Just got back from visiting Eric in the hospital.. with Diane, Gabe. Hannah, and Devon. After all he’s been through … the wreck and two surgery’s, he looked really great.. He was a little groggy.. but he sure was happy to see all of us. He’s able to talk , eat.. and even sit up a little . He’s such a sweet and lovable kid.. I left knowing that he’s goign to be alright..
oops battery is running out.. gotta run
nite all, nite sam,
-me
Diane woke me this morning with the news of Osama Bin Ladin’s death. I lay there for a few minutes trying to take that in.. how did I feel ? Good ? Bad.. Relieved ? Fearfull ? .. I guess a little of all of those things..
It was not until I went downstairs and started reading about other peoples reactions that my reaction began to change.. When I saw that people were celebrating Bin Ladin’s death I was deeply saddened.. not because I had compassion for him. but because no-one should celebrate another’s death. No matter how evil. Justice is important.. and Bin Ladin certainly deserved justice. He destroyed many peoples lives in support of his own ideology. I know that he was a dangerous man who used violence to promote his cause..The world is no doubt better off with out him.., .. But justice is one thing..and vengeance is another. Vengeance s a dangerous and poisonous emotion…Believe me I understand the anger behind a senseless death.. but this is not a time for celebrating.. it’s a time for closure.. for thinking.. and for coming together to work for peace and justice….
I know many reading this will not agree with me.. and I don’t mean to condemn anyone for how they feel.. I just need to let folks know how I feel.
nite all.. lets work for peace, nite sam
-me
So.. last night I told you that our close friend Eric was in a bad motorcycle accident.. Now we know more..Eric’s dad told me that Eric is in the ICU . He had surgery yesterday. and once again today to fix his arm and neck. Luckily, he’s goign to be OK. Diane managed to go in and see him in the ICU this afternoon. She was only able to stay a little, but Eric was able to talk.. I just hear that he’ll be out of the ICU as soon as tomorrow.. which is amazing and wonderful. He’s goign to have to take it easy for some time as he recovers.. so he’ll need lots of love and support..
Eric has a special place in our hearts.. he was a good friend of Sam’s and was visiting Parker with Sam when Sam died. Eric has spent a lot of time with us in the past 4 years.. he always comes by and checks in on us.. Now we’ll do the same for him..
Good luck Eric.. feel better.. we love you, man..
Not much else to report for the day… .spent the morning helping do trail maintainance on the Rivershore trail. It’s been hit hard by the recent flooding…
The trail washed out in some places..
It was great being out there today.. spring is definitely here.. the flowers were coming up..
And the fiddleheads pushed up through the newly dumped sand…
ok.. time to go to bed.. busy week ahead…
nite all, nite sam
-me
Before I start on today’s post.. I need to report that our friend Eric was in a serious motorcycle accident this morning. He’s banged up pretty badly, but it looks like he’s goign to be OK. I don’t know much more.. but we’ll go see him tomorrow and I’ll fill everyone in. For now.. let’s all keep Eric and his family in our hearts.
For the mean time. let me report on the day.. It was nice and slow.. lots of ‘fix-it’ projects aroudn the house. Midday I went and picked up Jim (Dylan’s dad) and took him to the hardware store and out for a beer. I remember how hard it was for me to get out of the house after Sam died.. so I want to help Jim get out in the world as much as he feels up to doing. It was really good hanging out with him..he’s such a great guy.. it’s hard to see him hurting so much.. we taked about how hard it is to work .. or to care about work.. when you are graving.. it still happens to me sometimes..
Around 7 tonight I loaded my pyrotechnics stuff and my flamethrower in the car and headed over to Chris’s for his birthday.
It’s Chris’s 35th.. he and Homer had built this beautiful burning man in honor of that milestone.. I just love the face and other features of this guy.. He’s filled with kindling, paper, xmas tree boughs and other combustibles.. his clock was loaded with pyrodex.
I mIt’s 
I made a potassium permanganate and glycering timed reaction to set him on fire.. that was on a bed of zinc dust. sulfer and potassium perchlorate for a nice intense green flash..
It took a few min to react.. but when it did, it was beautiful. I wasn’t fast enough on my camera to catch it catching.
I also had my flame thrower set up. it was working a little anemically.. until I noticed that the valve to the accumulator was shut.. then it sparkled ..
It was great hanging out with Chris’s friends.. such an eclectic and cool group of people. .. and not people.. Here’s the piece I helped CHris with this past week. it uses ultrasonic distance measuring to detect folks coming near.. when soemone approaches, it blinks her eyes and starts a recording of a ticking time bomb.. very cool.. if I do say so myself..
OK.. time for bed.. more on Eric as we learn it.. let’s keep him in our thoughts tonight.
lnite all, nite sam
-me