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Kids.  Even when they’re not kids anymore, they are your kids.  And you worry about their kids.  And sometimes even your sister’s daughter’s kids.  Or kid.  McKinzie called this morning, from the Hampton Inn near JFK airport, with tales of her adventure.  The first thing I thought of was–oh gosh–Sally must be awfully anxious about right now.  Seems that Kinzie’s flight from North Carolina was delayed into JFK yesterday and she ended up staying overnight, with the next available flight late this evening.  Kinzie is 16, alone, and in New York for the first time.  She’ll have a good story.  I can’t wait to hear it.

As for kid’s kid, Noah’s surgery went well and though the entire family was exhausted from their adventure, all seems fine today.  He’ll be up and riding that new bike very soon. 

   Noah’s surgery is this morning.  I hope the little guy is up and feeling well soon.  It will be a long day for Ginny and Craig. 

You may have noticed that we added a link to the Grizzly Cam.  This is a live streaming video cam of Alaskan Grizzlies fishing from the stream at McNeil Falls.  You should have the latest version of RealTime to get a good look, just click on the link and give it a minute.  Yesterday I counted 18 bears fishing at one time.  Someone from the Pratt museum manipulates the camera, so the viewing is great.  This is the only way I want to see a Grizzly close-up, for sure!

I just thought we could all use some winter scenes about now.  The first snowman is from the Coeur d’Alene house backyard and the second photo was taken when we lived in Jersey City.  The view is of the lower tip of Manhattan.  Notice the ice in the Hudson River.  Ice.  Cold, cold, ice.  Sounds good right now, doesn’t it? 

The weather pages are up!  The station is located about 20 feet off the ground on a pole fastened to the southwest corner of our deck.  The data is updated every ten minutes, so you can be in on the latest development of Nor’Easters and heat waves.  More exciting information (like year-to-date rain) to come..

Poised with finger on the 1 (ie 911), Joanne records the man of the house being handy repairing the damage from the last storm.

(click on photos to enlarge)

These three photos were taken in Teton Valley, Idaho.  The Spud (of course, it’s Idaho) Drive-In is still showing movies.  It was about the only entertainment in Driggs in the summer, when I was growing up there.  Might still be.  Groups of us would go to see the show, get eaten by mosquitos, eat Gladys burgers, and watch each other as often as we watched the movie.  In those days, the speakers were little tin boxes with cords that you had to hang in your window.  Sometimes folks would drive away with the box still in the car, and everyone would laugh and laugh at that.  Small town living. 

Last evening we had a pretty good thunderstorm.  Part of our house blew away.  Just the flashings from the front of the house, but still, it’s disturbing to see parts of your house fly by.  I was watching the storm from our bedroom window, on the back of the house, when I see a flashing fly by, and it lands way out in the middle of the wetland, near the tall trees.  When the storm abates, Randy puts his fishing waders to good use, and wades out into the wetland to retrieve the part that flew out there.  The reeds and willows were taller than he is, and he nearly disappeared into the bog!  He didn’t see any fish.  Or snakes.  We’ll repair the damage on Saturday. 

Happy birthday to Claire DeEtta Beisel, who is 1 year old today.  And congratulations to her Mamma and Daddy, who are delightful parents to this little wee one.  I can’t believe it’s been a year since I was in Moscow, waiting for Claire’s arrival.  Now Claire is moving from babyhood to toddlerhood.  Oh, the places you’ll go….

It’s usually always cool and breezy at this spot on the Oregon Coast.  A fine place on a hot summer day..  (click on photo to enlarge)