Christchurch Earthquake

Woke up this morning to images of the earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand. I saw many buildings that I remember from our trip in May of 2005. Here is the Christchurch Cathedral which appears to have suffered severe damage.

At right is a photo I took in 2005 with the Church's spire beyond the Christchurch Heroes Monument.

Back Yard: Robins

My Mom said she thought she had seen a robin in the back yard. I haven't seen many robins, but they do pass through here. Later I saw them on the fence post.

Trip to Syria: Step Five - Guide Books

Just received Syrian guidebooks. I will spend some time learning about the country.

Trip to Syria: Step Four - Hotels

Jim started booking hotels for the trip. He's found hotels in Damascus, Palmyra, and Aleppo. We will also stay at the same hotel in Istanbul that we used when we were there in 2008.

Trip to Syria: Step Three - Map

Gotta have a map!

Trip to Syria: Step Two - Damascus

Jim booked the segment form Istanbul to Damascus. This is "Plan A". If anything happens that prevents us from getting into Syria, we can come up with a "Plan B". Worst case scenario, we spend the whole time in Turkey.

Trip to Syria: Step One - Istanbul

A month ago Jim emailed me about going on another adventure with him. Jim wanted to go someplace that might not be an option in the future. We decided on Syria, so I booked a flight to Istanbul with a stopover in Amsterdam. From here we plan to travel to Damascus, Syria.

Super Sunday: Packers Win!

Packer win an exciting Super Bowl game. Wish we could have been there.

Ice Bowl: Day V

The side roads were still covered with snow and ice in places this morning. The freeway was almost totally clear, and later in the day the sun had melted most of the remaining ice on the side streets as the temperature climbed above freezing for the first time in 102 hours. But the forecast for tomorrow, Super Bowl Sunday, is for more snow!

Ice Bowl: Day IV

 A cardinal comes out to eat while snow is falling.

Newly fallen snow in front yard. Yes, that's my 1983 Dodge pickup on the street.

Ice Bowl: Day III

The snow and ice has not melted much since it fell on Tuesday morning.

Ice Bowl, Day II

Day two of this icy weather started with a temperature here of about 6 degrees! A neighbor tried to get to work but couldn't get off our street!

Rocky on the frozen tundra of North Texas.

Super Bowl Week

Here is the forecast for the days leading up to the Super Bowl. Note: last week we had beautiful weather.

Three inches of snow on the driveway. Under that is an inch of ice!