120 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 10-28-17”

  2. Good morning. I have not had coffee yet so I could hardly tell what was in the photo. But then I saw him. Scary one! Getting us in the mood for Halloween costumes?

    We heard a long string of fireworks in the neighborhood last night. I suppose now we will have fireworks for Halloween, 4th of July, and New Years. I should put that over on the Rants page.

    Anon=Janice

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  3. Good Morning. I teach this afternoon, so when Amos started stirring this morning at his usual time, Mr P got up to let him and Lulabelle out. That means that I got to sleep until 7:20. What a luxury.
    We went out to dinner last night. To a REAL Asian food restaurant, not one of those Chinese Buffet, feeding trough kind. This one has nice thick menus, cloth napkins, and they bring your prepared, ordered off the menu food to you plated and everything. I would rather give up Chinese food than have to eat it off of the boo fay. 😉
    The other thing I find funny about this is that I (raised in the South where we always had sushi–we just called it cut bait) like sushi and my husband the Great Fisherman, son of a seafood broker doesn’t. I will give him this, he makes a mean crab cake.

    QOD–What makes a nice going away gift from “employees” who do not want to see you go? The Team Leader (woman who hired me) is leaving and taking a position in South Florida. I have been put in charge of her going away party.

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  4. I always connect Autumn with listening to music from the Medieval or Renaissance eras. This is a song from the 1400s, written by the students of the Medieval Krakow University, about their election of a ‘King’ for seven days in October, when the students would party, and then their ‘King’ would be the one who was disciplined for their misdeeds. Truly, there is nothing new under the sun:

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  6. Someday life will return to normal, but not this day . . .

    I’m off to a day-long training at church on how to help families in crisis. (Of course, I’ve been a lay counselor well trained in crisis intervention for nearly 40 years, but who can resist?) I come home to a SKYPE meeting with a group of writers in Arkansas and then attend a local potluck with the neighbors to celebrate we still have homes.

    Tomorrow is Reformation Sunday and our church will be celebrating 500 years of Protestantism with a bang. A single service with great music followed by a German party: bratwurst, German Chocolate Cake, saukerkraut, the like. I’m in charge of bringing red cabbage.

    I’m Italian, that means nothing to me. However, a woman in my Zumba class lost her home, but not her business–which makes saukerkraut, red cabbage salad and other items like that. I bought out the entire supply at the local high end grocery and will merely take it.

    Done. I need things simple at the moment.

    The honor I have today, however, is sending a signed copy of Mrs. OC all the way to Hong Kong to Gladys Ingram Donnithorne’s 92 year-old daughter. I’m so touched Audrey wants a copy.

    Contact with the relatives has been one of the great pleasures–of which there are many–in writing this book.

    Yesterday, I heard from a woman who reads my newsletter–and has been following all those stories–who won a book in a contest. She was so excited, “I’ve been reading all the stories and wanting to read this book!”

    Those are the joys for a writer.

    And a woman who happened to hear the Metaxas interview on the radio while driving home from work, detoured to stop off and buy a copy! That was so fun.

    I’ll be happy when life settles down; I am so very weary. My husband flat out refused to attend this training. “I need to be home to pick up my yard from the firestorm night (!) and just relax.”

    Amen.

    I wish I was doing the same, but heigh ho, off I go.

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  7. Not me, I moved firewood this morning with a ten year old. Now she is off to coffee with dad. Old Coots Coffee. She will have a maple bar and hot chocolate for breakfast and read the comics and chat with an old fellow about his time at Omaha Beach and whether or not she likes rocks better or insects better.

    Jo, as to the eye issue. Don’t really have any idea. I had husband discuss it with the doctor. Something about angles being too narrow which means, as they close, the fluid won’t drain and the pressure will build to excruciating pain and blindness. And the doc has only heard of one instance where the guy went blind immediately following the procedure but he had lots of other problems. And oh, by the way, my eye pressure is perfect but that could change any time. Yes, and a comet could fall on my head. Whatever.

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  8. Janice here.

