In the immortal words of Bullwinkle...

This time for sure!

We are going in this morning. Elizabeth will be born today, the only question being the same way as her sisters and brothers or via c-section.

If I could trouble you for prayers/thoughts that she has flipped back out of breech...well, we'd appreciate them.

This could be it.

Heather's experiencing a lot of contractions. We're sending the kids over to the neighbors and are high-tailing it to the hospital.

Pansy Moss could use your prayers and financial help.

She has seven children and a husband who is in desperate need of swift, harsh correction.

Note the Paypal donation button. If you don't like Paypal, ask Peony for information on how to mail something.

Grandma Jo died a couple of hours ago.

It will sink in later.

Yeah. This is pretty much how Heather and I started out.

It's lonely here on Skullcrusher Mountain.

Update--for your delectation, the lyrics:

Welcome to my secret lair on Skullcrusher Mountain
I hope that you've enjoyed your stay so far
I see you've met my assistant Scarface
His appearance is quite disturbing
But I assure you he's harmless enough
He's a sweetheart, calls me master
And he has a way of finding pretty things and bringing them to me

I'm so into you
But I'm way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I'm crazy
I'm not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You'd see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn't kill you yet

I made this half-pony half-monkey monster to please you
But I get the feeling that you don't like it
What's with all the screaming?
You like monkeys, you like ponies
Maybe you don't like monsters so much
Maybe I used too many monkeys
Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?

I'm so into you
But I'm way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I'm crazy
I'm not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You'd see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn't kill you yet

Picture the two of us alone inside my golden submarine
While up above the waves my doomsday squad ignites the atmosphere
And all the fools who live their foolish lives may find it quite explosive
But it won't mean half as much to me if I don't have you here

You know it isn't easy living here on Skullcrusher Mountain
Maybe you could cut me just a little slack
Would it kill you to be civil?
I've been patient, I've been gracious
And this mountain is covered with wolves
Hear them howling, my hungry children
Maybe you should stay and have another drink and think about me and you

I'm so into you
But I'm way too smart for you
Even my henchmen think I'm crazy
I'm not surprised that you agree
If you could find some way to be
A little bit less afraid of me
You'd see the voices that control me from inside my head
Say I shouldn't kill you yet
I shouldn't kill you yet
I shouldn't kill you yet

No joy.

Heather came home yesterday. Elizabeth shares a name with the Queen, so she's intent on making a stately, royal entrance.

Only with a lot more screaming, viscera and meconium.

No later than October 14, though.

To be (born) or not to be...

...that is the question.

We drove to the hospital last night to begin the induction process. The initial ultrasound revealed that Elizabeth was being very uncooperative: she has shifted from a head-down position into breech mode. Thus, they won't begin induction without proof that she's shifted back. That's possible, but far from a given. If she hasn't shifted this morning, they'll probably send Heather home, as the circumstances don't warrant a c-section.

I guess we'll see.

Because it's one of my favorite sports moments ever, that's why.

I stumbled across this interesting Youtube find--an alternate call of several of the great moments of the Miracle on Ice. The play-by-play was done by Curt Chaplin, a reporter for ABC Radio who covered the game from a camera stand. The tape had been lost and was just rediscovered in the last few years. It's very well done, and quite stirring as Chaplin gets caught up in the moment. His description of the Soviet team standing on the blue line after the game ended was professional, but about as close as one can get to "neener, neener, neener" without crossing the line.

Enjoy!

A moral question for the blog mind.

What are the circumstances under which a patient can, consistent with Catholic teaching, refuse to be fed intravenously?

Take as given that, unlike the Terri Schiavo matter, the patient in question is in full possession of mental faculties.

Citation of authoritative documents is not just welcome, but encouraged.

Discuss.

Webb v. Polanski.

Think Tyson v. Spinks.

Winner: Jack Webb, KO in the first round.



Thanks to Donald McClarey for this find.

Communism is not healthy for children or other living things.

The management of the Empire State Building offers a tribute to a profoundly evil regime.

Communism: Wow!

The ChiComs have racked up a body count that would have made Tamerlane blanch.

Buy this, read, and re-read until it either sinks in or your guttering excuse for an "intellect" gives up the ghost. In any event, it's hard to make stupid comments while reading. Even if your lips are moving.

And if for some reason you don't give a rat's ass about the people, note well that China is doing what all communist regimes have done, namely, a superb job of making a desert of itself. Not to mention the neat trick of changing rainfall patterns through air pollution.

Contra noted blithering idiot Tom "Red China is Really Green!" Friedman.

[As an aside, Friedman's choice of Sputnik is ironic, given that China is rapidly heading the way of Soviet Russia, in economic and demographic terms. The Chinese just do a better job of selling the stats. Actually, Sputnik is a clear case study in how not to respond to potential threats--all of the screaming and yelling about the orbiting transistor radio/erector set ended up with a pointless race to the moon. Which has done what exactly? Don't get me wrong--I love the story of the American space program, but we haven't done a lot with it lately--it's kinda like owning a vintage Corvette you take out of the garage for a couple of weeks in July.]