Good evening Jo.
Good morning everyone else.
That cactus reminds me of the tree in my backyard.
Such a big plant with such a small flower.
I have a pin oak in my backyard. Huge tree.
But the leaves are small and the nut is tiny. Hard to clean up.
Good morning, or what ever time of day it is for you. The photo is the full picture of my avatar. The flower is about 15 feet off the ground, by the way.
I went in and fixed breakfast.
We finished our Cheerios and orange juice.
I went to pour the coffee.
!! Hot water. I had forgotten to put coffee in the maker.
Stupid mistake. I just hope it’s the worst one I make today.
Lovely saguaro blossom! I once went to my favorite desert park specifically to photograph saguaro blossoms, and as I have told on here, ended up climbing a palo verde tree just to get high enough. (Big mistake. They have thorns!) My biggest mistake was that I had lived in Arizona all my life (about 21 years) and somehow didn’t know the blossoms open at night and live less than one day–in other words, by evening there won’t be many left, and I went after work, thus about 5:00. That’s why blossoms were so rare I had a hard time finding any to photograph and finally climbed a palo verde to get access to the only one I could really find.
I have photographed them since, but not with a camera that could do them justice. I want to go again someday, to photograph saguaros and octotillo and palo verdes in blossom (my big three), and also get a roadrunner, hummingbirds, and more.
Morning! And I do believe it is RKessler’s birthday!! Happy birthday to you my friend!! 🎂
Chas I have done just that more times than I care to admit! You definitely realize something is amiss when coffee isn’t smelling like coffee in the morning! ☕️
It is dark and cold in this forest and we are predicted to receive 3 inches of snow tonight…wet heavy Spring snow…..
Supposed to be up to mid thirties out there right now, guess I will wear the other boots. That is fine, I am glad to have them.
Daughter had her seed pots on the heating mat and they have sprung up! She was pretty excited to see them yesterday. She loves cherry tomatoes and we rarely get any into the house.
Seventeen went to bed feeling much better, I am hoping for a much more pleasant day.
Happy Birthday RK
No matter what her mental condition, she is not going to let me dress her mismatched.
She knows what doesn’t match.
Off to face whatever the day brings.
Taking a brief pause from a full schedule. The end is in sight. Only seven more days of placement to be done. When I finish, I will be leaving a period where at least I knew what to do and had a little money in which to do it, to a place where I have no idea what to do and have a large amount of debt. But I have been in such a place once before, and as Paul says in Romans 5:3-5, “tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.” I am naturally somewhat concerned about the future, but not as much as I would be had I not faced such a future before and seen provision made by the Lord to pay back the debt in full and to do what I was given to do. If I could sum up the lessons of my adult life into one phrase it would be to live day by day (see also Matthew 6:25-34). As James said on the subject of presumptuous financial and business planning (James 4:13-17), it is only of the Lord’s will that we will do anything in the future.
Roscuro, I can so relate to what you wrote about planning as I sit here still without my driver’s license. I ran out of eggs this morning. I have a plan to get some today but only if God wants us to have some for breakfast tomorrow.
Chas, I have done the coffee thing, too, even putting the ground coffee in the filter and forgetting to put the water in. That sure makes for a lightweight pot of Joe. ♡
To reply to Mumsee’s question on yesterday’s thread about Paul and Barnabas going to the synagogues:
Jesus himself said about the Pharisees to the people, that “the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do” (Matthew 23:2-3). Until the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, only the Jews worshiped the one true God. The beginnings of the Church came out of the Jewish congregation, and in the beginning, both the temple (Acts 2:46) and synagogues were meeting places for Christians. By gathering in the temple and synagogues, the early Christians gave a chance for those who worshiped the true God but who had never heard the name of Christ to hear and believe – for example, the Jew Apollos and others, who had heard of John the Baptist but not Christ (Acts 18:24-28, 19:1-7). But when and where the Jews definitely rejected Jesus Christ, throwing the Christians out of the temple and synagogues, then the Christians separated themselves. There came a time when, because the Jews began to blaspheme the Gospel and seek to obstruct it, that Paul would no longer enter the synagogues to share the Gospel (Acts 13:44-50).
This has been a long week and I’m happy to see it ending. Adjusting to the tiny new work space is a challenge. And the chairs they have are very (literally) hard to sit on, just very uncomfortable and my back and legs are feeling it.
I’m going to have to find ways to escape the enclosure during the day for my own sanity, but simply getting out of the building for an errand, for example, requires quite a bit of dual elevator travel time just to reach my car. Feeling trapped in the tower.
The other day I overheard our office secretary explain to a caller that no, there is no longer any public office where he could come just to pick up back issues. She told me she used to save coupons to give to a couple of the local vets for their groups but she said she can’t do that any longer.
It’s just not a suitable place for a company that should and really needs to interact with the public in any kind of practical way.
OK, time for a quick shower so I can race over the bridge to it all again. At least it’s Friday!
Happy birthday, RKessler, and many blessings to you!
Yesterday a few people from the senior citizen housing place that my husband’s group ‘practices’ at decided to join us at the place at which they were performing. A few always come when they can. One of the ladies, who has Parkinson’s said she was not feeling at all good in the morning, but was encouraged to come and listen to the music. She said she was so blessed by it and felt so much better. That is encouraging. These people bless us.
There are people all over the world in need of Christ. God uses a wide range of folk to carry His Truth. They will not all look the same to us.
Luke 9:49-50 says, John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”
Mumsee, when the Jews began to blaspheme and contradict, Paul would no longer enter the synagogues to teach, see also Acts 18:4-7. In any case, there is no analogy to be drawn to going into the synagogues of the Jews to teach in Paul’s day and speaking at a charismatic conference now. It has been nearly two thousand years since Judaism and Christianity went their separate ways, a separation that is chronicled in the book of Acts and confirmed by the letters to the Romans, the Galatians, and the Hebrews. Paul’s instruction on the kind of false teachers that would come in the future, those who drew away crowds with itching ears (II Timothy 4:2), was that they were to be absolutely shunned (I Timothy 6:3-5, Titus 3:10-11).
Chas – I’ve had some coffeemaker mishaps, too. One time, I had put the water in, but not yet the coffee, since I had washed the pot and it was in the dish drain, drying off. I forgot to put the pot back on, and the coffee in. The next morning, Hubby didn’t notice that there was no pot, and turned on the coffeemaker.
