Trying Again

So many things happen and go by so quickly, I'm going to try to keep everyone who is interested updated.
I said I'll try. :)

Philomena got inducted into the Clear Lake High School National Honor Society last Sunday. Select students were invited to apply and then 18 of the 29 were accepted with the criteria being character, scholarship, leadership, and service. It is kind of cool because Philomena is still home-schooled and only takes a couple of classes at the high school. (Randy and I were both members in high school too.)

Stephen and Randy are Boy Scout camping this weekend which will be a lot warmer than last week's camp-out.

Philomena won her Single and Doubles match at the Clear Lake High School Tennis Match on Tuesday.

Tonight is a pampered chef fundraiser for our church youth trips.

Philomena and Randy are going with a group to the Milwaukee area for a week in June for Catholic Heart Work Camp. A mission trip where they help the poor and elderly with things like painting, fixing things in and around the house, yard work, etc. Last year they went to St. Louis and have some amazing stories to tell of how they helped people.

Stephen and Randy are going to the National Catholic Youth Conference in Indianapolis in November where almost 25,000 teenagers gather to praise God by praying, singing, worshiping, and listening to amazing speakers to learn about their faith.

Randy does an amazing job chaperoning our kids' events!!!!!!!!!

Tonight is also the Clear Lake High School Band Concert where Philomena will play her clarinet in the Concert Band and the Tenor Saxophone in the Jazz Band.

Here is a quote from Mother Angelica:
"You have to enjoy life without resting in it. You have to have zest for life but a desire for heaven. And you must see God in all things, realizing that He transcends them all."

Until next time,

Caroline
Build up, not down

A week Before Christmas

My staples are out and I am getting better everyday.
I can stretch more and the sharp pain is lessening

Donna left her tea up here in a container.  It is a Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose Festival Tea
I have been drinking a cup of that in the evening with a dash of honey.  it is a good blend, I do not taste the cherry but I can taste the rose hips in it.

so Donna if you were wondering where your tea went to it is up here.

Mary made it home Friday night, Matthew comes home Thursday

Philomena had her dance recital on Saturday and it went really well

she did her ballet at the church talent show tonight and she did excellent

Our snow is gone except for some old piles, it looks like a brown Christmas this year.

everybody have a good week

posted by Randy

home again home again jiggity jog

Well the operation is behind me, I am back home

Everything went extremely well, I had a prep nurse before the operation that we knew, so that made things nice and comfortable.

The operation started a little before 8:00 AM and when my eyes opened up again the clock said 9:05 AM.  I got wheeled into my room and Caroline was waiting for me.  we both took small naps until noon, me in my bed and her in the recliner next to me.

Did the usual hospital routine of every couple hours of checking vitals, taking pills, etc.

They took out a sugar cube size piece of disk from my neck

My arm is feeling much better already.

I would like to thank everyone for their prayers
posted by Randy

the night before the operation and all through the house......

Well I have to be at the hospital at 6:00 AM tomorrow

I am first in line for the day.  They start at 8:00 AM.   It will take about a half hour

I have to fast starting at midnight with no food or drink at all.  Which means since I cannot have any food or drink I am going to feel like I am starving to death and need something to drink all the time.

I will be going home on Wednesday morning after 9:00 AM

Carl and Donna offered to come up and help, we appreciate the offer, but we think we have everything covered.  I guess they enjoyed their time up here while we were on our cruise that they were willing to come back and man the station once again!

I want to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers.

Stephen had his first band concert tonight. It went very well.  He had fun. Sarah came up to watch it.

It turned cold today, and it is supposed to get down to the single digits tonight.

That is about all I have for now

Take Care and Stay Warm

Posted by Randy 12-5-11

The test are in and the results are!

I had my MRI done on Monday and my Electromyography (EMG) done today.

I have a ruptured disk in my neck. I have surgery scheduled for Dec. 6, 2011 to repair it.

This will relieve the numbness in my right arm and hand. The rupture is putting pressure on my nerve which in turn is effecting my ring and little finger going numb and my loss of grip strength in my right hand.

The MRI test was a breeze, they lay you down on a board, slide you into a tube and you do not move. I can see where people who do not like tight spaces could get nervous. For me it did not bother me at all.

Today they ran two types of test. The first one was to check my electrical impulses. They did that by zapping me with electricity up and down my arm to measure the nerve endings. It was similar to touching an electric fence and getting zapped. Not too painful just annoying.

