Happy New Years Eve!!

I was making good progress with my poncho (which still remains unclaimed and feeling very bad for itself since no one wants it) when that four letter word reared it's ugly head - W-O-R-K. I did my first official day of orientation, the second picture is the river I have to cross to get to the hospital, don't you just love it? The day was bit slow and usual for orietation, Karen gave me a boatload of information I won't ever remember. I also had to take a rather involved online test which took the FULL hour and a half which was more due to fact I was continously being kicked off, answers not being recorded, etc. Despite all I got an 88 and Karen said she would have to look at the test herself since I got the same answers wrong everyone else did. The rest of the day was pretty good and all paperwork. Today I am orientating on the ICU and off for the weekend. David is making good his threat of extending the loft over the dining room, he's waiting to hear if his bid on a job will be accepted and wanted to get this done now while he has the time. It looks like it'll go quickly. The people that bought the house next door are out this week, David didn't realize that when he was busy yelling for Charger this morning who was off eating "gifts" from the deer, luckily he didn't call out any of Charger's alternate names. The snow is still here but I think it will melt soon, I can't believe LI got 4 more inches than we did. They're calling for it to be in the 50's next week! Jackson's already complaining about the end of his vacation and getting back to school. Adam seems to be doing fine and hopefully has adjusted to the time zone. I'm sure he'll be staying close to the ship as he is broke. And before I forget - Happy New Year's Eve!

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Jackson turned 15 yesterday. His favorite present this year was from Aunt Janet and Aunt Diane - a cell phone! I turned it on and Aunt Janet called at midnight since by then it was the official time for his birthday. He played with it all day yesterday, we know every ringer tone he has. We took him to the mall in Wilkes-Barre to shop and spend some of the money he got - his favorite store Hot Topic is there where all the clothes are black and very Dramatic and seem to have chains and so forth hung from all corners . The boots he wanted weren't there so David's taking him to an Army store today. We then went to Dickson City so he could go to Game Stop which for Jackson is as close to a religious experience as you can get. He no longer goes to church because he's going through a mad at god phase while exploring other beliefs so we go along with that, he and the big guy will just have to work it out on thier own. For his birthday dinner we did Olive Garden at 2pm and were going to do a bit more shopping but then the unpredicted snow started - what a mess! EVERYONE was making a dash for home so traffic was tied up forever. I'll tell you one thing - I would never buy a minivan, they cannot handle even an inch of snow. They were the only cars sliding and spinning thier wheels. David didn't mind the traffic too much because I put on a radio station that plays ALL the songs you know the words to. Jackson just turned his CD player up to avoid having to hear Buttercup and anything by Diana Ross.  We bought a boston creme pie for the birthday cake as Jackson doesn't eat regular cake and being unable to find birthday candles used a tealight. Whatever works. We've heard from Adam, a list of the stuff he forgot but he seems to be fine. I'm guessing he didn't get in trouble over his leave papers which clearly state on the top DO NOT DESTROY OR LOSE, but didn't say anything about running them through a washer and dryer (oops). He had taped them together so I guess they passed. His ship is going into drydock pretty soon so hopefully that will give him time to look into college loans, etc.. to prepare for his Dramatic Exit in a year and a half.

Sad To See It End....

I woke up feeling not so good this morning. Nothing concrete, just a bit sick to my stomach, vague headache, tired, achey. I'm not sure if I'm coming down with a cold or perhaps the cumulation of a busy and stressful holiday season. Quitting a job, getting a job, Adam's coming home - and the usual messy send off,  the first Christmas and Jackson's first birthday spent away from home. Adam (from what we can figure) must've caught the next flight out and then hopefully transferred in O'hare for Japan. We haven't heard from him yet which is causing mild anxiety - I know with the time zones and his 18 hours of traveling he probably won't contact us for a couple of days, but still - my stint on a trauma floor left me with the indelible lesson that it's called "the unexpected" for a reason. Worry worry worry - David claims I do it because I think if worry hard enough it won't happen. Probably right. Jackson will be 15 tomorrow, we're taking him shopping for his birthday and then out to dinner which are two of his favorite things to do. He's been playing Fable nonstop on his new XBox , turned out to be a good choice of a gift. The cats have been pestering each other all day, it snowed last night about 3" and the temp is about 16 right now. Even Mr. Lee has been misbehaving ,sneaking up behind sleeping Vincent and giving him a good rap upside the head and then sprinting off with him in pursuit. I'm once again attempting to build a fire in the woodstove, I'm beginning to think I might not be getting a badge after all. Unless they're giving out a Smoking Out The Basement Badge this year! Little Update: I just got an email from the CMC of the Gary (Of course I have the Commanding Officer's email, silly geese!!) Adam did arrive safe and sound to the Gary. I guess I can stop worrying.

