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The Actual Memorial Day in DaHo.

Lanny and I started out our day the usual way on any day that I don't have to work. With me sleeping in til 9am and him getting up early and doing his usual computer and email work, and yoga. However, this morning Lanny was struck with an ideal to build a sturgeon pole holder for the jeep, then went to get the needed materials to build his creation. I'm sure it will be very much an asset to his lugging around all his new and bigger fishing poles, et-all. Watch out sturgeon -- Lanny is coming!

Upon Lanny's return, we set out to take flowers to Filer Cemetary for all the family members buried there. Our first stop was to get brunch. We first tried Perkins, but the parking lot was filled to capacity, which means waiting on a table. So, we both opted for Sizzlers for their Lunch Buffet. Lanny did the Salad Bar, and I went for the Chicken club. After waiting over 20 minutes for my lunch -- the manager came over and gave us two $5.00 gift certificates for our wait. Nice!

After lunch we stopped at Shucks Car Store -- for Lanny to see that the price of a towing pin was way more than what he was willing to pay for it -- and we left promptly.

We drove to the cemetary and were both amazed by the amount of people there paying their respects to loved ones. Every veteran with a wooden cross (my father included) had an American Flag waving from the tops of their cross. It was an ominious site. As Mom and I had done during these past 3 years -- Lanny and I placed mums on each of my relatives resting place. There had already been people who had visited Uncle Jimmy's, Nancy and Charles Hainline's grave and left flowers. And Mom and Dad's had miniature American Flags, Lilies, yellow Mums, and pinwheels that were placed by others unknown.

The pictures above are of Uncle Jimmy (Mom's brother), Uncle Barty (Aunt Dora's Husband), Carl Hainline (Grandpa), Nancy and Charles Hainline (Great Grandma and Grandpa) and our 'Most Loved' Mother and Father.

I placed white mums for all, and as you can see I placed 4 for Mom and Dad. As, was traditionary with Mom and I -- I will go back in a few days and gather them up again and plant them in my planters to remember them daily here at home.

I hope your Memorial day was as filled as our's with the sweet rememberance of those who are no longer of this earth.

God's Blessing be will all.

Happy Memorial Day and all that Crap...

First let me wish everybody a happy and thoughtful Memorial Day. The reason and logic for it seems to have been totally lost by most everybody these days - especially those that we have elected to govern us. But, I have pretty much given up on being concerned about politics as they can all pretty much go to hell as far as I am concerned. Well, now that I have cheered everybody up, this is how my week is going...

My week has not been going well at all. Early in the week, I pulled a groin muscle, or something, and have been dealing with it for days. It seems to come and go with my moods and activities - Hum, there maybe something to that...

I didn't feel it when it happened, so I don't know if I did it carrying heavy stuff, or what. I know that yoga brought it out, as you stress most body parts when doing yoga. So, I haven't been doing my daily yoga for a few days and that always makes me feel down - or better said, not up as it usually does.

I played in both weekly tournaments this week and sucked in them both. The medical problem seems to be irritated by playing pool, or by the level of concentration usually required, and was a real bother. That and bad luck and weird people. On Tuesday night, I first got beaten, I think for the first time, by Dr. Dave, the psychologist. He is a good player and I tried to play very clean to gain his good graces, as I like him, and ended up loosing by a narrow margin. Then, I had to wait and finally played this totally drunk belligerent A**hole. This guy drove me nuts and was the luckiest idiot I have ever played. We played a race to 5 games and he didn't make over 10 balls in the whole thing. He just kept making these outrageously lucky 9-ball combos, hooking me, and generally driving me crazy with his BS. I was glad to be out of it.

Then, after I had calmed down for a while, Dr. Dave wanted me to play with him to warm him up and we played for a while and we got real friendly for a change. He is really a interesting guy when he doesn't get all crazy. Then, he had to play for one of the final matches, playing Tony, another good player, and started really loosing it as he had with me in the past. He started breaking the rack with Tony still over it, again and again and they ended up getting into a little fight - well sorta like a baseball fight - but with pushing and shoving. Dr. Dave really needs some serious anger management training - he lost all my new found respect right there. So, the Tuesday night tournament sucked all the way around...

Then, I got up very early Wednesday morning and went fishing as it was the first good weather day for a while. I ended up catching these two little fish - a 3'er and a 4'er - which was very depressing and ended up hurting my groin problem much more by carrying all that heavy fishing gear. I am getting pretty tired of not catching any large fish all year. The one Brother Don had on last week was the first decent sized fish I have seen hooked up all year and its getting pretty old...

