74TH BIRTHDAY, ETC.

The photo of Marie and me was taken yesterday morning at the Westin Hotel outdoor restaurant, near our house--where Marie treated me to a 74th birthday breakfast. It was a good day all around, ending with a very nice outing in the evening, including Jazz music, and a wedding reception, for entertainment.

THE BIG "BAILOUT"

We have been watching anxiously for the completion of the so-called "bailout" of the financial institutions that supply us, and the nation, with credit. The congressional participants were just on TV announcing the agreement that is to be voted on tomorrow in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Hopefully, it will help to loosen up the credit market so houses can be sold or purchased!

DEBATES

The Presidential debate was more entertaining than the congressional marathon to reach agreement, and we thought immediately after it was over that it was probably a "draw." However, the surveys done afterward seem to suggest that Obama was viewed as the winner. That is fine with us! We now look forward to the Vice Presidental candidate debate on Thursday, October 2!

PHOTO ALBUM

I sent many of you attached-to-email copies of pages for the family album that we are creating from all the photos collected over the years. Rather than wait until the full set of pages is finished months from now, I want to share "special" album pages with you that might be of particular interest. The responses to the first e-mail attachments indicate that some of you can open them and some can't. I am now converting them to an older MS Word version, since our 2007 Word does not seem to work for most folks. I'll be trying again to send pages to some of you soon to see if the new approach works.

SUSAN'S NEW JOB

Susan has a new job with the Mayo Clinic (one of the 100 best employers in the country!), located south of their home at Bloomington. She had to wait a bit to start because she needed approval of her psychology license from the State. That is now accomplished, fortunately! The new position enables them to remain where they live, and Harvey can continue with his job.

Marilyn and Issy just returned from a trip to visit Susan, Harvey, and Brady in Bloomington, as well as Carol and Jennifer in Oriska, Dan in Jamestown, and Lila in Bismarck. All were doing well. Carol has closed her restaurant business and is preparing to sell it. Jennifer is in her senior year of high school (hard to believe!) and will graduate in May. Dan is enjoying his new job. Lila is doing really well, and would like to move back to her apartment rather than stay in the Baptist Home!

ON THE FARM

Dad says he is doing just fine, and continues to enjoy regular visits from Abby--who is now chattering steadily. He misses the tall cornfield in front of his house, and says it looks kind of drab and brown out there now that the field has been tilled for next spring's planting. He keeps his exercise up with walks to the mailbox and around the area.

Beet harvest will start next week, and will of course be all-consuming until the beets are all in the piles ready for the factory. Mavis was in Billings this weekend for a sewing conference, but we haven't heard yet how many prizes she or Lana won!

Cheers,

Bill and Marie