Headed back to Kansas today. Our trip to Texas was rather unusual due to the snow they had before we got there and after we got there. If I remember right the average annual snowfall for the Dallas area is around an inch so they've had 4 years worth of snow down there. On the trip home I ran into some moderate to heavy snow in southern Oklahoma. It actually reduced visibility a bit and began collecting on the grass along side of the road. It only lasted for maybe 10 miles or so and by the time I hit Kansas it was mostly clear. When I left this morning there was one item still on my Texas "to do list" that I needed to see about. I had not eaten at Whataburger. I skipped breakfast on purpose so I would be hungry for lunch. I decided I could stop for an early lunch but when I hit Gainsville it was still only about 10 o'clock and I just wasn't ready for lunch. I knew there were some Whataburger's in Oklahoma but I wasn't sure if I would find one before Oklahoma City. I pressed on in blind hope of finding my dream lunch. As luck would have it there was one in Ardmore, Ok. Yippee. I ordered my double cheese burger meal with ketchup only and a medium vanilla shake. After gathering up some napkins and a straw I set out on my quest for the ketchup dispensers. Not finding them was not a surprise since I am often unable to find even the most obviously placed objects. I asked the lady behind the counter about the disposition of the ketchup dispensers and she said they would bring a tray out with plenty of ketchup. I guess she caught a glimpse of the thinly veiled look of panic on my face as I stated my requirement of generous helpings of the very healthful lacopene delivery system commonly known as ketchup. She very mechanically handed me a couple of ketchup packets which I thought that with what they might include on the tray would be enough. When they brought out my meal the delivery person brought a whole tray of items to aid in the consumption of said meal. Straws, napkins, salt and pepper and 20 or 30 ketchup containers. Now I see what she was trying to tell me. Whataburger knows what customer service should be like. I boldly took more ketchup and thanked the deliverer for their thoughtfulness. Yum, Yum. That big ol' greasy burger went down easy and I was soon commencing with my journey home. Upon my arrival I unpacked, caught a quick nap, changed the oil in a car for a friend of my daughter's. Went with her, (my daughter), to pick up yet another of her friends after which they dropped me off at the Turnpike HQ's so I could pick up my truck. Then, when she arrived back home after shopping and dropping off her friend at her house we had my son open a couple of gifts from Texas. Since he didn't make the trip down to Texas the gifts came up with me on my return trip. A slice of time was also taken to make some garlic dip, a family tradition on my side, to enjoy at a later time. Finally got around to playing with the Wii tonight too, so as you can see the long drive did not earn me any special treatment. Life goes on.By the way, happy new year 30 minutes early.
What a day! Started out on our walk with a short sleeved t-shirt and my vest. Not long into the walk I could have done without the vest. Must be in the 50's. My granddaughter and I headed out for a walk and maybe lunch if we found a place for that. I stuffed a couple of snacks in my pocket just in case but returned home with them both still uneaten. After navigating some residential streets sans sidewalk, we found ourselves at the square. The old courthouse standing tall before us we found a bench seat in the sun and took a time out to plot our next move. We went in a couple of businesses there on the square before seeking a suitable eating establishment for lunch. We soon found ourselves in a hat store with several display cases full of different types of mostly western style hats. The store smelled of leather too and had a couple of saddles on display as well. After we visited briefly with the Boston Terrier who came to greet us we talked to one of the salesman there. I asked about the extent of leather work they did and inquired about a guitar strap. Sure, we can make you a guitar strap. After unsuccessfully looking for a picture of a guitar strap in a picture album full of leather creations I asked about a ballpark figure of the cost of such an endeavor. I'm thinking it would be neat to have a nice leather guitar strap from the Cowboy capital. Even though I'm not a CW artist or write cowboy or rodeo songs it would still be nice to have a strap from Stephenville. I enjoy the cowboy culture as presented in stories, movies and to some degree, in real life. Yes, there are still cowboys. But my appreciation for them is largely based on second hand representatives such as Michael Martin Murphy. He has educated himself on a lot of cowboy history and I enjoy his family friendly concerts and willingness to refer to his faith when it's appropriate. My dad always said when he grew up he wanted to be a cowboy. At 82 he would tell you the same thing. In a way of thinking, I would like to be a cowboy too. Sorry for the diversion, back to the walk. So after some good Mexican food my granddaughter and I headed back home. On the way there was plenty of time to talk about a lot of different subjects. Eventually we landed on politics and economic matters. After a long winded explanation of the relationship between taxes and economic development and a quick treatment of how corporations and company's don't really pay taxes but simply increase the cost of the goods they produce to cover their taxes like any other liability. It's a complex subject all in all. She looks at me and says, it's like this is the real game of "Life". I laughed and hoped we all understand that this is the game that counts and we should be engaged in it to try to move it in the direction we think it should go.