The hot water flowed over the counter and down the front of the cabinets, and in the drawers! What a mess! I had to take everything out of the drawers to dry up the water. (Glad I hadn’t put the coffee basket in.)
Hubby blamed me for not finishing setting the coffeemaker up right, and I blamed him for not noticing there was no pot. Neither one of us was too happy with the other. 😀
In but not of. If we were told to never associate with people with itchy ears, we would never step out our doors, never get on the computer, never watch television, etc But we are not We are told to go and bring the Good News to the people. Wherever they may be found. In foster care, in Africa, in San Francisco, in northern Canada, in Ecuador. Wherever there are people, there is need for believers to step forward with the Truth.
Perhaps he is not preaching to Hinn, but to the people who have come to hear. He does not want to leave them to Hinn and his ilk. I don’t know if he is fellowshipping with them. He is there to teach the believers and reach the lost. And, yes, I believe the Holy Spirit calls certain people to certain things and it is not wrong to acknowledge the direction came from Him. That does not put one in the same basket as the misleaders.
Roscuro – When you say “presumptuous financial and business planning”, may I assume your emphasis is on the word “presumptuous”? IOW, that financial and business planning are not presumptuous in and of themselves, and can be a mark of good stewardship?
Chas, yesterday on Facebook, DIL posted a picture of 8 year old granddaughter in a flowered shirt and leopard pants along with this dialog:
Me: “Hey Em, you know you don’t really match right?”
Em: “yeah, but u know this is the only thing I can wear without having a fuss.”
Me: “yeah, you’re right. Good call.”
Mumsee, Chan was photographed praying and sitting with these men. He was having fellowship with them. People with itching ears themselves bear responsibility for their own unfaithfulness, they are not just lost sheep. Paul, in telling the Church to shun those who would not listen to sound doctrine did not distinguish between the teacher of unsound doctrine and the follower who choses to reject sound doctrine in order to listen to unsound doctrine. The Gnostics of John’s day were condemned by him whether they were the leader who denied Jesus had come in the flesh or the follower who agreed with the leader. Furthermore, as I have already laid out in considerable detail, the way to protect people from being deceived by such charlatans would be to publicly rebuke the charlatan in the harshest of terms, giving charlatan no quarter in which to speak. Chan did not do this, so he was not being the influence he claimed to be, no matter how much he tries to say he was.
As for the man Jesus and his disciples discussed, he had the Spirit of God, because those who tried to use Jesus’ name to cast out real demons (not just the pretended ones that those such as Hinn claims to cast out) without having the Spirit ended up very badly wounded (Acts 19:13-16). The person who follows Christ differently cannot tear down others and try to make everyone follow him, as John observes in his third letter: “Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church” (III John 9-10). Chan, in forming his ‘We Are Church’ movement, is beginning to resemble Diotrephes – criticizing the Church for her faults, using those faults to claim the Church isn’t doing it right, and seeking to reinvent the Church the way he thinks it should be. And then he accepts speaking engagements alongside wolves, who are held up by those outside the Church as examples of the hypocrisy of Christianity. It is very questionable behaviour on the part of Chan, to say the least. It cannot be said that Chan’s critics are being unjust in their criticism.
Roscuro, from what I have read and heard from him, he is very positive about the church he left, saying he left it in good hands but to protect himself from the sins that seem to surround mega churches, he had to step out. He started the we are church movement because he saw the devastation, did not want to add to it, and wanted to allow people to exercise their gifts rather than just attend.
I didn’t’;t go back to read yesterday’s posts close enough to be familiar with the problem you folks are talking about.
Nevertheless, lots of people don’t realize this, but Christianity was a sect of Judaism until the Jerusalem, Conference in Acts 15. Not much attention is given to it, but it was the most important conference in Christian history. Paul had effective broken off in Acts 13:46. But Christianity was considered part of Judaism until the Conference.
I know a good many people who use their gifts rather than just attend. But they do not use them in publicly noticeable ways, so that church leaders who didn’t pay attention to individual members would not even be aware of their existence. As for megachurches, the charismatic movement of which Todd White, Hinn, etc. are leaders, has the jump on congregation size. The Baptist church my mother grew up in has quite a large edifice that can fit hundreds, but there is in the same city, a building where the charismatics attend their services, that makes the Baptist church look small.
Kizzie,a statement like James’s on planning for the future cannot be said to only apply in this case or that case. It could apply to me and it could apply to a CEO of a multinational corporation; it could apply to putting spare coins in a piggy bank or it could apply to stock market trading. It could. It all depends on how the Spirit of God applies the statement in the life of a believer. As for me, I have not been permitted to plan.
Christianity was never just a sect of Judaism. Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17). Judaism was based on the incomplete visions of the law and prophets and thus was inadequate to save (Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 11:40, I Peter 1:10-12). We must never lose sight of the centrality of Christ to all of history. “Of him, and through him, and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). The Church is His. She is the only Bride of Christ. It simply took Jewish believers, raised in the Judaic traditions, a while to understand that fact – some of them, like Peter, had to be reminded of that fact even after having heavenly visions (Acts 10:9-16, Galatians 2:11-14) – and God graciously gave them time to adjust, although He kept prodding them to do what Christ commanded them. God never intended Judaism to be the answer to the question of Who He was. The answer was always Christ (John 1:1-18 and all the rest of Scripture).
Coffee errors. I once forgot the water. But the worst was when I was student teaching. The teacher’s lounge was one of those Bunn makers that fills the pot when you put more water in it. In other words, pouring water into the reservoir forces hot water into the pot. I didn’t know that and used the pot to get the water. As I poured water in, hot coffee started flowing out and going everywhere. Embarrassing.
Shhhhh, I can only share this with you here. I can’t post it on FB because I am not sure how the Mommy would like to know that Missy just had hamburger steak, collard greens, speckled butterbeans and cornbread for lunch. Grandpa also fed her some of his fried okra and pistachio delight (Watergate Salad). She hummed while she was eating it. Time flies with a baby. She will be a year old April 4th. She is so full of herself.
