Goodbye Al

The phone rang early this morning. It was my brother letting me know that Al was going to stop by and tell us goodbye before he left for Council Bluffs. It was 6:00 am and Kramer had been trying to get me up since 5:00 (I swear this dog has swallowed a watch sometime or other and can tell time) but after the cookout at Bob's house last nite and all the food I ate that I shouldn't have I just couldn't bring myself to get up that early this morning. So I let the answering machine pick up the call. I got up, got dressed and waited for my brother to get here. He showed up at the back door about twenty minutes later. I made some coffee. Al sat down on the couch and Kramer plopped on his lap and Josie sat as close as she could get to him as she is jealous of any attention Kramer gets from anyone!
Since he has about a six hour drive to get home, he didn't stay long, but I'm glad he stopped . I don't get to see him often, so this visit and the time we got to spent together was special. When he was trucking, we got to see him more often because he would stop on his way through quite often. But now that he's retired as much as two years can go by without seeing him! He works part time at a meatpacking plant in Iowa, he is a night security guard. He has to go back to work Thursday and tommorow is also his 36th wedding anniversary. I'll give him a call tomorrow to congratulate him! Nowadays 36 years in a marriage deserves recognition!
Today draws an end to my mini-vacation. I have lots and lots of errands to run, bills to pay and so on so I better end this here. Wishing all of you a great day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Do You Love to Work?

Several posts ago I mentioned a quote I couldn't find. It's one that I'm quite fond of. Well, I came across it tonite and wish to share it. I don't know who wrote it, as I recall the author read "anonoymous" It goes like this:

Thank God every morning when you get up that you have something that
must be done, whether you like it or not. Being forced to work will breed in
you a hundred virtures that the idle will never know!

So, all you hard workers out there be thankful for your jobs! And remember every day you go to your job, what a virtuous person you are becoming just by being there!

Something to Ponder

I've been thinking about Pastor's message about the song from the Atlanta Convention. I found myself to be guilty of being too busy to spend time with our Lord. Work has been hectic. Our department's gross profit is increasing and this is incentive (to me) to push harder to make our sales go up. And there's always things at home to keep me busy. I think we often put our faith on a back burner to simmer. It's time to "stoke the fire" and get things to boilin'! I can picture our God up in the heavens just waiting for us to come sit with him. Wouldn't you want to, if you could? I think that would be the most awesome experience ever! But we can be one with Him, all we need to do is ask Him into our presence, and He is there! So many think that faith is complicated and that there are many steps to attain it, but if we just realized how simple it is to just surrender our own self will and put God in charge of all the messes we make of our lives, we be so much better off. It's a daily process--everyday we must say to Him: Thy will, not my will, Lord! Have a blessed day!

Good Dog, Bad Dog

It's a little cloudy out this morning and I've had a nice early start to the day. A little too early as Mr. Rusty Kramer jumped up on the bed at about 5 am and started licking my feet! I don't know what he's trying to prove as I'm not the one who has been walking him every morning. Evidently, he thinks I have some authority around here and can get others to start moving. I'll admit, Jose takes a while longer to get ready to go somewhere than I do, but I wasn't ready to motivate myself, let alone Jose an 5 o'clock. Nevertheless I did manage to get up around 6 and get ready to walk the mutts. Josie doesn't usually get to go as Jose says she refuses to walk for him and literally lays down on the sidewalk. But I can get her to walk so the four of us went on our 2-mile this morning. When we got back close to home, Jose wanted to let RK off the leash so he could go straight to the house. (yeah, right). I let Josie go and she went straight to the back door and I let her in (good girl!) Kramer, on the other hand decided that he was not finished with his morning adventure and took off down the street, much to Jose's dismay (I told him not to trust him!) I went on in the house thinking that he would catch him, but when I didn't hear them after a few minutes, I went back out to check things out. Didn't see either one of 'em. So I strolled down the sidewalk a ways and saw Jose holding the leash, no Kramer! I walked a ways and caught a glimpse of him and started calling him and got real close. He acted as tho I were a complete stranger and took off running. Blast him!!! Finally I got him cornered in one of the yards one street over from ours that is fenced in and sweet talked him into lying down (like a good boy!) and leashed him and escorted him home. By this time Jose is really ticked off at him so I kept him at a distance and tried to explain that punishment would not be a good idea and would only make him worse the next time he decides to run! And of course I had to add: Just don't trust him because he's so unpredictable! (another way of saying "I told you so!" )
Anyway, all's well that ends well and we're all safe and sound in our little house. Josie, I'm sure is napping and Mr. Kramer is still outside as Jose is not happy with his wonder dog this morning!

