.....It's been a good day in all actuality. TBT and I cleaned the house before a July 4th picnic with friends. As usual I thought that we would not have enough food and as usual we ended up having so much food that we were all stuffed silly. :-) The rest of the crowd is at a baseball game featuring the Kitsap Bluejackets. I'm not a baseball fan so I stayed home and got a few chores done. I realized that it had been a while since I posted. Not my norm.

.....The week started off on a rather frustrating note. I posted to the Baronial e-list our wish for a new Fight Practice site, a new June Faire site, and a few people to step up to the plate and take on offices for the Barony. By the time I was headed into work on Tuesday morning I was frustrated and cranky. Instead of constructive suggestions and an outpouring of ideas, I received a handful of e-mails from people who complained about various things associated with that e-mail. As Seneschal, I may be the Business Leader for the Barony, but that doesn't mean that I'm the Shell Answer Man. How in the hell am I supposed to find people, places and things that are all things for all people? There is just no way, even for a Pelican.

.....The Universe has an interesting way of putting things into perspective when you least expect it though. Within a half hour of my arriving of work the phone started ringing like mad. In San Diego one of our riggers working at Point Loma had had a heart attack during the morning briefing just prior to work. He simply collapsed in front of everyone. Someone in the meeting immediately started CPR. The Point Loma emergency services were on site within five minutes. But after almost an hour of work the emergency personnel called a halt, the man had died.

.....I knew this man. Not incredibly well, but I had worked with him in the past. He was married and had four children. He was a nice person. He was in his early 60's and this was going to be his last trip to California and then he was planning to retire this December. Damn!

.....A lot of the senior management were absent early this week and for just a little bit I was nervous as hell as I thought that being the senior planning guy in the Submarine Office that it might fall on my shoulders to start contacting the family. I'm not sure whether or not I should be ashamed to say that I felt a little relief when I found out that the duty fell on the shoulders of a senior Production Department manager. I'm not sure how I personally would have handled that.

.....After a day of that, handling the Business Meeting Tuesday night was a lot easier. I usually go into something of a reverie after things like this happen, but not so much so this time. I think that after the past year of immense amounts of change in my life I am starting to get a handle on how to roll with life and the things it throws at you. There is a sense of security in which direction you can aim, but in reality you have no real control over what happens in your life. The more you realize that the more you can relax and actually LIVE. It's taken me a long time to start accepting that reality. I'm not there completely, but the epiphany is wonderful.

.....This week was a lot about trees for some reason. Last week the Northwest Regional Admiral gave a speech in which he spent a few minutes talking about the house in which he lived on the grounds of PSNS. His house was built for the Navy Yard in the 1900's and was over 10,000 square feet in size, one of the largest houses of this type in the Naval housing system. One of the landscaping features outside this house is a sequoia tree that was planted in front of the house in 1907. This tree is over a hundred years old now and over nine feet in diameter. I had the opportunity to walk by the house and tree on Thursday and it is a beautiful tree, and just IMMENSE. The admiral is talking about opening the house for tours later this year. I would love to bring TBT and Rhys by to tour the house and see the tree. I think that they'd both enjoy the tour.

.....Our Baronial Yule Feast this year is planned at the Eagles Hall on Jackson in Port Orchard. What is interesting to me about the Eagle's Hall there is that in the early '80's, when I was connected with the local Boy Scout troop over there, we planted a whole group of sequoia and redwoods around the big water tank out back. I've driven by the place several times and have watched the trees grow. But I've never had the opportunity to actually stop and walk amongst them. I'm looking forward to that in December. :-)

.....On Tuesday I was talking with Aelianora about silkworm farming. We've been talking about doing this for a couple of years now. The only problem is the mulberry trees that are needed for silkworm food. Aelianora and I both purchased seedlings and baby mulberry trees two years ago and planted them on her property in Kingston. The seedlings died off rather quickly, but the small trees lasted the year. They died off last year I believe.

.....Aelianora and I are talking about making the run down to southern Washington and purchasing a couple of nine foot mulberry trees so as to give them more of a fighting chance at survival. I've been told that the best time to plant them is in the fall when they go dormant. That way they can acclimatize to the soil and then when the spring growth season hits they'll be able to jump start into production. So that's what I'm aiming to do. I think that we'll plant a few at FoxDog Farm, but I'm also thinking that maybe we could get one or two planted here at the Brandevin-Bygelswade estates. The areas where we've removed the hedge out front get quite a bit of sun and may be good spots for a couple of mulberry trees. We'll have to think about that.

.....Hmmm, going to go and get something to nibble on before the fireworks begin in earnest. Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th! :-)

.....Aaron / Arontius.