Fun At Home and Nearby

Coon Family Reunion: August 2011

I put the photo of Frostbyte at the top of this section, because he was involved with everything going on around our home. I have had a lot of cats over the years, and some of them have been incredibly good, but Frostbyte has been a notch above all the rest, even Kit my precious childhood companion, a pitch black manx cat, who made the 1964 move with Mom, Dad and I, from Loma Linda to Barstow. Kit was truly wonderful, even though I one time had to chase her down and pull my parakeet from her mouth to save his life, but Frostbyte has a quality that I have never seen before. He makes people love him, who normally don't even like cats. (Frostbyte one time even brought a live mouse and dropped it at my feet as a gift. If that isn't love, I don't know what is. Big Smile )

Of course Kai and Frostbyte go way back. Though they have both grown a lot since they were best buddies in 2008, when Glenn and Kai came for a visit. (Remember The Coon Family Reunion 2008?) Here Frostbyte was giving Kai some advice on how best to approach his handheld video game.

August 17, 2011

Wednesday, August 17 finally arrived. Dotti and I went to the airport early. We definitely didn't want to be late for this one! I was too nervous to even take pictures. I did take one of Dotti but it was blurry.

Our family was arriving this day, precious people who had survived a 9.0 earthquake not so long ago. Glenn was on a ship in Yokosuka, and didn't feel the strong shocks as much as Miho. Miho was in an older building in Tokyo, on an upper floor, and she got the real deal from the special effects folks. Wow! But she was okay, and Kai made it safely.

Glenn said that on a lighter note, because his ship rolled with the punches just fine, he thought it was not a big deal, and called home to see if Miho was all set for the trip they were planning that weekend. She asked him if he were crazy? Didn't he realize what had happened? He turned on the news and he saw a picture of the train track that the train they were planning on riding that weekend would have taken, and saw it in shambles. It was that image that first brought the magnitude of the event to his mind. Later, of course, when the images of people washed away along with their homes and possessions by the tsunami, and horror stories poured in, he was left in shock, right along with the rest of the world.

There is nothing else quite like an earthquake to rattle your nerves. The term "solid ground" is suddenly wrenched from your mind, and you are left with a fear that the entire world has lost its sanity. The building structure rumbles, the windows rattle, cracks run up the walls, and streetlights bounce on the ends of their poles like a whip in the hand of a horse master. The floor rolls under your feet, and each second seems to last a lifetime, as you wonder if this one will be your last. For weeks, or even months afterwards, when a truck rumbles by, or something else shakes your floor, you find yourself looking at the chandelier, to see if it is starting to swing, or check your glass to see if the water is sloshing around in it.

Even the vast majority of us who grew up with earthquakes, have not come close to facing a 9.0 sized quake. That is truly huge! Remember the World Series quake of 1989? (Man, that was last century!) It was a 6.9 on the moment magnitude scale and 7.1 on the surface wave scale.

The Richter Scale is a logarithmic scale, and the effect of that is, for each whole number increase in the Richter number, you find the measured amplitude increases by a factor of TEN! Even worse, the amount of energy released increases by a factor of 31! The difference between the World Series quake and the Japanese quake is an increase by a factor of 100 in measured amplitude, and a factor of 961 in the amount of energy released.

Even so, that monster 9.0 quake didn't knock down a single large building. (If that same quake had hit any US city the quake damage itself would have been catastrophic.) However, the time allowed for celebrating the great way the engineering efforts had paid off during the shaking, was brief; a terrible tsunami came rushing onshore along the northeast coastline of Honshu, the largest Japanese island, and the death toll skyrocketed, running well past 20,000, perhaps beyond 23,000 or more.

But even then, the worry had only just begun for the survivors, as the cooling water was lost to several nuclear reactors, and suddenly a catastrophic release of radiation was a real threat. For safety, just in case the reactor cut loose with a major leak, Glenn scrambled and quickly sent Miho, Kai and Rie, Kai's mother, south to Fukuoka, a town ironically between Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Glenn remained at Yokosuka, as part of the emergency staff on the base.

Meanwhile, back at home, we were all biting our nails, hoping all would be okay, but not knowing what the next day would bring. Fortunately, it all settled down, and the ladies and our grandson returned to their respective homes, and we could breathe a sigh of relief.

