I'm thinking this would be a blast to do with the family, and if my wife doesn't want to jump with us, she could get at least get a thrill from watching us (hopefully) cheat death.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ff1_1314302783

     Tropical storm Katia is forecast to be building to 100 kt winds by the 4th. If I'm reading my coordinates right, it's forecast to stay offshore, but the errors on storms this far out are huge, as much as 225 miles 5 days out, so don't let your guard down yet. 

OUTLOOK VALID 04/0600Z 20.5N 58.0W
MAX WIND 100 KT...GUSTS 120 KT. 

http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/refresh/MIATCMAT2+shtml/300841.shtml

           My two youngest, Rebekah, 8 and Isa, 6, were complaining that they still didn't know how to ride a bike, and I had just read an article in a Bicycling magazine about the issue, so I decided it was about time to do something about it.  I took the pedals off the girl's  (very small) bikes, pumped up the tires and told them to go out and ride them by pushing them around, then lifting up their feet and coasting.   They didn't quite understand, so I took out the little pink one and made a big deal about it.  I pushed the bike really fast, then sat down and rode, all the while hollering "YeeHaw!" repeatedly at the top of my voice. Only when I got off the bike and was taking it back to Isabel, did I realize that for the first time ever, not only was our neighbor's teenage son standing in front of the house, but about 10 of his friends were also standing out there, unexplainably staring at something in our yard and smiling broadly.  I suppose I've now become "that guy".

     Headed up to Brooklyn this weekend.   Found a reasonable hotel in Red Hook (the part of Brooklyn down by the piers) that appeared to have a good reputation, had free, onsite parking and according to the bed bug registry was low risk.   Rolled into town to find out there was no early check in b/c they did "short stay" rentals for $50 and needed to be sure they had rooms available.  It did look clean, though and after proving I did have a reservation and having a staring contest with the clerk (I think he was hoping for a little something to grease the wheels) he let us use the bathroom to change into our clothes for the wedding.   I'll post pictures later.  After the wedding we came back and were checked into our room.  Turned out to be nice and clean, if small, but from what I'd heard about  hotel rooms in New York City, it was spacious.  We turned on the tv and sat back to relax, only to hear, about ten minutes later, a banging against the wall.  "What the heck?"  Turned down the tv only to realize what was going on.  Bang, bang, bang interspersed with happy moaning sounds.  We muted the tv for a second to make sure we were really hearing what we thought we were.  Sure enough, more of the same.  Then all of a sudden silence...... and a few seconds later some guy sounding a little alarmed says, "Are you ok?".  We just about fell off the bed laughing.   Still not sure what happened, but not sure I want to know either.

   My wife made a comment off the cuff as I dropped her off to work today. "Take it easy on the chores for the kids.  Today's the last day they'll all be together with you before school starts." I got to thinking that despite having a blast all summer playing in the pool and cycling, we haven't done anything all summer, so I set out to rectify that on a tight schedule.  Sandra had to be at work by 3pm and I have to get a nap since I go back to work tonight.  Got to the house and told the kids they had 15 minutes to be out the door.  Couldn't find the camera, but me and six kids were out the door in 20.  Stopped to get them breakfast, gas the car, and get cheap snack at the Dollar General and we were off to DC.  We voted on museums to go to, and couldn't get a unanimous agreement, so we decided some of us would go to the Museum of Natural History and others would go to Air and Space.  At the last minute, all but one changed their mind, so it was just Gracie and I at the Air and Space and we dropped the rest at Natural History. Parked at the (expensive) garage two blocks behind Air and Space with an hour and forty five minutes to spare. I let Gracie decide what we'd see, and we got to tour the better parts of four or five exhibits at her speed, then since it was just two of us we took a ride in a simulator.  At five 'til one, the others arrived at the foyer, we got the car and were on our way out, just before the earthquake.  We barely noticed anything.  I noticed the car bucked and rolled for a moment when I hadn't seen any irregularities in the road, but didn't think anything of it 'til the news reports came on the radio a few minutes later and they said they were evacuating buildings in DC.  Looks like we got out just in time.   Wasn't an extended trip, but all the kids said they had a blast, so I suppose it was a success. I did get a few cell phone pics of Gracie at the Air museum, though.

