Hot weather again

September 25, 2007 (4:42am)

65º F, Overcast, SSE Wind, 3 mph.

Good morning,

Ahhhhhhhh! This house is a real house now - fresh baked, homemade bread came out of the oven yesterday. How wonderful is that? Also muffins again for breakfast! Wow! Life is good. Margriet complained that neither were perfect, but they sure tasted good. The baked chicken, with the gravel on it, just weren’t too bad the other night either. The Hobbit Hus is coming together.

We had some pretty good rain and wind yesterday. A really nice breeze all day, but cranked it up a notch as the sun set. The rains joined the wind after it was dark. There still is rain in the area, but most of it to the southeast around Green Bay and to the northeast of the city. A few showers are showing up on the radar close to us, but nothing major. More rain this afternoon/night and into tomorrow. The temperature at the moment is 5º F above our normal high for today! Yesterday the temperature reached 87º F, a new record high for this date. It should cool to a normal temperature again today and stay there for a few days at least.

Got a snag of bills (2) paid yesterday and a couple of letters written. Shouldn’t have any more to pay for a couple of weeks. Took most of the morning, so couldn’t get out to work until after lunch. It was hot by then too. Sometime late yesterday afternoon, the mouse for this machine died. At first I thought it just needed new batteries, but they were new a couple of months ago and shouldn’t be the problem. They weren’t, but it still isn’t working and I don’t know why. Until I get it figured out, I dug out the wired, optical mouse that Onno bought when the kids were here for our wedding. It works fine. Finer than the touch pad on the computer! Don’t like that at all. Last night, the who machine started to really act weird. Played with it for a couple of hours and nothing seemed to get it right again. Shut it completely down and went to bed, later than normal. Woke up this morning, everything seems to work normally, except the mouse.

I did get the lift-arm/hoist mounted in the truck’s back door. I can stick the arm out the door, lift something too heavy for me, then swing it into the truck, and put it down in the truck. According to the propaganda that came with it, I should be able to lift half a ton of something. Not too sure of that, but don’t think what I have is that heavy. The mounting has two pieces of 2"x2"x¼” angle, about 16" long, mounted underneath the floor board with 4 - ½” bolts to the base of the hoist. Makes it very solid. The distance between the truck frame and the floorboards is 1½”, so had to cut a notch in each angle ½” deep to clear it. That turned out to be a chore. Wished I had a pedestal grinder or a metal cutting bandsaw to do that with. Instead, the angle grinder got a real workout. Since the floor is much thicker on this truck than a normal pickup, I picked up some longer bolts awhile ago. The only problem I had is with the lock washers. Apparently the metric equivalent to ½” is a snitch smaller and the washers sent with the unit wouldn’t fit! Will get some and put them in place. Really don’t want that thing coming loose with a load on it or while traveling. Weighs close to 100# and don’t want that flying around inside of the truck. The installation is good and looks nice and tight.

What really seemed weird was being able to work under a vehicle on top of a concrete floor. It has been years since having that luxury - since I quit teaching to be exact. No gravel or a snowbank to roll around on. Weird! Love it. Think I might even consider purchasing a creeper now. But maybe I should enjoy only one luxury at a time. Wish I had a nickle for every snowbank I have laid in working on one car or another in my lifetime. Would pay for the creeper big time I am sure.

I really am worried about a good friend of mine, Dan - the other half of the bass section in Grace’s choir. He is in jail on some Federal charges after he got mixed up in some things he knows better than to do. He had a sentencing hearing on the 14th, but I have not had a letter from him since before that. I suspect that is an indication that the hearing didn’t go well, but don’t know for sure - the hard part. I have been writing to him as often as possible, almost daily, and he writes back on a weekly basis, more or less. I always include a stamped envelop and a sheet of paper with each letter. He uses them to introduce Christ to some of the inmates and for them to write to others. Most of the folks there have no one who writes to them or visits them. He mentioned the envelops have a large impact on the others and have literally gone world wide. Some inmates are from other countries it seems. Please add Dan to your daily prayer time. He and I will appreciate it greatly.

Time to get a-going

.
In Christ My Saviour,

Chris <><