Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 16, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

I’ll start with the baseball report tonight, and the good news is that Ethan, Aiden, and Aaron won their game; and will be in the championship game on the holiday weekend!  Their team mates stopped razzing them over the losses while we were away; and they’re all happy now.  Zack’s team mates can’t say the same, since their team lost yesterday afternoon and they won’t be in the championship game.  Zack is definitely not upset about that, and while Caleb and Sebastian are disappointed; they’ll be okay – and they really did play their best even if Zack and Eli opted to entertain over playing to win.

As for Ethan and me, we had fun with our respective co-ed sleepovers – including the dinners with the Seagers or Drapers and the evening entertainment that included Ethan’s ball game for all of us; movies and-or music play time after we got to our respective homes for the rest of the night; and we won’t write about the make-out time that definitely happened at both homes after parents and siblings and visiting friends went to bed or at least left the teen couples in the houses alone ahead of our respective co-ed sleepovers.  We also aren’t going to write about our parents’ kid-free night or anything Cassie and Michael might have been doing after Chloe and Vic’s wedding and reception!  We can report that the wedding was beautiful; Chloe and Vic are very happy; and we are glad that they are joining the club for college couples that are finding the kind of love that Cassie and Michael have shown them is possible – even outside of our alternate universe! ;^)

Moving along, Naomi and Ethan decided to meet up with us for Tai Chi by the river this morning; we split up again for breakfast; and then the church service and Sunday school were extra-special for our first time there since the Sunday before we headed to Canada.  We also helped out with some prep work for the teen-led holiday weekend service; and a couple of teen praise team practices have been set up to get ready for that service.  We knew that was coming, but it is also one more thing on our already-full schedule for the rest of the month.

After church, Ethan and I went home with Mom and Dad; we had lunch with just the four of us; and then we had a lazy family-and-friends’ afternoon with play time that included a mix of back yard, park, and river play time.  Dad dealt with some office work too, but he took breaks too; and we all had fun.  Cassie and Michael got home with time to spare before the late buffet, so we joined in on the welcome home visit at their house; we let Mom, Dad, and others spend most of that time trading stories while we mostly listened in and enjoyed the entertainment; and then we met up with a lot of family and friends for that buffet dinner at the Inn.  Since we were on that trip with Cassie and Michael; we shared them with other family and friends and helped out with next-gen kid control instead of sitting with them too; we had fun with the kids and enjoyed the great food as always; and then we went home with Mom and Dad again while Cassie and Michael ended up spending the rest of the evening with his family.

Since then, we’ve done a bit of office work and a Magi lesson; bath or Jacuzzi time followed; and now we’re looking to get some sleep before we’ll be up early to see Dad and Anna Marie on their way to Crystal Springs.  That’s also it for our own news; so let’s cover the world news and then we’ll go and get started on that nap time.

Instead of another bad news round of war stories; let’s review some war-adjacent reports that we’ve touched on now and then, but are getting more attention in some alternate media circles.  First up, more stories are getting out there about conditions on American navy ships and the problems that are growing ranging from bad food to basic systems breaking down after setting new deployment records without any port calls for resupply and shore leaves for the crews.  That problem is compounded by the problems in the Persian Gulf that keeps our ships away from our ports in the region; and we’ll add that the current plan to switch out aircraft carrier groups now will still take a couple of months to complete and only resets the clock while the core problems remain for the crews as they are kept away from their families and friends for too long without any breaks.

The other story we’ll cover tonight is about the plans to build up weapons production in western countries including ours in the context of rare earth metals.  While President Trump and others continue to hit China with new tariffs and trade restrictions, China has control of those rare earth metals and minerals needed for those high-tech weapons, so if they shut down those exports – or even just make them very expensive to ‘enemy’ countries; those plans to increase weapons manufacturing will not happen or become too-expensive when most of those plans are built on debt financing.  On that same topic, drone warfare for ‘our’ side will get challenging too if the number one producer of drones and drone components shuts down that trade to their enemies too.  Yes, we could eventually deal with those problems, but that would take years to fix – and we’re talking about a problem that was self-inflicted from decades of bad foreign and trade policies.