Welcome home, Alex. Our nephew from Stephenville, Texas got home today from Afghanistan. How great to see him again and for him to be back home out of harms way. The celebration is, as always, tempered by the knowledge of those who have not returned home or who have done so with serious injuries to deal with. They and their families, will continue to be remembered even as we celebrate. While my granddaughter and I were walking in the snow today, yes, it snowed again, in Stephenville, Texas, we thought about how the snow could be confetti from heaven to enhance our celebration. Of course we were in the minority with that sentiment, none the less a fun thought. We walked around for quite a while then went by a small store called Lida's Food Basket. We thought we might warm a bit inside and check out what Lida had cooked up for our eating pleasure. Unfortunately for us, fortunate for Lida I suppose, the store was closed until January the 5th. To help assuage our grief we settled ourselves in the porch swing that was thoughtfully installed there and visited as we watched the snow fall straight as an arrow, to the ground. A thoroughly enjoyable time. I recalled swinging in just such a swing on my grandma's porch as a kid. Gently rocking to and fro while locust called the evening into being. There was no place like grandma's house and no one as warm and comforting as grandma. Falling asleep while she sang about black birds being baked in a pie with that voice that I suspect will never be matched. At least not if my heart is involved in the evaluation. Exploring in the attic and playing with those little animal toys that walk down a slanted board. (what were those called) I wonder if my granddaughter will have fond memories of this time in her life. I sincerely hope so. Home is a great place to be and though the location changes occasionally, the feeling is the same.
No, I did not run today but thanks for checking up on me. There was still quite a lot of snow on the streets around our house so I decided not to run. I did, however, go for a 3 mile walk. Long sleeved T-shirt, a short sleeved T-shirt and my vest. A stocking hat, walking boots and warm socks also accompanied me. With temperatures in the mid-20's there was a stretch when, walking north into the wind, I pulled the vest up over my chin and held it in my mouth so it wouldn't slip back down. All in all, it was a good walk. Later in the day my brother and I went to the Nursing Home in Andover where we sang some songs with the folks and my brother offered a short devotional. While I'm the one who went to college and had several classes in Biblical type studies, he seems to have a better overview of the Bible. Please don't tell him that 'cause his head will swell immeasurably. After the devotion we all eat a bowl of ice-cream and visit for a while. An enjoyable time for all. At least I hope it is. Sorry about that misleading title. I just don't have the mental energy to tackle my original subject. I may take a whack at it later in the week. My wife, granddaughter and I are headed to Texas tomorrow to spend time with family there. We also hope to see our Nephew who just returned from Afghanistan. I'm really looking forward to that. We will also visit my friend who recently had major surgery. While there I hope to get in a couple of runs and also to keep up with my blog. Sorry this one is kinda bland but that will help you appreciate the really good one I may write some day.Hope you like the picture at least.
We will join Bert's blog in mere moments but first a quick commercial. My web-browser's home page is set to Compassion Internationals web-site. This was done to remind me that the next order of business for us when we can get a little more settled financially, is to sponsor another child. We have sponsored several children over the years though we currently do not. I would like to suggest you check into possibly becoming a sponsor yourself. While I will not take a lot of time here to explain it, rest assured, as you develop a relationship with your child your blessing will far out weigh your financial sacrifice. This organization is very efficient with the monies they take in and are very effective at what they do. Check them out.Now for the regularly scheduled blog. I just came from our church where several family members gathered to talk, eat and play music. My nephew and his wife were in town for the Holidays. They live in Indiana and we don't get to see them a lot. We were joined by a couple of friends for a good bit of the music but most of the participants were relatives. My brother played his 12 string, my nephew played his mandolin and his wife played guitar for a while, my niece played guitar also and my son started out on his bass and then traded it for another 12 string later. My daughter had her mandolin and my granddaughter sang a song for us as well. Me? I played mandolin most of the evening but traded it for a guitar on a couple of songs. Our friends played banjo, djembe, and guitar respectively. This is what I call a real celebration. The air stuffed full of sounds from our instruments and our voices. We sang gospel, pop, bluegrass and some just sorta jammin' around stuff. What a great time. If I had died in a car crash on the way home it would have all been ok because I was very blessed to have had that time. It's so easy for me to relate to people through music that sometimes I neglect the finer details of a relationship, like talking, for instance. I guess I didn't learn a lot about the folks in the circle, I just know that we had a blast making music together. And if there is a better place then the church for such a celebration I can't imagine where it would be.No, I didn't run today, but ask me again tomorrow, I think you'll find a different answer at that time.
