Donate to American Red Cross on Amazon

Yesterday Amazon put up an option to donate to the South Asia Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Relief Efforts via their One-Click ordering system. As of 1:46 PM EST today they had 36,243 donations totalling over $2,020,202. It's been noted that France has donated $170,000 so far, and Germany $2,000,000. In a couple of more hours it's likely Amazon will pass them both combined.

We donated and I'm glad we could do our (small) part.

Amazon.com: Welcome

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home

Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home

Little Green Squeegee Men?

What's happening to the Rover on Mars? Are there little green men cleaning the Rover's panels each night?

Follow the link, and click on the "Mars Double Take" box on the right hand side for really good information on the Rovers. They are about 5 feet long and 3 feet wide, and the camera on top rises to about 5 feet above the ground.

Letter in the Washington Post by George J. Esseff, Sr

You're a Republican???

Yummm!

Sylk Cream: "Sylk Cream is targeting women who are looking for sophisticated indulgences "

Welcome to the 2004 NORAD Tracks Santa Website

Welcome to the 2004 NORAD Tracks Santa Website

More Fun with the French

The number one response when Googling "french military victories" is

french military victories

Schedule

Christmas Eve

5:30 Dinner
7:00 - 8:15 Christmas Eve service at PCOL
dessert
adults open presents

Christmas Day

Kids and Santa gifts
pancake breakfast
mid afternoon dinner

Courtesy of the ACLU: 

Holiday Snowglobe

Holiday Snowglobe

Willie Finds a Home

David got a surprise call on Friday. Willie the Black Lab had surprisingly failed out of the Search and Rescue program. It turns out that his being locked up in a crate 23 hours a day for the first 18 months of his life had permanently damaged him. FLRRoF called and asked us to help out with an emergency foster. Since it was our buddy Willie we said yes.

Saturday brought great news. We brought Willie to the Petco adoption days near Millenia Mall on Saturday. While we were there a nice man came by and Willie introduced himself. David got to talking with him. Don and his wife Louise had to put down their beloved 13 year old black lab at the end of August. They are from St. Cloud and had come up to Christmas shop. While Louise was shopping, Don was out walking and passed by the Petco. He saw Willie, said hello, and Willie gave him a big kiss with that big ole tongue of his. Don seemed to really like Willie and we talked for about half an hour about why it would be o.k. to get another black lab, and that now was the time. Don said he would go talk to Louise and went away.

We figured that Don would regain his sanity, and that would be that. Instead, both of them came back and Louise just wouldn't stop petting and hugging Willie. They are a super lab family. They have a lovely home in St. Cloud on a huge fenced corner yard that rears onto a golf course. They have a pool, which Willie of course loves, and they tiled their house a few years back to keep the dust down for their dog. When their last dog became sick, they did everything they could for her, including running up really high vet bills and surgeries. When she passed, they spread her ashes on her favorite mountaintop in Massachusetts and buried her favorite toy there as well. Rest assured, we couldn't have found Willie a better home if we spent years looking.

We are so sorry that he couldn't continue in the SAR program, and angry at the way his original owners mistreated him. But now he is in an ideal situation for a family pet. Don and Louise are going to take him for walks, go boating, play lots of fetch and give him lots of love.

We were thrilled that Willie found them, Louise called it Kismet.

Jake is in Naples

As usual, he looks happy and deserving of a good home...Petfinder PetNotes

RSS Feed Buttons

I have turned on RSS Feeds for our four blogs. Using Firefox, when you see an orange 'RSS' box in the lower right hand corner you can click on it to subscribe to the feed. By saving the feed to the Firefox toolbar, you can easily look up each of the current postings and go right to the permalink of a particular posting.

Heeeeeeee's Baaaaaaaacccccckkkkkk!!!! It sounds like Willy is rejoining the family for the holidays. 

