Good Riddance 2021

 
I mean, really. Where to start? What a messed up year. I find it hard now, looking back, to contemplate the weirdness of it all. Unprecedented comes to mind. But I also saw how the Lord was protecting me the whole time. I'm convinced that He thwarted many attacks and set-ups that I didn't even know were happening until after the fact. So I'm just going to list some of the highlights. 

January 2021. I was the sole admin in a 3-man office for an Indian casino in Oregon. I was in charge of over 200 employees – making sure that all their paychecks were correct and all their leave of absences and FMLA paperwork was completed on time. 

My manager, who was my boss at the time, seemed to be constantly looking for instances of me failing and took the floor supervisors side against me on more than one occasion. The night before I was expecting some made up accusation against me to hit the fan, my boss was in a horrible car accident. He was in the hospital with a shattered foot and a broken arm. All of sudden the stress level in our department went way down. I felt really bad about it, but at the same time, the guy was like a nemesis to me. I was also surprised at the timing of the thing. I'm sure it had nothing at all to do with me, but that particular chess piece was off the table for the next 5 months. 

February 2021. There was a terrible ice storm and I literally got stuck at work for 3 days straight. The road between my job and home was closed and I probably couldn't have driven on it anyway, since it was all steep mountains and my little Honda Civic Hybrid wouldn't have made it. They put me up at the lodge for two of the nights, but the second night the electricity went out. I had to use my lighter in the pitch black stairwell to get off the 4th floor and make my way out of the building and to my office. The office had no electricity so I set up a command center in the back of one of the kitchens that had a computer. I was able to field all the calls of employees not being able make it in. My Director saw that and was impressed. More on that later. 

I also turned 55. I was now officially an honored citizen. 

March – May 2021. It starts. Not that there wasn't foreshadowing, what with the required mask wearing and temperature checks as you enter the building. The strong suggestion that you stick a needle in your arm from the outside world had come to my little office. One by one, I watched as all my friends lined up and took the jab. I tried to warn them. I even showed them the documents from the official Pfizer website stating the double-blind randomized placebo experiment that they were all ignorantly participating in. They just shrugged and got a second dose six weeks later, even after some of them had horrible side effects. At least one ended up in the hospital from adverse events and still got the 2nd shot. 

Oh – and they made me employee of the month for my work during the ice storm. 

June – August 2021. The summer of bribes. Here is a short list of some of the “incentives” government officials gave away to encourage people to go out there and take one for the team. Hamburgers, french fries, donuts, beer. The state of Oregon was one of a handful of states that actually gave away one million dollars. Lucky you. The esteemed establishment where I was employed gave away a Traeger grill, and a plethora of five dollar gas cards. Really? How much gas can you buy with five bucks these days anyway?

September 2021. I knew it was coming, yet it was still a surprise when it happened. All employees at my little casino would now be REQUIRED to get the shot. It was now mandatory and a condition of your employment. Considering how short-handed we were and how hard it was to get employees during regular times, I thought it was a really stupid business move. The Lord let me know that not only was it time to leave that job but to leave the entire state of Oregon as well. 

The rest of the year has already been posted on this blog. We are now in a good place in Kansas and I have a new job where I can work from home. 

I got a newsletter today from Christine Beadsworth where she has another encouraging word from the Lord.  You can listen to it here:

I AM the Seasoned Warrior God

May God bless you going into the new year. It is the Chinese year of the Tiger – but I believe it is God's year of saving grace to all of those who love Him and take a stand for Him. Take care my friends.

By Ones or by Twos

                                                                                

I watched as my husband walked by my “home office” on his way to the bathroom towards the end of my shift yesterday. He was shaking really bad the whole way. It took him 20 minutes – round trip. As soon as I clocked out I went online to look for apartments and houses for rent. We had been discussing the fact that he probably needs a wheelchair and we would need to move out of the RV. I read the descriptions to him and the rent amounts. Really, we can't afford much more than $500 for rent because it always costs around $250 for utilities on top of that, give or take. 

I spent about an hour looking at what was available in our area. Not much really, but I felt this urgency.  Then all of a sudden, something occurred to me. 

I asked my husband, “Are you able to do a big move? I mean physically? Do you think you are up to it?”  He was quiet for a moment. “No.” he said. “I don't really think I am.” That was the end of the search. I closed my computer. 

