Last Daylily of 2021

 Today we have our last daylily bloom of 2021. It has been a remarkable season. Seldom do daylilies last through July, and yet here it is, 7 August.

This daylily is also special, because it was already a part of this flowerbed before we planted the daylilies we got from David and Doris. It is original to our house we bought in 2019. As we have said before herein, we have really enjoyed our flowers this particularly wet summer. It is only in the last 2 weeks that we have had successive dry days. It has also not been quite as hot as we have seen in the past. In fact, most mornings it is extremely pleasant sitting on the upper porch drinking coffee and seeing what is on the pond.

But it is the exception that makes things interesting. In Alabama no one complains that the summer is not hot enough--it is, even this year.

And, here's a reminder from last Spring.

Thank you L^rd for the beauty of the earth.

Colonoscopy Fun--No Photos Please

 Yep, today (4 Aug) I had my last (hopefully) colonoscopy. I encourage all between 45 and 75 to get one, but be prepared. It is the worst preparation I have ever seen. Were it done involuntarily, it would qualify as one of the most inhumane tortures of all time.

It starts weeks earlier with a perfunctory visit to the doctor's office which produces little besides a billable visit. But that's the most pleasant part.

Starting a week before the visit--yes, that does seem a bit early doesn't it, since transit time through the intestines is about 40 hours max--your diet is impacted. You can eat no nuts, seeds, corn, popcorn, or watermelon. It turns out that I happen to love most of those things. But, we are blessed with a huge choice of foods, so not that big a deal, except a week??, a whole week???

Two days before "the procedure" you take an over-the-counter laxative, which I assure you is quite effective. But it is not effective enough, apparently. The 24 hours before "the procedure" you can only intake CLEAR liquids, and this prohibits anything with red, blue, green or purple coloring. And, at the end of this day you are required to guzzle--yes guzzle--a half-gallon of salty laxative that is also very, very effective. Mine had a packet of lemon flavoring, but I never tasted anything remotely lemony. This results in clean, clean intestines. I mean, my intestines were as clean as they were before I took that first drink of mother's milk. 

But it gets even worse...because at 0255 this AM, I had to drink another half gallon of that salty, disgusting laxative. It again performed as expected, and I was surprised to be able to sleep for a couple of hours afterwards.

Well, as the surgical center required we arrived there a little after 0700. I filled out the paperwork and waited, and waited and did some pushups, and waited, and did some stretching and waited, and did a few more pushups and waited...until almost 0900. I went back, disrobed, donned the gown, had my vein poked twice to start an IV, and waited some more, hooked up to a heart monitor, an oxygen monitor and an auto-blood pressure monitor...and waited some more.

Finally a bit after 0930 the anesthetist did his job, and I went to sleep. After that it was pretty easy.

Yep, the actual "procedure" was NOTHING compared to the waiting, and that was nothing at all compared to the prep.

But, to be safe, you need one done. So prepare to sit on the toilet a while.

Life review: Goooo Auburn

 I recently saw a blog post by one of my former undergrad students, Auburn M. Auburn was a great student, an overachiever, from NC, and co-captain of the soccer team. I announced to her class, as I did every term, to let me know if they were performing in a sports competition, or a dance recital or anything else--I would be there.

So, I found myself, and Brenda at several home soccer games that fall. We would sit up in the stands near the UA goal, and I would shout over and over, "GO Auburn!" to encourage my student and the team.

Most readers will quickly recall that Auburn University, right down the road is a huge rival of Alabama sports fans. And sometimes this rivalry gets quite heated--unreasonably so. So here I am, in the stands at the Alabama soccer stadium, yelling for, what some fans assumed, was the hated rival--and the Auburn team wasn't even the opponent.

So, when other fans started giving me funny looks, I realized that many of them didn't realize the Alabama captain was named "Auburn"--so my "GO Auburn!" screams were confusing to them. But their ignorant stares were no match for my support for my student, so "GO Auburn!" continued for the rest of that game and for several more.

And, of course, Auburn University is an excellent school. I even thought about going there when I was originally turned down by the US Naval Academy. So, 

"GO Auburn!"

Ecclesiastes

 I just started re-reading the Foundational Testament book of Ecclesiastes again. It was written by Solomon and in my view, is best read as if we were reading his diary. As I began reading this AM, it struck me how mankind really doesn't change all that much. We all pursue "our best life now" and Joel Osteen promotes it. We all discover, sooner or later, that "all is vanity and vexation of spirit". Nothing is fulfilling, no matter how much money, how many possessions, how lavish our lifestyle.

But somehow the message is forgotten, or lost, or never grasped. I am fortunate to be reminded of this truth almost daily, and I am shocked to discover how quickly I forget and need a re-reminder. And, as I said, this is nothing new. It was written sometime around 300 years before the Christ, and yet it rings so true today.