Behind the cockpit of a 747 

In front of a Tomahawk cruise missile

By an exhaust nozzle from the Saturn V rocket 

In front of the living quarters of some space vehicle.  I forget, but maybe a space station.

Able (I believe this is actually the real monkey, obviously stuffed) who was sent into space with Baker, a smaller monkey, for experimentation prior to sending men into space.

We just had a freak storm come through.  My wife was ten miles away and it wasn't even raining there, but here are pics of what happened here.  I set the speed at 1600 to try to catch the essence of it a little better.  When it passed, it was so quick that it was raining on one side of the house and the sky was blue on the other.  There is about 2 more inches of water in the pool than there was before the storm passed. 

As I was downloading the pics from the camera, I found some that the kids (namely Samantha, 14, Danny,12, and Gracie, 9) had taken.  Gracie and Sam got the frog,  Sam got the dragonfly and Danny and Sam got the moth.

One more pic of the bicycle race I saw in Luray last week.

I have made some good decisions in life and marrying this woman and having these children with her has been one of the best.

 Everyone budgets.  Most people just don't have a budget plan.   Everyone prioritizes the spending of their money.  Problem is, many people don't know how much they truly make, how much they spend, and on what.  If a person would simply document all of their spending, their income, and their tax liabilities for a month or two, it would probably make a difference in how they spent their money.  Not only that, but it would more than likely allow (or even encourage) them to tweak their spending habits.   This is the nature of budgeting:

1. Document your actual expenditures  and income.  

2.  Make a plan to better the usage of the resources you have.

3.  While continuing to do #1, try to implement #2.

4. Find out what doesn't work and change your plan and your habits to closer reflect the realities of your life.  

5.  Review and repeat.

Ten years of my life making a trucking business work, though it probably wasn't the best decision I could have made, has taught me some valuable lessons.

My second truck at the factory just after the bed was mounted.  Somehow I screwed this pic up trying to clip it.  Sold it after a guy I should have fired weeks prior, wrecked it and after it was repaired to better than new condition, I didn't think I could keep up payments if everything didn't go just right.

In my experience, people who decide to budget draw up a plan of what they think they make and how they'd like to spend it.  Of course since they have no idea where they are actually spending their money, the plan doesn't reflect reality, and their plan is doomed.  They try this a couple of times, then give up and say, "I just don't make enough money to make a budget work."  I read in one of my trucking magazines several years ago that independent truckers who simply made a point of documenting how much their loads paid them and what their expenses were, ended up earning over five thousand dollars more a year in gross income than those who don't.  That didn't take into account the net increases due to better expense planning and purchasing or elimination of wasteful spending.  After 39 years of life, I find myself reviewing my life and I find myself having come up short in many areas due to mental blocks I have erected or have been taught.  I also find that many of these things at which I have failed are simple, and upon the expenditure of a bit of effort and brain power can be changed into successes.   I reached 37 fat, with a failing business, what little savings I had built completely wiped out by business expenses I should have expected, away from my family for long stretches of time and with no plan or means to provide for my family when my health or ability to do my current job failed.  I have begun to make changes slowly and the changes have come slowly.  Over a year and a half, I have become more healthy,  I have given up dreams of my own business for the reality that at least currently, I am better suited for working in an established business where I can earn a paycheck, then walk away from the job when my work is done and forget about it until the next scheduled workday arrives.  I am now trying to at least walk up to and gauge some of the biggest mental barriers I've erected.  Budgeting, ugh...Being a good leader for my family, ugh... again.  Planning a fallback for when I can no longer do what I do, not such a huge issue mentally, but one that is easy to push off until "tomorrow".  I am a person who can, with some direction keep many plates spinning and bring together a project of many separate and seemingly unrelated parts, but I have through earlier choices put myself into a job where that skill is completely unused.  I'm not saying I've been worthless, or a bad guy, just that a lot of good dads and men have, through pushing aside the important spiritual and practical aspects of life, left their family unprepared for what life will inevitably throw at them, and though I've done some things well, I find myself to have commenced becoming one of those men.  I also have found that those issues are not insurmountable, and so have aspired to begin to chip away at them and better myself for the benefit of my family and the other people in my sphere of influence.

Being a pilot is a dream I have not yet realized.  As a teenager I dreamed of being a missionary pilot, providing a link to bring medicine and supplies to those serving God in remote areas of the world.

