We're Having a Heat Wave

Who said I was having hot flashes? Just because I spend the night covering up, throwing the covers off, covering up, throwing the covers off. I don't know what you mean. Now isn't that a great way to get lots of rest? I feel like a soiled, limp dish towel.

If you don't believe me, try getting ready in the morning when you step out of the shower and one of life's most unjust plagues swoops down on you with a vengeance. Suddenly, I'm sweating like I just ran the 50 yard dash and had mud kicked in my face.

I remember when I was a kid hearing about people who went up in raging flames from spontaneous combustion. Well, sometimes I feel like I'm going to burst into flames at any moment. Either that, or I might start breathing fire like a dragon. And people wonder why I get IRRITABLE. Who's irritable? I'm not IRRITABLE. Just a little flushed.

Okay, now you wanna talk about my ears looking like beacons in a storm? Yeah, my ears have hot flashes independently from the rest of my body. Sometimes it's only one and sometimes both. Not only do they turn bright red, but they're hot to the touch. Damn, that hurts.

Once I finally manage to get cooled off enough to get my clothes on, brush my teeth and comb my hair, I hit the road. Normally, it's about a 25 minute drive to the office. I can count on at least one heat wave. So I keep turning the air conditioner on/off, on/off, on/off...... No wonder I'm tired by the time I get to work, and my day hasn't really even gotten started.

Chemistry

Chemistry has always been a mystery to me.
Why, in school, it offered my poor brain nothing short of misery.
Spinning and looping, I would faint dead away.
Courageously, I asked why?
While the fearful professor, just rolled his eyes.
In the interest of sanity, (his and mine)
I avoided the subject with all due alacrity.
Now I find myself embroiled in the depths of chemistry.
Nay, make that Chemistry with a capital C!
It's Chemistry between you and between me.
It's bigger than both of us and equally confusing.
My unfortunate mind reels in perplexity.
Of course, heat and friction cause fire.
Even the simplest dolt knows that.
But in this case, expect nothing short of an
EXPLOSION!
Surely, under the circumstances,
spontaneous combustion might tell the real story.
My body and heart erupt in a blaze.
What will it take to extinguish the flames?
Chemistry, Chemistry!
It's far too much for my poor brain.
Teach me. Teach me.
I would know the meaning of this word,
Chemistry.

Rain

I got up this morning and looked out the window and thought, "Oh great, now the sprinklers have gone berserk." Just what I need, another plumbing problem. It took me a few minutes to realize that it was actually raining. I can't remember the last time we've had rain here in North Texas.

Of course, Tinkerbell, the Persian Princess, is yowling her head off to go out. Sometimes, she's worse than a little kid. She goes out one door and runs around to the other to come in. Each time she comes in, she expects a kitty treat. (I think cats are related to catfish, they both like stink bait.) Anyway, I let her out the front this morning so at least she'd be somewhat sheltered from the deluge.

After my shower, I decided I'd better go check to see if she was ready to come in. Does anyone know what a wet cat smells like? Tink was one wet, little black cat. She didn't like that nasty rain and wanted the whole world to know about it.

Home Improvement

I went home last night to discover that my garbage disposal had kicked the bucket. Instead of going gerrrrr, grumble, roar, it now simply whines plaintively. Okay, I know you guys out there are saying HIT THE RESET BUTTON. And for your information, I did. About ten times.

Nothing doing. So I made sure it was OFF, (not all blonds are dumb) then stuck my hand down in there to see if something was blocking it. If your house is like mine, silverware has a tendency to slip unnoticed into the jaws of danger. (And Jimbob hasn't a clue as to what to do.) Anyway, after pulling out the carcass of Sunday's Chinese take-out, I came up with a large chunk of metal. It was very dull, crusty and decidedly BROKEN. No it wasn't a fork. Try one of the blades from the disposal.


I have to tell you my idea of hell is to die and be reincarnated as a plumber, No offense to those of you who make a living doing plumbing, but I've fixed our toilets, more times than I can count. And each time gets worse. Anyone who designs bathrooms with the toilet area barely two inches wider than the tank should be shot. I can't imagine crawling under the sink is going to be any more pleasant.

Nevertheless, I'll be stopping at Home Depot on my way home this afternoon looking for the latest and greatest in garbage disposals. Maybe if this goes okay, I'll tackle that piece of sh_t dishwasher that runs only sporadically. I've narrowed the problem down to the timer, but haven't gotten up the nerve to tear it apart yet.

