NANCY PAINTS SCENERY

I made these photos of Nancy working on the scenery for the play that I have a small part in. On September 17 the Library is having a play MURDER AT THE BARBARIAN FESTIVAL that they wrote and are producing as a fund raiser. They created a character called Dr. Rodentburger and gave me the part. I am trying to learn my part. Nancy helps me with that.

These photos show the scenery that depicts the Crossed Plains Library for the play. Nancy drew the shelves, put books in and with the help of Library directors Michelle and Judy they put a label on every book, using real and family names. There are at least 100 books.

NO AC LAST NIGHT

Last night our air conditioning quit working and the outside temp was 94 when we went to bed. I opened windows and doors, turned on the exhaust fan, and increased the speed on the ceiling fan in the bedroom. I actually slept better than when we had AC. I lucked out last night when I called Allen Barnett. He said he would come this morning. When he got here he found that the large capacitors on the motor had burned out. He had to go to Abilene to buy new ones but jury-rigged it so that Nancy and Michelle had a little cool while working on the scenery. I went to Kiwanis where Judge Roger Corn spoke to a small crowd. When Allen got back from Abilene late tonight he also added coolant and it is cooling a little better tonight. He said that the capacitors are a major failure this summer.

PRAYING FOR RAIN

We came back from Granbury Monday and have been busy in Cross Plains all week. Nancy is painting books on the shelves of the backdrop for use in the Library play MURDER AT THE BARBARIAN FESTIVAL scheduled for Sept 17. She has the long plastic sheet on three long tables in the living room and Tuesday I picked up a load of donated paint cans at the Library.

Wednesday our church scheduled an afternoon prayer service for rain with a sign-up sheet for an all-day prayer vigil for rain on Thursday. We signed up for the 10:30-11:00 time slot and found out we were an hour late for the Wednesday service. My fault for not paying attention to the time. I was thinking 6:30 and it was 5:30.

Thursday we went to the prayer session following Theresa Morgan and followed by Diana Miller. We went by the Review office to look at photos they had without stories for Kiwanis. I had emailed my story and photo for this week and the photo didn't get there so that they could use it. I printed it on my laser printer and took it for them to scan. I identified the photos and gave them one story I had sent to Kiwanis in my weekly email. I identified the other photo and came home to send the story on that one. I then went to the bank to sign a complaint about a charge on my Visa card. Saw Ginny and Curt Hoskins in the waiting room. Curt said he was still writing.

This morning I woke up and found my eyeglasses looking badly bent. They felt broken so we made a trip to Abilene to LensCrafters. Found out that I had bought lens for old frames and they didn't have a frame that fit the lens. They sent me to Sears to see if they had frames. In the meantime Lenscrafters made me a new pair of glasses in 2 hours. Sears didn't have frames. I think I bought them at Midwest. We spent the two hours eating for an hour at El Chico and shopping the mall. Nancy found a shop that had clothes she liked. Amazingly she didn't buy any now. I got the new lens and found that the old ones could be pushed back together for temporary use.

A note on books. I am working through a bedside book. At the Texas Folklore Society meeting Nancy thought I ought to have a book named Callahan County and she bid in the silent auction and bought a book for me called CALLAHAN COUNTY by Brenda Black White. I rarely read poetry and don't like much that I do read. The first one was a free verse and I was skeptical. Later I read further and found some delightful short poems that had rhyme and most interesting little stories. I am about half through and found some very sensual poems. I remember Brenda from TFS meetings many years ago and remember her in a power wheel chair. I also have always identified a home on FM 2228 where I thought she grew up. The poems are about farm people that would live in Callahan County.

BOOK REPORTS

I have not reported on books I have read. One of the most interesting was Christopher Dunn's THE GIZA POWER PLANT. This is his many years investigation of the Giza Pyramid and his conclusion that the Egyptian society of the time were much more advanced than we give them credit for. He makes a strong case for the concept that the pyramids were built to harness the earth's vibrations as Nicoli Tesla wanted to do. His concept was that the pyramid tapped the constant vibration in space of the hydrogen atom and amplified it using the construction of the pyramid so that it acted as a MASER amplifying the input and outputing high power. He is not sure how they used the power but his suggestions are interesting. I have another book on the same subject, Egyptian technologies, that I haven't read. Dunn accepts others who have argued that previous civilizations were very advanced to the point of having nuclear energy. Looking at how far we have come since our nation was organized and knowing that ancients were not stupid, it is a reasonable argument. The argument has been that they destroyed each other with atomic energy and destroyed their libraries wiping out the knowledge. Interesting.

