POOR HOST

I had a daughter and her fiance, and a son and two of his girls come for the weekend. The daughter came to show us her diamond from her engagement and our son came to do some work in a town near here. Our daughter agreed to take care of teh girls while he was working. Inklings is still with her parents while her mother is recovering from surgery.

I really struggled with what I needed to do to feed them. They all woke up at different times Saturday morning so they got to help themselves to cereal and toast because I wasn't about to cook three different breakfasts. We went to see Inklings and her folks and had lunch there---sandwiches, pickles, chips and drinks that I took with us. We got home a little late so I baked pizzas from Papa Murphy's. Breakfast today was cereal (included some oatmeal servings). Lunch was hot dogs and chili. Not a great menu but guess it was good enough to get us through. They probably won't even think about visiting again if Inklings isn't home. ;=)

We did have a good laugh about when they were kids and I had to feed them---they said they either got to eat cold cereal (a treat at that time) or scrambled eggs---or if they were really smart the got to go out for fast food.

MISSED THE MEETING

For the first time in 26 years I missed the Region 4 fire team meeting. I always looked forward to this week long meeting because it was in the early spring and signaled that it was time to get past winter and get ready for fire season.

I saw one of the fire guys Saturday morning and he told me he just got back from the fire team meeting in Reno. I gotta say that really set me back---that is the first thing that has happened that made me question---just for a moment---my decision to retire. That moment has passed but I wonder how I will feel when there is smoke in the sky!!!

WEST VIRGINIA UPDATE

Unfortunately they found the four missing miners dead. They had passed three of them several times going in and out of the mine but just didn't see them because of the smoke. TOUGH, TOUGH Life those miners live so that we can have all the power we want. My heart goes out to the families.

The focus now turns to recovery---gotta be tough on those that worked so hard on the rescue. It is difficult to change points of view when you are dealing with life and death.

ENGAGED

Last night I got a call from our youngest daughter MJ who was supposed to be on her way down to see us with her boyfriend. She just called to let me know that she had just got engaged. They have not yet set a date but my guess is mid-summer. It doesn't seem possible that she is old enough to get married.

She graduates from college on May 8th after three years at Utah State---she is graduating magn-cum-laude (I think that is the right one) from the Huntsman School of Business at USU. I am way proud of her and wish her well with her coming marriage and her job hunt.

UPDATE ON INKLINGS MOM 4/10/10

We went to see Inklings and her mother and dad today. The Doctor didn't make her mom go back into the hospital today and told her what she has to eat and drink daily to stay out of there. Thay have to call him with an update at 9:00 a.m. daily then he will determine if she has to go in for interveinous feeding. Her mom is trying hard not to have to go back into the hospital.

Her throat hurts from the tubes from surgery and she can hardly swallow. We took her some throat lozenges today that we hope will help. She is really frail and tired. She is better today by a long shot than she was yesterday though.

This recovery, like the one last summer, is going to be long and hard for her (asnd everyone else). She says this is the worst surgery that she has ever had. She is very weak and can hardly talk because of the sore throat. We hope things continue to improve for her.

UPDATE ON INKLINGS MOM 4/9/10

This is as of 4:00 p.m. today.

Inklings said she is doing a little better from the pain but it has taken a lot out of her. She is still really sore and it takes her a lot of time to move anywhere.

She is not eating or drinking like she is supposed to. They called the Doctor today. He talked to her and told her she has to drink and they are diluting Gatorade to help her get some liquids down. I guess she has done better on that this afternoon but still not good enough. She eats about three bites of stuff then quits. The Doctor told her if she doesn't start eating and drinking by tomorrow they are going to have to put her back in the hospital and give her the food and liquids interveinously. She knows all of that but is still not doing good at it.

The Doctor is going to call at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow and if things haven't improved on the eating and drinking he is going to put her back in the hospital. Wish I had better news but now y'all know what I know.

UPDATE ON INKLINGS MOM

I talked to Inklings about an hour ago. Her Mother is hurting a lot worse than yesterday. She can't stand to lie down and they can't check her bandages to see if there is increased bleeding. She is not running a fever so that is good. Hernia surgery on the stomach is tough---and it takes six weeks minimum to get to where you can start doing things. The third day after surgery is usually the hardest and I hope that is what we are seeing here. I wish I had better news on this.