The Day After Christmas Should Be Cancelled.....

Because it always sucks. David, Adam and Jackson left out of here around 11 am yesterday. It was pretty well controlled mayhem, we'd kept track of the important stuff so there was no frantic scrambling. Adam ended up having to repack a couple of times, sorting through what he was taking and what he was leaving for Jackson to happily glom over, we found a carryon bag for him. In between he fielded a ton of phone calls of everyone saying goodbye. I cried when he left - I always do. I guess because I know I won't see him, it's not like he can come home on the weekends or for holidays. I'll be glad when he's done with this. They got to the hotel in good time - Adam and Jackson had fun prowling the hotel, Adam more so than Jackson since he can legally prowl the bar. Adam's flight is for 6:05 am this morning, the hotel had a shuttle that left at 4:40 much to David's relief - he was not looking foward to trying to find Adam's gate in the dark. Hopefully it'll go smoothly - he's flying American which is in the news today for stranding holiday travelers. The Lester Luck appears to  be holding out. The rest of Christmas was wierd for me, I spent it by myself for the first time in 43 years. It wasn't too bad, just quiet and certainly didn't feel like a holiday. The zoo and I had a nice fire going in the woodstove and then we sat and watched Christmas shows on the tv set. I start my new job on the 30th and I'm looking foward to it, it seems like a nice place to work. Sigh, I just heard from Adam. He missed his flight and is rescheduled for one an hour later. I was able to get ahold of David before he left the hotel thank goodness so we are now in a holding pattern.

Merry Christmas

The only complaint I have is it went way too fast. We opened gifts yesterday and everyone got what they wanted - long underwear is very popular in this neck of the woods. Adam had recieved a set last year from my mother and has worn it ever since. So we bought him a second set and bought Jackson the long underwear shirt which to our surprise - he loved! We went out to dinner early, there's a restaurant near Milford called the Happy Valley Family Restaurant that I've been dying to go to. You will all be pleased to know the food is good and the waitresses are hot so everyone was satisfied. We spent the rest of the day doing a little sightseeing and then back home for a quiet evening by the fire. The boys were both video-gaming themselves to death with all the new games. Adam was still goofing around with Vincent - we've discovered he is a VERY heavy sleeper which is a bit wierd for a cat. I have no idea how he avoided being eaten while he was outside given the fact you can actually pick him up,play with his feet, etc and he doesn't wake up. Adam would sneak him back to Japan with him I think if he could. Today he's leaving, they're heading off around 11 or so and will be staying at the Marriot which is actually on the airport. It works out well because the temps have dipped down into the teens and are going to stay there according to the weather channel. This way they can do thier traveling during the day and I don't have to worry about them getting stuck or lost somewhere in the middle of the night.  If David makes one more comment about how cold it is I'm going to put him on an ice floe and give him something to complain about.

There's No Place Like Home For The Holidays

Merry Christmas Eve! The past two weeks have flown by - I can't believe Adam will be leaving tomorrow. We went to the mall in Wilkes-Barre the other day, it was alright but not the great mall as touted. It certainly was no King Of Prussia! Adam is completely broke, but ok with it. He did spend more than planned but since most things he can't get in Japan he'll just cut back when he gets back to base. Yesterday we took him to Cinemark, the enormous movie theater - he was suitably impressed. You can see it from the highway it's so big, especially since it's sitting on the side of Montage Mountain. We saw Blade which was very good - we went in the afternoon at 2 pm and had to wait on line for our tickets. One thing about that theater, it always seems to be busy. When we got out it was pouring rain and we hit traffic but not too bad. We're going to do Christmas today and go out for dinner. I think Jackson will be going with David and Adam to the airport to send off his big brother. He only has another year and a half left and then he's done. We will miss him greatly. Not much going on other than that, the temp dropped this morning so since we had all that rain last night I'll probably be chipping my car out of it's ice sculpture. The deer have been hanging around our yard which makes a new problem since we have ChargerBarger Poo Eater. It's like a buffet out there!

