Introduction

Although this is not the last year of the century, you would never know it. Everyone is taking the opportunity to celebrate! The Herbfarm restaurant is planning a special New Year’s Eve dinner with wines from three centuries! The cost for the dinner is set at $1600 per person.

It has been a remarkable year. The Herbfarm is either going to be sold this year, or the property will be sold to pay their debts. For some time there was a buyer interested in buying the farm and keeping the business running very much like it has always been. However, in mid-December the sale fell through. The farm is presently closed for the season with the only activity being the Herbfarm Restaurant. The restaurant is located in the Hedges winery in Issaquah. They serve three to four nights per week.

Dad has had a difficult year. In July he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He went for surgery at the Overlake Hospital in Bellevue. The surgery went well, but the recovery was long and painful. Two weeks after his surgery he was re-admitted and needed additional surgery to repair a pinched small intestine. Of course this made his recovery more difficult and it took a stay in a nursing home in Issaquah to help him get enough energy to finally return home. Mom showed a lot of courage through the entire ordeal, but it obviously was a very difficult time for her as well. Mom and dad are now doing much better, but are looking to move sometime after the first of the year since their property will soon be sold to pay Herbfarm debts.

Paul worked for the Herbfarm as their office manager until they closed in October. He was responsible for the office staff and spent much of this time answering phones and taking reservations for the restaurant. Paul also sprouted his wings and moved to Lake City in Seattle. He is living with four others in a large house. It is a very nice house in a quiet neighborhood. I helped him move and took a few pictures. There is a very large mansion very near to his house. So, on my way home, I paused there and snapped a few pictures. At home, I showed the pictures of the mansion with the gated driveway and pretended that this is where Paul has moved!

Thomas works at The Herbfarm restaurant. He is responsible for the glasses and silverware. Ron and Carrie invited Valorie and myself to dinner. Thomas was there to take coats and greet the guests.

Thomas also maintains our home local area network. He has installed the Linnux operating system. My computer has been relocated from the living room into Paul’s old room. Valorie connects her laptop from the living room. Thomas is connected from his room. The server is located in the closet in Paul’s old room.

Anne spent part of the year in Arizona living with Kim and Rick Betts. She helped in the Salome bakery, waiting on guests and helping to make pizzas. This year she decided to come home prior to Thanksgiving.

Valorie has spent a lot of time on the Internet. She is responsible for several news groups and still does genealogy research.

I have gotten much better at making digital collages using my Kodak digital camera and PhotoShop 5. For my birthday Valorie bought me a new Epson Photo 750 printer. The printer has six different colors of ink and prints with much smaller ink droplets. Photographs printed on the new printer look just like photographs developed on traditional photo media.

I have also started my personal web page on the Internet. The page is located on a Microsoft server. I uploaded many of my pictures and created links to other interesting pages. In September my web page was selected as a "select site". This generated a lot of Internet traffic with lots of good comments from visitors.

At work, I have spent six months working a special assignment for Dennis Vezzetti, the director of manufacturing. The assignment was to create a process to determine the critical events that are required for a commodity to bring the parts to the airplane. I led a team of about 18 people and we developed a process and created a graphical representation of the process. In addition, we had to create management presentations to show the process and explain its benefits. The team has shrunk to two people and recently, I have been working the project alone. It has been a real challenge.

Nickki is presently living with us and is just about ready to deliver her second child. It’s a boy, but she has not chosen a name.

Monday, December 13, 1999

This morning I arose at 5 am. It is in the mid-thirties this morning and snow is forecast for the hills above 500 feet. There is no snow here this morning.

I am writing this on Valorie’s Toshiba laptop computer but accessing my computer via the LAN since Nickki and Kaylie are sleeping on the futon in Paul’s room. The arrangement works fairly well, except that I am unable to do any task that requires use of software directly loaded on my computer.

Rhys and Mollie have an interesting morning routine. When I am working, I get up a few minutes before four, shave and then take my vitamins. I’ve figured out that when I open the dishwasher door to put in my drinking glass, the door springs make a squeaking sound as they stretch. When the dogs hear this sound, they appear within seconds and are given a Milk-Bone treat. They like the "flavor snack" Milk-Bones and I buy them in the 60-ounce box. They grab the treats, trot into the living room, gobble them down and then crawl in with Anne or Valorie to snooze the rest of the morning! On weekends, their breakfast is augmented with soft cat food. Rhys eats his from his dish on the hearth. Mollie eats hers in front of the dishwasher. Snicker eats a scoop from a saucer behind the rocking chair, and Figaro licks his from a saucer near the trash can. The eating game goes the same each morning. Both Rhys and Mollie gobble their soft food as quickly as possible and then try to scare the cats away from their servings! Mollie is especially vocal and makes a loud "yip, yip" to scare the cats away. Rhys simply moves his long nose closer and closer until he pushes Figaro away. The cat food is gone in just a few minutes.

I spent part of the morning listening to the news and surfing the Internet. I looked for the "glow in the dark" pajamas that Anne wanted, but they were already out of stock. I also sent Paul and Email asking him how he wanted to arrange getting his truck tuned up. He replied back that he hasn’t had any work done on it since it was last tuned up here! So he is going to do some research and get back with me. I also searched for a thermal ear thermometer. Nickki has that on her wish list. It appears that there are two major brands, but the best price is at a local Rite Aid or Longs Drugs. I’ll have to put those stores on my itinerary.

I heard on the news this morning that today is the busiest day of the year for the post office. Apparently many families have spend the weekend making out their Christmas cards and they mail them on Monday morning!

Nickki and Kaylie arose at about 10. I took the opportunity to spend a few minutes on my computer and started a collage for my parents. I have really gotten much faster creating the collages. First, I create a blank template in PhotoShop. The template is sized at 7.51 inches by 9.51 inches. This makes it just slightly larger than the opening on my 8 ½ by 11 frames that I buy from Costco. I also set the resolution to 200 dpi so that they will print with enough detail to look like commercial photographs.

Next, I use my picture-viewing software called ACDSee. It very rapidly displays thumbnails of my pictures so that I can quickly scan my digital photos. It also has a nice feature that allows me to search for common words in the picture titles and then displays all of the pictures.

Once I find a picture that I want to add to my collage, I use ACDSee to copy it. I then simply activate PhotoShop again, paste the picture onto the canvas and repeat the process until I have all of the photographs. The nice feature of PhotoShop is that as each picture is pasted onto the canvas it is added to a separate layer. This allows me to position each picture independent of the other pictures. So I spend a lot of time moving the pictures around on the canvas until they are placed in an interesting arrangement.

The next step is to erase parts of each picture so that the underlying pictures show through. I do this by magnifying the canvas around the picture and use a gradient eraser to carefully remove portions of the pictures. The result is an inter-leafing of the pictures so that it all appears to flow together. When done, it makes a very interesting and totally unique picture.

