4/4. Perhaps the most commonly used time signature. It's also a day in April. A month from now, the time signature of the day gets more interesting.

Yeah, the Red Sox lost the opener. Reality trumps fantasy this week. Pitching is going to be their weakness, as it is most years. And no one is going to win a lot of games against a first-ballot Hall of Famer such as Randy Johnson. (Here's a video clip of RJ's most famous bird-hunting trip.) These guys are, IMO, doing an interesting job of chronicling the baseball season as they see it.

Yesterday morning we had the chance to babysit for a few hours. We had good fun. They're such great kids, each unique, a lot of fun and very responsible. When we had a question, particularly regarding the care of Cassandra, Tess (6) was quick to find us what we needed.

My father continues to do pretty well at this new, slower pace. During our visit, I reset the clock on his television to the time of the season. He didn't need much more assistance this week. Stairs are still a problem for him. He needs to go to the cellar to have his sauna and, during rainy spells such as this, to check on the sump pump. We're still hoping that we can get a railing for the stairs that lead from the parking area to the camp.

Recently I received a call from a friend looking for advice. A dentist had refused to work on him because my friend's blood pressure was too high. My friend called, looking for another dentist. He hasn't been to a doctor in many years. He didn't like the doctors he'd seen because it seemed like they were too willing to prescribe a lot of pills. I suggested a few resources where he might be able to find a doctor with a different approach to healing and medicine, including osteopaths. That led to a discussion of chiropractic and massage. He'd recently had a massage and was particularly pleased, not only because the massage was helpful, but also because the masseuse is a bartender.

We can be comforted that, no matter when the Pope's funeral will take place, the Royal Wedding will go on. I know that you were worried.

The National Weather Service has been declaring, rescinding, and declaring flood warnings throughout the state. (I've used the Emergency Email service for several years; it provides me with email notifications of watches and warnings. Sometimes I have the messages sent to my cell phone when we're going to be at the camp and away from the Internet.) The flooding looks to be damaging, but not deadly. Snow is troublesome, but water is much worse. A snowplow or snowblower isn't much good against rising waters.

It will be windy for the seal hunt.