PLEASE EXPLAIN!

About two years ago, when Rena nearly left me, I was at home with her and Ally. I called for Ally to come from her room when it looked like Rena was in serious trouble. Ally got into the bed and looked her mom in the face and willed her to keep breathing. A few weeks after that, I found a stuffed animal that looked like Ally's dog, Dudley. I gave it to Ally with a note that tried to let her know that there was a special bond between dads and their youngest child, and that I gave her a lot of credit for her mom still being with us.

Fast forward to Wednesday, January 28, 2009. I was home from work due to a Level 3 snow emergency in our county. My cel phone rang, and when I answered, I heard Ally say in a shaking voice, "I'm OK, Dad, but we were in a bad accident."

I knew she was on her way to Pennsylvania from Florida with people from her school. Knowing of the bad weather, I assumed they had gotten into ice. As I soon found out, they were only minutes from Hobe Sound, Florida on I-95.

To the best of my understanding, here is what happened. Their van containing five people and pulling a utility trailer blew a rear tire in the left lane of the interstate. Skid marks show that it came across the three lanes and into the sandy grass along the road. At this point, it began to roll, apparently completing two rolls. When it came to a stop on its wheels, Ally had been thrown from the van through the side windows. The van teetered precariously, threatening to fall onto its side where Ally had been tossed. Ally told me that when she realized she was out on the ground that she immediately ran away, thinking that the van might roll onto her. She has some scratches from the sand on her lower back.

That was the end of the paragraph because that was the extent of her injuries. The other four people in the van had no more severe injuries than she did.

If I understand correctly, the other occupants were quite concerned for Ally. They saw her walking, looking for a phone so she could call Dad. Luke gave her his phone, she called Dad, and Dad was happy that she started with the words, "I'm OK, Dad!"

So, here's your chance. Explain to me how, what I've just told you, can possibly happen.

How's The Weather?

Here is a little story not written by me, but I believe the weather forecasters may operate by this system.

It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was an Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be.Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared.

But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"

"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the Meteorologist at the weather service responded.

So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared.One week later he called the National Weather Service again.

"Is it going to be a very cold winter?" he asked.

"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter.

"The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again.

"Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"

"Absolutely," the man replied. "It looks like it's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."

"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.

The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting firewood like crazy."

Taking A Gamble

This weekend I had to go to Belterra Resort for a flooring conference. We were able to see new products by Mohawk and go to some classes on selling. There was a free buffet meal that I took advantage of. After the meal I went to the boat to observe the myriads of people tossing their money by the boatload (pardon the pun) into the hundreds or thousands of games lined up on two floors of a big floating casino. Never seen anything like it in my life. There were old people on oxygen, people on crutches and younger people all hoping to hit it big. And, I guess that is a drop in the bucket compared to Vegas. Unbelievable.

Before going to Belterra, Rena and I took a big chance and stayed with Belle in her apartment. You never know what may happen there, so that was risky. Friday night we headed to Hoggy's for some BBQ, only to see and stop at Montgomery Inn just a minute from Belle's apartment. Dani and I shared meatballs, wings, crab cakes and shrimp. Mom had ribs. BJ had filet of sole and that girl that runs around with Brent had a salad!

Then, we finished up our wild weekend with a trip to Jason, Regi and Bullwinkle's house. I was afraid Rev. Jason was going to preach for two hours on Sunday when I noticed his stack of notes on Saturday evening. He let us out by about noon, however, after a well-preached message on faith.

Dudley and Bullwinkle didn't get along as well as the adults, but they had some fun together playing tug-of-war. You can see some pictures of the weekend on Regi's blog.

Bowling For Buzzards

I think "bowling for buzzards" was in Lion King, wasn't it? Danette, Jamie, my old sales associate friend, Judy and I went bowling on Thursday. No one did anything spectacular, except Dani, who rolled a 65 on the first game and then doubled her score on the second. Jamie won the second game with a 154 to my 150. Which brings us to the second part of the bowling theme.

On the way to work this morning Mom ran over two deer that had already been hit. One was still alive before the Dodge Ram got him. There was some damage to the truck. She must have gotten to the deer even before the buzzards knew about them.

Happy New Year to all three of my regular readers.