Oh, and while I'm thinking about it, pictures

 So here we are at the end of week two of, "Why the heck are you not buying boats?  I gotta make a living here!" Or to put it another way:
Regular week: 10 hours, 4 days a week.

Monday: out at 1430 (8 hrs)

Tuesday: Talk to boss for ten minutes, leave at 9:30 (3.5 hrs)

Wednesday: Talk to boss for 20 minutes, out at 10:00 (4 hrs)

Thursday: Talk to boss for half-hour out at 10:20 (4.3 hrs)

Total 19.8 hours, plus a pair of 6 hour vacation requests.

Plenty of time for lots of pictures, right? 

Monday:too fricking hot

Tuesday: Walk, yes, but both canmera batteries dead.

Wednesday: Some lame excuse

And today...

Trying to embarrass her for taking extra-long pee

Okay, here we go...

Absolutely the loudest soccer practice ever

Fun things that end up canal-side: broken bike

Misty found this at the base of Big Hill: someone got et

Water's a bit deep

Duck at the Swamp

God/Moves mountains/swims the sea/ ungderground/u can run/you can't hide/He'll find you/come hell or high water

Jump through the hoop, I dare ya

Hey, Big Guy

Now that's a decoration!

Wisdom Truck 40

 

To fear the Lord- to have reverence to Him- REQUIRES humility.  That gains you wisdom, which LEADS to honor.  In fact, I tried to write certain sentences in this very post MY way- and after a beating from the Spirit moving in my conscience, they were re-written GOD'S way.  It was when I said, "No, I want it the way I wrote it", that I heard myself and listened.  Thank you, Father, for the lessons WITHIN the lesson.

I wrote that last week, not knowing that it would smack me between the eyes this week!  Because, in search of wisdom, I need to backtrack and re-enter the Book of Job, and talk about what God thinks instead of what I thought.

On his on-air Insight For Living, Chuck Swindoll just finished a series on Job- at least three months on the radio, and so long in real life that halfway through, he stopped telling his congregation where to turn to at the beginning- saying, "Just open your Bible, it'll fall open to where we're at!"  And one of his earlier lessons brought us to Mrs. Job- and her famous line-

Job 2:9  Then his wife said to him, “Are you still holding firmly to your integrity? Curse God, and die!” 

I thought to myself, this might be the most hateful line I ever saw in God's Word.  And I thought that the fact that at the end of the book, Job gets 10 more children to replace the ten Satan took from him, meant that ,'Obviously God replaced that old hag with a newer model".

Chuck didn't see it that way.  He brought out a couple of things I had not considered.  One of them should have slapped me in the face- SHE also lost those ten children!  She was grieving too, coming into that exclamation.  In addition, SHE was watching the husband that gave her those kids suffering so bad he could barely take it.  Maybe Satan gave her her rash solution- like he gave Eliphaz his line of attack ("God wouldn't be doing this to you if you didn't deserve it")- but at least with her, it came from a heart that loved him, and wanted his suffering to end.

I passed it off, somewhat agreeing, but with a 'well, maybe' in my heart.  But as Chuck drew on, I saw more and more God's Wisdom pouring through his takes on the whole story.  But one of the very last days, he said a couple of other things that told me my old take was dead wrong.  And I have to tell it backwards, because backwards was the way it hit me.

Last things first.  He's telling in his folksy way about Job receiving everything back.  Paraphrasing, he says, "And one morning, Job wakes up and his wife goes (giggling sound), 'Dear, I think we're pregnant.'  And it happens NINE MORE TIMES!"

And it strikes me, "Chris, you've had no problem believing that God could make Sarah not only pregnant, but beautiful enough (perhaps young again enough) that Ahimlelech lusted after her at 100 years old- and you don't think Mrs Job could pump out 20 kids if God made it so?"  I had let the thing I hate most in skeptics- the "small God idea"- creep into this story.

And it strikes me a second time, "You don't think Job could forgive her for that one sentence? He forgave Eliphaz and company for MUCH worse, and he didn't LIVE with them!"

