First of all, Savannah is 5 lbs 1 oz!  Hooah!  Except that now she has a cold and is anemic.  The cold will definitely keep her in the hospital until Friday and the anemia may provoke the need for a blood transfusion.  I would say, "Aaaaaarrrrrrrggggggghhhhhh" but Ben and Isabel have been saying it enough.  She was healthy when we went up to see her and really she does look good, but...

A couple of years ago I went in for a physical and the doc sent me to a nutritionist to get set up on a diet plan.  Well, guess who’s back on the diet wagon.  Not that I don’t need it, of course.  I do, but it is hard to stick with it sometimes, but my wife and children want me to do this for my own good.  Last time I did it I lost 35 lbs in 3 months.  Much of it was just changing some of my basic habits.  I am telling you guys about it because along with Savannah updates I will give you updates on how I am doing.  This will keep me having to stick with it.

My doctor was no big fan of Dr. Atkins or any other fad that was going around, let me tell you that.  He sent me to a nutritionist and she turned out to be really cool.  I was all prepared for a lecture but it was much more pleasant than I had anticipated.  The first week we talked about fat and fiber and empty calories.  I got an education, which I had let slip, but now must recall and so I will recall it for you.  Much of it was paying attention and learning to count.

As we talked about things I normally ate, it came up that it was nothing for me to eat 2 or 3 donuts for breakfast, 2 Whoppers for lunch, a couple of portions of whatever for supper and a snack at bedtime.  Well, she says the average person should really limit the amount of grams of fat they get to <50.  I knew how to read labels, but then she asked me, in the most innocent way, if I had any idea of how many grams of fat were in a Whopper.  50!  I was eating double my whole day’s fat grams at one sitting.  Not counting Humongo-fries and Gargantu-coke.  This was an eye-opener for me.

I was also getting no fiber.  In order not to lose the more genteel members of my audience I will just say that one of the many benefits of getting a lot of fiber is that it helps moves the fat out of the system.  One of the great things is also does is makes you feel full.  I was getting almost 0 grams of fiber and she wanted me to get up to no less than 20, the target being 35+.

Another thing was, as much as I love certain carbonated sugar water beverages, there is nothing in them.  Oh, by the way, I had always hated any artificial sweeteners of any brand because they left an aftertaste in my mouth, but Splenda doesn’t.  It may be a little pricey, but it is good.

I also had to start paying attention to serving and portion sizes.  I guess that fell under label reading.

She talked to me (Margaret was there with me, since she was the one who would have to live with me and help me make this lifestyle change and put up with my whining.) about the benefits of that would come form all of this, but I have to say that she was slick.  She never got preachy and anytime I would say something like, "I’m NEVER going to give up my whole milk," very adamant like that, she would say, "Oh you don’t have to give that up.  Just make sure you add it in to your total daily count.  You don’t have to give anything up, really, just make sure you add it up."  I kept a spreadsheet that I would fill in each night showing what all I had eaten and what the totals of what were.  This helped me visualize what I was doing.  During the day I would jot a note on a 3x5 card in my pocket.

I lost 8 lbs the very first week!  This felt good and when I went back to her I was pretty proud and she was really excited.  Most people don’t really do what she tells them the first time and their results show it.  I had something to be proud of here.  (You guys can see how she just totally psyched me out, right?  I mean she was just so unassuming and un-preachy.)  The next week we talked about cholesterol but not much.  She was not as concerned with my getting it from food as she was about it building up from the fat.  Then she got me walking.  I was to get a pedometer and start out with a half-mile and increase over time.

After that I lost that insurance and never got to go back, but she did give me good, solid information.  There were other things, too, like one I can remember she said I should eat a tin of sardines in oil now and then because even though it was high in fat it had other things I should get.  I could also cheat.  I could go to the all-you-can-eat buffet or a wedding or anything I wanted to, really.  Just not all the time.  And what I would do is just go right back on the diet immediately afterward.  This made life bearable, because I could have pretty much anything I wanted.

Why’d I quit?  Well, it was sort of a gradual process, really.  I don’t know how exactly.  Anyway, I know what to do, I just need to do it.  This is where my family has jumped in and pretty much we are all going to be eating the same foods.  I know that it is supposed to be good for my heart and blood pressure and other things.  It puts my family’s mind at ease when I do it.  Personally I don’t worry too much about the health part of it.  I know that when my time comes, my time comes.  I can eat all these healthy things and be all "heart-smart" and get hit by a stray bolt of lightning or run over by a truck or whatever.  When the time of my appointment gets here, I won’t have any choice whether to keep it or not.  But it makes my family happy and, well, er, I am forced to begrudgingly admit that, um, well, I did feel pretty good when I did it.