I read once that people who are extraordinarily successful are people who do a little bit of the right thing every day instead of just pushing it aside and doing what is needed to get by.  It's a little difference every day that makes a huge difference down the road.  It's why I try to get out and swim or cycle almost every day I don't work. (My job is very physically demanding) It has worked on the physical side of life, now to get down to the complicated personal parts.  Anyone ever read the Proverbs in the Old Testament of the Bible? I'm thinking it may be a good time to reread them myself.  There's a lot of practical wisdom in that book.  It's amazing how quickly the first 40 years of my life have slipped by.  Now if I can only learn from the mistakes of those years.

When I see my son doing things like making sure his sister gets home safely, I think I may have done some things right.

It's amazing to see that at the same time I am struggling with my midlife issues, our country is doing the same.  I hope that I can address my issues well, but I currently have less hope for our country, whose leaders on both side of the aisle seem to be in denial that a crisis even exists.  Though I firmly believe we need political action now to address the ever spiraling size of our government and ever increasing denial of personal responsibility for decisions in favor of allowing those politicians who certainly know better than us to make them,  I also firmly believe that a lot of the issues are simply mirrors of the problems we are pushing aside in our own lives.  If the citizenry become better and take responsibility for our issues, the government, so long as it retains some semblance of the quickly disappearing democratic-republic designed by our founders, will necessarily improve as well.  The question is, "Is it too late, and do we Americans have what it takes to change ourselves, or have we already passed into the spiral of decline from which we will not be able to recover?"  To that question, I truly don't have an answer, but I do maintain the strong hope that we can find the strength, grit and moral character to make this country a place of opportunity for us, our children and the children who will follow after them.   

When I hold a newborn child, I feel hope for the future.  This is my cousin's last child, several years ago.

Being able to get away with my wife to Washington DC for a couple days and see the museums and places that would bore the kids, has been a joy since we, after 15 years of marriage don't have a nursing child or toddler.

A (very frugal, I might add) wife, madly in love with our children and willing to sacrifice her comfort for ours, has brought joy to my life.  Especially after seeing so many men whose selfish, mean spirited wives have made their lives a living hell.   

My children, each in their own way, bring me much happiness and despite me and hopefully a little to my credit, are wonderful people.

They were responsible for the funny experience of me trying to get this big old snapping turtle off the road so he wouldn't be killed.  They are very compassionate children.

We have managed to get one of them through high school so far, and she already has a job and is attending college.

They work hard, in the way that kids work.

They have always found joy in the simple things of life.

My life has been a good one and charmed.  I hope the next forty years, or however many I'm allotted, I will have learned from my mistakes and my successes and be able to use that knowledge to make a better life, for my family and those with whom I work.  I suppose the "mid life crisis" is a good thing as for whatever reason, it has compelled me to look upon my life and appraise my achievements and lack thereof.   I've been forced to adjust my lofty goals downward a bit, and to raise my level of effort and honesty with myself to actually accomplish some of the things I've brushed aside. I just hope it doesn't last too long, or begin to make me think I'd look good in a convertible I can't afford with a young, new woman on my arm.  