Kizzie, when I say I have not been permitted to plan, I mean that I have nothing to be able to make plans. I have no economic resources. I have no assets whether financial or property and no expectation of the inheritance of such. My parents are aging and on a fixed income and my siblings have children to provide for. I have no social resources. I was not born into either a wealthy or influential family; beyond our circles of friends, we are completely unknown and not even the academic awards I have won or the praise I have earned from teachers and fellow students can dispel my anonymity. To them, I am simply a passing shadow, admired and forgotten. I know from experience that the respect I have attained in school will not lead to a job, since the same thing happened the last time. My own knowledge of the human body instructs me that I have no personal resources. My health is not good, and my memory, which could be called my greatest asset, will be affected as I age – indeed, I already notice a reduction in the amounts of information I am able to take in and retain in my thirties as compared to my twenties. There is nothing I have that I can use to create a plan for my future, because I have nothing I can rely on to fulfill that plan. So, I have to wait for God.
I might add that although I did take out a student loan, the loan was inadequate for what I needed. The only reason I have been able to accomplish all that I did throughout these past three years of school was through a series of relatively small gifts, although they seemed large to me. Those who gave these gifts did so in a variety of ways, some of them so marvelous as to be almost unbelievable, but the gifts have always only come at the point at which I needed them and been enough and no more. That is how I know it has been provision from God, because His Son said that was how God’s provision worked (Matthew 6:24-34). So, I have hope from my experience that God will continue to provide enough and no more. Of course, I will be sensible and try to apply for jobs and get experience, etc., etc., but I have no reason to think that is what is going to happen, because it didn’t happen the last time despite my best efforts.
Being a student cam with unexpected provisions. As part of my tuition fees, I had access to the student health centre, which referred me to the respirologist who changed my asthma medication to one that controlled my symptoms better, and I had a health insurance plan, which enabled me to purchase the asthma medication, which otherwise costs over a hundred dollars for about a month’s supply (as I have mentioned before, public healthcare in Canada does not cover the purchase of medications). I also, through the fees, have access to transportation in the city, by means of a bus pass. Then there is the fact that my loan does not accumulate interest while I am a full time student and also the issuing of a student credit card by my bank, which allowed me to get reduced rates on purchases, such as on Amazon, because it was a student card (I have not accumulated any debt on the card, as I only purchased what I could afford with it). So, when my term officially ends, my coach is going to turn into a pumpkin, and I will return to the isolated waif I was before I went to school. I can go back to my parents’ house, but the Seconds really do need my room for their growing family, and because my parents live in the country and I do not own a car, I am literally trapped there. Their house is not within walking distance of anything. Only by my parents’ generosity am I able to go anywhere.
I am telling you all this not to be pitied, but because I have to say it all out loud. My life needs to change, but I cannot change it. One thing going to the city has not done for me, and that is introduced me to a future husband, yet another resource I do not have (as the Preacher notes, two are better than one). That is no surprise, because I have literally traveled the world without meeting such a person. But if anyone understands the awful loneliness and sense of utter insecurity that the impoverished single woman experiences, it is me.
Roscuro, there seems to be a never ending need for workers in health care in large cities such as Atlanta. Are you willing to go to where the need is? I suppose it would be the lack of a place to live until you got your first paycheck that might be an obstacle in your mind?
Roscuro, I am sorry, and will pray for you as I think about it. I was a few years younger than you (26) when I finished up college, and I ended up having a job to step into. But I didn’t know that until just weeks before graduation, and I had no place to live (my sister with whom I lived before college had moved into a studio apartment, my mother into a one-bedroom, etc., and much of my family was still in Arizona and there were no editing jobs there), no money, and no car. I’ve had several times in my life of “starting over,” and each one is difficult.
May God’s provision be plentiful and sweet. And may you know soon where He will have you to be.
Thank you for the birthday greetings. Have been to Alamogordo to pick up a new fridge for an older lady in the church. The mesquite says that winter is not over yet.
I don’t know about the residency requirements for you to work in my town, Roscuro. But, if it would allow you to do so, you can always live with us. The bus stop is two blocks away. 200 doctors lost their homes in the fires, many people are moving away because of the extreme cost of living, but we’ve frequently had people live with us over the years. Our door is open.
Roscuro, there are lots of nursing jobs in rural areas in the US. I would also say the every Indian Health Services facility in the nation would be hiring. With your international experience you would be a shoe-in. Many of the rural placements come with sign-on bonuses. I think there must be some sort of reciprocity with licensure, as one pf our hpuse supervisor came from Canada and had received his training tbere.
I would echo Michelle ‘s offer, though we are probably even more rural than anyone else. If you would like me to send you some job links frm my state, please contact me at rkessler65@gmail.com.
Janice, there are a whole host of factors that go into where I go and what I do. For example, your suggestion about Atlanta triggers several thoughts: Previous experience has demonstrated that it is easier for me to go overseas than to enter the U.S. Atlanta may have many healthcare jobs, but its air quality is notorious. I already have trouble in the city where I am now in the summer, so to go south to work in a city in a humid climate like Atlanta would not go well, and health insurance would be a problem, because I have a preexisting condition. I cannot go back permanently to West Africa because of my asthma (the team wanted me to come back, but the mission decided I should not), so it is a real factor in where I go and what I do.
Yes, just moving and paying the first and last months rent would be a difficulty, but I have an added one in regards to front end expenses. I cannot call myself a Registered Nurse when my program is finished, until I write the registration exam – the dreaded NCLEX. It cost about half a grand for the fees to write the exam and register as a practical nurse (RPN) – apparently, it costs twice that much to write the exams and register as an RN. It will take some time to be able to write the exam, as there will be a delay in the university getting the information to the regulating college of nurses and then all the paperwork that I will have to file in order to write the exam and register, etc. At best, it will probably be two months before I write the exam. Last time it took me four months to finally get registered, but hopefully, with the exam being electronic, it will not take quite so long. Right now, I can pay the fees for the exam and registration or I can pay rent. In the years since I became an RPN, I have not only payed off my student debt, but I have paid the yearly renewal fees and the yearly insurance fees in order to keep being a nurse. It is expensive to be a healthcare professional.
