I went into town today to order my son's class ring. Afterwards, lunch sounded like a great idea. Although it could very well have been just in my head 'hey, we're in town, and there is a fast food place. Gee, you're hungry!' Regardless, I stopped in to grab a bite before heading home.
As soon as I walked in, I noticed a friend of mine, Frank. I should have been happy; this gentleman is really nice, and I haven't seen him in a while. Still, he would want to talk, and I wasn't feeling very social really. Still, I plastered on a smile, and made some small talk during lunch. Towards the end of my meal, Frank mentioned that he should be heading home. Here it comes, he's subtly asking for me to give him a ride.
Frank has a very hard time getting around. He relies on a cane, but even with that, walking is incredibly difficult for him. I thought perhaps he was born with spina bifida, but he was actually run over by a cow when he was younger. (He volunteered this, I didn't ask)
I thought about the situation, and realized I was acting incredibly selfishly. It brightened Frank's day to see me, and chat for a bit. It would take maybe 10 minutes to drive him home, and the rest of the afternoon was mine. I bowed my head, and asked for Our Lord's forgiveness. 'I'm sorry Father, please forgive my attitude. Please allow me to be cheerful to do Your will, and to help Frank. Thank You for bringing me here today.'
I drove my friend to his house, just a short jaunt up the road, and went about my day, happy to have helped my brother in Christ, and to have participated just a bit in God's work. Please help me to be a cheerful giver, and to do Your will Father. Amen
God Bless,
Chela
Friday, January 31, 2014
Saturday, January 18, 2014
The Boondocks
A friend of mine on Facebook recently posted about taking a 40 mile round trip to support some friends who are bakers. She wanted to buy some of their delicious bread. I read the post, and laughed to myself about how driving 40 miles for something was such a big deal for her.
Other than a Dollar General, our town really doesn't have much. We have to run to the bigger town 20 miles away for decently (sort of) priced groceries, a hair cut, a hospital, school, fast food, and other restaurants. We make this trip about once a week. Of course ds heads there every day for school. They also have a big chain pharmacy store there if you don't care to use our two family owned ones here.
Yeah, you read that right, we don't have a hospital. It was shut down some time ago. It wasn't a good hospital when it was up and running anyway. (there are two doctor offices) We have 911, but the paramedics are 14 minutes away. The volunteer firefighters here are trained in first aid, if any of them are here and not at work elsewhere when you need them.
If you want a fancy restaurant such as Applebees, Chili's, Golden Corral, those are 45 minutes away in the bigger city. Bowling, Wal Mart, all the stores you associate with a city are there as well. Plus our church, and the zoo.
So you see why a 40 mile round trip for us is no big deal. I guess if you live in a city with everything at your fingertips, it is an adventure to go that far for some bread. I do love our town though. I love the people, the environment, the lack of crowding. There is good and bad everywhere, I suppose. But here in my town, for me, there are more goods than bad.
God Bless,
Chela
Other than a Dollar General, our town really doesn't have much. We have to run to the bigger town 20 miles away for decently (sort of) priced groceries, a hair cut, a hospital, school, fast food, and other restaurants. We make this trip about once a week. Of course ds heads there every day for school. They also have a big chain pharmacy store there if you don't care to use our two family owned ones here.
Yeah, you read that right, we don't have a hospital. It was shut down some time ago. It wasn't a good hospital when it was up and running anyway. (there are two doctor offices) We have 911, but the paramedics are 14 minutes away. The volunteer firefighters here are trained in first aid, if any of them are here and not at work elsewhere when you need them.
If you want a fancy restaurant such as Applebees, Chili's, Golden Corral, those are 45 minutes away in the bigger city. Bowling, Wal Mart, all the stores you associate with a city are there as well. Plus our church, and the zoo.
So you see why a 40 mile round trip for us is no big deal. I guess if you live in a city with everything at your fingertips, it is an adventure to go that far for some bread. I do love our town though. I love the people, the environment, the lack of crowding. There is good and bad everywhere, I suppose. But here in my town, for me, there are more goods than bad.
