The Journal of Dr. Richard L. Sleight

JUNE 2005 EDITION 

Weight change in June, 199 to 197.5 

And she plays!
       Jeannie Beth sings and dances and she plays too!  She has made wonderful progress in her oboe playing this year.  The June 8th Chinook Middle School concert featured three different bands. Jeannie is the only oboe player in the first year band. 

Nathanael is a Baritone
       June 10th we enjoyed another BCS choir concert.  Nathanael's "Singers" first year choir sounded quite professional.  He's ready to move up to the Concert Choir next year. To advance to the Concert Choir he had to pass an audition.  He has become a great singer!  Clearly a dominant gene in the male line! :-)

Jean Moody Sleight is 85!
       Velma Jean Moody was born on June 14th, 1920, in Lacrosse, Washington. We always celebrate her birthday as a special holiday since it is *Flag Day.  This year sons Don, Randy, and I and members of our families were hosted by dad at Ivar's Salmon House on the 13th to celebrate mom's 85th birthday.  She enjoyed every bit of the evening.  The waitress even brought her a special dessert.

Mom likes my hats.  Perhaps they remind her of her father, Clyde V. Moody, who had been a homesteader in Montana, a sheriff, and eventually rose to District Sales Manager for John Deere.

* This tradition was begun by a schoolteacher in Wisconsin in 1885.  The national Flag Day, the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777, was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916.  Mom has a tradition of special event days.  December 7, 1940 was her wedding day, December 7, 1941 was Pearl Harbor Day, and December 7, 1989 I successfully defended my doctoral dissertation.  She's been know to share with her lady friends about, "My son the doctor."

Father's Day '05
Please, no more free food! June 19th was a beautiful day and we spent the afternoon at Susan's house having a picnic.  It was perhaps the first Father's Day when I was the sole dad in attendance.  The kids put on an hilarious skit about Tech Support along the lines of Abbot and Costello's "Who's on first?" routine.   We stopped at the library on the way home and Annie picked up The Incredibles which she had reserved.  We loved it (as I knew we would - even Nancy! I raised my kids on super heroes in DC comic books.)  I finally got Annie to settle on a camera and I ordered her an Olympus C-7000 and a 512MB xD picture card to go with it for around $460 total.  This model is very nice and will meet all her needs.  "A father knows how to give good gifts to his children."

Finally!  Debbie Sleight becomes Mrs. Ellis
On Saturday, June 25th, my niece Debbie finally got married. Her new husband Lance Ellis is a bit older than she is. He is a music teacher in the Lake Washington school district and plays the French Horn in the Cascade Symphony (of Edmonds) along with sister-in-law Susan.

They had a Christ-honoring and elegant 1:00PM service and a musical reception at a nearby school.   I got one especially great photo of father-of-the-bride Don dancing with Debbie.  He was one happy dad. 

Honors Night at BCS, June 7th
 
It was no surprise to me that Annie's name was in the Honors Night program at the annual Bellevue Christian School event no less than nine times.  I confess I was surprised to find Nathanael there four times!  (And he being a student thought by BCS to be in need of "special" assistance the year before! What nonsense!)

Annie received a Washington State Honor Award and was listed in the National Honor Society.  She received departmental awards in Spanish, Science, and Drama (pictured).  And along with other commendations she was officially recognized as one of the record six Valedictorians, graduating with perfect academic records.  (Six out of 76 seniors sounds like a lot, but Garfield H.S. had 44 out of 406 this year!)   On June 10th the King County Journal included Annie among the top scholars in the region, one of two nominated from BCS.

His aunts and uncles and grandparents also enjoyed watching Nathanael receive department awards in both Science and Mathematics.  He also made the "High Honors" list and was listed among the honor students who were also multiple sport varsity letter winners.

To top all this off, Annie and Nate can say they helped BCS earn the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association Wells Fargo Bank Scholastic Cup, the top academic and activities award a school can receive.  BCS was first among 49 Washington State class A schools.  (Bellevue Christian: 1075, Overlake: 920, Seattle Christian: 910, Royal: 890 . . . )

When the grades arrived later in the month, Annie's 4.00 was no surprise but Nathanael's 3.86 for his second semester (up from 3.77) was a welcome surprise. And Jeannie got her second semester of perfect grades too.

Ann Cameron Sleight
Graduates On Top
The sad bit is that her perfect high school career has come to an abrupt end -- abrupt like the finale of a 4th of July fireworks extravaganza.   