Good News, Bad News

I went to a Pain Management doctor on Friday afternoon for my chronic back pain. That was good. He gave me three prescriptions with the warning that one of them, a low dosage of morphine might make me sick. That was bad.

Saturday morning I got up feeling a little queasy, so I ate a banana before taking any more of the morphine. That was bad. I managed to get my shower, before my stomach erupted. Strange as it sounds, I didn't really feel bad, I just needed to get the morphine out of my system. So, I decided to go ahead and pick up my friend, LW, and go to the girls breakfast. That was good.

Breakfast was terrific and we spent a lot of time chatting over coffee and mimosas. Just as LW and I were ready to leave, my stomach did flip flops, and there went breakfast down the toilet. That was bad. I still didn't feel bad and LW and I had planned to go shopping, so I wasn't going to let something so minor spoil our day. That was good.

unfortunately, while we were shopping I started to get a migrain. That was very bad. For those of you who have never had a migrain headache, you probably won't appreciate just how miserable they are. Anyway, we finished our shopping without further incidents.

By the time I got home, I was starving, so I ate a popsicle and then fell asleep. When I woke up, my head was worse and the popsicle went the way of everything else I'd had for the day. There was no way I could take my Imitrex and keep it down, so things went from bad to worse.

Jimbob finally got home from teaching and by then I'd had enough. I guess that was good. He drove me to the ER to get more drugs. After a couple of hours, I finally got to see a doctor. He shot me up with some major pain killer and some wonderful stuff called Phenergan to get rid of the nausea. That was even better.

At home, I fell asleep in the middle of sipping some broth. Jimbob covered me with a blanket and left me to sleep it off in the recliner. In fact I slept all day Sunday and through Sunday night. As far as I'm concerned, that was good.

Wait Haters?

Have any of you heard Volvo's new commercial about people hating to wait? Their implication is that it's too long to wait even 30 seconds for the microwave to do its thing, therefore you should run out and buy their year end models RIGHT NOW. No wonder our nation is filled with so many individuals seeking instant gratification.

Oh well, this will be my last post regarding Glorieta. Thursday, Friday and Saturday were such a blur that I will cover them all at once.


Thursday, 7/14. Morning choir rehearsal started for us at 9:00 for the 10:30 worship. Unfortunately I can't remember a word about the sermon, even though I know Dr. Caner was his usual straight forward, funny type of guy. That's really not a contradiction. For a man with several doctorates, he's the most down to earth preacher I've ever met. Besides, a lot more can be said with humor than beating the congregation over the head.

We rushed to lunch at 12:30 (they fed us VERY WELL), then rushed back for the Requiem rehearsal at 1:00. This ended sometime around 4:00. Jimbob was exhausted so he went back to our room to nap while I read.

Dinner at 6:00 and then we returned for a warm-up session. Everyone was nervous because we'd had so little time to practice. John Rutter is not the easiest composer to sing. The performance was at 7:30. I didn't feel like it went particularly well, but I seemed to be in the minority. I was just glad to get through it.


Friday, 7/15. On the road again. We decided to drive into Santa Fe before heading home to Texas. I had picked up a brochure for an art museum called The Awakening and since we both enjoy that kind of stuff, we made this our first stop. It turns out the entire room (about 30'x30') was the exhibit. It took awhile to digest.

We walked the square with the rest of the tourist before going to lunch and ran into this character lolling in the doorway of a jewelry shop. At first we thought it was stuffed. He was nearly as long as the door was wide and not about to move. People coming and going had to step over. Talk about thinking you own the world.

It was then time to climb on our hobby horse and hit the trail to Amarillo.

Saturday, 7/16. McKinney, here we come. But first we had to make a small detour. Jimbob had spotted a horse farm the previous Saturday on our way out of of town. He's had horses all his life and the last one died nearly 3 years ago on Labor Day. The poor old guy was 30 plus years old and followed you around like a very large puppy. Nothing to do, but we had to stop and checkout the pretty horses.

Jimbob is in love. He found two horses, a mother and daughter, he fell in love with. The owner thinks he's going to sell them because they aren't working out for his grandkids. (Or the kids aren't working out for the horses.) I've never owned a horse. EVER! The last time I rode was at least 15 years ago at a dude ranch in Arizona. I din't exactly dazzle the riding world with my expertise. Unfortunately, they brought me the tallest horse in the corral. I had to stand on the raised porch to get my foot in the stirrup. We won't even talk about having to remount in the field.