So, the magic formula is:

20 -35 grams of fiber, the more the better

< 50 grams of fat, less is better

No useless calories

Walk more

That’s it.

I have debated the whole way through on whether to give you my starting weight, or not, but I have decided to tell you because just reporting "5 lbs" is not as dramatic.

I am starting at 242 lbs (248 in boots and hat!).  I don’t have an exact goal in mind, but last time I had started at around 240 and went down to around 207, so I guess that with the help of all my fans, friends and fiends I would like to at least get below the 200 mark.

The Good Book says, "Everyone has an appointment with death and there is no discharge in that war."  And, "Don’t you know your body is the temple and building of God?"

So go figure.

Here is how my birthday went yesterday.  As you may have been able to tell from yesterday’s entry, I was feeling a little down in the mouth.  By the end of the day I was feeling much better.

I guess I will start with my Sunday School class.  We were learning about forgiveness and how shocked Peter was to hear what Jesus had to say.  I like Peter.  Even more that the Sons of Thunder, he was not afraid to just up and say what is on his mind, even when he should keep quiet.  Jesus had just finished teaching about prayer and forgiveness. 

Peter, even though he was a disciple, was still a man, and a manly one at that.  Those pictures of Jesus and the disciples where they all look so beatific and have the halos and were painted by homosexual artists in the renaissance, which are the only pictures we have, are wrong.  These were all manly men.  Galilean fishermen, scoundrel tax collectors called publicans (not to be confused with Republicans), ruffians of other sorts, daydreamers, all led by a carpenter.  All good sturdy blue collar men.  Think construction crew, except with clean jokes because their leader was not only a carpenter, but God manifest in flesh.

My point in recalling all that being that these were men who understood what to do when someone smites you on your right cheek.  When Jesus said, "turn to him the other also", this was a hard teaching for these men to take.  After a while Peter finally couldn’t take it anymore and said, "Lord.  How many times shall I forgive my brother, till 7 times in one day?"  He was probably thinking he had finally gotten it and Jesus said, "No, until 70 x 7."

We are instructed to forgive someone for the exact same offense 490 times in one day.  A different offense equals a new count.  I brought in 490 pennies and while I was talking I started counting them out.  Here’s a mote on using props.  A cardinal rule I learned long ago and forgot.  ALWAYS practice with your props first.  I had planned to count out stacks of 10 pennies each while I was talking, but if you use this idea, have them somewhat pre-sorted or pre-counted out.  It takes a long time to count out 490.  I finally had to have one of my high-energy boys, Connor, take over sitting and counting while I went on with the rest of the story, which is a parable Jesus taught to illustrate what our attitude about forgiveness is versus what it should be.

There was a ruler who took account of what people owed him and found one guy that owed him 10,000 talents of gold, the equivalent of several million dollars.  The guy had no way to pay it back and was going to be sold, along with his wife and kids and everything he had.  He begged the guy for more time and please don’t sell my kids, etc.  The ruler had compassion on the guy and frankly (interesting word choice by The Author) forgave him all the debt.  Modern bill-collectors should read this story, eh?

This guy goes and finds a guy that owes him 100 pence, which is a couple of dollars, maybe a five at most.  That guy didn’t have it and begged forgiveness using the exact same words but our man threw him into debtor’s prison!  For a few bucks after he had been forgiven millions!  Well, when the ruler found out about this, he called our man back and gave him to the tormentors.

When someone does us wrong, it is never as wrong as what Jesus suffered.  We ought to forgive the way the guy that was owed only a few dollars ought to have forgiven.  It took until the end of the lesson to finish counting out the pennies.  It all worked out.

Then we went to the Country Buffet.  Not my whole Sunday School class, just my family.  Can Herb spell "Oink!"  Mmmm-hmmm!  I love all-you-can-eat places.  It’s like a personal challenge.  Ben and Isabel got me some Coca-Cola plates and bowls, which was really cool.

There is a law that was passed a while ago called the (I think) Health Information Privacy Act.  Isabel was up at the hospital looking over Savannah’s (Who is 4 lbs 13 oz) records and was accosted by a nurse who told her she hadn’t filled out the proper form to do that.  Isabel explained that she was the baby’s mother.  The law requires that she fill out a consent form, giving herself permission to look at the records!  Margaret said she had a client who had had to do basically the same thing.  This is stupid.

Naptime.

