Monday Morning

Well Sunday was another beautiful day with unbelievable temps. It started out with the 50's and never got over 75, wow it was almost like a Fall day with no humidity. I started the day with a 6'ish rollout and then my usual routines before we got ready to head out for church. Church was a little different as the KOZ ministry did the service. This ministry is dedicated to boys from 8-18 who have no male figure in their life and they teach the boys about how to love and respect nature, how to survive in the great outdoors by fishing and hunting, gun safety as well as how to use a bow and arrow, fire starting, etc as well as Biblical and spiritual principals. We have several dedicated men in the church who sponsor this group and lead it monthly.

We met up with Katelyn and Curtis at the pizzeria for lunch. I choose to stay away from the pizza and just dined on the salad bar which is always very fresh and has a nice selection to choose from. We were meeting up with Daisy and her gang later in the evening for burgers and dogs at the Bald Knob Farm House. We came back from lunch and decided to give the truck a good cleaning both inside and out so I pulled it underneath a shade tree and we worked on it for a couple hours making it shiny and clean both inside and out. I even scrubbed the cargo area and it was soon glistening in the bright sunlight. Since I had the hose out we gave the burned smoldering brush pile ashes another shot of water and then watered the veggie and flower gardens as it's been 4-5 days without any rain.

The cucumbers are producing 3-4 a day and the sugar peas are filling out their pods as are the green beans. I'm still not getting any ripe tomato's but do have several big enough to eat but their just green. We sat around after the truck bath and read. We spoke with Bobby and the kiddos as he has them this weekend. They were building Lego's together. He has left Element Church and taken a part time position as the worship pastor with a church in Riverview. It was a sad day but also a new adventure for him as well. He planted Element along with a handful of dedicated visionaries about 6 years ago as they had a different way of bringing worship to folks who don't usually go to church. They wanted to be the church which was based on the original gathering of believers which met in peoples homes and doing life together. They eventually moved to a warehouse and were successful as the gatherings grew and more and more people came to be a part of this new concept much different than the traditional worship service. Bobby voluntarily stepped down as pastor due to personal issues and now has a chance to move on with a different church. We are saddened as we too will no longer make the hour each way trip to Tampa on Sundays as we felt the need to support this mission church as well as our son and his family.

Well its been nearly 10 years since we have last visited with Daisy and her two girls, Nikki and Courtney. Nikki has three beautiful and very talented girls that all are involved in fast pitch softball. Yamani their dad coaches them daily. All three are pitchers and the middle girl Hailey is playing and pitching this weekend in Carthage, N.C. in the world series against a team from Louisiana. It will probably be televised on a sports channel. Courtney who went to school with Amy has two boys Dominic and Andrew and they too are very active at the ages of 5 and 7 and they live in Haymarket, Va. which isn't far from my home town of Winchester, Va.

We had a grand visit with them catching up on old times and memories as well as getting to know the kiddos. Bree the oldest girl is now 14 and was just an infant when they were last here at the cabin. I don't think we have ever met Hailey and the youngest girl Allie. All of whom are beautiful and well mannered. All of them were fascinated by the campfire as they roasted marshmallows and make smores out by the fire. We soon left after dark as they ran and captured lightning bugs. It was a fun time reminiscing and making new memories as well as the Bald Knob is such a neat place to do so. We are having them out for supper on Tuesday and I will take Yamani to pickle ball with me as we use to play tennis together many years ago. He is still quite athletic and has never heard of the game so I will get him acquainted as well as meet some of my mountain players.

Well after getting back to the cabin and a hot shower it wasn't long until it was some horizontal lab for me after a few chapters in a non fiction serial murder case from the 70's, LATER   I'm still having trouble with Picasa our app for downloading and presenting photos on line. I need some help from Tyler!!!