We love you Herb.
We got word yesterday that a man very dear to us had passed on to be with his and our Lord. He is now free of pain and sickness. He loved to make me laugh because my laughter amused him; which is a memory I shall always treasure... We love you Herb.
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Hi, Y'all!! If you don't mind continuing with yesterday's theme/story for another day...I have here a little documentary put together by a fellow filmmaker friend of mine, William A Moore. It is called "Operation Deadstick" and it about the British 6th Airborne Division's part in the D-Day invasion. Anyway, without any further ado--Operation Deadstick! (It was rather interesting as we watched "The Longest Day" Thursday evening--we got to the part that William tells about in his documentary and I got excited because "William's releasing his documentary on this tomorrow!" :D) RachealI have a couple of rhubarb pies in the oven at the moment. I was supposed to make them last night, but I was so tired that I just didn't. But I'll get there in a minute. First, let me tell you about Wednesday evening. I loaded myself into the car as it was going on five (I meant to leave a little earlier) and headed off to Ruth's house. I ran into some rain on the way down--including a little hail. I realized after the first couple 'whack!'s that sounded like rocks hitting the car that it was hailing. Thankfully, that didn't last long. It bugs me how people in this state don't turn their lights on in the rain (or twilight). It's not safe. But anyway... I arrived at Ruth's and I really should have taken my mud boots--because I ended up with wet boots and my jeans soaked half-way to my knee. The main purpose was to introduce me to "the girls" (as she calls her horses), but I also wanted to see if I could help out around her place any. However, all I ended up doing was scooping one of the horse-stalls. According to Ruth, just working with the horses (which she doesn't have time to do much) would be help. Alright, so there are three horses--but only one to be ridden. First, there is Beulah, a sweet little quarter horse. She can't be ridden because her knees. She's about the same color as Snip, though a little darker. Second, there is Rose...this is the one who can be ridden. She is a Halflinger--a little short draft breed. While she is around 4-6 inches shorter than Snip, her feet are twice as big! After watch Ruth do a little ground work with her, I tried (with helpful commentary and instruction from Ruth--she actually explained what things meant!) a little bit. Rose was confused because I was confused, but I think we got along okay for a first time. Third, there is Annie (also Halflinger). I like Annie; she reminds me of Snip. She's the youngest of the three and the worst behaved. Ruth worked with her a little bit and then I worked with her a little bit more. I was starting to get the hang of it... Ruth also has sheep--they all have names, but I couldn't tell them apart...even though she does and has names for them all. There is also an old male Llama...those guys are kind of interesting looking. :) He seemed nice enough. Then...there are the dogs. Jacob (an old dog) and Amos (both are Great Pyrenees). Amos is around a year old and his so full of life! Such a BIG puppy...the only way I could semi-control him was by taking a huge hand full of his fur at the back of his neck and attempting to steer him like that. He didn't seem to mind at all. (I came home with dog slobber all over me. You should have seen Abby sniffy daintily at my pant leg...and then Runty doing the same thing! It was hilarious!) Anyway, I had a good time, got home after dark, and am supposed to go back sometime next week during the afternoon, as Ruth has her vacation next week. Yesterday, I spent most of the day on the Bolins, tilling the garden. Nothing very exciting about that (in the telling), but I enjoy running the machinery. I was very tired by the end of the day, but I feel fine (except for stiff muscles in my shoulders and neck this morning). After these pies come out of the oven here in around fifteen minutes, I'll head back out to try to finish up. I probably would have gotten finished yesterday, except that the ground was too wet and you simply cannot get mud clumps smoothed very well, because everytime you come back over it, it makes new clumps. Hopefully, I turned it up enough that it will be dry enough to really finish it up today. I did get a little more sunburn yesterday on my forearms where they hung out of my sleeves all day...and a little on my face. Golf caps work alright for a sunshade over the eyes, but don't keep the face from getting a little fried. So...I pulled out my old big brim straw hat (I got it at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, way back in '03; it's seen a lot of use and is still in pretty good shape) and brought that downstairs this morning. I really don't want any more sunburn on my ears, thank-you very much! ;P Anyway, I'll be off to the barn here in a few minutes to grease the Bolins up again (that is a job--particularly getting to the rear U-joint on the upper drive shaft (there are two; one runs the machine, the other runs the attachment). I wasn't quite sure I actually got on the grease port back there yesterday... See ya later! RachealIn summary: WHAT A FANTASTIC EVENT!!!! Ahem, now that that is out of the way, I can get down to the nitty-gritty of it all. I am sure I will forget some things, but I'll try to give you a good picture of what it was like. Also, we didn't get as many pictures as I thought we might, so please excuse any apparent gaps. :) This story starts last Sunday when the four ladies of our household piled into the red car and pointed our faces toward St. Charles, Missouri. We had an uneventful, roughly six hour drive. I decided not to