Went to church early to get Abby there in time for choir practice.  During prayer meeting before church one of the ushers came and got me because I had a huge puddle of transmission fluid under the car.  Happy Birthday!  Oh well.  It still runs if I pour a few quarts of Tranny fluid in her every couple of days.

While the Choir was practicing (this out of sequence for a purpose, so you can see the happy ending, rather than the aggravation), Sister Webb, an older German lady in our church came up and told me she had something for me, which was an apple cake!  Oh boy!  Sister Webb has a reputation for her cooking.  Yum!

Also while the choir was practicing Nicole’s mom came up to me and said I had to come out to their car.  Nicole was in the choir, so she couldn’t come.  Well, I go out there and it wasn’t brownies but it was Brownie Pudding!  Nicole had made a pan of brownie pudding for me for my birthday!  The choir was letting out and I rounded up Scott W and we rounded up a dish for him to take some.  I had invited him over but he couldn’t come, and I did not want to hog them all because I didn’t know if Scott knew about the forgiveness story!  Well, I know he does, he knows a LOT about the Bible, but that doesn’t mean that if I would have hogged all the brownie pudding that he would have cared to remember it.

Well, he saved his piece for later because after church he has work to do helping count.  Our church by-laws don’t allow only one person to count money, there has to be two and he needs a snack.

I waited until I got home so I could use some utensils since it was chocolate pudding on the bottom and brownie on the top!  I got home, poured a tall cold glass of milk and took a generous portion for myself and quoted Carter and said, "Oh Boy!  Is this gonna be great!"  and commence to dig in.  MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  YUMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!!!  WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Hoo-Ah!  Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They were good, if you couldn't guess that by now.

As The Good Book says, "Rejoice with him whose mouth is full of brownie pudding for verily he is too busy stuffing his face to rejoiceth his own self."  (Er, um, don’t ask me for chapter and verse on that, I am just sure that it’s in there...somewhere...um, I think...)

My 45th Birthday today.  Thanks.  It is depressing sometimes to think that Poe had done his copious body of work along with editing magazines and writing articles on poetry that are still read today and been dead 5 years by my age.

Savannah is 4 lbs 11 oz.  She may be staying in her vacation suite a little longer.  Nothing new to report on that front, just business as usual.

Today, I do not even feel like writing, but I have to share this with you.

Since I don’t know how many of you get or read the "Parade" magazine in your Sunday newspapers and in fact I don’t even know what sort of papers there are in some parts of my worldwide readership (That is so much fun to say.  It is a start anyway.)  So I decided to give you all a link to this article by Norman Mailer.  I agree with it wholeheartedly, except perhaps that he does not go far enough.  I think that 3 of our biggest problems are Hollyweird, Madison Avenue and the 5-second sound bite.  Here is the link.  Please give it a read and some thought. 

http://archive.parade.com/2005/0123/0123_one_idea.html

As the Good Book says, "...being a fool makes you a blabbermouth."

I just finished re-reading Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury for the unknownth time again.  I like Bradbury.  If you have never read any of his stuff, pick it up.  He has many great books; Dandelion Wine is a magical book, The Martial Chronicles, The Golden Apples of the Sun, The Illustrated Man and many others that are really worth taking the time to read.

Fahrenheit 451 is one that is worth taking the time to re-read.  I read it every few years and every time I finish it I think, "I wish everyone would read this book."  This is another book I believe should be required reading.  Not anything like Orwell’s "1984" it still shows a picture of a future where everyone’s mind is controlled by television and the government has decided that because books have so many contradicting ideas that it makes people unhappy.  The government, having taken upon itself the responsibility of deciding what makes people happy, decides that the books should be outlawed.

The houses are fireproof and so the firemen’s job is changed and now, if a person keeps books of any kind in his house they are arrested and his house is burned to the ground.  We meet a fireman named Guy Montag, whose uniform bears the numerals 451, which is the temperature at which book paper burns.  It is a chilling book when you read about how every book offends some group or the other until all the groups have their way and the books are destroyed.

Please read this book.  My favorite quote from the book, which is said when there is a conversation about the wall-sized T.V. sets with their programs that don’t even give you time to think about what they are saying, if they are saying anything at all.  The point of the discussion is that books are not bad because,

"Books can be beaten down with reason."

I read again just recently about a fight some school board was having over material that was considered objectionable.  I offer here my help in deciding which books should be banned from which libraries and which books should be beaten down with reason.

First off I must make the point that there are several different kinds of libraries.  There are Grade School, Junior High School, High School, College, Business, Public and Private.  For the sake of brevity, I will lump the first three together as Public School Libraries and include with the private libraries retail bookstores.

