|
Lori Howlett Born 3/15/06 Jessica's birth was a planned induction as my doctor and I decided we wanted to avoid another 10 pounder like Nicky. Not that it was all that early, my due date had been March 19th so it was only a few days ahead of schedule so to speak. From starting the pitocin to delivery was a grand total of 3 1/2 hours!! My shortest ever (of course, since this was my fifth it's about time I got it right). The epidural was, of course, quite lovely and timely. Michael says I only had to push for 10-15 minutes, so that was nice also. She's been a good baby from the start and only cries when she's hungry and we're not fast enough to suit her. Oops, speaking of her highness, I hear her squawking now. Freetime's over, I guess. |
|
PV2 Timothy Murdock March 17: I would in fact love to read the new "Who's Who in Baseball" that Grandpa asked about. I actually bought one in the store the other day (the last one) and of course left it in the bag AT THE STORE ten minutes before they closed. I returned the next day and they told me they couldn't replace it without the receipt, which was in the bag (of course). I haven't been to Venice yet, with the exception of the airport. Seeing the city from the sky though is a magnificant sight, as well as flying over the Austrian Alps. We took a tour at Vicenza yesterday and it alone is a great sight for tourists, with so many buildings dating anywhere from 900-950 years old!!! We walked through a couple museums which contained old Roman artifacts; it was a feast for the eyes as I had no camera to keep a constant shot. So I soaked it all up as much as I could. The people in Italy are for the most part very nice, and like/respect Americans. Despite many people's fondness for us, I have been the target of some discrimination in Europe, whether it was England, Germany, or Italy. It is rare, but it has happened and it is very disheartening when you understand not the words they're saying but you still know what they mean. Graffiti litters downtown Vicenza's underpasses, with phrases like "Death to NATO" and "Americans are murderers". Some of my best friends are leaving for Iraq as early as next week, and they are not bad people; they are most definitely not murderers! Europeans mean well, but they have a very poor perception of Americans and what we stand for. Many of the younger Europeans, such as kids and teenagers, are becoming more knowledgable about America and are very interested in what we are like, so I see a change in Europe coming quicker than before. Keep rooting for the boys in blue (Dodgers and Soldiers)! PV2 Murdock April 8: I just yesterday night recieved my yearly "Who's Who Guide", and I thank you much for sending it to me, even all the way out to Italy. Geez I never thought I would say that. It still seems unreal that I am stationed here. It is an awesome post to be put on. We don't really have too much work in my shop so our commander has us do PT (physical training) longer than even the airborne infantry units here. Just last week, I ran: five miles, five miles, and seven miles. That is the normal rotation for us. Once a month we run a seven mile route called "Monte Berico". We only run it once a month because it has steps going from the ground to what seems like the clouds. At the top of the steps and an equally tall hill is an old Venetian church, and next to the church is a look-out point, overlooking the whole city of Vicenza. It looked like the back of a postcard. Boy, was that ever a nice treat to my eyes. I hope some of you all could come out here and see what I see. It is just too exciting to be a soldier in the U.S Army and be stationed in Italy. PV2 Murdock April 30: Hello, there. Well I received the e-mail about the Muse, but I am no longer in the Special Forces. My orders changed while I was in Germany, and now I am in Italy as the Primary Security Manager for the 14th Transportation BN. PV2 Murdock (He's a wreckin' machine!) |
Pipestone formation |
Darrel Murdock April 14: After reading that Sioux Falls, South Dakota was named after a waterfall that still existed, I realized that it was also fairly close to a previous target of ours, Pipestone National Park. We had driven all the way down to the Southwest corner of Minnesota on a late fall day to capture Winnewissa Falls and the other features of that park, including some very interesting pipestone formations. We had talked about going back in the Spring to see the falls gushing violently after the thaw. So it was a perfect plan to include checking out Sioux Falls at the same time. Unfortunately the snow had melted slowly under cloudy skies, and we had to abort the mission that we had waited so impatiently for. We had learned the hard way not to spend our hard-earned cash on gloomy pictures. The weekends went by with us yearning to explore, to discover; finally we couldn't take it anymore and vowed to find a target with sunshine on it somewhere, somehow. We even rented a vehicle for the upcoming weekend, despite the warnings of rain throughout the entire Midwest. We checked every location we had ever been to, frantically searching for a hole in the clouds. Then at the last minute we noticed that a really nasty storm that was flooding the South-West corner of Minnesota was abruptly ending, with a sunny Saturday in the forecast. We quickly jumped on top of that news, researching the area thoroughly with state-of-the-art road condition e-maps and county websites. Sioux Falls is located in