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2021 January 05

Tuesday, January 05, 2021

Grits, bacon, toast and egg, now that’s a mighty fine way to start the day. However, Ella told me later that she had seen an ad for IHOP that had her mouth watering before she was out of bed. I know what my bride normally orders at IHOP: stuffed French Toast. We may have to do a drive up there one of these next days.

We had time for a several games of Fast Track before going to Operation Liberty Hill. Ella won them all.

We unloaded the food to one side of the OLH building and then drove to the other side to unload the non-food items.

Arriving at eleven o’clock, we discovered that the HCCM produce distribution wouldn’t begin until twelve. But, hey! We were first in line. This isn’t exactly a food pantry. They distribute bread and/or produce (which is usually at its “sell by date”) donated by local groceres such as H.E.B., and Whole Foods. Today we received some croissants, Kaiser rolls, celery, arugula, 4 baking potatoes, red seedless grapes, bok choy, 2 oranges, a bag of apples, 2 lps dry roasted almonds, and a couple onions. The onions were given to a neighbor.

I made a beef and vegetable soup for lunch, after returning home. I tore pieces from our leftover brisket, added a can of mixed veggies, chopped celery, V8 juice, and some beef soup starter. Rather tasty if I do say so myself. I also sliced and toasted some of the cheese and jalapenos croissants that we received today.

http://Armchairsermons.com

I want to loose weight.
However. I have a food allergy.
I eat food and I swell up.
😀

©2021 Thomas E Williams

2020 December 30 New Years Eve Eve

Wednesday, December 30, 2020.Hello and goodbye, Sunshine, nice of you to make an appearance.

  • Today: 66° Showers and thunderstorms likely in the morning then showers and thunderstorms in the afternoon. Highs around 70. Temperature falling into the lower 50s in the afternoon. South winds 10 to 15 mph with gusts to around 25 mph shifting to the west with gusts to around 35 mph in the afternoon. Chance of rain 90 percent.
  • Tonight 40° Breezy. Much colder. Showers and thunderstorms before midnight then showers and slight chance of thunderstorms after midnight. Lows around 40. North winds 15 to 25 mph with gusts to around 35 mph. Chance of rain 100 percent.
  • Thu 44° 35° Thunderstorms
  • Fri 50° 31° Mostly Sunny
  • Sat 55° | 36° Sunny
At 2:00 p.m. it was 46° rain and windy with 25mph gusts. Closest lightening 14 miles away. Incongruously there was also a high pollen alert. Must be because of the wind. But I would have thought the rain would clear the air of pollen.
At 6:00 it was 44° with a wind chill of 37°
  • ==========================

GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS

  • Congress won and Americans lost. The President signed the Covid Relief Bill for up to $600 per person even though it fell far short of the $2,000 per person he had wanted. That’s the bad news.
  • The good news is, Starting tonight, those who qualify and who have direct deposit set up with the IRS can start looking for their second stimulus payments as soon as tonight. However, the IRS cautioned that some “may see the direct deposit payments as pending or as provisional payments in their accounts before the official payment date of January 4, 2021.”
  • Not so good news. Paper checks may begin mailing with in a week, though some may wait months to see those checks because of IRS rules.
  • ===================

  • We had a nice big breakfast of fried potatoes, bacon, eggs, oranges, and toast.

  • We played more Fast Track. I actually won a few times. I have to admit that Ella is a better player. Her strategy baffles me. She passes up moves that I would take. Yet She wind. It can’t be all luck.

  • It was cold with wind that made it feel and sound colder. It was cool inside so we put some throw covers over us as we reclined in our chairs. We had nowhere we HAD to go and, with the weather being nasty, no desire to go anywhere. So on this cold December day, near the end of a horrible year, we sit and wait for time to go to bed. What is taking eight o’clock so long?
  • This was also the day to take out the trash and empty our holding tanks. So I did take care of the chores. The day wasn’t a complete waste.
  • NO SUNSET PHOTO. That little glow on the morning horizon was as close as it came to sunshine all day.
  • Also follow this other blog: http://armchairsermons.com My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 December 29

Tuesday December 29, 2020.

