Non IKE Related Freebie of the Day

This is cute! How old is your brain? The site instructions are in Japanese, so read below!

1. Touch 'start'
2. Wait for 3, 2, 1 countdown.
3. Quickly memorize the numbers as they are on the screen, then click the circles
from the smallest number to the biggest.
4. At the end of game, computer will tell you the age of your brain.

How old is your brain?

This morning, not my best time, my brain was 39, really!

Leave a comment and tell me how old is your brain.

de

Approaching Sub-Normal

Within some wide stretch of the imagination, things are slowly progressing back to sub-normal. We're back at home and we've got power, those are the pluses, big ones. Actually, the brides in Lubbock today working. She really wanted to stay here but somebody has to make money to pay for all the repairs and the deductible we'll have. Insurance guy came by yesterday for a "with power" check up. He'd come before and did most of his work but until the power comes back you can't finish. Hopefully, it'll be an adequate number.

Remember I said sub-normal. The pool is a big green mosquito pit. Not sure what that's going to cost. My upstairs AC is down and out. Insurance guy says they won't cover it. AC guy going to call back today. Sleeping in my own bed though under a fan and nights are fairly cool. I've still got the remnants of a bruise the size of Texas on my rear end from where I fell going into the garage on Ikenite. Dr says is a serious muscle bruise that'll take months to heal completely. My foot is still sore from stepping on that nail in the cleanup. First thing back on Sat we dumped the frig/freezer. It had been too much off and on for the past two weeks to really feel good about all that food. Hopefully the smell will soon pass.

Got company coming today from Spain. Young lady named Irina that translated for me several times in Romania and her husband are coming to visit the beach in Texas. Good luck with that. Gotta get a room cleaned out for them to stay in. They have no idea what they are in for. Sounds like fun. Sorry to be depressing. It's all a bit overwhelming at times. But the Lord is good. Perseverance pays dividends in the long run. That's what we're in now, a long run.

got company now, gotta go.
de

Finally, The Meter Turns

We landed at 10 or so this morning in Miami and get to spend a good bit of today awaiting our flight to H-town. As I turned on my cell phone there's a txt msg from Jared, "we have power." Ah, the meter turns. Wish I had been there to see it but at least its on now. Two full weeks since the lights went out on Burnet Bay prior to Ike. We spent some of the past three days calling Centerpoint 3 times a day trying to get some explanation as to why just two of us on our block were without power. They never were able to give us a good explanation. My neighbor tells me she conversed with them fairly early this morning and reported to them our outage and they said they were working on it. Hallelujah, Praise God, and so many more thanks its finally back on. It's a long road to electricity these days in our neighborhood. I'm sure many still don't have it.

I got a roof yesterday. The guy who did the roof on the church just showed up and started working. I had only talked to him once and he said he'd come by, measure, give me an estimate, and so forth. Never did. His crew just showed up and put on the roof. Pretty bizarre. He really didn't have an explanation for why. He apologized for doing so. Weird. But, bottom line is I'm officially dry, I have power, now all I need is for the insurance guy to come back and check everything with the power back on. No way to tell the full extent of things damaged until the powers on. The meter turns, yes it does. Never thought I'd be quite so excited about spending hard earned money that way.

Lord willing we catch our flight and get home this evening about 5. We're a bit tired from the trip. Too much staying up late visiting with our friends who joined us in St Thomas. Alarm went off at 5:30 this am. Can't wait to go through the house, flip on the light switch, and the light comes on. It'll be pretty darned exciting. Can't tell you now many times in that first week I approached the closet to find some clothes, and flipped that switch knowing it was useless.

Guess that's all for now. Still a mound of work to be done at home and the office. That'll wait for another day.

Go Sooners and thanks for those OS Beavers!
de & ke

As the Meter Turns or Doesn't

Hi folks. My moms favorite soap since I can recall was "As the World Turns." Its a daily connection that millions of folks make, just checking on their favorite characters and their makeup TV lives. We've taken up a different daily watching event. When will the power come back on? Unfortunately, there's still no power at our house in Baytown, it'll be two weeks today. Everyone else has power on our block except for two houses, ours and our next door neighbor. All the trucks seemed to have left the neighborhood for greener pastures. Don't mean to sound a downer, its just been a long ordeal, especially for Jared who remains at home, stoking the generator, plodding around in the dark, and without AC. Guess we should continue to pray for Centerpoint energy crews and others as they do the difficult work they do. It's almost impossible to actually talk to a live person with the situation the way it is, and when you finally get someone, they can't tell you anything. There's still lots of other folks without power as well and overall, we were blessed compared to many who lost much more and many who lost everything. The good news is, I've not used one volt, watt, or buzz of electricity in two weeks! At the rate I'm going my next bill may be a big goose egg, although I'm really looking forward for the first time in seeing that meter hum, just as fast as it wants to go. That's my daily soapbox on "as the meter turns," or in our case, as it doesn't turn. Tune in tomorrow, when we hear Jared say, "where the h*#* that Centerpoint truck? Thanks for reading and commenting.

de \bonusblog

How high's the water mama? Here's an interesting link from Noaa weather. You click on the link and watch the water surge into our area during IKE. Looks like the surge at my house was 19.5'. Amatuer weather person and eyewitness to it all while it happened, I guessed 20' surge by the laymens eye.

Oh yeah, St Thomas is nothing short of terrific! Truly coming to be one of our favorite places in the world. Although we did take a fishing trip yesterday and caught nada, nothing, not one fish. First time the guide said he'd ever been totally blanked in 9 years of guiding here in St Thomas.

de

Still Reeling

I have to admit we're still in somewhat of a state of shock over Ike. As of last nights report from Jared we still don't have power but we do have a "red flag" on our power pole. I guess that's some progress. Jared says there was a centerpoint truck outside right by our house so that's good. We owe Jre a big one for letting us bug out and come to St Thomas while he stayed home to watch over things. By the way we got to St Thomas and it rained pretty much for two days. There was a "low pressure distubance" just to the west of here over Puerto Rico and it just stayed and stayed. We even started off the day yesterday with another round of heavy rain but by noon or so the sun came out for a few hours. Sure was nice. Spent most of the day on the island of St John and beached for awhile on Trunk Bay beach. Where was I, must've got lost.