Anyway, I came home, got cleaned up and went to the Wednesday night 8-ball tournament after Pam left to help out her friend do some cooking for the FFA at the local high school. I was playing much better, but the groin problem was really bothering me to the point that I was pretty much consumed by dealing with it mentally - which is not conducive to good concentration. I made a couple of mistakes playing good players and ended up getting 5th in a large tournament with all the really good players. But, I should have won it and would have if I wasn't in so much pain.

So, I pretty much laid low on Thursday and recovered. I did some tinkering with my fishing gear and tested some new parts I had gotten to be sure they were up to big fish - if I ever get one again...

Then, on Friday, Pam talked me into going fishing again... I guess it was a residual from something she had learned at her Bible study group Thursday night, about living every day to the fullest. Anyway, I got up and was out when she got up to go to work and spend the day fishing again with no hookups - again... I have got to figure out where all the big fish went. This is driving me crazy. So, next week, after all the Memorial Day craziness dies down, I am off to track down the fish again, instead on just always going to my favorite place, DaHole. I will find them, as I did last year. I wish there was some source available to let me know their schedule or game plan. But, I guess the few that know what is going on, aren't talking about it. That is the way it is here in Da (nappy headed) Ho...

June Newsletter Article...

Liar, Liar - Pants on Fire…
By Lanny Keithley

One of the things we learn early on is that we are not the center of the universe, and there are many things that we would prefer to be different than they are. Things that we think might make our lives better or more interesting. There are also times when we must explain or tell about some aspect of what we are, or did, or are planning to do. These are opportunities to embellish our positions, or even change them completely, by not telling the truth as we know it. The key phrase here, and the real topic of this article, is dealing with the “as we know it” part…

When you are a witness in a legal proceeding, you must take an oath that you will “Tell the Truth, the Whole Truth, and Nothing but the Truth”. This phrase is trying to identify and define what “The Truth” is, but we already know what it is inside – and we all know when we haven’t told it. This is the “as we know it” part that causes us all so many problems. There are many levels and reasons to rationalize not telling the truth “as we know it”, but for the purposes of this article, any and all such instances will be called “Lies” as they have the same effect on us that we have to deal with inside.

When we are young, it is much easier to lie about all sorts of stuff and it is done by most kids on a regular basis. And, when we were caught doing it by our peers, they would usually yell out the title of this article “Liar, Liar – Pants on Fire”. Because, even at that age, they knew that you would be squirming in your pants having to deal with the lie that you told – or would get punished for it more directly.

This is still how it works for adults, but a very large portion of the punishment comes from within. If you tell a lie that ends up becoming a legal problem or involving other people that take actions against you for it, then you also have those issues to resolve. The part that we are focusing on here is what it does to you inside from a whole variety of angles and positions.

Lies can be told for almost every reason that exists including protection, preservation, power, deceit, embellishment - the list is endless. The reasons and results can range from fending off a pending disaster to thoughtless musings. What everyone needs to learn and keep in mind, is that each lie does have consequences and should be seriously considered beforehand as being necessary and worth what it will cost you.

As we have discussed before in previous articles, every thought and event in your life is stored in your computer memory and is used for each related decision you will make in the future. So, one must keep mindful of what they do, listen to, and think about.

If you have the habit of not holding great value in telling the truth, it is one of the most insidious things you can do to yourself. It is a “Habit” as many folks learned to do it very early in their lives and seldom even think about it when doing it now. It will end up destroying your feeling of self worth, will consume a growing part of your freedom, and destroy your relationships with others over time. In most cases, it is all for little or no real reason at all. We will now review each of these results in more detail, so you can get a better understanding of them and their effects on your life and well being.

Your self worth is based upon feeling good about yourself, feeling confident about your capabilities and abilities to deal with life. Usually, when a person isn’t very careful about telling the truth or being accurate about themselves and their actions, they will embellish everything in an almost thoughtless way. They make everything just a little better in their statements, even when it has little or no value to the person they are telling it to and who usually could care less about it .

But, should you allow yourself to do this, it creates an almost constant load of negative thoughts being stored in your computer memory. All of these thoughts end up storing, “I am not worthy” or “I am not good enough” memories, enforcing that you don’t like yourself as you really are, and as such, feel the need to lie to be something different or better. Then, with every future decision you make, all of those stored negative self worth memories are brought up and overwhelms the real reality of the current decision being considered.