God Bless,
Chela
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Frontier Festival
Our zoo held our annual Frontier Festival last weekend. It's a three day festival embracing the ways of early America. They have black smithing, spinning wool, Native Americans, horses, it's just a lot of fun. Friday went well, but Saturday was rained out. I took these when we went out Sunday for my son's shooting lesson with his new bow.
Here is the zoo booth, beautifully decorated with our biofacts:
One of my favorite activities with the zoo is running a table. People are so curious about what you have on display, and it's a great teaching tool. We usually have a live animal or two out as well for people to see and touch. On the table we have a Gopher Tortoise shell, (GA state reptile) an alligator hide. This was confiscated by fish and wildlife. A coyote skull facing away from you. Further down, a hawk wing, plus hawk and owl talons. Behind the shell, you can see a bit of the sea turtle skull.
On the other side of the table, we have this on display:
and this:
Those two pictures are of the same butterfly! One side looks like the blue sky, one looks like sunlight, or flowers. Great camouflage!
We flew the hawk! This is Maverick, our Red shouldered hawk. He came to us as a white fuzzy chick. How he's grown!!
Josh had never held a snake before. We remedied that. This is him holding Twiggy, our Gray Rat snake. This is Josh with his, 'what do I do now?' face
Here is the zoo booth, beautifully decorated with our biofacts:
One of my favorite activities with the zoo is running a table. People are so curious about what you have on display, and it's a great teaching tool. We usually have a live animal or two out as well for people to see and touch. On the table we have a Gopher Tortoise shell, (GA state reptile) an alligator hide. This was confiscated by fish and wildlife. A coyote skull facing away from you. Further down, a hawk wing, plus hawk and owl talons. Behind the shell, you can see a bit of the sea turtle skull.
On the other side of the table, we have this on display:
and this:
Those two pictures are of the same butterfly! One side looks like the blue sky, one looks like sunlight, or flowers. Great camouflage!
We flew the hawk! This is Maverick, our Red shouldered hawk. He came to us as a white fuzzy chick. How he's grown!!
Josh had never held a snake before. We remedied that. This is him holding Twiggy, our Gray Rat snake. This is Josh with his, 'what do I do now?' face
Let's Shoot!
My youngest son, Josh, had been asking relentlessly for a bow and arrow for Christmas. We shopped around, but couldn't find what we really wanted. Then I remembered we had a gentleman at the zoo who is very into the primitive ways of the Native Americans, Mr. K. He makes bows, arrows, just about everything he needs, from scratch. We watched him take a rock from the river, and make an arrow head using only a deer antler. We met with him, and picked up a bow for Josh for Christmas. A couple weeks later, at our Frontier Festival, we met with Mr. K for shooting lessons.
Josh shooting
He lost the arrow!
Found it!
I'm very grateful we were able to get Josh something he wanted so much, and the whole thing has more meaning coming from someone I've known and admired for years, who handmade this bow and arrow. Mr. K is also going to teach Josh how to make his own arrows. We're happy. :)
God Bless, Chela
Josh shooting
He lost the arrow!
Found it!
I'm very grateful we were able to get Josh something he wanted so much, and the whole thing has more meaning coming from someone I've known and admired for years, who handmade this bow and arrow. Mr. K is also going to teach Josh how to make his own arrows. We're happy. :)
God Bless, Chela
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Say What You Mean
There is a song out there with a good message titled, "Let Your Yes Be Yes." I forgot the band name, my apologies. But the song talks about saying what you mean, and following through on what you say. It came to mind quite a bit during the events that transpired today.
I drove up about two hours to see my daughter at college. Ds and I had no problems on the drive, and enjoyed some time with dd before she had to head back to class. Then the plan was for ds and I to travel up to another town to meet dh for lunch. Okay, simple enough, we can do this. I've never done it before, but the directions sound easy enough. Both dd and dh gave me the same ones, so they must be right.
