http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080716/sc_afp/scienceextinctionclimate
Scientists have come to the conclusion that - somehow - some time - for some unknown reason - undersea volcanoes must have erupted en masse and caused oceanic extinction. Well, except for the timeline, the whole theory gets a big fat DUH! Christians, and Jews before them, have known for a few thousand years that "the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up..." "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died."
It's in the Book, man! Just read the Book, save yourself a lot of trouble guessing around. (Genesis chapter 7)
Thursday, 17 July 2008
Sunday, 13 July 2008
the party
Saturday was our neighbor girl's long awaited birthday party. Lunch was to be served at 1pm, so we had the morning to ourselves. We left the house about 10:45 and went to a boot sale (sort of flea market) near Mildenhall. It was pretty cool, windy, and drizzling. There wasn't much of a crowd there, so all things considered we left the children in the van to watch a movie, and Bob and I went browsing. I bought 6 old books for 5GBP. One is The Gorilla Hunters by R.M. Ballantyne - Vision Forum has republished a lot of his books, so I am interested to see how it is. I also got The Scarlet Pimpernel, which I've wanted to read ever since Daffy Duck made his version of the story. Then there are two books published by the London Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and Snow-shoes and Canoes by Kingston (it just looked interesting). The sixth book has made its way off my stack, but it was something about Bible prophecies and how they've been proven in history.
So after that we headed back to Newmarket and found the parking garage and the market that we'd bumped into one day before we moved in and didn't know how to find it. But we didn't get out there because William was asleep and it was nearly time to find the party.
The party was at the grandma's house in a teeny-tiny village about 10 minutes from here. (I think it's the only house in the 'village'.) (It's already 9:30, so i better hurry!) They have a big, beautiful 'garden' with a dozen flower beds of all shapes and sizes. Bob left his camera in the car to just enjoy the day and not be intrusive. They had a bouncy castle, child-size croquet, "splat the rat," child's lawn bowling set, a mini trampoline, a sand table and molds to make castles, and a dozen push toys for the children. There were 4 tents (they call them "marquees") for hiding under when it rained.
The girl's father and grandfather were grilling sausages and burgers, and the baby brother was opening presents when we got there. It was his "naming day" as well as her birthday (a naming day is a secular sort of christening). So we went into the main tent and handed our present over, and the girl saw the children and lit up. "The fam'l' next door!" From that time on Taryn was at her beck and call. So we settled in, in time for the lunch. The sausages were very good, the burgers less so. Apparently Newmarket is famous for its sausages.
It sprinkled off and on for awhile, but finally quit. After a while the girl's other friends came for her part of the party. They ran and played for awhile, and then Bob set up the Pinata we bought, and the children lined up for that. They each got about 10 turns before it finally started to break. The bottom came off all in one piece so the candy spilled a bit but didn't go flying. The children rushed in, but each just got a handful and called it good. So a couple of them picked up the rest and put it back in the bottom part of the pinata (it was shaped like a layer cake) and handed it over to the neighbor. She said she will be sharing with our crew every time they go over to play.
Then they had her dinner and cake and presents, and we called it a day, leaving about 5:30.
Having had problems with our phones lately, we went to the home store (like Home Depot) in Newmarket and bought a new cordless phone. They are about half the price as the BX. Bob just finished using one, so I guess it works okay. So it was quite a long day, and we all slept well last night.
Bob guesses there were about 50 people at the party.
Oh, one time I was talking with Bob and a little girl (probably 4 or 5) came up and pointed right up at me and said "what's that?" I said, "Do I have something on my nose?" She said, "No, on your head." (OH, that. :-) ) "That's a covering." "oh," and ran off.
Splat the rat is a traditional game where one person drops a "rat" (in this case a sock filled with sand) down a steeply sloping PVC pipe, and another person waits at the end with a bat to try to splat it when it comes out of the pipe. Very difficult.
I guess that'll do for now, as it is bedtime.
So after that we headed back to Newmarket and found the parking garage and the market that we'd bumped into one day before we moved in and didn't know how to find it. But we didn't get out there because William was asleep and it was nearly time to find the party.