The city where I am now is actually a large urban centre that is a major healthcare research centre stemming from the university whose satellite program I attend. It has four major hospitals, plus a whole host of nursing homes, clinics, and home healthcare agencies. I was here nine years ago, around the time when I first began posting on World, taking several specialty courses as an RPN, including one in operating room nursing, once again on a shoestring budget (I was actually using some of the money I had left over from my college student loan). My clinical training for the operating room was in the same hospital where I am currently placed – I recognize several of the obstetricians and gynecologists from my previous experience (they do not recognize me, as I was invariably wearing a surgical mask when I met them and I was only a nursing student then and now). When I was finishing up my placement back then, my college instructor, who also held an influential position in the hospital where I was placed (a Catholic hospital, so there were no ethical concerns regarding abortions), said he would like me to work in his OR. I received my certificate from the program with honours, and I applied through the official channels. I heard absolutely nothing back, ever. I even phoned to ask if my application had been received and was told to wait. Still nothing. I know the instructor himself did not forget me, as he gave a recommendation to the mission I went to West Africa with. So, when I say taking the sensible course does not work for me, I really do mean that it does not work for me.
Rosuro, I recommend the carpet bomb method. Apply to every single facility in the city. Once you get the applications all sent out, start calling each one to follow up. Someone will bite.
I have never heard of a nurse having a hard time getting a job.
When Elvera’s sister decided to move to N. Virginia, she quit her job in Atlanta and moved in with us and then found a job.
Grand daughter, Mary, did almost the same thing when she moved to Winston Salem.
RK has good advice. Flood the zone of places you would like to be.
Cheryl, Michelle and RKessler, thank you for your kind words. I have talked about the resources I do not have, but I do have one resource that I consider to be worth far more than all the others, and that is friends and family who pray for me. I tell about my obstacles because I think their existence proves just how powerfully God can work in a believer’s life. Despite the fact that nearly every circumstance of my life works against me, I have not only traveled, but lived in such different places, coming close to both the Arctic circle and the Equator, and I have seen life, I have helped heal wounds, and cure diseases, and eased suffering, and witnessed human life both at the beginning and the end. When I was in college, a naive young woman still fresh from years of indoctrination by ATI, the words of Christ to Paul in I Corinthians 12:9-10 were my theme in all that I encountered:
‘And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.’
Prayers are effective, and God really is strong in the midst of human weakness. I wanted to know if that was true when I was growing up, and I have had the chance to prove it again and again.
I am content, if I never attain more than I have attained. When I was growing up, there was so much gloom and doom predicted about the coming of persecution and suffering for being a Christian. I found comfort in the words of Jeremiah to Baruch: “Seek not great things for yourself, for I will bring evil upon all flesh, but your life I will give to you for a prey in all places wither you go.” That has been true for me, I have not become great or gotten great things for myself, but I have been given my life in many different places. That is why I do not fear the future of Christianity in the increasingly hostile cultures of either West or East, because I already know that Christ will not fail his Church. He has not failed me.
Chas and RKessler, I did apply to more than that one job I mentioned, many more. You should see all the cover letters and tailored resumes that I wrote then – I still have them. I only ever got the job in West Africa. Somehow, I think it was the right job, even if I only did it for fourteen months.
Besides, in whatever job I accept now, I will face enormous ethical dilemmas, as it is both legally and socially acceptable for a healthcare professional to help to end the lives of humans at both the beginning and the end of their lives, something that is true in several states and a number of countries. It behooves me to walk warily, and I do. If I have to go before tribunals to defend my ethics, I will do so trusting in the instructions of Christ in Luke 21:14-15, but I do not willingly seek such a trial. Recall, I did have a job interview for an operating room position, just after I went to visit Mumsee, in which I was forced to state that I could not participate in abortions. Those interviewing me informed me that refusal – although, by Canadian Supreme Court ruling nurses have a right to refuse – was not an option, should I get the job. Their warning was valuable, as it has made me reflect over the years on my own weaknesses and how my tendency to automatically do what I am told without question and my desire to avoid conflict with those in close proximity to me could be used against my convictions in such a scenario. I am reluctant to seek out just any job for that reason. As the Proverb (22:3) says, “The prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” I feel far safer being guided day by day in the way the Lord has already provided than trusting to my own wisdom in such an ethical minefield.
Our son has used up all his six years of funding in his PhD program and still needs another year to finish his dissertation. He is looking for work to support himself for the finish line next year..I am praying for his unknown future, too. There are very few positions for people with his background. We are trusting in God’s provision that has been more than we could have hoped or imagined to this point.
Somehow God has had me pray that He will provide my portion. Neither riches nor poverty. He is faithful. Thank you roscuro, for testifying of His goodness. He holds the future.
I have one more story to finish up, had to dash home to meet with the paint store guy who was a huge help (Real Estate Guy came, too) in figuring out what probably went wrong with the south side of the house that’s now bubbling and peeling — most likely, waited too long between primer and top coat application (and there were other factors he mentioned as well). But no, he didn’t think I needed new stucco (which was what the painter kept saying when I mentioned the bubbling to him).
Anyway, it’ll all have to wait anyway — until these rains are really over (more in the forecast for next week) and until I can accumulate some more money.
Meanwhile, I paid my property tax online last weekend and used an “e-check” process — I had to fill my account and routing numbers in a couple times after the first times it didn’t take, but it finally did and I got an online receipt. But it’s been a week and the money hasn’t come out of my checking account yet. I assume if there’s a problem I’ll get an email — and I do have a receipt if that’s any good. But I thought it said the transaction would be complete in 2 business days, typically. I would have used the debit card but they charged a 2.5% fee on top of the tax so decided the e-check was better as there was no extra charge to do it that way.
Wandering Views 
Morning all. I enjoyed listening to the head of SIL, Michel Kenmogne. We did a live stream around the world from PNG. Fun
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Good evening Jo.
Good morning everyone else.
That cactus reminds me of the tree in my backyard.
Such a big plant with such a small flower.
I have a pin oak in my backyard. Huge tree.
But the leaves are small and the nut is tiny. Hard to clean up.
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Good morning, or what ever time of day it is for you. The photo is the full picture of my avatar. The flower is about 15 feet off the ground, by the way.
And here are your Friday funnies for this week.
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I went in and fixed breakfast.
We finished our Cheerios and orange juice.
I went to pour the coffee.
!! Hot water. I had forgotten to put coffee in the maker.
Stupid mistake. I just hope it’s the worst one I make today.
