Ok. Ok......

I sat on the beach all day knowing that the time had come - I need to get things wrapped up to move our family of 12 back into the van, the jeep, and the trailer we haul everything in. On the packup-to-go-to-the-beach end it's a bit more complicated, lots of decisions being made as to what to bring, etc. Additionally, there's a constant wondering as to whether everything will fit while leaving room for the fam to sit the 6 hours of the trip. Coming home it is somewhat easier...everything that is left needs to come home, and if we got it here we must have room for it.

Nonetheless, I sat there all day waiting for the moment when I would get started. It was easiest to sit there enjoying the yells and screams and shrieks of the kids and the fun, knowing that if I started the process somehow the vacation would end sooner.

As it turned out, around 4 this afternoon a large, black cloud came from nowhere and cleared everyone off the beach. It rained long enough for me to put the top back on the jeep and for the day to be declared over. As soon as we got started moving crates and passing out jobs the cloud moved off with it's payload of rain and the sun shone.

Message delivered - message received.

We're done.

When pigs fly

So our social engineers are planning to "declare" a pandemic because of the swine flu. It's a prerequisite for them to take control when and where they want to in order to avert the disaster about to be unleashed. Of course, one of the smaller issues is that this flu isn't really that different than most. According to the BBC "Although most sufferers experience normal flu symptoms and make a full recovery, the WHO has confirmed 141 deaths from 27,737 cases."

One hundred forty one deaths out of 27,737 cases? We kill more babies each day in America in the name of choice. Are we stupid?

Since the press blamed the flu vaccine shortage a few years ago on Pres Bush (I guess he brews it in the back room of the oval office), our change President wants to make sure no one blames him. He will use this bent statistic to make federal guarantees for drug companies, who we know only work in the interest of the public, so that they produce enough vaccine whether we need it or not, or whether it works of not. The PR will be good for his survival, since we all know him being sustained in elected office is the objective, and the beneficiary will be the manufacturers, who will be stimulated...both economically and in the voting booth.

Chriat?

So since Daimler couldn't make Chrysler work for them, now Fiat is going to take a shot. It'll be just like them to pull it off. The working man's car that has been the mainstay in Europe forever will be able to do what the snob couldn't, just like the same snob can't compete with the working class cars on the continent. When Fiat seemed to be down and out they pulled it out and are now renowned for their R&D, a fitting place to be as they snap up the bargains of the industry. My '85 Alfa Romeo may be able to see it's younger cousins running around West Virginia soon...!

Can I drive?

I painfully agree to go on the "double" go cart with my 10 year old grand daughter, and worse - I agree to let he drive. After getting her assurance that she wouldn't kill me I then recognized the next difficulty - the passenger seat is not intended for adult men - so I squeeze behind the placebo steering wheel and reach to put on the shoulder belt (realizing more than ever how important it is), finding that it won't close around me due to it's years of use for little kids in the salt air.

I sigh as we prepare to take off.

There is some relief (for my safety) as we take off and she has both feet firmly planted on the gas AND the brake. I tell her (yelling in a coach-like manner) "take your foot off that pedal" and she took it off the gas, stopping us as everyone passes us. Again, in a "coachlike" way I grab the wheel, twisting it toward the inside lane, cutting off someone who has lapped us twice already, instructing her in a not-so-gentle-panic to press the gas as hard as she can and not let up we steer on the inside track and finish second.

Second to the last.

She loved it.

lookamyskin!

So the 5 year old walks up to his 16 year old sister with his hand open, showing off a new treasure. "Look at my skin!"

"What?"

"My skin"

"What are you talking about?"

"Look" as he peeled another small piece off his sunburnt side.

The shutter that quaked her body was only comparable to the look of disgust on her face.

Another victory for boyhood.

Just a pinch

So one of my boys - age 6 - comes walking up with a large sand crab in his hand. He's holding it to study and entertain, as the crab reaches desperately backward to try to pinch him with the large front claws. Undeterred, my son walks around very satisfied he has a new friend. We told him he has to put it down and let it go - he complies, and then comes back half an hour later with another. He continued through the day until he came to me looking a little upset - look Poppa, a crab pinched me...

God teaches us daily...

Little boys

We have always been a household predominated by girls. Over the years we have probably had 30 or more daughters in our foster care and adoptive ministry. While we've had numerous boys, the girls have always been in the majority.

Now we have a of majority boys. And these aren't just any boys - they are 5 boys ranging in age from 5 to 11. Whew. They are made to dig, excavate, destroy, fart, gross out, hunt, hurt, wrestle, laugh, and move faster than the sound of your voice.

The girls struggle for supremacy, and at this time the only advantage they have is age. It'll be fun to watch - what'll win - age or speed.

Whitehouse Bees

Fun to see. Look at the government version of a beehive, apparently totally secured against any possible incident. http://www.tonitoni.org/photos26.html

Now look at a typical beehive by us "commoners" who don't have a trillion dollar budget

http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickbusse/2586012050/

I was actually excited to find out that the beekeeper who got his bees in this beeyard has some colonies with queens from the same breeder I am using. Kind of a brotherhood. Fact is, those are sissy beehives. They are bolted to the ground on a concrete pad, strapped in. I guess we wouldn't want the little Obamas to get stung. For my yard, I have the hives on cinder blocks and the kids are told to stay away or they'll get stung. The bees take care of the discipline part.

Crabby

Last night the older ones went on the late night fishing trip. There is a pier down the road they love to fish from. They usually don't catch much, but they get to stay up late and have fun trying. I myself like everything about fishing except dealing with the dead or dying fish. Their haul wasn't much - 2 sting rays. Next stop - crabbing under a bridge this morning.

Is it bees, or Osama, Obama, or being burnt?

I haven't written for a while, so the commentary is very out of date. There is much to say.

For example, very soon Fiat will be bringing in cars to what used to be your Chrysler dealership. Fiat. Does anyone remember what that used to stand for?

Or, does anyone know that Fiat owns Alfa Romeo?!

Or, does anyone join me in wondering why in the world a Chinese machinery company wants to own Hummer. Seems to me that if GM couldn't get people to buy those things, there is little chance Americans are going to buy them from a communist company?! Why do they want it?

Looks like Osama isn't buying into the idea that we can talk to each other nicely and work out our differences like the President believes. His goal to kill Americans and bring down the American nation can't be moved forward by talking. Although that is all he is able to do right now. Maybe he'll stick his head up 'cause he thinks we aren't looking...

I have a decent honey crop going right now on a totally unrelated note. I took off 3 "supers", which total about 120 pounds, or about 10 gallons. I have 10 more supers on the hives right now, but I don't think they'll fill them all. I have some slacker colonies that aren't playing right. Thing is, I have a lot of bees right now, 8 colonies, so I am hoping for a very good crop followed by a very good winter.

Finally, on getting burnt. We are. The sun is good and we are spending our days sitting under it and watching the kids in the surf.

I know I said finally, but there is another thing. Why are we listening to these people as they continue to tell us lies, that they know how to run everything in this country, that until they came to power everyone in history was wrong and they should have been running it all along. The most likely result of this kind of governing is a massive round of inflation coupled with a lot of American's being killed by people who hate us and think we are stupid and weak. We have been here before. Why are we again? As the transparency turns to translucency we sit around debating left versus right and miss the fact that the central government has been taken over by dangerous radicals who are not smart enough to listen. Instead of demanding they get it right we gloat or argue about them not being the last guys. Or the last guys. Or the last guys. Someday maybe we'll get it. Before it's too late.

OK. One more finally. So sad about the Air France crash. So sad.