The party was at the grandma's house in a teeny-tiny village about 10 minutes from here. (I think it's the only house in the 'village'.) (It's already 9:30, so i better hurry!) They have a big, beautiful 'garden' with a dozen flower beds of all shapes and sizes. Bob left his camera in the car to just enjoy the day and not be intrusive. They had a bouncy castle, child-size croquet, "splat the rat," child's lawn bowling set, a mini trampoline, a sand table and molds to make castles, and a dozen push toys for the children. There were 4 tents (they call them "marquees") for hiding under when it rained.
The girl's father and grandfather were grilling sausages and burgers, and the baby brother was opening presents when we got there. It was his "naming day" as well as her birthday (a naming day is a secular sort of christening). So we went into the main tent and handed our present over, and the girl saw the children and lit up. "The fam'l' next door!" From that time on Taryn was at her beck and call. So we settled in, in time for the lunch. The sausages were very good, the burgers less so. Apparently Newmarket is famous for its sausages.
It sprinkled off and on for awhile, but finally quit. After a while the girl's other friends came for her part of the party. They ran and played for awhile, and then Bob set up the Pinata we bought, and the children lined up for that. They each got about 10 turns before it finally started to break. The bottom came off all in one piece so the candy spilled a bit but didn't go flying. The children rushed in, but each just got a handful and called it good. So a couple of them picked up the rest and put it back in the bottom part of the pinata (it was shaped like a layer cake) and handed it over to the neighbor. She said she will be sharing with our crew every time they go over to play.
Then they had her dinner and cake and presents, and we called it a day, leaving about 5:30.
Having had problems with our phones lately, we went to the home store (like Home Depot) in Newmarket and bought a new cordless phone. They are about half the price as the BX. Bob just finished using one, so I guess it works okay. So it was quite a long day, and we all slept well last night.
Bob guesses there were about 50 people at the party.
Oh, one time I was talking with Bob and a little girl (probably 4 or 5) came up and pointed right up at me and said "what's that?" I said, "Do I have something on my nose?" She said, "No, on your head." (OH, that. :-) ) "That's a covering." "oh," and ran off.
Splat the rat is a traditional game where one person drops a "rat" (in this case a sock filled with sand) down a steeply sloping PVC pipe, and another person waits at the end with a bat to try to splat it when it comes out of the pipe. Very difficult.
I guess that'll do for now, as it is bedtime.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
typical midweek post
Well, I added a weather thing to my sidebar, but instead of the pretty picture and instant view of my local weather, it is a link to those things. Oh well, I tried; click if you wish.
Some of the children have colds. Yesterday morning Bob's razor was missing from its place. When the boys got up, Cedwryck was coughing, and Riah said, "I think he's coughing because he put that thing that doesn't look like a toothbrush but it is, in his mouth." Yikes! He didn't seem to have any marks in the mouth area. I asked Riah to show me the "thing" and sure enough, he brought me the razor. So they got a little talk on leaving stuff alone.
Ella, while unusually compassionate for her age, is getting a rough side to her. Yesterday she kept stepping on William, and actually scratched his face. Then she'll pat him and say "'s'okay, 'sokay." Or sorry, hurt? cry... Today William was playing in an empty box (Naysha's idea, I think) and fell out, giving himself a little lump on his head. He also is stuffy.
Naysha and Riah are learning to write. Naysha started a book on the way to church Sunday, asking Taryn "How do you spell" each word she wanted to write. So the next day Riah started, too. Today he wrote, "Azariah wants a show in the girls room." Except "Azariah" was backwards, and the page reads from bottom to top. He's brilliant. (By "show" he means when they do flips on the bed and we watch, like in one of Bob's YouTube videos.)
Monday the children were playing church, and Naysha got up to lead singing. She said, "Praise the Lord, saints!" - exact quote, with accent, expression, pitch all exactly like our song leader at chapel. I thought we had a guest in the house. :-)
I have been typing my recipes again. When the 3x5 cards get dumped out of their box twice in a week, something has to change.
Bob's new shop chief (who was his supervisor when we first got to Texas, then he moved to Iceland, and then here) told him Monday that he wanted to give Bob time for the gym every day. So far he has, though maybe not today... Bob just called and said he was leaving work (at 5:15) so he either went earlier, or he didn't get to go.
It has been mostly sunny today, but windy. Nice change from the rain since Sunday.
