Morning all:

This was a week of halves. Front half was summer with temperatures hovering around a sunny 80. Then came the switch. The skies turned grey and the cold rains came flying through. The daytime temperatures are barely able to cross the 50 mark. Why, this morning I even had to put a little extra heat under the coffee. You just wait. Anytime now Marcia will start whining about turning on the heat. The extra-hot coffee does taste good though.

My walk last night did provide me with some thought. The rains were with us and did not appear to slow down. Finally I realized that poor Shang was in pain and we had no choice but to head out. Twenty minutes later my rain-slicks were covering me from head to toe. Meantime Shang had just kept staring away at the spectacle of me adjusting Velcro fittings around ankles, wrists, and hood. Tail wagging happily we set off. I quickly realized that I was staying dry as a button. Since I was dry and my podcast provided some excellent listening I made the decision to do our regular 2-mile hike.

Skip forward to the homecoming. Marcia jumped into high gear with a large fluffy towel and went to work on Shang. He appreciated this attention so much that he gave a final massive body shake of appreciation, getting rid of any rain water that was still hanging on. Meantime I spent about ten minutes jumping around on one leg than the other trying to free myself of the wet rain gear. So here is my thinking, which was the smarter? Shang, sopping wet, getting a magnificent rub down, or me struggling for a half hour getting in and out of wet nylon. Should you read a Madison Wisconsin style newspaper article headlined: “nude man spotted walking dog”; I think you’ll understand completely. By the way, I mentioned Madison since most of these little nutty cuckoo news articles always seem to originate there. No offense Madisonites.

Remember a popular book from a decade or so ago called Passages? It delineated the various major life-passage points. Ours recent events were becoming empty nesters and then grandparents. Both of these Marcia and I handled exceedingly well. However, lately we’ve witnessed a spade of these crossing—60 birthdays. On the surface these are joyful events. Last weekend was the latest of these. However, deep down, the feelings are best described by my friend Andy Capp.

With Wilma settled over Cancun I can only imagine what the place will look like, especially with fresh memories of what it was after just visiting there a few months ago. I talked with brother George a couple of days ago. He was just leaving his home in Naples, well ahead of Wilma, and was heading for New York City where he’d join Sandy for the weekend. One less concern for the rest of the family. For those of you who listen to his politically incorrect banter via streaming audio not to worry, today his radio show will originate from Washington DC rather than Naples—yes, you’ll still be able to listen to his talk about the “towel-head” neighbors.

Now, one more cup of coffee. By then Marcia will be up and the push to go to one of the big box club stores will be on. Every time she reads about another hurricane it’s a trek to one of these stores to stock the pantry with another six months supply of everything. By the way, exactly how do you lash one of those 50 roll of toilet paper shrink wrapped bundles to the car trunk?

One last bit. Adrianne has made plans to spend Christmas at home and will be here December 13th. We are all thrilled!

Make it a great week.
Cheers,
Dirk