However, that same day, oil and tar balls began to show up in the water of the lake in Slidell.  Undaunted, he still thinks he can get in some good sailing before the mess is too much.  I told him I didn’t think that was such a great idea.  For one thing, the boat has those brand new blue coats of paint on the bottom of it, up to the water line and a little above, with a second blue line trim running around the boat above that.

The other big thing (in my book, however I guess I’m no longer a true sailor) is that if he gets a tar ball caught up in his motor, that will be the end of the outboard motor and I said, “we are not getting a new boat motor.”  “Period.”  “Forget it.”  “No way.”

Sometimes one must stand her ground, and this is the spot I’ve chosen to stand on.

So, he came come up with an alternate plan, which went like this:

(1) He wanted to put in a long gravel driveway down on the lower end of the front of our property so he could put the boat and trailer on it, instead of having it on the grass next to the garage.  Having the boat on the trailer on the grass up close is not only unsightly, but is also killing the grass beneath it.

The last two reasons above earned him enough permission from me to call our builder/contractor to come give him an estimate.

Tom described the gravel he thought would look nice that one of our wealthy neighbors has in his side yard.  Turns out to be a “special” gray gravel that is twice as expensive as regular gravel.  I couldn’t believe it.

Well, yes I could, knowing Tom and how he always gravitates, as if by magic, to the most expensive whatever it is he wants to purchase.  Again, I stood my ground and said “forget it.”  I was against the whole gravel driveway scenario to begin with, but was beginning to wear down.

Then he decided it would be nice to have cross ties along each side and a shed at the end, as a place where he could store all of his boat extra parts and pieces when the boat wasn’t in the water.  The shed could also hold all of his paraphernalia from Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest that now clutters the garage so that it is nearly impossible to get in and out of the cars.

Our builder came out and Tom got a price.  Then, Tom decided to add to the equation a concrete foundation upon which to place the now metal shed we were going to have to buy, so that the shed could be bolted down.

So, now we were up to a “regular” gravel driveway, cross ties all along each side, pouring a concrete foundation, buying a metal shed to place on said foundation, a culvert at the street’s edge, and, oh yeah – it seems a tree that is in the way is going to have to come down.

All of this is so that we can place the boat and trailer on it (along with its monthly liability insurance) since Tom can’t put it in the water anywhere around here due to the oil spill.

I got to thinking about all of this and came up with what I thought was an even better solution.  SELL THE BOAT!

I mean, he can no longer handle it himself, there’s no place to sail within hours of driving and it costs a whole lot of boat dollars just to have it to look at, much less sail.

But, he’s not to be deterred.  So, now I’m thinking that maybe the thing to do is (1) let him do all of the above additions to the property, which hopefully will be considered assets, (2) get a small window unit air conditioner for one of the two shed windows, (3) let  him put the two old furry bean bags out there that he won’t allow me to part with, (4) and have him go out there with his brand new cell phone (remember the other fairly new one got salt water in it and died trying to get the boat out of the water), where he can watch the NFL channel on his phone.

He was all excited because his “new” new phone has the NFL channel with all Sunday and Thursday night games.  I figure this will present the perfect opportunity for him to take advantage of those games, while he sits there in his bean bags looking out the other little shed window at his sailboat in front of him.  What more could a guy want, ya know?

Me . . . I’m going to sit in the house watching football on the 60″ HDTV and pretend Tom’s gone sailing.

May proved to be a completely unproductive month for sailing and now June loomed on the horizon.   I was back home from a trip, but days for sailing were rapidly dwindling away what with a convention planned, a second Texas trip, vacation.  The weather continued to be uncooperative, too.  Tom watched the oil spill coverage diligently, as well as the weather, which was now showing an impending first hurricane.  His spirits were glum, to say the least.

But, then he got a break.  Two days on a June weekend in between other activities, hurricanes and bad weather magically appeared.  He was excited.  I started to say thrilled, but somehow I hadn’t seen that emotion in him in quite some time, maybe even a sailing season or so ago.

Tom lined up his helpers, hauled the boat to the harbor behind his big SUV, got his boat in the water, get the mast up, and all that done before the first “teeny, tiny” problem arose.  The little outboard motor that he had just filled with gasoline before leaving home wouldn’t start.  It was out of gas.  It had all leaked out somewhere along the way adding to the gunk in the water or on the land going down to the water already generated by the oil spill, unfortunately.

