GREAT LONG WEEKEND

The weather has turned really nice except for a lack of rain. Friday was a great day with a unexpected visit from Jeff Singleton. He was one of the poets who wrote a poem to Lou and exhibited his writing skills. He called to say he had an appointment in FW and another one in the afternoon in Weatherford so he would come by here, only 100 miles out of the way. That is a real friend. He said he would bring something for us to eat and asked what I wanted. I told him anything was fine with me, but he, as usual, did the unexpected. He walks in with plastic bags full of fresh fruit. A fresh pineapple, three kiwi fruit, plums, oranges, apples, and for lagniappe a tray of peanut, pecan and almond brittle with another section for a special candy that is Aunt Lessie's nut crunch a special chocolate with the nuts. So we enjoyed eating fruit and listening to a wise man tell stories. He had contacted me earlier asking for books written about Texas history and I am working on that task. Turns out at the end of the visit, he really wanted to know what Lou thought about his poem. He had accolades from a lot of emails, but no one had ever told him if Lou had even seen the poem. I told him that I had read it to her, she was not able to read, and that she loved it and commented on it several times later. So I think he left happy.

Then Mark called on his internet phone connection from Laurie's home in Auxerre, France. They are enjoying visiting with her family and were getting ready to celebrate Kathy's birthday by taking her to Dijon. (Maybe for the mustard?) Then he called Saturday on her birthday and said she had a special day. When they came back from Dijon, Christian had made crepes for everyone and they also celebrated Bertrand's birthday (911 like mine) because he had come in for the occasion. Their home is busy all the time. Then this morning I got a text message from Mark and Kathy saying they were on the fast train to visit their friend Caroline. I have only had one other text message on my phone that I can remember.

Two literary comments. I spent Friday and Saturday wrestling with our church newsletter and finally got it completed late yesterday afternoon, made it into a PDF file and emailed it. To cover all of the events of the dedication Sunday last week I had to increase it to 8 pages. So last night I printed my usual 9 copies, one for me and one to mail to Tim Dill and took 7 to church this morning. The other literary event was today's SS lesson with a lot of sex, where the story of Joseph's life in Egypt, where he is thrown in jail by a jealous woman who wrongly accused him of having sex with her, is split around a weird story about Tamar and her father-in-law when her first husband doesn't just die. He was wicked and killed by God. When his brother, who was told to take her as a wife to produce children, spilled his semen on the ground to keep from inseminating her, God killed him also. So be careful about what you do. Then she was promised the youngest brother when he grew up. When that didn't happen she poses as a temple prostitute and her randy father-in-law hires her with the promise of a goat but leaves his staff and seal until he can deliver the goat. She is wearing a veil and he doesn't recognize her but gets her pregnant. Three months later, told that she was pregnant he ordered her brought to him to burn her and she told him she was pregnant by the man who owned the staff and seal, so he was caught. She then had twins with a problem of which one came out first when one hand came out and had a string tied to it, but the other baby came out first. So which was the older? Then the next chapter has Joseph in prison placed in charge of the other prisoners until he interprets dreams of the Pharaoh's cup bearer and baker who were in prison. He asks them to remember him but they didn't until the Pharaoh has a dream that none of the magicians can interpret. So Joseph accurately explains that the dream predicts 7 years of bumper crops followed by 7 of famine and Pharaoh appoints him as the highest official in the country to handle the crisis. It would have been a great lesson but only three class members were there to contribute.

The weather has been perfect to sit out at night and watch the stars come out. I also didn't turn on the TV and didn't miss the Kennedy funeral. This afternoon I did watch the Ranger game where they were behind two runs, had the bases loaded with no outs in the ninth and they got beat. That was a downer.

LONG THURSDAY

Today started hopefully with a drizzle falling as I left for the 6:30 Methodist Men's meeting, but didn't run my wipers all the way to town. Drove under clouds to Abilene for the skin doc's appointment. As usual he had to squirt liquid nitrogen, this time on three places around my head and none in the top of my skull, but he found a suspicious one on the back of my head and took a sample for biopsy with the irritating comment, "possible melanoma". I will get that report next week.

I then went to the Flag Store and bought a staff, stand and eagle ornament for the Library to display a flag given to us that was flown on a 911, in 2002, I think. I delivered it when I came back through CP after the funeral.