But for me at least, that sigh didn't really finish until I had my son, and my grandson each in a big hug at the airport! And an added joy was included when I was finally able to meet my new daughter-in-law, Miho. Needless to say it was a very emotional moment for me!

But man does not live on hugs alone, and Glenn informed us that Kai was hungry. That is all Grandma and Grandpa had to hear, because we were soon on our way to Red Robin, where Kai could get a nice hamburger.

Exposing Glenn's superpowers, as his flash speed of hand is caught on camera (it couldn't be my lack of using the camera flash, and the resulting slow shutter speed Smile

), Kai is reading through the burger ingredients, to make sure they would all be acceptable. He found a good selection in short order.

Miho and Glenn with their menus. It was very nice this entire week watching the two of them. They seemed genuinely happy together, and Dotti and I are very hopeful that they will have a long enjoyable life together. Miho has a Master's degree, and has a quick wit that also shows her intelligence. She will keep Glenn on his toes! Thumbs Up!

Dotti was using her hands to assist in her conversation with Miho, as I was snapping pictures. Fortunately for all of them, I was almost done, so we could settle down to the serious business of eating.

Of course when I have my lovely lady beside me, I have to get in a picture of her! The hour and minute hands on her watch are perfectly in line with each other as it was 2:12 pm. (If I had snapped the photo 18 seconds earlier, all three hands would have been in line with each other.) Still talking with Miho (and with her hands) Dotti is ignorning the camera. Kai looks a bit tired in the background. The past few days had been very hectic for the three of them.They flew from Japan over to Reno, Nevada, and then spent several days at Lake Tahoe, where they visited with Kai's great grandpa George (A great man, one of the best I have ever known!), his Grandma Lisa, Glenn's mom, his great aunt Nina, and cousins and others. They were active and trying to catch up from jet lag and in need of some rest. But first, food!

When we finally made it home, we took them on a house tour, and down in the basement I broke out my good camera, and put on a speed gun flash and had some fun.

Kai gave his daddy a hug. Dotti's craft and scrapbooking stuff is filling up the shelves behind them. One of Dotti's email address names is craftidot@aol.com, which comes from doing crafts, or being "crafty." Alas, the name craftydot was already taken at the time she created her address, so she had to settle for craftidot. It is still with her today after more than a dozen years of using it. (And that is despite the ribbing she has taken for its similarity with "craft idiot."

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Two lovely ladies! Despite Dotti's issues with her hips (see From the Hip), she had a really good week, and was laughing and smiling a lot. Her right hip had gotten very bad by this time and she hurt a great deal, but it didn't stop her from having a good time.

The boys having some fun! (We did manage to get in a picture of Dotti in the background too. Smile

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Kai still looks tired, but he is trying to hold up. Actually, Glenn looks a little tired as well. Travel is very draining.

Dotti breaking out her beautiful smile and her designer cane. (She gets a lot of compliments on the cane, but she will be glad to be rid of it!) Kai has almost caught up with Grandma; he is growing fast! And he is 13 years old...it is hard to believe that he is already a teenager.

Miho is here sharing a smile for the camera, a small one, but lovely nonetheless. Things were picking up though. Dotti was cranking up her sense of humor, and her bubbly spirit, and it was contagious.

Oh, I didn't mention the beatings. You Will smile for the camera, or out comes the cane! Knee-Slap Laugh

Kai is working up to a smile, and he is almost there. Grandma is going to work on that.

Oh-oh, here it comes. It is starting to creep out.

Now there is a smile! The fun has officially begun! It was a long day, getting ready for the flight, flying and then getting home, but from here on things will be looking up!

The ladies are having way too much fun now, and they haven't had a thing to drink, stronger than coffee anyway. Here we go!

Miho and Kai have tackled Glenn on the floor. One of the things we learned about Miho is that she has a working knowledge of where many nerve center pressure points are, and she is not afraid to use them on Glenn. There is this one in the calf, right about there...

The fun has definitely gotten started now. Right behind Miho is a picture of Kai that we took last time (2008) he visited and it is one of our favorites!

I introduced Kai to the Foosball table and he was playing around with knocking the ball around.

It sure was great having our son home again from Japan! He is a handsome lad, and we sure love him! It is wonderful that he and his family were willing and happy to share part of their vacation with us. What do you think of when you think of the past memories that matter most? It is moments like these, truly.

