Ehlana and Ethan:
Happy 29th Birthday, Caleb Palmer!
We’re leaving it up to Caleb’s family and friends to help him with having an awesome day; and haven’t even seen him today while busy with our own adventures.
Our play time and sleepover with Cassie and Michael was amazing from the biking to a grilled dinner; the evening music, video gaming, and movies; and through to the co-ed nap time with our four best friends. After all of that fun and the nap time, we started today with Tai Chi by the river and a hot breakfast; our friends all moved on to their own work or chores plans after the teens in the house cleaned up after breakfast; and then Ethan and I took care of our own chores at home, the cottage, and Grandma and Grandpa’s house. Since we haven’t mentioned them lately, our grandparents are still in the sunnier south and didn’t come home for the early Easter, but they are going to be home in a couple of weeks. It took us until around one o’clock to get our chores done; we had a quick snack lunch, and then we met up with some friends and cousins for a bike ride on the trails. That was fun – especially when we added in a Pizzeria pizza slices stop when we got hungry; and now we’re split up again from our best friends while they pack overnight bags before coming to stay here with us for the second co-ed sleepover of the night.
Ethan and I are hosting our best friends for the rest of the day. We also need to get to the kitchen to help with making dinner, but wanted to get this update written while we were getting the lounge ready for our guests. Now we’re ready to get back to the fun with Mom, Dad, and our friends; so let’s wrap this up with just one bit of world news from the Iran war and the peace talks in Pakistan.
The good news is that the peace talks continue, but the stories being reported are erratic and unreliable as to whether any true progress is happening. There is news that Israeli attacks continue in Lebanon and Hezbollah fighters continue to attempt defense and retaliation. The ceasefire seems to be holding in Iran and other parts of the Middle East, but the threats continue on both sides for resuming the war if the peace talks fail. There are other stories about mines in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf that include having ‘our’ Navy use minesweepers, but that’s new; since we’ve previously been told that no mines were deployed at all. Maybe that’s a story that was hidden to keep oil prices controlled as much as possible, but if that is true; then even a peace deal could require weeks of added delays to re-open the Strait.
Finally, President Trump offered news of fleets of empty tankers heading for the United States to be filled up with our oil and liquid natural gas for the rest of the world. We see some serious problems with that plan, since we do not have that kind of excess capacity to replace ten or fifteen million barrels per day of oil to export. Even if we use the Strategic Petroleum Reserves; the drawdown capacity is only around two million barrels per day. The legality of using those reserves for export won’t matter, but we do have to wonder about the stupidity of using them for anything other than true emergencies. Let’s hope that we don’t have any disasters here at home; since our leaders apparently only care about their own power and wealth while happily risking catastrophe for the rest of us.
Okay, that’s enough for today and we really need to go and help Mom now; so that’s all for today.
Until next time, live with love, fellow Magi of the Light!