Josie

This is a picture that resembles Josie, she's a tad chubbier but the face is a dead ringer!

A New Look

Thanks to my much more computer literate granddaughter, I have a new looking site! I love it, but I could never have done it on my own! Maybe more people will notice it now! That would be great! It's a holiday, but I get to work today but that's ok because I'll get the next two days off! Two days off in a row is like a mini vacation to me!!! And since we have a paid holiday this week I will get another day off. We get an extra day off because they don't want to pay us double for the holiday! So I will be free on Sunday also! See you all at church! Oh, by the way I was at church last nite, but nobody else was! I kinda figured it was canceled when the parking lot was still empty at 5:53! That's ok, cause I stopped at Hy-vee on the way home for icecream and found some great bargains in their bargain cart! So all's well!

Bumper Sticker

As I was driving down a street in town the other day I read a bumper sticker on the car in front of me. It simply said "No Jesus, No Peace" and under that quote was : "Know Jesus, Know Peace". I thought to myself how very true this simple statement is. It was neat how whoever thought to put that on a bumper sticker wanted to put out a very important message to a lot of people. A good visual message, because you have to see it to get the drift and not just hear it. Anyway, I thought I would share it as I thought it was a good thing to put on a bumper sticker!

Remembering, Contd.

I remember breaking down when it came time to have his service, which was about 3 weeks later,as he was cremated. I was telling the pastor who did his service about his life and the really bad things he had been through and that I didn't understand just what his purpose was and why so much of his life was so miserable. I guess it really made me sad to think that much of the time he was depressed and had to take medication and I can't even remember what the pastor told me as I was very upset at the time. But I think I understand more now than I did then about Wally's purpose in life. He taught me that even with all our imperfections,we are still deserving of love. God loves us as we are. He loves even the unlovable! Isn't that what we are supposed to do? I believe we are, and even though its sometimes hard, if we show our love to those we feel deserve it the least, we will ourselves become a better person and in the process the one on the receiving end will not feel so bad about themselves and in turn be more caring towards others. So I guess the most important thing my brother taught me is to be accepting of others' imperfections and show them love and in return you will help them to be a better person.

Remembering Those Gone Before

Since my two older brothers are going to the Indy 500 and will be gone on Memorial Day, we went to take flowers to the graves of our parents and two brothers. Mom and Dad are buried by a little town called Huntsville, Ill. It's in Schuyler county, a town of barely 50 people. It's about an hour and a half from Galesburg. The brothers are both buried here in Galesburg. My oldest brother passed away a year and a day after 9/11/2001. He was a Korean War Veteran. My other brother died Feb. 5, 2000. He was 59. Both of them died from cigarette smoking related illnesses. Howard, the younger of the two had emphesema and Wally, developed cancer of the esophagal tube and could not eat anything by mouth for the last year of his life. It was really sad to go visit him. He was at the VA Hospital in Danville, Ill. for quite some time. He was always so happy to see us and never complained about his condition, but more than anything he loved to smoke and did even tho he knew that cigarettes literally were killing him. The last time I saw him before he died I knew was going to be the last time. He was still ambulatory, but was very weak and could barely make it around a short distance of the hospital grounds. He quoted The Lord's Prayer to us that day and I believe he knew he wasn't going to see me again.
He gave me his shirt that day. It was rather warm and he took it off and told me I could have it. I didn't have the heart to say I didn't need it, I just kept it. He was that kind of guy. He always helped me out when I needed something and I never had to ask. One time he sent me a hundred dollar bill for my birthday. He helped me get a car once after I wrecked mine and couldn't afford another one. I didn't get to see him again after that day but my brother, Bob went when it became closer to the end and he couldn't even get out of bed..They said a prayer together, Bob was getting ready to leave to go on vacation to Florida to see his daughter. When Wally died he was still in Florida. We had both said our goodbyes to him and I believe he was at peace when he took his last breathe......I remember him fondly today...he was a young soldier called to fight for his country at the tender age of 17. When the war was over and he came home he was a mental wreck and spent much of the remainder of his life in VA hopitals and Veteran care homes.

