Looks like the storms have pretty much moved out. As some of you know, we had a near-tornado on July 4 that took out our electricity along with about 4 neighbors; we now have firewood if we just had a stove that worked. (We're working on that.) Big tree behind the house. And many people were without power for several days. We actually had two outages; the second was when the electrician came and fixed the bent-up weatherhead and then we had to wait for the power company to come and hook it back up. Glad the weather wasn't excessively hot or cold considering that this is an all-electric house. You remember those ads, "Convert to clean, cheap electric heat?" Some joke....

That happened when Karen and Van Campbell were visiting. My mother would have said, "I have a houseful of company," but really none of them are that large. Had a great time. Hope it's not another 13 years before we see them again. Their son Derek helped me a bit with the stair railing.

Let's see, and then our son Jon arrived with some fireworks, which we shot on July 4 in between thunderstorms. Weather was so bad that the fireworks on the lake were postponed until Labor Day. So Campbells left that weekend and then our daughter Kriss came for overnight as she was trekking between baseball games. (Long story.)

Then Phil and Joy Dickey came and parked their "house" in our driveway for a few days. Hadn't seen them for three years because we sort of moved off their route but Phil had concerts in Indianapolis and then up in Michigan on consecutive Sundays so we had a great visit. Phil even serenaded us and some friends on Thursday evening. Mr. Kitty is still traveling with them but he's getting old and kind of tired of it. But before they left, we had a CORN (Clean Out Refrigerator Night) because the leftovers kind of build up when you have a lot of company.

Jon had some trouble getting back to Virginia, mostly in northwest Ohio where a couple of counties are under water even now. Probably added an hour or two to the trip, but once he got to I-77 just outside West Virginia it was "clean clear to the beach" as the truckers say.

We're taking care of a Mrs. Kitty next door as the neighbors are on vacation. They live in the house where John Whitcomb lived for many years. Mark is a Dallas Seminary grad and so is Van, so they talked about Old Times while we all sat out and watched fireworks. They hadn't met before; I think Mark graduated about the time Van was applying.

Finally finished up the railing for the stairwell. Not bad, considering I'm not a cabinet maker. Sort of a "mission style" banister. The mistakes aren't too noticeable....

We're going to a couple of the Masterworks things this evening and tomorrow evening. Tomorrow is "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberfloete) performed in English. People who went last night say it's terrific. Hmmm; last opera I saw was probably Die Fledermaus, probably 10+ years ago. For a small town, there's a lot going on here.