August 22, 2011

This section of our reunion did not all happen in one day. The theme is things which happened around home, and so there were various days at home that we did things. This next part happened on Monday, August 22, the day before our birthday; yes, Miho and I share the same birthday.

As is often the case, things get included not only for their significance but also for the fact that you have pictures to include. Glenn sent me a really nice video camera for my birthday and other gifts were exchanged, but we have pictures of Miho opening the gift we gave her. And as I have often said, cameras are made primarily for pretty girls. So, here we go...

Wait a minute! This is not a pretty girl. It isn't a girl at all. Smile

Glenn is patiently waiting. The present opening ceremony is about to begin, and camera at last is ready.

Ah, now here is a pretty girl! And you see that sparkle in her eyes, as she is looking for the fun part of whatever is going on.

And another pretty girl, and this time it is the star of this little show, because she has the bag in hand, with the gift inside.

I don't know where we found it. Someone knocked on the door and there was this bag sitting there. Who knows what it is? Big Smile

Hey, just what I always wanted a box with paper around it. Well, maybe not, but there is something inside. Let's look!

Kai is enjoying things. He has a great smile and I love seeing him use it!

Chewing gum! I always wanted chewing gum! Okay maybe not chewing gum, but it would have been great.

Like I said, cameras were made for pretty girls. I think she liked the necklace, I hope so. It looks good next to her smile.

I think Glenn likes it too. Seeing his Miho smile has to bring joy to his heart as well.

A penny for your thoughts. Kai looks a million miles away right here, deep in thought.

Perfect match! Miho is looking at Glenn and showing him how it looks. He said, "Awesome!"

LeRoy's girlfriend Rachel, has a son named Justin. We are very attached to him and he is Kai's age. So, we were very happy that the two boys hit it off so well. Justin stayed at our house one night and the boys had fun playing games and visiting. In the morning we had a brunch with Justin and the rest of the family in the kitchen.

Here is Justin and Kai sitting down to some fresh hot waffles.

Miho and Glenn also are enjoying some breakfast. Glenn and my best friend Jim share a love for the Raiders football team, and you can often see either of them in a Raiders tee shirt.

Dotti clowning around a bit. She has been running the waffle machine, and doing a fine job of it, and I decided to capture the mistress of the waffle as she worked her magic.

Daughter, Dad, and Son. It sure was nice having them here!

Grandpa with the boys. Kai was looking at his dad, as Justin and I were looking at Dotti as she clicked the shutter.

I was very glad the two boys got on so well together and they had fun. It was nice having Justin over. He is always great, and fun to be around.

Grandma let Kai use her iPad and he put it through a good workout. I think he played all the games she had on it, and she has more than a few. He is a natural with the video games.

I like this picture, but it also makes me feel sad. With Kai and Glenn studying the board intently, our visit was nearly over. Kai had asked his grandpa if I would play a game of chess with him. There was no way I would pass up an opportunity like that! It was getting late, and I had a few things I had to get done. But you make time for what is important! So, we played a game. Kai left me an opening on the kingside, and it ended in only a few moves. Kai wanted to play another, since that one was so short.

I have a hard time saying no to my grandson. So, we started another. As it turned out, that was a much better game, but it was moving slowly, and it was getting late. Glenn suggested that I abandon ship, in order to transfer some photos for the them take with them back to Japan, and so I handed that second game off to my sons. LeRoy played some of it, and Glenn played some of it, until it reached the end. I came up and took this picture during that game. I told Kai at the end, he should be proud, it took 3 of us to beat him on that game!

He is doing well at chess, and if he works at it, he will be whipping me before he is done. (I just got an email from his Great Grandpa George, whom I used to play nearly 40 years ago, and he told me that Kai beat him when they played over in Japan, and it made Kai so proud to beat his great grandpa, that "it was worth losing to him." When I grow up, I want to be just like George!)

When both Glenn and LeRoy were home with us we all would play chess tournaments, with Mom, the boys and Dad all participating. I don't know how the boys felt about it, but I loved those evenings. I do know they loved playing the game LIFE with Mom especially well. Dotti is really fun at board games. (And I hear tell she is a lot of fun playing Russian Rummy as well. Big Smile

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