September 4 - “Zero, aaaand switch”

Yesterday I woke up fighting the good ol’ September drip, drip, drip of excess post nasal fluidity. Very annoying. 

But it was Thursday Clean House Day once again. Strange how that keeps happening every single week. And somehow Chris never forgets. She tackled the bathrooms and dusting. I had the sweeping and vacuuming. Freddy just lolled around, watching us (always wanted to use the word “loll” in a real sentence. Thanks, Freddy).

I made an order online for some more birthday cards. The Mardel site had exactly zero available. Hmm. Interesting. I then went to the old standby, LifeWay. Not only did they have some, but they were on sale for just $3.99. Great bargain. Kind of scary, though. Wonder if they are dumping inventory in anticipation of not carrying them anymore. 

But then, when I went to the checkout page, I saw that it wasn’t Lifeway at all. They had farmed out the boxed cards orders to Christian Book Distributors. Oh well. Seaside had an account with them anyway. 

However, I got an email from them shortly after the order. The card needed to be updated. Oops. Thought I had checked that. I made the required changes, and soon got another email that all was well. Phew! Hope these folks appreciate their upcoming birthday cards. 

Today we are heading to Bryan, Texas, to watch some football. Luke has a junior high game at 4:30. Caleb plays in the high school game at 7. There is also a junior varsity game in between. Go, Wind Skyhawks!

Oh! I forgot the really exciting news. I figured out how to fix my email. Remember, every incoming email automatically went to the Trash file? There was a drop down menu on the computer page of yahoo. One of the options was exactly what I’ve been looking for. Pushed one button and boom! All repaired.

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18‬:‭2‬ says, The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my rock where I seek refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Father, be with the boys in the football games today. Amen. 

September 3 - “Movin’ on”

Chris was up and at ‘em really early yesterday. She had a physical therapy appointment. First one after the doc appointment. First one with a little strength training sprinkled in. She was sore after this one. But definitely progressing. Way to go, Chris!

Meanwhile, I did my walk around the clinic building. I figured up a quarter mile track, so I had about 40-45 minutes to complete eight laps. Phew! Barely got back in time. Chris got out of her workout three minutes early. 

We stopped at some grocery stores on the way home. Chris has been searching for some Ma’am Papaul’s shrimp gumbo mix. It has become apparent that one carries it in Galveston. 

Kroger’s had none, but she did find the olive oil she’s been looking for. Randall’s was a strikeout as well. But at least there we were able to pick up a prescription and some Thera Tears. 

Next we stopped by the bank. It was past time to resolve the dispute over our stolen money. Sadly, we were informed that the online payment company was now involved, so the dispute is still under investigation. 

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭6‬:‭33‬-‭34‬ says, But seek first the kingdom of God , and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Father, help Chris as she works through this next phase of her rehab. Amen. 

September 2 - “It was a flop”

The storm was pretty much a flop, at least as far as our journey into Texas was concerned. No wind. Not even a drop of rain. We made it to Chris’ doc appointment with ease. 

This was her big three month check up with the surgeon. The hope was that she could at least start strength exercises with the physical therapist. Well, she got that word and more. He gave her a three month pass from seeing him. Strengthening is fine (under proper direction, of course). In fact, he’s a big fan of the Thera-bands as opposed to weights. So next phase … here we go!

Since we were already in Texas, we pulled out our list of stuff to do there. First stop was Mardel’s, where we get birthday cards. To our surprise, they are undergoing a massive restructuring project. The inventory they have is less than half of what they used to have. And among the missing items? Yep. All boxed cards. They have been on order for six plus weeks. So ... punt. At least for now. 

Next we stopped at Dick’s to look for some hiking pants for Chris. They had some, but they were really, really proud of them. So we took a walk all the way to the other end of the shopping center to REI. Didn’t find anything there. So it appeared we struck out.  But then … we passed a store that had been closed earlier. Duluth something or other. And as luck would have it, we found just what she was looking for. She tried them on, and we walked out with another checkmark on our Alaska trip list. 

On the way back to Galveston we ran into just a taste of a sprinkle from Tropical Storm Eduardo. We could see the clouds off in the distance, but as far as high winds and torrential rains? Nope. Totally missed us. Well, not totally. We did get an afternoon of very light, very slow, very steady drizzle. That’s a good thing. 

‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1‬:‭3‬ says, His divine power has given us everything required for life and godliness through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

Father, thank you for the rain we did get today. Amen. 

September 1 - “Hurricane Trim Time”

Well, a Tropical Storm Warning was issued for Galveston County yesterday. At least part of Galveston County. Like, the Port Bolivar part. I guess because of coastal flooding. It should miss us head on, and since it is east of us, we should be on the less-dirty side of the storm. 

Meanwhile, I dragged out the loppers and went to work on the trees in the front yard. Hurricane trim time. Even if it misses us completely, the trees still needed a haircut. Almost as badly as I do. We got both sycamores and all three oleanders. And as I was about to shut it down, I glanced up at our neighbor’s porch. Hanging precariously by a slim sliver of tree bark was a pretty substantial branch. No way it would last through a storm of any magnitude. And if it did fall, our fence would be at risk. 

I walked up on their porch to get a closer look. Sure enough, things didn’t look good to my eagle-eye hurricane trim time senses. I casually reached up and gave it the slightest little tug. Just enough to gauge what force would be needed to get it down. Boom! That’s all it took. The whole massive branch came crashing down on my head. Fortunately, it missed our fence, other than a scrape on its way down. I hauled it to the street and got it chopped into smaller lengths for the trash guys. Hope the pile is still there when they come today. Hey! I just hope they come today, period. 

We had to make a quick Walmart run. Well, not necessarily quick. We just had a grocery list to check off. And yes. Bananas topped the page. Followed closely by Freddy food. Hey. We had to get stocked up for the horrendous storm barreling down upon us, didn’t we?  

‭‭Daniel‬ ‭12‬:‭3‬ says, Those who have insight will shine like the bright expanse of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

Father, watch over everyone in the path of this storm. Amen. 

August 31 - “Tiny little slider-burgers”

We welcomed back our pastor in church yesterday. He finished up his brief Sabbatical, a trip to Virginia to take Micah to school, and then a trip to Atlanta for a conference. Sometimes it’s good to have a return to the familiar. 

We had some guests for lunch. Kel and his whole crew came over. Kel grilled tiny little slider-burgers to go with the baked beans and mac-and-cheese. Good stuff. 

After lunch we adjourned to the TV. Double baseball Sunday. Astros were on one station. Little League World Series on another. Ezra didn’t want to go home. Gotta love it. 

The U.S. kids didn’t do so well. Curaçao soundly defeated them 11-2. The Astros did a little better. They won 6-3. Woohoo!

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭9‬ says, A person’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps.

Father, thanks for the great day and church and for our lunch with the kiddos. Amen. 

August 30 - “MIA”

Well, I started a new jigsaw puzzle yesterday morning. Finished it by lunchtime. Not that I’m that awesome or anything. It’s only 300 pieces. But Chris thought it was a pretty one. 

After said lunch we went on a hunt. Some more of the clothes we ordered for our Alaska came in. That reminded Chris that we wanted to take our water shoes with us for the hot springs portion of the trip. Hers were no problem. Right where she left them. Mine, however, were MIA. Couldn’t find them anywhere. Walmart time. 

We did, however, run across a random satchel, the contents of which neither of us could fathom. Imagine our surprise when we opened it to discover some winter hats, snow gloves, and long underwear. Yep. That might be helpful. 

We celebrated the find by walking a few miles. Yep. On our indoor course. It was kind of fun, too. Neither of us walked with a definitive plan, so we almost collided several times. At least we got the steps in … 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭46‬:‭1‬ says, God is our refuge and strength, a helper who is always found in times of trouble.

Father, be with Seaside today. Columbus, too. Amen. 

August 29 - “Death-in-a—jug jug”

Did anybody see the moon eclipse? We peeked at it around 9:30, right before we headed to bed. It had just gotten started. Only about a quarter covered. We slinked back inside, joking that we should set an alarm for about 11:30 so we could see more of it. Chris nixed that idea. 

Sadly, however, the proposition was made out loud. That meant my body heard it. Now, my body is not very good at picking up non-verbal (or sometimes very verbal) cues. It heard. 

