Those are WONDERFUL numbers. Why?

27 represents the 27th of January. 0746  is the time at which the sun is computed to officially rise in Bellingham. And 1700 is the official sunset.

Big deal?

All I can say back to your taunt is: 26  0747 1658  !!!!

Spring is coming! It’s all I have to hang on to right now. Sure it’s been sunny, and unseasonably warm. I can’t wait for ’seasonably warm’!!

Hurry up 16 0406 2015  !!! (As in June 16)

What a lucky guy I am!

First, my son was scheduled to come out to the west coast (Bellevue) for an interview. He works in the computer game industry. That was good enough right there. Seeing my son. I don’t see him often enough - he lives and works around Fairfax, Virginia.

THEN..my youngest daughter surprised me by piggy backing a trip out here with him! She lives near him in West Virginia. So all of my kids were able to be in the same place! Rachel, my oldest lives here in Bellingham.

A wonderful, intense, joyous FAST weekend for me! Throw in a brother-”out”-law (I’m no longer married into his family), my sister, and my wonderful wife..and I was a puddle of joy!

2010 is off to a great start. To quote one of my favorite Lyle Lovett songs:
“I’ve had an excellent time so far,
there’s only one thing that I fear.
I’ve been up so long on this lucky star
it could be all downhill from here.”

Only, he makes it sound better than I make it look right there.

HAPPY NEW YEAR…TO ME!!

I was late with “The Christmas spirit”. The holiday triggers a melancholy feeling in me. I think it’s because my kids are all growed up. They don’t wake me up at insane o’clock on Christmas morning any longer. They don’t shriek at the surprises Santa left. And they are no longer interested in playing with the boxes the surprises come in (more than the gifts themselves).

The good news is I did find the spirit. Better late than never. The weekend before Christmas I rekindled a lost relationship with one of my 2 sisters. It had been too many years since we last talked. After our reunion..I was left with the guilt of why-in-the-world it was lost in the first place. That guilt was far overshadowed by the elation of being back together as brother and sister.

The other jump start for my Christmas spirit was carving out time to go shopping. Calmly. On MY timetable. Finding some just right, thoughtful gifts for Ro. And while wandering about Bellis Fair Mall, I took time to watch Santa. I must’ve looked like a stalker. I was standing there just watching him with the kids and I was smiling ear to ear. Watching those young children. AND those young families.

I think the same thing I was mourning in my life, was the same thing that put me back into a wonderful Christmas spirit.

Thank you Santa. And thank you Elizabeth.

Swine Flu. I didn’t buy into it. I knew it was a bad flu but I was skeptical of how bad it really was. I don’t know why I didn’t react the same way a lot of my friends did. Maybe cuz’ I wasn’t watching the cable news channels that much.

Seriously. I’m no wizard. I had no exceptional wisdom to tell me otherwise. I think it’s just that I’ve become more skeptical in my ’smarter years’.

Don’t get me wrong, I know fear is useful. It’s what makes me react fast. Like when I’m fearful of rear-ending the car in front of me because I was following too close. It’s what makes me file my income taxes. And it’s what makes me get home on time when my wife is making dinner.

I’m vindicated in my lack of fear of H1N1. A new study from Harvard University has found that swine flu isn’t nearly as dangerous as we first thought it was. In order to be labeled a pandemic, a disease has to have a fatality ratio of 0.1%.  But swine flu’s fatality ratio is only about 0.048%, which is LESS than one death for every 2,000 symptomatic infections.

A guy named Marc Lipsitch led the study. He does say that members of certain “high-risk” groups should still get vaccinated against the disease, including young children, pregnant women and the elderly. And asthma sufferers.

And with that, I close this blog. I’m typing this later in the day. Don’t want to be late for dinner.

Is that Clark W. Griswold?

Tis’ the the season! Decorations are getting more glitzy. More expensive. But this one had me literally laughing out loud at my desk. Thanks to my friends Don & Gena for sending it.

An email has been circulating by the decorator who constructed this “display”. Word is that it had caused many to stop and offer assistance and several near-collisions in the neighborhood.

I’m inspired by the large amount of “Say What You Need To Says” that have come in to our website. Being Thanksgiving time, here are some not so oridinary things I’m thankful for:

Being able to smell. Love the coffee aisle in the grocery store!
Dogs noses going up in the air when they catch a wiff of something.
Ice cold beer on a hot, sweaty day.
Lyle Lovett.
I’m thankful for easy video conferencing. To see my daughter on the east coast that way.
Smokehouse almonds.
My sense of humor. My wife’s. My friends’. Yours.

Maybe in 6 months, we should do the opposite. Have an Un-Thanksgiving Day. We could throw turkey bones at people and things we’re NOT thankful for. What are you doing on May 26th?

The weekend was just for us. Me and my Ro.

A nice  hike in the snow up by Mt. Baker. Let the dogs romp without worry of MY dog would geting stupid with people. We slept in Sunday. Did some lazy’ing.

BUT..what happened with my pot roast?!
I was sure I’d prepared it perfectly. Veggies. Some onion soup mix.  And slow cooked in the crock pot for six+ hours. The roast appeared to be tender when I put it into the cooker. But..dang it all. It was mostly tough and chewy.

I was excited to be a good hubby. Make her a nice meal. Smellin’ up the house after a day of us off trapsin’ around.

What’s the secret? I thought it was supposed to be fool-proof. (Ken proof?!)

I’m proud to have been part of the crowd of people to welcome home Army Spc. Aaron Aamot.

Like Aaron, I also didn’t know the people that surrounded me. It didn’t matter. We all had the same thing in common. We wanted to pay our respects and offer a thank you to the young man we didn’t know. It didn’t require knowing those people, like it didn’t require knowing Aaron, to be proud of them..and most certainly of him.

We stood there on the Slater Road overpass waiting for a sight that I’m not sure we were totally prepared to see. As we waited in the chilly sunshine, we made small talk. Some laughter filled the air from time to time.

However, not a word was spoken when the motorcade approached and proceeded under us. It was awe inspiring from that vantage point. A long, proud, patriotic..and sad gathering for a fallen hero.

Not one person moved away from their “station’ for the duration of the motorcade.

And there was not a dry eye on that overpass when it was done.

I’m thankful for young Aaron Aamot’s service. I’m grateful for people like him who put themselves on the line. And I’m glad to have been there with others who shared the same feelings I have.

Ken

I’m ashamed to admit that it took untill my 40’s for me to really grasp it, and to be very grateful to our service people.

I wasn’t contrary to thankfulness. I wasn’t mean or disrespectful by any stretch. It took being in a relationship with an active duty Air Force woman. Ro and I started dating and almost immediately were separated by her deployment - my first time dealing with it. Then again she was deployed when we were newly married.

I’m a baby. We were separated for only 4 months or so, each time. A fraction of the time many, many others have to face. And yet the four month deployments were difficult. I missed her GREATLY. I love Ro for so many reasons. One of them is her sense of duty and the way in which she served with determination and her respect for the Air Force.

And for the first time, I had a new, closer understanding of what it is to men and women to sacrifice their “regular” lives and give tremendously of their selves.

So, to the men and women of the armed services, AND to their families, thank you very much. Not just on this Veterans Day, but on EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIVES.

I spent a good part of my Sunday (remember how gorgeous it was?) on some used tin. Plugging holes with caulk. Lots of holes. I didn’t want water damage on our stuff in our newly constructed storage shed.

It rained yesterday (Monday). I was happy about it so I could see what my results would be.

This score just in:
     Ken Richards    01
     Mother Nature  00