It's hard not to spend a good bit of time thinking about what's going on back at home, when we'll get a roof, when we can start to rebuild the living area of our house. The good news is that the insurance adjuster came yesterday. The bad news is that he can't really finish his work until the power comes back on. We have to wait and check out all the stuff that works via electricity, the AC units, the stove, the alarm system, etc. Needless to say it got wet in our house. Mostly everything that got wet is just stuff, stuff that can be replaced. The church building got power back last night sometime. Two the buildings suffered a good bit of roof damage and then much like our house, got lots of rainwater inside. It'll be awhile before we get back to a full regular schedule of classes and such. We probably didn't do as much there as quickly as we might have because everyone was so focused on their own property, their own mess, just trying to survive with the aftermath of such a storm.

That's all for now. Its early and the coffees on. I think I need some.

de

What Was It Like?

I've had a number of folks ask me since our experience with hurricani Ike, "what was it like, what did it sound like?" I guess I'm still trying to recall, just what it sounded like and I can't seem to hear just the storm itself. The early part of the storm sounded much like any storm you might go through, extra windy. Part of the sound of the storm was covered up by the sound of my generator which faithfully ran all thru the night, giving us light, a fan, and kept the radio going. We lost power pretty early on, about 5 pm, as we were all laying down to rest before the night came. Most folks didn't lose power till 11 pm or midnight or later but for some reason we were one of the first to go. That pretty much hightened our awareness to what was about to come.

The height of the storm came about the time I finally fell asleep, about 2:30 am. We had left a gap in the boards covering the sliding glass door just big enough to get out, just in case we needed to, and also so we could watch the storm as it came in. One of the sounds I recall was the shaking of the boards on the windows. From time to time, they would shake and rattle, and we all kind of wondered would the next one blow them off the windows but thankfully that never happened, neither did it loosen any of them. (I know cause I took em all off) After falling asleep then next sound I recall was my cell phone ringing at 4:30. Mike was calling from the church and his first question was, "David, you awake? its the eye, its the eye, you gotta go out and see." Sure enough I was awake now and we did go out and see.

No sound, no rain, not even a whisper of a breeze, nothing, yes it was truly the eye of the storm. It was eerie calm and quiet, of course no lights, nothing. I drove down to the south end of our street to see "how highs the water mama?" Well the water had risen up the street another entire block of houses. I couldn't get down to check on the Bonds house because the water was too high. Never seen it that high before...hope I never do again. It's still the eye, calm and quiet as I pull back in the drive way. Much of the damage had already been done but not all was finished. I went back in the house and up to the upstairs deck that looks over the bay. I set my chair out on the deck just to sit for a bit. There, during the eye of the storm, flew a couple of lightening bugs, yep its true, there they were flying around like nothings going on.

After a few more minutes of the eye, there was a whisper of a breeze, just a whisper, then...a bit stronger, and then some wind...and within mere minutes we're seeing the back side of the eyewall come thru and hurricane force winds. Back inside now to watch from the safety of the house, the wind is coming off the bay now and I notice I can't really make out the sound of the generator now...not because its not running but because the wind is drowning out the sound of it. I'm still upstairs watching...because I've been calling Mike from channel 11 since meeting him on our street earlier that afternoon. Mike wants an hourly update on the surge in the bay. By 5:30 now the wind is howling, the bay is churning, and 6-8 foots waves are crashing just down the slope in my back yard...one after another...over and over. I wonder will there be anything left of my bulkhead, my pier, and my back yard. The next sound I recall was the upstairs kind of giving this low rumble. It was literally shaking in the wind but ever so briefly. A few minutes later it shook again, then again. That's when I went back downstairs.

The next sound was a big harumph kind of sound...maybe it was a whooosh and thump. Have you ever tried to write sounds...not all that easy. It wasn't like a tree falling on the house but we weren't sure what to make of it and there's no way I'm going outside to see what it was. The wind is clearly blowing 110 mph and I'm not going out. Then Jared says, "dad, I think I hear dripping?" Yep, it was, generator humming, Ike howling, water dripping. That big sound was a big section of my downstairs roof had blown off. It's rolled roofing on the very back part and the storm coming off the bay just got under it like you putting your sheet on the bed, whoosh, and it flipped back just that easy, then the rains began to come in...for the next 4 hours or so.

Well thats another story. Maybe I'll tell about how we got on the roof and wrestled what was left back down on the roof in the middle of the hurricane. Then you'd think I really was crazy. I don't recall many sounds after that because we were busy bailing water for till we put the roof back down. Gotta go now...I'm on vacation.

de

First Airport Post

There's all kinds of firsts. I think this is the first time I've blogged from the airport. Kim and I currently in Miami, awaiting our next flight to sunny St Thomas. We began planning this vacation some 9 months ago not knowing that we would be just on the heels of hurricane Ike. It's been one incredible week at the home port of Baytown. Hard to believe its been only a week! Seven days ago the storm was just beginning to subside and we were still trying to clean up all the water that got into the house in the wee hours after part of our roof blew off. By yesterday the back room of the house had been pretty much gutted, all the ceiling sheetrock and insulation had been removed along with the laminate floor. What a stinking, nasty mess it was. We then sprayed the exposed rafters and roof deck underside with an antimildew spray, let it set, and then began the process of wiping it down with clean water. Hopefully that will kill all the mildew that was beginning to set in pretty rapidly. Now all I need is a new roof. Hopefully that will begin this week. FEMA came by and looked around. Nice enough guy but I don't know that we'll get anything from them. You have buy your generator after the fact for them to reimburse you. If you actually prepare for such an event you're out of luck. That's backwards if you ask me but the government never asked me. Our contractor is ready to start on the house once we get power and some insurance money. Haven't seen any sign of either yet. Still running on generator power for the time being. Jared's there trying to hold down the fort till be get back from a weeks vacation. I'll be blogging from St Thomas about our experience, if I can wake up from trying to catch up on my sleep. Thanks for reading and commenting and mostly for praying for us. We've got a long road to get things back to normal at the house but compared to many we're really, really, blessed.

More later, gotta fly, and catch some ZZZZZZs
de & ke

Sure Sign That Things Are Bad!