    I now know a bit more about the church that has asked to merge with us. It is a downtown urban plant that has been saving money to buy a property. They have about 1,000 people (when my church voted previously, we had a few over 90 who voted). The pastor is a former NFL football player who played for the New Orleans Saints.(The Saints name at least sounds good for generating a pastor.) I will find out more tomorrow. We were totally not expecting this request.

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  9. Mumsee, sounds kind of scary.

    I slept in but then I was up for a while in the wee hours letting Cowboy out (and then he refused to come back inside so that took some coaxing) and then I was tossing a bit, stressed over both house and work, a story I filed late in the day and have had some uneasy feelings about. Oh well.

    I need some serious de-stressing this weekend, I feel like the stress is really taking a physical toll.

    Before going back to bed to sleep in until 8, I was up early at 6 to get the Jeep moved out onto the street, but the foundation crew isn’t here yet, which is unusual though they may be making up time on a couple of their jobs today after missing Friday. Today may be the day I pull the covers over my head. 🙂

    I had a dream last night that I walked out of the back gate and into the driveway to see that, oh, the foundation holes are all gone, the broken house is re-stuccoed put back together again — and it’s all done, how wonderful. Sigh.

    The cat is demanding I feed her.

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  10. In other words, Mumsee’s opthamologist was talking about glaucoma, specifically angle-closure glaucoma: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/glaucoma/basics/causes/con-20024042

    Angle-closure glaucoma, also called closed-angle glaucoma, occurs when the iris bulges forward to narrow or block the drainage angle formed by the cornea and iris. As a result, fluid can’t circulate through the eye and pressure increases. Some people have narrow drainage angles, putting them at increased risk of angle-closure glaucoma.

    Angle-closure glaucoma may occur suddenly (acute angle-closure glaucoma) or gradually (chronic angle-closure glaucoma). Acute angle glaucoma is a medical emergency. It can be triggered by sudden dilation of your pupils.

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  12. Jo, Mumsee said her eye pressure was fine for now, it is just that she is one of those with a narrow drainage angle, putting her at increased risk of suddenly developing angle-closure glaucoma. The ophthalmologist is recommending the holes as a preventative measure.

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  13. Janice, we’re one of those churches (not 1,000, but several hundred) that’s been trying to buy or build a church facility for many years but so far haven’t managed it. We’ve been in discussions with several churches about sharing facilities, etc., and with one to merge, if you will — a very tiny Brethren church with only a few older people left and no real pastor. Our pastor spent an entire summer preaching there some years ago, but it seemed not to be a good fit from their perspective, unfortunately (they would have had to become Presbyterian). We were a bit conservative for their taste, apparently, and they later leased out the facility to share with a growing Asian congregation.

    Last time I went by the church — which was a quaint, simple, pretty white church where they used to hold Amish craft fairs every year — whoever owns it now completely remodeled the outside and it’s lost all it’s charm, sadly.

    We’ve also talked with a few large churches near the beach and had made a bid just a few years ago on a closed Christian Science facility, also near the water, but were outbid by a developer, of course.

    Real estate is very pricey where we are so that’s obviously a big part of the problem.

    So for now we remain in our comfortable-enough (but too expensive) rental space in a business park. Not very church-y looking on the outside at all, but a recent remodel on the inside has made it aesthetically pleasing and much more comfortable.

    Ah, foundation guys are backing into the driveway now. More fun.

    Breathing. Deep breathing.

    De-stress. De-stress. De-stress.

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  16. Thank you Kim. That’s all the permission I need 🙂

    Guess I was mistaken, that wasn’t the foundation crew’s truck I thought I heard. Or if it was they’re gone again. Hmmm. Wonder when they’re coming. Real Estate Guy texted me last night that it would be this morning and that he’d be by to chat with them about next steps.

    At least it’s beautifully overcast and cool today, what a welcome change and relief.

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  19. Yep, what Roscuro said. He said my angles were the narrowest he had ever seen so did the pressure test again and it was even better the second time. He was leaning toward letting it go but with more thought, considered it important to go ahead. Plan is for Thursday. I was going to cancel because husband was going to be out of town but that has changed so we are on.

