This one made me cry

Will recovering from his burns and Anna on oxygen for a respiratory problem.

Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.

Ethel Watts Mumford (1876 or 78? - 1940) was a U.S. author, a New Yorker.

I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.

Edward Verrall Lucas (11 June/12 June 1868 – 26 June 1938) was a versatile and popular English writer. His nearly 100 books demonstrate great facility with style, and are generally acknowledged^{[by whom?]} as humorous by contemporary readers and critics.

Fun with Victoria

While Barbara was off to Utah and Idaho to help with Will, along with Will's parents and siblings, I got to spend a lot of time with my beautiful granddaughter, Victoria.

Victoria and Will - June 2010.

My son Russell, his wife Sarah Jane, and Victoria are living with us right now.  Russell graduated from UT law school last spring, and has been very busy since getting ready for the bar exam which will be held at the end of July.  When Sarah Jane is at work, Barbara has been taking care of Victoria.  Victoria will start day care next month after she turns one.

Russell needs to keep his full attention on his bar exam review, so I happily volunteered to watch Victoria during the day.  I will have to say that it has been a long time since I spent so much time with an 11 month old.  I now have an even greater appreciation for those who regularly take care of small children. Victoria is literally into everything that she can think of, so it has been a lot of fun keeping up with her.

This is how my last week went:

• Get myself and John up and ready for the day before Sarah Jane handed over Victoria.
• Drive John and Victoria to John's adult care.  I discovered that the snaps in children's car seats were not designed for older fingers.
• Run short errands before returning home.
• Feed Victoria.   Change Victoria.  Repeat as needed.
• Put Victoria down for a nap.  Pick up Victoria because she doesn't want to nap. 
• Feed Victoria.  
• Put Victoria back down for a nap.  I discovered if I lay down on the bed next to her crib, she eventually decides that if Grandpa is tired, she must be too.  
• Log into work and try to get some work done while Victoria naps.
• Pick up Victoria when she wakes up for nap and feed her again.  I found if I put the high chair next to my laptop on the kitchen table, I can answer emails while Victoria and I are eating.
• Take Victoria to pick up John from his adult care.
• Kill some time by going to Target and buying baby things.
• Bring John and Victoria to the office.  Get John signed on and then take Victoria around for visits.  Victoria is very popular among my co-workers, some of whom do very odd things trying to get her to smile.
• Change Victoria.  One of the days she had a super poopie diaper that required a trip to the men's room.  Luckily, one of my co-workers took her off my hands so I could wash those hands and dispose of the diaper.  The same co-worker said he doubted if his grandfather ever changed any of his grandchildren's diapers.  We discussed how things have changed, and for the better.
• Follow Victoria as she crawled down the hall way.  The elderly mother of a co-worker in the next office from mine passed away, so my co-worker has been out.  She decided to come back into the office yesterday afternoon just so she could do something besides deal with her mother's death.  In her absence, Victoria has been crawling up to her door and was irritated that she couldn't crawl in.  She was happy that the door was open yesterday and my co-worker was very happy to have Victoria visit.  I think it brightened up both their days.
• Sarah Jane comes by on her way home from work and picks up Victoria.  I then spent a few more hours at work with John trying to keep caught up.

This has been probably one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for me, spending so much great time with Victoria.  I know she won't remember when she gets older, but I don't think I will ever forget it.

Wonderful News About Will

Will's checkup went much better than anticipated.   Short version, Will only needs skin grafts on some of his fingers on one hand.  This is totally amazing considering what was anticipated only a few weeks ago.

Click on James' blog for all the details.  He was trying to tell me some of the medical details on the phone until I had to remind him who he was speaking with.  There is a reason I work with computers.

Thanks for everyones kind thoughts and prayers.

Power to the iPod People

My favorite podcast is Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me from NPR.  


I was listening to the July 10th 'best of edition' in my car, and when I heard the 'Power to the iPod People' segment,  I laughed so hard I had to pull off the side of the road.


At church this morning I heard the message that I needed to lighten up.  This helped a lot.

More on my Grandson Will

The old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words is certainly still true.  In this day and age, it is so much easier to get those pictures out there also.   My imagination was certainly running wild, so even though I am the last person who wants to see these kind of pictures, I was glad to see for myself the extent of the burn damage.  Ever since I got word of his accident, I had been imagining much worse.

I have to hand it to him, he is certainly a lot more chipper than I would be.  I suppose being 3 rather than 59 has a lot to do with it.

Barbara left yesterday (Friday) for Salt Lake City.  As I understand it, James and Emily will drive down from Idaho on Monday to take Will back to the burn center at the University of Utah.  The doctors will determine whether or not Will needs skin grafts on his fingers and back.  If so, Barbara will stay with Emily and Will while he recovers at the hospital.  If not, she will go back to Idaho Falls with them.