I drove 277 to San Angelo through the hill country and through a wind turbine farm and out of the clouds into the sun and I had forgotten my new shades. I got to SA early so drove around, found a pharmacy and bought some Icaps for my vitamins. I waited until 11 and ate at Chinese Kitchen eating one of their Korean specialities that was BBQ beef with Kimchi and fluffy rice. Eating with chopsticks also added a little time. I drove out of the shopping center and saw a car wash. That took a little more time and made my car look a lot better. Got to the church very early. Walked down their entry hall in the back of the church and read the story of Asbury. One of the early circuit riders was a Dromgoole and I told Glenn about it after the funeral. The first ones that I saw in the hallway were Darrell and Mary Vines from Lubbock and Levelland. Mary was one of Lou's students in high school in Levelland. Darrell got his PhD in Electrical Engineering at A&M and taught for years at Texas Tech. They told me about being at Elmer's home on the day that Lou died and Elmer told him he had just gotten the message.

A lot of Texas Folklore Folks were there. The first ones who saw me in the pews early were Elaine and Blaine Williams who make and sell audio tapes of Folklore and other sessions. Then Margaret Waring the 40 year head librarian at Comanche who got a ride with Jerry Hunt who is Elmer's bibliographer. Then Dearden, Jim Harris, and Judy Alter came with Melinda Esco who is main stay at TCU Press and told me she knew a lady in Cross Plains named Becky Odom. I told her she was in my Sunday School class and she said she was a good friend of her daughter who was murdered in Penneys in Fort Worth about 20 years ago.

Saw a lot of other friends like Glenn Dromgoole, Preston Lewis, Steve Kelton and Ross McSwain. I left SA seeing rain to the north but still sunny on the highway with 100 degree temps. Drove under the clouds even thru a small rainshower that the wax job on the car didn't even require the wipers to be able to see through the windshield. Got home and went back to American Legion meeting. As I drove home a 7:30 I could see a heavy rain out my way and when I got close it was raining, but not any on the road and my fancy rain gauge said I had .08" when I left this morning and a total of .10" for the day. But any little bit helps and that is a little.

I have watched the first half of the ACU vs. NW MO STATE game that was delayed by a storm that came thru Abilene. I am not going to stay up for the whole game but ACU is ahead 16 -0 at half. I am tired out. And still need to publish the Flame for the church.

WEDNESDAY CLOUDS BUT NO RAIN

For a while on the radar it looked like the showers would come here, but they didn't and they didn't rain much anywhere. Today was a fasting and prayer day and one of my prayers was answered favorably when I called the hospital and found that Arlene Stephenson had successful surgery on her thyroid removing a growth that was found to be benign. She can't talk but her husband Tom (who is Carleton Stower's uncle) said she was eating some soup that looked like paste to him.

My exercises seem to be paying off. I was able to fill the deer feeders this morning without any trouble. I am still exercising with two rocks for weights. I read Psalms this morning and 1 Peter this afternoon as well as Genesis 37-41 for the Sunday School lesson getting Joseph to Eygpt and in prison. I got a letter today from Tim Dill who is in prison and wrote him that I think of him when I read about Paul, Peter and Joseph all being in prison and hope that they will let him use his education and talents. Apparently they are. He is in charge of the inventory of their stainless steel manufacturing operation.

Yesterday on the way to Kiwanis I stopped to get a haircut and the place was full. I got into a conversation with a local engineer about taking professional development courses. He is doing it to keep his license and has enough civil engineering work in Abilene to pay for the courses. I finished just in time to go to Kiwanis and failed to visit with Carl Edington like I try to do on Tuesday. Debbie Gosnell who runs Cross Plains from City Hall gave us a run-down on all of the paving, water and sewage projects that the new property tax will help pay for.

I am looking forward to breaking my fast in the morning with the Methodist Mens Prayer meeting at 6:30 then skin doctor appointment at 8:15, go buy a flag staff for the Library, drive to San Angelo for Elmer Kelton's funeral and back for American Legion at 6:30 p.m. They have ordered me a cap and vest to look like a veteran. I got my LW column in today. Maybe I can enjoy the weekend.