The second test was to check my muscle function. They did that by sticking a needle in different places in my muscle of my right arm and hand and having to move that muscle with the needle still in there. They also stuck me in the back of my neck, that was not fun. The needle had a little sting to it, but it was manageable. It felt like someone poking me with a straight pin, and leaving it in there. it was not too fun moving the muscle with that needle still in there. It was not horribly bad, just slightly painful and annoying.

At least I did not faint through the whole process.

The funniest line was when the doctor said "this one is going to hurt the worst" and I thought, and just what does that mean? did that mean? compared to the previous ones, those hurt less? All I knew each time I got stuck with that needle it hurt, every single time!

Well, he was right, that one had a bigger sting to it as compared to all the other ones. Maybe he should have stuck me with that one first, and then all the other needle sticks I received would have been just a piece of cake, because then I could have established a baseline for the pain level I was enduring. Nothing would have jumped up hiring than that one!

So, I will have the operation on December 6, 2011 and stay overnight and will be able to go home the next day after 9:00 AM, and life will go back to normal.

Matthew just arrived home, and Mary will be coming home soon also.

Sarah and Dan will be arriving on Friday, so we will have a full house

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving.

Posted by Randy

fall activities

Well Fall is upon us, and as I say every year about this time, it is hard to believe we have 3 months left of this year.

Stephen and I went on a camp out in September, called Webelos in the Wild. that was a lot of fun.  Stephen will be crossing over to Boy Scouts next year.

Last year for selling popcorn, so if you are interested in buying some popcorn, please let us know.

Daniel is slowing getting his Eagle Project off the ground. The wood is ordered and dates need to be set up to get it started.

Philomena is doing good with her archery shoots, she is going to do a State shoot in October in Grinnel.

tomorrow we will meet with the doctors and get the results from Stephen's tests that we had done a few weeks ago.

Caroline and I are getting things ready for our trip in October, that is coming up really quick.

and I promised Nick I would help him with some trapping advice.

In another month we will be gearing up for winter. 

I hope everybody is doing good, we are doing fine up here

enjoy the day

posted by Randy

We're alive!

Life is busy and chaotic as usual. It won't be long before the summer is over. I finally took the kids to the beach yesterday.

Sarah has been taking online classes from Drake to get her talented and gifted endorsement. Her school offered her the chance to take over that program, so now she will be full-time and will be quitting her waitress job. Sarah is also helping her boyfriend Dan move back to Iowa City for his last year there. They have been dating for almost a year now!

Mary got back from her semester in London and is working 3rd shift, full-time with lots of over-time at Eaton Corp., helping to send out engine valves. She's working 7 days a week with some 12 hr. days. She is looking towards buying a used car. She will be graduating this May in Theater.

Matthew is also working full-time this summer during the 2nd shift at Curries Manufacturing. He is insulating doors along with other duties. Sometimes, he gets overtime and works until 1:00 am. He'll be going back to college as a junior. He is planning on going to Costa Rica during Jan. for a class. He is a groomsman in a wedding this weekend and I'm sure that the bride was happy to find out that he cut his shoulder length hair this summer.

Daniel is still working at Fareway and will be a senior this year. He has been working on designing and raising money for his Eagle project, which is to build a pergola at Clear Creek school. Daniel and Randy are heading up to the Boundary Waters on a scout trip this next week.

Philomena went to clarinet camp and Schoenstatt camp, and she entered 4-H stuff in the North Iowa Fair. Her presentation on how to make a Hoola Hoop Rug made it to state, so we will be going to the State Fair August 16th. This week she went to visit a friend in Nebraska for a few days.

Stephen had a lot of fun at cub scout camp this summer and will soon be taking trombone lessons. We are also looking into an ADHD diagnosis for him.

Randy got his masters and has had quite a full summer on the job. I spent the first few months of this year with a bum knee that I finally got a diagnosis for: torn meniscus tendon, but arthritis bad enough that the Mayo doctor recommended knee replacement surgery. I am not ready for surgery yet, so I wear a brace at work.

Randy and I decided to take a cruise before I'm using a walker :) We are going on a 7-night Mediterranean cruise in October to Barcelona, Florence, Rome, Naples (Pompei), Palma Majorca and back to Barcelona. We are really looking forward to it.