He had to have someone tow him in his boat around the piers to his boat slip.  (Which we now had been paying for month by month for nearly a year with no boat use.)

That was disgrace enough, but the problem appeared to be simple and easily repairable.  (Note the words “appeared to be” closely.)  A screw seemed to have fallen out, or been jolted out, of the motor, causing all of the gasoline to leak out.  He and his best friend, Ron, went nearby to Biloxi to a boat store, but they did not have said screw in stock, nor did they recognize it’s kind and shape.  But, not to worry.  Tom had the boat motor owner’s manual and quickly found the parts he needed.  He ordered two sets of two different screws, bolts, do-hickys . . . you know -  one cannot be too sure in such a spot and must take all precautions against not having all needed parts when time is of the essence.  And the order was only slightly more than $50 bucks (albeit only $5 boat dollars).

I just about had a heart attack upon seeing the bill when the order arrived.  Four lousy little pieces of metal and they cost MORE than $50 bucks?!

But, what’s a husband’s happiness to be compared to, you know?  Besides, he had greater problems to deal with.  The exhausting heat and humidity caused him to stay in the SUV with the A/C going full blast about half of each day of the weekend, and that added up considerably, as well as concerning me greatly about his health.  Then, he just did not have the strength alone to get the second boom up on the boat from which one of the sails is rigged.  So, he had to find more help for that a second day in a row.

The next weekend, motor parts in hand, he got another break in the weather and wandered back down to the harbor.  I never did get the whole picture on the next part of the deal, but either the screws weren’t needed at all (after the $50+ expense, plus whole extra set), or else when replaced didn’t stop the gasoline leak.  Plan B developed, in which the motor was to be unlocked from the metal cross beam to which the lock was attached, the motor lifted, taken out of the water, driven home and taken to a boat repair shop, one being conveniently located close to home.

Tom has four sets of keys to the boat, each set consisting of about 10 or 12 keys on four rings.  He had two sets with him at the boat, but none fit the lock on the motor that was locked to the cross beam on the back of the boat.  So, what did he do?

He called me up, of course, and said, “Dee . . . what did you do with my extra two sets of keys to my boat?”

A roar of dead silence ensued while he revised his question.

He didn’t even know where the sets of keys were, much less where THE key was to THE lock on THE boat, etc, etc.

He never did find THE key.  So, Plan B-2 developed in which he would borrow a friend’s specialty hacksaw to saw off the cross beam to get to the lock to get the motor off of the boat.  All he had to do was buy a new blade for said saw.

He did, and even got the motor off without too much trouble, just with more help.  Got the motor fixed, too.  After refurbishing the entire carburetor on the thing.  (Chi-ching, chi-ching – don’t ask – I’m incapable of repeating the cost, boat dollars or not.  And I haven’t even mentioned the newly painted, “much needed” “bottom job” on the boat that he had planned to do himself, naturally, in the spring, but which had to be done professionally after he went in the hospital for heart surgery.)

Meanwhile, we were in and out of town and sailing time was zipping on past, unrelenting.  So were the effects of the oil spill in the gulf.  Oil and tar balls were washing up everywhere.  The clock rolled around to the last day of June, the harbor closed, with booms blocking all entrances or egresses, and Tom realized that as soon as he got the motor back on the boat, he was going to have to take the boat out of the water, again, still unsailed for the season.

He clumped over to the harbor master’s office and gave up the slip.  He called his worthy friends who stood by him like real sailing men do and came to help him get the boat out of the water.  It was a dreadful day.  And it wasn’t even over.

The final next to final twist occurring that horrendous day was that he had a flat tire on his boat trailer on the way home at about the same time he realized his fancy cell phone was totally dead because he’d left it in his sailing shorts and it had gotten submerged in salt water while trying to get the boat on the trailer.  They were having trouble with it, you see.  (Yeah, tell me about it.)  He luckily was close to a gas station and borrowed a stranger lady’s phone to call me, not to let me know he was okay or what time he was coming on home, but to ask me to call Ron to come over and help him, if he could.  Ron could, and did.

