Damn – it’s white out there!!

It’s Wednesday – I look out of the front window of our home on Trebor Rd in St. Joseph, Michigan. A storm of unbelievable intensity has blown ashore from Lake Michigan. Ultimately, we are days from the end and more than 10 days from the area being dug out. Honestly, I am just a bit on edge – Susie is DUE!!! BOY IS SHE DUE!!! We are working on over 72 inches of snow. Yes, that’s right – 6 feet of snow!! My neighbors are nervous too – they call, check in, “can we do anything?” Not really, unless you can get rid of this snow!!!!! I go into the garage to check out how we are doing – I raise the garage door – and look UP at the snow! UP for god’s sake?????? And it’s still snowing – hard. Lots of wind. I can’t even see the outlines of the road through our subdivision. I quietly ask – “Please God, not tonight!”

Thursday the snow lightens but the wind is still whipping things around. The drifting isn’t getting any better but I feel a need to make an effort to get us out. Yeah, right. But, being young and stupid I tell Susie I’m going to shovel a bit. She’s camped out on the couch. She has plumped right up with our unborn little one. We have no idea whether it is a boy or a girl. Honestly, Susie is ready for the little tyke to be born. It has not been a pleasant pregnancy. Morning sickness has been an all day affair. Amazingly she has kept her sense of humor throughout. She’s going to be a great mom!

So, out I go – into the wind and snow to “dig us out”. I face a snow drift 6 feet plus high, two cars wide and 50 feet long. The word impossible comes to mind. Yet, I dig in. And dig in. And dig in. And dig in. . . . . . . . . . . yep, I was right – impossible. Finally I have had enough and pack it in. I have nearly a single path dug out for a single car. I need rest.

As I enter the house through the garage is hear a pitiful cry! “Willie!!” “Willie!!” “ I gotta pee!!!!!” I’m puzzled – why not just get up and go?? Coming into the living room I see the problem. She is so big she has rolled into a position where she can’t get up! With total disregard to the “10 second rule” (see earlier post) I look at her, laugh a bit and holler “whale on the beach!! Whale on the beach!!” I admit, Susie didn’t see it in the same humorous light I did! I helped her up, waited for her to come back from her potty break, and went out to finish my shoveling. Finally, with the light fading, a single path emerges. I go back into the house and collapse.

Friday morning – lots of activity on our road. First a front end loader takes a huge shoves and then it dumps it into a dump truck. Once filled, it trundles off to the shore of Lake Michigan - as another takes its place – and dumps its load into the lake. A couple hours pass and finally I have a path to the main thoroughfare and, more importantly, a path to the hospital. I’m feeling better about things and getting Susie to the hospital if I need to.

Early afternoon. I hear a call from our bedroom – “Willie – my water’s broke!!” Yep, it has in deed. Bags are grabbed, miscellaneous junk we feel we need to take and off we go. It’s a short trip to the hospital – less than 5 miles. Yet the snow is amazing. We look up at the top of the snow banks all the way. Hard to believe!! Honestly, I have totally forgotten the arrival and check in process. My next memory is that we are in the labor room. Have I ever told you how pokey Susie is?? Sssshhhhhhheeeeeee tttttaaaaaakkkkkkeeeeeeeesssssss fffffooooooorrrrrrreeeeevvvvvveeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrr – to do anything. Why should giving birth be different? It’s getting late in the afternoon, contractions are far apart and I have an errand to run – I need to buy a car. Yep, buy a car. Susie assures me there’s time (she was more than right), so off I go to the local Dodge dealership. I had picked out a new Omni and today was the day I was to pick it up. The car is brought out and I sit with the sales guy. Paper work, paper work, paper work. I ask him how long it will take. He says it’ll be a bit. I tell him I am sorry to rush him, but my wife is in the hospital and in labor. He gets the strangest look on his face. “Really??” “Yep” I say. He hands me the keys. “Come back Monday, we’ll finish this up. Good luck!” And I am outta there! Back to the hospital.

The labor is taking to long for the doctors liking. Petosen is administered. Now the contractions really pick up – down to 2 minutes apart – for hours, and hours, and hours. Finally, after a total of 37 hours, the doctor looks at us and says “time for a C-Section, this is taking too long and it’s hard on the baby.” This was before baby classes and training of the dad so I couldn’t go in the delivery room with her. I wait. And wait. Finally, a nurse comes and escorts me to the recovery room. I remember Susie rattling around on the gurney – a reaction to the drugs. But she is fine and there, next to her in a warming box is the cutest little critter on the face of the earth – a beautiful little girl. Christina Catherine Keller. Finally presented to all those present on February 4^th.

