Another new Grandson!!

Congratualations Denny and Heather!

Hunter James was born 7:50 the morning of November 8 and weighed 9 pounds and was 20.25 inches long, he's a bowling ball, or a butterball, whatever. He's very definitely a Sizemore and a workmate says he looks like a cabbage patch baby.

He definitely has the Sizemore mouth and just look at those cheeks! He's done very well, no problems and has a ravenous appetite (duh). He was, in everyone's opinion at least a couple weeks late, thus the large size. Everything is squished, nose, toes, and he has large hands, not the cute tiny newborn hands. And a full head of BROWN hair (like mama).

Camping Somewhere other than Lily Lake

Well, after our long, wet, wild winter a lot of roads were flooded out in and around Mt Rainier and one of them turned out to be the road to our Lily Lake. Keith went out with his dad and found the road gated and when they explored they found water flowing over it in one place at least. So now we have to find out who to contact to see about getting the repair nearer the top of the list so we can go back to our 19 year tradition.

In the meantime we had to find a different place to go. Kevin and Shirley found a spot near Lake Chelan a few years ago so we decided to try that spot. It was a long drive, 3.5 - 4 hours, about 200 miles one way (LL is only 100 miles). So Rach couldn't convince Tony to go, since he already wasn't liking the idea of camping anywhere. But Denny and Heather and Kevin's family all wanted to go, even if it was only for 24 hours or less.

My drive out was eventful. I have hauled my little paddle boat on top of my car for years but we hit some wind next to the Columbia River near Entiat that was a lot stronger than anything I've experienced up til now. So when the boat was airborne and felt like it would lift the car right off the road one rope broke. I got off the road and we re tied everything and took off again. The wind continued to blow and the boat was airborn again when the thing it was tied to, the handle, just broke and the boat went flying right over the car. I drove over the rope and then watched in the rear view mirror while our little fun boat was dragged behind the car just a few feet before the rear handle broke and it slid off the road into the ditch. Fortunately half of our group was in a car following me (at a distance) so no other cars were involved. We stopped and checked everything out, the boat had a little road rash and the cover was a little torn but was otherwise fine. So I backed up to retrieve the rope and found it had wrapped around the rotor. We had to jack up the car and remove the tire to be able to wrestle the rope out. The shoulder was narrow so the friend doing the work was sticking out in the road so I told the other 2 useless bodies to go down the road and make sure the traffic moved away so he wouldn't get hit. They turned it into a dance and were taking videos of it. Soon we were back on our way again, this time I tied the boat down in the middle, throught the windows so it wouldn't become airborn any more. The rest of the drive went fine, we were only about 25 miles from camp.

So we found the camp but couldn't see any "awesome" site as Kevin described it. We threw up a tent and split up, one group drove around looking for something else and the other group went into the paddle boat to look for a jumping off spot with a camp site near it. We found the spot but it was a little hard to get to but we did it anyway, I drove my car down a nasty dirt road and scratched up the sides and determined I wouldn't move it again until we were leaving. It was so windy I didn't even dare try to start a fire. There actually was a fire burning a few miles away and we had lots of smoke and ash falling on our spot. So we all hit the hay pretty early.

The next day was warm and beautiful so we spent pretty much the whole day laying on floatation devices on the lake getting varying degrees of sunburn. In the evening another friend of Dane's showed up and we had a fire but my other boys didn't get there so I was by myself.

Saturday morning was pretty dull, the 4 kids now spent all their time together, driving to town a lot and I was left alone at camp - boring. I brought a book so I did some reading and then actually took a nap. When I woke up I decided to sweep out the tent, it was dirty when we set it up. While I was sleeping I heard some new voices and - hurray!! - it was Denny and his doggy Gage, pregnant Heather was still on her way from the car. He brought his quad so we went back to the car and unloaded and set up their camp. He got a new tent and it was HUGE!!! Probably about 8 x 16 and you can put up a wall and have a screened in patio-like section, all screen on one end. But HUGE!!! I told him he should bring it to Lily Lake and we can all sleep together. A couple hours later Kevin's family showed up. They set up camp and little boys played in the dirt. We did the usual camp stuff. Kevin and Denny made a project of breaking up the firewood and ended up using the quad to try to break the larger pieces, couple of numb-heads, very definitely brothers. Kevin threw a fishing line out at dusk and had bats hitting the line, they flew real low through camp too. The kids tried to find a hiking trail a few miles away and the driver was a typical 20 year old guy in a junk car and was driving 45 MPH on the dirt road and finally broke a sway bar but managed to get the car back 20 miles to camp. Then he had to find some phone service so he could call his daddy and ask him to come out with the trailer to take his broken car home, a 400 mile round trip. That evening it began to rain very lightly so in the morning when the little boys woke up I'm sure Shirley simply had had enough and didn't even want the boys to be out playing in what was now MUD so they packed up and left first thing. We all took our time breaking camp and I was the last one out. But as I was trying to get back out that nasty dirt road I got stuck and finally had to have Denny pull me out.

