MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Hey everyone – MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I hope today gave you a day to celebrate and appreciate the good things you have in life and gave you the ability to celebrate with family and friends.  I had an interesting day to say the least.  I got up and was a little tired and my voice hurt a little bit from all the talking and singing last night.  I went into the kitchen to get a breakfast and hopefully some orange juice and my wife said she had not gotten orange juice.  I simply mentioned that I had told her about it earlier in the week and she went on a TARE about having to solve the problem of not having orange juice in the house.  Now, why she chose CHRISTMAS MORNING to try and come up with a solution to the problem is beyond me.  The verbal fight led to a scuffle and needless to say, my Christmas morning was pretty much ruined by the entire scenario.  Even to this point in time, my wife thinks she was right to try and leave the house to go get orange juice.  First off, I don’t know where she thought she was going because nothing was going to be open on Christmas morning.  Second, I can’t understand why she can’t see herself as Clark W. Griswold trying to “fill a need”.  That was the whole point of that movie!  Don’t let yourself go crazy trying to make it perfect, relax and deal with what is there.  I even tried to explain that to her, but she didn’t really want to hear it.  I eventually got past it, but even when we talked about it this evening, I still don’t think she saw why I don’t think that Christmas morning was the time to get stubborn about orange juice.  I was simply trying to make the point that I had told her about it earlier in the week (and on any other day, this would have led to a fight about how I don’t tell her anything).  I do get the feeling that the more I may be right about something in my house, the more I’m really wrong!  Anyway, I had some tea instead and eventually joined the family upstairs and we opened gifts.

I’m just sorry that my parents/kids had to see us both acting like asses!  We eventually started to open gifts.  We all got all sorts of great gifts and I can’t complain at all because I got most of the things on my list.  I got Star Wars On Blu Ray:

Thor on Blu Ray:

The Incredible Hulk on Blu Ray:

Lord of the Rings on Blu Ray:

Madden 2011 for a PS3 Game:

A few nice shirts and an awesome St. Louis Rams Sam Bradford Jersey:

I was VERY happy with my gifts.  After opening gifts, we prepped the tables and then had a dinner together.  It was a very nice dinner with Turkey, Mashed Potatoes, Gravy, Corn, Stuffing, Cranberries, and sherbert Jello.  For desert (which we did a few hours later) we had cookies, apple pie, and cheese cake.  It was a really nice dinner and some nice dessert.  After dinner, almost everyone except for myself and the kids took a nap.  I worked on Tara’s Hello Kitty House, which required some stickers, which I put on.  I then helped Austin put on some stickers on his Star Wars Lego toy as well.  All the kids had played Laser Tag in the basement with a set of guns that I got my nephew for Christmas downstairs.  They had a blast, although it did lead to some arguments about who was cheating and who was not.   After that, my parents and my brother and his family packed up their vehicles and left.

After the families left, we worked on cleaning up the kitchen and cleaning up the house.  Heather eventually took a nap herself and I went into the basement into her room and programmed her remote (I bought her a new universal remote for her sewing room) and then decided to mount and hook up her second set of speakers in her room.  That took me a while to do and after that, I then watched “Mythbusters” (they were doing a marathon) while I worked on taping more DVD labels in my home theater room.  After some time, we all pulled out some leftovers and had a late dinner/snack before we pretty much called it a night.  I went back into the basement and we continued taping as we watched “American Pickers” on the History Channel and then Heather and I watched a Biography Channel special on Tim Allen and “The Santa Clause” before heading to bed around midnight or so.  It was a long, but successful day.

Okay, a break from reading tonight.  Tomorrow, we’ll get back to our usual reading schedule.  Instead, I ask that you all have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Albany Comic Con

Well, it’s Sunday, it’s the day before Halloween and we woke up at five-fifteen this morning!  Yeah, I know some people probably think I’m completely insane, but it was to make sure that we are prepared to get going for our big event today, Albany Comic Con.  I got up and headed into the shower and Heather got up and got the kids going for the morning.  We looked outside and the snow wasn’t too bad, so we decided that our trip would go ahead as planned.  We got the car and the trailer loaded up and then came back inside and had some bagels as a small breakfast to start the day.  After about a half an hour of trudging about, my friends showed up.  I still had that nagging head cold, so I packed some kleenex and some cough drops and before long we had everyone at my house and the caravan was on it’s way.

