Bragg Family South

The picture above is of John Hurlburt and Beth opening presents. We had a real nice visit with Lisa and her husband John, brother Bill and his friend Anders, mom and dad, and Bob. Mom and dad were slightly delayed by a surprise snow storm, which dropped 6-8 inches of snow over much of northern Wisconsin. Unfortunately, the kids didn't have time to play in it much, since we had to leave the next day for Michigan. It did make for a pretty start to our drive, however... After another pretty drive across the UP to lower Michigan, we have spent the last week or so with Hope's family. The "twins" in this picture are, of course, Rick (the tall one) and Kenny (the cute one), wearing matching pirate t-shirts... Christmas Day we joined them at her Uncle Dave Pruden's house, where the kids got a lot more time playing with cousins: We also visited another part of Hope's family (the Clark's) that evening, with more cousins and gifts for the kids. During the rest of the...

It is New Year's Eve, and I am sitting at Rick and Ann Pruden's house relatively early in the morning, as the rest of the family sleeps. We leave tomorrow morning to return to Arkansas, and given how busy it is upon return from these kind of trips, I figured I'd be best off updating the blog now. We had a great vacation, even though both Hope and Beth had colds. Our travel went very well on this trip (at least so far), with good road conditions and no big vehicle surprises. We had a nice visit in Madison with Laurie, Mark, John, Jim, and Bob, and another fantastic dinner at Morel's. Hope had drawn Jim's name for the Bragg family gift exchange, and gave him the gift every consummate Badger fan needs this year--Arkansas Razorback gear!! That is a plastic Hogs hat he's wearing in this picture... We arrived at mom and dad's house in Rhinelander to find virtually no snow, but the kids were able to have fun outside anyhow. Kenny especially loved playing in the san...

I know I said that last weekend's post was going to be the last for the year, but we took some more Christmas-type pictures recently, and thought we'd share them... Also, I want people to notice that this year, we do have a Christmas tree up, even if it is only artificial... Merry Christmas to all y'all, and we hope to see you soon!!

Kenny and Beth got a treat this morning. While Hope was wrapping up a yard sale she and some friends of hers were having, I took the kids to a little park near downtown that has the local railroad tracks running through it. The railroad was sponsoring a "Santa train," where Santa comes to a number of local towns via rail. We watch the engines slowly pull into the "station" and Santa and Mrs. Claus got off, and kids lined up to tell Santa what they wanted for Christmas. Our kids, of course, wanted nothing to do with Santa, but rather wanted to jump around in one of those big inflatable playhouses they have at local fairs. So, we did that instead. Hope's yard sale went well enough that she has enough money to buy a Christmas tree, so we'll get one of those artificial ones this weekend, and we'll have it for a week before we head up north. This is our last post until we see y'all, so stayed tuned until next year!!

Thursday, we celebrated Kenny's fifth birthday with Rick and Ann Pruden, who stopped in for a several day visit during a vacation along the southeastern coastline. It is hard to believe the little person hooked up to all that medical equipment right after he was born is now a vibrant 5-year-old, full of adventure and questions... Kenny got a bunch of presents, for which he was excited about (and very gracious to receive). We have another party scheduled for him later today for his little friends, so I can't stay too long--I have to get home and grill hotdogs! The picture to the right is Kenny at a few weeks old. We were having a going-away luncheon for Jackie and Ed Robinson. Jackie was my work unit's administrative assistant for years, and Hope and Jackie worked together for a while. Jackie took another position with the Forest Service in Jackson, Mississippi (she now works for the Forest Service in Russellville, Arkansas). "Big Ed" was a star football playe...

We returned late Saturday evening from our Thanksgiving trip to Oklahoma. On Thanksgiving Day itself, we drove from Monticello to Idabel, Oklahoma, and had an early afternoon visit with Father Chet, who some of you met during your visits to Arkansas. Father Chet was the priest at St. Marks here in Monticello from a couple of months before we got here in 2000 until earlier this summer, when his missionary order, the Glenmaries, moved him to his current location in Idabel. Father Chet did an admirable job over the years in building up the small Monticello parish into a vibrant community. He also baptized our children, and consoled us during our first miscarriage. Here is a picture of Father Chet with Hope and the kids at his new parish. We then drove north to Tulsa, Oklahoma, to see the sights and watch Coty Skinner, the 12-year-old son of my friend Kevin Skinner from Rhinelander, race in a series of national-level BMX bike races. Coty started racing only two years ago, but has quickly ...