If Jimbob has his way, it won't be long before I'm out there yelling, Yee Haw! As the song goes, "Whatever will be, will be..." It might even be fun.

Forgiveness

I must be getting back in the grove. I feel like I took a long coffee break when I left last night and then turned right around and came back.

I've also decided that e-mails are like cute, fluffy, little bunnies. Put two together and you get ten more. You delete six and fifteen more appear. What did I do to deserve this?

Wednesday, 7/13. The first thing Dr. Caner said this morning when he took the pulpit was, "This is not the sermon I had planned to preach." He then told the story about his conversion to Christianity at the age of 18 and how is father condemmed and disowned him when told the news.

His father never spoke to him again. Even when Dr. Caner married and had children, his father still refused to come around. On his death bed, his father carried on the grudge. Of course this devastated Dr. Caner for years, at least until he realized that it was up to him to put it to rest. Even though his father was dead, he let go of the hurt and forgave him.

This sermon hit close to home for me because of the baggage I carry in life. There are people I need to forgive and get on with my life. That evening, Dr. Caner apologized for the losuy sermon he had preached in the morning. He mentioned that he didn't know why he had changed at the last minute.

Maybe he didn't know why, but I felt like his words were meant for me. I couldn't help but cry for all the years I'd lost to bitterness. I don't want to become a bitter, hateful old woman like my nother. My father went to his grave hating everyone and everything around him. Yes, there was a reason why Dr. Caner changed his sermon that morning. It was for me.

Glorieta-Day 3

Oh, I'm just so thrilled to be back in North Texas. I absolutely love dragging my butt out of bed at 5:00 AM to get to work before 7:30 (which is our official start time) because my immediate supervisor thinks if you get there at 7:30, you're late. And today's forecast is for sunny with 100 degrees. The temperature never reached 80 in Glorieta. We also had thunder showers nearly every day.

Tuesday, 7/12. We had another beautiful morning in New Mexico. It's so nice to get up and not have it be 83 degrees as the low for the day.

The guest speaker for the conference this year is Dr. Ergun (that is not a spelling error) Caner. Dr. Caner is a Turkish immigrant and a converted Muslim. He's also a full professor of Theology and Church History at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. This man puts a whole new perspective on what it means to be a Christian. Originally, Dr. Caner became a Baptist minister, but according to him, a very bad one.

I haven't laughed so much in years. This morning, Dr. Caner related his years as a young minister in a town of 115 people in the back woods of Virginia. After his first sermon, the congregation decided they liked "that Yankee, Jew boy".

One morning when the church was preparing for a youth pageant, he developed a cough and thought he was not going to be able to preach. One of the elders said, "I have some cough medicine out in my truck." The medicine came in a mason jar and looked like water. The Elder told Dr. Caner to hold his breath, take three big gulps and the cough would go away. Well, it was moonshine and after the third sip, he was too numb to feel anything, so he finished the jar.

Dr. Caner's wife told him he preached a great sermon that morning although he couldn't remember a thing about it. Especially the part about running across the front of the church and imitating James Brown.

If you should get a chance to hear Dr. Caner preach, or read his books, you will truly be blessed. I can't wait to hear tomorrow's message.

Yikes!

It's so good to be back (don't believe everything you read). I'm down to 145 email messages from 289 when I came in yesterday. Sure, some of them were junk, but the majority are from people saying, "Gimme". Below is day 2 into our Glorieta experience.


Monday 7/11. Last night’s opening performance was by the Louisiana All-State Baptist Youth Choir. There were approximately 100 teenagers singing their hearts out. My goodness, what a treat to hear. The best part was, they wanted to be there.

This morning was absolutely glorious in Glorieta (there's that pun again). Jimbob loved the fact that it was 53 degrees when we went for breakfast. As usual, I was bundled up in a sweater. He’s in a class for improving your piano technique while I write, and then we’ll both sing in the conference choir for morning worship.

The only place I could find a power outlet is in the big worship center, so I’m sitting in the back listening to the organist warm up. The Star Wars theme on the organ is awesome. Everyone else will trickle in as their classes end. I think it’s time for me to do a little bit of work. At least that’s the excuse that I gave Jimbob for not attending a class this AM. In reality, my piano technique is non-existent and my forte in life is NOT working with young children.

