All's Quiet

All’s quiet on the southern front. That means not much happened last week. Susie has been after me to put up some pictures so I’ve added some that go back a couple weeks. I copied these from the Lebanon Church Facebook page. But first, the boring details of my week. You know, kind of like church at the mission… you have listen to the sermon before you get the food (except the Gospel Rescue Mission in Grants Pass doesn’t do that).

So, let’s see… last Monday I finished my taxes and sent them off. I think they are correct. I hope they are correct. I’m getting money back instead of having to pay. That’s a good thing. I also sent out our prayer letter to those who have asked for it. Joyce and I are making Monday evenings (except tonight) our movie night. Last week we rented “The Hurt Locker.” It was good but in my opinion not “best picture” good.

The middle of the week I felt like I might be coming down with a cold so I took a lot of Airborne and soaked in a HOT bath. Kind of like sweating the bad stuff out. It worked. Still had to labor (endlessly??) on our cleaning and sorting. Joyce is doing really well. She actually got to the back wall of the junk (err… craft) room. Nobody’s seen it in years! She sorted, tossed, boxed, bagged, and repacked. She filled our garbage can and there are bags left over for other days; she filled our recycle barrel – then the neighbor’s; there is still stuff left over for next time. Oh yes, then there was the trunk load that went to Goodwill. When all this was over she stacked the stuff she wants to keep against one wall. There were “only” twenty boxes and totes. Only 20! Oh well, it’s a start. I almost have the office finished. Anybody want three file drawers of outdated sermon resource material? Come and get it.

Mike needed help with some supports for his grape vines so Thursday afternoon we bought, cut, drilled, and bolted. Beautiful day – sunny, in the 70s. Really nice. That evening we all went to dinner at the Taprock. That’s a new restaurant in town overlooking the Rogue River.

Saturday my sister, Beth turned 85. They had a surprise party for her so we went up to the Eugene area for that. Actually, I went. Joyce was supposed to go with me but she woke up feeling puny. So she stayed home getting well. Sunday I went to the early service at the Nazarene Church and Joyce stayed home. Later in afternoon we worked in the yard. Another beautiful day – temps in the high 70s. We did some weeding and I got most of my garden in. If it gets too cold and the seeds don’t come up, I’ll just replant later.

Today, it is cloudy and supposed to rain for a couple days. Then nice again. Such is life in Oregon. We went to Medford to get some work done on the pickup and get Joyce’s glasses fixed. And… I have to tell this because it’s funny. We have a gift card for Red Lobster so we decided this would be a good time to use it. We had a wonderful meal – a little more expensive than we would usually pay but we have a gift card, right. The lady brings the bill, Joyce and I are engrossed in conversation, I automatically get out my credit card and pay the bill – totally forgetting about the gift card. So come and see us. We have a gift card to Red Lobster we need to use someday.

And that’s the way it was – one week in our lives.

The pictures are from Wednesday night KidZone at Van Essens a couple weeks ago -- lamb petting, egg hunt, hot dog feed.

Two Weeks Worth

Guess what? It’s been two weeks since I blogged and a lot has happened – good things. Let me start back at Lebanon. The last time I blogged it was raining. It did that most of the week including Good Friday and a little on Easter. There has only been a very few times when I’ve been out in the RV and couldn’t wait until we got home. This was one of them. But… here’s the good part. Wednesday (going way back before Good Friday) was Family Night and it was scheduled to be at Van Essen’s farm. It was for the whole church but with an emphasis on the kids. They had new lambs for the kids to hold and pet, and eggs for the kids to find. The teens helped hide them. The neat thing is, the weather was GOOD! Imagine, Oregon in the middle of a rainy week and we had good weather. There were between 65 and 70 people there; about 35 of them were KidZone-age kids; plus lots of parents. And lots of hot dogs. Great evening.


Friday we did a Tenebrae. That is a Service of Darkness with candles that are extinguished as the service progresses. It was the same one we did at Allen Creek except that Trevor and I changed it a little. Not very many people came but it was also the first time they had done anything on Good Friday. Now they know what they missed. I’ve told Trevor to celebrate all the things they do. Rejoice in them. Make them positive and be upbeat. After awhile people will begin to realize that good things are happening and they won’t want to miss them.

Joyce, Leanne, and I spent most of Saturday before Easter getting the KidZone room and hallway ready for the next theme. We made it look “western” with paper fences on the walls, posters, bales of hay, and other decorations. It looked great and was ready for people to see on Easter. We're (actually "they" because we won't be there for very much of it) calling it "KZ Corral" but it actually an old Group VBS called Avalanche Ranch.

The Easter Celebration was … well, a celebration. Good music, good message, good attendance, good spirit. The day started with a pancake breakfast and everyone loved it. After worship, we packed up the RV and left for my sister’s place in Elmira. We had originally planned to go to the coast for a few days of vacation but with the rain (and wind at the beach) we decided to skip that part of the journey. It still rained most of the time we were at Beth’s but it was good to spend time with her. She invited Doris (my other sister), her husband, and their daughter over for dinner. Plus Roy and his wife. It was fun to get together with all of them.

We left the RV there and headed for home Tuesday. The weather most of this past week has been pretty good – I even got the lawn mowed. It is cloudy, a little cool, with some showers and typically Oregon. The weather on TV just said the week ahead is going to get progressively better. I need sun!

Our BIG project is sorting and throwing. We have got to declutter, downsize, and make it easier to move when the time comes. Joyce has tackled the “backroom.” That is her craft room – packed (!!!) with stuff to make kid’s crafts. Much of it is recycled stuff so can be put in the recycle bin with no hard feelings. Some of it will go to the Daycare for them to use. Some is garbage. Some she will keep. But when she is through, the room will be a bedroom again. I have worked in the office but have gotten bogged in computer stuff.

Important computer stuff. I killed (read: wasted, shot, frittered, blew, dumped) two days not getting anything accomplished on the computer. First it was the taxes. Last week I took them to Liberty Tax Service (the ones with the Statue of Liberty logo) because there were a couple things I didn’t know how to do. After three hours with them, I concluded they didn’t either so I picked up my papers and left. I’ve heard good things about TurboTax so I decided to try that online. After spending all day Thursday answering their questions, entering figures, and trying to figure out what they were really asking for, I decided there was something wrong with the way I had entered something. They wanted me to pay $1 on one screen and $650 on the next screen. I really should be getting money back from Uncle Sam. So I dumped the TurboTax idea. I am in the process of doing them the old fashioned way (doing it myself with paper and pencil). I’ll either finish tomorrow or file an extension.

Friday was the next wasted day. I wanted to connect my laptop to my printer wirelessly, i.e. network. The printer is not wireless so I got some parts from Staples and commenced to string it all together. But it didn’t work. After calling tech support, I found out one of the things I bought from Staples was manufactured so long ago it might be supported my newer technology. So I boxed it all up and took it back. Another day down the drain. But what fun watching it all swirl around and around before it disappears. Remember, I’m retired and time doesn’t matter. I can do whatever I want. (I keep telling myself as I look at the jillion things that are begging to be worked on!)

But I did take the time to barbecue after church today. I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time. It sure tasted good. Then we watched the Masters Golf Tournament on TV. I was glad Phil won and that Tiger did well but didn’t win.

So the week ahead will be filled with sorting and throwing and cleaning and doctor’s appointments and sundry stuff like that. How exciting!