IT'S ALIVE!!!

Unbelievable...just unbelievable! That has been the pace of life since returning from the lake on Friday. I would just like to report that I am still alive, in spite of the fact that I have not posted a word since Wednesday. There is finally going to be an opportunity to slow down a bit, and the week ahead is looking a whole lot less hectic. That's a good thing! Trying to get a week's worth of work done in a day and a half is not necessarily a good idea.

With that in mind, let's focus on what is coming up rather than what is in the past. I am two weeks away from completing my first year of seminary training. When things wrap up at the end of next week I will have a little over a month off from school, and will be looking forward to a second trip to the campus in Fort Wayne, IN to kick off the second year. That will take place in the final few days of September and the first couple of October. We (Kay, Beth and I) will be leaving next Wednesday, August 18th, to head back toward the Fatherland of Wisconsin and Minnesota, first to take part in my parent's 60th wedding anniversary celebration on the 21st, and then to deposit Beth at school. She will be starting her 2nd year at Concordia University in St. Paul, MN on August 26th. On the way back we will be making stops in Denver and Sheridan, WY to visit friends.

Taking a quick look at the weather that is coming up things look comfortable for the next couple of days, with high temperatures in the low to mid 80s under mostly sunny to partly cloudy skies on Monday and Tuesday. It will be getting a bit hotter for the second half of the week, and we should be up to or slightly above 90 from Wednesday through Friday. From there it will cool down slightly, back into the 80s, for next Saturday and Sunday. Now that we are headed toward the middle of August the days are numbered for extreme heat, and it looks like we will not have to deal with that this year. I just hope that summer doesn't end too early...it got started awfully late this year...and an early fall turns into a long winter. With an La Nina developing out in the Pacific the prospects for a long and snowy winter ahead are increasing. More on that in the days, weeks and months ahead!