Some more song lyrics I often sing to Mom:
"Memries, like the corners of my mind,
Misty water colored memries
Of the way we were.
Scattered pictures
Of the smiles we left behind.
Smiles we gave to one another
For the way we were."
And the last lines of the song:
"So it's the laughter
We will remember,
Whenever we remember
The way we were.
The way we were."

Our Visit

I thought I would post some of our pictures as well from our visit a couple weeks ago.

We really feel blessed that our children are able to know their Great-Grandparents.

Grandma really reached out to Adelaide just as she did with Felicity when she was a baby.

I also attached our recent family picture.

Hope you all are doing well!

HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY, HANNAH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, REBECCA!

Opps!

Sorry, I meant GREAT grand child. (See blog below!)

This was missing from the baptism blog.

Mom and Dad's 23rd grand child baptized

Noelle Anding was baptized the Sunday after Thanksgiving. John, Morgan, Anya and I went to Vegas to be with Nate and Heather's family for Thanksgiving. We topped the weekend off with a sacrament.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EILEEN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MORGAN!

Thanks, Mike for the posting. I tried twice to post a comment and couldn't do it. Others have had that problem, but this was the first time for me. Today was a sunny day, just as it was in Portsmouth 68 years ago, but colder than it was then. The world and our country sure have changed since 1943. Some changes for the better, some worse. I guess that's true of history in general.

Happy 68th Anniversary Mom & Dad!

HAPPY 47th ANNIVERSARY, SALLY AND MIKE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MIKE!

Priceless!

Our family went to see Mom and Dad last weekend and got some priceless pics of Adelaide with Mom and Dad!

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY, KYLA!

HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY LEIGH AND JON!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY STEVE BOYER!

HAPPY 5th ANNIVERSARY, NATE AND HEATHER!

HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY, JORDAN!

HAPPY 17th BIRTHDAY, MATTHEW!

HAPPY 19th BIRTHDAY, ANYA!

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY, NOAH!
HAPPY 16th BIRTHDAY, ERICA!
Note: Noah's birthday was yesterday. It's on my list, but didn't get on my calendar. Megan reminded me today.

HAPPY 19th ANNIVERSARY, REBECCA AND MICHAEL

Joplin

Sally and I recently spent a week in Joplin helping with their recovery. Last spring when tornadoes hit Alabama, we thought that we could go there and volunteer. We couldn't do much, but could do something. Then while on our trip to Yellowstone, Joplin got hit. Since we have family there, we thought we'd go there, but wait until the fall when the weather was better, since they had extremely hot weather over the summer. The devastation was hard to believe, and this is several months after the storm. Many blocks are just wiped out with nothing but foundations and slabs showing. The people are working hard, and have been grateful for the many church volunteers who have shown up. Most churches there are coordinating volunteers from much of the country. We went through a Lutheran Church there. These few photos give you some idea of the damage and what they are dealing with. We mostly helped with two houses that belonged to a brother and sister. The amount of work still to be done is overwhelming.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RYAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MAUREEN!

HAPPY 10th BIRTHDAY, CYNTHIA!
And today is Mom's 90th Birthday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to her.
Never thought we'd be together (or anywhere) on her 90th, but we are.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALISON!

HAPPY 7th ANNIVERSARY, MELISSA AND DAVE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEIGH!

my love

here is another video of a beautiful song:

http://youtu.be/mtMcc4SPJl

Ireland # 2

There really are 40 shades of green in Ireland. Last Friday, we found the farm where Maureen's Dad was born and grew up. I was 40 acres that had been in their family for several hundred years. At the local library, we found a book of property valuations that listed the farm in 1850 as being worth 25 pounds-a substantial sum for that time period. We also found a map that helped me find the farm about 12 miles north of Mullingar. Maureen's grandmother lived in the farm until she passed in 1983. The house has been empty since then. Her Dad sold the farm to a neighbor in 1991. The house had fallen into disrepair since it has been empty for almost 30 years. We met the neighbor who bought the farm, and he took us inside the house.

Ireland

For some reason, I can only upload 3 pictures. We had a great time this past week touring southern Ireland. I got used to driving on the left side of the road and only came close to killing us twice when I ended up in the wrong lane approaching oncoming traffic. We were both amazed at the landscape in southwest Ireland. The Ring of Kerry is a 175 km drive around the peninsula south of Killarney. Mountains up to 3,000-5,000 ft. rise from sea level. Totally amazing scenery. I'll post several more pictures.

