Happy 17th Birthday to our Lexie!

Happy Happy 17th Birthday to our granddaughter, Lexie! This young woman is a gifted athlete, scholar, and well-rounded person. We so look forward to all that God has in store for her. Have a great birthday and know that we love you dearly. MiMi and Poppy

Good Tuesday morning. May God bless us all on this November 14, 2017. The hits just keep on coming. Yesterday morning I brought to work another case of bottled water. That's what I use to make my Community Coffee. When I dragged it out of the floorboard of my truck I must have clipped one bottle. Yep. It drenched my jeans on the right side. I keep my life-extending drugs in my right side pocket. By the time I got to my pills, my blood pressure pill had become completely dissolved. I salvaged the rest of my pills but what I really wanted to do was to go and hide somewhere. I couldn't complain to anyone because, as far as I can tell, I was the only one responsible for the leaking bottle. Last week my watch got messed up and I thought I had come in on the wrong day. I took one of our technicians out to a customer site to work on a building we had fabricated. It was in an obscure location. He put it into his GPS on his cell phone. The voice came on telling us how to get there. I told him, "Wow! You have the same lady on your GPS that I have on mine." It was supposed to be a joke, but, I could tell he felt sorry for me. Then, over the weekend, my health and well being was questioned by more than one person. On Monday, I busted the bottle and melted some of my meds. This, I suppose, is the reality of how things go in this final quarter of the game. Of life. (Do the math, I'm 71.) Or, is this nothing more than a series of mishaps that could happen to anyone, no matter their age? You did what? You remembered me not being able to find my cellphone while I was talking on it? Thanks so much for adding that one to the list. I feel much better now. I hope I don't reach the point of this individual testimony I recently read, "I'm thinking more about running away from home than I did when I was a kid. However, by the time I put my teeth in, round up my glasses, and find my keys, I forget where and why I am going."

I guess the saving grace on the blood pressure pill is that it is a time-release formula. In this situation, it will only be experiencing a 24-hour delay. I do have a follow-up doctor's appointment this coming Thursday. They will be checking to see how my updated diabetic treatment plan is working. This means I will fast until sometime after I see the doctor at 9:15 a.m., and he sends me to the lab to draw blood. Shakespeare was onto something, "To drink or not to drink Community?" Now that, my friend, is the question. While 98% of the medical websites say that fasting includes coffee, there are the outliers, the 2% who say it's okay. When you have a divided opinion like this, it does make it hard to decide which one to go with. Yes. I am aware that 98 to 2 is an overwhelming majority. But, who's to say those in the 2% are not the enlightened ones? See? I'm thinking this through. Just so you know, I typically abstain from coffee until after the blood draw. I'm hoping my A1C is back into a more manageable category because I will be glad to no longer have dreams about that dude dragging his beagle around in that ad about some kind of breakthrough diabetic drug. I kid you not. I have switched off that ad to another channel and landed on the same ad again, and on the third channel too. Big brother? Could be. Could be.

The mating season for Whitetail deer is underway in Texas. This means I have to be up on the wheel as I make my way to work in the wee early hours each morning. I came around the big curve the other morning and was surprised by a bunch of white bellies milling around. I slowed way down and went through them, some on the left side of the road and some of the right side. The bucks during this time of year pay no attention whatsoever to the road signs. That's why the driver better be alert and ready to swerve or stop. I did see a beautiful bright red fox the other morning. He was just loping along as he crossed in front of me. Many mornings are filled with eyes reflected from the bushes in my headlights. They light up. I'm not sure who they belong to. Maybe a raccoon. Maybe a rabbit. Maybe an opossum. Could be one of those huge owls. Or, even a coyote. Maybe something larger. A couple of weeks ago I had to make a trip to Waller, Texas, and I passed that huge ranch filled with exotic animals. I didn't see as many as I have seen before but I did get a look at several zebras, gazelles, and those huge deer-like tall beasts with the super long bowed horns. They are behind a tall green fence. My point? I don't need to go on a safari. I live in one nearly every work day. I'm not planning on wearing a Crocodile Dundee hat or talking with an accent anytime soon, but, when I was a teen some thought, rightly or wrongly, that I had a wild life, but for sure I now only observe wildlife. Take care. Let's make the most of the day that God has given to us as we try to make a positive difference in someone's life. For time and eternity. Amen. .....More later.