So, when should a Public School Library ban a book?  It seems to me that a well-educated staff including librarian, principal and teachers should make the initial decision, based on scholarly merit.  Afterwards a committee of parents, chosen by the principal and as diverse as possible should also be involved.  This does not make up for the one thing that is sorely lacking in our modern public school system.  Parental involvement.  Schools, teachers, principals, librarians and other staff are often vilified because some parent was too lazy to go down to the school and meet the teachers and ask questions.  It is not the librarian’s fault that your child read some vile tome, such as "Huckleberry Finn" or "Are You There God?  It’s Me Margaret."  It is your fault for not taking an interest in what they were reading.

If there is a book that you truly feel is offensive and does not belong in the public school library, then there is a grown-up way to deal with it.  First, discuss your concerns with the librarian and principal.  No.  I retract that.  First, read the book all the way through, yourself.  This will help you if you decide you wish to take up the matter with the librarian and/or principal.  Normally, if you have behaved like an adult, you should be able to have worked out some resolution that is equitable.  Another thing to keep in mind is age-appropriateness and child-appropriateness.  Maybe the book should be moved from the elementary school to the high school, for example.  Oh, and have you been talking to your child about this all the way through?

You are not the only parent with the only child in that school.  If a resolution cannot be reached, talk to other parents.  You might find out that they also have read the same book, and found nothing wrong with it at all and you are a minority.  If they do agree that it is questionable, then get together as a group and express your concerns.  After that there is always the school board, whose representative you should have talked to by this time.

I have written thus far with the thought in mind that it is your child that is directly affected in your district and that you are not just being a nosy old busy-body saying, "Well, if I had kids I certainly wouldn’t let them read that!"

I probably would not have been allowed to read Catch-22 if my father had read the book , and saw the scene where the Italian whore is beating Yossarian over the head with a shoe, but I read it anyway and I have never had an Italian whore beat me up with her shoe.  It was just a scene in a book that helped move the story along, in this case in a humorous fashion.  Which brings us too whether or not you have explained to your kid why this book is offensive and what your beliefs are?  If your child does not understand why they are not allowed to read it and how it does not fit with your family’s teachings, you could be shooting yourself in the foot because as anyone who has ever been a child can testify, If you are told not to do something, it piques your curiosity until you do it.  While the parents are marching and boycotting and picketing, the kids are passing the contraband amongst them and have read it at least once.  However, if your child has been persuaded top your beliefs, he or she may decide that they do not want to read it all on their own.

There are some books that can and should be banned from public schools and there are some that should be moved to a higher level.  This should vary from school to school and district to district and will likely reflect the social mores of that area.

Private Christian schools have a responsibility to the parishioners and families and church and their libraries should be different.  What I think is hokey is when you pick up a book at such a place and find that all the "bad words" have been crossed out.  Do you really think a young person is not going to figure out what that word was, or worse yet, imagine one in its place?  Just do not use the book.  You must have read that word when you crossed it out.  Christian schools fall under the category of private and or business libraries.

Private businesses, private schools, bookstores and especially homes can (or should be able to) do whatever they want.  You can keep any book you want and get rid of any book you do not want.  That was easy.  I have had books I read once and traded in at the used book store for something better.

Public and college libraries are different.  They should be repositories for as many books and as much knowledge as possible.  "I’m afraid my child might read something nasty at the library.  They have some nasty stuff there you know.  I just don’t let ‘em go."  Why don’t you just go with them?  See what they are interested in.  When they come home from the library, have them show you what they got.

I don’t think public libraries operate the same as they used to, but when I was a young teenager there were some things I wanted to check out that the librarian said I couldn’t have until I was 18.  Now they might leave that to the parents.  Ask.  You know, as long as they live in your house they have to live by your rules.  Check their backpack, listen to their CDs, go through their closets and dressers and find out what is going on.  It is your house.  Sorry, younger readers, but that’s the way life is supposed to be.  Your parents have been there and done that and can tell you the truth about it.  It is their business.  Besides, you might be shocked to find out what they do know.

Having digressed from public libraries let me return to the topic at hand.  The committee that chooses books for the library also likes to get constructive input on what they should offer and what they should not.  They should have different, much broader-based set of criteria, however.

For example, there is a book coming out that is a collection of writings by Osama Bin Laden and various Al-Qaeda and other terrorist leaders.  Talk show hosts and others have decried it as an outrage.  Why would they publish such a thing?  What will they do with the profits?  What can be done?  Well, they should publish it if they think it is in their best interests and in the interest of their stockholders to do so.  What business is it of anybody’s what they do with the profits?  Spend ‘em.  What can be done.

