Indy 500 day. My excuse for not helping Becky with housework. When I was a kid, I’d listen to the race on the radio with my dad, working on sports cars in the garage on Missouri Bottom Road in Hazelwood, MO. It was called the Auto Grotto. Later I became a dad and sometimes Stephen and I would listen to it on the radio in the back yard playing catch, or painting, or sometimes watch it on TV. Now I don’t have any guys around to share the race with. It’s different. But it still works for getting out of housework. Somehow, not very satisfying.

Wow, she’s throwing out a lot of stuff!

The least I could do is work on some of the files I brought home from the office. But every time I sit down in front of the computer I end up messing with WordPress, or reading news articles, or toying with that website I’m working on for Jeffrey’s friends.

Speaking of tornadoes, they mostly all landed to the east of us in Missouri last night. The TV stations were running continuous weather reports instead of regular programming, but the weather here in Kansas never developed. Some pretty impressive stuff in the next state, though! Some flooding, too.

As you can see, I’m having some fun with the smileys. Okay, that’s it! I’m going to think of something productive to do now!

I think it’s time to acknowledge that the “family” blog is a failed experiment. I plan to keep posting articles for fun and posterity. Plus, it’ll be handy if anybody asks me, “What’ve ya been up to?” Answer: “Check the blog.” However, it’s clear the family at large has little interest in this form of communication. Two members actually sent me explanations of why they would not participate. Some hopes and notions I entertained have been laid to rest, and I’m content to move on. For me, it wasn’t all about the blog, of course. It was a metaphor with a mission, but now it is just a blog.

Comments remain open, naturally. It was ironic (indeed, gratifying!) to see three new comments this evening as I was contemplating the future of the blog. If anybody wants to set up their own blog, I’ll be glad to offer advice, and there are cool things like RSS feeds and aggregators that can tie blogs together (although I’m not quite up to speed on such snazzy features yet).

John

After a mild sunny day we spent most of the evening watching the TV meteorologists on most every channel with their radar displays and other visual aids showing where the dangerous storms were. They appeared to be on us and all around us but, luckily, they were just all around us. Got buckets of rain and lots of lightning, but not much wind or hail. The tornadoes went north and south of us. We did, however, at one point prepare the downstairs closet under the steps for hasty retreat, just in case. It was, I think, May 8 last year when the twister hit a few blocks away. Ahh, life in Tornado Alley! Such a thrill.

And then as I lay in bed reading at 1:00 a.m. there was a huge bang and the back yard lit up like a flare had gone off. That got the adrenalin going! Obviously a transformer, but not one affecting us, as our power was on. Looking out the window, I could see the pole next door, shooting fire and sparks into the air, and into the trees. Like one of those Fourth of July fountains, with roman candles in it. Kinda cool, actually, but obviously hazardous. So I called the police, and then went next door to see if anybody was home. They were, and had already called. Then the police roared up with lights flashing in front of our house, so I pointed them next door. Then the fire truck roared up with lights flashing in front of our house, and I pointed them next door. Then I went back to bed.

WordPress version 1.2 was finally released this weekend. I’ve upgraded the blog to the final release. I’ve been testing the betas and release candidates on the home computer along the way, and things seem to work okay there. The “save and continue” feature is now working, so that people can preview what their post will look like before they actually post it. I’m sure that this has been a much desired feature among family members.

- JC –

Here we have Becky’s sister, Judy and her daughter Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s baby, Joseph. Then we have Becky’s sister, Sherri and her daughters, Katie and Cassie. Becky took this picture yesterday at Sherri’s home in Kansas City.
This is Sherri’s other daughter, Karina, age 8. Karina, legally, is Sherri’s stepsister, since Sherri’s stepmother, Louise, adopted Karina. Louise married George (Becky, Judy and Sherri’s father) after he divorced their mother, Evelyn. George died in 1993. Evelyn lives in Ottawa, Kansas. Louise lives in Utah.

And today, I not only mowed the darn yard, but also changed the oil in the Miata and the Saturn. It was a very nice day, weather-wise. Sat out back in the lawn chair between chores and blew a few tunes on the harp!

Another week in the bin. Cinnamon got her annual checkup and shots. The vet says she doesn’t look 13 years old. I’d agree, nor does she act it. I still call her “puppy”.

Things keep piling up at the office. The old saying holds true: The hurrier I go the behinder I get. So, I tried to quit hurrying. I’m still just as far behind, but the world hasn’t ended.

I’ve been asked to do a website. Could this could be a new path? It’s certainly more fun than writing legal pleadings.

Typical Kansas weather. Last weekend it was exactly like December in San Francisco. Yesterday it was exactly like June in Aspen. Today was just a terrific Kansas spring day. Becky went to Kansas City to visit her sister, Judy. I hung around the house and mostly killed the day at the computer. Tomorrow: MOW!

John