Nancy found the burial site of "Uncle" Jack and "Aunt" Cora Bower.  Jack and Cora were the next-door neighbors to Nancy's family on SW Stevens Street in West Seattle.  Jack Bower's generous financial gift helped us pay for our oak stairway.  Jack was my first good Christian friend.  He had become a Christian in his late sixties.  Their dining room set graces our library room.

While searching for the Bower gravesite, I found the burial place of John and Evelyn Pfeffer.   In 1981, John Pfeffer told Nancy's dad Bob that they were planning to sell their small home in Bellevue.  John and Bob were Western Union messenger boys together back in the 1920's and were in business together at Havicks Auto Rebuild.  Bob said something like, "Let's see if the kids might be interested in it."  $90,000 at 12.5% interest (at the start of the Reagan years) and it was ours.

 The SLEIGHT Family Heirloom

With the passing of Richard R. Sleight and our mom Jean in 2011, the steel shield heirloom pictured here was passed to Randy.  But due to its historical value and for its security it came to the Bellevue Sleight house.

The shield is perhaps the only piece of physical family history which links our clan back to our English roots.  Our family genealogist Randy has traced those many roots across America and back to many other nations in Europe as well. 

We were told that this shield was once mounted by the threaded bolt on its reverse side to the front door of the Sleight home in Great Britain.  Since our father was the only heir of his father, also Richard R. Sleight, the treasured item passed to him as a child from his grandfather, yet another Richard Sleight, and was preserved by his mother Violet (Grandma Vi).

When Randy was in Wood Shop class at Madison Junior High, he fashioned the wooden plaque on which it is now mounted.  At one time, I saw that he tried to paint the Sleight letters red, but this was corrected to black as our dad insisted that this was the original color.

I cherish this physical reminder of family history.  It is mounted in our living room on what we call our "Victory wall," next to the piece of oak from Nelson's flagship at the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar, Victory, that Annie gave me for Christmas 2008, and the framed print of Victory Breaks the Enemy Line by Geoff Hunt that I purchased in 2011.

One day, this family treasure should pass to the Auburn Sleights and eventually to Jonathan, Reuben, or Isaac.

October-November Family Birthday Party

Illnesses in October postponed this family gathering until Sunday, November 3rd.  We got together in Auburn.  A light lunch and dessert followed lots of play time for the kids.  And Jadzia was introduced and well loved by everyone.

The bubble maker I got for Galen works!  His 3rd birthday was on the 14th.

Thanksgiving at Susan's

¹ Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His mercy is everlasting.
² The redeemed of the Lord shall say so,
Those whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy
³ And gathered from the lands,
From the east and from the west,
From the north and from the south.

I used these first verses from Psalm 107 to preface my prayer for our Thanksgiving meal.

The Pastrick's could not make it, but along with Susan, Randy, and Julie Adams, we had Helen Eby, Abby, Joel's sister visiting from Massachusetts, Georgia, and Georgia's friend Loretta. That made fifteen adults and eight kids.  Reuben and Jonny managed to avoid the group photo.

Our upright freezer is limping along.  The eighteen pound turkey I bought six days earlier defrosted in the top while items at the bottom stayed frozen.  Nancy again cooked the bird.  I just fetched and carried.

I helped Randy reset his Gmail password and took his old Dell laptop into my care.

We have an Old New President for 2025

At 11:00 PM our time, FOX News declared Donald Trump the 47th President of the United States.  None of the other outlets, ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, or AP made the same call until much later.  ABC called Pennsylvania for Trump at 11:06 PM.  As was my normal election night practice, I stayed up until the President-elect received the needed 270 Electoral College votes.  At midnight, the Associated Press showed Trump with 267 votes.  But surely Alaska's three votes would push him to 270.  The AP called the election for Trump at 3:54 AM our time.  I'm glad I went to bed at 2:00 AM.

My own prediction made in October was Harris 226 - Trump 312.  The final Electoral College totals were exactly that.  These numbers were based on a YouTube video I watched that accurately analyzed what the polls were saying.  The Harris lead in battleground states was very slim at best, and the polls were under-reporting those planning to vote for Trump.  He could win all or nearly all of those battleground states.  Indeed, he won them all.

If Kamala Harris had chosen Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro instead of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, an admitted liar, we might have had a different result.  Kamala Harris's denial of the mental decline of Joe Biden, when the whole country saw it on display repeatedly, especially during the Biden-Trump debate on June 27th, cost her dearly.  That her professor father taught Marxist Economics was a "red" flag for me from the start.  Finally, her championing of abortion caused Catholic voters across the country to swing especially towards former President Trump, this included many Hispanic voters.  Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is also Catholic.

Grandkids Corner

Periodic lunches with grandpa at Wendy's are enjoyed by two or three granddaughters at a time.  It's another destination for our walks with the stroller.

Happy Diwali.  Diwali is an Indian festival that celebrates the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance.

On November 8th, Charis and Valerie helped prepare the garlic bed and Charis planted half of the fifty garlic cloves. On the 15th, a rare sunny day, I planted dozens of bulbs including transplanted lilies.

