May 14 – “Dump dirt day”

The day started with our three-miler again.  Always good to have that sense of accomplishment behind us, I suppose.  We even saw the “dog lady” for the first time in a long time.  She’s the 80-plus year old who walks her little dog every day.  Very friendly.  The lady as well as the dog. 

But it was Monday though, so I had to wade back into office work when we got back to the house.  I got past most of the weekly stuff, so now I can focus on the sermon preparation the rest of the week. 

I did take a break in the afternoon to finally cut the pipe that has been sticking up in our backyard for the last 25 years or so.  It supposedly led to a mysterious well that the previous owners used to water their grass.  Said well never worked when we moved in.  In fact, the pump mechanism was one of the first things to go.  But this pipe was made of lead or steel or something, with a pvc pipe coming out of it.  Strange contraption. 

So I dug a hole around it a few feet down so I could make the cut low enough to be covered.  I have no idea how deep the pipe actually goes, or what it is attached to down there.  Don’t really care.  I was just after the pipe sticking up.  And I finally got to use my new sawzall that Nathan got me.  It works great.  Like cutting through butter.  Well, through frozen butter with a dull knife, but it did the job.  The pipe is gone.  I put a section of a paver over the remaining pipe in the ground, then covered it up.  I also cut off the dead sections of the oleander tree in the back corner of the yard.  Gotta make us of that power tool while I can.  Now I know I have been saying “I” a lot.  Let me hasten to say that Chris was out there with me, cheering me on.  She let me know in no uncertain terms that if I was going to do any work outside, then she had to be there with me.  Absolutely.

Well, actually, there wasn’t enough dirt to cover the hole completely, so we had to make a trip to WalMart for a bag or two.  That didn’t go well.  No dirt at WalMart.  We had to go all the way over to Home Depot.  Not a bad trip, though.  We saw Rick, an old Seasider.  Don’t think he recognized us right away, but then we weren’t sure it was him, either.  We did connect and chat for a few minutes.  We were in line behind Galveston’s mayor.  I know him from high school days.  He was younger than me, but my brief stint at First Baptist Church was our contact point.  We talked a bit with him as well before heading home to dump dirt. 

Deuteronomy 7:9 says, “Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.”

Father, thank you for your faithfulness.  Forgive my … not.  Amen.