We would like to wish everybody a happy Turkey-Day, especially brother John, who will be returning soon from his real-life experience in Turkey. We regret not being able to join y'all for turkey and stuffing and yams, etc., but we'll be there in spirit, and if the phone system works like it should, we'll try to call while on the road. Don't worry about us, though, as we'll be en route to glamorous Tulsa, Oklahoma, to watch the son of my buddy Kevin race in a national-level BMX bike competition. We also have plans to go to the Tulsa Zoo and visit the Gilcrease Museum, which is well-known for its collections of western art and Native American artifacts. A few days after we return, we expect a visit from Hope's parents, who are taking a brief vacation to the Gulf. As most of at least my siblings are aware, we plan to visit Wisconsin the week before Christmas, culminating in a get-together at Lisa's house in Eau Claire, followed by a trip to lower Michigan an...

For some reason, I wasn't able to post this picture of the kids in their Halloween costumes in my previous message, so here it is separately...

As promised, here is some more on our recent trip to the Northeast. We left on a Friday, and drove hard, with the goal of getting to West Virginia by early afternoon on Saturday. We made good time, which allowed for a couple stops on the way. This first picture is of the kids exploring a small cave near Nashville, Tennessee along the Harpeth River. After staying overnight in Morehead, Kentucky, we were able to get to West Virginia by the next morning, and had a pleasant (if sometimes fog-shrouded) trip across the state. The fog eventually burned off, and we got a pretty good fall color sampling driving along the mountains. Our destination was to visit some friends we made in Monticello who had moved the previous year to West Virginia. The Heitzmans have three kids just older than Kenny, and the gaggle of them played hard this afternoon. We had dinner with the Heitzmans, and then continued on to Pennsylvania. After staying the night in Altoona, Pennsylvania, Hope and the kids dropped m...

Just a quick posting to let y'all know that we survived our 5000+ mile epic Northeastern US trip with our minivan and dignity intact. After two weeks of travel, it was great to get home. The house was fine, the cat was, well, no squirrellier than usual, and we had a lot of fun and got to see a bunch of neat things...more about those later. This has to be a quick update because I'm due home soon for supper. After another gut-wrenching Packer loss, I came in to wrap up some paperwork that had been neglected over the last couple weeks. Tomorrow I leave for a meeting near Asheville, North Carolina, which will take up most of my week. I'll try to post more on our trip next weekend, if time permits. Here's an image from our journey, though... This picture of Hope and the kids was taken at Grey Towers, the family home of Gifford Pinchot, the man considered to be the first American forester, and the first head of the USDA Forest Service. The Pinchot family (including Gifford...

Last Thursday I joined Arkansas Archeological Survey archeologist Bob Scott on an excavation not far north of Warren, Arkansas (which is about 20 miles west of Monticello). This site is on timber company land, and has been heavily looted by local pot-hunters. This first picture shows some of their efforts. They dig in the soft soil and then sift the material looking for anything of value--usually arrowheads and intact pottery. Typically, their efforts destroy the nature of the site, damage the context needed to interpret what was found here, damage or destroy artifacts that have no commercial value, and loot those of value. In many sites (this one included), graves are disturbed, and the remains of people are scattered and destroyed with no thought of the consequences. There is little local law enforcement can or will do to looters--they may be prosecuted for trespassing and/or vandalism if the landowner wants to press charges, and if human remains are disturbed, this can be a felony, ...

After a laproscopic procedure taking less than an hour, Hope is currently sailing through her recovery from getting her gall bladder removed. We had to get her to the Pine Bluff hospital for her surgery by 5:30 a.m. so she could get in the operating room at 7:30 a.m. The procedure went well, and after a couple hour wait, they finally got her into a private room to recover...we should have seen the writing on the wall for this "outpatient" treatment!! She was supposed to stay in the hospital overnight (if we lived in Pine Bluff, they would have released her that evening) and then get released in the morning. The kids and I timed our trip up there to roughly coincide with when we had been told to expect her release...8 hours later, after considerable fuming by myself and a planned walk-out of the hospital, the attending surgeon finally got around to rubber-stamping her release, and she finally got home by that evening. Hope felt up to going to a wedding shower for a fellow...