It appears the 54 year old man of the house is the first one up on this Christmas morning.5:50 am. Not all that early but last year we waited til 10 o'clock for our granddaughter to rise and shine. And I do mean shine. I was lying there in bed with thoughts careening from one guard rail to the other. All over the map as it were, but I settled on a re-occurring theme for the subject this morning. On my recent trip to Texas to visit my friend who had had major surgery I was alone in the car for several hours. If you were to analyze the trip from an emotional standpoint it would have to be considered one riddled with schizophrenia. Putting emotions in a can to be dealt with at a latter time is one of my specialties. Let's just say that, when alone, the can sometimes becomes a bit unruly. It was a little bazaar to be honest. I would be singing along with a song on the car stereo. I mean, singing loud, playing drums on the dashboard, using my girly voice from time to time as needed. Just really "letting 'er rip" as it were. Then a few words of the song, the can opener, would send me into a fit of grief and sorrow. Tears would accompany me for a shot time as well as a clinched jaw and the quick application of a Kleenex to the nose. After winning the battle over this physiological sneak attack I was right back at my rather impressive musical performance. Usually having to force the next few lines of lyrics out before the song could begin to be recognizable again. For whatever reason, this morning, along with other disjointed thoughts, that trip kept coming to mind. That seems to be a microcosm of my life. Without a song to sing, I believe life would be immeasurably more difficult. Without a focus of something positive and good, I'm not sure where I would turn. Of course for me, Jesus is my song. He is what gives me strength to move through times of grief without self destructing or becoming an emotional basket case as it were. I really don't deal with death all that well. God knows, and I mean, God literally knows, that I'm not happy about those he has taken from me. As selfish as that sounds it is quite accurate. And yet, it is His love and mercy which is at the center of my ability to deal with grief and move beyond it. He has conquered death and gives us hope. He has conquered life as well, and gives us Hope. Answers come slowly and imperfectly here in this troubled world, but ultimately, for me, as Andre Crouch so beautifully penned it, "Jesus is the Answer", So when the answer is beyond my reach I cling ever tighter to The Answer. I hope on this Christmas morning you have a song to sing. And if you don't I know the best songwriter ever who has written a song just for you. A song that starts out with "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son". This could be your song too. Maybe we could work out a harmony on it sometime. That would be great indeed!
Thought we would wake to an inch of snow this morning but no such luck. The usual comments about overpaid weathermen and the fact the we will likely get nothing dominated the early conversation. It's nice to sort of "coast" on Christmas Eve. if you can, but I couldn't. At least not early on. Our alarm system hardware provider sent out an email late yesterday alerting us to potential problems with the "Holiday Schedule" routine in their software. Decided to look in to that right after explaining to my cow-orkers that the snow was still coming. While the usual Gulf moisture seemed to be cut off, (at least the more direct route), there was quite a bit of moisture wrapping around the low that was south of us, as it moved slowly eastward. Not enough moisture with this scenario to really bury us in snow, but a little moisture can make several inches so the potential was still there for a significant bout with the white stuff. Anyway, explaining all of that and then bringing attention to the fact that the precipitation was building from east to west, while the low moved in the opposite direction, did take a bit of time. Then I knew it was time to tackle the alarm thing. After copying a couple of files to just the right directory and doing a full "download" to the access panels I was convinced we were in good shape for the Holiday. Then there was the hood detector problem. We have sonic based detectors that signal the lane computer that a tall vehicle, usually a semi, is approaching the automatic ticket machine in the entry lanes at our turnpike plazas. These detectors are quite reliable under normal circumstances but with all the snow and high winds there was enough moisture in the target area of the detector to set it off. Therefore, every vehicle was a truck, or so the computer thought, and would spit the ticket out of the higher encoders. This was an inconvenience to our customers but was not a show stopper as they could still push the "get ticket" button to force the Datim, (Dual Altitude Ticket Issuing Machine), to spit low instead of high. The snow causes problems in other ways too but things, all in all went fairly well today. After a last minute gift purchase on my lunch hour and a relatively slow afternoon I was off to church. I decided to go ahead and go to the Christmas Eve. service in spite of the weather. I had loaded my guitar, mandolin and music into my truck before I headed for work so I was able to drive directly to church without going home first. Geepers, I just realized I left my mic at the church. Well, maybe my brother will pick it for me tomorrow. I can't believe I did that. Anyway, I got to church a little early got out my mandolin, tuned it and commenced to participate in a couple of wonderful services. Christmas carols, a reading of the Christmas story, a message from our pastor, some special music and voila', you have a great evening on your hands. We always close with a candle lighting ceremony which is carried out while singing Silent Night. I hope the satisfaction and peace that visited me as I quieted my voice and listened to the hundreds of voices lifted in song will be yours too, this Christmas.Happy Birthday Jesus!