After spending an hour working on the collage, it was time for lunch. Anne, Nickki, Valorie and I decided to eat at "The Bears Den" in Black Diamond. I had a "grizzly burger" and a chocolate shake with a whipped-cream topping. Kaylie sat at the end of the table in her high chair. I gave her some plastic bears to play with and she had fun pretending with them.

After lunch we headed to the Crystal Creek tree farm to find a Christmas tree. Although it wasn’t raining, the wind was blowing making it feel really cold. We wandered through the lot for half an hour and finally found a noble fir. I managed to get my hands covered with pitch carrying it back to the Subaru and tying it on top of the car. The tree cost $49.

We stopped in Ravensdale so that Nickki could check her mail and then came home to unload the tree. This year we put the tree in front of the living room window. I got the job of stringing it with lights and helped hang the hundreds of colored balls and ornaments. Of course Kaylie wants to grab every ornament within reach. She yells out, "Pretty!" and wants to slide behind the tree so that we can’t see her touching and pulling on the ornaments. Of course, when she pulls them they come off the tree and she can’t figure out how to re-hang them. It looks like the bottom two levels of limbs have considerably fewer ornaments than the upper limbs!

Rick called while we were decorating the tree and told Nickki that Sarah had been beaten up by her boyfriend Chuck. Sarah has been seeing him for some time, but their relationship has been strained because he also has been seeing another woman. So Sarah gave him an ultimatum saying that if he didn’t move to Phoenix and stay with her then their relationship was finished. He came to stay with her. Unfortunately he has had a reputation for being abusive and it now appears to have come true. The news put us all in a very somber mood.

Tuesday, December 14, 1999

I arose at 4:40 AM. The tree looks pretty even though it is unlit. The fireplace mantle is draped with a decorative mantle-cloth. The Madonna stands centered under the round mirror, flanked with golden angel candlesticks. It is a very pretty arrangement.

I discovered that my Kodak DC120 camera no longer has a working flash. Bummer! The pictures have always been rather dark, but without a flash I’m not sure if the pictures will be usable! So I can either send the camera to be fixed, or consider getting a new one. Valorie called the Kodak help line and found out that the minimum charge (easy fixes) cost $150; more complex repairs cost $300. We now have to decide whether to fix the camera or spring for a new one!

Nickki arose at 8:30. She has a doctor appointment in Enumclaw at 11 this morning. Anne got up at 9:30, saying that she wouldn’t have arisen at the "butt-crack" of dawn if it wasn’t for having to go with Nickki to her appointment! They talked me into going, so I drove. We let Nickki off at the medical center and drove to McDonald’s to have a bit to eat. Kaylie had the chicken strip kids meal. She got an action figure from Toy Story. It has movable arms and Kaylie enjoyed playing with it. We then stopped at the Rite Aid store and I got an infrared ear thermometer for Nickki.

We returned and had to wait only about five minutes before Nickki was done. The doctor said that she was no more dilated than last week and had not gained any more weight. But, the doctor said she could have the baby any time now. Wow, we already knew that! The doctor offered to induce labor on Friday, but Nickki would prefer to wait, if necessary.

Thomas wanted to go shopping in Bellevue, so I suggested that we go to Hard Drives Northwest. Valorie wanted to go along, too, so we left at noon. Stopped at Subway where Thomas and Valorie had sandwiches. We picked out a 10-megabyte hard drive and cables at Hard Drives Northwest. We then drove to Bellevue Square and shopped for two hours. Valorie found a number of nice gifts. I got some Gold-Toe sox for dad and two dress shirts at the Bon. I also found a nice candle holder at the University Bookstore for Valorie.

At home, Anne and Nickki had just returned from the grocery store. They were cooking pizzas. It smelled delicious. I made myself a bowl of potato soup from Bear Creek creamy potato soup mix. Yummy! I opened the gift from Marilyn. It was a Dobosh Torte from Hickory Farms. It looked delicious, but I’ll wait until tomorrow to try it.

Nickki was on the phone talking to Sarah who is considering pressing charges against Chuck. However, like a lot of women in abusive situations, she thinks that somehow it is her fault. Nickki was trying to persuade her that it wasn’t about her. Rather, it was about Chuck. Hopefully she will listen.

Wednesday, December 15, 1999

I arose at 6:30 this morning. I fixed a fresh pot of coffee while taking a shower and shaving. It’s great to come from the shower and smell the coffee aroma. Thomas must have been busy last night because there are wrapped presents around the tree.

Last night when Valorie came to bed around 2:30, I had to get up to go to the bathroom. Valorie said, "You're not getting up now, are you?" to which I replied, "Well, unless you want me to pee in the bed, then I think I have to!"

Valorie sent me the web address of the Siebold family tree web site. I spent an hour visiting the site and updating my personal information. I tried to upload several pictures of the Kammer family and the visit to Brule in April 1996, but the web server was not working properly and I only got server errors. I’ll try again tomorrow morning.

After Valorie and Nickki arose, I started having problems with my computer. I got the dreaded "blue screen of death" indicating that there were errors of some sort. The more I rebooted the system, the worse it seemed to get. So I woke Thomas up and he used a "boot disk" to load the Windows 98 software. His "chkdsk" program did not find any errors. By removing one 32-meg memory chip set, the computer booted fine. We then checked each chip separately and couldn't find any errors. So, we put everything back together and the computer is working fine again! Gheesh!

Nickki and Valorie went to the hospital around noon. Nickki thought that she was leaking amnionic fluid, but tests at the hospital turned out negative. Anne had agreed to watch Kaylie, so Anne decided to fix her lunch. She made a turkey potpie, and just after eating we smelled sewer gas emanating from her body. So, Anne grabbed her and ran to the toilet. Sure enough, she was doing her business and unloaded a great pile. Somehow Kaylie even managed to fall into the toilet in the process. To add to the confusion, we had used the last of the toilet paper, so while I was getting some baby wipes for her, Mollie wandered in and found a small round turd hiding in her diaper! Anne screamed and gagged as Mollie carried it away!

After that fiasco, it was time to get Kaylie dressed. Anne found a pretty yellow shirt, but when she tried to stretch it over Kaylie's head, it got stuck. It was obviously too small and Kaylie was pulling it and grabbing her hair, wrestling this way and that to try to pull it down over her face. We finally found a pretty purple one of the right size and managed to finish dressing her just before Valorie and Nickki returned.

Anne watches "General Hospital" every day from 2 to 3. So, after the program was over Anne wanted to eat. Thomas had already fixed Valorie and I egg sandwiches, but I agreed to go eat. We drove to Trotters in Auburn. Anne and I played table hockey with a ball made from the wrapper of a straw. The object of the game is to get the ball through the goal posts on the other side of the table. The goal posts on our field were two water glasses placed about six inches apart. As we got better we could propel the ball with greater force so flew several inches above the playing field. The game ended when we lost the ball under the table. Of course Kaylie wanted to find the ball, so I made one just for her out of a corner of a napkin. Her problem was that she was unable to bend and flick her index finger to "kick" the ball. She ended up sweeping her hand back and forth and losing a second ball under the table.