Finally found someone in town with electricity and internet! It's amazing just how spoiled and comfortable we are with our lives. Needless to say all that has changed with the coming of IKE! We are still without power and they anticipate it will be several more days if not another week or two. I had wished on a daily basis that I could sit down and blog about our experiences of the past week. In India I got used to being able to tell what was going on even if no one was reading. Blogging was a good outlet but no electricity or internet means no blogging either. I'll try to catch up on some of it over the next week while Kim and I are on vacation. I'm exhausted, so is Kim. Tomorrow we leave for a week in St Thomas that had been planned for 9 months, so we're going. We've done just about all we can do except to see the insurance person. Everything else is lined up. Roofer comes next week. Contractor to rebuild the back room is ready when I have some money. Power comes, well, we don't know when power comes back.

Gonna go now. Gotta pack. Oh yeah, its a sure sign that things are bad when the news helicopters are flying around your house and neighborhood, everyday. Yes, that's right, everyday, sometimes several times a day. The Presidents helicopter went over when he was here too. We saw it when we were all standing outside doing something, I can't recall what. My brain is in a fog, my body is exhausted, my clothes don't smell very good, my back is bruised, my foot is sore, my arms are scratched...time for a little r & r. I'll blog from sunny St Thomas. Hope I can sleep there. Thanks for your prayers.

de & ke

Update from Baytown, Via Dallas

As most of you have probably heard, after a lot of praying and hoping, the Ellis family made it through Ike's fury with no significant injuries and they are doing just fine. Somehow, throughout the storm, cell phone coverage was never lost. Kami and I were actually able to keep in close contact with them almost the entire duration of the storm. We've continued to check in with them as they work to clean things up and my dad asked me to give a little update here on the blog since the authorities are still very uncertain how long they will be without power.

While their bodies made it through the storm unscathed (aside from a little tweak in David's back), the same cannot be said for their home. At the worst part of the storm, the high winds tore off a significant portion of the roof on the rear of the first story. During the next several hours of driving rain and wind, the wood and sheetrock gave way to the water and the back half of their first story suffered a good bit of water damage. The fact that they were able to be there and move a lot of things out of the way ended up being very helpful. They surely would have lost their living room furniture, the piano, and several books among other things had they not been their to move them. The storm surge (which was my biggest concern) never reached the top of the hill in their back yard.

Their preparation prior to Ike seemed to be a huge help in making the last several days (and perhaps the coming days) much more bearable. As he wrote prior to the storm, all of their windows and doors were boarded up. They had ample amounts of gas (for the generator), food, water, and batteries. And they continue to live (relatively) comfortably, "old-school" as my dad put it, but comfortable and safe. At this point, they remain without power. Only a few areas in Baytown have restored power, however they were able to reload on gas.

My mom (probably much to her chagrin) was able to fly out on Monday and go to work. Dad and Jared continue to clean up around the house, in the yard, and help out with neighbors and members of the church when they can.

They wanted me to convey their gratitude for so many of you keeping their family, the Lakewood church, and the entire coastal community in your prayers. This storm could have been a lot worse and they thank God for his mercy through this whole process. Please continue to give thanks and ask God to continue to be with so many who were affected by the storm.

While our family is making it okay, and insurance will cover their losses, others were not so fortunate. Please continue to pray for the many people in Baytown and in Lakewood that lost everything in their homes due to flood and wind damage. Also, like I said before, it is still uncertain when power will be restored and very few people were prepared to deal with this type of situation over the course of more than a couple of days. The next couple of weeks could prove to be very difficult for some.

I will continue to update the blog as things progress. Until then, thanks again for your prayers,

Aaron Ellis

Awaiting Ike

Jared and I just finished boarding up the entire house. Boy it was way faster than doing it all myself, like I did for Rita. Wasn't going to do it but this is a really big storm. It's finally cloudy here. Been sunny most of the day. We have a light breeze and a few raindrops fell a moment ago. All pretty quiet for the time being. The waters up some in the back yard but I'm confident we'll remain dry in the house. We're as ready as we can be, gotta generator, a 110 AC window unit for after the fact, extra ice, bottled water, food, gas, can't think of much else. Kims' been busy filling up every container in sight with water for necessities later. Gonna take a shower now, go by the church to get some more ice, see how things are there, come back here, check in on the weather and then maybe a nap. Not sure I'll blog again but if you don't hear anything, its cause the phones and internet will probably be out for a few days. Pray for us, I know you will.

Take a hike Ike!
de, ke, & jre

Planning for Ike!

Greetings from the Gulf Coast! Just a word to let you know that unless Ike really ramps up to say a Cat 4 we'll be staying at home and riding it out. We've got plywood and are ready to use some of it! I boarded the entire house for Rita and learned all the new windows we put in when we bought the house are guaranteed hurricane proof. So, we may board up a few but not many. My neighbor had a couple of guys boarding her house up till after midnight last night. We have a least one couple who are already planning to stay at the church building so, if it gets really rough and the house doesn't seem like a good place, we'll bug out to our church building which has withstood every big storm since 1954. (Secretly we hope it gets blown down and we could build a new building with the insurance money) We bought a generator and gas for Gustav along with the other necessary items which we didn't use, so we're ready to stay and prepared to be without power for a few days. My cameras are charging in case we want to take pictures or video. Our home phone is internet based so it could be out. Cell phones will be charged. Pray for a hit somewhere other than metro Houston while you're down there praying.

Here's a cool website one friend sent me. It's called stormpulse.com

Here's a video for your enjoyment, while you're waiting for Ike. The sound is not very good but it is the Eagles.

Here's to Ike,
de & ke

Eagles were awesome!

The Eagles were nothing short of awesome last night. I do believe the sound quality was a bit better in the Compaq center some 5 years ago when we last saw them. Last time we took all three of our kids and thoroughly enjoyed then too. All in all, the Assisted Living Tour they called it, these old boys have still got it. Nothing short of amazing. They started the first set with 4-5 songs from the new album and started the second set the same way from Long Road. No doubt of course the rest of the time was a variety of their stuff from back to 1972 till now, Hotel California, Life in the Fast Lane, Lyin Eyes, what they called their wives credit card song, you guessed "Take it to the Limit," you're right, along with 3 or4 of Joe Walsh's classic tunes, "Life's Been Good to Me So Far", "Walk Away" and then they encored with Take it Easy, and Don Henley singing Desperado solo.

