Roundup

Weekend roundup...

• The Rutl crew endured the heat wave that smothered the east coast over the past week. Temps were close to 110 heat index last weekend. Now the mercury has dropped to a mild and temperate 90. Oh well, so much for spring -- summer is here for sure. (I had to placate my buddy Chris who emailed me earlier this week wondering where my annual "it's @#$& hot outside!" blog post was. Apparently the heat wave extended to the Northeast as well.)
  

• Adding to the need to stay indoors is a 60 square mile forest fire in the Pocosin National Wildlife Refuge over by the Outer Banks. Smoke from the fire traveled as far west as the Triangle yesterday giving us a Code Red ozone day. The fact that smoke could reach us here 150+ away -- traveling west nonetheless -- was a surprise.
  

• Owen & Gus finished toddler class at preschool this week. When I dropped off the kids on on the last day the teachers looked like they were prepared to celebrate whereas the parents were groping with the reality of keeping their kids entertained for the next 10 weeks. For the first time Amy & I sat down and planned out the summer months so we could manage & juggle kids with grandparent visits, day camps, vacation, and babysitters. Nothing like kids to reinforce the old Boy Scout mantra of being prepared.
  

• Tess is finding her voice. She squeals & shrieks to get attention, stunning herself that such a loud noise was something that she indeed generated. It is pretty comical. We will try to get some video to share. She is at a cool phase now where she is a little easier to soothe when she gets agitated. Where the first couple of months only picking her up and/or giving her to Amy to eat provided reassurance, now she has grown accustomed to the sound of our voices to calm her down. Like I have said many times, we are very fortunate to have an easy baby in Tess ("Tessa Lou Lou" as I now have Gus calling her.)
  

• A shameless bit of self-promotion.....our local NPR station is a mainstay at our house and in our vehicles. A while back during one of its fundraisers the station advertised a campaign called MySource where listeners could write in with their comments about what they enjoyed about public radio. I submitted a little blurb after battling the boys in the van for control of the audio -- their Curious George movie or Dad's NPR. I got an email the other day that they put it up on their website.
  

• Finally a political word -- the next time you hear John McCain & conservatives try to tell you that Barack Obama is going to raise your taxes, check this out. (Hat tip to my buddy Scott K. for the link.)

  "Will the Real Tax-and-Spender Please 'Fess Up"

According to the group’s computations, under Mr. Obama’s plan, the middle of the middle class, or those earning $37,595 to $66,354, would see taxes cut by $1,042 a year. Under Mr. McCain’s plan, taxes for people in that category would also fall, but by $319; the largest chunk of the benefits would go to those making $2.8 million a year or more.

Have a good weekend everybody. Cheers!