I don't like spiders and snakes

Now the snakes are not a problem. They are all hanging out by rivers and woods and places I don't wander around that often. The spiders on the other hand, consider September to be the month they move indoors. Some would say it's them moving into a warmer place for the winter, but it is 70 - 80 here these past two weeks, and the spiders are trooping in like they own the place. Get them a collar and a leash and these guys could be your second dog - they are big!

Oh I know they're harmless - these are second cousins of the daddy longlegs. But I don't like them. In fact, I am afraid of them on some deep, visceral level that leads me to scream whenever I see them scurrying across the floor. At least the rest of the family is accommodating. They immediately leap into spider killing mode. (No lectures please - I really don't care about all the good stuff they do. If they would stay out of my house, I would let them live a long and happy life. I do not bother them in their house, they shouldn't bother me in mine!)

Happily, it's pretty much all over by October, November at the latest. They disappear. I don't trouble myself wondering where they're camping because they don't venture into sight. As it should be.

What critters are heading your way these days?

Rick's Pacemaker

All went well. He's home and doing well.

Liverpool Album

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Liverpool

Yesterday we visited Liverpool. We saw George Harrison, Paul McCartney and John Lennon's houses, Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields. Very cool. George Harrison and Paul McCartney grew up in Council houses - sort of the equivalent of our Section 8 housing. George's house is still a Council house. We didn't have time to book the actual tours of the inside of John or Paul's house - maybe next time. Generation gap - I was thinking about buying a T shirt with the Apple record logo, as I always liked it. Joe said "Mom, no one will know - they'll just think it's the Apple (IPod) logo." I could not convince him that folks of my generation would actually know the reference.

Penny Lane looks nothing like the pretty picture you get in your head when listening to the song - I'll post pictures later. The boys actually grew up traipsing around Penny Lane, which was pretty neat.

We also went to the Cavern Club where they started playing. That was also very cool.

Sermon online

Well it's finally posted. If you get a chance to listen, don't hold the music against us - basically the whole band was away and many brave folks stepped in, but many of us were definitely out of our comfort zones!

http://trinitytownpoint.com/default.aspx?PageType=PODCASTS

It's so quiet around here...

We had to have Tigger put to sleep yesterday. Very very sad. She had really gone downhill in the past few weeks. We tried everything we could think of but she just got worse and worse. After everything was said and done, they said they suspect she had a brain tumor but a lot of good that info does us now! Anyway, for a dog that never made any noise, it sure is quiet around here. Sigh...

she was just...lovely.

Get those passports people!

Everyone will now have an extra 3 years to cross the pond. I've been offered, and have accepted, a new job here. This will allow both kids to graduate from MHS. Our rotation back to the states will be July 2013.

We'll be visiting next summer, probably mid July, early August for a week or so. Definitely Me, Rick, Joe. Julie only if we can kick this fear of flying!

I do miss everyone, but this was too good an offer to pass up. So come on over. We're only 2 hours away from Scotland, Paris, Italy or Ireland (to name a few!).