Season's Greetings

Adam and Jackson with David's parents. I can't believe Adam will be leaving in two days already! David said yesterday it feels like he never left, it's been so good to have him here with us. There were a few things that didn't go right of course - his plans for NYC fell through, but with the limited amount of time he had plus the weather it was near to impossible. He's been shopping like a maniac, most of the things here he can't find in Japan or he says if he does find them, they're so expensive he can't afford it. We're going to the movies today and then will be celebrating Christmas tomorrow pretty much since he'll be leaving after lunch on Christmas Day. The animals have loved having him home, especially Copper. Copper really was Adam's dog growing up and since Adam has gotten here we haven't seen Copper at night - he's back sleeping with his friend, hogging the blankets and stealing the pillows. Adam 's starting to make plans for after the navy and is considering  being an english teacher - who would've seen that one coming? As much as he has not liked the navy I think it was the best thing for him - I think it gave him time to figure out what to do with his life while learning how to live on his own. His two friends are going in, one is starting boot camp in June and the other will be going later in the year. This will be three people that joined the navy because of Adam.

Oh What A Troubled Web We Weave...

That's Vincent being very overwhelmed by a new toy - some cats can't handle it. I attempted to retrieve my paycheck from Moses Taylor, but of course there has to manuvering etc. Apparently it's against policy to mail it to me since if they did that it would cut down on the badgering. The nurse manager called and told me since I had called in sick my last day I wouldn't be recieving any vacation time earned and she was willing to go out on a limb,personal sacrifice,yada yada and could arrange for me to work another shift to make it up. Hmm. That would be a NO. Not that I'm so rich I don't need the money or even want it, but A) I can pretty much guess the one shift would be a 12 hour one on Christmas and B) Can you smell trouble in the making? After my send off of getting written up the last thing I need is to give them another whack at me! I could tell she was pretty surprised that I thanked her kindly and turned her down.  So the next pay period I can come into HR to turn in my badge and then I will get my final paycheck sans any vacation time.I went to my first day of orientation at Wayne Memorial - you have to cross a river on a footbridge from the employee parking which is cool AND it only took me 20 minutes to get there which is cooler. I got there 10 minutes ahead of time to find out they'd cancelled orientation due to only 2 new employees and had moved it to 1/4. They were very apologetic and started making busybee work for me, but I told them I knew they had other things to do and I certainly didn't mind. I scored some brownie points for being a good sport and skeddled back home by 9! I don't have to be back until the 30th. I made reservations for David and Adam on Christmas, since his flight leaves at 6:10 am the 26th I'd figured it would make more sense for them to be there so they'll be at the Marriot which is right in the airport and they have all night shuttle service. It's a shame he'll have to leave Christmas afternoon but I didn't want them driving in the middle of the night in case they got lost or bad weather. He's going to try to make it into NYC - we'll see!

Over The River And Through The Woods

We finally did make it out to the car - an hour later. I got a call from the nursing board before we left - I'd gotten a letter telling me my license was NOT valid because the check hadn't cleared - considering the check was sent July 5th I was a bit upset. After a flurry of activity I got it straightened out - they hadn't cashed the check until Sept - 3 months after we moved and surprisingly the account was closed. ANYHOW -it's fixed and we got through NYC well arriving at Mom's around 12. Adam and I headed out to the nursing home to see Grandma Hendrickson who despite her numerous complaints looks extremely well and she's her usual self. She's back in form, mixing it up with the nurses and gossiping (quite loudly!) about her roommate.We walked all around the nursing home and everyone greeted her as we walked by. I'm sure in another month or two she'll know every gory detail about everyone. I did have to laugh at her bulletin board - I knew Carol had done it because mine and Davids' pictures were the only ones not on there! However, she was kind enough to include my kids so I will give her that. When we got back Adam scampered off and Jackson was already calling to let me know he was staying at Josh's. We went to Dad's the next morning, the baby is 3 now, can you believe it?? I was amazed at how fast she's growing up and can talk talk talk!! She HAS to be from our side of the family!! It was great seeing Janet and we very much missed Diane. John and Carleen were at my Mom's from dinner, the children are so cute and they look great. It was a bit touch and go with Adam and John - Adam is currently Mad At The Navy but he got over it. John may be a captain but he is not Adam's and Adam did have us laughing with his various complaints about THEM. Sunday we went to visit David's parents and Bob finally got the apples David has been promising, buying and forgetting. We've been eating pounds of apples because of this affliction. (David has forgotten on two occasions forcing us to eat the 10 pounds of apples he bought).  We got back here around 3pm - Ray had left that morning because they were calling for bad weather and he has a hard time with that. We were disappointed but I would rather he be safe. We went out to the chinese buffet AGAIN but will be staying home tonight. I do my one day of orientation tomorrow and then am off until the 30th

Just Five More Minutes Mom.....

