Birthday Service

It's all about the service.

My sister, Julie, had a birthday back in September. Around that same time, her daughter, Brooke, sent her an email about a gal she knew who was celebrating her 38th birthday by doing 38 acts of kindness for others. Brooke had such a good time helping this friend that she told Julie about it and Julie decided to do it for her birthday, too. She invited some of the rest of us to participate, and together we did more than 65 acts of kindness during her birthday week. By the way, my sister is not 65.

My birthday was at the end of December, and after participating in Julie's service week, I wanted to do something similar for mine. Therefore, I invited my family to participate to see if we could get more than 100. Below is a list of the acts of kindness that were done during that week. We ended up with 136!!!

Let me just take one minute to express to you how wonderful this made me feel. During that week, I was much more focused on others, trying to think of their needs more than my own. One act that I did made me feel extra special, and it wasn't even that big of a deal. I was at Target, and after paying for my groceries and such, I took the buggy out to the car. After loading all of my stuff into the car, I started to take my buggy to the little buggy motel that all Target stores have. As I did, I saw a man across from me who was also taking his back. I walked over to him and said, "Please, allow me." He said thank you, but stood and stared at me with mouth agape until I got in my car and drove away. "Merry Christmas," I said with a wave, and he waved back, with a smile.

Service doesn't have to be that big of a deal. It just needs to come from the heart. And that act of service, small though it was, made my heart feel very, very good.

So does this list. My most heartfelt thanks go out to all of those who participated. Some of these lines sound the same as others, but it's because so many people were doing service for others. I love my family and am so grateful for their participation in this. What a great birthday present!!!