Hope has just been diagnosed with gall bladder dyskinesia, which basically means her gall bladder is not properly functioning--so much so that she has been scheduled for surgery next week to get her gall bladder removed. It will be a laproscopic procedure, and minimally invasive, but she'll stay overnight at the Pine Bluff hospital just to be sure everything's OK. While this does not sound pleasant, it should provide her considerable relief from the frequent gall bladder "attacks" she has been having. We know several people who have had this done recently, and they say there well-being has improved considerably since the surgery. Hope is expected to recover quickly, and we will still plan on making our big trip to the northeast in the latter half of October.

The picture to the right was taken a couple days ago by yours truly as we were measuring this large tree in the White River National Wildlife Refuge about an hour and a half from Monticello near St. Charles, AR. This unique species is a water tupelo (also called a "tupelo gum") and grows in some of the wettest sites possible (the large swollen base is one physiological response to growing in standing water most of the year). The drought we've had this year has lowered the water level in the old oxbow lake this tree is found in, making it possible for us to access it. The gentleman standing near this tree for scale is Kirby Sneed, a forestry technician from our unit. As an aside, I will frequently use my darling wife Hope as a "scale bar" in these kind of pictures, as it helps people appreciate the size of these trees. This water tupelo is just over 33 feet in circumference at chest height, and although not particularly tall, it shows all the signs of being quit...

Some of you may have heard about this already, but we had a very unpleasant surprise awaiting us when we got back to Monticello on Tuesday, September 12. Apparently, the Monticello area had a storm pass through a week before, which blew over a dead snag in our neighbor's yard. When it fell, this snag hit his powerlines, which were connected to the same pole as our powerlines. Hence, when it struck, it jerked the pole sharply, causing the lines to yank hard on our meter box, breaking some components. The power company disconnected the lines to avoid further damage, but being unable to get a hold of us, did not give us any kind of warning that we were without power. Sooooo...we arrived to a dark, smelly house. We had to dispose of the refridgerator and all of the spoiled food inside, and we had to get an electrician out as soon as we could to get the power back on. We ended up spending a night in a hotel in Monticello, but power was restored the next day, and by the end of th...

Another fantastic canoeing and camping weekend at Sylvania!! After a quick visit with sister Laurie and her husband Mark, we got to Rhinelander on the last day of August. We stocked up on food and other supplies, and the next morning traveled to the Sylvania Wilderness Area in the Ottawa National Forest in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Brother Bob joined us that morning, and brother John and Jim joined us a little later. We set up camp, and soon Hope's parents (Rick and Ann) also joined us. Later that afternoon, Bob, Rick, John, Jim and I enjoyed a brisk hike down one of the local hiking trails. Later that evening, we were joined by others, including sister Lisa and her family (Jon, Michael, and Emma), our friends Brian and Michelle Bennett and their son David, mom and dad (who just stopped by to visit, not camp), and eventually Bob's girlfriend Lisa made it in. The next day, John and Jim had to return to Madison so John could get ready to fly back to Turkey. We finally got...

As some of you already know, we had a family tragedy this week. We had hoped to surprise the family when we saw y'all next week, but it was not to be...Hope had a miscarriage. She was about three months along, and for unknown reasons, was not able to carry this baby to term. She is doing as well as can be expected, and we are under doctor's orders to continue with our planned vacation as scheduled. So, pray for us in our time of grief, and we still look forward to seeing people in Wisconsin next week.

The picture to the right is Beth's room, as finished. After a couple weeks of hard work installing a new window, hanging drywall, painting, and adding the trim, we see the virtually completed final product. Hope picked out a very nice light green paint for the wall, and we will eventually replace the carpet in the kids' rooms with a better color. We hope to begin work on Kenny's room after we return to Monticello in September. We have finally got some decent rain after two months of receiving virtually nothing. Unfortunately for some, this weekend happened to coincide with a large baseball league championship series being hosted here in Monticello. It looks like its starting to clear, so they may yet be able to play. We needed the rain far more desparately than we needed the baseball!!

After conferring with the siblings, we have firmed our plans to make a canoeing/camping trip Labor Day weekend at Sylvania. We will try to get to the campground reasonably early on September 1 (Friday) to try to ensure that we get at least a couple camping sites immediately next to each other. I suspect Saturday will be the big canoeing day, and we anticipate being around even on Sunday, perhaps enough for another junket... We plan to stay in the Rhinelander area through the next weekend (have to catch the Packer's opener in Cheesehead land), and will head back to Monticello on Monday, September 11. Look forward to seeing y'all there!!

