Janet's Blog

My local grandchildren recently finished their homeschool curriculum for this school year and, to celebrate, we planned to go camping at Lake Minatare, located 12 miles northeast of Gering. However, since the kids had been hoping to camp on the far eastern side of the lake, our campsites were probably closer to 17 miles from home. We avoid camping on weekends, especially holiday weekends, because we've found that the campgrounds are sparcely populated during the week. That's just the way we like it. However, the weather forecast was not in our favor this time. We had planned to leave on Sunday, after church, but Monday's forecast was horrible--rainy, with highs only in the forties. That's not good camping weather unless you like to stay inside your RV, watching TV or reading a good book. Our crew prefers to spend virtually all of their time outdoors, at the beach, so we postponed our trip until Tuesday, leaving just enough time at the lake before the Memorial Day crowd ...

Bill has been spending some extra time with our seven-year-old grandson. Ari is a middle child, sandwiched between two sisters on each side, with a teenage brother, as well. Sometimes, he benefits from a little additional attention, as they all do. It has become obvious that Ari shares some interests with Grandpa Bill. They both like to explore how things work, and they both enjoy designing, engineering, and constructing a variety of things.  A couple of months ago, Bill was given the opportunity to purchase a used go cart. He didn't have to think too long before deciding to buy it as a project he and Ari could work on together. The go cart needed a new lawnmower motor, some re-upholstery, and a safety harness, among other things, so a couple of times a week, Bill would pick up Ari and the two would go to the shop to work on the go cart. Since Ari has a seven-year-old's attention span, they only worked for an hour or so at a time, stretching the project over several weeks' ...