Twins Had A Connection

Thursday May 28, 2009. Shelly felt a "shocking" pain in her chest in the early morning. While she was getting ready for work, she remembered thinking that she hoped her twin brother was taking good care of himself.

When she returned home in the afternoon she heard that Lance had suffered a heart attack while driving in Tampa, Florida. He passed away at the hospital a short time later when efforts to revive him failed.

The sympathy pains that Shelly suffered occured in the early morning, hours before her brother's heart attack. If we could only understand the connection between what we feel and what meaning it might have.

Lance was 43 ... just one month away from his birthday.

Shelly And Lance

The Kickoff To Summer

We had a nice stretch of great weather for the Memorial Day weekend. The days were nice and sunny with very little wind, making the lake very still. We started the long weekend on Thursday after work and we had Memorial Day (Monday) off as well. We arrived to find that Mary had mowed our lawn, which made my job a lot easier. Early in the weekend we had a cookout with several neighbors ... Shannon really knows how to grill a steak!

Sales were everywhere when we went Jeeping around the countryside. I found a nice old wing-back chair for $25 but I had no way to haul it, so we had to pass on that deal. I want to get a small trailer so when we find these buys, we can haul them home. We try to avoid wasting gas by only taking one Jeep to the lake unless we know we're going to need the pickup truck.

There were campground-wide yard sales on Saturday. The campground was busy and we went for long walks every day, stopping to visit with people along the way. Jimmy got me a Nascar Kyle Busch sign which I mounted on the shed, and a magnetic "18" sign for my pickup. Shelly cooked a whole chicken on the campfire in the evening.

When it's warm in the spring, it is perfect for sitting out on the porch in the late evening because there aren't that many bugs out yet. I don't think we'll have as many bugs during the summer now that we've switched to dark blue LED porch lights. We put our hummingbird feeders out and the little birds found them right away.

Hummingbirds Return!

I Want To Bake At The Lake!

Shelly is visiting her mom in Florida for Mother's Day and when she returns we'll be ready for a l-o-n-g summer at the lake. We lost two lake friends this spring and along with the job stress/transition, it makes summer vacation even more welcome this year.

Spring planting and yardwork is done, and the vehicles are in good running shape. There are some projects to do on the RV ... but nothing pressing. I just unloaded a truck of firewood that should last most of the summer. I really want to relax and enjoy this summer.

The condition of the economy makes it hard to plan for the future. So, I guess the smart thing to do is be conservative and keep debt and spending low. I think I'm operating in a pre-retirement mode...not knowing when my career will end. I should feel fortunate that I've been able to remain on staff for 39 years.

One good thing is that worry seems to decrease the closer I get to the lake ... so it must be good therapy. A person can see more clearly what is important and what isn't when you can get away for a while. When you are right in the middle of problems, they start to consume you.