Turns out the tire was not just flat, it was stripped.  So, now add a new trailer tire to the new doors (some with three, some with two coats of varnish), new bottom job, new lock, new keys, new cross beam, newly refurbished carburetor on the motor on the boat on the trailer that was doing all of its travel over land, not the over the windblown waves of the oily mess in the gulf of Mexico.

It still took a while for him to make it home.  Longer than I would have thought, even with the flat tire, and of course, I assumed the worst.  Which happened.  After he got the flat fixed and was on his way, a state trooper pulled him over to see his registration and insurance papers.  While I faithfully keep our current insurance papers in both vehicles, Tom could not, for the life of him, find the latest, up to date card in his vehicle.  I can only suppose that the officer saw how frazzled Tom was, because he let him go, telling him to find the card and make sure he kept it close.

The boat is now home sitting in the driveway in the way, rather than on the grass.  It doesn’t even have a tarp on it at the moment.  Tom keeps trying to think of someway to get that boat in some clear water where he can have fun sailing and relaxing, leaving the cares of the world behind.  He’s plottin’ and plannin’, but I see no hope, myself, nor do I see that he still has that will to keep torturing himself like this.

Yet . . . he thinks he’s come up with a solution – of sorts.  When I heard his plan, I came up with a solution of my own.  So, while this may be the conclusion to one chapter of his boat life, next time I’ll share with you the Epilogue.  At least for now.  Till next time.

Cheers! Dee

I haven’t written about “THE BOAT” lately.  Oversight on my part.  Although, you have to admit there’s been a whole lot of other activity going on in our lives.  Like Tom’s 5 heart-bypasses March 31 and recovery.  My 1,750 mile trip to Texas and back.  Etc, etc.

But, believe me, boat happenings have been ongoing this entire time.

Some of you will remember me discussing das boot last summer when I briefly went back through our “boat history” up until he purchased the present one.  Last August I talked about his purchase of some expensive marine plywood to make a new “door” down into the tiny cabin.  I called them “Men Don’t Measure” and “Men Don’t Measure – Conclusion” for obvious reasons, when you read the posts. (Here and here – the photos are gone, but the links still there, so you’ll “get” the picture.  ha!)

He’s had the boat for two and one half years, so this was to be his third summer of sailing fun in the sun, blowing with the breezes, leaving all of the cares and worries of the world behind.  He had gotten the boat “all fixed up,” which is interpreted “everything he could think of to load the boat up with that I would be willing to go along with and pay for, if only he could convince me the items were all dire necessities to keep him alive and relatively safe out on the water alone.”

He half-heartedly worked on staining his marine lumber doors for the boat throughout the winter months.  The boat sat in the yard next to the driveway up to the garage with a blue tarp over it.  Staining went slowly, then ground to a halt about thanksgiving, with winter not yet completely upon us.  But days were short, nights were long and there was an abundance of football games and other major TV entertainment attractions to keep him from having to even think about that second, then third, coat of varnish each side of all three pieces of lumber needed.

He  decided to wait until early spring to regain his enthusiasm for boat “work,” as opposed to boat “play,” and kept napping in his recliner.  But I told myself, at least he’s not out spending “boat dollars” (Greg & Patrick, you will remember that this is somewhat equivalent to “guitar dollars,” an amount that boggles an average wife’s mind, especially one not given to piles of shoes).

Early spring arrived.  Cool sailing days were just around the corner.  Tom didn’t feel well.  After a trip to the ER turned into a two day stay, with needed heart by-passes set for a week later, Tom’s visions of sailing on the breezes faded a bit from his mind.  Staying alive moved to the number one place in his thought processes and stayed there for another two months as he endured complications and setbacks with his health before he could even return to work.

About that time, I left town for a while, so he thought that might bring a good opportunity for him to, at last, get back out on the water.  But, he didn’t have the strength to put the boat in the water on the coast, get the mast up and the sails all alone.  So, he had to muster help.  That would take a little planning, but could be managed.

However, heavy, on-going rains didn’t cooperate, so the minutes, hours and days tick-tocked away what would have been excellent sailing days while Tom and his helpers watched helplessly.

