Hi Everyone,

  One of us has to sign all of the tax forms for 2007 and one of us has to stay here and finish up the work that is needed on DoraMac.  Guess who is going home? Alone!!!  I am definitely dread the long flight; last time it took 36 hours to get home, this time thankfully it will only take 21.  No long layover in Detroit.  But still, yuck. 

   Thanks to my sister Harriet making the calls, I am booked into every yearly medical, dental, optical exam you can name.  Well, not every one, just the general yearly ones, thank goodness.  And I need a new pair of glasses because I now take mine off to read the small print.  From using my nerdy clipon sun glasses, my clear glasses are all scratches.  Maybe I’ll get the magnetic kind this time because carrying 2 pairs of glasses is a pain.  Either that or some kind of unscratchable lens if that exists. 

  I will leave here February 20th and return March 12th; be home for less than optimal weather, but that can’t be helped if we are to leave Subic by the end of March and get some cruising done during April, supposedly a really good cruising month. 

   I will try to see all of my Roanoke buddies and will call you when I get home.  I’ll be staying with my sister and brother-in-law and luckily borrowing a car from them.  That saves me a trip to the DMV to renew tags and decals.  Never a fun chore.

   I will definitely visit “my” library to say hello and drive people crazy interrupting their day.  I will have to hide when I visit Ref; not sure I remember how to do much.  Now I’m the one asking questions. 

   And Sarah, tell Drake that I am looking forward to our walks around Old Southwest.  Such a good dog, Drake!

   On my way home I’ll need pesos, for the Manila airport, yen for the switch to JAL in Tokyo, and then dollars.  Randal will take me to the airport in Manila and collect me when I come back so, going alone isn’t really a big deal, just a tad lonely.  But we have been together 24/7 for a while now, so this is probably a good thing.  Actually, this week Randal is going back to China for one last visit and a week of happy hour with Bill Kimley.  I think that’s the real reason he is going and not for the boat supplies he will get.  But that qualifies as a good reason in my book, or logue I should say.

  Back on Doramac I’ll paint some, read some, clean less, and make banana bread that only I will like because it will have whole wheat flour, maybe no sugar, and raisins and nuts.  Sounds good to me, but not Randal’s kind of banana bread.  I might even buy another season of some tv show only I would watch.

  So that is that about that.

Ru

  Early morning photo of our neighbor DavidEllis

  I could make folks guess what this is, but it’s probably too easy.