Social Saturday

Today, I want to go see both Gerry and Phyllis. I had thought I would see them yesterday but I had to go to the post office and mail off Scott's DVDs and to the bank to cash a check and after that it was time to go meet Gay. We did have a good visit, as usual. I took my Kindle and showed it to her. She is going to get Tony one for Father's Day.

After lunch, which lasted until 1:30, I came back home and got here about 2:15 and let Slinky back in the kitchen. He had been outside all morning. I read most of the rest of the afternoon. I should have gone to the hospital then but, let's face it, I didn't.

I went to bed early last night about 8:30. At 9:00 my cell rang and I quickly answered it. One of our members at church, Billie Jo, called to tell me that her sister, Jody, (who I used to work with in the FAST office) had found her son dead when she got home from work. He was 52. He had been using oxygen for his breathing problems and lit a cigarette with it open. The explosion blew off part of his nose. I don't know what really killed him but I would expect it to be the explosion. I got back up and wrote her a note and this morning will go get a card. They are going to cremate him.

I told her if she wanted to use our church building for a memorial service or a Celebration of Life, there would be no charge. We never charge. I volunteered to do the service too. I would imagine that our people would be happy to do a dinner afterward (or before) for the family.

What a way to die.

I made a bean salad for the PINCH dinner party tonight at Howard and Judy's home.

More later...

About 9:30 I went to visit Phyllis at Windsor Place and after that I went to see Gerry in the hospital. Both visits were real good. Then I called my brother-in-law and asked him if he would like to drive to Bartlesville with me. He went to see Phyllis first and then we left. We ate fish and chips at Garfield's and then walked the mall. Then we came back to Coffeyville and I took him home. He is good company.

A Fun Friday

This should be a fun Friday. My friend, Gay, whom I have known since she was 14 and I was 17, and I are going to meet halfway between her town and mine and have lunch at a Pizza Hut there. We meet about once a month for lunch and catch up on our news.

Slinky will probably be outside since this morning at 6:30, it is already 30 degrees outside. If it doesn't warm up enough, he can stay in the garage for a couple of hours. It stays about 40 degrees out there thanks to the heat lamp and the hot water tank. But he hates the garage. He loves it outside when the sun is shining. He and I have that in common.

Yesterday, I read most of the day and finished my second book on Kindle. I am back working on the Autobiography of Mark Twain now. It is dull. But I paid $9.76 for it and so I will plow though it.

I also have about six or eight hard cover books to read. This winter should be productive for that.

All three of my kids have checked in with me now. Leslie called yesterday around noon, Keith called yesterday afternoon after he got out of the doctor's office. He has developed a tennis elbow and some arthritis in his leg. She has put him on some meds.

Scott called a little bit ago. His girlfriend had been visiting him the past three weeks (over the holidays) and they had a wonderful time together. She went back to Missouri this morning. He is fighting depression over this. I reminded him that during his past four deployments, when he was married, his wife never wrote him, never sent him a package and never even e-mailed him. He was always alone but he made the best of it. That's what he needs to do now. He is in Europe and this is a great time for him to see Europe. He has a four day weekend to start doing that. I hope he will take my advice this time.

I received some of his DVD's yesterday afternoon and will get them in the mail to him this morning. It should take a week for him to receive them.

More later...

Is It Time for Gun Control?

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Please note that the amendment spoke to a "well regulated militia". This was written when states and even towns had their own militia since there was no standing army and there was fear of the Native Americans.

After a terrible experience in England with an incident such as what we have suffered here in America, guns came under control. Their violence rate fell dramatically.

Is this something we should consider as a nation?

No individual needs an assault weapon. Perhaps those who hunt and eat what they kill, could have rifles and shotguns for that.

This was a brave move:

At 9:35 a.m. on a March day in 1996, a disgruntled former scout leader walked into a primary school gym in Dunblane, Scotland, with four guns and killed 16 children and their teacher in Britain's worst mass shooting. The crime still causes Britons to recoil when they recall the victims, many of them only 5 years old.

