From a Maxine Crabby Road cartoon, "I'll turn back my alarm clock when I find where it landed in the yard."

Yesterday. That was the one we had in our grasp. Now we copy and paste all the stuff we didn't get done on that day to this one, Thursday, November 9, 2017. That works really well until the amount being pasted gets rejected because it is too large. Welcome to my world. I am, however, so very thankful to have another shot at it, today. I may have jumped the gun a little when I said I've fully adjusted to the most recent time change. There seems to be a serious issue being sorted out between my internal clock and the fall back one hour we did over the weekend. My internal clock doesn't really like to be messed with. It's been able to hold its own since ditching the alarm clock some 25 or 30 years ago. The evidence of this conflict shows up in my dealing with some onset fatigue and a general lack of perkiness. Maybe perkiness is a little strong here because I'm pretty sure no one has ever accused me of being overly playful, however, I was attempting to picture how my zip has been zapped. Yep. Like a fly hitting one of those Zapper units. Typically, that is not a pleasant experience for the fly. (It does make kind of a neat noise when it does its job and I suppose that's where the name comes from.) But, I'm glad to report there are peace treaty negotiations underway between my internal clock and this invading new time assault. The wife had an opinion. "Maybe you are anemic." I suppose that's because I wasn't really into walking 15 miles in the mall in Florida. Oh well, I am still vertical, whatever that means. I hear that a lot. And, I do know I am blessed and as the old brother friend used to say, "If I kicked, I out to be." Amen.

We thought about taking in a movie while we were away for a few days. There were several movie theaters close to where we were staying. Some of them had a dozen movies showing. We couldn't find even one that we thought we would enjoy seeing. Not even one. We thought about taking in an Everglades swamp buggy ride and we drove to the launching place and it didn't look anything like a good place to engage in a boat ride so we decided to skip it. We thought about taking the fast boat from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas to spend the day but they didn't offer that until Friday and we already had plans for that day. We didn't get to do some things we had in mind but we did have a great time, together. We had some wonderful meals. They were so good I made the decision to forego checking my blood sugar. I was on vacation for crying out loud! One particular dish was absolute, melt-in-your-mouth delicious. It was poached salmon served on a bed of rice with artichokes, mushrooms, capers, and smothered with an amazing lemon sauce. If I were to describe that dish to my doctor, I can hear him saying, "Well, that explains a lot." We had several like that and everywhere we went we received excellent service. We both agreed it was one of our best trips. I know what some of you are thinking. When did I ever make a trip before? I'll have you know I've made a handful over these many years. We had intended to get a change of scenery. That we did. And, we are thankful for how it all worked out.

Recently, we've had many instances that demonstrate the vicissitudes of life. One of the ladies shot four times during the Church attack in Sutherland Springs, Texas, had moved there to escape the issues encountered during Hurricane Harvey. A couple who somehow escaped the sniper killings while attending the concert in Las Vegas was killed in an automobile accident last week. Life is so uncertain. This reminded me of a verse from the Old Testament writing by Amos, "As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him." (Chapter 5, Verse 19) None of us ever really know exactly how each day will unfold. The half-brother of our Lord, James, writing the earliest letter in the New Testament warned about any presumption regarding what may or may not happen when he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to give us this word, "Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit'; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.  Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.' But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil." (James, Chapter 4:13-16) The Bible is the lens through which we can face the truth of dealing with each day. Let us all refer to it as we seek to make sense out of the many incomprehensible occurrences we encounter. That is a good suggestion for us all. Amen. ....More later.