Heading out, I followed exactly what I was told. Turn right out of the college, follow it to the interstate, go down two exits, turn off, the pilot (truck stop) will be right there. The drive through the mountains, with it's busy curving roads was so pretty. I could feel my ears plugging up from the altitude changes. After a while, we came to a dead end road. Hmm....this wasn't mentioned. I thought about it, and made a turn, then drove a while. Nothing is looking like interstate here. Call dh, he has no idea where I am. Now when the truck driver can't locate you, you're lost. We turn on the GPS, and it routes us all the way back to the college, then on from there.
At this point, I'm getting tired, and very frustrated. Why did the GPS reroute me like that? I keep on going, and dh tells me when we get to the interstate, go under it. I get to that point, but there is no going under it, it's an overpass. I pull off the road, and have a meltdown. I call dh crying, telling him nothing is making sense, and I don't know where to go. He explains that he couldn't remember if it was an over or under pass, but the point he was making was to go past it, and not take the motorway. (as my GPS words it.) Sigh.
A few more miles, and I arrive at the truck stop for lunch. A trip that should have taken 20 minutes has taken over an hour. As we ate lunch, we discussed what went wrong. Apparently when both dh and dd told me to "turn right out of the college", that isn't what they meant. They meant turn left out of the college, go down to the light, then turn right. Somehow they expected me to know that. Then the whole fiasco with the over/under pass thing.
It would have been so much easier if I had been told, "Go down to the light, turn right, follow to the interstate." And "You'll come up to Interstate XYZ, don't take that one, take the ABC Interstate." Say what you mean, in simple terms, especially with directions. You can't assume people know anything, especially the directionally challenged. That would be me.
I guess it turned out okay, I did find where I was going, and made it home eventually. The whole thing was just so frustrating though. Say what you mean to say the first time, it saves a lot of grief.
God bless, Chela
I drove up about two hours to see my daughter at college. Ds and I had no problems on the drive, and enjoyed some time with dd before she had to head back to class. Then the plan was for ds and I to travel up to another town to meet dh for lunch. Okay, simple enough, we can do this. I've never done it before, but the directions sound easy enough. Both dd and dh gave me the same ones, so they must be right.
Heading out, I followed exactly what I was told. Turn right out of the college, follow it to the interstate, go down two exits, turn off, the pilot (truck stop) will be right there. The drive through the mountains, with it's busy curving roads was so pretty. I could feel my ears plugging up from the altitude changes. After a while, we came to a dead end road. Hmm....this wasn't mentioned. I thought about it, and made a turn, then drove a while. Nothing is looking like interstate here. Call dh, he has no idea where I am. Now when the truck driver can't locate you, you're lost. We turn on the GPS, and it routes us all the way back to the college, then on from there.
At this point, I'm getting tired, and very frustrated. Why did the GPS reroute me like that? I keep on going, and dh tells me when we get to the interstate, go under it. I get to that point, but there is no going under it, it's an overpass. I pull off the road, and have a meltdown. I call dh crying, telling him nothing is making sense, and I don't know where to go. He explains that he couldn't remember if it was an over or under pass, but the point he was making was to go past it, and not take the motorway. (as my GPS words it.) Sigh.
A few more miles, and I arrive at the truck stop for lunch. A trip that should have taken 20 minutes has taken over an hour. As we ate lunch, we discussed what went wrong. Apparently when both dh and dd told me to "turn right out of the college", that isn't what they meant. They meant turn left out of the college, go down to the light, then turn right. Somehow they expected me to know that. Then the whole fiasco with the over/under pass thing.
It would have been so much easier if I had been told, "Go down to the light, turn right, follow to the interstate." And "You'll come up to Interstate XYZ, don't take that one, take the ABC Interstate." Say what you mean, in simple terms, especially with directions. You can't assume people know anything, especially the directionally challenged. That would be me.
I guess it turned out okay, I did find where I was going, and made it home eventually. The whole thing was just so frustrating though. Say what you mean to say the first time, it saves a lot of grief.
God bless, Chela
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Dirt Roads
My son had a birthday/New Year's party to attend yesterday. I was unfamiliar with the address for the party, but the kids looked it up on Mapquest before we left. We easily found the address, but were a bit stumped once we did. There was the 911 sign with the house number, a mailbox, and a dirt road. All around us were peanut fields.