1. Went to the Salvation Army to separate gifts for the angel tree recipients.
2. Went to the Salvation Army to pass out gifts to the families who were receiving them.
3. Stayed after at the Salvation Army to help clean up the gym.
4. Went upstairs to check on Joel.
5. Took Joel some medicine.
6. Made Mom some Gluten Free pumpkin/chocolate chip muffins.
7. Made Mom some gluten Free lemon poppy seed muffins.
8. Made a GF menu so mom wouldn’t have to worry about what she could eat.
9. Helped Alison teach mom Sudoku.
10. Helped mom do some Brain games on the Kindle.
11. Did some laundry for Alison and Joel.
13. Did some laundry for Paul.
14. Made 12 loaves of bread to take to our neighbors.
15. Delivered 12 loaves of bread on Christmas day.
16. Shopped for groceries.
17. Made sure the fridge always had enough milk.
18. Made dinner for 9 people for 6 days.
19. Took mom to look for tatting needles.
20. Made our traditional Christmas breakfast.
21. Made our traditional Christmas hot ham and cheese sandwiches.
22. Made french fries for Joel when we had stroganoff.
23. Made mom 10 kits of GF Millet bread so she can make them when she gets home.
24. Made hot chocolate on a stick to give to my Beehives.
25. Taught mom some things on her computer.
26. Taught mom some things on her phone.
27. Gave Rachel a head rub.
28. Put hairspray on for mom.
29. Helped mom in and out of the van about a hundred times.
30. Made some bran muffins for Brooke.
31. Decided to wait a day to go to Braums so that Joel would be feeling better and could go with us.
32. Got the notebooks out for the girls in Young Women.
33. Got cleared to take mom back to her gate in a wheelchair.
34. Went to visit Wanda and rubbed her legs.
35. Gave Rachel a head rub.
36. Took shopping cart back to cart motel for stranger at Target.
37. Helped make cookies for Home Teaching families.
38. Delivered cookies, along with a Christmas message, to Home Teaching families.
39. Wrote to two missionaries out in the field and wished them a Merry Christmas.
40. Vacuumed the house without being asked.
41. Did every stitch of laundry in the house while wife went to work.
42. Went and got wife's oil changed and tires rotated.
43. Replaced the air filter and wiper blades in wife's car.
44. Allowed a woman to go ahead of me in line at grocery store.
45. Taped coins on a vending machine, along with a note explaining, so that the next person could get something for free.
46. Took a bag of chocolate candies to church and gave it to my Sunday School class.
47. Got a bunch of empty cigar boxes from a local gas station (they make GREAT storage boxes) and gave them to some guys at work and to my Sunday School class.
48. Went to the Salvation Army to pass out gifts to the families who were receiving them.
49. Stayed after at the Salvation Army to help clean up the gym.
50. Gave Joel a blessing for his cold/flu.
51. Upgraded Sheri's Mac OS X to Maverick.
52. Installed new printer drivers on Sheri's Mac (we will need to connect and re-select her printer when she gets home).
53. Installed and configured Teamviewer on Sheri's Mac and ours - tested remote connection.
54. Set up Sheri's Apple ID, etc.
55. Set up Sheri's Mac to automatically login at startup and on waking from sleep, and automatically start Firefox, iMessage, and Teamviewer.
56. Installed Firefox add-in to enable video in Google Chat on Sheri's machine and tested.
57. Got a new hot water heater purchased/installed as Christmas visitors arrived.
58. Adjusted hot water temperature down a couple of times to accommodate everyone at home.
59. Fixed the shower control.
60. Scheduled special tithing settlement times for people who couldn't make normal times.
61. Helped out-of-town family of ward members schedule building time for baptisms, weddings, etc.
62. Found shelving to put in the garage to handle extra food for the holidays.
63. Called the neighbor to tell him he left his trunk open.
64. Emptied and loaded the dishwasher much of the time over the holidays.
65. Hauled wood up to the house and started a fire over the holidays.
66. Put up Christmas lights, decorations, etc.
67. Installed a new towel rack in the laundry room - added extra support so it could be used to hang clothes.
68. Kept the garbage emptied over the holidays.
69. Put the sheets on Mom and Dad's bed because they were stressed and busy with other things
70. Bought a candy bar for the cashier at Hobby Lobby
71. Let Rachel drive when we both had to go somewhere
72. Gave Joel a head rub
73. Helped Rachel make dinner
74. Helped Grandma learn how to use a typing test on her computer so she can learn to type fast again
75. Make myself available whenever my old roommate wants to skype or call
76. Listen to her talk about all of the boys she has a crush on at the moment
77. Let another driver get in front of me at the stop light instead of zooming forward and making them go behind.
78. Got Joel stuff while he was sick without complaining
79. Got out of my car to get two balls the kids had accidentally thrown over the fence at recess
80. Helped make dinner
81. Helped clean up dinner
82. Helped Grandma with Sudoku
83. Printed out a bunch of 4x4 Sudokus for her and found a book of them for her
84. Cleaned up her downloads folder
85. Started organizing Mom and Dad's computer
86. Tried to keep my stuff put away from the living room and took other people's things upstairs when they forgot
87. Did Rachel's hair
88. Helped distribute Christmas presents at Salvation Army
89. Explained how Salvation Army's food distribution worked to a woman who didn't understand how to get her food but didn't speak English
90. Stayed after to clean up at the Salvation Army
91. Helped Grandma with brain games on the Kindle
92. Played a musical number at church when Brooke couldn't (when they were stuck in Las Vegas)
93. Taught Gma how to cast on in knitting
94. Did extra laundry when Jon's allergies were flaring up (to try to get rid of whatever was causing it)
95. Took on an extra tutoring session at the last minute because my student's sister had an in-class essay the next day that she was worried about
96. Went to Vegas to hang out with Kelli when she was stuck in airports!
97. Changed the date of a friend gathering at home so one friend could make it
98. Allow grandma to hold onto my arm while we walked from house to house delivering bread.
99. Took an extra sweatshirt when picking up Jon so he wouldn't be cold.
100. Rubbed dads head.
101. Took out the trash when asked (without complaining!).
102. Let the dog out to do her business about 5000 times.
103. Made salad for Jessica.
104. Helped mom at the grocery store.
105. Let dad and Jacob wrestle without complaining while I was trying to practice.
106. Sent Piper (friend) a copy of the English paper.
107. Patiently explained the dance to Kiersten.
108. Helped Josie with the arms in pom.
109. Helped grandma with her computer
110. Helped grandma with her phone
111. Helped grandma get some source of scriptures that had good print that she could read while she was here
112. Got out of bed to turn the light off for Kelli
113. Helped grandma in and out of the van
114. Helped grandma with her seatbelt quite a bit
115. Gave my friend, Hannah, a ride to the stake New Years Eve dance
116. Went with the family to deliver 12 loaves of bread and sang at each door
117. I texted a couple of my friends to make sure they were happy and having a good day
118. I offered to get things for people that weren't feeling well
119. I went to the Salvation Army to help separate toys for the kids
120. I went back to the Salvation Army to help distribute the bags of toys to the families
121. I helped clean the gym at the Salvation Army after we distributed toys
122. I helped mom make our traditional hot ham and cheese sandwiches
123. I play the piano in Young Women's
124. Gave grandma a hand rub in the airport
125. Took care of Brooke when she was feeling sick
126. Washed the dishes when nobody else wanted to
127. Volunteered to go to the store for groceries
128. Smiled and said hello to someone who was unhappy that day
129. Helped Grandma with her computer
130. Sent Christmas cards to widows in my home ward
131. Wrote a letter to a missionary
132. Stayed up late to talk when I was feeling tired
133. Got up to change the channel for the group when the remote was broken (ha ha)
134. Brought treats to a friend who was having a hard day
135. Sent a nice note to someone to cheer them up
136. Took a loaf of bread to the bishop when he was sick

