A little update on my brother-in-law...He woke up today. He is in a lot of pain, but it looks like he will recover..They aren't 100% sure of all his injuries and they are still concerned with fluid building up in his lungs. His ribs are really badly broken so he's pretty uncomfortable, not to mention they have tubes down his nose and whatnot...But he's a tough, onery S.O.B. and I for one think he will pull through all this.

Tonight we had a meeting with my son's 6th grade class. They will be going to 6th grade camp in May and I'm going to be a counselor. I'm as excited about this as he is. I had a terrible experience at 6th grade campe because I had stitches in my face and couldn't participate in a lot of the activities. He is pretty excited but he was also a little nervous about bears (I told him the cougars are worse). We will only be up there for a week, but they are making it sound like we are going away to war or something. I know it's for the kids sake that they are telling us all this stuff.

I get a little bit ruffled when they talk to me like I'm an inexperienced hiker going up in the hills. I was in the Marine Corps for 8 years. I think I can handle 4 nights and 5 days in the hills. I look forward to all the survival stuff they will be teaching the kids though. I might even get a chance to relearn some of this stuff I have forgotten over the years. I think I will volunteer to help with the plant identification on those trail hikes, since that was always something I really enjoyed.

So two months and counting...I promise that when I come back there will be a couple of posts and some really cool pictures. So I have that to look forward to. So I'm getting out the military handbook, and maybe even the cammies and of course the compass...so look out mountainside bendigo's rage is coming!!!