Over time, as all these lies are being told and all the negative memories are being stored, you also have the issue of having to deal with remembering and extending all the previous lies you told to keep from being caught in your own morass. This is where it can radically limit your ability to be free or feel free. I define freedom as the time you have that you don’t feel constantly compelled to be thinking or worrying about something. You might also call it free time or relaxation.

Liars have very little, if any, freedom because they must constantly be thinking about and remembering past lies during each new situation. And, the level of their “normal lies” is in direct proportion to how much they must be concerned about each and every event in life – “What did I tell this person last time?”, “What has happened since?”, “What should be the next thing to happen in this charade?”, and the list goes on. The normal events of daily life can end up being a full time job without doing anything of value – just trying to keep up with all the lies you have told in the past.

This brings us to the last point - the destruction of relationships. Even if a liar is very good and can keep it all going, so that nobody else picks up on the charade, it is almost impossible to continue it over time. The relationship the liar will destroy first is their own self image. Actually, every liar will end up doing that, but most will also destroy other relationships they have with family, friends, acquaintances, businesses and all others along the way. No person or entity, can deal with a liar over time. A liar cannot be trusted, by definition, and will be shunned by all that figure it out. This shunning can manifest itself from just not hanging around together anymore, to legal action depending upon the extent and value involved in the deception. So, the liar must continually move on to new relationships as older ones are terminated, deepening their own dark hole of self worth.

People often do not realize that every little embellishment, or “white lie”, has any consequence at all. Each lie might not have much all by itself but people, who don’t place a high value on being truthful to themselves and others, will not stop at one little embellishment. This habit usually starts at a young age and can quickly evolve into a way of life with very serious consequences on many levels. And, is there value in it? Does anybody else really care?

On the positive side, developing the habit of always telling “The Truth, the Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth” will bring many rewards, and it not difficult to do at all. It’s mainly breaking the habit of not being happy with who we really are, and taking full responsible for all of our actions. The results are realizing the joy and freedom of feeling great about one’s self, of never having to worry about what we said before, and of not having to worry about someone else hearing or reading what we say. All of these things make us much happier and free our lives from much worry and concern.

It is very easy to stop being a liar. We must first realize that we are doing it and make the decision to stop. When our little “embellishment” program starts up, we must catch it and mentally say no to it. Then, tell the truth, be proud of ourselves that we did it, and relish becoming a better person each and every time. Telling lies is one of those “automatic” programs that will run from habit, if allowed. It must be consciously stopped until the new “truth” program grows to replaces it. After a short while, telling the truth will become automatic and there will be no need for embellishment. You will feel confident being you, all you, and nothing but you.

There is an old saying that “The Truth will set you free”. It is so true and well worth the effort to try. It is the path to personal freedom and happiness, and will result in having lots of good long term relationships. If it doesn’t work for you, you can always go back to your old lying ways.

Don Ho...

Brother Don and wife Linda from Kalifornia came to visit us in DaHo this week for a two night/three day stop on their vacation to see a lot of relatives throughout the country. The last time they were here was when Pam and I got married almost 3 years ago. We had a great time and watched all of the old family movies I had converted to DVD from the old 1940s through 1970s 8mm film reels. It was quite a scene, as neither of us can remember a lot of the people and places shown in the films. They are taking copies of the DVDs back to Illinois with them to show all the older relatives and try to shed some more light into the missing details, so I can publish it all on the computer and hopefully make some sense out of it all. We also have a couple of boxes of still photos and memorbiblia that I am going to scan and include in the whole package.

They arrrived here on Tuesday evening and we went out to eat at the Rock Creek. It is a great local resturant with great food. They both had the famous local Idaho Trout and loved it. Then, we came home and watched old movies and went to bed pretty late as Don and I were going Sturgeon fishing early in the morning.

After making sandwitches and preping all the trip supplies, I got Don up about 6am and we were off to DaHole, my favorite Sturgeon fishing spot. Its about 40 miles away and takes the 4X4 Jeep to get there, but once you do, its a real pretty place. We started fishing and had a great time talking about old, current and future times for hours. It was really great to be together again and talk. A couple of hours into all this fun, Don hooked up with a big sturgeon. Below is a picture of him fighting the fish. I had him lean up against that rock after a while as they can wear you out during a long fight.

