Thanks Jesse for the good wishes. I was sort of happy to see Summer
arrive. This spring has been a rough one for me and maybe many others
in our group as I have not heard much from any of the PACFOers for quite
awhile.

On April 17th, I dislocated my left knee while coming down the stairs in
the house. As I pitched forward I tried to stop the fall by hanging on
to the railing with my right hand... dislocated my right shoulder and
then landed in a heap on top of my left leg, shattering a thigh bone and
spraining my ankle. It has taken 3 months but I am getting around again
but much more slowly and carefully.

On top of that the weather has been terrible here in Maryland. I have
been flooded twice this spring and then week before last I had a
personal sized tornado sit down in the backyard while I was sitting
there. We managed to get into the house but were dodging huge limbs
that were crashing down all around us. The biggest one weighed about
600 lb.s and missed me by one foot. The limb had been torn off my tulip
poplar at about the 80 ft. level, was blown over the top of my house and
landed on my back walkway missing me but taking out my concrete
birdbath. My neighbor was not as lucky. A big limb came off his oak
tree and went straight down thru the roof of his brick garage. All of
the lawn chairs that we had been peacefully sitting in moments before
were blown into a big heap.

If you want a few minutes of reflection, this site has a beautiful
tribute to the United States:

http://oldbluewebdesigns.com/mybeautifulamerica.htm

I add my wishes to those of Jesse and hope everyone will have a safe and
enjoyable summer.

George Lane