zWe had a great slow day.. David and Linda drove us down to Tunkannock PA to visit a really cool plant nursery. It was defintely wortht he ride.. Great scenery through rolling hills and really cute towns.. The plant store was great.. We explored there.. then took a walk around town.. cool old bridge, churches.. and very weird political displays

Stopped a great farm market for corn for dinner.. Another great, light summer meal

SO nice being down here. 

nite all, nite sam

-me

First cool thing.. Gabe called us today from Sweden. He’s there giving a paper on his research. He called to tell us he was havign a great time and that his poster and presentation won 2nd place of all the 47 research posters at the conference. He is really loving meeting so many others in his specific feild.. and loves Stokholm !.. He also told us about his visit to see Fabian and Ivy in Northern Norway.. and the hikeing her did with them .. and his mentor Dan.. It is So great to see him having fun.. and doing great science !

As soon as we got coffee-ed and packed we started our drive down to Endicott. Dianes older brother Steve was coing in to town.. and it woul dbe the first time DIane and her two brothers have gotten together in a while..   

We stopped at Fluffy on the way down to check on soem cabling and electronics stuff and checked out the light mapping for the new back cloud. All good.. 

From there we headed south. We found many roads closed and damged from yesterdays flood. THe path to our favorite route 74  was closed so we had to skip a visit to the daily lilly place.. .. check out some of this damage @

Took us longer than expected to get to endicott.. , Dianes brother Joe and his wife Pat were down in N Carolin a visiting Victor, Pina and Daxton.. so we had their place to ourselves for a couple of days.. Their place is airconditioned.. which was very very nice !

We headed over to linda and davids (and willow’s ) for soem fun catching up and delicious food.. lots of berries from their garden

It’s nice to be down here. W elook forward to seeing Steve and joe and family

 

nite all, nite sam

-me

First thing we did today was to survey the damage from last nights rain. We had no idea that the damage was this extensive. Our part of town was completely cuttoff by water. All of the roads out Route 2, Cochran road, Dugwary Road, Duxbury road and Stage road were blocked by water and/or had been undercut and were no longer drivable.. It was eerie.

It looks like it’ll be months before all the roads are repaired.. crazy thing is .. tis is our third epic flood in just over a year.. in fac this one happened exactly a year ago today !

In addition, Our basement was full of water for the first time in 42 years !>. and this after a bunch of work done  on our basement.

We’re still trying to figure out if the work the folks did made the flooding worse… or helped.. but we hve had more water in the last 3 rains than we’ve ever had before.

Around midday the water was down enough to get to work. I was glad to go .. we were having a blood drive today, THis is only the second time I’ve been able to give since the Red Cross lifted their ban on lood donations from folks weh had lived in the UK.. I ‘love’ giving blood (in quoites since I dont like needles).. Its one of the few ways you can donate soemthign of your body wile you’re living. I now do it in honor os Sam who was an organ donor. A really  guy from Red Cross met there to talk about that side of donation.  He’d never thought of blood donation in that way.. I think he’s going to write something about it.   

Sam, this one’s for you !

Aaanda the phlebotomist was great.. hardly felt a thing. Thanks manda

To anyoen out there.. PLease consider giving blood. Its easy and its a great way to give back 

nite all, nite Sam
-me

Today was the memorial for our friend Bill Haddock. Bill was a fun and very interesting man who loved helping people better understand themselves. He was a specialist in Meyers Briggs personality testing.. You knw those tests that categorize  folks into 1 of 16 different personality types.   Bill was an ENFP ..   a type known as the Campaigner. . THe test says that this type is “Campaigners are enthusiastic, creative, and sociable free spirits, who can always find a reason to smile”.. he certainly was that.  (as is bill’s wife Gina.. and for that matter me !) .. Even as his Alzheimers advanced, Bill remained the friendly , enthusiastic and sociable soul he’d always been. 
The memorial was Richmond congregational church. THe place was packed . THe service was lead by Paster Katlyn.. (also and ENFP).. and was lighthearted, loving and appreciative of bills special warmth. One by one people stood up and told great funny stories. I was particularly impressed by the words that all three of sons… Our friends, Luke, and.Matt and his older son Haynes from down I georgia. The remembrances included football cheers from Bill’s beloved Georgia State… Funny stories about hiking and lots and lots about personality types. Pastor Kaitlyn closed the whole ceremony with what she called the prayer of the ENFP.. It went soemthing like:

” Dear Lord, thank you for…. the .. hey there’s a squirrel !!!”

Lots of laughter and and lots of tears. >

Later in the day we headed over to the Hadocks for more stories.. It was a great gatherign for a really great guy
 We got to hang out with Gina and Bi;;s sons Matt, Luke and Haynes We also got to send time with Lukes wife Emily and their new baby Holly. Holly was bor just after Bill eid.. I know he would love her

It was a happy-sad day.. it was pouring as we all left to go home.. 

And this is what met us at home..

 

Oh well.. life keeps happing.. 
We’ll miss you Bill

nite all. nite sam

-me