use any of the pictures of Savannah because Katherine took them all in the side mirror and they didn't come out very well. We arrived at this huge hotel/conference center (Embassy Suites) someplace around 6:30 or thereabouts, got checked in, and immediately went out to supper. I got soo sick...I wasn't nauseous, but I was buzzy, the inside of my mouth felt swollen, and my legs were shaking so bad I wondered if I was going to fall down. I have had food reactions before, but never anything like that! I was supposed to meet up with my friend Andrew H. to discuss a certain film project that evening, but after a few minutes, Mama told me to forget about it, call Andrew back and cancel, and then me go to bed. Well, I felt totally unable to call, so I had Savannah do it for me. Andrew was very gracious (as usual) about the whole situation. The next morning, I felt fine and was impatient to start the day. Before I go any further, let me remark at what a blessing it was to have the hotel connected to the conference center. When I got hungry, or just needed a minute, I could just disappear to our room for a few minutes and then return to participation in the conference. It was great. :) The one thing I did not like was the elevators... On the first day, I wore my sailor suit (and my hat, of course). Savannah wore a black and white dress and Katherine a purple plaid skirt and pink blouse. Monday morning, and multiple times throughout the afternoon, Chief Justice Roy Moore spoke. I attended all his lectures since I do have an interest in the history our government's founding and law. All his sessions were good, the second to last one being the least interesting. His presentation of that particular lecture wasn't the best either...I think partly because he was tired and partly because he kind of switched up what he was doing on the fly. Anyway, his first session was a short history who he was, where he came from, and, of course, the famous battle of the "right" to display the Ten Commandments. Here is one interesting quote I managed to capture from that session: A distinction must be made between...religion as an institution and a belief in the sovereignty of God. The point being, the sovereignty of God was never in question for the Founders and when Jefferson made that oh-so-famous remark about "separation of church and state" he was referring to the separation of the two institutions, not the separation of God and state. In other words, the First Amendment is simply a prohibition of any particular denomination being set above any others--a separation of institutional jurisdiction. Judge Moore's second lecture was entitled: Jurisdictional Aspects of God's Sovereignty. In other words, God rules through different jurisdictions, each one having their own sphere of authority--family, church, and state. As I mentioned earlier, his third session was not as billed and wasn't overly memorable...however, as I glance over my notes here, this quote sticks out to me: "...we believe that all men are created equal because they are created in the image of God." It appears I must have neglected to take notes during his final session, The United States Constitution and God's Law...if I recall correctly, it was in the same vein as the rest of his lectures, pointing to the fact that yes, indeed, America was founded as a Christian nation and only Christianity produces freedom and it is only through a Christian worldview that our Constitution can be rightly understood and followed. The only other speaker I listened to that day (Monday) was Bill Potter. His topic was, Was WWII a Just War?: Franklin Roosevelt, Imperial Japan and Pearl Harbor. He opened up a whole new world of conspiracy theorists for me when he remarked that some people think that FDR provoked, planned, and conspired for Japan to attack us so we would enter the war. (Thankfully, and to my great relief, Mr. Potter believes that's a bunch of baloney as much as I do.) The long and the short of the story, without getting into all the most fascinating and terrible details of the attack on Pearl, December 7th, 1941, WWII was a just war because it was a defensive war (on both fronts). We declared war on Japan in defense of our soil and we engaged the Germans in warfare because they declared war on us! Monday closed with the "Officer's Ball"...and no, it wasn't swing dancing, but rather English Country Dancing (ECD). Some of the young men/boys came in uniform, though really not too many of them. My above mentioned friend Andrew came in an actual WWII uniform (very neat). In fact, I did my best to track down extra information on Cpl. McPherson... Anyway, Andrew's elder brother came in uniform (didn't catch his rank) and his younger brother as a Navy captain. I will admit that the number of officers of rather high rank made this enlisted man's daughter smirk a little...most of those guys, if officers, would have held the rank of 1st or 2nd Lieutenant in real life. But what ho! If I were a lad, I would have gone as a Master Sergeant (in honor of my father) and at my age, I probably wouldn't have held much over the lowest sergeant rank in the book...so I guess there isn't that much difference. :D I regret to inform you that there are no pictures of the ball...but regardless, we all had a wonderful time (even though there were only seven dances). Katherine and I sat out the first one, but joined in as a "couple" on the second one (I love the Spanish Waltz!) and thereafter didn't have to rely on each other as dance partners. I only got to dance with two uniforms...but oh well. I had a delightful time dancing with a charming little man by the name of James, and then twice with a little girl named Elizabeth. Kids like me for some reason. :D When the ball was over, we all fell into bed and went to sleep (at least I did). Tuesday morning, a couple of