Dinner and All

I feel like it's Christmas night. We had been planning for this evening's dinner with some good friends and now that it's over, there's nothing more to plan for the time being. It was a wonderful evening though, with good food and very nice people. It is important to remember how valuable friends are. I don't mean economically valuable, but, I guess what you could call spiritually. Nice friends are good for the soul. Friendships are like plants too. If you neglect them, they will wither and die and that would be sad. I think I will resolve to at least keep in contact with friends. Sometimes it's not possible to get together with friends physically, because of distance or other circumstances, but it ought to be possible, in this day and age, to contact them by email, phone, letter, or by some means. I would not want to lose the friendship of the people that we were with today, or any friends, because of neglect on my part. These people add such a rich dimension to life, it would be foolish to let them slip away. I hope also that I, in some small way, can add to the fabric of their lives.

Friday and Haiti

It's Friday and I did my weight training exercises today. Will I keep this up? I'm doing exercises for muscle endurance, not muscle size. There is a difference and I think endurance is what I want. Especially, I want to be able to get out of my kayak in the warmer weather without looking like a beached whale. I can get in it just fine, but after sitting for an hour or so, uncurling myself to get out has presented some moments in the past. I have always managed to get out, but not always as gracefully as I would have hoped.

Peter is back living in his office from a couple of days of R&R in Santo Domingo. His tour in Haiti ends in August. His Spanish language training starts in January in DC, so in addition to leave time and vacation, he needs to work someplace for a couple of months before he goes to Mexico. He has asked for Miami. I think the government should give that to him after all that he has had to endure in Haiti. He didn't sign on for earthquake duty or to see his neighborhood crumble around him. So, we'll see what happens.

We had a little snow yesterday, but it wasn't real cold. so it melted. I hope we don't get anymore for the weekend because we are having guests for dinner on Sunday and I would rather not have a major snow event to deal with before then. But, if we have a blizzard, I will go outside in the freezing cold and remove every snowflake that could impede anyone's progress to our door. That's just the way it is.

Splitting Wood

I didn't do any weight training today. I'm not slacking off. I'm only supposed to do it Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I did move some dirt around the yard and I split some firewood. On Sundays in the winter I like to get a fire going in the wood stove in the cellar. This Sunday we're having company, so it seems like the perfect time to do it. I now have plenty of wood split. I do wonder about this wood or my splitting technique. These logs have been drying for a year now, but are they ever tough to split. I have employed an axe, an eight pound splitting maul and a sledge hammer and wedge. I have read that the 8lb maul may be too heavy and that it just bounces. I would think that the thing could go through a building once it gets going, but it does bounce a lot. The axe stick in the log, but the head isn't broad enough to act as a wedge. The whole process seems to be more work than it ought to be.

On an older post I mentioned that a spring had broken on a drive mechanism under my snow blower. Our neighbor, Rich, had jury rigged an additional spring to get it to work. Today I turned the thing on its side and ran some galvanized steel wire through the spring he used and through a hole in the drive cam as an extra safeguard against the thing coming out. I hope that I'm ready for any snow that may come on Saturday.

Haiti, the Dentist, Weights

Peter got a couple of days R&R in Santo Domingo from today until Wednesday. His hotel is nice, but it's a half hour from the beach and he has no car. He may try to get there tomorrow. Apparently, no one else from the embassy is there, but he met some people he knows who were providing aid work or something. Wednesday he has to go back to the cot in his office, but at least he's getting a little respite.

I had an appointment at the dentist for cleaning today, but the hygienist was sick so it got postponed until next Monday. We're having a few folks for dinner on Sunday and I wanted to look spiffy. Oh well, I'll have to be unspiffy, or just keep my mouth closed.

I restarted my weight training in ernest today. I had been reacquainting myself with some of the exercises, but today I put them all together for the first time in a while. I was glad I did it, but I discovered muscles I had forgotten existed. I think I'm supposed to do this more than once, even on a regular basis. I have these record sheets that expect you to record your progress several times a week. One curious thing is that my old sheets show that I did certain exercises with 20 lb dumbbells, but I only have 15 and then 25 lb ones. I don't know where the 20 lb ones could be. Curious.

