Soaked appraiser, drip dry

Dear Family and Friends,
Today for once I earned my money. I watched with growing alarm as I drew nearer and nearer to my destination in Lafayette. The mild rain seemed to grow in intensity each mile I drove and when I arrived at the property I was relieved to see it was a one story. I was also pleased to find only a mild rain when I stepped from the car. However as I started to measure this complicated home the rain began to fall with greater intensity until it was a downpour. Of course the builders of this home didn't believe in much overhang so there was no where to stop out of the rain and write on my sheet. Of course I was using pencil as ink and damp paper do not go well together. As I reached the rear of the home I found the entire patio to be several inches deep in standing water and nearby creek was roaring with runoff. Of course my camera chose that moment to come up with a dying battery. One just has to say, go ahead you are only getting wetter thinking about it. Then through the mist I discovered a second little house on the back of the site that also needed to be measured and huge Redwood trees were dripping huge droplets of water. Water water everywhere.
What do you do after you finish measuring the exterior, well you go inside, great here I am dripping but once I saw the interior carpet I realized it didn't matter, it was rough. Once the inspection was completed I settled into the warm bug with heater blasting, AC on to remove the moisture and before long I was restored to my usual good humor. An hour later after driving all over on tiny mountain roads I landed at Taco Bell, used their tiny bathroom and munched down a burrito and tostado. It was so good and tasty. Then it was time to reclaim my place on the windy rainy roads and head back to Discovery Bay. While traveling I caught up with the events at Marilyn Titherington's place in Rhode Island. Nearly a foot of snow had fallen since last night and schools were closed, she was staying warm and watching foolish drivers trying to make their way about in the snow.
Once back to Discovery Bay I arrived at a condo, stepped out into a gale, winds were whipping the trees and lawn furniture but no rain. Then on to yet another vacant home and finally I arrived home to discover a check in the mail, friendly dogs with their greeting and a warm house. After the night I had last night I'm ready to go to bed now at 9 pm. For some reason a new container of low salt Planters peanuts happened to be near where I was sitting and the next thing I knew 1/2 the jar was gone. At 1:30 this morning I woke to wild dreams, painful tummy and no thought of sleeping. Finally in desperation I climbed out, staggered down to the computer and set to work. At 3 I was sleepy again so went back and slept until 6:04, the alarm went off at 6:05 but I was so afraid I would sleep through that my mind woke me. When I arrived at the kids house all was quiet, too quiet. They had both overslept and just woke up when I arrived at 6:30. That is when they both were set to leave so they quickly got ready and headed out.
After consultation with Keanna we had agreed on a new plan that deals with consequences instead of pappa yelling. So when Keanna wakes up at 7:40 she gets a check and when she comes down dressed and ready at 7:50 she gets a check mark and when she is ready to eat breakfast on time a check and when she is ready to walk out the door at 7:20 yet another check. She handled everything very well, no yelling or harsh words and we had a wonderful morning. I've promised a shopping trip for a special Dora doll if she can get 3 out of the 4 checks each morning. Wow it was nice and we both enjoyed the morning.
Irene wrote today to tell me a very interesting sequence of events that led her to direct contact with Travis, a trial facilitator for various GIST trials. He was absolutely wonderful in his help to us in Boston. He made everything work out right and did it with class and courtesy. I was so happy to hear that he was able to help Irene as she plans for the IPI504 trial in Portland. With Travis helping I know she is in very good hands, hands with compassion and experience. Irene is very thankful for your prayers on her behalf.
I am getting more and more excited about my new business connection with ACN. What a good company and so far they do what they promise. I'm about to order my video phone and I just can't wait to start calling Timothy and not only hear him but get to see him in action too. Why not let me help you get started with your own video phone. Getting started is simple and within a week you can be making those special calls a whole lot more special. When you are ready you can contact me and I can walk you through the ordering process with each of us on our own computers. Its only a matter of time until many homes will have a video phone and our company is the only company at the present time to offer one for such a reasonable price. A nice feature is with the connection of a single cable the picture on the phone can be put through your TV so the whole room can see what you are seeing in the little screen.
Well enough of this excitement for now. Take care, stay warm, dry and look out for global warming! Not.

love

tim