"A gourmet who thinks of calories is like a tart who looks at her watch." - James Beard

A response to the flu epidemic.

Whew! It's been a busy day, we're not done, and the pace picks up tomorrow. We're getting a lot done and making progress on several fronts, so as long as we can stay just ahead of the boulder rolling down the hill (think: Indiana Jones) it'll all be good.

I got what we think is a final proof of the book cover's graphic. I wrote the text that goes on the back, and if Amazon says it all works, most of the cover is a wrap. Kim sent me what she considers the best of the head shot photos she took Sunday afternoon, one of which will go on the back cover. They're as yet un-retouched (I guess that's how you say she hasn't photo-shopped them yet), so there's hope she can work some magic and take some of the scary out.

We picked up a 4'x8' U-Haul trailer, drove it to Marta's, and loaded it with two goats. Brought them back to our place and they're now bedded down in the weaning shed. At about 3:30 a.m. (dark!) I'll load them back into the trailer so we can be on the road by 4:00. That should put us on the south side of Seattle by about 10 a.m. with a b'fast stop somewhere around Portland. We'll unload them at the buyer's place and then head into the city to drop the trailer off at a U-Haul dealer there.

I wondered how they'll do in the back of a trailer for a 6 hour drive. I put down a tarp and then a healthy layer of straw before we loaded them at Marta's and when we got home they were bedded down against the front wall of the trailer. Good! It's very dark in there so based on this I'm guessing they'll sleep most of the way.

There's widespread outrage that President Trump is ending TPS status for almost 200,000 Salvadorans who will now either have to leave the country, apply for citizenship, or be forced (?) to live here illegally.
TPS stands for Temporary Protected Status. They were allowed to come into the U.S. for humanitarian reasons because of the devastation in El Salvador caused by an earthquake in 2001.
Note the word, Temporary.
That a previous president renewed the temporary status every nine months of his time in office didn't change the word to Permanent. Or am I missing something?

Dad's memorial service will be the largest gathering of family...maybe ever. My sister Kathy was killed in a plane crash in 1971 and no family member has died since. Dad's brother died about 10 years ago, but I think that's the only death outside of our immediate family. Which is to say we've been very blessed.
A friend who's also a skilled photographer is going to take discreet pictures at the reception that will follow the service. We don't know when this much family will gather again and who won't be there when we do.

Don and Kathy had been married for about 18 months when their plane crashed on January second. A month earlier they had a portrait photographer (Sears?) take a picture of the two of them that they then gave as Christmas presents to their parents. Had they not done that we would only have their wedding pictures.
I'm bad at taking pictures and we have too few of our family, including of the boys when they were young. So I'm glad John is willing to take photos at the reception. We'll likely take time at the end of the reception for some family shots.
Dad would approve.