The Plattenhardt fest

I guess I got this from Mom, but I love houseplants. They just make a house look more alive. Every place I've lived I had a ficus/fig tree that would get really nice and big then I'd move and have to give it away. I bought two here, but they are pretty small. All the plants I bought came in smaller pots, so I've been needing to replant them. The dirt at the PX is labeled in German, so I had to take Sam with me to decipher which one to get. We finally got around to it this weekend. We actually got quite a bit done. Herr Muller and his friend, Michael, came Saturday and put the first coat of paint on the shed. Sam and I had to make a run to Obi (German home depot store) and while we were there we found a McIntosh apple tree. All of our neighbors either have cherry, apple, lemon or orange trees and they always look so attractive, so we bought one for the back yard. Sam planted it out back and I got all of the house plants transferred to bigger pots.

Outside of our living room window there is a very large planter box attached to the house. I was going to plant flowers in it when the household goods arrived, so that got delayed. Yesterday, Sam worked at getting all of the weeds out of it. I don't think flowers have been planted there for several years and it was just full of weeds. I'm thinking about planting some Hibiscus seeds that I got from Grandma Thorne. I want something that will come back every year and will flower throughout the summer. The flowers here in Germany are quite expensive so if I have to replant that every year I'd end up spending a lot of money on it.

Gabby loves to get outside any chance she gets.

It seems like there is a small town fest going on every week here in Germany. Plattenhardt had their fest this last weekend. After going to the theater at Patch on Saturday evening we stopped in to see what it was like. They had the main street blocked off and lots of vendors set up. There was a concert going on and of course almost everyone had a drink in their hands. I don't think I've ever felt more like a foreigner here than I did walking through that crowd of about 1,500 people. It was an uncomfortable feeling for me and the first time I really felt like a stranger here. Of course they all didn't know that we were American, but it felt like I had a big bull's eye painted on my back. It was interesting and probably not that uncomfortable for Sam since he could understand people talking. This next weekend we're going to the fest in Bonlanden (the next town over) with Michael. He and Herr Muller wanted us to go with them to Plattenhardt's, but we already had other plans, so we said we'd go next weekend. From what I hear the Bonlanden fest has been around for a long time (100 years??). Should be interesting :)

Well, that's about it for now. I'm going to see what's going on downstairs. It's too quiet. I think my husband must have fallen asleep reading the newspaper.

Our mundane week

There's not been much going on with us lately, but I thought I should try to post at least once a week. We didn't have much of a weekend. Or I should say my poor husband didn't have much of a weekend. He ended up working around the house all day Saturday and we didn't do much besides go to church yesterday. Herr Muller and a friend came over Friday night to discuss painting the shed out back. Sam and I wanted to put it off until the end of summer because ivy has covered a couple of the walls and we knew it would have to be cut off. We thought if we waited perhaps it would have already started to die for the winter. We really like how it looks, but knew it would have to come off. Anyhow, they decided to come back Saturday morning. They arrived at 8:00 in the morning and were busy until about 4:00. I puttered around the house most of the day and rode along when Sam took truckloads full of tree cuttings to the dump. It made me feel bad that he didn't get a full weekend, but they sure got a lot done in the back.

Today, Herr Muller and his friend came back to sand the shed. I think they'll be back again on Friday to paint. It'll look different without all the ivy, but it should look good having a fresh coat of paint.

Finally last Friday I got most of the house together. I still need to hang pictures and decorate, but at least it looks like a home. I still need to clean up the office too. That's where I put everything for now. I'd rather have it all in one room where I can work on putting things away as opposed to having boxes all throughout the house. So, it's slowly coming together. I'll post pictures once it's done.

I've been amazed at the frequency and intensity of thunder storms here in Germany. Back home (Alaska and Hawaii) we would have them occasionally, but here it seems like once or twice a week we have LOUD thunder storms. I really enjoy them though. It feels great to snuggle down in a warm house when it's storming outside. Well, that's about it for now. I'll talk to you all later.

