Happy New Year Christmas is past, but we still have a few days left in the holidays. Like last year, it has been a busy season. Mary's dedication coincided with John and Joy's first anniversary. And the first time both mom and dad were away from Mary. She stayed with grandpa and grandma. And she was just a darling. If ahe gets a little fussy, grampa takes her for a ride; she loves the wheelchair. If that doesn't calm her she needs a clean diaper or food. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were family celebrations. John and Joy took Mary north to visit Joy's mom's family early Christmas Eve, then brought her back here for dinner - we had traditional rib roast and mashed potatos, along with some other stuff. Christmas Day at brother Tom's with more family, and more of my granddaughter, lots of munchies, a great dinner and a bit of cheer; it was wonderful. On the way home a red light, on the brakes hard and that bottle of rum slid off the seat onto the floor and broken glass punctured the tire on my wheelchair. Had almost two days without my chair, but the van smells good..							Dive Trip We are planning another sojurn to Grand Cayman Island in August. I miss the boats and the Bahamas, but Cayman diving is really suited to my current abilities. Most days the captain can select a site with calm conditions - it's an island. First dive of the day is usually a wall, low efort and glorious vistas. If you are interested there is a lot of information in the diving links below. These trips are more fun when we have friends to share them with...

 

Our Home We have three Internet Cameras now. Heidi's mom can tell who is home, and who isn't. I think she worries I'll get lost on the way from her place. But I changed their numbering to confuse her...
Camera 1 looking east through front window		Camera 2 (pan/tilt) looking west through upstairs back window		Camera 3 looking north east through front window
	The last few years also saw a lot of work on the interior and exterior of our home. Seems like just yesterday until I look at the dates and realize...
Kitchen		Wall		Floors

 

 

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Snow Skiing

Fireball tells tales of 'cross country' skiing near Landesberg vom Warthe when she was young. She took Heidi and Rosie downhill skiing when Snow Trails opened in north central Ohio back in the winter of 1964. They made two trips to Austria to ski in conjunction with visits back to Germany to see family. Heidi skipped a season of skiing the year she met me. The following year I overheard her tell her mom she wouldn't be going skiing since I couldn't. I said, "Skiing?"
Skiing		Austria		Skiing Video
Clearfork '73-'03		Snow Trails '03-'04		Ski Patrol '76-'02
Clearfork Ski Area		Snow Trails		National Ski Patrol

 

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Diving

	My first experience scuba diving was a less than stellar effort. About 1971 with inadequate training, inadequate equipment and a friend in Lake Erie. Almost ten years later Bill Miller talked me into doing it right - taking a certification class - Heidi and I have been diving ever since... We are planning the 2012 trip if you are interested.
		Grand Cayman 2012
Florida Keys and Ohio Quarries		Blackbeard's Cruises		Aqua Cat Cruises
Grand Cayman 2009		Grand Cayman 2010		Grand Cayman 2011

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Our Family Heidi has a sister. I have two sisters and four brothers. We have two children, buth married. These links will lead to the various sites our extended family maintains on the web.
Fireball Heidi's mom, Ruth Rompler.		Heather and Charles Luedecke Our daughter and son-in-law.		John and Joy Hickey Our son and daughter-in-law.
Pat and Casey Jones My sister and brother-in-law.		Mike and Rae Jane Hickey My brother and sister-in-law.		Tom and Cindy Hickey My brother and sister-in-law.
Paul and Nancy Hickey My brother and sister-in-law.		Mary and Sean Foran My sister and brother-in-law.		Jim and Rachel My brother and sister-in-law.