Good morning from the foggy valley. It's the kind of fog that counts for how many snowfalls in the winter. Word from most is a cold winter but we hear that almost all the time toward the end of August. We shall see. My eyes are looking for those signs, those hints of fall. Poplar trees are moving right along as well as sugar maples in color and then into winter transition. These welcomed cooler temps of the last week are so welcomed, just giving those of us who are autumn people that little extra spring into our steps hoping fall, not falls so guess autumn, to begin.
Since the first of the year it has felt like I've dealt with an overwhelming general malaise. Not just physically but mentally as well. A few small flare ups of afib that haven't been bad, just annoying. Knocked out a few Dr visits and the next one comes in September. I made the appointment in June, confirmed in July and put on the cancellation list. Either the list is long or no one wants to cancel. On Monday I took G Mo for his snip snip procedure and didn't leave the house until Thursday night for choir. Other than during the pandemic, this has to be a record of consecutive days at home. Friday, started out with me not feeling good but got better after breakfast. We decided to make a trip over to TN. TN is not charging taxes on food for the month of August and since the stores had a couple of things on sale that we use regularly, we headed that way. Just hit two stores and no Johnson City. On the way home we also stopped at Publix cause they have the butter we use two for one. I think we can clearly classify ourselves as older types when the big activity of the day is grocery shopping. Once September hits, hopefully we can make it to a couple of places for a day trip or two.
Being around home this week there wasn't the excitement of the toddler and the dogs, but I did see the sister that was supposed to keep an eye on the guy, maybe 4 1/2. Thursday night was choir and afterwards Teresa and I visited out in the parking lot. Since I silenced my phone for choir I and didn't notice any vibrations from the phone, I was clueless to the texts Roy sent. It was later than usual so when I got in the car I called Roy and he told me it was now safe to come home. What??? He said look at the texts and sure enough he texted me about gunfire nearby, not like target shooting but like someone desired to scare or direct these shots toward something or someone in particular. He called the sheriff's office to report. Before they could arrive it all stopped. So, Roy called them back. Last night some people down the road were setting off big booming firecrackers and small ones as well intermixed with a few shot gun sounds. Sometimes as busy and as noisy as our road can get, the sounds of car or motorcycle intimidation happens, now a little more than usual. It sounds intimidating because those are the sounds in bigger cities that someone is sending a message. Haven't a clue if the same here or not.
It feels a tad strange after working so hard to pay off law school loans back in the day that now a $10,000 debt forgiveness would be possible. This is not a political discussion just a remembrance as Roy worked so hard to go to law school, at night. That meant four years rather than three. He finished the last three years without any paid vacation and working three jobs. When he was laid off, he lost his company car so we were down to one car. I picked him up at U of H four nights a week after classes. For everything else he depended on taking the bus, after I had dropped him off at the Park and Ride in the mornings to go to work. Many times on the bus, he felt threatened but made the best of a bad situation. We scrimped and saved and finally was able to buy him a small truck, paying cash for it because we knew after he graduated those loans would kick in. He took the least amount of school loans to just cover books, tuition and other incidentals involved for school. Some of his friends took out loans to use for living expenses. After graduation we owed thousands of dollars but his friends owed hundreds of thousands of dollars. Several loans, the interest rate was ginormous and seemed almost to have you in their clutches for an inordinately long period of time. Roy clerked in law school and assisted a lawyer part time after graduation. All that schooling made him realize he didn't really want to practice law in a courtroom. That's good cause Roy doesn't have a poker face. His specialty more so, contract law and he used his law degree in his work. Law school was a great decision for him. It matured him and taught him the way to think in solving issues and such. Law school and Toastmasters were great decisions on his part. I will never forget the day those college loans were paid off. We had doubled up on payments, so we didn't travel much, didn't eat out anywhere too costly and cut back on other things to pay off the loans, early.
Hezekiah part two has surely been eye opening. This week while studying for the lesson, I have learned so many things and insights into his life even more than expected. We start Amos next week so, it will have to be a wrap this Sunday.
Last night I was looking at Macy's and Nordstrom online. Roy said he had heard from all his financial programs he follows that now is a good time to buy overstocked stuff from Macy's and Target. We have taken advantage of those opportunities, plus the discounts given as birthday gifts. Macy's has tons of stuff whereas The Nord, not so much. I mainly was looking to see what from last winter is still in style. Not that this would affect anything, still going to wear the same old stuff. Hey, I'm old and earned that right. The shacket is still popular although not too much of a fan...even in flannel.
Roy had all the fun this morning going to the dump. The Boys are behaving out on the porch and time to get this finished up.
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