We had grand plans to leave at 7:30am - here is how we're doing percentage-wise

People with thier shoes on - 0%, Had a shower -66%, Still in the shower despite having been yelled at 4 times we have to get going - 33%, Packed - 33%, Number of suitcases in the car - 0, Still on the computer - 33%.  I think we may be experiencing minor delays this morning. We've got a very busy schedule once we hit Hampton Bays - Adam still needs to see a flotilla of relatives and I haven't been home in a year! David put the tree up and the lights on last night but we will be decorating it when we get home. Isn't it cool that THIS is home now! See ya on the flip side!

Black Bart And His Evil Sidekick

Anyone notice a trend? Poor David is sticking out like a sore thumb these days since he refuses to dress like Snidely Whiplash like the rest of the family. We took Adam shopping yesterday, he seems to be enjoying that the most. We did Borders and the small mall - I'm almost done with my christmas shopping. Adam is having a great time buying american. We're leaving for LI in the am tomorrow - Jacks will miss another day of school but there's no helping that. Ray will be coming out here to Pa on Saturday to pal around with David and then we will be back here on Sunday afternoon to spend some time with him. I'm done with Moses Taylor but still have to turn in my badge and figure out how to retrieve my paycheck. Not much going on! The last two pictures are of the poncho currently in progress and looking like it might be sized correctly to boot (it's worked from the bottom up) - anyone interested let me know. It's going to striped - maroon and white.

The Lifestyle Of The Unemployed

I had a great time by myself I have to admit. Here is a little helpful hint - if burning a fakie log in the fireplace DO NOT AGITATE IT WITH THE POKER. It says that right on it by the way, but some of us can't resist which resulted in some of us debating making a mess with the fire extinguisher vs calling the fire department. I waited it out and it finally died down but it was a bit touch and go. The dogs were hanging around the door ready to abandon ship at one point. Other than that I spent Monday knitting and eating health foods such as Yule Log and Friday's Spinich and Artichoke dip on nacho chips. Tuesday it was back to business, I cleaned the house and did a little shopping, then called in sick for my last day. I think they were laying in wait for me because normally the Nursing Office just takes my call but this time they tried to put me through to Warren. But he was NOT in his office so I got to be the Weasel. I'm sure there will be payback down the road, but I was NOT going to miss Adam again. They got home around one, so we sat around and visited and then took Adam to the chinese buffet at his request. You would think living in an asian country he wouldn't even want to look at it, but he said there they have the real deal - steamed and full of veggies. As opposed to American "chinese" which is drowned in batter, deep fried, slathered in sauce with tons of other stuff on the menu (our chinese buffet serves roasted potatoes and spinich florintine). He went to bed fairly early, I think the time switch and all the activity has finally caught up with him. I found a box of his old clothes and after sorting through we found a good amount of stuff that still fits. We are so glad to have him home.

Jabba The Nut

I should probably stop posting pictures of the cats all the time but they're so wierd all the time it's hard not to take tons of pictures of them. The good thing about having a digital camera is I can erase them so I don't have a zillion prints lying around. David and the crew headed off to LI yesterday, my mom said Adam and Jackson came in the front and ran out the back - they've both been making Big Plans for weeks! I had my last night at work - it's supposed to be Tuesday but I'm calling in sick. As a final Kick In The Pants the nurse manager wrote me up for some silly infraction I hadn't realized I'd committed - I just wrote "I don't remember this event" across it and signed it - I probably shouldn't have signed it at all but the sidekick hit me with it as I was heading out the door and took me by surprise and you know what they say about hindsight.... but it's all the more reason to call in as I would prefer they not get another crack at me. The crew will be home on Tuesday so I'm taking today to just potter around and watch tv. Sounds like a plan to me!