One of the ways that I deal with huge stressful things in my life is not to deal with them. I just don't let myself think about it, almost to the point of ignoring it. I spend my time looking up recipes and making grocery lists. The carrot recipe I tried was awful by the way. It tasted good for the first bite or two (which was probably the melted cheese.) but after that it was yukky. I won't be writing that one down in my recipe book. 

The truth of the matter is, my husband is dying. A slow painful death. He wakes up in the morning and blows blood clots out of his nose. He sleeps most of the day. When he is awake, he sometimes says weird stuff that doesn't make any sense. Everyday he gets a little bit weaker than the day before. In the rare instances when we talk about it, he tells me that he is afraid there will be a day when he won't be able to get out of bed. I'm afraid of that day too. 

On my break today, I looked over at him. He had his back to me with the headphones on, watching a movie. His breathing was strange, like it was hard for him to take a breath. I almost lost it at that point. I had to pull myself together to get through the rest of my shift. Thank God, it was my last break. 

There was an email newsletter from Christine Beadsworth waiting for me after work. I don't know why but her little podcasts have been hitting me right in the heart. Like they were written to me personally about my circumstances. This latest one especially. Not all of it, but some parts definitely. You can listen to it here:

Plucked and positioned.

She had a word from the Lord that she wrote in her newsletter. This isn't all of it, you can hear the rest on her podcast, but this was the part that really touched me.

“Surrender fully and trust that the hour of your greatest usefulness to the kingdom is at the door. For I will sow you anew, seed by seed - precisely positioned for My maximum glory. Know this, I have your future securely in My hand, and no one can pluck you from it. As the dew that falls, I will quietly scatter My seed handful by handful - not carelessly, as one tosses aside chaff, but carefully and tenderly, will I place you by ones and by twos. While the world is distracted by the light show of the fallen ones, My hand will work speedily and surely to pluck you and plant you. Ready your heart, for even now, I take my hand from My bosom in readiness to move.” 

It is good to know that the Lord has our future securely in His hand, whether it be by ones or by twos.

One Day at a Time

My husband is not well. He is getting worse these days. He can barely get around the RV and making the trip from his chair to the bathroom, a distance of roughly 15 feet is challenging. Every day it is looking more and more that he will need to be in a wheelchair soon. While coming to grips with the reality that he needs a wheelchair, it is also a fact that he could not use a wheelchair and live in an RV. There is no room. 

We are starting to look at renting a house or an apartment – but rents are so high that, we haven't found anything we can afford. We still have a month left on our current lease, so hopefully something will show up then. The Lord has promised to meet all our needs, and this is definitely a need. Please pray for my husband. 

My sister is having an operation today. I am praying for her as well. 

The Shaded Side of the Mountain

A new podcast from Christine Beadsworth can be found here.

Have a great day!

Beating the Crowds

It was dark when I drove into town this morning. Someone on Buckeye had a blow-up trailer with Santa in their yard. It looked like the one from the you-tube video above. Just thought I'd share.

I wanted to get my groceries before anyone else was up and about. The store will be closed tomorrow. That's a nice perk. There was only one other car in the lot as I pulled into my usual spot. Sweet! The feral kitties and their shelters are gone. I wondered about that.

The guy who bagged my groceries asked me where I've been lately. I let him know that I'm working now and can't come to the store every day like I used to. I guess I'm a recognized regular now. LOL. I asked him where the cats went as we walked to my car. He said someone came and got them. Hhmmm, hopefully they will be well taken care of. I asked him if he had any damage from the storm. He told me that he lives on 3rd Street and they were all protected by the mill. I told him about how I felt sorry for those on 3rd because they never see the sun. “Naw,” he told me, “It's nice. It never gets too hot.” Funny.

My husband has recently decided he is never eating pork again. Ever. He says it is biblical. Well, that rules out ham for dinner. I'm okay with it. I am making meatloaf, stove top stuffing and cooked carrots. Not necessarily traditional fare, but I have half a bag of baby carrots that I really need to get rid of. I found this recipe that I'm going to try here. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Hug your family this weekend. My family is all far away – so hug each other and says it's from me. Take care everyone! Love you guys!

P.S. Blogger is trying to tell me that the word Street above doesn't exist. Whatever - spell check sucks.

V Park

The R is missing from the sign near our spot. It must have gotten damaged in the storm. Now it just says V PARK. 

I am enjoying my training. I'm loving the work so far. I am busy these days, but I have Friday off the next two weeks (paid holiday!) so I will get a decent blog post out soon. Take care of yourselves!