The picture to the right is of an old-growth white pine on the shores of one of the many lakes in Sylvania. We are planning another canoeing/camping trip for Sylvania this fall. Earlier, we mentioned to people we were thinking about coordinating this trip with a trip to Michigan for a wedding of a cousin of Hope's, but we have modified our travel plans and now we are looking at another Labor Day expedition. Even though Labor Day is too early to catch good fall color, it does give people the opportunity to take advantage of a long weekend. Our thoughts are: we would get to the Sylvania campground on Friday, September 1, and set up camp (trying to get a number of sites adjacent to each other). Saturday would be the main day for canoeing, and Sunday possibly as well (don't worry Packer fans--opening weekend isn't until the next Sunday). One of my personal goals during this trip is to try to use my laser height measuring device to measure the national champion red pine, which i...

You'd think we would have learned at some point, but as you can tell from this picture, we haven't...we have recently started remodeling Beth's bedroom. Initially, our idea was to put up drywall (it currently is only painted-over paneling) and install a new window, but after digging into it a bit, we ended up replacing a bad stud or two, rebuilding the support structure around the window, adding an outlet, and, as you can see, we will be adding a new door to replace the current one, which was in noticeably poorer condition than we thought. Kenny and Beth are currently sharing Kenny's room, which has worked out pretty well (so far). They're crowded, but not unacceptably so. We expect this remodel to be done by the end of August, if not sooner. Part of the slow progress is the fact that I have a fair amount of business travel over the next few weeks, but we also are buying sheetrock and boards and doors etc. piecemeal as we can afford them (we've vowed not to hit ...

After another long drive following an all-too-short visit, we returned safely to Arkansas yesterday afternoon. We always thoroughly enjoy our trips up north, but it seems like we spend as much time driving as we do visiting...goes with living so far away, I guess. After a nice visit with Laurie and Mark in Madison, we arrived in Rhinelander Friday evening and spent some quality time with Mom and Dad and John and Jim. On Sunday we met up with our friends the Bennetts and traveled to the Antigo area to participate in a "breakfast on the farm" event that had a pancake breakfast, horse wagon rides, tours of their barns, and other displays of equipment. The kids enjoyed the morning, even with a cool wind blowing and the threat of rain. Kenny tried his hand at fishing for the first time (both he and I need more patience to make that work...). Dad and I went out the next day and measured some tall white pines near Woodruff (after Dad had ordered their new kitchen cabinets) while Hop...

Bill arrived at Little Rock National Airport on Thursday, June 1 for a week-long visit. Hope and the kids picked him up (I was returning from a meeting in Texas that day). After an uneventful flight, we immediately saturated Bill will the antics of two small kids and summer in the South. On Friday, Bill and I traveled to the White River National Wildlife Refuge about an hour and a half from Monticello with Bob Scott, a UAM station archeologist, where we assisted on an archeological dig for the rest of the morning. We help excavate a test pit and sifted dirt for artifacts, finding a number of chert flakes, pieces of broken pottery, animal bones, etc. Unfortunately, my camera died that day, so I didn't get any pictures (Bill tooks some). In the afternoon, we then went to a small town north of there called Des Arc to attend a festival. There wasn't much to do, as they were still getting set-up, so we went back to Monticello. The next day we went back up to Little Rock and I bought...

Kenny is standing next to one of the largest train engines ever built. This is a Union Pacific steam engine that travels the country in promotional venues. Weighing almost 1 million pounds, this engine was built just as the steam-powered trains were being replaced by diesel-electric engines. This particular engine (Union Pacific actually has two of them) stopped in North Little Rock a couple days ago, and since I had a meeting in Little Rock that day, Hope and the kids tagged along. They got to check the engine out closely, and I think Kenny was very impressed. We are trying to firm up the dates of our June/July trip up north, but we now plan to only briefly stop in Madison on our way up to Rhinelander. John and Jim will actually be in Rhinelander that first weekend, and since Laurie and Mark have to work the whole weekend, we figured it would be easier just to have a quick visit. We will be in Rhinelander just under a week before driving down to Whitmore Lake where we'll vis...