In some ways, I draw comfort from the fact that humans have wrestled with the same issues for at least 2200 years. The current craziness in the world is not new. After all "there's nothing new under the sun.". Read the first couple of chapters of Ecclesiastes, and see what you think.

More Kid Trips: American Village

Yesterday, 30 July, we attended the last "Red, White, and Blue Day" of the 2021 calendar at American Village in Montevallo, AL. Montevallo is just over an hour from our home. We really enjoy historical sites like Appomattox Courthouse, Greenwich Village, and Williamsburg, so we were a bit surprised that we had never visited a place so near.

We took Anna, her two kids, and Andrew with us. We saw every exhibit and asked as many questions as they could tolerate. The setting is revolutionary American in the late 1770's. The crowd was very small, so that made it so pleasant and allowed us to ask more questions than at busier times.

Anna and Andrew reminisced a bit about their memories of all the places we had hauled them to over the years. We were gratified that the two little ones, ages 8 and 6 seemed to really enjoy it too.

Admission was only $5 each with veterans free. If you haven't been, I'd recommend it. The program changes a bit with the seasons, so visit their www site to plan your trip.

Enjoy.

Life review: Kid trips

 Yesterday, 26 July, Brenda and I took grandsons Parker and Isaac to Alabama Adventure and Splashworld in Bessemer. We took our own 5 kids to lots of great places during their childhoods. Schlitterbahn and Aquarena Springs, both in south Texas, the Houston Zoo, and to Six Flags over Georgia, among others.

Yesterday's admission fees would have made such trips prohibitive when our kids were little, but fortunately fees were cheaper then.

The boys' attitudes were gratifying. They enjoyed themselves, never complained, and expressed gratitude.

Brenda and I found the amusement rides a bit too much. I went down one of the huge slides with Parker and he and I agreed it was a bit to stressful to repeat.

Yep, our enjoyment of the rides was surprisingly diminished. We did get to see two short "shows" of "aquabatics". One was trampoline-based and the second was 3-meter and tower diving. Both were surprisingly good. Parker really enjoyed the diving show, which was near the end of the visit. It was remarkably good.

Well, things do change, and our key enjoyment was floating on the lazy river. But memories are great. There's a lot of good in "kid trips."

Life Review: A Boring Life

As I look back over my 71.4 years, my life has been truly blessed in so very many way. Thanks be to G^d! It would be hard to describe any of it as boring. I remember the end of my Plebe summer at the US Naval Academy, after being tortured all summer, remarking to my dad, "It's just the same thing, day after day." My dad replied, "Son, you'll find that a lot of life is like that."

Whereas my Dad's wisdom was accurate, as usual, in the bigger picture life has been a thrill. In the US Navy I encircled the globe visiting countries that seldom make the news. We moved all over the eastern USA, living from Corpus Christi, TX to Newport, RI.

Having 5 kids kept life far from boring from 1977, through today. Our grandkids keep the interest high.

My job was always interesting, and working with Cru Faculty ministry has kept life challenging. I like to solve problems and build things out of what others have discarded.

I have recently discovered that being "caught up" is hard on me. It hasn't happened many times in my life, but recently I have been waiting on other people to move my projects forward, so I have been waiting--something hard for me.

But things will pick up very soon--and any threat of boredom will soon be forgotten. Boredom is bad.

Life Review: Our Privileged Past

My 4 brothers and I grew up poor in a small town, Canton, in North Georgia. Our mom stayed home to take care of the family whilst dad worked from 0630 to 1800 every day but half a day on Wed. When he got over about 65 he cut back to 5 days a week and took all day off on Wed. His peak income during out years at home was probably under $15k. All of us but Danny somehow went to college and all 4 of us earned Masters degrees with 2 of us earning doctoral degrees.

We had the privilege of walking everywhere since our mother never learned to drive and we never had more than one vehicle anyway until us kids could drive. We lived in an $8k home that was basically 2 BR, 1 Bath. Our only new car was one dad bought after we all left home.

Our privilege extended to squirrel hunting behind the house, picking up chestnuts and hickory nuts and small sweet peaches behind the house. We walked up and down the Etowah River banks, and occasionally swam in the river at the gravel bed. We had the privilege of working at the Canton Swimming Pool when we were old enough to be life guards.

I don't recall having nice clothes, or nice anything. We had the privilege of eating well but that included trout we caught and squirrels and rabbits we harvested. We had the privilege of walking the two miles each way to the swimming pool or wherever we had to be.

We had the privilege of participating in graded choir practice, Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Royal Ambassadors. I had the privilege of Boy Scouts and becoming an Eagle Scout, which helped me acquire the privilege of attending the US Naval Academy and earning a nice degree by agreeing to let the enemy try to kill me for at least 4 years afterwards.

Yes, we had many privileges growing up in a small town where everyone knew everyone. We had the privilege of knowing our parents who remained married our whole lives. We had the privilege of learning how to live on little money.

Thanks be to G^d from whom all privileges flow!