We got on the road and drove throughout the morning.  It started out dark and as the sun came up, we got to see what amounted to a very nice looking landscape with just about two inches of snow on the ground.  It was a beautiful landscape, but a little scary at the same time, especially with leaves still on the trees.  After about a two hour ride, my wife insisted we stop and get some gas for the car (she forgot to get some before we left), so we stopped in Cobleskill to get some gas and then some McDonald’s for breakfast and then got back on the road.  We got to Albany around ten o’clock or so and started to unload the car and the trailer.

After unloading, Heather dropped off the trailer and left to go to the mall and to go to her “spa day”.  I helped to set up the table and put up the Falco Flag.  After that, I kitted up into my Mandalorian.  I let Ian borrow my comm pad for his Imperial Pilot and would later get into my pilot.  I walked the con before getting into kit this time, which was helpful and I may do again from this point forward.  It let me see what was there in case there was something I was interested in.  After that, I got into Kal Falco and walked around and took pictures with the patrons and talked with some individuals.  It was a good time.  After some time, I got into my Tie Pilot costume and met up with some of the Garrison Excelsior members and they liked what they saw.  I was able to partake in the Mandalorian Mercs pics, but wasn’t able to make the Excelsior pics.  I felt bad about that, but can’t win them all.

Heather came back and visited once and then left to go back out to her spa.  We then went to a panel about making objects from found items at home and had a great discussion with some people there.  It was a fun event.  We got done with Albany and then packed up the cars.  We then went to “Moe’s” and had some dinner as a Falco Clan and had a blast discussing the future of the Clan and how things will look in the future.  Then a bunch of us went to Dunkin Donuts and then got back on the road.  We travelled from Albany back to Binghamton and were able to arrive home by eight o’clock PM.  It was a long day, but a fun day.  We unloaded the trailer and the car and the kids took their showers and headed to bed.  Heather and I watched our usual shows, “Amazing Race”, “The Good Wife”, and “CSI Miami” on DVR and then we went to bed as well.  I was feeling like total garbage as my head cold had gotten worse throughout the day.

Construction – Day 4

Well, it was Saturday and it was another day’s worth construction.  I got up around seven o’clock this morning and Heather headed right out and started to get things from Kovarick’s, that we needed for the day.  She got home from shopping at “Price Chopper” as well when her parents pulled in not too long after.  We immediately set about going about our big project today.  We had to move the stairs to our newly built house and then we had to move the front wall back sixteen inches.  It was not going to be an easy project, so it was going to take most of the day to make this happen.

First think we did was take out the front windows and the side windows and we put them off to the side leaning against my trailer. We then pulled out the side window and put that off to the side as well.  My father in law pulled off one of the rafters on both sides and just as we finished with all of that, my parents showed up.  My father changed into his clothes and we continued to work on moving the front wall.  Before we moved the wall, we pulled out the steps and moved them off to the side of the porch and then started to take out some of the floor beams of the porch.  Then we took out the front board on the bottom of the floor boards and then sawed off the girders holding up the floor boards.

Tara got me a quick sandwich and then we put the stairs in off to the side of the house.  We then pulled down the original wall off the porch and then managed to move it back up onto the porch.  Heather then left and went to “Lowes” and got us some galvanized nails that we needed and then we put the front of the porch back on as my father in law worked on the gable of the front of the roof.  I worked on nailing in the front wall and by the time the gable studs went in, it was time to stop for the day because we were loosing daylight.  We went inside and had a nice dinner with both my parents and my in-laws here and we had some fun around the dinner table.  My wife made a great meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, and even some yorkshire pudding – which I had never had before and it’s REALLY good!  After dinner, my in-laws left and my parents visited with Heather and I while we watched “Big Bang Theory” and “Storage Wars” till we all went to bed exhausted.  So, no discussion about books tonight, instead, look at what my porch looks like now:

Construction – Day 3

Saturday and it was a day of nerves and then frantic construction.  I got up a little earlier this morning than last Saturday.  I just couldn’t sleep anymore, I guess my nerves were getting to me.  So, I went into the basement and recorded the next two segments of “Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute”.  After I got done recording, I went upstairs and got a shower (as my in-laws were coming over) and then I went back downstairs to work on the fans for my Tie Pilot.  When my father-in-law and mother-in-law showed up, I went upstairs to meet with them.  We came up with a “game plan” on how to handle the building inspector that was supposed to come over to the house.  I then went into the basement and worked on my Tie Pilot fans a little more and before the building instructor arrived.