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

To say that it was cold this morning would be like saying the Pope is a little bit Catholic. Yea, just slightly.

It was 5 degrees when I stepped into my car (as evidenced by the photo of the thermometer in my car at the left), and by that time the sun was already pushing the horizon. The wind had stopped blowing, too (it's mainly calm now), so the wind chill had risen above the big fat 0. Out of the minus degrees.

It's currently 10 degrees in our fair city, though it's supposed to get up to a balmy 18 degrees by this afternoon. "We're having a heatwave, a tropical heatwave, the temperature's rising, it isn't surprising..." By Saturday they say it will be up near 60. Excuse me? A 55 degree change in less than 4 days? What is this, the last days?

It was so cold this morning the kids stayed home from school. Really. They really did. Schools were closed because it was too cold. Don't want those little rugrats out at the bus stop in 5 degree weather, right?

You know, when I was a Senior in High School (cue wavy lines like in Wayne's World - doodley do, doodley do, doodley do!) we went to school one day in February because it was so cold. Seriously. One day. Man, we were loving it. Of course, back in those days we had Carter for a President and a big energy crisis. They said it cost too much to heat the buildings. Yea, what about today? The price of gas back in 1977 was $1.50 (oooo, say it again!) and we thought we were being ripped off. Yesterday I paid $3.20.

But I digress.

It was so cold this morning my shadow froze to the driveway.

It was so cold this morning I had to open the freezer to heat the house.

It was so cold this morning (how cold was it?) I saw that the Statue of Liberty put the flame inside her dress (bada boom!).

It was so cold I saw a Democrat with his hands in his own pockets. Now THAT'S cold!

As I walked from my warm car to the building at work today, I seriously wished I'd worn my scratchies. Brrr!! The wind was blowing through my jeans and down my neck. The geese out on the pond weren't the only ones with goose pimples this morning.

Now, I realize this is just any other day for people who live in the Great White North, eh, (coo roo coo coo coo coo coo coo) but down here in the lower 48 (ok, I know it gets cold in Utah and Colorado and Montana and all those other Rocky Mountain high States), we're sort of on the sissy side when it comes to cold weather. When it gets down to minus degrees, I'm sorry, but you can call me Mary. When you can count the degrees on one hand, umm,

I'm staying inside with a blanket (or two), a steaming mug, a dog to lie on my lap and a crackling fire (not to mention the tv remote).

Geez! I thought the sun was going to freeze over.

But no. The sun is up there and shining away just like every day. In fact, it's now warming me through my office window, as hot chocolate courses through my veins and hot pizza awaits for lunch.

Let the frigid winds howl.

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Gettysburg

One-hundred and fifty years.

It's a long time. Certainly longer than any man now alive will ever live. Longer than most people in the history of the world have lived. And longer than the lifetime of most words.