If you really want to know what to do about it, I will tell you although it really is simple.  Don’t buy it.  If you don’t buy it, they won’t profit from it.  Now, the catch is, how many people will refrain from buying it?  I won’t buy it.  Is it my business other than that?  Maybe if I am a stockholder.  Will I read it?  Probably.  At the library or at the bookstore (Modern bookstores are neat that way.  You get a latte or cappuccino or coffee or whatever, pick up a book, go sit in an overstuffed leather chair and read the book.)  But I won’t buy it.

Why, oh why would you even think about reading such a thing?  Because "Books can be beaten down with reason."  It is the opposite principal as all the leftist T.V. shows that spout vituperations against Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, and have never listened to one hour of their shows.  By knowing their thoughts I can effectively denounce them.  Books are the only medium you can do this with.

Remember, The Good Book says, "The tongue of the wise useth knowledge aright: but the mouth of fools poureth out foolishness."

4 lbs 9 oz.  We went up and held her today.  I should probably say I held her since I was hogging her for most of the time.  I couldn’t help it.  She’s so little and holdable and I was wearing my flannel shirt which she snuggled right into and well...Margaret kept on saying I should, so I did.  She’s just so hoggable...er...huggable.

They aren’t going to let her go home until later this week or early next week now.  She is still having times when her oxygen drops completely.  She is also not producing red blood cells the way she is supposed to and may need a transfusion to kick start her system.

If they send her home too soon and she needs to go back to the hospital, they won’t put her back in the NICU (Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit) but would put her in the pediatric ICU instead.  This would mean she would not have the close observation she currently enjoys.  Well, that’s okay.  Better safe than sorry.

Have you ever trimmed the nails on a cat or dog?  How about a rabbit?  You can easily sum it up in one word:  Aaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhhhh!  Tabitha, who has a part-time job as a Vet Assistant, although she often does Tech work, takes care of it for us with the help of the others.  Did you ever hear a cat cuss?  They growl and hiss and bite and scratchm but the dog is the worst.  It takes all of us to do her.  She acts as if you are torturing her, she fights and whines and yelps before you even get the clippers near her.  When it is all done she prances around like the Queen of Sheba.  She’s that way when she gets a bath, too.  The rabbit is actually very docile.  If Abby holds him, he just lets you do it.

Tabitha likes working in a vet’s office.  Doc is a congenial, older gent who has the personality and disposition to do his job.  He grew up in farm country in Nebraska and doesn’t do large animals.  He says he had enough as a kid.  He likes his job and it rubs off on Tabitha.  She helps him with surgeries, anesthesia, critter grooming as well as cleaning cages and walking dogs.  She started out as a volunteer cleaning cages and walking dogs and worked for several months that way until they wound up putting her on payroll.

Animals are interesting, that’s for sure and they do have the ability to learn (as I type this I recall Sam’s blog entry about bees' ability to learn) and depending on the animal, some of them are very intelligent.  They also develop feelings of loyalty and resentment.  I had some friends that visited the Holy Land who told me that if a camel becomes offended by you they will try to kill you, even if you have not been around him in years.  The only way to appease him is to have someone throw some of your clothing in a pen with him, which the camel tears to pieces.  The next day you can go by him again.

While I do not think animals are equal to humans and I certainly don’t think they have rights in the same sense of the word as humans, I do think there is something psychologically wrong with someone who is purposely, uselessly cruel to animals.  I am not talking about the use of animals in scientific experiments.  This is often necessary and has led to many important discoveries.  I am talking about some of the things you read about in the news that are too nasty to repeat in mixed company.  Many of the stories of the childhood of serial killers (Which I read in papers, I don’t buy their books) include stories of torturing small animals, pets, etc.

I think sometimes people get confused about the status of animals, however and don’t realize that part of our having dominion over them is managing them.  Herds of deer, elk, etc that are managed by hunting are healthier.  Cows and chickens could never live in the wild.

There was a subspecies of mouse here in Colorado called "Prebles Field Mouse" which was supposedly endangered and 30,000 acres of land, much of it ranch and development areas was held up for several years because of it, only to discover it wasn’t really endangered at all.  A mouse prevented many people from livelihood including ranchers whose families have been here for over a hundred years.  This is stupid.  First of all, anyone who has ever had any experience with mice knows that if a species of mouse is endangered it is because it must be stupid.  Whoever heard of a mouse that couldn’t adapt to adverse conditions and propagate itself?  This feller can jump 18 inches in the air, covering 3 feet and can swim.  Gestation is 17 to 21 days.  I get to be out on the eastern plains of Colorado every day and I see the raptors and coyotes that would feed on this mouse and they either are doing just fine without it or have found some.  This is probably because now science has discovered that there is no significant difference between it and the common North American Jumping Mouse.  (Link to report from Denver Museum)  Anyone remember the Snail Darter?

