"Don't Build Your House On The Sandy Land" or below sea level

I really have to wonder what people were thinking building a city below sea level. Well, OK, people didn't just decide to build a "city". I'm reminded of the Joker's quote in Batman, "have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moon light?" We were in bed with disaster and got caught with our pants around our knees.
Why didn't the people that could leave New Orleans get out? C'mon! The more I hear about looting the more I agree with my wife. "It's their own fault for not leaving," she said, "they were warned." I am deeply saddened about the loss of life from this storm and flooding. Reading and watching the news just kind of makes me depressed, a little. I haven't felt like this since 9-11.

They're talking about rebuilding New Orleans. I hope they mean in a different location, ABOVE SEA LEVEL! How foolish it would be. That's all; foolish.

In addition to all the death and suffering in the SE I am also becoming more anxious about fuel prices. Gas has gone up $0.20 in the past 2 days. It was $2.70 at our local Hess station tonight.

"Whom have I in heaven but you?
The earth has nothing I desire
besides you.
My heart and my flesh may fail
but God is the strength
of my heart
and my portion
forever."

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Sunny Days, Cool Nights

The past 2 days have been just gorgeous weather in the Lehigh Valley, PA. Puffy white clouds, deep blue sky, warm sunshine and temperatures in the low 80's during the day. Clear, calm, starry nights with temperatures in the 50's; I'll take this weather all year long. They say San Diego has weather like this all year long. Good for the millions of people that cram themselves between the Pacific and Death Valley ontop of an active tectonic fault. Pennsylvania is just fine, thanks.

 

"Thanks, Lord, for the sweet weather."

Watermelon, ABC, 123

Greenbean and I went to our YAC (young adult class) small group this evening. We left pregnant mommy at home because she kinda didn't feel like going and we had a fire in the back yard that I didn't think we should let unattended.
At YAC we've been watching an "old" video series called Love Is A Decision by Gary Smalley. It was made in 1984 so the people look pretty funny with their HUGE glasses. The topic tonight was "untieing the spirit of your spouse/friend/co-worker/family member". Mr Smalley talked about how we can quite easily begin to cause our spouse to close themselves to us by how (not always what we say) we communicate. I just tried to find the list of 5 things we should do to help open our spouse's spirit. Needless to say, I was convicted about how I treat my wife. I could write more but this is the public Internet afterall.
I was just eating watermelon as I sat here typing but now I am tired of watermelon and tired of being awake. (There is a young pimple on my eyebrow that is annoying me.) On the 45 minute drive home from YAC Greenbean and I counted to 20 and said the alphabet. She was a little hyper because her cool Dadd gave her some yummy brownie that Mommy made this afternoon.
good night
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Home Depot Stinks

I don't know why I continue to patronize the Home Depot. Their products continue to disappoint me. Does anyone else despise Home Depot? Unfortunately since we bought our house necessity and urgency has forced us to spend alot of money there. They were the closest store that we knew would have what we needed.
My most recent gripe is regarding an Echo trimmer attachment that wouldn't fasten to the trimmer shaft bolt. I will be returning this attachment and taking my business to a local hardware store. I've found service at our local hardware stores to be far superior and closer to home.
Anyway... I'm tired and this is pointless.

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Raisin Nut Bran

I called Lowe's in Palmyra yesterday. The manager on duty confirmed the procedure of copying the Discover card with a pencil if purchases are over $100. I was told the store must keep the copy of my credit card on file for 3 years. "Three years! Who has access to it?" Only the sytem administrator or some-title like that. Sheesh! That manager, Tony, is supposed to call me back as to why other stores aren't implementing the same procedure. I told him that the Easton store did not appear to know anything about it. He said he assumed it was corporate wide but it might have to do with the fact that the Palmyra store is brand new; it just opened within the past four weeks.

NOTE TO SELF: when you see "Susquehanna TV" on your credit card statement that is a charge from the tru-value hardware store on Rt 873 in Neffs. (go figure)

Our friend Nate was over for dinner last night. We grilled crab stuffed salmon and corn on the cob. Can you say YUMMY? We talked about chickens. I think we are going to have chickens in the spring. We will have our own brown eggs once they start laying and our own meat. Along with the garden we are planning, we should be able to reduce our grocery bill significantly next year.

gtg

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1st Email Blog Post

Good Morning,

Well, there doesn't appear to be any fraudulent
charges on my discover account yet. We will monitor
this closely.

So what is going on in the world? The Gaza settlers
don't want to move. Europe continues to turn
blue-in-the-face with Iran. Gas prices are insane. Why
did we move further from work? What were we thinking?
I wonder if LANTA has a route that would be helpful to
me?

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Did I Just Get Scammed?

I was at Lowe's in Palmyra this past Saturday and I spent about $400 there (stuff for our house, not tools for me). At the checkout register I go to pay with my Discover card and the lady running the register says that she needs to copy my card because they are having problems with Discover purchases over $100 being accepted. She tells me to skip the signing window on that dumb lcd touch screen and then she proceeds to use a pencil to make a relief copy of my card number on a duplicate receipt. I was thinking about this today and I think I got scammed! This lady was very convincing. At that moment I was put at ease because she kind of seemed concerned that I was understanding why she had to do this so I wouldn't worry.

BUT NOW I AM WORRIED!

I should have asked the clerk to call a manager to verify what she was telling me. ARGH. and now the stupid discovercard site is not accesible. Has anyone every heard of a store making a relief copy of your card to be able to put your purchase through?

A few more things that added stress to my life:
2) Lowe's in Easton did not have any more 10,000but air conditioners left (which is why I drive there straight after work today)
3) I realized on my way home from Lowe's tonight that I forgot to put the garbage out and that my poor, pregnant, wife appears to have been forced to do the job. What a jerk I am!

very sleepy

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Daddy and Greenbean

Hello Mr Noodle

Do you know who Mr Noodle is? "Nah, na, nah, na, Elmo's world."

What can I say? (do you know which radio talk show host says that alot?) I'm glad gas is not as expensive as Pepsi. I paid $1.37 for a 16oz bottle of lime Pepsi today. That's $5.48 a gallon! The truck only took $33 to fill up at $2.45 a gallon. Some bottled water is still more expensive than gas which I find rather humorous. Who buys water that expensive? Rich, urban dwelling, liberals, probably.

I was glad for cold water today, though. Man, was it hot! My daughter (who will from this point fwd be referred to as Greenbean) and I drove to Palmyra and back to the Lehigh Valley today in our std cab toyota tacoma w/ no air conditioning. We were so hot (like pedro). The thermometer was swinging between normal and that red line above normal the whole trip back. Greenbean and I had a good time playing the my-hand-on-top game. Grammy also got to hang out w/ her while I was at Lowe's boosting their corporate profits.

Wifey worked most of today canning tomatoes (which Greenbean has a fettish for) and is hopefully getting ready for bed soon b/c my eyes are very scratchy and heavy.

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