Happy Birthday Sweetie, you’re still the cutest daughter we have!!

UPDATE: I became curious if there were any reports of this blizzard in the government record data base. This is a link to a great description of the blizzard. Seems it was as bad as I remembered.

http://www.crh.noaa.gov/dtx/stories/blizzard1978.php

Chrissy, CHRISSY!!! Wrong door!!

I must confess I enjoy taking advantage of our kids living 1 hour away rather than 23! Last night Susie and I took them out to supper and just enjoyed their company for a few hours. I left work a bit early, she had the day off and it was Friday night – it had grandkids written all over it!!!

I enjoy our visits. They are fun to watch – the whole clan. I like to see the whole young family dynamic thing work. Chrissy was shot after a day as a sub with a particularly energetic group of kids. Jeremy had had a studio day, Addie was wired and Emily was just taking it all in. It’s enjoyable to see how they all seem to make it work – at least most of the time. They are truly a couple that is good to each other and have gotten the loving and patient parent thing down pretty good as well. (at least while grandma and grandpa are in the house J )

So, off to supper we went. There is a reasonably good restaurant just 10 minutes away and even though it was only around 4:40 PM, Chrissy was ready to go. “You remember how this works – right?” She says with a bit of a scowl to Jeremy as she “encourages” him and me to get moving before the inevitable meltdown of the kids if they are not fed on time. (Honestly, I remember the whole melt-down thing as well. Susie’s life and mind were even more insane during the 2s and 3s of Chrissy – but that’s a story for another time.) Bundle, bundle. Pack, strap, click, verooooooommmmmm – and off we go.

After supper it’s off for “desert” – to the McDonalds across the highway – with the PLAYLAND attached! Yeesssss – mmmmmmm – playland! So, while the “adults” have ice-cream (yes, I know it was only 7 but, damn it, I can pretend it’s 70, right??) we watch Miss Adaline crawl through tubes, up walls, through tunnels and down slides. A friend is also made – her cute little 3 year old rescuer who helps her through some of the tunnels until she “gets the hang of it”. Yeah, right. All ready she is honing her “damsel in distress” move – to good effect I might add! “Highly Advanced” is the family term for this. The little guy even tried to snag a quick peck on the cheek – her response was a little “slow” – wink, wink.

Anyway, a successful outing! Grandpa grabbed Addie’s hand once she was bundled – and lead her through the maize of kids and doors. As she yanks her hand out and runs to the wrong door I hear myself yell: “Chrissy! CHRISSY!!! Wrong door.”

Oops – it must have been the bouncy blonde hair sticking out of the Big Bird stocking hat knit by Great Grandma that fooled me!! And in the moment, Chrissy’s entire life zipped through my mind – the dancing, swimming, girl scouts, camping and hiking, high school, dance squad, dating, meeting “the guy”, college, wedding, having Addie and Emily – and I realized how much I was looking forward to watching a new version of that movie unfold.

Honestly kid, you picked the right door, the right door indeed!

Has it really been 31 years (after Tuesday – of course!!)

I love having the kids back home!!

How tall is $1 Trillion Dollars??

Trying to understand $1 Trillion Dollars.

Thickness of a bill	0.0043"
# Bills in 1 Foot	2790
#Bills in a football field (300 ft.)	873,000
# Bills in a city block (528 ft.)	1,473,120
# Bills in a mile (5280 ft.)	14,731,200
$1 Trillion
Height Of stack of $1 bills	358,422,939 ft.
	67,883 miles
Circum. of Earth = 24,859 mi.	2.73 times AROUND the Earth
Height of stack of $100 Bills	3,584,229 ft.
	678 miles
	Davenport, IA to Rochester, NY
Height of stack of $1,000 Bills	358,422 ft.
	67 miles
	Davenport, IA to Cedar Rapids, IA
Average Age of an American	77 Years
	28,105 Days
	674,520 Hours
	40,471,200 Minutes
	2,428,272,000 Seconds
Spend rate of an single American to spend $1 Trillion
Per Year	$12,987,012,987
Per Day	$35,580,857
Per Hour	$1,482,535
Per Minute	$27,708
Per Second	$411

 

Hello??  America???  Are you watching your Government???

The ten second rule.