That rampage, with guns purchased legally -- as were those used in the killings at Virginia Tech and even Saturday's mass killings -- led to a near-total ban on handguns, and Britain's current laws are considered among the most restrictive in the world. Days after the shooting, hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions demanding tougher gun control, and weeks later more than 22,000 illegal or unwanted guns, and nearly 700,000 rounds of ammunition, were turned in to authorities under a special amnesty.

Although England already had tough restrictions in place, champions of the gun control laws say the new limits have been vital in keeping fatal shootings relatively rare.

Why don't we consider such a move? Look at the horrible mass killings we have endured the last ten to fifteen years yet we allow the NRA to control our response.

Another Cold Thursday

It's even colder today. It was 1 degree this morning. I tried the water in the frig door and it was frozen. I had left the hot water running in the bathroom. I don't know what else to do about the water in the frig door since I had the heat lamp on it at the tank in the garage. I have a large piece of Styrofoam behind the frig next to the wall to try to keep it from freezing there. By noon it had thawed and no copper pipe was broken. Whew!

I let Slinky out to do his number but he was ready to come right back in. As I did yesterday, I pulled his rug into the dining room and let him soak up some sun here in the house. He wanted to go out and I let him out but after about 30 minutes he must have been thoroughly cold through and through. He barked to get back in.

At 9:30 I put him in the garage. The temp there was about 41 degrees...plenty cold yet not bone chilling. I went to Independence to get my hair done. While I was up there, I went to Wal Mart and bought a few things. When I got home and pulled into the drive, he began to bark. He wanted out to the back yard. He came right back in though. He's at loose ends now. He goes in the dining room and lays in the sun for awhile and then goes back in the utility room and drinks water. Then he barks to get back out. He doesn't know quite what to do with himself. I'm sure he is bored because I am. I am ready for spring and winter is barely here.

In the photo above, if you look carefully, you can see Slinky's footprints in the snow. He is the only one that's been out there since Monday.

Tomorrow I will go to Cherryvale to meet Gay for lunch. That's always fun. Slinky will probably be left in the garage again.

Saturday evening I am going to Howard and Judy's for a covered dish dinner. At this point, there will be eight of us.

I drove by the church this morning and the parking lot has had a lot of traffic in it and it is accessible. So unless something unforeseen happens, we will hold church.

Sunday evening is "Living the Questions" group at Maritt's home.

Next week is busy too. But I'll get into that later.

About my eyelid. It seems to be fairly healed. I can see no stitches so I assume they have dissolved. The lid is still swollen some but nothing terrible at all. All in all, it seems to have done well.

Wednesday

Today is questionable. I don't know whether to go on to Independence for the Independence Ministerial Association meeting or not. The roads appear clear. I could use a few groceries and their Wal Mart is nearer then ours while I am in Independence.

I probably will go but will make that decision closer to 11:00.

The animals slept pretty well last night. Slinky got me up at 4:00 to let him out. Then he wanted to be fed. I got up the second time to bawl him out and tell him to go back to sleep. He did that until 5:00 then he started barking again. So, since I usually get up at 5:00 anyhow, I got up and fed him and Missy. I still haven't fed Inky. I will probably do that pretty quickly. According to the computer, it's 5 degrees out there. It's the coldest day yet.

The water line in my frig did not freeze up thanks to the heat lamp in the garage on the top of the tank. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

More later...

Judy called a little bit ago and invited me to go to the soup luncheon at the Presbyterian Church. That settled it! I would much rather stay here in town then go to Independence today even though I will be going tomorrow to take Juanita to breakfast and have my hair done. Ten minutes later, Cyndi called to invite me to go to Bartlesville with her. I had already accepted Judy's invitation so I took a raincheck with Cyndi. I would have to leave Slinky in the garage all afternoon anyhow so maybe it's just as well. I really enjoy Judy's company too.