Our weekend in Paris

Sam had Friday off, so we decided to do a quick trip to Paris. While we're here in Germany we plan to take advantage of being close to so many countries.

France was our first visit to another country outside of Germany. We made sure to take our passports and international driver's licenses, which we ended up not needing. We were surprised that there was no border crossing. It took us awhile to figure out we were no longer in Germany, but in France. I thought we would have to go through customs or at the very least there would be a sign saying we were passing into France. Probably what frustrated me the most was that I didn't get another stamp in my passport :) I really wanted that France stamp!

The landscape of France was very similar to Germany, but we kept noticing how many more cow there were in France. We stopped at a truck stop for lunch along the way, but other than that we (Sam) drove the whole way. We printed out directions to our hotel from Mapquest and they were great until we got into Paris (where we really needed good directions). As a result, we ended up lost for 2 hours and finally, 9 hours after leaving home, we arrived at the hotel. It takes quite a bit to frustrate Sam, but he was sufficiently frustrated.

After checking in we went for a walk to see about getting some dinner. What we decided on - Pizza Hut. I know...we were in Paris with wonderful French restaurants and we ate pizza. I think we both were so tired we just wanted to take something back to the room and chill. I did find the Pizza Hut bag interesting though. I'm not sure if the corners were cut out to save plastic or for the fit of the box. Probably a little of both.


Saturday morning we were up early and took the Metro to the Eiffel Tower. I don't really know much about the Eiffel Tower other than it was built in 1889 as an entrance arch to a World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. I found that out on Wikipedia. It's also the tallest structure in Paris and, according to Wikipedia, the most visited monument in the world. I was a little surprised at the number of English speaking people visiting the Eiffel Tower. It was rather nice for me to hear other Americans.

Looking up at the Eiffel Tower

Sam on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower

Me and Sam at the top of the Eiffel Tower

It was very windy and rained on and off throughout the day, so instead of trying to find our way to Notre Dame church we hailed a taxi. By the time we arrived it was getting to be lunchtime and we hadn't eaten all day so we stopped in a little cafe for lunch. The line to go to the church steeples was very long and we decided not to go there this trip. We did go inside the church. The detail on this building is amazing. It's covered in carved images. The front of the church has scenes carved into it. It was built in the 1100's and was built mostly by the town people who donated their time and money. This statue of the Huntchback of Notre Dame was in the little cafe we ate lunch in. It's said that the real Huntchbacks of Notre Dame were the workers who hauled all the huge stones from distant queries to build the church

Carvings on the front of the Notre Dame church

Carved scene of "The Judgement"

Next on our tour of Paris was the Louvre Museum. Before this trip I really didn't know what it was. Now I know that it was once a palace, but now is an art gallery and museum. There are lots of famous paintings and sculptures. This is where the Mona Lisa is hung. We were not suppose to take pictures where the paintings are hung. It was funny seeing the Mona Lisa. You hear so much about it, but when we saw it both of us felt like it just looked like another painting. There were so many beautiful paintings I would have loved to get pictures of, but was afraid to get caught. Of course other people were taking pictures, but I know I would have been the one to get in trouble. I don't get by with cheating.

Statue of mother and child

Sam did manage to get a picture of this painting

We bought the most delicious cherries I've ever had on Rue Cler. Rue Cler is a stretch of road, about 2 blocks long, with lots of open markets. The fruit was delicious and we tried a couple of pastries. The fish market and cheese market (directly across from each other) didn't smell so pleasant, but it was a neat experience.

Sam at the Rue Cler fish market

Rue Cler cheese market

Overall, we had a nice trip. We were done around 4:30 on Saturday and decided to just come on home instead of staying that night. We wanted to get home to Gabby and be in our own house. We really enjoyed seeing the attractions in Paris, but I much prefer Germany to France. Paris seemed pretty dirty. The Metros had a bad smell and quite a few of the French were not at all friendly. Those of course were just our impressions from spending one day in Paris. We'll most certainly go back at some point, but I'm really glad we're in Germany.