Sorry I mada a mistake on the link. Try this one:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bor44-RK44U

Here's another song I like to play when I get back from being with Mom. Joe Cocker isn't Frank Sinatra, voicewise, but he gets the idea across in a way I like. I remember seeing him do the song on TV - with Jennifer Warren, I think it was.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=for44-RK44V

Visit to Wind farm

Whitney was home last week, and we went up to see the wind farm one day.

Had a short e-mail from Maureen. She said Ireland is fabulous. Food is the best. Scott is good at driving on the wrong side of the road and keeps saying WOW at the scenery.

5th Annual Topacabana

The topa side of our family gathered in Galena, Ohio on Saturday at Matt Dillon's house and fun was had by all. It was a pot-luck and we had more than enough scrumptious food ( even some vegan fare)! It was a beautiful day with mostly sun and balmy weather in the seventies. We were outside most of the time and the kids loved playing on the jungle-jim/swings/tree house and the sandbox. Jack and Molly, Jacob and Joey, and Nathan and Nicholas had fun - especially with the foot ball game. The highlight of the day was when Matt brought in the John Deer jeep - battery driven - and then Nathan drove around Jack then Molly, and he held his arm around them so they wouldn't fall out - so cute.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, ANDREW ROBERT PAVLESICH!

HAPPY 10th ANNIVERSARY, MAUREEN AND SCOTT!

Steve was here today and put a couple pictures on dontsaygoodbye. Scroll down from the top of the first page to see them. I don't think I can do it myself, but maybe I can learn how the next time he's here and put others where they would fit the story line.

I've told you about the song that suggested the title for dontsaygoodbye. It's on a Donny Osmond CD we have. I just discovered it on you tube at

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7P-yHU3YqRg

If this link doesn't work you can Google Immortality Gibbs and you'll find it there. Bet you can't listen to the last few phrases of the song with dry eyes.

HAPPY 6th ANNIVERSARY, EMILY AND KEVIN!

Pictures from Beijing

Hi everyone. It has been a while since I have posted anything, so I thought I would share some pictures from China. It has been an adventure, but a real blessing to have this experience this past year in both Amsterdam and Beijing. We have enjoyed watching Erin make the transitions, from saying "Ney" in stead of "No" like a Dutch girl back in March, to now saying "Nihao" (hello) to everyone she meets on the streets. As long as she has a playground nearby she is pretty much good to go. We will head back to the US, and Washington, in November just before Thanksgiving.

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202 Plum picutures

Lakeside

Pat and I drove to Lakeside and it's been awhile since we took Rt. 13 and then Rt. 250 and then Rt. 2 there. The route through Richland county seemed familiar but most of the rest of the way wasn't. In Milan the route doesn't go through town anymore and Norwalk has grown. I was telling Pat, when we were kids, we would shout out "first to see the stone walls," when we saw the farms with low stone walls by the road. That meant we were getting close to the bay. I didn't see any stone walls this time because the route was newer and the old route is probably a county road now. Then it would be first to see: the bay, the bridge, the lake and finally the cottage. Of course there were arguments on who really did see these places first!

We drove to Marblehead and walked around the litehouse and it was refurbished and still a picturesque scene. Marblehead still has the quarry and the conveyor over the road had a sign which said "100 years of continuous use." There were some new business there, mostly eating places and a few shops. We tried to get in the east gate but they told us we had to buy our tickets at the west gate. On the way there we noticed Mystery Hill is gone and Prehistoric Forest is closed and in much need of repair. We paid $44.50 to get in for the day and parked on Fifth Street in front of Wesely Lodge. We walked all around and everything looked much the same and we could tell many people were keeping up or remodeling their cottages - now pretty expensive.

We ate at Hotel Lakeside and enjoyed the view. We walked along the lakefront and noticed many beautiful flower beds in front of the houses and also along the sidewalk (lake side) - very nice. The pier was busy and on the west side of the pier, next to the building, they hauled in sand and made a sandy beach with access to the lake by the short pier - attached by the metal bridge. Many bathers were sprawled out on the pier and out farther were the fishermen. We walked by 202 Plum St. and the cottage looks nice, but different. It is now vinyl sided with vinyl windows throughout. The front porch is closed in with windows and they have added a garage to the south and more living area behind it as well. They had the street between second and third streets blocked off, in front of where we used to buy Eskimo Pies, and a farmers market was there from 9-noon.

