For my family

It's been a tough week. And I'm not talking about my return to work. That seems like a minor inconvenience compared to the sudden loss of life and limb in my family.

* Cousin Brian Pfeiler, make that Sgt. Brian Pfeiler, of Iowa National Guard Company D 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, stepped on a landmine while on patrol in Afghanistan and lost his right foot.

* Twenty-three year old Christian Sogaard, my mother's cousin's son, died in a car crash Tuesday. 

But those stories are not mine to tell.

Even so, it doesn't seem right to earn revenue on a post like this, so I removed the ads.

Aunt Donna in Oklahoma said a few photos of Cole might lift a spirit or two. And he likes to help when he can. So here they are.

Thinking of you Pfeiler and Sogaard families...