Trip to Joplin

Today is Saturday and Juanita and I are going to make a trip to Joplin...about an hour and a half away. I want to look for some jeans at Christopher and Burke. I saw some dark brown ones I wanted in Bartlesville the other day but they didn't have them in size eight short. (I have short legs). I hope to find them in Joplin. I also need some brown shoes. We will eat lunch at Olive Garden.


I have fed the animals but Slinky will miss his walk this morning.

More later...

Juanita and I went to Joplin and had a good time. We walked the mall awhile and then went to the Olive Garden to have a delicious lunch. Then I took her home to Independence and got home myself about 3:00. All in all a fun day.

The True Cost of War

The cost of war is horrible and vast, affecting hundreds of thousands of human beings abroad and in our own communities. More active duty military and veterans have died of suicide the past 8 years than both wars combined. The rate of suicides for vets rose 26% between 2005-2007, and since 2006, the rate of Marine suicides has nearly doubled. Six thousand veterans, around twenty percent of all U.S. suicides, kill themselves every year; that’s eighteen a day. In the future, we need to educate pastors and to educate religious leaders and their communities about how to heal moral injury and minister to veterans.

And besides that the number of divorces of those in the military is astronomical.

Friday at Last

Well, it's finally Friday and I went to Independence this morning to get my hair done. While there, my grandson called and invited me to lunch. Of course, I will go.

Before lunch though, I need to go see Gerry in the hospital and go see Phyllis at the nursing home. I should have seen them both yesterday. I also have a load of laundry in the washer now. I will need to get it dried, folded and hung up.

I took some paperwork over to Bob A. last evening and he told me he had been sick all day. He was feeling better last night though. Must have been a bug. He will preside at church on the 31st while Leslie and Karan and I are in Branson. Sue will speak that day.

I'm not sure what I will do this afternoon. Maybe look around the yard and work in the yard.

Right now though, I need to take Slinky for his walk. He so looks forward to it.

More later...

I saw both Phyllis and Gerry today and then I came home and read.

I sold another book today. I will put it in the mail tomorrow.

Doug called twice this afternoon. He must be lonely.

Thursday in Bartlesville

I haven't been to Bartlesville in quite awhile so today I may make the effort. I do need to mail off a book that I sold on Amazon. That's three in the past two days. I make about $5.00 on each one. For used books, some of them with yellow highlights or marginal notes, that's not bad.

I just fed my animals and took Slinky for his walk. It's 40 degrees out there so that's a sacrifice. I gave Slinky about half my oatmeal. He loves oatmeal.

More later...

I did go to Bartlesville and had lunch with Doug and did some holiday shopping and had intended to get back in time to go see Phyllis. I got back at 2:00 and found that the desktop computer had crashed again. I spent the next two hours trying to get it fixed...again.

Then I printed off the lectionary material for Bob A. He will be presiding on the 31st when Leslie, Sherry, Karan and I will be gone to Branson. I took it over to him. Then I came home and took my bath and am watching TV this evening.

Busy Day

I went to eat breakfast with my brother-in-law today. I had a "buy one get one free" breakfast coupon for Eggberts. He offered to come over and trim my hedge for me this morning. That was nice. I have yet to figure out how that electric hedge trimmer works. I helped clean up the mess afterward. I'll see if I can get a photo of it.

Then I went to town this morning to see if a local insurance agent could beat the price of the agency I now use. They couldn't. So I'll stay with my present company at least for another year.

I spent the afternoon going through the file cabinet..cleaning it out and bringing it up to date. What a mess! Well it's organized now, thank goodness.

Tonight I will just watch TV.

Scott called this morning and he is coming on Sunday evening and staying until Thursday evening. I'm glad I will get to see him before he takes off for Germany. He's being deployed on the 9th of November. I will need to get some groceries before then and do some cooking.

I want to go see Phyllis again tomorrow. I had a pretty good visit with her on Tuesday afternoon. My brother-in-law had gone in to see her in the morning yesterday and my niece went in the afternoon. So she had lots of visitors.

Then yesterday afternoon late, I mowed my lawn. It's done now for another week.

Friday I will get my hair done and Saturday I will take Juanita to Joplin with me.

Read Robert Reich

If you want to read something scary...check out Robert Reich's blog for today.

"No money? The marginal income tax rate on the very rich is the lowest it’s been in more than 80 years. Under President Dwight Eisenhower (who no one would have accused of being a radical) it was 91 percent. Now it’s 36 percent. Congress is even fighting over whether to end the temporary Bush tax cut for the rich and return them to the Clinton top tax of 39 percent.

Much of the income of the highest earners is treated as capital gains, anyway — subject to a 15 percent tax. The typical hedge-fund and private-equity manager paid only 17 percent last year. Their earnings were not exactly modest. The top 15 hedge-fund managers earned an average of $1 billion."

http://robertreich.org/

House Cleaning Day

Today is Monday and it's house cleaning and laundry day. I already have the laundry in the washer and dryer but I have yet to begin my house work.

Later I may mow. They are forecasting rain for tonight. I also should take Slinky for his walk. He loves his walk so much.

I also need to go to the post office and get stamps. I will get my letters in the mail after that.

I have the dishwasher going too. I only run it about once a week anymore.

Cyndi called last night and wants me to sell off their books on Amazon. I told her I would but then had second thoughts about it. I e-mailed her later last night and told her it was going to be just something else for me to find time for and after mulling it over, I decided I'd rather not. I haven't even listed any more of my own books lately. That's something I probably should do. I still need to finish going through my own and weeding them out.

More later...

This noon I went to Independence and went to lunch with Leslie. I had received the tag from the pickup so I took it to the tag agency and received a refund for the unused portion. Then I came home and talked to my insurance company about ways to cut the cost on my insurance. I will know more tomorrow after the agent has an opportunity to do some research.

Keith called and chatted some.

My Miami Trip

I got up early this morning and fed my animals and then took Slinky for his long overdue walk. He was so happy. He wiggled all over the place and was really good on the walk.

Then at 8:10, I took off for my Miami trip. Miami, Oklahoma is about an hour and ten minutes away...just a nice drive. It was a lovely day and I enjoyed my trip. My sermon was well received. Afterward Bill and Madaleen and four others all took me to dinner at a nice Chinese restaurant. We had a great visit too.

I got home about 2:30 or 3:00 and started on my letters as soon as I called my brother-in-law to learn who was there and who missed to services so I would know to whom to send the letter.

I did a load of laundry too. I will clean house tomorrow and perhaps mow. I think we are forecast for rain on Tuesday.

Now it's nearly 4:00 PM and I am winding down. I will watch TV tonight and relax.