This is just a tip of our daily lives, but we are still alive *smiles*

Not yet ready for school to start,
Caroline

nothing much knew

The ice storm that was supposed to hit us today came.  We were on the trailing edge of it so it turned out to be not much of a big deal.  The temperature stayed above freezing so things did not get slick as predicted.  we got a little freezing rain in the morning and then just rain.

We will see what tonight brings for the morning

The snow has really melted up here and we will be transitioning into the muddy yucky season.

Mary is in London doing fine

Caroline is having trouble with her knee

Philomena's birthday is coming up here very quickly

Last week some old lady pulled out in front of Caroline on the highway by the interstate and Caroline ended up hitting her with the Trailblazer.  Caroline got slowed down in time where there was minimal damage and the airbags did not deploy.

I believe the DOT will be sending that old lady a  letter reference her driver's license.

I hope everything is going good where you are at

March is just around the corner

posted by Randy

The ID game!

Can you identify the following people in this picture?

a hint: Christmas 1993

to think that picture was taken only 17 years ago!

Mary is in London

Daniel is at Wartburg College this weekend for an honor band,  his concert is Sunday afternoon

Philomena is spending the night with her older sister Sarah

Matthew is at college

Stephen will be the only one home tonight with Mom and Dad!

he will get to enjoy what it is like to be the only child!

things warmed up a bit this week, but it is snowing again outside

I hope everybody has a good weekend

posted by Randy

It's Cold!

Minus 23 degrees in north Iowa yesterday, now that is cold! Hey, all our cars started though. It's warmer today.

Mary flys to London for the semester today. It is 34 degrees there. She has a direct flight out of Minneapolis. She has already checked in for her flight and paid for her extra baggage, all online.

Sarah got another job in the afternoons as a homework monitor; it pays better than a grocery store too. We enjoyed spending time with Sarah and her boyfriend Dan over the holidays.

Matthew is being a student in Storm Lake and for fun he is planning on building a gigantic room sized Risk game. He's got a rug he is going to dye and he has already bought the not so little soldiers. Very creative.

Daniel is in the Corn Belt Honor Band on Thurs. and then in the Wartburg Honor Band on Sat.-Sun., with his concert at 3:00 pm on Sunday in Waverly.

Philomena was in a dance competition last Sunday in Dubuque. Legacy Dancers is a middle school dance team. Their show case night is on her 13th birthday, Feb. 25th.

Stephen and Randy were polar bear camping last weekend for cub scouts. They had a lot of fun sledding and snow shoeing, but, yes, they did sleep in cabins.

It is nice now that Randy is through with school. He is home more and not busy studying. His job does keep him very busy, but we are getting used to him having the weekends off.

Perkins has slowed way, way down because it is winter. I was working 30 hours each week before Christmas, now I am working 12-15 hours each week. Which is more like what I can handle.

Take care and stay warm,
Caroline

Happy New Year 2011

Happy New Year everybody

from the Clear Lake Schnoebelens  we wish everyone a happy and healthy new year

posted by Randy

after Christmas activities

well Christmas is now behind us

everybody had a good time with plenty to eat

Daniel and I went down to Iowa City to try our luck at deer hunting we saw three coyotes the first night, a coyote and a flock of turkeys the second day and no deer

We helped celebrate Marie's birthday while we were down there, that was a lot of fun.

my procedure went well, I received a clean bill of health.  I am good for another 5 years.

The procedure itself was a peace of cake, they told me to roll over on my left side and the next thing I remember was waking up in the recovery room.  The prep the day before was not a big deal just an annoyance.  I want to thank dad for the Angel Soft, that was thoughtful!

It is amazing when you cannot eat anything, you have a terrible urge to eat everything!

Sarah and Dan were up here for a few days, it was good to see them.  Dan survived eating a super hot sandwich in Des Moines at Cactus Bob's BBQ Joint.  the challenge is to eat their hottest sandwich with their hottest hot sauce in 10 minutes without water and you have to keep it down and you get your picture on the wall and a T-shirt.  I have been there, there are not too many pictures on the wall, now there is one more.  Congratulations to Dan.

it is melting up here, we are supposed to get freezing rain up here.  what a mess, we get 12 inches of snow and within a week it is melting and now we have a slushy mess up here.

I am taking Matthew back to college tomorrow.

