Trees: Not Made Like They Used To

We came home from our Christmas vacation to this in our front yard. No telling how old this tree was, but it "ain't gettin' any older" as they say. Nope, she's down for the count. The wind gusts up to 80mph the day before we arrived (our original arrival date!) doomed a fair percentage of our wimpy Bay Area tree population.

Guess we'll be calling a professional to handle this one. An axe takes a long time, but the only time you'll see me with a chainsaw is if I'm trying to juggle 3 of them. And axes aren't just for murderers anymore.

On a more cheerful note, the Tahoe ski areas are getting record snowfalls, which we're hoping to take advantage of sometime soon. 10 feet of powder, they say. I can't wait. Maybe I'll grab that chainsaw after all.

Finding Money is More Than a Hobby

It's a challenge. A competition. From the day I first talked to Greg Boudreau about his daughter, Katie, I have been collecting money I find. He's been doing it for years, and gives the resulting sum to his wife, Joy. At the end of every year, we count up our stash and see who found the most money that year.

I've only beat him once.

This year would be different. I was off to a good start early in the year, finding a lot of quarters. Then I seemed to fizzle out into penny oblivion as the year went along. It would be close.

We settled down to counting around 8:45pm, after the girls had gone down for the night. I knew I was in trouble when I saw him counting his quarters. Uh-oh.

I ended up finding only five nickels, but I did find 14 quarters. Not enough to win, though. I finished the year with $7.44. Greg? He finished with $9.33. Oh, well. I already found a dime with Michaela at the airport today. I'll get him this next year.

Holiday Hospital Déja-vu

We spent Christmas last year in the hospital with our then one-month-old, Madison, with the respiratory virus, RSV. It should have come as no surprise when, on the night before we were to fly home from our Christmas visit with Katie's family in Tennessee, Madison woke me up around 2am. I could hear her labored breathing through her crying and coughing.

After calling our pediatrician's nurse advice line and being told to hang up and dial 911 based on hearing Madison over the phone, we jumped in the car and drove to the hospital. Madison enjoyed her first ride in the front seat on the way there.

After our poor girl went through chest x-rays, blood tests, and then additional chest x-rays, she was given an antibiotic shot in her thigh and a prescription for another antibiotic taken orally. Poor girl. She was exhausted when we finally left the hospital close to 7am. We thank the Lord that Madison's upper respiratory infection wasn't any more serious, and for the graciousness of the American Airlines employee who waived our change fees to let us fly home tomorrow instead. Time for bed!