The guy was interesting to say the least.  He showed up and he kept insisting that the porch had to be twenty-five feet from the road.  He claimed that the whole structure would have to come down and everything would need to be sized down.  Then he claimed we needed to get a permit for any work to our house.  My father-in-law admitted to the mistake (three times) to not check on the local laws because out by him, if you  repair an existing structure, you are not required to have a permit.  The inspector kept insisting there was nothing he could do.  We finally offered him a compromise and were able to prove where the old porch was.  I tried to explain to him that it was an “eye sore” and it was bound to come down on it’s own sometime soon and all we were trying to do was improve the look of our house and the neighborhood.  The inspector finally gave way and agreed to the compromise.  We need to move the steps to the side of the porch, and move the front wall back eighteen inches.  But, I at least get to keep my porch.

Shortly after he left, my father-in-law got right to work.  He was working on getting a roof on our house as there was supposed to be a lot of rain this week and we needed to at least weatherize the house before the storms.  So, he got up on the roof and started working on the gables and the rafters.  My son helped him out at first until Austin had to go to a football game over at the school and play with the pep band.  So then my wife got up on the roof.  I have a fear of heights and just couldn’t bring myself to get up on the roof.  After a while (as it would figure), it started to rain.  Luckily we had the exposed part of the roof covered up and we didn’t get any water inside the house.  Heather kept working with her father till mid-afternoon.  I worked in the basement and by the end of the afternoon, I had the fans in my Tie Pilot completely installed.  Finally I will be able to have some air in my helmet while I have the costume on.

At the mid-afternoon time (around two o’clock or so), my father-in-law asked if my wife and I could get all the shingles up onto the roof by ourselves, so I agreed.  I lugged them up the ladder about a half a bundle at a time because I could not carry a full bundle (just not that strong!).  I got them up the ladder and Heather would put them on the peak of the roof.  After some more time, he asked for help on the roof and I simply handled my fear of heights and got on the roof and helped.  By the time I got off, I had a feeling of vertigo, but at least I kind of conquered my fear.  After that, I went into the basement for about a half an hour and finished cutting and forming the arm armor for Aron’s wife’s wedding dress.  At that time, it was time for dinner.

We had chili and homemade bread for dinner and it really hit the spot.  We had some discussions about how the remodel of the existing porch would go and then Heather’s father did some drawings for us to turn in.  After that, my in-laws went home and Heather and I went to work on our projects in the basement.  I worked on forming the plates for the wedding dress we are working on and I then also worked on editing out some of “The Clone Wars in a Galactic Minute”.  While I did that, I watched “Dr. Phil”, “Fringe”, and “CSI:NY” on DVR before Heather and I went to bed.

Okay, no book discussion tonight.  Instead, I had to take a break for construction.  Tomorrow we will continue….

Construction – Day 2

Happy Columbus Day!

I’ve never understood why we celebrate Columbus Day when there are so many other days that we should celebrate more out of Americian history, yet we ignore them and act like they don’t exist.  Why not Pearl Harbor Day?  V-E Day?  It just doesn’t make sense to me.  I got up around seven-thirty this morning and started to watch “The Early Show” with the kids while I took a shower, got dressed and ate some breakfast.  I started to talk with Ruth about the musical “The Sound of Music” because they were doing that musical at school this year.  I had her listen to the song “Edelweiss” just as my father in law showed up.  We got to working on the porch again.  He was very pleased with the work that we did yesterday and got to work on getting things ready to put up the rafters for the roof today.  As he prepped the rafters, I helped him set his fancy new computerized watch.  After that, we started to help him work on some other things.  My wife and her mother left for a little bit to get some food and not too long afterward, Heather’s father in law worked on some new stairs for the porch and they looked pretty awesome!  We then started to prep the porch for the roof by finishing up the header and preparing the frame.

