Wednesday

Good morning!  Looks like we are waking up to some rain today, cooler temps too. Old winter just does not want to let go this time. Oh well, we will soon be complaining about hot weather. Reminds of one of the few poems I have committed to memory:

As a rule, a man's a fool

When it's hot, he wants it cool

And when it's cool, he wants it hot

And he always wants what's not

Now you have had your culture for today. You are welcome.

Yesterday came and went. Another day of life turned into history. Most of my morning was spent in preparing for, and then participating in, a graveside service for a baby. I can't describe it, so I won't try.

As the day continued to progress, I found good encouragement along the way through various ones and in various ways. I watched the radar periodically with a great deal of interest. I was scheduled to drive a golf bus to Salem. This was scheduled on Monday. I wasn't especially excited about it, but I like to help out the transportation director. His job is getting more difficult all the time.

Honestly I was hoping for a cancellation. It didn't happen, so off to Salem we went. Wanting to make the best use of time, I packed books and running clothes. During the 3+ hours we were there, I did some study in the Book of Judges, which is Sunday's sermon topic, and I got a 5+ mile run in.

Running in unfamiliar territory is always interesting. I had one of my closet dog encounters ever last night. I was running along the road and came up to a big barn. I heard a tractor and looked to see the farmer pulling out of the barn. About that time I heard them. Big, bulging, beastly beasts barking out,

"Lean white meat! Lean white meat! Time to eat, Time to eat!" 

I don't know my breeds of dogs at all, but I pretty sure they were in the category of "killer." Seriously, they were big and quite aggressive. They were smart too. At first they worked side by side to pin me against the side of the road. I was doing my best to kick and way my arms, while hollering in a most manly way (just like my pre-off road bike scream). Then they decided to split up, one on one side of me, the other on the other side.

While all this was going on, the farmer and his wife were running to me and the dogs, hollering all the way. The dogs were not paying attention. I held them off, barely, and the farmer got them under control. I don't recall any apology, but I didn't really care. I was alive. The problem was that I had hoped to do an out/back on that road, meaning that I had hoped to return. I'm not very smart, but I did decide that that would be a bad idea.

Now I was forced to run on highway 56 for a while, which is not a good place to run. I made it, however, without too much stress. I was glad to get that run over with.

OK, here we go. Long day ahead... Thanks for stopping by.