American politics are getting to be disturbing. I am wondering how hard it would be to learn German and move to Switzerland. :-D
Anyway, baby needs me. Happy Thursday.
Some of the children have colds. Yesterday morning Bob's razor was missing from its place. When the boys got up, Cedwryck was coughing, and Riah said, "I think he's coughing because he put that thing that doesn't look like a toothbrush but it is, in his mouth." Yikes! He didn't seem to have any marks in the mouth area. I asked Riah to show me the "thing" and sure enough, he brought me the razor. So they got a little talk on leaving stuff alone.
Ella, while unusually compassionate for her age, is getting a rough side to her. Yesterday she kept stepping on William, and actually scratched his face. Then she'll pat him and say "'s'okay, 'sokay." Or sorry, hurt? cry... Today William was playing in an empty box (Naysha's idea, I think) and fell out, giving himself a little lump on his head. He also is stuffy.
Naysha and Riah are learning to write. Naysha started a book on the way to church Sunday, asking Taryn "How do you spell" each word she wanted to write. So the next day Riah started, too. Today he wrote, "Azariah wants a show in the girls room." Except "Azariah" was backwards, and the page reads from bottom to top. He's brilliant. (By "show" he means when they do flips on the bed and we watch, like in one of Bob's YouTube videos.)
Monday the children were playing church, and Naysha got up to lead singing. She said, "Praise the Lord, saints!" - exact quote, with accent, expression, pitch all exactly like our song leader at chapel. I thought we had a guest in the house. :-)
I have been typing my recipes again. When the 3x5 cards get dumped out of their box twice in a week, something has to change.
Bob's new shop chief (who was his supervisor when we first got to Texas, then he moved to Iceland, and then here) told him Monday that he wanted to give Bob time for the gym every day. So far he has, though maybe not today... Bob just called and said he was leaving work (at 5:15) so he either went earlier, or he didn't get to go.
It has been mostly sunny today, but windy. Nice change from the rain since Sunday.
American politics are getting to be disturbing. I am wondering how hard it would be to learn German and move to Switzerland. :-D
Anyway, baby needs me. Happy Thursday.
Monday, 7 July 2008
Sunday and misc
Odds and ends:
I forgot to mention in the post about Saturday, but it cleared off after lunch, and though it remained windy, was quite nice all afternoon.
I stopped in Tesco for bread and overheard the cashier and the lady in front of me. The cashier said something about the weather (do you think it will rain?) and the customer answered, "I hope so. We'd get spoiled if it was nice weather all the time."
William got two new teeth yesterday.
Sunday:
We got ready for church with the usual difficulty of finding shoes, matching clothes, and brushing hair, etc. Ella was looking exceptionally beautiful, so I asked Bob to take her picture. So when we all got ready we went out to the grassy area between groups of houses (sort of behind our garage) to take pictures. Bob got a few of Ella, then Naysha, and had started Taryn when it came an English downpour. Nothing like a real downpour, but it tries. So we all ran to the van and got it, covering the cameras from the rain. Then Bob turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened. We checked that the lights weren't left on or anything, and then started looking for an umbrella so Bob could check under the hood. By the time I unearthed his raincoat it had stopped raining. So he got out and wiggled a wire which made the door locks go, and then another one; got back in the car and it started right up. The battery cable had come loose. With 20/20 hindsight we recognized the clues from yesterday when I noticed the radio clock was reset to 12:00.
When we arrived at the BX/Chapel parking lot and got out, the passenger side power sliding door wouldn't go. That thing is heavy to open the old-fashioned way! So I guess whatever made the door lock sound disabled the power door.
We went into the BX for lunch and to shop for Riah new shoes and a few other things. We ate first - I had a chicken salad from the sandwich place, Bob had a sandwich, and the children all had pizza. Did I mention that the gross AAFES-sponsored Anthony's Pizza and the hot dog stand beside it had closed, and we now have Pizza Hut? They only serve personal pizzas and "large" pizzas, which are really a medium. (That and wings and breadsticks.)
Then we went to look for shoes. You never know what you will find back there. Bob located a pair of boys size 2 on the clearance shelf, $35 with 50% off (for new price of $17.50) and Riah liked them, but they were a little big. So I looked on the regular shelf and they had $10 shoes. They even had cheap toddler shoes! I found one style in a size 2, and Riah liked those, too, but they were too small. (No 2 1/2 or 3 in any of the cheap styles.) So we decided on the first pair. Then off to find underwear, a billfold, and ponytail holders.