On Saturday the 11th she attended the Junior-Senior Banquet and on the 16th she graduated at The City Church in Kirkland.  She was honored as one of the six valedictorians and as one of the two to give the student address. Her speech was wonderful in both content and delivery.  While her colleague Mark Reed's comments had more humor, Annie's remarks had more depth and consequence.  Mark had attended BCS for 12 years.  BCS was the only school Annie had attended -- but for just her four high school years.  The dialogue between Mark and Annie that she had written to conclude their portion of the program was a dramatic and artistic stroke.

Following the ceremony, the entire class of graduates were spirited away on motor coach busses for an all-night party (somewhere east of the mountains I was told.) 

Toys for Boys (and girls)
I finally succumbed to my pent up desires and bought a Nikon D70.  If "it is better to marry than to burn," then perhaps it is also better to buy than to continue to covet.  This was a huge investment of over $1100.  They threw in a $100 rebate and a free Epson R200 photo printer but still this was a stretch.  But I had done my homework and there was nothing else in its class for the price.  The first shots I took of the kids were amazingly clear and there was virtually no shutter lag time -- a must for sports photography.  No more "blue" shots like the one of the kids on Father's Day (above left -- click on it to see me).  It's Christmas in June. 

As this Journal shows, I enjoy photography.  It has been a hobby I  began in junior high school.  I recall taking pictures of wildlife for my Nature merit badge, and 8mm films of my dog Spock. And the pictures I took on my Mt. Rainier climb in 1972 were especially good.  I am delighted to return to this personal passion.

◄ Left:  Nathanael helps me try out my new Nikon D70. Wow!  I can get off as many as seven shots each time he sprints by.  This is why I bought this model!!!

◄ Below left:  My basement office has become a computer workshop as Nathanael and I begin to build his new computer.  We'll start by recycling the mother board and parts from an older system into his new black case.

t  Below:  Annie enjoys her new camera, a graduation present from dad.  While it won't take three shots per second like the Nikon D70, her Olympus C-7000, with its 7.1 megapixels, is also a great camera.

• Annie got some nice graduation presents, a BenQ 17" LCD monitor for her computer from Grandpa Dick, an Olympus C-7000 digital camera from her dad, a wooden easel and art supplies and a special box of emergency and sewing items for her dorm from mom; but the biggest "Oh Wow" came when she discovered a pair of cast metal bookends from Mrs. Kim Conrad, "for the books you will write." The chivalric motif was not lost on this avid reader and writer of tales.
• Bible study is now on break until September 10th.  We will begin again in Romans 6.  My prayer request was for "self-control" (Gal. 5:22) this summer.  We wrote our requests on slips of paper and someone else in the group got mine.  God help him be a prayer warrior, and God help me.
• Sometimes a small project well completed can bring great satisfaction.  I am especially happy (and so is my boss) with my spearheading the upgrade of the McKenna Hall conference room.  Last summer I got bids from $8,000 to $11,500 for a new audio/video system for the room.  I had a nagging impression that we could do better.  This past spring, while browsing in a CompUSA store, I studied the large screen DLP projector TVs there.  This was the solution I had been looking for!  My boss Jeff liked my proposal and I started locating models and vendors and designing a custom cabinet to go under the "projector-in-a-box" we would buy.  It all came together this month (before the end of this budget year) and it all works ― TV, VCR, PC, DVD.  This Samsung HL-R6167W DLP TV has a diagonal screen of 61".  It's huge.  The custom cabinet (of my design) is over 200 pounds.  It's elegantly simple and quite functional. I had power, cable, and data wires brought up through the floor to a spot just behind the room divider.  We were able to remove two other clunky TVs from that room and now it really looks more professional.  And, at least for a few weeks, I'm a hero around here. Soon the 2'x4' table that matches the new cabinet will arrive as well as the new portable mouse and keyboard that can be used anywhere in the room.  Anyone for lunchtime movies?
• If the month of June had a theme, it was clearly "kids."  Mine are fabulous. They all like to talk at the same time (especially Jeannie Beth) but they don't take their cues from the world or its popular culture.  They all have a spirit of adventure that finds God's surprise packages of joy where He's hidden them. 
• We just learned that Jeannie Beth missed The Rover Boys, a family favorite back to Grandpa Dick's youth. Over the years I have acquired a complete set for my dad.  J.B. has some fun summer reading ahead of her.  For those who can't find these long out-of-print books (begun in 1899 by by Edward Stratemeyer under the pen name "Arthur M. Winfield"),  Project Gutenberg has many of them online.
• It's always nice to get a contract for another year. My salary for 2005-06, while less than it might be in the "real world,"  is quite adequate at $53,124.  Add to that the amount SPU will discount from Annie's tuition ($19,302) and the total figure looks wonderful at $72,426.
• I got a start on the BCS Cross Country web site for this coming season at www.Bellevue1.com/XC05/.
• What a surprise I got when I went online to check my account balance at the Boeing Employees Credit Union. (After 23 years of marriage, Nancy and I finally set up our first joint checking account there last year.) I expected to see three accounts listed (checking, savings, and IRA).  What a shock to now see fifteen accounts there, amounting to over $68,000, only $8,500 of that my own.  My dad has added my name, and those of my siblings, to his checking, savings and CD accounts, in the event of his demise. It's nice to be a member of a family that can live by the honor system.  But this does remind me of the father's words to the elder brother, `My son,' the father said, `you are always with me, and everything I have is yours."  Luke 15:31 NIV    I'll have lunch with my dad today (6/30) and we'll take the next step, adding me to his Charles Schwab account.
   