After the encore the four of them stayed out on stage, walked to each side of the stage, stood there and smiled and waved for the crowd, like they truly enjoyed it and appreciated the enthusiastic crowd response. All in all they did almost 3 hours of songs. Said they were glad to be in Houston but, they were going to do the other show on Thursday and get the heck out of town before Ike! They'll be in Big D this weekend Sat & Sun. Might be the last hurrah for them touring. Hope not but not sure the quality they've come to expect will be with them much longer, voice wise.

One other thought though, there sure were a lot old people there last night. What's with that?

Oh yeah, for now we're staying put and watching to see what happens with Ike.

Life's been good to me so far,

de

Eagles Concert Tonight!

In my teens and 20's I was a big concert goer. Just loved everything about them. My first concert was going to see Three Dog Night at the Fairgrounds arena in OKC. Some of the most memorable (well I honestly don't recall them too well) or maybe momentous is a better word, were the days of the "Cotton Bowl Jam" in Dallas. I went several times that I recall. The first one was headlined by Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. It appears it cost $13. The backup band was the Eagles. I really didn't care that much about the Stones, I went for the Eagles, not Montrose, Trapeze, Billy Preston or any of those other groups. Jam 2 headliners, on July 23, 78, were Fleetwood Mac, The Steve Miller Band, Little River Band, and Bob Welch. I got stuck online looking for that Stones concert and I swear I can't find it. Either I've got the wrong year in my head or I just dreamed it up. Those senior moments are coming far too often these days or that's how it was in those days.

I certainly won't relive too much of that time tonight as the bride and I go to see the Eagles. And not to mention tickets tonight are higher than they were in the 70's but I swear the Eagles sound just as good now as they did then. Well, that's all for now. Gotta go exercise, take the bride to eat then to sing along with my all time favorite band.

It's a long road to eden,
de

Blogs I've Found

I assume from gradual climb on the site meter that some are reading my wanderings from time to time. Do me a favor, ok? One of these times comment and say, de you're sille, or nuts, or off just a tad, or something like that! It just keeps me writing. Well, yes there's certainly some question about whether or not you could really call it writing. It's not ranting, I did that yesterday for a time when I preached.

I thought today I'd pass along a couple of blogs I found that are pretty cool. You've probably heard about how "bloggers" seem to be all the rage, especially in the area of politics. The bloggers are saying this and that. I found a site you might want to read.

It is: pajamasmedia.com Here's what they claim for themselves. Pajamas Media began in 2005 as an affiliation of 90 of the most influential weblogs on the Internet. They were linked together as an advertising network, but the intention was to provide a significant alternative to mainstream media. Now who isn't interested in an alternative to the mainstream media?

The other site is all about weather. No, its not weather.com, God help us we'll all be blown away if we don't die from panic, histeria, or worry ourselves completely to death. Headlines news in the Houston Barnicle this morning said, "hurricane fatigue" starting to set in. Mine is weather.com fatigue. Hey, I know Ike is out there. I'm watching. Yeah, I'd rather not be watching but I know who is in control. I'm ready as I can be. Who knows, the Lord could come back before Ike gets here. That would be just fine with me. Oh yeah, here's the site. It's from Nasa. For hurricanes its this one, named after my favorite grandson. NOAH

Not really, (don't forget to comment)
de

Tis The Season!

No, certainly I know its not that season. Christmas is still aways away, and yes I know its football season, (see previous post) its hurricane season. I grew up in Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin down the plain, and there we called our storm threats tornadoes. We lived right in the middle of what's called tornado alley and in the spring mostly, you better watch out, you better not cry, sorry, Christmas brain. Where was I, in the spring, a cool front matched with the warm air made for some pretty exciting storm watching. Thank the Lord for much better technology these days which makes it easier to keep track of, where Santa is and when.

But having lived on the Gulf Coast now for almost 20 years, wow that's a long time, we don't watch for tornadoes much but we have hurricane season. From somewhere in July thru November there's always the chance some storm named after some guy or gal will come our way. The good news is that with hurricanes you usually get pretty good advanced notice, sometimes days or even weeks. Unfortunately you can't send in a wish list and get what you ask for, some rain, a little wind, and nothing out of the ordinary. So, we watch and wait.

It seems now that the weather channel is following the lead of the major news channels in ramping everybody up into panic mode, a little like getting all your shopping done in time for the big day. And in fact getting ready for a storm is a bit like Christmas in the stores. Everybody's out, making their lists and checking them twice, getting the last minute items, planning their possible road trip to grandma's, except they're all at Lowe's and Home Depot or Sam's club and they're not buying dvd's or clothes or dad a tie, they're buying bottled water, generators, plywood, batteries, and gas-cans.

We went out with the shopping frenzied crowd and bought a generator this last time with Gustav. He looked pretty menacing and in fact he was, except for the fact we got little of nothing from him. At our house Gus amounted to three days of wind that wrapped around the storm, a few clouds, and exactly 10 drops of rain one day, that's it. Thank you Lord. Gratefully, La was spared the kind of storm like Katrina exactly three years ago. Unfortunately, about 3 weeks later a little known and quickly forgotten storm named Rita came our way, ripped up folks just 30 miles east of here and well into western La. In all the hype over Gus and looking back at Katrina, I saw not one picture nor one mention of Rita and her impact on lots and lots of good people, and that Houston's evacuation was much larger than Nola. At least they seemed to have learned a lesson. Keep watch, be prepared, and take care of yourself.

So, we watch every day, for Hanna, or Ike, or my grandma's namesake, Josephine, or the one behind that. Oh yeah, and we watch the political news. Fun, fun, fun. Was that hurricane Palin last night or what? Oh well, tis the season!

We wish you merry hurricane season,
We wish you merry hurricane season,
We wish you merry hurricane season,
for the rest of the year! (till Nov really)

live from de's Gulf Coast watch station,
de

Schools back, footballs back, Jareds' back

Fall marks the coming back of lots of good things. School is back in session. Doesn't really affect me much anymore cause all my kids are done with school for now. I can feel the anticipation though in those in my circle of folks mostly at church. It seems that all the children look forward to school again for the most part, parents really look forward to it, except for those making their first foray into the school system and those who have kids going off to college.