After that, we had a fulfilling lunch of hot dogs, baked beans, and potato salad.  After that, we headed back outside.  As my father in law put on the rafters, we worked on cutting out the openings for the windows.  After the rafters were put up, we decided to put the windows in place to at least finish the front and side facades of the porch.  I worked with Austin to use the saws-all and we cut them out together.  Heather made the final cut.  After that, her sister gave me a new hair cut and not too long after, we ate a quick dinner with her father.  After dinner, my in-laws headed home and we made plans to do more work on Saturday this coming week.  After that, I headed into the basement and prepared myself for the coming week as I watched “Fringe”, “Amazing Race” on DVR and then watched “How I Met Your Mother”, “2 Broke Girls”, “Two and a Half Men”, “Mike and Molly”, and “Hawaii Five-O” while I DVR’d “American Chopper” and “Terra Nova” before heading to bed.

Okay, so again no reading, but check out what our work now looks like.  It’s looking pretty great!:

Construction – Day 1

Well, today was the start of our big weekend long project.  We have a front porch on my house that has been rotting the moment we bought the house.  It has looked horrible and to be honest, has made our house the “eye-sore” of the street for quite some time.  I feel bad that we are and we’re trying to change that.  Today we decided that we needed to work on our front porch.  I got up around seven o’clock this morning and took a quick shower to get myself going for the day.  Not too long after, my father-in-law showed up to the house and we started work on our old porch.  We cut the shingles off from the house, stripped off as much of the wood as we could and then started to work on the second part, getting the front part of the roof and joists off.  We decided to hook it up to a truck and give it a tug.  Five minutes later, my old porch came tumbling to the ground!  It was pretty easy and it was scary that it was that easy.

We then set about (I say “we” in the imperical sense of course, because I only did what I was told, when I was told to do it!) evening up the roofline to put in a header to use later on.  After that, it was time for some lunch.  We ate a quick lunch and got back outside for work (and it was getting hot out there!).  We then started to put the frames of the walls together and worked throughout the afternoon getting those walls framed up and prepped.  Before I knew it, it was late afternoon and we were hoisting up the walls and putting them up on our porch.  The frames were then nailed into place and each stud was then nailed into the floor joists.  Soon, we had the frames of walls and the frames for windows later on and I was starting to see how our house was going to look.  We then started to nail in some T1-11  siding and my home was now looking like a box on the front.  We cut out a doorway and then were done for the night.

We ate a quick dinner together and my father-in-law gave us some instructions for some things to do for the day tomorrow to be ready for Monday when he plans on coming back to do some more work.  After they left, Heather and I decided to try and relax in the basement a little bit and we watched “Terra Nova” and “Dr. Phil” before heading to bed.

Okay, no book tonight.  I have been too busy to read.  Instead, check out the work I have been up to:

 

TEN YEARS LATER – WE WILL NEVER FORGET!

September 11, 2001.  A date that will haunt my memories and I wasn’t even directly impacted by the event.  But that date, caused my world to change forever!  My world in Binghamton, New York would never be the same.  I, like the rest of America watched the towers fall and watched 3000 souls lost in a matter of what seemed like a split second.  I will never forget where I was that day.  I was at school.  It was still my first week on the job with the Binghamton City School District and I was having a rough day of education with my students.  I had turned on my radio for an escape to get away from the stress I was feeling.  I turned it to “Imus in the Morning” (back when he was on the air) and I heard something about a plane and The Pentagon.  I seriously thought I was being “punked”.  I thought Imus was being funny and doing his own little “War of the Worlds” radio broadcast.  I didn’t believe it till a Social Studies teacher in the bloc down the hall named Tom asked me if I had seen the news yet.  I said I had not, and he told me to come to his room.  I was in shock and was speechless for one of the few times in my life.  I saw both towers on fire and heard about the plane that had gone into The Pentagon and I looked at Tom and said, we may be looking at the start of World War 3.  That is how I found out about September 11th.   What was your experience?

This is one of the few moments I had today to reflect on this tragic event.  I really did need to reflect because I had not had a chance to do that too much today.  I got up around seven-fifteen this morning and started to get ready for my day.  I got into the shower and woke the kids up and started to get ready for church.  When I got out of the shower, the kids were already dressed and starting to get breakfast.  I got some breakfast and David and his wife got up.  They packed their car and took their bird cages with them and headed home.  I wished them luck and told them they can come over and use the shower and the water ANY time they need.  I have made that offer to many of my friends.  After that, we got my trumpet and headed to church.