friends and I missed the first session because we were sitting around a table in the breakfast room talking filmmaking. We all headed into the conference center (as far as I am aware) for the next series of sessions. I don't know where everyone else went, but Katherine and I headed for Dr. Morecraft's Natural Law and Biblical Law. That lecture helped to clear up a few fuzzy notions I hadn't completely sorted out when I first studied the topic in high school. It also rather explained why Puritan New England ended up Unitarian and the like so quickly (in the scope of things). My rough summation of what Dr. Morecraft said runs something like this: the 17th and 18th century American Puritan's weakness was that their confidence in God's word was equal to their confidence in logic and reason...or in other words, Thomism crowded out their Augustinianism. For some of you, that may make even more sense to you than it does to me. After the session, Katherine and I caught up with a friend who we haven't seen for several years...the main topic of discussion was Lyme disease, of all things. All of us went to Bill Potter's next session...after all, we are a household of Winston Churchill fans. :D I find Mr. Potter extremely hard to take notes from--he is a fabulous story teller, but that doesn't mean that notes are easy. In essence, he told his audience the story of Winston Churchill, and left us with three lesson we can learn from the man's life. 1) Always aim high. 2) There is no substitution for hard work. 3) Never allow mistakes/problems to hinder you. I next headed (by the way, I'm skipping vendor/snack/lunch/dinner breaks here...I'll talk more about that portion separately) to a session on bee-keeping the natural way. I do have an interest in keeping bees, but I need to do some research on how much effect GMO's have on bees and/or the make up of the honey. In any case, it was an informative session and I scrawled two pages of notes and came away with a little better idea of what I might be getting myself into if I actually do decide to do bees. The next session was a general session and my first listening to Dr. Paul Jehle speak. Regardless of topic (which was very interesting indeed), I came away with a huge appreciation for Dr. Jehle's presentation style...he is really quite engaging and grabs your attention firmly with both hands, so to speak. The lecture was on Bonhoeffer, but covered more than that. His headings were (my rephrasing for speedy notation): "Nazism and the Church", "Nazism and Economics", "Nazism and Religious Liberty", "Nazism and Propaganda", "Nazism and Education", "Training Heroes or Robots?" It was after this set-up that he really began to speak about Bonhoeffer himself. I like Bonhoeffer's description of Hitler: "A madman, set on fire by Hell." I won't go any deeper than that because I took almost three pages of notes on that particular speech and it was all very interesting. The event of the evening was a talk by the Duggar's and a musical presentation by some of their 19 children. The music was scheduled for after the talk, but got flipped around. I may be scorned for this, but really found the Duggar's talk rather boring. Not to mention that I disagreed with some of their theology, but overall, I easily could have skipped that session and never regretted it. After it was over, tired as I was, I decided to do a little socializing that evening and basically drug Katherine with me. :D That's not exactly true, because she and a friend were quite happily engaged in conversation, photography, and hair styling while I attempted to play Dutch Blitz with some Dutch Blitz whizzes. (Fast games when your eyes are having trouble focusing aren't exactly recommended.) After a while, I "folded" because I couldn't see straight enough any more. Then...someone, I forget who, suggested going down into the lower lobby and dancing for a while. Needless to say, I ignored the fact that I really needed to go to bed and headed downstairs with some of the others to dance for a little while. (It appears there are no pictures of that either...at least that I borrowed off Kt's camera.) That was blast! Even when I was confused, couldn't keep up, or out of breath. I'm afraid I don't turn under with the left hand very well. I get confused and forget to let the gent get me moving. My apologies to the young gentlemen who had to put up with that foolishness on my part. (I am still used to dancing the gent's part!) When Katherine and I finally did go upstairs (all the way to the eighth floor) and to bed, it was 1:30 our time, though only 12:30 locally in Missouri. I guess I dropped off pretty fast. Wednesday morning, I woke up with a start as Mama's cellphone (acting in the capacity of alarm clock) went off full blast about two feet from my left ear. I was awake...no doubt about that! Even had I been interested in drifting back off to sleep, I couldn't have done it I was so thoroughly awake. We all headed down for the first session of the day, Dr. Morecraft's sermon on the Solas of the Reformation. As with anything Dr. Morecraft does, it was good. :) For some of us, it was recap (though not boring!), but I'm sure some folks were hearing it for the first time. It would not surprise me if the majority of families with children of marriageable age headed into Dr. Paul Jehle's next most informative (and amusing at times) session: Courtship, World War II and the Dating Game. Granted, my notes weren't very good, but I highly enjoyed this session and did come away with some new items of knowledge tucked up under my hair. I continue to laugh each time I remember Dr. Jehle (you would have had to seen his expression to really understand why this is so amusing) remarking about the young people "scouring the halls" and parents thinking that three days is a long event and the young people are like: "Only