How about prairie dogs?  If you have never lived in ranch country, you might think they are just cute little creatures and cannot understand why those awful mean men would have contests to see how many they can shoot when they stick their heads out of a hole.  This is because you have never lost a cow to a broken leg because he’s stepped in one of their holes or had a friend injured because his horse stepped in one and broke it’s leg and landed on him.  This is not counting all the ecological havoc they wreak on grazing land.  They are rodents and vermin and it is a fun game that has a purpose.

Here’s another point to consider about endangered species, also.  In countries where endangered species like are kept on preserves that are allowed to make money from them, the populations of these critters flourish and grow, whereas in other countries the populations are in constant danger from poaching and the numbers of them are dwindling.  That’s because in the first example, money is involved.  They can make a buck on a buck and do something good at the same time so they capitalize on the idea of conserving species.

Part of the problem is that we are not all raised the same and  do not see the world in the same way.  I grew up in a culture where deer hunting is not only acceptable but necessary to the health and well-being not only of its own herd but of many other animals as well.  It has never bothered me that people kill and eat them.  Cows either.  To me it is as natural as breathing that we eat many different kinds of meat.

If you want to be a vegetarian and are fully persuaded in your mind, that’s fine.  Please do.  I can respect and even, to a point, understand your view.  I have at least made an attempt to respect and understand your beliefs, at least give me the same courtesy to legally hunt for whatever reason I might choose, whether it is the thrill and sport of outwitting a trophy animal, or for food, or whatever reason, leave me alone as well.

If I choose to try to outwit a creature whose every instinct and learned behavior says that I am it’s enemy, and I hunt it down and kill it and choose to enjoy a buffalo burger or a venison sausage, that’s what I should be able to do.  If it’s not opening day and you want to try to persuade me, I will probably respect you enough to hear you out, if you will listen to me as well.

I think that, if you don’t throw red paint on my wife’s fur coat (she’s saying, "What fur coat?") then I won’t throw a punch at you and we will be one step closer to civilizing the world.

Remember, the Good Book says, "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel."

Woo-hoo!  It's Groundhog's day today.  This is the day when everyone in America slaughters their pigs and makes sausage from them.

Well...It could havehappened that way!

Really, everyone needs to find a groundhog hole or woodchuck burrow and watch when the little rascal pops his out.  Just shoot him, so he doesn't stand a chance to see his shadow and give us 6 more weeks of winter.

Groundhogs are good with ketchup, aren't they?

Ever since Nicole, whom people think is so nice and sweet, mentioned in one of her holiday entries that she was baking cookies and brownies, Scott W and I have been trying to get her to make us some.  We need to judge whether they are good or not.  She sent us an e-mail saying she was going to and sent this:

A PICTURE of the brownies!

Carter, put away the ketchup bottle.  No.  No ketchup on brownies.

As the Good Book says:  Some people think they’re pretty funny but they’d better make us some real brownies now!

Just got a call from Isabel at the hospital.  Savannah has been nippling all of her feedings and no longer has the tube down her throat.  If she can keep on with that, she could be home as early as next week!  Yes way!  Then they will test her and see if she is able to sit in the car seat for a half an hour to 45 minutes or more.  Ben and Isabel have taken their infant CPR classes already and they will probably get a heart monitor sent home as a precaution.  She will have oxygen at home as well.

 

It is hard to not be excited because even though there have been so many setbacks, she has fought her way through each one.  I think this is another area where we will just have to trust God.  You know, if you think about life in general, that is what you have to do anyway.  You have to trust God that he will watch over you and do what is best for you.

 

We had a missionary here who told about some church folks who were sitting in a beachside restaurant on December 26^th and were feeling kind of down that they couldn’t get a beach cabin.  They thought they had one reserved and this vacation was supposed to be a present for the kids, but when they got there they found out they had to take a cabin on top of the hill.  When they finished eating they decided they would just make the best of it and went back up the hill to the cabin.  The wave hit immediately after they got in the cabin and the restaurant they had just been in was gone.  The wife was a registered nurse, which needs no comment.