I got to church and took my trumpet out and warmed up.  I was playing “Taps” at today’s service during a moment of silence to honor all those that died on September 11th, 2001.  We had a nice service with our new Pastor at our church.  His sermon was very moving about how we need to trust in God that he will guide us no matter how hard things get.  Whether it be flooding or a disaster like September 11th, God will guide us to the right path and that sometime, we become stronger because of the tragedies that we go through.  Many ask why we have such horrible experiences and I believe we are put to the test by God to make us each individually stronger.  God oversees us through all that we do.  It was a great service and I was honored to play “Taps” for the service and I know several members were honored that I had done it.

After church, we came home and Heather got a call from the bus garage that they needed her over there.  Shortly after she left, I got a call from another friend that needed help cleaning out their house.  So, I headed over and worked for about an hour and then came back home.  I got home and took another shower and then headed to the basement and started to watch some football, until another friend called and I headed over there as I found out that another friend needed help via Facebook.  So, I went to my one friend’s house while I gave the other friend’s house to a friend of mine via a text message in hopes that he could help.  It took me another hour at my other friends house and I came home.  Just in time to meet Heather at home.  I watched some football while she made dinner.  We both decided we were just going to “chill out” tonight.   So we watched a little bit of “Miss Congeniality” and then watched “9/11: Ten Years Later” before heading to bed.  We both found out tonight that we would be going back to school tomorrow.

So, no reading today either.  I hope to get back to it tomorrow.  I apologize to all of you that have been following this site, but a tragedy in our area has really put me on edge.  I hope you understand that it may take months for me to get back to normal on this blog.

FLOOD – Day 3

Saturday and it was time to try and get some things back together.  At least we tried to in the Binghamton area and we did the same at my house.  We got up around eight o’clock this morning and David and his wife were off pretty early this morning.  They were really hoping that water would go down in their basement and they could begin clean-up.  So, they got some quick breakfast and were on their way to go back to their house and do some work.  I offered to help, but they wanted to work with their family on the house.  I understand their want to try and keep this a little private.  It’s hard for ANYONE to accept help at a time like this.  After David left, Heather decided to get some more supplies from “Price Chopper” including some milk and potatoes.  We can’t get too many supplies because our personal money is running low until I get my first paycheck on Friday this coming week.  It’s kind of hard because we haven’t worked in two weeks since the Laundry Service, so we have no money coming in yet.

One thing I didn’t mention yesterday was that Heather was called upon by the Red Cross to drive truck to try and get supplies out to Owego.  Owego is a town that is about forty-five minutes from Binghamton.  It took her about two and a half hours to get out there because every road they tried to go down was closed.   I prayed hard for her to be able to make it there and back safely.  She did and we are greatful.

Shortly after Heather got back, I got a call from a friend to come over and help them with their house.  It was almost a complete loss, mud, debris, and water was everywhere.  I helped as much as I could, but they were facing a devastating situation.  They were appreciative that I was able to work with them for about two hours.  I got done with that and came home.  I took a quick shower and then headed downstairs.  I worked on updating some websites, my blog, and other things I work on.  I was able to do some things on the Mercs site and I can say that I was able to get some downtime, at least a little bit.  I watched a few episodes of “South Park” on DVR and the kids and I watched “Looney Tunes” and then watched “Thundercats” again because we didn’t catch all of the episode last night.  After that, they helped Heather put a dinner together of a new recipe – Baked Potato Soup.  It was really good.  After dinner, David and his wife showed up and they ate some dinner and took some showers.  They were exhausted from working all day.  They told us that they would be moving back home tomorrow, and I understood why.

After they ate dinner, they watched me play COD:BO for a little bit and then they watched “Star Wars: A New Hope” with me and I showed them where the stormtrooper hits his helmet on the door in the Death Star.  After that, we went to bed.  We had plans to go to church tomorrow.  Not only were we dealing with the tragedy in our area, but tomorrow we had 9/11 to think about.  Just a LOT on the mind!