For the historic record, the main reason that China has rare earths control is because ‘our’ leaders exported that work to cheaper-labor-costs China for various reasons including the environmental costs of dealing with the refining processes.  China has mastered those processes and solved many of the environmental problems along the way; so the issues now aren’t only about the mining but also the tech and capacity to do the work.  Our point for this line of commentary is that our leaders are idiots at best and insane or evil at worst; since all of the current war-mongering is far more-likely to destroy our ‘western’ countries before we destroy countries with histories that span Millennia!

We’ll stop there and get back to the war stories tomorrow.  Morning will come extra-early if we want to see Dad before he leaves for the city; so we’re going to get some sleep while we can.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 15, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Congratulations, Chloe and Vic Miklov – You’re Married!

Happy 26^th Birthday, Eric Bradley!

We don’t have any news from the wedding yet, but we do want to mention that Cassie is one of Chloe’s bridesmaids while Michael is not in the bridal party too; and the friends’ guest list for the wedding is fairly-small and doesn’t include very many of Cassie’s closest college friends except for the group of friends that Chloe made during Cassie’s first summer semester.  The weather is great for the wedding, if a bit on the hot side for things like outdoor photo shoots, but we really don’t have news yet; so we’ll save those stories for when we get them from Cassie and Michael sometime tomorrow after they get home again.

Here at home, we’ve had a fairly-quiet day with some more chores at multiple homes this morning and a lazy play afternoon where we mostly relaxed and cooled off when needed with river swims and frozen treats.  We watched the first couple of innings of Zack’s ball game mid-afternoon, but it is a bit hot for sitting on bleachers for hours; so we didn’t stay for the entire game.  Right now, Ethan and I are packing overnight bags for our respective sleepovers at Naomi’s or Aiden’s homes.  We’re going to have dinner with their families too and will get together for the boys’ baseball game tonight, but Mom and Dad are getting a kid-free night ahead of Dad’s week in Crystal Springs; and we’re happy to spend some quality time with our future in-laws too!  That’s all we have for today so far; so let’s wrap this up with a quick world news update.

In the Middle East, two stories that are getting attention for the wrong reasons are about President Trump’s claims that he will soon declare the Strait of Hormuz as a territory of the United States and stories from and about our aircraft carriers related to record-setting deployments that are apparently having a devastating effect on the crews as moral crumbles and conditions on the ships deteriorates and President Trump and other American leaders insist that all is well and ‘our’ ships can handle far-longer missions and deployments without breaks or shore leaves and port calls.  Both of those stories are great little examples of how detached from reality our leaders have become; so we’ll simply suggest that the President should move to the aircraft carrier being deployed now to replace the carrier group setting that current deployment record and we’ll see how long he can last without a break – including living in a standard crew bunk and eating in the regular crew mess halls – not in the officer’s mess!  A bit of perspective would do our world a lot of good!

For the Ukraine war, the top stories in the west are about Turkey getting the green light from our leaders to send weapons to Ukraine – including ATACMS missiles; and reports of a missile strike on one of Russia’s space centers that may have been targeting a facility related to Russia’s version of Starlink.  Both the arms deal and that attack are not going to end well for Ukraine – or Turkey; so we will wait to see how Russia will respond.  We can also report that the Russian attacks into Ukraine are expanding again as they work to destroy not only Ukraine’s Black Sea ports and any ships that attempt to unload or load there – they are now targeting rail hubs and the train locomotives to shut down as much of the transportation grid as possible.  Since they’ve also been targeting gas stations and that makes it challenging to fuel transport trucks throughout the country; Ukraine’s economy is slowly grinding to a halt and that will be devastating for the people and businesses.  That will be especially-true for farmers and related businesses heading into harvests that they may not be able to get from the fields without fuel for equipment or ability to sell those crops to companies that can’t export anything in turn or store the inventory when storage facilities are already full to capacity.  For the memory-challenged, last winter was terrible in Ukraine where even the Mayor of Kiev warned citizens that they should flee the city for anywhere else, but this coming winter could be deadly with no heat, electricity, or food – and that will be far-worse for the Ukrainian soldiers – if the front lines can even hold until winter; since their situation will get a lot worse when the fall rains hit and the fields turn into quagmires.