The good news is that football comes with school. Yeah. I like football. Not sure I could say I love it, but I really do enjoy it, especially High school ball. I think football season can be one of the all-time great experiences of High school, whatever part you might have the opportunity to play. I'm sure has to do with my HS years I spent in the band, watching Kami drum-major, and yelling for Jared as he played. I was a band dork/geek/nurd or however you name them. If there was anything ever I was a "natural" at it was music. Music was then and always will be a part of my soul, God-given I think. If ever I could fly or do anything close to what those Olympic athletes could do, it was in the area of music. Well, that's certainly a stretch, but I couldn't help it. I've loved music, I loved HS band, and my dad was the local newspapers "Sports Editor," so I loved football as well. If not he might have disowned me. Deep down I think dad always dreamed I'd be a football star but I drew the music card, not the athlete one. Sorry dad! I ramble....and can't wait for REL Gander football, oh yeah, the Sooners too! Speaking of which, check out this article on Bob Stoops. Pretty impressive guy and fair coach too.

What else, oh yeah, Jareds back but I already said that in a previous post. He's about settled in and working quite a bit at Best Buy. Selling appliances one day, working the floor as Customer Associate the next. He got the people gene from my dad. I used to dred going places with my dad because sometime it took forever cause he'd either see somebody he knew to talk to or he'd just meet somebody brand new and strike up a conversation as though he'd known them for like, ever. I didn't get that gene, Jared did. Jared's honestly glad to meet anybody and if you need something, he'll sell it to you. I'm proud of him and honestly just really glad to have him home for awhile.

Kim's not back yet. August has been her busiest in more than a year. Last August she hurt so much, I just didn't know how much longer she'd be able to work. She managed another month, almost two then our life changed in India but that's another story. Thank God for that life change and that she's able to do again what she loves so much. She'll be back after this week.

The Sims ladies are back from India and so are Brad & Jenny back from Germany. You can check out their blogs from links right here on my blog.

That's all for now. Hopefully, I'll be back, blogging again soon.

Till then, sing along now!

"take me out to the football games,
take me out to the crowd,
take my own peanuts enjoy halftime,
I dont care if my words never rhyme,
well its root, root, root for the Sooners, Ganders, and Texans,
(fill in your own team if it makes you feel better)
if they don't win it a shame,
and its run, pass, and kick for the goal
at the ole football game.

Cya, de

Million Miler Club

There's a lot going on around the household right now. Jared's moved back from Abilene and is awaiting his job to begin at Best Buy. Yep, they transferred him from that store to this one which is really great news. Hopefully, he'll knock em over at the interview tomorrow for a full-time CA position. That would be really ideal. Either that or part time in the appliance section. Either way it should mean higher pay than he was making.

The bride's on the road again. We're thankful for that because her work has been pretty slow, compared to what it was last year and since we went to India. August is always her busiest month and this one proves to be the same. This week its five cities in five days. Last week was four cities in five days, from Nashville to Florida and ending up in California. She took the redeye home from CA on Friday night Sat morning. She got home at 7 am on Saturday morning, pooped needless to say. Then it was back to the airport a little more than 24 hours later. The good news is, she's working, and she is able to do it!

Oh yeah, I'll try to post a pic of her "million miler" tag she just got from Continental. It's pretty cool. She's a silver elite flyer for the rest of her life, even if she never flies that much again. The other good part is that I get the same status as her, silver elite from now on and if she reaches platinum so do I. Thanks hon. Love you and keep on flying.

de

Almost Missed WhatshisName!

Well, I'm back from the West, or great NW, or as some call it, Abilene. I already had plans to fly out on Monday afternoon to go to ABL, help Jared finish packing, and move him back home. It just so happens that a tropical storm came right over the house while I was gone. I still can't seem to spell Edwawrd, Edward, Eddy, Edweirdo, or what ever the name of the storm was. Whatever the name, he didn't amount to all that much. I flew into ABL at 4:30, we got the truck, met my brother for dinner, and waited for the sun to go down before loading. (always recommended in ABL in the summer) We worked till after 1:30 am and slept till the trash truck arrived about 7:30 to dump the big metal dumpsters. We finished loading and cleaning up the best we could with no electric, which was turned off about 8 am, made a quickstop by McD's for breakfast, Wally world for gas, and hit the road. It was basically uneventful until we hit Fairfield on I45. Yeah, I45 in order to miss Edwaourd. See it was supposed to go right up 290, towards Hey 36 which we would normally drive so we drove to Ft Worth, down 287, I45, then south.

About Fairfield we me Ed who was much less of a storm than he had been earlier in the day but still quite exciting. We drove in a driving, hard rain for almost 2 & 1/2 hours, then it quit just outside H-town. Pretty harrowing if I do say so myself. J's truck is nothing if not squirrely on the hiway, much less in a driving rain with bigrigs zooming by you at 65-70 mph. I prayed pretty much the whole time for us both. We made it with the help of several good folks who came over about 7 pm to help us unload the truck.

So in about 17 hours, I left H-town, did way too many stairsteps loading and unloading, had an exciting drive home, and still managed to meet ole whats-his-name, the Edster. Maybe he'll cool off Dallas. It sure was hot there yesterday.

de

Friends Overseas

Before last October I had never really heard of anyone going overseas for medical treatment. Kim and I went to India and it turned out terrific. Right now we have to sets of friends going over the pond for treatment. Here's there blogs if you want to take a look.

Vickie & Debra Sims are at Wockhardt Hospital in Mumbai,
http://livingourdream247.blogspot.com/

Brad & Jenny Wims are leaving for their 2nd trip to Germany for experimental cancer treatment.
http://www.thewims.blogspot.com/

Read their blogs and most importantly add them to your prayers.

de

Kim Gets Her Masters Degree

This past Saturday, Kim got her Masters degree from the University of Phoenix. Her mom & dad, her brother Ken and his family were all there to witness. Heres some video of the event.

Bride is now a Graduate again!

Yeah, yeah, I know I haven't blogged lately. It's not that there's not plenty to blog about, its just been very busy. The highlight of all our busyness is my brides graduation day. Today was that day. We flew in to OKC just in time to avoid the rain in H-town from Dolly. We really needed the rain though. The bride was working OKC on Thursday, then it was time for a trip to Duncan to visit the family for a day. That is always a pleasure. On Thursday A,A&N drove up from Forney for the night. We spent the next day visiting and everybody enjoying the little ones antics, had some mum-cooked food which is always a treat and headed back to OKC.

