the good news and the bad

The good news is, Nick got his Tiger Cub badge at tonight's pack meeting. That's a big deal; they've been working towards this all year. He gets to enjoy his new status for about a month, and then they'll all be promoted to Wolf at the end of the school year. Actually, Nick got a big pile of stuff at awards time, including his third place pinewood derby trophy and his third place ribbon for originality. Both of these were in the special Tiger Cub category, and there were four cars competing. Nick does not seem inclined to do the math. Oh, and there was cake and ice cream afterwards. Zoe entertained the crowd with her expert distribution of icing across vast swaths of her bod. Zoe is getting a bath tomorrow.

And after all that, I have to tell you the bad news too. Rich's uncle Charlie went into the hospital for major heart surjury a few days ago. There were complications. He passed away this morning. I didn't know him very well, but I'm sorry nonetheless; I'm sure he was a good man, and people I care about will miss him. We'll be heading to the funeral this weekend. It's "only" about a four hour drive, so we can manage.