Minnehaha County, South Dakota. There are several cool rivers in the area, but we were limited in time and chose to only explore The Big Sioux River. The falls are located right in the city of Sioux Falls, but we found a piece about the Dell Rapids area just north of the city interesting, and found a zoo in the area, too. We were pretty excited now, thinking about all that and Pipestone, too. If we timed it right we could even stop at Redwood Falls on the way home. This could be good, very good even. Oh yeah. We took off early Saturday morning and endured the long, un-scenic drive down to our first target, the much-anticipated Falls Park that hosts Sioux Falls' namesake. We had only seen photos of the falls in low water, and it had looked only moderate in size, but quite scenic with more of that Catlinite (pipestone) lining the river and the cascades. We were delighted to find a large area with many cascades, overflowing with a very violent river. We took hundreds of photos and film clips from everywhere we could find a place to stand, as the water exploded into the air above the churning, crashing Big Sioux River. After that we went to check out the zoo, which has a few animals that our zoos don't have. For less than eight dollars each we gained admission to not only the zoo, but an attached museum, also. We were impressed by the complex, it was not lacking in any way. We wished we had more time in fact, there were many great photo-ops here. Our next stop was at Dell Rapids, which turned out to be the name of a town. We wondered if we had found the right place as we drove into the tiny town. We found a creek or small river running through town that had some cute rapids in it, shrugged our shoulders and took a few pics. Where were the pink cliffs we had seen in the website photos? This wasn't anything to write home about. We decided to look around a little more, then noticed a sign that said "Big Sioux River" a few blocks away. It wasn't too exciting either, just a river with low dirt banks. We were about ready to leave when we realized that the creek we saw must join the Big Sioux River somewhere around here. We knew that confluences could be interesting sometimes, so we investigated further. And there it was, complete with the pink cliffs and a bonus train bridge. The puffy clouds in the blue sky made a great background as we snapped away at the pretty rapids and surrounding scenery. We had quite a bounty already as we headed back towards our home state, and we were right on schedule still. There would be plenty of time to hit Pipestone National Park. When we arrived there, we were disappointed to hear that part of the trail was closed. The flooded river had washed away the railing on the walkway in front of the falls. Oh well, we would just have to see what we could get. Near the falls the viewing platforms had been roped off, but we are not known for following rules, you know. We had to see this, the quaint Winnewissa Falls escalated to a dangerous level. It was beautiful! We climbed all over nearby rocks and ledges to get this rare beauty well documented. Kathy remembered another way to get at the top of the falls, past the Oracle, and we got some more great footage there. After a few more photos of the pipestone formations and cliffs we were back on the road again. We even made it to the city of Redwood Falls, but it was getting darker and Ramsey Falls didn't look much different than the first time, but I did get a cool shot of the ravine by standing next to the falls. And the double-wide dam nearby was kicking up a storm too, so we took some shots of that as we left town. On the way home the Minnesota River was cresting, and the water was nearing the highway. The next day we learned that the roads we were on had flooded and closed down. What perfect timing! We had caught the targets just hours after the heavy rains had caused damage, then slid back home before the rivers crested and flooded the highways. All that and sunshine too! |
Mystery Man 1990 photo |
Gene Murdock Well, I'm pretty much all settled in my new home at Linwood Estates. There are about 25 apartments here, and all of the residents, except me, are female. Several folks have referred to it as "my harem." Maybe so, but I'm not king of the harem. With the debilitating medication for my prostate cancer, I'm much more suited for the role of the Eunuch of the Harem. The service, facilities and staff are wonderful! Every morning the Omaha paper is slid under my door, and every afternoon the mail comes the same way. I put my trash in a trash bag, set it outside the door and it disappears! But the best is my laundry - I set my full hamper outside my door on Tuesday morning, and around noon it comes back all cleaned, dried and folded. Wow!! Three meals a day are provided, and there is always coffee, soda, juices, cookies and candy available. For an extra fee they will clean my room and monitor my medications; services that I will sign up for when I stop driving. There are movies, visits by entertainers and kids groups, discussions, games and other diversions to entertain us. I am the only resident with a car, and I am free to come and go as I please. One source tells me that I am known as the "mystery man." I don't spend much time at the home, since I am getting in all the good traveling and eating out that I can while I can. I realize I won't be driving much longer, so I am stocked up on stay-at-home material. I have about 100 books, 25 audio