Then, this afternoon, the bride officially received her Masters of Arts in Education, Curriculum and something from the University of Phoenix. Yeah, I know we're in OK not in Phoenix but they've got campuses all over and this one was convenient for her to "walk." There were a couple of hundred graduates from Associates degrees to two Doctorates. The speaker was the honorable Mayor of OKC. I was really proud of the work she put in and that we were able to go through the official ceremony. Her folks and brothers' family came in from Muskogee for a few hours to see it all happen and of course to see Noah! He's really a special addition to our clan.

As she walked in with the graduates, waited her turn, and took those steps up the stairs to the official announcement I couldn't help but think that if it had all happened last year, she wouldn't have been able to make that walk, much less those five steps up to the stage and back down the other side. What a blessing her surgery continues to be in both our lives.

The Lord continually watches over us and blesses us at every turn.

Thank you Jesus! Love you dear and congratulations on all your hard work. I'm really proud of you, your courage, and all you've accomplished.

I'll post a video later, much later I'm sure.

de

What You Don't See

Saw this and just couldn't resist. Not original with me.

Just a personal observation...as I watched the news coverage of the massive flooding in the Midwest with over 100 blocks of the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa under water, levees breaking, and the attention now turned downstream for when this massive amount of water hits the Mississippi, what amazed me is not what we saw, but, what we don't see...

1. We don't see any looting.
2. We don't see any street violence.
3. We don't see people sitting on their roof tops waiting for the government to come save them.
4. We don't see people waiting on the government to do anything.
5. We don't see Hollywood organizing benefits to raise money for people to rebuild.
6. We don't see people blaming the President for all that's happened.
7. We don't see people ignoring evacuation orders.
8. We don't see people blaming a government conspiracy to blow up the levees as the reason some have not held.
9. We don't see the US Senators or the Governor of Iowa crying on TV.
10. We don't see the Mayors of these cities complaining about the lack of state or federal response.
11. We don't see or hear reports of the police confiscating personal firearms so only the criminals will be armed.
12. We don't see gangs of people going around and randomly shooting at the rescue workers.
13. You don't see some leaders in this country blaming the bad behavior of the Iowa flood victims on "society" (of course there are no wide spread reports of lawlessness to require excuses).
14. We don't see any foriegn countries offering assistance.

Thanks dad.

I'm fairly sure my dad has no clue what he started. This past weekend Kim and I took Kami to Austin to photo her first wedding as the "official photographer." Boy did she work hard, so hard I'm sure that if we weren't there she would've totally neglected herself. The whole time she was working I was taking her water and feeding her tidbits from the food already out. Shh! don't tell anyone. The videographer asked me how many weddings she'd done before and I informed him, this is her 1st! He then replied, "well let me tell you something, I've been doing this for over 25 years and I can tell you, she's got a fantastic eye for good photos and she works as hard as anyone I've ever seen. She'll do great as a photographer. It made me proud. She took over 1100 photos in just a few hours.

Back to my dad. I'm not ever sure how many of the grandkids know that he started as a photographer in the newspaper business, back in Abilene, back in the day as my kids would say. I'd have to confirm the year but somewhere around 1948 he was taking pictures for the Reporter News when one of his photos made national news, a photo of some awesome looking clouds in West Texas. They can see some amazing, even scary stuff out there. Anyway, that was his start, taking pictures.

Now Kami's an aspiring professional photographer. Not sure when you make the official transition or maybe she already has. I read Heather's blog and know how big a picture bug she is, and Blaine, and Jared. They not only just enjoy taking pictures, they aspire to be better, to take great photos, to experiment, to "see and capture life through the photographers lens." And of course surely one of my favorite photo and video stops is Allisons blog cause there's pictures of my favorite grandson.

Thanks dad, you may not have known it but you passed along something really terrific.

de

Slip and Slide

To say that Kim is doing well is an understatement. I'll just post a video of her sliding down the hill behind the house on Mother's Day weekend. Check it out. It's not Doctor approved but it sure was fun, thanks to Aaron and James for the creativity. lol

Vegas & back

If anyone out there is still reading, the bride and I just got from Las Vegas. Wockhardt Hospital contacted us and asked her to come and speak on their behalf on "the patient experience. Just about anytime someone wants to pay for you to take a trip somewhere, do it. We arrived early on Friday, rented a car, stopped at Walmart for food, drinks, snacks and a styrofoam icechest and headed away from Vegas. After WM, we went and toured Hoover Dam. I'd always wanted to see it and it is worthwhile to see. We took the extended tour which takes you to the power plant and deep within some of the tunnels in the dam. We navigated an "inspection tunnel" deep inside the dam to look out on the river below. Very cool and to think that it was all built in the early 1930's. From there we headed to points south down the Colorado river, through Kingman. Its all desert mountains except for right on the river. Hot and dry and there's nothing really green except for cactus, mesquite and stuff that's by the water. We stayed the night by another lake on the Colo river in Lake Havasu City, AZ. http://www.golakehavasu.com/

On Sat we drove farther down the river and found a nice place and spent the afternoon at La Paz County state park watching folks boat, jetski, and play in the 55 degree water. I got in the water but just briefly to cool down and I mean cool. We both got sunburned but had a great time, picnicing and relaxing.

We drove on further south and made a Uturn around the river at Parker, AZ, and drove the edge of the Mohave desert on the other side of the river, up through Needles, CA, through Bullhead City, Laughlin, again on the river, and eventually back to Henderson, outside of Vegas for the night so we could pick Jared up at the airport on Sunday. We found a nice church there, about 75 folks, in Henderson, picked up Jared, checked into the hotel after touring around and seeing some of the sights. We rested a bit in the afternoon, then went out to see The Blue Man Group show which we all enjoyed a lot.

