After testing one gentleman I asked him his age and would he please, “hable mas despacio, por favor,” (speak slower please). He then replied in very plain English with a huge smile on his face, “sixty eight.” I looked at him and asked “Habla Engles?” He said with a big wide grin “yes.” We both had a good laugh because we both knew that he was having a little fun with this pale faced gringo who was attempting to communicate with him in very bad Spanish.
While most of our group was working on the various projects the two dentists in the group Larry Hogge and Doug Gray set up shop in a small room where they could invite patients with dental problems to pay them a visit. They brought with them the necessary tools and drugs to do the work. The majority of their patients were children with a simple tooth ache. Unfortunately the only thing the two dentists could do was pull teeth. They had lots of patients and pulled lots of teeth and distributed lots of pain pills.
Jamie Dickerson, Kathryn Kemp, Michele Hall, Melissa Richins, and Abby Colston were the young women in our group and were a real hit with the girls. It was not uncommon to see the young women surrounded by the young girls of all ages. Everywhere they went they had a large following of young people. They painted fingernails, took pictures played games and did other fun activities with the children.
Mary Jarvis came prepared to teach the women of the villages how to sew and create craft items that they sold to earn a little extra money. Mary made available various fabrics and patterns for them to use. In the sewing room there were three Singer treadle sewing machines and other sewing tools they used to create bottle holders, purses and other items they could sell. Mary also helped the children with crafts projects.
Everyone on our Rotary team was impressed with how happy people in the villages seemed to be. Compared to what we have they don’t have much and live a very simple life. Their dwellings consist of a small hut covered with Palm leaves to protect them from the weather, mostly rain. All of the buildings in the villages are mounted on stilts so they won’t be washed away from the annual floods of the Amazon River during the rainy season.
Logan Rotary Peru 2009 was considered a success even though we didn’t accomplish a lot of work on the Rotary projects. We learned a lot about the people of the Amazon, how they lived. In our small way maybe we made life a little more comfortable for them with the items we left behind and the help they received with the dental and eye clinics.
When the time came we left the villages on the Amazon to visit some of the other sites of Peru, including Cusco and Machu Picchu. Our final day in Peru was spent in Lima. Before heading home we had dinner at la Rosa Nautica on the Pacific Ocean. It had to be one of the nicest restaurants in all of Peru.
Our trip back home was exactly what it was when we left ten days earlier, like running a marathon. It was a day and a night and another day without going to bed before we arrived back in Salt Lake. It was nice to hear the immigration official in Los Angeles after examining our passports say, “Welcome home.” Our trip gave us a new appreciation for what we had and for our homes in Cache Valley.

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Lysha Marshall and Grandpa Smith

I was lucky a few weeks ago I took the opportunity to have my photo taken with Lysha. It was taken on Mother's day after Steven spoke in Sacrament meeting before going on his mission.

Another five generation photo

While we were at Lysha's funeral we took the opportunity to take another five generation Photo. This photo is of Great great grandma Smith holding Kamery, the baby of Mike and Cassie Atkinson, Great grandpa smith, Cassie, and Lynette Rushton, Cassie's mom. It took us a while to get together with this one but we finally got it done.

Karen's New Pet.

Here are two photos, one of Oscar in a bottle. He was cremated when we put him down and we have the ashes in a bottle in a box in the living room. I never thought we would get another cat after we were so attached to Oscar and had to put him down. But time heals and Karen's kids thought she needed another cat. So....on Friday Karen drove to the Salt Lake airport to pick up Konie from Konecticut. David found the stray at his work shop and thought it would make a good pet for Karen. He put it on the airplane in Connecticut and twelve hours later Karen picked up up at the airport. The cat did quite well having been on the airplane for 12 hours. The cat is now getting acquainted with it's new home. It is mostly brown and black with a little bit of white. It's also quite frisky compared to Oscar. It's also about one-third the size of Oscar only about eight pounds. Anyway we have made the 10 to 15 year commitment to have another pet in the house. Wish us well.

The casual missionary

This is a photo of Grandpa
Smith and Steven. Notice how casual Steven is and how dressed up grandpa Smith is. I was trying to set a good example of how a missionary should be dressed.

Arkansas or Bust

Photo of the Marshall's car after Steven was set apart. Who would do something like that.....Carolyn knows.

Pictures I took at Steven's "going on a mission" affair

Obviously Rebecca wasn't impressed by the whole thing. She fell asleep when Steven was set apart as a missionary.