From Lakeside we drove to East Harbor and noticed the park needs some tender loving care. The bath house was in disrepair and out of use and so they set up port-a-pots close by. The beach was not clean and the water next to the beach was murky. We could see sand bars and people were walkiing around almost to the stone piles separating the beach area and the lake. On our return, just south of Sandusky on Rt. 250 is a large indoor water-park and convention center. Driving through Norwalk we came to the fork in the road and I remember one time when I was a new driver, I was following the signs and was going to veer left when Dad suddenly said "left!" I must have panicked because I then veered right and of course I never heard the end of that one!

We drove home Olivesburg Rd. and went through the land of our ancestors and past roads named after some of them, Pittenger, Osbun etc. We passed Franklin Church Rd, where Dad's grandparents are buried, the Osbun Pittenger cemetary where we went for the dedication years ago, the Richland Shale Rd. and then past the Reformatory, which is open for tourism and it is said to be haunted! We drove down Wayne St. and up Myers Ave. past Dad's old house, around on Newman St. past the park that used to be the Newman School and then St. Mary's. We also went past Tappans and Westinghouse and it is a sore sight. They are in the process of raizing most of the Westinghouse complex and the Union Hall where Pat and were married is now closed.

We enjoyed our trip down memory lane and returned to our home in Woodland with all the mature trees and we are grateful for our home, our wonderful family, and our time together!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PAT!

HAPPY 7th ANNIVERSARY, SARAH AND ANDY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, RICHARD!

Mohican

Pat and I drove down Rt. 97 through Bellville and Butler to Mohican State Park and it was a beautiful sunny day. We climbed the firetower and drove to the river and hiked along the trail past Big Lyons Falls, Little Lyons Falls and up to the top of the dam of Pleasant Hill Lake, and then back - 4.5 miles roundtrip. The river was flowing nicely and the water was clear. We noticed the trail from the river to the top near the overlook is no longer open and there are no more campgrounds at the top. We drove over the covered bridge and into the campground along the river where many people were eating lunch on the picnic tables there.

We drove out of the gorge and up to Mohican Lodge. It looked well maintained and we ate in the dining room for lunch - um good! After lunch, Pat and I sat on some lounge shcirs outside in the warm sunshine, with a nice view of the lake, and reminisced about our family reunion of years ago when our kids were young. From there we drove to Gatton's Rocks and noticed many people swimming and lounging - even with no trespassing signs in several places? I wanted to see if I could find Garber's Fruit Farm - where Mom and Dad and us kids would stop for apples and cider - back in the day. We crossed the bridge by Wade & Gatton Nursery and wound around, up and down, some hills and I kept turning right till we were on Garber Rd! We drove slowly by the white barn where we used to stop, but there wasn't any sign indicating it was a retail place anymore. We had a lovely time!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, ETHAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEGAN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SCOTT!

On June 19, Noelle Lee Anding arrived. Nate and Heather have their first girl and the 3 boys are very excited.

HAPPY 9th BIRTHDAY, SHAWN!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHN!

Coleman Road

I rode my mike past Maple Lake park and they now have a climbing wall their. I turned right onto Taylor Rd. and went past what used to be Crall's store and remembered going there for a soda and some candy. I turned left onto Coleman Rd and rode past the homes of many of my friends: Larry Williams, Tim Browarski, Mike Murray, and Mike O'Brien. As I pedaled along, I noticed the street looks pretty much the same and the people there are keepings their homes and yards in good shape. As I approached 578, I saw the two blue spruces in the front yard are still there, and they are very tall - and the branches don't go all the way to the ground now. The pin oak tree Dad had planted on the west side of the house is huge! There is a ramp up the front steps and a white fence is still around the back yard. The oak tree enclosed therein is still there. At the corner I turned left and rode past the old Flynn residence and turned left into the alley, now called Cameo Lane. I coasted past the back of Chiverton's place and it looked in need of some tender loving care - the yard. The Lilacs that were behind our fence are gone and I could see a raised deck within the fenced in area, so they could come out and onto the deck from the level of the house. the side yard was visible and the tv tower was gone. I pedaled along the rest of the alley and ended up on Euclid Ave. and went by Brinkerhoff school, and safety town was set up on the playground. It was a beautiful day for exercise and remembrances.

