Buffalo Gals Can't Ya Come Out Tonight?

It was a morning not unlike many other mornings.

I was absurdly tired, my blood sugar probably too high from cleaning out the round 1.5 quart container of Edy's Grand Nestle Butterfinger Ice Cream the night before.

So I brushed my teeth and I shaved; I made my fiber and vitamin shake with a little bit of banana and sucked it down.

I got dressed hastily, slipped the chain of my Via de Cristo cross around my neck, and dabbed on a smidgeon of Kroger Arctic Blue after shave.

I grabbed my insulin case with an orange inside for lunch, and headed toward the front door.
'Bye baby, gimme a kiss', my wife beckoned.
We smacked lips, and the reason for the affection surfaced immediately: 'Will you help me grab Oompa Loompa's split rail fence before you go?'

Oompa Loompa was the name I had given to our neighbor, for no real reason. His name was RJ, or JR - I could never remember which - and he played his 50's music way too loud.
I fumed, that she would again dump an immediate request on me right as I was about to leave the house for work. So, lovingly, I shook my head, and left the house.

But as I descended out from the cover of our dappled willows, I beheld The Truck backing up to our neighbor's mobile home. It was large, and it was orange, and it was about to haul his 16x90 foot trailer away.

 

As I approached my vehicle, the nice driver asked me if I was leaving and I told him I was. He asked me if 'that car' was leaving also, pointing to Moni's Journey. I got a little paranoid about telling a stranger that our home would soon be empty for the next ten hours, so I asked if he needed me to move it. I told him I would directly. 

I headed back inside and told my beloved that Oompa's trailer was fixin to get yanked and she ran out to acquire those fence pieces. It wasn't much - just like a post with two rails coming out of each side going right down to the ground - but they were in pretty good shape, and we never turn down free lumber. I did end up helping her move them, and then was on my way to work. 

I didn't think much more about the morning's events until I got back home from work. During my drive home, I daydreamed probably of the sirloin burgers and jalepeno poppers I would be doing on the grill that night, and the joy my pallet would be experiencing through that whole process.

I backed into my little parking spot off the road like I always do, and got out of the Grape.

Our neatly groomed lawn now butted up to a section of dirt littered with fiberglass insulation, various wood pieces, and hunks of pvc pipe. Oompa Loompa's baby blue sided 3 bedroom with the cool-ass porcelain tiles in the master bathroom was gone! 

It was weird, but it offered me a better view of the eastern sky, and the rising one-day-after-the-blood-moon moon.

At some point soon I'm sure, they will slowly back in a newer model, which they have been doing throughout the park. This will of course make our 1979 Redman look all the more like an aged man of war.

But, please clean up that mess.

Recipe #97 Jalapeno Poppers!

This past weekend I was able to whip up my second attempt at a recipe that I received from a buddy of mine. Here, making my mouth water and with minor alterations is the simple, quick, and easy plan for success.

Ingredients:

several jalapeno peppers, sliced lengthwise and cleaned of seeds
1 brick of cream cheese
4-5 slices of bacon, cut small and fried til crunchy
chives from the garden, diced

I warmed the cheese a bit while frying the bacon, and washed and diced the chives also.

Into a bowl throw the cheese, chives, and bacon (crumbled up nicely), and stir until mixed.

 

Spoon the mixture into the jalapeno halves and then lay them on the top shelf of your grill for about a half hour. This will give them a nice slow cook: the cheese will soften up a bit, the pepper skin gets nice and soft, and the flavor that is released is incredible. 

God bless!

Monday of the Blood Moon

Dear LORD,

Thank You for the weekend, and the rest it provides us. 
Thank You for allowing us to get so much done around the house, and for the time we had to look at homes. 
Thank You for the beauty of the landscape we experienced during our drive last night - the farms and cows and manure and the amber waves of grain and the long shadows and the beautiful lakes. You are so creative! You are so beautiful! All praise to YOU, eternal Father!
Continue to guide us through this next chapter of our lives. Continue to change our hearts so that we are more like YOU; that we would see others as Your children - your sons and daughters - and love all like You love. Melt us, mold us, fill us, use us.

Spirit of the living God, fall afresh on us.

Drive home 9/24/15 Thursday

Already Friday...

This week flew by.

Moni has been 'helping' her sister in Allen Park and hasn't been home much. 

 

I've been finishing up the patio block project - fitting in each block with the proper amount of sand underneath so as to make them stable and not wobble under foot.

I made jalapeno poppers for the first time

, I made some potato soup with Thai egg drop soup as the base

 , I had a good braided crust frozen pizza from Kroger, and made a big-ass sandwich on half a loaf of french bread.

Yestreday I got safflower seed, cat litter, cat food, and my insulin at Wal-mart, who has a funny jedi commercial.

The Tigers are in last place, the Royals won the division, the wild-card race is intense, my fantasy football team is 0-2 but I shored it up heading into this weekend. Michigan (2-1) plays #22 BYU (2-1) at home, #2 MSU (3-0) hosts (1-2) CMU (fire up Chips!). OSU is a 31.5 point favorite to win at home over WMU (1-2), I'm helping Carolyn move a couch and fix her garage door tomorrow and Benjamin's baseball games are Sunday.