 

No human mind can plan such a thing and no human mind can comprehend the sum of God’s plans.  I said that to say that I have a personal belief that Savannah has been protected and helped by God and when she comes home, she is still in the hands of God.  We are all clueless as to the tragedies and joys that await us in life and it is why we have to love and appreciate the people we have while we have them.  I apologize for the digression, yet I don’t.  My heart is full.

 

The Good Book says, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow we diet.”  Or, er, something like that.

 

AAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH  I apologize that I had to edit this twice.  If you get the e-mail update, I'm sorry!

Ben and Isabel stopped by last night and Savannah is 4 lbs 5 ounces now.  Her de-statting is becoming less frequent all the time.  We are hopeful for her soon release.  Ben is going to check on her ketchup levels and report back per Carter’s suggestion.

 

In case Carter doesn’t add his comment in the previous entry, it was his new BDUs.  Ben laughed when I told him I said Carter should pack his dress greens and wear ‘em and come visit Savannah and hold her.  I also forgot to mention to you that we called Carter on Ben’s 16^th birthday but he was feeling too old to come and beat up Ben.

 

People still ask how I can stand getting up so early.  I get up, oftentimes without an alarm clock, about 3:30 every morning.  Sometimes I will sleep in until 4:15 and when I was really sick, I slept in until 5:00!  The reason I get up early is that this is a quiet time around the house and is about the only time I can get any real writing done, which these days seems to consist of blogging and e-mail.  There are times when I will just spend my time writing and not even get on the internet at all, but then I have to play catch-up which is not to be confused with playing in the ketchup.

 

First I check my 2 main e-mail accounts, and try to respond to whatever is in them.  I also have a couple of other accounts that I use mainly for junk mail, like when you sign up at a website that you have a feeling is going to sell you.

 

My problem with e-mail is that when I get a message, I feel that I need to respond to it like a regular correspondence, point for point.  Then, when I get a response to that, I reply.  Some people just reply once and then quit, but I can’t seem to do that, so if you write to me, I’ll get back to you in the same amount of detail, and we can have quite the in-depth conversation.  This takes time, however.

Then I have two sets of blogs I read.  (I am going to have to update my blog links list again soon.  Do you guys ever visit any of these blogs I have linked?  Just curious.  Sometimes I will click on a link on someone’s blog I am reading and find another interesting blog that way.)  The ones I consider my friends, who I have permission to link too and all others that are either people I don’t really know, but have interesting things to say, either once in a while or all the time.  Sometimes I run out of time and these are the first ones to go.

There are 10 blogs that I try to check every day without fail.  There used to be 12, but Elizabeth gave it up.  Fortunately some of these folks are like me and don’t update every day, or I would not be able to do it.  Then there are 7 that I read on occasion, but not all the time, although sometimes I will try to catch up on all of their entries.  These are people I don’t really know at all, and a couple are ones that I don’t always agree with (although many people will tell you I am just plain disagreeable to begin with) and don’t agree with the way they choose to express themselves, either in their choice of words or images.  They have good and interesting things to say, also, however, and I take the good with the bad.

I try to leave a comment when I can and will join in the “chatterboxes” occasionally as well.

 

This blog reading process can take a while.  Here is the list, not in order of importance, or even the order I check them, but just a list of blogs I check.  First are people who have given me permission to post links to their blogs.

Nicole.  She likes people to leave a note somewhere so she knows someone has visited.  http://nicoler.blogdrive.com/

 

Ashley, who is just getting hers started.  She used to be online all the time, but not so much now anymore.  She has friends from all around the world who will be excited about this news.  http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=Abubblyfriend

 

Carter.  My friend.  Occasionally his language may get the best of him, but he is (don’t ever tell him I said this) very intelligent and witty and has knowledge of a wide range of topics from all manner of military history to the nuances of various brands of ketchup and many things in between.  http://carterking.blogspot.com/

 

Sam is a student in Singapore and has a very, very broad range of topics.  We met by accident and have become friends.  This is one of my faves.  http://samsam.blogdrive.com/

 

Susan, to whom I refer as Susan the Speeder because she is forever getting stopped by the Oklahoma State Patrol for speeding, but never getting any tickets.  I think they must all be male officers that stop her.  She has many good things to say and it is worth reading her back entries if you have time.  I have linked to her entry http://www.xanga.com/item.aspx?tab=weblogs&user=sbalak&uid=174359431 about tips for modesty for men and women before as well as referred to things she has said.  I also like her keynote signature, “Much love and...”  She is at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=sbalak

 

Mandy, a Texan, aspiring writer and all around just nice person is at http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=crzytexaschiq

 

