Navy Shooting Team Reunion

We just returned from a great week in Louisville where Dave and Sue Fiehtner produced a fabulous annual get together. Thursday we visited the Louisville Slugger factory and learned how baseball bats are made, had a great lunch at the Gault House Hotel, visited the Frazer Museum where the history of warfare is traced (lots of guns!), and finally a walk on a coral reef in New Albany Indiana. If you didn't know, Louisville owes much of its existence to the Falls of the Ohio formed by an ancient coral reef! Louisville was a portage site for many years since that section of river was virtually impassible!
On Friday we visited the Patton Museum at Ft Knox, drove past the Gold Depository, ate lunch at a fine old restaurant in Bardstown (where we had Kentucky Brown - turkey, ham, bacon, and cheese on top of toast points with tomato on top). Walt Walter asked me is I wanted his piece of coconut cream pie! He didn't have to ask twice! Then, on to Maker's Mark distillery where we had a fabulous tour by a very "alive" young woman who obviously loved her job. After the tasting, Bob won a golf shirt for answering the trivia question (how many years minimum must bourbon be in the barrel? Ans: 2).
Then a quick stop at My Old Kentucky Home State Park for some pics with Steven Foster's statue and a bit of a walk about. Saw a school that may be where Theresa's brother Steve went to High School.
Saturday, we just goofed around and played computer until we had to get out of the room. Then we went to the "Ready Room" to shoot the bull with other attendees. Then a very nice dinner, a little "speechifying" and back to Indy.
It was a great week but its great to be home!

October at Lake of the Ozarks

Theresa and I made our annual trek to my sister Barbara's (and her husband Dave's) house in central Missouri. They are close to Climax Springs on the southern shore of the lake. Their house is on a beautiful protected cove but with a fine view of the main body of the Lake at about the 45 mile marker. We arrived Thursday afternoon (10/4) and cooked a fine mess of frog legs. The Siefkers grew up on frog leg and consider it a fine delicacy! My oldest sister Carol and her hubby, Denny Doerflinger, were returning from a fun trip through the Rockies on four different trains. They had been at the Lake several days when we arrived and departed Friday morning.

We also departed Friday for our nephew's funeral in Kansas City. Doug Feldman was Theresa's brother Steve and his wife Judy's youngest son who was killed in a tragic traffic accident in Las Vegas. Doug had lived there a couple of years and was, he told his dad, as happy as he'd ever been. He had a wonderful girlfriend with whom he was prepared to spend the rest of his days and was about to buy a house. Anyway, the funeral Mass was in KC. We stayed with Doug's brother's Father and Mother in law who live nearby. They treated us like royalty! It was great to see all of Theresa's siblings although the circumstances were not ideal.

On Monday, we drove our son David to MCI to catch his flight back to Indy and headed back to the Lake (about a 3 hours drive). We had a wonderful time the rest of the week, golf on Tuesday, a trip to the outlet mall plus dinner and conversation with the Stanleys (next door neighbors at the Lake) on Wed, and rain on Thursday (we stayed in and played dominoes).
Friday morning,we headed home with a brief stop in St Louis to have lunch with a dear friend. We met her near her office and were shocked when we blinked and an hour had gone by and she had to go back to work!

Home again for a while - soon off to Louisville for a reunion of Navy Competitive Shooters Assoc.

Back Home Again in Indiana

Just back from a great trip.
First stop was Steubenville, OH to Franciscan University Summer Conferences.
This is our tenth year of Applied Biblical Studies and Defending the Faith conferences.
A fabulous opportunity to learn from some of the top Catholic apologists in the world in an extremely spiritual environment.
Then we spent a few days in Washington DC. Highlights of the trip were a visit to the Capitol Building, Arlington Cemetery, and the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception on the campus of Catholic University. On the way south, we stopped at the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, VA (very impressive)!
Finally, we spent a little more than a week in Richmond where we celebrated Theresa's Mom's (Margaret) 93rd birthday! A little golf, some great times, good food, great company. Got to see Theresa's sisters Mary and Dottie as well and some of the nieces and nephews!
Back home now. On Thursday we head to Oldenburg to visit Theresa's two aunts in the convent.
An afternoon of golf plus dinner at Brau Haus with my sister Carol and husband Denny.
BTW: I post photos on my FaceBook page and on www.tripadviser.com for many of the places we visit.