LIFE GOES ON

This morning I looked out when I got up and saw four small fox kits in the front yard. There must be another family around. I ran to get my camera and the batteries were dead so I am charging some more. Then when I walked this morning I took Roy Hunter's advice. Yesterday in SS class I was complaining about being out of shape. He asked if I was still walking. I said I was but that didn't help my upper arm strength and he showed me how to exercise my arms as I walked. I didn't follow his advice exactly. This morning I picked up a fairly large rock, (I have a lot of them in my caliche road) and used them to exercise my arms all the way to the mailbox and hefted the mail coming back. I think I will keep that up. I got my trimmer out to get some arm exercise, but the batteries for it were not charged either. Manana.

I got some respite from mourning Elmer Kelton and Charles Linck by thinking about the reunion in heaven with Lou visiting with Don Coldsmith, Elmer, and Charles and wondering what they are writing about up there. I got an email with the following New Yorker blog: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2009/08/elmer-kelton.html
I emailed to thank him and to tell him that I thought Mike Blakely's books were better than McMurtry. He thanked me for the input and asked for other ideas about Texas writers so I couldn't resist telling him about LET'S HEAR IT and Jane Gilmore Rushing. He was very generous in his reply.

Sunday School again challenged my class when they learned about Jacob becoming Israel and listing the ten tribes. Rachel dies in childbirth with Benjamin which will make him special later. Then we get the disasterous story of Dinah being raped with Simeon and Levi taking revenge in a bloody manner that will affect their heritage later. After church I drove to Fort Worth and had lunch at Macaroni Grill with an interesting writer. I had the spinach and scallops for my macular degeneration. More spinach than I could eat. We then went to Barnes and Noble across the street to look at the FWST and Dallas Morning News to see how they covered Elmer. They didn't have a DMN and the Startlegram had no story. Too early for them. They did have stories today. Coming back from FW I stopped for gas at Cisco and to pick up another couple of Abilene Reporter-News that had a story on Elmer that quoted me as well as Carleton Stowers and Glenn Dromgoole, who I suspected recommended us. They had that story posted on the Church bulletin board Sunday morning. Carleton is Tom Stephenson's nephew, I think. Some close relative. Back to my travels. I saw a guy who looked just like Jon-Mark carrying a small gas can and walking west. I stopped and he said his car was out of gas back toward Abilene. We drove for about 5 miles to find his Cadillac Convertible. He added the gas and I followed him back to Cisco so I got home later than I expected, but he was happy. He was at least 6' 6" and a good 300 pounds and almost didn't fit in my front seat. Said he was born in Levelland, but moved to California when he was 3 months old. I told him I was married in Levelland. He was on his way from Abilene to Dallas where his mother was in the hospital. An interesting day.

SAD DAY IN LITERARY HISTORY

Early this morning my email brought news of the death of Elmer Kelton. He has been on the top of my prayer list and yesterday I almost drove to San Angelo to visit him. I had left his addresses at the hospital at home and didn't know where to go so I came back home from Abilene saying manana. I sent the notice to everyone that I thought knew him. Then tonight I was called by a young reporter from the Abilene Reporter-News who knew nothing about Elmer and I presumed had been given my name by Glenn Dromgoole. I tried to fill him in and hope it comes out ok. I have never been quoted correctly by a reporter yet. I told him how Elmer never mentioned in his autobiography all of the recognitions he received including invitations to the Bush White House for the National Book Festval when he and Ann got caught visiting Washington on 911 and took a week to get a flight back home.

And then tonight I got a report that Charles Linck died today also. Charles and I were great friends. We both wore bolos and one time he told me to not keep the ends even and I have tried to remember that when I put a bolo on. He and his wife Ernestine were long time Folklore friends along with Elmer.
But I got a bright literary report from a bubbly Margaret Waring reporting that she had spent the day with Johnny Boggs who is researching John Wesley Hardin at the library and museum in Comanche. Margaret is the forever librarian in Comanche. She enjoyed it so much she had to share the experience with me.

This morning my son called from Rotterdam and later I got an email from Mary Kathryn from the hotel telling about their plans. They saw a lot of different kinds of wind turbines that differed from the ones we had stopped to look at north of Clyde. She said they wanted to drive to Delft to see the old fashioned Dutch windmills.