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  22. I’m horrible company lately, all I can talk about is the house. 😦 😦

    So speaking of which … (is that snoring I hear??) — workers are here and they’ve made so much progress (a tarp is wired up hiding the area so I haven’t actually gotten to see it since their last full working day on Thursday). Wow, major part of it done. He said it should be ready when they’re done today for cement to be poured.

    Trying to pick up some more in the house, with a little help from The Who live. 🙂

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  25. It’s a dull looking day outside here in Georgia.

    Thanks for your perspective, DJ, about checking out new possibilities for meeting spaces. I am so very thankful I am not on the visioning team.

    I just spent a long time in telephone conversation with my friend, Karen. She has not been doing very well. I am able to calm her and bring peace and distraction from all her ailments. We often talk about how it was when our children were about four years old and they were such good friends.

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  26. So are you the church with the building, Janice?

    Annie leaped onto the sliding glass door screen today (from the outside) and was hanging there suspended by all 4s for a while. It was part of her post-breakfast happy-dance spinout. It’s impossible to keep decent screens with cats around.

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  27. On FB from our former (young) elder, father of 5 (?) who now is in TN:

    I had to go over with the kids some of the important places not to wipe your hands:

    1. your clothes
    2. the dog
    3. Daddy
    4. the couch
    5. the drapes
    6. siblings
    7. your hair
    8. someone else’s hair
    9. cats
    10. the carpet

    really number 3 is number 1

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  28. Ditched the training at lunch time concluding my time would be better spent at home since I scanned the entire workbook in an hour.

    I think I’ll read Martin Luther for awhile then take a nap.

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  29. I found $22 and assorted change when I was cleaning out a backpack. Also found one of the foundation reports I’d received last fall. Sounds like their recommendations are what guys are doing now.

    Laundry going.

    And listening to Ref Net as I work; music, Sproul, other features.

    http://refnet.fm

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  36. Janice, the first paragraph of the link is correct.
    SS lessons are Christian Standard. By Holman. They don’t have to pay for use as they would in other modern translations.
    I still use the real Bible.

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  38. As tempting as it is to just sell my house now and LEAVE, I think it’s the stress talking. 🙂 But that is an awfully cute house. And I for sure would use Kim’s expertise.

    Foundation guys left at around 5:30 so I watered and walked the dogs after that. Watching the World Series game, no score in 4th inning so far. And the Leprechaun is up at bat. Ouch, struck him out.

    And after picking up around here for most of the day I read Michelle’s book (about 1/2 way through) and am really enjoying it. So fun. Good job.

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  39. Always looking for house inspiration on my walks. I’m thinking of bright/colorful tile number blocks in a wrought-iron frame for address on the front of the house.

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  40. All the grandkids are next door in costume, 3 of them were sitting on the front wall as I was walking the dogs back home so we chatted awhile. “I like your dogs,” one said. “And I like your costumes,” I said. A dinosaur, a princess and a princess. So fun.

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  41. Ha DJ….I just told Paul that you called that fella the Leprechaun….he has been calling him that from the beginning…… ☘️ (of course our favorite Disney movie is Darby O’Gill and the Little People….that fella resembles King Brian 😊

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  48. Certain of my children, believe it or not, let the cats in through their windows a time or two. How do I know this? Because theirs are the only screens that got cat torn. I replaced those with the difficult kind of screen you have to put in manually and take out when you want to close the window. They are the sturdy metal. They did get scratched some but not much. Though sixteen year old prefers to leave his window open without the screen and without drapes. Sadly, that is the one right next to our front door. So he gets dressed in public. I moved chore time from seven to seven fifteen so he would have a chance to get dressed and leave before the smaller folk get up. I don’t think he still lets the cats in, but it is wide open for bats and mosquitoes and flies. We make him keep his bedroom door closed at all times except when in the doorway.

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  49. That is something else I will have to do is get new screens — the ones I have on now (I think I replaced those maybe 15 years ago?) are pretty much shot. And because of my unusually large window sizes (and I’ll need 8 of them), that’ll be a little expense of its own.