Sad Winner

Remember the raffle at work? The one where you had to upload your V card for a chance to win $2500? If the company could reach 70 % V rate then it went up to $7500. Our class checked to see who won. I didn't pay any attention to who the winner was. When the contest first started, I checked to see what the V rate was for the company. At the time it was at 49%. At the end of the contest the company didn't make it to 70%, but it did go up to 54%. This stupid contest raised the rate by 5%. How very sad. Now think of all the companies running contests like this. Yep. People will sell their birthright for a bowl of stew. Others will just be worn down and give up and get it in the end. 

When I first quit my other job over this, my father-in-law told my husband, "Why doesn't she just go get the shot?" My husband was pissed. He told my father-in-law that if I had done that, he would have lost all respect for me. He loved the fact I was willing to take a stand. Still does. 

The time to make a stand is now. It is not going to get easier either. Resist the devil and he will flee. The consequences will be dire if you don't. 
 

Prepare Now

It is 26 degrees outside as I write this. It was colder when I went out to start the car this morning. I knew I needed to let it warm up before going to the store. Don't want my fingers to freeze. 

It was a nice drive into town. Hardly anyone was on the road for a Saturday. I thought about the last week. It went fast. I still have two more weeks of training before I will be working on my own, but I will have different trainers. Yesterday was the last day we would be training with C. and T. T was going to be off on Friday but she told us on Thursday that she had taken both the booster and the flu shot earlier that day. She said that her arm felt like lead and was in a lot of pain. 

Even though T was on PTO, she stopped into our training session to say goodbye to everyone. She told C that she was having a severe reaction to the shots and that she had NEVER felt so sick in her life. I prayed for her when I heard that. She is really sweet. I hope she is going to be okay.

A local was giving the little feral cats some water when I pulled into the parking lot. I prayed for the kitties. They say it is supposed to get down to 11 degrees tonight. 

On the way home I stopped at our gas station. I really felt that still, small voice telling me to get gas, even though I still have half a tank. We have dark days ahead. It doesn't hurt to be prepared. Most of the damage inside the store has been repaired from the storm. My landlady asked me if we are staying warm. I said, “we are trying to.” She laughed, “You are camping. That is what my husband always tells me. Yes, we are camping I tell him back.” I smiled. 

Yes, I guess we are camping too. Out in the wilderness where the Lord has placed us. When I got home there was an email newsletter from Christine Beadsworth in my inbox. She mentions about having light in our dwellings, and it is interesting that I said the same thing in my last blog post. You can listen to it here:

Oil your Shields and Brace Yourselves

So, I am spending the rest of the day prepping for the week ahead. I have several meals planned, so I am chopping all the veggies now and putting them in baggies, so that all I have to do is pull them out to make dinner. 

I wasn't sure how to end this post, but I feel very pressed to tell everyone to get prepared now. Fill your tanks full of gas. Stock up on some food and have some cash on hand. Most of all, pray. Whatever you do, do NOT get the shot. No matter what they throw at you. Take a stand for the Lord. He is your shield and will make sure that you have lights in your dwelling. Take care out there. 

High Winds Warning

I woke up with a weird sense of doom this morning. I didn't really know why, but speculated that it may be that I was a little harsh when I evaluated the cultural diversity training video I watched the day before. Strongly Disagrees all the way down. I am in my first 90 days of my new job and they can let me go for any reason. But when training started, nothing was said so I assumed I was safe for now.

Around 2pm, my husband got a high winds alert on his new cell phone. It was pretty windy out. The dog went out for about 2 seconds and decided she could hold it a while longer. She was freaked out by the strong gusts. I didn't blame her. 

Around 3:30pm, it was raining hard and shaking the RV. It was thundering and lightning. Then the power went out and so did the internet. I was starting to get really worried. I called the attendance hotline to let them know. I didn't like having the power go out during my training. They just went over the nightmare it is to fill out the paperwork if you miss your out punch. Luckily everything came back on right before it was time to clock out and I was able to rejoin the training team. Phew. Nightmare avoided.

I was off work and the wind had died down. It was almost eerily quiet, like we were in the eye of the storm. I decided to run down to the little gas station store and pick up a couple things so I didn't have to go into town for a big shopping trip. 

Poor little gas station. They were hit hard by the storm. A huge chunk of the roof was blown off. I went inside and there was water everywhere. My poor landlady was frazzled and they already had an insurance adjuster there to look at the damage. I chatted with her about the storm and then said, “Oh, you probably aren't selling anything.” She answered, “Yes, we are still selling stuff.” I grabbed a couple things and then she asked me if I wanted to have the leftover Shepard's Pie from the lunch special. She didn't think it was enough for two but didn't want to deal with having to put it in the fridge. I said sure. I thanked her and went back home.