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Lovely saguaro blossom! I once went to my favorite desert park specifically to photograph saguaro blossoms, and as I have told on here, ended up climbing a palo verde tree just to get high enough. (Big mistake. They have thorns!) My biggest mistake was that I had lived in Arizona all my life (about 21 years) and somehow didn’t know the blossoms open at night and live less than one day–in other words, by evening there won’t be many left, and I went after work, thus about 5:00. That’s why blossoms were so rare I had a hard time finding any to photograph and finally climbed a palo verde to get access to the only one I could really find.
I have photographed them since, but not with a camera that could do them justice. I want to go again someday, to photograph saguaros and octotillo and palo verdes in blossom (my big three), and also get a roadrunner, hummingbirds, and more.
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Morning! And I do believe it is RKessler’s birthday!! Happy birthday to you my friend!! 🎂
Chas I have done just that more times than I care to admit! You definitely realize something is amiss when coffee isn’t smelling like coffee in the morning! ☕️
It is dark and cold in this forest and we are predicted to receive 3 inches of snow tonight…wet heavy Spring snow…..
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Supposed to be up to mid thirties out there right now, guess I will wear the other boots. That is fine, I am glad to have them.
Daughter had her seed pots on the heating mat and they have sprung up! She was pretty excited to see them yesterday. She loves cherry tomatoes and we rarely get any into the house.
Seventeen went to bed feeling much better, I am hoping for a much more pleasant day.
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Happy birthday, rkessler!
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Happy Birthday RK
No matter what her mental condition, she is not going to let me dress her mismatched.
She knows what doesn’t match.
Off to face whatever the day brings.
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Taking a brief pause from a full schedule. The end is in sight. Only seven more days of placement to be done. When I finish, I will be leaving a period where at least I knew what to do and had a little money in which to do it, to a place where I have no idea what to do and have a large amount of debt. But I have been in such a place once before, and as Paul says in Romans 5:3-5, “tribulation works patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope; and hope does not make us ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given to us.” I am naturally somewhat concerned about the future, but not as much as I would be had I not faced such a future before and seen provision made by the Lord to pay back the debt in full and to do what I was given to do. If I could sum up the lessons of my adult life into one phrase it would be to live day by day (see also Matthew 6:25-34). As James said on the subject of presumptuous financial and business planning (James 4:13-17), it is only of the Lord’s will that we will do anything in the future.
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Good morning!
Roscuro, I can so relate to what you wrote about planning as I sit here still without my driver’s license. I ran out of eggs this morning. I have a plan to get some today but only if God wants us to have some for breakfast tomorrow.
Chas, I have done the coffee thing, too, even putting the ground coffee in the filter and forgetting to put the water in. That sure makes for a lightweight pot of Joe. ♡
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To reply to Mumsee’s question on yesterday’s thread about Paul and Barnabas going to the synagogues:
Jesus himself said about the Pharisees to the people, that “the scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do” (Matthew 23:2-3). Until the death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus Christ, only the Jews worshiped the one true God. The beginnings of the Church came out of the Jewish congregation, and in the beginning, both the temple (Acts 2:46) and synagogues were meeting places for Christians. By gathering in the temple and synagogues, the early Christians gave a chance for those who worshiped the true God but who had never heard the name of Christ to hear and believe – for example, the Jew Apollos and others, who had heard of John the Baptist but not Christ (Acts 18:24-28, 19:1-7). But when and where the Jews definitely rejected Jesus Christ, throwing the Christians out of the temple and synagogues, then the Christians separated themselves. There came a time when, because the Jews began to blaspheme the Gospel and seek to obstruct it, that Paul would no longer enter the synagogues to share the Gospel (Acts 13:44-50).
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Happy Birthday, RKessler!
🎈🎂🍦🍰⚘🎈🎁🎈🌞
May your day be filled with joy, peace, love, and all of your favorite things!
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Roscuro, and then they went on to Iconium and did it again in 14.
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This has been a long week and I’m happy to see it ending. Adjusting to the tiny new work space is a challenge. And the chairs they have are very (literally) hard to sit on, just very uncomfortable and my back and legs are feeling it.
I’m going to have to find ways to escape the enclosure during the day for my own sanity, but simply getting out of the building for an errand, for example, requires quite a bit of dual elevator travel time just to reach my car. Feeling trapped in the tower.
The other day I overheard our office secretary explain to a caller that no, there is no longer any public office where he could come just to pick up back issues. She told me she used to save coupons to give to a couple of the local vets for their groups but she said she can’t do that any longer.
It’s just not a suitable place for a company that should and really needs to interact with the public in any kind of practical way.
OK, time for a quick shower so I can race over the bridge to it all again. At least it’s Friday!
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Happy Birthday RKessler!
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Happy birthday, RKessler, and many blessings to you!
Yesterday a few people from the senior citizen housing place that my husband’s group ‘practices’ at decided to join us at the place at which they were performing. A few always come when they can. One of the ladies, who has Parkinson’s said she was not feeling at all good in the morning, but was encouraged to come and listen to the music. She said she was so blessed by it and felt so much better. That is encouraging. These people bless us.
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There are people all over the world in need of Christ. God uses a wide range of folk to carry His Truth. They will not all look the same to us.
Luke 9:49-50 says, John answered and said, “Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name; and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow along with us.” But Jesus said to him, “Do not hinder him; for he who is not against you is for you.”
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Mumsee, when the Jews began to blaspheme and contradict, Paul would no longer enter the synagogues to teach, see also Acts 18:4-7. In any case, there is no analogy to be drawn to going into the synagogues of the Jews to teach in Paul’s day and speaking at a charismatic conference now. It has been nearly two thousand years since Judaism and Christianity went their separate ways, a separation that is chronicled in the book of Acts and confirmed by the letters to the Romans, the Galatians, and the Hebrews. Paul’s instruction on the kind of false teachers that would come in the future, those who drew away crowds with itching ears (II Timothy 4:2), was that they were to be absolutely shunned (I Timothy 6:3-5, Titus 3:10-11).
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Chas – I’ve had some coffeemaker mishaps, too. One time, I had put the water in, but not yet the coffee, since I had washed the pot and it was in the dish drain, drying off. I forgot to put the pot back on, and the coffee in. The next morning, Hubby didn’t notice that there was no pot, and turned on the coffeemaker.
The hot water flowed over the counter and down the front of the cabinets, and in the drawers! What a mess! I had to take everything out of the drawers to dry up the water. (Glad I hadn’t put the coffee basket in.)