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  50. Annie will claw on a couple of the front screens when she’s out front to let me know she wants in. Honestly, I didn’t teach her this on purpose (though I obviously hop to it and let her in when I hear her clawing as I want her to stop!); the windows/screens are nearly floor to roof on the porch so easily within her reach of cat paws.

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  51. And it looks like I’m still getting water underneath that kitchen sink. Argh. Plumber who came 2 weeks ago could not see any leaks and he was there for quite a while as we ran the sink & drained the washer (everything in the kitchen ties into the plumbing under the sink).

    But something is still leaking under there since I’ve been doing laundry last night and this morning. I’m thinking of just having the garbage disposal taken out of there and replaced with regular pipe, I never use it and it’s now pretty rusted out according to the last plumber who was here.

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  52. My brother got rid of our disposal many years ago. They are not supposed to be used with septic systems anyway, but he says they are much more trouble than they are worth as far as plumbing goes. I have to clean the drains every once in a while as people tend to believe everybody has a garbage disposal, but it stopped the leaks.

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  53. Yes, and I’ve had a fear of them ever since I stopped one up in the first apartment I rented and quickly landed on the manager’s high-maintenance tenant list. She was not happy.

    I can’t remember if we had one when I was growing up or not, but I’ve just never trusted using one since then. And they really limit the space under the sink. The plumber from 2 weeks ago said he’d finally convinced his mom to get rid of hers, he said the same thing, that generally they’re more trouble than they’re worth.

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  57. Wow, I found something strange this morning. I saw an earwig on my floor and noticed something peculiar. It was dead but looked strange. Apparently, two earwigs tried to eat each other. One had half of the other in it’s mouth before it choked to death or whatever. The pincer ends were both there but the heads and upper bodies were fused. Bizarre.

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  59. It is 39 degrees at 2 p.m. In Atlanta? Yep!

    I just got home from a wonderful lunch at church. I heard good things about the church that is looking to merge. Members I greatly respect visited it last Sunday. I am still trying to wrap my head around a church gaining 1,000 members all of a sudden.

    5I5 saw two young men cry today. One got teary about how he felt good visiting that church and how he and his wife visited about eight churches before choosing our church. He felt similarly when visiting the possible merge church as ours. He did say they dress more casually than we do. The other young man I saw cry was our worship leader as everyone was wishing him and his wife goodbye (I assume he was let go). He does not play piano so that was probably an issue with us trying to grow. He has such a sincere heart for Jesus that I think God must have really good plans for his future.

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  60. On Janice’s 7:22 link about Bible translations and gender inclusive language. As the article correctly notes, the Greek word anthropos in the Greek is indeed referring to men and women in general (in fact, the word may also refer only to women if preceded by a feminine article, but it never refers only to men). So, to translate anthropos as ‘human’ or ‘person’ rather than ‘man’ is entirely accurate. So the CSB is perfectly correct in the way it translates the word. Where I think that English speakers get unnecessarily worked up about the lack of gender inclusivity is the use of the masculine pronoun when speaking of a generic human in the singular – and, according to the article, the CSB version used the masculine pronoun when referring to a generic person in the singular. The reason for this generic use of ‘he’ and ‘him’ goes far back, to the Angles and the Saxons, when the English spoken would be almost entirely unrecognizable to our ears.

    In Old English, the proper pronoun to refer to a singular woman (wif-man) was the masculine pronoun, because the Old English wif-man was a masculine word. Gender in words does not match sex in actual fact in many languages, and German, which is a close relative of Old English, is notorious for this, as demonstrated by Mark Twain’s humorous story of the Fishwife, in which he uses the same gender pronouns in English that the German language would use to speak of a woman and various objects in his essay ‘The Awful German Language’:

    It is a bleak Day. Hear the Rain, how he pours, and the Hail, how he rattles; and see the Snow, how he drifts along, and of the Mud, how deep he is! Ah the poor Fishwife, it is stuck fast in the Mire; it has dropped its Basket of Fishes; and its Hands have been cut by the Scales as it seized some of the falling Creatures; and one Scale has even got into its Eye, and it cannot get her out. It opens its Mouth to cry for Help; but if any Sound comes out of him, alas he is drowned by the raging of the Storm. And now a Tomcat has got one of the Fishes and she will surely escape with him. No, she bites off a Fin, she holds her in her Mouth — will she swallow her? No, the Fishwife’s brave Mother-dog deserts his Puppies and rescues the Fin — which he eats, himself, as his Reward. O, horror, the Lightning has struck the Fish-basket; he sets him on Fire; see the Flame, how she licks the doomed Utensil with her red and angry Tongue; now she attacks the helpless Fishwife’s Foot — she burns him up, all but the big Toe, and even she is partly consumed; and still she spreads, still she waves her fiery Tongues; she attacks the Fishwife’s Leg and destroys it; she attacks its Hand and destroys her also; she attacks the Fishwife’s Leg and destroys her also; she attacks its Body and consumes him; she wreathes herself about its Heart and it is consumed; next about its Breast, and in a Moment she is a Cinder; now she reaches its Neck — he goes; now its Chin — it goes; now its Nose — she goes. In another Moment, except Help come, the Fishwife will be no more. Time presses — is there none to succor and save? Yes! Joy, joy, with flying Feet the she-Englishwoman comes! But alas, the generous she-Female is too late: where now is the fated Fishwife? It has ceased from its Sufferings, it has gone to a better Land; all that is left of it for its loved Ones to lament over, is this poor smoldering Ash-heap. Ah, woeful, woeful Ash-heap! Let us take him up tenderly, reverently, upon the lowly Shovel, and bear him to his long Rest, with the Prayer that when he rises again it will be a Realm where he will have one good square responsible Sex, and have it all to himself, instead of having a mangy lot of assorted Sexes scattered all over him in Spots.[Link: https://www.cs.utah.edu/~gback/awfgrmlg.html%5D

    The story cannot be translated into German and still be humorous, because Germans are so used to seeing the neuter gender when referring to a wife and a male or female gender when referring to objects that they wouldn’t get the joke. In this era, when people are campaigning for gender inclusive or gender neutral pronouns, it is important to remember that gender in language and the physical reality of the sexes have not always correlated in the past without it leading to confusion about the sexes. Language is important, but mere human language cannot change reality.

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  61. We sang hymns from the hymnbooks this Sunday, as a kind of tour through the singing styles of the Reformers. We began with a hymn that is actually based on a Medieval plainchant, then we had a responsive reading as it would have been in Zwingli’s church – since he eschewed music altogether – then Psalms for Calvin, and then, of course, Luther’s most famous hymn, with organ thundering. I didn’t play the organ this week, as I sang in the choir. We had special guest, a Ph.D. in Church history and theology from Wheaton, give a very interesting and worthwhile message. They have been preaching through the five Sola’s of the Reformation, and this week was on Sola Scriptura. The doctor was very learned and thoughtfully pondered the parable of the soils and how the word of God had been hidden amongst the weeds and stones of the corrupt church in Luther’s day. Her application for our day was that the Church must always be reforming, and removing the stones and weeds to allow the word of God to keep us focused on the person of Jesus Christ. Yes, I said her, and quite honestly, she was the right one for the job. I still hold that the elders are to be men (and so does the city church), but where a woman has the learning and expertise to speak on a topic, it can be very beneficial.

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  64. We’re winding up Romans, the pastor discussed Priscilla a bit (related to above discussion), saying that while the office of pastor and elder/deacon is set apart for men according to Scripture, that women can still correct men theologically, adding that he’ll always listen to a woman who has a point to contest with something he’s said (he also said we have several women in our church who would make outstanding elders).

    Today was our ‘unplugged’ day when we sing exclusively from the hymnal & with only piano accompaniment (happens the last Sunday of every month). Our congregational reading was the 10 Commandments.

    Oh, and on house churches (which our sermon touched on today), our pastor rightly pointed out that it doesn’t matter where a church meets, but that there are NT standards that say what a church should be.