I put the Shepard's pie in the oven to re-heat and made us some salads to go with. It was an excellent dinner. (Thank you, Lord!) As soon as we were done, the wind picked up – worse than before. The two cement umbrellas by the pool had been uprooted and were dangling off the side. The power went out again. The RV was shaking back and forth and occasionally we heard a big boom, like something hit the side of us. I started to pray hard, that a bubble of protection would surround us. 

My husband started the generator. Now we have lights and internet. I wondered if the Israelite's felt like this. The plagues and storms whipping around outside their dwellings, but inside they had light. The wind died down just enough for the poor dog to go out and do her business (as quick as she could.) As I struggled to close the door when she came in, I stopped when I saw the moon. It was orange. This is not a natural storm. Major spiritual battles are going on out there. I prayed for the people who will be affected by this, like my landlady. God, help us though these storms and keep us protected, in Jesus' name. Thank you.  

 

Concerning Mustard Seeds

When I wrote that blog post about Moving Mountains I couldn't remember the verse. All I remembered was the say to the mountain part and it going into the sea part. This morning I got an email newsletter from Christine Beadsworth. She mentioned that verse and I was glad to be reminded of the beginning of the verse. The verse is, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, be removed and go into the sea.” I had forgotten the faith as small as a mustard seed part. 

You can listen to her recent podcast – where she talks about harvesting mustard seed, among other things here:

The Threshing Floor Separation – Part 3

The day's training went fast, but then I had to babysit the IT guy for an hour and a half after work. Unfortunately, he will need to “put in for a higher level of tech” for the problem to be resolved. Thankfully, my husband felt up to washing the dishes today so that is one less thing I have to do tonight. I am making us a nice dinner of cordon bleu and salads. It is one of our favorite dinners.

While I was waiting on the IT guy, I read this blog post from Wes over there at NCRenegade. You should really read what he has to say. This is where the battle is. 

For All You Renegades

Have a peaceful night my friends. Lean into the Lord and Keep the Faith. Even if it is only the size of a mustard seed.  

No One Shaves Their Legs in Winter

Just a random thought I was having as I was drying off after my shower. I did shave my pits, however. Just in case I'm wearing a tank top and raise my hand during one of my online training sessions. Don't want to mortify any of my new co-workers.

Have a relaxing Sunday. 

And the grand prize goes to...

It was a brutal week of training. It is so nice to finally have a day off. I love working from home. When it is my lunch break – I'm already right in my own kitchen.

They are having a raffle at work. The prize is $2500. That is a lot of money for people who are making 15 dollars an hour in this crappy economy. To enter, you just need to upload a copy of your V card. The kicker is, if they get to a 70% vax rate for the company, the grand prize goes up to $7500. Wow, have you ever heard of such a thing? What an incentive to go get the jab. Unfortunately, it will be a motivator for some. It's only a chance to win. It isn't even a guarantee!

I am trying to get a bunch of stuff done today so I don't have to do that much tomorrow and can maybe relax a little before Monday. The list is so long that I've already decided that laundry will have to be done tomorrow. I've made some coleslaw so it can chill in the fridge. I am baking banana bread at the moment. I plan on making a weekly chore list so that I could do some cleaning on my breaks during the work day so I don't have so much to do on Saturdays.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

New Grandbaby

My son called me last night to let me know that I am a new grandma (again!). Her name is Madelyn May. She was 19.5 inches and weighed 6 pounds, 13 ounces. Very exciting. That makes 4 grand babies so far. They are in Alaska and I am in Kansas, so not sure when I will see her.

Happy Friday everyone!

Moving Mountains

I give all glory to God for this. A miracle happened at work yesterday.

So we got a satellite dish for the SOLE purpose of having the internet speeds that are needed for my new job. It is required that I have a download speed of 25 mps and an upload speed of 5mps. I have those speeds when I use the parks wifi, but the job also requires that you plug in with an ethernet cable.

I've been running speed tests since we got the dish but could not get any speeds close to 5mps for an upload. My husband called the internet provider and they told us the highest speed we could get was 3mps. (He told them the requirements we needed before they hooked everything up and they said, Oh yeah, no problem. Why do people lie so much?) At the time my husband gave me the news, I was highly stressed out about other things. I could not add another thing onto the pile. I told him, “I can not deal with this right now. God is just going to have to handle it.” 