Morgan Out Island 41 Blog

I updated our trip on Pelican's blog... Morgan Out Island 41 Blog

Terror Alert Level

Terror Alert Level

St Lukes UPWARD Sports Ministry

St Lukes UPWARD Sports Ministry

Lundeen Christmas Blog

See the right hand margin. I finally created a "Christmas Blog" that we can post stuff to for ideas for Christmas. And I added 3 items I've been thinking about getting...

America's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier

America's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier

Jake 

The Libs just don't get it.

Boy Scouts Legal Issues: Norwalk

Wall Street Journal endorses anyone but Bush!

OpinionJournal - Extra

Today's Joke

One sunny day in 2005, an old man approached the White House from across Pennsylvania Avenue, where he'd been sitting on a park bench. He spoke to the Marine standing guard and said, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry.'
The Marine replied, 'Sir, Mr. Kerry is not President and doesn't reside here.'
The old man said, 'Okay,' and walked away.

The following day, the same man approached the White House and said to the same Marine, 'I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry'

The Marine again told the man, 'Sir, as I said yesterday, Mr. Kerry is
not President and doesn't reside here.'

The man thanked him and again walked away.

The third day, the same man approached the White House and spoke to
the very same Marine, saying 'I would like to go in and meet with President Kerry.'

The Marine, understandably agitated at this point, looked at the man
and said, 'Sir, this is the third day in a row you have been here asking to
speak to Mr. Kerry. I've told you already that Mr. Kerry is not the
President and doesn't reside here. Don't you understand?'

The old man answered, 'Oh, I understand. I just love hearing it!'

The Marine snapped to attention, saluted, and said, 'See you tomorrow.'"

Brian Wilson in Tampa

Eric (10 years old) is the big Beach Boys fan in the family. Not sure how this is, but it's true and has been for the last three or four years. I'm sure I'm to blame because I do own about 1,800 records which should include some of the greatest ever made. Anyway, about three years ago I put together a collection of CDs for Eric and Betsy to listen to when they were driving from Florida to Connecticutt to see her parents. So the got a dose of Beatles, Simpsons, and who knows what else, as well as "Endless Summer" by the Beach Boys.

Eric came home from the trip having memorized the lyrics of all twenty Beach Boys hits from that album. And who can blame him, They really were great. But that was long ago. Right?

Over time, because of Eric, I've purchased a few more Beach Boys collections, including their excellent box set "Good Vibrations: 30 years of the Beach Boys." Great stuff. Brian Wilson really deserves to stand on the same plateau as Bob Dylan, the Beatles & the Stones.

Anyway, unbeknownst to me, Brian Wilson recovered from the most severe aspects of his depression/insanity/mental illness and has been touring with a great band since 1999. Who knew! About three weeks ago I read about a concert of his on powerlineblog.com It turns out that Brian had stepped back in time 37 years and completed an album called SMiLE that was at the time going to blow away Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. And he apparently succeeded, according to the guy at PowerLineBlog.

O.K. The internet and Google are great. I google Brian Wilson, find his web site, and discover that he will be in Tampa on October 21. Drop almost $300 on tickets for the three of us. (Yes, Eric was there and I hope 80 years from now when he is a doddering 90 year old he's telling his great grandchildren that he saw SMiLe performed live.)

Concert Review (short version): Wow.

Further explanatory notes: You always fear, when seeing an icon from 30 or 40 years prior that you will see something more than a false nostalgia and a rote, uninspired, hack job through the old catalog. THIS DID NOT HAPPEN. Brian is a bit kooky and a bit fragile, but he is backed by a 10 piece group of the utmost caliber that clearly loves him and loves his music.

They must have played at least a dozen of the most famous top twenty Beach Boys tunes. Then they broke for twenty minutes before playing SMiLE in ints entirety. I'm not a talented enough writer to properly convey how great it felt to sit and watch the whole piece be performed. Go buy the album and listen to it two or three times a day like I have. And then think about seeing it live. All I can add it that the 19 band members on stage worked really hard throughout the 45 minute performance. And they were perfect. Is there something better than perfect? Can we give them extra credit as well? It was that good.

