I've got my own route!

(side note: New posting on The Bible in Context 101. click the link on the right!)

Praise the Lord and pass me the mail! I started my own route on Saturday. It is a totally new route and so I had to start it completely from scratch. The labels didn't even get there until Friday. I went in at 7:20 am and was done by 12:05. In fact, I got back at the same time I would have been leaving, had I been doing route 6 as I usually do on Saturdays. It was wonderful!
I came home and we went to my cousin Jessie's wedding. She married her Daniel and that makes it three Daniels in the family. We seem to do repeat names really well.......multiple Kens, Lloyds, Ryans, Dans, Andys and Pennie's. All of them are really different so it is neat to see how the different names fit the different people. Of course with 103 or more people in your immediate family its obvious that you will have some people named the same thing. Gram and Grampa had 6 kids and they were all fruitful and multiplied. Now their children are all carrying on the tradition. I love trying to keep track. I have started working on my genealogy again. I am determined to get the puzzle all figured out!
I was told by Mom Donaldson that I needed to tell you all the story of our flying squirrel. I don't think I can tell the whole thing, but let me tell you a little. A couple of weeks ago Amanda and I were talking in the dining room and she happened to notice some type of critter in the family bathroom. This room is 19 1/2 by 8 or so, so it was difficult to tell what it was way at the other end of the room. She and I chased it down and finally cornered it and the only thing she could get it caught with was the toilet plunger. So.....here we were with a flying squirrel trapped under a plunger with no way to get it out. We tried to get it to just slide over the floor walking under the plunger as we pushed the plunger lightly along. No dice. Well, then I threw a towel over it and we both grabbed the towel and tried to keep the thing still. Yeah right. Who were we kidding? It just squeezed out between our hands and took off for parts unknown. We could not find it and two days later was the Christmas Eve party. I prayed and prayed that God would keep that thing hidden during the party. I could just imagine someone seeing it and a mass exodus heading out the door or everyone doing a dance in front of the full length windows in the new room. What a sight for the cars driving by.
Well, we didn't see it for a week or so, so we thought it had found a way out of the house or at the very least maybe our cats had found it. Then the other night we came home and our cat Gabby was sitting on the buffet looking up at the cabinets above it. She refused to get down so we figured that there must be some type of critter up there. I told Will to put her up there and see. Well, the cat went up on the right side with Will's help and the squirrel came down over the front right at Will's head. Then it ran over the cupboards SIDEWAYS! Will was telling me to get him something to catch it with. All I could do was sit here at the desk laughing like a loon.
The squirrel hit the ground running and Gabby was right on it's tail. They ran around and around the couch like Tom and Jerry. Will and I sat on our chairs in the family room watching them with our feet up on the chairs. Then Gabby took a short cut under the couch the squirrel ran under Will's chair and out into the new room. The squirrel climbed our 9 1/2 ' Christmas tree and the cat went right up after it. That tree was dancing like one of those little musical Christmas trees that sing and do the hoola. Will, bless his heart did the smart thing. He shut the door that goes from the new room to the house and left them to chase each other around the new room. Then he went out and opened the door to the room that goes outside and left it open.
We thought that the squirrel had gone outside because we didn't see it for days. Then the other night Jessalyn, Jacob and Amanda's niece Emma were out there messing around when suddenly there were three kids running back in yelling THE SQUIRREL! THE SQUIRREL! Evidentally it has decided to remain in the tree living a well lit life. There are over 800 lights in that tree and he must be enjoying them.
The tree comes down as soon as we can figure out how to do it without getting bitten by a flying squirrel. Life around our house is never dull.
Tomorrow Amanda, Peggy and I are going to sew curtains for the new room, Jessa's room and the family bathroom. I have had the material for ages but not had the time to deal with it. I am looking forward to working with them. We are also planning on starting to use up all of the material that I have collected over the years to make quilts for the orphanage that we support in Columbia. After we finish with my material we will start on Peggy's collection. We are also going to make lap robes for the local nursing home if we have time. We will open the group up to anyone who wants to sew too. Winter is a great time to do that kind of thing. It is such a great experience working with those two ladies who really have a heart for working for God. They are such fun to be around. We look kind of goofy together though, they are both about 9 inches shorter than me. I feel kind of like the jolly green giant around them. We are also planning on trying to make some lip balm and hopefully some soap.
Well, off to do dishes.
God bless you all.
dea