It's that time of the year and, of course, we are keeping a watchful eye on the hurricanes. So far it looks like they will all miss us. Alesa and I continue to keep busy with water volleyball, a refreshing way to keep active in this heat. We now play in 3 different leagues, 6 days a week. Alesa is going for 7 with a women's league and I still golf at least one day a week. A woman from Maryland and in one of our leagues was on her way to Buffalo one Christmas a number of years back and was stranded by the snow in Ripley. She brought us a newspaper article recounting the incident and I've included a picture of it. I've had a 4 tooth bridge for the last 50 years and it came loose last month and I have been visiting dentists to get the best price. I finally started the process yesterday but the temporary broke late this afternoon and I was able to have it repaired. I'll get the permanent bridge in 2 weeks in plenty of time before our trip. The river cruise is set and the Scandinavian part is planned. We've made reservations for the overnight ferry ride from Oslo to Copenhagen. The other pieces should be easy. Although, Alesa is stressing about the luggage. Speaking of Alesa, she was complaining the other day about the fact that no one ever gets her name right so I said tell them "Just call me Al" like the song. She is now known far and wide as "Al". When people ask ' Why Al?' they always say that Alesa is such a pretty name. Alesa responds with ' See if you can remember my name after we are done (with whatever sport being played)'. They always come back to her so excited that they remembered but they always get it wrong!