Ethan and I need to get going soon; so let’s wrap up there.  We really wish the rest of the world could enjoy the kind of happiness we get to have here in our little town, so while we can’t make that happen everywhere else quite yet; we can at least lead by example; so we’ll go and do that now with some of our favorite people; and we’ll have those stories for you sometime tomorrow!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 14, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

It is really great to be home – even when our first full day back has been all about yard work and chores at multiple homes and cottages!  It has also been very hot with another triple-digit high this afternoon; so we’ve taken some cool-off swim breaks when needed.  Naomi and Aiden worked with us, but we also worked with some cousins some of the time too; and now we have the work done and are getting set up for a camping night that will follow family plans for a barbeque dinner and outdoor movies.  Ethan and I are hosting the camping; so the cousins and friends getting in on that action are converging on our yard.  We’ve set up our tents and this update is being multi-tasked while we’re rounding up our gear and we have already gotten cleaned up from the chores and camp set-up work-so-far.  The rest of our news is still ahead of us; so we’ll have those stories for you sometime tomorrow.  We need to get back to the fun – and our family and friends; so let’s wrap this up with a quick world news report.

Instead of another bad news war update; let’s cover a different developing crisis in Europe.  The heat waves this summer are now causing problems for the electrical grid in a lot of countries.  That is in the news today because Romania has needed to shut down its only nuclear power plant due to low water levels in the Danube River that has now dropped below minimums needed to cool the reactors.  That one plant accounts for a fifth of the country’s electricity generation; so they are forced to implement cuts during peak hours that include shutting down manufacturing and other reductions.  The grids are interconnected; so the reduction there is affecting other countries that have relied on extra power from Romania; and that is just one location of many having issues.  Now add in higher costs for the natural gas used for many other generating plants; and electricity is not just getting scarce; it is expensive when you can get it – and that affects prices for pretty much everything that is produced in Europe!  With all of the other problems in the region; inflation is the last thing they need.

One other story that might become a bigger problem than it already is in the coming months as more migrants move toward Europe is something we saw from the United Kingdom.  It is really just an example of problems that are happening in Europe, but the story got our attention because it was about a small village being ‘assigned’ migrants that may now be a danger to the local women because the village now has six migrant men for every one local woman.  News flash to their leaders – that kind of demographic imbalance is dangerous and unsustainable – especially when cultures start to clash due to those kinds of tensions.  While that is just one story, that same problem is happening because of the migrant influx all across Europe; and it is only a matter of time before we start seeing more conflicts than we are already hearing about for migrant gangs and an increase in crime to the point where police won’t even go into some migrant areas of their cities and towns.

We should also mention new tariffs on China from President Trump – one-hundred percent on drones and parts.  As we mention now and then, tariffs are generally stupid, since the costs just get passed along to the consumer or customer eventually; and targeting China like this just encourages them to move away from trade with us to other markets.  They actually are doing that and have been for years now, so as their percentage of trade with the United States goes down; the less they will be affected by our insane foreign policies and trade practices!

Let’s stop there.  We need to get back to the fun and we really don’t want to take any of the mad we feel about all of the bad news elsewhere in the world – so we won’t and spread love and happiness instead even if that is only with the people closest to us!

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!

Ehlana's and Ethan's Journals - August 13, 2026

 

Ehlana and Ethan:

Welcome to your Witch Falls family, Alex White!

Congratulations, Marcie and Allen – it’s a boy!

Ethan and I rarely think about the connections between Cassie and Michael’s school friends with any of our best friends, but Aaron definitely has a family link to Allen; so he has a new cousin tonight too!  He and Sophia stopped for a visit to the clinic tonight too, but we weren’t in on that part of their day.  We’re also not doing any co-ed sleepovers tonight as we’re each spending the night with our respective parents – though we did have a group dinner with all of the parents that could do that meal with us.