Monday I spent with the bride and her speaking at the Medical conference. She and another patient from near Reno both spoke on their patient experience at Wockhardt. The other lady had just gotten back from climbing Mt Kiliminjaro. Went back out to Hoover Dam on Monday afternoon cause Jared wanted to go, then back to Vegas and a little more sight seeing that night. J visited some tatoo shop in the Palms, no he didn't get a tat, then to the Hard Rock for a cup. (he's got lots of Hard Rock cups) We all turned in relatively early LV time and left for the airport at 5:30 am on Tuesday. Truth is LVegas is not really our kind of town, neat to see but I didn't gamble one penny and the shows are pricey. It's ok with me if I never leave another dollar in Vegas, but lots of other people certainly are.

latr, de

STB Saturday night video

Here's a link to Forrests sisters myspace. She posted a video, looks like from a regular camera, of one of the STB new songs, "Give It Away." Not too bad. It was Saturday night in Tomball.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=33192093

Another First

I've been thinking for days/weeks that I really should blog. I realize you don't keep readers if you don't write on the blog. You may not keep them anyway! lol Blame it on spring...yeah, that's the ticket...or on the Rockets...yeah...no...Astros...better now...helping A&A paint and move...that's done...the quartet...well, we have sang a couple of times recently and practice weekly...nah...the internet has been out...nope...computer malfunctioned...thats lame and untrue...truth is there's really no excuse.

I guess I just figured to blog at least as often as my lovely daughter and to stay ahead of my oldest son...ha! that won't be hard. If you haven't looked at the pics of my favorite grandson on his mom's blog...do it now! Forget this old man and his seldom written blog...check out my handsome...smart...personality filled grandson...Noah.

Did have a first this past Saturday though. The STB quartet sang and the Spring Creek church of Christ grand opening of their new building. Made the drive up there...hung out for awhile. We do a lot of that. Saw one of the kids friends from way back...a sweet girl named Avery. Another group was there singing...The Joy Singers out of Bay City. We sang with them last week...a really nice group of folks. Anyway, they sang...we took a brief break...then we sang our latest program with four new songs...thank goodness for new songs.

After we were done singing we try to visit and talk with folks for a few minutes...then its time to break down the equipment and hit the road. It takes a lot more effort than you realize to deal with the sound equipment...anyway we're breaking stuff down and hauling it outside when a couple of folks walk up with our CD and ask for my autograph.

I can't ever recall that happening before even when I was singing with the School of Preaching quartet back in the late 80's. Maybe it did and I can't recall. Actually I think I ended up signing three different CD's before the night was over. Kinda weird...pretty cool though...fun. They didn't just want mine by the way...they wanted the whole group to sign.

Well, that's all for now. I finally got a facebook account. Enjoying finding my way around on that site.

For those checking on Kim. She's doing better all the time. She rode the stationary bike three times last week 20-30 minutes. Pretty amazing. Praise God.

C ya,
de

Greetings!

Greetings bloggers or at least blog readers, ye who spend an inoridnate amount of time surfing for something interesting to do or to read. I recommend moving on to the next stop because this is not all that interesting. In fact, the bride and I are becoming quite normal again, as much as we ever were "normal." We're doing things we haven't done in years and not really thinking about it too much. You probably don't think about it all that much but the bride is again cooking, cleaning, laundry, even getting her own gas and going to get her car inspected. I know it all sounds very normal for the spouse to do that stuff but my sweet bride hasn't been physcially able to do that in well....years. I'm not sure how many but several, it just hurt too much to move around.

We went to Houston on Friday, visited someone in the hospital at St Lukes, then on to Reliant to the NCAA BB games. We parked, we walked, did stairs, and walked and walked, like normal folks do and don't think much about it. For years we haven't been able to do that kind of stuff but now, we can do it. Praise God. I got my wife back! I'll probably begin sometime to take it for granted again but I'm not sure when. Mostly I just walk, hold her hand, and periodically smile and enjoy her ability to keep up with me.

Oh yeah, Wockhardt Hospital in India contacted us and want mom to come to Vegas to speak for some kind of medical seminar in May. Their International Relations person has 30 minutes and wants mom to speak for 10. They're going to pay our way. Very cool indeed.

Here's a link to the thing she's speaking at. Scroll down and see Pradeep from Wockhardt in Mumbai. She's taking some of his 30 minutes.

http://www.consumerhealthworld.com/medtours08/progmonday.aspx?day=Monday

Welp, got jury duty today. Onward to do my civic duty.

cu down the road,
de

Quickblog

Hello there,

Just a quickblog to update you on the bride and I and our goings on. I preached on Sunday, went home, loaded up my Silverado truck with a bunch of tools, the bride, and the dog. We dropped the bride at the airport and headed to Forney, TX. We spent the week there helping the middle son and his wife get there newly purchased house ready for move in, or at least a bit closer. Worked all or part of 7 straight days with help from everyone, uncle J, great grandpa Poppie, Art, Madison, Debra, and of course A & A. There was plumbing, painting, light fixtures, painting, flooring and more painting to do. Here's a few pics from the week. Didn't have time to take too many but its looking good. My favorites are obviously of Noah sitting on his back patio, feet in the grass, just enjoying it. He sat there for several minutes just taking it all in. Oh yeah, Kim flew in on Thursday and worked like a champ the whole time she was there, painting, cleaning, did I mention painting? She wouldn't have been able to do any of it just a few months ago and now she's sore just like the rest of us. What a blessing she is!

de & ke


paint the trim Allison..................love the porch dad!

enjoy the outside.............& inspect the grass

pull the grass Noah................paint the wall dad!

show off the new floor.................... enjoy the floor

survey the living room....................paint the kitchen

install the lights

Election Over! Amen

Greetings from a bright, beautiful, sunny 70 degree day here in Houston. Not a cloud in the sky, neither is there one political campaign ad on the TV! Hallelujah. It's finally over, for awhile anyway.

Not much else to say today. Brides off to San Diego. Thought I might get to go but I'm headed to Forney instead. Yes, you heard right, the big town of Forney, TX. Seriously, A&A are supposed to close on their house on Friday. If all goes well come Sunday, I'll load the truck up with tools of all kinds and head up there for a week to paint, plumb, sand, well, you get the idea. There's lots to do and I'm going to spend a week helping them do it.

I honestly can't wait cause its stuff I love to do. Kim will fly in to DFW on Thursday and spend the rest of the weekend doing the same or keeping Noah while others do...or whatever.

Funny below.

I had a friend who tried this, God rest his soul.

A dog is truly a man's best friend!
If you don't believe it, just try this...
Put your dog and your wife in the trunk of the car for an hour.
When you open the trunk, look to see who is really happy to see you!

cya down the road,



de

Kidstuff!!