  • Today: Cloudy with a 20% chance of showers. Highs around 70. Southeast winds 10 to 20 mph. [It reached 70° by 4:00 and we had intermittent showers]

  • Tonight: Cloudy. 50% Chance of showers before midnight then a chance of showers and thunderstorms after midnight. Lows in the lower 60s. Southeast winds 10 to 15 mph. Gusts up to 25 mph before midnight.
  • Wednesday: High 65° low 40° thunderstorms
  • Thursday: High 43° low 34° rain
  • Last night before going to bed I checked the forecast and there was an 80% chance of snow on Thursday. This morning it had changed to rain. I have to admit, I was kind of looking forward to a little snow. A very little snow.
  • _________
  • I just got the results from my covid test. “Negative: SARS-CoV-2 not detected Testing did not identify the presence of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in the patient’s sample.“
  • ________

  • The news headline read, TRUMP REFUSED TO SIGN RELIEF BILL

  • That’s the news that’s reported. How different it would be if the headline read, TRUMP REFUSED TO SETTLE ON $1,400 LESS RELIEF THAN HE HAS DEMANDED FOR OVER 6 MONTHS. This statement is as true as the other headline. Do you still believe that the press is unbiased?
  • The general public relies on news outlets to report the news. We have to because we aren’t at the events as they unfold. However, news reporters are not like Court reporters who capture the words spoken by everyone during a court or deposition proceeding. Court reporters then prepare verbatim transcripts of proceedings.
  • News reporters do not record verbatim. They filter what .they see and hear through their own set of biases. They then write or tell the story with their own objective in mind and add adjectives that color our response. As an example of how descriptive words change our reaction, read the following. “I did it,” he said remorsefully. “I did it,” he said proudly.
  • This is not new and possibly unavoidable. Read the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Each author is telling the story of Jesus’s life and ministry. However, though as many as ten events are common to each, the author’s view point and purpose determined what they recorded and in what sequence.
The following summation was found on WhatChristiansWantToKnow.com/
  • Matthew portrays Jesus as the King and Messiah — he focuses on what Jesus said.
  • Mark shows Jesus as the Servant of God and he simply speaks of what Jesus did.
  • Luke shares Jesus as the Son of Man and therefore has much to say about what Jesus felt.
  • And finally, John presents Jesus as the Son of God giving emphasis to who Jesus was.
  • While I am ready to believe each of the gospel writers to be honorable men with no attempt to deceive, I am less ready to believe modern news reporters are as honorable or that they have no intent to deceive.
  • Here is a quote attributed to Ben Franklin which states “believe half of what you see and none of what you hear“. Seems like sounds advice.

  • We were playing Fast Track, while the remnants of our brisket sandwich and tomato soup lunch remained on the table. After Ella had beaten me four out of four games, I needed a break to clear the table and salve my wounds. But I came back for a single win out of the next three games.
  • (Past. I don’t think she really shuffled – just kept those winning cards in order. I could be wrong. She could just be that good and that lucky.)
  • Thanks to Ella, the Christmas tree is down and boxed away until next Christmas.
  • We still have two laser projection lights to box as well as a nativity that crane without a box.

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

    Good news. My INR was back on the accepted range again.

2020 December 28

December 28, 2020.
Three more days of Twenty- Twenty left. Three year that changed EVERYTHING. We can hope that this is the bottom and things will begin to improve. I pray there are no subfloors.

FORECAST

So Far Today 65 | 60Yesterday 75° | 52°Average 59° | 41°Mon 68° | 57° CloudyTue 68° | 62° 40% Chance Rain ShowersWed 64° | 36° ThunderstormsThu. 38° 30° 50% Chance Snow Showers

  • The revised forecast went from 30% to 50% chance of snow on Thursday. So now it is a coin toss, heads it snows – tails it rains. We’ve had about 27″ of rain this year. That’s the same as Des Moines Iowa. Compare that to Miami Florida’s 77″.
  • How common is the name of our little town of Liberty Hill?

Information from https://geotargit.com/called.php?qcity=Liberty%20Hill

“LIBERTY HILL, TX (WILLIAMSON COUNTY).Liberty Hill is on State Highway 29 in the Hill Country fifteen miles west of Georgetown and thirty-three miles northwest of Austin in Williamson County. It lies between the north and south forks of the San Gabriel River.

