Wow…got some good rain yesterday and this morning. Quite a few thunderstorms ripped through this part of Iowa. Even had our electricity pop off for a few seconds last night. At present, clear outside and sun is trying to come out.

We are going to leave this Tuesday morning about 9-10am to our sons’ home down in Missouri. They are heading to Hawaii on Wednesday, so we will be taking care of our 2 grandchildren while they are gone. They will be gone for 4 days. Grandkids are pumped! They are ready for grandma and grandpa to be taking care of them. One big reason? It means every night we go to Dairy Queen for ice cream, blizzards, etc. None around here and we rarely go to a DQ when in Des Moines, so this is like the time to pig out. That is all the grandkids talked about is last year when they went every night. Plus of course, getting to bond with us and vice versa.

We plan to be there for a week, not coming back home until the following Monday. But hey, told wife why rush? Not like we have to come back to a job or something. So we may stay longer. After all, they have a tri-story house, full bottom level with a bar (well stocked so I will be the bartender for myself), pool table (grandkids love to beat us in pool), a wii, an xbox, and a ps3, and more. Heck, they even have flat screen tv’s in all the rooms! Yes, lay in bed and watch tv. And I am sure we will be watching a lot of kid movies.

So probably will not be updating this blog or any other blog of mine for the next week or so. After all, going to be on a vacation and who wants to be on the net? Probably because the grandchildren will keep us so busy will not have any time to get on the net. Though I hope off and on to be on twitter.

Now the new plans. When I get back, I will be unloading a lot of sites and blogs of mine. Clear out quite a few to get down to my main blogs and just a few main sites. Realizing that I have too much going on and I do need to slow it down and take more time off the net.

The other big plan is to finally set up my own email list. Something I have been putting off too long. Will have it set so people can join my email list and stay up to date with me, get some good freebies I will not be sharing any other way, plus good (nah, make that great!) offers on new products that no one else will offer. So stay tuned for this.

Well, finally got the word in writing just how bad the meltdown in the economy last year has hurt us. While I was employed by the US Postal Service, I contributed the maximum I was allowed to the TSP program. TSP is short for Thrift Savings Plan. TSP is available to just about all government workers and postal workers. My annual participant statement had two shocker numbers in it. One was the total investment loss in dollars and cents and let me tell you, there went a new car out the door! The second was the performance for the year and that was a HUGE -36.33%. Yes, lost over 1/3 of our supplementary retirement fund last year. So now wondering how much more it will drop this year and whether I should keep the fund as in, invested in stocks, or move to something a bit less risky like government bonds. If I move it, it just keeps the investment basically at the amount in my account now. If I keep it in stocks, there is a hope that I can recoup some or most of what I have lost, but only if the stock market goes up and goes up fast!

So how was your 401k, savings, etc. after last year? Your losses less or more than mine percentage wise? And what are you going to do about it?

Over the weekend, we had the grandkids from Des Moines down here. They stayed at our daughters house up the street as more room. But the three of them, and their mother, did spend most of Saturday with us. And the grandson, who is 18 and autistic, spent the night with us. Think he wanted to get away from all the girls, get some bonding time with us, and of course to watch inappropriate material on tv (comedy central he loves, especially when the comics use what he calls “cursive language”). It was nice to spend time with them, for me with Bubba. She is almost 10 years old and built like a mack truck. Which is something as she was born 3 months premature and fought to live. She was smaller than a beanie baby! My wife was here in Iowa for the birth while I was down in Texas. When she emailed me the pictures, I looked at that little person and said, she is a Bubba. And since, I am the only one allowed to called her Bubba.

Update on the stock market. Down yet again at over 250 points! Lowest level since 1997. Does not forbode well for my TSP!

When to Wear Dress Socks (or when to wear no socks or white socks) | The Art of Manliness

ABC News: America’s Top 15 Emptiest Cities

Early this evening, got it firmed up with my wife’s son that we will go down March 10th to take care of our two grandchildren while he and his lovely wife go to Hawaii. We may stay for a week instead of coming back as soon as they get back the 15th. We really do not go down there enough, though it is only about 160 miles from here to there. And yes, we will be taking our dog Coco, been some time since she has been there to play around with their 3 dogs. Of course, the grandkids are excited about us coming to take care of them because that means Dairy Queen every evening for ice cream. I will enjoy it because it will take me off the internet for quite a bit. Though I can and will get on off and on while I am there.

Today, we got unofficially over 7 inches of snow. I went out and measured about 5-9 spots after dinner while Coco was romping around in the snow. And earlier, our granddaughter (did I tell you we have 10 grandchildren?) called from school to have me pick her up and take her home as she had a project she did not want to get wet. So there I go, clear off the van of snow and warm it up a bit. And of course, the city has yet to plow all the streets here. Wonder why as they are usually quick about it. Only the main road was plowed, though it was hard to tell, as it is a county road. Slow driving to the school, actually only a few blocks up the road. Then drop off a friend of hers home and then the granddaughter home.

And then, the other daughter called and wanted to know if we would drive up to Des Moines to pick her up and then drop by and pick up her 3 at their dads place. Wife said are you nuts? Have you even looked outside? So we did not go. Usually our daughter who lives up the street from us picks up her sister on the way home from work, then goes into Indianola to pick up the 3 kids. But her husband could not even get out of the parking lot where he works, so she dropped by and picked him up. Leaving no room for picking up 4 more passengers, as her car can only take 5 total people. She has to go to work tomorrow, so her husband may go with her and see if he can get his car out of the parking lot. If not, it will stay there until Sunday or Monday.

The below is something I remember my grandfather and then my dad always did, a little shot in their coffee or hot chocolate. Myself, I go for a shot into the coffee, but not the hot chocolate.

Now this is an idea!

Aunt Ruby and My Wife (she is the one on the right! LOL)

Oldest granddaughter at her wedding reception

8 of our grandkids!

Wife and I