5/23/2020
The SIMH today was a John Fogerty hit from a while back about Vinnie and the po” boys playin on the courthouse square—“Down on the Corner”—great music from my past (and some of you have the same past, I think) —we call it “real” rock ’n roll, don’t we? Anyway, it was probably rolling out of my head because I saw a video clip of it a couple of days ago with Fogerty and some of his family making music at their home—old teenagers to young twenties playing with the “ol’ rocker.” It was fun to hear them singing this and “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” and listen to his story about going to Woodstock and performing there. Which, by the way, was in the middle of another flu epidemic, which had no effect on the half million people at the festival. (Amazingly, nobody died due to the flu!)
Old rockers and I are somewhat simpatico (I think I’m using the word correctly.) I have this great hope for all them like as if they were my audience while I’m preaching them the gospel instead of me being in their audience. I want them to have gotten saved, to somewhere, sometime in their lives, to have heard how that Christ died for their sins, too; and that maybe they have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ and been saved. I pray for them and other celebrities because I know just a little bit about that culture. And, oh! how they need the simplicity which is in Christ Jesus! You can hear the agnosticism and vague knowledge being written in songs and scripts…what chance they can hear the gospel of Christ?
Another momentous week has come to an end. Our house is settling in towards completion with painting, then floor finishing, then trim work, from baseboards to closet rods, etc. We’re scheduled to move in on June 6th. We’re sooo looking forward to it. This has been a long siege, partly due to an overwhelmingly wet Winter and Spring. Much of the work and the completions were slowed because of it. Contractors go through this all the time. I don’t know how they manage to keep themselves on an even keel. Our main “general contractor” says he’d rather do remodels than to do new construction. He is an old Hoosier (like Barb and me) and he worked for about 25 years on historic home restoration in Indianapolis. Maybe that’s why he likes remodeling so much. He’s good and his crew is well trained. They walk in, go to work, never look at-a-loss, etc. Just get ‘er done! (By the way, Indiana friends and relatives, his name is Brian Johnson. Raised in the Shelbyville area, worked into his late 40s in Indianapolis, now been here in Fort Payne for about 12-14 years, I think.)
We’ve already gotten to know several of our neighbors, partly because we know some of them from association with Sarah’s having lived there and some of them have been water customers for sometime. One we met because a contractor asked permission from her to drive equipment onto our back yard by crossing over her drive …which he broke a segment of, then ran some equipment in which (due to very heavy rains) left big ruts in her yard..A little touchy for a moment or two, but seems to be working out OK now.
Another neighbor has had to have brain surgery, and so all the rest of us around have kept tabs on him and his wife. He came through it extremely well, told me he feels so good simply because there’s no cloudy or fuzzy thinking now! I asked him if he could get me an appointment!! Yet, another (next door) neighbor’s husband died about a week after we started the work. He was 89, a very nice man, who worked on painting a retainer wall between his property and ours, finishing it proudly about two days before he had a massive stroke and passed away. His widow has allowed our workers to use her driveway for parking this whole Spring, a very great gesture, in light of the wet weather.
Across the street a neighbor I’ve known for several years because of my minor involvement with a downtown improvement action, has given us use of a seldom used driveway to also accommodate our workers. All in all, the neighborhood seems glad we are re-doing this house…maybe they knew how bad a blight it was to theirs, I don’t know.
Well, we have the store back open with regular hours, and getting on with the new plans unfolding! Jason has Butter Snob Baking up and running even though his regular job—you know, the one that actually pays him to work—has kept him pretty busy and kept him from putting together a stock baking inventory ahead, sells out most every day. (And, I think he likes that, but wishes he sold out of a lot more inventory, ya know?) Sarah’s Cuppa Blue Jug Coffee, Tea and Kombucha is almost ready to burst onto the scene. Next week should make a big difference in how the store will operate all Summer long. I’m looking forward to that, as well as seeing all our regular customers back in the store (we are about 75-80% of normal.)
Thanks for reading, the Elder
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