And that's when I remembered that first thing.  Chuck was so emotional when he got to the part about Job having to forgive those friends, and afterwards receiving everything back.  For four chapters God poured out dialogue that boiled down to, I am God, and you aren't", without word one of encouragement over what Job suffered.  And when Job repented and humbled himself before God, what was the first thing God did next?

Job 42:7  After the LORD had spoken these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My anger is stirred up against you and your two friends, because you have not spoken about me what is right, as my servant Job has. 

At this point, Chuck is almost screaming:  "Don't you get it yet??? IT'S GRACE! IT'S GRACE! IT'S GRACE!"

A grace I never gave Mrs Job in my telling of the story.  And I repent, hold the dust and ashes.

I'm not perfect.  I get a lot wrong, and I'm willing to bet that I won't learn a ton of it until the next life.  But here, in this one place, I have to say once more...

Thank you, Father, for the lessons WITHIN the lesson.

For once, I guessed right

 So the other day, my news aggregator sent me a story about "Best and worst cities to drive in" (you can find it here. I said to myself, "This is something Fort Wayne should actually be good at!"

We were the third best! Out of the USA's 100 biggest cities.

So let's look a little bit at how they determined this. (Which of course means, you don't have to hit the link, if you enjoysnarky commentary over dry stats.)

First category they used was hours in traffic per driver.  Lubbock TX won that one, while your usual suspects- Boston, NYC, LA, Philly, and Chicago- tied for worst.  They note that Chicago's total was 14 times that of Lubbock.

The next category they thought worthy was 'days with precipitation.' Not surprisingly, everything within 100 miles of Las Vegas had the least, and tied for #1.  Also, no great surprise that the home of the enormous lake-effect blizzard every week from November till June, Buffalo NY, was worst.

Next they looked at how much more or less than the national average it was to get into an accident.  Boise ID was the insurance company's dream; a somewhat familiar four way tie for worst had LA and Boston, and newcomers Washington, DC, and Baltimore.  Apparently, ability to drive fades as you move east.

Next was car theft.  I was surprised to see Hialeah, FL, as the best; in another 'but those are all liberal democrat cities' list, we have a 4-way for worst with Philly, Minneapolis, St Louis, Kansas City, and Oakland. Funny how that corresponds with 'defund the police' movements...

Repair shops per capita was next.  Birmingham, AL, was your best bet; obviously, the score gets worse the more people you insert into the 'per capita', so NYC, LA, and Chicago lead the bad side.

Car washes (?) was next, and your best bet is anywhere in Florida.  However, it seems that Madison WI doesn't care if your car is dirty.

Then, gas prices, which is where Fort Wayne and Indianapolis were 1-2.  If you can't guess california (especially southern) was worst, you don't get out much.  San Francisco headed the list of all-Cali, all-the time bad boys.

Auto Maintenence costs were all over the board.  Jacksonville was best, Ohio put up 2 cities (Cleveland and Columbus), and St Louis got a little redemption.  And on the high side, look to opposite ends of the nation- NYC 1, Honolulu 2.

Here's what they had to say about my home town:

Fort Wayne, IN, is the third-best city to drive in, largely because it’s an inexpensive city. It ranks as the ninth-cheapest city when it comes to the average parking rate. It’s also the cheapest city for gas, with the lowest average gas price among the 100 cities in our study. Fort Wayne also is the 24th-least expensive city for auto maintenance and second-least expensive for car insurance out of the 100 cities in our study.

Fort Wayne residents’ commutes aren’t too bad, as people only spend an average of 16 hours per year in congested traffic. That’s the sixth-fewest in the nation. In addition, Fort Wayne ranks as the 13th-best city for road maintenance.

Safety is also key while driving, and Fort Wayne has the 15th-lowest share of drivers that are uninsured. The city also boasts a relatively high number of auto repair shops per capita, offering residents convenient access to vehicle maintenance. Additionally, Fort Wayne has the 12th-highest number of roadway miles per capita, indicating strong road infrastructure and potentially lighter traffic congestion.