All Ashore Who's Going Ashore

Despite planes, trains and automobiles, Adam made it home finally. Janet picked him up at Philly International - after a delay of over 2 hours. David and Jackson headed out the next morning to take him to LI but he wanted to see me, so they headed back to our house instead. I was so glad they did because although I had resigned myself to not seeing him until Tuesday it was upsetting. He looks very good and his dog Copper was beside himself with joy as were we all. It must be strange for him visiting us in our new house but he does like the house alot. He had trouble sleeping David said, but I'd figured he would since timewise in Japan it would be daystime for him. I just wish he was staying longer. They headed out for LI this morning after I got home from work and will be back Tuesday. I was supposed to work 7 - 7 overnights but have called in for the first four hours each night so it's actually only 11 -7. I think they are annoyed but whatever. I've been there over 4 months and haven't called in once and it's not like I'm calling off for the entire night. Tempting that was, but I didn't.

No Rest For The Wicked

David and I went to Milford again yesterday, it always seems when we head out that way we never have enough time. It's a beautiful little historic town setttled in 1790 and is restored victorians as far as the eye can see. We walked around for a bit but since Jackson had an orthodontist appointment we had to head back around noon-ish. We did spend a tiny amount of time fooling around in New Jersey. For 75 cents you can go over to where the popular people live or you can run the border out of Milford and hope the border patrol doesn't hunt you down like the dogs you are and ship you back to Pennsylvania. I also took a picture of the Delaware River. We didn't get much sleep last night, Adam called me at 1 am all stressed out. He'd left the boat as soon as he could but wasnt sure if he had enough time to make it to the airport., He asked what he should do and I told him GET OFF THE PHONE AND TRY GETTING ON THE TRAIN. We got a quick call at 3:45 am to let us know he was at the airport and he sounded quite chipper. I didnt mind because strangely enough I was not sleeping. The dogs were whining so I let them out around 4 and Claw ran out behind them. I went back upstairs and not 20 minutes later heard Claw howling  A LOT. Please note none of this is sleep-inducing. I called her and she didn't come in but as soon as I shut the door she shrieked again. David ran down and let the dogs out again, there was alot of noise and running around, but whatever was trying to eat her ran off and she came bolting in the house. No more 4 am runs for her! I guess I'll be heading off to bed after dinner tonight despite the fact I probably got a good solid 4 hours of sleep already, sigh.............

Help, I've Been Shot

I went over to Wayne Memorial to do paperwork yesterday morning. While I was filling out everything from parking information to swearing I had never beaten a child I had a PPD done and then the person doing the paper work realized I hadn't had a tetnus so she dug around in her fridge and gave me one while I was sitting there in the office. Hmm. I do hope she was a nurse..... Anyhow I did pee in a cup and got my parking sticker so with the exception of a physical I'm ready to go. My arm is sore today which I expected but hate. In the pictures I posted today is the Jadwin Dam that David and I came across in our travels last week. It's pretty spectacular, the bad things about pictures is they rarely do thier subjects justice, when you're standing over looking the dam it's so huge but in the pictures it just looks like a dip here and there. The 6th picture is me in my furry high heels! So I can be stylish yet warm. I got a letter from Adam today the Grumpy Monkey who is getting quite anxious to leave. I can't believe it's only two more days! And the last picture is of Vincent showing off his rather round belly. If we walk by he flops over so we can rub it for him. David put him out before he left yesterday so when I came home he was a bit hystercial, having been left out on the deck TO DIE. Claw was also left out on the deck to die, but was handling it a bit better. It was nothing a bowl of sardines and a warm couch couldn't cure.

The Excitment Never Ends Around Here.

We had more than a dusting of snow last night which then turned to rain and then ice.  I find driving in the snow enjoyable but I do NOT like driving with ice. While coming down 348 I saw a car stopped and turning so I tapped my brakes and proceeded to slide about 60 feet. The car seemed to just sitting there for an eternity  but I'm sure that was just my perspective as I was cheerfully slaloming towards them with no way of stopping. It turned before I got there and I was able to slow my car without anymore dramatic turns of events, but I guess I'll have to be more careful. The countdown at work continues - the nurse manager seems to be coldly polite to me. I'm trying to watch myself as it's very nerve wracking and to add to it the staff seems to be getting shorter and shorter. I'm sure any input from me at this point would add fuel to the fire, but the management seems to have no clue how to treat thier staff. My old boss at Stonybrook had his moments but overall he defended us and went the extra to make sure we always had enough help and it was the same at Mon Gen in WV. This place in response to the shortage  is to badger the staff to work extra or even worse, force them to. I've had four nurses so far come up to me asking about WM in the past week People are calling out sick which makes it worse and working has become hellish to say the least. And to add to that the manager and her sidekick have no respect at all for the nurses which makes the low morale even lower. You would think with the shortage they would be nicer to us, but I guess that hasn't occurred to them yet. We are on the countdown to Adam's return, 4 days to be exact. I'm trying not to get too excited as there is room for something to happen. Jackson asks everyday when he'll be here. Jackson by the way is getting his braces off next week!! Whoo hoo!

