Busy Week

We had one busy week in the Mierins Family. Monday afternoon, Memorial Day, we decided to go on a little family trip to see the Ruby Valley Wildlife Reserve. We had to travel through the mountains on a road call the Harrison Pass and saw neat things, including various rock formations, beautiful desert flowers and even some cacti. We have added a couple of pictures below.

Once through the mountains we came to this beautiful valley where the reserve is located. We saw some amazing birds there, including this one below that has a blue beak. We still haven't figured out what it is called but there are many of them at the reserve. This place is worth the drive and well worth the sites. One the way home we saw golden eagles and about 8 vultures dining on a deer on the side of the road. The vultures were huge and had red heads. Very cool.

Tuesday morning Andy flew to St. Louis to attend a conference on drug courts. He learned a lot of things and came back with some ways he can improve his role on the local drug court. While in St. Louis, he did a bit of touring around, including taking in a baseball game at Busch Stadium. Now for those of you not familiar, Busch Stadium is the place where in 2004 the Red Sox won the 4th and final game of the 2004 World Series to win their first world series in 86 years. The stadium that exists today opened in 2006, but if you look to the right of the picture below there is a hole in the ground where the old stadium was. Andy removed his hat and bowed his head in reverence as he walked around the area of the old stadium. By the way the Cardinals did win that night. They played the Astros and Albert Pujols hit a shot of a home run. Not to be outdone, Carlos Lee and Lance Berkman of the Astros also hit a 4 bagger. It was a great game. If you look at the picture inside the park, Andy sat on the 2nd tier behind home plate.

Andy stayed at the Hyatt Riverside, which is literally next to the Arch on the Mississippi River and in front of the Old Courthouse in St. Louis. Below is a picture showing both things. Andy went on a tour of the Courthouse. The Court is significant for two very important things, it is where Dred and Harriet Scott filed suit in 1857 for their freedom as slaves. It is also where Virginia Minor sued in 1872 for the right to vote based upon the 14th Amendment. Well, as we know the ever sagely US Supreme Court ruled against both parties when their cases made their way to them. The Court ruled that slaves were property and not citizen's and therefore not entitled to the protections of the Constitution. Well not to be outdone and demonstrating their judicial fiat, Minor, who was white, but a woman, while a citizen, was not entitled to vote, because the Constitution did not guarantee the right to vote to all citizens. It is amazing to see how far we have come as a nation.

Before leaving St. Louis, Andy did have lunch at the restaurant of one of the creators of KC Masterpierce BBQ sauce. It was good. He flew home Saturday morning and was glad to get back to the desert. Friday was in the upper 80's and quite humid in St. Louis. Everyone was glad Dad made it home safely.

Everyone else had a great week. The boys are now done with school and seemed to survive. Both are excited about the summer. Nikolas honed his bike riding skills and we have included a picture of him being the daredevil he is. Gail had a very successful Pampered Chef party on Saturday. Saturday evening we all went to the Lion's Club Fair in town. Nikolas enjoyed riding the rides. Matthew decided he was going to use his money to play some games and he ended up winning a nice watch.



That about sums up our week. We hope you all are doing well.