Photos I Took at Steven's "Going on a Mission" Affair

I traveled to Logandale to listen to Steven speak in sacrament meeting and be with him and his family as the sent him off. I was able to get some good photos (I think) and thought I would share them with all of you.

Photo of me with whiskers

When I went skiing in Colorado a month ago I decided to grow some facial hair. I did it once before after I did Chemotherapy because I was so happy just to have hair. I've had it for a few weeks, but it's gone now. I'm just not cut out to have facial hair. Anyway I thought you might like to see it.

Here is a column I wrote about the Newspaper business

Bruce Column March 29, 2009

These are difficult times for newspapers. Within the past month at least two large metropolitan newspapers in the western United States have gone out of business, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and the Seattle Post Intelligencer. I was in Colorado the day the Rocky Mountain News printed their last edition and watched with sadness as a television newscast chronicled the removal of the huge Rocky Mountain News sign from their Denver office building. It appears competing newspapers in large metropolitan areas are becoming a thing of the past. There simply isn’t enough revenue to support two newspapers in the big cities.
The newspapers in most cities big and small have a long tradition of serving their communities and most of them can trace their roots back to the mid to late 1800’s. Many of the big metro dailies can trace their roots back to the 1700’s and the early history of the country. Newspapers played a significant role in the founding of our country. The history of The Herald Journal goes back to 1879 when a little weekly newspaper called The Leader was born. The Leader eventually became the Utah Journal and then The Logan Journal. The Cache Valley Herald was born in 1925 as a competitor to the Logan Journal. The competition between the two newspapers was spirited and it soon became obvious that two newspapers couldn’t survive in Cache Valley. The two newspapers ended their competition with one another in 1931 when they combined into The Herald Journal and went from weekly to daily publication.
Since that time The Herald Journal has continued to change as the needs of Cache Valley have changed. Adding a Saturday edition, switching to morning delivery, and creating an Internet site, hjnews.com, are just three of the most significant recent changes that have helped The Herald Journal remain the dominant supplier of information to the people of Cache Valley.
The relatively recent development of the Internet as a source of information has had a huge impact on the way we do our business and will probably influence how we operate for years to come. When we began our website, hjnews.com, almost fifteen years ago we had no idea where it would end up. Since that time we have gradually shifted some resources from the newspaper to our Internet effort. One of the early dilemma’s we faced was whether or not we should make the entire Herald Journal available for free on the Internet. The choice we made, right or wrong, was to have both a free site and a paid site. The paid site offers the entire Herald Journal on line and looks just like the printed edition. Subscribers to the print edition have free access to the complete on-line edition. Those who don’t subscribe to the printed version can subscribe to the on line version. The free site, hjnews.com, doesn’t include the entire news report found in The Herald Journal. It doesn’t even look like a newspaper. It includes only a few local stories along with breaking news, photo galleries, blogs, videos, national and international news and videos by the associated press, a place where readers can comment on the news of the day, and of course advertising.
Because hjnews.com has been around for almost fifteen years in has become one of the most popular places people go to get credible information about Logan, Cache Valley, the nation, and the world. Between the newspaper with a paid circulation of 16,500 each weekday and almost 18,000 on Sunday and a website that attracts more than 6,000 visitors each day we are reaching more people than we ever did with just the print product. For this reason we remain an excellent choice for advertisers to reach all of their potential customers.
I’m often asked how the newspaper is doing in light of the recent economic downturn and the emergence of the Internet as a free source of news and information. My answer is that like most businesses we have to make adjustments and change as the media business changes. So, yes the newspaper business is changing. Right now we are in what has been called “The Perfect Storm.” We are being affected by two significant forces at the same time, the economic recession and the Internet. Fortunately over the years we have been willing to take advantage of new technology and have continued to position ourselves with the newspaper and our Internet efforts as the primary source of local information in Cache Valley. When the “Perfect Storm” subsides we are confident that both the newspaper and our Internet site will thrive.
When I graduated from college in 1963 and made it know to my parents that newspapers was going to be my life long work I’ll never forget my mom’s comment about my choice. She Said, “I guess there will always be a newspaper.” Moms are always right. We’ll make it through this “Perfect Storm” and will always be there to inform and entertain. Like many other businesses some newspapers are being forced to close their doors. Right now it’s a difficult time for everyone, but I’m convinced that there will always be a newspaper.
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My HJ Column about what my dad had to say about the economy