After dinner we drove to the Super Mall. I didn’t know the way there and was upset that I hadn’t fixed the windshield wiper on the Subaru. The problem with the wiper was that over time the plastic retainer that attaches the wiper to the wiper arm breaks, so the metal clips rub against the window. It makes an awful screeching noise as the wiper does its job. And if not taken care of, the metal starts to scratch the glass. In addition to this annoyance, I missed the turn that would quickly lead to the mall. So I had to drive another five miles before I could cross the railroad tracks and get back to the mall.

I stormed out of the car and head over to Wall Mart, a store that I detest. The walk did me good, however, and I ended up finding the group in the mall. Anne and Nickki were tired, but took time to let Kaylie ride the merry-go-round. Kaylie was a bit afraid, but had a smile on her face when the ride was over. We saw Thomas as he was eating a dinner of teriyaki chicken. He had gone to see the movie, Toy Story 2, and then had gone shopping at the mall. Of course he had several bags from a successful evening of shopping.

Thursday, December 16, 1999

I arose at 5:30 this morning, made a fresh pot of coffee, checked my email and spent time entering the events of yesterday in this journal. Snicker is sitting on the living room carpet, intently staring at her wiggling tail. Every so often she attacks the wiggler, spinning wildly in circles trying to catch it. She finally does and then licks and licks until the evil monster is subdued.

Today was an odd day - odd in the outcome.

Anne and Nickki were up by 10:30. While waiting for them to get dressed, I played with Kaylie. I rolled up a few pages from the newspaper and made a pretend horn. When Kaylie came to investigate, I "huffed" as loudly as I could. She jumped back in amazement and then started laughing. Of course, now she had to do it again and again! It was fun!

Anne had two gift certificates from last year - one for $20 at JC Penney’s and one for $20 at Staggs. We decided to go to lunch at Quisnos, use the gift certificates, and deposit my "coffee" change. We had sub sandwiches at Quisnos and then found some nice pillar candles on sale at Penney’s. Kaylie is a whirlwind when she is in a store. At Penney’s she wanted to "walk", so I put her down and she immediately started to grab folded sweaters from a nearby display stand. It was all that I could do to keep her little grabbing hands in check!

Anne then selected several packages of baseball cards at Staggs. We then drove to BECU and used Coin Star to count my coins. I had just over $400, which I put into my checking account.

We returned home and Anne watched "General Hospital". I got two more packages from UPS. One was the color ink cartridge for my new Epson 750 printer and the other was an "infinity candle". I noticed that the candle was shipped from Price Click. I had received an email message the other day that my order was being sent to someone in Florida. I responded that I had not ordered anything from Price Click and certainly had not authorized it shipped to Florida. Apparently the email was incorrect as I now am in possession of the candle!

Later in the evening I was sitting on the couch when all of a sudden I started getting chilled and my skin started feeling tender. I decided to take a hot bath, which helped but made me feel really tired. Anne was feeling tired as well. I ended up going to bed at 6:30 and slept 12 hours.

Kaylie was not feeling well either and had a long crying spell. I hope this is a short-lived illness because there is nothing worse than being sick during the holidays.

Friday, December 17, 1999

I arose at 5:30. I am not feeling 100% this morning and still have a low fever. Nickki got up briefly with Kaylie. Kaylie has a stuffy nose and sounds like she ate a frog! Valorie suspects that I have the flu and chided me for not getting a flu shot this fall.

I spent some time on the Internet, checked my email and looked at a site about "sucky web-site" design. Apparently my web page has some sucky features, like pictures that are slow loading. I’m thinking I need to update my home page to be more user-friendly.

I slept most of the day hoping to kick the bug. Valorie, Anne and Nickki went to the International House of Pancakes for brunch and then went shopping. Nickki took Kaylie to see Santa at the Auburn Supermall. Kaylie wouldn’t sit in Santa’s lap, so they took a picture of Nickki holding Kaylie with Santa peeking over the chair.

Porkie is getting in the habit of crawling under the electric fence and I had to put here back in her area twice. I guess we’ll have to re-connect the fence again so she will stay inside.

Valorie wrapped a few gifts to send to Kim and Rick. She is still looking for some earrings for Sarah.

We are having a windstorm again along with heavy rain. They are forecasting winds between 40 and 70 miles per hour to the north, with winds up to 40 in other areas. We have had several strong gusts. Rhys really hates to hear the weather sounds, and slinks down to hide behind the couch. Mollie ignores everything. During the news last night, there was a major electrical interruption. The news broadcast tower had been hit by lightening! The rivers to the north and on the Olympic peninsula are flooding.

Saturday, December 18, 1999

I arose at 4:30 this morning. I have taken so much vitamin C that it has liquefied my bowels. Yuck! I hope I am over the worst of it.

I went on-line and ordered a gift for Valorie from Outpost dot com. They have overnight (free) shipping, so they are doing a huge business right now since a lot of the other Internet stores can no longer guarantee delivery by Christmas.

Today is supposed to be the busiest shopping day of the year. It is the last weekend before Christmas. With a good economy, stores this year predict that they will do about 7% better than last year. Internet shoppers have tripled in number!

I deposited Jack’s and Mike’s cabin dues at Bank of America. Mike had made his check out to the Hearthside Cabin Association, so I had to argue with the teller to have her deposit the check. I need to make sure that next year’s cabin bills have the notation to make the checks out to "Bob Zimmerman".

Anne rode along and brought Rhys and Mollie. Mollie had to bark at the bank teller and also said her piece to the lady making hot chocolate and mocha’s. They got two large milk bones for all their noise!

Kaylie has a bad cough and really hates to take her cough medicine! It took three of us to get her to swallow it.

Ted Cowan stopped by and brought Valorie a book about women of the Northwest. He and Lola had just been to Ocean Shores and had listed their property for sale. Ted said that there was water everywhere in Ocean Shores, mostly due to the very heavy rains this week.

Anne commented that she is getting a sore throat. I hope she doesn’t come down with what I’ve had. It would be very poor timing for two reasons. First, she wouldn’t want to be sick on Christmas (like she was last year), and second, she is supposed to take care of Kaylie when Nickki goes into labor. It would be awful to be sick and try to take care of a fretful two-year-old!

Last night Nickki thought she was going into labor. They left for the Enumclaw hospital at 10:45, but returned at 2 AM. It was a false alarm.

Sunday, December 19, 1999

I arose at 5:30. I heard a loud "awrumphhh!" in the back yard, so I took the flashlight and spotted Porkie on the lawn near Thomas’ window. She apparently had tried to sneak over the electric fence and found out that it bites again. I had to call to her and coax her to come through the gate. Maybe she won’t try to breach the wire again!

