HAPPY ANNIVERSARY KARLA & JOEL!

Joel and Karla are celebrating their anniversary today! Congrats! I love both of them very much and think they're such a special couple! (I may be a bit prejudice... but what I am saying is the truth) They're great parents and have made such a nice family! I'm beyond proud of them! I pray they have many, many more happy years together sharing love, laughter, and the closeness of being best friends and more! Love you guys!

Yesterday Papa stayed home. He putsied around... cleaning the kitchen and the floor, vacuuming, and out in the garage. I cleaned the toyroom! That took awhile. I always find socks in there... so if the kids have lost any of their kids socks... I got them. I also made up a tator tot casserole for dinner and meatballs to freeze. I finished New Moon (2nd Twilight book). All I can say is wow. So good. Now I need to get Karla's next book to read. I don't know about Bella. I would have ran for the hills by now...love or no love! She's either the bravest or dumbest character of all time.

Well, Libby brought Mr. Morrison over yesterday. Poor Libby... she had to carry him in the carrier across the passenger ferry. Luckily she can park by the boats (because she is a ferry worker and they have their own parking lot) so she didn't have to take him on a bus. But it was pouring rain yesterday. Hats off to her! She got here around two and we slowly introduced him to Punkin and Toby. He hisses alot. lol! I think he has scouted out every inch of my house.... which I expected. But he found a favorite place last night... on top of the refrigerator.
Papa was looking everywhere for him and there he was! He liked it up there. I didn't like him using my counter to get up there so something has to change there! But so far so good. Everyone keeps a healthy distance from each other. lol

I'm a bit sad today... my mama is taking a train to South Dakota to visit her sister. My two sisters... Libby and Lois are going with her. My brother Doug will be driving from Virginia and will meet them there. I'm going to miss my mom so much and wish I was going with her. I feel like a little girl and everyone is going to the carnival but me. I am waving goodbye to them.

On a lighter note: Did you hear about the Cheesus? It is a cheeto that is suppose to look like Jesus. I think I've heard about everything crazy now.
http://www.kirotv.com/video/19494560/


I'm trying to be more positive... I remembered that I don't like being around negative people all the time and it becomes a habit... so I am trying to change my attitude before I become one of those old negative people that have nothing nice to say about anything (Maxine). Not that I won't ever complain, mind you. I will have my rant and rave time. Like right now... I don't understand this. With our financial woes there is no way we would go out and get a loan to bail us out. I don't understand this country. I want my bills paid off so my kids don't have to deal with anything. But our country is all about borrowing to pay off debt and get into debt more. That being said, I don't understand what I read this morning : The United States is sending $100 million in aid to Pakistan to help alleviate the plight of the estimated 2 million people displaced by the offensive against Taliban extremists, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Tuesday. Where is the money coming from???? That is my rant for the day.

Denise got yesterdays tv clip. It was LOST. She doesn't even watch the show! Good job to my niece, Denise! The one today was a great show!

Update on the bridge... that stupid wind slowed us down yesterday:

One question we're getting now is, "With all the main pieces in place, will the bridge open early?"

It's tough to say one way or the other, because while it is true most of the major components are now at the bridge site, some very unique technical and engineering challenges still must be overcome before we reopen.

Crews still have complex pontoon joint operations ahead, which include work that is dependent on having winds less than 15 miles per hour. WSDOT also must set drop-in spans and connect them to the pontoons, and post-tension the pontoons – pulling them together – to stabilize and strengthen the east half as a whole.

In a nutshell, there's a lot to be done inside the pontoons.

It's kind of like driving a car without tightening the lug nuts on the wheels... everything is there, but try to drive and you're not going to get very far. Pretty much everything is at the construction site, but it all still needs to be fastened into place so we can assure that the bridge will function properly.

I can't believe the anniversary for the Mt St Helens eruption was Monday and I didn't hear anything out of the news media. They always talk about it and show pictures and everything. hmmm... Here are some facts about the volcano eruption:
It happened May 18th, 1980, 8:32 am.
The snow on MSH (that did not instantly turn to steam by the heat) melted and formed large mudflows that destroyed 27 bridges, 200 homes, 185 miles of roadway, and 15 miles of railway.
The massive ash cloud grew to 80,000 feet in 15 minutes and reached the east coast in 3 days. Although most of the ash fell within 300 miles of the mountain, finer ash circled the earth in 15 days. I remember everything getting a dusting.... but the winds blew most of it east.
The largest landslide in recorded history swept down the mountain at speeds of 70 to 150 miles per hour and buried the North Fork of the Toutle River under about 150 feet of debris. Some areas are covered by as much as 600 feet. About 23 square miles of material was removed from the mountain.
The lateral blast swept out of the north side of MSH at 300 miles per hour creating a 230 square mile fan shaped area of devastation reaching a distance of 17 miles from the crater. With temperatures as high as 660 degrees and the power of 24 megatons of thermal energy, it snapped 100 year old trees like toothpicks and stripped them of their bark.
Pyroclastic flows rolled out of the crater for hours after the eruption. Covering 6 square miles, they sterilized the remaining soil with temperatures nearing 1,300 degrees F.
MSH was 9,677 feet before the eruption and 8,363 feet after. 1,314 feet was removed by the May 18th eruption.

Do you remember where you were when the mountain blew? I was living in Port Gamble... I was awake with small children. It sounded like a bomb going off. And we lived about 3-4 hours away! It's one of those times... like Kennedy's assassination or 911 that you'll always remember where you were.

Well... that's my blog for the day. Wow... where else can you get the news, history and weather all at once! lol! Watching Mr Morrison crawl up on every flat surface in my house. Punkin and Toby are off sleeping. They don't care. So far so good. Have a great day and laugh.... it is good for you!

A dry spell will develop Wednesday.
More sun will mean more warming, highs will range from the mid 50s to the mid 60s.
Wednesday evening will be dry and partly cloudy with lows in the low to mid 40s.
High pressure will build for dry and warm weather Thursday through Memorial Day. Expect areas of morning clouds with plenty of sunshine bringing highs into the 60s to low 70s.