Happy Father's Day!

We're back from Paris and I'll post some pictures from that tomorrow. Today we slept in because we decided to drive home last night and got in late. Gabby was so happy to see us again. It's very hard on her to be left alone when we leave.

Today is Father's Day and I want to say thank you to my Dad. He's always been a wonderful example of a Christian father and husband. I appreciate the way I was brought up and how he has been there for me. I always felt like I could call on my Dad when I needed anything. We never doubted his love for us. He's always been very patient, loving, kind and tenderhearted. I've said quite a few times that I married someone very much like my Dad. Sam is incredibly patient, sweet and loving and I know he'll be a wonderful father when we decide to have children.

I'm thankful too for my father-in-law. I haven't been in the Thompson family for all that long, but I have felt accepted from the first day. Higgins is someone we can go to for sound advice and I respect his opinion. I appreciate the man he raised Sam to be. He obviously was a wonderful example of a husband and father.

So, Happy Father's Day to both of our Dads. We love you!

Tonight I just wanted to share some pictures that we took of the sheep up the road from us. Every time we drive by we enjoy watching them. So, tonight we decided to walk up and visit. There are so many babies among them. We love where we live. It's not too far from town, but we are still out in the country enough to have sheep right down the street. It's a beautiful place.

We're going to Paris!

We've decided to go to Paris for the weekend. We wanted to get our international driver's licenses before going to other countries and we finally did that yesterday. Through working for the Army we're able to get our regular and international licenses pretty easy. Unfortunately for the Germans it cost them about $2000 to get their licenses.
It'll be fun and interesting seeing Paris I think, but I really don't like leaving Gabby. She'll be fine, but I know it's hard on her to be alone when we're gone. Well, I better get ready. We want to get an early start on the trip. Talk to you when we get back!

Berg Hohen Neuffen

I just returned from a run to Patch and the PX at Panzer. I wanted to get going early this morning, but the chimney sweep was scheduled to come by and clean the furnace. I like it when Sam can be here for those sort of things because I don't speak German (yet), but he had to be at work early to get some new summer help in processed. The chimney sweep and I managed to communicate sufficiently and he was out of here within 15 minutes.

Sam had to work yesterday picking those same people up at the airport, so he didn't get home until 5:30. We've been told that we're not supposed to cut down trees without going through a lot of red tape here in Germany, BUT....there was a ugly tree/shrub in the front yard that Sam was determined to get rid of. It was sort of a spruce tree (evergreen), but it didn't grow straight and the truck was gnarled and ugly. It also blocked a lot of light from coming in the kitchen window. Anyhow, Sam chopped off quite a few limbs and then finally last night he decided to cut it down. It really is an improvement, but we're just hoping that it wasn't literally a tree and the neighbors don't turn us in to whatever authorities deem it illegal. You may want to keep us in your prayers :)

We had a fun adventure last night. We were just going to drive somewhere to dump the tree that Sam cut down, but we ended up taking a much longer drive just seeing where roads lead. We can see a castle over on a distant hill from our bedroom balcony and as we were driving we noticed that we were getting closer to it. (We've been trying to find this castle since we moved in) So we kept following roads trying to get close enough to see it. We ended up in a town called Neuffen and after stopping to ask several people we learned the name of the castle is Berg Hohen Neuffen. It was getting pretty late, but we were so close that we couldn't help but continue to look for the road leading to it. We finally found the road that went up the hill to the castle and when we parked we met an older German couple that gave us a wonderful tour. We had to walk about 15 minutes to get up the the castle, but it was so beautiful up there. It wasn't near as big as the castle in Heidelberg, but it was still awesome. It was built in the 1100's and fell into ruins around the 1890's. Since then they have been working to fix it up a bit. There is a restaurant in operation within the castle and if we go during business hours we'll be able to see more of it. We got home late, but it was well worth it. Here are a few more pictures from last night.

