Peer Pressure

Due to the constraints of time...I have to work for a living...I had suspended my blogging career.  The rigors of more than full-time employment, extended post-graduate education and my burgeoning tennis career just got to be too much to maintain a reasonable quota of blog posts.  Alas, due to the outcry of my fans...people who have no life of their own and have to rely on me to give them something to talk about...I am compelled to pick up the ball again and run with it.

Where shall I begin?  It's been a long time since mid July.  I guess I'll start with the family situation.  My Dad has recovered (somewhat) from his broken kneecap, but has still not been able to come home from the rehab (nursing) home.  This past week he has been hospitalized and it has been determined that he has prostate cancer.  No prostate cancer, so I'm told, is not that big a deal unless you yourself are a prostate gland.  He'll be treated with medication and life will continue on.  Over the next few weeks the saga will continue as my Mom tries to get him to come home.  I'll be going there to help again in a couple of weeks.

What really prompted this post is the tennis posse, and today's events.  The regular gang was together again...actually some of them might be a little irregular, at least that would account for their demeanor...John, Bill, Mark and I.  I got off to a good start teamed with Bill as we won 6 to 4.  It wasn't really that close.  The second set found John and I on the same side of the net, staring down Bill and Mark.  What resulted is what is called a "bagelling".  That's when the opponent comes up totally short...in all aspects of the game...and loses 6-0.  That happens rather infrequently.  If it did happen more often I guess there would be more posts in this space.  The final set was cut short due to time constraints, with Mark and I in control at 4-1.  The posse will have to get along without me for a little more than a week as I will be off to Fort Wayne, Indiana on Sunday afternoon for my final week long segment of seminary training.  I am beginning my last year in the program.

There is a lot that is happening at the church, St. John's Lutheran, I suggest that you come down this Sunday morning at 10:00am for an update.

Old Folks At Home

I am spending the week in La Crosse, WI visiting my folks...been here since Sunday evening. Three weeks ago my 86 year old dad took a fall in the garage. His foot slid under the door of their van and his knee hit the underside of the frame, breaking the kneecap. He had surgery to repair it two weeks ago and is no in recovery and rehab at the Hillview Care Center, basically a nursing home. My dad had some serious mobility issues before the fall, and I would put the odds that he is able to walk again (with the aid of a walker) at 25% or less. He's losing strength and balance just sitting in a chair or lying in bed all day and night. he does go to physical therapy twice a day but I don't think that it's enough to build any strength. While Im here I am helping them to be more comfortable and happy with the current situation (he's going to be here at least another month) and will be trying to ready them for what's to come. Today there is going to be a conference with his care team so I hope that there will be a little more light shed on dad's current state and what is ahead. It has been hot here...100 degrees both Monday and Tuesday...and pretty humid too. I'm loving it! Last night there was a little lightning in the air to spice things up a bit. I'm hoping for storms this evening. I'll get some pictures and try to past them later.

The Deer Hunter

Earlier I was lamenting the inactivity that has been characteristic of our cul-de-sac.  Well, I was out there again this evening, at the end of a beautiful day (more on that below), and the activity picked up considerably.

Just about sunset a young deer found her way into the neighborhood and was having a very difficult time finding her way out.  That provided about as much excitement as I could handle.

I mentioned the beauty of the day, and to add to that I can say "It's about *#$& time!  The official high at the airport today was 98 degrees, and since the airport is about the chilliest spot in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene metro area most spots were no doubt up to 100.  Yes!!!  Things are looking just about as nice again tomorrow.  No if we could just have this kind of weather for 9 months out of the year, and the other 3 we would cool back to the 70s and 80s we'd be onto something great.  So much for pipe dreams!

Not A Creature is Stirring

Last evening, our first real nice warm evening of the summer season (I know, I know, some of you think that it was hot), we were parked on the porch to enjoy the world around us.  We sat out there for a couple of hours and the following is a list of all that happened.

