Good thing I slept late this morning

It is going to be a late night tonight as I am watching the football game, not blacked out as was predicted. Apparently the last of the unsold tickets were picked up by the visiting team’s fans and spared Jacksonville the embarrassment of a black-out on national TV. The announcers said more than once that the local fans have really taken it on the chin this year with the team doing so poorly. Right now the Jags are ahead 6-0 against the Ravens at half time. This is not quite the same type of ball game as yesterday’s Packer/Viking game, nothing ‘edge of my seat’ about it---yet.

The days have been beautiful here recently---bright blue skies, mostly cloudless, and star blankets at night. This evening is no different, a starry dome instead of the dome the Packers played under Sunday. I kept my eyes and ears open for the Goodyear blimp but did not see it. Nor did I hear the fly over, which makes me wonder if there was one at all since it was dark out when kick off took place.

Last night I made dinner at home, consisting of pork chops, baked potatoes and creamed corn. For my dinner tonight, I cut up the leftover chops, even used my blitz hacker from Pampered Chef to mulch the pork. Then, I cut up the remaining potatoes and placed them over the top of the mulched pork, popping the casserole into the oven. I had added some sangria to the casserole before reheating it so that added extra good smells to the kitchen, and taste to the meat. I still have a couple more meals-worth of food after eating my dinner and fear I will grow weary of the pork before it gets too old.

My to-go boxes have chicken tenders and a baked potato from Longhorn on Sunday, as well as half a bbq beef sandwich from today’s Longhorn lunch! I should just put it all in the blender and whip it up, drink it with a straw! That won’t make it any less food, I guess…

I am so enjoying the Bible study about Nehemiah as it seems I knew nothing about either Ezra or Nehemiah aside from memorizing the names of their books of the Bible. Nothing ever stopped me from reading this book or studying it and am glad to now have the opportunity. We have this man who joins our studies, Joseph, who is someday taking custody of my old TV. Today, as he likes to do, he attempted to add some of his personal stories to the mix in the midst of the class. Pastor is adept at redirecting when he sees it coming. As we read about how Nehemiah kept a low profile at first when he got to Jerusalem, waiting until he had surveyed the project before speaking up, Joseph piped up that he thinks he is like Nehemiah….Pastor remarked, “Yes, I believe that Nehemiah considered himself a very humble man…” and left it at that. Whew, that was close!

After getting home from lunch, I made some prayer chain calls as one of our members had leg surgery today, and came through safely. Fran has had surgery once already on her veins which was not entirely successful and there was hope of trying again to open the clogs. The doctor was not able to open them wide but did improve the flow which will hopefully reduce the pain and discomfort she experienced. Tomorrow they will know more when she gets up and tries walking. Please keep her in your prayers, too, if you don’t mind. She is a dear lady and I love her.

After the calls were made, I worked some more on the newsletter, and was getting information for the letter as I wrote, from the congregation president. He was gone over the weekend but returned today and sent me more information regarding our financial situation. I was not able to translate the images from Power Point into Word but was able to do it in Excel. An extra page for the newsletter which required some more text from Jim. Once I add the information from the preschool, I am ready to go to press. Oh wait---still need Bible study information for November!

Wow, this football game is taking a turn for the worse here! A player from the Ravens’ team was just ejected from the game for punching a Jaguar in the face, nearly clipping the ref in the face too! He is out! As the announcer just said, this has been a very physical 3^rd quarter. Lots of flags being thrown, almost all on the opposing team. I just came back in the room after checking outside for what could have been the sound of a blimp. I think it must be a helicopter but it’s too dark out to see shapes. My downstairs neighbor was outside with his flashlight, probably looking for the alligator. Tommy claims to be able to see his orange eyes at night when he shines the flashlight across the water. And people wade around out there---not me!

Oh, oh, oh! I almost forgot to mention my good news---the insurance adjuster, Greg, called me last week Thursday to inform me that the insurance carrier for the people directly below me has decided to not pursue the lawsuit against me for The Great Flood of last year!!! He told them how he found no negligence on my part, the pipe broke in the wall while a leak was being repaired (technically speaking, the pipe is actually owned by the Association since it’s in the wall), and I was “held harmless” in this mess. A letter stating this is forthcoming but Greg said it might take up to 10 days to get it since his company outsources the letter writing. What? Really? What used to be done in a day or two, basically quickly, now takes three times as long by someone else. Perhaps in India or Indonesia?

What is going to happen with Iraq and Iran now that our troops are coming home? My upstairs neighbor, Randy, mentioned this to me when he brought the chili, how now there is nothing between the world and Iran’s nukes. Yikes! He is a Marine and has much knowledge of this volatile region. His son is active duty in the Marines and I wonder where he is stationed. My nephew is soon to leave Afghanistan and return to Germany so he will be somewhat out of harm’s way. Oh my, oh my! But not tonight---tonight is football and the unidentified sounds from outside. Blimp? Or just my reflection in the doors???