"Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man." ~ Benjamin Franklin

Thanks and welcome. We are well on our way in this brand new year of 2017 as I bid you a hearty hello on this Tuesday, January 3, 2017. The wife continues to make progress in her recovery from a fall that caused a bone fracture in her back. She is now fully engaged in physical therapy and we look forward to her continued progress. I have not been known to have the gift of encouragement but I do have the gift of giving both my opinion and my advice. (It's a giving out gift not typically a taking in gift when applied to myself.) Trying to be supportive, I asked if she remembered the club rules from our inner city Bible club ministry days. She grunted. I continued. I'm pretty sure the grunt was not an approval for me to continue. However, I thought recalling one particular rule would be helpful to her situation. It was the first rule we always quoted together with the children. "Good clubbers always follow instructions." She just needs to take care of taking care to make sure she takes care of herself. We are blessed to have her sister, Dorothy, who has come several times to help out. Those two! Don't get me started. The good news is the boost they both get from being together. And, that's good for everyone involved, including yours truly. Her full recovery is long term, maybe as long as six months, therefore, she must be persistent in following instructions. You know. Like a good little clubber. Someone tell me if she is laughing. For the good of us all, especially me, I sure hope she is.

I know. Inquiring minds are bristling with whatever the urge to inquire conjures up. What exactly did I mean when I said I felt like I had been ridden hard and put up wet? Okay. It's a saying that's been around for some time. Here's what the Wiktionary website says: "From the inadvisable practice of riding a horse, and then stabling it while it is still coated in sweat, rather than brushing and grooming it properly afterwards." It's unclear how old it is, although, in one forum its popularity was attributed to it being often said by the late Tennessee Ernie Ford. As for my application, it was the angle of being on the run for several days along with all that it entailed, leaving me somewhat frazzled and discombobulated. But, I'm very thankful to be able to still actively engage in responding to the challenges that come my way. Very thankful. Amen. I'm also thankful for the time off that allowed me to deal with the many different things on my plate over the last several days. I'm not saying I did well in all that I was trying to accomplish, but, I do think I gave it my best shot. If you are able to give it your best shot, you've actually done what you can do. I think that is a correct statement. I may be unanimous in my opinion about it. I'll think about it and get back to you.

I've always believed that people take a little while to get back into the groove after being off for a few days. It's even more so when the entire shop has been shut down for ten days. It's interesting to observe as people become reacquainted with their work duties. I'm a little less prone to needing remedial training, not because I am better than others, but mainly, it's because I have so little to say grace over, as they used to term it when I was wee little lad. But, there are probably some who think I could have used remedial training before the shutdown, therefore, there is a certain amount of 'eye of the beholder' in play here. The cartoon was posted by one of my fellow real bearded Santa dudes. After the completion of a major project or maybe at the end of the year, then comes review time. I suppose the reindeer review process would be pretty scary for those looking at their fellow workers on the wall. I've been through many employee evaluations over the past 50 plus years. While I've always done fairly well in these types of reviews, it doesn't mean they were something I looked forward to. One company I worked for attempted to adopt the philosophy of management by walking around (mbwa). That's a system where you attempt to do individual reviews as a part of the daily routine with a special emphasis on catching folks doing something good. I don't hear too much about that one these days. Oh well, I did remember how to turn my Keurig on and how to plug in the little single serve doohickey. Yeah. And, where to put the cup. Give me a break. You have to start somewhere. Right? Right. Thanks. May God bless each one. Amen. ....More later.