March 15 – “No internet … Day Two”

Well, this is day two of our no internet, no land line experience.  The service guy came by yesterday and did his preliminary examination.  Interesting meter he had.  Somehow told him that the problem was 3458 feet away from the outlet he plugged into.  So he drove off to find the source.  After being gone for about an hour he showed back up to let us know the problem was somewhere in the lines up close to a pole connection.  And of course he didn’t do that kind of work.  And of course, since it was after four o’clock the guys who did do that sort of work were already off the clock for the day.  He assured me he would turn it in, and hopefully someone would show up to fix it tomorrow.  Wonder if we will get a credit for the days we didn’t have service?  Don’t think I’ll hold my breath waiting for it.  Meanwhile … as I said … day two.

Our second Spring Break visitor has come and gone.  We knew Linda and her family back when we were in seminary the first time.  That would be back in the ancient 1978-1980 era.  Her husband wasn’t with her on this trip.  He was in Australia visiting his sister, so Linda decided to take a road trip and visit her far-off relatives and friends from years past.  We stayed up until around midnight, remember old times and swapping hurricane stories.  She is from Miami, so she had a few doozies.  She and Chris even took a drive out to see Seaside.  I guess she had a good time.  She insisted that she was coming back and bringing her husband with her next time.  Bring it on.  Hotel Vaughan is still open for business.  Although the room is booked for the next few days.  Our next guests should arrive from Lubbock sometime this evening.

When Linda left I made a quick dash over to WalMart to pick up the part to fix Uncle Jerry’s toilet.  It just needed one of those stoppers and a new chain.  Actually took me about ten minutes to complete the repair.  Then I took a prescription over to the pharmacy for him.  He had an idea that it might be expensive, so he told me to just plan on picking up half of it.  When I handed it to them, they knew right away that they would have to order it.  None in stock.  I asked them to check on the price so he would know what to expect when it did come in.  Now, this might be an appropriate place for a drumroll.  They entered everything into the computer and then hesitated a bit before reading it off to me.  “After the insurance pays its part, his cost for a month’s supply will be … $600.”  Ouch.  Even half of that is way more than he expected.  They agreed to order some, but I said I would call and ask what he wanted to do.  Sure enough, he just about hit the ceiling.  There was no way he could pay that much, so he refused it completely and said he would just go without.  I stepped in a bit on that count.  The prescription was for a blood thinner, and he suffers from blood clots on top of his mystery maladies, so that sounded kind of important to me.  I told him it might be a better idea to call his PCP first and see if there was a cheaper alternative.  He hadn’t thought of that, so he calmed down and agreed.  We’ll see how that plays out.

Philemon 4 says, “I always thank my God as I remember you in my prayers.”

Father, watch over our friend Linda as she drives back to South Carolina.  Watch over her husband Bob as he reconnects with his sister in Australia.  Watch over the Coulson’s as the drive here from Lubbock.  And please keep your hand on Uncle Jerry life as well.  Thank you for our connection with each of them.  Amen.