    After the Reformation, there was a fair amount of chaos on that matter, of course, and he said the Belgic Confession, written in the 1500s, especially did a good job in laying out the requirements:

    “The true church can be recognized if it has the following marks: The church engages in the pure preaching of the gospel; it makes use of the pure administration of the sacraments as Christ instituted them; it practices church discipline for correcting faults. In short, it governs itself according to the pure Word of God, rejecting all things contrary to it and holding Jesus Christ as the only Head. By these marks one can be assured of recognizing the true church — and no one ought to be separated from it.”

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  65. Carol finally got back to church today, Hollywood Pres, where they apparently also had a Reformation Day oriented service with all the choirs & organ in full regalia. So glad she went, she goes long periods without attending church which I think is to her detriment.

    It’s almost chilly here today, very foggy over the harbor also. We’re basking in it 🙂 Done with the heat.

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  66. Heading to the dog park probably a bit early today as we’ll all want to clear out in time to watch the World Series game tonight.

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  68. We not only sang A Mighty Fortress (the usual in four part harmony and an updated version), but had the 39 theses taped to the glass doors, a baptism and an Octoberfest (without beer) afterwards.

    I thought I was getting off veg for the day, but son just called for us to babysit. Francis Chan is in town to lead a worship service at the fairgrounds and the adults in the family want to attend.

    I’m still vegging.

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  69. We had a guest preacher today. President of Ambrose University in Calgary. He also had 3 sessions over the weekend (of which I missed the first one). All very good. One of his illustrations today was about the order that grandparents get to hold the newborn. He was all excited to hold his first grandchild when his wife cautioned him and told him that that the mother’s mother is the first grandparent to hold the baby, then the father’s mother, then the mother’s father and THEN the father’s father. Kim might want to heads up Mr P. about this protocol 🙂

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  71. oh, that order of the grandparents!! almost makes me cry. I have waited months and months to be able to hold my grandchildren. Please pray that I will find a way to spend some time with my son’s family. They have a small home and have just taken in her parents. So there is no room for me to visit. They are looking to buy a home, but I am missing time with those three little ones. Maybe at Christmas I will just tell them to fly the children down here.

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  72. Just in from chores. Eleven year old has a fire today. He is burning a lot of the waste wood, too much trouble to put into the stove and too messy sitting out in the parking area. I suspect if we were wanting, it would not be too much trouble.

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  73. Carol (3 nights ago): Is it too early to tell you what I want for Christmas?

    Me: Probably. And this year will be a lot more modest.

    Carol: Oh. Is $70 too much?

    Me: Yes.

    Carol: Oh. (after a pause) Oh, wait. I should have my pension money by then. I can buy it for myself.

    Me: Fine.

    Carol (today): Is $30 too much for you to spend for me on Christmas?

    Me: Yes.

    Carol: I found something else I want. It’s only $30.

    Me: That’s nice. Why do I suddenly feel like Santa Claus?

    Carol: Huh?

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  74. No “Mighty Fortress” here, either, though I looked for it.

    Michelle, Octoberfest without beer? Isn’t that like a wedding without a bride?

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  76. BTW, this morning I awoke from a dream in which I was reading the blog, and Chas was suggesting to someone (I can only imagine it was DJ) that with doing all this work to her house anyway, it would probably be good to go ahead and put another story on the house.

    Whatcha think, Donna?

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  77. Michele, Lutherans are not Protestants. Luther was not protesting – he was trying to reform. I would also be leery of the Metaxas book on Luther. I heard an interview with him about it and I suspect it’s skewed in an unhealthy way.

    It’s distressing how much incorrect information is out there about Luther, including Donna’s “39” theses.

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  78. Linda, a bunch of biographies of Luther were reviewed on World, and based on it, I ordered the Metaxas book. (Haven’t received or read it yet.)

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  79. Sure, 2nd story, no problem.

    At this rate, painting may have to wait. 😦 Irony as that was probably at the top of my list when this all started — before everything spun out with the unexpected crises, of course.

