Category: September

2020 September 30

Wednesday

Welcome, family and friends to our daily pc it with your friends. It is a way of remembrance for us and a point of connection for you.Another cool start to the day. However, it was not nearly as windy.Ella crushing some aluminium cans donated by Adam and family.Bonnie’s a/c being returned. Yes there may still be some more-than-warm days ahead, but I believe we will be okay.Laundry had been packed into the truck. We will wash them while at still and Jenny’s this evening.Homemade creamy cheese of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrot soup for lunch.Homemade pasta with tomato, garlic, and mozzarella. Arik and Sofia flattening and cutting the dough for this evenings supper, when we arrived. Jenny spent time going over our expenses, looking for things that could be cut.God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 29

Tuesday

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

We were up at 5:30 this morning so that we could make it to Pflugerville department puff public safety. We were on a quest foot Texas drivers licences.

The sun rose behind a water tower in Pflugerville this morning

Here we are standing in the standby line, while those with appointments we straight in.

We arrived at Pflugerville at around 7:45 this morning to stand in the “standby” for drivers license. About an hour later we made it into the building. Getting registered through a computer was more complicated than necessary. First you were required to make an appointment and then reenter the same information over again to check in. Must have been designed by a government employee! Then we were given several paper documents to complete, which once again duplicated some of the information. Then we waited for our numbers to be called.

That went very quickly, as did the process with a live person. Temp licences in our pockets with “real” licenses to arrive in a few days.
WE ARE TEXANS.

I took a nap and discovered a better use for the cheap paper masks

On my walk back from gathering the mail, I encountered this dead bird. How did it die? The wing appears bent at an odd angle. Did that happen before or after death. Was it an encounter with a vehicle or a predictor? Perhaps a child with a BB gun who knew not the value of a life, even a small life. However, like Poe’s raven, he spoke never more.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 28 Apartment Shopping

Monday

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 connection for you.

Fifty degrees and forty mile per hour winds woke me and caused me to close my window and throw an extra blanket over Ella.

It had warmed to sixty four and calmed down some by daybreak.

One minute wind advisory? That seems oddly specific. They later updated it to expire around 4p.m.

Interesting clouds this morning.

I washed dishes before starting breakfast.

Yum hash browns and bacon. Added some toast and eggs .

Ella posted: Well, we’ve had a busy day. We have finally been able to visit 2 apartments in Liberty Hill and have our names on the list. We also made a trip into Cedar Park and I had my flu shot. Tom had gotten his at the VA the other day.
I told Tom this point in our lives its like were hanging out in the middle some place. We don’t really know what to do here. It’s too early to pack. It might be several months before something becomes available to move. At this point we don’t want to start making a lot of changes.
But then we can’t make plans for the new place or get things we will need, because we don’t know what may actually need. Even if we knew, we don’t have any place to store it. It’s almost like we’re dangling out on a string. (Heavy Rope would be better.)
Any way it was a beautiful day today. I don’t think it ever got over 75°. We’re sitting here tonight with the doors open and fresh air coming in. So I guess I shouldn’t complain.

We stopped at Liberty Manor and looked at rooms and got our names on the list. Without assistance,(section 8) we couldn’t afford them.

Next we stopped at San Gabriel (something) but the fire department was there doing an inspection. Because of that, we were asked to come back after non.

Because we now had time to kill, we went to Wal-Mart so Ella could get a flu shot. I got mine at the VA last week.

Since it was now after noon, we went back the the San Gabriel apartments. We put our names on the waiting list. Again, without assistance, we could not afford them.

Ella said, “I miss Kara.” So, I placed a video call to her and we chatted for quite awhile.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 27

Sunday

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 connection for you.

  • Church online didn’t go as planned. We were unable to connect live tom Cross Tracks Church. The video from Cross Tracks was posted late this afternoon. I haven’t watched it.

  • I did watch the service broadcast by Union Park UMC.

  • Around eleven we started driving toward Adam and Leigha’s home.

  • After lunch, Ella, Adam, Tate, and I went to see the new school where Adam is teaching third grade.
  • We Sat around and talked for quite a while, then headed for home after supper.

.God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 26 Louine Memorial

Saturday

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 connection for you.

This is a short and disjointed blog post. But that is how today was.

  • We joined many others for Louine Noble’s remembrance of life and resurrection. The service was at 2 pm in the LHISD Performing Arts Center. Donations in Louine’s memory may be directed to Cross Tracks Church or a charity of your choosing. Masks were. required, and we practiced social distancing in the auditorium.
  • Four former pastors of Cross Tracks / Liberty Hill UMC were in attendance as well as the current pastor. All of them spoke of the profound impact that this woman had on them.
  • Current and former educators also spoke of how they had been mentored and befriended by her. She was instrumental in supporting and or developing many community projects – most dealing with helping the under privileged area youth.
  • Ella and I am glad to have know her for the last seven years or so. She was our friend.

And now for something completely different.

