I DID find THE solution to beating this atrocious weather by vacationing in sunny south Florida. The weather was perfect with highs in the upper 80’s each day even in Key West. Unfortunately, the wind kicked up on the day we were to take a Dry Tortugas fishing trip to eat what we catch. The winds forced us to cancel the trip due to rough seas. We ended up eating what someone else caught.

My most vivid memory of the trip was the close-up view of my younger daughter Jennifer’s diamond engagement ring. Life’s little pleasures. She is engaged to marry Nicholas Patton Ward. They intend to marry sometime in 2012 and reside in the Arlington, VA area.

My second most vivid memory is the Atlantis space shuttle sitting on Launch Pad #39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center preparing for launch in July for the last space shuttle blastoff ever. The space shuttle program is being shut down after July. Then, the USA will depend upon the RUSSIANS to launch its payloads to the International Space Station. Can you believe that – the RUSSIANS! It leaves me with a kind of empty feeling because I grew up with the space program (and the USA vs. the USSR) and to think we are handing this responsibility to the RUSSIANS because we don’t have the money to do it ourselves is simply @%^&!