Iced Tea Forever

Brother Doug,

Your profession has come in pretty handy for some of our family members.  So I’m frustrated that when I need your services, I’m 2300 miles away!

See, I have a pipe that’s leaking.  It’s leaking badly.  The good part is that it’s leaking into a drainage area for my sump pump.  So it’s nothing I have to clean up or anything, but it’s not something that will ever get better on its own.

And oh man, what a pain to change it.  It goes down into the bottom of the hole thingy where water drains to be pumped out, then it goes up and out into the ground or something.  What a pain. I’m sure it would be real easy for you though.

Tell you what.  Come out and fix it for me and my wife will make you all the rhubarb pie you can eat!  It’s really good, she made a couple rhubarb pies a few weeks ago and I ate the vast majority of them.  So I know what I’m talking about.

Whaddaya say?   It’s all wrapped up with tape, just waiting for you.

She sleeps and sleeps.

And eats and eats in between naps. And cries if she’s not getting to eat soon enough!

This has been much less stressful than last time!

Allison Jean was born this morning at 9:07 (by C-section), weighing only 7 pounds and 15 ounces! She seems awfully small after her 10 pound 7 ounce big sister. She’s 19 inches long and doing really well so far. So is Mommy.

Her Apgar score at birth, 5, and 10 minutes was 9, 8, and 10.

Seeing Mommy for the first time:

Checking out her ears:

Big yawn!

Being held by cousin Derrick:

Being introduced to cousin Patrick:

Big sister Mandy!

Daddy and his two little girls:

Getting her first bath:

Not too impressed! Letting out a squeaky howl:

Much better. Sleeping peacefully with her new hat:

I’ve told you before about my family’s ice cream legacy, and it looks like this little girl is her grandpa’s granddaughter.

Although it looked a little unsure at first!

Mandy is growing like a weed, and sprouting teeth as well.

“See my teeth?!”

“They’re good for chewing on my fingers. . .

. . .and my toes!”

“And Daddy’s arm sometimes too.”

Mandy, that is, not me. I hope, anyway.

It’s because of the way she eats!

A few months ago I took the family to Krispy Kreme, they had never had hot donuts right off the conveyor. And if you haven’t had them hot off the conveyor, you have no idea as to the phenomenon that is Krispy Kreme.

KK’s from gas stations, grocery stores, or those fundraiser boxes are usually not much better than your average donut. You can’t begin to compare them with donuts hot in the store.

So we got to Krispy Kreme late in the evening, I was really hoping the Hot Now sign would be on, but it wasn’t. We went in the store, though, and soon the sign came on! They were just firing everything up.

I asked, “Do you still hand out donuts hot off the line?” I meant it as a rhetorical question. I was stunned to hear the negative reply. Evidently they quit doing it as long ago as early last year.

Why in the world would a company take such a famous gesture of goodwill (and brilliant business move) and give themselves a black eye by canceling it?

Now I was quite the athlete in my day, to be sure, ha ha, but still. This is pretty extreme.