I finally caught up on some of my writing projects. Finished the Administrative Council minutes for the church and got some corrections. My column for the Livestock Weekly was hard because Elmer encouraged me to submit a column back in 1986 to encourage farmers and ranchers to use computers to increase their productivity and today I told about a company in the Netherlands who have used computers to create a robotic automatic milking machine that cows learn that when their bag is full they walk in, get milked and walk out without a dairy hand in sight. Never before have dairy farmers been relieved of the tedious duties. But they haven't developed an automatic branding machine that I know of.

Tomorrow my SS class is going to have trouble with Genesis 32-36. Jacob meets Esau after Esau vowed to kill him and then his daughter Dinah causes a massacre.

This morning my automatic rain gauge had .06 and then I heard thunder and a little shower dropped another .2 that dried up by 9:30 when I walked to the mailbox. Shower showed up all around all day but not here.

FLIGHT INSTRUCTION AND LITERATURE

Today I took a second flying lesson. Made two take-offs and landings and practiced power-on stalls. On one landing I was coming in way too high and the instructor said he would show me how to take care of that, took over the controls and side slipped it down to the field with 500 feet left when we came to a stop. The main purpose of today's flight was to learn how to handle a cross wind. It was rainy around but never where I am and we had a pretty good wind out of the east across the N-S runway. I am still having a lot of problem making the rudders do what I want them to while taxiing.

After the flight Nancy Robinson Masters was bubbling over with enthusiasm about her latest 4 book that she had to show me. She was asked to write the first books in a series directed at First and Second graders on explaining the world around them. She had very nice looking books on Electricity, Water, Telephones and one other. In the water book in the final page on the author she said she lived in a home without running water. I told her I did also. In the telephone book the final blurb said she had both a land line phone and a cell phone that she used to talk to people all over the world and I told her about Mark calling me yesterday from Ankara, Turkey.

Mark called again this afternoon from Rotterdam and started breaking up. After a few minutes he came back on loud and clear saying that he had to buy time on the hotel internet site to get a better connection. They don't know what they will do tomorrow, but they have a car and will drive somewhere.

SMALL WORLD



This morning I got up 15 minutes early to make the posted time of 6:15 for the Methodist Men's prayer breakfast. Only 4 of us showed up and we didn't start till 6:30 that I contend should have been the posted time. I had time to go home, feed the wildlife, gather recyclables and drive to the eye doctor. After he said nothing has changed, I got my glasses adjusted for when I knocked them off when the wasp stung my ear. I asked if they had any better sun glasses and found a pair of "aviator" glasses. Since I am scheduled to fly tomorrow (my instructor called while I was in the waiting room to say the broken tail wheel was fixed I scheduled for 8:30 tomorrow) I bought the glasses. I recycled at HEB, found the Chinese Kitchen on vacation so stopped at Spanos on 11th. As I walked to the door my cell phone rang. It was my son calling from Ankara, Turkey on his new Blackberry the company gave him to test using the internet for phones. It worked great. He is on the way to Brussels to meet his wife who left DFW today at 1 p.m. He spent several days in Turkey working on F-16 production at their facilities.



I am behind. Last night I took the minutes at the church council meeting and haven't even started writing them up. I read Judy Alter's blog and she was fussing about her computer having problems. I lost the last two days because I couldn't stay on AOL. It kept dropping off. I finally called Hughes Net and the Indian got me straightened out. I needed to reboot my wireless router. I think Judy was having the same problem. Everything is copasetic now.

One literary note. I got a new book sent to me by the author, Bill Neal, that ought to sell a million just based on its title SEX MURDER AND THE UNWRITTEN LAW. I haven't read it yet but from his first two books, he will tell us about all of the cases as Texas was developing that always let murderers off if he was defending his wife from his best friend sleeping with her. There are a lot of those stories to be told.

CPFUMC DEDICATION

Today the Bishop and District Superintendent came to Cross Plains to dedicate our church and parsonage rebuilt after they were burned December 27, 2005. We had almost a church full of former pastors, former members along with the building designer and contractor. The Bishop was the pastor at the University United Methodist in San Antonio where my daughter, her husband and Valerie went to church. He said he remembered their faces when we left. He is a great preacher. And the DS is equally impressive in the ritual. We had the bbq meal. We were at the front of the line and Susan Hunter ask me to give the blessing so that we could start eating, which I did.

