I took a trip this weekend to see my cousin, Mark and his family. They live near Montrose, PA. 
Mark has a wonderful place in northeastern Pennsylvania, up in the hills a bit, where winter comes a few weeks earlier and lingers a bit longer than in Delaware. Although rain was predicted, it turned out to be a very nice weekend – the weather was lovely, and the predicted rain was just a nasty storm that I passed through on the drive up the PA Turnpike.
Mark has a wonderful place in northeastern Pennsylvania, up in the hills a bit, where winter comes a few weeks earlier and lingers a bit longer than in Delaware. Although rain was predicted, it turned out to be a very nice weekend – the weather was lovely, and the predicted rain was just a nasty storm that I passed through on the drive up the PA Turnpike.It was very nice to see Mark, his wife Beth and their daughter Kira. 
Mark’s parents came up for a visit while I was there. My aunt Claire and uncle Joe are two of my favorite people. We had a nice visit on Saturday afternoon, and we ended up in Mark’s barn, where Joe and Mark decided to trim the hooves on their horse. Mark’s dad is one neat guy – he has always had horses and is not afraid to jump right in and tackle this sort of problem himself. 
Mark’s parents came up for a visit while I was there. My aunt Claire and uncle Joe are two of my favorite people. We had a nice visit on Saturday afternoon, and we ended up in Mark’s barn, where Joe and Mark decided to trim the hooves on their horse. Mark’s dad is one neat guy – he has always had horses and is not afraid to jump right in and tackle this sort of problem himself. 
Three hooves were trimmed with little problems, but the fourth was difficult. The horse was clearly losing patience with the procedure and stopped cooperating with Joe and Mark. Finally, the horse kicked uncle Joe in the lower left leg. We could hear the bones snap and knew right away that it was broken. Joe laid on the barn floor in a pile of hay while I had Beth 911 and Mark put away the horse. Joe was packed up and taken to the hospital by some very nice volunteer EMTs
, where X-rays were taken and it was decided to send him to a larger hospital for the surgery necessary to help the broken leg heal. 
Mark and I met his dad after he was transported to the larger hospital, perhaps fifty miles away, where he was given a room and made comfortable. He was scheduled for surgery the next day. At that point, we were well into the wee hours of the morning, so we went home.
The doctors put a rod into Joe’s leg to help it heal. The surgery was in the afternoon and everything went well. Beth was on hospital duty on Sunday (she’s a sweetheart). I spent the early afternoon with Mark and his daughter – we enjoyed the wonderful weather and even were able to get a little kite flying in. 
Bonnie and I went home, stopping at Claire’s for a few minutes on the way.
Bonnie and I went home, stopping at Claire’s for a few minutes on the way. Here’s a picture of her, taken at Mark’s. 
It was really nice to see my cousin and his family again – it’s just a shame that Uncle Joe got hurt…..
I spent a little time yesterday clearing up an intermittent misfire in the Explorer – turns out that I had a bad plug wire. I changed the plugs, wires and cleaned the MAF sensor. I cleared the misfire code last night and drove the car to work this morning. I don’t think it’s ever run so well. It’s good to finally be done with the Explorer. I suspect that sitting around so much hasn’t been good for it. I will try to use it more often.
Oh, last night while I was putting the tools away in the basement, I heard a rustling noise near my desk. Upon investigation, it turned out to be a baby groundhog. It had likely fallen into the basement from the area under the kitchen. I have seen a groundhog running around there for a while – turns out it was a female and she has babies. I put some gloves on, picked the little thing up by the tail to avoid getting bitten, and took it outside in a box, where I dumped it into the backyard. I saw another little one looking out from under the kitchen while I was there. He was nice enough to hang around for a photo….
Cute, huh?
I spoke to Kate last night. She’s flying to Japan today for a few months at sea. It’s her job, she’s good at it and I’m darn proud of her.
I’ve got a lot to do in the next few days. I’m leaving for Rio on Thursday after work.
All for now
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