Dedicated email address added

I've added a dedicated email address for private inquiries. To find it, click on "View my complete profile" on the right side of the page. On the profile page, click on "email" under "Contact." Questions asked here will not appear on the blog itself, unless they are of general interest and I cut and paste them.

Thanks for the Memory

Thanks for the Memory,  hmmmmm I think there is a song like this!!  However, it is a good phrase and I want to thank everyone who had anything to do with the Guatemala Send Off last night at the Des Moines County Extension office. The evening was a fine way to bring and end to an era (caused by short-sightedness at Iowa State University who let their best and most talented people go to save a nickle (but I am not bitter-Much!)) Thanks to all of you who came and shared a moment of your time with us. Now why don't you come pack my suitcase for me? No one seems to want that job and the pay is lousy (which is pretty prevalent all over the country as we have discovered). It was a great party!

To the Office Staff of Des Moines County:  you have been the best staff anyone could hope to have in any office. You are all very talented and hard working and each of you knows all of the ins-and-outs of your part in the education business. In our 16 years here Don has enjoyed going into work everyday because of all of you. It is a nice working environment and I want to thank all of you for the great 16 years.


Regarding the email address for this blog:   Please, send only text messages and do not forward neat stuff to us. We will not sort through all of that. We will do our best to answer your questions and give you info. and updates during our trip.

Second packing

The new picture on this blog we took while waiting to change buses during our last visit to Guatemala. The woman just walked along there like she had a hat on her head. She never reached up to steady the cooler and she was moving right along.

Today I unpacked my suitcase. I rolled all of the items previously in the duffel bag and stuffed them into ziplock bags. In some of my reading I discovered that rolling your clothes takes less space. The duffel did zip shut today so there maybe some truth to the less is more theory. There are just a couple of items still to be loaded into the duffel but then I will be done.----maybe----- sometimes you just don't know when the urge to unpack and repack will strike! It is after all --- so much fun.

Would someone come and pack for me?

Packing has to be the toughest part of any trip. We packed the large duffel bags yesterday for the first trial run. Now we have to unpack and remove something to make most of what we need fit. We can each check 2 bags of 50 lbs. and one carry on (which will have the computers). However, we will have to be able to man-handle them ourselves once we arrive in Guatemala. Our goal is one bag for each of us and one bag with our Spanish books because we plan to continue to learn Spanish while we are there. I have to carry a medical bag with not just ONE blood glucose meter but TWO thanks to our insurance company's decision to switch meters. I did some research and discovered that carrying two meters is not a bad idea especially for a long trip. Getting through airport screening should be a real nightmare. I have to give some thought to the stuff I bring in my ditty bag because it might be best to "buy it there." Maybe I should just pack a toothbrush/paste, hair brush and deodorant and wing it from there. Nah! that will never happen -- but I will try to bring less rather than more.

New Great Adventure to Guatemala 2010

We are going back for another visit to Guatemala. This time we are going to include some volunteer work with a couple of agency's working in Antigua and Xela. We will walk OUT of winter in Iowa and into spring in Guatemala. I am of two minds about this trip. While I enjoy our time there my mindset is a little skewed. Early Retirement sounds nice but implementing such a state is proving a bit more difficult.