HAPPY 11th BIRTHDAY, EMMA!

HAPPY 40th ANNIVERSARY, PAT AND STEVE!

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY, JACKSON!

HAPPY 26TH ANNIVERSARY MEGAN AND STEVE

Yesterday I tried to wish the same to Chris and Alison (someone will have to remind me how many years), but I couldn't sign in. Kept getting the message saying my password wasn't recognized. Today I had the same trouble, so I went throught the process of resetting my password. During that process, I was asked the URL for the blog site, but couldn't remember it nor find where I had written it down. If you know it, let me know.

I've been noting birthday anniversaries here. Eileen told me today that there was an actual birthday on Thursday. Noel Lee Anding was born June 16, 2011.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SALLY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, EMILY!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MICHAEL FOX

College...sort of

So the first great-grandchild (Hannah) of the first grandchild (Sarah) of the first child (Mike) in this family has taken off for the next 3 weeks for college. She is attending the Commonwealth Honor's Academy which takes place at Murray State in Kentucky. It is a huge honor and will keep her very busy (and she gets 6 college credits!). They even get to go to St. Louis this week (Whitney!!) to the Shakespeare festival and the Fine Arts museum. But as I was alone in her room putting the sheets on her dorm bed while she was checking in and Richard was getting luggage I got that feeling... "how did I get here?" I feel like I just made my OWN bed at college. HOW can I have one ready for this? I know next year is the REAL year but this is our test run.

I know you've all done it before me so think about me in the next 3 weeks and any advice is welcome! Prayers too!

Let this posting serve to express my appreciateion for the great pictures of two very special events in the Anding family. Very nice. Also, this posting will apologize for not posting another important Anding family date - June 1st - 37th wedding anniversary. And on the 3rd I should have posted birthday greetings to Mike Jr. Seems as though I've missed as many as I've posted since I started doing it. My "excuse" has been that my time really hasn't been my own with Mom's Care Center admission and establishing her on hospice. Seems like someone was wanting me to sign something, ask me or tell something every time I turned around. Hope most of that kind of stuff has been completed.

Morgan graduated from Fransican University in May

Morgan graduated from Fransican University in May. She is in Chicago this summer teaching and will go to Ann Arbor in the fall to get her Montessori certification. We're very proud of her!

Heather came into the Catholic Church on Easter

May 30, 1971

This post and the following should have been posted on Memorial Day, but we had several power outages, and then I had chemo yesterday.

May 30, 1971 40 years ago today, I took off from DaNang Air Base, South Vietnam on what I thought would be a routine psyops mission dropping leaflets on known and suspected North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong positions. The US and South Vietnamese Army Intelligence units identified the locations and developed leaflets for each target. For example, they may have safe conduct passes for the Viet Cong units since they were from the local area. For the North Vietnamese Army units, they would develop leaflets such as the Wandering Soul that played on the Vietnamese belief that if you died and were buried away from your home, your soul would wander forever and you would have no peace.

We left DaNang and headed north to the town of Quang Tri and then turned west and flew along the DMZ, dropping 10,000 - 20,000 leaflets per target of which there were around 80. At Quang Tri, we turned west and flew along the DMZ towards Khe Sanh where there had been numerous battles including a 3-month siege by the NVA against Marines manning Khe Sanh. We were nearing the Laotian border and turned south towards the A Shau Valley. The A Shau Valley ran along the border with Laos and was a major infiltration route for the Ho Chi Minh trail from North Vietnam into South Vietnam. It had also been the source of numerous battles dating back to the mid-60s.

As we entered the valley, I was looking down at the pock marked valley floor when I noticed some red tracers coming towards us. A tracer is a pyrotechnic round that allows the person firing a weapon to see where they are shooting and make adjustments. There is typically one tracer for every 5 rounds of ammunition. The red tracer told me it was from a small arms weapon such as the AK-47. We were flying at 2,000 feet above the ground at 120 knots, so we were a pretty easy target.

As I turned to tell the other pilot that we were taking small arms fire, a stream of white traces was coming at us from the front of the aircraft. Then a stream of yellow tracers came up from the right side of the aircraft. At about that time, the loadmaster called from the rear of the plane and said, “you won’t believe what is coming at us from the rear. It looks like a fireworks show.” We were obviously under fire from 4 or 5 antiaircraft artillery (AAA) sites. If they got our altitude, airspeed, and heading right, we were in big trouble. So, the best thing we could do was to make that difficult to do.