There are obvious exceptions, of course. Most notably among them are the words of prophets. But others, such as the Gettysburg Address, may as well have been spoken by prophets, for in my mind, they were inspired by God. They will last forever.

This past Tuesday, November 19, 2013, marked the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's famous speech. It was only 272 words in length (that's also debated) and only took about two minutes to deliver. But it changed the face of this nation and set the stage for freedom for all men and women, not just white ones.

It was my honor and privilege to be in attendance at the anniversary celebration this week.

Many TV stations were there, both local and national, and thousands of others trying to capture a bit of the historical significance of the day. In one of the pictures above (third from the left) you can even see the 16th President of the US (or his reasonable facsimile) delivering the speech.

After the address I went to the battlefield and spent the rest of the day exploring, taking photos and soaking in the history that is Gettysburg. I love the place. I wish I could go there more often. Though it's only about 80 miles from my house, I'm the only one in the family who really digs history. So I go alone or not at all. Too often it's the latter.

In some historical places it's hard for me to imagine what went on there. I have a hard time with the Manassas Battlefield and Ford's Theater and even to some degree the Carthage Jail. But in Gettysburg, the battlefield is so vast that, for me at least, it's easy to see General Pickett charging across the mile-wide field. It's elementary to see Chamberlain's immeasurable bravery, fixing bayonets and holding off the rebel charge up Little Round Top. It's a simple thing for me to see General Lee and General Longstreet conferring on what to do next.

I love this place. Though I know the awful and gruesome things that happened here, for me, history lives on. I'm so grateful to have been able to attend.

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WWJD

I read the newspaper on-line just about every day. I like to keep up with what's going on in the world.

After all, I am a former news guy myself. I've always been sort of a news junkie. I think that's why I enjoyed being in the media so much. I have always liked being the first one to tell people about something that was happening. I like being a news-breaker.

Over the years I've read about Presidents (some good, some not so) and Kings. I've read about stupid criminals and smart doctors. I've read about sports and life and money.

And I've also read about natural disasters.

So it's been with great interest that I've read about the awful typhoon that hit the Philippines on November 7th. I've watched the evening news for word on how clean-up efforts are going. I've talked to people who have family there, interested in finding a way that I can help. I'm just one guy, but I think the efforts of one guy, especially if they are multiplied by several hundred or several thousand even, can be very influential.

Last Friday, as usual, I pointed my browser to USAToday. I know, not the hard-hitting journalism that a newspaper like, say, the New York Times or Washington Post would afford me, but news just the same. As I read through the headlines on the front page, I noticed two that were side-by-side. They read:

• Philippine People Anxiously Await World's Help
• Thousands Camp Out Overnight Hoping To Get New Xbox

The first thought to cross my mind was of Jesus. What would He do if He were here? Somehow I don't think he would be reveling with the campers. I am pretty confident in saying that He would be trying to find a way to help. I believe He'd have His hands dirty, helping clean up the mess and helping rebuild. I believe He would donate whatever time He had to helping alleviate the suffering.

The second thought that crossed my mind was literally this sentence; "Well, Jesus IS here. YOU are His representative."

Humbling experience. Head shaking experience. Get some determination experience.

So, now I'm trying to help. It's mostly her idea, but Kelly and I are gathering clothing in our home that we never wear anymore. Instead of taking it down to the Starvation Army, we're trying to find clothes that are too small for the kids that we can send overseas. We're sending them via a gal in Kelly's office who has family there. She will send whatever we gather to those in need.

It's not much, but it makes me feel good. It might not make much of a difference in such a vast sea of suffering.

But, you know, I honestly think it's going down the same road that the Savior would walk if He were here.

Because in all actuality, He is.

And I don't think He's playing Xbox.

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I Love Life

If you have a minute, I'd really like to tell you how much I love life.

First, I have the best, most loving and lovely wife that ever graced this rock. She has given me way more love than I deserve over the past 20 or so years, and I will never be able to afford the love she will give me in the future. I love her so much it makes my mind hurt when I try to comprehend it. She is THE BEST. The absolute best.