Glorious Monday Morning

Some photos I took last night coming back from my nephew Benjamin Miguel's fall league baseball game in Livonia.

I believe in God,

the Father Almighty,

Creator of heaven and earth;

and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord,

Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,

born of the virgin Mary,

suffered under Pontius Pilate,

was crucified, died, and was buried.

He descended into hell;

the third day He rose again from the dead;

He ascended into heaven,

and sits at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty;

from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

I believe in the Holy Spirit,

the holy Catholic Church,

the communion of saints,

the forgiveness of sins,

the resurrection of the body,

and the life everlasting.

Amen

Beni pitched well in both games

but the Maple Leafs lost them both :-(

Beautiful LORD's Day

For some good background muzak while reading ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGj39oddhNE

or perhaps

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIWEHD1wEFc&index=3&list=PLD7B5C6A2CABF3C96


I pulled off the shelf an old book entitled Prayers, written in Paris by Michel Quoist in 1954 and translated to English by Agnes M. Forsyth and Anne Marie de Commaille in 1963. I believe I found it at a Salvation Army store in Manistee, MI several years ago, and have prayed through some of it since then. I am always touched by Quoist's heart for the simple, the mundane - the ordinary events each of us experience daily that could seem to have really no spiritual significance.
Ah, but God can speak to us in each of these mundane events, and Quoist helps me see that.
And so it is with heartfelt thanks to him this afternoon that I share this prayer.


THE TELEPHONE

I have just hung; why did he telephone?
I don't know ... Oh! I get it ...

I talked a lot and listened very little.

Forgive me, Lord; it was a monologue and not a dialogue.
I explained my idea and did not gethis;
Since I didn't listen, I learned nothing,
Since I didn't listen, I didn't help, 
Since I didn't listen, we didn't commune.


Forgive me, Lord, for we were connected, 
And now we are cut off.

Never Curse The Breeze

The breeze coming in my westerly-facing office window is incredible this afternoon, as I take a short break to type. The sun has just begun to wrap around that way and so is hitting me in my legs, causing them to warm up. The papers like to fly around on these days and I don't care! I will tell you why in a little rhyme...


I used to walk through potato fields looking for insects and rot
There was much sweat and all day long I would get very hot.
After I made the big circle through fields of every size,
I'd sit in my truck and I'd write the report for those nice farmer guys.

I'd have the windows open wide so the breeze could come through
And every now and then my report would out the window blew!
But I'd remind myself of why I'd have to chase it down,
And thank God for the breeze that took my paper to the ground.

Never forget these words of mine I'm try-ing to impart
And if you ever curse the breeze, you're just not very smart. 

So when it's sticky, nasty, hot with high hu-mid-i-ty
Be thankful for the breeze that comes and let's you shout, 'Yip-peeee'.


So, in those years - and the years following - I would frequently tell the above story with a reminder to my students to never curse the breeze.
I met a former student at a football game years after he graduated, and he reminded me to remember never to curse the breeze.
He made me smile.

And I still remember.


Thank You, Lord, for the breeze, especially on those days when it is most appreciated.
And we love You, too.
Amen




 

All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name

Always appropriate: 'To Him all majesty ascribe and crown Him Lord of all!"

Hymn #339
The Lutheran Hymnal 

1. All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
Bring forth the royal diadem
And crown Him Lord of all.

2. Crown Him, ye martyrs of our God,
Who from His altar call;
Extol the Stem of Jesse's rod
And crown Him Lord of all.

3. Ye seed of Israel's chosen race,
Ye ransomed from the Fall,
Hail Him who saves you by His grace
And crown Him Lord of all.

4. Hail Him, ye heirs of David's line,
Whom David Lord did call,
The God incarnate, Man divine,
And crown Him Lord of all.

5. Sinners, whose love can ne'er forget
The wormwood and the gall,
Go, spread your trophies at His feet
And crown Him Lord of all.

6. Let every kindred, every tribe,
On this terrestrial ball
To Him all majesty ascribe
And crown Him Lord of all.

7. Oh, that with yonder sacred throng
We at His feet may fall!
We'll join the everlasting song
And crown Him Lord of all.

Text: Rev. 19:16
by Edward Perronet, 1726-1792
Author: Edward Perronet, 1779, ab., alt.
Composer: Oliver Holden, 1793
Tune: "Coronation"

Beautiful LORD's Day Morning

Thank You, Father, for this new day, for letting me rise again to see, feel and smell Your creation.
Thank You for blessing us in so many ways; thank You for our marriage, our family, our home and vehicles, our jobs, our lawn to mow, and our tomatoes and peppers to eat.
Thank You for calling us out of darkness into Your marvelous light - and forgive us when we forget that. 
Walk with us this day, Lord, that we may not sin, that as a matter of course we would love and love and love - as You do us.

You are beautiful, and perfect, and righteous and true.

You are our strength when we are weak, You fill us with Your good Spirit always.

Blessed be the name of the LORD!

Blessed be God forever!

May Your Son shine in our hearts -  to-day and always