Last night there was a tornado touchdown at a Boy Scout camp 40 miles north of here. Four of my brothers lost their lives in this incident. I had never met these four boys, but they are my brothers none the less.

My father passed away when I was a year and a half old. I was the youngest child of a widowed mother, and grew up in a house with her and three older sisters. When I was eight years old, a man from the neighborhood named Ray came to our house one night. He told my Mom that his son had told him that there was a boy without a father in the house. He told my Mom that I needed to come to his Cub Scout meeting and that he would be happy to stop and pick me up the next evening. I went to the meeting.

Over the next ten years, a group of men, committed to the Scouting program, taught me many things. Often, what was being taught on the surface was much deeper than I realized at the time. I learned many skills that have served me well over the years. Along with the skills, I learned how to cooperate with a group, how to be a leader, a follower and what it meant to part of a greater whole. I learned how to plan and carry out my plan. I learned to be prepared. For a fatherless boy from a very poor neighborhood, the Scouting Program was essentially my Father.

As an adult, I spent the next twenty five years working as a volunteer leader. Often, I worked with Ray, the man who came and picked me up for my first meeting. I spent time at the Troop level as an assistant Scoutmaster, then Scoutmaster and a Troop committee member. I moved onto the District staff, and worked at the organizational level. I finally ended up at the Council level as a member of the training staff. I stepped aside about ten years ago to allow a new generation of men to take their turn.

It is very hard to explain what this experience is like, and the effect it has had on my life, to some one on the outside.

Last night, a young man of eighteen was the first to see the tornado approach. He made sure the camp siren was sounded, got a group of younger kids to shelter. Too late to get to the shelter himself, he took a couple of young men into a ravine just in time to avoid the storm as it passed through. When the tornado has passed, a pick up truck had been picked up and blown into a building, knocking over the stone fireplace. This young man, along with others, immediately started to dig the younger boys out of the rubble. When He was interviewed later he was bare chested because he had taken off his shirt and laid it over one of the boys who had died. Thomas White is his name.

Other boys set up a first aid station and were taking care of the injured. A couple boys took an ATV out of a utility shed and went to get the Ranger and his family out of the wreckage of the Ranger’s cabin. When the rescue forces arrived, the young men were taking care of one another, and doing the best they could to get the injured to safety.

I am very proud to say that these are my Brothers…..

So, It is a lovely day here. The sun is shining, there is a nice breeze and I am sitting on the patio with an nice cold beer and my trusty MacBook, just enjoying the day.

I hope that, wherever you are, it is also a pleasant day.

This is the ring I purchased at the estate sale. The center stone is slightly less than half a carat, and the 12 rubies that surround it are about an eighth of a carat each. The setting is 18k gold. The guy who ran the estate sale insisted that it was a zircon with lab created rubies. As it turns out, I was right and he was wrong.

The operation was a success, and now my right eye works much better than it did despite the fact that it is a white hot ball of pain when the Tylonol wears off. The prescription antibiotic eye drops sting, and I hope the International Olympic Committee never finds out about the steroid eye drops, which also sting. The inner portion of my eyelid is a delightful shade of red that complements the bloodshot motif of the rest of the eye.

I really shouldn't complain. thirty years ago, I would be blind. Ray Charles went blind at a young age as a result of lack of treatment for glaucoma. I am not sure when the current method of cataract removal and lens insertion was started, but I am sure it was more recent than that. So, either the glaucoma or the cataracts would have left me blind.

I am grateful, but still pretty uncomfortable

Wednesday I will go very early to the outpatient clinic and have the cataract removed from my right eye, A year and a half ago, I had the same thing done to my left eye. I expect it will be a routine procedure, but if it is not, I will be the hit on Pirate Day.

In about half an hour, it will be nine years since I quit smoking.