I spent some time surfing the web, reading my email. I joined Xoom dot com and set up a temporary web page there. I don’t know if I’ll use it, but they have unlimited room for building web pages. They also supposedly have superior support for their web pages. We’ll see.

It’s been several weeks since I have changed the water in my 40-gallon fish tank, so I siphoned out ten gallons and refilled them. Cleaned the filters and buffed the light lenses as well. The fish seemed to enjoy it. After putting everything back together they were swimming rapidly back and forth as if they were playing.

Nickki and Kaylie got up around 10. Kaylie was in a grumpy mood and refused to eat any orange slices. She has still got a nasty cold and cough and really needs the vitamin C. Funny thing about Kaylie is that she is so interested in the paper-wrapped oranges. She calls them "peelers" - it’s like when Thomas used to call refer to suckers as "lickers". She wants to peel the oranges, but won’t eat any of the slices!

Nickki said that they put her on the hospital monitors last night for an hour, but the contractions subsided and they sent her home.

I spent several hours making a photo collage for Scott and Kayrena. It turned out fairly well. I put it in a frame and got it ready for mailing tomorrow.

Anne, Nickki and I went shopping in Kent. Got the car gassed up for $1.40 per gallon (regular plus unleaded) and then had brunch at Taco Bell. We all got the same meal - three tacos and a soft drink. It’s the first substantial meal that I’ve had since coming down sick.

We then stopped at Waggeners. Nickki was looking for some pens that she could use to decorate some glass Christmas ornaments that’s she’s making. Anne looked for some blank cards and envelopes but couldn’t find the kind she wanted. We then drove to Target. I found some laser frames that were on sale and bought two. I hope to print some photos and make gifts from them.

Back home we were all exhausted - at least I was. I think my body just needs more time to recuperate these days. I fed Porkie and the rabbits in return for twenty minutes of foot rubbing. We listened to Amy Grant sing Christmas carols.

Monday, December 20, 1999

I arose at 4 this morning. I think I over-did things yesterday because my guts were gurgling all night! You’d think some sort of monster was tied up under the covers with all the groaning and slurping going on. Hopefully nothing escaped to the covers! I guess those tacos yesterday weren’t so agreeable after all!

After reading email I got the morning papers, read through them and watched the Today Show. They had an interesting segment on "People of the Century". I’m sure I’ll have some interesting information to include in my tidbits towards the end of the year. Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.com, was named man of the year by Time magazine.

At 9 I took the collage I made for Scott and Kayrena to the post office and mailed it. It should arrive by Thursday or Friday.

At home again, I decided to wash the Subaru since the forecast is for dry weather for the next week. Also took the opportunity to sweep out the garage.

Thomas, Anne, Nickki, Kaylie and Valorie went to Bellevue Square. I was going to go, but had such a stomach ache that I decided it was best to stay home. Good thing I did, too, because I spent the next hour on the toilet! In between the bouts on the john, I made two collages for the wooden "laser frames" that I purchased yesterday. One has several pictures of mom and dad along with the picture we took of the gathering for Thanksgiving dinner. It turned out pretty nice. The other collage is a collage of pictures of the dogs. I plan to give it to Valorie.

My order of a 300-CD disk changer from Outpost.com arrived via Federal Express. It’s a good thing I went out to meet the driver because it was a very large box with large lettering identifying exactly what was inside. I am amazed at how large it is. I didn’t think it was going to be as big as it turned out! I wrapped it in pretty red paper and hit it in my bedroom.

The group returned by 7:30. Anne spent the entire time looking but didn’t find anything! She is depressed. I spent some time watching Monday night football. Anne is feeling sick again and has been sneezing all day. I sure hope she doesn’t come down with the flu!

Tuesday, December 21, 1999

I arose at 4 this morning. It’s the first night that I’ve slept soundly all week. I fixed myself a hot cup of hot chocolate and sliced up a red delicious apple. I read my email which usually consists of a few forwarded messages from Valorie and several short informational and fun messages that I have subscribed to including jokes, the astrology prediction for the day, wine tips, exercise tips, and tips for my pets.

I decided that I would start wrapping my presents even though I don’t have pretty foil wrapping paper. I used a red paper with holly arranged in the shape of a heart. It is a pretty paper, and wrapping all of my presents in the same paper will be impressive. I had to hunt for boxes to wrap the unusually sized gifts, but everything went smoothly. Everything is now wrapped except a candle holder gift for Valorie (that I’m trying to add a candle to) and the tickets to the Seattle Symphony for Carrie. Hopefully Valorie has made more purchases for Thomas, Paul and Anne since I have very little!

Nickki and Kaylie got up shortly after nine. Kaylie had a stuffy nose again but seemed in pretty good spirits. Valorie got up just before ten. We took Nickki to her doctor’s appointment. While at her appointment, we visited the Linden Bookstore, a stamp shop next door, the drug store across the street and an antique store. Valorie stopped to get a coffee latte at a local vendor and we headed back to pick up Nickki.

Nickki decided to go into the hospital today! She needs take antibiotics because she has a streptococcus infection that could be passed along to the baby. She came home, packed a few things, had lunch, called a few friends, and left for the hospital with Valorie. Anne and I are watching Kaylie. We decided to go to McDonald’s for lunch. Anne shared some chicken strips with Kaylie. I had a fish burger. We then drove to Fred Meyer. Got some wrapping paper, some faucet washers, some yogurt, coffee, and cup-of-noodles. I convinced Anne to buy me a "Brut" gift pack. Mid-way through our shopping Anne smelled Kaylie’s poopy diaper and had to take her to the car to change it. They rejoined me in the toy section. We had fun playing with the dolls and other toys with Kaylie.

At home it was already starting to get dark. Valorie called at about 4:30 and Nickki was just about to have her "water" broken. Ted and Lola stopped by at 6 and picked up Thomas. They visited Nickki at the Enumclaw hospital and went out for dinner. Valorie kept us posted every hour. At 8:01 the baby was born! Of course it is a boy, weighing a whopping 8 pounds and ten ounces. Justin was there for the delivery, and Valorie helped with the entire process. I think Valorie should write an account of her experience because it sounds like she was really moved by everything.

Kaylie was pretty good at home the entire time. She had a few fits of wanting to know where her "mommy" was, but all in all it has worked out quite well. Valorie got home at 10:30 or 11, having kept Nickki company all day. We plan to visit her with Kaylie tomorrow morning just after Anne’s dental appointment.

Wednesday, December 22, 1999

I arose at 5:30 this morning. I am finally feeling whole again! I took a shower, shaved and made a fresh pot of coffee. I am also trying to create a new habit in the morning. I am trying to eat an apple every morning, so I cut up an apple and eat it before I have my first cup of coffee.

Anne had a dentist appointment at 9 this morning, so she was up just after 7. She slept with Kaylie last night. Every time Kaylie turned or wiggled, Anne woke up, but Kaylie slept like a log! Kaylie got up in a good mood, but didn’t eat much. She had two spoons of cheerios.