Then, total disaster struck.  The oil well in the gulf blew and now not only Tom, who sails in the gulf of Mexico inside the barrier islands of Mississippi, but the entire gulf coast region had a nightmare on their hands.

Tom was not to be deterred, though.  A true sailor and captain persists in even the very worst of conditions, most of which were about to happen to him . . .

To Be Concluded next time, so stay tuned . . .

(Cheers, Greg!)  Dee

Mom & Laura got to see some of the lovely wildflowers in bloom around Abilene, and I was happy for them about that.  Yet, I missed not being able to go with them.

However, a good school friend sent us some outstanding photos of the spring wildflowers around where they live, near Austin.  I thought I’d share these with you here today.  Enjoy!

Aren’t those really beautiful?  And, to think I grew up in Texas!

But, hmmmm.  Somehow I don’t remember seeing any of these when I was just a kid living in Abernathy, just north of Lubbock about 17 miles.  Why do you suppose that is, huh?

Oh . . . maybe it has something to do with the two photos below taken of Lubbock this spring.  Up on the high plateau of what is called the Caprock in the lower panhandle of Texas.  Check it out for yourself:

Now WHY did my dad have to be a cotton farmer up on the high plains of Texas.  Why not a rancher down in the beautiful hill country?  Or, maybe a country and western singer like Willie.

You can see why I left there at 18 and have never moved back.  But, I DO love to visit home, all my family and all of the  beautiful parts of Texas I missed growing up.  You have to admit, it’s a big enough state to have it all, folks!  And IT DOES!!

Cheers & many blessings to you each today!  Dee

Can any of you identify?

So . . . I’ve . . . been . . . stressed.

But, at the same time I’ve been reminded this week by others (thanks, Heather, for reminding me that dial-up internet on a rickity laptop is better than none at all!), in some cases, to be mindful of the little things in life that make our lives better.  I need to be “shook up” sometimes to appreciate all I have.  Me – the one who just wrote about “The Girl in the Woods” last time (this past Monday, that now seems eons ago) to remind us all to look around and really observe what we see.

I want to share with you a couple of photos we have of some beautiful birds who live here in Mississippi.  They are Mississippi Swallow-tail Kites, and Tom saw one flying above him on the way home from work one afternoon.

Isn’t this the most beautiful, graceful bird?

Here’s another one soaring above in the heavens.  Would that I could be such a bird in flight!

My spirit and my soul DO fly high above into the heavens when I remember my God, my creator . . . and I am refreshed and replinished in heart and mind.

Thank you, Father, for such beautiful little things in life that are not so little after all when we set our hearts toward heaven and toward You.  Help us to always have hearts of gratitude for the good you give us in such abundance, even in the little things around us, if we will but look and truly let our eyes SEE.

Give us hearts of compassion to always cast our look and Your love upon all we meet and know.  Give us hearts of forgiveness toward all others as You have forgiven us.  Forgive us when we do wrong, or fail to do good in Your name.  Help us to DO good in Your name at every opportunity; to always have a smile on our face; to always look into others’ eyes straightforwardly to smile at their souls.

We ask all of these things, and thank You for all of these things through Jesus Christ, our Beloved Savior and Your Son, in His Name.  Amen

Well . . . this turns out to be a change-in-progress as not only can I not please myself, but also all of my readers.  Thus, I’m enlisting your help here today – whoever you are and however you happened to have come by here.

This page is the second theme I’ve chosen in the past two days and the third photo across the top.  The first photo I had, along with a multitude of sidebar widgets I had showing, just because they were there to play with, seemed to many of you – along with me after about the third time looking at all of it myself – way too busy and distracting from what I write and want to talk about.   (I’ll show it to you in a moment below.)

The second photo was of a road/path, which reflects the theme of my blog – Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles – but Tom thought was too seasonal and too southwest looking.  It was of a road in Santa Fe, New Mexico taken during a Christmas season.  Thus, Mr. Andrews – my number one guide and editor in all things written and photographic – nixed it and he – as he is 99.9% of the time – correct.

Moving on to photo number three – the current one.  It was taken by none other than Mr. Andrews, himself, nearby over in Pass Christian, Mississippi, at sunset, along the coast highway (you have to look closely at the photo to see the road in it, plus the photo is greatly cropped), a couple of years before Katrina hit us all, taking most of that tree with it, along with all of the old stately homes along that road.

