Snake story and update

So many have asked if I’ve had any more snake stories to tell this summer.  The answer was NO until today when I decided to clean out the garden shed.

You know how it is… I haven’t gutted it for years and stuff accumulates.  I could see where something had made a couple of nests – probably mice or rats.  Gross.  I was pretty careful as I moved things, hoping not to find something dead that would freak me right out.

Everything went well, and I was able to finish before Hannah showed up with her strong winds and heavy rain.  I had already hauled one wagon full of stuff to the trash cans and had one load to go and could be done.  As I was beginning to toss things into the trash there it was, heart beating out if its chest – looking right at me.  We both froze.  I finally decided to get a shovel or something and try to kill it but by the time I returned it had slithered away – under the house of all things.  Will it never end?

I met the fab fam and the grandkids at the Clinton Parade this morning.  Rain seemed threatening but it never came.  Clinton Baptist won first place in the float category with their animated Whale that literally had swallowed Pastor Philbrick.  They were all pretty excited.  Melissa entered a blueberry pie in the afternoon competition, but didn’t place.  Alicia was hoping for first place.  She had helped her mom and would get the $75 to go towards an American Doll that she wants to buy, like her sisters.  Faith has been saving up for quite some time.

Well, I have notes going back to August 21 of things that I haven’t blogged about.  That was just before camp and I was having some fatigue events.  I assume it might have something to do with my Lyme’s treatment and remember the doctor admonishing me to listen to my body.  I don’t like to listen when it says “I’m tired” but this is a fatigue that can’t be ignored.  Thankfully, it was just fatigue and none of the other usual symptoms so maybe that is progress.  It comes and goes and is not a daily thing – thankfully.

Marie has had some ups and downs lately (literally).  She did spend 3-4 days in the hospital for pneumonia while we were away and then was taken to the ER a few days later for cellulitis in her leg that needed anti-biotics.  This week she fell out of her wheel chair.  She was trying to reach something on her bed.  Poor thing.  No injuries, thank you, Lord. 

My cousin and his wife had their triplets and Andrew  is having some bleeding on the brain that is of concern.  They are so tiny still and Anna Kate  isn’t gaining weight – so please pray for them all. 

School has started up again and that means pizza lunch.  I checked in with the school before camp and got a stunning announcement.  After almost 11 years of doing pizza lunch one day a week at Temple Academy, they are not going to let me do it after Christmas.  No explanation, except that they are going to do “other things.”  There is a new administration, and a new assistant and I don’t have a relationship with them, so they probably don’t feel any particular loyalty towards me or our program.  I’m so bummed.  It has been such a blessing on many levels and I will now have to find another means of supporting my work with Team Guatemala.  Any ideas?  It will be hard to find something so easy to do and so helpful for raising the necessary funds for these mission trips.

In October Bob and I are heading to Utah to visit the Joneses.  In typical Nan fashion, she has sent two books for me to read before I come – a homework assignment.  I finished the first one Faith and Betrayal by Sally Denton.  Both books are by the same author and are true accounts of things that have happened in the area where we’ll be visiting.

I wonder if Sally has her own food taster?  In the book she traces the journey of her great-great grandmother, Mormon convert Jean Rio Griffiths.  Leaving her comfortable home in England, middle-aged widow Jean Rio traveled for 10 months across the ocean, the plains, and the mountains with her seven children, seeking the elusive Eden promised by the Mormon missionaries. No one told her about the polygamy or that she would have to surrender all her assets (which were many) to Brigham Young until she arrived and learned about it too late.  It didn’t take long to become disillusioned with the Morman leadership.  In the end she and her children (except one) renounced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she reclaimed her independence and settled in California.

What Denton reveals about the Mormon history, which they conveniently try to deny, is quite damaging.  If it could be challenged, I’m sure the church would have gone after her in the courts for liable by now.  The information sheds a great deal of light on the current situation within the polygamist sect in Texas that we’ve been reading so much about. 

This was a great read for its history and interesting writing style.  Her research comes from countless interviews and diaries… I love that kind of thing. 

Can you believe football season starts tomorrow?   At least for the Patriots.  GO PATS!!

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