We dropped Anne at Dr. Rude’s office and drove to Safeway and bought some mandarin oranges. It only took us about 15 minutes, so the wait for Anne was about forty-five. Kaylie started having a fit just before Anne got back to the car. She wanted her mommy!

Drove to Enumclaw and visited with Nickki. Her face has many little blue marks where the blood veins burst because she pushed so hard during labor. I took a bunch of pictures as Kaylie met her new brother.

We left shortly after noon and took Kaylie to lunch at McDonald’s. She was not pleased at leaving her mother at the hospital, but the idea of eating seemed to distract her. She fell asleep on the way home and we put her down for a nap.

Ted, Lola and Valorie went to visit Nickki at 1:30. I prepared four of the baby pictures and uploaded them to my web page so that the Betts could see them.

I went for a haircut at 3:30. Had to wait for about twenty minutes. Afterwards, I stopped at the auto parts store and got a replacement blade for my windshield wiper.

Valorie gave me a "solstice" present - a new Nikon 950 camera! I spent several hours reading the documentation and taking some test pictures. It’s going to take some practice to take good pictures with it.

We went for pizza in Black Diamond, getting a combination pizza and a cheese pizza. At home, we finally got a call from Nickki that she was ready to come home. She had been waiting for Justin to arrive and help her decide on a name for the baby. They decided he would be named Austin James deCeault. We picked her up at 8:30 and were home shortly after 9.

I gave Valorie a solstice gift of a copper candle holder with a sun and moon on it. And speaking of the moon, tonight is the closest approach of the moon this year. The close coincidence of this closest perigee of the year and full moon will cause very high tides. The Lakota people know this as the "Moon of the Popping Trees" and the Cheyenne as the "Big Freezing Moon".

Thursday, December 23, 1999

I arose at 5 this morning. Did my usual morning routine, being sure to fix my apple along with brewing a fresh pot of coffee. I read more about my Nikon 950 camera using the electronic booklet. It is a complex gadget.

Anne and Valorie were up earlier as we are going to Seattle to shop with Paul. Both Anne and I wore our Santa hats! We left here at 9:30, stopping at the bank and to get gas before heading into Seattle. The teller at the Bank of America commented that I certainly was in the Christmas spirit wearing my hat!

It’s been foggy the past several nights and the fog was just starting to break up as we drove up I-5 into downtown Seattle. Got to Paul’s house at about 11. He gave us a tour of the house and, of course, we all had to put our hands into the nice and warm hot tub.

We decided to go to the University Village. There were a lot of people there, and finding a parking place near the stores was impossible so we found a spot up on the main road. Fortunately the sun was shining so it made a wonderful day walking from store to store even though the air temperature was in the upper thirties.

There were several unique stores selling a wide variety of interesting gifts. Most were too expensive but Paul had a knack at finding many items on his list. Stopped at the pet store and got the animals a few gifts. Paul spent an hour in Barnes & Noble, but it gave Anne and Valorie a chance to rest their feet.

After shopping we returned to Paul’s house where he unloaded his packages. Anne called Nickki to see how she was doing. Anne talked Nickki into feeding Porkie and the rabbits. Meanwhile, Paul demonstrated his cable-modem connection to the Internet. It certainly is much faster than a regular modem connection.

We decided to head to the Northgate Mall for more shopping. Had dinner at the "Crab House". I had a crab Louie. Of course there were a lot of people at the mall. We browsed through Toy’s R Us and then shopped at JC Penney’s. Anne got a make-up kit for Nickki. Paul found a jewelry case for Angel and a CD set for Valorie.

We headed home at 7:30 but stopped at the Lake City Fred Meyer where Anne got some candy for Lola and Angel along with some inexpensive bubble-toys for Christian and Alissa. We also stopped at the Target store in Kent where Anne found some cookie tins. I got a hand-mixer for Paul.

At home I put the Seattle Symphony tickets behind a framed picture that I made showing the occasion and a diagram of the seating. I also created a picture of Christian and Alissa and inserted it into the jewelry case for Angel.

Friday, December 24, 1999

I arose at 5:20. Valorie was still up wrapping gifts! It’s funny to sit and listen while she works away. People don’t realize how odd it is as they talk to themselves. Valorie was talking to the boxes and packages as if they were living things!

I did my usual routine and agreed to wrap some presents once I had checked my email and made my journal entries. It’s obvious looking the piles that we didn’t get very much for Paul, but I figure that we can slip some money into an envelope to pay for a skiing trip. We’re also planning to get his truck repaired next week, so it’s not like we haven’t done anything for him. It’s just that everyone likes to have presents to open!

Anne is planning on getting up early to bake cookies, so I’d better get on the stick and wrap her presents! It took me almost two hours to wrap the rest of the gifts. I didn’t have time to properly label them, but I did put a sticky-note on each one.

Anne arose by 8:30. We went to Fred Meyer. There were already large crowds of people there. Anne got some baking supplies, a large poinsettia for Valorie and some pistachios for Paul. I also picked up a vegetable tray for tonight’s dinner.

Anne baked cookies for most of the afternoon. She baked oat-raisin, peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies. She filled three decorative tins after lining them with parchment paper.

I printed out labels for my presents. I made the labels by taking the heads of everyone and adding a Santa hat. They tuned out quite well. I also made a gift certificate for Paul (for his truck repair) and a printed envelope to hold $40 for a day of skiing at Crystal.

Valorie got a call from Kim Betts who had just been talking to Angel. Apparently Angel has no food and the water has been shut off. Valorie called Angel and decided to do some grocery shopping for her.

Angel, Alissa and Christian arrived here at 5:30. Angel spent some time wrapping her presents. Paul arrived shortly thereafter. Ted and Lola arrived shortly before 6. We all had a glass of champagne and made ourselves submarine sandwiches. Alissa was our official "Santa Claus" and she passed around the gifts. Thomas had his numbering system, so each time they came across one of his I had to check his list to see whom it was for.

I got a toaster oven, two country CD’s (Faith Hill and Lone Star), a coin-art kit from Thomas, a Gore-Tex parka, and a box of candy from Angel. Valorie got several candles and a 300-disk CD changer. Paul and I set up the CD changer and loaded some Christmas music CDs into it. It was fairly simple to operate.

Thomas got home at 11:30. A prince from Saudi Arabia had come for dinner and had bought almost $10,000 worth of wine! Tom spent a half-hour opening gifts before we all headed to bed.

Saturday, December 25, 1999

I arose at 6:30 this morning. Paul slept the night on the couch. Our stockings are in front of the fireplace along with two "bag stockings" - one for Nickki and one for Kaylie. I delivered a few more gifts from Santa into the stockings and wrapped one last gift for Valorie that I discovered in my closet while getting the stocking stuffers.

Nickki went over to Rhonda and Carl’s house near Lake Sawyer to open presents. Anne was up early baking more cookies. I fixed eggs, little smokies, bacon and toast for breakfast. Paul picked up Nickki at 11:30. She had more than a carload of toys for Kaylie. Justin dropped off the balance of the gifts.