three days???" I guess it was so funny, because it a way, it is really very true. There isn't a young woman (or man) I know that isn't interested in getting married at some point. And yes, we're looking around because it's natural. Still, it does help when you consider that yes, God has ordained whatsoever comes to pass...and that nice young man or young lady is a brother or sister in Christ. I next betook myself (all alone) to Bill Potter's lecture on two historical characters from WWII. Jacob DeShazer and Fushida (the top Japanese pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor). It was a highly interesting talk about these two men who's paths eventually providentially crossed. It would go beyond the scope of this blog post to tell their story however... The final two sessions/tribute had me in tears. Dr. Jehle spoke of Iwo Jima and drew life lessons for the Christian from the struggle...his headers being Cause, Character, and Courage. The Patriotic Tribute that followed Bill Potter and Dr. Jehle doing a joint talk, was really pretty good. The Sentimental Journey dance band was outstanding and I wished they could have played more/had more air time. Dr. Jehle gave a first person impression of Francis S. Key that was quite engaging. But...before that, there was this: The patriotic music made me cry, for sure, nothing new there...but what really made me want to just break down and sob uncontrollably (which I managed not to do!) was when the two WWII vets in the audience were honored. One was seated right behind us, in his old uniform (Tech Sgt.)...I got to both hold his hand and hug the dear, dear elderly gentleman. He was trying not to cry and I was trying not to cry and I cannot tell you the deep honor it is to have one of these grandfather's standing there, holding your hand and telling you that he went to fight so his sisters...and girls like my sisters and I, would not have to undergo what the girls in Europe did. He also told me I was beautiful...but he, with his wrinkles and cane is far more beautiful to my eyes than all the lovely girls in the room put together. For he stands for something that is passing, something that I wish I could hang on to. The WWII generation is dying out and it is such an honor and privilege to meet the remaining veterans. And now I'm getting all teary eyed again... All in all, it was a grand event...and I would very, very much like to attend next year, for the topic is that of the SOUTH. As you here all probably know that I'm a southron born and breed, I doubt that comes as a surprise to any of you. :) Besides that, the fellowship was very great. Which leads me to tell a few stories that took place in the vendor hall... Katherine and I were wandering around (I believe it was Monday) and as we peered at a particular table, the young man behind the table addressed me rather as if he knew who I were. That was rather, well, odd at first, but it soon became apparent that Mama and Savannah had already visited this table and told him about me (the majority of the books were about the WBtS) and my documentary. :D (And they apparently told him what I was wearing...and I was the only girl there in a sailor suit, so I guess it wasn't too hard.) We talked for a little bit and I ended up purchasing Robert L. Dabney's In Defense of Virginia and the South. I would return the next day and buy a couple more books from Sprinkle Publications... The first thing that happened when Savannah and I walked into the vendor hall for the first time on Monday was a pleasant accosting by Mr. Raymond of the Chalcedon Foundation...he handed us both a book bag (Mama and Katherine would also each get one eventually). They contained free books, pamphlets, and copies of Faith for all of Life. I almost immediately forked over the dough for the latest "Bell Mountain" book...it was half price, to boot! :) I was going to get three more books from the vendor hall, but I only ended up getting two. Douglas Bond's The Thunder was gone by the time I got back to that particular table Tuesday afternoon...but I did get these two! The last day, I decided to do something I had considered since I first saw a particular young man in the Chalcedon Presbyterian Church booth and put two and two together as to his identity...I had been party to a conversation on Google plus in which both he and I were engaged sometime in the past year. Seeing that he wasn't covered up by perspective book buyers and was leaned back a little in his chair with a steel-string Yamaha guitar on his lap, I poked my chin out, walked over and demanded (pleasantly, I hope), "Are you Evan N.?" He looked up at me with a curious expression on his face and assured me he was. By now, I was feeling slightly silly, but couldn't back out now, so I introduced myself and reminded him of that ridiculous post of our mutual friend's. And he laughed. He did remember...and I think he was slightly surprised (or something) that a particular joking phrase had continued to be used fairly regularly amongst a certain number of us. (Evan apparently doesn't waste as much time on G+ as some of us do! :P) Anyway, to continue conversation, I made one of those rather inane comments: "I see you play the guitar..." I made it not so "duh, obviously!" by tacking on, "So do I..." From there we talked about guitars and music a bit and when I said I played classical, he asked me if I would play him something as he likes classical (and wants to learn himself)...so I gladly sat down (guitar players are like that you know...it is rather a social instrument.. :D) and picked out a few things out of my embarrassingly small repertoire of memorized pieces. My sisters came over and we had a pleasant four way conversation (along with his adorable little nephew) for a few minutes before it was necessary for Evan to get back to the work he was there