It was 15 minutes till church time when we started across the parking lot, but the previous service was still going, so ours started a little late. It was our chaplain's last Sunday so there were a few good-byes.
Then we headed home, where I made a dessert (it was a high calorie day) and Bob (who is a genius) fixed our toilet with a plastic water bottle, and it now works better than ever.
Once again I have forgotten something clever one of the children said, so I guess that's it for now.
I forgot to mention in the post about Saturday, but it cleared off after lunch, and though it remained windy, was quite nice all afternoon.
I stopped in Tesco for bread and overheard the cashier and the lady in front of me. The cashier said something about the weather (do you think it will rain?) and the customer answered, "I hope so. We'd get spoiled if it was nice weather all the time."
William got two new teeth yesterday.
Sunday:
We got ready for church with the usual difficulty of finding shoes, matching clothes, and brushing hair, etc. Ella was looking exceptionally beautiful, so I asked Bob to take her picture. So when we all got ready we went out to the grassy area between groups of houses (sort of behind our garage) to take pictures. Bob got a few of Ella, then Naysha, and had started Taryn when it came an English downpour. Nothing like a real downpour, but it tries. So we all ran to the van and got it, covering the cameras from the rain. Then Bob turned the key in the ignition and nothing happened. We checked that the lights weren't left on or anything, and then started looking for an umbrella so Bob could check under the hood. By the time I unearthed his raincoat it had stopped raining. So he got out and wiggled a wire which made the door locks go, and then another one; got back in the car and it started right up. The battery cable had come loose. With 20/20 hindsight we recognized the clues from yesterday when I noticed the radio clock was reset to 12:00.
When we arrived at the BX/Chapel parking lot and got out, the passenger side power sliding door wouldn't go. That thing is heavy to open the old-fashioned way! So I guess whatever made the door lock sound disabled the power door.
We went into the BX for lunch and to shop for Riah new shoes and a few other things. We ate first - I had a chicken salad from the sandwich place, Bob had a sandwich, and the children all had pizza. Did I mention that the gross AAFES-sponsored Anthony's Pizza and the hot dog stand beside it had closed, and we now have Pizza Hut? They only serve personal pizzas and "large" pizzas, which are really a medium. (That and wings and breadsticks.)
Then we went to look for shoes. You never know what you will find back there. Bob located a pair of boys size 2 on the clearance shelf, $35 with 50% off (for new price of $17.50) and Riah liked them, but they were a little big. So I looked on the regular shelf and they had $10 shoes. They even had cheap toddler shoes! I found one style in a size 2, and Riah liked those, too, but they were too small. (No 2 1/2 or 3 in any of the cheap styles.) So we decided on the first pair. Then off to find underwear, a billfold, and ponytail holders.
It was 15 minutes till church time when we started across the parking lot, but the previous service was still going, so ours started a little late. It was our chaplain's last Sunday so there were a few good-byes.
Then we headed home, where I made a dessert (it was a high calorie day) and Bob (who is a genius) fixed our toilet with a plastic water bottle, and it now works better than ever.
Once again I have forgotten something clever one of the children said, so I guess that's it for now.
Sunday, 6 July 2008
History Festival
Ahh, yesterday.
I'd had this festival of history on my calendar for about a month - ever since I got the flyer in the mail. Some of the children were interested and some weren't. Bob was semi-interested. So after our big day Friday we were all dragging our feet. Then it started to rain. So Bob and I looked at each other and wondered if it was worth the risk of miserable to drive an hour and a half. Finally we decided to go for it, leaving the house about 9:30.
The directions were flawless as usual, dumping us right into Dunstable High Street. Now what? The brochure said something about town center parking, so we followed the signs to a parking lot. It seemed full, but after parking behind a Dominos pizza, I saw a space in the public car park, so Bob moved the van over there. (People seem to comment a lot on my attention to detail, and how long my posts are, so I'm trying to leave out a few things, like that as we left the house I had to go back in twice for things we forgot, and about the first parking sign we followed that led us into a private alley.)
