Thanksgiving and Car

Well I totally spaced off blogging yesterday like I normally do on Sunday - goodness......  I'm going to say it was because I was busy in the afternoon doing other things :)

I hope everyone had a very good and blessed Thanksgiving holiday.  I was very blessed to be asked to lunch and dinner by friends from church - thank you so much.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get down to see Dad on Saturday like I had hoped but he said he had a good Thanksgiving too.

This past week I was trying to remember how to unhook my garage door opener to be able to open my garage door if the electricity went off.  Mike had shown me how to do this several years ago but as I looked at the opener my mind was a blank and I didn't want to try doing something on my own and then goofing up the door.  So....I texted one of the guys from church to see if he would be able to come over sometime and show me - and he was able to do that yesterday afternoon.  He even tied some cord to the opener so I could pull on that to unhook the opener instead of messing with the actual opener.  Thanks Jim!

Yesterday was the last Sunday to take tags for our Bread on the Waters Christmas grocery collection at church.  I had prayed about this throughout the month of November that God would bless this outreach.  The small group I belong to has organized this the past two years and our small group leader increased the number of baskets of food by two this year.  God is good - all the tags were claimed so we were able to meet our goal.  This next Sunday is the last Sunday to bring in the non-perishable items so if you have a moment - please pray that everyone will remember to bring what they committed to supply.  I also get to make friendly reminder phone calls this week :)  Our small group will be putting the baskets together a week from tomorrow night.

I picked up my car tonight from the repair shop and it's good as new.  Like I posted last week, God watched over me when the deer ran into my car and God blessed me throughout the whole process of my friend being able to come to where the accident happened so I could sit in her car - to the claim being started - to getting the car scheduled for the repair - to the rental company honoring my insurance per diem for the rental so all I had to pay was sales tax each day - to being blessed unimaginably when I picked up my car from the repair shop.

I am so thankful to God for all His blessings, He continues to amaze me almost on a daily basis.

Thanksgiving and Being Thankful

Well here is the Goober aka Cruz enjoying being in the backyard yesterday afternoon.  We have had awesome weather the past few days in Iowa!  I decided to cut back Stick and the butterfly bush yesterday - I didn't cut the butterfly bush back last year....  The butterfly bush was a monster to contend with, but they are both cut back and ready for winter.

 

Thursday evening I had a deer literally run into my driver's door as I was driving to training for our children's ministry at church.  One minute I see a train to the north of me, moving at about my speed and the next minute I see a deer right on the other side of my driver's window....then BAM my driver's mirror goes flying.  Two very nice men that were following me and saw what happened stopped to be sure I was ok, with one letting me use his cell phone when I couldn't get my bluetooth unconnected from my cell phone after making my 9-1-1 call to the police to have an officer come to make a report for my auto insurance carrier.

One of the guys walked back and picked up my driver's mirror and parts for me and both said after looking at my car and seeing what happened - if the deer would have hit a foot further up the car - more toward the front of my car - it probably would have flipped and gone through my windshield.  A great friend that lived close by came and let me sit in her warm car while waiting for the officer and while I called my auto insurance carrier.

Long story short - I lease my car from Toyota and they don't care where I get the work done as long as the car gets fixed.  I am able to use my auto insurance carrier's preferred program vendor - so that helps them out too.  I took the car in Friday morning for the estimate and it's scheduled to go in at 7:30 tomorrow morning.  I may get the car back by Saturday - no promises because of losing a day to Thanksgiving.  Worst case I get the car back a week from Monday.  My auto carrier suggested Enterprise Rental for my rental car and Enterprise is honoring the per diem allowance by my insurance carrier for a rental - all I pay is sales tax each day I have the rental.  My driver's door would not open from the outside - I had to open the passenger door, crawl over my stick shift and emergency brake (I have a standard transmission) and then plop myself into the driver's seat to drive the car.  I can open the driver's door from the inside to get out of the car.

For several years during my morning devotions and prayer time I "plead the blood of Jesus for protection for any vehicle I am in that day" and once again God was faithful.  How - here's how:

• The deer could have gone through my windshield and who knows if I'd even be here to do this post.
• My car was driveable - both guys that stopped to help and the officer confirmed they didn't see anything dripping, any liquid under my car or hear anything hissing - plus the officer said the tire was not going to rub on anything.
• I was able to go from 5:45 pm Thursday night to very early Friday morning having everything taken care of from calling my auto carrier, to Toyota to let them know what happened to their leased vehicle, to getting the car scheduled for repairs, and rental arrangements made.
• When I asked the guy where my car will be fixed if he could look at the driver's door to see if they could get it to work - they did - and my driver's door works from the outside.
• The car rental company is honoring my auto carrier's daily allowance so all I am out of pocket is sales tax for the rental.