So, at exactly 11:48 p.m., my beloved body … woke up. Wide awake. And the first thing that came to my mind? Eclipse, of course. Sigh. Why fight it. I crawled out of bed. Chris didn’t move. Freddy didn’t even follow me. I was on my own. 

I stopped by my desk to grab my glasses and made my way out the back door. Now, I know you are all expecting some exciting twist to my story. Well … I saw the eclipse. About 75-80 percent covered. Yay. And I went back to bed. Sorry. No twist. The eclipse was cool, though. I highly recommend it. 

We started the actual day on slightly different notes. Chris headed to the backyard to water some plants. I eventually followed … after I located the ant spray. Yep. I was going on an ant hunt. 

I made my way from the backyard to the front and every spot in between. I used my steely-eyed vision (assisted by my trusty sidekick glasses) to locate those telltale piles of dirt. And then I greeted the evil little critters with a squirt or three from my bug-death-in-a—jug jug. 

Mission accomplished, I was still fired up. That’s the closest I have come to operating a power tool in years (see a previous post concerning bush-trimming, where use of the anxious power hedge trimmer was nixed by the powers that be. Read here, Chris).  

Anyway, to work off some excess energy, I decided to hit the exercise trail. I did have to move my rocking chair a bit to the side first, but the track was ready. I was off. You know? Walking two miles in a figure eight around the interior of your house is … different. Same sights. Same sounds. I did take the opportunity to switch up the direction of my walk numerous times. That helped. It also helped when Chris came in an and struck up a conversation. But through it all, I made the goal. Two. Took me about 50 minutes, but I made it. Oh, and for the second mile, I added the weight-lifting exercise Chris’ therapist has her doing. Whew! Long morning. 

In the afternoon we became cheerleaders of sorts. We were cheering on the thunderstorm that was threatening. It made a lot of racket, and even eased in with the darkening skies. But in spite of all that promise, no rain. Nada. Zilch. I thought sure we would get some. After all, Chris did her part. She watered the grass …

‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭13‬:‭8‬ says, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

Father, thanks for you for the chance to witness firsthand amazing parts of your universe like the eclipse. Amen. 

August 28 - “CH Day”

Well, it was Thursday again. I know. Seems like it happens at least once a week. But this time we were back in home group mode after being on pause for Chris’ surgery and for our Virginia trip. We have a window here of several weeks before we leave for that really cold trip coming up in October. So we are back in the saddle agin fer a piece. 

But that also meant Thursday has become CH Day - Cleaning House Day. I was up kinda early, so I managed to get in the dusting and sweeping and cleaning one bathroom before Chris got up. I waited on the loud stuff (ie - vacuuming) until I saw the whites of her eyes. 

Of course there was still plenty to do once she was up. She added watering the back yard to the list. She also gave me an intensive tutorial on what it means to fully clean a bathroom. Gee. Did you know it’s more than just flushing the toilet and calling it a day? Who knew?

We also spent some time with old pictures. Basically, we just  verified that the photos still on the picture cards from the camera were also copied onto the computer. Just an extra layer of backup. All was good. 

We did run into a snag, though, when I tried to move pictures from my phone onto the computer. For some reason it just wasn’t happening. I finally determined that it was above my pay grade. Maybe another day …

So … last night we officially welcomed back our home group Bible study. Good to see you guys again (Especially good to know I have a Slug Life buddy. Me and you, Helen!). 

‭‭Colossians‬– ‭3‬:‭1‬ says, So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Father, thanks for the folks in our home group. Bless them. Amen. 

August 27 - “Traffic cop …”

Well, yesterday was Chris’ “Final”Physical Therapy appointment. Why the quotation marks, you ask?  Weellll …

See, she’s already scheduled for 10 more, pending the doctor’s orders and Medicare approval. She sees the surgeon again next week, so I guess it all rides on his approving of her moving on to strength building. Here’s the funny thing … assuming he OK’s the ongoing PT at the appointment on Tuesday, she has a PT appointment already scheduled for Wednesday. What’s so funny about that, you ask? The appointment is for 7:30. That’s 7:30 A. M.  Chris is not exactly thrilled. 

