Good morning

For those of you who have never lived close to the ocean, watching tidal action is one of the benefits. There are two high tides a day, roughly 12 hours apart, and two low tides per day (in between - doh!) The extent of the high or low tide depends on the current phase of the moon. The pic above shows a moderate high tide from yesterday morning. Note that the top of the boat is about even with the cross piece. My brother says he's seen it another several feet higher so that the cross piece intersects the boat's cabin.

Here's a pic at yesterday afternoon's low tide. Note the cross bar. Again, only a moderate low. Mark said that it's not unusual to see the entire boat resting on the rocks. This change from high to low takes six hours, which makes it pretty dramatic!
If you walk out at low tide you see a variety of sea life, including oysters.
And here's the perfectly calm fog-shrouded channel as I left this morning about 6:30.
We didn't get much done yesterday. Mark & Scott drove into Olympia and got a truck-load worth of gutters, downspouts and misc. parts which we'll install today. We'll do the garage to their cabin and the Hopper House - the cabin next door that they just recently purchased and are rehabbing.
I mostly crashed and visited with my folks and Lora. But that's very good. I think it's been over a year since we were together and there's lots to catch up on.
Dad and I made a run to the store to get the fixin's for last night's goulash (mmmm!) and he ended up telling me a story from his childhood I'd never heard before. It's a miracle that he lived past infancy. Then we talked again about his dad's conversion when grandad was in his 60's. Both are VERY poignant stories that brought tears to our eyes. God is sovereign and gracious!
I'm also grateful for the opportunity to gain the oral history. It's likely that my parents will preceed me to heaven and do so reasonably soon. So spending an afternoon hearing stories from his childhood is time well spent.

The good news is that I'm not missing any work while I'm up here. The bad news is that I'm not missing any work while I'm up here.

I don't have much interest in what I heard described as the 4-hour infomercials that they call the party conventions. But tonight's speech by Gov. Palin may be worth watching. Sure, the text is more like a script, written and re-written by a dozen experts who debated the nuances of each phrase in an effort to maximize its effectiveness at wooing the undecided. But I think we'll get a feel for her personality. And since she's never been on Meet the Press or the like this will be our first opportunity to see her in action, plying her craft. So I'll keep one ear tuned to the TV while we play beans.

Don't know beans, you say? Ah, a cut-throat card game with very simple rules and fierce competition. My success at beans looks a lot like my swimming. At least it did last night. But tonight will be a fresh opportunity to experience the thrill of victory!