Like I posted on Facebook, I am very thankful that I was brought up by two God-fearing parents in a Christian home and know that Jesus is my Lord and Saviour - and God does protect His children.

When I got my water and trash bill this month I about died - my water usage was 6000 gallons with my bill being $20-$25 more than last month!  Now my bill had been high for a couple of months but I didn't think anything about it because I was doing a lot of "Butler laundry" with his speedo and the crib sheet on my bed he slept on - along with some watering of the backyard.  But when my September bill was still as high as it had been and Butler was gone and I didn't do any watering in the backyard I decided to track my usage for the next month.  I did 9 loads of laundry (small to large), 3 loads in the dishwasher, averaged almost a shower a day, etc., and I used 6000 gallons. 

I found an EPA link that stated what normal usage per household item should be - along with another web site that had a chart that I roughly figured what I used last month.  If I used 3000 gallons that would be high per those links.  I talked to WDM Water Works and they agreed I should not use that much water and I had a leak somewhere.  I didn't have any puddles or standing water in the house and the line from the street to the house is copper.  The lady said I probably had a leaky toilet and told me to put food dye in the tank, wait 30 minutes to see if any food dye coloring was in the bowl and if the answer was yes - I had a leaky toilet.  Well, I have my toilet upstairs I use all the time - but I have a bathroom on the main level of the house that I hardly ever use.  When I opened the door to the downstairs bathroom I could hear that toilet running.........  No food dye coloring appeared in either toilet.  One of the guys from church came over yesterday to see if he could figure out what was going on in my tank and evidently the flapper is old.  He tried to bend the arm dealie to get it to shut off but it didn't work - so we turned the water off to the toilet for now.  WDM Water told me that they could come to the house and search for leaks - for free - so I'll see if I can't schedule to get them out to see what they can find.  Jim from church told me that when WDM Water does come, to turn the water back on to that toilet and flush it once to see what WDM Water finds.

Thanksgiving is this Thursday and I have so much to be thankful for - from my family, friends and awesome church family.  I'm thankful to have had an awesome husband and mother.  And I'm thankful for Jesus coming to Earth to die for my sins and that I know I'll see Him, Mike, Mom and so many others again some day.

I hope each and everyone of you has a great Thanksgiving holiday!

Iowa Weather ~ Veteran's Day and More

Man - Iowa has the weirdest weather.  Yesterday it was in the 70's and today it's in the 30's along with being cold, windy and rainy - almost sleety at times.  By the time I got home from church today I was almost frozen completely though...........

 

But I did get to see the black squirrel running around in the park across the street before I drove out of the driveway for church.  There were a couple of brown squirrels joining him.  Like I have said before, it always brings a smile to my face to see the black squirrel to know the little guy is still around.

 

Last Sunday when I was taking my recycle and trash bins to the curb I saw a baby garter snake in my driveway.  I'm like "really?!"  So Monday when I brought the bins back in, I took a quick look in the lawn that was close to the area I had seen the snake and there he was.  I'm thinking to myself, "You can do this McFall.  It's just a little, bitty baby snake and probably fairly cold.  Go get your dust pan and a plastic bag and put him in the bag and then in your trash bin."  Of course the snake fell off the dust pan and back onto my lawn with his belly sticking up - blick, blick, blick.  But I got him in the bag, tied it and the bag went into my trash bin.  Between doing that icky, blicky shuffle dance people do where they shake themselves all over like something is on them - I actually did feel sorry for the little guy for a few minutes.  But I thought it was either him or me and I didn't want him to hibernate somewhere and be a big 'un next spring.

 

I've started a Word document of things that need to be done around the house for Spring and for Fall - and I include pictures when needed.  Like the filters for my furnace - I have written down the description and size along with a couple of pictures for future reference.  I've turned the water off to the front spicket and got it covered - probably the first time it's ever been covered.  The back spicket when I went to turn the water off to it, it didn't feel right and the shut off handle itself started to drip.  I figured that wasn't good so I turned the shut off back the other way.  My neighbor was able to come over the other night and as I turned the shut off "off" he said I was opening it.....  I just looked at him and we went outside to the spicket and turned it on and the water just came out like normal.  So....that meant the shut off was broke because it had been in the "off" position all year and water still went through.  He did tighten the connection so it didn't drip anymore and he said sometime he would put in a new shut off valve for me.  He told me that the back spicket should be ok not covered - the main thing is to make sure the hose was disconnected from it.

 

We started getting some things in this morning at church for our Bread On The Waters grocery project - and lots more items were signed up for.