After we ate we bought copies of the brochure describing the stained glass windows and then made a tour of all of the windows. After we visited with Sue Neal for Kathy to give her copies of the photos she took at Taylor's graduation. Sue was going to visit her daughter, Diana, Taylor's mother to get her hair done. We came home. Val and Vanessa left. We took naps before Kathy and Keith left. This morning Keith did me a great favor by changing the top AC filter that is located over the top of the stairs. I give him a hard time about that because he designed the house. He claims it isn't his fault that the filter is located there. But he was good enough to change it for me. He always helps with chores when he comes.

ABILENE TOURISTS

Yesterday granddaughters Valerie and Vanessa and I visited Frontier Texas and thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Then we ate at Val's favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. Had to wait for a table but it was worth it. They ate the new menu, Val steak and Ness chicken. I ate ribs with mushrooms and tortellina.

Kathy and Keith came in late last night. Today everyone but Val walked two miles and picked up trash. So we ate breakfast late with Kathy making special French toast, some with nuts and berries that I ate. So we all took a nap and then drove to Perini's for an early supper at 4. Kathy and I had the 8 oz. filet, Val ate vegs, Ness chicken and Keith ate the fried fish special. For dessert we had their famous bread pudding, strawberry shortcake and I asked what they had in chocolate. Our waitress said it isn't on the menu yet but they had a chocolate cake because Tom Perini got tired of people like me asking for chocolate. It was great!

FIRST FLIGHT

Today I took my first flight toward a Sports Plane license and was surprised that I got to do the whole thing. In a 1946 Aeronca Champ I got to push it out on the grass strip, operate the throttle while the instructor pulled the prop to start the engine then taxi down the strip to learn how to control the plane on the ground, turn around come back park the prop over a concrete pad, and run the engine up with the brakes on. I then released the brakes and with some difficulty keeping it in the middle of the runway took off. I was asked to make an immediate right turn so that if the engine died we would be near an open field. We leveled off at 3,000' and I made several turns both directions, then we flew back to the field with the instructor asking me if I could find it from the air. I finally saw it, dropped down learned how to glide circled around and landed. Got a total flight time of .7 hours. We then went to Abilene Aero where I bought a log book for $10 and spent an hour getting registered as a student pilot on a government web page.

The big problem was entry and exiting the cockpit. I almost didn't get in but next time I will be able to do better. Bill Masters is my instructor. His wife is Nancy Robinson Masters a writer and a long time friend of Lou's and me. They are principals in the Big Country Squadron of the CAF (Commemorative Air Force) and do the fly over at Belle Plaines Cemetery every Memorial Day.

FLIGHT CANCELLED

But I did see a unicorn. OK maybe it was a young buck trying to become a unicorn. He was on the side of the road as I came in yesterday and had one large tine. I was coming back from having my hearing aid checkup. The computer read the data and said that I was wearing them 14 hours a day 75% in a quiet environment (at home) about 15% in a noisy and 10% in really noisy place. Must have been in Jean's last Sunday. I am really pleased with the way they are working. I complained that I had replaced the battery and that the right wasn't working. She cleaned out some wax and it worked great. She gave me the ability to change them with the push button if I want to turn them off manually. They automatically adjust for the environment so I probably won't be using that capability.

My first flight was cancelled due to the flight instructor being sick all week. He has rescheduled for next Monday, if he is well. So I came home and got some time to review Japolsky's paper on Theory of Elementary Particles.

SECOND MONDAYS ARE LIBRARY BOARD

This is one of the most active Library boards that I have been on and I have been on the board since the late 1980s. We are planning our 30th anniversary and the completion of the children's annex September 1. The creative juices are amazing as they came up with decorating ideas. All of the board members were folding invitations while we were doing the board work. Michelle had put mailing labels on the sheets but they had to be folded and taped so they could be mailed. I ducked out to take a week's worth of REH cowboy columns to Vanda at the Review office. My job is to get an author for October and I got some suggestions after Jeff Guinn said he couldn't come.