books, 50 VHS tapes, 50 DVD's and about 100 music CD's. With a decent TV cable selection, I am pretty well set. The apartment is a small studio set-up, the total space about the size of some of your living rooms, but it has a refrigerator and sink and a huge bathroom. There is an emergency pull cord in the bathroom and I can wear a button on a chain around my neck that I can press to alert the staff instead of calling out "Help! I've fallen and I can't get up!" Cooking is allowed, but is not practical. I have a refrigerator and microwave, but practically no counter space, no dishwasher or garbage disposal. And since the water does not get hot enough (probably so we won't scald ourselves in the showers) I doubt that it can sterilize the dishes. So I rely on throw-away dishes, and just do simple microwave heating when I want something. I moved in just in time, as my insidious (there's that word again, Dotty) dementia is progressing. I find it extremely difficult to "get started" on any project, especially writing. It's not like writer's block, because I have articles lined up in my head ready to print, if only I could "get started." But by Gosh; I got this written at last!!! |
Don Knotts |
Gene Murdock There is no such thing as boredom in Gene’s world; I can find things that need doing all over the place. My number one project is my volunteer work at the Aviation Museum in Greenfield. While I am out there I thrive on the atmosphere of aviation, books and history, and just about every week Lee Ann hands me a new problem to work on that is always interesting. I still enjoy and look forward to the day even with its 200 mile round-trip journey. At the Happy Home I make up seasonal or historic displays to hang on the outside of my door. When I moved in I noticed that many of the apartments had some rather nice things hanging on their doors. I looked for similar items and couldn’t find anything that felt good, so I made up my own. When news of Don Knotts’ demise came, I hung a poster of him as “Bloodhound of the Law” on the door and superimposed a note that read “In memory of Don Knotts 1914-2006.” When March rolled in I saw that it was, among many other things, National Women’s History Month. So I bought a shadow box with black Velcro backing in which I arranged items commemorating Rosie the Riveter of WW II. This display will soon go to the Aviation Museum on the shelf with books dedicated to Women in Aviation. Rosie didn’t fly them, she built them! Inside the apartment I hang pictures that I check out from the library. For most of them I can also check out a book about the painting or the artist, which I study for the month. Right now I have a painting that Dotty did of some birch trees behind a mail box – a scene I dearly love because it reminds me of New England. This week I will go back to the library and get either an Ansel Adams picture or one by Georgia O’Keefe. Another project is carrying on a correspondence with a great-nephew, Nicholaus Murdock, better known as “Rickey,” who contributes a fun-page to the Muse. Rickey had read some of my material and indicated a desire to correspond with me, so I answered and we have been carrying on a remarkable discourse. I am amazed at how much we think alike, but then I realize that it is quite natural – after all, he is the son of Darrel and the Grandson of Bob, and since Bob and I sometimes can’t tell ourselves apart, it’s quite natural that I would have such a close affinity to Rickey. And of course I like to visit neighboring towns with interesting features. Just 27 miles east of Glenwood is Red Oak, a county seat. Red Oak has a fascinating red stone courthouse that looks like a castle, a Carnegie Library built in 1907 with a grant from Andrew Carnegie, a Chautauqua pavilion, a home built in the style of Frank Lloyd Wright, and two museums. I don’t have to go far for a pleasant day of looking around. And I could be having chats with Alice P., except I don’t know where she is. Has anyone seen my rubber ducky? |
Bob at 80
Deviled Egg quilt by Beth |
Bob Murdock Here I am, having turned 80 on June 3. What happened? After all, at age 14 I announced that I would live to the year 2000. Well, I am grateful to the powers that be, and I will try to be worthy of that achievement and my extended tour. The birthday celebration this year was extra super. It started in California in mid-May, including a nice gift shirt from Carol in Coronado. Then there was a visit with Ian's family and Meredith at the Olive Garden in Whittier with more gifts, and a nice Indian veggie meal in Palo Alto with Valerie, Jerod and Larry. The festivities continued in Maryland, where Nancy's "Sew and Tell" quilters treated me to a meal at the Indian Delite restaurant. I provide deviled eggs for their monthly meetings, so it was not surprising that one of my gifts was a little wall quilt with three deviled egg pieces arranged to form an 8 and a zero. This was from Beth, who also took the photos on the left. Finally, we celebrated with Colleen, the Hat Lady, who baked a huge apple pie for me. And on June 10 I am still receiving birthday cards in the mail. The lengthy celebration is enjoyable and appreciated. I believe I am the first male Murdock to reach 80 since Uncle Ken a few years ago. But it's the Charltons with longevity, as my mother, Uncle Euel, and Aunt Ona all reached 90 or more. In due time, we will find out whether I am a Murdock or a Charlton. |
|
Top /
Muse Home /
Who's Who / What's New |
