April 15 - “Weeds and Dead Grass”

Well, talk about back to the old drudgery. We walked for two miles to start our day. And it was hot. Welcome home, right?  But hey. I’ll take the hot over that freezing cold wind on the ship any day. 

Speaking of hot, then we worked out in the back yard. Chris was raking up dead grass. I got down and dirty and pulled up weeds. All that was in preparation for tossing out some Weed and Feed Back there. Maybe today. Or tomorrow. 

Since we were already sweaty,  Chris used this opportunity to give Freddy a bath. The two of them were a sight to behold during the drying off process. Looked like a Mama with her newborn baby cuddling in the rocking chair. Freddy was in no hurry to get down, either. Guess she enjoyed being clean and warm. 

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭53‬:‭6‬ says, We all went astray like sheep; we all have turned to our own way; and the Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

Father, help Lindsay and Zak get everything wedding done. Amen. 

April 14 - “Thumb shot day”

Ah. Thumb shot day. We got started really early yesterday - appointment at 8:40 for the next round of steroid shots in my thumbs. I really like the nurse practitioner who does the procedure. The excitement this time came when she sat down to begin the procedure. She picked up one of the syringes, explaining to the student what asked was doing. Suddenly she stopped. Seems the nurse had drawn up the wrong amount. There was too much steroid in the shot. She apologized and said she would be right back with the correct dose. Hmm. Wonder what would have happened …

After the snafu was corrected, she wanted to see our vacation pictures. We limited what we showed to the Sagrada Família. She was awestruck. She told us that they do one international trip every year. This year’s was already spoken for by Asia, but Spain was definitely now on her hot list.  

On the way home we had a few stops to make. First one was Home Depot. There we picked up some Weed and Feed for our yards. Chris also got a few small plants to put in the back yard pots. 

Next we went to Kroger. Just one item on the agenda there. Freddy’s hard to find dog food. They did have one very small bag. Well, Freddy, it might be about time to switch food. 

Randall’s was right on the way, so that was the next stop. From there we picked up a prescription for Chris. We also checked out the Blue Bell ice cream to see if it was on sale. No luck this time. So we settled for the Monday fried chicken deal with original-style potato salad.

‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ says, For God loved the world in this way: He gave His One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.

Father, thank you for another chance to deal with thumb pain. Amen. 

April 13 - “A LOUD Altercation”

Well, that was an interesting thing to wake up to. I was sitting at my desk reading and enjoying a cup of coffee. Suddenly there came a loud honking from the house next door. That was followed by another ten minutes of a very loud altercation. 

To be honest, “very loud” is not all that uncommon for the residents next door. That’s why I let it go for that long. I did finally go outside to see what exactly was happening. There were at least three females screaming at each other. The one guy seemed to be trying to play peacemaker, but his efforts weren’t all that successful. 

At one point one of the girls squatted down near a tire (Not sure why. Any guess would be my speculation. After it was all over there were some dents in the car, but they may have been there before). She didn’t really have time to do anything before she returned to the shouting match at hand. 

When the fighting appeared to be escalating to the point of physical contact, I finally called 9-1-1. And just before the police arrived, two of the girls squared off, face to face, yelling and daring the other to take the first punch. The guy bravely forced his way between them. And as the police exited their vehicles, one girl walked away down the street. Another sat on the curb, huddled over a blanket. The third stood her ground. I never could tell who was yelling or what they were saying, but they were obviously intensely angry about something. 

The lady who actually lives in the house finally came outside in her bathrobe. She appeared to know at least some of the combatants, but best I could tell, she was not involved in the altercation. When all was said and done, one of the girls was in handcuffs. An ambulance arrived and checked out another of the girls. It started to leave, but the police asked them to come back and check out someone else. 

A third police vehicle eventually pulled up to join the fray. He must have been CSI. He had a camera with him. I guess he was there to verify injuries or damages to the vehicle or something. 

Meanwhile, another guy walked up who had not been around at all, but he obviously knew at least one of the girls. Police took him aside for a brief chat. Oh, and the ambulance left, this time for real. 

All in all, the police officers and paramedics handled the situation calmly and professionally. They stayed a long time. I guess that was to make sure everything had calmed down. They finally left after about an hour. Phew!

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭16‬ says, In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Father, please watch over the officers and paramedics, especially when they have a call like this one. Amen. 

April 12 - “Fighting Evil-ity”

Chris disappeared out into the backyard yesterday. That was my cue to follow, so I could help with the more difficult manual labor she might have in mind (read here: So I could keep an eye on her. She’s been known to pass out back there).

She was raking dead grass with a plan to get some Weed and Feed to treat the yard. Not sure when that will take place. 

I went right to our ornery old shed. I was gonna give it another try to get it to close properly. I didn’t time my efforts, but let’s just say Chris came over to see if she could help. I got out the level. No help there. It read perfect with the shims I have under it. I tried different orientations of said shims, to no avail. I even pounded on the top of one of the doors to get it to fit right. If it had been made of wood, I would have just planed off some of the top. I finally got it to at least close. Of course, next time we open the doors … they will fall off. 

My second task was a little more risky, but had much greater rewards. I got to trim back the booger villa bush. That’s the evil one with huge thorns. It mercifully died back when it got cold. Problem was, there was a mass of dead branches covered in thorns sticking out into our walkway. That’s what I was called on to chop down. 