Linda Burns and I both went across the street to get our lunch at the Senior Citizens Center run by my neighbor, Amber Thomas with Arlene Stephenson who left the library board to cook at the Center. I visited with some always interesting old-timers. One had been stationed as a radioman in Tokyo in 1953 and told an interesting story about an aircraft carrier who got stuck in the bay and rotated the ship by parking the Cutless planes facing in opposite directions on the deck, revving up the props and creating a torque that rotated the ship until it could exit. They always kept them out at sea after that.

I bought deer and bird food, groceries and came home to finish the laundry after my nap. I am watching some of the shows that I have recorded on the DVR. I watched an episode of Mentalist, one of Numbers that was about the Chinese prostitution trade with the comment that there are 11 million illegal Chinese in California. I had not recognized that problem. It was bizarre. They were burying women alive as a marraige ceremony. I am watching a Q&A interview of Frank Rich, a New York Times op-ed columnist who bashes Bush.

Tomorrow I get my hearing aids updated. So far they are doing great. And my deer feeder is working great on the automatic dawn and dark sensor.

SUNDAY LESSON

My new mouse didn't work when I booted up this afternoon and so now I am back to the touchpad and have to type carefully. I had to restore my system back to August 3 to even be able to use the touchpad. I can't install the new mouse that worked great yesterday.

The Sunday School class were enlightened by the story of Jacob the shepard who picks a shepardess for a wife and spends 20 years working for Laban to get his two daughters Leah and Rachel. Our ranchers in the class have never used Jacob's tactic of having his sheep look at striped branches when they come to drink when they are in heat and as a result the offspring are striped and thereby become Jacob's. Of course it is interesting to see the mothers of the twelve tribes that become the Israelites. We only got to the birth of Joseph and haven't completed the roster of the twelve yet. But next week we will really be educated about the patriarchs.

This afternoon we celebrated Carl Edington's 89th birthday with John Baum and his wife from Hawaii giving him a fresh lei and another necklace that I missed the meaning of. Carl was properly thankful and a lot of his friends were there. What always impresses me is the work behind the scenes by the Methodist women. They had cobbler and ice cream and punch plus decorations. Amazing.

My wasp sting is almost completely healed. I ought to be able to sleep on my left side tonight.

SATURDAY WORKDAY

This morning Mark and I walked up the hill to check the water storage tank. I expected it to be empty after running the water from the tank into the pond all night. But it was almost full, but not running over. The valve here at the house that is supposed to keep water from going to the tank must be leaking. That is why my water pump cut off yesterday morning, but it has worked OK since. I walked to the mailbox with Dottie to meet the mailman with his two dogs to greet Dottie. I got a short nap then we went to Abilene and ate at Szechuan, a new Chinese restaurant. Mark read the kangi and the name means four rivers. Then they took me to Sams. I should never go to Sams. I don't know that I really need 32 rolls of toilet paper, but I did need the new laser mouse to go with this laptop and let me type without loosing everything because my hands hit the key pad and delete everything. It is now disabled. I also ended up with a couple of new pillows and of course some dark chocolate and fancy mixed nuts.

We then stopped at Walmart and bought some different gels to treat my itching ear that the wasp stung. The work didn't stop. Mark and I filled both deer feeders to the top and with enough corn on the ground that the raccoons will not need to open the lids to get more. The weather news says there is a slight chance of rain next Wednesday and Thursday. 20% chance means there is 80% chance it won't rain, but that is pessimistic. I am seeing a lot of deer and the fox are having a lot of fun in the back yard. They even came out when Dottie was in the front yard.

WASP ONE ME ZERO

Last night on our way to church for the fish fry a red wasp attacked my right ear under my hat and I slapped him off, knocking off my hearing aid and glasses. I grabbed my glasses, went back to the house and put some ointment on the ear. We started to church and I realized I didn't have the hearing aid so we drove back and searched. It is the same color as the ground but both Mark and MK saw it at the same time. Thank goodness. It costs $495 to replace one the first time. The second time is full price. My ear hurt for a while and then the itching took over, but I slept fairly well although normally I sleep on my right side and had to avoid that because of the ear.