We began a series of violent maneuvers climbing, diving, hard left turns, right turns, and speed changes. We kept that up for 10-15 minutes until we were able to exit the southern end of the valley.

We decided to skip the rest of our targets and return to DaNang. Upon landing we discovered holes in the tail, fuselage, and wings, but nothing that would cause serious damage. That was the beauty of the C-47. It would take a direct hit on an engine, in the cockpit, or an exploding round into a fuel tank to cause serious damage. Our squadron put me and the other pilot in for the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving the aircraft and crew. Although I have no proof, I believe the guy who opened fire on us with the AK-47 probably caused the other AAA sites to start firing before they were done computing our position so that they could put their rounds right where we were headed.

Memorial Day

Pete Moriarty was the training officer for my pilot training class. Our class had 50 student pilots, and Pete was our den mother. It was his job to oversee all aspects of our rigorous schedules as we participated in training flights, academic classes, and physical conditioning. He would sit in on some of our classes, fly with each of us as an instructor pilot, and participate in the various athletic events we had. Pete left Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia about halfway through our yearlong class. He had volunteered to go to Viet Nam to fly F-100s. Pete said he was a fighter pilot, and flying fighters in Viet Nam was what he had trained for.

I next saw Pete a couple of days after I arrived in Viet Nam in early April, 1971. He was stationed at Phan Rang Air Base, and that was where I was first assigned to. We exchanged hellos, and then had dinner at the Officers Club. Pete was well into his yearlong tour and said he loved what he was doing. Two days after our dinner, I was attending my initial intelligence briefing. As the intel officer was talking about the various threats we would face while flying in Viet Nam, I looked up at a “loss board” on the wall. This board listed the aircraft lost to enemy fire or other causes. The names of the aircrew members were also listed. Pete’s name was the latest entry on the board. He had been shot down over Laos while on a bombing mission. The last entry after Pete’s name said “no beeper, no chute”. This meant that his wingman watched the airplane crash but never heard an emergency radio transmission or saw a parachute which would have meant Pete was able to eject from his airplane. The diamond next to his name on the wall means his remains were never recovered, and he remains "Missing in Action" (MIA) over 40 years.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KEVIN

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TARA
HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY, MIKE III AND ANDREW

HAPPY 3RD ANNIVERSARY, KATIE AND TOM

A Taste from the Past

Most of you won't be able to identify with this, but Dad, Mike, Steve, and Eileen will.

Last night, Maureen fixed Mom's pot roast with Lipton onion soup mix. It was delicious, tasted just like Mom's did, and I didn't have to fight my brothers for a second portion.

There will be a big change here next week. Mom will move to room H15 in the Care Center. The administration is reinstating a policy that was in effect back when the owner was Lutheran Social Services. Under that policy, discharge from the Memory Care Neighborhood (I never heard it called that before) will be considered for discharge from there when he or she becomes totally dependent for mobility, feeding, dressing, bathing and grooming. Of course, Mom has been at that care level (Level 4) for some time, and others have been in recent years, but stayed where they were. I had heard about this and mentioned it to Eileen and John when they were here. I told them I would resist such a change, because Mom actually requires less time from the RA's than some of the other residents. But my thinking has changed, and I believe it will be the best for Mom as her condition deteriorates. There are some good nurses in that unit. and the unit manager has a good reputation. I will still be able to eat with her as I do now. That creates somewhat of a problem for me, because H15 is a long way from 332. It's well beyond the 600 hall where Mom first was. I can't walk that far that often anymore, so I'll be getting something I can ride over and back. Don't know exctly what yet, but a man from a company in that business will be here Tuesday. I may be able to buy a used one or rent one until I can get one paid for by Medicare, assuming Dr. Brandt will sign the necessary authorization, and I'm sure he will. You may want to comment here on the blog, but if you have specific questions, ask them in an e-mail.

I missed some dates in what I posted earlier.
Erin was 2 on January 6.
Felicity was 3 and Adelaide was born on January 24.
Jack was 2 on March 13.
Dave's birthday was April 4.

Having started to recognize birthdays, I should go back to the first of the year and include anniversarys. I'll include ages up to 21. I wonder if anyone else has a complete list? If you don't, and would like one, you can compile it from these postings. And, if I make a mistake, or miss any dates, let me know.

