Tuesday
The funeral for my friend is on Thursday. It is going to be a full military style thing with 21-gun salute, flag - I have never been to one of those kinds of funerals, don't really know what to expect.
I spoke with Josie (his wife) last night on the phone. She stood there and watched him die as emergency workers tried to save his life. It was simply his time to go. I don't know how else to put it, when it's time, it's time.
I was not a particularly happy person at work yesterday, either. Just because I didn't have time to process all of it. I got the news the night before JUST before going to bed and then get up for work the next morning. Life goes on, yes, still, when you have known a person for some 16 years and became close friends, it isn't something that you just dismiss as if it were a melted Hostess cupcake and throw it in the trash.
Change the tune here, I am not really that much down at this point, he was a good man and he lived a full life, he is with the Lord, it isn't a bad thing where he's at, just the people that are left behind have to deal with the emotional issues of separation and bidding goodbyes.
I was standing next to the hummingbird feeder a few days ago when one of them came humming up to the feeder. I was maybe 2 feet away from that feeder and that bird. He became so relaxed he sat on the ledge and perched instead of hovering. I find this fascinating, birds usually want to be nowhere near humans. Well, then, another hummingbird flew to the top of the 6 foot chain link fence and perched there, looking at the feeder with the other bird.
The funeral for my friend is on Thursday. It is going to be a full military style thing with 21-gun salute, flag - I have never been to one of those kinds of funerals, don't really know what to expect.
I spoke with Josie (his wife) last night on the phone. She stood there and watched him die as emergency workers tried to save his life. It was simply his time to go. I don't know how else to put it, when it's time, it's time.
I was not a particularly happy person at work yesterday, either. Just because I didn't have time to process all of it. I got the news the night before JUST before going to bed and then get up for work the next morning. Life goes on, yes, still, when you have known a person for some 16 years and became close friends, it isn't something that you just dismiss as if it were a melted Hostess cupcake and throw it in the trash.
Change the tune here, I am not really that much down at this point, he was a good man and he lived a full life, he is with the Lord, it isn't a bad thing where he's at, just the people that are left behind have to deal with the emotional issues of separation and bidding goodbyes.
I was standing next to the hummingbird feeder a few days ago when one of them came humming up to the feeder. I was maybe 2 feet away from that feeder and that bird. He became so relaxed he sat on the ledge and perched instead of hovering. I find this fascinating, birds usually want to be nowhere near humans. Well, then, another hummingbird flew to the top of the 6 foot chain link fence and perched there, looking at the feeder with the other bird.
Now it gets dicey. Yet ANOTHER hummingbird zoomed right past the one on the fence, who immediately took off after it. A minute later, it came back and perched on the fence again. What happened next I wish I could have gotten on video: the bird on the fence swooped down on the bird on the feeder, poked it with it's bill and then took off. I heard this little squealing noise come from the "injured" bird who was RIGHT on the tail of that bird, chasing it away.
I don't know if it got revenge or not - they fly so fast they are out of my yard and down the street before you know what's going on. It wasn't 60 seconds later and it was back on the feeder, drinking away.
An amazing thought that these birds are, apparently, territorial, at least over "their" feeder and that they are willing to fight over it!!
My answer may be to get another feeder and locate it somewhere else, maybe on the other side of the house. Feeders are cheap, the mix to make the sugar liquid is cheap, nothing about money here. I would like to hang one right by the sliding door in the kitchen and and see if any of them will visit it.
Politics as usual. That's all I see in any of this. A vote is going to be forced on the repeal of the health care bill. I dunno that that's going to happen, I think it's more of a symbolic act to be used as weaponry in the next elections.
Our company just switched health care providers, going from Cygna to Anthem Blue Cross. I was not particularly happy about the switch, I now have to find a new doctor. I have had the same doctor for a number of years now and he was the kind of person that made a visit not so over-bearing. So, go to Anthem's site, pick a name out of the hat and hope I get a good one? Gag. Our company said it was a cost-reducing measure. Well, I'm glad to have coverage, so I can't complain too much, though the premiums are going up again. Pretty much every year the monthly premium is higher and higher. Can't afford to not have coverage so I pay it regardless of how much it costs. I am also covering my son and probably will be well into his "adult" life. My parents dumped me when I was 19 and I thought that a - petty - thing to do. I will be doing no such thing with my boy - until he find something that gives him his own coverage or if he ends up in the military - I will keep him on my coverage as long as I have coverage to extend to him.