We had a great turnout for the fish fry to raise money to build a storage shed for the church riding lawn mower and landscaping tools. I bet we did well. Ike and Sue came and met our pastor who lives across the street from them. We even had some Baptist friends come eat with us. After the meal we watched a Christian movie Taming the Giants about a church school football team in Alabama that defeats a much larger team for the state championship.

This morning Mark and I walked up the hill to check out the water tank. Even after running all night in the pond the tank was still full of water, which means my valve in the back yard is leaking and letting the pump keep it full. The fox pups are having a ball. They still love to run together and run up the cottonwood tree and back down. They were even out this morning with Dottie in the front yard. Dottie got a bath because when she went with Mark and me up the hill she rolled in some animal poop. We are planning to run into Abilene to look around.

BLOG READERS

If you plan to get Carbonite to backup your files be sure to read the comment on yesterday's blog. Apparently they search blogs and comment on them. I disagree with the comment because I found none of the options to select the files I wanted backed up when I started it. They need to look at their software from the viewpoint of a new user. I tried to select the files and ended up in the screen that is used to retrieve files and I couldn't X out of it.

I also got an email responding to my pilot training. And today I talked to the flight trainer who told me I might want to look at the Sport Pilot license that is a lot easier and more restricted. You can't fly at night or on instruments and can't go into airports like DFW. That may be the better option but I will take an initial flight on the private pilot program to start. So keep me in your prayers next Wednesday morning.

This morning the raccoon had taken the fish food can about 100 feet from where it was located but they didn't get it open. I had left the water running in the pond and it looks beautiful this morning. My water pump didn't work too well and it shouldn't have been stressed but the valve must be leaking to the tank on the hill.

Mark and MK are here with Dotty and we are going to the fish fry tonight.

WILDLIFE AND LITERATURE

Just to show that I am still a little literate, I read Laura Payne Butler's contribution in the IRON HORSE LITERARY REVIEW that Lou subscribed to. It is published by TT. Her story was about a young daughter of a prostitute living in a tent in 1922 in Borger during the oil boom. She gets her emotions well.

I have another coon battle. Yesterday when I came back from my walk to the mailbox, the 3 gallon galvanized can that I keep the fish food in had been opened. It had a fairly tight lid held on by the handle and it had been knocked over before but never opened. The sacks of fish fook were out but largely intact. So I put it back together, and inserted a large plastic end cap under the handle that fit really well. This morning the can was gone. I looked around and saw the plastic cap on the ground several yards away. I looked further and saw the can, unopened but lodged way under a cedar tree that was a real hassle to get under and pull it out. I did but have been shedding cedar stuff all over the house. At least he didn't remove either of the deer feeder lids after filling them yesterday.

I finally saw some goldfish for the first time in a month. They are a new crop less than an inch long and hungry. Didn't see any large ones but I am sure they are there. Yesterday Momma Fox was out of character. Usually when I open the back door the fox all dash into the tree cover, but Momma stood on the terrace and watched me as I took down the hummingbird feeder to refill it. I dump the little in it on my potted tomato plant and when I went back in the screen porch she came down and went up to the plant to see if I had put anything edible out. This morning when I came back with the mail, she was on the front lawn and watched me check the deer feeder and let me walk by her to the house. She then trotted on across the front lawn to whereever she was going.

The automatic deer feeder isn't working. The clock is set OK and it works when I press the test button, but isn't feeding when the switches are set at 7, noon and 6. I have contacted the company by email because the wait time on their phone was 30 minutes.

I called the flight training people today to find out what it would cost to learn to fly. The current rate is $105 an hour for the plane and $45 - 50 for an instructor. I think I could learn fairly fast so I don't know how many hours it will take. I won't do it in a hurry because I don't have that kind of money, now that I can hear.

My computer is running slowly because I bought Carbonite to back up the desk top and it has been running for 24 hours and is a little more than half through. I was aggravated that it didn't give me the option to select the files I wanted to back up. It is doing the whole thing. I have inserted a USB drive to see if it will include those files. Dell's backup won't back up the thumb drive and that is where I keep all of my latest files.