Sam at Berg Hohen Neuffen

Me with the town of Neuffen in the background

Sam and me next to the Berg Hohen Neuffen

Our weekend and visiting Heidelberg

I haven't blogged for awhile because I've been busy trying to get this house finished up and in order. We had a really nice weekend. Saturday morning, Sam went crazy in the back yard. He trimmed all the bushes and trees. He even cut down a few trees and generally just did a lot of clearing that needed to be done. The neighbor told him he didn't think it had been trimmed in several years. Sam loaded all the trimmings in the truck and we took them to the dump on our way into town.

We were hoping that the rain would hold off long enough for us to get to Ikea, pay for, then pick up the entertainment center at the warehouse and get it home. Thankfully, it did and probably no longer than 30 minutes after we brought everything in the house it started pouring.

On Sunday, we had every intention of going to church. I kept thinking it started at 8:30 (probably because that's what time our church in Hawaii started), but somehow it didn't seem right. We made it to church "on time" and found out that it doesn't start until 9:30 and that day it was going to be held in a different place at 10:00. So...instead of waiting around for 1 1/2 hours we decided to go check out another of the Army posts. We drove to Heidelberg, which is only around an hour from us. Again, I was very surprised by the size of the posts. Very small.

Sam saw signs for a castle nearby, so we followed the signs to this castle. Driving through the old town of Heidelberg, I looking out my window and up the hill I saw it looming over the city. It was really awesome. I was amazed at how big it was. We drove up the hill to find it. I guess I didn't realize how huge the castles were. Almost like a small city within those walls.

One of the corner towers was destroyed I think in the 1600's. You can see the side of the tower that looks like it just fell off and is still there. You can even see hallways in through the tower from where the side of it fell off. It was really neat to see.

Another thing we found really interesting was the large wine vats within the castle. One of them is suppose to be the largest in the world. It holds over 220,000 liters! It's HUGE! They've since made a dance floor on top of it. The picture below is actually the smaller of the two vats. Of course, my dear husband had to be get a picture of him "drinking" from it.

As I've said before, it's really hard to capture all the details on film, but it was a very interesting tour. We did LOTS of walking up and down stairs and hills. We didn't realize how far down we had walked until it was time to go back up. It ended up being a really nice day. We want to take advantage of our weekends here and take the time to visit places like this because we're only here for a limited time. Well, that's about it for now. I've been putting the entertainment center together since Monday. Tonight, hopefully, we'll get it all put together. Here are a few more pictures from our day in Heidelberg.

Getting ready to go down the stairs to the castle

Another view of the destroyed tower

Me standing in the center of the castle

Sam looking out a window with Heidelberg in the background

Sam on top of the huge wine vat

Me and Sam with Heidelberg in the background

Sam's TV

When we were getting ready to leave Hawaii, we decided to get rid of anything we didn't need or use (which was a lot). We didn't want to just move our junk from place to place. Some of the things we hadn't even looked at in the 2 1/2 years of our marriage. Our bachelor neighbors were thrilled, because we set everything in the middle of our living room and told them to come take what they wanted.

One thing that Sam would have liked to bring with him was his "big screen TV". The reality of this "big screen" is that it was one of the 1980's fold out projection TVs. It worked just fine, but was a bit of an eye sore and took up a lot of space. I didn't really want to bring it to Germany, but would have if I'd thought it would make the trip. I thought the projection bulbs probably wouldn't make it. Besides, now that we're here and see everything we can't use because of the different voltage, I'm glad we decided to leave it in Hawaii.

Anyhow, since he wasn't able to bring his TV to Germany, he's been saying that he's going to get a flat screen once we get settled. I didn't mind, because I know how much he wants it and it'll be so much better than what we had. We thought this last weekend would be a good time to look, with the Memorial Day sales going on. We found a 42" plasma at the PX for a pretty good price. We didn't have the truck with us and it wouldn't fit in the car, so we've been waiting for the rain to clear so we can bring it home.