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving. We were invited to my niece's for dinner. It went very well, and we were home in good time to wind down and relax. This holiday weekend was one of the best: I have four days off, it is not my turn to take emergency calls, we got paid two days early, I have a few hours overtime, this is the payday for commissions (I got $186.00 in commissions) and best of all: I got a seven percent raise!

This morning we took the cat to the vet then went out to a lovely breakfast. Once the shopping frenzy was done, I went to the Aple store and bought my new desktop computer. I spent the afternoon cleaning the den and rearranging the cable and router wiring. I set up the Mac and now I am sipping a beer, and installing Leopard (Mac's newest operating system) I have Office for Mac and the printer driver to go, then everything will be done.

So, it has been another boring stretch since my last blog update. I have ordered a laptop from Dell. For my personal computing pleasure, I have made the switch to Macintosh. I have had quite enough of Microsoft, thank you, but the applications I use at work are very specific in their operating system needs. I have an old IBM Thinkpad running Windows 98 for use in the systems requiring a DOS base, and The newer applications will only run in Windows XP. The manufacturers will not be updating this software. When we asked about running them under Vista, they replied: "If you can get them to run in Vista, let us know how you did it." I do not plan to do their R&D for them. So, for the future, i will need a solid machine running Windows XP. Dell has them available for now, but in the future will more than likely phase them out.

I have moved my old Windows XP desktop into the small basement study, where it will mainly be used to back up work applications and sync my PDA. I am using my MacBook now, and once I get the reimbursement from the company for the Dell, I will be heading out to the Apple store to decide which Mac I will use for my new desktop.

See: you thought watching golf on TV and watching paint dry was boring. This little glimpse into the mundane and boring life I lead tops them......

The Incomparable Sunflower and I in the tree house on one of the trails at Arbor Lodge last weekend

Good evening friends,

On HBO FE tonight, I am watching "The Music Man"

I remember a night When My Mom and I took a bus downtown and ate at King Fong's Chinese Restaurant then went to the Orpheum and saw "The Music Man." We took the bus home and got an ice cream cone to eat on the walk home from the bus stop. This was my first Chinese food and my first pistachio ice cream cone.

Mom passed away seven years ago, and I miss her every day. I remember this movie outing like it happened last week. It was forty five years ago. I was nine years old. Tonight, I am up later than I should be, and I have had maybe more wine to drink than I should have, but I am remembering that night so long ago, and watching the movie through eyes oddly blurred........

Well, a couple of strictly routine weeks have gone by since my last attempt at writing the most boring blog in cyberspace. The fall weather here has been creeping in. Last weekend, we caved in to the inevitable and put the hard top back on the jeep for the winter. This weekend we will be making our annual tripp to Arbor Lodge. J. Sterling Morton (of the salt Morton's) lived in Nebraska City. He was the founder of Arbor Day. His property now has a large Hotel/Conference center in the middle of a working apple orchard. We go every fall as the leaves are turning for a calm, quiet weekend of walks through the surrounding forest, great food in the hotel restaurant, and just a general time of relaxation, quality time and renewal.

A month can go by so fast you hardly realize it has been that long since I bored you with my mundane life. Nothing amazing going on here, just normal activity. A couple of weeks ago Sunflower heard a loud crash in the night and woke me. Just as we got to the door, a neighbor from up the street came to get us. He had been walking his dog and saw a guy in a pick up truck hit our daughter's car then drive away. He had ran behind the truck for awhile and was able to get a partial license plate number, and had called the police on his way down. Sure enough, Anne's car was pretty badly damaged. The truck had been driving on the wrong side of the street and hit it pretty much head on, and the whole front end was mangled. Anne wa pretty upset. She had only had this car for a month, and had just pt the first license plates on it. It had less than three undred miles on it.

The next morning, Anne got a call from a detective. They had found the guy who hit her car. He had called the police to try to turn his damage in as a hit and run and when faced with the evidence, admitted that he had hit Anne;s car and left the scene. Anne was contacted by his insurance company and all worked out well.

