Thursday, Feb. 13

Today is Grandson's 17th birthday. Happy Birthday, Grandson!

Up at 7 a.m. this morning, but skipped my exercises so I could get ready to go with Hubbie to another town about 30 minutes away to attend the graveside services for Grandson's father.

Before we left around 8:45, we made sure Mother had Ramen noodle soup on hand to heat in the microwave for her lunch.

It was a beautiful day for an outing, though the purpose of the trip was sad. The sun was shining, and the temperature continued to rise. Snow/ice was still very much in evidence in fields, and around homes. But we are hoping most of it will be gone as temps rise in the 50s and 60s this weekend.

We arrived at the cemetery about 9:30 for the 10 a.m. service. Soon other family and friends arrived, and folks visited before the service began. Today, Grandson's three-year-old daughter was in attendance. She is a very energetic child, who ran and played in the cemetery throughout the service. Before the service started. she managed to run up to the casket and push a button that lowered the casket slightly, whereupon someone scrambled to remove her from the tent. She wasn't always quiet during the service, either, but everyone was tolerant. The service was fairly short, and after visiting for a while afterward, we headed home.

We noticed as we passed by the lake at the city park that a flock of small birds seemed to be either walking on water, or on a thin layer of ice on the lake. I'm curious about what species of bird they are, but I'd need to take a close-up photo of them to do research.

On the road, driving past icy fields near the coal-fired power plant, hundreds of snow geese flew overhead, looking for a place to roost in overnight, I suppose. I'd like to go back to the fields to photograph them.

I didn't have a lunch plan for home, so we decided to go to the local Italian restaurant, where we had spinach quiche, and fruit salad, along with bread sticks and marinara sauce.

At home, Hubbie accompanied Mother to our house, where she worked on her jigsaw puzzle, while Hubbie and I ran errands.

Went first to the library to return movies and borrow three more; to the newspaper office to drop off this week's word search puzzle contest; to a grocery store to pick up a few food items; and to a department store, where Hubbie took advantage of a 20% off offer to buy me a pair of heart earrings for Valentine's Day. I'll wear the earrings, along with a couple of heart pendants, to the luncheon event tomorrow at the college down the road.

Back home again, we were ready to relax for a while. Later, I heated leftover chicken and dumplings, and mashed potatoes, to which I added a dish of English peas, for supper.

Mother was ready to go home immediately afterward, so Hubbie accompanied her. Then we watched the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show. We followed that with trying to watch our favorite college basketball team, but the cable kept cutting out. When it finally did return and stay on, I discovered that unbeknownst to me the game had been switched from ESPN2 to ESPN. So it wasn't recorded on the DVR after all. Rats.

So we decided to watch one of the DVDs we borrowed from the library...the first season of "Saturday Night Lights." Hubbie wanted to try this series to see if we'd like it. It revolves around a small Texas town and its high school football team.