Don with a Big On


The fish ended up breaking the line after 15 minutes or so of Don pretty much being in that position, hanging onto the rod as the fish took off line and he tried to bring line in back in when possible. In the middle of the fight, the fish jumped out of the water for the thrill of the crowd - it was quite impressive. From my experience, I am guessing that it was in the 6' to 7' length and probably 150# to 200# in size. When, you are using 80# test line and the fish can break it, you know its a large fish. Bigger than I have caught this year...

That was the only fish we had hooked up there at DaHole by noon and decided to try our luck elsewhere. So, we packed up all the gear and went down to Hagerman and to Riley Creek. I hadn't been there since I was converted to fishing for Sturgeon last year. Its a big trophy trout fishing location that requires the fish to be at least 20" long to keep. The problem was that the season for fishing there doesn't start until May 26th so we just walked down to see some of the big rainbow, brown and golden trout swiming around and there were a lot of really big ones. I then showed him this local lake that was built by this very famous poet, Vargas Fisher, back in the early 1900s. It is fed with a natural stream and he planted all these large Pines around it and built a cabin and lots of other little buildings there. The water is 30-40 feed deep in the middle and cristal clear blue. It is quite a sight to behold. His home/cabin burned down many years ago and its all abandoned now.

Anyway, after that we went over to the Hagerman State Fish Hatchery where I do a lot of fishing with Oliver and Aaron when they are here. There are trout, carp, bass and even some smaller sturgeon there. So we got out some trout rods and Don hooked up a nice large trout on the first cast. While he was playing with the trout, I got out a smaller sturgeon rod and threw it out. Don and I each caught a 3' to 4', 40 to 50#, sturgeon while there. But after that first trout, the trout didn't bite any more - I guess the heard that 'The Don' was there...

After we got done there, we stopped by the show pond they have there and I showed him a couple of 6' to 7' sturgeon, about the same size that he had on the line eariler in the day, and he was really impressed. They are BIG fish.

Then, after coming home and getting cleaned up, we gathered up the ladies and went back down to Hagerman to have dinner at the Snake River Grill. They are the only local resutrant that serves sturgeon and we thought it was time to get some revienge for that big fish beating we took eariler. So we had sturgeon and an alligator appitizer and some good wine. It was all great and we had a great time as usual. Here is a picture of us enjoying dinner.



Then, after dinner we stopped by the Malad River State Park. Its a pretty amazing natural phenonum. About 100 yards from this bridge there that you can walk over, the river is underground and it is farm land. Then this canyon/gorge starts and within a hundred yards or so, its this giant canyon as you can see below. This is on the bridge looking down from the starting point of the canyon.



Its hard to get a good feel of the size and depth of this canyon from this cameraphone picture, but its deep. It makes me dizzy looking down into it from that bridge. There is also a water fall or two dumping water into the canyon at various places along the way from other underground streams. The rock formations are just amazing and the thought of how long it must have taken to create a canyon that size just boggles the mind.

We then went home and watched hours more of the home movies and went to bed. The next morning they were off to visit other folks at Lava Hot Springs about 3 hours away. We had a great time and it was great seeing them both again. That is the only real downside to living here in DaHo - being so far away from family and friends, and not being able to visit very often. But, we love it here and its wonderful to have people come and share this place with us when they can...

HO'ly Flowers

It's not even Mother's Day and I've already received two beautiful arrangements. Both were delivered to Dell while I was at lunch.

I walked into the building and one of our security guards handed me this huge box containing the roses pictured below. I carried them down my row with a big smile on my face -- telling my co-worker and friend Tina "Look Lanny sent me roses".


Tina said "Have you seen the flowers on your desk?". I said "What?". Well, there on my desk was a beautiful basket of flowers from a very thoughtful and appreciative customer of mine.



Not only did he show his gratitude for my help, but a couple weeks back -- he emailed my manager praising me. His email caused me to win that week's 'Customer Choice Award', which included a $50 Am Exp gift card and a plaque that is forth coming. Also, my name will be put into a drawing for dual flat panel monitors. Wait, It doesn't end there. On this past Wednesday, I was talking to him and mentioned that the big wigs were here from Round Rock and he insisted on talking to the top guy.

A few minutes later my customer, whom I fondly call Cousin Vinny was talking to Jim Roth, Executive Manager of Gold Technical Support Worldwide; singing praises of the product and my customer support he has received. Jim Roth was smiling from ear to ear! Vinny told Jim of the many instances that we had been in contact, how knowledgeable, professional, upbeat, caring and on and on that he found me to be. Jim told Vinny that he made his week!