    Dodgers are on a roll. 4-0.

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  81. I’d say Lutherans are squarely within the Protestant camp. True, Luther was hoping to reform the Catholic Church, never to start a new one, but that’s what happened.

    Methodists also eschew the “protestant” label, interestingly.

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  82. “Protestant” is an overarching category and within that there are churches and denominations that may be quite distinct and different from one another. But that doesn’t mean they fall outside the category (which is by its nature very diverse).

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  83. AAAAAHHHH!

    7-4 Dodgers.

    Crazy.

    I keep thinking I can turn a game off, that the ending surely has been settled, but that’s sure not the case in this series.

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  84. Linda,
    From what I have read, the name Protestant arose from a protest, not against the Catholic Church, but against the decision in 1529 by the Catholic emperor of Germany to rescind a provision that had allowed each ruler within the empire to choose which religion to follow. Over time the name was applied both to Lutherans and those who became known as Reformed.

    It’s probably not all that helpful a label to use today, since for some people it means “non-Catholic” while others think of it as only referring to the “mainline” Protestant churches. And to a lot of people it probably doesn’t mean much of anything but suggests some kind of protest movement.

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  85. No “A Mighty Fortress” sung today. Opening hymn was sung by the Sunday School, and at the same service (the late one — 10:30), there was a baptism.

    Two families in our church have been recently blessed with new babies after many years since their previous babies were born. A friend with two daughters, ages 9 and 11, gave birth to another daughter in August. Another mom with a son who is around 13, maybe 12 1/2, maybe 14, just delivered her second son last week. So sweet to see these blessings from the Lord’s hand.

    Jo, praying for you, that you may see your son’s family and get more grandchildren time. Hugs.

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  87. Dog Park guy who did driveway sewer line says he can take out the garbage disposal & maybe see about that leak. Really hoping it’s nothing else *big* lurking ahead.

    But first things first, I’m trying to get through this foundation job (Real Estate Guy is coming by tomorrow with bills so far for materials that I’ll have to pay) and window restoration right after that. I think I’ll call the window company this week to see if they can give me a full primer on what exactly they’ll be doing since I hired them a year ago and don’t remember a lot of those details. Hoping also it doesn’t go above that original estimate they gave me, but I realize some of that happens depending on the job and how it goes. Stuff happens. I, of all people, now know that when it comes to a house.

    Don’t buy a house.

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  90. Cheryl (6:50) – her rationale would be that I work and have money, she doesn’t. But that was her choice. She actually had a very cushy county job 10 years ago that she could have kept (but when she had a medical issue come up she decided she would “retire” and take disability, even though her doctors said she could return to work and her supervisor was holding her job for her).

    No one could dissuade her, so she did what she wanted to do and now has to live on a shoestring as a result. But it was her choice. I keep thinking what a few more years at that county job may have given her even just in retirement checks (but she hated working).

    A few weeks ago she told me she’d been convicted by one of her devotional readings that she spent all her money on herself, never on anyone else and never donating to the church. That was a good step for her, but not sure the behavior will change.

    I suggested she send a small something to her brother this year, like a $5 Starbucks gift card. We’ll see if she does.

    And no, I typically get nothing from her. And the Nook device I bought her last year (that she begged for) is now broken. Argh.

    Guess I was surprised she asked for something from me again that was fairly expensive, especially after I explained to her how upsetting that was for her brother (and it was a big part of why he just doesn’t want to deal with her anymore). And I’ve quit giving her money altogether, it’s not helping her, it’s only allowing her to remain irresponsible.

    We’ll see if she pays her phone bill tomorrow. She texted me she’d decided (Yikes, 7-7!!!!! what a game) to buy a new electronic device instead and wanted me to know her phone would be off for a month.

    I texted back to her “What about your promise to M (the man who bought her the phone on the contingency that she pay the monthly bills)?”

    She thanked me for reminding her and said she’d go ahead and pay for the phone this month instead. But we’ll see.