It wasn't raining when we got out of the van, so we left our coats there and took our lunch. The first thing we noticed (even as we drove up) was the music; there was an electric organ on a trailer. The next thing was the smell. There were a dozen small campfires going, and as it was a windy day, it was pretty smoky. So we walked over towards the excitement, and there were lots of tents, and LOTS of people in costume. In the middle of the camp was a whole pig slowly roasting over a smoky fire. Riah knew that Robin Hood would like to eat that pig, but he didn't think he would care for it.
The first person we actually talked to was a Viking, who was cleaning a drinking horn. He was very friendly for a Viking, and explained all about his craft. We could hear sounds of battle from up the hill, but it was nearly over. However, one combatant escaped and was caught in the middle of camp and thoroughly beaten for his trouble. As we learned later, Dunstable was the site of a Viking raid in 915, and they were successfully driven back by the Saxons.
Then we had out picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chips, apples, and dessert for the children. We felt funny because no one else was picnicking, but later several did. Feeling much refreshed, we walked around the camp. A little way down the path we saw Queen Elizabeth 1 with her lord and lady in waiting. Taryn worked up the nerve to ask about the lady in waiting, and that opened up a nice conversation. Having learned that we were from Newmarket, the Queen asked how long the journey took. I said 1 1/2 hours and she was surprised and mentioned our horse must be very fast. I said, "yes, we have about 200 - 250 fast horses." "Oh, you must be very rich!" Funny, but yes, we are all very rich compared to even Kings and Queens of times gone by. I forgot to mention to her that Bob is (maybe) descended from her Aunt Margaret.
We watched two lady archers practice the longbow. Bob talked politics to a man who had missed his bus and decided to walk through the park. We picked sour cherries from a BIG cherry tree. We toured the church, which was part of the priory built by Henry 1, and the site of Henry VIII's divorce proceedings. Then it was time for a battle. That was pretty good. There were about 40 warriors - Saxons and Vikings again - and they had a few bouts back and forth across the field, then they called a talk and decided on a single combat. (I was watching William play on the grass and missed most of this.) When one champion fell, the armies struck again with vengeance and the Vikings were defeated. Then the announcer called on Woden for the dead to rise, and sure enough, they did! All the warriors got together for a photo op, and that was that.
We walked around again, and seeing on the program that the English Civil War was about to begin in another place we tried to find out how to get there. Bob got directions, but then we saw a "guided tour" was forming, so we decided to go with that instead. We walked around the block with a lady in a red cape, and she told some interesting stories about the town. It was fun, but as the 'walk' was mostly standing and listening, our feet were getting tired by the end. We could hear guns and canons being fired, and figured it would have been too loud for the children had we gone to the war.
Back at the church gardens we let the children run and climb trees while we rested our feet. We figured that was enough of that, so gathered up and headed for home.
Looking at the map, I saw an English Heritage site not too far off our road, and we thought we'd check it out. After following the map, and the road signs, and turning around twice, and looking for roads that weren't there we eventually made it back to a main road and continued on our way home. I have NO IDEA where that house is supposed to be.
We were getting hungry so we looked for a Little Chef, but it wasn't there. So we went into Newmarket and parked the car and walked down High Street. We went into one pub that served food all day (it was about 5, and a lot of places don't start serving until 6 or 7), but the rock music was very loud, so we went back out. Bob found an ATM to get more cash for his car, and then we decided on a Kebab house. There are two on high street, and later I though we should have got one from each to do a taste test, but we didn't. Bob and I each got a chicken kebab, which is grilled chicken and salad on a pita bread. In America, a kebab is small chunks of meat on a skewer. shrug. The children each got a hamburger. We took it home, and I'm glad. Those kebabs are huge. Bob didn't even finish his. I took off about half of my meat, and shared the other half with Ella, and it was still a good meal. The children all liked their burgers, too, and were full without wanting anything to go with it. So, while it cost over $40, it wasn't bad value.
And that was our Saturday. Now it's time to consider church clothes, and showers, and all that good stuff.
I'd had this festival of history on my calendar for about a month - ever since I got the flyer in the mail. Some of the children were interested and some weren't. Bob was semi-interested. So after our big day Friday we were all dragging our feet. Then it started to rain. So Bob and I looked at each other and wondered if it was worth the risk of miserable to drive an hour and a half. Finally we decided to go for it, leaving the house about 9:30.