Thought I'd take a few lines to fill you loyal readers (both of you) in on some things you probably already know. Our oldest Kami, living in Cooperstown, NY, is still there, freezing her you know what this time of the year. Once in awhile she sends me a pic message with either massive amounts of snow or the temp from the weather channel of like -10 degrees or something. Honestly, even though we miss her and James being closer, we couldn't be prouder of them. He's doing a fantastic work at the Baseball Hall of Fame under what has been difficult circumstances as of late. She's a nanny, a very good one I'm sure, and is taking more and more photos and getting better all the time. If you haven't checked out her blog and some of her pics you can do so with the link on the sidebar here. Not to mention her hub is preaching full-time at the church there in C-town. It's a real mission point for sure and I know they work hard in that respect to help build up the church there.

The middle one Aaron, Allison, and grandson Noah live in Garland. Aaron's working at an outfit called Dental One. People ask me what he does and I'm honestly not sure I can tell you. He started in marketing, went to payroll, and been promoted to a new job in January. I'm fairly certain he's in charge of a bunch of Dental practices in Colorado, one of the company's most produtive areas. The exciting news for them is that they are waiting to close on a house they are trying to buy in Forney, Tx. Lord willing by next weekend they may close. It's not "ready to move in" yet so they need to repair a few minor things, paint, and replace some flooring but, its only 5 years old and a really nice house in a new subdivision. We couldn't be more excited for them. I don't think they expected to buy this soon, but hey, its a buyers market and the thing just opened up for them. You can also check out Allison's blog on the sidebar for updates on their family.

The youngest Jared is taking a temporary hiatus from ACU and has just begun training at Best Buy. It's really one of the few spots he's always wanted to work, selling electronix, videos, big screens and the like. He's had a rough past couple of weeks with the death of a very close friend and most recently strep-throat. But he's recouping now, will finish he training phase soon at BB and get the coveted BB blue shirt. If anybody could enjoy that kind of work and do really well at it, its Jared. He's a great people person and is really into the latest technology.

Well, that's a brief update on the kids. We rite proud of them all and how they are doing.

Cya, de

A Whole New World

It seems like all I've blogged about for the past 6 months has been my beautiful bride. To tell you the truth she's been the focus of most of my time, regular and spare time. Who really has "spare time" like you keep it in your trunk or something and get it out when you have a flat. Sorry, I hope none of you know, alltho some do, just how difficult it can be when your best friend is suffering and there seems to be no relief in sight. Yes, we adjusted in many ways but still to see them suffering so, it stinks.

Well all that's changed now. Suffice it to say, she sleeps, she eats, she walks! All those things are actually recent occurences at our house. You mean she didn't sleep or eat or walk, well not very well or for very long? There were other limitations but she made me promise I'd keep those to myself. Love you, dear! For nearabout 10 years, she didn't sleep for more than say 4 hours on lots of nights. Now she can lay horizontal, eyes closed for 8/9 hours. Sometimes I have to wake just to make sure its still her and she's not dead or something. lol

She told me just today, how exciting it is now to walk along with people, normal like, to keep up and not get tired so fast. Of course part of that involves her work, being around school buildings and airports and hotels and lots of walking. The thrilling part is, she's doing all that and enjoying it, pain free. It's a whole new girl I'm living with now.

Happy Valentine's Day all,
de

Something New Almost Every Day

Every day now I realize I'm now living with a whole new person. After 28 years of marriage that's an experience. I guess I didn't realize just how much our lives had changed over the past 4 or 5 years with Kim's health getting worse and worse. Well, all that's changed now that we finally found out the problem, made the trek to India, and she's recovering so well. She left Sunday for a weeks work in Kansas and didn't take her walker. That was a first for I imagine 9 months or more. After the surgery it was a real help to her recovery and comfort when she walked through airports and around schools and such. This time no walker. She's doing just great too, even in the ice and snow they got in Kansas last night.

Another new experience happened when we went to the store one evening recently. We stopped at the store to pick up a few things and she went in with me. That may seem normal for you but she hasn't been able to do that comfortably in at least a couple of years. It just hurt too much to get out, walk around, and to get back in the store. She also went shopping by herself and walked all around mall. Pretty scary if you ask me. Haven't had to worry about that in several years. She just couldn't do it but now she can. All those little things we each do every day and pretty much take for granted, we're enjoying the simple pleasures of normal life again.

If we could just both shake the winter "crud" we've both had for almost two weeks. Maybe soon.

By the way, in your prayers remember Jared and his friends at ACU. A close friend named Zack took his own life on Sunday night. He'd been at Jareds' apartment just a day or two before. Services are tomorrow in Ft. Worth. Aaron and Allison are trying to buy a house in Forney so check Allison's blog for more info.

I promise to post some pics as soon as I find that cable that hooks my camera up to the computer. It seems to have gone missing since Christmas.

Thanks for reading,
de

Something very cool

Yesterday afternoon something very cool happened at the office. I walked from my office to Darla's office I heard a familiar voice, it was Kim. That's a little unusual as she doesn't spend too much time around the church office but she was off this week so there she was. The cool part was how she got there. It was pretty yesterday afternoon, a bright sunny 72 degrees or so, so she walked! She walked from our house to the church office. It's right at 8/10s of a mile. She was a bit winded and sat for a few minutes but made it almost a mile. Very cool indeed. Then after we got home I asked her if she wanted to go to the gym (24 hour fitness) and spend some time in the pool and such so she did. I worked out for awhile and caught up to her in the pool doing exercises. When I left the house this am she hadn't made it out of bed yet but she is really making big strides these days. We're just now 90 days from her last surgery so its really cool to see her progress. I praise God every single day she gets better and isn't in that terrible pain.

Long time no blog!

Well, its not really been that long since I blogged. Thought I'd update you and give you something cool to see. Kim finally appears on the Wockhardt Hospital website and and youtube.com with her interview from the side of the hospital bed while we were there. Pretty cool I thought but she wasn't too fond of it when she saw it.

Here's the links. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS8D9D3n44o

http://www.wockhardthospitals.net/testimonial/kim_ellis.htm

They are both the same video. Enjoy! I promise to take some video of Kim tomorrow and post on the blog so you can see her progress and praise God with us.

de