Hubby blamed me for not finishing setting the coffeemaker up right, and I blamed him for not noticing there was no pot. Neither one of us was too happy with the other. 😀
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In but not of. If we were told to never associate with people with itchy ears, we would never step out our doors, never get on the computer, never watch television, etc But we are not We are told to go and bring the Good News to the people. Wherever they may be found. In foster care, in Africa, in San Francisco, in northern Canada, in Ecuador. Wherever there are people, there is need for believers to step forward with the Truth.
Perhaps he is not preaching to Hinn, but to the people who have come to hear. He does not want to leave them to Hinn and his ilk. I don’t know if he is fellowshipping with them. He is there to teach the believers and reach the lost. And, yes, I believe the Holy Spirit calls certain people to certain things and it is not wrong to acknowledge the direction came from Him. That does not put one in the same basket as the misleaders.
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RK – Happy Birthday!
Roscuro – When you say “presumptuous financial and business planning”, may I assume your emphasis is on the word “presumptuous”? IOW, that financial and business planning are not presumptuous in and of themselves, and can be a mark of good stewardship?
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Chas, yesterday on Facebook, DIL posted a picture of 8 year old granddaughter in a flowered shirt and leopard pants along with this dialog:
Me: “Hey Em, you know you don’t really match right?”
Em: “yeah, but u know this is the only thing I can wear without having a fuss.”
Me: “yeah, you’re right. Good call.”
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Happy Birthday, RKessler!
Chas, I have made the coffee without emptying the coffee from the day before that was in the pot already. Talk about a MESS!!!!
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Mumsee, Chan was photographed praying and sitting with these men. He was having fellowship with them. People with itching ears themselves bear responsibility for their own unfaithfulness, they are not just lost sheep. Paul, in telling the Church to shun those who would not listen to sound doctrine did not distinguish between the teacher of unsound doctrine and the follower who choses to reject sound doctrine in order to listen to unsound doctrine. The Gnostics of John’s day were condemned by him whether they were the leader who denied Jesus had come in the flesh or the follower who agreed with the leader. Furthermore, as I have already laid out in considerable detail, the way to protect people from being deceived by such charlatans would be to publicly rebuke the charlatan in the harshest of terms, giving charlatan no quarter in which to speak. Chan did not do this, so he was not being the influence he claimed to be, no matter how much he tries to say he was.
As for the man Jesus and his disciples discussed, he had the Spirit of God, because those who tried to use Jesus’ name to cast out real demons (not just the pretended ones that those such as Hinn claims to cast out) without having the Spirit ended up very badly wounded (Acts 19:13-16). The person who follows Christ differently cannot tear down others and try to make everyone follow him, as John observes in his third letter: “Diotrephes, who likes to put himself first, does not acknowledge our authority. So if I come, I will bring up what he is doing, talking wicked nonsense against us. And not content with that, he refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church” (III John 9-10). Chan, in forming his ‘We Are Church’ movement, is beginning to resemble Diotrephes – criticizing the Church for her faults, using those faults to claim the Church isn’t doing it right, and seeking to reinvent the Church the way he thinks it should be. And then he accepts speaking engagements alongside wolves, who are held up by those outside the Church as examples of the hypocrisy of Christianity. It is very questionable behaviour on the part of Chan, to say the least. It cannot be said that Chan’s critics are being unjust in their criticism.
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Roscuro, from what I have read and heard from him, he is very positive about the church he left, saying he left it in good hands but to protect himself from the sins that seem to surround mega churches, he had to step out. He started the we are church movement because he saw the devastation, did not want to add to it, and wanted to allow people to exercise their gifts rather than just attend.
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I didn’t’;t go back to read yesterday’s posts close enough to be familiar with the problem you folks are talking about.
Nevertheless, lots of people don’t realize this, but Christianity was a sect of Judaism until the Jerusalem, Conference in Acts 15. Not much attention is given to it, but it was the most important conference in Christian history. Paul had effective broken off in Acts 13:46. But Christianity was considered part of Judaism until the Conference.
Not much attention is given to that.
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I know a good many people who use their gifts rather than just attend. But they do not use them in publicly noticeable ways, so that church leaders who didn’t pay attention to individual members would not even be aware of their existence. As for megachurches, the charismatic movement of which Todd White, Hinn, etc. are leaders, has the jump on congregation size. The Baptist church my mother grew up in has quite a large edifice that can fit hundreds, but there is in the same city, a building where the charismatics attend their services, that makes the Baptist church look small.
Kizzie,a statement like James’s on planning for the future cannot be said to only apply in this case or that case. It could apply to me and it could apply to a CEO of a multinational corporation; it could apply to putting spare coins in a piggy bank or it could apply to stock market trading. It could. It all depends on how the Spirit of God applies the statement in the life of a believer. As for me, I have not been permitted to plan.
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The cartoon about Trump swiping at the ghost of McCain is what I was talking about yesterday on the Politics Thread.
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Christianity was never just a sect of Judaism. Christ is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets (Matthew 5:17). Judaism was based on the incomplete visions of the law and prophets and thus was inadequate to save (Galatians 3:11, Hebrews 11:40, I Peter 1:10-12). We must never lose sight of the centrality of Christ to all of history. “Of him, and through him, and to him are all things” (Romans 11:36). The Church is His. She is the only Bride of Christ. It simply took Jewish believers, raised in the Judaic traditions, a while to understand that fact – some of them, like Peter, had to be reminded of that fact even after having heavenly visions (Acts 10:9-16, Galatians 2:11-14) – and God graciously gave them time to adjust, although He kept prodding them to do what Christ commanded them. God never intended Judaism to be the answer to the question of Who He was. The answer was always Christ (John 1:1-18 and all the rest of Scripture).
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Coffee errors. I once forgot the water. But the worst was when I was student teaching. The teacher’s lounge was one of those Bunn makers that fills the pot when you put more water in it. In other words, pouring water into the reservoir forces hot water into the pot. I didn’t know that and used the pot to get the water. As I poured water in, hot coffee started flowing out and going everywhere. Embarrassing.
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Shhhhh, I can only share this with you here. I can’t post it on FB because I am not sure how the Mommy would like to know that Missy just had hamburger steak, collard greens, speckled butterbeans and cornbread for lunch. Grandpa also fed her some of his fried okra and pistachio delight (Watergate Salad). She hummed while she was eating it. Time flies with a baby. She will be a year old April 4th. She is so full of herself.
