This morning I’m in the office. This afternoon I’m taking some of the family to Silver Dollar City. Maybe the weather will cooperate. Cloudy and seventy degrees would be perfect. To be ready to take off this afternoon I worked twelve hours yesterday. That’s foolish. My body isn’t wired for that kind of silliness any more.
Pray for Ruth. She is having trouble at the house with internet and telephones. Those are her lifelines to the world. She needs them to be fixed pronto.
Jake and Millie are doing well these days. Jake’s visit to the vet was less expensive than Millie’s was. That’s all I know for sure. I didn’t want to know the precise details.
Humor helps. For $15 you can buy a soft, squeaky toy named Brad Pittbull; it will put your dog in fetch-heaven. You can put your dog food in a stay-fresh storage canister for $45. You can alleviate neck strain in your dog by spending $70 on a hand-forged wrought-iron stand to raise the height of his water bowl.
Posted by john316 on Thu, 24 Jul 2008 08:22
My weight and the St. Louis Cardinals are heavy (no pun intended) on my mind these days. My weight remains as high as Everest. 210 pounds. I’ve seen gorillas that weigh less than I do. Good eating and walking habits seem to be irretrievably gone. Pray the Lord will reverse this trend in my life.
I have been a Cardinals fan since the moment Ken Boyer hit a grand slam homerun in game four of the 1964 World Series. Before then, I had been a Yankees fan because they were on TV twice every weekend. Dizzy Dean and Pee Wee Reese were the announcers in those days. Living close to St. Louis, I had always felt funny about rooting for a New York team, and when Boyer did his thing, I switched to St. Louis and never looked back. If the Cardinals would win every game the rest of this year, it sure would make me happier.
Humor helps. Perks of reaching 56. Your joints are accurate weather predictors. Your secrets are safe with your friends because they can’t remember them. Your supply of brain cells is finally down to manageable size.
Posted by john316 on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:49
Posted by john316 on Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:49
I finished off the Purple Hull Peas at breakfast this morning. I’m surprised at the huge number of people who have told me they had never eaten Purple Hull Peas. How sad to live in the most bountiful nation on earth, yet never to have enjoyed its choice produce.
I was out in the car with Ian early this morning. He told me to look at the bubble. I couldn’t see what he was talking about. He kept pointing out the window and talking about someone blowing bubbles. Then I saw it. It was the moon, fading in the morning twilight. It really did look like a bubble. Oh for the eyes of a three-year-old.
Humor helps. The Japanese eat raw fish and have fewer heart attacks than we do. Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than we do. Germans eat lots of sausage and suffer fewer hearts than we do. I guess it’s not the food, but speaking English, that’s killing us.
Posted by john316 on Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:05
For breakfast I ate a mess of Purple Hull Peas Ruth made for me. They have long been my favorite vegetable, more due to sentimentality than to taste. This is not to demean their taste. I feel they have a much better flavor than black eyes. Black eyes always taste dirty to me. Purple Hulls are more pleasant.
My sentimental attachment to Purple Hulls is due to my Grandma Marshall. Knowing I liked them, she made me a mess of them every time I came to see her. Those are still precious memories.
Humor helps. Actual quotes. From the boss: “Teamwork is a lot of people doing what I say.” From another boss: “Could we change the time of your sister’s funeral? It’s now scheduled on our busiest day of the year. Friday would work better for me.” From the Executives: “We know communication is a problem, but we are not going to discuss it with the employees.”
Posted by john316 on Sat, 19 Jul 2008 12:12
Ruth and I are at the Best Western in West Plains. Our goal is to be home by noon. I intend to be back in the office at 1 p.m. It's always hard to go back to work, but I love what I do, and I work with gifted people. The Lord is good. One remarkable highlight of this trip was seeing my son John and grandson Sam go parasailing. My acrophobia kicked in even though I only sat on the deck of a boat and watched them soar. Pray for me. I have a funeral to preach tomorrow and three sermons to deliver on Sunday. Much has to be done in preparation for August 24.
Posted by john316 on Fri, 18 Jul 2008 08:11
Ruth and I are headed home after two wonderful weeks of vacation at our much loved Destin FL. Highlights included some great one-liners from three-year-old Ian. He got tired of having to wear flip-flops to the beach. He saw me going barefooted everywhere and finally told his mom he also wanted to wear his feet. Each morning he would come pile up in bed with Ruth and help wake her up. The last morning he did it again and finally said, "Grandma, you can't do this every morning." One morning at breakfast he looked worriedly at the whiskers on my face and said, "Grandpa, you have sand on your face." I really thought that was cute until I remembered the sand at Destin is white.
Posted by john316 on Thu, 17 Jul 2008 07:05
Lilly Ruth is one year and two weeks old. She is gorgeous, a flirt, and a tease. She refuse to walk and talk. She makes stabs at both, but refused to take the full plunge. Her mom worries a tad about this, but I know her reluctance is a matter of extreme intelligence. Why should she exert the strenuous energy required when she has Grandpa. If she wants anything, all she has to do is point and grunt. I gladly get it for her. If she wants to go somewhere, all she has to do is hold up her arms toward me. I quickly transport her. She knows she has it made. Why walk or talk?
Posted by john316 on Tue, 15 Jul 2008 06:47
Three-year-old Ian and I saw a lizard yesterday. He screamed with glee, "Grandpa!! Look! A crocodile." Caleb and Sam, along with their dad, took Millie to see the Vet yesterday. It time for her shots. She also had hip trouble and an ear infection. Good news--she is healthier than we thought. Bad news--$300. Three hundred dollars!!! I went to early worship at a Lutheran church this morning.
Posted by john316 on Sun, 13 Jul 2008 12:22
China has announced dog meat will not be served in Olympic restaurants. I'm glad. The Chinese do not understand our affection for dogs. When I was there a decade ago, I tried to find some dog meat to sample, but it was absent from the shelves. When I asked why, I was told it was out of season. They evidently like to eat dog meat in winter, thinking it warms the body. While in China, our mission team and I were discussing local dog eating customs. We saw a child playing with a dog, and one of our group said it gave new definition to a parent saying, don't play with your food. By the way, Jake and Millie are also glad about China's decision.
Posted by john316 on Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:01
