OUR RESIDENT BALD EAGLES

We've regularly been seeing bald eagles flying around our house. Yesterday, John went to haul hay to the cows and spotted a pair of eagles nearby in the pasture. He came in to retrieve a camera and returned with these fun shots.

This guy was getting a drink in the little "wetland".

Classic eagle in flight, they look so majestic !
(Kind of makes me think of mailing something though.)

And off he goes, into the wild blue yonder.

NIKKI WAS PUZZLED . . .

Nikki always helps haul the hay, by keeping the cows from going through the open gates while the tractor is going back and forth. When John stopped to take pictures, she kept vigil.

But she never really figured out what was so intriguing.

PLEASE EMAIL THESE THREE PEOPLE

These are the three Republican Senators who voted to pass the stimulus package. The bill is in conference and when it comes back, these Senators can choose to oppose the bill and kill it. Please encourage them to do so. You don't have to write much, just a one sentence message. Please stand up and be counted!

I'm not sure why Senators Specter and Snowe are missing their heads, that is how the image copied from their websites. Maybe it indicates their current position.



Susan Collins click here to email

Arlen Specter click here to email

Olympia Snowe click here to email

SHE'S HERE ! ! !

Congratulations Julie and Jon!! Welcome Jordan !!



This beautiful baby is the firstborn of my sister Julie
(the pediatrician with the CDC in Atlanta, GA
for those of you trying to remember which sister Julie is)
and her dear husband, Jon Klevansky.

Her name is Jordan Taylor Klevansky.
She made her arrival at 4:41 am on Sunday the 8th.
She was 6 lbs 12 oz and 19 in long.

We are all so excited to have this lovely miracle for our new niece and cousin.

$2,711 DOLLARS - HOW MUCH EVERY MAN, WOMAN AND CHILD IN U.S. WOULD HAVE TO GIVE TO PAY OFF PROPOSED "STIMULUS" BILL

Just Some Important Facts:
Current U.S. Population 305,000,000 (approximately)
Current Proposed "Stimulus" Package $827,000,000

Cost per person (every man, woman, and child) in U.S. $2711
(and a whole lot of those 300 million won't be paying in!)

If you find this unacceptable, please contact both your Senators and your Congressman. MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD!! Their phone numbers and email addresses can be easily found through a quick Google search. For our local Missouri readers, the contact information is listed below.

Congresswoman Jo Ann Emerson 8th District (202) 225-4404 or email
Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer 9th District (202) 225-2956 or email

Senator Kit Bond (202) 224-5721 or email
Senator Claire McCaskill (202) 224-6154 or email

AREN'T THEY LOVELY ?!

I had a great time taking pictures of the Ymker girls.
Libby makes a terrific model. I had to get back to my class or would have taken more photos.

And Kelly looks adorable with or without a smile (the bad photographer blurred the ones of her smiling.)

ART CLASS

After many weeks of conflicts, our afternoon art class resumed this week.

We were working on eyeballs, Joy's turned out nicely :-).

And in the kitchen, Colleen was busy with yummy crafts for the younger set.

These guys have such personality!!

RECENT FUN IN THE SNOW -- BUILDING AN IGLOO

It's been cold enough here lately to start thinking "Alaska", and now they had the snow to go with it.

I'm sure it was carefully engineered!

The snow was so beautiful!

And the door takes shape . . .

ODD AND INTERESTING PHOTOS FROM THE SNOW . . .

Anna napping in the igloo.

Joy saluting with a machete' ?! Don't ask why, because I don't know. . .

Josiah throwing snow . . . I just thought it was an interesting picture.

I love how the little birds get so big and round when it's cold.

NISBETTS TO PERFORM AT FACULTY TALENT SHOW, FRIDAY, FEB. 6TH

Keith and the guys (Adam, Joel, Josiah, and John) are singing a fantastic song, "The Awakening", for the Faculty Talent Show this Friday, February 6th, from 7:30 to 9:30 at Leach Theatre, Castleman Hall, Missouri S & T. Tickets are $5.

Keith also had his arm twisted and will be appearing with a group of professors who will be performing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

All proceeds will go to the Local Chapter of Engineers Without Borders. Missouri S & T Students have recently participated in projects in Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, and Bolivia, designing and building bathrooms, bridges, working with hurricane relief, etc.

Engineers Without Borders - USA (EWB-USA) is a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. This partnership involves the implementation of sustainable engineering projects, while involving and training internationally responsible
engineers and engineering students.

JOSIAH'S SIXTEENTH BIRTHDAY

Time flies by so quickly . . . Josiah was the sweetest, most agreeable, easy going baby . . . and now he has a driver's license! He's still a pretty agreeable, easy going guy, but not nearly as easy to cuddle on my lap!!

It's always interesting to see what each child requests for their birthday meals. Josiah wanted roast with all the trimmings, and potato salad. I thought it was a strange combination, but I think each one of the boys complimented the potato salad. (I guess I'm not as good at meal planning as I thought.) Although, some of the guys would have a seven course meal of all carbs if they had their way!!

FerroFluid, part of Josiah Birthday gift of a set of rare earth magnets, which have some pretty amazing attributes. Ferrofluid makes some fascinating designs when a magnet is placed nearby.

Ferrofluids are tiny iron particles covered with a liquid coating, also surfactant that are then added to water or oil, which gives them their liquid properties. Ferrofluids are colloidal suspensions -- materials with properties of more than one state of matter. In this case, the two states of matter are the solid metal and liquid it is in. This ability to change phases with the application of a magnetic field allows them to be used as seals, lubricants, and may open up further applications in future nanoelectromechanical systems.