So, it has been a couple of months since I have updated this blog. You haven't missed anything at all. Mainly, work has been real busy, and the weather has been hot. Sunflower and I spend our weekends going to estate sales. Lately we have been going to the City Botanical Gardens often just to spend an hour or two walking hand in hand along the trails.

The girls are doing well. Our younger daughter is talking about moving out at the first of the year leaving us with an empty nest. She had moved out for a brief period before, but maybe this time she will find a place she is happy. Our older daughter has a thriving practice and is making a nice living.

The weather is starting to cool off some, and the weekend is coming up.

Good evening friends,

It has been a real busy week, but what else is new? The Fourth of July hit in the middle of a crashing heat wave here. the day before, we noticed it was rather warm in teh house, and by Wednesday morning we had to admit that the air conditioner was blowing hot air into the house. My nephew is a technician for a local heating and air conditioning company. He was able to come Thursday evening and look the unit over. It is old, tired and worn out. We found that it was installed in 1974, so we really don't have a complaint. We have lived in this house since 1986, and it has done fine. My nephew charged it with some freon to get us by while he comes up with a new heat pump for us. he should be able to put it in next weekend.

In the meantime, the heat wave broke, and it is a very pleasant night. I am sitting on the patio with my trusty MacBook and a chilled glass of Eye of the Toad, a dry pinot noir rose from the Toad Hollow winery. I hope you are having a lovely evening too.

Henry, the maltese shi-tzu

SO, despite appearances I have not abandoned this blog. I have just been very busy. Work is as usual, lots to do and not near enouhg time to get it done.

Last week we were notified that my cousin's youngest son (23 years old) was killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq. The funeral is Wednesday. My cousin and his wife were able to arrange to pick the casket up late last evening. They were told the remains were "unviewable."

Decorum prohibits typing my response to this horrendus mess Mr. Bush has created for us.

Good afternoon friends,

So, another week has come and gone. It was amazingly ordinary. Work remains busy as usual. The girls survived yet another barbecue festival and returned safe, if a little hung over. The holiday weekend was one of unhurried relaxation. we went to a morning matinee of the new Pirates of the Carribean Saturday, then an early dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Sunday, the ladies took me out to lunch to celebrate my birthday. Monday we did some yard work. We planted a good sized holly bush and some lilies. After cleaning up, I cooked some steaks on the grill and we enjoyed them with a nice bottle of Bourdeaux.

Today it is back to work.

Just another beautiful evening, Sunflower and I have had the last few days off to celebrate our anniversary. The girls are in Memphis for a long weekend of drunken debauchery. We will pick them up at the airport tomorrow evening, We haven't really done much with our time off except relax. We have slept in, ate at our favorite restaurants, gone to the gym to swim, and caught up on some yard work. Tonight, Sunflower is in the recliner watching a movie, and I am sitting on the patio again with my trusty MacBook and a glass of really nice Zinfandel. Tomorrow we will have the last day of this vacation and then back to work Tuesday, Tonight, we drink wine and relax.

Good morning friends,

Thirty two years ago today, Sunflower and I were married. It has been a great thirty two years. I am sure the next thirty two years will be better

Good afternood friends,

I hope you are having a lovely day.

Sunflower and I slept in a bit, then got out for the day. It is an absolutely stunning day here in flyover country. We started by putting the top down on the jeep. We went to the City Botanical Gardens and walked the trails looking at the last of the early spring flowers and the beginning of the summer stuff.

We Drove to a small town a few miles away to visit Sunflower's favorite quilting store to congratulate the owner for her selection by Quilt Sampler Magazine for the fall 2007 issue's top ten quilt shops.

Back in town, we stopped at the mall and made a payment on our account at the jewelry store, then to Granite City for a delicious lunch.

We shopped around at the various garden stores and picked up a couple of flats of petunias. Sunflower is now distributing them among the various planters. I am doing the heavy lifting, but otherwise sitting at the patio table with my MacBook just enjoying the wonderful Spring evening.

How was your day?