November 21, 2019 - Thursday morning
39 degrees/rain/breezy
Pentoga Road

The biggest news this morning is of son, Andy's, brush with the darker side of drilling for oil off the shores of western Africa.

Andy sent a text early Wednesday morning saying the crew was locked down in a citadel (safe place) while pirates were in the area. A sister ship that was working with Andy's had been taken over, shot up, and eight hostages removed.

I received another text written four hours later saying he was being removed from the boat. We didn't know if he was being taken by the good or the bad guys.

A third text received in the afternoon said he was safe and on shore. I became teary eyed, whispered a prayer of thanks, and breathed a big sigh of relief.

It's times like this that makes a dad age years in one day.

The area where Andy's working is the highest in the world for kidnappings. Caucasian males are the most sought after as it is hoped their families/companies have the most money to pay for their release.

I had a good talk with Andy this morning. He's heading back out to sea with his crew and hopes to finish this weekend with the current job and be home in northern Maine in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.

The eight hostages from the other boat? No one's heard a word from them. We'll keep them in our prayers.

Yesterday was an active one in the den of the bobkitties. That third grade class is big and, hmm, well, they tend to be chatty. After reminding them several times about their talking, I finally told the junior chatters they could talk all they wanted with a few stipulations:

1) they couldn't use their mouths
2) they had to stay in their seats
3) they couldn't touch another person
4) communication was by sign language only

Other than that, the world was their's.

I like it when a plan comes together. The room remained completely silent for the rest of the day. Growing tired of hand signals, the munchkins worked hard and we accomplished everything by day's end.

In fact, the kidlings were so good that ol' Mr. P pulled out his banjo and we sang (VERY enthusiastically, I might add) for the last half hour. 

Last night was another lazy one. Sargie prepared pork chops in the oven, baked taters, sour cream, and cottage cheese. It was the perfect supper after a long bobkitty day.

It's raining today and to turn significantly colder. After three days in the upper thirties, winter is to return later this afternoon. 

Oh well, I guess that was our Indian Summer. Sure was nice while it lasted.

Sargie's at the eye clinic today. I'm going to head to the shop pretty quickly and see what kind of mess I can make out there. Mostly, I'm thinking of that big ol' recliner sitting in the corner. You know, the one that fits me to a T, especially when I lay back and close my eyes.

After all, a man's work is never done.

So are the tales from Pentoga Road...