I sure hope Lily Lake is available again next year but if not, at least we're educated as to this other spot which could really be nice without all the excitement of this year.

Visiting the Big Island

We got to Kauai and spent the first couple days just visiting and going to the District Convention, etc. Saturday we took off for the Big Island. We got to see just about everything there was to see on the island. We only got to go play on the beach once because, believe it or not, there aren't many good beaches on that whole island. Saturday we checked out Hilo, the farmer's market, a couple waterfalls, Rainbow falls and Pe'epe'e falls which were huge and brown because the tropical depression hit the night before and dumped 10 inches of rain, then we saw the west coast drive, Waipio Valley, central part of the island, Waimea, which was buried in fog and was cold, a perfectly awesome sunset at Anaeho'omalu bay (A-bay) and camping at a campground called Kapaa, with a noisy group of locals. Sunday we drove north or east to a beautiful valley called Pulolu. We had to hike down to the beach, it was steep and would have been very slick had it been raining but fortunately it was dry. One of the prettiest spots on the island. We turned around an continued south through Kailua and Kona, played at a pretty beach called Hapuna for a couple hours and got sunburned, then ate lunch at a beautiful park with all the pretty birds and hiked 1.5 mile round trip to a petroglyph site (ancient Hawaiian carvings). We visited Kealakekua Bay (where Captain Cook was killed and his bones were buried at sea) at a beach called Napo'opo'o, then an ancient "Place of refuge" replica called Pu'uhonua o Honaunau and then camped at a quieter although buggier campground called Hookena. When we were having dinner and downloading pictures onto the computer we got a 1.5" cockroach in the camper flying around so I opened the door and jumped out and Dane shooed it out, yuck! We got a good night sleep though and when we woke up we were camped right in front of a "no camping allowed" sign, oops! Early in the morning a fat white guy came and parked right next to us with his radio blasting, then walked away with his dog to smoke and visit witht the people in the camp. Slowly I figured out he was the local drug dealer and the stupid loud radio was his call to come get your drugs like the ice cream man with his music. Grrr. Monday was our best day. We went to the south end of the island, Kae Lae, and people were snorkling and jumping off a cliff. I was considering going in and just swimming but was being hesitant because the rocks had urchins on them and was kinda slippery so I decided to just sit and keep my feet in the water when a big wave came in and decided to take me out. When I saw I was going I pushed off so I wouldn't get pulled out feet first. As I was going out I bumped a couple rocks and now have a big scrape and bruise, oops again. But the water was great, overall I'm glad it happened. There was a local guy there that just watched over all us dumb tourists. When I started swimming I heard him call out and check if I was ok. Then he was in the water near me and said "you doin OK Moms?" MOMS, he called me MOMS! He was at least 60! It's just a respect thing though, I know, I'm not a spring chick so what do you call me, Lady? Then I had to climb up a 40 foot ladder but that was fine, I had no problem with that. We kept driving and I saw a neat longhorn (bull) so I stopped to take a picture and when I parked next to a carport like thing I saw inside a mule and a zebra! We saw wind farms and herds of cows and Paniolo, Hawaiian cowboys. We stopped by a beautiful black sand beach, BLACK sand and a fish pond called Punaluu. It is also a sanctioned Hawksbill turtle resting place and we actually got to see one about 2 feet long. Then we headed to the volcano. When we got there Dane said he wanted to do the Kilauea Iki trail, a 3 mile trail and it was already after 4 PM. So I said great but that we'd have to hurry becuase the sun sets about 7 and typically when we hike it's at a pace of about 2 MPH. So we hit the trail hard and got the hike done in 1.5 hours and it turned out to be 4.4 miles. It was awesome, we actually hiked right across the crater, past the steaming vents. I think the crater was about 2 miles across. So we got that done and wanted to go down to the ocean end of the Chain of Craters road to see the night time lava glow. On the way down we saw another Petroglyph trail, Pu'u Loa, that was .7 mile one way so we grabbed our flashlights and cameras and took off nearly running across the lava. It was easy to do though because there's very little loose rocks, they're all glued together. Ours was the last car in the parking area when we got out. Then we drove the rest of the way to the road that ends at the lava, another little hike to that spot, 1 - 1.5 miles round trip in the moonlight by the ocean. We didn't get to see any glowing lava going into the ocean but when you'd look up at the mountains there was the glow from the eruption taking place on the back side of the mountain from where visitors can see in the park. The road is closed for 1/2 mile so people just stopped and sat on the road and rested. They also have a picnic table and trash cans set up so we sat and took pictures of the glow, it reminded me of what the ancient Hawaiians must have seen and worshipped. So that day total we did about 7 miles hiking and a nice swim and climb up a ladder. We were exhausted and up where we slept on the volcano in a campground at about 4000' elevation called Kulanaokuaiki it actually got COLD at night, we had to have blankets and long clothes. We slept pretty good and when I got up I looked at my watch and said "it's a quarter to 9, get up". Turns out I didn't see it right, it was actually a quarter to 7, so we got a nice early start. After breakfast we went to the Thurston lava tube before the crowds got there. There are 2 sections, one is clean, smooth and lit, the second one, behind a gate is natural, no light, low ceiling in places, fallen rocks, roots hangin down, etc. We used our flashlights and hiked in to the end of that. Then we went to another spot that ade me wish I had my friend Suzanne with me called Bird park or Kipuka Puaulu. It had tons of birds and huge old trees and was the perfect temp, we could have spent the whole day in there if she could have come with me. From there we pretty much just went back to Hilo so Dane could do some more shopping, I needed to rest, the van made my back hurt and I suddenly got a headache so I went and laid down in the van for an hour or so and Dane went to the mall and shopped. Then we ate up the rest of the food before we went to the airport . We got back to Kauai yesterday evening and slept great finally back on a real bed. Today I'm getting caught up on this emailing stuff and just kinda resting. We're gonna start painting and weeding eventually, mom bought a sprayer and scaffold and she's working on assembling all that and learning how it works. Saturday Dane and I will go play here on Kauai while the folks go to a friend's memorial. He was the brother that had their book study at his house and died suddenly 2 days before we came, he was only 46 but had lots of health problems.