to do--selling Dr. Morecraft's books. :) It is always nice to meet other reformed young folks...and I thoroughly enjoyed doing so this past week...but now, I really am in need of sleep (again). I will have to tell you what Katherine and I did this afternoon in a post tomorrow. So, until then, farewell! RachealHi, Y'all! I'm back from the land of no-internet! (Or, to be precise, [dear, dear...see what listening to the Tintin score does to me?], the land of limited-internet. I've been on for vital e-mails.) The last couple of weeks have been rather hectic. Granddaddy is still with us, sleeping most of the time (at least that I'm aware of). Daddy has a bad cold and still is the main person who sits with Granddaddy. Savannah has done some sitting with him...she is just so good with him. It seems rather weird to wash dishes in the bathroom sink--but that is what we've been doing so as not to disturb Granddaddy. I just did it myself for the first time this evening. I think this is the first time I have washed dishes in days. Monday and Tuesday I did some tilling in the morning before going over in the afternoon to help our new friends work on their dresses (as we have every day this week). Yesterday morning Mama and I went to the chiropractor, then spent the remainder of the morning in Rual King doing a little shopping. This morning, right after I started eating my breakfast, Mama's cellphone rang. I ran and answered it and it was Grandma needing someone to go with her to the doctor, since she had a blood draw and also had low blood sugar. Grandpa just wanted to make sure someone was with her if she needed it. I said that sure I'd go with her--and then scarfed down the rest of my breakfast. In between breakfast and Grandma pulling up in the driveway waiting for me, I unpacked my new laptop (it came yesterday and I didn't know it until this morning! :D [Ahem...we got home rather late last night from the W's] and put the battery in and plugged it in to charge while I was gone. When I got home, I got the computer up and registered before lunch. Right after lunch, Mama and I went and picked up our raw milk (two days late!) and also bought a stack of meat/bones. We came home, I drank my coffee, and then Katherine and I were off again to the W's. We got the dresses completed today!! They are loverly indeed...but I'm not supposed to post any pictures (which I would love to do) until after the conference. Let's just say that I had a helmet fire on Lauren's dress that totally worked out... ;) We haven't gotten any pictures of our clothes yet either...so, whenever we do I will put them up, whether or not we go to the conference. I still need to finish my hat...and I need a hatpin... In other news, the farmers are in our fields this evening! :) I also have a top priority video project going on which a very kind friend is helping me with on the audio front. Thank-you, Andrew!! I really appreciate your help! Mama is collecting stills for me to add into it over in the other room, so I think I will get back into that into the morning.... RachealI suppose you thought I'd dried up and died or something, didn't you? Well, I didn't. I've just been "dark" because my computer was down, then in the shop. I just got it back last night. I'll try to give you a quick run down on life in the past two weeks (seeing as last time I posted was two Sundays ago). Last week we spent Wednesday through Friday (afternoons) over at some new friends house helping them to make dresses for that conference that is coming up. They aren't finished yet and we haven't done anything on them this week because of illness going through their house. I also, during the past two weeks have been busy sewing. I finally finished my "button-dress" and my sailor suit! I have yet to be fitted/cut out my ball dress (this is assuming we are still going, see the next paragraph and draw your own conclusions). Granddaddy has been in the hospital until Wednesday afternoon when he was brought home in an ambulance. He is basically tied down with what is called an abductor brace between his legs (both legs strapped to it). This is to keep the left hip from coming of of joint. He is not doing so well, practically completely off his food and drink. He sleeps and hallucinates most of the time. The majority of his hallucinations seem to be from his childhood/young adult life with him working cattle or hollering for his sister. He is even thinner than ever. It requires a certain amount of purposeful practically to do what needs to be done around him. There is nothing pleasant in looking at a naked, emaciated, (and likely) dying old man. (He refuses clothing...and at this point it is easier to care for him without having the hassel of clothes.) He doesn't know any of us most of the time, except for Daddy. The call was made yesterday to put him under (in home) hospice care. He was supposed to go from the hospital into rehab, but none of the rehabs would take him because he probably has Lewy Body Dementia (LBD) (there has been no offical diagonsis, but he has 32 out of 40 some symptoms.) Apparently a large percentage of LBD patients are violent (which Granddaddy is not). I got my first sunburn of the season yesterday! It was very, very mild--but it still counts. I got it sitting on the front stoop working on my 1940's hat. I'll do a whole blog post on that when it's done--replete with pictures and just enough words. ;) I have a huge number of pictures to show you, so I did it slideshow style. Don't ask me how long it took to upload them all...but they are primarily from last Sunday when we took a glorious walk to the property line. We got kind of silly as you will see, but it was a really good time. (Note they aren't in order exactly because both sisters were taking pictures and I wasn't about to go through and rearrange them all in the slideshow...) You