The dirt road was marked by three very large potholes, full of water from our recent rain, which looked all but impassable in my Nissan Altima. We pulled over to think about our options. To free up space on his phone, ds had deleted multiple messages, including the girl's phone number for the party. We got out to look at the dirt path, to determine if it was at all passable. I entertained the possibility of going home to get our truck, which has 4-wheel drive.
We decided that with a bit of rodeo driving, we could probably make it around these potholes, and the road from there on looked good. Slowly we started our approach. To the left of this pot hole, swing wide, to the right of this one, around that one, looking good. We made it!
We proceeded on to the barn, still not at all sure where we were going. At the barn, it was clear we weren't going any further with the car. Ds and I got out to walk, and see if we could find the house. We walked down a straight away, enjoying the peace and quiet while looking at the deer tracks. The road curved again, and at this point we really didn't know where we were going.
A couple more curves and straight aways, and the road ended at a little blue house. We hesitated; was this the right house? Oh goodness, they have a dog. Is he friendly? The dog ran to the end of his yard, then sat and considered us for a moment. When he ran up, sniffing our shoes, and whining, I decided we were friends. He was adorable! Jet black, with a basset hound body, lab head, and huge basset paws. He was as friendly as he was cute. I think we made his day, as he danced around our feet and enjoyed lots of head rubs.
We walked up to the house, escorted by their friendly dog. Unfortunately, the party had been cancelled, as the girl had gotten sick. (a lot of that going around lately) We gave our condolences, and headed back to the car, accompanied by a very friendly, mismatched black dog.
At the car, we introduced the pup to our dog Sweet Pea. They liked each other right away. I'd love to get the two of them together for a play date one day. Dodging pot holes once again, we safely made it out onto the paved road. Although the party was a loss, I can't say the day was after all. We learned to navigate multiple pot holes, got in a good walk, and met a really cute pup. Next time we head there, we know a few things; bring the camera, leave time to enjoy the scenery on their long driveway, and drive the truck!
God Bless,
Chela
The dirt road was marked by three very large potholes, full of water from our recent rain, which looked all but impassable in my Nissan Altima. We pulled over to think about our options. To free up space on his phone, ds had deleted multiple messages, including the girl's phone number for the party. We got out to look at the dirt path, to determine if it was at all passable. I entertained the possibility of going home to get our truck, which has 4-wheel drive.
We decided that with a bit of rodeo driving, we could probably make it around these potholes, and the road from there on looked good. Slowly we started our approach. To the left of this pot hole, swing wide, to the right of this one, around that one, looking good. We made it!
We proceeded on to the barn, still not at all sure where we were going. At the barn, it was clear we weren't going any further with the car. Ds and I got out to walk, and see if we could find the house. We walked down a straight away, enjoying the peace and quiet while looking at the deer tracks. The road curved again, and at this point we really didn't know where we were going.
A couple more curves and straight aways, and the road ended at a little blue house. We hesitated; was this the right house? Oh goodness, they have a dog. Is he friendly? The dog ran to the end of his yard, then sat and considered us for a moment. When he ran up, sniffing our shoes, and whining, I decided we were friends. He was adorable! Jet black, with a basset hound body, lab head, and huge basset paws. He was as friendly as he was cute. I think we made his day, as he danced around our feet and enjoyed lots of head rubs.
We walked up to the house, escorted by their friendly dog. Unfortunately, the party had been cancelled, as the girl had gotten sick. (a lot of that going around lately) We gave our condolences, and headed back to the car, accompanied by a very friendly, mismatched black dog.
At the car, we introduced the pup to our dog Sweet Pea. They liked each other right away. I'd love to get the two of them together for a play date one day. Dodging pot holes once again, we safely made it out onto the paved road. Although the party was a loss, I can't say the day was after all. We learned to navigate multiple pot holes, got in a good walk, and met a really cute pup. Next time we head there, we know a few things; bring the camera, leave time to enjoy the scenery on their long driveway, and drive the truck!
God Bless,
Chela
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