I am eating Oyster Stew everyday now,  I really need to figure out portions and quantities a little better

I hope everyone has a happy New Year!

posted by Randy

Chrismas is coming

Well we are at the shortest day of the year and now the days should be getting longer!

after Christmas I am scheduled to go in for a procedure

All I will say is the procedure will be on December 29, 2010 and the day before on December 28, 2010 I need to prep for the procedure

the preparation requires me to drink a liquid which after drinking the liquid, I need to make darn sure I am very close to the bathroom.

we received another 5 inches of snow on Monday, I would say we will be having a white Christmas this year!

Mary and Matthew are home from school

Daniel got his braces off

Philomena will be getting her braces on

Sarah has uninvited mice in her house

Mary will be going to London for a semester of college

everybody enjoy the remaining days before Christmas

posted by Randy

Winter Blast!

We survived our first Winter Blast for the year

we got about 6 to 8 inches of snow, but the wind was the factor

we had rain Friday night and into Saturday morning, and then when the wind switched it changed to snow and the wind kept blowing harder and the snow kept coming down faster

It basically shut down all the roads in Northern Iowa

and now it is cold the sun is shining, but the temperature is -2 below

I brought Keeley inside today just to give her a chance to warm up

everybody is looking forward to Christmas in a couple weeks

Mary and Matthew will be coming home this week,  I will be going down on Tuesday to bring a load of Mary's items home.

I am enjoying some free time particularly in the evening, it is kind of nice to not have to worry about a paper to write or a project to complete.

I am contemplating on which soup to make for Christmas eve.   I am thinking either Broccoli and Cheese soup or chicken and noodle soup.

stay warm

posted by Randy

December Activities!

Well as I said in my last post way back in September, that time is just speeding by.

December is here already, and we can probably say good-bye to December, and look forward to the new year.

Daniel got confirmed last month and we had family up for that

we had everybody home for thanksgiving, that was enjoyable,  Sarah brought home Dan Waterbery to visit, that was nice

Matthew brought home his XBOX with his Kinect that was fun to watch everybody do that

We do have our Christmas stuff out and slowly putting it up, it is hard to believe we are in the second week of advent already

on December 4th I finished my last class for my MPA so I am all done with my master's program

we only got a dusting of snow last Friday

Philomena won here postal shoot in archery

and Philomena was selected to go to the IBA band,  it is like the All State Honor Band for Junior High,  she will play down in Des Moines in May, 2011

We hope everybody is doing fine

we are keeping warm, I was not quite ready for this cold weather

posted by Randy

New Post...Finally! AGAIN!

Unbelievable,.....September is almost over!

Caroline survived her birthday, this will be her last year she will be in the forties.  Next year she gets to join the nifty fifty club like the rest of the older crew.

Daniel got his driver's license so he gets to drive to work and stuff.

Philomena had a 4-H skit at the Clay County fair last week.  Stephen got sick so I stayed home with him while Caroline, Daniel and Philomena went to the Clay County Fair in Spencer.  The skit went well.

My second to the last master's class started this month.  I have to give two presentations next month for the class.

Our south gutter on our house is clogged.  I have a friend who will make the climb to clean that out.

The ants are just plain terrible this month. The whole year has been a big ant problem.

Philomena is in Junior High Jazz Band at Ventura

The grass needs mowed

I am keeping Keeley's ears cleaned out.   she sees me with that little blue ear squirtter and she avoids me.

We celebrated our 25 wedding anniversary this month.  I was out of town on our anniversary date.

I hope everybody is doing well

enjoy the Fall season!

posted by Randy

Fifty is Nifty

Well I turned the big 50 this month, I have now joined Doug, Nancy, Janice and Doug into this age block. Caroline has one more year to go before crossing this threshold

It is like crossing the event horizon on SG1 you do not know what is actually on the other side.

The State Fair was hot,  Philomena did good on her presentation at the 4-H building.  I had my regular pork chop on a stick which was very good.  It is made by the Pork Producers, I do not know how they do it but that is the most moist best tasting pork chop I have ever eaten. It is a genuine pork chop and the stick is the bone part of the chop

Well August is now behind us and we can look back and comment on just where did the summer go?

I took Philomena and Stephen down to Iowa City this weekend to visit Janice and my nieces and nephews (except for Lucas who was back at home) who were in town to move in Nathaniel.  I was able to visit with them, as well as everybody else down there.

also I was able to see my youngest niece while I was there.

Everybody seemed to have a lot of fun together at supper time last night.  It was fun to see everybody.

I do not know the whole story, but Tom seems to be having some difficulty with coaching 5th and 6th graders football.  Hmmmmmmm, sounds like he is having fun, but I think I will buy more stock in aspirin and ibuprofen companies.