will please forgive me if I put up too many...it was too hard to pick (The final group of Katherine makes me think of the squeaky girl [Mary-Elaine?] who was sweet on Newly on Gunsmoke...Sorry Bug!) My bull (you remember Abe, don't you?) had to be sold because the neighbors bought the rest of what had been my uncle's land and they were going to put cows on it themselves, so my cows were relocated to Granddaddy's place and Abe had to be sold because there are already two bulls over there. I was kind of upset about this, but I knew from the get go that my Abe would probably have to be sold at some point. (That's the nature of the ranching business.) Anyway, to soften the deal, Daddy gave me the profit from him (I did bottle raise the critter, you know). I turned around and put some of it to work in purchasing myself a new laptop (as of today). I am going to take my "monster" offline and just use it for my writing and filmmaking stuff and do all internet stuff on my new laptop when I get it. I was going to get this really cute red Chromebook, but when I found out "No Skype" I changed my mind in a hurry. I don't do much Skype with other people, but my family is constantly sending each other links and communicating up-stairs and down (and room to room sometimes! :D)...I would definitely have missed it. So...you may have to wait until next week for another blog post if I decide to go ahead and take this thing offline before the Gateway arrives. See ya around! RachealSome of these are from last week (to the day). Last Friday we had rain...lots of it. Between that and the melting snow the barnyard (not to mention the barn itself--into my grandparents appartment) flooded. The next day, it was cold--so the remaining water froze. I went out and took some pictures. I would have posted them sooner, but I just now found Savannah's camera cord--I couldn't find it last Saturday! The following couple of pictures are just random of particular people... And there you go...a few random pictures of ice and peoples! RachealWell!! Since last I put fingers to keyboard here on "The Adventures of a Middle Kid" quite a bit has happened...more or less. :P Would you like a quick run-down of all the happenings? You would?? Great! Hang on to your hats! ;) Monday This was a busy day. I was grouchy all day long too, which didn't help anybody--much less myself. Most particularly poor Granddaddy whom I blew up at while making supper. Yes, I lost my self-control and barked at the old man for not staying put, but instead, coming back into the kitchen after I had already taken him out once. I felt really bad about it and apologized to him once I quit shaking with irrational fury. Anyway, the day was spent doing last minute things to get ready for the arrival of one young man by the name of Andrew. My parents and Savannah went to pick the "Man from Tomorrow" up at the airport, leaving around 3:30 (pm). Andrew is courting Savannah and has been for several months. He's from Australia so there are definitely some different things about him. He's also left-handed. ;) Not that that has anything to do with anything...but the really funny thing about that is he shares a birthday with another man we know (and love!) who is likewise left-handed. (And yes, that's some of that "Racheal's Trivia" stuff that collects in the resesses of her skull....) We fixed him up a bedroom in the living room...this isn't the first time we've had a young man crashing in our living room, so it's no big deal. Monday evening I had a few 'things' happen with my computer that I hadn't had happen in the past...it was weird, but my thinking that it needed to go to the shop was heightened. Tuesday Tuesday I turned on my computer and promptly turned it off. Daddy would eventually get ahold of a computer repair man that day...but on to more important stuff. Of course, that "more important stuff" falls into the category of usual daily chores (on my front) at anyrate. (Hopefully I'm getting my days straight here!) This means: Laundry! (Yes, that's right...I did Andrew's laundry that day as well as two loads of Granddaddy stuff and at least one of our stuff). Dishes! Cooking! (You wouldn't believe how many onions I massacre in the making of a single meal--I LOVE them cooked.) Naturally, I did some eavesdropping...don't ask me what the topic(s) of conversation were. I don't remember. Mama went to town and while she was gone, Daddy and Savannah gave Andrew a "walking tour" of the place and introduced him to Grandma and Grandpa. Katherine was doing her school and during this time I sat on the piano bench and thumped my way through a hunk of my guitar repertoire. On Andy Kenway's reels I jumped down to B (or up rather) with the most ease that I think I've ever had with them. I was quite pleased. I guess I've played enough recently that my D to B jumps on the (high) E-string have improved due to the extra hand stretching and loosening. Wednesday Daddy took my computer into the shop (boy, you'd think that was pretty important!) {break here for family worship} Anyway, Wednesday was a lot of the same...only I did read a chapter out of God and Government, Vol. 2. I'm gaining something of a wee bit more knowledge of biblical economics. For some reason, a uncomplicated understanding of that particular subject is rather elusive to my brain. Thursday For being rather "useless" (or so I felt yesterday), I guess I really did alright. Other than doing the usual laundry and dishes, I played my guitar (sitting in the cold room) for a while. I haven't been through that particular book (and I only got about half way when my toes got too cold to stay in there any longer) in over a year--which is understandable since it was one I sent with Katherine when our family temporarily split up! I also read both my philosophy/theology (and economics) and my history too. I was