The rain has finally cleared today, so I'm sure my husband will be grinning from ear to ear when he walks in this evening with his new TV. It'll be a little while before we set it up. We need to clear a space amid the boxes and we still need to buy an entertainment center that we liked at Ikea. Besides, we also need to buy another AFN decoder box in order to view the American channels.

I'm getting a lot done everyday, but there is so much to go through that it's taking awhile. Even with everything that we gave away in Hawaii, we've filled two more boxes of stuff we don't need and I'm working on a third. It feels good to clean house and get rid of anything we don't need.

Speaking of, I guess I need to get back to work. Talk to you later.

Our day visiting cousins in Ulm

I'm so glad this was a long weekend. It seemed too short even with the extra day. The weather was very nice (maybe a little warm for my taste) for a couple of days, now the rain has returned and it's actually quite chilly again.
Sam's cousin, Silke, and her husband, Ralf, invited us to their place in Ulm. That was about 2 weeks ago I guess. We were finally able to get there this weekend and really enjoyed our visit. Saturday morning we drove to Ulm which is about 85 km away from us. The drive was absolutely beautiful. Silke had to work, but we met Ralf and their son, Dominic, downtown and were given a wonderful tour of the city. Silke's twin sister, Iris, also met with us downtown. I love the old cities here in Germany. Every town seems to have it's own unique story. I learned that Albert Einstein was from Ulm. That's one of their "claims to fame".

Another highlight of the day was the Ulm Cathedral. I couldn't get the whole building in the picture because of the height. This church was built around 600 years ago and is unbelievably beautiful. It's known to be the tallest church in the world at 530 feet. We could have climbed the 768 stairs to the top, but it was a little warm for that the day we were there. We were not suppose to take pictures (with flash) inside the church, but I did get one of Sam standing beside the wooden pews (posted below). I can't explain how awesome this church was. The detail of the statues, the stain glass windows, the old pews--it was just incredible to see. Such a piece of history. That's one of the things I love about Germany. It's such an old country so you're able to see a lot of history with the buildings that are still around. They sure know how to build a sturdy structure here since some of them are still standing hundreds of years later.

We went to Ralf and Silke's house for the afternoon. We needed to leave early enough to go by Ikea when we got home, but we stayed until a little after 7:00. They all tried to speak English so I could follow along in the conversation, but I'm sure they were much more comfortable reverting back to German. Sam's German has gotten much better in the two months we've been here. When we first arrived, I could see him struggling to remember words. Now, it seems to come to him much more fluently.

I was taken back by how much Iris reminded me of Sam's Mom. She could easily be her daughter. It was really interesting to see those similarities in someone I had just met.

Silke made a wonderful dinner for us. It was so nice to meet some of Sam's relatives here in Germany. We had such a nice day with them and I'm sure we'll be getting together again in the future.

Here are a few more pictures from our day in Ulm. I know Sam's family, in particular, will be interested in seeing them.

Sam standing by the pews in the Ulm Cathedral

Misty, Sam and Iris

Iris, Sam, Ralf and Dominic in front of the Ulm Rathouse (City Hall)

Sam, Misty, Iris, Ralf and Dominic in front of the oldest house in Ulm. It's now a hotel.

Ralf and Dominic in front of their house

Iris and Silke

Stacy and Rich are leaving

Last night we went to a going away dinner for Stacy and Sam's boss, Jackie. (Stacy is in the back and Jackie is on the right - the lady on the left works for PARO Europe) I'm wondering if it's a coincidence that the two people who picked us up at the airport when we arrived in Germany are now leaving??? That could give us a complex.
Both of them were helpful in our move to Germany. Stacy in particular was a God send. In the early days, Stacy drove us everywhere without ever seeming like we were a bother. She and Rich were always there to answer our questions, to help when everything broke when we moved into the house or just give us incredibly helpful information about living here. They never once seemed annoyed or like we were intruding. When we first moved here they had us out to dinner and always opened their home to us. We've really enjoyed spending time with them and we're going to miss them a lot. They're moving back to Florida. Stacy was just accepted for a position in Key West.