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  91. The word protest was first used at the Diet of Speyer by Lutheran representatives: http://www.thereformation.info/Protest%20at%20Speyers.htm. The Protestant Reformation is a good sound historical term referring to a series of historical events beginning with the publication of the 95 Theses. There is no doubt that Luther’s work influenced not only other Reformers like John Calvin, Uldrich Zwingli, and William Tyndale, but even the Anabaptist movement which grew out of the wider Protestant movement. History is constantly interwoven, and one cannot easily separate the threads.

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  92. DJ, Methodists came two hundred years after the Reformation, and the Wesleys and Whitefield came out of the Anglican Church. Anglicanism is perhaps the most pragmatic of the Protestant denominations, since it was formed by a curious mix of earnest reformers and opportunist political leaders and never was quite good enough for the Puritans and later Non-Conformist groups such as the Baptists and the Methodists, but it is generally considered to fall, if only barely, into the Protestant camp.

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  93. DJ this game is killing me! World Series seems to rarely disappoint in a good tense competition…this one has me yelling at the tv….swing swing swing…oh no that was not a strike…don’t catch don’t catch it….RUN!!!! ⚾️

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  94. I can better understand the Methodist argument for “not being Protestant” (though still a stretch in the end for those of us who see Protestantism as a broad and diverse branch of Christianity).

    Nancyjill, yes, this game is crazy — like the others! I thought this was over when Dodgers were ahead 4-1 so early on, but silly me.

    Liked by 1 person

  102. well the husband had headed off to bed but he heard all the uproar (he is pulling for the Astros…the nerve!!) So now he is back out here watching this “exciting game”!

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  103. A mixed marriage??

    Yes, seems like the game is over but it isn’t and things change so fast. But all the games have been similar. And what’s with all the home runs???

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  105. Off to bed for me, since it’s past 11 here. I’m meeting with my duet partner tomorrow morning to practice our Schubert piece. Performance isn’t until late January at the earliest, and possibly not until spring, if there aren’t enough players to do a January show.

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  109. What do you think of the game now, DJ (tied going to the bottom of the ninth, 12-12)? It’s after 1:00 a.m. here, so could your guys please surrender and let me go to bed? (Hubby gave up an hour ago.)

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  112. Well, my husband is rooting fort he Dodgers, and I thought I would too. In the first game, I did. In the second game, I wanted the Astros to win to make it an interesting series, and by the third game I found myself just wanting the Astros to win their first World Series. I don’t really much care either way, but what a game! Now we’re heading to the bottom of the 10th, tied at 12, sudden death if they can do it . . .

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  114. 538 got this one right

    https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/this-world-series-just-might-have-the-two-best-teams-for-once/

    This World Series Just Might Have The Two Best Teams

    ______________________

    When the World Series opens Tuesday between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, it will be a fitting final act for one of the most stacked postseasons ever. Both LA and Houston posted triple-digit wins during the regular season — just the eighth time two such clubs have ever met in a Fall Classic, and the first since 1970 — and both looked historically dominant at various moments during the season. In a decade filled with World Series matchups that seemed mediocre on paper, this should be one of MLB’s most pedigreed championship clashes in recent memory.

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  116. Sorry, Donna.

    Tonight I figured both teams really needed to win, but Astros needed it more . . . because if they lose two out of three games at home, their chance of winning both the next two games seem slim. (Though last year the Cubs did better on the road than at home.) But it was a nail-biting, crazy game, and a hard one to lose no matter which ones lost.

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  117. Heartbreaking for the team that lost.

    But the Dodgers have been hot throughout, they won the first game out — it could easily go either way, but I still think LA will pull it out.

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  118. And yeah, that ump/ref was really bad, especially in one half of one inning. My husband thinks that made the difference in the game. No telling, but it really wasn’t fair. Some of those “strikes” were really far outside.

    I expect LA may still pull it out–they have stronger pitchers and they will be at home–but it’s a definite disadvantage to have to win both. But win just one and then it’s back to even odds, so we’ll see.

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  119. If they were pummeled it would be one thing but they pretty much went toe to toe with them all the way – someone said the lead changed 13 times tonight which is astounding

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