A Benicia Pelican

The phone rings on the boat and to my surprise it's Papa! (I thought he had left 5 minutes earlier for the store to purchase some lunch) "Hey, look out the window," he says! "There's a pelican on the dock just a few feet away from the boat. He dove and caught a fish for his breakfast and he's just finishing the last gobbles." So I take a look as we're talking and there he is, in all his majesty - bigger than I always imagine! We both watch him for another minute or so - me from the boat, Papa from the rental car - and then "our pelican" takes off to circle the marina for more fish.

That got us to thinking, "How big are pelicans anyway?" So, I looked it up. Brown pelicans are 4 to 5 feet in length and have a wing span of 6 to 8 feet! Wow! No wonder he looks so big! And what's even more amazing is that they weigh anywhere between 6 to 12 pounds! Now that is a big bird!

Pelicans are majestic and powerful, but they seem to have a bit of a sense of humor too!

This pelican stetches his beak and the one below shares his food! What a crack-up!

My . . . How The Months Go By?

How does the time go by so quickly? Christmas is just around the corner!! It seems like just a few months ago I was writing to you and commenting about the how quickly the summer had passed and that Mom & Dad and the "Jesse Pelikan Family" had moved to North Carolina, and Johnny coming back from Afghanistan, but that was all the way back in February and April! An entire summer and fall have come and gone since then; Karis had her 4th birthday in July, Jesse and Elina celebrated their 4th anniversary, John and Rondi celebrated their 6th anniversary, and we had our 36th wedding anniversary on the 2nd of September! Misha turned 3 in October and Elijah began his 2nd year of life on the 1st of November! Now that is really amazing! Elijah is one-year old already! Wow! We had our first annual Thanksgiving gathering at Mom & Dad's new North Carolina home (Gami & Grandpa's) - a great potluck feast with all the family, and as of the 15th of November, the Advent Season is upon us.







Phil (a.k.a. Papa, Fr. Philip, Fr. Dad, Chaps, Chappie) is deploying to Iraq with the Marines this coming mid-January, and will be gone at least one year! It's a blessing that I didn't have two gone to the middle-east at the same time! Johnny is officially out of the Army now. He is what is called on "terminal leave", which means he will use up the rest of the leave he has on the books (be on vacation) before he gets out of the Army in early January. Then he starts his new job with a company called Booz Allen Hamilton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Booz_Allen_Hamilton) What's even better is that he will be staying in the Fayetteville area and won't have to move away anywhere! Hurray and thanks be to God for that!


Jesse is enrolled in college for the second time and doing extremely well! He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science Degree from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in Computer Gaming and Design, after which he hopes to work for a gaming development company, like Epic Games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_Games) here in NC (just 45 minutes from our homes), or possible companies such as Rockwell or Lockheed/Martin developing simulation programs for training in real-time to train troops in virtual reality, doctors for surgery, etc. It's a great career field with endless potential!



While "Papa" is "at work" in Iraq for a year, I'll keep things in order on the home front. It's wonderful to have my entire family close by to keep me company and help (when needed). This is a first for me, however, and I know it's going to help the time go by so much faster.




We'll keep the boat nice for Papa and look forward to lots of fun times of fishing and boating with family and friends when he gets back home!