Here I am, at the Colorado River.  I'm in my camper coming to you through wireless Internet!  Technology, what a wonderful thing!

I told you last time that I was aiming for being ready a day early.  Well, it just didn't happen.  All sorts of problems came up that took up bunches of my time.  We got a late start.  So, no relaxing for me until after we got here.

The day after we arrived it rained.  It wasn't a torrential rain, so we sat outside in our chairs and visited with our friends that go with us.  We got wet, but we also got clean!  Last night we got a big storm.  We saw it coming.  Over the years we've learned how to recognize a potential bad storm.  So, we ended our playing in the water early when we saw the approaching clouds demonstrate lightning. We came back to our camp and made doubly sure that everything was tied down, covered up, and generally wind and rain-proof.

My husband and I sat outside for a long time watching the lightning show.  It was really something!  The sky was lighting up all around us.  When we felt a few huge raindrops we scurried into our camper.  We made it just in time to avoid a drenching.  It rained hard for hours. The roof on our camper is rubber and makes the most wonderful sound in the rain.  It is kind of a:

plick plick plick plick plick plick plick

I slept well listening to that noise.

Today my husband went golfing and I am here with you.  I'm even listening to my radio station from home on my computer.

Yesterday I finally got totally relaxed.  I really needed a vacation from all the things that kept popping up.  Now I can turn off my brain and give it a rest.  It is refreshing to only have three decisions:  what shall I eat, shall I take a nap, and what relaxing activity shall I do today.



Sad, isn't it?  I knew you'd feel sorry for me.  Eat, play, sleep.  So sad.

As I was watching the sky light up last night it occurred to me that the lightning was appearing to flash from as far east as I could see to as far west as I could see. I thought about the scripture, "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt 24:27

If you were standing outside last night you couldn't have missed the lightning.  A couple of times it was so close and so bright that it was as easy to see things as in the day time. When Jesus comes again it will be no secret.  He isn't going to just appear in a particular location and tell a few people.  We will know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that He has returned.  I imagine it will be quite a spectacle!

One of the things that happened that caused me some grief was when I split one of my fingernails halfway up the quick.  That slowed me down! I wanted to make sure I didn't snag it on anything and tear the whole nail off.  I tried dropping some Crazy Glue on it, but that kept coming off. 

A friend of mine gave me an excellent suggestion.  Tear off some of the paper from a tea bag.  Put crazy glue on your nail and hold the tea bag paper on it until it dries.  Do that same thing one or two more times.  Cut the edges off and smooth it with a nail file.  Use a fine grit nail file to buff it smooth.  It lasts for quite a while.  Maybe if I spent longer smoothing it I could make it look nicer, but I don't care as long as it keeps me from ripping my nail.

I should start a page of helpful hints.  I've already given you a good one about removing a ring from your finger using string.  So far, my helpful hints have to do with fingers.  Hmmm... so, at this point, my hints are all about "helping hands'!  LOL!

My vacation is over.    I hate when that happens!  Now I am unpacking, cleaning, putting things away, and taking care of the things that waited for me here at home.

Yesterday I had to go grocery shopping.  The animals and my sons kept eating while I was gone.  Can you imagine?  The nerve of them! I still have some more things to get out of the camper, but most of it has been emptied.  I'm washing all the bedding and such and will get it all put back together and ready for our next trip, whenever that will be. 

We got to take a bunch of short trips the first year we got the camper.  We don't use it much any more.  My husband's coaching schedule is a big hindrance.  He's always busy. I should put my computer in the camper and go sit out there a little each day.  I can pretend, can't I?

Something new has been added here at the Clarion Call!  There is a whole new Bible study area called "From the Heart of Jesus".  A woman named Joanne Lowe wrote to me and offered to let me use the studies she had written.  I checked them out and they are great!  So, I put them together with an index page, gave them backgrounds, and now they are ready for you to see.  Go take a look!

It was neat to hear from her as I have felt that God was going to bring more authors here.e.

Is it just me, or has our weather been very bizarre over the past year?  Usually we are experiencing 100+ degree heat this time of year.  We haven't been getting much over 90. When we were on vacation we also experienced cooler than normal temperatures. I wish I knew it was going to stay so cool and overcast this morning.  I would have planned to work outside. 

I'll be ready for tomorrow morning and, if things follow my theory called "The Bathtub Principle", it will be hot early.  What?  You haven't heard of my Bathtub Principle?  Sure you have.  You just didn't realize that was what it was. Back before cordless phones I came up with the Bathtub Principle.  If I was waiting and waiting for a phone call, all I had to do was get into the bathtub and the phone would ring.  The Bathtub Principle extends to all those frustrating things in our lives.  Like when your car is acting up all the time.... except when the mechanic is listening.  Then there are other things like the day you are expecting a very special UPS delivery and it comes way later than the normal time.... because your regular driver took a day off.  Now does it sound familiar?

It extends to many areas.  If you get in the shortest line at the grocery store it will take you two to three times as long to get through it as the longer line.  Either someone had to have a price check, the cash register ran out of tape, or someone's credit card isn't working. So, now you may feel free to name that annoying thing that keeps happening.  It's the Bathtub Principle. 

I actually have learned how to expect it to happen.  Instead of getting upset I just sigh and plug on ahead. Were you impressed?  Want to hear another of my theories?  It's called "Times Three".  Whenever I approach a project that entails at least an hour of my time I calculate how long it will take me as accurately as I can and multiply that amount times three.  More often than not, I am very close to the actual time spent.  Try it, you may be surprised.  Actually, if you try it then you will no longer be surprised... at how long it took to finish your project!

  Those two theories don't help with the actual outcome other than lowering your stress level because you have already learned to expect things to not go as planned.

God has been placing it on my heart that I need to improve the relationship I have with a couple of my neighbors.  I wasn't happy to hear that.  Both of the neighbors in question are not nice people.  They curse loudly at their other family members. 

The one next door even cursed at me because I asked her son a question while she wasn't around and curses at my sons for no apparent reason.  She just likes to be mad I think.

The people across the street honk at each other all the time.  They honk when they leave, they honk when they come home.  They use filthy language all the time.  The husband owns a welding truck and would work on projects at home (against county regulations stating you can't run a business out of your home in this area)...  banging and clanging and making huge amounts of noise.  One time, when the wife was cursing at another family member the husband cautioned her that the neighbors could hear her.  She waved her arm toward the neighborhood and proclaimed she didn't care (in foul language) about us.

Anyway, I figured I should just avoid them all.  If I don't wave or look then they won't see any looks of disapproval on my face.  So, I just acted like they weren't there.  God didn't think that was good. I asked Him just how I would go about changing that arrangement.  They would think something was wrong if I all of a sudden became friendly. I told Him I didn't know where to start.  

Once, a long time ago, the woman next door asked if I knew how to start new roses from old ones.  I didn't.  About two months ago Sunset Magazine had an article explaining how to propagate roses.  So, there it was... the icebreaker!  I made a copy of it and gave it to her.  She hasn't said much to me since, but I opened the door if she wanted to walk through.  I don't ignore her any more.  When the two of us are in the front yard I say, "Hi."

The people across the street were another story.  They've lived there a long time and I hadn't spoken to them in many many years.  Well.... this afternoon, when I went out to get my mail , the husband came across the street to talk to me.  Their youngest daughter is getting married and he invited us to the reception!!!  Wow!  When God opens a door He sure does a good job, doesn't He?