I, with Tom’s highest pleasure, have now decided that I want to keep this photo on here for a while and keep this them, at least for the time being, if and until I can find one that serves as well or better.  The photo is local – south Mississippi – taken by my beloved – Tom – and offers a serene look at why we love living here so much.

So . . . here are the three choices for you to look at and see what you think.  Number 3 – the current one – first:

Now, the Santa Fe, New Mexico photo:

Last, but first on this blog the other day (I know – all of this is backwards), the graphic I started out with:

I guess I’m like Goldilocks and the three bears.  First the photo is too busy.  Second the photo was too seasonal and distant from us (New Mexico – remember that sad saga of our “dream” vacation turned nightmare?).  Finally – third time’s the charm (I hope y’all will agree with me) – I’ve gotten the photo – and cleaner look on my page, sans 57 widgets! – that I like, although I DO terribly miss the way my blog page looked before.  I agree with JoAnn Glock – the MistyLook theme and photo and layout were outstanding.  It was just very outdated and wouldn’t allow me to do much with it. Mainly, I had to give it up because it got hacked and was spewing a lot of spam email out to people.  I hope you didn’t get any of it.

You will note at the top of the page here I have a special place set up now where you can privately contact me, if you do not wish to publicly comment, although I wish you would.  (To comment, you now have to go to the top of each post – see above under the headline – and click on the word comments.  Thanks.)

Hope y’all are having a blessed weekend.  It’s stormin’ here.  Big time.  Very dark, thundery and stormy.  Love it.  Dee

And since Tom’s been home since his surgery a month ago, we decided to brighten up our back porch and deck with some hanging baskets of flowers, as we sit out there several hours a day, some days.  This is our view from our old white wicker furniture nestled up next to our living room windows out back.

Here are some closeups of our new stand with the four shepherd’s hooks and some of God’s brightest petunias and miniature petunias.

The big window you see there is our bedroom, which faces south across the deck.

And here is a close up of my geranium I bought last spring as I’ve found geraniums to do well for me, the least green thumb gardener I know.  I call them happy plants, as nothing I do to them – or fail to do – fazes them.  They always bloom brightly, and this one is this year, more than ever!!  Thank you, God!

This photo I like, in particular.  It shows all of the bright blooms at their best, despite me breaking off and breaking back bunches of overgrown limbs from the plant last winter.

Finally – I want to share with you a wonderful glass hanging we bought on my birthday/our anniversary March 2.  It is hanging in our breakfast area in one of the windows facing west and southwest, so as to reflect the afternoon sunlight.  Isn’t it terrific, bright & beautiful?!  I hope that I can shine as much as God’s blessed child as all of these lovely things do in our home.

Here it is full length, filling our long window.

There was no sunshine that afternoon, but my kitchen was still filled with color!

It is stormy out here today and dark.  Many across Tennessee are suffering from flooding rains and tornadoes, but we pray God will look down on us all with grace and fill our lives with loveliness.

Cheers!  And many blessings to each of you today!

Dee

Some are family members and some very good friends.  The relationships run together, which is as it “should” be in the life of a Christian, I think.  Don’t you?

I’ve not slept well the past couple of nights after about 2 or 2:30 a.m. or so.  This has been going on for a while about half the time, so I have taken to spending that time until near morning’s first light praying intensely for these ones so dear to me.  Tom and I pray together, as well (in better hours for the both of us!).

God seems to be working mightily in the lives of some of these loved ones I’ve been praying for and for that I am exceedingly happy.  I know, from my own long life, that God DOES answer prayers, and most times, in ways that are beyond my comprehension and “out of the blue” as far as how the details fall together.

One young man who is a dear friend, as if a son, started  a new job today in a place that is brand new to him and different.  I just texted him and told him we pray he is having a good day and that we are thinking of him and praying for him today in his work.  For me, these prayers began about 2 a.m. this morning.

Another dear friend has a big – make that HUGE – weekend coming up this coming weekend and we are praying that God will bless him and show him the way to a better future.

I am – we both – are praying for family members going through strife and difficult circumstances.

Then, there is the world at large, where other Christians we know are suffering from sometimes terrible tragedies, and millions of people hunger and suffer in their daily lives.

