"In Vietnam they will steal your tires while you're driving down the road and you would never know it. Hey, they would steal your radio with the music still playing." Uncle Si Robertson

Whew! That was a relief. It's always good to find that when you show up they had not changed the access code on the front gate, my desk and computer were still where I left them, and the guys I work with actually acted like they were glad to have me back. How's it going for you today on this Tuesday, October 22, 2013? Talk about time getting away from you, they are already promoting the season finale of the Duck Dynasty series. That show is very popular at our place. My wife has read two of their books. We called up last Wednesday's episode on our little laptop on Friday morning while in Branson so we could watch Uncle Si shoot his golf instructional video, and we laughed and laughed. We know it is silly. But, it's still funny and we will hate to see this season end. But, we know there will be marathon after marathon so we can plug in from time to time. Here's one of Uncle Si's classic comments, "Some people say I'm a dreamer, others say, 'If you fall asleep at work again we're going to have to let you go.'"

We are so very blessed to have a resident shade tree mechanic in our immediate family. During the service of the wife's car in preparation for our trip they discovered we needed to replace the water pump and they said the brakes were also used up. I consulted with our Chris and he said to give him a few minutes to research the water pump because he knew the brakes was no big deal. He called me back and said he thought he could take care of it. Blessed. The plan was to take it Saturday morning and he and I would work on it. Instead, he took off early Friday afternoon, came and got the car, and brought it back Friday evening, all fixed and ready to go. Blessed. Bottom line: For $200 in parts we got over $1000 worth of service and that's what I call a true blessing. Thanks son for lending a helping hand to your mom and dad. (While he wouldn't agree, I'm sure me volunteering to be there to help may have been part of his motivation to git-r-done on Friday.)

He does know the mechanical ability or lack thereof of his dad. I suppose knowing what you are not good at doing is an important discovery. For me, however, that list is way too long. I remember an older fellow who used to work here with me and he was a great sheet metal fabricator in terms of layout and design. He would sit and hear me click clack away on the computer and at times he would just shake his head. One day he blurted out, "Do you actually know how to do anything?" I told him that I at least knew how to answer and make calls on my cell phone, something he still fumbled around trying to do. I told him using the computer I could in a few seconds research a problem involving a product or service that he couldn't even figure out how to describe. He mumbled something and returned to his rat killing and I returned to mine. It was all in fun and I knew it but it reminds us that each of us are gifted in different ways. Most of us have learned the hard way that trying to be or do something we aren't equipped for can lead to really bad results. Maybe I'm also not so good at talking about what I'm not good at. Either that or I just don't have enough time. Now here's the deal: You take care and have yourself a wonderful day and may God add His blessings to your journey. Amen.    ....More later.