  • I’m on Prime Video’s episode four of the first season of “Utopia”. For some reason I keep watching, though I don’t know why. It’s much like a Quentin Tarantino film. It is so bizarre. There are so many questions. So, I keep watching hoping for answers. Much like “Blind Spot”, the clues are in images, not tattoos but an unpublished wordless comic book. Strange. This is not a recommendation. I wish I had never started watching it. But now I guess I’m hooked.

.God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 24 Fraudulent Charges

Thursday

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 connection for you.

  • My VA doctor said that all of my blood work tests were good. However, the A1C results weren’t available. So she wants me to come back in four months.
  • While I was there, I received a flu shot. Not just any flu shot either. No, buddy, this was the flu shot for old people. What do you conspiracy theorists have to say about specific shots for old people?

  • Yesterday we received a collection notice from the above company. They claimed we owed Verizon about $300 from 2018-2019. But that I could settle it for $225.
  • This is odd because our Verizon payments come out automatically. I called Convergent and spoke to Violet. I told her that I did not owe the $300 and would not be sending them $225.
  • This morning we stopped at Verizon, after my doctor visit. The young man there looked at my records. In 17 years I have never missed a payment or been late on a payment.
  • I then called Verizon’s fraud line. I was assured that I owe nothing and that they would take care of it with Convergent.

  • We tried to get our Texas drivers licenses today to avoid waiting until November 2nd when our appointment is. However we couldn’t even get inside the building at Cedar Park without an appointment. So it looks like it’ll be November 2nd before we get her driver’s license in Texas.
  • Apparently Pflugerville is the only location taking walk ins. It’s the same one where our appointment is. We are told the trick is to get there as they open. Only, I can’t get an answer as to when they open.

  • Before we left Cedar Park, I placed a online order for groceries. I was hoping that it would be immediately open. The first open time slot was for 4 to 5. I took it.
  • We then went apartment hunting again. We returned to places that we previously had tried unsuccessfully to get information. Today we got information that they were out of our price range.

  • We stopped at the new Pizza place in Liberty Hill. As I’m not a fan kid cracker line crusts, I ordered the thick crust. I didn’t expect it to be deep dish Chicago style. That is in no way a complaint. It just turned our to be a lot more pizza than expected. I placed the uneaten parts into the freezer. That’s two more meals.

  • This afternoon I received a phone call from Discover card. I was driving and could could not speak with them. They then sent a text message stating that they had refused a $29 charge.
  • “Discover: We just declined $29.00 at TARGET T-1884. Do you recognize this transaction? Y or N. Questions? Call 800-xxx-xxx6 and enter xxxxxx. Stop to quit”
  • Once I was in a parking lot, I called them. A once cent charge had been made and refunded. Apparently this it’s how thieves determine if they can place an actual charge through. They then made a charge at a Target store on California.
  • Ít looked suspicious to Discover so they blocked it. I assured them that I’ve never been to California and haven’t be in a Target for years.
  • I will now be receiving a new Discover card and new account number. But the same credit history.
  • “Thank you for contacting Discover about unrecognized activity on your account ending in xxxx. We’ve opened a fraud dispute to review your case. No further action is required of you as it relates to the review at this time. We will contact you if we need any other information during the course of our review.”

At a couple minutes past four, our grocery order was loaded into the truck and we were headed home.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

What a good boy I am. INR right where it’s supposed to be.

2020 $eptember 23 Can I trust my watch?

Wednesday

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 connection for you.

  • Looked like another cool, moist, overcast day. The air was full of moisture, but it never quite turned into the predicted drizzle.

  • Fried bread, bacon, and egg for breakfast. And we remembered to take our handful of meds also.
  • Ella and I have our birth certificates and marriage license (to prove that Ella is no longer Ella XXXXXXXX, but is now Ella Williams) with these and our truck license information (proof of residence), we can get our drivers licences. That will make us official Texans. Then we can get registered to vote in TEXAS.
  • Also, we’ve been apartment shopping. Along with the ones that Jenny had found on our behalf, hopefully something will open before the snow flys. 😁. 3 apartments we looked at are in Burnet. This is farther from Liberty Hill than we WANT to be. But only half as far as LAMPASAS.
  • Ella also wants everyone to know that she was right and I was wrong: everything we brought from Iowa (excluding what is stored at Arik and Jenny’s) does fit in the shed on our RV SITE.
  • We are muscle sore and bone weary, but we’re alive and kicking — just not kicking very high. Now it’s time to sit in the recliner for a while.

  • Ella posted: I finished getting the things from Iowa stored. We have a large bag to go to Operation Liberty Hill. Tom has a doctor’s appointment for tomorrow. Then we will go and see if we can get drivers licenses. It would be nice to get them before November. We’ve continued to look for apartments but the ads are very misleading. To me cheap is not $1500 or more. Independent living is not assisted living.