FLOOD – Day 2

I really cannot believe what I am seeing on TV, hearing on the radio, and seeing with my own eyes today.  The devastation in the Binghamton area of New York is TOTAL!  This catastrophe was of a gigantic magnitude in proportion to our area.  The estimate is that 20,000 people were displaced by this storm in some way.  There are two rather large shelters.  One at Binghamton University (at the Events Center) and the other at Johnson City High School at the Gym.  Here is another glimpse of the devastation.  This time, it’s an aerial photo of Binghamton, and I took the time to label the major buildings for those that don’t know what it is or have never been to our area.  Here it is:

As you can see, the major portions of downtown were under water.  The good news is that the levees around here didn’t break.  Instead, the water just went around and over them.  That is how total our flooding has really been.  Here’s a link to an album of pictures took today:  http://s127.photobucket.com/albums/p157/treborgahkor/2011%20Flood%209-9-11/

So, onto my boring day in comparison with the overall story around here.   We all got up around seven-thirty this morning and David and Kim found out there was water starting to form in their basement.  They decided to head over to the house and start working with a pump they have coming from a friend.  Heather and I decided we needed to get out and see how far we could get.  We headed to all sorts of places.  We made it all the way to my school and when we tried to come back, we got caught on 81N.  That’s when we found out it was a parking lot, so we managed to turn around and went back down Chenango Street.  Heather was able to cash a check she got from Marcia and we went to Weis to pick up some supplies.  It was incredible the amount of devastation.

We got home and got the kids and did some more sight-seeing with them.  We then went over to a friend’s house and helped him empty their basement of their belongings.  It was incredible and I was surprised at the amount of mud and muck that was at their home.  I would have taken some pics, but out of respect, I decided not to.  After that, we came back home and met up with David and his wife.  They were nice enough to cook dinner for us tonight.  They had a nice pork tenderloin that the parents had and the kids had a chicken casserole.  After that, we watched an episode of “Beyond Scared Straight” and then we played a game of “Star Wars Miniatures”.  We took a break to watch “Thundercats” on the Cartoon Network, but ended up going to bed fairly late.  Tomorrow was another day to get some work done locally.

Nothing read yet, nothing to say other than our lives here in Binghamton may be different for quite some time.  I’m not sure when I will get back to my regular blog, but until then, I will continue to let you know how things are going in our area.

FLOOD!!!!!

That is the only way to describe it!  We woke up this morning in Binghamton, New York to this:

All I can say is that things don’t look good and they are NOT going to improve anytime soon!  The water here hasn’t even crested yet and I am VERY concerned not only for my family but for all of my friends and family in the Binghamton area.  We are facing a disaster of epic proportions that I can’t even begin to fathom the amount of damage and flooding that will be done by the time today is done.

I did NOT sleep well at all last night.  It rained, and rained, and rained, swear the rain was never going to end and it just kept coming down in buckets.  I was really worried not only about the river, but about my own basement and house.  I ended up waking up three times throughout the night.  I slept between two and four o’clock.  At four o’clock, I woke up to the sound of more rain and decided I needed to check the basement again.  No more water, but it is leeching in the basement a little more.  I checked again at five and six o’clock this morning and decided to get out of bed by seven AM.  The pictures we were seeing on the TV were unreal and the reports we got throughout the day were even more devastating.

To be honest, there wasn’t anything more to do other than to try and stay dry and stay on top of the situation.  We did little more than that today.  I got in contact with all of the Binghamton FanForce members in some way shape or form and most of them were okay.  I did find out that one of our friends that lives by East Middle were concerned about flooding in the basement.  That would be David Ramsay that has joined us for quite a few episodes of the GalaxyCast and is now about to become a permanent member of the team.  I told David that if they needed to, the could stay in our basement as we were lucky enough to not be flooded and we had an extra bed and a place to stay.  By the end of the night, David was at our house as they were afraid that if they did not get out of the city soon, they may not be able to.

“The Weather Center” was here all day reporting on the issue.  By dinner time tonight, the water was starting to breech the twenty-four foot walls in the city of Binghamton and the city was actually starting to flood.  The overhead pictures we got to see tonight on the news from Governor Cuomo were simply devastating.  I cannot explain how I feel about this situation.  It’s overwhelming and I can truly say that all I am doing in my spare time is praying for my friends and that everyone is safe.  We will all be emotional, we will all remember, and we will all be living in fear of rain and flooding from this point forward.  But, Binghamton is resilient and we will rebuild and we will continue on here in Binghamton.  Things may never be the same around here though.  You may not hear too much from me but about the situation here for quite some time.  I’m too busy to read and too devastated to talk about much else for a little while.

Pray for everyone along the Susquehanna River.  We need your prayers and if you can, your help!