We left for Ron and Carrie’s at 12:30. Ron was already hard at work cooking and preparing for dinner. Carrie had set an impressive dinner table. The centerpiece this year was a cute snowman with a carrot nose. There was also an interesting wooden sculpture with the face of a woman. Of course there were beautiful candles and sparkling glassware!

There was an over-abundance of presents. It took us over an hour to open everything. I got several new shirts, some Levi’s, a new chef’s knife, stainless steel cooking pots, some beef jerky that dad had bid for on eBay, eight beautiful champagne flutes from Ron and Carrie, two HerbFarm wine glasses, a Far Side desk calendar, a sculpted head (that dad had made of me when I was ten), a cookbook, a game called "mind brainstorms", some photo-glossy Epson printer paper, a desktop basketball game and a book called "Tuesday’s with Morrie".

Carrie served three bottles of champagne. Mom and dad drank their champagne from flutes monogrammed with their names. We then sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner. Ron had different wines for each course. Even Anne had several glasses of wine. I can still taste the fresh scallops and Foie Gras (goose liver). The liver was so tender that it melted in my mouth. And I had the good luck of getting to eat Anne’s portion as well!

After the festivities, Tom and Paul took mom and dad home and helped them unload their gifts. Ron is borrowing dad’s car because his car is having transmission problems.

Paul drove home and we unloaded all of our gifts. I didn’t get to bed until nearly midnight.

Sunday, December 26, 1999

I arose shortly after 6. Everyone is really tired this morning, although Kaylie and Nickki arose at 8:30.

I spent some time on the Internet, checking email and browsing a few interesting sites. Afterwards, I washed my eight champagne flutes that Ron and Carrie gave me. I also took down six old wine glasses from the cupboard and wrapped them to take to the cabin.

I played for a bit with a desktop basketball hoop that Thomas gave me. It’s made of plastic mesh and folds out. The idea is to put the ball through the hoop and it rolls down a chute returning it to you. Unfortunately you need to be a better shot than I am, because I missed the hoop, backboard and all!

Nickki had a well-baby visit at Enumclaw General Hospital. I drove her. We were a bit late because just before we were to leave Austin decided to go poop. And poop he did! It kept coming and coming and coming!

When we got home, the rest of the family was just leaving to go to breakfast at the Bears Den in Black Diamond. We had a good breakfast. Thomas noticed that one of his tires was low, so he stopped across the street to put more air into it. Unfortunately they didn’t have an air pump, so he bought a can of compressed fix-a-flat.

Thomas and Valorie went shopping while Paul and Anne watched the Seattle Sea Hawks play the Kansas City Chiefs. Seattle won 23 to 14. Meanwhile I took the opportunity to catch up on my sleep. I took a three-hour nap!

Justin came over to see Kaylie, Austin and Nickki. He stayed for about an hour.

Paul left shortly after the football game was over. He is going to take his truck into the repair shop somewhere in Seattle and I agreed to foot the bill when it is done.

Monday, December 27, 1999

I arose at 5:15 this morning. I am feeling much better today. I spent several hours working on my web site at the Microsoft Network. Microsoft has recently re-located the web sites to a new server. They advertised that it would make no difference to the current users, but my web pages would not load the pictures. I found out that most of my pages still had a reference to the old location for the pictures, so I had to edit each one. They are all in good working order now.

The weather has been foggy for the past few days. This morning it was 29 degrees. The trees look really neat since the fog freezes to the branches and makes everything look silver.

Nickki and Kaylie got up at 8:15. I spent several hours this morning the pictures I've recently taken. I have to open them in PhotoShop, adjust the colors and sharpen them, and then save them. With over 100 pictures, it took a long time!

I found one picture of Paul and Anne. It had enough information that I could print an 8 by 10. It came out really well so I put it in a frame and mounted it on the wall.

Anne took Nickki and Austin to the Enumclaw hospital for another check up. Everything is going fine so far, but they wanted to see him again tomorrow.

Anne and I went to Safeway to get a few groceries and her pictures that she had taken in Arizona. Picked up a couple of pizzas from Shakeys and then gassed up the car. It is really foggy so everyone is driving slowly tonight.

Thomas and I went to see "007, the world is not enough". It was a James Bond movie with the usual action and beautiful women. The plot was rather thin, but what the heck, it was a Bond movie, right?

While we were gone, Ted and Lola came over. Lola was concerned that we had some photographs of Valorie and Kim. She apparently had seen them when she was here for Christmas. Valorie asked her whether perhaps she had simply dreamed about this rather than actually seeing the pictures. She admitted that she couldn’t remember. (Lola has had memory problems for the last two years. We think it is the first stages of Alzheimer’s disease.)

Tuesday, December 28, 1999

I arose just before 7 this morning. I had yogurt and an apple for breakfast, along with a couple of cups of freshly brewed coffee. I got my email and then browsed the web. Downloaded a couple of programs. One is called "Cute FTP" and the other is "Cute HTML". I played around with the HTML editor and am impressed. I'll probably spend some time in the next few days modifying my web pages.

Thomas had me install the Olympus camera software so we could download the pictures from his new camera. The download process is rather slow as it uses a serial cable rather than a card reader to move the pictures. He had 34 pictures. I found one of Thomas and Anne, so I printed an 8 by 10 copy of it. It looks pretty good, but not as good as the one I printed yesterday.

The sun is shining this morning, although it was about 28 degrees when I got up. Nickki held Austin in the sun for an hour, which should help reduce his jaundice.

I spent a lot of time on the computer again. I downloaded an FTP program and an HTML editor. The FTP program will allow me to work on my WEB page on my computer and then upload the changes to my site on MSN.

Anne did some vacuuming. We then went to Costco in Federal Way where we spent over $200 on groceries, including a new package of chicken pot pies. Kaylie just loves them for lunch, and often says, "want pie, want pie!" I got a new SoniCare toothbrush replacement and picked up some photo frames (which were on sale). On the way home we stopped at the Fred Meyer store in Covington. I got a 60-CD holder and a new wristwatch. My old watch that I had bought just after Labor Day stopped working on Christmas. Anne also got a 20-CD holder. We had lunch at Dairy Queen. While there, this person walked in and we couldn’t tell whether it was a man or a woman. I thought it was a woman, but Anne thought it was a man. She (he?) had short thin reddish hair and wore a heavy coat which masked any upper body features. She sat down at a table near us, and her voice sounded much more like a woman’s voice. I challenged Anne to go ask whether she was a he, but of course she refused.

I spent some time trying to get my FTP program to connect to MSN’s web site, but had no luck. Thomas got home at 5:30. He fooled around with the program and downloaded another FTP program called "leechFTP". It didn’t work either. He then fiddled with the server and changed the protocol and FTP started working! He downloaded all of my files from MSN and I spent several hours getting some new pictures ready for upload.

