We are back!

After over a year inactive, I decided to reactivate our blogger account. I will try to update it as often as I can and hopefully we all can get connected again. Facebook is nice, but this is more intimate. Don't you all agree? Love you all ...

GO STEELERS, CONGRATULATIONS ON WINNING NUMBER 6 !!!

We have decided to take a break from Blogging for now. Perhaps we will return later this year. To all of you who have read our Blog, we hope that it was of good information and provided interesting insites to our lives. If you have further personal interest in what is going on with Dan & Rita please feel free to e-mail or call us anytime. Until then, God Bless and See you later alligator...

NOVEMBER UPDATE

Well, I had an epidural block today under CT scan. My legs, especially the left one have been bothering me a lot lately due to the back problems I experienced from the accident. I really feel a lot older somedays when I try to walk and the pain prevents me from really doing any strong activity. Travel in a car still is OK if I take the medicine the doctors prescribed for me but I am not a big medicine taker and look forward to getting off of those prescrips. The block seems to help a little bit and a maybe a few more days it will get even better. Hopefully with continued exercise and limited anti-inflammatory meds I will be back to the activity I had before the accident in June. Rita seems to be doing fine after her therapy and is pretty much back to herself now. The weather has been beautiful here in Pa but we can expect a change to come soon. Weather usually is Fall like and many nice warm days through January and then through March it gets quite cold and light snow.

We were sadden this week to hear about the passing of Aunt Eva Free, Mom's youngest and last sibling. Rita and I will be attending her funeral in Hadley,PA on Monday and representing the family. I believe she was 94. From her daughter's call she passed quietly in her sleep late this week. To those who knew her, you will remember her quick sense of humor, quilt making, independance and the enjoyment of her family and farm home until only a few years ago when she moved to a carehome in Fredonia, PA. If you are interested in sending cards and do not have an address, contact me by e-mail and I will give you an address you can write to.

STREET ROADWORK ON WESTFIELD ST.

I was so impressed by the roadwork crews as they resurfaced our street in front of our home. It needed to be redone and the fun part was to see how they stripped the pavement off with this big machine, dumping it directly into the truck in minutes. When they stripped the pavement off you could see the old brick streets underneath. Our neighbor up the street remembered when he first lived there 49 years ago and drove those brick streets. They are in almost perfect condition. I drive down many brick streets in Pittsburgh and many of them are in expensive neighborhoods, preserved. Anyway they did it all in about 4 hours and tomorrow they will resurface, neat!!

PITTSBURGH'S 250TH ANNIVERSARY

Just a few pictures Rita and I took at the evening fireworks display for Pittsburgh's 250th Anniversary. We grabbed an evening train from our house(took 5 cars that passed us before we got on one) The train took us down to Station Square where we started to watch the fireworks from the Smithfield bridge(see photo's of mass of people on bridge) Remember Pittsburgh has a lot of bridges so this was a large crowd downtown. I suspect that there was over 500,000 people downtown watching the fireworks, music and all. They were shooting off the fireworks from many places around town, including off the top of the buildings and I suspect from the river itself. Our friend Amy Fisher and her husband Matt were downtown and wouldn't you know it our paths cossed on the bridge and we watched the fireworks together(see Amy hanging on to the upper part of the bridge) Hi Amy!!!
Sorry, I suspect Matt has better pics than me because he had a tripod and all. It was fun and hope you get an idea of the happenings shown below. Don't forget to click on the pictures to blow them up for better viewing.

TIME FOR A HAYRIDE AND A FEW HOT DOGS ON THE FIRE.

We recently had our annual Hayride at Mike and Esther Krajacic's farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. Mike and Esther are members of our church family at CMA church in Upper St. Clair. They are both in their mid 80's and still farm a large parcel of land and raise feeder beef. Mike travels around speaking to churches and sharing his testimony. His travels have taken him to Russia and many other countries as a Christian Farmer speaking to those nations. As are many of our members they are warm caring family and Mike has attended several of my Sunday School classes, sharing his background and contributing so much to the church ministry in Upper St. Clair. Rita and I skipped the hayride this year but we had a lot of fun with the kids and our church friends(and the food was good too) Fall is approaching finally and it looks like it will be a beautiful one again this year. Below are several of our shared photos just to give you the feel of the Farm and friendly folks.