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Kizzie, when I say I have not been permitted to plan, I mean that I have nothing to be able to make plans. I have no economic resources. I have no assets whether financial or property and no expectation of the inheritance of such. My parents are aging and on a fixed income and my siblings have children to provide for. I have no social resources. I was not born into either a wealthy or influential family; beyond our circles of friends, we are completely unknown and not even the academic awards I have won or the praise I have earned from teachers and fellow students can dispel my anonymity. To them, I am simply a passing shadow, admired and forgotten. I know from experience that the respect I have attained in school will not lead to a job, since the same thing happened the last time. My own knowledge of the human body instructs me that I have no personal resources. My health is not good, and my memory, which could be called my greatest asset, will be affected as I age – indeed, I already notice a reduction in the amounts of information I am able to take in and retain in my thirties as compared to my twenties. There is nothing I have that I can use to create a plan for my future, because I have nothing I can rely on to fulfill that plan. So, I have to wait for God.
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Nothing but sunshine here. Snow won’t last long under this. But that is okay as the butcher comes tomorrow.
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I might add that although I did take out a student loan, the loan was inadequate for what I needed. The only reason I have been able to accomplish all that I did throughout these past three years of school was through a series of relatively small gifts, although they seemed large to me. Those who gave these gifts did so in a variety of ways, some of them so marvelous as to be almost unbelievable, but the gifts have always only come at the point at which I needed them and been enough and no more. That is how I know it has been provision from God, because His Son said that was how God’s provision worked (Matthew 6:24-34). So, I have hope from my experience that God will continue to provide enough and no more. Of course, I will be sensible and try to apply for jobs and get experience, etc., etc., but I have no reason to think that is what is going to happen, because it didn’t happen the last time despite my best efforts.
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Being a student cam with unexpected provisions. As part of my tuition fees, I had access to the student health centre, which referred me to the respirologist who changed my asthma medication to one that controlled my symptoms better, and I had a health insurance plan, which enabled me to purchase the asthma medication, which otherwise costs over a hundred dollars for about a month’s supply (as I have mentioned before, public healthcare in Canada does not cover the purchase of medications). I also, through the fees, have access to transportation in the city, by means of a bus pass. Then there is the fact that my loan does not accumulate interest while I am a full time student and also the issuing of a student credit card by my bank, which allowed me to get reduced rates on purchases, such as on Amazon, because it was a student card (I have not accumulated any debt on the card, as I only purchased what I could afford with it). So, when my term officially ends, my coach is going to turn into a pumpkin, and I will return to the isolated waif I was before I went to school. I can go back to my parents’ house, but the Seconds really do need my room for their growing family, and because my parents live in the country and I do not own a car, I am literally trapped there. Their house is not within walking distance of anything. Only by my parents’ generosity am I able to go anywhere.
I am telling you all this not to be pitied, but because I have to say it all out loud. My life needs to change, but I cannot change it. One thing going to the city has not done for me, and that is introduced me to a future husband, yet another resource I do not have (as the Preacher notes, two are better than one). That is no surprise, because I have literally traveled the world without meeting such a person. But if anyone understands the awful loneliness and sense of utter insecurity that the impoverished single woman experiences, it is me.
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Happy Birthday, RK!
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Roscuro, there seems to be a never ending need for workers in health care in large cities such as Atlanta. Are you willing to go to where the need is? I suppose it would be the lack of a place to live until you got your first paycheck that might be an obstacle in your mind?
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Nice header photo, Peter. I think it could be used as a cute design for a pin cushion (on a much smaller scale, of course).
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Roscuro, I am sorry, and will pray for you as I think about it. I was a few years younger than you (26) when I finished up college, and I ended up having a job to step into. But I didn’t know that until just weeks before graduation, and I had no place to live (my sister with whom I lived before college had moved into a studio apartment, my mother into a one-bedroom, etc., and much of my family was still in Arizona and there were no editing jobs there), no money, and no car. I’ve had several times in my life of “starting over,” and each one is difficult.
May God’s provision be plentiful and sweet. And may you know soon where He will have you to be.
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Thank you for the birthday greetings. Have been to Alamogordo to pick up a new fridge for an older lady in the church. The mesquite says that winter is not over yet.
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I don’t know about the residency requirements for you to work in my town, Roscuro. But, if it would allow you to do so, you can always live with us. The bus stop is two blocks away. 200 doctors lost their homes in the fires, many people are moving away because of the extreme cost of living, but we’ve frequently had people live with us over the years. Our door is open.
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Roscuro, there are lots of nursing jobs in rural areas in the US. I would also say the every Indian Health Services facility in the nation would be hiring. With your international experience you would be a shoe-in. Many of the rural placements come with sign-on bonuses. I think there must be some sort of reciprocity with licensure, as one pf our hpuse supervisor came from Canada and had received his training tbere.
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I would echo Michelle ‘s offer, though we are probably even more rural than anyone else. If you would like me to send you some job links frm my state, please contact me at rkessler65@gmail.com.
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Janice, there are a whole host of factors that go into where I go and what I do. For example, your suggestion about Atlanta triggers several thoughts: Previous experience has demonstrated that it is easier for me to go overseas than to enter the U.S. Atlanta may have many healthcare jobs, but its air quality is notorious. I already have trouble in the city where I am now in the summer, so to go south to work in a city in a humid climate like Atlanta would not go well, and health insurance would be a problem, because I have a preexisting condition. I cannot go back permanently to West Africa because of my asthma (the team wanted me to come back, but the mission decided I should not), so it is a real factor in where I go and what I do.
Yes, just moving and paying the first and last months rent would be a difficulty, but I have an added one in regards to front end expenses. I cannot call myself a Registered Nurse when my program is finished, until I write the registration exam – the dreaded NCLEX. It cost about half a grand for the fees to write the exam and register as a practical nurse (RPN) – apparently, it costs twice that much to write the exams and register as an RN. It will take some time to be able to write the exam, as there will be a delay in the university getting the information to the regulating college of nurses and then all the paperwork that I will have to file in order to write the exam and register, etc. At best, it will probably be two months before I write the exam. Last time it took me four months to finally get registered, but hopefully, with the exam being electronic, it will not take quite so long. Right now, I can pay the fees for the exam and registration or I can pay rent. In the years since I became an RPN, I have not only payed off my student debt, but I have paid the yearly renewal fees and the yearly insurance fees in order to keep being a nurse. It is expensive to be a healthcare professional.
