4th of july weekend

We spent this 4th of July weekend babysitting the grand-dog while Drew Carrie went to the lake. Lady was a very nice puppy for us both Saturday and Sunday. She even slept in her kennel without a peep all night.

We both had to work Saturday morning. I met with the guy I am mentoring to become a pastor and did some other work around the office. I also took some chairs and stuff outside to prepare for our worship gathering. In the afternoon I mowed and we played outside with Lady. After supper we went and bought Lady a proper food and water bowl that she can keep here at the grandparents house for her visits.

Sunday we had our worship gathering out under the pavilion. I only set up 30 chairs, and half of them were still empty. Most people sat in back at the picnic tables. I even brought the chair cushions outside and still people didn't sit on them. Whatever. We did actually have a better crowd than I was expecting, but lots and lots of people were gone. You know, since we are 'free to worship' in this country, that means we are also free not to. At any rate, I led worship by myself with the guitar and Jim played hand drums. I thought it sounded pretty good, however I couldn't really hear anything. It was a hot, hot day. I was sweating pretty good all morning even though I wore shorts, t-shirt and sandals. But we had a nice service and everyone left and seemed to enjoy being outdoors. There was at least a nice breeze to temper the 90-degree heat. It created a little havoc with my notes and music, but we survived. We then went to lunch with Carrie, took a nice long nap in the afternoon, made our weekly phone calls, and then went to a Tincaps game last night.

We had to get the standing-room-only seats at the game because it was a sell-out. We normally wouldn't have minded, but it was so hot that we were kind of hoping to get a seat. Oh well. We didn't arrive until well after the game had started, and we were losing badly. That is, up until the 9th inning. The Tincaps were down 11-7 and had last bat. The other teams pitcher walked 3 straight batters (12 balls in a row). The fourth batter then hit a single that scored 2 runs and the Tincaps won 12-11. It was pretty exciting even for minor league.

After the game we walked toward the car and watched the fireworks from the wall on the west side of the Grand Wayne Center. There were all kinds of people out on the streets to watch the fireworks. I love watching them from downtown; I actually love just BEING downtown. It was a beautiful night. We then walked through the library area and hopped in the car and got home around 11:30.

All in all it was a pretty nice 4th. This is always an odd sort of holiday, because it was on this day in 1981 that Jane's dad passed away. She and I had just graduated from high school and his battle with cancer was over. We had actually just started dating not too long before this. Hard to believe it was 29 years ago.

Well, today I have been dinking around. Sort of a mix between working and holidaying. I need to work on my MLI stuff, because I've not really done anything with it (and don't really even understand what it is that I'm supposed to be doing); Jane has been painting the trim on the little shed. Tonight we may take a drive to Upland and visit Ivanhoe's Ice Cream parlor. We've heard a lot about it, but never been there.

Peace out, folks; and in.