  • Somehow I walked over half a mile today. 3,455 steps? Let’s see, I walked to the mailbox to ship my broken phone back to Verizon, or wherever. I really didn’t read anything on the package other than, “postage prepaid if shipped within the United States”.
  • And since I had no reason to hang around the mailboxes, I walked home again. That seemed the reasonable thing to do. That must have been the point six miles. But where that mile came from? I’ve no idea.
  • Our trailer is only thirty five feet long. How many times would I have to go back and forth to walk that mile? But I’m sure that the biometrics in my watch wouldn’t lie to me.
  • It always tells me the correct time — doesn’t it? Every other clock in our home is set by my watch. What if it has been lying to me? What if it has been telling me p.m. time in the a.m.?
  • Well, it’s after eleven — I guess. So I’m going to bed — after I set my alarm, that is. Wish me luck.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 22 Doctors Visits

Tuesday

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 connection for you.

  • Today appears to be an instant replay of yesterday’s weather. That’s fine. The ground water, area lakes, and stock tanks (ponds) welcome the replenishment.
  • Ella had an appointment with her urologist (she got a good report) and I needed lab work done in preparation for a VA doctor’s visit on Thursday.

The VA clinic has once again changed location and this time it is very close to nearly all of our doctors. That means that while she is at her doctor, I visit the lab.

  • We went looking for apartments again today. I’m beginning to suspect that apartment managers are not only working from home now, but also putting in a two hour work week. Four sites we’ve visited have had the office locked and also appear to be unreachable by phone.
  • On a different tangent, I was ready to lay down in bed and realized the light was still on. Since getting back onto my feet seems to take as much planning as the invasion at Normandy, I stared at the light switch, just beyond my reach. The little lightbulb in my head went on and I devised a plan to extinguish the lightbulb over my head.
  • I grabbed a large. thin, hard bound book from the shelf near the bed. Adding the size of the book to the length of my arm enabled me to just barely reach the light switch. But it was enough. The light went out.
  • Then my bride, from her side of the darkened room asked, “What book was that,?”

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 21

Monday

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 connection for you.

  • It was a nice rainy cool morning that stayed a nice rainy cool day.

TODAY’S VIDEO

  • Travel was the word of the day. In an attempt to receive Ella’s SSA Letter, we drove into town, where we could access a stronger cell signal. For some unknown reason, though we have made three attempts to do this through the website (as I so easily did), each time the message was “unable to complete for this social security number”. The task was eventually done by phone and automaton. In 7 to 10 business days, it will arrive in the mail.
  • It was around 1:30 and I was feeling peckish. I remembered that, though Hobo Junction was closed, The Junction in Bertram was open and they serve the same chicken fried steak. Yum.
  • There were a couple of apartment places in the Liberty Hill area we wanted to check on. The first one had a sign on the office door that said the manager was sick and didn’t know when the office would reopen. A rather pessimistic woman with a walker hinted that she thought that the manager was looking for another job and would never come back.
  • Off we went in search of the next apartment complex. Ella’s phone announced, “You have arrived,” while we were surrounded by nothing other than ranch land.
  • I asked Google to find low rent apartments near Bertram, which is fairly close to where we are living now. The search came up with 3 possibilities. So Off we went.
  • All three were in Burnet, which is about twenty miles from here. We spoke to the manager of two of the complexes. Prices are within our range. No 1 bedroom apartments are available but one 2 bedroom may be opening soon. We took paperwork to complete. There isa $20 filling charge which gets us on the list.
  • 80+ miles and 2+ hours later we returned home.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams

2020 September 19

Saturday

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 connection for you.

  • Ella’s post: Here I am 7:30 a.m. and awake. I tried to turn off all my morning alarms but somehow I missed one for 7 a.m. we did get a good night’s sleep.

  • We got back home at 6:30 last night and by 7:30 We’re unloaded and in bed. Now today I’ll start unpacking bags and sorting clothes. We had two house of clothing so we didn’t have to carry them back and forth. Now it’s time to combine and get rid of some. Time for work before pleasure.

  • My most time consuming choir chore for today was sorting and combining spices from two homes. That took way more time than paring down underwear and socks to 14 each. The rest will be donated to our local food pantry/thrift store, Operation Liberty Hill.
  • My phone has a broken screen. Interestingly, it cracked under the screen protector and while in a hard sided phone case. It dropped and landed just perfectly on a corner. The impact caused a series of fractures radiating from the corner.
  • With phone in hand (or pocket) we went into the Verizon store. I was told that I needed to go to a website (Asurion) to file an insurance claim.
  • This was new to me. With previous problems, the Verizon staff did all of this for me. Oh well, things change. It was a simple process that ended with me spending$200.00. Why did I have insurance, if I basically ended up buying a rebuilt phone?
  • We also checked into changing phone plans to lower our bill. As it turns out, in 4 months our phones will be paid for and we cram cancel the service on my tablet, without paying a penalty. That will save us about $80 a month.

God bless and g‘day.

  • If you enjoy our journal: comment, like, and follow. Also see our Facebook page and our new Instagram page. Just search for “Tom and Ella Journal.”

My NEW sermons blog Armchair Sermons. Sermons posted most Sundays 10 AM central time.

http://armchairsermons.com

  • ©2020 Thomas E. Williams