As you can tell, I am finally getting my railroad tie curbing replaced with granite curbing. Here in New Hampshire granite curbing is everywhere. They use salt on the roads during the winter and so concrete curbing would just disintegrate. Besides New Hampshire is known as the "Granite State." I think you can see from both these pictures that in addition to the curbing, I think I am also getting about a foot or a foot and half more of yard. This first picture particularly shows where the road was and by that then, where the old curbing was. The granit curbing is about a foot and a half further out into the road. I wonder if they are going to discover the change or just leave it like that. I guess I don't mind, but it does seem odd that the road in front of my house is narrower than in front of my neighbor's house.



So now it is up to me to figure out how to make the new curbing look right with my yard. Does anyone know, should the yard be even with the top of the curbing? Or can I leave the curbing higher than the yard? It might be kind of dangerous. But if the yard is to be higher, then I am going to have to do something about making my yard more level!

This morning I read about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel 3. These guys were pretty amazing! They are being prepared to be thrown into a fiery furnace and their response to the king is "O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up." The furnace was so hot that the men throwing them into the fire were killed. Yet, they survived and "their robes were not scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them." It is so easy to limit ourselves by not recognizing how truly awesome is our God.

These are a couple of pictures of my freshly painted house. It also includes a picture of my newly redone porch. I am pleased with how nicely it turned out. The previous paint job was a little dull looking compared to this new paint. But I stayed with the same color. I love the red and cream color look.















Notice above the garage door I have a Pennsylvania Dutch "sign". It was hanging inside the garage. I had the painter hang it instead of the huge wreath that was there previously. This particular design stands for friendship. If you want to read about these signs you can link here to http://www.amishnews.com/featurearticles/Storyofhexsigns.htm.

I looked to see what actually constitutes being "Pennsylvania Dutch." I checked it out on the internet. This is what I read:

The Pennsylvania Dutch are not even Dutch at all. They are not from the country that we know today as the Netherlands. Some say that the Pennsylvania Dutch should be more properly known as Pennsylvania German. Deutsch means German and the early English in America corrupted the term Deutsch to Dutch. The term German though had a different meaning before 1800. The Germans were not members of a formal country at that time, but were a loose collection of principalities, free cities, protectorates and confederations. The country that we know today as Germany came into being in 1848 with the unification process starting around 1800. German areas before 1800 included areas that are now part of Poland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, Russia, France and other areas as well as Germany. A more formal definition of Pennsylvnia Dutch then are those that came to America from those areas where the German language was spoken before 1800. Those that came after 1800 are usually referred to as Pennsylvania Germans or just German imigrants.

So I suppose technically our family may not be able to trace our roots back before 1800. I have not done a geneology history of Gram Helm's family (Hardy) or Grandpap Helm's family, but I suspect that they were closest to being here before 1800. I know that Grandmommy Holdren's family (Mundrick) were only first generation American, so they probably came in the late 1800's. I don't know about the rest. I will have to check it out someday. But in the meantime, I like the looks of the Pennsylvania Dutch sign.

Yesterday was Deerfield Old Home Days. Thomas' (and Tommy's) Cub Scouts had a float in the parade. It was the best float! You can see Steven sitting in the float, but I don't know which of the white helmets is Thomas. Tom rode in the jeep pulling the float. The kids had candy they were tossing all along the parade route. After this float my next favorite was one the local nursing home had. I didn't get a picture of it until they were finished, but you will get an idea from this picture. They had the float filled with residents all dressed in World War II uniforms. They had a truck decked out like a USO show (with the people that could stand for the parade) and then the trailer with the "soldiers" that needed to sit. It was great. One of the older gentleman they were helping from the float looked pretty tired, and maybe even a little "out of it." But when he walked past Lauren standing with Tommy, he patted her on the head. He had enjoyed himself. The whole parade was quite fun. They had all the local emergency vehicles as well as a few from neighboring communities. So they were noisy. Kathy and I both raised our eyebrows at the "Mass Casuality Unit" when it went by! It was shared by Raymond, Deerfield and Newfields, funded by Homeland Security.

I am going to add a few of the extra pictures from today. It was a fun afternoon.


"Astronaut" Thomas had completed his mission to distribute candy all along the parade route.














Thomas, Steven and Kathy's Dad. Riding in a parade was hot, hard work. Both boys needed water right away! They are so cute.





Cub Scout leader Tom and his mother-in-law Diane.








These are a couple of random parade shots. For a small town, they had a nice parade. It was fun to watch. There were a lot more "floats." Everyone on the floats knew someone along the side of the road and were talking back and forth with the parade viewers. It was a fun parade and I enjoyed the "small town" atmosphere of the parade.

Except for a long ride home on the bus today, this was a very quiet Friday! The bus was delayed because of emergency vehicles swarming all along the bridge over the Merrimack River on 93 in Methuen, MA. There were emergency personnel on jet skis in the river as well. I wonder if it might have been a jumper. It certainly did tie up traffic this afternoon.