I burned the trash and fed Porkie and the rabbits. It has warmed up enough today to unfreeze the water lines to the rabbit cages. Porkie liked standing near the warm burn barrel.

Chris Reilly called this evening. He has been flying 757’s and 767’s from San Diego. He is still a co-pilot but mentioned that he could qualify for a pilot but would have to be willing to fly from a different city. Right now he doesn’t want to lose his ability to set his own schedule. Chris mentioned that he might drive up to the cabin for our New Year’s eve celebration. I hope so.

Anne went to Bartell Drugs and got a cellular phone, just like the one Nickki and Ted got for Christmas. It has no monthly fee and she only has to pay as she uses the phone. It makes for a good feeling of security.

Anne removed the ornaments from the Christmas tree. It now only has its strings of lights.

Wednesday, December 29, 1999

I arose at 6 this morning. This is the first morning where we don’t have fog. However, it is cloudy and it’s only 34 degrees. Perhaps snow is in the forecast?

I got my email, ate my apple and enjoyed Cascade Fresh fat free Yakima peach yogurt. Oh, I also had a couple cups of Seattle’s Best fresh brewed coffee!

Today is Kim’s birthday. She is how old?

I removed the five strings of lights from the Christmas tree. Removing them is like a puzzle. First you have to find the end of the string, which is difficult when there are so many lights. Once found, you have to make sure that it’s the right string. Otherwise when you try to unravel the string you find it goes under the other strings! I just was finishing taking the last string off when Kaylie came out and started saying, "pretty, pretty!"

Took the tree and set it in the back yard. It was starting to dry out and a bunch of the lower needles fell off in the process of taking it out the door. I vacuumed the carpet and re-arranged the couch. Putting the couch in front of the window makes the room appear much more spacious.

Valorie and I packed up the rest of the Christmas ornaments and I put them safely in the storage wall until next year.

I spent several hours on my computer editing the last of the photographs and preparing several to display on my personal home page on MSN. Valorie took Nickki and Austin to the doctor. Nickki had Austin circumcised today, so he was not in a good mood when he returned! You think you had a bad day? Think of Austin’s day!

Anne and I took down the outside Christmas lights. Anne labeled several paper bags so that we could identify the strings of lights and their placement for next year. I noticed that the roof is getting really mossy on the north side. It really needs to be cleaned and treated. I wonder if just writing about it will magically make the moss die?

Valorie and I filled the Subaru with recyclables - newspaper, plastic containers, cardboard and glass. Drove to Auburn where there is a recycling business that pays for some items. It’s nice to have the junk cleaned out. Now if we could just get our used motor oil recycled.

I put a Costco frozen lasagna in the oven and worked on updating my homepage while it was cooking. I also spent some time taking sample pictures with my camera. It has so many features that I need a lot of practice adjusting it to get the best shots. I found out that it is really important to set the "white light" setting if taking pictures indoors. By putting it on the "incandescent" setting it makes the pictures appear much more realistic.

Thursday, December 30, 1999

I arose at 6:30 this morning. There is a thin misty fog hanging just above the treetops. It’s in the upper 30’s. The living room seems so bare with no Christmas tree with its shiny lights and ornaments.

I fixed myself a cup of berries and nuts and also had a container of yogurt for breakfast. I understand that Ted and Lola plan to head up to the cabin today. We plan to go up tomorrow.

Anne talked me into going for breakfast at "The Bears Den" in Black Diamond. I had a grizzly burger; Thomas had French toast.

Valorie and I drove to Angel’s and towed Nickki’s car back. The towing went slowly but we made it without incident. Also picked up the replacement transmission. Valorie took it back to the junk yard where it was purchased and renewed the warranty. Justin is going to do the repairs.

Anne and Nickki spent some time trying to get their cell phones working. As it turns out, they are using Sprint who does not have a tower nearby. Anne found out that the phone starts working once we drive to Black Diamond.

I spent some time experimenting with the Nikon camera. Took a good shot of Austin and several others. It was sunny for several hours, so I took some outdoor shots of Porkie and the dogs.

Ted and Lola went to the cabin at mid-day. They were supposed to meet Tina there, but Tina had not shown up by 6.

Anne and I went to Safeway. Got some orange juice, eggs, bacon, and a few other items. Stopped at Seattle’s Best coffee and got some Gold Coast coffee beans.

I headed to bed early as I feel another cold coming on. It was so sudden that I forgot to feed my fish.

Friday, December 31, 1999

I arose at 6. I found the year in pictures on MSNBC and included it in the tidbits. I also fed Porkie, the dogs (who had a menu of chicken with cheese), and changed ten gallons in the fish tank. I also downloaded updates to Norton Antiviral software.

Nickki decided that she did not want to go to the cabin since it is a lot of trouble to bring a new baby and a two-year-old. I made a list of "tasks" that needed to be done and left it at the request of Anne. It included vacuuming the carpets, sweeping and burying the "chicken bucket". I don’t know why we still call it a chicken bucket. It is an old two-gallon plastic ice cream bucket with a lid that we keep under the kitchen sink. It holds all of the garbage that would compost in the garden. We used to feed it to the chickens many, many years ago, and we called it the chicken bucket. The name still persists.

We made a tentative menu for the cabin and a list of things that we needed to buy from the store. Dinner was traditional - a meal of spaghetti, garlic bread and salad. Breakfast was to be French toast with orange juice, lunch to be hot dogs, and dinner to be sub-sandwiches. The next morning would be pancakes.

We took our time and got everything packed. Got to Enumclaw at 3:30 and were to the cabin by 4:30. There was about an inch of snow at the cabin, but the road was good enough that I was able to drive down, unload, and drive back to the top to park.

Paul Herrick was already visiting with Ted and Lola. He would only be able to stay until 8 PM, but wanted to maximize his time with the party. Tina, Andy, Alex, Rich, and Nickea all arrived by 6. At 7, Chris Reilly, Jim and Marcia Lemon arrived. It was wonderful to see Chris and to hear his stories. Jim looked tired, and for good reason. He has been working long days and had been up since 3 AM.

Paul Zimmerman arrived just after Chris and at 8 a group from the local cabins arrived. They were doing a "progressive" dinner. Our cabin was the first stop. They brought a magnum of champagne that I opened and served. They brought taco rollups, shrimp appetizers and lots of good munchies. We had a good time.

I took the opportunity to use my new camera, taking pictures without a flash. Chris accused me of espionage, but it is a very effective way of capturing people as they really are. The downside is that a hand-held shot indoors can lead to fuzzy pictures!

As we neared the stroke of midnight, Leonard arrived, beating the clock by ten minutes. Anne called Nickki and we confirmed our countdown as Nickki watched the Times Square New Year’s Ball fall. We opened a few bottles of champagne and celebrated the coming of the year 2000.