At 62 years old, more than 35 years after he mattered to the pop world, Brian Wilson has delivered the best pop album ever recorded. And we saw it live. To quote Homer Simpson "WhooHooo!"

LILEKS (James) The Bleat

One more for the daily blog roll. James Lileks is a columnist, locally for the Mineapolis Star-Tribune, and also has a national syndicated column. He also posts to the web daily. His Bleat (blog) spends about a third of the time doting on his pre-school daughter who he loving refers to as Gnat. Another third is photo essays of the best kind. And the rest is dedicated to spot-on screeds about the state of the world. Mark him down as one of those who was deeply affected by the events of September 11, 2001.

LILEKS (James) The Bleat

HughHewitt.com

Much as I love to listen to Boortz, I'd trade him in a nano-second for the chance to get Hugh Hewitt here in the radio desert of Orlando. I've heard him on travels throughout the U.S. He is first a Christian (Roman Catholic?) and a strong Republican adherent. But, typical of those in the media on the center-right, his show is well balanced by lefties.

His blog is here: HughHewitt.com and his blogging seems as important to him as his radio show.

The Kerry Spot on National Review Online

Yes, my wonderful wife reads Boortz everyday, but is she reading the Kerryspot at the same time? Kerryspot is the first to point out (probably correctly) that if John Kerry is serious about "mending" relations with France and Germany, that it will likely be at the expense of Israel. Remember, Arafat visited the White House 24 times during the Clinton years, more than any other foreign leader. Kerry refers to his "plan" to reunite the U.S. with Europe. What else can it be, except to throw Israel to the Islamic wolves. And to gain what?

The approval of France.

Ouch.

The Kerry Spot on National Review Online

Power Line

Power Line is a blog by three attorneys -- two of which are from Mineapolis and the third a college chum who now resides in the DC area. They are the folks who helped break the Rathergate scandal, and are worth a daily read. Thanks to Hurricane Dan, they've become quite famous. Power Line

Brian Wilson

Good review of the Melbourne show in the SentinelOrlandoSentinel.com: Entertainment

3rd Debate Summary

A libertarian transcript of last nights debate. QandO Blog - Liveblogging the debate

Lab-Tested!

The website that asks "Just which toys, bowls, crates, etc. can stand up to the tender attentions of a young and determined Labrador Retriever?" Lab-Tested

Here is a picture of a billboard off of Sand Lake Road as it appeared after Charley roared through last month. Coincidence or not? 

We Have Tickets!

to see Brian Wilson and his 10 piece band on Thursday, October 21. The first half of the show is a performance of old standards.

Brian Wilson :: Official Web Site

Here is a review from the powerlineblog.com web site from the 9/30 Minneapolis show:

Brian Wilson was the lone musical genius who created the sound and the best songs of the Beach Boys. In mid-60's singles like "Don't Worry Baby" and "When I Grow Up" and at greater length on albums like "Summer Days (and Summer Nights)" and "The Beach Boys Today," Wilson explored the possibilities of group harmony in pop music.

Both albums are full of breathtakingly beautiful, impossibly romantic pop songs. The productions and arrangments are wonderully crafted; you can almost feel the perfectionism that (combined with an abusive father and hallucinogenic drugs) fueled his subsequent nervous breakdown.

Before the breakdown, however, came the full flowering of Wilson's genius in "Pet Sounds," the consummate Beach Boys album that powerfully expressed (with help from Tony Asher on the lyrics) Wilson's deepest yearnings with a moving spiritual twist. Immediately preceding the breakdown was Wilson's work on the uncompleted album "Smile" and a promised movement even beyond the accomplishment of "Pet Sounds."

Beach Boys' albums following "Pet Sounds" included songs from his work on "Smile" -- "Heroes and Villains," "Vegetables," and "Surf's Up." Forty years later, now that Wilson has managed to return to work on the album and complete it with his former collaborator Van Dyke Parks, what has he delivered?

Earlier this year Wilson performed "Smile" in London to a distinguished audience of pop royalty. Last night for the first performance of "Smile" before an American audience -- an audience of rabid Minneapolis fans -- Wilson turned in a generous, unforgettable performance.

Wilson took the stage shortly after 7:30 p.m. with the 10 members of his touring band huddled around him in a semicircle for a run-through of Beach Boys highlights from ages past. They kicked off with a gorgeous rendition of "And Your Dreams Come True" and continued for an hour revisiting the Brian Wilson/Beach Boys songbook -- "Surfer Girl," "Wendy," "Please Let Me Wonder" among them.

The musicians took their positions on stage with their instruments to complete the set with "Sloop John B," "Dance Dance Dance," "God Only Knows," "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "California Girls," "Darlin,'" and "Sail on Sailor" were the highlights here. Wilson's band and backing vocalists replicated the Beach Boys arrangements and harmonies with an incredibly full sound.

After a 20-minute intermission the band retook the stage with a string and horn ensemble for "Smile." I have not heard the recording released earlier this week, but in concert the set sounded in fact like the movement beyond "Pet Sounds" toward which Wilson was working, for better or for worse, at the time of his breakdown.

The songs were arranged as suites with repeating movements -- "Heroes and Villains," "Vegetables," and "Surf's Up" provided three motifs, elaborated beyond previously released versions and fitted into a fuller setting culminating in an awe-inspiring (and lyrically recast) version of "Good Vibrations" that concluded the set on a thrilling note.

Wilson and his ensemble quickly returned for an encore including "Surfin' USA" (with red, white and blue backing lights turning it into a kind of patriotic anthem), "I Get Around" and glorious versions of "Help Me Rhonda" and "Barbara Ann." Wilson wound up with a lovely, healing rendition of "Love and Mercy."

Wilson's brothers and former Beach Boys bandmates Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson are dead. He paid tribute to them both in performing an old Dennis Wilson song during the first set. Waywardness and mortality necessarily provide the backdrop to Wilson's recreation of his Beach Boys highlights and his reconstruction of "Smile" nearly forty years after the fact. At the conclusion of this three-hour extravaganza last night, my thought was: Lord, thank you for delivering us to this day. (And thanks to my friend Ron McLean who insisted that this was a concert I couldn't miss; Ron, you were so right.)

hoover and his foster friend Willie (aka PuddinHead) 

Remember the Blood of Heroes...

Remember the Blood of Heroes...

It's not the economy, stupid

It is not the economy. It is not health care. It is not Viet Nam. It is not the Texas Air National Guard. It is not Dan Rather. It is not the deficit. It is not abortion, gay marriage, or wind surfing.

It is all about the fact that they want to kill all of us and destroy our way of life if we don't kill them first.

America Attacked 9 1 1

BIZ KIDS: Eric and his class recently spent a day working in a store at Fashion Square Mall. The purpose of the field trip is to learn about how a business operates. Unfortunately, Hurricane Charley changed all the schedules and they only had one day on the project instead of two. The expanded program would have had them filling out job apps applying for specific jobs, etc. Eric did get to work his chosen job -- that of sales person. He had to work the computer, scanner, look up items and correctly count out change. (yes, the Biz Kids store is a real store that sells real merchandise in one of the bigger malls in the area!). All in a good days work, and we're glad to know that the kids are getting exposed to capitalism at an early start. 

Frances to Orlando?

Not Again! The five day forecast currently has Hurricane Frances hitting Stuart at 2PM on Saturday, and if you keep drawing a straight line it hits Orange County. Then again, these same charts had Charley hitting St. Pete Beach...

National Hurricane Center / Tropical Prediction Center

Utilities erred before Charley

Tree damage, need for workers underestimated
The Sentinel actually writes a pretty good overview of the power company troubles with Charley unexpectedly showing up in Orlando.

OrlandoSentinel.com:

SW FL Cruising Info

The Salty Southeast ...A Free Newsletter for All Cruisers Plying the Water of the Southeastern USA The Salty Southeast ................................A Free Newsletter for All Cruisers Plying the Water of the Southeastern USA

I just found a graphic illustration of John Kerry's last week. 