There was another problem though. The thing wasn’t really dead. Deep down beneath all the protective, helicopter mom-ish thorns was new growth. Aaarggh! That meant I had to be careful not to cut new stuff, but to still make sure I nabbed all the dead stuff. How did I do? Well … sometimes sacrifices must be made for the greater good. In the process I got stabbed multiple times. Chris had to go sit down more than once - managing those impending pass-out spells. We got it all done, though. Filled up both of our trash cans with that evil-ity. 

While chopping down that dreaded thing bush, I began pondering the trials and travails of certain tragic songs. One in particular kept running through my head, over and over and over. Do you remember the classic, “The Fly Has Married the Bumble Bee”? Tragic. So tragic. 

Imagine. They get engaged. They share glorious protestations of everlasting love.  Sounds so romantic. But think about it. I checked. A bumble bee typically lives about 6 weeks. A fly, however, is lucky to make it 20 days. So when the bumblebee made his ardent plea, I hope he did it early in the first week. And I hope the poor fly wasn’t well into her less than a month lifespan. 

Sigh. Tragic. Fiddle-dee-dee. 

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ says, Don’t you yourselves know that you are God’s sanctuary and that the Spirit of God lives in you?

Father, thanks for the work we got done in the backyard. Help us sleep tonight. Amen. 

April 11 - “Computer challenge”

My computer challenge for the morning was to figure out how to change my Microsoft Publisher documents into Word docs. Formatting. Margins. All the things. Microsoft announced that beginning in May, they will no longer provide the publisher platform. Sadly, that’s where all my wedding and funeral files have been generated. So … guess Zak and Lindsay’s wedding will be my template for all future ceremonies. 

I also got some birthday cards addressed for the next few weeks. 

Meanwhile, Chris worked with her plants, but when she went outside that upper respiratory gunk really hit her hard again. 

I gotta admit, somewhere in there we both took a nap. I think we’re still catching up from that Spain jet lag. 

After lunch we had some important business to attend to. Bananas. There were some other things involved as well, a prescription for Chris among them. But we all know the bananas were at the top of the list. Mission accomplished. 

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭145‬:‭18‬ says, The Lord is near all who call out to Him, all who call out to Him with integrity.

Father, again I ask that you heal Chris quickly. Amen. 

April 10 - “Easier said than done”

I was back at the computer again. We had a home group photo watch scheduled for last night, so I was trying to combine the photos from our two phones and the actual camera. Easier said than done. With a break for lunch, it took until 4 pm. I don’t know how together they really are, but at least they are separated into which day on the cruise they happened. 

We almost called off the home group photo party. Not because the pictures weren’t ready. Chris was having a terrible time with allergy symptoms. Sneezing. Sniffling. Eyes watering. Sounds like a TV commercial. She decided to stick it out, though. We have been off for several weeks, and we won’t meet again next week, either. So we dove right in. 

Most of the folks seemed at least a little interested in all the photos. We enjoyed sharing them and getting to talk about them, so thanks guys, for putting up with us. Thanks for the pizza and chips and watermelon as well. 

‭‭Acts‬ ‭4‬:‭12‬ says, There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people, and we must be saved by it.

Father, please heal Chris’ head stuff quickly. Amen. 

April 9 - “Drag and drop. Done”

I had the desk work task again yesterday. I was downloading our photos from the trip onto b the computer so we could have a big picture party for home group Thursday night. The easiest one was copying the camera card from the big camera. Point. Select. Drag and drop. Done. And my phone cooperated fairly well. Plugged it into the computer and found the extended files. Point. Select. Drag and drop. Done. 

But the came Chris’ phone. For whatever reason hers wouldn’t cooperate at all with the computer. That necessitated several extra steps. First I had to air drop the pics from her phone to mine. That was an ordeal in itself ended up having to do it two or three at a time, over and over. 

Then I plugged my phone back into the computer. Should go just as smoothly as the first time, right?  No such luck. The phone and the computer were having all sorts of issues with each other. They just didn’t want to play nice together. 

Suddenly, an error code popped up on the screen. Never what you want to see on a computer, especially when you are nowhere near nerdy enough or young enough to have a clue what to do. Fortunately, this message anticipated my ignorance and spelled out the issue. The USB port I was using had failed. Just no good anymore. 

Surely it couldn’t be something as simple as that. I unplugged the cord and switched it over. Bam! Worked like a charm. I found the files that kept going missing and got them transferred over. 

Now the only issue is dealing with three separate sources merged into one. Not really looking forward to attempting that. How about we leave it and explain as we go along?

As it turned out, Chris was ready to dive back into the dress shopping scene anyway. So back up into Texas and back to the mall again. Two days in a row. That’s gotta be a record. For me, anyway. But hey. She found a dress. Success! 

Since we were in Texas … again. We had to swing by Nathan’s … again. And to no one’s surprise, they were absent … again. But this time we let the dogs out. And relaxed on the back porch and watched them run. The rest of the family eventually got there.  It was great to just hang out and talk. 

‭‭Romans‬ ‭10‬:‭17‬ says, So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the message about Christ.

Father, thank you for giving us a safe trip (and for helping Chris find that dress). And thanks for the chance to hang out with the Santa Fe bunch. Amen.