FILLED DEER FEEDERS

I forgot that they told me at the bloodmobile not to have strenuous exercise for 24 hours. This morning I mowed a little which wasn't strenuous but when I checked the deer feeders they were both empty so I had to fill them. I put about 20# in the automatic feeder and the rest in the self feeder. I had a dickens of a time taking the lid off of the self feeder that Mark and I had put on real tight. I won't bet that the raccoon won't take it off tonight. I need to put the wildlife camera on that feeder. But I am lazy. Maybe I can get Mark to help me move it when he comes to the Fish fry this Friday. Sue called and said she and Ike would come to the Methodist fish fry to raise money for the landscaping fund. The landscape is beginning to look a lot better as the lawn and trees are now taking hold and there is no more construction going on. It will look real good for the Bishop to come dedicate it on the 16th.

MONDAY LAUNDRY TUESDAY GIVE BLOOD

Got the laundry done early Monday, drove to town and left REH story with the Review, cashed my monthly LW check that was inflated by 5 Thursdays in July, paid Lawrence Farm and Ranch Supply and picked up another deer corn. I was running late so I ate at Subway before buying groceries.

Today I drove past the Bloodmobile on my way to visit with Carl Edington and go to Kiwanis. There our pastor Harris Worcester signed his application. We didn't have a program but enjoyed some story-telling. I was bragging about having an important birthdate, 911, but Dale Bishop had to trump me. His birthday is Groundhog's day. I was so intent on getting my afternoon nap that I drove home, sat in my recliner, picked up the paper and it dawned on me that I had forgotten the Bloodmobile, so I got back in the pickup drove back to town. They had no customers when I got there, but within a few minutes about six more showed up. I have never answered so many questions about my sex life. No I haven't had sex with anyone who has aids, male or female or anyone who knows anyone who has had anything. She rattled the questions off like a machine gun and I answered no to everyone except had I been overseas in the last ten years and did I have sex over there with prostitutes. They are really nosy. I gave my pint and didn't feel a thing. I always drink a free V-8 and turned down a free tee-shirt because I never wear them. I have some great ones that my son has given me that I have never worn.

My hearing aid doctor called herself to check on how I was doing. I was surprised to hear from her but I am hearing well and enjoying these high dollar aids. I even sent my first payment on my zero percent loan to buy them. It will be a long 18 months, though.

I was asked about the fox family and want everyone to know that Father Fox is still helping although the kits stay with the vixen when they are eating my bird feed on the terrace. That is after they eat the dog food I put out. I don't really know who gets what of that feed. In about a month Father will take the two off somewhere to get them started on their own and then will come back to start a family next year.

DRY WEEKEND

I finished Boggs book last night and gave it to Ike to read. The main character and the book turns on him having amnesia for what happened a few days earlier. Boggs researched this because the Mittie Stephens was a side-wheeler that burned in Lake Caddo. He used the captain and some of the officers but made up a wild story of why the ship burned and it is a great read.

Almost as good as Genesis chapters 25-28 that the SS class studied. They were amazed that after Sarah died Abraham took another wife and apparently concubines and had another batch of kids after years of being married to a barren wife. He died at age 175 and was buried with Sarah, but he left all of his wealth with his son Issac who has married Rebecca at age 40 and she is also barren for 20 years. But after Issac prays she gets pregnant and has twins. Two very different sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob means deciever and he carried out that role under the tutelage of his mother. The time ran out and we didn't have time to discuss the place that polygamy plays in the Jewish and Christian traditions with all of the patriarchs having polygamous relations and we haven't even gotten to Solomon yet. So we have time to discuss that. We were impressed with the way that the Lord uses common sneaky people to carry out his plan. We were also impressed how the strong women effected history.

A TIME FOR BOOKS

Thursday, Friday and Saturday I am spending the night with my brother-in-law, Ike Neal, while Sue attends the annual Mary Kay meeting in Dallas with all of the pink Cadillacs. Ike likes to read so I took a book that I had started. The Dark Voyage of the Mittie Stephens is a Johnny Boggs book that was an award winner and it is a story of gamblers, plantation owners and others who for various reasons are taking this side wheeler steam ship from New Orleans to Jefferson, Texas. I may get it finished tonight although I am taking my SS books to study also. It rained a little shower in Cross Plains last evening but none recorded out here on the hill. There is a little storm on the radar right now that looks like it might head this way if it doesn't fall apart.

I got my column written and focussed on my computer hearing aids. And how a good looking audiologist can sell you anything.