From Shelton, WA

Two dimensional pics are particularly poor at some things, including communicating a sense of scale. The top one works - it's Mark & Mimi's cabin. Mimi had to go back to Seattle to work but Mark and the folks are staying there. Tomorrow (hopefully) I'll post a pic of the cabin next door where Scott & Lora and I are staying. M & M bought it from the 90+ year old owner last year after his wife died and they're in the process of doing a very complete re-hab on it now. But it works for short-term guests.
The lower pic is from the front of their cabin looking south. Puget Sound is not what most people expect or visualize. Try this: make a fist with your right hand with the back of your hand towards you. Now move your thumb so it's to the left and slightly away from the rest of your hand. With a little imagination and slightly crossed eyes you have the State of Washington. The space between your thumb and hand is Puget Sound. Except it's not open water, but filled with hundreds of islands of all sizes. The island you see here is Squaxin Island which is Indian land (no trespassing!) Just to the left (and just out of the frame) is Harstene Island. And so it goes. That's one of the reasons it's a "Sound," i.e. quiet water. It's separated from the Pacific Ocean by the Olympic Peninsula (your thumb) and filled with islands which act like hundreds of baffles to calm the water. Some places in the Sound are more open than others, but here at the south end it's particularly dotted with islands.

I got up this morning a little after 6:00 and went for a run. The temp was probably in the mid-50's and the water like a sheet of glass. I went for about a mile on the winding road that winds through the woods leading up to their cabin. Beautiful! Alas, my hips are screaming at me now.
I'm beginning to think this tri may not have been such a good plan.

"Free moral agents" is the term theologians use to describe human beings. God is sovereign and works out all things in accordance with his will (Eph. 1:11). But man has a free will and is responsible for his own actions (Jn. 3:36 et al). That apparent contradiction is what theologians call an antinome - something outside the grasp of human intellect but nonetheless true (the Bible is the final court of appeals and authoritative, whether or not our finite minds can grasp its truths).
It will be interesting to see what, if any fall-out there is from the news that Republican V.P. pick Sarah Palin's 17-year old daughter is pregnant out of wedlock. Obama has wisely and fairly said the subject is off limits for campaign purposes, but that certainly doesn't mean that pundits and amateurs won't seize on what they see to be an advantage. Isn't hypocritical, after all, for a candidate to espouse "family values" and then have a daughter living the opposite?
However, it's important that we remember that all humans are free moral agents. Parents may do a very good job by any and all standards at raising their children, but there comes a time when they make their own choices in significant areas (we're not talking picking up their room here). At that point the parent is not accountable.
The high priest Eli was judged by God for his disobedient sons because he "did nothing to restrain them" (1 Sam. 3:13). Eli's failure was not his sons' disobedience but his own failure to do all that he could to discipline them for their sins as he raised them.
Over the years I've had people in my churches who carried a load of guilt because their adult children had wandered from the faith and adopted lifestyles that were inconsistent with biblical standards. They felt guilty, responsible, assuming that they had somehow failed as parents. I'd do my best to remind them that their adult children were free moral agents, and that, while none of us are perfect parents, all you can do is all you can do.

I'm sorry for the Palins - for the pain and challenges they will all face. I don't know anything about the Palins' parenting skills (remember, there are two of them) but we can't draw any conclusions about that from their daughter's situation. We also know too little about that.

Parenting is an incredibly challenging job by any standard. Let's not load it up with more than it can be expected to bear.

I think the plan for today is to do a bunch of chores around the "compound." Install door hardware, make the hook-ups for a washer and dryer, repair some deck stairs, and whatever else needs doing. If my mother has anything to say about it we'll also be eating far too much good food.

Hope to see you here again tomorrow a.m., with more pics of the place and the people.