Hugs And Kisses....

is something Vincent very much objects to. If you kiss him alot, he gets this look of pure disgust on his face, this of course encourages me. He's such a big baby it's hard not to pick him up all the time and squeeze him! I tried to take pictures of the lights I've put up, they look much nicer in real life I have to say. David has had the fireplace going every night, he's out in the yard cutting up the trees every morning, the dead one he took down fills the backyard. We went out Christmas shopping yesterday and did quite well - we even had fun! There's an indoor flea market that we've never been able to make so we went did get there yesterday. It was huge and really great! I forgot my camera -I would have loved to take pictures- but Jackson was all over it and got most of his christmas shopping done there. It was an interesting mix of yardsale type things along side of nice things including jewelry and jukeboxes.  Jackson found an Army/Navy store that he loved, David nixed the disarmed torpedo despite Jackson's reassurance he did have somewhere to put it. We went to the Burlington Coat Factory which I'm sure is the same store as the one on LI but this one is way nicer - I was all over THAT.  Jackson managed to somehow talk his father into buying him a full length black trench coat. He has no "inbetween" coat so we've been looking around for one and Jackson found a lined trench coat. Between him in that and me in my full length leather black coat, we're starting to look like a family of bank robbers. David and I got about half of our shopping done, now we just have to finish cleaning up the house!

How Attractive Is This!

As you can see, Kim got the sweater and then like any good daughter, forced her Dad to try it on. Gene is a good sport isn't he? She has reported it's the size of a bathrobe so she'll be using it for TV watching instead of impressing her neighbors by parading up and down her driveway in it. I'm currently working on a poncho right now, I figure if I oversize it that's ok - it's a poncho! I'm on the Work - Countdown, things are getting a bit tense. I'm not sure if it's just my paranoia but it seems that when the manager is near, things go a bit silent. Adam will be home in less than a week, I can't believe it. I'm so nervous something will go wrong my letters are full of information he already knows. You would think that since he's been living on his own in a foreign country no less for almost 3 years he would know how to travel, but as his mother I'm obligated to make him crazy telling him what to do. We're going to make another pass at Christmas shopping today, I've managed to buy a few, but most of the time I go to the stores, get confused, despair and then head back home. We will most likely be doing gift certifciates again this year. And of course I'll be starting a new job all in the mix of this!! I think if this next job doesnt work out, I'll look into agency nursing since I seem to have turned into a nomad since I left Stonybrook. The person that hired me at Wayne Memorial told me someone gave me a glowing review so I'm curious to see who it was. I have a sneaking suspicion it WASN'T Moses Taylor! And in the Tree Slaughtering Dept we had a surprise visit from the Gestapo yesterday due to someone's chainsawing activity. He managed to skinny by them but he had better watch his butt or it will be Condo Jail for him!

Merry Cat-mis!

I've been busy decorating the house steady, AC Moore's  been having tons of sales so I have garland and velvet bows to spare. Vincent is shaping up to be trouble for the holidays, he's finding decorations are fun to bat around - the idea of him around a tree full of shiny objects and lights is daunting to say the least. Mr. Lee has been doing her part by marching around on the handrail and chewing the bows a tiny bit. The wind has been howling all day with rain off and on. David's been trying to finish cutting up the trees. Yes, I did use the plural. Yesterday he went out and was tugging on a vine wrapped around another tree by the house. He gave it one big yank and snapped the tree in half! I went out to see a large trunk suspended about a foot above our roof  by vines. David is claiming it was an accident but I think it was not. He's been sneaky cutting down trees steady since we got here. I told him that people that do not like trees should not live in the WOODS. Anyhow he told the Gestapo and they told him it was alright to cut down any tree within ten feet of our deck which give the Tree Hater something to think about. I will be living in a desert by spring. Work continues to be work. Wayne Memorial called yesterday to offically offer the job and I AM getting a $2500 bonus spread out over a couple of years. That's getting to be standard, Moses Taylor stopped offering a bonus because they would give it with the understanding the employee would stay a year and then  the person would leave. And it's not easy getting it back - so they just stopped giving them. As far as I'm concerned it's just gravy on the side.