The Rover Boys at School

Chapter I.  Introducing the Rover Boys

"Hurrah, Sam, it is settled at last that we are to go to boarding
school!"

"Are you certain, Tom?  Don't let me raise any false hopes."

"Yes, I am certain, for I heard Uncle Randolph tell Aunt Martha
that he wouldn't keep us in the house another week.  He said he
would rather put up with the Central Park menagerie -- think of
that!" and Tom Rover began  to laugh.

"That's rather rough on us, but I don't know but what we deserve
it," answered Sam Rover, Tom's younger brother.  "We have been
giving it pretty strong lately, with playing tricks on Sarah the
cook, Jack the hired man, and Uncle Randolph's pet dog Alexander.
But then we, had to do something -- or go into a dry rot.  Life in
the country is all well enough, but it's mighty slow for me."

"I guess it is slow for anybody brought up in New York, Sam.  Why,
the first week I spent here I thought the stillness would kill me.
I couldn't actually go to sleep because it was so quiet.  I wish
uncle and aunt would move to the city.  They have money enough."

"Aunt Martha likes to be quiet, and uncle is too much wrapped up
in the art of scientific farming, as he calls it.  I'll wager
he'll stay on this farm experimenting and writing works on
agriculture until he dies.  Well, it's a good  enough way to do, I
suppose, but it wouldn't suit me.  I want to see something of life
-- as father did."

"So do I.  Perhaps we'll see something when we get to boarding
school."

"Where are we to go?"

"I don't know.  Some strict institution, you can be sure of that.
Uncle Randolph told aunty it was time the three of us were hand.
He said Dick wasn't so bad, but you and I --"

"We're the bother of his life, eh?"

"Something about like that.  He doesn't see any fun in tricks.  He
expects us to just walk around the farm, or study, and, above all
things, keep quiet, so that his scientific investigations are not
disturbed.  Why doesn't he let us go out riding, or boating on the
river, or down to the village to play baseball with the rest of
the fellows?  A real live American boy can't be still all the time,
and he ought to know it," and, with a decided shake of his curly
head, Tom Rover took a baseball from his pocket and began to throw
it up against the side of the farmhouse, catching it each time as
it came down.

Tom had thrown the ball up just four times when a pair of blinds
to an upper window flew open with a crash, and the head of a
stern-looking elderly gentleman appeared.  The gentleman had gray
hair, very much tumbled, and wore big spectacles.
"Hi! hi! boys, what does this mean?" came in a high-pitched voice.
"What are you hammering on the house for, when I am just in the
midst of a deep problem concerning the rotation of crops on a
hillside with northern exposure?"

"Excuse me, Uncle Randolph, I didn't think to disturb you,"
answered Tom meekly. "I'll put the ball away."

"You never stop to think, Thomas. Give me that ball."

"Oh, let me keep it, Uncle Randolph! I won't throw it against the
house again, honor bright."

"You'll forget that promise in ten minutes, Thomas; I know you
well. Throw the ball up," and Mr. Randolph Rover held out hands.

"All right, then; here you go," answered Tom, somewhat put out to
thus lose a ball which had cost him his week's spending, money;
and he sent the sphere flying upward at a smart speed. Mr. Rover
made a clutch for it, but the ball slipped through his hands and
landed plump on his nose.

"Oh!" he cried, and disappeared from sight, but reappeared a
moment later, to shake his fist at Tom.

"You young rascal! You did that on purpose!" he spluttered, and
brought forth his handkerchief, for his nose had begun to bleed.
"Was anyone ever tormented so by three boys?"

"Now you are in for it again, Tom," whispered Sam.

"I didn't mean to hit you, Uncle Randolph. Why didn't you catch
it on the fly?"

