Tuesday, July 2, 2019

July 2 – “Two teenagers”


Ah, the joys of being gone for a week and having it rain mightily during that time.  Our lawn was in hog heaven.  The grass exploded with height and depth.   And that, of course, meant … mowing day.  Oh, I tried to get out of it.  I started early in the morning getting my Monday work done.  But since I have been working ahead trying to get ahead for our Alaska trip (That would be next week), I actually finished.  Well, finished the weekly stuff.  I still have some work to do on the sermon.  That never ends until I actually start teaching.  So the bottom line here … I was “done enough” to get started on yard work.  WooHoo. 

It took a while, but our lawn mower is a strong beast.  It raged its way through the tall grass and ripped it down to size.  The weed eater did its job as well, and I didn’t even have to change the string.  The new squares of grass we planted are doing great, growing tall and finally sending out those creeper things that cause the grass to spread.  They really loved the extra watering.  I did have one crisis, though.  I forgot the city installed a sewer drain.  Ran over that thing and ripped a big hole in the plastic.  Fortunately we live right around the corner from Village Hardware.  The guy there even showed me a newer version.  No big square thing sticking up on top any more.  The “handle” is inset into the piece itself.  Ingenious design.  Bet some engineer did the same thing I did.

While I was at it outside, I decided to take care of some tree trimming as well.  Several branches of the sycamore and the crepe myrtle were scraping my head when I mow.  That’s my sign that it’s time to trim them off.  I also trimmed out the middle of the big oleander in the front yard so we could see to back out of the driveway.  Once I finished all that I went into my neighbor’s yard and began the task of trimming up the trees that abut our property.  They have gone amok and are absolutely out of control.  She told me I could take care of the two trees there.  One may eventually be so taken care of that it no longer exists.  That would be my preference.  The other has huge limbs resting on top of her roof, destroying her shingles.  Didn’t get that far, but I did get them away from the fence, at least.  Something to look forward to, I guess.

Last night the LaMarque Vaughan’s came over to celebrate Micah’s birthday.  They brought pizza and ice cream sandwiches.  Perfectly healthy meal.  He and Josiah gave us some karate demonstrations from their classes they have been taking.  Pretty impressive moves.  It is hard to believe Micah is already thirteen years old.  I went to pick up Kel from work, and he kind of sighed at one point.  He followed it up with, “I have TWO teenagers in my house now.  How did that happen?”  I had an answer.  “See, my son, there are birds and there are bees.  And time passes.”  Don’t think it helped him much …

Proverbs 3:1-2 says, “My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, for they will prolong your life many years and bring you peace and prosperity.”

Father, be with Micah as he embarks on his teenage years.  Help him enjoy the adventure.  Amen.

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