CMA CHURCH FAMILY AT THE FARM

LIFE GOES ON...

I find myself not working so much now. As you may not all know we were in an accident the end of June and a lady hit us quite hard from the rear. Her car was totaled and had to be towed away but we were more fortunate,in our Beetle. We had more minor damage due to the great construction of the Beetle. Unfortunately, the doctors said Rita had a good whiplash as well as myself and I have a herniated disk in my lower back. We have been going to Physical Therapy and doing all the other things necessary to get well and we are both doing OK at this time and almost finished with our PT. My back gives me the most problem but surgery is not a consideration and the doctor said I should get better in time, but I do take it much easier. Unfortunately, I found it uncomfortable to work fulltime at the VA and decided to leave my position and go back to part-time work and I limit that to certain facilities. The VA has been calling me and they would like me back but I don't know if I want to work fulltime, especially since some call is required. I will have to think on that carefully. Rita is working fulltime still and she seems OK with that. Those darn cars, they are good for us but people don't always watch where they are going around here and we now tend to be a little more vigilant in traffic these days, although there was nothing I could have done about this lady who decided to hit us. Fortunately, she did not seem to be injured so that was good for her also.

One thing I enjoy the most is to get out to the campgrounds, especially near us. With Rita working full time and responsibilities at home and PT, we have to be inventive. We often take trips and I stay at the campground and Rita comes and goes back to work, or rather I take her back and forth to work from the campground on certain days. If you mix these with weekends it allows us time to relax and still have the camping feel. We are fortunate living in Pittsburgh as there are many great places to go with our motorhome. One of our favorites is Keystone State Park about one hour from our home and maybe 45 minutes from Rita's work. Here are some pictures from Keystone and another lake campground taken early this summer and hope you enjoy them.

Our Camping Spot

Pennsylvania Lakes

REUNION 2008

What a nice surprise we had this July to see my brother Chuck arrive in Pittsburgh on July 16th. He had decided to come to the Fisher reunion, held in Hadley,Pennsylvania on Sunday July 20th. Chuck said he had a good trip flying into Pittsburgh, but you could see he was tired from the long trip, getting up early in the morning in Santa Rosa. Rita and I were glad to see him and after spending the first few days resting and visiting with us he was off to the Sharon area where we were raised, in his rented car. We met Chuck at the reunion on Sunday and he followed us home, with his rental, for two more days of sightseeing in the Pittsburgh area. We were fortunate to have beautiful weather and the only rain we had was for an hour or so at the reunion, which didn't stop all the visiting and eating. Our visits in Pittsburgh allowed us to take Chuck around the area and show him how Pittsburgh has changed the last many years. We took a short cruise down the rivers to see the stadiums and the skyline views from the water's edge. Chuck also had a chance to see the City from high above on Mt Washington, overlooking the city and than he and Rita took the Incline tram down to the water's edge where I met them to continue the sights. We had a good lunch at Whooley's Fish Market and walked along the Strip District near the river. Tours though the University areas, where Rita and I work and late night rides through the area kept us going. In fact I think Chuck wore us out, he had more energy then we did(adrenaline flowing, I guess) I believe Chuck took the opportunity to talk to everyone he met that he was from California and all the events going on there. After each place we went he soon became the representative for Pennsylvania. He was most active telling everyone what they should see and passing on local facts he remembered or learned on this trip. Rita and I enjoyed his stories of his growing up in PA, some of our relatives and their remembered comments. My brothers lived a different life here than I and have different memories of Pennsylvania and it is fun to compare. After the reunion Chuck and I took a trip down to Falling Water and the Laurel Mountain area. Falling Water is Frank Lloyd Wright's most famous home design and it is a beautiful State Park area. I think this is where Chuck did get a little tired walking through the home and pathways, but he said he was really glad he saw the home. After a great lunch at OhioPyle along the Youghiogheny river we toured one of the famous resorts in the area, NemaColin Woodlands Resort, a 3000 acre luxury, luxury resort. Wow! what a place and very interesting for both of us as it was the first time I had been there. Chuck, I am sure will tell you all about it. Anyway we had a good time and few mishaps. All in all I am sure Chuck enjoyed his trip and we were glad to spend the time with him. Below are some of the pictures from his visit. Look forward to our next visit by friends and relatives, come on over and see us, we would love to have you.