Haiti and Peter

Peter now has a cot in his office with a blanket and pillow. He was also able to get a shower and a meal at the home of a coworker that wasn't damaged. His bodyguard went back to his house to retrieve Pete's laptop and some clothes. While he was in the house, there was an aftershock, so he got out pretty fast. Pete may get a two day break in the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico, but that probably includes coming and going. Hardly a big break. Why those two places? Apparently. that because that's where the military planes fly. I guess U.S. Military planes don't fly to Miami, or maybe because there is no air marshall to fly along. Think that's far fetched?

When Teddy was on protective detail for the Vice President, he would act as an air marshall whenever he was flying to or from an assignment. He would speak to the pilot ahead of time and the crew would know where he was seated. One time he was returning from Wyoming with about 40 other armed Secret Service agents. They had left their cars at one Washington area airport (maybe it was Reagan, maybe a military base, I forget which), but they weren't allowed to fly into the airport where their cars were parked because there was no air marshall aboard. They landed at the other airport and were bussed back to their cars. That's your government at work folks.

Communications with Peter is still an iffy situation. Sometimes he can get a call through to Roxanne, sometimes not. She has the same problem when trying to call him.

Haiti, Africa, Peter, Leo

I finally communicated directly with Peter last night by email to his government email account. I don't like to do that because I know he is okay, but busy and there is not much more than the obvious that we can say to each other. He was answering at 9:00 p.m., so that was a pretty good indication of where he was at that hour since I believe his laptop is still in what remains of his house. He is still very, very busy and promises to write more when things let up a little.

In another twist, I learned that our youngest son, Leo, has volunteered to go to Haiti. The Immigration Service had requested volunteers and Leo put his name on the list. He already has all the shots he would need and is cross trained in adoption and other necessary paperwork. Peter said it would be great if he came, but that decision would have to come from Leo's headquarters office. Peter will speak to the people he knows in Haiti.

The reason that Leo has all of his shots is that this Wednesday (yesterday) he was scheduled to deport an illegal criminal back to Africa. This is part of what he does as part of his job as an ICE agent. He was already on the plane with the person at Kennedy airport, but the man was being uncooperative, resisting and refusing to sit. Since this was a commercial airliner, other passengers were starting to get nervous. After discussions with the crew and pilot, it was decided to abort the trip (of the man, not the plane). Leo said that the man will still be deported, but either sedated or put on a special deportation flight. Leo wasn't all that keen on traveling to Africa anyway. He would have been staying at a five star hotel, but not long enough to even see any sights. That is usually the case when he goes abroad (usually two agents go together). Mostly the return flight is the next available flight and if he wants to see anything he has to use vacation time and then he's usually there by himself, so depending where he is going, it's usually not that much fun. On one of his first trips (I think it was to Sarajevo, not sure) he and his partner decided ahead of time to take the following morning flight home, when they could have taken one within a couple of hours or so of arriving. When they turned over their prisoner, the local police were incredulous that they would do that. "Why would you want to stay here any longer than necessary? There is nothing here to see." Which turned out to be true.

I have a concern about other family members wanting to go to Haiti. I certainly admire the courage and volunteer spirit, but I would feel uncomfortable if it should become a trend. Someone may remember that I got a Bob the Builder outfit as a retirement gift and may feel that with extra time on my hands, I too should head to Haiti. I don't know. My French is very rusty and I don't speak Creole.

Haiti - One Week Later

Not much has changed for Peter in one week. He is still sleeping and living in the Embassy and overwhelmed with work. He hasn't heard about any relief for himself or his coworkers. He told Roxanne that when the quake struck and he was at home, all of a sudden, things fell off shelves and his china cabinet came crashing down with glass flying everywhere. He ran out of the house not knowing what was happening. He says that this has changed his outlook on life and toward people.