First, I must share yesterday’s sunrise with you …

Not bad for rainy old Oregon, huh?

Today is Sunday so you all know what we did. Yup. We opened our house up to all the homeless people in Warren, Oregon and fed them all a good meal. Since there aren’t many homeless folks in Warren, it’s really not hard to do. Actually, to my knowledge, there aren’t ANY homeless people in Warren. That may cause you to question who we actually fed today, wouldn’t it? Like most other Sundays, we brought home Diane’s Mom, Jean, and fed her a Hebrew National hot dog. She had a choice – one dog or two. Diane had one, too. They each had one. Me? I ate left-over lasagna with 1/4 of the remaining baguette which I heated up on the “pizza” setting in the stove. I still have 1/4 left for my favorite sandwich, which I will make tomorrow, of ham, cheddar, and butter. Maybe a little mayo, but mostly butter.

In church this morning I was the lone greeter because Diane and her Jean took that time to set up the stuff they made for coffee hour after service. Since there were only about 33 people in church, it wasn’t difficult, but it could’ve been. One just never knows how many people are going to show up to be saved.

Diane and Jean tried to take their normal seats behind Nancy, but Larry and Shirley were already there, so they sat a row back. Being uncomfortable sitting behind Larry, I chose to be a “Left Side” churcher this morning and sat by Ron. It was a pretty good seat because I didn’t have to swivel myself to the left in order to hear the sermon. I could just stare almost straight ahead. It was very nice. I may sit there from now on. Sitting with Ron also gave me an opportunity to suck him into helping me with he offering, one of the tasks to which greeters are appointed. I had the right side, as you walk up the aisle, and things went well until I got to the third row where Nancy and Lisa were sitting. The second row is a short one, making room for a wheel chair, so the kids love it. Today it was occupied by Lisa’s daughters, Sarah and Dani. The girls indicated they had something to place in the offering, so I stepped in to let them make their deposit. I also noticed that Lisa had something in her hand that seemed to be destined for the offering plate, but she was busy giving instructions to the girls about something. I stood there for a long time, waiting to get her attention until I just couldn’t stand it any longer, with everyone staring at me and all, so I rapped her on the knuckles with the plate to get her attention. Which it did. I immediately regretted it. Honest.

She almost leaped out of her seat, catching herself at the last-minute, looking at me with a wild look in her eyes like, maybe, I was in some deep kimchi or something. Believe me, if you are ever going to be knee-deep in something you don’t want it to be kimchi.

Instead of standing up to slug me, she made her deposit and I made a hasty retreat before she could change her mind. I apologized later, but it was as if she had no idea what I was talking about, like what I did was normal. God bless her. Lisa works in the dental office where I’m a member so I’d hate to get on her bad side. She has access to needles and lots of other pointy objects.

Coffee hour went well. Since the cheese, an entire 5 lb loaf, was first in line it was devoured in no time. Just a few pieces remained. Cantaloupe was next. I cut up two of them yesterday and am happy to report there is enough remaining for a snack tomorrow morning. Jean made all the sweet stuff like rice krispee squares, brownies, and cup cakes. There were a few of them left, too, so we brought them home to nibble on after they ate their hot dogs and I ate the left overs.

After eating, we sat in the living room and watched a couple of movies Diane had recorded from the Lifetime channel. Pretty much all they show there are “Chick Flicks”, but she had “The Bucket List” with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson. I’ve seen it before, and it’s a good movie, but it’s not a chick flick at all. Maybe it wasn’t a Lifetime movie. During the movie I got a call from our friend, Tom, and talked with him for a couple of hours. I like talking with Tom because I always learn something new. Tom is the one who, not long ago, was hooked up to life support and pretty much written off as a goner. He fooled everyone, though, and made a miraculous recovery. Today he told me that last year when he went to the gun show in Hillsboro he had to use a wheel chair. This time he walked it all with just one cane. That’s amazing to me, and to a lot of other people. Tom’s also the guy who tried to staunch the blood flowing from a leg wound with a kotex. It would have worked well had he unwrapped it, first. Linda straightened him out on the proper use of a kotex. He will never forget that one. Nor will I.

Diane had a second movie which none of us had ever seen and it was good. For sure this one was a Lifetime Channel movie because it had commercials. It was definitely a Chick Flick, too. I actually like those kinds of movies because they end happy. Diane and I are alike in that manner. Like, if it’s a Bruce Willis movie, bad language seems to be more acceptable. Or, if it’s an action movie, something better blow up near the beginning or we lose interest. With CFs, their going to be a bit sappy, but problems are solved, and good things happen. All without bad language. That’s a plus.

Now the movies are done and we’re winding down. Me by doing this, and Diane by watching HGTV.

The Carolina Panthers won today. We follow them because Cam Newton’s backup QB is Derek Anderson, a Scappoose native. He gets to play when Cam gets hurt. Derek has played for other teams after being drafted by the Baltimore Ravens. His best year was with the Cleveland Browns in 2007. He owns a restaurant across the street from the Scappoose High School and he brings his NFL friends back to town every year to put on a football camp for the kids. One of our friends, Beth, was one of his teachers during his formative years, like maybe the 1st grade, who comforted him about his huge feet telling him that he’d grow in to them eventually. I know that’s true, because Beth told me that personally. He did, too, but he had to grow to six-foot-six to do it. Big boy.

Another little factoid is that Derek’s Grandpa live just around the corner from Diane’s Mom. We always know who Derek is playing for because Grandpa flies the appropriate flag in front of his house, along with the Oregon State Beaver flag where Derek set all kinds of records.

Oh, and Jean, the piano player, did you notice that the Panthers beat the 49ers today?

It was wrong of me to do that because Jean, the piano player, is a die-hard 49ers fan, her being from Modesto, and all. She went to high school with George Lucas there. Yes, “that” George. He’s only 6 days older than me so I guess that means I could have been a famous movie guy. I mean, we both know Jean, after all. She and George almost got married, I think, but she didn’t think he’d amount too much and moved to St. Helens. I’m guessing there. She may have only rubbed elbows with him once or twice, but I like my version best.

I heard from Idaho today and learned that all is well. It was terrible of me to shame Donna into communicating, but I couldn’t contain myself. The result was welcome news and worth the possibility of being shunned. That didn’t happen, however, and I believe it’s still OK to cross into Idaho any time we get the chance.

I think that’s about it. You all have a great evening.

Oh ya, Jewel. Here’s the sunrise that greeted me this morning …