Among the early settlers there in the 1840s were Taylor Smith, Greenleaf Fisk, and U. H. Anderson. Families named Bryson, Poole, and Spencer arrived in the early 1850s from Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Carolinas. In 1853 a post office was opened three miles west of the present townsite. William Oliver Spencer was appointed postmaster and suggested the name Liberty Hill.The town moved eastward twice before 1882 in response to relocations of the post office and a local stage stop. When the Austin and Northwestern Railroad bypassed Liberty Hill in 1882, the settlement shifted again.Its population began to grow, and the 1884 chartering of Liberty Normal and Business College there soon added a student population as well. Nevertheless, the town remained small, never (through 1990) reporting a population of more than 500.The area’s economy during the 1980s was primarily agricultural, though local growth was increasing as workers moved to the community and commuted to jobs elsewhere. During the mid-1980s the town’s population was estimated at 300, though at that time the school enrollment there exceeded 850.In the early 1990s the community continued to report a population of 300, with fifty-five rated businesses. The population grew to 1,409 in 2000 with 134 businesses.”Liberty Hill is on State Highway 29 in the Hill Country fifteen miles west of Georgetown and thirty-three miles northwest of Austin in Williamson County. It lies between the north and south forks of the San Gabriel River.Among the early settlers there in the 1840s were Taylor Smith, Greenleaf Fisk, and U. H. Anderson. Families named Bryson, Poole, and Spencer arrived in the early 1850s from Tennessee, Arkansas, and the Carolinas. In 1853 a post office was opened three miles west of the present townsite. William Oliver Spencer was appointed postmaster and suggested the name Liberty Hill.The town moved eastward twice before 1882 in response to relocations of the post office and a local stage stop. When the Austin and Northwestern Railroad bypassed Liberty Hill in 1882, the settlement shifted again.Its population began to grow, and the 1884 chartering of Liberty Normal and Business College there soon added a student population as well. Nevertheless, the town remained small, never (through 1990) reporting a population of more than 500.The area’s economy during the 1980s was primarily agricultural, though local growth was increasing as workers moved to the community and commuted to jobs elsewhere. During the mid-1980s the town’s population was estimated at 300, though at that time the school enrollment there exceeded 850.In the early 1990s the community continued to report a population of 300, with fifty-five rated businesses. The population grew to 1,409 in 2000 with 134 businesses.”

https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/liberty-hill-tx-williamson-county#:~:text=Families%20named%20Bryson%2C%20Poole%2C%20and,suggested%20the%20name%20Liberty%20Hill.
  • The Information above tells HOW Liberty Hill became named Liberty Hill. However, I want to know WHY it was named Liberty Hill. I’ve heard two vastly different stories.
  • 1. That either the founding families or the post master came from Liberty Hill South Carolina.
  • 2. There is some story about freed slaves, but the person who told me this was unsure as to the details or truth of the story.
  • Unfortunately, the local city council had no information and the local library is closed until further notice due to the pandemic.
  • I have been unable to locate information from either the 2010 or 2020 Federal Censuses

You remember that i purchased an eleven plus pound brisket? Well, I spent all afternoon cooking it. I seasoned it, pressure cooked it, air fried it and pressure cooked it some more. I sliced off three good size chunks that Ella took to neighbors. Ella and I ate some for a late lunch/ early supper. I put everything back in the Instapot on slow cook overnight. I’m going to get it tender somehow. I just hope it doesn’t them to soup first.So that’s where the sun has been hiding all day. That’s the first I’ve seen of it. Gotta admit, it made for a beautiful sunset.

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 December 25

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Like a groundhog looking for a shadow, I checked the weather at 7:34 a.m. partly cloudy 38° that feels like 34° going for a high of 74° and a low of 46° before midnight.Some pink in the morning skyThe assistant manager of the photo shoot company bought a cookie-cake (size of a large pizza) for Ella and me. Originally it was much larger but I didn’t snap a photo quickly enough. There goes my A1C.

  • BBQ ribs, pork and beans, baked potatoes on the table in our best Glad serving dishes. Why put stuff on the table in a pretty little bowl that after dinner you’re gonna scrap off into a Glad container? Skip the middleman. Serve it in the Glad to start with. Save dirtying a bowl that you’re gonna have to wash? Do I need to mention that I’m the dish washer
  • Another plus, when in two months, you find those gray and fuzzy pork and beans way in the back of the bottom shelf – with the Glad bowl blown up like a balloon – that’s another one you don’t have to wash. Straight to the trash. Don’t even consider poppin’ the lid for a look inside. Don’t release those noxious fumes into the house! That’s what Glad trash bags are for. Those Glad people think of everything.