How do we pray for these people we do not know personally and come to truly understand their plight?  It seems to me that we do our part by praying for those we know personally and have relationships with and project that to those more distant from us.  God knows our hearts when we turn to Him for answers and in gratitude for the many blessings already received.  As one friend said the other day on his blog, in asking for prayers for he and his family, “God knows the details.”  Yes, my friends, God DOES!!

So, I begin my prayers with gratitude for His love, His Son, His blessings, His goodness, for as I often begin my prayers, all good things in my life – our lives – come from God.

So, for today, if you will – try to remember that one thing.  All good things and goodness in our lives – in this world – come from God and Jesus Christ, His Son.  I think, no matter what is going on in your life, it will be a bit better in remembering this.

Many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

P. S.  Tom is doing better every day and we thank God for this lovely weather we have during his recuperation period.  Yes, God IS good.

He had two major complications the third day following surgery, which have really sapped his strength and slowed down his healing process, so is about a week behind in where we had hoped he would be by now.  Everything is  a huge effort, even just walking a few steps.  The complications are under control, but continue.

Please continue to remember us both in your prayers.  Each of you praying for him – and me – has contributed to him being as far along as he is right now, I’m convinced.  He was not doing well at all the last couple of days in the hospital and I spent two hours in deep, earnest prayer with our Father in Heaven the middle of the day asking God to help Tom rally.  I went and told the nurses that he desperately wanted to come home, even though they did not feel he was at all ready.

But, we were able to convince the doctors, nurse practitioner and nurses that we knew what we faced (we’ve been here before, if you remember, with his major heart attack in October, 1999 and my five heart bypasses with multiple complications in March 2004), were making plans for help and that he would, indeed, be better off at home.

And, he has been, thank God almighty!

Ron was willing to stay all night Wednesday if we needed him, as Tom was so unsure on his feet.  But after being home just a couple of hours, he thought he was able to get around just a bit without falling, and that was good.  A Home Health nurse came yesterday to check on him and will be back Monday to do blood work and check his vitals, etc.  They sent a really sweet physical therapist this morning to get him started on just some very light exercises to strengthen his legs and arms.

Ron came and stayed with Tom yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours to I could get groceries, more Rx’s, etc,s and came back at noon today to bring us three home cooked meals from friends.  Ron even made Tom some homemade chicken noodle soup, which Tom had for lunch today.  It’s delicious and full of chunky chicken breast pieces.  He’s on a high protein, all he can eat (right now) meal plan.

The Mississippi Press Association sent a fruit basket and other friends have volunteered to bring us meals, as I am busy 24/7 keeping up with him, I’m tellin’ ya.

Last, but not least (you guys will all be happy to know and happy for him! ha!) – he’s managed to rack up some more electronic gadgets as get well/early birthday presents.  So, now that he’s home and beginning to feel just a tad better, he’s a happy camper.

Bless Rebecca’s sweet heart, she not only did three loads of laundry, went grocery shopping, and cleaned the house, she made two meals, as well, all the day of Tom’s surgery (week ago Wednesday.  Then, she went shopping for a get well gift and gave him a “fine” universal remote he’d been wanted for about four years.  It’s identical to Ron’s, so he fully programmed it on Tom’s computer yesterday for him while he was here.  Tom’s sister, Debbie, and his older brother, Dickie, and spouses gave him an iHome for his iPod, which includes a docking station, stereo speakers, a clock and alarm.  He hasn’t opened it yet, but it is sitting out waiting for him to feel well enough to “play” with it.

The best gift he’s had so far – and mine, as well, has been that Tom’s daughter, Kristine, has been here with us since the evening before his surgery, just leaving Wednesday morning.  Her help and care giving of Tom while he was in the hospital was a true Godsend.  We couldn’t have made it without her help.  Truly.

We feel deeply blessed.

Thank you each.  And, many blessings to each of you today!  Dee

Please keep him  – us – in your prayers.  It looks to be a long, slow recovery, but God holds all in His hands and can – and will – provide all that we need.

Many blessings to each of you tonight!  Dee

P. S.  Sorry for being so long in posting.  This has been most difficult.  Hope to be back here soon!