It is the time of year where just about every little town and village in Arkansas has some theme-based festival. Monticello just had its "Rough-and-Ready Days", which celebrates one of the older precursor settlements to what eventually became Monticello (there was also a Civil War skirmish in Monticello associated with the village once called Rough-and-Ready). Kenny is "driving" the train in the small carnival that accompanied the festivities (Beth is still too small for the rides). The highlight for Hope and me is the barbeque chicken contest. Local teams compete for the title as champion, and roast up various recipes of chicken. They make enough to sell a barbeque chicken dinner complete with a quarter chicken, beans, potato salad, and a roll for $5. We also indulge ourselves in a funnel cake, which is doughnut batter spread in a circular pattern in hot oil, then covered in powdered sugar. MMMMMMM!! Almost as good as a deep-fried Twinkie!! For those that ar...

Last Friday I came across a neat piece of history--I was taking a walk through one of the parcels of land on the UAM campus when I spotted this point lying on the surface of a road cut. I had walked past this spot dozens of times over the last few years, and never saw this point, so it must have washed out following recent rains. I asked Dr. Marvin Jeter, UAM Station archeologist, and he identified it as a "Gary Point" typical of the Late Archaic period--or about 3 to 5 thousand years old! The point is almost 4 inches long and about 1.5 inches at its widest, and it still surprisingly sharp. Note how I have not called this an "arrowhead", as true arrow points are much smaller than this, and of much more recent vintage. This point would have been on a spear or dart, and Dr. Jeter thinks that because of its quality, it may never have been used to hunt, but rather may have been produced for a more ceremonial purpose (perhaps even a burial!). I hope to return to th...

Not that there ever is a good time to get sick, but I hate getting colds in the spring and summer the worst. I guess you expect fall and winter colds to match the cold and dreary times, but spring and summer are supposed to be bright and cheery and warm...if you haven't guessed already, the Bragg Family South is experiencing a bout of viral infections. I (Don) came down with it first, followed quickly by Beth and Kenny, and Hope is making some rumblings about not feeling grand... Sorry for the lack of blog updates as of late--between the traveling we just completed (and we got to see many of you) and the training shortcourse I just helped to provide, I haven't had a lot of time to update the blog. Aside from the colds, we are doing well. We had a great visit up north, and I'm happy to report that my dad seems to be doing fairly well with his knee replacement surgery. He's had a couple bumps in the road to recovery, but I think he's supposed to be back home by next w...

The storms that rumbled through Arkansas and other parts of the South and Midwest are just our annual reminders that spring brings dicey weather to large portions of this country. We had one decent (but brief) storm before supper last night, and a little lightning overnight, but the tornadoes and baseball to softball sized hail that struck Arkansas yesterday was in the northeastern corner of the state. We look forward to seeing as many of y'all in Wisconsin starting next weekend, and continuing through Easter.

Just thought everyone would like to see an up-to-date picture of the kids. Seeing them toddling around the house or hamming it up in the morning is a joy to Hope and me...I find myself continually reminding myself to enjoy them at this stage, warts and all. Stopping to smell the proverbial roses, if you will--even if they smell like a dirty diaper! I have been participating in a local chapter of the Arkansas Archeological Society. Just yesterday I dropped some aerial photographs I borrowed from a couple of elderly members (Ed and Patsie White), and they showed me their personal collection of artificats gathered over decades of effort in the Ashley County, Arkansas area. They were so proud of what they had been able to do, yet were somewhat dismayed that they weren't sure of what was going to become of their collection when they pass on. They really want their fantastic artifacts to be preserved and displayed for people to enjoy, and not simply stored in some dusty boxes or shelves ...

Spring is going full force here in Arkansas. The picture above is of a redbud just about to come into full bloom outside of my office. Many of the flower trees and shrubs are starting to show good color, and the spring beauties are carpeting the ground. A few trees have even started to develop small green leaves, and I'm thinking of getting the lawnmower ready for action. Hope planted some colorful annuals in the beds along the front of the house this afternoon while Beth and I snoozed, and I think she and Kenny are going to plant some strawberries later. However, the storms that accompany our springs here have also started, and these can be troubling. Today, we have hit the mid-80s (second day in a row), and with a lot of humidity in the air and a strong south breeze, we have the ingredients for an outbreak of severe weather. Many places in the region need the rain, but not in this form! A persistent area of rain has sat over the Ohio River valley, and some places in southe...

