Howard Cont.

Us with Howard. A nice man offered to help us tie him down but we said NO!















Topping the Tree!





















Howard is so pretty!

Howard

Yesterday we went to get our Christmas tree. He is a lovely Douglas Fir, about 8 feet tall. His name is Howard.














We sawed it down ourselves.















Timber!
















Oh No Courtney!















Swallowed.



















Who needs men? Seriously, we just cut down our own tree.

A couple Jokes

A little boy asked his mother, "Mommy, where did my intelligence come from, you or Dad?" She replied, "Well you must have got it from your father because I still have mine."


Two buddies were hiking when a Grizzly bear crossed their path and started toward them. One of the hikers threw off his backpack, grabbed his sneakers from it and started to put them on. His buddy said, "What are you doing? You can't outrun a Grizzly!" The reply: "I don't have to outrun the Grizzly. I just have to outrun you!"

Got Malaria?

Thank an environmentalist. This is so disturbing. Chasing the global warming bugaboo, denying life-saving DDT to third-world countries, demonizing scientists who express doubts about global warming, all the while living the high life.

We had company today!

Do you know who it was?

Today I...

...learned how to draw blood and neutered three cats. It was remarkably easy.

30 Seconds . . .

. . . is not as much fun as it used to be, now that anybody can post comments from the Web instead of phoning them into an answering machine. Most of the comments are now so illiterate, negative, and depressing that the feature's entertainment value is almost gone.

However, every now and then there's a glimmer of the column's former glory. For sheer illogical delight, I submit that this one is right up there with the best.

"Children are smarter than most, especially having been born at a young age. Besides how many children do you know with a full time job?"
Woman from Earlville

Norwich makes the New York Times

... and the blog!

Purpose, camaraderie, and self-respect

Click Here.

The American Friends Service Committee is the Quakers. I cringe when I remember that I was married in a Quaker meeting house.

Drill competition at Cornell

On Saturday, Dad and I drove over to Ithaca for Rudy's memorial service and to see Luke, whose ROTC drill team was competing at Cornell. They were in Barton Hall, an enormous former airplane hangar (we think) which is the ROTC facility for Cornell-based units. (Luke's group spent the night Friday night on the gym floor in sleeping bags.)

None of the pictures I took of the competing drill teams came out, but here are a few that I found online that give a feel for what the place is like -- it's a cavernous structure -- and what the competition looks like.





After Rudy's service at Sage Chapel, we stopped back in at the drill competition and watched a few minutes of "trick" competition, which is precision work with guns that is more like baton twirling than anything else. Absolutely fascinating. (Come to think of it, that's probably where baton twirling got started.) Luke was catching up on his sleep, so we didn't disturb him. He would not, however, have been easy to disturb. See below -- can you spot Luke?