Pretty common start to my day. Quiet time. Read the newspaper. Study the sermon for Sunday. Wait for Chris to wake up. I did spend some time getting income tax stuff together. Just got started, mind you. That prep takes several long hours before OI can send it in.
We
did have an errand or two to run. First stop
was WalMart. Nathan asked us to bring
him whatever propane tanks we had (we had four) so they can use them at Cailyn’s
birthday party this afternoon. Outdoor
heaters. All the rage. Especially when it’s 38 degrees outside right
now. We decided to go ahead and get them
filled to save him some time. Hence the
stop at WalMart. They have a self-serve dispenser
outside their store. Simple. Just enter your credit card information and the
door opens. Pop in your empty and close
the door. Push another button and a full
cannister magically appears. Except when
it doesn’t. Oh, it ate the trade-in all
right. But there was no subsequent
appearance of a full one. The machine
did spit out a receipt indicating the procedure had been terminated. But those empties are critical. They knock off 30 bucks from the price of the
gas. Of course, they were no help
whatever inside the store. “That’s the
vendor’s responsibility. You have to
call them.” Wonderful.
We
headed on to our next stop, Randall’s, to pick up some prescriptions for
Chris. Well, to order some
prescriptions, anyway. One was not a
problem. They placed the order and will
let us know when it arrives. The other,
we were told, is experiencing a nationwide shortage. Not sure when or if that will arrive. It is one of the blood pressure medicines
that is keeping hers under control pretty well right now. Wonderful.
Meanwhile,
I called the number on the propane ticket.
They gave me a special code to type in back at WalMart that will open
the machine. But, what should I spy as
we walk into Randalls? You guessed
it. Another outdoor propane tank
cabinet. But this one was old school. The instructions read, “Leave your cannister
by the cabinet, pay at the clerk inside, and a store employee will open it for
you.” Now that’s how to do business. I paid at the service desk and sure enough, a
store employee met me at the cabinet with his key. He even loaded them onto a shopping
buggy.
Later
in the afternoon we took the tanks up to Nathan. It promises to be a cold party today. Outside party. Cold.
Bounce house. Cold. Grilling.
Cold. Did I mention that it will
be cold?
We
also volunteered to take Cailyn over to the high school for the varsity girls’
basketball game. I have decided to say “Yes”
to as many experience-oriented possibilities as I can. Her seventh grade team was welcoming the
varsity players onto the court to start the game. Then at halftime they got to engage in a knock-out
shoot-off against the freshman team. Cailyn
made it through a round or two before she got retired. Looked like they were all having a great
time, though. The actual basketball game
was a fun one to watch. Kind of a back
and forth affair, with Santa Fe playing catch-up most of the night. In the end they fell short, though. One of the Galveston fire fighters was the
girls’ coach. He did a pretty good job
with them. Made me miss coaching - a
little bit. Cailyn went home with one of
the girls on her team. The one whose Dad
played on one of my teams when I coached Nathan. We’ll see them all at the party this afternoon. That would be the COLD party …
1
Peter 3:13 says, “Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good?”
Father,
thank you for this cold. It indirectly
led to a chance to experience a varsity girls basketball game for the first
time in a very long time. Brought back
memories for sure. Amen.
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