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That pretty well sums it up.  Not one person emerged other than from their house to garage to automobile to points unknown.  The only excitement was watching Junior the cat, across the street, wander out of from underneath the garage door and collapse in slumber on the driveway.  Seeing that the weather today will be even better...a handful of degrees warmer...I am sure that we will be out there again this afternoon waiting for more excitement.  I want to thank all of the people of the eastern 2/3s of the nation for finally sharing some of their heat with us.

Speaking of excitement, today we have our St. John's Church Picnic after our worship service.  Things will be getting underway picnic-wise at about 11:00am (worship is at 9:30).  There will be brats, burgers and dogs with all the trimmings, and whatever other wonders that the folks in the congregation pack in with them this morning.  Pot-Luck is always an adventure...in a good way.

St John Picnic Lunch

If you know me at all the title of this post seems to be something to yawn at. I spend at least 6 days a week at St. John's...Lutheran Church that is...so what would be the big deal of having a picnic lunch there? Actually, the thought of it is kind of pathetic since today is a holiday and I was supposed to be taking the day off. That is just what I did. After an early (well, not that early) morning tennis romp...I played pretty well...I came home and my bride said, "Why don't we take a drive?" I suggested that we take picnic lunch to enjoy somewhere along the way, so the cooler was packed and off we went. The idea was to head south and west, to places that we never had been before. We turned off Hwy 195 a little before Spangle and wound our way across the northern Palouse. We hit Mauldin and Fall City, then St John. That's where lunch broke out. St John is a pretty little town with a little city park right in the middle. From there we headed farther south to Endicott, then over to Winona and Benge, finally heading back north toward Ritzville. A turn to the right had us headed for Lamont, which could only be accessed by about a 10 mile stretch of gravel road. What an adventure! We hit home a little after 4:00pm, and now it's just about time for a cocktail and the ignition of the Coleman Campfire Tripod Grill. Butterflied chicken with southwestern beans and salad is on the menu this evening.

Street People

This evening St. John's Lutheran Church, my congregation, had our second outing of the "summer" season as we ventured into some of the local neighborhoods.  We sent out 4 teams of 2 between 6:00 and 8:00pm.  I told each team to cease and desist by 8:00pm because after that point the little kids are heading to bed and let's face it, it's kind of creepy when a stranger rings your doorbell after 8:00pm.  So far we have visited about 350 homes and it seems to me to be about half and half...at half the homes there is someone there to talk to and the other half there is nobody home.  In my experience this evening I was a big hit with the neighborhood dogs.  I was licked so much I may not have to bathe for a week.

This brings me to a close of another very busy week.  The Seminary class that I am currently enrolled in, "The Epistles of Paul" features about 4 hours of lectures this week and an even greater amount of reading.  The text that we are primarily using now has about the teeniest tiniest print that I have ever seen, and weighs in at over 600 pages...ouch!  We also had a funeral on Wednesday late in the morning.  We said good-bye to a long time member and friend who died at the age of 80.  In light of all of the people that have passed onto eternal glory in the past two months, that are connected to St. John's, if you are looking to get to heaven in a hurry you might want to start hanging around with me.

In the midst of all of this I am still able to find time to stroll out onto the tennis court.  Today was one of those interesting experiences in which you find that you have played fairly well but the results done end up in your favor.  I guess I'll just blame it on bad lighting.

HoopFest is the main event here in Spokane this weekend.  Unlike years past I will not be officially involved.  I had been a court monitor in charge of keeping early high school (incoming freshmen) boys from using guns during the games, and after for that matter.  This year I will be on the sidelines as a spectator, feeling empathy for all of the folks who are out there as court monitors and marshals trying to keep the peace.

Drying Out

I'm back from Portland. The weather there is pretty crummmy (54 degrees and steady rain when I left at noon) and pretty nice here. The Coleman Campfire Grill is about to catch fire. I had to make a speech before the convention this morning, and the issue that I was supporting passed. I must carry a lot of wieght...well, I guess that's rather obvious from the appearance of things.