This is a picture of the prayer garden. I know it's kind of hard to tell much about it, but it's such a lovely place to go read. The big trees are Aspens that were planted here 50 something years ago. Although not indigenous to the area, they have done very well as you can see.

Vacation

I always feel so sad to come back to work after vacation. Our week in Glorieta, NM was glorious (I know, bad pun). I tried to keep a log of each day's events. This is a picture of the main auditorium where we sang every morning for 10:30 worship.

Sunday, 7/10. I’ve decided since I can’t make regular post this week while we’re in Glorieta for Music Camp, I would keep a log and post to Nankin’s Wandering whenever possible. This place doesn’t have a whole lot of Internet access, so I may wind up with the entire week at once.

We left McKinney yesterday afternoon around 3:30 and drove as far as Amarillo. It was an easy drive, if long. It takes longer to get out of Texas than it does for the rest of the trip.

In Las Vegas, NM, we stopped for lunch at the Plaza Hotel. Built in 1882, it’s all very Victorian and quite lovely. I certainly didn’t expect to find such a unique place. The food was actually very good. The hotel was the height of luxury in it’s time. Of course you have to remember there isn’t a whole lot of anything in the area.

From there it took about another hour to reach Glorietta. Jimbob is taking a nap while I’m doing this. He talked me into signing up for the Oratorio Choir which I hope isn’t a mistake. We're supposed to sing John Rutter's "Requiem". Even though I read music, I still have to hear my part. In other words, I sing whatever the person next to me sings.

This is Jimbob’s eleventh year and my fourth to take part in the Music camp. His mother used to come with him before we married. As much as we’d both like to have her along, she isn’t physically able to make the trip. At 89, she does remarkably well…but sad as it is, she’s slowing down.

Kick-off for the week will be this evening after dinner. There’s always plenty to keep you busy no matter your interests. Since Jimbob is a music minister, he plans to attend as many functions as possible. He doesn’t know it yet, but I brought seven books and three screenplays to read. That doesn’t include the time I’ll be working on my writing. Now, that’s my idea of fun.

Ta, ta from New Mexico.

Dreamscapes

I'm sure this poem has some symbolism in it somewhere, but I have no idea what it means. I just like the sound of the words. The first two lines came to me in a half waking/half sleeping stupor and the remainder wrote itself. As strange as it sounds, there are days when I look back at a poem and wonder, "Did I write that?"



DREAMSCAPES


I went to the Library of Congress on Saturday,
though I was hungry on Wednesday.
Being too short to reach the top shelf,
I grabbed a rainbow instead.
When to my surprise,
out pops a hot dog all slathered in diamonds,
and strutting a snuffy, little tutu.
Gingerly, I smooched the pooch,
but bitter drops of sweet wine rained in my brain,
blurring my vision of the train
as it chug-a-lugged down the ascending stairs.
Grazing raptly into the seafood depths of your mind,
I dreamt that I was not there.

So, I went to the Library of Congress on Saturday,
though I was hungry on Wednesday.
The cop said, “Pull over, madam.
You can’t tip toe through these two lips
without a license.”
Being only violently mild,
I held out the pooch for him to smooch,
but the pooch turned to chocolate,
and absconded with his frothy hair.
The very same pooch,
who gave up his life to peddle bon bons
to skirling hoards of wayward Girl Scouts,
still dressed in his snuffy little tutu.

So, I went to the Library of Congress on Saturday,
though I was hungry on Wednesday.
The dictionary cracked open,
and I espied your beautiful face,
artfully etched upon a pilaster of frozen rain.
My heart flip flopped at the sight of your smile.
Brazen blue lips of the god leapt from the page,
searing my breast with a rosebud kiss.
“Savior me,” I cried, as
I dreamt that we snuggled on the thorns
of a land of forgotten snore.
All because I smooched the pooch,
when…
I went to the Library of Congress on Saturday,
though I was hungry on Wednesday.

Uganda Missionary Trip

Although I already posted today, I wanted to share this note regarding our missionary team returning from Uganda.