This is what it's all about for me -- instilling this type of experience with each and everyone of my customers. It is my mantra. Customer's are our number 1 focus -- and when they purchase a Gold Contract, then they deserve Gold Service. There is no higher service level than Gold.

Estate Maintenance, Rain and Pool...

Before I get started with all this, it has come to my attention that there are a growing number of local HOs that are reading this blog. I am impressed and humbled that they seem to be enjoying it. It just points out the lack of quality entertainment available here in DaHo. It's a good thing that I learned long ago not to lie or exaggerate too much or that could have been very embarrassing...

As the weather gets warmer, all the plants and weeds come alive and start going crazy. The mowing ritual has started. I have applied two different applications of chemicals to the lawn for Weeding and Feeding, and just Weeding and its starting to come around. Our lawn is only on about 4 inches of dirt, and as such, has a very tenuous existence as far as being able to store a reserve of water to keep it healthy and happy. It won't take much water and needs to be watered very often. Hooray for automatic sprinkler systems!

I uncovered the back yard fountain expecting it to be full as it is also maintained by a drip line. But, it was empty... So, if first thought there must be some problem with the drip irrigation system. I started poking around, literally, and pushed my finger through the bottom corner of the fountain. It is built out of this lava stone looking manufactured material. I don't know what happened to it. The only thing I can think of is after I had the sprinklers turned on for the year, it did freeze a couple of times and I am thinking that is what did it. So, its off to Home Depot to see what type of repair I can do to it. If that doesn't work, I guess its time to build some new pond/water fall as we really like the sound and sight of the running water. It also attracts lots of birds and Calicat loves to lust after them from the windows.

It has been forcasted to rain for days. And, as such, I have been staying around the house and doing 'Estate Management' and some prep for fishing. I redid the handle on my latest spinning Ugly Stik to match the custom rebuild job on the large casting Ugly Stik I did a few months ago. Now, both have a gimble butt on them so I can use both of them with the same fighting belt. A gimble butt is indented cross on the end of the rod that you can fit over the metal rod in the fighting belt to hold it in secure and straight.

I have also ordered a larger fighting belt, back harness and a couple of other items so when I hook into that BIG one again, it will be a fair fight. It took a few days to recover from the last one...

Finally, last night it did actually rain very heavy and I am ready to go after the big ones again whenever it clears up.

The reason I know it was raining so hard, is that I was out in it - Coming home from my first time playing in the Wednesday 8-ball handicap tournament. I usually play in the Tuesday night 9-ball tournament for those that might be confused.

I did play on Tuesday also, as usual, but wasn't playing well. I was not taking my time and was in this hurry-up mode and not concentrating on my game. This has been one of my biggest and longest problems playing pool. It comes from playing for 'fun' and not keeping focused on the game. I had a couple of bright moments, but basically sucked and was very unhappy with my performance.

I guess I must have 'somehow' expressed that to Pam, as when finishing up a great dinner last night, she asked if I was going to play pool tonight and after some deep contemplation, of about 2 seconds, I was gone and happy to have such a loving and understanding wife. And, while I am lathering it on...The dinner she cooked was truly fantastic. She cooked this Garlic, Scallops and Asparagus pasta dish that was to die for. I hated to leave without finishing it all, but I know its still there in the fridge waiting for me...

So, I made it to the tournament with little time to spare and it was starting to cloud over pretty well. I played very well, as I was very upset with myself from Tuesday night and focused on playing my game. All the 'big boys' were there as usual and I knew it was going to be a rough night. The good thing about having a lot of good players there is that they will usually end up taking each other out leaving only a couple left for me to deal with, if the 'cards' play out right. I got lucky up front with my game draws, and did well. Then, I played Jeremy, who is usually a good player, but didn't seem to be into it tonight - sorta like I was last night. He pretty much gave me the match.

After a couple more matches, it got very interesting. I had to play Steve, who many say is the best player in the area, and was the best player left in the tournament. He had already taken out Cary, the other really good player in the area. Steve has been doing very well lately and usually just doesn't miss. Coupled with his amazing position play, he is hard to beat. But, he did miss 3-4 shots playing me and I ended up winning and was playing and feeling good. Then I had to play Roy (I cannot remember that is the correct name right now, he always wears a Cabela's hat, but I play him all the time and he usually beats me somehow...). Anyway, I played him and beat him pretty handily for the Hill, aka 'only un-beaten' spot, in the tournament.

