While visiting with my son on the phone tonight, I mentioned that a friend had called me on my cell (it is still a Wyoming 307) to ask if I would work at the Wyoming State Basketball tournaments. I told Glen (the friend) that I was standing in my kitchen in Littleton and I didn't think I could make it this year. I was the one who originally trained the timers and scoreboard operators when we put on the first state tournament years ago and was considered a fixture. When I told him we moved to Colorado to be near Keri who had recently had twins, Glen got excited to hear that and asked me to say hello, etc. When my son told me he had read about Glen's death in the paper, I thought I would go into shock having just talked to him less than a month ago. I did a lot of favors for Glen and he always took care of me. At my age I've lost a lot of friends but this one surprised me so much. He was acting director of the state tournaments which were held the last two weekends in Casper and died on the Saturday of the finals. One just never knows. God bless, Glen.

Going on Daylight Savings Time is one of my least favorite times of the year. It's dark longer in the mornings when I start my day and lighter when I want to sleep. I can't imagine what Monday is going to be like when the grandtwins have to get up an hour earlier. Mondays are always tough on them. I'm for standard time all year.

Today is trash collection day. I set an old vacuum cleaner out about 6:45. We have a guy in a black pick-up who cruises our neighborhood, the "Golden Ghetto", and picks up items that were put at the curb. By 7:15 the vacuum was gone. Great recycling method.

Watching the news about the tsunami this morning. They kept showing a rock which I believe is on the Oregon coast just south of Seaside, Oregon, one of our favorite places. On the coast highway there signs that this a "tsunami area." Who would have believed it until today? The motel where we would stay could be in a world of hurt. I hope not.

Saw my first "Obama 2012" bumper sticker the other day, however, the conservatives are definitely winner the bumper sticker war.

We have a friend who best described our generation much better than I ever could. She and her husband spend a lot of time caring for grandchildren as one, who is close in age to our grandtwins, has a severe gastric problem and is in and out of the hospital and requires them to watch the other grandkids. We are lucky the grandtwins have been relatively healthy but it still requires a certain time commitment on our parts. At the other end of the age spectrum we are becoming more and more involved with OUR parents' lives. I have spent several days this week traveling to Cheyenne and getting my mother's financial and health issues dealt with. Our friends have parents who are also ailing and needing their time.
She described us as the "sandwich generation" because our time is being squeezed by people at both ends of the age spectrum. We remember what our parents and grandparents did for us and our kids and it's time to pay back the debt.

Last week son-in-law Eric caught a cold in Chicago:
He passed it on to the grandtwins (particularly Aiden):
They passed it on to Keri, Kathy and me.
This is a case of inheriting something from your children and grandchildren rather than the other way around.

Reflections on another trip to Cheyenne to see my mother:

1. The Cheyenne cops and Highway Patrol are moving up in class. They now frequent a bagel shop rather than just a plain donut shop.
2. Over half the staff at the hospital has a serious weight problem.
3. After making around 50 phone calls in three days, I have decided the cell phone is one of the great inventions/ideas of our time along with sliced bread, buckle overshoes, remote controls and now cell phones.