A New Day

I'm an earlybird again this morning. I guess I'm just a morning person. It's a little cool but I believe a beautiful day is in store for us. The dogs are in the backyard. Rusty was up early and went for his walk with Jose. I had to sweettalk Josie into going out (she hates cold and the wet grass), but I wrapped her up in her yellow blanket and took her out anyway. She was content to be with us. Is she spoiled, or what? She has had the habit of sucking her blanket ever since we first got her and she wasn't a puppy, she was almost a year old. This leads me to believe that she may have lost her mother early in life and was the only surviving puppy of the litter. She's kind of like Linus of Snoopy.
Since my workday starts at noon today, I'm glad to have the opportunity to enjoy such a nice morning. Once I go to work, I'm inside til 8:00 p.m. at night. This morning my thoughts are on all I have to be thankful for. I'm thankful for my job. It may not be the most glamourous or the best paying job...but it keeps the bills paid and gives me something to look forward to everyday I go to work. I'm thankful for my home and that I don't have a house payment! I'm also thankful for my health and that I'm able to work. I copied a prayer that I read once by an anonomous author about being thankful for our jobs and I can't locate it for the life of me , but when I find it I will share it with you all. Its in one of my journals. I have kept journals for years now and the one that prayer is in is not to be found this morning. I believe we should all thank God everyday for all the things we take for granted, many of which are the simple pleasures in our lives like a day like this, good friends, good food and the many blessings that are bestowed on us every day by our wonderful and awesome Creator!

Sunday Already!

Seems to me that the weeks just go faster and faster! Here it is Sunday already! I'm an earlybird and Jose is already up and has Kramer (aka Rusty) out for his morning jaunt. Kramer was up at about 5:30 prancing across the bed and making weird noises. Josie , on the other hand, will not make an appearance for quite some time yet. She is snug as a bug in a rug, under her yellow blanket and I can't blame her as it is cold again this morning.....what's up with the weather, it is May isn't it?
My granddaughter, the oldest one, graduated from Churchill Jr. High thursday nite. The presentation by their principal reminded me of Pastor's post about preserving a good name.
He told of an incident in high school about a test he had the opportunity to obtain and how he had shared it with several of his friends and how they had all aced the test and were confident that they had succeeded in the deception until the teacher called their names over the intercom a few days after the test to come to the office. And of course, the last to be called to the office was the ringleader. He told of his shame and what had given it away was one of the kids he shared the test with was not the brightest crayon in the box and got an almost perfect score on the test! I applaud this principal for sharing this with all his students and their families as the auditorium was full. The lesson he relayed was awesome. I'm sure he learned a lesson that at the time was painful, but down through his life, was a reminder of how important honesty and integrity are. He is successful and well respected by his students and I hope they will all heed the advice he gave as they begin their high school years.
Well, folks, its coffee time! Jose and Kramer are back from their walk and its time to start the day!

I'm Back!

hey everyone, I really missed being able to read everyone's blogs and posting on my own as our computer has been contrary for about three weeks now and needless to say I have been about ready to toss it out the window. But, by some miracle , I managed to finally get back in the system tonite. I'm not sure how long this will last, so I'm taking advantage of it while it's actually functioning! Jose and I are doing fine. He's been working outside with the yard and garden and I even got in the planting mood and put out some flowers tonite. The dogs are thriving well and Kramer has only took off a couple times in the last week. Both times we had to take after him in our vehicles. It appears that he likes to take off the most when its raining! Josie is a stay-at-home -Lu-Lu....she's kinda chubby and can't move quite as fast as Kramer. Thank God! Our neighbors have a male dachshund and he wanted to come over and play with Josie and Kramer tonite-- they were trying to get out of the gate as he was trying to get in and once he got in , they both attacked him so he stuck his head through the gate,trying to get back out! It was a real challenge trying to let him out and keep Kramer in so he wouldn't take off!! We were literally juggling hotdogs!! Well, that's enough about the dogs--they are both wiped out on the couch as I havn't been out there to run them off of it! Adious for tonite!