Second, my kids are so intelligent, good looking and basically just danged good kids, that they make Wally and The Beaver look like trouble-makers. I'm so proud of them for their accomplishments, but I'm also just so danged proud as a dad because they're my kids. They are the best kids a dad could EVER have. I love them with all my heart.

Third, I come from a wonderful family, with a loving Mom and Dad who were the best examples I could ever have. I love them both more than I could express. And I grew up with siblings who were my friends and continue to be so. I truly have been blessed in this regard. I've also got friends who I know will be my friends throughout all eternity. Maybe I can build my house in the hereafter next to theirs. Too many of them live in places I never get to go. Those reunions are so sweet.

Fourth, have you looked outside lately? Isn't it gorgeous? This world is so beautiful. Just look at this picture I took the other day of the sunset here in Virginia. Looking at that, how could you NOT love how beautiful this place is? The colorful trees in Autumn, the beautiful flowers in Spring, the gorgeous sunsets you can see just about any day. I can hear Louie Armstrong singing "What a Wonderful World" right now.

My niece, Alison, wrote on her blog this morning about people who think they are ugly or fat or somehow less than wonderful. It got me thinking about how I feel about myself, what I'd like to be in this life and how I'd like to be remembered. I'm not perfect, but I am absolutely perfect in some things. And to be quite frank about it, I like me. I really do. I sometimes wish I were taller and had more hair, but you know what? I've come to accept that neither of those, along with a host of other things, is going to happen, so I'd best get on with loving me. And I do. I'm a child of a loving and perfect Heavenly Father, and to be quite honest about it, with His genes coursing through my veins, how could I be anything but spectacular?

I receive a weekly email from the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. It gives me updates on the Choir and its activities. It also gives me the Spoken Word from the previous week's radio broadcast. In the email I got today, it talked about the lessons of our lives. It quoted an obituary a few kids wrote for their mother when she passed away. I'd like to quote it again here:

To love fiercely, and tell people before it's too late.
To be loyal, always.
To enjoy life-one bite at a time.
To laugh easily-with others and at yourself. . . .
To be generous with your time, money, and heart.
To love [yourself].
And to never forget that God adores [you].
- Obituary of Lucile Johnson

Think about it. If people remembered YOU this way, and you thought of yourself this way, wouldn't that make your whole life, even all of the suffering, worth it?

So here's my question for you. What are you going to do today to make it so?

I can tell you one thing we've done in our family. Since my sweetie and I got married and had kids, we've not gone ONE day without saying "I Love You" to each other. We never say goodbye on a phone call without saying it. We never leave the house without saying it. I also take the opportunity to tell me kids the same thing every chance I get. I think it's made a difference. At least I know my kids aren't shy about saying those three words. Of that I'm glad.

God adores me. God adores you. He really does. God, who made the world, the universe and everything in them, loves us! He knows our names. He knows everything about us. He is interested in our lives. God. Interested in me!

Makes you think, doesn't it?

I LOVE LIFE!

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Honey Don't

While my tests ran this morning I cruised around the Internet for a couple of minutes. I was VERY troubled when I came upon an article on Yahoo (it's here if you want to read it) about the mass disappearance of our country's honey bees. It stated that in the last seven years, about one-third of all of the honeybees in our country have just disappeared, and no one knows quite why.

They call it Colony Collapse Disorder, but evidently no one knows what causes it. The worker bees just leave the hive and don't come back.

This guy at the US Department of Agriculture says that they're not dying from starvation because they would find bodies. They're not dying in the hive from pesticides because they would find bodies. They're just leaving and not returning. He says the experts don't know where they're going...they are just disappearing.

But, he says, it's not uncommon for a diseased animal to want to die away from their home. So, the bees could be diseased in some way and are flying away from the hive (just not dying IN the hive) and are dying elsewhere.

Then he points out the part that scared me. He says that if scientists don't figure out what's killing the bees, in a few years many of the things we eat will be gone, such as apples, nuts, fruits and vegetables. Gone. With nothing to pollinate the flowers, many of the foods we eat won't be able to grow.

I sat here ruminating about that for a short while when a scripture screamed out in my head like almost nothing has before. Look it up. Doctrine and Covenants Section 45, verse 31. I'll wait.