As for our own travel adventures, we were up early local time in Seattle; skipped Tai Chi; and packed up and headed for the airport before dawn.  We needed extra time to return the rental van; check our luggage; and get through the usual airport hoops with time to spare before our flight boarding time.  Michael reported some fun from the rental desk; since the miles – or kilometers – we put on that van seriously impressed the agent handling the return.  By the time we took off for the flight home, we were all ready to relax for a while; some of us had little cat naps; and the air time through to our ‘home’ airport was smooth and uneventful.  Thanks to the time change, we arrived by early afternoon, and our welcoming committee helped Cassie and Michael by having their car ready for them when we were finished clearing the airport and collecting our luggage.  Mom also had fresh travel bags for them so they’d have everything they needed for the wedding and the rest of the events they’ll be attending with Chloe, Vic, and the rest of the wedding guests.  We met up for a late fast food lunch and a chance for Mom to talk with Cassie and Michael before they headed out; and then we headed home.  Since we had six teens to get home, Mom had help with Sophia’s Mom handling the second vehicle; and Jessica came along because she really missed her little sister! ;^)

Okay, Jessica helped out with retrieving Cassie and Michael’s car from long-term parking, but she missed Sophia a lot too!  After the fast food lunch and getting an order to go for Aunt Leanne, we hit the road for home.  Naomi and Aiden were with us while Sophia and Aaron were with her Mom and sister; we stayed together all the way home; and then Mom – and Dad – hosted the welcome home dinner for all of us.  We had time to deal with luggage to all homes first and freshen up before getting together again for that meal; and we had a handful of cameo moments with family and friends checking in to welcome us back too.  Everything about that was amazing, but one difference we noticed was the change in temperature from the west coast.  It was hot again today – in the triple-digits; so we definitely noticed the switch from the mid-seventies to the mid-one-hundreds!  Maybe I should re-phrase that, but hopefully future readers understand that I meant around one-hundred and five – not in the one-hundred and fifties.  If that isn’t true somewhere in our more-distant future; then the aliens have taken over the world and adapted both their host bodies and the planet for a different ecology!  As for the rest of our day, that meal was a highlight; we delivered food for Naomi’s mother at the salon; and Sophia’s father took a break from the gas station for a quick cameo visit to get his food in-person and spend time with Sophia and Aaron.  Ryan did the same and they took turns to do that, and after we ate; our guests headed for home and Ethan and I helped with the clean-up before we moved into the office for a visit while Dad worked to get ready for his week in Crystal Springs.  Mom did a Magi lesson with us and we did some charity work, but then it was bath or Jacuzzi time; and I will happily admit that I am more-happy to be home than Ethan is because of my Jacuzzi!  Now we’re winding down toward nap time with a return to our usual bedtime computer checks and twin chat fun; so let’s wrap this up with a different version of a world news report.

After a travel day – and while we were in-transit too – Ethan and I have been thinking and talking about the implications of the developing energy crises around the world from different perspectives than are normally covered in the media.  We do not want to put future Magi to sleep with too many details – especially if you’re driving while listening to an audio version of our journal, but try to stay with us; since we do think that a different perspective on current global economic issues are very important.  We definitely wish that our world leaders would pay more attention – and know they won’t do that even if they could read our journals.

While there are a lot of complex factors that affect world economies and supply chains, there are some basic facts of life too, and one of them is that there is a direct relationship between energy and everything that is produced.  For the purposes of our commentary, while the percentage of productivity costs related to energy changes depending on the country; the world average is around ten percent of global GDP.  Taking our country for an example, that means that our approximately thirty-three trillion dollars of GDP requires around three-point-three trillion dollars of energy to sustain.  That relationship changes based on things like energy prices, but not really by much over time; since increased costs just get worked into the total prices that make up GDP anyway.  Our point, though, is that as energy becomes restricted, by definition, GDP will go down too – and that is happening now around the world.

