Boy, time sure has gotten away from me. We’ve been busy working outside and getting ready for Easter. Let me catch you up with the latest.
ETHAN UPDATE. First of all, Ethan is doing pretty well when you consider what he’s been through. He has been released from the hospital so he could recover from his surgery at home. His parents have begun to tell him how serious his condition is (Stage IV cancer) and about the treatments ahead. Rather than give you second hand information let me just point you to a web site that has been set up for him. The URL is www.caringbridge.org/visit/bibb. Here you can catch up on the latest with Ethan, see pictures, and send a note of encouragement if you wish. Of course, a prayer can be said any time, any place.
WORKING IN THE GREAT OUTDOORS. The time has come to roll out the mower and cut the grass. I’ve only had time to cut our yard and Pauline’s once. But with all the rain we’ve had I got the mower stuck in the mud once too. It looks like I’d learn to steer clear of that, but I keep wanting to cut grass as close to the wet areas as possible.
Last Saturday the boys and I finished moving leaves left over from last fall. We always get a lot of leaves to collect between the chicken house and the red house and once the fall rain starts they are too wet to move easily. I gave each boy a wheelbarrow and I’ll have to say they both worked really hard. I was impressed with how quickly we finished the job.
I am also trying my hand at strawberries. A few weeks ago I broke a little ground (about 30’ by 60’), and I have been setting out plants as time and weather permits. I finally set out about 300 plants.
Since I have mentioned the weather a couple of times I should say ours has given us quite a roller coaster ride the last few weeks. I’m sure farmers trying to plant corn have been frustrated. We’ll get a couple of pretty days where it’s warm then a cold front moves through (complete with tornado watches) and the temperature plummets. I think it was one day last week I was working in the garden in shorts and we had brief snow flurries the next day. I haven’t checked out my peach and apple trees, but so far our pear trees are still loaded.
MEMORY GIRL. Jenna calls herself the Memory Girl, and her memory is good. She recalls details the rest of us have long forgotten. But the other day our dinner table conversation somehow got on to the subject of how many babies are born in the world every day. Jenna and I had looked this up before but her memory failed her this time. She laughed at herself when she gave this confident answer, “I’ve looked that up...and I can’t remember what it was!”
By the way, I looked this up, and most web sites seem to agree that on average there are four babies born somewhere in the world every second. That just blows my mind!
WAR STORIES. Tuesday afternoon my friend, Mr. James Krantz, came to East Robertson High School to speak on his experiences in World War II. Mrs. Krantz was sick and did not come, but his daughter Lynda rode along. We (including Vicki, Mom, Pauline, and Jenna) ate lunch together at Tesha’s in Cross Plains, and then Mr. Krantz spoke to several history classes in the theater.
Like my dad, Mr. Krantz was a gunner on a B-29 and was stationed on Saipan. On one mission to Nagoya one of their engines was hit. They couldn’t get the prop feathered so it windmilled until the shaft finally melted in two and the prop came off (fortunately, not hitting the plane). On the next mission to Nagoya the top gunner’s blister was hit. Had this window been much larger the man would have been sucked out of the plane. Mr. Krantz studied on this as they flew home and decided to build a better harness for himself. This was put to the test the very next mission (again, to Nagoya) when his blister was hit and he was sucked out of the plane. He dangled outside at 30,000 feet for 15 minutes until his crew could get him back in. The tail gunner shot down one enemy plane while this was happening. Mr. Krantz suffered frostbite and his hands would have been amputated, if it had not been for a last minute operation with a new procedure to treat burns. The students looked like they enjoyed hearing his story.
EASTER ACTIVITIES. Last weekend we had our church Easter Egg Hunts at Kilgore Park. The flashlight hunt for the older kids was Saturday night and the daylight hunt for the younger kids was last Sunday afternoon. We had lots of kids for both of these.
Thursday night we had a community wide Maundy Thursday service at our church. Like last year, we did a drama of da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Yesterday we went to a Good Friday service at Friendship Baptist. Of course, we have our Easter services at church tomorrow. After that we will take lunch to Aunt Mar’s and let the kids hunt Easter eggs.
While the price was high, isn’t it wonderful we have a reason to celebrate this holiday? Hope you have a great Easter as we remember our risen Savior.
Joe