Trinity Family,Today our Uganda Team is returning to Dallas. They were in London overnight and I want to assure you they are ok and on their way home. They arrived in London yesterday afternoon and transferred from the Heathrow Airport to the Gatwick Airport and then went to their hotel. They were not on any substations today. In fact, when the first explosions occurred, they were already at the airport and had gone through security. They are coming in on British Airways flight 2193. The flight departed London at 10:53 am and is estimated to arrive to the DFW Airport at 2:16 pm, slightly early but they should be cleared through customs by 2:50 pm, if not before.

I am asking for all of you to pray for their safe return and for a blessed reunion with their families and friends. If you are available and want to join us in welcoming them home, we are meeting at the TPC parking lot at1:30 pm to caravan to the airport. We will leave promptly at 1:30 PM have signs made (kudos to the WNM youth from last night).Again, pray for the team, the crew and all of London during this tragic time. Thank you and have a blessed day.

Amy Angel

Next week on the 13 th a special young lady in our chancel choir will celebrate her 26 th birthday. Her name is Amy Lynn, but she goes by Amy Angel. What makes Amy so special is that she has Downs syndrome. Her mission at church is to send everyone birthday cards. And I do mean everyone. Once she knows your birthday, she never forgets. Amy says it's because she has a list. But the truth is, she remembers.

Last night the choir gave her a small party because they will be on vacation while Jimbob and I are in Glorietta, NM. Nobody wanted to miss Amy's birthday. Although there's little chance of that since she starts reminding you six months in advance. Unlike most of us, she loves having birthdays.

No, Amy cannot carry a tune, but she carries God's love. The choir just wouldn't be the same without our Amy Angel.

Teacher! Teacher!

Here I am once again having to train someone to do estimating. I can't even remember how many people I've trained over the last thirty-one years. One guy quit after only one day on the job. He simply left and never came back. I guess the pressure was too much for him.

It's not really a hard job, but it takes a certain personality to make it work. You need a mind for details, perseverance and sometimes downright obstinacy. You also have to be able to admit you don't know the answer and will get back to the caller. And if you screwup ADMIT it. Excuses don't go over well with these construction guys in the field.

I purposely didn't go into teaching as my farther wanted me to because I don't like it. I can be the most patient person in the world if need be, but I'm not a teacher. And here I am teaching a woman I really don't like being around to be an estimator. With less than eight hours on the job, she's come up with all these "wonderful" ideas to change it.

At least learn the job before you start trying to change it. There are reasons why things are done the way they are. Some of it might not make sense, but it still has to be done. If it gets the job done and it's the way the boss wants it, JUST DO IT! There's no use getting your panties in a wad, because all it'll do is give you diaper rash.

Salute To Our Armed Forces.

Jimbob and I had the privilege of having breakfast with a young man (Tim) who had grown up in our church and who is now in the Navy. We are fairly newcomers in this church and had planned to meet another couple after the service who are even newer members than we are. I'm not very outgoing, but Grace is the type who never knows a stranger. When she noticed that the young sailor was standing in the Narthex looking rather lost, she asked him to join us.

We arrived at IHOP first and had no idea Grace and her husband Reno had asked Tim to join us. Just as I told the hostess we were a party of four, I looked out the window to see Tim in tow. What a treat it was to spend time with one of the young men who serves their country willingly.

Some people put our service men down, and call them murderers, but I was happy to see the number of individuals who came up to our new friend and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Thank You." That was all, no elaboration needed.

Jimbob asked Tim if he ever got tired of people stopping to talk to him. Tim smiled and answered, "It never gets old." So I say, hurrah, to the men and women risking their lives to make sure our homes are safe. May God watch over them and their families and keep them safe from harm.

Rat Pack

Ewwww! I scooped a large, dead rat out of the garden pond this morning when I went to add water. So I ran and got two plastic bags, count them, that's two, (one inside the other) and the leaf scooper. I wasn't going to touch that thing with or without gloves.

I'm sure it's the same one Jimbob and I saw yesterday stealing seed from the bird feeder. We were saying that we needed to call Terminex again to put out a trap. I don't like to kill any animal, but from past experience, I don't want a rat in my attic when the weather turns cold.

Okay, so I dumped the big rat into the two plastic bags and since I'm such a compulsive person, I decided to scoop out the leaves while I was there. My first swish through the water and I got a full strainer of vegetation and another little present. Ewwww. It was a baby rat about a third of the size of the first one.