Instead of that, let me print it out here for you.

D&C 45:31
31 And there shall be men standing in that generation, that shall not pass until they shall see an overflowing scourge; for a desolating sickness shall cover the land.

You may think this is a stretch, but I'm not so sure. I've been somewhat of a conspiracy theorist my whole life, so my brain is used to thinking like this.

What if the scourge, the desolating sickness, isn't human?

What if the D&C is talking about the bees?

We know from not only modern-day revelation but also ancient scripture that there will be bad times in the coming years. The Brethren have been challenging us, pleading with us and begging us to stock up on food, to have a year's supply, to start now.

At the very least it's something to think about. I'm not saying my thoughts are gospel, and I may very well be wrong.

But what if I'm not?

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UD Man!

After many months of sleepless nights, wondering what I was seeing, I just found out what this sign means! It's been bugging me so much that I asked the prestigious BYU-bred 100-Hour Board. This board is made up of current and former BYU students who have 100 hours from the submission of a question to post an answer. However, the all-knowing board was stumped and no curiosity-slaking answer was forthcoming. Since the signs I see on my way to work each day are next to a road that was just constructed, I decided to ask a good friend of mine who works for an environmental construction company here in VA. I believe they had helped build this new road. He told me that the sign stands for "under drain". It's the marker for the outlet of an under drain for the road. He also said I may see other signs that have CD on them. Those signs mark the inlet/outlet of a cross drain on the road. My curiosity has now been satisfied, and I can go back to my regularly scheduled programming! Thanks, Mike!!

Indulge Me

Come with me, if you will, while I take a short sojourn in history. Today we'll be visiting the year 1517 and a dude named Martin Luther.

Martin Luther was a Catholic priest in Germany who strongly opposed the sale of "indulgences". Remember that an indulgence was a temporary forgiveness of sin. According to the church, after you had shaken off this mortal coil, an indulgence could actually shorten the time you had to spend in purgatory In Luther's day, these indulgences were being sold for money.

Luther didn't cotton to that idea very much. He vehemently disputed the teaching that God's forgiveness could be sold, and so he wrote up his "Ninety-Five Theses" and nailed them to the door of All Saints Church in Wittenberg, Germany (picture to the right). When he refused to retract his theses, even though admonished to do so by Pope Leo X, he was excommunicated and branded an outlaw. Thus started the Protestant Reformation.

Now, I don't know if you were aware of this or not, but indulgences are still granted by the Pope to this very day. In fact, now's your chance to get one! If you are forward thinking enough and have a Twitter account (it's free!), you can get an indulgence (maybe more than one?) between July 23rd and 28th. How? Let me explain.

No, there is too much.

Let me sum up.

July 23rd through the 28th is World Youth Day in Brazil. And though it seems like that's really more like World Youth Week than World Youth Day, the Pope has decided that he is going to be granting indulgences via Twitter to his nearly 2.7 million Twitter followers.

The only requirement is that you have to somehow "tune in the world to World Youth Day broadcasts or take other spiritual actions." What those actions are, I'm not sure, but according to the Vatican, this whole Twitter idea is a way for the "faithful to get the spiritual benefits of World Youth Day even if they can't be there."

Before you get out the clubs and pitchforks, let me assure you that I am NOT making fun of Catholics. Having served my LDS mission in Argentina, I have the utmost respect for the Catholic Church. I worked with them every day for two years. I've seen what good that church can do, and I have seen plenty of good people who were associated with it. And I'm being serious about that.

But indulgences? Via Twitter? REALLY?

I'm all for forgiveness, believe me. I, among all men, need it most. But what about Godly sorrow? What about making amends? What about confessing? All of these are NECESSARY steps to being forgiven. It's a hard, long, drawn-out process that's supposed to take a lifetime. Can you really just follow a Twitter feed and be forgiven? Sounds pretty easy!

Wait for it. This one was even better! In 2001, then Pope John Paul 2 granted indulgences to anyone who walked through the bronze door of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Get that? Walk through a door! That's all you had to do! Dang it! And where was I that day? Mowing my lawn! You mean to tell me I'm going to have to spend more time in purgatory because my lawn was too high? Dang it!!

