EXCITING DAYS IN ROLFE, IOWA

Scott and Julie have had a trumatic "animal" week. First their cat, Turbo (a seasoned, smart cat who is an extremly good hunter) went missing. He didn't come home at evening time, so after looking for him and not being successful, they had to give up for the night. The next day Julie tried again and began to think he might have been caught in a neighbors trap. (They have a neighbor that likes to trap squirrels, possums, etc.) Sure enough, she found him the next day. Thank goodness it was a live trap. Poor little Turbo though had to spend a very, very cold night in the trap. Julie thinks he chased a rabbit into and got caught himself. No sign of the rabbit (probably nourished Turbo though the night!!!) He was a little worse for the wear, but hopefully will be a wiser hunter from now on.


The next event was trying to get Toby, their dog to come in for the night. They couldn't find him so Julie went looking and just as she saw him about to get a SKUNK, the skunk sprayed him and not only did the dog get it, but Julie as well. She said it is amazing how far that spray can travel. It was so cold they had no choice but to bring Toby in the house to bathe him. They tried peroxide and baking soda, tomato juice, and Listerine. They had to burn Julie's clothes and Scott's clothes that he had on while bathing Toby plus the towels that they used. The house still stinks she tells me even though they tried to keep it to just the downstairs bathroom and bedroom. They have confined Toby to the downstairs bedroom until he smells better, but Scott felt so badly for the dog that he spent the night down there with him so Toby wouldn't be lonely. That's true love.

It will be interesting to see if those animals learned anything from the experience.

Toby in happier summer days playing in the river that runs through their property.

The skunk's cousin.

MUSIC TO A PARENT'S EAR

A little birdie whispered to me that a certain young lady known by all as "Sashy" has been awarded and has accepted a scholarship to Utah Valley University, (http://www.uvu.org/). It is the Outstanding Merit R Scholar Award.

Her mom states, "It probably has something to do with the fact that she has a 3.9 GPA at this time! They have offered her full tuition for her first year. (That's the music to parent's ears that I mentioned!) She has accepted it. The requirements are that she take at least 12 credits...no problem, that she maintain a GPA of 3.2 in her first year....I can't see that being a problem and if she has a GPA of 3.5 or above by the end of Spring 2012, she is eligible for this scholarship for her second year! So proud of her as you can imagine. "

And so are we all.

CONGRATULATIONS MISS ALEXANDRA BETH AGLE

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HAPPY 12th BIRTHDAY, NATHAN AGLE

One of my favorite pictures of Nathan
wearing Grandpa Agle's hat!

REMBRANCE BIRTHDAY

And a happy rembrance birthday to Grandma Anderson (Dennis Sr.'s Mom)


Leone Irene Christenson Agle Anderson
24 February 1912 - 27 February 1988

NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE

Our Kiwi is okay. As you recall, Ashlee is living and working in Wellington, and the earthquake was in Christchurch on the South Island.
Carol has talked to Ashlee and the earthquake has not affected her other than has it for all of us. Our hearts go out to all those who have suffered from it. Carol wasn't able to talk to her until today and we all felt that no news was good news, but it's nice to have it confirmed. Ashlee is about 200 miles away from the quake.

IT'S SOFTBALL SEASON AT WESTERN NEBRASKA STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Let the games begin. Every weekend Aria will be playing softball. She's a force to be reckoned with! Ken was able to attend some games this weekend in Midland, Texas since he was in the state on business.

Here's what he had to say: "It was a good tourney. Aria hit well probably going 500 over the 5 games I saw (7 for 14 hitting). She wants to pitch, but they seem to want her more in Center. The coach did tell her on the bus ride home that she would have her pitch this next weekend. She is recovering from a jammed finger, which affects her throwing, but she really wants to pitch, which is great because a little while ago (before they started playing), she wasn't sure she wanted to pitch and seemed happy about playing center. I think once the games started she realized that pitching is a lot more engaging (not that being center field isn't without its challenges) and is first an active/reactive position rather than center, which is a reactive/active position. We Agles are active/reactive people I think.
But the best part was I got to spend dinner with her and we had a great talk about life and the like. It was good for both of us. I think she needed it. Anyway, good times."

LOOK OUT FOR THIS BATTER!

Sent from Ken's phone: In the picture I took Aria is about to smack a strong double to score two. Unfortunately, in that game it was the only two, but it was against a top US Junior College pitcher.