In the movie On the Town, three sailors are on liberty in New York City and they sing:

New York, New York, a wonderful town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery's down.
The people ride in a hole in the groun'.
New York, New York, it's a wonderful town!

But the next time Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jule Munshen sing the verse they say:

New York, New York, a visitor's place,
Where no one lives on account of the pace,
But seven millions are screaming for space.
New York, New York, it's a visitor's place!

I am glad I was just a visitor in New York! I had a great visit. But I like Boston better and I love coming home to New Hampshire!

We finished our training class today at 2:30! A guaranteed way to get good evaluation comments is to end the class early! But we did accomplish all that we had intended. It took me a while to get the room cleaned up and back to the hotel. I needed a nap, but I spent about an hour doing some work. Besides, the hotel was testing their fire alarm system! It was incredibly annoying. I finally was able to nap later in the afternoon.

After a ride around the harbor in a speed boat and a water view of the Statute of Liberty, we had supper at the South Street Harbor. We ate at a Cuban restuarant. It was quite good! One of women I had supper with works for the New York health department. She had said that her daughter was late the morning of 911 and as a result she had to take the train to work instead of driving. If she had been on time that day, she would have driven and would have been parking her car in the WTC at the time the buildings were hit. As it was, her office was right there at the site. She talked tonight about what emergency actions her office took in response. She said that if her daughter had not made her late, she most likely would have been dead. Judge Teehan from Boston was having supper with us. He then said that his neighbor was supposed to be on one of those flights. He had run to catch the plane, but he was too late. So he caught a later flight. His family thought he was on the plane that flew into the WTC until he called them and let them know he was safe! It was amazing to be sitting in the shadow of all those buildings and hearing about some personal stories about 911.

I went into St. Paul's Chapel - the miracle building untouched by the 911 tragedy. It became the place where people went to find peace during the days after. "Located directly across from the World Trade Center site, St. Paul's Chapel, part of the Parish of Trinity Church, was home to an extraordinary eight-month volunteer relief effort after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Unwavering Spirit, an interactive exhibit, honors that ministry and its legacy of love and compassion." (From their website.) Even after five years it was still quite moving to wander through the exhibits and the chapel. I had to stop reading the exhibits as I was close to tears. I was with the other trainer and I didn't want to have him see me scrambling for a tissue!

I saw the design for the new "Freedom Tower" at the World Trade Center site. It will be 1776 feet tall, over 400 feet taller than either of the twin towers. The "tower" at the top of the building is supposed to mirror or mimic the Statute of Liberty. The bottom will begin as a cube 200 feet by 200 feet. As the building goes up, it will become an octagon and then eventually going back to the cube shape at the top. I know that it has been controversial, but I think it is appropriate. It is supposed to be finished by 2009. It will be worth the trip to see it.

Amtrak's Acela is the best way to travel between Boston and New York. I caught the 7:15 at South Station and was in Penn Station by 11:00. I managed to get in about a two hour nap and then reviewed some of my material for the training I am conducting this week here in New York.


My co-trainer, Jack, was telling me how beautiful the Woolworth building is, particularly the lobby. As we walked by the doors, we tried to see through the lobby doors (no visitors were allowed in the building). We must have looked like real tourist because the guard said she would take us into the lobby. It is a beautiful building. It has been called the Cathedral of Commerce because it is so beautiful. It is really impressive.

Kenny (the 14 year old son of my friends Ken and Cheryl) graduated from boot camp for the Sea Cadets. This is a teenage version for the Navy. I suspect it is very similar to the Young Marines that Uncle Gene does. It was a great day for a trip down to Cape Cod. He was at Camp Edwards on Otis Air Force Base. He had ten days of drilling and PT and making his bed everyday! He said he is not going to make a bed ever again, except that next year he wants to go back to camp as one of the cadet instructors!

Today my niece called out "Aunt Linda" as I came in the door at their house today. She is the cutest thing.


We went through a corn maze, looking for information on endangered species. We learned that the Ethiopian Wolf is the most endangered of the dogs.

Today I had no electricity when I got up. I was able to get ready in the dark with the aid of a small flashlight. But I did not know how to disengage my automatic garage door opener. So I could not get my car out of the garage. I had to catch a ride to the bus depot this morning. I have since learned how to open my garage door without the little black box. I sure could have used Tom's boys standing in front of it this morning opening it with "abracadabra". It always opens for them!

Today we had pizza for lunch. I commented that it was particularly good since the only pizza I really eat is Dominos. Someone brought up that the man who founded Dominos had "found Jesus." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Monaghan Of course this was said with derision in his voice. Nothing came to my head to say except "well they deliver to my house!" I am not sure there would have been an appropriate response, but I wonder if I should have remembered Romans 1:16 & 17!

Saturday I went fishing for the first time this season. I paid $37 for a fishing license and I did not even cast my pole in the water - but I had a grand time. I went with my nephews and brother and their cub scout den. I helped untangle lines, bait hooks and I even took a few pictures.


We didn't catch any fish, but all the boys did earn a merit badge. It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning.