A Worthwhile Job - Again

For more than four years now I've been doing the weekly bulletin for one of the local churches. Doing up the bulletins isn't the hard part - dodging the thunderbolts is.

Over this period we've had several different pastors. We used to average around 45 people for the service but that last preacher seemed determined to drive the church into the ground. It got to where we were lucky to get 17 people show up. Even though I'm not a member of the church, it got really sad to see what was happening.

Two weeks ago we got a new pastor, and this man is a ball of joy - he loves his work and this is contagious. I was down to making around 25 bulletins a week, but with this new pastor I'm back to 45 and may have to start making more.

The only thing that worried anyone was that the new pastor is Black, and the church wasn't too sure how that would go here in Winston Salem. So far he's been welcomed with open arms. I attended the service last week and really got wrapped up in excitement and love he brought to the service. Today my back said there was no f'kin way I was leaving the house - but dodging those thunderbolts or no, I think this pastor is going to get me there more often than not.

That should have a lot of people who know me pinwheeling!

What A Waste

After about 2 1/2 weeks over in Australia, where She Who Must Be Obeyed set up all kinds of things to help out her parents, the whole trip turned out to be pissing in the wind.

She had set up Meals On Wheels for them, home nursing, the Australian Veterans Admin. to provide a taxi service for them where ever they needed to go, and her parents cancelled the lot. I guess they both think they're still 40 and can do anything. Her dad had major abdominal surgery, and within a week or so was out driving without the doctor's release. Without that, if he has any accident his insurance won't touch him. We're just worried about when he as that accident how many others he's going to take with him.

Her mom is supposed to stay off her leg that was operated on - yeah, right - she won't even use her cane, spends hours at a time on it, and now it's not only swollen all to buggery but infected.

If you check out a map of Oz, you'll see that Canberra, where they live, is about 180 miles southeast of Sydney. Her older brother lives near Wollongong, which is down the eastern south coast and her other brother lives in Brisbane, so there's no way they can spend all their time looking after the oldies.

Of course, this means they're pretty much on their own, and it's all they can do to look after themselves let alone each other - but they've gotten a severe case of the stubborns and want everyone to leave them alone - they don't need anyone or anything.

Hopefully, this industrial case of denial will fade and reality will slap the shit out of them. In the meantime, just about the whole family has thrown their hands up in the air and said "screw it - if that's they way they're going to be, so be it."

What a shame.

Just Bits

Just think - on this day in 1789 some Frenchmen other than Napoleon beat the crap out of someone - the other French at the Bastille. Am I the only one surprised that the whole thing didn't end in a draw?

It's another brutally hot day out, so I'm spending my time eating chemicals and watching those video shows on Spike - Amazing Videos, Wildest Police Videos - those things. The ones I love to see are when they show the Russian police making arrests. Mr. Miranda never lived over there and it shows! I'm old enough that I can remember when a cop would take a juvenile offender out behind the police station and give him a moderate ass-whooping - it tended to cut down on repeat offenders.

Now? The juves laugh it off right up to when they're charged as adults. Meanwhile, all the rest of us have to pay.

Indigo Update

Last night She Who Must Be Obeyed called Indigo. She's still at the daughter's place and it's quite possible that she'll be there for the duration.

She has to go get her lungs checked out, which she figures she can tell them the results before the test - they're cactus, and she freely admits she did it to herself.

She did sound much better than when I'd talked to her a couple of weeks ago, but where she is she has no computer access. No blogging, no email, nada. We're going to call again next week and I'll throw up any other news we get.

Just keep that dear lady in your prayers, all right?

Thuggery Pays?

In the final game of the World Cup Soccer, the French actually had the opportunity to beat someone at something. One jerk on their team (a redundancy, I know) decides to head butt one of the Italian players in the sternum and drop him. The referee immediately gives the French player a red card, throwing him out of the match.

With this dickwad out of the match, when the game came down to penalty kicks he wasn't able to participate and the French lost.

As a result of this, said dickwad was named the MVP of the match. And they can't understand why Americans approach soccer with the same enthusiasm as they do women's field hockey.

I guess it's a French thing - we wouldn't understand.

Iron Woman Competition

Well, She Who Must Be Obeyed is back to work today - a 10 hour shift. She's still moderately jet lagged, but yesterday she used my patented method for beating that.

She managed to stay up all day yesterday, because I found out many (many) years ago that the only way to get over jet lag is to get on local time as soon as possible. Especially when going through a 14 hour time difference.

By the time she gets home tonight she's going to have the stamina of a soggy dish rag, but by tomorrow she should just about have come good.

Meanwhile, the rest of the mob came by yesterday and now the grand daughters are armed and dangerous - she brought them back boomerangs. This afternoon I plan on taking them to a large park area and try to teach them how to throw them.

As everyone knows, if it comes back, it's a boomerang. If it doesn't, it's a stick.

She Has Returned!

The flight was on time last night - I'd like to find the dickhead who decided that having a flight arrive at midnight is a good idea. By the time we got out of the airport, home and sat and talked for a bit it was well after 2:00am before we even tried to get some sleep.

This morning my back is telling me that it's not going to make any difference what position I find, it's going to rip me up. She Who Must Be Obeyed thinks it's because now that she's home, I can finally try to relax for a couple of hours.

It kind of dawned on both my kids yesterday that when SWMBO is gone, I tend to work my ass off every day. I guess it's because I feel that I have to keep everything at the house - inside and out - neat and tidy so that I'm not rushing like a hairy-assed ape the last days trying to do it all.

Anyway, she's home and all is good!

How Sad Is This?

Some really petty, sad and pathetic excuse for a human being stole the Marine and Fire Fighter magnet ribbons off the back of my Town Car - you know, the registered burial ground of the Gambino Family.

I can’t even start to picture the mind that would do that, considering I have the life member DAV license plate frame along with the Vietnam Vet and Agent Orange stickers in the window. Low life doesn't even come close to this.

The Home Stretch

Well, She Who Must Be Obeyed should just be starting her 30-plus hour trip back home. Theory says she should be here around midnight Saturday night, but since airline schedule dependability is similar to that of Congress, you're guess is as good as mine.

I overdid it again today and i'm paying big time, but at least there's not much to do around the house before she returns. See? I said I was housebroken!

Time for better living through chemistry - lots of chemistry - and hope I'm still awake when my World Champion White Sox play on ESPN tonight. Isn't it strange that the team that's scored the most runs in the Majors and the team that's scored the least are in the same city? Sorry, Cubs fans.

An Anniversary

I almost forgot - today marks two years since I started this blog. During that time I think I've managed to come up with something to insult everyone - if I happen to have missed you I guess I just wasn't trying hard enough.

Maybe one of these days I'll feel like getting back into news commentary. In the meantime I'll just keep putting out whatever strikes me.

To all of you who have stuck with me for these two years, you really need to get a life, you know that don't you??

Update

Well, She Who Must Be Obeyed's mum should be home from the hospital today. Apparently for reasons best known to the doctors they took the cylinder cast off her, but she is not supposed to place any weight on the leg. Yeah, right. SWMBO has already sprung her twice trying to walk on it.

Her other brother should be there today, so between all of them they should be able to gang up on the oldies and try to convince them that they really need to sell the house and move into the Australian War Veteran's Homes. it's going to be the better part of a month before they can get around, and neither of them should have any business trying to drive.

I'll just keep my fingers crossed that they have some success. Meanwhile, it's now five days before she comes home. I think the amount of time I've been spending talking to the Devil Dog isn't a really good sign!