We just returned from a business trip to Knoxville, Tennessee. I (Don) had a paper to present at the most recent Central Hardwoods Conference, and since it was relatively close to Monticello, we made a family "adventure" out of it. The drive over went pretty well, and we had a good supper and had just started swimming in the pool at the hotel when Hope slipped on the steps leading into the pool, caught the little toe on her left foot, and proceeded to dislocate and break said toe... This resulted in a 3+ hour visit to the emergency room in large city late at night, and many days of limping for Hope. The rest of my meeting went well, and besides a family-wide meltdown on the way home, the trip was an interesting one. The cannons pictured above were at Shiloh Battlefield National Park in southwestern Tennessee, where General Grant defeated a Confederate army after two days of tough battle in April 1862. Shiloh is reminiscent of many of the other Civil War battlefields in ...

Last week marked my return to a full week work schedule. It has been one month since I had back surgery, and judging from how I was able to climb through the woods last week, I feel almost completely healed, and no longer limited by the bulging disk that had slowed me over the last couple of years. I had a good week of field work remeasuring an inventory of a small old-growth pine-hardwood remnant south of Monticello. The picture is taken of pines near the parking area of this stand, which is known as the "Levi Wilcoxon Demonstration Forest", named after the Crossett Lumber Company forester who had enough vision in the 1930s to convince the company to set-aside this stand as an example of the pre-logging virgin forests. Time, of course, has taken its toll, and many of the big pines have started to succumb to insects, lightning, windthrow, and other sources of mortality. There are some big pines out here, for sure, including what I think will be the National Champion shortleaf...

Yesterday (Friday) the family and I traveled to Pine Bluff to meet with my back surgeon, Dr. P.B. Simpson, to get my 3 week follow-up examination. There are usually long waits at his office, so while I waited, Hope and the kids went to Sears to look at a new kitchen stove we're going to order. Dr. Simpson gave me a clean bill of health, and released me from virtually all of the restrictions I had been on since the surgery (the only one I need to keep is to not lift heavy items for another 4 to 6 weeks). Thus, I will return to work full-time next week, and resume driving and riding in vehicles. Dr. Simpson explained that the procedure he performed, a modified lumbar laminectomy, was less invasive that traditional laminectomies, and this helps the patient recover faster. I have no doubts about that--prior to my appointment that morning, I walked for 2 miles with no pain or discomfort, and have not had any noticeable problem with my back for a while. I still have a little stiffne...

Just a quick note on my recovery from back surgery...Hope kindly announced the success of the procedure immediately after my surgery, and I would like to tell everyone that things are still going great. I have very little discomfort or stiffness remaining, and my activities are becoming more and more normal. I walked for 1.5 miles this morning, and I have been coming in to my office for a couple hours per day this week (I hope to do even more next week). I have a follow-up meeting with my surgeon next week Thursday, and I hope at that point I will be released to begin a "normal" schedule. We would like to thank everybody for their thoughts and prayers, and especially thank Mom and Dad for their help with the kids during my recovery!!

Forgive me if this look odd, but this is Hope just providing a brief update on Don's surgery. On Thursday Don and I drove to Pine Bluff to await his surgery. After a long wait for the doctor, he had a modified laminectomy. Basically they relieved the pressure on the nerves around one of his vertebra. He is doing as well as can be expected, and we brought him home Friday afternoon. The kids have been very good so far, although Beth wishes to be picked up and can't figure out why she can't be held right now by Daddy. Don has been walking about a 1/4 of a mile each day, and by the end of the week the doctor would like him to be walking a mile a day.

I (Don) will be undergoing back surgery this next week to repair a condition that has long troubled me, and will therefore not be updating this blog for a while as I recover. Rest assured, this is nothing serious, and I should be back on my feet quickly. Mom and Dad are planning on driving down to Arkansas to visit and help Hope with the kids.

It's been almost a month since our last post. Things have finally settled down enough from our travels over the Christmas-New Year's season that we needed to update this blog. Although we enjoyed our travels up north, we hope not to have that experience again!! This is because of the waves of illness that swept over our family (and many of yours, as well). Lil' Beth got sick on the drive north, and soon her flu passed to mom and dad, followed by Kenny and Hope's parents (and eventually Don's brother Bill). We all seemed to shed the flu quickly, but both Kenny and Beth had nasty colds, and Beth's even became a slight case of pneumonia. Kenny also seemed to be having problems hearing us, so when we got back to Arkansas, we took him to his doctor, and she said "ear infections"!! Both of the kids are largely over their illnesses, and energetic as ever. Unfortunately, these illnesses kept us from visiting as many of you as we wanted to, and we are sorry for...