Pelican leaves its slip

August 22, 2004. Our maiden trip from the slip with a crew of 11 people and 1 dog. We took the Larson family and friends along with Mom & Dad out for a three hour trip out into the gulf. The boat had plenty of space. 

This is a tree at Palm Lake Elementary.  

Our estimate is that a couple of hundred trees either fell over or broke in two in our neighborhood. The first wave that preceeded the storm brought a tornado through the neighborhood at about 6:30 PM Friday.  

Everyone lost at least the tops of their trees to the wind. Winds were sustained at about 90 MPH, with gusts up to 105. Fortunately, it only lasted for a couple of hours. 

The day after. Lots of leaves and branches down on our street. Fortunately little damage. But power was not restored for a full four days here. 

Power Up!

After four nights and four days our electricity has been restored to us. It's amazing the things we take for granted in our daily lives until suddenly they are not available. It's a wonderful feeling to be able to flip a switch again and have the light magically come on.

Power Update

Storm Central - Progress Energy: "Updated at 4:30 p.m, Aug. 16

Progress Energy Florida crews continue to restore power to customers across Florida. The company has restored power to 204,901, or about 40 percent, of the customers who lost power when Hurricane Charley battered Florida on Friday. As of 4 p.m. Monday, 297,099 Progress Energy Florida customers remained without power, down from a peak of 502,000 at midnight Friday."

They will not complete Orange County until midnight Saturday.

Orange County Public Schools to remain closed until August 24

Orange County Public Schools: "Orange County public schools to remain closed until August 24
Out of a concern for student health and safety, Superintendent Ronald Blocker announced today that all Orange County public schools will remain closed through Monday, August 23, for students. All students will report back to school on Tuesday, August 24. Make-up days will be announced by the district by September 30, 2004."

Florida Progress Energy Status

According to their website, Florida Progress had 502,000 customers lose power due to the storm.

By 11:00 AM Sunday morning they had restored power to 45,000, leaving about 460,000 customers without power in the affected areas. In addition, Orlando Utilities Commission had 100,000 customers without power.

By 5:00 AM Monday morning, Florida Progress was reporting that 141,000 customers had power restored, and 360,000 were still without power.

Unfortunately, we are still among the majority without.

Hurricane Report

Charley came through our neighborhood last Friday night. Our street suffered minimal damage. Our neighbors across the street lost their back fence, but it looked pretty old. Their next door neighbor had the worst luck, a tree fell onto the screen cage around their pool and destroyed it.

Our neighborhod has lost a couple of hundred trees. Unbelievably, only a few fell onto houses. About every third house has some lost shingles. Everyone has branches down, including ourselves.

We have not had power since 8:00 Friday, and probably won't get power back until around next Saturday. Today, however, the phones are back up and we have internet access.

Most streetlights are either working by now, or at least flashing. Gasoline is hard to come by, as we had close to 800,000 evacuees from Hillsborough and Pinellas come here to avoid the projected path of the storm. Everyone filled up their tanks here before driving home, leaving us empty.

Everyone here is fine. Just a bit cranky. Cold showers, hot, muggy house. Waking at dawn, bedtime after dusk. It's similar to a weekend on the boat, but without the nice views.

We'll post pictures later.

Teletubbies

Eric sailing the Sunfish 

Eric Sailing Sunfish at Summer Camp 

This simply must be publicized! Can we give the officer a medal? local6.com - News - Two Pepper Sprayed Over Phone Call At Fla. Movie: "Two Pepper Sprayed Over Phone Call At Fla. Movie"

What Time is It?

Apollo 17 Mission Last man on the Moon - Full Screen QTVR panorama from panoramas.dk

Iris Dement will be at the Palladian in St. Pete on October 22 Iris DeMent: News and Tour Information

Pepe's for breakfast 

Hanging out in the cool air conditioning 

Sunset at Mallory Square 

Lunch in Key West 

Up the stairs! 

Hoover in the Pool 

Eric in the Pool 

Betsy in Key West, July 2004