A Very HOT Day!!!

Well, we just got home from the dentist. Dane just got 5 teeth pulled. He never got any of his 12 year molars, well, he got one but it was sideways. There was one wisdom tooth, below that molar. The others were badly impacted. So we had all four molars and the wisdom tooth all pulled. I guess the Dr wasn't very good. They didn't numb the upper very well and that's where they were really impacted. Normally that process should have taken an hour but it took 2, the guy that brought him out to the car said he hasn't seen teeth that badly impacted for 4 or 5 years. They brought him out in a wheelchair and he was crying heavily, so much pain. We removed the gauze just long enough for him to swig some chocolate milk and pills. Now he's laying on the couch with ice on his face, waiting for the pills to kick in and grunting through the throbs as they pass. He couldn't eat or drink for 8 hours before surgery (at 4 PM) so he went all day without eating and drinking only what he absolutely had to. Just so happens today was a record breaking hot day (100º+)and he works in the sun with rocks and concrete. So he was very dehydrated when he came in, they hooked up some IV fluids and he got 3 bags (liters). Not a great day for him, poor kid.

Poor Heather got dehydrated as well. Didn't know what was wrong, started freaking out (paranoid since she lost the last baby) had a panic attack. Called people but no one answered so she called the ambulance and went to the hospital. She's fine now, resting and taking in lots of fluids. The baby is a boy, they'll name him Hunter.

Gonna go drink my beer now, anything to cool off.

Class of '007

Well, child number 4 has now officially graduated high school, yay!!! Only one more to go.

All the kids came to the ceremony. The seating was very crowded, as usual. I got there early to save enough seats. Then this one lone woman decided to grab one seat at the end of my reserved area. She quicly became about 4 people and we all had to turn sideways to fit. Oh well, it was just an hour or so. The little boys were so good.

The Auburn congregation had a grad party for both Dane and Chad Morrison. They had cake, food , music and a few gifts. But it seemed more like Chad's party than Dane's. The Bushnells actually came and talked to me.

