An Even Bigger Day

This is Sunday and it is always a big day around here but today will even be bigger. When I got in last evening I made potato salad for eight so it would sit overnight in the frig and get better. This morning I got up and did my regular stuff...fed the dog and cat and watered them both, fixed the dog a piece of cinnamon toast and fed it to him. Then I took him for a short walk. That's good for both of us.

I read the papers and then got ready for church. I was presiding this morning so that takes a little preparation..plus, I had printed the bulletin and needed to go in early to run it off on the print copier. We came home after church and re-heated our chili from Friday. That's what we had for lunch since we are having the eight for dinner tonight.

Then we put the leaves in the table and the pad on it then I put on a table cloth and set the table and got it ready for tonight.

This afternoon, I made out 11 "We missed you at church" cards and inserted the bulletin in the envelope with them and addressed them on the computer, got them stamped and out on the mailbox.

Now in about an hour, I need to put the ham in the oven and start my baked beans. One of the fellows coming is bringing hot bread and one couple is bringing a salad and another couple is bringing dessert so my part of the dinner is going to be finished. Afterward we will watch a Bishop Spong video and discuss it.

This a great group. Four of them cannot come this evening since this is an "extra" meeting and they had previous plans. But there are two Baptists, three Methodists (with a guest), and two Community of Christ persons. Missing are one of the Community of Christ who works for FEMA and the two Presbyterians. Also missing is our agnostic.

As you can see in the above photo, my table is all ready.

A Big Day

This has been a good day. My daughter, Leslie and I went to Pittsburg, Kansas, about 65 miles east of here to a Worship Workshop. It was very good. Jane Gardner from our church headquarters in Independence, Missouri, came down to do it. The Pittsburg congregation provided snacks and lunch for us. There were two breaks...one in the morning and one in the afternoon. We saw a lot of people we hadn't seen in awhile. This year our Mission Center, at least this end of it, did not have our family camp or kids camps because our campgrounds was struck by a tornado in May and they are in the process of rebuilding. That is usually our opportunity to catch up on all the news with everyone.

The picture at the right is Jane Gardner. The lower picture is our daughter and a friend of the family, Myra. Our daughter is the women on your right. They were getting a real laugh our of my slow digital camera. It takes quite awhile for it to decide to take a picture.

The Democratic Ticket

Well, the news is out! The ticket for the Democrats is Obama and Biden. That's probably a good choice because Biden has all the experience Obama doesn't have. He should strengthen the ticket.

I hope the Hillary supporters can support this ticket. Without them, the campaign will be much closer.

Our Daughter's New House

I went to Caney today to pick up my new contacts. On my way to Independence to attend a funeral, I stopped by our daughter's home to take some new photos of the progress. At least the contractor and his crew were out there this time. Sometimes they were able to work as far as the weather was concerned but they're off doing something else.

We have built four houses ourselves over the years and that has been the way of it every time but one time. That contractor stayed right on the job and got us in the house in record time. But, let's face it, most of them don't feel the need to stay with the job.

It will be interesting to see how this one works out.

Looking at it, I'll try to explain what you are seeing.

Number one is the south side of the house.That's the garage from the south.The next one straight on the east side at the great room.

Then that is the west side looking at where the front will be. The Next one is the north side where their bedroom will be. And last of all, is the front of the house slightly from one side.
At least I think I have it all straight. I'm sure my daughter or son-in-law will tell me if I got it wrong. The lower picture is the north side where their bedroom will be.

I know, I know, it's too early to tell much about it. I'll continue going out there every couple of weeks and taking pictures. You'll see, it will shape up. I try to tell her that it seems like it takes forever to build a house and it usually does take about six months. My experience with contractors is that they don't work every day they are able.

This is their first real house. They have lived in a double wide since the third year they were married and they've been married thirty
three years now. Her husband has just retired from teaching this
year. Now he is starting a fishing guide business and he is really a
fisherman. As a teacher, several years ago, John wanted to do something for all the "at risk" boys. He started a fishing club and got Shakespeare Fishing Rod Company to give them a deal on equipment. They put John's picture with his huge club on their web site. His was the largest club in school. Eventually he started a club for girls too and my daughter helped him with that. They would take those kids over to Roaring River for the weekend. It was a huge success.

I think he will miss it. I asked him one time if he ever got tired of it and he said "When I just begin to think I want to quit, a kid from several years ago writes me a letter and tells me how important it was to him." That's why I think he will miss it.

Nasty Campaign

Group to spend $2.8 million on anti-Obama ad

By JIM KUHNHENN

WASHINGTON (AP) — A conservative nonprofit group with a past link to Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign wants to spend $2.8 million on an ad questioning Democrat Barack Obama's relationship to a founder of the 1960s radical group Weather Underground.

The ad, which is expected to begin airing Thursday in Michigan and Friday in Ohio, focuses on William Ayers, whose Weatherman organization took credit for a series of bombings, including nonfatal explosions at the Pentagon and U.S. Capitol four decades ago.

Organizers sought to air the ad on Fox News Channel, but a Fox spokesman said the network declined to run it.

Too sleazy even for Fox, I guess.

This is from the Daily Koz site.

Hillary as a Running Mate

Last night I dreamed that Obama chose Hillary as his running mate. I truly believe if he did such a thing they would run away with the election. There are so many millions of Hillary fans who are undecided whether to vote for Obama.

One poll I saw last night saw Obama ahead of McCain by three points (that's just the margin of error) but if Hillary were the candidate, it said she would be ahead by six points.

I cannot believe this election is so close. What on earth do people see in McCain? He is not intelligent, (graduated near the bottom of his West Point class and could not have even qualified for West Point without a heritage entry) has a plan to stay in Iraq just as we did in Korea until just recently, knows next to nothing about economics, and seems clueless about the plight of the ordinary citizen.

He left his disabled wife after she stuck with him through all the years of his imprisonment for a rich woman with whom he was having an affair. I see nothing admirable about that.

But the worst thing is his terrible temper. He has had several confrontations with other senators right on the floor and even offered to punch one. If someone hadn't broken that up, it would have been a scandal. I do not want someone with that little control to have his finger on the red button. And speaking of scandals, he was a part of the Keating Five years ago but escaped prosecution.

It probably won't happen but I sure wish my dream would come true. Hillary's fans would vote for that team in a nanosecond.

My Old Cookie Jar

About thirty years ago, I bought this cookie jar because we had a cat then and it reminded me of our cat. You may not be able to see the mouse on the back of the cat. It's really cute. -While I was at it, I bought the cat dish that matched it and then about ten years ago, my daughter, Leslie, found the salt and pepper shakers and gave them to me for Christmas. Bob dropped something on the cat dish several years ago and broke it and all I have left is the cookie jar and the salt and paper shakers.

But I love them. The rest of my kitchen is now decorated with chickens but I can't bear to part with this old cookie jar and salt and pepper set.