I read one of Elmer Kelton's novels written under the McElroy nom-de-plume that Nancy had finished about a troop of Texans coming back from being defeated at Glorietta Pass during the Civil Way. I think the name was A LONG WAYS TO TEXAS. Great story. Nancy has been working her way through Elmer Kelton and is reading one every week.

I also finished Condalezza Rice's first book that gave a fascinating insight to growing up in segregated Birmingham showing the separate culture that existed in the black world that few whites are aware of. She had the problem that many have of choosing a degree in college. She changed her Junior year and picked Russian history due to Madelaine Albright's father who was teaching at the Univ. of Denver. Due to affirmative action she was chosen as an incoming professor at Stanford Univ where she bloomed and used the position for many assignments in Washington that led to her being chosen by the Bushes as an advisor on the collapsing Russian government, leading to her eventual choice as Secy of State. I was most interested in her being chosen as Provost at Stanford from the position of professor to provost without any experience as a department head or dean, almost unheard of. And she did a great job during a time of cutting budgets and student unrest. She documents how her mother and father died and her feelings. After her mother died her father remarried and I can relate to how she reacted to that fact. I am looking forward to reading her next book about her life as Secretary of State.

FULL DAY

Today we got up early. Took the garbage to be picked up. Left at 6:45 to take Vicky to her office so that she can pick up her new automobile tonight. We stopped on the way at Office Depot where I replenished my ink jets that I used up publishing the Flame for the church. I also picked up a cheap publishing program to look at for the church directory we are planning.

We then visited Vicky's office and met the people she works with. She is near a Valero station that was selling gas for $3.35 and next door was a Kwik Lube. My Avalon was overdue on service so we got the oil changed.

I realized that we were in North Richland Hills where Madge Kite lives. I didn't have my DayTimer so I called her to get her address. Nancy put it in the GPS and we got there in about 5 minutes. Madge said she had been praying that someone would come see her and her prayers were answered. Nancy and I both greatly enjoyed having her give us a tour of her downstairs and all the antiques. Unique furniture starting with a piano made in the early 1800's, her wood inlaid coffee table, art, statues, candles that Mark collected, paintings, rubbings, a wine bottle from the F-16 wine bottling that Lou and I got to help with when we were visiting them in Belgium plus many more things. What she was most proud of was the huge bargains that she has bought at Goodwill. She had three leather purses that she bought for $1 each plus all kinds of great looking things that she had bought for very little. Nancy felt like we were wearing Madge out and we didn't go upstairs where she said she had a lot more than downstairs. As we were leaving a friend of hers drove up to take her to a Methodist church garage sale, so we felt good leaving her. I told her that I had come to pick up Ashley's wedding gift and she said I should have come 5 years ago. She has it somewhere in the garage and has no idea where it is. I do need to get there more often.

We drove back through town on 377 and Nancy said it was a nostalgic trip because she had worked in some of those neighborhoods many, many years ago. We were approaching 11 and got to looking for somewhere to eat. We turned off I-20 on Hulen and Nancy saw Central Market. That was another adventure. I had never been there. I kept looking for Judy Alter because she is always shopping there. You can graze all around the store. We bought all kinds of goodies and ate in the cafe area on a long stick of black pepper bread with olives, tomatoes, guacamole, pesto. I bought a tuna salad sandwich and a chocolate mousse cake. We had enough left for supper tonight.

As we drove out of the shopping center I said I had to go to the New Balance store. It is the only store in the world that has AA shoes that I need. I have been having trouble the last few weeks since I was diagnosed with neuropathy and my big toes hurt. So I bought two new pairs of 11 AA in place of the 10 1/2 AAs that I have had for 50 years. They feel great and I wore a pair home.

We were looking for Costco and never found it but got home in time for a nap before I got to work on my computer. I got my Kiwanis email out but still need to write my Livestock Weekly column.