I'm meeting Sam at Patch after work and we're going to watch a movie. "Premonition" with Sandra Bullock is playing and it looks pretty good. It doesn't seem like I'm making much progress with the house. It's just a slow process. Before putting things away the dishes and clothes all need to be washed. That's a long process in itself since the German washing machines have such long cycles. Everything that can't be used here because of the different voltage is going to be stored in the attic. I also have a box for give away. I thought we purged quite a bit before coming, but I'm still finding things we just don't need or want. The house that, at one time, seemed so big is feeling smaller and smaller. My idea of opening one box at a time and putting those things away just didn't work out as planned. Well, I should get back to unpacking boxes. Have a wonderful day!

My house is full again

Our household goods were finally delivered yesterday - Yeah! The house is a total mess now, but I guess that's to be expected since all of our belongings were dumped on us in one day. Now the real work begins. I've been opening boxes and unwrapping things all day, as well as, keeping the washer and dryer going steady. Everything smells funky after being packed up in those crates for the last two months.

The movers were scheduled to be here between 10:00 and 11:00 yesterday morning, but they were delayed by a stau (traffic jam) on the autobahn. They didn't get here until 1:00 and there were only two of them. Being PCS season, the company was too busy to send more workers. I felt bad for them, but that's what they get paid for.

Other than the big items that were taken to the guest room or upstairs, most everything is stacked in the dining and living rooms. I had our inventory list from Hawaii and checked off the box numbers as they came in. I think we have everything, but some of the box numbers were different than what was listed.

I'm going through and trying to organize what is going to be put in the attic and where everything else will go. Thankfully, we have a larger house than we did in Hawaii, so space shouldn't be an issue.

When the movers left at 4:30, the first thing I did was get the computer unpacked and set up in the office. Rich and Stacy came over in the evening and got us connected to the wireless Internet. I LOVE having my computer back. It's so much better than having to make a special trip to Patch just to check email.

We had a pretty busy weekend. Saturday was our day off, so we went to the flea market in downtown Stuttgart. I love that place! There are so many interesting things to look at. This particular day there were also several fresh fruit/vegetable/flower markets set up. I think that would be the best place to buy our fruits and vegetables if it was just a little more convenient. We didn't buy anything big at the flea market, but I picked up a few things that I liked.

Saturday evening we went out to dinner with Rich and Stacy while Kelsey was at the last middle school dance of the year. We went to this "American" restaurant called Route 66. It wasn't too bad. Friday we noticed that the TV wasn't getting a signal again. We've had problems with it since the painters came and moved the satellite dish when we first moved in. So, after picking Kelsey up from the dance, Rich and Stacy came out to try and fix it. It didn't get fixed that night.

After church on Sunday, we came home and stacked some wood that Sam had bought from a farmer up the street. We have a cockle oven in the dining room. I've never seen one, but it's a neat idea. The wood has to be pretty small to fit in the door, so this size will work great. We stacked it right outside the dining room door so it's easy access in the winter.

We knew the movers were coming on Monday so we put some things away in the attic then moved the bed up to the master bedroom. That was a headache and by the time we got it up there the back of the mattress was torn and the box spring had grass stains all over it from falling off the 3rd floor balcony. Oh well, it's done and those stains will always have a story behind them.

Most of the houses here in Germany have flowers in planter boxes either in the windows or hanging off the balconies. Well, we have planters for the balcony and we bought some flowers this weekend. I only bought enough flowers for two boxes, so I'll have to go get some more. I was surprised at how expensive flowers are here though. Here is a picture off the balcony so you can see one of the planter boxes.