The directions were flawless as usual, dumping us right into Dunstable High Street. Now what? The brochure said something about town center parking, so we followed the signs to a parking lot. It seemed full, but after parking behind a Dominos pizza, I saw a space in the public car park, so Bob moved the van over there. (People seem to comment a lot on my attention to detail, and how long my posts are, so I'm trying to leave out a few things, like that as we left the house I had to go back in twice for things we forgot, and about the first parking sign we followed that led us into a private alley.)
It wasn't raining when we got out of the van, so we left our coats there and took our lunch. The first thing we noticed (even as we drove up) was the music; there was an electric organ on a trailer. The next thing was the smell. There were a dozen small campfires going, and as it was a windy day, it was pretty smoky. So we walked over towards the excitement, and there were lots of tents, and LOTS of people in costume. In the middle of the camp was a whole pig slowly roasting over a smoky fire. Riah knew that Robin Hood would like to eat that pig, but he didn't think he would care for it.
The first person we actually talked to was a Viking, who was cleaning a drinking horn. He was very friendly for a Viking, and explained all about his craft. We could hear sounds of battle from up the hill, but it was nearly over. However, one combatant escaped and was caught in the middle of camp and thoroughly beaten for his trouble. As we learned later, Dunstable was the site of a Viking raid in 915, and they were successfully driven back by the Saxons.
Then we had out picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches, chips, apples, and dessert for the children. We felt funny because no one else was picnicking, but later several did. Feeling much refreshed, we walked around the camp. A little way down the path we saw Queen Elizabeth 1 with her lord and lady in waiting. Taryn worked up the nerve to ask about the lady in waiting, and that opened up a nice conversation. Having learned that we were from Newmarket, the Queen asked how long the journey took. I said 1 1/2 hours and she was surprised and mentioned our horse must be very fast. I said, "yes, we have about 200 - 250 fast horses." "Oh, you must be very rich!" Funny, but yes, we are all very rich compared to even Kings and Queens of times gone by. I forgot to mention to her that Bob is (maybe) descended from her Aunt Margaret.
We watched two lady archers practice the longbow. Bob talked politics to a man who had missed his bus and decided to walk through the park. We picked sour cherries from a BIG cherry tree. We toured the church, which was part of the priory built by Henry 1, and the site of Henry VIII's divorce proceedings. Then it was time for a battle. That was pretty good. There were about 40 warriors - Saxons and Vikings again - and they had a few bouts back and forth across the field, then they called a talk and decided on a single combat. (I was watching William play on the grass and missed most of this.) When one champion fell, the armies struck again with vengeance and the Vikings were defeated. Then the announcer called on Woden for the dead to rise, and sure enough, they did! All the warriors got together for a photo op, and that was that.
We walked around again, and seeing on the program that the English Civil War was about to begin in another place we tried to find out how to get there. Bob got directions, but then we saw a "guided tour" was forming, so we decided to go with that instead. We walked around the block with a lady in a red cape, and she told some interesting stories about the town. It was fun, but as the 'walk' was mostly standing and listening, our feet were getting tired by the end. We could hear guns and canons being fired, and figured it would have been too loud for the children had we gone to the war.
Back at the church gardens we let the children run and climb trees while we rested our feet. We figured that was enough of that, so gathered up and headed for home.
Looking at the map, I saw an English Heritage site not too far off our road, and we thought we'd check it out. After following the map, and the road signs, and turning around twice, and looking for roads that weren't there we eventually made it back to a main road and continued on our way home. I have NO IDEA where that house is supposed to be.
We were getting hungry so we looked for a Little Chef, but it wasn't there. So we went into Newmarket and parked the car and walked down High Street. We went into one pub that served food all day (it was about 5, and a lot of places don't start serving until 6 or 7), but the rock music was very loud, so we went back out. Bob found an ATM to get more cash for his car, and then we decided on a Kebab house. There are two on high street, and later I though we should have got one from each to do a taste test, but we didn't. Bob and I each got a chicken kebab, which is grilled chicken and salad on a pita bread. In America, a kebab is small chunks of meat on a skewer. shrug. The children each got a hamburger. We took it home, and I'm glad. Those kebabs are huge. Bob didn't even finish his. I took off about half of my meat, and shared the other half with Ella, and it was still a good meal. The children all liked their burgers, too, and were full without wanting anything to go with it. So, while it cost over $40, it wasn't bad value.