In January Mike and Tara were married 10 years on the 13th. Chris was born on the 19th.
In February Nathan was born on the 8th, Katie on the 23rd and Melissa on the 24th.
In March Alex was 15 on the 5th. And Steve M's birthday was the 27th. Daniel and Melanie were 5 on the 29th.
In April Sarah and Richard celebrated their 21st anniversary on the 21st. I was 91 on the 24th.
Heather's birthday was May 4th.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SARAH

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JONATHAN
(Day late, but Blogger was "for read only due to technical difficulty" when I tried to post yesterday.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOLLY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WHITNEY.

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL THE MOM'S AND OTHERS AS WELL.

You've heard about identity theft. How about identity mixup? I received bills from a critical care transport company, $25 each way to and from a cardiac diagnostic clinic on the 26th. I called the transport company and was told that Robert Murphy, DOB 4/24/20, SS number 268 etc (my number) was indeed transported to that place on that date. I said I wasn't transported anywhere on that date or any other date. Ashley, the young woman at the transport company, called Summit's Trace and a nurse said yes, I was taken from the G unit and returned on that date. (The G unit in the care center is like 200 in assisted living.) I went there, but that nurse wasn't there at the time. I told an RA I was Robert Murphy. She told me another Robert Murphy was a relatively new resident. She took me to his room, but he was in therapy at the time. That helped explain part of the mystery, but not all of it. Turns out my "face sheet" they call it, was picked up, copied and put with the new resident's records. So, record-wise, I was living a double life for a while. I'm told that has now been corrected. Don't know if any other meaningful stuff happened in the meantime. If it did, say the billing from the cardiac outfit, I may have to get it corrected.
Also FYI, I've been having trouble not getting incoming telephone calls. Some have said they've heard repeated ringing and no response from me or the answering machine. I had Mary, the RA in 200, call me last evening and the machine worked OK. Today a call from the woman at the transport company was picked up by the answering machine, so maybe the problem is fixed. I guess others have had problems - probably weather related.

St. Louis

I'm sure you've all seen the news reports and footage from the tornado damage in St. Louis, and specifically the airport. Steve and I flew into that airport about 55 minutes before the tornado hit. We had planned on taking the MetroLink train to Whitney's apartment, but decided to take a taxi instead, because of the rain. By the time we got our luggage we left the airport at about 7:45, and the tornado hit at 8:15. Whitney's neighborhood and school weren't in the path of the tornado's, but there's quite a bit of damage around town.

Now the question is whether the airport will be opened tomorrow so that Steve can fly out, and Luis can fly in. I'm staying here this week to help Luis with his apartment search.

Chemo-cation

A day after I was diagnosed with cancer, I contacted my travel agent and had them book a cruise to Bermuda on a big ship in the biggest suite available. We left last Saturday and returned yesterday. It was a wonderful break from the chemo-therapy, and Maureen called it Chemo-cation.

We almost didn't get to go because on last Friday, I noticed that my right arm was twice the size of my left arm, so I went to the ER to find out that I had 2 blood clots in my upper right arm. They put me on a blood thinner that Maureen has to inject into my abdomen twice a day and then cleared me to go on the cruise.

Katie will be here on Monday for my next round of chemo.

Love,

Scott

Chickens

Well, I don't know any Murphy's law truisms right now but I have some chicken pictures to share! We got baby chicks 6 weeks ago and we are finally putting these 2 acres we have to work! Dad came and built a coop for us. Therefore we named it "Pop's Perch" (also a take-off on how we all love perch at Lakeside! :)

It's been almost a month since anyone posted a message. I'll revive it some by starting to post a little bit of this and a little bit of that selected from stuff in my files that I've saved for one reason or another over the years. Murphy's Law - If anything can go wrong, it will. Said to be a principle that guided a reliability engineer named Murphy to look for ways a product could fail and include design changes to prevent such a failure. The term has been used to describe countless versions, some very true and some just funny, that have nothing to do with reliability engineering. Friendly fire - isn't. True. Never play leapfrog with a unicorn. Just funny. All bleeding stops. . . eventually. True. I know you know some like this. Post them.

Update from the Borns

Just wanted to give you all an update on our family. Adelaide Marie is doing great, her hemoglobin levels have finally leveled out and she has a clear bill of health!

We just finished visiting my Mom and Dad in Key West, it was a great time for all!