Also we took Keeley down for a check-up also.  She made it down and back without any problems.  No throw-ups in the car!!!

It was good to see everybody for the brief time we were down there.

Sarah is teaching

Mary and Matthew are back at school, and we got Mary and all of her stuff moved back to her dorm room.  I have no idea where all of that stuff will go into her room, or if it will even fit, but all that matters is that stuff is out of my hair for a while!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the way things are going Thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner and before you know it I will have another birthday.

I hope everybody will enjoy the remaining days of summer and have a good week

posted by Randy

New Post...Finally!

Well it has been almost 6 weeks since the last post

I cannot believe how the time has gone by this summer, a lot of activities and crazy schedules

Right after the 4th of July Daniel and I went out with a total of 10 adults and 20 scouts to Colorado for summer camp.  Out of that group of 30,  3 adults (which included me) and 7 of the older scouts went on a high adventure and backpacked, hiked, camped for five days in the Rawah Wilderness Area next to the Roosevelt National forest just north of Estes park about an hour and Northwest of For Collins.  We took everything we needed (food, cooking, tents, etc.) to survive for 5 days of hiking.

We did camp above the timberline at 11,300 feet one night

here are some pictures

The above picture is Twin Crater Lake all snow melt fed, when the kids skipped snowballs out into the water the snowballs just floated away and did not melt.

This is blue lake at 11,100 feet we saw two elk and a moose walk by our campsite in the morning

we hiked and saw mountains up close and personal

It was a lot of fun.

The kids did well at the County Fair this year and Philomena will get to present her project at the State Fair this year. She gets to present on August 19 2010, so we will be at the State Fair on August 19, 2010

I have to work the State Fair on the last day August 22, 2010

Sarah did an excellent performance in her community play in Cedar Falls it was Joseph and the technicolor dream coat.  The signing camels were funny

the grass just keeps growing

It has been very hot lately, but finally we did have a small break in the heat and humidity

School is just around the corner hard to believe August is finally here.

we went down to Burlington on July 23, 2010 for Caroline's class reunion,

We are filling up on Harrington's sweet corn, they are out of Nashua IA

Some girl hit our car when Caroline went down to see Sarah's Play, it damaged the back bumper, she was pulling out of a parking spot and clipped our back bumper with her front bumper. It was our trailblazer

the Trailblazer will go in to get fixed in about a week

that is about it, so hopefully we will get into a pattern and post more regularly now

posted by Randy

OK,

It has been quite a while since our last post

Mary just left to go back to camp

Daniel, Matthew and I just got back from a fun canoe trip on the St. Criox river with the scouts, the tornadoes in the area were 15 miles south of where we were camping that night while on the St. Croix.  Our tents stayed dry, and on the ground.

Philomena got back from camp at Schnoenstatt in Sleepy Eye

Stephen was a cub scout camp last week

I finished my Drake summer class last week

Matthew had his Eagle Scout Ceremony with two other Eagle Scouts last week, that went very well.  Grandma and Grandpa Schnoebelen came up for that

Congratulations to Nathaniel for graduating from College, we are looking forward to him coming to Iowa to do his grad program

Congratulations to Katie for graduating from High school.  Sorry we could not make it down for the celebration

Happy Father's day to all the Fathers out there.

Matthew is going back to work at BV on Tuesday.  Still no hair cut.....how long will it grow??????

Sarah is in a community musical in Waterloo,  Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat

Everybody have a good week!!!

posted by Randy

Awards and Accolades

Philomena did a fantastic job on her 4-H project presentations today over at NIACC

She is going to the State Fair with one of her project presentation

and for her group skit that she was in she is going to the Clay County Fair with that one

she made a cake that looked like a tank and she received a blue ribbon for that project

As of last Friday I did get promoted to district supervisor for the North-Central district

I will be supervising 14 officer over a 28 county area

Still no word regarding Sarah's interview she had at Notre Dame in Burlington.

Hopefully she will get the interview for Regina soon.

Thank you Val and Melissa's mom for putting a good word in for Sarah to the Regina principal.

Matthew's Eagle Scout Ceremony will be June 13, 2010 we are very proud of him for achieving that goal.
Invitations will be sent out shortly...I hope!

I biked around the lake today and had an average speed of 14.9 mph  that is an all time record for me.

The fitness center must be working!

have a good week

posted by Randy