And that was our Saturday. Now it's time to consider church clothes, and showers, and all that good stuff.
Saturday, 5 July 2008
Independence Day
Happy late 4th of July, y'all.
Work has been bothersome for Bob this week. First off, he learned that he flunked the book test for promotion. Then he was told his shop chief was being "fired" - not kicked out, but moved to a position of less authority. Then he was told that his name was one of a list of 1 for possible step-promotion (this is where a general decides to let some people be promoted even though they didn't get it by the usual means), but a few hours later word came back that he was turned down because he'd failed a PT test in 2004. So by Thursday he was a little stressed out. Just after lunch Thursday the shop chief told him to go home, so he did, and our weekend began.
Thursday night we decided to go look at computers, to replace the desktop. In spite of previous promises of new items in July, the BX only had one desktop, and it was out of stock. So Bob asked for a deal on the display model and they offered him 10% off, and I said that was silly. So we came home, where I discovered that we could order from Best Buy and get more computer for about the same price, including shipping, and not have to deal with the BX. WooHoo!
Friday we had planned to look at an '82 Jaguar listed on Ebay and residing in Newmarket, and get a part to fix our main toilet which isn't flushing right now, come home to fix the toilet, and maybe go to Feltwell this afternoon to the July 4th thing. I looked up a "home" store, and Bob called the car owner. Turns out he's busy on Fridays. Back to the drawing board. Not having a lot of success online, we decided to just go look. It was nearly 11 when we left.
First to the home store where we wandered around looking for plumbing, until we met a nice employee who showed us. They didn't have the right size piece that we wanted, so we left there and checked out the store next door, from whom I used to receive ads, but we'd never visited. Not much there.
Then we went on to Mildenhall for lunch, and yes, I stayed on diet. While there we bought birthday presents for our neighbor girl. Then we looked at cars. And we looked at cars. And then we looked some more. About 5 o'clock Bob made a deal on one over the phone, and then we went to eat - this time getting deli sandwiches from the commissary.
Oh, the car? A 1994 Toyota MR2 like the one seen here. It has 75,000 miles on it and seems to be in good shape. I tried to talk him into a VW Golf we saw at a dealer, but it just didn't have the appeal of the other.
We took our sandwiches to the park, ate and played for awhile - until the chorus of "I need to go to the bathroom" began. Taco Bell (nearest toilet to the park) was closed, so we went next door to the shoppette, which only has one toilet. A few other customers thought our line was too long and went elsewhere. Sorry.
Anyway, then we took a deposit to the car guy, since our bank will only let us get out so much at a time, and then it was about 7 so we figured we'd go on up to Feltwell. That was a nightmare - literally - I dreamed about it last night.
The line of cars going on base stretched for a couple of miles. To keep things moving, IDs were not checked at the gate, as usual, but all cars were ushered to a field near the carnival, the people got out and herded to a HUGE line and IDs checked and bags opened before being allowed into the carnival area (which was roped off and policed). So we got in line, and were almost halfway to the gate when one of the border patrol cops called to us that no backpacks were allowed inside. Oh. I have a backpack for the diaper bag combo with my purse, and Bob has a backpack for his camera gear, and we weren't going in without them.
So we walked down the perimeter, because we'd seen a bunch of people going that way and thought maybe there was something else up the road, but there wasn't. So we walked back and thought about sitting in the car for 2 hours and hoping we'd be able to see the fireworks from there, but we'd been in the car all day, and there was no guarantee that we'd even see it. So we went home, all the while wondering what about a bag having two straps that made it more dangerous than any other kind of bag. It was very tempting to get quite upset about it, but we managed to keep ourselves in check.
Home to bed.
Today we are going about an hour and a half south of here to Dunstable to see their Festival of Living History. You can read about it at www.dunstable.gov.uk
See you later!
Work has been bothersome for Bob this week. First off, he learned that he flunked the book test for promotion. Then he was told his shop chief was being "fired" - not kicked out, but moved to a position of less authority. Then he was told that his name was one of a list of 1 for possible step-promotion (this is where a general decides to let some people be promoted even though they didn't get it by the usual means), but a few hours later word came back that he was turned down because he'd failed a PT test in 2004. So by Thursday he was a little stressed out. Just after lunch Thursday the shop chief told him to go home, so he did, and our weekend began.