Jinny, a friend of Sam’s originally and has since become a friend of mine.  When the tidal wave hit and I didn’t know any geography of the region I wrote to her and asked her about Sam because I was worried.  Turns out Sam just had a r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w connection.  She lives and goes to school in England.  http://jincruise.blogdrive.com/

 

Cindy and I used to work together but she is an extremely busy graphics arts student and doesn’t update hers very often at all but she actually got me interested in blogging in the first place.  http://strobelight.blogdrive.com/

 

Then I visit my 2 blogs and answer any comments or messages on either one of them.  I do this before I update them.  Please answer my poll question about the humor blog.  I’m going to keep it anyway, but I do wonder sometimes about it.  http://herbthiel.blogdrive.com/ & http://herbshumor.blogdrive.com/

 

I also check the Boy Scout page to see what atrocities they have committed.  http://www.bsalegal.org/

 

After that I check 2 humor sites, http://www.engrish.com/ which is a good-natured look at the misinterpretations that occur around the world and http://www.regrettheerror.com/  which tells about misprints in the news.

 

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

 

Occasionally I will visit the following blogs.  These are some that I have run across on my travels and think are interesting at times.

 

http://clintsday2day.blogspot.com/

 

http://skullbone.blogdrive.com/

 

http://hevenz-pasifyr.blogdrive.com/

 

http://aemilia.blogdrive.com/

 

http://www.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=kelbel53185

 

http://www.lilyger.blogspot.com/

 

http://www.davidlimbaugh.com/ (About the only “professional” one I read, and that is only occasional)

 

So, there ya have it.  If I get an inspiration for any other writing I will have to forego these pleasures, of course.

Remember, as the Good Book says, Whatever you find to do, do it!

Today our Savannah is 2 months old!  Yep.  2 months have gone by since they pulled her out with her little fist raised.  From 1 pound 8 ounces to 4 pounds 4 ounces!  I told her there were people all over the U.S.A. and around the globe that are and have been praying for her and hoping for her speedy health.  She is maintaining her body heat but she forgets to breathe when she is doing certain things and her stats drop.  She also still has the tube in her nose, but they are working on getting her to eat more by herself.

 

She is still smaller than either of the 2 preemies we had but that doesn’t look like it’s going to last for long.  We know God has helped her.  There is no question about it and we just trust Him.  She is still not out of the woods yet, but of course our hopes are raised each day with each new little victory.

 

Pretty soon Carter will have to buy a new set of B.D.U.s and come visit her.  This is an inside joke which is going to become an outside joke now.  (I hope no English students are using me for an example!)

 

Carter has always been a proud soldier.  We have known each other since, oh, I don’t know, around 1976 – 77?  He joined the Army the first time in the early 80’s, around the time I got married.  We corresponded sporadically and I sent a story called “The City Of Golden Beer Cans” which I had written in his honor.  I found the original copy recently and was absolutely appalled at the poor quality of the writing.  I may post it on the humor blog http://herbshumor.blogdrive.com/ (Do more than 3 people even look at the humor blog?) so you can laugh at my early writing as well as the story. 

 

Anyway, Ben was born April 19, 1983 and that year Carter was also home on leave.  The early 80’s were when the Army started phasing out the plain green uniform, which was comfortable and streamlined and replacing it with the “Battle Dress Uniform,” a camouflage thing that feels like pajamas when you wear it.  When I went in the Army the first time in 1981 we all had the plain green and ate C-rations but there was talk about the uniform and field chow changing and by the time I went in the second time in 1987, it was all BDUs and MREs.  The reason for this digression is to let you know how new the Battle Dress Uniform was.

 

Carter had bought a new set and brought them home on leave to show everyone, including me.  He came over to visit our new little family (He was at our wedding, which is a story fore another day) with them on, to let us see them.  Well, the proud soldier had ironed his uniform and really looked great when he came over.  He was watching Margaret change Ben’s diaper; she had just undone it and Ben took one look at him and hosed all over his new uniform!  Just got him before anybody could do anything about it.

 

Carter told Ben that when he turned 16, he would come back and beat him up.  We called Carter on Ben’s 16^th birthday but he changed his mind.

 

So, Carter will have to buy a new set of BDUs, no better yet, Carter will have to put on his dress greens and come visit Savannah.  Of course the way she is, he better not let her sit on his lap!

The Good Book says that “A friendly discussion is as stimulating as the sparks that fly when iron strikes iron.”

 

*****  Note  *****

Margaret remembers it as being his Dress Greens.  Maybe Carter will leave a comment.

**********