 

I had a small break through with Cruz this past week.  I've been sitting on the floor close to her and spreading some of her food on the floor between her and me in a line from her to me.  She has eaten some while I've sat on the floor but not much.  The other night she actually took a few pieces of dog food from my hand - I was so happy.  I don't know what the difference is between dog food and things like Pop Tarts, chips, toast, etc., in Cruz' mind.  She'll take all those out of my hand no problem.  I'm also supposed to attach her leash to me somehow when I'm home so we are "connected" for her to get used to me - and then walk around the house with her following me.  I haven't done that yet..............  The picture below is Cruz with her toy Hedgie.  She had been chewing on Hedgie and this is how things ended up.

 

Lastly a big THANK YOU to our veteran's!  Thank you to those currently serving like my kid Casey who has 23 years in the with Army.  Thank you to those that have served.  And thank you to those that are no longer with us like my father-in-law who served in WWII.

 



 

Cruz and Bread On The Waters

Yesterday was really a beautiful day in central Iowa and today is a really gloomy day outside.

 

I changed out my smoke detector batteries yesterday - I try to be a good girl and do this at least once a year when the time changes.  If I'm really on my game I'll do it both times the time changes in one year.

 

Bark Busters came last Monday and Cruz is kind of at a lull in her training/trusting me.  She still won't come to me when I call her inside the house unless she knows it's to go outside - but sometimes she just trots down the stairs with me from the upstairs to the main level to see what I'm going to do.  And she will come near me when I'm in the bathroom doing something - sometimes.  The last few mornings she's really been a goof running around and sliding on the carpet when I'm getting ready to put my robe on to take her out for the first time.

 

She still does her sniffing of me after I turn off the lights and then walks back and forth by the side of my bed with my hand "petting" her.  When my hand gets to the end of her, she'll take my hand in her mouth and turn around so she can walk the other way for me to pet her.  This can go on for 5-10 minutes.  Yesterday she actually did this during the afternoon and the first time she took my hand in her mouth if kind of alarmed me because it looked like she was going to bite me - I'd never seen how this looked in the dark.  So I had to tell myself it was ok, she was just playing and we did our routine for a few minutes.  I knew she wasn't going to bite me but it looked a little scary for a minute.

 

And when I have her on leash and we're on a walk she is a happy, happy, happy puppy.  Likes to jump at me as we walk on the sidewalk on the south side of the house before getting out of the gate and then she'll try to bite at my hand while we walk if I tease her.  She's pretty good at "sit" when I tell her, if she doesn't do it right away I just have to take a step toward her and she sits.  She's pretty good at "stay" too but if I try to get her attention by calling her name to release her from stay - she's looking all over the place - goober.  I realized that when I'd say "free" to release her from stay that I was also giving her leash a tug at the same time I'd say "free" and I didn't want her to associate the tug on the leash to be part of the "free" command so I've stopped doing that.  I've had to say "free, Cruz, free" a couple of times (sometimes) to get her walking again.......

 

The Bark Buster lady said she would ask the home office about Cruz still not really coming to me and then waiting until after I turn off the lights at night to eat her food.  So....I'm supposed to put her leash on her at different times while we're in the house and do some funky things to try to get her to come to me - I haven't done this yet.  And the other thing is to put her food on the floor by me (I have to be on the floor too) and have her eat it - the goal is that she will take the food from my hand.  She sure takes treats from my hand.......  And if after 20 minutes she hasn't eaten all the food I'm supposed to put it up for the night so she doesn't eat after "lights out". 

 

I tried this last night for the first time and it went so/so.  I laid food out by me while sitting on the floor 3-4 different times during the evening - with my hand close to the food.  She'd eat some of the food with me on the floor and then my butt would get sore so I'd sit back on the bed next to her and she'd finish eating the rest of the food.  I'll try again tonight...............

 

When I walked Cruz yesterday I ran into my postal carrier that had left me a sympathy card when Mike passed and had talked to Dad different times last summer when he was staying with me when Mom was in the hospital.  The postal carrier commented on how pretty Cruz was and asked her name.  She then asked if I still had my greyhounds and I told her about putting my girl (Milly) down the winter after my husband passed and then putting Butler down this past August.  She's a real nice lady and after we parted so Cruz and I could finish our walk, I told Cruz how the lady had said she was real pretty.

 

This morning at church my small group set up the Bread on the Waters table - this is our grocery drive to make baskets of food and toiletry times for 22 families this year.  Last year the church got behind this and our goal was to make 20 baskets.  We'll have the table up all of November for people to take tags to sign up for different items to bring and then the first Sunday of December is when all the items need to be turned in by so my small group can put the baskets together that Wednesday night.  Today we had a really good response by the number of tags taken.