having a ball with the history reading. I had Shelby Foote's Narrative open over here, my Long's The Civil War, Day by Day open over there, my Generals in Gray in my lap, and a book concerning WBtS's battlefieds containing maps in one hand. As I was reading about First Manassas (or the First Battle of Bull Run for my friends of Union stripe ;P), I naturally had the battlefield guide open to that particular engagement's map and Long's Day by Day open to July 21st, 1861 (which was a Sunday). I referred to Generals a couple of times to put faces to names of particular Confederate generals. Naturally, I already have facial recognition with Beauregard, Joe Johnson, and Stonewall, but I couldn't reall what Gen. Bee looked like and "who was this guy??" There are SO many generals (on both sides) that most of us have never heard of. Other things of note: both my cats got spayed. Curio is still kind of sleeping off the drugs. Runty seems mostly back to normal. My biggest question is an incredulous "How do you expect me to keep cats from jumping up onto the furniture [bed, treadle machine, chair, vanity]?" Most particularly since their favorite napping spots are all up and not down? I have done like I was supposed to and checked their incision sites a couple of times today. They look fine--not red or swollen. The glue on Runty's incision is mostly gone (they are stitched internally, then glued shut), but so far is still fine. Curio is still growling at me a little when I pick her up...like I said, I think she's still a little doped. (I imagine they gave her a little more 'stuff'.) Mama did most of the cooking on Thursday. Friday That's today! I started the morning with laundry (actually just flipping the wash machine on when I got up--I had a load of socks soaking overnight), letting a groggy white and black cat out of her carrier (I let Runty out last night [she slept with me most of the night--as is usual] because I couldn't stand listening to her fussing and rattling the door), drinking my coffee and reading my Bible--with said black and white cat sitting on my stomach. She doesn't usually sit in my lap for any length of time, but she curled up there and promptly went to sleep. Runty joined in the nap curled against my knee (question...why do cats pick the side between you and the edge of the bed and never the side between you and the wall??) Speaking of coffee...by day two in our house we had "created" another black coffee drinker. :) Tuesday morning (or was it Wednesday?) Daddy was still asleep, but all the ladies and Andrew were awake, so we sat around talking--and drinking coffee. Someone offered Andrew some and he accepted and took it black since the rest of us were and decided he actually liked the stuff. Today, I did the cooking, most of the dishes (thanks, Katie, for doing the supper dishes several times this week!), some paltry amounts of laundry, some eavesdropping (of the obvious sort :D). It got kind of funny as I was "waiting for the onions" before I could make supper this evening. Mama and Daddy had gone to town (hey, you wondered where/when I got my computer back, didn't you? ;P) and I knew she was going to buy more onions (I used the last three at lunch time--by the way, I cook with a mightly lot of onions--to quote Gen. McDowell [US], I think them "monstrous fine!" {only he was referring to a watermelon...}). I didn't get any history reading done today though I did get through the next chapter in God and Government. Instead of reading history, I scribbled out a letter. (Okay, so I really did try to write neatly...) You who are destined to receive that letter (you know who you are) can probably read my messing handwriting by this point--afterall, you've been doing it since those long ago days when we lived but an hour (or so) apart. I also, strangely, used a pencil instead of a pen. I "always" use a pen...but I actually write neater with a pencil (besides which I can erase). But anyway...that's neither here nor there. I am, currently, in possession of "the ear" (aka the baby monitor by which we listen to Granddaddy while he sleeps/wakes/etc.) I will gladly hand it back to Daddy when he finishes his shower. I'll pass back the hat he placed on my head with a little less enthusiasm however. Andrew got him this white "boat-hat" that says "Capitan" on it. It looks adorable on Daddy and good on me (vainity!) and I like it a lot. I also made the discovery that I can wear it over my braids cross on top of my head. Nifty... By the way, I'd put some pictures up...but it's getting late and I haven't been able to locate Savannah's camera cord recently--and I definitely won't bug her post-10 pm for it! I'm going to sign off here and spare you all the details of the evening that had me in stitches a couple of times. I can't remember what they all were anyway... RachealWe took Granddaddy took church with us today. While I think it would be good if we did so every week, Daddy said he thought Granddaddy probably wouldn't be inclined to go again--the distance and the length of the service being factors. There is only so much you can "make" a person do and keep the peace...so I guess we'll just see how that works out. I don't know if Granddaddy has ever been to a Presbyterian service before in his life (but I kind of don't think so), but I found some sort of humor in the fact that of all days we had a Baptism (paedo) today. Granddaddy's an old Southern Baptist. :) After church, I was standing around talking to one of my most special little friends when one of "my" boys dashed by. I grabbed Christopher round the waist and moments later both of us were on the floor. I don't think I said "Ouch!" though Christopher did (and that plucky seven-year-old doesn't say that easily). We both landed on our knees (him underneath). I'm still not sure if I tripped because I stepped on my own