I headed to bed by 12:30. The rest of the group partied into the night. Anne had her first encounter with an over indulgence of champagne. She came to bed at 2:15 and ended up being sick for the next two hours! She donated to the décor of our bedroom carpet, marking a moment in time.

Tidbits

Teaching a Dog:

Reader Susanne M. wrote in response to our tip on how to teach your dog to "speak" on command. She found a method that worked very well for teaching her dog this trick. Every dog is different, so we applaud Susanne's ability to find something that worked so well for her, her dog, and uh, her brother. Here's what she wrote: "I taught our dog to speak by having my little brother sit on the floor next to the dog, so that they were sitting side by side. I had a treat that both my brother and my dog liked--cookies. I gave the command "Speak," and my brother barked and he was rewarded with a cookie. This got the dog's attention immediately. I gave the command again, and again my brother barked and was rewarded with a cookie. It didn't take long before the dog was barking and getting the treat along with my brother. It took all of five minutes to teach the dog to bark on command. I continued the exercise for a few minutes, and the dog was trained forever."

Santa's Bad Day

One particular Christmas season a long time ago, Santa was getting ready for is annual trip, but there were problems everywhere. Four of his elves got sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule. Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more.

When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More stress.

Then when he began to load the sleigh one of the boards cracked, and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of apple cider and a shot of rum.

When he went to the cupboard, he discovered that the elves had hidden the liquor, and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he accidentally dropped the cider pot, and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the kitchen floor. He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw end of the broom.

Just then the doorbell rang, and irritable Santa trudged to the door. He opened the door, and there was a little angel with a great Christmas tree. The angel said, very cheerfully, "Merry Christmas, Santa. Isn't it a lovely day? I have a beautiful tree for you. Where would you like me to stick it?"

Thus began the tradition of the little angel on top of the Christmas tree.

Quick Fact:
Did you know that a fart is composed of 59% nitrogen, 21% hydrogen and 9% carbon dioxide?

Christmas Reunion

The brand new pastor and his wife, newly assigned to their first ministry, to reopen a church in urban Brooklyn, arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. They set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve.

They worked hard, repairing pews, plastering walls, painting, etc., and on Dec. 18 were ahead of schedule and just about finished. On Dec 19 a terrible tempest - a driving rainstorm hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went over to the church. His heart sunk when he saw that the roof had leaked, causing a large area of plaster about 6 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit, beginning about head high. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, headed home. On the way he noticed that a local business was having a flea market type sale for charity so he stopped in.

One of the items was a beautiful, hand-made, ivory colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors and a cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall. He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus. She missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, etc. to put up the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked and it covered up the entire problem area. Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was like a sheet.

"Pastor," she asked, "Where did you get that tablecloth?" The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials, EBG were crotchet into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 35 years before, in Austria.

The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just gotten the tablecloth. The woman explained that before the war she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. She was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.

The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home. That was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a house cleaning job.

What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door and many said that they would return. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn't leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike?

He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a concentration camp. He never saw his wife or his home again for all the 35 years in between.

The pastor asked him if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman's apartment, knocked on the door and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine.

Submitted by: Pastor Bob Reid

Media Trainer Selects Top 10 News Stories of the 20th Century

With the news media counting down the last few hundred days until the year 2000, veteran journalist and media trainer Stephen Friedman has released his list of the Top Ten News Stories of the 20th Century.

"If the 19th Century was the age of the Industrial Revolution, the 20th Century will likely be labeled the era of the Technology Revolution," declares Friedman, who was a reporter and editor in both print and broadcast media for 16 years and who today—as president of Detroit-based Brightlines Creative—trains top-level executives nationwide to deal with the news media.

Friedman focused on those stories that most profoundly shaped and touched the lives of people throughout the world, for better or worse, over the past 100 years. Technological developments dominate the top-ten story list with five of the spots, says Friedman, because of their revolutionary impact on the course of human events.

Here are Friedman's top ten news stories since the last turn of the century:

1. Medical advances

2. World War II

3. The Cold War and the Rise and Fall of Communism

4. Broadcasting

5. Mass production of the automobile

6. Powered flight and space exploration

7. The computer

8. The Great Depression

9. The atomic bomb

10. The Vietnam War

Other major stories of the 20th Century, according to Friedman, included:

• World War I
• Development of motion pictures
• Environmentalism
• The civil rights movement in America
• The women's movement worldwide
• Watergate
• The Korean War
• Political assassinations of the 1960s

The Year in Pictures - from MSNBC

Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura skipped the formal attire at an inauguration celebration on Jan. 16 in Minneapolis. Ventura, a former pro wrestler who went by the name Jesse "the Body" Ventura, shocked the nation by winning the governorship. He told an appreciative crowd, "The Body's back for tonight!".

Dr. Jack Kevorkian sits in the Oakland County Circuit Court on March 25 in Pontiac, Mich., awaiting the verdict in his first-degree murder trial in the death of Thomas Youk. Kevorkian, who gave Youk a lethal drug injection, later was convicted of second-degree murder. The doctor said Youk, who suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease, had requested help in dying.

Brandi Chastain of the United States celebrates after kicking the winning penalty shot in the 1999 Women's World Cup final against China on July 10 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.

Columbine High students in Littleton, Colo., watch as the last of their classmates are evacuated on April 20, following a shooting rampage that killed 12 students and 1 teacher. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold stormed their school and blasted fellow students before killing themselves.

Fires burn trailers and debris on July 26 at Woodstock '99 in Rome, N.Y. The three days of music ended badly when fans started bonfires that burned out of control.

John F. Kennedy Jr. gives his wife, Carolyn, a kiss during the annual White House Correspondents dinner on May 1 in Washington, D.C. On July 16, the nation was stunned by another Kennedy tragedy after the couple and Carolyn's sister Lauren Bessette died when Kennedy's plane crashed in the waters off Massachusetts

Children from the LA Jewish Community Center are led away on Aug. 10 after Buford Furrow, right, sprayed a room full of kids with bullets, injuring five people. Buford, an avowed racist, later allegedly killed a postal worker before surrendering in Las Vegas.

First lady Hillary Clinton sits in the shadows next to President Clinton as they watch a performance at a DNC fund-raiser on Aug. 28. As the year comes to a close, Hillary Clinton has said she will run for the U.S. Senate in New York

Michael J. Fox answers questions on Capitol Hill on Sept. 28 after testifying before a Senate committee about having Parkinson's disease.

The New York Yankees celebrate after defeating the Atlanta Braves on Oct 27 in Yankee Stadium in the Bronx in a four-game sweep of the World Series. Many sports writers called this baseball team the greatest ever.

Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve, arrives at the Fed in Washington for a meeting on Nov. 16. The economy is growing at a fast clip, but experts are divided over whether the Fed should boost interest rates to slow it down.

A World Trade Organization protester stands among flaming trash bins during protests in downtown Seattle on Nov. 30. Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at demonstrators who forced a delay in opening ceremonies for the largest trade event ever staged in the United States.