Keeping those thoughts in mind, let’s add in the reality that our own national leaders don’t seem to care about that because the hardest hit economies won’t be ours first.  That will happen to countries most-reliant on energy imports.  They are wrong about that because we also have a negative trade imbalance of more than a trillion dollars a year – meaning that we import the products made with energy used by those same other countries to the tune of more than one-hundred billion dollars worth of their energy consumption.

The factors we’re working through are adding up, but stay with us; since we are taking this somewhere – we promise!  Let’s add in some world totals data now.  Global GDP was around one-hundred and eighteen trillion dollars last year; ‘our’ thirty-two trillion dollars accounted for a bit over a quarter of that total; and the world collectively spent around twelve trillion dollars on energy to produce that total output.  Thanks to the current wars, actual energy production could drop by five or ten percent as inventories are depleting rapidly and we’ll collectively need to compete for the oil, gas, and other supplies that are available.  At that point, prices won’t matter because production will adjust to total energy usage.  For our examples, a ten percent drop would mean a cut of eleven to twelve trillion dollars from total global GDP.  Yes, that won’t be equal in every country, but then you also get into the human nature of scarcity behavior that will lead to hoarding or at least protecting both resources and productivity.  We are already seeing signs of that as trade wars heat up with tariffs and export and import controls.

Our point for all of this is that everyone in the world is going to have a big problem regardless of the differing impacts thanks to the wars and other stupid political policies.  There isn’t really any way to predict how out of control that could get; and our leaders really need to change direction before we all get to find out.  Finally, for this part of our report, we want to point out that people in other countries who have lived through extreme hardships are far-better prepared than ‘we’ are in most western countries where we’ve only known comparative-comfort and affluence for generations now.  We are sure that the fall will hurt more in the countries with the most to lose!

We’ll get off the soap box now, but before we wrap this up; we do still want to include a bit of news from the current war fronts.  The Middle East war of words rages on; the straits are or aren’t open depending on who you ask; and the horrors from Israel now apparently include intentionally trying to burn southern Lebanon to ashes to utterly destroy the region just as they’ve destroyed Gaza and are trying to take over the West Bank too while carelessly killing, injuring, and displacing millions of people.  Expect another major increase in migrant refugees heading for Europe and beyond; and we will soon see that those ‘local’ problems are going to become all-new crises elsewhere!

While the ‘hot’ part of the war in the Middle East is likely only on a temporary hiatus; the fighting continues to heat up in and around Ukraine.  The attacks on both sides continue to expand to new areas; and we’re especially-concerned by the targeting of civilians and food infrastructure.  Russia and Ukraine export a lot of food to the world; and that could end very badly for the countries and people that rely on those supplies to survive.  On the political front for that war, European leaders are playing with fire on many fronts, but their piracy and theft of Russian ships and cargoes are risking retaliation from Russia, and for one example, Russian leaders pointed out that some European countries are currently sending many commercial ships through the Arctic along the passage along the Russian coast that is possible in large part thanks to Russia’s state-of-the-art ice breaker ships and their navy.  It would be very easy for them to not only take some of those ships to retaliate and recover losses, but they could also shut down the passage to all enemies of Russia.  Either option is bad; and all western countries and their leaders need to stop the piracy and theft before those retaliations start.  For the record, our leaders are to blame for this; since we started the trend for piracy with the ships we stole out of the Caribbean Sea and elsewhere; and now other countries are ignoring maritime laws too – or at least they’ll keep doing that until the costs become too high for them to continue the insanity.  Ethan and I do not foresee ships returning to having cannons again, but we could definitely picture commercial ships with a supply of kamikaze drones and other weapons to use for defense – or for piracy.  Why should political leaders and navies get to have all of the fun?  Corporations could start up private pirate fleets.  We can definitely picture Black Rock Pirates Incorporated! ;^)

Okay, on that silly note; it is obviously time for us to stop and get some sleep; so that is all for this update.

Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!