Are You Guys OK?

Are you Californians okay out there? Mika says the fires aren't near you, and that you would call if you had to evacuate. Then he gave me a lecture about not freaking out every time I heard "Southern California" in the news because... Well, I think that's when I quit paying attention and just nodded my head while I thought about what he would look like with a ZZ Top style beard. Still, I'd love to actually hear from you.

My cell phone number is 417-529-7467 and our home number is 417-208-4218. Mika has to leave his phone at work from now on because he and his coworkers got in trouble, and he can only have work calls or other AT&T calls during the day. You can call my phone any time you need him. Please don't ever hesitate. Also, our stupid home phone will come up as "Withheld" or "Blocked" or "Private" when we call you because the idiot phone company has it set up that way and can't seem to fix it. (The lady I talked to about changing it tried to transfer me to another department three times but it kept ringing back to her desk. You would think one of the questions on the application for a telephone company would be: Do you know how to operate a telephone?)

By the way, Mika came in 2nd place at the annual Halloween costume party at my sister's place losing out to my parents. He was Jesus. When we walked in, I kid you not, the raging party fell almost completely quiet before letting out a collective "It's Jesus" gasp. It was just his hair down and a white sheet with a rope around the waist. (Ok, he wore clothes underneath, even though I insisted Jesus did not wear Gap Jeans and Adidas.) I dressed like myself and told everyone I was Satan. People kept pulling on my dreadlocks really hard because they thought it was a wig. Everyone kept asking if I was supposed to be "Predator" or an "Orc." I didn't even have any make-up or a costume on! My dad and step-mom were dressed up like Southern aristocrats that looked all beaten to hell and back. They were Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Mika's costume worked out really well for my brother Luke and me. Mika had to be the designated driver. We were secretly hoping we'd get pulled over so I could video tape Jesus executing a field sobriety test.

Little Luke decided he wanted to be Poseidon this year. We Googled images of him. Apparently, there are a few very famous statues of Poseidon... completely nude! We had a good laugh over that. He used a really awesome long, white wig, a white robe tied with a length of rope, and a white beard Mika fashioned out of a swatch of rabbit hair he had in his fly-tying kit. Then they built a triton out of a broom handle a piece of jigsawed wood. It turned out so much better than I expected! I'll post pictures as soon as my sister emails them to me.

Mika has just started a pretty big project over at my folks place. They hired him and my brother to completely remodel their living room. He'll be working every weekend and a couple of evenings a week for about a month. He's been on a "project" kick for a while now, so it works out. He just knocked down a wall between our dining room and the spare bedroom so we would have a bigger area for lounging. Then he built us a HUMONGOUS avairy for the pet room. I'm not kidding, this thing measures 8 feet long by 6 feet high by 2 feet deep and has three sections in it. There's room for all 12 birds and then some. Our breeding pair of cockatiels just laid another four eggs that will hatch mid-December.

Luke and Mika's cat ran out in the road and got hit by a car. It's dead now.

We have a new inside/outside dog named Zeke. He's a St. Ber-doodle. He actually just looks like an enormous Schnauzer. He's been fantastic so far. He's another rescue dog.

We are probably going to have to get rid of the goats. They jumped the fence again and Mika got a ticket from the city. He has to go to court on Thursday for "allowing 2 goats to roam at large." I'm taking the video camera for this!

Well, that's a not-so-quick update from the Missourians. I hope it finds you all well!

Jessie