I have my mad face on.....

.........because there is nothing to listen to on TV today. No football, no Law and Order, no "Music and Lyrics"! The TV listings on the computer as well as the preview channel indicated that "Music and Lyrics", a movie with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, was coming on at 3:30 p.m. A great way to spend a "down" afternoon, watching this mindless movie---except when "they" conduct an overthrow of the network and opt to rebroadcast something from Tuesday's Big Event. Ugh! I had no idea Josh Groban was one of the performers, oh, for heaven's sake. Imagine my disappointment....So, here I am back here at this machine instead of vegging out as originally planned.

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Joanne and I had something interesting going on here earlier this morning. She likes to gaze from the river room with her trusty binoculars as she is quite the bird watcher. I heard her crowing and then she came tapping at my door to announce there was something floating in the river with a dog sitting on it. I thought it looked like a bale of hay, surrounded by birds who seemed oblivious to the object with a dog floating on it! We were puzzled at what was going on and what to do about it. I suggested we call the Coast Guard about it and was going to find the number on-line but, in the meantime, she called 911. Not what I would consider a real emergency but who knows? In the meantime, Joanne spotted a person sitting up on the floating thing so then we knew it was not an abandoned dog, but perhaps, an abandoned person!

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She called back one more time to report that a human appeared to be on with the dog, or two people, as the case might be. While Joanne was on the phone the 2nd time, we saw a police boat cruising up to the floating thing. With her x-ray binocs she could keep an eye on things from my porch but not even my telephoto lens was able to pick out exactly what was going on. The police boat eventually left and the floating thing remained doing just that. It was gone by the time I returned this afternoon, and the birds with it. The dispatcher whom Joanne talked to earlier said another person had also called in the same report. We were so curious about what they were floating on, since it did not appear to be a boat or raft---certainly did look like a bail of hay to us---with a dog on it!

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Church was sort of empty today as Pastor and his wife were at a marriage retreat sponsored by the Synod, in Orlando. People seem to think they do not need to attend when the cat is away. Pastor's kids stay with his aunt and uncle who live near there, which is quite nice for them all. Paul did the liturgy portion of the service and Michael read the sermon. All went smoothly except for a "misprint" on one hymn board, which is the one Paul read from. I could tell by the melody coming from the MIDI that it did not match the hymn Paul announced but it did the match the hymn posted on the opposite board. Those of us who caught it sang out enough to make up for those who did not. With that the only slight snag in our service, not so bad. Paul sort of ad libbed the benediction, but I liked the way it came out. After church he told me that Pete had told him once that the benediction can be the trickiest portion of the service and he regrets now blowing that off! Pete was right, but Paul muddled through just fine.

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Emily and he are planning an anniversary cruise in a week or two, so his mom and her hubby are coming down to stay with Sarah. I offered to give them a break or anything if they needed it. Paul assured me his mom and dad have been counting the minutes to come down from Saginaw to do this with Sarah. She has quite the fan club, that little one! Paul and Emily have been busy trying to get things done around the house before they arrive, like always when you have company coming!

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We had a brief meeting after church regarding the collection of information for the LES Team. The data package was due to be sent off tomorrow but I guess there are too many empty blanks yet. Ugh! (I am getting good at that "ugh" thing....). One of those at the meeting felt the need to flex a bit and bogged us down with some minutia that really has no affect on the outcome from the Synod Team. Apparently there is some discrepancy between the dates of incorporation and date of first service and the date of leaving mission status...........please! Really, it matters not, and I suggested we simply use the information found in our church's history as written for our 25th anniversary and let us move along, please! "Death by committee!"

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After church I met Brian and Kathy at Red Lobster, one of Twila's favorite places to eat. On the way in to the restaurant, I met two of our other members just leaving, with to-go boxes in tow. Brian, Kathy, and I enjoyed a great social time together as well discussing some upcoming plans for the youth group and even younger! One of the young parents from the congregation called me yesterday with a suggestion for serving the littlest ones in our membership. It is such a delight to hear that others wish to contribute in some way and stimulate interest in new avenues of serving our members!!!! Love it!!! A few years ago, I conducted a monthly group called "Moms 'n More" but it sort of faded away without developing a life of its own. It will be wonderful if a similar group is begun again, with different people at the helm!

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I told them the story about the security deposit and Brian already knew it, and knew it well from his own daughter's four moves and four lost deposits. He says it is a racket to not return the deposits but I guess the difference in our case is that we (Justin) actually had a check in hand at one point and then it was stopped. I have asked Justin to gather the paperwork from his room as well as from Grove's so we (I) do not look terribly foolish when presenting our case. It seems that college students are easy prey, or is that they cause so much damage and do not seem to care about it if the parents pay the money? I hope it is the former!

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I have given in in one small way to the 'earth' and 'green' movement quite by accident. Joanne has a guru whom she subscribes to in matters real estate and life management. Many in her office are also in this group and attend the conferences and such that go with "membership". One of the projects planned to help kick off sales and such in 2009 is to do a set number of what are called "pop-by" visits all last week. So besides the real work of listing and selling, she also had to make up some drop off bags to leave at her clients' homes, both past and future, just to remind folks that she is here to serve them. In her bag, one of which I was a recipient, was a light bulb, complete with tag line about shedding light on our real estate needs. It is one of those fluorescent curly bulbs which I installed immediately in my bedside lamp. I am now doing my share!

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That brings to mind the Publix stop Justin and I made yesterday before the opera. I waited for a few moments in my car before going in because I had a head start on Justin, which gave me a chance to people watch. Nearly every shopper that went into the store was carrying the nifty, European-looking mesh bags for their groceries. Oh, no, I am more than glad to take and use the bags already supplied by the store, thank you!