Weatherman says, "Not cloudy and not sunny"

February 19, 2007 (12:12pm)
29º F, Semi-sunny, W wind 11 mph.

Good afternoon,

Guess it is time to get to getting one of these published. Been rather delinquent in this task for the past few days for some reason. Not too sure why.

So the van got repaired and really was a change in sound while driving. Thursday, we decided to make our Tuesday supply run finally. Got in the van, seat belts fastened, put the key in the ignition switch, turned it - ah quiet! Well it was a bit too quiet - the lights would not light, starter wouldn’t start, and the pistons didn’t either. Seems the battery was stone cold dead! I have no reason as to why. Called a wrecker to get me going again. That is a first since about 1998 when the fuel pump died on the Mazda (Rice Grinder) on a cold day in a snow storm. The wrecker carried a small jump start kit and the engine started right off. Drove to the station to get the electrical system checked out. Found nothing. Only cause we can think of is that I must have left a light on inside. I checked all the lights, while trying to start it originally, but found all of the switches off as they were supposed to be. I have no idea what the problem was, but it has not happened again since. Hope it doesn’t either.

I went up town to pay the bill today. The station said they would hold the invoice open, just in case it happened again and they could find out the problem. The jump start kit costs a bit more than the service call did, so I think I will check into seeing what they really cost and how they work. Sure would be handy to have one of those years ago when it seemed I was jump starting my vehicles every other day or so in the morning. I did try to check the electrolyte of the battery before calling the wrecker, but found that I must have dropped a hammer on it and broken the glass tube. So for 95¢ I picked another one up at Fleet Farm the same day.

We did eventually make it to Green Bay, but it was after lunch and we made a short trip of it. There really wasn’t anything absolutely necessary, but I didn’t have any black ink carriages as back up for the printer. That isn’t world ending, but a good excuse to "need" to go. Since we started out so late, on the way back we thought it would be a good idea to stop at Birchwood for their cheap chicken. Fortunately, they were closed for some reason. When we got home, Margriet made some liver and onions with fried potatoes. Boy it was a really good meal - no leftovers either! Thinking we would not be going, she had taken out of the freezer for supper. Glad the Birchwood was closed. A mighty fine meal.

Watched a pretty good Daytona 500 race yesterday. At least it was for most of it. The last part had a lot of accidents in it. The last lap was a very close finish, at least for the first two cars - the rest crashed it seemed like. At least many of them did. Pretty spectacularly too. One car finished the race on it’s roof and on fire. Officially 18th place I think. NASCAR sure has come a long way since the early days. Not too sure it wasn’t better racing then though.

One of the members (charter member) from church died Saturday and the funeral is on Wednesday. Ron has been fighting cancer for a couple of years now. It has been a real struggle for him. The cancer has spread to almost every part of his body. Noting seemed to work. At least now he has been healed. He leaves a wife and son behind. They too are totally exhausted from their efforts. In the long run, it will be a blessing for them. Ron was only 53 years old. They were very good to me when Joy left. Spent Thanksgiving with them that first year. It was greatly appreciated. We will be helping with the food after the funeral. Not too sure what we will prepare to bring yet.

Today, 4:30 A.M. our time, Margriet’s brother, Woelter, begins a treatment for his cancer using his own stem cells. It is not an easy task or without much discomfort. Obviously, we and a lot of other folks are very concerned about him. The stem cells were harvested from him some time ago for this procedure. That was not easy either. Margriet did have a chance to chat with him with instant messaging a bit ago and has been in contact with some of his children. Of course all of them are very worried too. Please keep him in your prayers - a lot.

The weather has taken a turn for the warm again. After nearly a month of below normal temperatures, way below, it now looks to be much above normal for a bit. They are predicting above normal moisture too - in the form of rain. Everything is dry here, but I don’t think rain is the good thing now. Snow would be better to soak in rather than run off. Sounds like it will be a mess around here for a while.

Margriet and I had a chance to instant message with Brenda for a time this morning. She was grumpy with the littlest handsome dude in her house. Apparently she bought some tomatoes for eating tomorrow and Kalle decided they needed to be taste tested! He took a bite out of each one, leaving a considerable mess too. Guess they are eating tomatoes today instead of tomorrow. I can remember the days with similar events. Of course Brenda, or Arnoud for that matter, never did similar things!

Enough for the moment. Have to finish getting ready for Bible study tomorrow. Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><