"On the fly?" repeated the uncle. "Do you suppose I am accustomed
to catching cannon balls?"

"Didn't you ever play baseball?"

"Never. I spent my time in some useful study." The elderly
gentleman continued to keep his handkerchief to his nose, and
adjusted his glasses.

"Thank fortune, you are all going to go to boarding school next
week, and we will once more have a little peace and quietness
around Valley Brook!"

"Where are we to go, Uncle Randolph?" asked Sam.

"You I will learn that Monday morning, when you start off."

"It wouldn't hurt to tell us now," grumbled Tom.

"You must learn to be patient, Thomas. My one hope is that life
at boarding school makes a real man of you."

"Of course we are all to go together?"

"Yes, you are to go together, although I can get along with
Richard very well, he is so much more quiet and studious than you
or Samuel."

"I reckon he takes after you, Uncle Randolph."

"If so, he might do worse. By the way, what were both of you
doing here?"

"Nothing," came from Sam.

"We haven't anything to do. This farm is the slowest place on
earth," added Tom.

"Why do you not study the scientific and agricultural works that I
mentioned to you? See what I have done for scientific farming."

"I don't want to be a farmer," said Tom. "I'd rather be a
sailor."

"A sailor!" gasped Randolph Rover. "0f all things! Why, a sailor
is the merest nobody on earth!"

"I guess you mean on the sea, uncle," said Sam with a grin.

"Don't joke me, Samuel. Yes, Thomas -- the calling of a sailor
amounts to absolutely nothing. Scientific farming is the thing!
Nothing more noble on the face of the earth than to till the
soil."

"I never saw you behind a plow, Uncle Randolph," answered Tom,
with a twinkle in his blue eyes. "Besides, I heard you say that
the farm ran behind last year."

"Tut, tut, boy! You know nothing about it. I made a slight
miscalculation in crops, that was all. But this year we shall do
better."

"You lost money year before last, too," commented Sam.

"Who told you that?"

"Mr. Woddie, the storekeeper at the Corners."

"Mr. Woddie may understand storekeeping, but he knows nothing of
farming, scientific or otherwise.  I spent several thousands of
dollars in experimenting, but the money was not lost.  We shall
soon have grand results.  I shall astonish the whole of New York
State at the next meeting of our agricultural society," and Mr.
Randolph Rover waved his hand grandiloquently.  It was easy to see
that scientific farming was his hobby.

"Randolph!"  It was the voice of Mrs. Rover, who now appeared
beside her husband.  "What is the matter with your nose?"

"Tom hit me with his ball.  It is all right now, although it did
bleed some."

"The bad boy!  But it is just like him.  Sarah has given notice
that she will leave at the end of her month.  She says she can't
stand the pranks Tom and Sam play on her."

"She need not go -- for the boys are going to boarding school, you
know."

"She says you promised to send them off before."

"Well, they shall go this time, rest assured of that.  I cannot
stand their racing up and down stairs, and their noise, any
longer.  They go Monday morning."

"Better send them off tomorrow."

"Well - er -- that is rather sudden."

"Sarah's month is up Friday.  She will surely go unless the boys
are out of the house.  And she is the best cook I have ever had."

"Excepting when she burnt the custard pies," put in Tom.

"And when she salted the rice pudding!" added Sam.

"Silence, both of you.  Randolph, do send them off."

"Very well, I will.  Boys, you must go away from the house for an
hour or two."

"Can we go fishing or swimming?" asked Tom.

"No, I don't want you to go near the river, you may get drowned."

"We can both swim," ventured Sam.

"Never mind -- it is not safe -- and your poor father left you in
my care."

"Can we go down to the village?"

"No, you might get into bad company there."

"Then where shall we go?" came from both boys simultaneously.

Randolph Rover scratched his head in perplexity.  He had never had
any children of his own, and to manage his brother's offspring was
clearly beyond him.  "You might go down to the cornfield, and
study the formation of the ears -"

"Send them blackberrying," suggested Mrs. Rover.  "We want the
berries for pies tomorrow, and it will give them something to do."

"Very well; boys, you may go blackberrying.  And mind you keep out
of mischief."

"We'll mind," answered Tom.  "But you might let me have that
ball."

"I will give it to you in the morning," answered Randolph Rover, and
turned away from the window with his wife.

As soon as they were out of sight, Tom threw up both, hands in
mock tragedy, "Alack, Horatio, this excitement killeth me!" he
cried in a stage whisper.  "Sent blackberrying to keep us out of
mischief!  Sam, what are we coming to?"