So yesterday came the inevitable official speed test. The instructor told us to run the speed test and put the download and upload speeds into the chat. Now, the instructor was not actually watching the speed test being run. She was trusting us to be honest. So of course, the temptation was to lie, because she would never know. That temptation only lasted 2 seconds because I don't lie. I needed to have legitimate 100% honest downloads and upload speeds. I ran the test over and over. The numbers kept changing. The highest download speed was 40.1 at one point, but try as I might, the highest upload speed was 3.69. 

I started to tell the Lord that it was His idea to get this job and that I needed a valid download speed of 5mps. I reminded Him of that time when Jesus said that you would say to this mountain, Be ye removed and go into the sea (or something along those lines). I said, this is a big Ol mountain Lord and I need 5mps right now. I started praying as hard as I could. I put my hands on the modem and kept saying 5, 5, 5 as the test was going. That is when the miracle happened. 

The Lord went above and beyond what I asked and gave me 7mps. Even though I was praying and believing, I was still shocked when it happened. I took a screen shot of it and posted it in the chat. Then finished out the rest of my break yelling, Oh Thank you Lord! Oh Thank you Lord! I mean wow. 

I know what some of you are thinking. Don't worry about the 33. That was the legitimate download speed at the time. 

Wow just wow. Thank you Lord!

I was able to relax for the rest of the class. I have a great, big, wonderful God. 

The Other Shoe

Yesterday was the HR Orientation for my new job. They talked about all the benefits of working there, one of which was medical coverage. Unfortunately, this poke in the arm thing is not going away.

Starting February 18th, if you haven't been poked, the out of pocket medical taken out of your check will double. For me and my spouse, that would be over $400 a month, just for the cheapest plan. The high quality plan would cost $700 or so a month. You can't just opt out of the medical and still be able to get the vision and dental. It's a package deal. Having medical through your work use to be a highly valued perk. But now with the looming mandatory V A X, medical benefits just aren't what they use to be.

The HR lady stressed the fact that getting poked was NOT a requirement for employment. She went on to say that the company highly encourages it and that without it, I would not be able to enter a company building or participate in any company events. Thank God, I am working remote.

So my husband and I decided that we would be better served by opting out of the medical. I will need to do it within the first 30 days of employment or be automatically enrolled. It is too bad, but that is the way things are going. I also think this was a heads-up from the Lord. This will just be temporary. Once they really crack down and make it mandatory for employment, my time there will be done. Too bad. I really like the place so far.

Breathing Optional

I guess they are trying to implement a permanent mask mandate over there in Oregon. So sad. There is a story about it (here). 

I normally don't care about the hypocritical nature of those that want to impose their tyrannical rule over us while not adhering to it themselves. But here is a story about Oregon Governor Kate Brown partying without a mask. (here)

If you think the leadership in Oregon will stop at this, you are sadly mistaken. They will lock down the borders of that state and you will not be able to leave unless you show your V card. Watch and see. 

I have some advice for all you poor Oregonians out there.

Move to Kansas.

Love you guys! Have a great Tuesday.

Training

It is lunchtime for my training so I thought I would multi-task and start writing my blog post for the day. This morning went really well. I think I am going to love my new job. I am very thankful to God that all my equipment arrived on time and everything works. There are several in my class that were having major malfunctions. Some of them maybe never set up a computer before. Poor things.

The home office set up is working well. I made breakfast before my class started and I have an hour for lunch. I'm glad to have a whole hour. I made sandwiches for us. The plan was to make burritos for dinner, but I have to run into town to get some groceries after work and my husband suggested getting take-out. Works for me. 

Not sure the dog is too happy with the set up. She has been staring at me through the baby-gate. She is being a good girl though, no whining. She will get use to it I suppose. Okay, my lunch hour is almost over. I will post more later. 

It was a good first day. I have more I could write about, but I'm just too tired. Have a good night.

The waiting is over, time to start

My equipment has finally arrived and I spent the morning getting it all assembled. Did a couple test runs of everything so I can start my training for my new job tomorrow. I am excited, but nervous too. I have to do Zoom meetings as part of my employment. My cuteness cannot be adequately captured on film, digital or otherwise. It is what it is.

I set up a comfortable office space and I rigged it so that I can easily shut down the office laptop and start my personal laptop. I will have to schedule times to take a break from them both.