After graduation I decided to throw together a last minute party for Dane. It turned out very nice. About 4 families from Covington came and the older kids crashed the party. Dane got tons of gifts and cash. We had a fire, ping pong, a trampoline, a game from back east called "cornhole". It was a great success.

I hope Keith can have as nice a party when he graduates.

Family Day 2007

I'm trying to establish a new tradition. I want to have a "Family Day" in the summer so June 9 was our day this year. Last year the weather was great so we were outside. I bought some nice steaks and we all dressed nice and I took photos, they came out very good. I also bought everyone gifts. The idea wasn't to get gifts but to stimulate a gift exchange. The kids are catching on, they all got me something. Rach and I were plant shopping in the spring and I saw a concrete bench made with large maple leaves as a pattern that I fell in love with. She got that for me. Kevin and Denny got me other backyard gifts, Kevin got me solar powered tiki torches that actually flicker and Denny got me a portable firepit. The weather was cold and rainy so we were inside mostly but when the weather cleared for a while the kids all took over and started doing all kinds of stuff outside. Tony dragged out the ping pong table, Kevin started setting up the tiki torches and Denny started a fire in the firepit he gave me. We cooked up our steaks and had a nice dinner. But since we were mostly stuck inside I didn't take pictures. So, maybe I'll do photos every 2 years instead of annually. And because it was so grey and cloudy we all had the sleepies so the party didn't last too late, everyone went home to nap. But I think everyone enjoyed their gifts and time together.

Since we all enjoyed the kite festival so much and we all want to do that every June I'm gonna see about combining the 2 and make the kite festival wknd our Family wknd as well. The beach is always a great place to take pictures, even if it is grey and cloudy.

Dane gets Baptized

OK, so yesterday we were at the Ocean. Today we went to our special assembly day. The family were all gonna come but they couldn't get up and out of the house by 8:30, too much work getting the house cleaned up and emptied out. They still had to take Joe out to fly the kite his Grampa Phil gave him too.

We had a great speaker from Bethel who was originally from South Africa who gave great talks with some wonderful illustrations, his dutch-like accent was fun to listen to too. Dane, Daniel Garcia and his wife Cassandra (8 months pregnant) all got baptized from our congregation. Bill Tallent and Rick Bailey did the baptisms, as usual. 14 got baptized all together and there was about 1200 in attendance. I ran into Laurel, Sue Zolezzi's daughter there, she and Travis came to see someone else get baptized.

The Garcias had no plans for dinner and we did so we included them in our group. We went to a little Italian place in Puyallup, Casa Mia. The server was great, the food was good too. They messed up and forgot 2 of my meals, mine and Keith's so the server said my forgotten meals would be on the house. My bill came to only $11 so the server got a nice big tip. The Garcias, Daniel's mom Leticia and her husband Adam and sister Finesse came. All the Parrs, Sarah Garner, the Haydens, the Holmans, a couple other young friends of Dane's, all together 25 of us.

Kite Festival

We had a great time at Ocean Shores for the kite festival. It was Dane and I, Denny, Heather, her little brother TJ, Kevin, Shirley, Joe, Shayne, Mindy, her dog Sheba, Rach and Tony. Unfortunately, Dane and I had to leave early, Saturday evening, but we crammed so much into that 24 hours that it felt like a whole wknd. On the way in we stopped and got pizza. When Mindy and Kevin and the babies got in we had dinner and hung around the house we rented. We attempted to start a fire in the firepit, then in the fireplace, not enough kindling. Later in the evening we went in the hot tub. About midnight Kevin got the bright idea to walk to the ocean. I jumped at that, I wanted to do that since we got there but no one else showed any interest in going. So it ended up me and all my kids and Heather's little brother, TJ hiking out there. There was a nice bright moon and I tried to get a picture of the kids' silhouettes in front of it, then I just gave up and turned on the flash. We're the only ones silly enough to walk to the ocean at midnight. Dane, TJ and I slept in the living room, the hide-a-bed that Dane and I shared was AWFUL. Shirley got in about 2 AM and Mindy's dog did her share of waking people up. I got very little sleep but had a great time nonetheless. Saturday morning Rach and I made a big breakfast and Mindy, Shirley and Joe cleaned up. Then I ended up taking a walk toward the loudspeakers I heard on the beach, I figured there must be some kites where they were coming from. Joe followed me and so we went on a hike together. We walked quite a way so I could see the big kitty and Joe wanted to see the big ball (like a soccer ball). They were big windsocks, there was a huge fish and a teddy bear too. Dane had to come rescue me since Joe was tired of walking and I was tired of carrying him. We all went to the dune buggy/quad track and all the young crazies rode the dune buggies. Shirley's kept breaking down. We went to the kite store and Kevin chose to buy the same kite that I've wanted to buy so I got the sample kite, they were $50. We got them back to the house and it turned out mine was much bigger than Kevin's so he took his back and they gave him a $100 kite in exchange. I found my price tag and it was actually a $80 kite. So we both got a deal. We took our new stunt kites to the beach to try them out, they were real fun and easy to fly. They're both kites without sticks, kinda like paragliders. Later in the evening when we tried to fly them the wind was too hard and the strings kept breaking. But it was fun before the wind got that hard, when we'd bring the kites down to circle around they'd pull us across the beach and we had to run to keep up with them. That's just about the whole day but, like I said, it was so much that it felt like a whole wknd. I was sure glad to get home and sleep in my own bed.

