WAPLES BROWNIES

Last night Nancy and I attended the Vital Congregations - Dreams and Directions for 2012 to learn more about Waples UMC where we have been going to church when in Granbury. Before we could sit down I had to eat a hot-out-of-the-oven brownie as well as a chocolate chip cookie. That was the dinner for me. They gave me a plate to take home so I can remember them.

Waples UMC is about half the size in room and attendance as my home church in Cross Plains, but they had an enthusiastic group brain-storm with pastor Al Munger and agreed to increase the goal of members attending services as well as the other criteria from the Conference for measuring the future of the church. The computer forecasts were dismal and we don't know what criteria was used for the projections. Church attendance is greatly dependent on the pastor as well as the congregation. Waples has a great welcoming congregation and I see pastor Al doing a good job of preaching. It will be up to the members to invite newcomers to the church. They decided that it was OK to concentrate on older retirees because that is the major component of the church and Granbury, especially in the Waples area. There is no central community activities in Waples but there are a number of churches serving that area. It was disclosed that the Gateway Baptist church, just down the highway that Nancy attended before I came along to persuade her to join CPFUMC, has again lost their preacher and are looking for another one. We hadn't kept up although we occasionally have breakfast on Monday mornings with the SS class from that church. The men sit at one table and the women at another.

I am continuing doing research on my thesis that God created matter from light based on the rotating electromagnetic energy WHIRL theory of Japolski. Although I have used Bessel functions in the past I am having trouble trying to comprehend all of the mathematics behind his arguments for a new way to see basic physics. The concept is intriguing to me.

I may keep going back to Waples just for the brownies.

IS SPRING HERE?

Here in Granbury, Nancy's peach tree has four blossoms and a few green leaves. The other peach tree has no green leaves, but it was behind last year. And last year there were no peaches on either tree. Nancy thinks that they have to cross-polinate but I am not sure.

GOURMET CHOCOLATE

I have a gourmet wife. Recently she bought an apple corer and the other night we had baked apples covered with chocolate. I added some Blue Bell frozen yogurt for a delicious dish. This added to our Super Bowl chocolate adventure.

Sunday morning I saw a fox walking around the house. We have missed the family that lived in the back yard. Don't know if this one will settle or not. The other day we had a herd of does walk through the back yard. The rain has been wonderful not only for me but for filling the ponds all around. Still not enough to run through the creek.

I am having a technician problem trying to install my Easy Water system. It requires wrapping a small diameter insulated copper wire around the one inch copper water pipe coming into the house. Should be a simple installation but the pipe is parallel and only about 3/8" from another pipe and the large amount of wire has to be passed through the small opening. I have tried twice and have one more idea to get the wire bundle small enough to pass easily so that I can finish the wiring installation. I found one other person who has had a system for 3 years and his wife likes it.

We had a great discussion in my Sunday School class last Sunday with everyone adding interesting comment. I will miss this next Sunday when we discuss Isaiah 53 The Suffering Servant chapter. But I started it with the last verses of chapter 52.

BUSY MONDAY

We had a busy day today. Like every day we started with breakfast and devotionals and added by going to CPFUMC prayer meeting at 9:30. Left at 10 in order to get to Abilene for my semi-annual teeth cleaning. Nancy wanted to remember where we planned our wedding so we returned for lunch to Lytle Land and Cattle Co. and had their sirloin special. We were amused that such a fancy restaurant doesn't know how to handle hot tea. We had no spoons, Nancy likes milk and sweetner in hers that we had to ask for. I thought my steak was tough but found out that I just had a blunt knife. It was a big butcher knife but dull. Nancy's was sharp so I used it.

We then went to Hendrick Hospital to visit my neighbor Margaret McGough who fell and cracked her pelvic bone. She has been having heart problems for years, but looked good in the hospital. They are saying that the bone will heal but she has not been moved to Rehab yet.

We then shopped Wal Mart and stopped in Baird to visit Ike Neal in his new nursing home. He wasn't in his room but we found him as he finished the Bingo game by winning a black-out card. We gave him some Valentine sugar cookies but don't think he recognized us. We visited with the head nurse as we left. I had gotten an email from my brother Walt with a video about the MD who found that her husband got better with his Alzheimers when he took coconut oil. She says to only use non-hydrogenated oil. They also said it helped other mental and nerve problems, even ALS. Sue has been giving it to Ike for several months. Can't see a lot of change.

I had a little dizzy problem myself but after a nap the vertigo left and I feel fine. To complete her day Nancy reluctantly went to Bunco in Cross Plains, so it has been a busy day. I even got the fireplace going again.

SUPER FOOD FOR SUPER BOWL

I may have to start competing with Judy Alter for a food blog. Nancy surprised me during super bowl. We decided to start the first half with hot dogs. They were a little less than super because we didn't have buns and had to use a limp slice of sandwich bread. They were flavored well and tasted great.

But the second half was super. I had suggested we eat popcorn and I popped it and put it in two large bowls but then Nancy had prepared sliced apples with a fork and a bowl of dipping chocolate along with a small bowl of sliced almonds to add to the popcorn. Now when you fork an apple slice into the dipping chocolate and put it in the popcorn bowl you have popcorn on the apple slice with lots of great chocolate. What could be more super!!

PIZZA FOR BREAKFAST

We are back on Halsell Hill. Driving in yesterday we stopped in Cisco and had a pizza. Nancy ate half of hers but I only ate one piece, so we had reheated pizza for breakfast this morning. Not quite as nutritious as our normal breakfasts. We visited Bobbe yesterday who was home from having a stent installed Wednesday. He is 83 and most everyone my age has had stents, bypasses or knee operations. I contend that my breakfasts of orange juice, tea, high fiber low-salt cereal with milled flax seed, sunflower seeds, blueberries, bananas, dates, raisins, with honey and cinnamon have kept me healthy. The mornings we have pancakes or waffles I add the flax seed, blueberries, honey and cinnamon. When we have eggs and sausage I eat my honey and cinnamon with my toast. I may also have been lucky.

We stopped in Weatherford for Nancy to have a follow-up on her eye exam and she came out in good shape. Left there at 3:30 and saw clouds but only had a little sprinkle on the windshield. When we got here I had 2.5" in my rain gauge.

Last week we fed the fish in Nancy's pond and were able see only three large catfish. We saw no minnows or other fish. We were feeding floating fish food but no other fish showed up. Nancy said that she has stocked it in the past with food fish. She also had great blue herons that visit the pond. The three cat fish may all be one gender. The pond is overflowing from the rain a couple of weeks ago.

We got a call from Nancy's granddaughter, Jacqui, who interviewed for a teaching job overseas and accepted a job in the Marshall Islands starting this Fall. She was looking at Europe but found this one. She went to a job fair in Iowa for overseas positions. She said she needs another calculus course before she goes. She teaches high school math.

We had signed up for a Marraige Retreat by the Methodist Church at Glen Lake for Feb. 10-12 but got a call Wednesday saying it was cancelled because we were the only ones to sign up. Had other inquiries but no other takers. We will now have the opportunity to attend the Tell Conference Feb. 11 that we wanted to go to.