Our little RV park has a convenience store and a gas station. Gas is down to $2.85 a gallon so I stopped in to fill up. They make home-made pizza's to go there. We have not tried it yet. On the wall is a sign for a Tuesday Special. Two Pizzas, Two Toppings and a Two Liter Soda for $20. Sounds like a good deal. I made a meal plan for the week, so pizza on Tuesdays was a good addition. 

When my husband and I first met, we were perfect for each other. He LOVES to cook and thinks about making food and different recipes all day long. I love to wash the dishes, (really I do!) I find it very relaxing. So it worked out very well for us both. But my husband hasn't been able to do any cooking lately. At first I found the task daunting. I mean, I can cook. I'm actually a pretty good cook. I just don't really like to. But the need is for me to be the chef around here, until further notice. What your hand findeth to do, do it heartily as unto the Lord. 

Challenge Accepted. 

So I've been spending a lot of time looking for simple recipes online that I can cook in the evenings after work. I've actually found some really good ones, using stuff we normally have in the house. For lunch today I made sausage, red potatoes and cabbage using this recipe (here). It was yummy! I added a little chicken bullion to the water and used a little Mrs. Dash. You have to put your own spin on these things. LOL. 

Now that everything is in place and I have a plan, I feel very peaceful. I think things are going to work out just fine.

Sabbath Rest

I wrote this blog post yesterday, so that all I had to do this morning was post it. I got an email newsletter from Christine Beadsworth. It talked about battle fatigue and how the Lord wants the saints to have a Sabbath rest. The audio version is here:

Battle Fatigue

I have been very busy around the house for the last several weeks. I am taking today off (as much as I can). All the meals are planned out. Tomorrow I will be preparing for my first day of my new job. But today I will rest.

Sunshine - It's Not What You Think

It is 60 degrees, and a beautiful sunny day here in Kansas. It's hard to believe it is December. As I drive into town, I turn on the heat, roll down the window, crank up the radio and pretend it's summer. There are only two parking spaces in front of the post office and they are both full. I decide to circle the block and hope one of them leaves.

I take a right down 3^rd Street. On the right is an old mill, several stories high. On the left are several old Victorian style houses. The houses are beautiful and unique. They use to build them with quality back in the day and the lawns looked well kept. The homes and their yards are dark, completely overshadowed by the bulk of the mill. I felt bad for the people who lived there. No sunshine for you. Ever.

Still no debit card and no equipment. My job starts in three days.

I tried to search songs about sunshine on you-tube, but it was kind of disappointing. I got quite a shock when looking through videos of “You are my Sunshine.” Here is the song as I remember it: Happy and upbeat:

But here is a version that has the original lyrics from the James Davis and Johnny Cash versions. It was not a happy song. Beware this is a creepy version when you actually hear the words. Gave me goosebumps:

Kind of reminded me of what is going on these days. A nice whitewashed version of life, but if you dig a little deeper, you start to see how it really is. It will get darker before we are through. But in the end, there will be no need for sunshine. The Father will give us all the light we need. The battle is the Lord's. He will fight for us. 

He will win.

Winter Abilene Style

I took my (almost) daily drive into Abilene. I remembered to mail my dad's letter, but when I got to the Post Office I realized I had forgotten to stop by the dumpster on my way out of the park. The bag full of garbage was still sitting on the floor in the front seat. Yuck. 

Nothing in the mail except ads. My husband has been waiting for his debit card for his new account for over a month. Why yes sir, you can have a checking account, we aren't going to give you access to your money though. It is ridiculous.

The yards in front of the mansions on Buckeye Avenue are all decorated for Christmas. The trees are covered in garlands and shiny little ornaments. One guy went a little overboard. He has a huge blow-up Clydesdale horse and a row of inflatable reindeer along with his lights. I just shook my head and smiled. 

The picture above is for the horse that is on the sign for Rittel's Western Wear, also located on Buckeye Avenue. Someone has put woolen blinders and a winter horse blanket on it. (I guess the blanket is called a turnout.) So the horse statue is ready for winter too.

There are three wild cats that live near the parking lot at the local Country Mart. A black one, a tan one and a strange looking gray one. Someone has built a couple of little shelters for them with bricks on top so they don't blow away with the wind. One of the bagger ladies told me, as she brought my groceries out to the car, that there is a woman in town who comes into the store just to buy cat food. Then she feeds the little feral cats. God is looking out for them too I guess. 

Bundle up guys. It's going to get cold out there.

Sigh

 Another day, another variant. Give me a break.