The baby must have fallen in first and the mother tried to save it. Well, if there was one baby, maybe there were more. So my fertile mind (aka paranoid) is thinking, is it a Rat Pack? So I scoured the pond looking for more babies. Dipping and scooping, over and over, I finally accepted the fact I'd gotten them all. The soggy bodies of the drowned rats safely inside the two plastic bags was then deposited into a third plastic bag and thrown into the dumpster.

Well, I guess there's no need to call Terminex.......unless.......maybe.......the rest of the babies are old enought to survive on their own. Noooooooo, were being over run by blood thirsty rodents starved for meat.

SOCK MONSTER

I have a sock monster living in my laundry room. I'm not sure whether it's in the washer or the dryer, but one of these days I'll catch it. I'm betting it'll be a little green fuzzball with red eyes, purple antenna and the biggest yellow teeth you've ever seen in such a small creature.

You ask "Why would it need big yellow teeth?" Well, of course they're for eating socks. Sock monsters hate PAIRS of anything, but especially socks. I don't care how many times I count the PAIRS of blue socks, pink socks, brown socks or black socks before I put them in to wash, but they inevitably come out as mismatched single socks. Some are even different colors than when I put them in.

I don't know if the second half of a PAIR disappers in the wash or after I put them in the dryer, but somehow they are dispatched to sock heaven when I'm not looking. Oh where, oh where has my little sock gone? Oh where, oh where can it be?

Freezer Blues

Wouldn't you know, just when we're getting ready to leave for vacation next week, the freezer starts doing really strange things. Every time it clicks on, it trips the ground fault interrupter. In a way that's good because none of the outlets in the master bathroom work when that happens. At least we know to go reset the GFI and so far we haven't lost much. But it's very annoying at 5:00 AM when I'm trying to get ready for work. I certainly don't want to come back from New Mexico to a dead freezer full of rotten meat.

I suppose I shouldn't complain. The freezer is at least 25 years old. It came with me from Illinois in '92 and has been well used. I no longer have a large garden with which to stock it, but when my son was growing up and he routinely had his friends over, it was very handy to have large quantities of food on hand. I've also gotten used to the convenience of bulk purchases of meat and there's no way it'll fit in the fridge.

The problem this morning was, what to do with all that food while I'm waiting for the new freezer to be delivered. Somewhere in the attic are two large picnic coolers. But where? I did manage to find a small cooler and three Styrofoam shipping boxes. As Luke Skywalker said, "Almost there, almost there." My last resort was a cardboard box lined with packing peanuts, plastic and ice packs. Then came the boxes of steaks, crab legs and lobster tails topped with more plastic and a layer of ice. Since everything is already frozen, it should be okay. (Please, please please!)

Now, who said blonds are dumb? I just hope Home Depot delivery is on time. And, "Oh what a relief it is," to never defrost that dinosaur again. If we're lucky, this one will last 25 years, and then I'll be too old to worry about it.

Bang up 4th

This picture has absolutely no connection to today's blog. I just thought it was cute. The baby hippo lost its mother in the tsunami last year and has now adopted the sea turtle to take her place. It's things like this that get me all warm and teary eyed.

Now, back to the 4th. "Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation..." We've all heard those words by Abe Lincoln at some time in our lives, but do we give them much thought?

I get so angry listening to my son bash George W. but I bite my tongue because I don't discuss politics with anyone. My ex-hubby, PD, was shocked after twenty years of marriage to find out that I didn't vote for the same presidential candidate that he did, even though we had never discussed the issue.

Even that is not what I set out to write. I was just remembering this morning as I did a slow creep out of bed, why my back always hurts so much. It was 29 years ago on July 4, 1976, at the insistence (aka badgering) of PD, that we drove around hunting for some fireworks to watch.

That's where "Bang up 4th" comes in. We never made it to the fireworks. Instead, some little twit ran a stop sign and hit the front quarter of our car. Wouldn't you know it was on the passenger side where I was sitting? That purple Plymouth Duster of mine first spun 180 and then rolled.

PD invariably developed tunnel vision when he got behind the wheel, so he never saw it coming. I saw a big blur hurtling toward us, but by then it was too late.

When I woke up, I had a partially crushed vertebrae and I'd taken out the side window with my head(PD wasn't hurt). Six weeks later I got out of the hospital. That is after PD brought his girlfriend to meet me in intensive care.

So what's my point? I hope everyone has a wonderful 4th of July. Just don't have a "Bang up 4th"!