Bruce column April 13, 2009

Growing up as the son of a father who had vivid memories of the great depression of the 1930’s and being very aware of the current world wide economic recession, I reflect often on conversations I had with my dad about money, the importance of being frugal and avoiding debt. Dad died in 1999 and at that time things were pretty good. The country wasn’t involved in a foreign war and the economy was relatively stable. Credit was readily available, people were buying cars and houses, everyone who wanted to work had a job, banks were not failing, and big national corporations were not looking to the government to bail them out of their financial problems. Life was good.
Dad always told my brothers and me as we were growing up that he couldn’t understand how the price of things could keep going up. If prices kept gong up people could no longer afford to buy the necessities of live let alone a few of the luxuries. I would always argue that it’s all relative. Yes, things cost more and the prices continue to rise, but people also make more money and will continue to make more money so they can afford the higher prices.
I can remember as a youngster discovering that my dad’s income working for the railroad was $10,000 per year. I thought that if I could ever get a job that paid $10,000 per year I would have it made. I also remember dad telling that his first and only house cost around $7,000. The payments were less than $20 per month it was a real struggle to make the payments and he thought he would never get it paid for.
He found it hard to believe that in 1966 I paid $16,000 for my first home in Missoula Montana. He found it harder to believe that I paid $35,000 for a home when I moved back to Idaho. He was flabbergasted when he found out that I paid $90,000 for a home in 1985 when I took a job at the newspaper in Bozeman. I didn’t dare tell him what I paid for my home in North Logan when we moved here in 1993. I know he would not have approved, it was simply too much money and I would never get it paid for.
As dad grew older he continued to be obsessed with the fact that things cost so much and continually warned us that the good times couldn’t last forever and we were headed for another depression. He strongly admonished his kids to avoid debt like the plague. Going into debt for a modest house was OK, and maybe even for a car, but that was it. He advised us to be frugal in the way we lived and spend our money. He sincerely believed that we should fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
Dad was right when he said that someday there would be a huge economic correction. Prices and wages simply couldn’t continue to escalate as they had done for most of his adult life. The present economic correction is nothing like the great depression of the 30’s but it is the most drastic economic correction of my lifetime and is a cause for concern. Some families find themselves in houses that have decreased significantly in value and have discovered that they are upside down which means what they owe on the house is more than the house is worth. Many find that they have more credit card debt than they can afford and are paying huge amounts of interest to the credit card companies. Some people have gone into debt for expensive toys such as snowmobiles, motorcycles, boats, furniture and find themselves with huge payments they have a tough time making. Those who are a bit older, like me, have found that what they have been putting away for retirement has significantly decreased in value because of the huge drop in the value of stocks and mutual funds. Almost everyone has felt the effects of the economic downturn.
For what it’s worth I am confident about the future. In fact I think there are signs that we have reached the bottom of the recession and will soon begin to crawl out of the economic problems we have experienced over the past six to nine months. Some of headlines in last Friday’s paper gave me hope that the country has reached the bottom. Wells Fargo Bank nationally predicted record earnings, unemployment benefit filings nationwide have dropped, several large national retailers are predicting solid sales for April, and the stock market closed over 8,000 last Thursday after being down below 7,000 just a few months ago. All of the above in my view is good news and gives hope that things are beginning to turn around.
Also for what’s its worth it is my opinion that we in Cache Valley have been somewhat isolated from the serious economic problems that many parts of the country have felt. We simply haven’t suffered as many severe economic hardships as the rest of the country. The unemployment rate is higher than we would like but not as high as the rest of the country. Retail sales have suffered, but not as much as the rest of the country. Houses have decreased in value, but not decreased as much as the rest of the country.
Historically the economy has up and down cycles and there is no doubt that we are in a down cycle right now. But, the economy will recover over time, it always has. So when the recession is over what is the take home lesson that we should have learned to prepare for the next down cycle that is inevitable? My dad gave his sons good advice. Avoid debt like the plague, live modestly, save a little bit each payday, don’t be wasteful, and if possible fix it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.