I may have made a mistake. Slinky longs for the floor in front of the barrier in the dining room. I never let him come any further then the kitchen and have a barrier set up to prevent him from coming further. It is 5 degrees outside today at 11:30 and he simply cannot go out there to lie in the sun at age 13, so I have brought his little rug into the dining room in the sunshine of the south windows and let him lay there as long as he doesn't get off the rug. So far...so good! He is lying in the dining room on his own rug soaking up the sunshine. In a little bit, when Judy comes at noon, I will have to put him in the cold garage for a couple of hours. He won't be happy about that. But such is the life of an old dog.

A Snowy Day

There's snow on the ground but I don't know how much yet. It isn't light yet. Yesterday was a stay at home day except for a quick trip out after the snow plows came by. I had sold two more books on Amazon and needed to get packaging at Dollar General and go to the post office to send them off. I got that done and then came back home to hole up for the rest of the day. I read in my Kindle much of the day.

Slinky slept off and on all day. He went out to do his thing every once in awhile but then came rushing back into the nice warm kitchen. Missy stayed in too.

Today, if the roads are passable we will have our coffee at the new coffee shop downtown. I'll know more after the sun comes up.

Luckily, the MC3 meeting was rescheduled too.

Slinky woke me up around 3:00 needing to get out. Missy also woke me up but then she decided she did not want to go out when she saw all that snow.

I finally got up at 5:00 or a little after and fed the dog. I still haven't fed the cats. I probably should get that done. Inky, the outside cat, may be out there waiting in the 13 degree weather.

More later...

Well, I got the cats fed too. Slinky lay around for three or four hours and then informed me that he wanted to go out (The sun is shining although it's only 20 degrees on the patio). He loves to soak up the sunshine. That's where he is now.

If Marilyn gets back in time, I will pick up Judy and meet her at the coffee shop. Marilyn has taken Jack to the hospital to do his exercises. She will call when they get back. I want to see this coffee shop.

More later...

Judy's garage door opener man came and fixed their garage door. The chain was broken. She came and picked me up. We went to the coffee shop where we met Marilyn and then we went to lunch at Eggberts and had a nice lunch. I got back about 2:30. It was fun and we will do it again in two weeks on Monday.(depending, of course, on the weather)

When I got home I let Slinky back in. He had been out since almost 11:00 and must have been cold although he soon wanted back out in the sunshine. In a few minutes though, he changed his mind. I think he wanted company this time worse then he wanted the sunshine.

As you can see by the photo above, the snow has begun to melt, which is fine by me. But it's supposed to be even colder tonight. I hope my water doesn't freeze in the ice maker on the frig. I still have the heat lamp on the line in the garage.

A Busy Sunday

It's snowing today. The first snow of the season here. We have a couple of inches already.

Yesterday was pretty busy and I never found the time to get to my posting here. The evening before Sue R had called to say their electricity had been off all day and was not scheduled to be turned back on until late evening on Saturday. They would not be at church. I told her that was fine and we would understand the problem. I wished her well and tried to calm her.

At 4:00 yesterday morning, I awoke and realized that she had the morning message. So I got right up and began writing a sermon. I got it done and continued my morning routine. When I got to church Leslie volunteered to preside since I would be the speaker. That worked out. We also barely had a quorum for our business meeting. But we proceeded.

After church, eight of us went out to eat together. Then I hurriedly did my newsletters and got those without e-mail ready to mail. Then it was time to go to the support group for Alzheimer's caregivers. After that, I came home and let Slinky back into the kitchen. He had been in the garage. The garage was not terribly cold because not only was the hot water tank in there near his bed, but I had clamped a heat lamp onto the pipes above the hot water tank. Those two things took the edge off the cold. Still, he was delighted to get back into the kitchen.

Then last night, I just watched TV until 9:00 when I went to bed.

Today, I have two things planned. The women from our Living the Questions group are meeting at a new coffee shop for coffee. Judy is supposed to pick me up at 10:00. (This was canceled because of the snow and the fact that Judy's garage door opener was broken). Then at 4:00, I have my MC3 meeting at Independence. I am secretary but I do not think I want to drive up to Independence by 4:00 in this mess. There is a couple of inches right now. We were supposed to have 3 - 4 inches. Maybe it is yet to come. We'll see.

The MC3 meeting was postponed.