I'm baaaaack! We visit WMUR Studios and a heads up my feature on travel insurance in tomorrow's Concord Monitor!

It's been two whole months since I've posted--yikes! Bud and I have been deep into landscaping, and have the blisters and sore muscles to prove it!  But that's done, along with very last phase of the pool re-hab--new steps.

Now we can relax!

Some fun stuff has been happening, though. This year's Dinner with Animals for the Concord-Merrimack County SPCA featured a live auction for the first time ever. We raised just shy of $50,000--so heartwarming!  One of the items donated was a New Hampshire Weather Package. WMUR's weatherman, Kevin Skarupa, volunteered to visit a classroom or organization of the winner's choice and do a NH weather presentation and also to give a personal tour of the WMUR studios and have the winner watch an entire live newscast right in the studio.

Son Jon's fiance, Tonya Coplan, was the winning bidder.  Wahoo!

In mid-June, Kevin came and spoke to grandson little Jon's class at Strong Foundations Charter School here in Concord.  He was such a hit that the kids lined up for autographs!

Just yesterday, Bud and I, Tonya and Jon and little Jon all went down to the Channel 9 Studios and got a really comprehensive tour of the studios and newsrooms.  We got to see it all, from the rooms of computers and equipment to the newsroom and even the broadcast studios.

Here we all are standing in back of the news anchors' desk.



And here's little Jon sitting in for one of the anchors...maybe a future broadcast news guy?

We got to sit in the comfy chairs in the "interview" section of the studio and watch Sean MacDonald do the news ( a lot about the capture of Whitey Bulger) and watch Kevin move from his desk to the anchor desk to the blue-screen weather wall--all the while apologizing for the rain we've been having. Jon and Tonya and little Jon had fun!

Afterwards, we went to nearby 900 Degrees Pizza for a fantastic lunch.  An interesting and fun day--AND the abused and neglected animals served by the Concord SPCA will benefit too.

For those who follow Travel Talk, my column with the Concord Monitor, I have written about shopping for the best airfare, picking the best destination and traveling solo over the past few weeks.

Tomorrow's Monitor will feature a piece I did on travel insurance--what to buy and how to buy it. If you have a trip coming up, it should a help!