Thursday night we decided to go look at computers, to replace the desktop. In spite of previous promises of new items in July, the BX only had one desktop, and it was out of stock. So Bob asked for a deal on the display model and they offered him 10% off, and I said that was silly. So we came home, where I discovered that we could order from Best Buy and get more computer for about the same price, including shipping, and not have to deal with the BX. WooHoo!
Friday we had planned to look at an '82 Jaguar listed on Ebay and residing in Newmarket, and get a part to fix our main toilet which isn't flushing right now, come home to fix the toilet, and maybe go to Feltwell this afternoon to the July 4th thing. I looked up a "home" store, and Bob called the car owner. Turns out he's busy on Fridays. Back to the drawing board. Not having a lot of success online, we decided to just go look. It was nearly 11 when we left.
First to the home store where we wandered around looking for plumbing, until we met a nice employee who showed us. They didn't have the right size piece that we wanted, so we left there and checked out the store next door, from whom I used to receive ads, but we'd never visited. Not much there.
Then we went on to Mildenhall for lunch, and yes, I stayed on diet. While there we bought birthday presents for our neighbor girl. Then we looked at cars. And we looked at cars. And then we looked some more. About 5 o'clock Bob made a deal on one over the phone, and then we went to eat - this time getting deli sandwiches from the commissary.
Oh, the car? A 1994 Toyota MR2 like the one seen here. It has 75,000 miles on it and seems to be in good shape. I tried to talk him into a VW Golf we saw at a dealer, but it just didn't have the appeal of the other.
We took our sandwiches to the park, ate and played for awhile - until the chorus of "I need to go to the bathroom" began. Taco Bell (nearest toilet to the park) was closed, so we went next door to the shoppette, which only has one toilet. A few other customers thought our line was too long and went elsewhere. Sorry.
Anyway, then we took a deposit to the car guy, since our bank will only let us get out so much at a time, and then it was about 7 so we figured we'd go on up to Feltwell. That was a nightmare - literally - I dreamed about it last night.
The line of cars going on base stretched for a couple of miles. To keep things moving, IDs were not checked at the gate, as usual, but all cars were ushered to a field near the carnival, the people got out and herded to a HUGE line and IDs checked and bags opened before being allowed into the carnival area (which was roped off and policed). So we got in line, and were almost halfway to the gate when one of the border patrol cops called to us that no backpacks were allowed inside. Oh. I have a backpack for the diaper bag combo with my purse, and Bob has a backpack for his camera gear, and we weren't going in without them.
So we walked down the perimeter, because we'd seen a bunch of people going that way and thought maybe there was something else up the road, but there wasn't. So we walked back and thought about sitting in the car for 2 hours and hoping we'd be able to see the fireworks from there, but we'd been in the car all day, and there was no guarantee that we'd even see it. So we went home, all the while wondering what about a bag having two straps that made it more dangerous than any other kind of bag. It was very tempting to get quite upset about it, but we managed to keep ourselves in check.
Home to bed.
Today we are going about an hour and a half south of here to Dunstable to see their Festival of Living History. You can read about it at www.dunstable.gov.uk
See you later!
Friday, 4 July 2008
no good title
I can't think of a short title that would show my excitement without getting other people wound up.
So anyway, no time to chat now, but while shopping for computers last night I discovered that
Best Buy ships to APO and FPO addresses!!!!!!!!
Best Buy is an American Electronics store with great prices on computers, cameras, videos, games, etc. And they now ship "most" items to American military bases overseas. (Fewer and fewer stores will do this.)
I know this doesn't mean anything to most of my readers, but it is good news to me.
Later! I've got shopping to do. :-)
So anyway, no time to chat now, but while shopping for computers last night I discovered that
Best Buy ships to APO and FPO addresses!!!!!!!!
Best Buy is an American Electronics store with great prices on computers, cameras, videos, games, etc. And they now ship "most" items to American military bases overseas. (Fewer and fewer stores will do this.)
I know this doesn't mean anything to most of my readers, but it is good news to me.
Later! I've got shopping to do. :-)
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