We had to put Oscar Down. Here is a column I wrote about it

Bruce Column March 15, 2009

Oscar our pet cat has been a part of our family for the past eleven years. On Tuesday of last week we had to have him put down.
He came to us as a Christmas present from out daughter. Kendra has always loved animals and thought Karen and I needed to have a cat. Just before Christmas about eleven years ago she brought Oscar to our house to live. Kendra had done a lot of work trying to find just the right cat for us. She said she “interviewed” several before she settled on Oscar - a kitty that was rescued by the Humane Society in Salt Lake. He was only six or seven month’s old when he was found wandering across the parking lot of a grocery store. The humane society rescued him, neutered him, gave him all of his shots and put him up for adoption. In Kendra’s quest for an appropriate pet for Karen and me she decided on Oscar because he seemed pretty calm and cuddly and she knew we would give him a good home. Karen and I were not so sure we needed a pet. It took a while for us to get used to having a pet in the house. But it didn’t take long for us to become emotionally attached and after a short time we found that we both adored Oscar.
We decided early on that he was going to be an indoor cat. When he was younger he wanted to go outside, but we wouldn’t let him. It didn’t take long for him to get used to being an indoor cat so for almost all of his eleven years he didn’t get out much. On the rare occasion that he did escape the house he would patrol the back yard and after a short time was ready to come back into the house.
Oscar was a pampered cat and pretty much had his way anywhere in the house. He must have had a big daddy or a big mommy because he was a very large cat. He ate well, it fact to well. Because we fed him so well he became obese and at one time weighed about 23 pounds. After a few years of being over weight he started showing signs of being diabetic. The vet attempted to get us started with insulin shots but that simply didn’t work. Oscar was simply to big and wanted nothing to do with having a needle stuck in him twice a day.
We decided that if Oscar lost some weight his body might make the necessary adjustments to control his diabetes, so we put him on a diet. He lost a lot of weight and eventually went from 23 pounds to 13 pounds. Despite losing a bunch of weight his diabetes eventually caused other problems. He developed a very sensitive stomach and constantly vomited. He went from throwing up once or twice a month to weekly, then to daily. His body wasn’t getting the nourishment it needed, he was always hungry so we were constantly feeding him and he was constantly throwing it up. Oscar probably had other physical problems that we didn’t know about, but constantly being sick and having to clean-up after him became a real problem. He wasn’t doing well at all. After a recent middle of the night episode the decision was made. Karen called the vet the next morning and made an appointment. With tears in our eyes we took him to the animal hospital to have him euthanized.
Oscar has never liked to ride in the car when we would take him to the vet. He always made quite a fuss. This time when we loaded him into the car was no different. He was very alert and had a terrified look in his eyes as if he knew what was going to happen. Unfortunately I can’t get that image of those big yellow scared eyes out of my mind as he watched Karen and me drive him to the vet’s office. When we finally arrived Karen took him into the examination room and came out a few minutes later, Oscar was gone. It was extremely painful for Karen and me, but fortunately painless for Oscar. Once the injection was put into his front leg it was a matter of seconds before he was gone.
Oscar was a wonderful pet and provided a lot of peaceful comfort to both of us. Putting him down was one of the hardest things we have had to do. He was so loyal, trusting and unconditional in his love for us. We also think that we provided a pretty good life for him. He had the run of the house. He slept where ever he wanted. He had the best food money could buy and always had a clean litter box. Karen often made the comment that after death if humans are reincarnated as animals she wanted to come back as Oscar the cat.
It’s been almost a week and I still miss him. He’s not there in the morning sitting on his haunches watching me get dressed. He is not with me on the bathroom counter helping me get ready for work. He’s not on the Kitchen counter as I eat breakfast and read the newspaper each morning. He’s not there to greet me when I come home from work each afternoon. He’s not sleeping at the foot of the bed anymore. He’s not on his window perch watching the birds at the outside feeder anymore. He’s not lounging around the house looking for a warm sunny place to sleep anymore. He’s not there to run to the front door when the doorbell rings to see who is coming to visit us anymore.
He’s gone and we miss him.

I started writing a column again. The first one is about my battle with cancer. It appeared in the paper on March 1, 2009

Bruce column March 1, 2009

After almost ten years of writing an every other week column for the newspaper, early in 2008 I was forced to give it a rest because of some health issues. I simply didn’t have the energy to do it anymore.

In September of 2007 I completed five months of extensive chemotherapy followed by a bone marrow transplant to rid my body of cancer. It took several months for my body to recover from all of the chemotherapy and an extra long time to recover from a bone marrow transplant. During that time I was determined to continue writing my column and I did until February 2008 when I contacted an unexpected virus that really slowed me down. While battling the virus I simply didn’t have the energy or the desire to write a column so I gave it up.