Back to Boring

Well, since all the excitement over Phil's passing is now behind us, life is back to the same old boring pace. Work, meetings, babysitting, yard work, etc. I'm continuing to complete my remodel from late '05, the finishing touches - hanging pictures, molding & window treatments. I still have to get the cabinets in my laundry room done so I can remove the boxes from ly LR, Kevin is working on that project for me and I've run out of material and have to borrow a vehicle to bring it home, a 4 X 8 sheet of 3/4" thick melamine won't fit in my little car.

Work is VERY busy lately, we've picked up a lot more Boeing work, as did a number of our customers and so all those customers are upping their orders from us to fill their Boeing orders (we subcontract for them). We hired a 3rd "slave" for the back office but because we're also implementing a new Quality system (to be certified for more work) that has increased the work also and she is lightening the load but not by 1/3. So I'm beat every evening and it takes a lot to make me not just plop in the recliner and watch TV every evening.

June is going to be very busy, we have stuff planned almost every wknd. The whole family is going to Ocean Shores for the kite festival. Phil (dearly departed) bought Joe a kite and was planning to take him to the kite festival so we're doing it for him. The next day is our special assembly day and Dane is getting baptized, most of the kids will be there for that. The next wknd is free. Then the wknd of the 16/17 I'm having my new tradition - "Family Day" where we get together for pictures, dinner and gift exchanging. The next day Dane graduates from high school. Then the next wknd is our District Convention. I'll have to get the mowing done during the week, won't be any time to mow on the wknds that month. Then July 18 Dane and I head to Hawaii til the 30th. Lily Lake camping trip is in the middle of August and I think most of the kids and their new families will all come, at least for part of it. The Renaissance faire is in early August, must not forget that. Summer is always so hectic, it's so short here.

That's everything in a nutshell.

This was a tough week

Thursday the 15th Kevin's father-in-law took his life and threw the family into a spin. He was only 46 and had much family and a profusion of friends who will miss him. I volunteered to create the bonuses that have become a common part of a service, a fitting card, picture DVD and then a CD of special songs to play at the reception afterward. Other family members helped out with the food and drinks, babysitting, etc. Our family (Dale, Denny, Rach and spouses and myself) pooled together to buy a beautiful large arrangement that ended up being the centerpiece at the service, front and center, right behind Phil's photo. Phil was working for an excavation company, Donovan Excavating, and they drove their fleet of trucks out of the parking lot with horns blaring in a tribute to Phil that left not one dry eye in the whole place. As I was creating the slideshow I learned a lot about him and his wife, Mindy. The most painful thing I learned is that they had been together since they were teenagers and stuck it out all the way into Grandparent-hood. They grew up together. Mindy will have to learn how to live without Phil, the man she was with 75% of her life. It'll take many years. Right now the plans are for her and Kevin & Shirley to buy a place together with a mother-in-law apartment or house of some sort so she won't be alone. Those grandbabies will help keep her occupied. Speaking of grandbabies, Joe is less than 2 and so is not cognizant of what has happened, yet, when he picked up one of the memorial cards with Grandpa Phil's face on the front he got melancholy and laid his head on whomever it was that was near him. He somehow knows that Grandpa's gone, probably because Grandma's there without him and everyone is so sad.

