There are so many things that need to be done but yet, here I sit at the computer for just a few moments. It is almost like a vitamin taken daily for the time to be etched out for writing, whether it be blog or journal or otherwise.
Mother's Day was uneventful for me...none of the cats or birds wished me well, ha! Well, Buddy threw up and left me that gift but she has given that gift before. Most cats do. Thought ahead and had bought orange chicken on Friday for Sunday lunch. Sometimes in the days preceding Mother's Day, when wished to have a happy one, I just say thank you cause if I say, "I'm not a mom" it makes the person with the cheery greeting uncomfortable. It is not a hard day for me and it really never has been except for the first Mother's Day without my mom. It was an eventful Mother's Day because it was our new Pastor's first Sunday. He did well and covered all the Mother's Day bases. I think we are all excited to experience serving the Lord with our new pastor.
It is wonderful to see the sun and bright blue sky after a rainy and overcast weekend. We didn't get any measurable rain since Saturday until Sunday evening. A few good showers with a little thunder now and then. Two more plants that needed planting were put out in the backyard. Not too big and they draw hummingbirds. Finished that up, got the garbage down to the road and went around the block, well a rural block, to blow out the fruit flies...yes with produce stand season comes, fruit flies and stink bugs. Small price to pay for the glorious season of the stand. I had put the top down on Mustang Sam to take the bags down and timed everything just right cause there were a few droplets falling from the sky but it wasn't until pulling into the garage that the heavens opened and declared the glory of God.
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It is now Tuesday and the day started early. Well, the day actually blended in with the night because around 1:00 am something moved some lumber on the back porch that made a loud noise...so wide awake, a restless Buddy and hard to settle down....there wasn't a whole lot of sleeping going on. Today was that trip to Hendersonville to go to the Dr...not just any Dr but Andy Morris. It was a good appointment with everything looking good. He is going to schedule a scan, but I don't know what kind to check on the bone lesion the radiologist found last year. Had five different tests to rule things out last year and I have been feeling the best I have in a long time, it is just a safe and good thing to do. Afterwards I thought about going to Strawberry Hill or Southern Chicks, but opted to celebrate with Jack in the Box tacos. Don't get them very often and they are just so good...even better, no spillage while eating them and driving. Made a quick stop at Biltmore Park and then on the way back home. Once Buddy was greeted, treated and released to the front porch, I took a very little nap. Then I began to do my work around here and plant the day lilies I picked up at Lowe's. So now the edge of the driveway has day lilies lining it. Yellow, orange, burgundy and a yellow/purple blend. They had roses on sale and finally saw the pink like we planted last year, so got that all ready to go.
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Yea, the crew is here working this morning. We know they have other projects going on but we haven't seen too much of them around here and being the plan ahead person, well I am a planner on this kind of stuff, the garage is getting a little more crowded with things for the back porch.
I feel like Paul in that Roy is bringing the books and parchments with him. Okay not parchments, but a couple of books that I can now use again, having the wonderful privilege of teaching Sunday School. He is also bringing a couple of items that I can't find around here but he has a plentiful treasure store to pick from, think taco seasoning Texas style.
Looks like the financial scandal in the Buncombe government is wrapping up. The beloved county manager and a few others had been skimming money by fraudulent means for several years. Mainly it was insurance fraud, illegal credit cards being issued and contractor kickbacks. Everything came to light when she unexpectedly retired in 2017. It was announced yesterday that an audit of 2018, costing around $340,000.00 showed no fraudulent activity. The audit improved procedures and the like bringing the county into the 21st century. It is interesting to read this because being married to a Certified Internal Auditor, who placed in the top five in the world the year he took the test and still holds the record of highest score in the Houston area, hearing from him over the years when something like this happens sticks with me and I find it so interesting. Not the numbers or math part but the mindset and plans that went into the deception. After she retired, she moved to TN but that wasn't far enough. The feds are involved and she entered to a plea agreement in January although she hasn't been sentenced yet. The county is trying to recover the fraudulently obtained money. Roy and I met at Pennzoil and I worked in treasury, he worked in internal audit. He wrote me up that when I had finished running checks through the signature machine, I did not clean the signature plate once the job was finished. Anyone for a small period of time could use the residual ink to fraudulently sign a check....gee, never even thought about that. Unlike fouls in basketball, I was and still am a horrible basketball player, I didn't take the write up personally and we dated and then got married. Hmm...I wonder if that was an audit exception. There are so many practicalities to auditing more so than just numbers. I remember telling the minister I worked for, who was on the leadership team at church, that they shouldn't all ride together in the same car when they went out for their leadership meetings. One wreck could have erased the entire leadership of the church. He laughed at my suggestion but I thought dang, so many times churches want to use a business world of governance, when church governance rules didn't apply, why wouldn't they want to do what every big business in the world does...the top leadership of teams don't fly on the same plane or don't ride all together in the same car. The county manager had worked for the county since 1994 and had brought a lot of good to Buncombe but sadly, she brought the bad too... The cost of the audit is the talk of the news and Twitter last night and this morning but a lot of improved procedures came about with the cost and maybe that insures, at least for a while. Many are upset with the cost or the need of the audit but at least now they kind of know where they stand.
Ah, the sound of progress as the ceiling is being put in on the porch. Mr Meany was flirting with Buddy on the front porch, so I brought her inside. He is no good, Mr Meany.
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