A White Elephant?

Can you see the two indians? (Click to enlarge)


12/9/07 Sunday
What a good time we had. The white elephant thing was fun. The way it works is everyone brings a gift and then everyone takes a number. Starting with the first number we would pick out a wrapped gift under the tree and open it. The next number then has the option of claiming any opened gift or picking one out from the tree. I was the first one to “Claim” another’s gift. It was a headset radio. The lady who’s gift I claimed then had the right to pick and open another gift or claim someone else’s. It didn’t take long for someone to claim my gift. I think it was the next person up so I had a chance to open another one. At some point I got a skinny foot long reindeer or puppy (Hard to tell). Almost looked like a stuffed tube sock with ears and little feet. It had a squeeker thing that made a peculiar puppy sound so I began abusing that. Kind of like a kid with a noisy toy. That wasn’t no where as noisy as the big old fashioned alarm clock with two ringer bells on top. The fun now was to try and get someone to claim your gift, if you didn’t want it that is. I don’t remember how many gifts passed through my hands but it was a bunch. I ended up with some coasters I can put pictures in. Cherie announced “We’d like to keep this one” cause she likes it. Works for me cause I have perhaps 3,000 pictures stored on this computer now so can print them up anytime I want.

Pastor Dyer came to the party with his watch. I invited him to sit at our table and was glad he accepted the offer. “You’re the Westbrooks aren’t you?” he said as he sat down. Wow, he knew us. Perhaps someone told him our name at the party or something but it was nice for him to know it. Of course part of me wonders like I always do if he heard good or bad. It’s part of the insecurity I live with. Can’t help it, it’s just there but I don’t let it get to me. I think I talked his ear off. Told him the story of the coma and how Cherie and I got back together. I’m sure it gets old after a while but it’s something I can talk about when nervous in new situations. I didn’t do too bad at the party. There was lots of commotion but Don sat on my left and of course Cherie was with me so I was able to stay focused and not get overwhelmed by it all. As long as there are familiar things or people around I’m fine. It got a little tough when it came time for the gift exchange. Cherie recognizes this and sat me down in a corner kind of out of the way. I was confused about how it all worked but she advised me and we were able to watch a few people take their turns before my number came up. So I did fine, relaxed, got involved, and had a grand old time. I don’t think anyone knew how hard it was for me and I’m glad. So what do I do? I write about it here. Duh!!! Oh well, it’s my journal, my record of what goes on so honesty keeps it right.

At the end, when everyone was calling it a night I perked up mentally. Talked with Don and Wally about the tractor, showing them the quote and all that came with it. We also talked to John and Cindy about Chuck and Lillian’s needs of desires for Christmas. I think we talked to Dave about it too and gave him Miracles shoe size but it’s a little mixed up in my memory. It was foggy and cold when we left. Part of that weather change that rolled in around five yesterday.

This morning Cherie got up at 5:00 to make pear bread for the Sunday school snacks. I took the puppies out for their walk but that didn’t last long. There was a stiff wind coupled with the fog that was more like a thick mist that coated my glasses. That made the cold pronounced enough to make my eyes water. Yep, the walk didn’t last long. But everything is damp now and that is good for the seeds I’ve been putting down. As soon as I came in I got a fire started. Haven’t needed one for a few days but we’ll probably keep the wood stove fired up for a while. It sure makes things toasty warm in the back room where it is and the fans move the heat to the rest of the house.

So we had pear bread, pineapple upside down cake, a cheese ball and crackers, and veggies with dip for the snack thing. It went over well as I new it would. Cherie wasn’t nearly as confident so when she realized it was greatly accepted it put a big smile on her face. Raising both arms in victory she exclaimed “I did GOOD”. God I love to see her smile. Church was great as always. It is so nice to rush to get to church on time because you know the sermon will be good and want to hear it.

Right now I’m bundled up. I’ve got my sweats on underneath the jeans and a quilted flannel shirt on top of a warm t-shirt. With the Carhartt jacket Steve gave me and a knit cap with a baseball hat on top to keep the wet off my glasses I’m good to go. I still have fifty pounds of rye seed and now the wildflower mix to get planted and need to get it while the getting is good. It’s still misting out enough to require windshield wipers when you drive and could well rain tonight so it’s a prime time for planting. Cherie’s keeping a pot of hot coffee going so that will help keep me warmed up. The temperature gauge outside the window says it’s in the low thirties but I don’t know how accurate it is. Doesn’t matter, I have work to do.

Just a note. On the way home from church we saw that Dave Decker has a John Deere tractor out on his lot next to the interstate for sale. It’s the exact same model as the one we are looking at except it is four wheel drive instead of two. It’s got a front end loader and shredder attached as well. I called him up to see what he wants for it. $16,500.00 without the shredder. And it’s a few years old. When I told him about the Georgetown deal he couldn’t believe it. “I paid more than that for my tractor by itself. I don’t know how they can do that!” he said. It confirms how good of a deal it is.

It’s time to go out and get cold and wet so see ya later
---------------------------
I got the last of the seed out except a little I’m saving in case it’s needed. I dressed a little too warm so had to take the Carhartt off and put on a light windbreaker. As it got darker I stepped up the pace to get as much done as possible. By the time it was too dark to see the ground I was soaking wet from sweat. The flannel shirt and windbreaker are both hanging in the back room near the woodstove to dry out. There is a winter storm warning out now for the area with freezing rain predicted. I still need to rake in the rest of the area I seeded, only got about twenty percent of it done. We will see what it’s like in the morning. Never did get to the wildflower seeds. In the catalog we ordered those seeds from they talked about mixing the seeds with sand to use as a carrier with the broadcast spreader. Then it said to use a roller to press the seeds in the ground. I have a 55 gallon plastic drum I picked up at the landfill that I think I will use to roll the seed down. I’ll try it on the rye seed as well to see what kind of difference it makes. All part of learning more.