Stories and other stuff

Well, that day rolled around again.  I busted out the five gallon bucket, the black plastic bags, and dug out the old, worn out sneakers from under the bed.  Armed with shovels and rakes, I went out to the back yard, and cleaned up what the melted snow revealed. Ten gallons of dog poop. I am pretty reliable about cleaning up after my dogs when there's no snow.  About once or twice a week is usually sufficient.  It's when it snows and snows and snows that cleanup becomes a chore.  You get more snow than dog poop and it makes a mess in the trash.  It's nasty, but it's just plain easier to sacrifice a pair of shoes and do it when the snow melts. Easier.  But nasty. Today's not been a bad day so far, dog poop and all.  I heard a very important message at church today, one which had me thinking back to the time when I got messed up by a chubby redheaded girl when I was 15.  I think today was a good reminder not to go backward, and...

I got through yesterday.  And for that, I sincerely gave Glory to God.  I didn't get through it on my own, and I had to raise my voice to someone who was being, well, combative, argumentative, stubborn, and well, just the worst version of herself that she could be. But I didn't swear and I didn't get mean.  I just had to raise my voice to get the point across. I spent some time with the people I love the most in this life yesterday, albeit in probably some of the most difficult circumstances that they could face.  It's so hard to see someone you love hurting and know there's not a whole lot you can do about it.  So, you do what you can, and trust God for the rest. I saw God yesterday.  I saw Him at work in the lives of my children, even though they didn't.  I pointed it out.  They're not so sure it was Him, but I'm convinced I saw his hand of providence, safety, and provision and a living example of how a whole lot of bad worked out for ulti...

At the outset, let me say that I don't write this thing to blow my own horn.  For a long time, I wrote it just to share the amazing things God does in my life, and brother, what a seven year journey that has been.  And then the things that God is doing in my life became so very intimate, so very even hard-to-believe that I didn't feel it right to share.  And then I bought a smartphone and decided to pay that bill and my utilities vs. internet every month and I kinda quit writing at all. So, I'm back to writing because I needed some internets to do my taxes.  And there's a lot to write about if you're an American who loves his/her country and you've been watching the debacle in Washington, D.C. this week. Debacle is being generous. So, we're gonna build a wall and Mexico is gonna pay us for it.  Later.  Maybe. So, let's take a quick history lesson about walls, my dear friends, and the sheer stupidity of them. Our first lesson on walls comes from t...

So, I hurt my back.  Badly.  Again. And I'm not whining, but boy, it's really sore, almost to the point where I'm seriously considering medical attention.  I don't know if it was done by helping someone out, or what, but nothing seems to be helping it right now. That said, it's not snowing.  That's a blessing.  The snow has also been a blessing, but when it melts, hoo boy, what a mess there will be underneath it.  Happens every winter, so I'm used to it. I'm thinking about millennials today, in the context of how to reach them.  Half of the ones I know and have personal friendships with are dealing with the after-effects of meth use, which means I have about six millennials I consider friends. So, I'm wondering in Utah if we have traditional millennials. I have one friend who is very artsy.  I say that as a compliment, because she classes up my facebook feed by sharing some interesting painting pictures and photographs.  Two others, t...

Today's story is just a story about people and cats. Somehow, through Miss June, because I would have flat out said NO!, I wound up with Tami Jo's cat. It's a long story, most of it is none of my business, let alone having me tell it to the world; but Tami Jo's cat wound up with us. I was told that we were watching it for the person Miss June gave it to (and it's June's story to tell) and apparently this person dropped off the face of the earth.  So Lilee is at my house, occupying a room meant for someone else because Lilee does not play well with other cats, let alone the dogs.  She also does not like children. Lilee has been farmed out before, and for some reason, because I was nice to Tami and let her stay here for a while when things weren't going well for her, the old lady seems to think I'm responsible for her cat.  Or we are, or that the cat needs to go back to Tami (most of which isn't going to happen).  I had June have Wendi reach out ...

So, the message lately is:  Don't go backwards. On Wednesday, I just had a funny feeling something was going on with my job.  I couldn't put my finger on it, but it was like I was going to be re-assigned.  Just a funny feeling, and Wednesday, nothing came of it. Thursday morning, I found something in my coat pocket, a wire clamp that is used in a fuel tank.  I haven't used one of those since I worked in the section that does fuel tank maintenance.  I took it back to work with me and put it away.  I have no idea how it got in my coat pocket.  It didn't belong there. Later on, I spoke to the guy in charge of our training and told him I got an e-mail about some training that was coming due I needed.  He went to look in the computer, but couldn't pull up my records because, somehow or other, I had been re-assigned to a different supervisor, who is in charge of fuel tank maintenance. Yesterday, the error was corrected, but nobody can explain ho...

I forgot to tell this story from the weekend. Saturday I was laying on the bed, just being kinda lazy when I got into one of those fights with myself. It's kind of being nagged by the Spirit. You need to go to the store.  Tacos for dinner. OK, it's not Tuesday and I'll go later. No, go NOW. All right, all right, I'll go now. In the kitchen speaking to Miss June: " How about tacos for dinner?" "OK"?  We needed bathroom tissue too.  Something she forgot to mention when I was out earlier with the cat food thingie.  How we went through 12 rolls of paper in 10 days, I don't know, but that's a story for another century. So, off to Winco.  Not Smith's.  I need to go to Winco. I need to interrupt the story to say this: Sometimes I find little road markers that remind me I'm on the right path.  A penny here and there, and on the really uncertain days, it's usually a shiny dime. When you walk into Winco, they herd you ...