Thanks. I needed that. I am going to spend Christmas in a hospital in Nashville 170 miles from home. My wife's mother, age 91, fell at home and spent 16 hours on her kitchen floor before her son dropped by and found her. It was one of those things where everything goes wrong at once. She had a virus which caused her to barf on the way to the kitchen trash can. She stepped in it, slipped and fell. That left her with a broken hip, and a bruised knee in addition to the virus. She couldn't reach the phone, or the door.

But she is one tough old lady, and she survived a long night and half of a day. To make a long story a little less long, she spent a day in the Murfreesboro hospital where they discovered a heart irreglarity. They transferred her to a top heart hospital in Nashville, where she got a stent to fix her heart and for Christmas, she gets a pin in her hip. They say she has good bones and that a hip replacemant is probably not necessary.

But wait, there's more. I caught the virus and I have been in bed with that for 24 hours. This hospital has motel rooms attached so that's where I am. I got a little coffee and a roll to stay down just now, so I guess I am on the way out. I may go up to the O.R. waiting room for the Christmas hip surgery.

It has been nice seeing so many relatives together. Some came from as far away as Indiana.

So your horsey greeting came at just the perfect time. Thanks.


> Yes, you. You all are a special bunch of people, and I wanted to let you know that. So without further ado, I present . . .