Now that I've thought about this a little more, though, I am kind of warming up the idea of social media being a good source of forgiveness. Heck, maybe I'll mention it to the Bishop when I see him at Church on Sunday. Maybe I can get him to cut me some slack because I'm his friend on Facebook. After all, I HAVE been coveting a new cell phone lately.

Where is Martin Luther when you need him?

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The Fear

The fear sits alone inside my heart,
No friends to keep company.
Sometimes it stands and tries to speak,
And show off it's buff physique.
But no one will stand to accompany,
At long last it breaks apart.

Like nervous sheep on a moonless night
I wait on the coyote's howl.
The blood and the fangs will surely flash,
When brawn and clever finally clash,
The fear is back on the prowl.
And I am left doused in fright.

The fear sits alone, scared of itself,
And so it does all it can
To lash out and wound and take control.
But Another's there and on patrol.
A calming touch, a gentle hand
To redeem me from myself.

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Day Three - Panama Canal

Today was the day we got to sleep in! YES!!

It was also the day we were going to do some things the kids actually wanted to do. Like go to the Panama Canal.

I've been hearing about this canal my whole life, how it was one of the major miracles of the world, one of the greatest things man had ever accomplished. After seeing it, I must agree. Pretty danged cool.

We watched some smaller boats go through, but seeing how they close the locks, let the water out (or in) and fill the adjacent locks to the same level, then open the gates and let them through was pretty cool. I found myself wishing I'd see Ginger and Mary Ann out for a three hour tour, but no. Just some drunk guys on the deck of the catamaran. Oh, well. Next time we go to Panama, maybe.

The photo on the left above is of Hannah and me before we went up to view the locks. That's the visitor's center in the background. We were at the Miraflores locks. If you want to look it up on the map, it's here.

The second photo is of the gates that closed so they could even up the water levels in the different sides. If you look closely, you can see the different levels of water on either side. It only takes them about ten minutes to level them up, too. Danged cool.

The third pic is of Hannah at the controls. Note the quality of the haircut on the guy next to her. Now that's comedy! "What do you mean you're giving it all you've got, Scotty? I need more power!!"

After the canal we headed over to the Caiz de Armador, which connects Naos Island, Perico Island and Flamenco Island to the mainland. These islands, were not there when the world was created. They were created by all of the dirt that was dug out for the canal. Imagine, if you will, that you are the head dude digging all of that dirt out of the Panamanian landscape. What in the world do you do with it all? Sell it for topsoil? I think not, McDuff. Of course, you make a new island, or two, or three. Instead of making the mountains higher, they made the ocean lower, making islands where the people can go and goof off. And goof off they do!

The two pictures on the far right above are of Hannah and Jacob riding Segues on the islands. Fun times, man. Hannah wrecked, I got run into by some kids on a bicycle built for two, and Jacob nearly ran into the Pacific Ocean because he couldn't make the danged thing stopped. I kept yelling at him, "Lean back! Lean back!" He finally got it to stop, but after that he went A LOT slower.

Now look at the fourth picture from the left. If you blow it up you'll see a bus in the water. Not a great shot, but it's a bus in the water, nonetheless. We were sitting eating lunch (just before the Segue rides) and saw what looked like a bus gliding through the water. As it got nearer it looked more and more like a bus. "But, Ralph. How can a bus float on the water?" "Good question, Ed. I don't know." But it was a bus, I swear! It floated right up to the a road and drove up into the parking lot. Amazing! Gives new meaning the old term busman's holiday.

Nothing left to do today but put the B&B address into the GPS and drive home. Bless Garmin for their wonderful little invention. I don't know how we would have gotten around Panama without it. Of course, we had to drive through some of the nastier parts of Panama City, as evidenced by some of the pix below, but it was a good edumacation for the kiddos. Not everyone in this beautiful world lives in the same semi-luxury they do. I think that goes way underappreciated today.

By the way, don't let me EVER give you the impression that Panama is nothing but a gorgeous land with WONDERFUL people. They have problems just like everyone else.

Peace out!

Coming soon - Day Four - Pipeline Road

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