KJS & Netie Rivera

Tuesday, June 9, clergy and wives were invited to a retreat in Bend at Trinity Church with Katherine Jefferts Shori and our newly elected Bishop, Bavi (Neti) Rivera. I have more or less been out of contact with the diocese for the past 2 or 3 years but I was impressed by Bishop Rivera at her installation at Cove in late May, so I thought it would be neat to see her and the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA. I went to Bend on Monday afternoon and stayed with my brother and his wife. It was good to see them especially since both are battling cancer and they are winning. I really enjoyed visiting with them, we don't see each other often enough. The retreat with Katherine and Neti was great! Those two ladies are really on the ball and their energy is infectious. I told Bishop Rivera that I was re-energized and would make an effort to become more involved. I can see that the Diocese will be in good hands for the first time in over 7 years. It may take a while to get her up to speed as to whom we are and what we are about, but I'm sure that she will "get" it.

Remodel Progress

I took the week off from work with the idea of finishing the bathroom project. NOT! I did get all the tile down and the grouting done and the only thing Left is sealing the grout. I worked 9 hours Wednesday laying the tile. The only tiling I had done before was an open 12 x 20 room. Took me about 4 hours, so I figured I could do a 4 x 5 space in jig time. AGAIN NOT! It took me the entire afternoon from 1 PM to 9 PM to get it done. The problem was no space to maneuver and nothing to touch since the room had been freshly painted. My original plan was to lay the full tiles and then do the edges. Once again NOT! I finally got it done and the grouting done and it looks great and I am able to walk again an my housemaid's knees are healing. The rest will be a snap.

Remodeling Redux

Monday, Memorial Day, I rested from the weekend. I drove nearly 600 miles Saturday and Sunday, since I'm not a truck driver that nearly wore me out. Tuesday I got started and did the first coat of paint. It went so well that I got the second coat on the walls. Now all I need is some touch-up and do the tile and put everything back. At the rate I'm going I should have it finished by Christmas. I didn't really mean that, negative thoughts have a negative effect on your work. Oh yes, I found out yesterday that I got to work on Thursday and Friday, so no work today. I was quite warm today, nearly 100. That warm this early doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling. Actually the low as 50 and the high was 98. Makes for nice sleeping and, of course, its a dry heat.

We're going to do a neat thing for Pentecost at St Matthews. I will read a portion from the prayer book and Roger( who grew up min Central America) will read it in
Spanish. We will wear bright red shirts and our red stoles. Should be fun.

Remodeling

This past winter we decided to put ceramic tile in my bathroom. It's a small bathroom, just 4'6" x 5' of floor space. In a flurry of activity we got all the materials needed at the local Home Depot (Disneyland to us) and started picking out paint colors. The effort stalled when we both came down with some respiratory malfunction that put us out of commission for about 3 weeks. Monday was designated B-Day and I got to work clearing the room of everything but the shower. Everything went fine until I pulled up the vinyl flooring. The toilet had leaked clear water under the vinyl and then grew mold. The outer edges that hadn't gotten wet were well stuck to the floor. I took all Wednesday afternoon to get that stuff off the cement floor. Thursday I had plans to scrub the floor with TSP which is a fairly harsh chemical, but it kills mold. Then I was going to paint the walls the color we chose. That was not to be, I had to make a run to Ontario for the Company. That killed the day. Today I was going to do the stuff I had planned to do Thursday. Nope! Jean's computer started acting up and I got to spend and hour and a half with a nice young lady in The Philippines trying to diagnose the problems. Of course, that was after spending several hours trying to diagnose the problem by myself. I then got to go to Ontario and Fruitland to get the computer repaired and do banking for the Company. It is now 11 PM and I am still running virus scans on the computer. Tomorrow we get to go to Cove to take part in welcoming our new bishop, and that will take all day. I'm currently planning to restart the project Monday. Pray for me.

Recycling

Watched Bill Moyers last Friday and he had a guy on who had written a book about global warming. It was a great discussion, but the thing of most interest to me was a web site that he talked about. It is called www.goodguide.com and if that link doesn't work just Google "good Guide" and it will come up. The site rates stuff on its carbon footprint and compares similar brands with its rating system. You can then decide if you want to buy something by looking at its rating. Moyers said that this was the first time he saw a reason for the internet, each of us can tell our friends about Good Guide and we will all do our part to fight Global Warming. So, I'm doing my part. Check out Good Guide.

Keeping at it

My posts have become really sporadic despite my best intentions to keep at it. I just don't find enough to write about. I don't know how those folks who seem to read all the blogs on their list every day do it. Then they write numerous articles for us all to read. Maybe they have nothing else to do, because keeping at it daily takes a lot of time. Now that I'm retired I have even less time to do all that I want to do. I normally get on the web around 10 PM MDT and have an hour or so until I hit the bed. I type rather slowly, more so now that I have neuropathy, I can't feel the keys and often double strike without knowing it. I would be lost without spell check. I will keep at it, but I will not start twitter. Reminds me of an old joke about a nervous titter, but I want to keep a pg-13 rating.

I Spoke Too Soon

Here it is Tuesday and my crud is still with me, not so bad, but still there. This is the first cold I've had that makes my diaphragm hurt. The hypochondriac in me vacillates between pneumonia and now, swine flu. The realist in me says you've milked this about as far as you can, now pull up your big boy shorts and get busy. I really do have a yard out of control, the squirrels are getting lost in the tall grass. If it is really something dire, Jean can have my gravestone engraved, "I told you I was sick". Actually, she has been super, as she always is.

Got to go check out "Mad Priest" he missed out on a super job and he's really bummed. Can't blame him though, I can remember being sure I was going to be Arnie's replacement as head wrestling coach, only to be aced out by the new English teacher. I had put in 10 years as Arnie's assistant, several of them unpaid, and Arnie had recommended me, I just knew I had the job. Took me some time to get over that, eventually returned as an assistant, but there was still resentment. They finally gave me the job 10 years later when the head coach got into some trouble and had to leave. I took the job, but the thrill was gone, it was ten years too late.

When it came time for me to retire I rigged it so my assistant was sure to get the job. He was like I had been 30 years before, gung ho! He found it wasn't as easy as he had thought and quit head coaching and went back to assisting. He had his shot though and didn't have to spend 10 years wishing he had gotten the job, knowing that he would have been a great head coach.