Great sunrise

1/26/07 Friday
There is a beautiful sunrise this morning. Hopefully that is a precursor of the day to come. It didn’t freeze last night and was thirty five degrees out when we woke up. Going to get up above fifty today. What to do today? Cherie is going into town to get some badly needed things that she has been doing without because our budget has been so tight. When I found out she was running out of things like her favorite lipstick I told her to go shopping and take care of herself. “Don’t worry about the money, get what you want” I said. It’s a little thing but she got her Ohio income tax refund in and that frees things up tremendously. That’s why we splurged on going to the Olive Garden. Of course having a twenty five dollar gift certificate helped influence that. Regardless, being able to go shop for herself will go a long way to helping her feel better. She did her kind of dance saying “I get to go shopping” as she waved her hands with a big smile on her face. Helps take the pressure off of her and I love to do that.

Her phone just rang and it was the collection agency in Toledo about her hospital bill. There’s only about a hundred dollars left and when asked if she sent in the January payment she said “no” but was able to tell the lady that she will pay off the whole thing come February first. It’ll be so good to free ourselves of these last debts. Getting our things out of storage in Toledo will be one of the last. Both of our vehicles are paid for. The Direct Buy debt we are stuck with but hopefully will come into play at a later date when we can afford to purchase things for the house.

I dumped the water at midnight but it was still overflowing this morning. There’s a bigger container out in the garage that I was keeping scraps of wood in that I’ll clear out and see if it will fit under the pipes. Time to get moving. I’ve had my three cups of coffee. I’ll go online, post this entry on the blog, check E mail, and begin again research for the business plan. First thing I’ll look up is demographic data such as population centers within a sixty mile radius.

It’s windy out and I keep getting bumped off line so I’ll quit for a while. Called the Met Life rep about the life insurance policy that was on my grandmother, wondering when they would send the check. It is being held up by my brother which we expected so that was no surprise. He is being a spiteful ass and after us buying out his half of the farm is sitting flush so doesn’t care if he gets a check anytime soon. Besides that I figure he’s spending most of his time drinking now that he has cash. The lady I talked to said they have sent several notices and she called him personally in October. He told her he would get the form he was to fill out mailed. On top of that our lawyer called him and heard the same story. Larry doesn’t like being called a liar yet consistently lies to pretty much everyone, family included. After talking to the rep she asked me to send a request detailing the problem with my brother and they would issue a check for my half of the policy.

We had a nice conversation and she told of how many times she runs into this kind of thing. I told her how Larry had taken everything he could from our mothers belongings after she died, didn’t tell me she died for five months, and forged her name on the titles to the trucks. Then how he cleaned out as much stuff as he could from our grandmother’s house even packing his car on the day of the funeral and parking it seventy five yards away at the funeral so we wouldn’t see it. The second the funeral was over he scurried out, almost running to his car to get away. This was after we caught him lying about even going to the house just before the funeral service started. What a piece of work he is. Kim, the insurance rep, told of how her relative had forged a will leaving himself everything. “It’s a shame that death brings out the true nature, the worst in family” I said.

Well I’m going to try to go online again even though the wind is still whipping. Looking up more info for the business plan. I’ll go into the bedroom as the reception for the PC card is much better. Cherie has gone shopping and will be gone for a few hours with my blessing.

What a pain. Been fighting this computer as I let my feet soak in a hot water bath with some Epsom salts we found in Lee’s old stuff. My feet have been giving me problems for a few days now with the toes acting like they are ingrown though they’re not. Trying to research greenhouses for now and had to send an E mail to one of the companies twice. That caught me up into some kind of loop with the windows outlook program that I couldn’t get out of. Kept hitting cancel or trying to turn it off but the window would pop back up and nothing else could be touched. At least my feet got a good soaking.

When I finally got free from that I checked my E mail and there was one from the Met Life lady. She said that she approved our claim and the check would be sent out Monday. She’s sending a letter to Larry explaining their policy regarding claims after a year. Too cool. I called Cherie right away. I sent Kim, the Met Life rep, our blog address as I had told her our story in the course of our conversation earlier. She had been having one of those days where many of the people she had to deal with had been unpleasant so I said “Do you want to hear a story that’ll make you feel better?”. Of course she said yes and I did what I enjoy doing, I shared how blessed we are and how we had our marriage restored. God how I love that, how I love telling everyone this and seeing how it edifies. Kind of like bragging but not. Just sharing the love.

It looks like we’ll be heading up to Ohio fairly soon but it’s not wise to count your eggs before they hatch so we’ll see. We won’t go till after Amy gets here which barring bad weather will be the ninth. Think I’ll take a break from this laptop and empty the…

It's raining in the distance

OK. That stopped me in mid sentence. Kinda crying right now. Yeah, I’m a big tough guy who’s been to hell and back but…well it’s the brain damage OK? That’s my excuse cause it makes emotional control hard. My cell phone just rang and it was Cherie. Amy just called her and said the stove she was going to give us had a crack in it so she ordered us a new one. Cherie said Amy had to tell her three times cause she was crying too. She ended up at Midland’s airport cause she was in the turn lane and just had to go that way. Totally caught up with the call.

This just blows me away. Why us? Why do these things keep happening? Ever since I woke from the coma things happen as if some unseen hand is on us. Here I have all these doubts about God and am the most undeserving of men but I have no explanation for this. I pray “Is there a God? Where is the God of the Bible?” and on and on. Still am unsure of things and seek answers to my questions but why me? Oklahoma’s police report has me listed as dead at the scene of the accident yet I live. That death gave me a new life.

Anyway, before I go off on a tangent, (Too late, already did) Amy will still come to visit us. She’s got a big hug coming. Maybe two or three. Suppose I should empty this pan of cold Epsom salts water and go outside to walk on this land and ponder this life I’ve been blessed with. Wow!

I suppose the wonderful sunrise was a precursor of the good things this day would bring.