My small part in this is to stay home and keep tabs on John.  I am also watching my granddaughter Victoria during the weekdays so her mom Sarah Jane can go to work and her day Russell can study for the Texas bar exam at the end of this month.

Continued good thoughts and prayers on Will's behalf are much appreciated.

We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.

François VI, Duc de La Rochefoucauld, Prince de Marcillac (15 September 1613 – 17 March 1680) was a noted French author of maxims and memoirs. The view of human conduct his writings describe has been summed up by the words "everything is reducible to the motive of self-interest," though the term "gently cynical" has also been applied.^[1] Born in Paris in the Rue des Petits Champs, at a time when the royal court was oscillating between aiding the nobility and threatening it, he was considered an exemplar of the accomplished 17th-Century nobleman. Until 1650, he bore the title of Prince de Marcillac.

If I had to live my life again, I'd make the same mistakes, only sooner.

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead (January 31, 1902 – December 12, 1968) was an American actress, talk-show host, and bon vivant.^[1]

Even the Best Fall Down Sometimes

My lovely daughter-in-law Emily posted this earlier today.

I don't have what it takes to visit people in a burn unit  and sing to them (composure or vocal talent), but I am glad that are folks who do.

I wasn't familiar with the song, but I liked it.

Everyone rises to their level of incompetence.

Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter (September 16, 1919 - January 12, 1990) was an educator and "hierarchiologist," best known to the general public for the formulation of the Peter Principle.

Delusions of grandeur make me feel a lot better about myself.

Jane Wagner (born February 26, 1935) is an American writer, director and producer. Wagner is best known as Lily Tomlin's comedy writer, collaborator and life partner.^[1]

People ask for criticism, but they only want praise.

William Somerset Maugham (pronounced /ˈmɔːm/, mawm), CH (25 January 1874 – 16 December 1965) was an English playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era, and reputedly, the highest paid author during the 1930s.

Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Give a fish a man, and he'll eat for weeks!

Takayuki Ikkaku, Arisa Hosaka and Toshihiro Kawabata, Animal Crossing: Wild World, 2005

Animal Crossing: Wild World, named Oideyo Dōbutsu no Mori (おいでよ どうぶつの森^?, lit. "Come to Animal Forest") in Japan, is a video game published and developed by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS handheld game console, and the follow-up to Animal Crossing for the Nintendo GameCube. It was released in Japan on November 23, 2005, North America on December 5, 2005, Australia on December 8, 2005 and Europe on March 31, 2006. A follow-up to Wild World, Animal Crossing: City Folk, was released for the Wii on November 16, 2008.

Adventure is just bad planning.

Roald Engelbregt Gravning Amundsen (Norwegian pronunciation: [ˈɾuːɑl ˈɑmʉnsən]; 16 July 1872 – c. 18 June 1928) was a Norwegian explorer of polar regions. He led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole between 1910 and 1912. He was also the first person to reach both the North and South Poles.^[1][2] He is known as the first to traverse the Northwest Passage. He disappeared in June 1928 while taking part in a rescue mission. Amundsen with Douglas Mawson, Robert Falcon Scott, and Ernest Shackleton, was a key expedition leader during the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration.

Illegal aliens have always been a problem in the United States. Ask any Indian.

Robert Orben (born March 4, 1927) is an American magician and professional comedy writer. He is also an author of books for magicians. He wrote a book called "Speaker's Handbook of Humor".

The very purpose of existence is to reconcile the glowing opinion we have of ourselves with the appalling things that other people think about us.

Quentin Crisp (born Denis Charles Pratt, 25 December 1908(1908-12-25) – 21 November 1999), was an English writer and raconteur. He became an icon of homosexuality in the 1970s after publication of his memoir, The Naked Civil Servant, brought to the attention of the general public his defiant exhibitionism and refusal to keep his sexuality private.

Sanity is a madness put to good use.

George Santayana (December 16, 1863, Madrid, Spain – September 26, 1952, Rome, Italy), was a Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist. A lifelong Spanish citizen, Santayana was raised and educated in the United States, wrote in English and is generally considered an American man of letters. Of his nearly 89 years, he spent 39 in the U.S. Santayana is perhaps best known as an aphorist, most famously for his oft-misquoted remark "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."^[1] Similarly, a line of Santayana's, "Only the dead have seen the end of war,"^[2] is often falsely attributed to Plato

Even More Waterton!

Both Emily and Rachel have posted to their respective blogs more pictures!

Here is a totally unflattering one of me (it makes me look as old as I really am), but it is a great one of Victoria and Will.

Rachel's photos are here and Emily's are here.  It was so good seeing everyone in one place.

You don't stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.

Mike Dirnt (born Michael Ryan Pritchard (sometimes known as Mr. Kidner) on May 4, 1972) is an American musician who is currently the bassist and backing vocalist for the American rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt," so his schoolmates started to call him "Mike Dirnt."