             So life has settled back to some semblance of normalcy at our house.  It has just been a week since emergency rooms and trips and family visits.  Went to work Saturday morning as usual, but this time I threw my bike and riding gear up in the top bunk of the sleeper.  I stop in Harrisonburg or Elkton, VA and have to take a 10 hour break before I can finish my route on Sunday.  We got new International trucks a month or two ago and they are large enough to easily swallow my extra cycling gear, so the idea had been running around in my mind for a while.  Since I live on the "Eastern Shore" of Maryland, I don't have anywhere where I can ride in the hills nearby, and this would kill two birds with one stone.  I'd get a nice ride in, and I wouldn't have to take extra time to drive somewhere to find hills.  My route went well Saturday, so I was off duty by 5 pm and quickly changed into my gear, filled up my water bottles, put the bike together and I was off.  Got in a good ride of around 12 miles, and started to head back to the truck. There was a storm brewing to the west, but except for a few spots of drizzle I should have plenty of time to get back before the deluge.   Notice the word "should".  I caught every light on route 33.  Each one seemed to last forever and the storms approach was relentless.  Finally, about a mile away from the truck I was smacked in the face by a huge raindrop.   About a half a second later, the next hundred hit, and my visibility went to zero at the same time a thousand needles began to prick every inch of exposed skin.  I quickly found a nearby Italian restaurant with a little bit of an overhang and took shelter.  In fifteen minutes the rain eased and  I knew it was my chance.  I put the bike in gear and pedaled with all my heart.  I thought.  When the lightning started, I found a previously unknown reserve, and I made it back to the truck in record time.  I took everything apart in the rain, and doing my best to dry it as I put it in the truck ended what had turned out to be a very good workout.  I'm still feeling it in my legs today.  I got up the next morning and was off to hit my last three stops, hoping to get home early.  Got the first off quickly and was off to Luray, only to find the road blocked by police.  "You gotta be kidding me!" But then.... I saw the bikes come flying by.  I had stumbled on the last stage of the Tour of Page County!  They were having criteriums (a series of laps around a technical course) so the cops said they'd escort me through once this particular race had ended.  Meanwhile, I got to watch my first real bike race. This was the lowest category for adult men, Cat 5, and these guys were flying!  The course was on the side of the hill, and I was on a downhill corner.  I finally got through, made my delivery, and as I was pulling out of town saw the Cat 4 guys lined up to start, so I parked and walked over to a corner at the start of the climb and was able to take in the next stage.  Of course, my camera ran out of juice right as I started to take pics, so I got some pics on my cell phone, but there went my hopes of an exceptionally early end to the weekend's work.   Today, much to the chagrin of my children, is the day we take a look at all the things that didn't get done over the previous crazy three weeks, so as soon as I get this posted, it's back to work on the house, the pool and the yard. What fun!

The first lap of the Cat 4 race

Pics don't show grades well, but if you look at how the foundation angles on the green building as opposed to the actual sill of the building which is level, you'll get some idea of the steepness of the hill.

   My big boss is leaving and all of the mid managers are vying for his job.  They are also taking apps from outside the company and from other service centers.  I suppose that means there is gonna be change.  I don't think that's all bad, but the jury is still out on that.  

Meanwhile, about two hours before I needed to head out to the airport Monday, my oldest daughter came to me.  She was really scared because she had been stung on her big toe by a wasp and was beginning to get hives.  She has never had any allergies to them prior.  I thought I'd take her by the emergency room on the way to the airport just in case as I know an allergic reaction can deteriorate quickly.  I called my wife, to let her know what was going on.   She was just boarding her flight.   We have a new stand alone emergency room and medical park about 10 miles from the house.  I had Sandra follow me in the other car so she could go home afterwards while I went on to the airport.  By the time we got to the emergency room, she had a rash like what you would get from poison ivy, from her head down to her knees.  She wasn't complaining of trouble breathing, so I didn't give her the epinephrine we keep stashed in the car.   Got into the building and the guy took his time getting us through security 'til she said it felt like her breathing was getting difficult.  Then he put us right back.  The nurse came in and began the triage paperwork.  Sandra is the type of kid who would just assume they know she's getting worse and won't say anything because she doesn't want to bother.   It looked like she was getting worse, so I asked how her breathing was and she said it was deteriorating. That got an immediate second look from the nurse, who dropped his paperwork, called the doctor and immediately set to work trying to insert an IV catheter.  Problem is, Sandra's veins are small and deep and they roll badly, so after 3 "stick and searches" he called for help.  By now her breathing was really labored, Grace (who had come along) was crying, I was standing by her telling her to stay calm and breathe slowly (even though I was completely coming apart under the facade).   I was about ready to bolt out to the car, get the epinephrine and inject it into her myself so they'd have all the time they needed to find the vein.  All of a sudden, 2 more nurses appeared and one brought this cool sonogram machine that allowed them to see the vein and the needle while they were inserting it.  She literally had three needles under her skin at the same time as they searched for a vein.  In a moment, the nurse with the sonogram had the catheter in the vein, began administering the medication and the world went from crazy to calm and under control in the blink of an eye.   Sandra immediately began to breathe easier, and ten minutes later the doc came by.  He said he wanted to keep her for observation for a couple of hours, so I should head up to get my wife, then stop back on my way home.  There went all the plans my wife and I had for dinner out on the way home, but I guess it's what I signed up for when I had six kids.  I got to the airport just as my wife came outside. Her flight had been turbulent and there had been two babies near her who screamed the whole way.  We drove back to the emergency room, picked up the two girls (Grace had wanted to stay with her big sister) along with several prescriptions and headed home.  It has been an uneventful week since then, and I think we're finally getting rested enough to say we're over it and ready for the next excitement.  I hope the next excitement waits a few days, or years...

