Out-foxing a Fox

There are two young men at church who are just at the age to find being a pest is the best entertainment in the world. These kids are just about the right age to be my grandchildren had I followed the normal path and had my son at 20 instead of 30. The first young man finds great joy in playing cat-and-mouse with my car keys (or whatever else I might have in my hand that he thinks will push my buttons.) This is a game we have played for several months now, and while he has occasionally been somewhat of a nuisance, he is very careful not to cross the line into making me upset with him.

Today, he and his friend took off with several scrub tops that had been given to me to take to work for donation. Rather than drop the rest of the stuff in my arms, I just let him take them. They waited around my car until I was ready to go. When I opened the doors (all of them) and told him to hang the clothes up for me, they both hopped into the back seat. So I drove off with them. Usually, that makes them scramble for the door latch when I stop at the street to check traffic. Today I didn't stop because there was no cross traffic to be seen. They both got really quiet. Then they started asking where we were going. I just went around the block and pulled back into the church parking lot and up to the first young man's mother. I told her that I was taking them for a little while and I would bring them back shortly. She said ok. In the mean time, Friend #2 had made a mad dash out of the vehicle and was headed for the portico. I told him he'd better come back to the car. This definitely got Friend #1's attention: he thought I was upset with them. His mother said, "Well, you've been messing with her, so now you have to do what she tells you." Friend #2 proved himself a true friend, and got back in the car. I left the parking lot a second time with two very subdued young men.

One of them finally ventured to ask where we were going, and I told him he would just have to wait and see. More silence. I pulled into the parking lot of a local restaurant, and Friend #1 asked what we were doing. I said, "Going to lunch." He said he didn't bring his wallet with him. Poor kid, it was then that I let them off the hook. We actually had quite a nice lunch. They talked about their hobbies and interests. When I asked them what they thought was going to happen when I made them get back in the car, Friend #1 said, "I thought you were going to make me run a weedeater at your house or something." I had to laugh at that. I wouldn't do that to them even if I had been angry with them. It was a fun way to out-fox the "fox."

De-jungled

I mowed the weekend before all that rain (about 3 weeks ago). My yard looked pretty good. I thought, "Now it will be easy to keep up with, since the summer is nearly done." HAH! I planned to mow last weekend again, but was not feeling well, and couldn't talk myself into the 2-3 hours it takes to do just the part I try to keep up with. So, I slept most of last Sat and Sun. I was off last Mon. due to a low-census day, and spent most of it in the bed. Consequently, my "yard" was beginning to look like it was deserted--again. I'm still not sure whether I catch colds, or have allergies. Having never had allergies, I have nothing to guage with. Anyhow, yesterday the fog lifted and I finally had some energy. So this morning I dragged the big lawn tractor out of it's hiding place, cleaned it off/out (something L rarely did, since he does have allergies) and chopped down the square of hay field that directly surrounds the house, cleared the sides of the driveway and mowed a path to the pigeon lofts so I would'nt be tackling snakes on my feeding rounds. The rest of the hay field is gonna have to stay just that--a hay field. I gave up trying to mow all 4 acres. Takes WAY too long. The grass between my house and my southern neighbor and between the house and the road is about waist high or a little more on me, or about 2.5-3 feet tall. So if you drive by, and wonder who in the world would let their grass get in that kind of shape...it would be me.

Not Much New

What to post...what to post...I was talking to the ladies that came to the Ladies Day Out this afternoon, and in response to "is your computer working?", said that most of my days consist of getting up, feeding birds, going to work, coming home and going to bed. Not much of interest there.

We do have an offer to purchase a couple of the lofts, but as they are still inhabited, that won't come about for awhile yet. The young bird races are now in full swing. One of them, a race in Virginia, is complete, and we took 6th, 9th, 17th, and 19th places out of 90 birds. Not bad, actually. One of our pigeon-racing friends who is part of that club actually won both sides of the race, a first in the club history. We have swapped birds, sold birds back and forth, etc., so there is a possibility that some of our bloodlines may have helped in that feat.

This week seemed kind of like "old home week" at work. On Wednesday I saw 4 people who I know from other areas of life, all there for some kind of procedure or with a family member there for a procedure. I got to take care of two of them...what a privilege! It seemed like every time I turned around, someone was saying, "Hi Jan!" and I would look up and see a familiar, smiling face. As a "transplanted Texan" I think it most unusual to find anyone would know me outside of my normal places of relationship with them. When the two worlds cross, I am reminded that we really do still live in a small town. That's one of the things I love about this place: big enough to have what you need, small enough to find familiar faces in unexpected places.

I Thought This Was Wonderful

A friend sent me this via email today. I don't know if he even realizes how much it would touch me. Having been active duty myself, and having had a son (and daughter-in-law) who served in Iraq, I can sort of picture myself being in this family's shoes--having lost a loved one who died in service to his country. It's long, but please read clear to the end. This is the man who has lead our country for the last 8 years. May the next term of office be so blessed.

http://www.eielson.af.mil/news/story.asp?id=123111092

Finally Caught Up!

Well, for the last 2 weeks I have been computerless. During the storm 2 Fridays ago, I unplugged everything having anything to do with electronic gizmos as I always do. So the comupter was in no way attached to anything that lightning could reach in and touch. Saturday morning when the storm was past, I reattached everything, starting from the wall and peripherals, ending with hitting the start button on the computer. The next action was a loud SNAP and a blue-white flash from the lower regions of my NEW computer! Oh, dear Lord! Did I just fry my computer? Printer? Monitor? Modem? I quickly disengaged all the stuff I had just reattached and called CR with a cry for help. He said it was probably the power supply. I took it with me on Tuesday (9/2) and gave it back to him. He ordered a new power supply and said it should be in by Thursday, and he would install it and bring the computer back on Friday. No sweat. I can handle that.

On Thursday, I got a phone call saying that UPS wouldn't be delivering the power supply until Tuesday. (That's not the first time UPS has been a little slow on the delivery of an item for me.)
So I got the computer back last night--after church--and a short fellowship meal after the service. I took it home, set it on the computer room floor and went to bed. (5:30 comes early, and I was really tired after being in church and at work seemingly non-stop since Saturday, and having put in a very LONG 4-day week prior.)

I got up this morning and plugged everything back in and held my breath as I hit the start button. No ka-pow, no burnt electrical smell, just the hum of a functional computer. Thank You, Lord, and thank you, CR.

When I logged into Outlook and hit the download bar, it said I had 134 messages! 134!!! Good grief! My spam program only kicked out 34 of them. So I have spent the early and late parts of the day weeding out the ads and such that came through from companies I occasionally do business with. And reading the messages from friends and a couple news-type ministries I subscribe to. And catching up on the blogs I follow. That was a bit of a challenge as most of you are relatively vocal folks. That's a good thing, but it took some doing to feel like I was at least somewhat back in the loop. Sure does feel good to be able to sit at the keyboard again and reach out and touch the rest of the world.