What Stinks?

Do you know what stinks? Watching your wife and three little boys go through security and disappear into the airport terminal on their way to grandpa and grandma's and not being able to go with them. That stinks.

I took Andrea and the boys down to St. Louis this afternoon to catch the plane to Idaho for a spring break visit. I know they will have fun, Kenrick and Anthony can't wait to see their cousins and our families are looking forward to seeing the kids, and they've done it before (without Paxton of course) but somehow it was harder this time to see them go.

And it looks like their flights have been delayed. They got going in St. Louis about 45 minutes late and Andrea was worried about making the connection in Salt Lake, but her Boise flight is delayed as well so I think she'll be all right. Still, I know what it feels like, being anxious about how far apart the gates are and about how quickly you can get off the plane and not knowing just how late your connecting flight might be. Hurry up and wait. It stinks.

They're probably fine, my intrepid travelers, so stop worrying about them.

Know what else stinks? Gas was $2.99 in St. Louis and as soon as I crossed the border into Illinois the price jumped to $3.29. That stinks. I filled up in St. Louis.

Speaking of stinking, much of the news today was about flooding in Missouri and southern Illinois. We didn't get far enough south today to see the effects first hand but we did notice that as we got closer to St. Louis the fields were looking more and more saturated and the low spots all had standing water. It's been pretty wet in our stretch of the prairie, but not flooding yet. Problem is, if there's still frost in the ground and then some rain on top, any extra just runs right off. One little river in central Ill. rose 13 feet in two and a half days and is sitting at near record levels.

I'm glad all I have to worry about is a few drips coming through my aging roof.

Know what doesn't stink? I get to sleep in tomorrow morning. Good night.