Then, I had to wait for all the players on the losers side to beat each other up and the winner from all that mess was Paul - another really good player that usually has beaten me in the past. He had to beat me twice to win - the first, so we would both have lost one match, and then to see who won, being on equal standings. The first match was very close, but Paul ended up beating me by a point to two. I made a couple of errors that were costly. Then, in the second match, it went back and forth up until the end and I ended up beating him and winning first place, which really pumped up my ego. The crowd would have been stunned and amazed, but they had all already gone home...

When I went outside to leave, it was raining big drops and hard. Most of the street gutters were full and the car kept hitting standing water and making big splashes most of the way home.

Pam was already asleep, so I put the winning envelope on the bathroom counter, unopened and went to bed. This morning, when Pam was leaving for work, she saw the envelope with the 1st written on it and congratulated me and took the money. So, it was a true WIN-WIN situation for us last night here in DaHo...

Big Fish, Big Raises and Medical Crap...

Last Thursday, I went down to DaHole in my continued search for the BIG One. It was a beautiful day and I got down there early. My new heavy duty casting rig, I got for my birthday last year, was still a virgin, but today would change all that. I finally got both rigs all setup and in the water. I was reading the paper, er fishing, and all of a sudden, the virgin casting rig rod tip took a dive for the water. I grabbed it out of the rod holder and put it in my fighting belt and held up the rod tip and nothing was happening. I figured I had lost it. Then, it took off, about ripping the rod out of my hands. This new casting reel has a very strong drag and it took both hands to hang onto the rod as the fish was running. It was screaming line off the reel. Then, after a while, it stopped and I was able to bring some line back in. Then, it would take off again. This went on for about 20 minutes and I was getting pretty worn out. This fish was MUCH bigger than the 8'er I caught last year. When it got tired, it would just stop and I couldn't budge it. One time I thought it had somehow snagged the line on a rock or something and I was about to break the line, but then it took off again. I tried to sit down as my back was wearing out, but that didn't work with the little fighting belt I had on. I tried to put the rod butt on the ground while sitting and that didn't work either. Then, after about 30 minutes, my 50# hook leader broke and it was gone - and I was done...

It never jumped and I never saw it, so I don't know how large it was, but like I said, it was MUCH bigger than the 8'er I caught last year. I realized, again, that I didn't have the proper equipment for that sized fish. I am currently ordering a larger fighting belt and back harness to deal with these big fish.

While I was there that day, I must have seen 30 large fish jump all around DaHole. One time I watched three of them jump about 1 second apart, about 40 yards apart, in complete matched sequence. They all jumped the same way and made about the same noise/splash. It was like taking a single video clip and replicating it three times on a computer - pretty amazing.

The weather is getting a lot warmer and the fish are finally back from their long winter rest - and I am ready for them, I hope...

Last Tuesday, as I was driving to the pool tournament, I was using my little toothpick and popped off my two front lower teeth, posts and all, which had been replaced with a bridge many years ago. This totally bummed me out as I really hate looking like that. I went ahead and played, but shouldn't have as I wasn't in the mood and didn't do well at all. The next day, I went to the dentist and he glued them back on for the time being. He said they may last a day or years. I am going to an oral surgeon next week to try and figure out what is going on with my mouth after all the radiation treatment damage. My whole mouth is a mess.

Yesterday, I went to Boise for medical appts and a little shopping. I checked in with my ENT, the doctor that did my operation last September and all is great. The little pocket he fixed in my throat has opened up a little, but is no big deal and he said if it does bother me, we can do it all again...

Then, I went to see the only SLP in DaHo that knows much at all about us Larys. SLPs do all the training and fitting of the 'parts' I use to speak with. This new guy is a little weird, but again the only 'game' in 'town', as it were. He is fitting me with a new gizmo, that if it all works out right, I should finally be able to talk without using my hands and not have all the problems with the glued on plastic plates. We shall see how it all goes, but it will be great if successful.

Pam had her annual review and didn't get her usual 'Stellar' recognition. This was due to the training position she had for a while, and the associated nasty political power grabs, all of which was not suppose to influence her gold support review. Her boss was not right in how it was done and she stuck to her 'guns' and was able to produce documentation, and prove to them that they were wrong - and did end up getting her proper recognition and increased raise. So, congratulations to her for not letting it slide and proving she was right.

Well, I had to mow the lawn for the first time this year, so its back to the 'hell' of warm weather Estate maintenance here in DaHo...