While all that excitement was happening inside the physical therapy suite, I was plodding through my walk routine. Two miles again. I figured up my path. I basically have a quarter mile indoor track, if I walk on every wood floor-looking surface. I am beginning to learn where all the offices are. Maybe I can get a job there someday, directing indoor traffic.  Hmm. Traffic cop …

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭39‬ says, He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. , This is the greatest and most important command. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Father, be with Chris as she anticipates this next doctor visit in particular. Amen. 

August 26 - “Piling trip stuff”

OK. Chris has finally entered full-on Alaska trip preparation mode. How do I know that? She has started piling trip stuff on the bed in the spare bedroom. Of course, we’re still waiting for the winter clothes we had to order yesterday to arrive. And last-minute emails have slowly begun to seep in between us and the travel agent or us and the Winkles and the Huntley’s. I guess this one is getting real. About five and a half weeks to go. 

We both tried to get in touch with our exercise side. Chris walked a little around the table, and then went through her considerable regimen of strength-building exercises. 

I didn’t get nearly so exotic. I just did some plain old walking. Of course I did switch some things up. I moved around some furniture and developed a kind of double figure eight course. Ended up walking two segments (one in the morning, one in the afternoon). Total distance finally hit two miles. Whew! Felt like I was gonna wear a path in our office rug. But exercise … check. 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭100‬:‭5‬ says, For the Lord is good, and his faithful love endures forever; his faithfulness, through all generations.

Father, thank you for Chris’ attention to detail about this trip. Amen. 

August 25 - “Searchin’ for longjohns and leggings”

Chris was back at it at physical therapy yesterday. She said the therapist really stretched the arm, too. Actually, she arranged it so Chris was stretching the arm herself with her other arm. Ouch. 

As has become my custom during her therapy, I walked around the building’s interior. Numerous times. I was just watching the time Chris was scheduled to be out. As it turned out, my watch measured two miles. That’s a lotta steps. 

On the way home we stopped at Academy. Still looking for some of that cold weather gear for our October trip to Alaska.  Wicking shirt for me (whatever that means. Something about being a wicking base layer under other clothes). We also got a gaiter to keep Chris’ neck warm. 

Next we stopped by the bank. They are gonna get sick of me. Sadly, there has been no response yet on the whole account dispute. They still revert to the promised 7-14 business days window. She did send an email to her superiors and requested an update. I reminded her that $3000 was a lot of money to us … And that the bank IS insured by FDIC. Don’t think it helped. 

Back home we had lunch of leftovers. Then we ordered some longjohns and leggings and hiking pants online.  Our good ol’ local Academy doesn’t carry that cold, cold weather stuff. At least not yet. Man. I’m glad I live on a tropical island paradise. 

‭‭Galatians‬ ‭5‬:‭14‬ says, For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Father, be with all our kiddos as they head back to school. Amen. 

August 24 - “Porch Goose??”

Great worship yesterday. 

Our worship pastor’s son and daughter, along with regulars Corey and Krissy and Brennan, led the singing part.  Kel was still on his sabbatical, so the teaching was done by the youth pastor from a nearby church. Always good to be reminded that we worship the same Big God. 

Back home we were greeted by Corey and Janell. They just adopted one of those porch geese and wanted to introduce us. But it was a trick. They really wanted to show off their boogervilla bush. It is blooming like crazy. 

I warned Corey that it was a trick. Anything to get you close enough for it to grab you and stab you with those massive thorns. I advised cutting it down and burning it. Janell was thinking more along the lines of tying it to the fence. Nope. That would involve getting within striking distance of those thorns. At least chop off the branches hanging over the sidewalk. We’ll see. 

Meanwhile, let’s go back and admire that Porch Goose. Looks like it’s dressed for Halloween already. A little early, but hey … it’s a goose. What do they know?

I did some walking in the afternoon. The Astros game was getting more and more out of hand (they blew a 6-0 lead), so I hit the indoor walking trail. That would be the figure 8 path through our office, kitchen and dining room. Went for 28 minutes. Didn’t help the Astros any, but maybe it burned a few calories. 

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭5‬ says, Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

Father, bless Jesse and the worship team for their efforts at church. Amen.