I grew up without a father. Most of my aunts on my father’s side were divorced (some with good reason!) and those on my mother’s side all seemed to live quite a ways away. So, I spent plenty of time with older women growing up. Aunt Agnes – a factory rat, grocery store clerk, smoker, drinker – could cuss with the best of them. Aunt Emiline, factory rat, clerk in a pharmacy, also a smoker and drinker – didn’t cuss quite as much. Aunt Ida – married – my 3^rd grade teacher, drinker, smoker – tough as nails. In fact, they all were. My mom, of course. Didn’t smoke, worked her ass off in the post office – another woman tough as nails.

I learned many lessons from these women. Feminists every one long before we were told what a feminist was. Self reliant, independent, opinionated, tough – I was truly blessed to know them. One of the lessons I learned quickly was to listen. Interrupting conversations was not permitted. Not that I wasn’t able to join in the conversations – in fact just the opposite – I was encouraged to do so. Just not to interrupt. Listen to what was being said, consider what you want to say, form your thoughts, wait for an appropriate point to share these thoughts. This takes time – but at least 10 seconds. The ten second rule.

They did not state it that way, they just didn’t tolerate stupid thoughts. Actually, they were fairly forgiving, but demanding none the less. Over the years, I have refined the whole ten second rule process. Today it means: say what you are going to day, TO YOUR SELF, IN YOUR HEAD, wait ten seconds, SAY IT AGAIN TO YOUR SELF, IN YOUR HEAD, if it doesn’t sound stupid, insulting, condescending (unless you mean to sound condescending), if it is really what you want to say then, AND ONLY THEN say it to the person or group you are talking to. Since I have my own business and work with prospects and customers all day, this has held me in good stead over the years. However, its true value is in my relationships with friends and family.

Honestly, women reading this, especially those married women, will look at their husbands and acknowledge that all husbands say the most bone-headed things sometimes. The ten second rule is one of the first survival skills a male must learn – beginning at an early age and continuing through death! Do I really want to say this to my wife, girlfriend, fiancé? If I say these words, what will be the outcome? Will I survive? Does she know how to load the 1911? Are the clips next to the bed loaded?

I have been trying to teach this to my son. He’s pushing 20 now. The task seems to be going slowly. But I am hopeful that before the right girl shows up, he will have mastered this survival skill. Or, pray that his beloved is a poor shot!

I have also shared this with my son-in-law. Having lived with his wife for longer that he has, I know the value of this skill to him! She has been asking me to take her to the weapons range for some more shooting lessons. Hummmmm . . . . .

The ten second rule – learn it, love it, use it!

Sweet Sixteen and Never Been Kissed

It’s my sweetie’s birthday today. We have had a lot of them together. She was 15 and I was 16 when we started dating. That’s where the “sweet sixteen and never been kissed” phrase came into my life. I was already for the smooching stage when we started dating that summer. Sophomores in high school, enjoying the first emotions of a new relationship – dry mouth, fluttery heart, expectations of seeing her – she was my first (and turns out only) girl friend. But, it was important to her to wait for the kiss, wait for the 16^th birthday. Today I am sure this sounds terribly foolish and old fashioned – hell in 1966 during the sexual revolution I am sure it sounded foolish. But here was a girl I loved, at least as much as any 16 year old male understands love, so I waited.

Charm bracelets were one of the in-thing gifts of the time. She still has hers filled with charms of our early years together. My charm for her that year seemed appropriate – a car. She could drive after her 16^th birthday without parent or adult. I am sure there were other gifts, I don’t remember them, but I remember the car.

We went out that night, honestly I don’t remember that either. My attention was focused on “the kiss”. We had had a huge blizzard that week – massive really. So we didn’t go far, I’m sure. Pulling into her driveway I was very nervous and expectant – then she got out of the car – no kiss! I got out, she took my hand and led me to the side door of their garage and into the garage. Suddenly Puny the cat was in her arms – this was not going my way at all! Slowly, she snuggled into my chest, cat still in her arms, tipped her head up and we kissed for the first time. I have not grown tired of that moment – or the tens of thousands that have followed. Could today really be the 42^nd anniversary of our first kiss – really???

Happy Birthday Sweetie!!

Still Winter!!

More snow last night - 8 inches or so.  Heavy sigh!

Tonight and tomorrow it's supposed to be "bitterly cold"!  What the hell does that mean!!  It's only 10 now!  Ah, they say -19F with wind chills below -40!!!!!!  So, now I get it.  Frozen death!!  THAT'S WHAT IT MEANS!!!  FROZEN DEATH!!

Sorry, let me wipe the spittle from the corner of my mouth - the foam got outta hand!

So, it snowed last night.  Ah well, winter in Iowa!

Some Halloween Test Video

I am playing with Pinnacal Studio 12, seems to be working really well.