That's what has consumed all my energy for the last week and now I'll have to just get on with my life again. It's amazing how the loss of someone whom we aren't even close to can have such a strong effect on us, due mostly to the effect that we see it have on our loved ones. When our kids or friends hurt, we hurt.

Well, it seems this weekend is all about the kids. Friday night we had dinner at Rach & Tony's, we "grilled out" as Tony calls it. Burgers and fries/tots. Denny and Heather came with balloons that said "Guess what?" on them. Well, what else? They're pregnant, due 10/20. The family is all hoping it's a girl, actually, Rach and Kev kinda decided that they could have the boys (Kev's alrady done his part) and that Denny and Heather have to have the girls, 5 of them to be exact! Such evil children I raised! After dinner we all just stayed and played with the babies. Dane ended up staying til after 11 playing Golf on the gamecube with Tony.

Yesterday Rach and I went to the North Bend outlet mall and had a blast. I needed a new jacket and Wilson's leather was having a fantastic sale, I ended up getting 2 jackets and a laptop bag, it was buy 2 get one free and everything I bought was half off clearance prices. We bought gifts and other neccesities, it was a blast. Next wknd R & T and D & H and and Dane and Keith and I are gonna go to Seattle and do something, right now it seems like it may be the underground. I'm leaving that up to Rach and Den to decide. My goal is to take them out to dinner at Buca di beppo, a real neat italian restaurant. I'll have to make plans to do something with Kev and Shirl some other time.

I had the little grandbabies last night from 7 til about 1 AM. I enjoy rocking them to sleep. Shayne is back today from 11 til about 3. Then we have meeting, then dinner at Haydens and Survivor and Amazing race. Shayne was asleep about 10 minutes when Kev first dropped him off but woke up and has been tired, I just got him back to sleep again. He loves to be held and is so pretty.

Last wknd I had friends over and watched the DVD "Knocking". One friend brought her 1 year old nephew. I said "I have toys!" and got them out for him. He was a very good little boy too. We had my special "beans, dear, beans" dish and cornbread and salad. We had a real good time then too. I went to a housewarming party on Saturday, that was nice too, met some friends from the Des Moines (WA) area.

I guess that's my life now meetings, family and socializing. Oh yes, and shopping.

It's nice to be in congregation that socializes.

More old news from Jan 2007

Back in December we had some real interesting weather, ice, snow and wind. The windstorm knocked out my power for 5 days, a new record! I had bought just the day before an inverter I think it's called. It's just a battery that you recharge and has a compressor for pumping tires, a flashlight and (the important part) 2 plugs to plug household items into. The first night the power was out was Survivor night and my friends who are addicted to the show (like me) came over to watch. I plugged in a little 13 inch TV and we were warm and had apple cider and pie, then they spent the night since they didn't have heat and live only 2 and 3 doors away. I had company every night, we had BBQ and I had a lamp in the kitchen, a battery powered radio and we put together puzzles. It was almost like we had power and I really enjoyed having all that company.

Between snow and ice storms, just on a wet hwy Kevin was involved in a 3 car accident, he being #3. It was very rainy and car #1 lost control of his car. Car #2 then lost control and Kevin was in car #3. He saw his chance to go around car #2 and so hit the gas to pass it when #2 hit #1 and flung it right in front of Kevin. It was a camry just like Dane's, the trunk was pushed into the back seat and the back window was broken out. The guy had to be removed with the "jaws of life". Kevin was in his little Toyota pickup which was raised and had those tubular bumpers. The 2 cars were hooked together and when they got them apart he could actually still drive the truck, the tires rubbed on the fenders and the steering wheel was moved up and forward, it prolly has bad frame damage and will be totalled. Car #2 was blamed for Kevin's accident. But fortunately Kevin is OK, he went to the hospital because his elbow hurt, he thought it might be broke but it's not, he was just banged up but is fine now.

