Month: April 2018

Monday, April 30, 2018

Max: I stayed at the sticks and bricks to bushhog the fields before we head out again on NOMADS projects. After going for diesel fuel, airing up the tires and connecting the battery it was off to work. Most of our property is in pine trees but about 10 acres is still open field and has to be cut two or three times a year. I sometimes have company when bushhogging. We have a red-tailed hawk that lives close by and we have a sort of symbiotic relationship. I cut the field short enough for it to see prey more easily and it entertains me while I’m on the tractor. The hawk was not there for most of the day, but after lunch a group of 4 crows were repeatedly diving at the top of one of the large oak trees on the edge of the field, so I knew the hawk was on scene. The rest of the day the hawk did its hunting and the crows harassed it.

A surprise visitor showed up later. As I was just about finished with our field and starting over to cut the small lot behind Aunt Helen’s house, I thought I saw our resident red fox on the edge of the field. A few moments later it came out into the brightly lit mowed area and I saw it was not a fox. It was a lone, and bold, coyote. Unfortunately, the good cameras were in FRED in Tuscaloosa so the only pictures today were from my phone. When I came back to our house after finishing the lot at Aunt Helen’s (and clearing some saplings and privet hedges from the blueberry bushes) the coyote and hawk were still busy hunting. They helped relieve some of the boredom of driving the tractor back and forth, back and forth, back and forth…

Looks like we will have another good blueberry crop this year. Anybody want to pick them if they ripen while we’re gone?

 

Anne:  Max gets bored bushogging back and forth, back and forth, but I had him beat today.  I returned to my first profession, accountant, and worked on family accounting ALL day today.  I did take time to work out this morning and walked the greenway again this afternoon but otherwise, it was accounting all day until 9:00 tonight.  That’s about 14 hours.  YUK!  I do remember why my first degree was in accounting but tonight I really, really, remember why I changed professions.  I do thank God for the ability to do this and for the beautiful day we had today.  Sure will be glad when Max can join me in Tuscaloosa again.

Sunday, April 29, 2018

Wow, May is almost here. It has been a crazy four months. We could have never thought in December that the first four months would be like this. But today was another beautiful day. A little cool with the temperature 48 this morning. When you were in the breeze it was actually a little cool all day but it was nice.

We got to be with our church family at Lester again today.  Even better Randy and Debra also worshiped with us. It was another wonderful time of worship with Barry’s sermon from John 15:1-8. In one section Barry reminded us that what people see in us reveals some sort of profession of faith in Christ. It may be a profession that Christ is not important at all in our lives, or that He is marginal in our lives or that He is central to how we live. But we all make a profession of faith each day with everyone we meet. The question we need to ask ourselves is, can people I associate with each day tell I belong to Christ? We hope so.

After early service, Randy and Debra returned to the mountain to pack and head back to South Carolina. Thankfully they have arrived home safely. We stayed for Sunday School and then on to check in on Aunt Helen and Aunt Jean. They both seemed to be doing well today. Jean was already in the dining room visiting with some other residents when we arrived and Aunt Helen was taking a nap. Helen of course made it to the dining room before lunch was served. It is a blessing that both ladies are happy and pretty content currently.

During the traditional service at Lester today the eight young people who completed confirmation this spring were presented for church membership. Then, as is our custom, this afternoon there was a church picnic at Camp Sumatanga. A couple of the youth were baptized in the cold lake, some others were sprinkled and several people had a remembrance of their previous baptism as a part of the worship service. Another church that was having their church picnic joined Lester for worship and the baptism service. It was another great day for worship.

Tonight Anne is in Tuscaloosa working on things there and Max is at the sticks and bricks planning to spend tomorrow on the bush hog. Only five more days til we are on the road again.

Thursday-Friday, April 26-27, 2018

Sorry about not posting last night but we were really tired and yesterday was not very interesting. We drove back from Tuscaloosa to Trussville and went to three banks working on Aunt Jean’s business, then to the assisted living and grocery store, stopped by the house to drop off the groceries and headed in to Oneonta and went to the court house to do the paperwork to sell Juno’s car, another bank for Jean’s business and some estate business, the rehab center, a haircut for Max and finally some lunch about 4:00 and back to rehab. How is that for a run on sentence, and a run on day. Oh, and it rained and was messy until about 4:00.

Today on the other hand was a gorgeous day. Cool this morning and quite warm this afternoon. However, it was just as busy. Today we moved all of Aunt Jean’s belongings from the assisted living. She doesn’t plan to return there. She needs to be able to transfer from wheelchair to bed and back to meet qualifications for assisted living and she is a long way from doing that. The therapists are still working with her but they really don’t expect her to meet that goal. The insurance company thinks she is no longer progressing and is stopping the therapy tomorrow. We are appealing that decision but we have already lost one appeal and are working on the second. They now have fourteen days to give us a decision. We are blessed because she likes the rehab/skilled nursing facility and wants to stay there long term. We are working to arrange that for her and in the mean time she can continue some therapy awaiting appeal.

The move today was a little overwhelming. We arrived at the assisted living at 9:00 and started packing. We didn’t realize there was so much stuff. It was a small space, two rooms and the bathroom but man at the stuff. Again, we were so blessed. Randy, Debra and Marsha came to help. We all three worked all day and then Max’s only cousin on his Dad’ side also arrived around lunch time. It was so good to see her and her arrival was a pick me up when we were in a slump. We finally had everything safe and secure in the storage building or in boxes for the rehab center and were on our way home by about 5:30. Finished in one day!! Thank you, Lord, for sending us all the help. Without our family we would have still been working on the move Monday. So we are again home tonight, very tired but, feel very good about what was accomplished today.