"Well, it's better than moping around doing nothing.  For my part,
I am glad we are to go to boarding school, and the sooner the
better.  But I would like to know where to?"

"If only we were going to a military academy!"

"Hurrah!  Just the thing!  But no such luck.  Get the berry
baskets and let us be off.  By the way, where is Dick?"

"Gone to the village for the mail.  There he, comes down the road
now," and Tom pointed to a distant path back of the meadows.

The two boys hurried into a woodshed behind the large farmhouse
and procured a basket and two tin pails.  With these in hand they
set off in the direction of the berry patch, situated along the
path that Dick Rover was pursuing, their intention being to head
off their brother and see if he had any letters for them.

Of the three Rover boys, Richard, commonly called Dick, was the
eldest.  He was sixteen, tall, slender, and had dark eyes and dark
hair.  He was a rather quiet boy, one who loved to read and study,
although he was not above having a good time now and then, when
felt like "breaking loose," as Tom expressed it.

Next to Richard came Tom, a year younger, as merry a lad as there
was ever to be found, full of life and "go," not above playing all
sorts of tricks on people, but with a heart of gold, as even his
uncle and aunt felt bound to admit.

Sam was the youngest.  He was but fourteen, but of the same height
and general appearance as Tom, and the pair might readily have
been taken for twins.  He was not as full of pranks as Tom, but
excelled his brothers in many outdoor sports.

The history of the three Rover boys was a curious one.  They were
the only children of one Anderson Rover, a gentleman who had been
widely known as a mineral expert, gold mine proprietor, and
traveler.  Mr. Anderson Rover had gone to California a poor young
man and had there made a fortune in the mines.  Returning to the
East, he had married and settled down in New York City, and there,
the three boys had been born.

An epidemic of fever had taken off Mrs. Rover when Richard was but
ten years of age.  The shock had come so suddenly that Anderson
Rover was dazed, and for several weeks the man knew not what to
do.  "Take all of the money I made in the West, but give me back
my wife!" he said broken-heartedly, but this could not be, and
soon after he left his three boys in charge of a housekeeper and
set off to tour Europe, thinking that a change of scene would
prove a benefit.

When he came back he seemed a changed man.  He was restless, and
could not remain at home for more than a few weeks at a time.  He
placed the boys at a boarding school in New York and returned to
the West, where he made another strike in the gold mines; and when
he came back once more he was reported to be worth between two and
three hundred thousand dollars.

But now a new idea had came into his head.  He had been reading up
on Africa, and had reached the conclusion that there must be gold
in the great unexplored regions of that country.  He determined to
go to Africa, fit out an exploration, and try his luck.

"It will not cost me over ten to twenty thousand dollars," he said
to his brother Randolph.  "And it may make me a millionaire."

"If you are bound to go, I will not stop you," had been Randolph
Rover's reply.  "But what of your boys in the meanwhile?"

This was a serious question, for Anderson Rover knew well the risk
he was running, knew  well that many a white man had gone into the
interior of Africa never to return.  At last it was settled that
Randolph Rover should become Dick, Tom, and Sam's temporary
guardian.  This accomplished, Anderson Rover set off and that was
the last any of his family had ever heard of him.

Was he dead or alive?  Hundreds of times had the boys and their
uncle pondered that question.  Each mail was watched with anxiety,
but day after day brought no news, until the waiting became an old
story, and all settled down to the dismal conviction that the
daring explorer must be dead.  He had landed and gone into the
interior with three white men and twenty natives, and that was all
that could be ascertained concerning him.

At the time of Anderson Rover's departure Randolph had been on the
point of purchasing a farm of two hundred acres in the Mohawk
Valley of New York State.  The land had not changed hands until a
year later, however, and then Dick, Tom, and Sam were called upon
to give up their life in the metropolis and settle down in the
country, a mile away from the village of Dexter Corners.

For a month things had gone very well, for all was new, and it
seemed like a "picnic," to use Tom's way of expressing it.  They
had run over the farm from end to end, climbed to the roof of the
barn, explored the brook, and Sam had broken his arm by falling
from the top of a cherry tree.  But after that the novelty wore,
away, and the boys began to fret.

"They want something to do," thought Randolph Rover, and set them
to work studying scientific farming, as he called it.  At this
Dick made some progress, but the uncle could do nothing with Tom
and Sam.  Then the last two broke loose and began to play pranks
on everybody that came along, and life became little short of a
burden to the studious Randolph and, his quiet-minded spouse.

"I must send them off to a boarding school, or somewhere,"
Randolph Rover would say, but he kept putting the matter off,
hoping against hope that he might soon hear from his lost brother.

Next Chapter