In the middle of all that weather in early January Dale was having chest pains and ended up having to go to the hospital and having angioplasty and a stent inserted into an artery that was 90% blocked. All in all he was in the hospital for parts of 3 days. He was being beligerent one day, claiming that he wasn't gonna let them keep him overnight and no one had been able to go see him (everyone works and after dark, after work, it got real cold and the roads froze up and were treacherous) so I was determined to go see him and took off early to do that, so I could get it done and be home before dark. That morning Dane had called and said HE was also having chest pains! He's only 18, what's that all about?!? When I was almost to Auburn he called and said he was going to the doctor, the pains were worse and the school nurse told him not to go to work, but he shoudl go to the doctor. So I told him I'd meet him at Auburn Hospital emergency room. While we waited he was having arm and neck pains, headache, nausea and was nearly in tears. They finally got us back and put him on IV fluids and painkillers. His temp went up to 103. They did and EKG and bloodwork, chest xrays and blood cultures. They couldn't really figure out what was wrong with him, he had a "cloud" on a lung, elevated liver function and had a virus they suspected was mono even though the mono test was negative. The fever broke and they had 2 liters of fluid in him, they prescribed antibiotics for suspected pneumonia and we went home. The week before he'd had 7 days of diarrhea and went to the doctor for that, they didn't see or hear anything unusual in their exam of him so we suspected they were unrelated. Then all this stuff started coming out in the news about salmonella in peanut butter and I recognized the brand as the one that I buy from Walmart and checked the bottle and sure nuff, it was the right lot#. Dane had been eating it and moreso when he got the diarrhea. So I'm pretty sure the diarrhea was related to the peanut butter and we joined the class action suit. I dont know if the chest pains, etc were connected. Yesterday Kevin came over to work on a cabinet he's buiding for me and he has pleurisy. I researched it a little and discovered that that's maybe what Dane had, the hospital never even mentioned it but most of the symptoms are similar and he would have recovered quickly from it due to the antibiotics.

The weekend after Dane's hospital visit Rach & Tony and Denny & Heather and Dane & Keith & I all went to Leavenworth for the Bavarian Ice festival. The boys and I stayed in a smoking room in a motel that just stunk. The kids all stayed in a cute Bed and Breakfast with a nice living area and hot tub. In the evening we got together in their living room and played games. It was in the single digits most of the time we were there. See pictures in my pictures section under the title "2007". The kids went snowboarding while we were there and we found a real cute hat shop that we had a lot of fun in.

Shirley is pursuing her modeling and will be in Vegas for a bikini contest on TV in late March. I don't get cable so I don't know the show she said it would be on but she's very excited about it. If she does well she gets to go back east later in the year for another contest that may eventually get her into a well read magazine.

Dale's restaurant closed about the end of January. The wind storm is mostly what brought its demise. It blew out the sign and then didn't have power for about 4 days. They opted to not open while it was open and lost all the food in the refrigerator, that pretty much did them in. They never really recovered from that and after Dale had his heart "episode" I think he decided he didn't need the added stress, I don't think it ever was what he expected it to be. So now Dane is basically unemployed, he's helped one of the friends from the congregation who's a contractor but that's only happened a couple times, not even part time work. He wants to work in a fitness club.

Rachyl was able to get a real nice job working in the AP dept of Krusteaz in Tukwila, it sounds like a real nice place to work. The average employee in the accounting dept works there for 10 years, that's better than most. And her hubby Tony I guess is gonna work for a local electric supply house soon, the company he's working for as an electrician is going bankrupt, poor money management.
Not much has changed for Denny and Heather. Heather is now unemployed but I don't think she's worrying about finding anything right now, Denny's doing real well in that area. They gave one of their dogs to a no-kill shelter to find her a new home so they only have the one beautiful German Shepard, Gage, and cute little Lily, their orange tabby cat brat. I think they're looking to buy a house maybe this spring.

I'm getting my reservations lined up for my trip to Hawaii this summer. Only Dane is going with me this year. I try to do something fun every year and we're running out of things to do on Kauai, and everything left is so expensive, I decided to look into visiting the Big Island since I've wanted to go there since I lived there. Well, the excursions on Kauai cost about $150/person (horseback ride, helicopter ride, ATV ride, etc) and the round trip ticket to the BI is - guess - $150/person! Sooooo, we're gonna do that and rent a VW camper for $100/day (I'm saving almost that much on Kauai not renting a car for the whole time and no ticket for Keith). We'll eat camping food and try to get to a meeting on Sunday. One campground we'll stay in is on the volcano at an elevation that it gets cold at night, in the 40's so we'll have to have blankets. I sat down with one of those awful "secret places" book on the BI and planned what to see and what to skip since we only have really just over 3 days. I want to take Dane to a real black sand beach, somewhere where we can see lots of honu (green sea turtle) and, of course, the Volcano. There are a couple really fantastic places to see the sunset and lots of hot springs. I'm very excited. I got a DVD player so we can watch a movie or something in the evening since it gets dark about 7:30 and we'll be stuck in a camper then.