Two things stand out here.  One, 13th best for road maintenance makes me a little scared to drive in these other cities. 2, that 15th lowest share of uninsured drivers ... I think maybe their next step should have been to calculate the much higher percentage of uninsured drivers in total accidents.  I almost never see an accident where you don't hear, "the other guy was uninsured."

We've managed to hit the bottom five already- Philly, DC, LA, and NYC, with Detroit just beating out Chicago. Topping the list before us were Scottsdale AZ and Boise.  They grouped their findings into four broader categories.  Cost of ownership and maintenence was topped by Toledo, with us 3rd; 91-100 are all California cities.  Traffic and infrastructure had Lubbock at the top, with us at 38th; NYC topped the worst, beating out Chicago.  Boise was tops for safety, we were 18th; the least safe was another 'blue city' list: Detroit, Memphis, St Louis, Baltimore, DC, and of course Philly.  Final category was 'access to vehicles and maintenence', and here Miami and Orlando ruled, with Fort Wayne having its worst spot at 60.  Bottom on this set was the unlikely pair of Anchorage, Alaska, and our dirty car capital, Madison.

And there  you have it.  Where does your town fit in?

Two Walks

 

"This week was next week last week..."

Okay, so we've had a couple walks, but you know me, I have to give a lead in...

LAST week, we were so far ahead at our plant, we started the week after next last week.  In the meantime, our other plant was supposedly way, way behind.  Our boss refrained from asking for more items to cut, not wanting to a) work overtime, and b)get stuck with something hideous for months on end.

THIS week, we were already running out of NEXT week's (last week's week after next) stuff to cut Monday afternoon; so one cutter was sent home (and will be again tomorrow), one went home early (and presumably did so again today), and I toughed it out.

Which meant that today, I was out of next week's stuff VERY early.  The boss went to check on what we had left, and when I joined him, not only had we no new dropins for THIS week or NEXT week, but the other plant was supposedly- miraculously- (told to me with the caveat, "Unless they're lying") on the edge of running out of stuff to do by Thursday (today being my Tuesday), and nothing in the cue for this week's week after next AT ALL- so I went home at 1030 and asked the boss to set me up 'inventory stuff' to do tomorrow.  Which is essentially the same as getting stuck with something hideous, though it doesn't necessarily repeat itself for months on end.

Which brings us to our walks, one Monday night and our ill- thought out excursion to Shoaff Park today.  Here we go!

There goes Mommy, zooming off to work!

Today's abandoned clothing: a hoodie

First time we ever saw a white crane right at the landing...

Ready? Time for today's adventure...

Another beautiful day!

There's our roofers, at the half-mile mark

3/4 mile mark- so far, so good!

Across the river, we run into Hallowe'en wonderland

The Graveyard was our 1-mile mark

The rowing guys

I may have made that bimini cover...

We have arrived!

This is approximately half our normal walk- and not even to the Shoaff landing yet!

Hi ho, hi ho, back to the rack we go...

"Boy, did I need this!"

Pollution control- pumping something out of the golf course

This squirrel marked our 2-mile point

Then we saw a big fat ground hog, rolling around and sunning himslef

He saw us, and split.  Once gone, then I let Misty track him down...

...but holes in the bank still 'Misty-fy' her

Honestly, I have never seen a bush of these flowers (Fleabane, but we always called them "doggie buttons") this high- as tall as I am!

Halfway around the great circle- this is where our 'normal' walk would end...

The three mile mark

Never noticed befoere- click on the pic to see all the neat signs on this house- or is it Goober's service station?

Four miles down, 1/2 to go... but darn, this hill!

To be honest, Misty considered the cost of diving into the river halfway across the bridge coming back.  I didn't blame her!  By the point above, we were both dragging badly.  I told Misty we'd cop another rest break under those trees on the left, and that gave her a goal worth pulling for again.  I believe, due to advancing age on both our parts, next trip to Shoaff will be BY CAR.