  Started off  the week with a birthday party.  Isa will be six this week and Rebekah turned eight.  I then spent Tuesday in the ER.  (previous post covers that)  Tuesday by noon, I knew I wouldn't get home in time to get enough rest (plus the ER doc insisted I get a stress test no later than Wed.), so I called in to work and asked them to find someone to cover my Wed/Thur. route.  Got released from the ER at 10 p.m. and  got up first thing Wed. to schedule my stress test.  "Maybe we can get you in next week," was the response I got at all the local cardiologists.  Nice that I skipped work for an important test and can't get it scheduled, eh?  I called back and pushed the issue.  I made a point of letting them know I was shopping cardiologists and apparently that was the magic.  Got a call a half hour later that I could fill a cancellation Thur.  After filling all the paperwork, they prepared to take me back and had me check over the computer printout.  They had me in as my father (we shared names) and I had to give all my information again.  Finally got back to a patient room.  They came in to prep me and instead of using the contacts they used at the ER (the ones that had some sort of glue that stuck to my chest right through the hair. )  shepulled out an old fashioned safety razor and  unceremoniously shaved huge patches of my chest completely bald.  She wired me up, and twenty minutes later, I was completing my stress test to receive news that there was absolutely nothing they could detect wrong with my heart.  Called to let work know I was back in business, and they offered me work for Friday at 7am with an emergency bonus since the scheduled driver called out.  It's normally my off day, but I took it anyway.  Rushed home to grab the kids, meet Mom and grab her kids, too and haul butt to the cinema to slide into our seats just as the previews ended and Cars2 came on the screen. Barely got home and my son came in to let me know that his tooth had chipped.  Got a call at 8pm, "Oh by the way, that load needs to go at 2am."  WHAT?  To bed by 9 pm, dragged my butt out of bed at 12:30, rolled in at 2:07 to my codriver tapping his watch, and we figured out that I'd need to drive out if I wanted to be legal for my scheduled Saturday run, nice.   Dragged through the day thanks to an able codriver. (Who you're working with makes a big difference when you have 30,000 lbs. of groceries to unload by hand and 400 miles to drive and need to be back to leave by 4 the next morning.)  Got a little sleep after he started driving in the afternoon and rolled in just in time to switch into my normal truck, grab a couple hours more sleep and roll out again.  Meanwhile, my wife took Danny to the dentist to find out he'd need a root canal since the "chip" had exposed the nerve.   The good surprise was that with our new insurance, the bill would only be $150.  Heck, my last root canal was over a thousand bucks and I still have the temporary cap since I didn't want to drop another grand when I could waste the paycheck on more frivolous stuff like groceries and the rent. (Make a mental note to set up dentist appointments for everyone.)   Meanwhile, my wife has worked extra hours all week b/c several girls at her work went on vacation together.  She rolls into the house exhausted only to jump in the car with Mom to help drive her and my three adopted brothers back to Florida.  Plan was for Mom to drive and Tina to get some rest before taking her turn, but my one brother has a degenerative brain disorder and he screamed from the moment they got in the car, so Tina ended up driving the whole way to the GA/FL line, letting Mom drive only to have her start to doze (she'd been awake with my screaming brother all night) and Tina had to finish the trip.  Thank God they made it safely.  I still can't believe they drove through.    Needless to say, everyone was stressed out during the trip, but things started to relax once they got there.  Of course, no rest for the weary, upon arriving, my family down there wanted to see her, and then they went out to dinner for my sister and little brother's birthdays. I rolled in from work and relieved my brother (up here) from his babysitting  duties.  What a blur.  I had to stop a moment and think to realize that all that happened in just a week's time.  Taking it easy today trying to get the house presentable so the wife doesn't have a mess to walk into when I bring her in from the airport tonight.  I still haven't seen my family doctor to find out what the heck is causing the numbness in my arm, even though I think it's either repetitive motion injury, my reactive airway issues or a  combination of both.  To top it all off, I have bid on a new temporary route that would let me work weekdays, and am trying not to get my hopes up since I've only been here a year.  After a week like that, I'm looking forward to a bit of normalcy this week.