The city where I am now is actually a large urban centre that is a major healthcare research centre stemming from the university whose satellite program I attend. It has four major hospitals, plus a whole host of nursing homes, clinics, and home healthcare agencies. I was here nine years ago, around the time when I first began posting on World, taking several specialty courses as an RPN, including one in operating room nursing, once again on a shoestring budget (I was actually using some of the money I had left over from my college student loan). My clinical training for the operating room was in the same hospital where I am currently placed – I recognize several of the obstetricians and gynecologists from my previous experience (they do not recognize me, as I was invariably wearing a surgical mask when I met them and I was only a nursing student then and now). When I was finishing up my placement back then, my college instructor, who also held an influential position in the hospital where I was placed (a Catholic hospital, so there were no ethical concerns regarding abortions), said he would like me to work in his OR. I received my certificate from the program with honours, and I applied through the official channels. I heard absolutely nothing back, ever. I even phoned to ask if my application had been received and was told to wait. Still nothing. I know the instructor himself did not forget me, as he gave a recommendation to the mission I went to West Africa with. So, when I say taking the sensible course does not work for me, I really do mean that it does not work for me.
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Rosuro, I recommend the carpet bomb method. Apply to every single facility in the city. Once you get the applications all sent out, start calling each one to follow up. Someone will bite.
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I have never heard of a nurse having a hard time getting a job.
When Elvera’s sister decided to move to N. Virginia, she quit her job in Atlanta and moved in with us and then found a job.
Grand daughter, Mary, did almost the same thing when she moved to Winston Salem.
RK has good advice. Flood the zone of places you would like to be.
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Cheryl, Michelle and RKessler, thank you for your kind words. I have talked about the resources I do not have, but I do have one resource that I consider to be worth far more than all the others, and that is friends and family who pray for me. I tell about my obstacles because I think their existence proves just how powerfully God can work in a believer’s life. Despite the fact that nearly every circumstance of my life works against me, I have not only traveled, but lived in such different places, coming close to both the Arctic circle and the Equator, and I have seen life, I have helped heal wounds, and cure diseases, and eased suffering, and witnessed human life both at the beginning and the end. When I was in college, a naive young woman still fresh from years of indoctrination by ATI, the words of Christ to Paul in I Corinthians 12:9-10 were my theme in all that I encountered:
‘And he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.’
Prayers are effective, and God really is strong in the midst of human weakness. I wanted to know if that was true when I was growing up, and I have had the chance to prove it again and again.
I am content, if I never attain more than I have attained. When I was growing up, there was so much gloom and doom predicted about the coming of persecution and suffering for being a Christian. I found comfort in the words of Jeremiah to Baruch: “Seek not great things for yourself, for I will bring evil upon all flesh, but your life I will give to you for a prey in all places wither you go.” That has been true for me, I have not become great or gotten great things for myself, but I have been given my life in many different places. That is why I do not fear the future of Christianity in the increasingly hostile cultures of either West or East, because I already know that Christ will not fail his Church. He has not failed me.
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Chas and RKessler, I did apply to more than that one job I mentioned, many more. You should see all the cover letters and tailored resumes that I wrote then – I still have them. I only ever got the job in West Africa. Somehow, I think it was the right job, even if I only did it for fourteen months.
Besides, in whatever job I accept now, I will face enormous ethical dilemmas, as it is both legally and socially acceptable for a healthcare professional to help to end the lives of humans at both the beginning and the end of their lives, something that is true in several states and a number of countries. It behooves me to walk warily, and I do. If I have to go before tribunals to defend my ethics, I will do so trusting in the instructions of Christ in Luke 21:14-15, but I do not willingly seek such a trial. Recall, I did have a job interview for an operating room position, just after I went to visit Mumsee, in which I was forced to state that I could not participate in abortions. Those interviewing me informed me that refusal – although, by Canadian Supreme Court ruling nurses have a right to refuse – was not an option, should I get the job. Their warning was valuable, as it has made me reflect over the years on my own weaknesses and how my tendency to automatically do what I am told without question and my desire to avoid conflict with those in close proximity to me could be used against my convictions in such a scenario. I am reluctant to seek out just any job for that reason. As the Proverb (22:3) says, “The prudent man foresees the evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.” I feel far safer being guided day by day in the way the Lord has already provided than trusting to my own wisdom in such an ethical minefield.
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Great testimony, Roscuro!
Prayers for your future endeavors.
Our son has used up all his six years of funding in his PhD program and still needs another year to finish his dissertation. He is looking for work to support himself for the finish line next year..I am praying for his unknown future, too. There are very few positions for people with his background. We are trusting in God’s provision that has been more than we could have hoped or imagined to this point.
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Thank you, Janice.
A bonne anniversaire to RKessler.
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Somehow God has had me pray that He will provide my portion. Neither riches nor poverty. He is faithful. Thank you roscuro, for testifying of His goodness. He holds the future.
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I have one more story to finish up, had to dash home to meet with the paint store guy who was a huge help (Real Estate Guy came, too) in figuring out what probably went wrong with the south side of the house that’s now bubbling and peeling — most likely, waited too long between primer and top coat application (and there were other factors he mentioned as well). But no, he didn’t think I needed new stucco (which was what the painter kept saying when I mentioned the bubbling to him).
Anyway, it’ll all have to wait anyway — until these rains are really over (more in the forecast for next week) and until I can accumulate some more money.
Meanwhile, I paid my property tax online last weekend and used an “e-check” process — I had to fill my account and routing numbers in a couple times after the first times it didn’t take, but it finally did and I got an online receipt. But it’s been a week and the money hasn’t come out of my checking account yet. I assume if there’s a problem I’ll get an email — and I do have a receipt if that’s any good. But I thought it said the transaction would be complete in 2 business days, typically. I would have used the debit card but they charged a 2.5% fee on top of the tax so decided the e-check was better as there was no extra charge to do it that way.
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Happy birthday, RK!
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Yes, happy birthday, RKessler!
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Happy birthday, RK.
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Oh, look! It’s 57. I think that was our high today.
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