A VISIT TO THE BOWERS MUSEUM

Dennis and I try and do a day-trip every now and then. We've been to the Getty Museum in Malibu, The Gene Autry Museum in Griffith Park, The Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda and the Ronald Reagon Library in Simi Valley, to name a few.


This month we went to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. It is a wonderful museum with several excellent permanent exhibits and always a traveling one such as the Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors, King Tut's aftifacts, just to name two recent ones.

It is a beautiful museum designed to have that Spanish architectural look. Beautiful grounds and excellent exhibit displays.
The special exhibit they have right now is about Benjamin Franklin and it was WONDERFUL.

Here's Dennis inside the courtyard.

ONE MORE OF THE BIRTHDAY BOY

Declan went for breakfast at Denny's and got this special
birthday hat! Now that's what I call clever marketing.

HAPPY 7th BIRTHDAY, DECLAN EUGENE CARLTON

I asked Rhiannon if I had the facts straight on his name and she responded,
"You are right about his name. Ashlee was living in Ireland for a year. I asked to her to find a good Irish name for a boy. She told me about Declan which Eddy and I both really liked. In Ireland, being named Declan is like being named John. We wanted his middle name to be a family name and we really admired Grandpa Agle and thought he was a great person to name someone after so his middle name is Eugene. That started our tradition of naming our children so that the first three letters of the first name are also their full initials, i.e., DEClan (Declan Eugene Carlton). Quinton as first born doesn't follow that tradition but the others do."
Declan is very imaginative and lots of fun.


Here's one is of him pretending to shoot an arrow up on Mt. Graham.
(a high mountain near their home).

Ninja?

Here's one of Declan sleeping with his nightcap on.
Rhiannon says, "it is the arm of sweatshirt I cut off to make a pillow out of the rest of the sweatshirt.
Declan decided it would make a perfect sleeping hat and so often sleeps with it on."

A VISIT WITH THE TYLERS (SUZANNE'S FOLKS)

Whilst in England, we were invited by Suzanne's folks to come
for dinner.

Sue's Mom prepared a wonderful feast!

Rosemary & John Tyler in their beautiful garden (back yard to you Yanks).

Later Mark, Suzanne's brother came to visit with two of his
children, Harry and Lucy.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST

Back in October 2002 we took a nostalgic trip back to England.
We were able to stay at a house on the IUE campus even though
the school is now defunct. From there we took day trips and
enjoyed the beautiful scenery and autum colors.

I never cease to marvel at these beautiful stone fences and
lovely church cemeteries.

This was the first time I had ever seen a thatched roof on a BARN!

Bonus! Real live Gypsys camped on the side of the road.

JANUARY'S VISIT, Feb 2011

We had a wonderful, fun visit with January while she was here. Now she's read to return home.

Notice the bling, bling watch. While we were at Dana Point having lunch,
we stopped in one of the shops and when January saw this watch,
she just had to have it. It is so pretty. Too bad you can't see the bling, but it is there!

OUR ALPHA & OMEGA

January has been down visiting us for a few days and loves taking advantage of our 78 degree weather. She's been out at the pool soaking up the sun. The pool is not heated, but still looks inviting.

Erik had a business appointment in Garden Grove (abt 26 miles north of us) so when the meeting was over, he came by and had a small bite of luncheon and then spent some time tuning up our sound system on the TV and then we all went out to the pool to visit. Great day!

EVERY WOMAN'S DREAM PANTRY

Ken and Coppelia took a double door closet pantry and turned it into a WALK-IN pantry.
The extension went into the garage area but still leaves room for two cars.
Where the broom and dust pan are is where the freezer will go.
(It's in place now. It just took two strong men to get it from the garage to the new pantry).

It will take a while to stock the shelves.

Sophie gives us a tour.

Voila! Steven opens the doors for our viewing.

SOPHIE & JP's ROOM

Sophie is showing us her bedroom. Lovely!

JP is showing us his owee! He cut his finger and I understand it was a pretty deep cut but he took it like an Agle!

This is Katie's special friend, Darren (hope I spelled it right)

Visiting after church. Danielle talking to some dear friends.
Katie visiting with Janna.
Sashy visiting with a friend and
Dennis showing us Danielle's missionary plaque

On Monday we all went to the Carl Bloch art exhibit at BYU.

It was wonderful. Then it was off to lunch at Panda Express!

Here's little JP growing up fast.

The brothers 3.

No, he's not a relative. This is Sashy's friend and happens to be Tanya Dalton's son. Small world.

Lucky Grandma. Hey! Is Danielle taller than me?????