Not sponsored by Glad – but I’m open to the idea.

  • After dark, my bride and I went for a drive looking at Christmas lights. Some folks realty know how to create light-pollution. We drove around through a subdivision where the roads were laid out by a drunk and constructed by stoners. That’s the one explanation. The other possibility is that some psychologists are conducting a social experiment.
  • We got a little confused so I asked Google to navigate us toward home. Google replied, “¿Ehat? No entiendo ingles.” I repeated the command and this time it said, “Here is what I found on the web. Economies can suffer both sudden crashes and chronic diseases. Housing markets in the rich world have caused both types of problem. A trillion dollars of dud mortgages blew up the financial system in 2007-08. Was this helpful?”
  • I was actually hoping that the Neighborhood Watch would call the cops and report a strange vehicle driving slowly and repeatedly driving past the same house. Then we could ask the cops to escort us back to the highway.
  • http://armchairsermons.com My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time

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2020 December 23

Wednesday

1 day left

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Cloudy in the front

Cloudy in the back

Because I am working the afternoon/evening shift. I decided to take my bride out for breakfast. Of course, I took her to one of MY favorite diners, the Junction in Bertram. I had chicken-fried steak and she had mingas.

She then needed to stop at Dollar General, on the way home. I’m not sure of everything she wanted, but she felt the need for charcoal buckets. We do not have a grill. She wants then as a stocking stuffer for someone who has been “bad” this year.

Santa was busy from 3:30 ’till 8:00 with a few slack moments in between. Tomorrow is the last day for Santa this season. It was way too short and way too strange, but I’ll still miss it.

.

All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 December 22

Tuesday

2 days left

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Though there was a dense fog alert, there was none in our area nor between home and work.The sum was shinning through some light haze early this morning but really no fog at all.Santa received a gift of candy yesterday.It was so warm today (70°) that our really didn’t see like late decent at all. Maybe that’s one of the reasons that I feel like I’m waiting for the Christmas season to begin. Two more days! That’s all, and it’s over.Santa John/Aaron will be heading back to Idaho sometime after 3:30 p.m. tomorrow. I will work both shifts on Christmas Eve and switched hours with him tomorrow, so that he could get on the road early enough to get home for Christmas.

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 December 20

Sunday

4 days left

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Colder and dryer than yesterday morning..

Ella accompanied me to the mall today so that we could get this anniversary (12/26) photo.

Santa gets many letters like this one. Just a list of Christmas wishes.

Every so often Santa gets a letter like this that tells what their family wants and says, “Thank you.” It also had a drawing and a Christmas getting. Santa really really enjoys these letters.

Very rarely Santa receives a gift like this hand painted Christmas ornament. These become very special treasures.

After work, we came upon an accident that had just happened. A couple blocks further on, police and firetrucks were on the scene of another accident. We arrived safely home.

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 December 19

Saturday

5 days left

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Much warmer this morning -and wet.

I really hope this rain is done before six this evening. That’s when Santa makes an appearance at the new town park.I love the smell of maple wood cured bacon in the morning. Plus it makes our little home smell good all day.I have a Christmas Chronicles suit that is made out of pleather. So, even if it were still raining, I’d be alright. However, it was dry and relatively warm to start the evening. Though it did cool down to 50° once the sun was fully down. Mrs Claus accompanied me this evening. She is also going tomorrow for a picture with me. It’s only a three hour day at the mall so she will not have to wait too long for me to be done.

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2020 December 18

Friday

6 days left

Welcome, family and friends, to our daily journal. Share it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of contact for you.

Only 6 more days for Santa to visit with children and adults before he heads back to the North Pole.Santa gets some very special mail from very special people. This is just a small sample from today’s mail.Santa attempted to mimic this pose – and failed, which got a chuckle from mom.

One photo shoot every ten minutes!

That was our (approximate) average today. That is one way of saying that we were busy with a capital BIZ! We left no one waiting in line for more than a few moments. At the same time, I don’t believe any visitors felt rushed. Children had quality time with Santa and parents got the poses and photos treat they wanted.We even had a few brief interludes when there was no one to photograph or for Santa to talk with.http://armchairsermons.com My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time

  • All content (except quotations) ©2020 Thomas E. Williams