This morning I saw on the TV news that there was a devastating earthquake in Chile early this morning. Sadly, the earthquake happened about 3:30 in the morning, so obviously most people were sound asleep by then. This is too soon to know how many injuries and fatalities are the result. I hope that the numbers are low and that we can send humanitarian help right away.

In this area, summer ends on Labor Day. So a lot of people go all out and have huge weekend parties or last ditch getaway weekends to the ocean beaches, the Bay, the rivers or even lakes. It’s all about getting to a large body of water and swimming, boating, and fishing.

Friends of mine have a little cabin on the river about 150 miles south of here. They were nice enough to invite me and a couple of our friends to come down on Labor Day weekends and camp out. I’m thinking about it!

We decided to go for a fall foliage drive this weekend; we heard that the fall foliage was near peak, and we wanted to have a little bit of relaxation and enjoy the scenery.  So we packed up a picnic lunch and headed out for a short but scenic drive out Route 211 into the mountains.  With the price of gas so high we couldn’t drive too far, but we found a nice scenic overlook spot with a picnic table and enjoyed a nice lunch of cheese, bread, apples, and sparkling cider.  The weather cooperated, it was a warm, beautiful clear day and we could see for miles!  All in all it was a very pleasant day today.  I’d like to make an annual event of doing this!  I hope the price of gas doesn’t make it impossible to do next year!

I was reading the Newsweek website, checking out what interesting news might have come up recently, and saw an article about an eleven year old boy that was playing in his uncle’s back yard in a town in Brazil when a pit bull attacked him, biting him in the arm.  The boy, in his own defense, grabbed the dog and bit the dog in the neck!  Before the dog could resume his attack some stonemasons that were working nearby chased the dog off.  The boy lost a tooth (one of his canine teeth, ironically enough!) in the scuffle.  The boy was taken to the hospital for stitches, and the dog was taken to the local pound, where the dog may be killed.

I think it is miraculous that the boy counter-attacked, and lived to tell the tale!  Pit bull attacks are usually very vicious and I am really glad that the boy was not hurt worse.