Dear Kids,
      I guess you all received the e-mail about Mike VanLeuven’s suicide on Monday. I haven’t heard anything more since then. He left instructions for no funeral or memorial service, and no obituary. He must have been pretty unhappy, to take his life. It’s all so sad.
      Paul is doing fine in Halifax. He’s not getting as many installs as he would like, but things should start moving soon. He’s one of the top two installers, so he gets more work than the rest of them. Go, Paul!
      The cat Furminator arrived in the mail today, so I’ve been furminating Oreo. I’ve pulled out gobs and gobs of fur, so much so that he’s only half the fellow he used to be! Funny that Xena hasn’t showed her face yet. She must have heard about it. She’s so obese now that she has to lie down to eat her cat food. I don’t know if the furminator can cut her size in half. Monica, what do you do with all that fur? Is there some craft you can make with it? Some weaving, maybe? It seems like a waste to throw it all away.
      Have you all heard that our governor, Jon Huntsman, is being sent off to China? It’s perfect! Great place for him! The new governor is Gary Herbert, who I knew in high school. He probably doesn’t remember me. I don’t think he’s a clone of Huntsman. He always seemed very sensible.
      I had a great bike ride this morning. The Jordan River is way over its banks in lots of places, and sometimes I was riding in a foot of water! I got pretty wet. The ducks and ducklings and geese and goslings were loving it. There’s even a flock of swans, but they always keep their cool. I stopped at a Mavrick for ice cream at the 40-mile mark. (There are 4 Mavrick’s within half a mile of my route, so I always have to stop somewhere!) Bike riding is so much fun, I always hate to come home and do housework.
      Hope you’re all doin’ great and lovin’ it! Mom