OK here's the thing about music in my house.....we have over 10,000 songs in our computer. I live with two musicians, my sixteen year old son plays bass, acoustic and electric. He recently began teaching himself chord progressions on the keyboard which freaked me out because I walked in to hearing him crank out a favorite tune on the keyboard and I said,"Hey, I never paid for you to learn piano when did this start?" My husband plays drums and acoustic. My eight year old plays piano and wants to move on to clairenet. My almost five year old wants to learn piano and violin. I just listen. I always wanted to play but I came from very humble beginnings where learning music was low on the list of needs. Now that I am married with my own family music is a gift I want them to pass to others so I'm raising Family Von Trapp here.

Guess if we begin to share playlists it would be best to break it down into catagories. I have a website where I put my current running list on. This week a timeless classic is "Wayward Son" by Kansas and a newer one would be "Fireproof" by Pillar. Whereas on cool down I might be listening to "Trouble Me" by 10,000 Maniacs. See, all over the place!

Kristin, I'm all over the place, too. And there's a lot of music in my house. Brian plays guitar and harpsichord, Skuyler plays guitar and electric bass. Bryson (though he doesn't live here anymore) had over 12,000 songs in his music database the last time I checked.

BTW, I think we do have to break out the categories. And I was just listening to 10,000 Maniacs yesterday!!

Okay, I have to put in this plug for the United States Coast Guard!!!!

There is a story and video at this URL. The full story is in the July issue of Popular Mechanics....



http://www.popularmechanics.com/science ... 67469.html



The Coast Guard's Most Extreme Rescue: Cover Story Preview



Before dawn on March 23, 2008, the Alaska Ranger ship sank in America's deadliest waters. As 47 souls fought for survival, the Coast Guard launched one of the most daring and dramatic rescues in history. Read an exclusive excerpt from “Ranger Down,” watch author Kalee Thompson track the mission on PopMech TV, hear the Mayday call, browse Coast Guard gear with interactive graphics, then pick up the July issue of PM for the full story.

Just watched the video, I think a person has to be very brave to be part fo The Coast Guard. Shimmerskin, I know that you are so very proud of your Bryson.

Joanne, thank you for watching. As you know, it's something very close to my heart. And you're going to be proud of Bryson, too, when you hear how he's spending Christmas!

Okay, he's taking leave for two weeks in December, and he's spending it in Namibia at a wild animal preserve, helping with a project that is trying to save the African Wild Dog from extinction (among other creatures of the Namib, but the wild dog is a favorite of his) and to find workable solutions to the problems between farmers and wild animals in the region. It's an all-volunteer organization that has projects throughout southern Africa. He'll be tenting on the bushveld. Quite a change from the Arctic Circle!

Jamie- that is so wonderful. Your son is a great human. Jacob too will be proud of him....LOL.

The different climate will be a welcome change for him, I believe.

Live in a tent for 2 weeks...WHAT NO HAIR DRYER???!!!

Will you be able to communicate with him via interent or something???

Alaska to Africa? Is he doing an alphabetical tour of the world? I am insanely jealous. And then to know it's all about his incredibly good heart. Again, I want you to write a book on how to raise these sons! Please tell him that the TM's are wishing him a happy journey. And, we can't wait to see the postcard.

You guys, it's scary when your baby is going to dangerous parts of the world, but I'm thrilled he's doing this. His original plan for his December leave was to go to Cambodia with a group that does landmine-sweeping. He's extremely concerned about all the landmines still buried there and all the people who are still getting maimed every year. Bryson adores the Orient and the Asian peoples, and he feels a sort of inherited responsibility for Cambodia because of what happened there when the U.S. pulled out of Southeast Asia (even though I was only a little child at the time and he wasn't even born yet). He just fills my heart because he feels things like that, but I have to tell you, it was also filled with cold, terrified dread when he told me about that plan. I was pretty relieved when the military refused to allow it, because after the hundreds of thousands they've invested in his education and training, they only want him to get killed in their own line of duty, not someone else's....So he's saving Cambodia for later and doing Africa this time.

Joanne, who needs a hairdryer when your hair is regulation-short and you're in one of the hottest, driest places on earth? LOL I'm more worried about his SUNSCREEN supply. And getting eaten by wild dogs. Or shot by poachers. Or farmers. Or getting stranded by guerilla warfare breaking out. Or...okay, you know what? I have to go to my happy place and think happy thoughts right now.

Turns out Bryson hopes to be there FOUR weeks, not two. The first two are bush training, the second two will be spent, as he put it, "fixing broken animals." After his stint in the Namib he plans to cool off in Ireland (dang, there went the alphabet) for a few days with a close friend; one of her parents lives there. This is a newly close friend...he keeps telling me how much I'm like her...how much he likes her....But they won't get to see each other for many months. Here's a couplet, or an un-couplet:

Life can be hard,
In the Coast Guard.

Healy redeployed today. Bryce was on his way to fill up on Ethiopian food when we said our goodbyes last night. The food onboard isn't exactly odious but it's pretty repetitive and not very exotic.
Scooby-do (that's Skuyler) is at Yellowstone right now. He called this morning to say they were about to leave telephone reception area, but they'd be camping out through Sunday.

"If you haven't heard from me by Monday night, call some authorities or something."

By now I've learned my lines: "Yeah, I'll get right on that. Say hi to Yogi for me...."

Monday! Will you have any nails left?

I don't have any now. I did just finish revamping, you know. Revamping is always a good excuse for to-the-quick gnawing. Seriously, I have no keratin at all on at least three of my fingers.

But I have laid in a supply of fake nails, so I've still got something to chew. Thank goodness. My dog was getting nervous, hiding her feet....

ROTFLOL...poor doggie!!!

Brilliant interview!! I'm so glad I found this interview to get to know you better, Shimmerskin! <-- Brilliant at writing :D

Awww, thanks Kat! You know, since I joined GoodReads (why, oh why, did I think that was a good idea?? As if I needed to be spending MORE time at the computer!!) I've been recalling book titles to add to my profile there...and I realized where I have the books my stories were published in. Maybe this weekend I'll type one out here. It depends, though. I haven't read those in years, for all I know I'll go over them and think to myself, "Wow, this stuff really sucks." In which case I won't be typing any of them out here....But first I will dig them out and take a look, just in case they're not too embarrassing to share.

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