Meeting The New Baby

We got a real treat yesterday when granddaughter Hailey and her husband Toby came over to introduce us to their new baby boy. This is me holding my first great grandchild, Tyler James McIntire, who was born early in the morning on May 1^st. He came into the world weighing 6.5 pounds and is just beautiful. It’s obvious this little guy is going to be surrounded by love from so many people.

I asked daughter Tiffany how she felt about being a grandmother, and she said it’s the greatest feeling in the world. I understood that, and then it took me a moment to realize that I’m now the father of a grandmother. Could somebody please tell me how the heck that happened?

Sometime around mid-afternoon, we got a frantic phone call from Terry’s mother down in the Apache Junction area, reporting that her father had taken a bad fall outside and then lay face down for anywhere from a half hour to an hour. We’re not really sure of the timeline yet. But at 96 years old, any fall, no matter how short a duration, can cause a lot of problems. Especially when the temperature was close to 90 degrees. Between that and Terry’s 95-year-old mom being in in-home hospice for congestive heart failure, it was a serious situation.

Fortunately, the paramedics were there, and one of them took the time to talk to Terry and tell her what was going on. They were going to transport Pete to the hospital, and Terry’s two sisters, Lisa and Dani, were both on their way to the house. Terry told me she felt that she needed to be there too, and I understood that completely. She quickly threw some clothes and toiletries together and left here about 4 o’clock. I would have loved to with her to be able to offer some support, but with so much stuff going on in the family here, including the new baby and granddaughter Destiny’s high school graduation coming up, I knew that Tiffany and Kenny are pressed for time and wouldn’t be able to come over and take care of the critters.

Terry called me when she got to her parents’ house, somewhere close to 7 p.m. to give me an update. Pete had been transported to the hospital, and Dani was there with him, and Lisa and Terry were at the house with her mom. At that time they were still running a bunch of tests on him and worried about possible muscle deterioration from lying face down with his head pointed downhill for so long. She called me again about 10 o’clock with an update. They were keeping him overnight for observation, and hopefully he will be released sometime today. All prayers and positive energy sent their way are much appreciated.

Congratulations, Judy Butterfield, winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of Sneak Thief, the fourth book in the Lia Anderson Dog Park Mysteries series by my friend Carol Ann Newsome, who was featured in last week’s Author Spotlight.

Lia’s new friend Desiree has a secret admirer, one who leaves her tiny figurines sculpted from twisted aluminum foil. Lia worries about the man’s intentions, but the pint-sized sexpot brushes off Lia’s concerns. When Desiree is murdered, Lia not only winds up with the woman’s kleptomaniac beagle, she also inherits Desiree’s stalker. On the outs with Peter, and with the police on the wrong track, Lia will have to rely on her wits and her friends if she wants to stay alive.

We had 48 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon! Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed. After 30 days, unclaimed prizes revert back to the drawing pool for a future contest.

Did you know that you can find all of my books and sign up for my free author’s newsletter on my website at www.nickrussellbooks.com?

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – Speaking the truth has consequences, and they are not always good.