Thank You!!!

Many thanks to those who have given their lives for freedom and for the families who gave a part of themselves for freedom.

The national anthem has various lyrics, but the fourth one here is one of my favorites.

The Star Spangled Banner LyricsBy Francis Scott Key 1814
Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Oh! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust."
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

If you have to say something, please say it correctly.

This morning on a bike ride I saw this sign at an oil change place:

DO ALL
YOUR GOOD
TILL FALL

I kept saying it over in my mind and couldn't figure it out.

Yesterday the business beside this one tried to honor their employees who were graduating with this sign scrolling in front of their business:

Congradulations . . .

This morning on the way home from church a local car dealership had on their sign a message to thank those who had "sacraficed" for our country.

I suppose grammatical errors on signs shouldn't bug me, and I really prefer it when it's at a business that I don't patronize because I either don't go to a place with errors like that or I tell them about it when I go in.

I passed the oil change place also on my way home from church and it hit me. The sign should say

YOU'RE GOOD
'TIL FALL

Oh, if I take advantage of their services my car will be good until the fall.

Thankful Thursday

1. So thankful I have a job today although praying for a co-worker who has been a friend for the last 6 years whose position was eliminated on Tuesday.
2. Thankful that I didn't get some of the jobs I've applied for over the last 5 years or so as all but one has had the position eliminated within the last 3 years.
3. A local store had blackberries on sale last weekend. They've been a really refreshing snack at work yesterday and today.
4. I've been hosting the Finance monthly business meeting the last several months and it was time to get a new host. Thankfully someone volunteered to do it and I didn't have to go begging.
5. Only 1 chick has succumbed to the excessive heat in their first week of life. Too bad it happened to be one of Renae's chicks!

Miscellaneous Sunday Ramblings

1. I finished my schoolwork and thought, "Hmm, maybe I'll go to church tonight" only to look at the clock and it was 7:50! At that point church was over for almost an hour!

2. Yesterday Renae and I got this year's chicks. This year one will be named plain "Chicken", one will be named "Rice" and one will be "Noodles". That way we can have Chicken and Noodles as well as Chicken and Rice!

3. Two days of vacation coming up this week. One will be done doing schoolwork, housework, and meeting with an insurance guy for new quotes. The other will be Shipshewana. Weather forecast on Tuesday: sunny and 88!

4. Recently I talked with a girl graduating from high school this year. She said she had always wanted to teach military history but found out it would take 8 years of school to do so and she didn't want to go to college that long. I asked what she was planning to do, and she said, "I don't know. I'm not going to college but I like to write political essays."

5. I brought a tiller back from Alabama on Monday. Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon I used it in the garden. A rear-tine tiller is nice, very nice!

6. Tossed Salad in the Garden: this year I planted sugar snap peas, lettuce, and carrots early. It rained quite a bit the next week and nothing seemed to be coming up several weeks later so I replanted. I remembered which row I planted the sugar snap peas, but I couldn't remember which row had lettuce and which had carrots. Pretty soon I had two rows of peas very close together, and two rows of lettuce coming up. Last week I saw carrots coming up right through the lettuce! Obviously I planted carrots over the lettuce and lettuce over the carrots!

7. Today I was on the organ for our morning worship time. During the postlude someone walked by organ, put their hand on my back and said I did very well today on the organ. That was really nice except, it broke my focus and I lost my place in my music. I couldn't find my place again until we repeated the chorus. Thanks for covering my on the piano Jayne from handbells!!!

Thankful Thursday

1. Great, great, great trip home to see family!!!
2. Loved being able to see La graduate and be at Haley’s open house.
3. Mom sent back a coffee cake with me, and I’m pretty sure it’s the best she’s ever made!
4. Got to eat fresh AL strawberries. They didn’t travel back very well, but good anyway.
5. First night of a brand new class went very well despite how long my day was and my cold keeping me from being able to talk several times.
6. No major issues at work from people covering for me.
7. Two more days of vacation next week!

Parents' Love

A dad's love for his grown daughter is shown by driving her at 9:00 p.m. after he's in for the night to Walgreen's to buy a neti-pot to clean out her sinuses.

A mother's love for her grown daughter is shown by saying she would go get it so the grown daughter didn't have to go out.

Thanks

My parents traditionally give their children and grandchildren a check for birthdays in the amount of the recipient's age. Today I read a thank you note from one of the grandchildren which said, ". . .and thanks for the $18 check. I can't wait until I'm 100!"

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I had guests for dinner last night. There was a reason I invited them for Mother's Day weekend, but yesterday getting ready I thought about how much my mother has entertained through the years. With my parents' ministry responsibilities she oftened did so with people she didn't know and had many, many people at her table even while holding down a full-time job and rearing four children.

From my mom I learned that you always welcome people to your table.

So while my grilled burgers and asparagus didn't begin to match the great food you made for company, thanks for the lesson, Mom.

I Have Only 68 Friends

Liked this post which has a link to this post.

I've had conflicting feelings about Facebook and other social media. While I realize I'm not a great writer to post a great essay, my two most recurring thoughts about it are "Who really has 594 friends or 1023 friends?" and "Who cares if you just went through the BK drive thru for a Whopper Jr.?" The second link above answered one question--they aren't friends; they are connections?

At what cost do we re-connect with everyone from our entire life who we will never see most likely at the expense of local and real friends and connections that could truly be friends?

Obviously I'm not anti-social media as I'm on-line every day, but sometimes I wonder about it.

I Really Like. . .

From a paper I'm grading this morning:

"I really like the idea of being fit but really do not enjoy the effort it takes to become physically and cardiovascularly healthy."

At first it made me smile but then I started thinking about life and realized all the blanks I could fill in "I really like the idea of _______________________ but really do not enjoy the effort it takes to _________________."

have a tidy house, keep the clutter picked up
being a reader, finish a book or read challenging material
cooking, find the time to do so
eat healthy, make disciplined food choices
entertaining guests, have my house ready

Anything your willing to share that adds to my list?

Thankful Thursday

1. I get to look forward to AL fresh strawberries next week. (Well that and seeing family too!)
2. Last night I had a good laugh which is resulting in the title to my new book, The Adventures of Wilda and Her Friends.
3. I got to spend time this morning to train a co-worker so she will do some of my work while I'm on vacation.

Air Tran

I may hopefully finally be getting some relief from this problem.

AirTran recently started service in GR and starts service in Huntsville on May 27!

Miscellaneous Saturday Notes

1. I turned on the AC today--too much humidity this morning and I really don't want to pull in all the allergen with the attic fan. And after all, it is May 1!

2. Why if you have an old hose reel and and an old hose for sale at a yard sale would you not entertain a lowball offer that would come up instead of holding out with, "Those are real expensive at the store." Yes, I know. That's why I'm trying to buy one at your yard sale where everything else is priced .10 and .25. Good luck selling that opened can of motor oil for .25.

2b. I went back later and offered twice what I had offered and the lady took it. I don't think she remembered me or she would've held out for that $13 I'm thinking.

3. Good news and hallelujah!!! Penn Station is in Kalamazoo!!! Guess where I'm going to lunch tomorrow? Jayne from Handbells--want to go?

4. We are buying supplies to fix our chicken tractor for this year's chicks. Over the winter the middle support gave way so Renae, the engineer of our chicken operation, has devised a new plan.

5. We've enjoyed 3 servings each of fresh asparagus from our garden. Mmmm, good. (Yes, Mary, mmmm is a word. It's in a Campbell's soup commercial.)

6. Next Saturday I have my first real guests to my new patio set. (If Renae doesn't count.)