The weekend was quite a marathon. Sure, we did swimming and boating activities (like a two hour sail down the lake and back); we’re on a lake after all, but the big thing on Saturday was to install four fence posts that needed replacing. Three of the four holes had nice thin holes so getting the cement was not a problem. Unfortunately, I didn’t get those three holes, my brother Kevin and his work crew of Jeffrey and Courtney got those. Thomas and I got the one with a massive amount of concrete mixed with large rocks. It took us over an hour to pick axe through the cement. We couldn’t dig around the cement because it had bonded with the local flagstone up near the main road. Kevin’s were all on the gentle dirt slope headed down to the house. Well, after lunch and a brief swim break, we were able to get the posts in. Kevin’s three took a bag of cement each, mine took 2.5 bags. Even though we were pretty much spent for the day, we rallied later on to cook a fine bbq chicken dinner just before the rain threatened to hit. It missed us, so we took a nice boat cruise around the lake “looking for a home” for me (we were looking at all the new expensive homes on the lake). Given my sibling’s current finances, only Kevin can afford to buy my parent’s house at this moment; so it’s likely that he will do just that at some point. I’m currently cash poor, but I have no doubt that I can generate more cash. I’m looking to buy another home on the lake sometime in the future; a newer home on minimal land would be my preference. My parent’s home requires too much upkeep for my taste. Kevin is fine with doing all the upkeep.
There was lots of rain, lightning and thunder overnight. One exceedingly large bold hit right by our house – the thunder was simultaneous with the bright light.
Big day on Sunday: I was teaching a class on Jonah, preaching about Jonah, and doing hymns and special music along with Jeffrey, Kevin, Dad and Ade. Last year was Jeffrey’s debut on bass; this Sunday would be his debut on guitar. Over the last year, Jeffrey had learned how to practice consistently, so he’s getting pretty good rather quickly. Ade was really impressed.
Sunday was very early – we left the house at 6:30 to get to my dad’s church by 8AM – the church is 1.5 hours away. Arriving at 8AM gave me enough time to set up my sermon notes, my class notes, music and instruments. Because Barbara drove my parent’s Tahoe to the church, I was able to use that 1.5 hour drive to review my sermon and class notes. I was woefully under-prepared because my Friday and Saturday had been taken up by so much activity. I needn’t have worried – everything went off great. Most people liked my children’s sermon the best, which included props (Jonah getting eaten by a big fish). The class was also well-attended. I had 17 people there, which apparently is close to record attendance. After service was over, we went to the same Chinese buffet we had gone to last week. The gal there gave me “special tea” largely due to my interest in her establishment last week and my (weak) use of Chinese. I think she was happy we returned for a second week. I didn’t eat as much as last week – I’m on the road to losing weight. When we got home, almost everybody went for a nap. I slept for 2.5 hours. After that, I watched TdF. Someone had spread tacks on the road right before the last descent of the race. I think it ruined anybody’s chances of beating Bradley Wiggins, as I imagine most of the racers wanted to use the downhill on this particular stage to gain advantage. Oh well.