skirt, or because Christopher had his feet tangled in it or his forward motion was simply too strong for me to "whoa" back on him with those shoes I had on. I realized (after we got home) that I didn't even have the grace to be embarressed about the whole thing. I grunted as my knee cap smacked into the floor and one of the elders who was standing there, talking to another man, said, "That didn't sound good!" I laughed it off, let Christopher go (he and I go way back on "You can't catch me!" so I like to grab him when he's not looking), and went back to talking to Isabelle. Anyway, I landed with most of my weight on my left knee. It's now sore and I have a bit of a knot under my knee cap where it swelled up. However, it feels a whole lot better than it did just a couple of hours ago. Guess it serves me right for not behaving like a lady... ;P RachealTrue, Katherine and I haven't had any adventures that near on the extremes that Madeline had to deal with in Madeline Takes Command (I cannot remember the author's name), but we have had a few this past week. Wednesday morning, shortly before I started on lunch, the internet went down. It was more than just those momentary "outs" that have seemed rather regular of late. It went down completely. I ended up calling the support line and went through the whole thing fairly well--until I was getting off the phone. It was then that I goofed and in such an embarressing (but hilarious) fashion. Before I said "Good-bye" to the lady I was speaking to, I said, "I love you!" Before you gasp too hard, let me explain that there are just a very, very few people I speak to on the phone with any regularity and it is perfectly natural and acceptable for me to say "Love you!" before hanging up. In other words, it's just habit. It really was funny. Katherine was like: "Did you really just say that???" Um, yes.... Next day (yesterday), the tech-guy came out and got us all hooked up with internet--we "upgraded" so to speak, and now the internet is faster! Everybody will like that. :) I processed carrots this week. I started on Monday and got a little over two gallon bags filled. I didn't get to the rest on Tuesday (we went to town), but I did get around to it Wednesday afternoon and got the rest of the carrots peeled and cut. I processed them yesterday while the technician was here. I went to the Post Office today--twice. I needed stamps and to send a stack of music books to a friend (you know who you are). Well, I had looked on USPS website and determined there that using two flat rate boxes of a particular size that I could get them shipped (Mom had told me to get the flat rate boxes), but it appears that the local Post Office didn't have those particular sizes. Anyway, the kindly employee got a box that they all fit in--but it really was too big and the edges would have gotten munched very throughly by the time it reached it's destination...so I screwed up my face and thought and told the guy that I had a box at home that they would fit in and that I would be back. So, I came home and packed the box (they fit perfectly in the box I had in mind) and took it back to the Post Office. I decided to fuel my car on the way home. That went fine and dandy until it came time to pull out of the gas station. I didn't jump a couple of times when I probably could have (that time of day is not the best for going to the gas station on that particular road) and the guy in the Ford whatever-it-was behind me got impatient and started beeping his horn at me. Anyway, I didn't do anything stupid in my irriation like jump out in front of the Mack trucks coming down Main Street. I just simply cannot stand it when people beep their horns at me. I do not like traffic--even light traffic. (I'm a country kid and I'm used to little used back-roads; besides which, I really have done a large portion of my driving in an '93 pick-up truck so I tend to drive everything like that. Careful of not getting myself out there in the way. I tend to forget the red car has a really peppy engine.) This evening, we had a load of wood delievered. Mr. M from church, with his two eldest sons (I'd guess they are someplace along the lines of 10 and 8), showed up with a truck bed full of wood--most of it split, but some of it needing to be split still. Mr. M told me that this was a celebrity tree--it came from Payton Manning's yard! (For those of you who don't know, Payton Manning was the Indianapolis Colt's quarterback up until about a year, year and a half ago. I think the team's playing has gone sharpely downhill since he left, but don't tell Grandpa I said that! He's a staunch Colt's fan. :D) I thought Mr. M was pulling my leg...but it appears he wasn't; I couldn't hear the greatest over the splitter, but apparently the man the wood came from had a sister or something like that who used to work for Payton Manning (probably greens-keeper or something along those lines) and that's how he ended up with access to this particular "celebrity" tree. Interesting little tidbits one picks up. Anyway, we cranked up the splitter and went ahead and split the stuff that needed splitting. I ran the machine and Mr. M did the lifting; Katherine stacked the split stuff and the eldest M boy hauled/rolled the stuff to his dad. I just heard, "When's dinner? I'm hungry!" so I reckon I'd been meander myself out to the kitchen and start slicing onions and such like. See ya around, folkies! Racheal |
New post on The Bee Project! 04/26/18
The Middle KidI chose to title this blog "The Adventures of a Middle Kid" because that is exactly what I'll be detailing (mostly). I chose 'kid' over any other word, like 'girl' (I am the middle girl so it also would have worked) or 'child' Archives
April 2019
The anti-Christ will not overrun Christ’s church or kingdom. Categories
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