Shocked and Appalled

This story just gets crazier and crazier.

Here is a short video from today's meeting that you can check out. Not only was the meeting totally nuts, but Sheriff Goad was actually served after the chaos that was the commissioner's meeting. He will now be appearing in court to discuss his reasons for withholding police cars from non-certified officers. (No-brainer, anyone???) Additionally, the new police officers have sat down with our fine leaders and apparently they're still afraid to reveal their names for fear they'll be harmed.

Keep Goad on the Road!

Today Lucy and I packed the diaper bag full of snacks and crayons and trucked over to the Commissioner's Meeting in Cumberland. THAT was well worth the gas.

In short, David Goad is our sheriff. He's a fine sheriff and is doing his job well. However, a few of the county commissioners have decided to huff and puff and blow his office down. They have decided that the sheriff should just become part of a new "county police force" they've dreamed up and put into action. It's insane.

• He's the elected big bad wolf of Allegany County. The three little pigs can't just give him a new job and call it good.
  
• There is a LOT of mud being slung in these parts and it's getting very dirty. The commissioners have been saying some very nasty things about a lot of people and well, good old boys don't take kindly to the law insultin' their own.
• This was an idea that was being "researched" a few weeks ago, and suddenly it's been put into action without so much as a backward glance or ANY input from the citizens of this county.
  
• They've forced Sheriff Goad to collect all of the equipment from his men in preparation for the new "force." Apparently Goad's men are heartbroken.
  
• There are now 14 officers in limbo and NOT on the streets because they resigned from their positions anticipating a move and now the commissioner's requests to the State for "exemption" from re-certification are pretty much being ignored and the new officers can't do a thing.
  

Needless to say, this meeting was HUGE. They moved it from their little meeting room to a high school auditorium due to the rumored attendance, and the auditorium was PACKED. Lucy was very good and ate about a billion graham crackers. Our county is less than well-educated and the people brought a very good fight. I was so impressed and proud of my fellow Western Marylanders. They came prepared, they spoke well and they really gave the commissioners a run for their money. Their desire to stand by Sheriff Goad is admirable and incredibly caring and considerate. He has been the focus of a lot of controversy in recent years, but because of his hard work and dedication to this county, every person in the auditorium stood behind him 100%. Today I am very, very proud to live among the people of Allegany County.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Today is my Andrew's birthday! Lucy and I are going to think of a special way to celebrate that today. It has to be good! We had a little party for him on Sunday, but I want to celebrate today, too...

Today is also Grandma Susie's birthday!! What an excellent day for celebrating the people I love!!

Happy Birthday to both of you!!!

Catching Up

I will try to catch up, but Lucy can only eat so much Mac-N-Cheese, so I'm on borrowed time, here.

I have not posted in quite awhile. Andrew actually had the nerve to tell me last night that he now thinks he's a better blogger than I am, so I knew it was time to get back on the horse. I'd like to see him spend hours on end watching Wonder Pets and sorting Marshmallow Mateys and still have the sanity to relay the events of the day to a non-speaking audience. Wow, Lucy is going to TOWN on that mac-n-cheese...

Events happening in Cookeland.

• Tim and Andrew tore out a large wall between the kitchen and the office. We now have better lighting, a stronger cross-breeze and no wall to hide our junk behind. Eventually there will be an eating bar there for me to teach the Cookelings their school lessons.
  
• Lucy now says "coming!" It sounds very much like "Coshish!"
  
• I am craving chocolate milk, turkey and cheese and SALT. This is because Dr. H specifically told me to cut way back on my salt intake. Sigh.
  
• Andrew and Brian went on a canoe trip over the weekend and Andrew is incredibly sun burned.
  
• Suz was here for 4 days of fun!! It was a giant Laura/Suz Lovefest.
  
• Maple now knows the command "Go to bed!" She's a pretty good little doggie! She also needs a babysitter for this weekend, if anyone's looking to help us out...
• I'm doing some mock packing for the upcoming trip - I'm really trying to avoid checking luggage, but that's incredibly difficult.
  

I will post more later. Lucy is tearing the house apart and Drumline just came on!

Coming Clean...

I was going to wait a few more weeks, but I'm tired of not posting about everything!


WE'RE EXPECTING!!!

Baby Cooke #2 is expected to arrive in the middle of February and we're very, very excited. I'm 11 weeks pregnant now and everything looks great. I have been feeling great and am very happy to be heading into my second trimester with so little yuckiness behind me. We had an ultrasound at 8 weeks or so and we have a very active little person on our hands. We'll be going in again just before our trip to double check everything before we hop on the plane.
Anyway, Miss Lucy is up from her nap and she's wanting lunch! Just wanted to share our happy news!