Treasure hunts that last over 30 minutes keep kiddos engaged.  è

"Bomb Cyclone" Slams Western Washington

On Tuesday the 19th, we "enjoyed" the second largest windstorm to hit the Pacific Northwest in my lifetime.  Our power went off at 7:17 PM and was restored two days later on Thursday at 11:50 AM.  The other was the "Columbus Day Storm," back on October 12, 1962 when I was seven.  That one came up from California through Oregon.

This picture shows the hurricane-like eye of the storm.  Having seen these Monday images, I had our candles already out on the dining room table.  During the storm itself, I took a long walk and found that our particular power outage covered most of Clyde Hill and stretched south to NE 8th Street just north of Bellevue Square.  On my walk back up NE 12th Street, I came across this nice Lexus LS400 smashed by a fallen long-needle pine tree.  A Toyota Camray was under the top branches of the same tree.  I took the picture of it early Wednesday morning.  That was one block southeast of us.

Since prevailing autumn winds come at us from the west-south-west, trees train their roots to account for this.  But these winds came from the east-south-east.

We sent our frozen food up to Susan's house.  And our wood stove both kept us warm and served as our cooking stove.  On Thursday morning, Nancy prepared a poached egg for me on it. 

Seattle Christian School also lost power so Annie and Charis were home on Wednesday.  No power meant no digital media or Internet.  So Annie helped her girls discover some old fashioned software called "books."

From the Seattle Times: 

Pressure dropped 27 millibars in six hours, about four times faster than the rate meteorologists use to label storms as bomb cyclones. It dropped so far and so fast that, under one method of analysis, it landed in a category reserved for the strongest of its kind: A “super explosive cyclone.”

Bomb cyclones are common enough, but rarely form as far south as this one did and gather so much strength so quickly . . . As far back as the records go, a cyclone this strong hasn’t formed before in this part of the world at this time of year.

Bits and Pieces

Sugar ants are tiny, and early this month they called themselves to my attention in the kitchen.  I whipped up a batch of sugar, Borax, and apple cider vinegar.  It sure did attract them.  Belly up to the bar girls!  (What a great opportunity to use my 60mm macro lens.)  Two days later, not a single member of family Formicidae was roaming our kitchen.  Alas, they returned a week later for a second helping.  At month's end, the sugar ant war still rages.

I enjoyed the first Saturday morning monthly men's breakfast at Hope Presbyterian Church on the 2nd.  I've set my email calendar to remind me about this event on the first Saturday of every month.  I've not been good at reaching out to make friends, but I've done it in the past so I can do it again.

For the first time, as I've tallied up my personal finances, I've passed the seven-figures mark in investments and bank deposits.  This does not include the $3,690,200 that Zillow says our house is worth or a significant amount in Nancy's accounts.  While her Social Security benefit is less than mine, it is not insignificant after her ten years with IBM.  In light of these numbers, Nancy and I are beginning to consider where we will increase our faith-based and family giving in 2025.

On the evening of the 12th, Nancy and I attended a "Family Dinner" hosted by our UPC Senior Pastor George Hinman and his wife Ann.  George (the tall fellow) sat at the head of the table in their elegant home in Laurelhurst with Nancy at his left.  Ann sat at the foot of the table with me on her left.  Also in attendance was Ken Cornell and his wife whom he met at SPU.  Ken came to SPU soon after I did and worked in Admissions when I was in Advising.  I was the MBA Coordinator when he completed his MBA.  He later worked at Northwest University in Kirkland and only this year returned to SPU as its Vice President for Enrollment Management and Marketing.

On the 18th I had my periodic blood draw as a prelude to my official Medicare-required annual physical. 
I see my doctor every three months as we monitor my diabetes.  My A1c was down to 7.5.  It hasn't been that low since summer 2022.  My eGFR rose to 64, moving me from CKD stage 3a to stage 2.  It hasn't been that good since we started measuring it last year.  My primary care provider, Dr. Robert Kelley, will turn 70 two months before I do.  He was very happy with these latest results.  Alas, he will retire next May.  He's been God's hands to heal me on multiple occasions.

While these numbers are better, what is sad is that brother Don was always interested to see improvement in them.

According to the Gallup survey . . ., the percentage of Republican female gun owners has increased from 19% from 2007-2012 to 33% from 2019-2024.

Twenty-two percent of Republican women surveyed in 2013-2018 told Gallup they owned guns, meaning there has been a 50% increase in gun ownership among conservative women since then.

"Meanwhile, the rate has fallen seven percentage points among Democratic men, to 29%, and is down five points among independent men, to 39%," Gallup added. "Republican men remain the most likely gun owners among gender and party identification subgroups, at 60%."  (For Christmas, I indulged in the BOGO offer from StopBox USA, of Spokane, WA., and got myself two of their StopBox Pro handgun safes.)

On the 25th, Nancy and I met with nephew Jon at his parents house.  Trevor and Taryn Rockney also stopped by.  It was my first chance to meet Trevor.  Jon is his parents Executor.  He is spending every Monday afternoon at the house.  I chose a selection of Don's shirts and sweatshirts, including UW and Seahawks items.  The house needs to be emptied before it can be sold.  We brought home an odd collection of things including framed art, garden tools, art supplies, books, sugar (reserved with me in mind for holiday cookie baking), bird seed and more.  Despite this, we made only a very small dent in an otherwise enormous job.