Bailout

"This is not a bailout," said Nancy Pelosi. Reminds me of....
"I am not a crook"
"I did not have sexual relations with that woman"

Well, I guess it depends on what your definition of 'is' is.

New Post

Seems like two weeks since I've posted anything fresh. Not much to share. Mom is in the sewing mood, sewing for granddaughters. I've been tinkering with buggy maintenance getting ready for a run and need to replace an alternator tomorrow. We plan to go to the eastern Sierras Oct 1 with a buggy club. The 5th wheel has been parked most of the year and I'm looking forward to getting out in it even if we aren't going far. Our weather turned hot again. Current temp at 2:30 PM is 100° or I'd be out there changing the alternator now.

We live in interesting times of economic turmoil, moral decay, and political uncertainty. Someone told me a speaker at the United Nations called yesterday for one world government. Seems to me our freedoms are slowly being replaced by socialism in this environment, and folks welcome more government ownership of private property in the name of stability. Please make sure you register and vote.

93 hours and counting

After writing in the earlier post that Jamie is the most even person I know she called. They have been without power for 93 hours, and no way to know when the power will be restored. She sounded down. Imagine all the things you do every day that require electrical power. Laundry. Air Conditioning (S. Texas can be hot and humid this time of year). Refrigerator. Television. Computer and email. Cordless telephone. Kids deprived of electronic activities get restless. Plus lights in the evening. Please stop a minute and pray for them, and ask the Lord to restore their power soon. Thanx. (Update: Their power came on about 18 hours after posting this entry. Thanks for praying.)

More from Jamie

We received a call from Jamie Sunday 5PM and she sounded rested and close to her old self. (Not that she didn't before. She is one of the most steady people I know.) Still no power and the generator goes back tomorrow. See Busch's blog (link bottom of right sideboard) for things she misses and thoughts on football and air conditioning.

Babysitting Hurricane Ike

We had loose plans to head for Houston Saturday, but had a change of plans due to events in Calif and the coming of Ike in Houston. Jamie called from Houston early Friday evening and said the electricity was already out, and the eye of Ike was still 150+ miles away. Since none of us have had any experience with hurricanes I made a decision to try to be their link to Ike info. Had I been in the same situation I couldn't imagine what it would be like in the dark listening to the wind howl and wondering whether the eye was bearing down me. So I monitored several sites with radar and satellite images, as well as National Weather Service, which gave frequent updates and location. Via text-messaging to her cell phone I tried to keep them informed of eye location and path as well as wind speed measured at various locations they would recognize (Hobby 67 mph, Beaumont 79 mph). Some time in the early morning, maps and charts being correct, their location went from tropical storm wind to hurricane force wind. The eye was huge, perhaps 50 miles across, and the wall of the eye passed within about 30 miles of them (using a Rand-McNally map). I figured from that point the situation could only improve for them as they were on the better "backside" of the counterclockwise rotation. I had trouble keeping my eyes open so my final text to her included "zzzzzz" and I went to bed with cell phone beside me. As the sun was coming up in SoCal I got a wonderful text from her, "We made it." I'm sure she will have a lot to add, but their electricity remains out and they suspect it may be out for several days, so we get to wait for her to blog the experience. (She told me she has a pix of Gracie as Grace looks out the window into the hurricane.)

We made it home

We arrive home Monday mid-afternoon after almost two weeks on the road. What a relaxing trip! The buggy outing through the NoCal redwoods was fabulous, as always. Here we are parked beneath trees about 350 feet tall. The first two days in NoCal were hot, then the weather moderated to cool nights and just-about-right days for the rest of the trip.



Portland hospitality was right up there too.

I have pix of many of the young grandkids standing on a buggy seat looking through the steeringwheel at me. So I tried for the same pose from Brynne. Much as I tried she would not stand on the seat or grab the steering wheel. She would buckle her knees and slip down to the floor, turn around and do some exploring the opposite direction.


Brynne looks a lot like her mother at that age (not necessarily in this pix) but is taller. She is starting to get that platinum hair. There is also a bit of resemblance to Jonah IMO. She is a climber. She will climb up on the coffee table, up onto the dining room table, up the stairs, get a leg up on our bed and walk around on the mattress, etc.. The first time I held her she had no shyness whatsoever and a little finger came up and gently felt my moustache for a moment, then retreated. I smiled.

I didn't think about the store problems much while we were gone. So it was an excellent vacation. I didn't want to come home.

Second Best?

We are in Portland for a few days visiting Jon, E, Jo, Ava, and Boo. I took Jonah to see Clone Wars. Second time for me. He liked it. When I took Micah there were 11 people in the showing on opening day. When I took Jonah yesterday we were the only two in the theater!!! Us Two! It was a private showing for us. Well, school is in session here and it was a noon showing. We didn't even have to lower our voices when we talked. It was fun.

Jonah wanted to challenge me to Mario Cart, a Wii game racing motorcycles or cart racers.

Jonah: Papa Mel, do you want to play Mario Cart with me?

Papa: Sure, but only if I can win.

Jonah: (after a long silence) How about if you come in second? That's not too bad.

Grandkids are great.