This morning, after Rich couldn't get it to work the last two days, the TV just decided on its own to come back on. So this afternoon Rich and Kelsey came by to tune it in better and tighten it down. We shouldn't have anymore problems with that. I hope. Well, I have plenty to do besides this so I should probably get myself busy.

Phones are working again

The good news of the day is our phones are working again. I've come to understand that all phones in Germany are not like what we have. The people who own the house set it up with a wireless system, so we can't just get any ordinary phone and plug it into the outlet. Believe me, we tried that when we couldn't get them to work. Thank goodness for Rich, Stacy's husband, because he told us to unplug everything, wait awhile then plug it all back in. Whatever the problem had been was taken care of by doing that. Whew!!

Our household goods are being delivered on Monday and we couldn't be happier. We have to call tomorrow to find out for sure what time they'll be at the house. It's been cold and rainy for awhile now. I hope it's not pouring rain on Monday, but either way I'll be glad to have our furniture again. I think I'll be happiest about having a computer in our house again. No more trips to Patch just to check email. Well, that's about it for today. I have to get to the Commissary and head home to finish cleaning.

Our household goods have arrived!!!

Good news!! We just found out that our household goods have arrived! They weren't suppose to be here until the 19th of June, but they came in early. We are so excited about that! We're going to love having a "home" again. Of course, it'll take me a little while to get it all in place, but what a relief to have it here. We hope to get it delivered late this week or early next, but it depends on how busy the moving companies are. We're going into PCS season, so it's going to get really busy in June. Hopefully we beat the rush though. The picture above is of a rose bush growing up the side of the house. A better picture of an individual rose is below.

I've been so bad about posting to this blog. I've only been making it out to the library about once a week, but once we get our computer up and going at home it should be easier. We don't have any phone service at the house right now, but we don't know why. I was talking to Kristy Saturday night and it just went dead. Last week, Sam received an email saying that the phone company was going through a strike and it may interupt some service, so he's calling them today to see if that's it. It's been a frustrating couple of days, because I don't know where to go for help here in Germany. Back home in the states I would call the phone company, but I don't speak the language yet, so I can't call or read the phone manual. There have been several things come up lately that would be so much easier if I spoke German. Another example is a freezer in the basement that I can't get working. I know it's a freezer, but it won't freeze and once again I can't read the manual. Frau Muller called yesterday and insists that it's not a freezer, but a wine cooler. There are pictures of animals and meat cuts on the door showing how many of each would fit in the "freezer". I'm pretty sure it's a freezer, but I think they just used it for a wine cooler.

On Saturday, Herr Muller and his daughter came to look though the shed out back. They have had stuff stored there since they moved out 7 years ago. So they came and took what they wanted. We went through the rest and threw what we didn't want. We moved a shelf into the shed and Sam got everything back in neatly. Anything left in the house that belongs to the Muller's I'm boxing up and storing in the attic. They left some pictures, trash cans, etc., and I would rather not having someone else's things in my house. They still have quite a few boxes in the attic too, so I'll just add to it.

While Herr Muller was there he took us for a ride to show us where the dumps are in Plattenhardt. It was really interesting. It's so orderly in Germany. Our dumps back in the states are smelly piles of trash. Here, everything has it's place. Paper here, metal there, electrical appliances somewhere else. I was impressed.

Last Wednesday I turned 32. I miss my family especially around birthdays and holidays. We went out to eat at a little Italian restaurant "Da Franco" in Bonlanden, a village right next to Plattenhardt. Then on Friday, we went to a concert being put on in the PX parking lot at Panzer. The Lt. Dan Band (with Gary Sinise) was playing there. The weather turned stormy, so we sat there under umbrellas, but it was nice being out at an American event. It felt a little bit like home.

Yesterday morning Sam went into work late because we had the chimney sweeper coming by. It was like stepping back in time - the chimney sweeper was dressed just like Dick van Dyke in "Mary Poppins" and his face was black from the chimney dust. I wish I'd gotten a picture.

One of the roses growing outside.