I am barely awake enough to write.. but I’ll try to get something down before falling asleep. We woke to snow again this morning. Not that I’m complaining, I like it.. it’s another chance to write Sam’s name in the snow. Chai and I went for an early morning run. Chai’s not bee feeling that great.. she ate something bad.. we thought it might have been a rock.. and she’s been moping about for a few days. Diane took her to get x-rayed.. she has something in there.. but not a rock. The vet said just to feed her very little and wait.. this too will pass… Anyway, she seems to be on the mend so we had a great run. At the end she circled back to ‘talk’ to the Barlow’s dogs. They have a little dog, Cider..
Who always barks at me and tries to chase me away with her teeth barred… I don’t know what it was today, but I wasn’t in the mood to be bossed around by a 15 pound dog.. so I barred my teeth, got down on all fours and chased her across the lawn I think I even foamed at the mouth a little. Cider could tell that I was crazy. and capable of anything . I’ve never seen a dog run away that fast.. I felt guilty abut it all day.. but no one else messed with me all day… grrrrrrr
Around lunchtime, I left work an headed up to South Hero to look at the computer controlled milling machine I mentioned in yesterday’s blog. I net it’s current owner, T, and he gave me a quick tour. It’s a thing of beauty (to me at least).. it’s capable of doing all sorts of cool stuff like sign making, engraving.. cutting, copying, even carving photographs into wood. Homer and I are trying to figure out how to make this work. It’s too big for our house, I’d love to buy it for one of our local schools (e.g. CHMS or MMU) providing I could get access to it when I needed it.. If anyone out there thinks they know how to make that happen, please let me know.
One of my main reasons for making the schlep to South Hero was to get a picture of the machine for Homer.. I whipped out my camera.. but it told me there was no memory card.. Sure enough the memory card was missing.. what a mystery.. Anyway, T offered to send me a picture.. which he did.. Here’s the Shopbot.. isn’t it beautiful ?
I got home on the early side to find Max asleep on the couch, Gabe ready to go to a friends house for a birthday and the memory card to my camera stuck in the computer.. I yanked it out and stuck it back n the camera.. and found the following pictures.. so it was worth it.. This is Max, Scott and Mason playing with a fresnel magnifying sheet.. strange boys
Diane and I headed to our friends Bill and Gina’s for a very nice dinner. Gina’s brother Kevin was there as were our good friends Keith and Ann .. Both family’s are great story tellers.. so it was a a really fun evening.
We spent a long time talking about the effect that Sam’s passing has had on the community. They showed us a wonderful writing piece that their son, Luke had written about Sam’s death and what Sam had meant to him. It was very nicely written and very moving. We’re going to post it on SamStones. Org when we get a soft copy . (please help us by posting you favorite Sam stories, poems, etc there)
The conversation was good, the fire was cozy and before I knew it.. I was asleep on our hosts floor. Diane managed to wake me up enough to drive home and crawl into bed.. and hear I am.. Sam.. I don’t think I can stay awake for another seco…….
ps. Rememeber..to visit Micael Adams and Eddies Energy Bars at the beCause show at Grace Methodist in Essex tomorrow. Micahel is donating halfof his day’s take to Sam’s Fund. Thanks you Michael !