It’s been a year and a half since I completed my cancer treatment and I’m just fine. In fact I’m back to normal with only a few minor residual side effects that I’ll simply have to learn to live with. I still have some minor numbness in my feet and some minor stomach issues as a result of all of the chemotherapy. I don’t have quite as much endurance as I once had. I have returned to a relatively strenuous exercise schedule every afternoon at the Sports Academy. I ride the stationary bike for an hour followed by lifting a few weights. By the end of most days I’m pretty tired and ready for bed.

My present health issues are not caused by cancer, but caused by what they did to me to get rid of the cancer. My cancer was a stage four mantel cell lymphoma. According to the oncologist there were not a lot of options for treatment. Initially the oncologist told me that, “we have a very difficult problem to deal with.” Mantel cell is a relatively rare cancer so there has not been a lot of research done to treat it. I wasn’t given much hope for long term survival because of the type of cancer I had. Also my age didn’t help my chances of survival. Three options were explained to me. I could do nothing and probably not survive beyond a few months. I could do regular outpatient chemo that would probably slow down the spread of the cancer which would give me a few more months beyond doing nothing. The third option was a relatively new cutting edge treatment and consisted of several week long hard chemo treatments followed by a bone marrow transplant (BMT). I didn’t think I was ready to die so despite my age at the time I opted for the week long chemo and a BMT. Obviously it all worked because I’m still alive and doing very well.

I feel extremely fortunate that I was able to endure the cancer treatment with only minimal side affects. During the past year and a half I have spent a lot of time at the Huntsman Cancer Hospital and have been aware of numerous people who endured the same treatment but unfortunately didn’t fare as well as I did. Many BMT patients suffer severe heart and lung damage. One time when I was waiting to see the doctor a young man entered the waiting room and sat down beside me. He was on oxygen and looked like he was having difficult time breathing and getting around. He was in a wheel chair. His mom told me that the BMT severely damaged his heart, lungs, kidneys and liver and for him to survive he’s gong to have to endure further treatment including an organ transplant. It’s not uncommon to see people young and old on oxygen in the patient waiting room. I’m lucky; I’ve had none of those problems.

Another BMT patient that I became acquainted with survived the treatment very well. She is quite a bit younger than me and about a year behind me in her treatment. We had dinner with her and her husband a week ago and she has recently been given a clean bill of health. We both realize how fortunate we have been to have survived cancer and the treatment for cancer with no serious side effects and celebrate the fact that we are able to return to a normal life.

Right now other than a few minor physical limitations mentioned above, my biggest problem is all in my head. Every time I have a pain anywhere, a cough, a stomach ache, a head ache, a cold or any other routine ailment my mind automatically begins to question if the cancer is back. I wish I could forget about the fact that I once had cancer, but I can’t. It’s always in the back of my mind that I once had cancer and there is a chance that it might come back.

I go back to the oncologist every three months for a battery of tests to see if I’m still cancer free. So far so good, no cancer. When the results of the tests indicate no cancer it is very comforting. During each visit I ask the doctor what is going to happen if the cancer comes back. Her most recent response has been, with the treatment you have gone through “I’ve never had it come back.” She’ll also admit that the cancer treatment I had is relatively new so there isn’t a long history of success.

Next week it’s time for another visit to the Huntsman. Part of me looks forward to the visit so my mind can be set at ease that I’m still cancer free. The other part of me is fearful that the cancer has returned and I’ll have to decide what I’m going to do. Hopefully I’ll be cancer free.

When I first entered the Huntsman almost two years ago I noted that the address of the hospital was 2000 Circle of Hope Drive. I am hopeful that when I make my regular three month visit to the hospital next week, I’ll still be cancer free.

Here is a picture of another great grandchild. Her name is Kamery Jo Atkinson. She was born in December to my granddaughter Cassie and her husband Mike Atkinson.

Here is a picture of me when I was a baby.

Just recently I became a great Grandfather. My mother, my daughter, my granddaughter and brand new great granddaughter recently posed for a photo and here it is. The brand new baby's name is McKenna Bowman. Her mom's name is Andrea. My daughter's name is Susan, and my mom's name is Twila.

Brand New Blog

Well, Here I am. Getting myself completely into the Blog thing. I just set it up and will be posting some pictures soon of things that happen to me and things around the house. I'll try to do it in a day or so.