Work day approaches. A couple of small orders in the system.
G'day.
ben
I don't know if it got revenge or not - they fly so fast they are out of my yard and down the street before you know what's going on. It wasn't 60 seconds later and it was back on the feeder, drinking away.
An amazing thought that these birds are, apparently, territorial, at least over "their" feeder and that they are willing to fight over it!!
My answer may be to get another feeder and locate it somewhere else, maybe on the other side of the house. Feeders are cheap, the mix to make the sugar liquid is cheap, nothing about money here. I would like to hang one right by the sliding door in the kitchen and and see if any of them will visit it.
Politics as usual. That's all I see in any of this. A vote is going to be forced on the repeal of the health care bill. I dunno that that's going to happen, I think it's more of a symbolic act to be used as weaponry in the next elections.
Our company just switched health care providers, going from Cygna to Anthem Blue Cross. I was not particularly happy about the switch, I now have to find a new doctor. I have had the same doctor for a number of years now and he was the kind of person that made a visit not so over-bearing. So, go to Anthem's site, pick a name out of the hat and hope I get a good one? Gag. Our company said it was a cost-reducing measure. Well, I'm glad to have coverage, so I can't complain too much, though the premiums are going up again. Pretty much every year the monthly premium is higher and higher. Can't afford to not have coverage so I pay it regardless of how much it costs. I am also covering my son and probably will be well into his "adult" life. My parents dumped me when I was 19 and I thought that a - petty - thing to do. I will be doing no such thing with my boy - until he find something that gives him his own coverage or if he ends up in the military - I will keep him on my coverage as long as I have coverage to extend to him.
Work day approaches. A couple of small orders in the system.
G'day.
ben
4 comments:
Wednesday
Pretty eiree stuff. A Philippino councilman is taking a photograph of his family on New Year's eve. In the photo, you can see a man behind them to their right with a gun pointed at the councilman's head, who is taking the photo. The man shoots the councilman seconds later and the councilman dies.
It was looking into the eyes of the killer that was the spooky stuff. Never seen a pic like that before.
Anyway, yesterday was my 5-year anniversary with my company. So, my company gives me 13,000 perk points. Sounds like a lot, right? Lol, well, you can't buy a whole lot with it. They have their own, online catalog, it's huge. I was going through it, couldn't find anything I would want, even lower priced stuff still wasn't accessible with the money.
The thought struck my mind, I wonder if they have any hummingbird feeders? I was going to get another one anyway, maybe I can get one for free. Amazingly enough, they had 8 different feeders listed in there and I had enough points to buy the most expensive one, which is a pretty cool looking thing if I do say so myself.
No idea when it's going to arrive, but the catalog is a conundrum of products sold by all kinds of different retailers. This feeder, I found out, is coming from Sears. I haven't been in a Sears store in years. It's amazing they have survived this economy, I thought they weren't doing so well, but I guess they have managed to eek by.
Hmmmph. Well, I was a bit surprised to go into the truck routing system and find all kinds of stuff in there to do today. One order with thousands of feet worth of pipe and a couple of other, much smaller orders.
I'm kind of dreading and looking forward to the funeral tomorrow at the same time. My friend's body has been incinerated, there will just be ashes there tomorrow. As I said before, I'm not very good with death. We all die, yes, but I can fall apart at a funeral pretty easily. I've been to plenty of friend's funerals - especially when I was a teenager watching my friends die all around me. Sounds strange, doesn't it, going to friend's funerals as a teenager - those people that died being teenagers or early 20's themselves. Much of it was painted with hokey, religious junk. It had nothing to do with the real God because those people had nothing to do with the real God and quite honestly, at the time, neither did I. I count myself very fortunate that I have lived this long and that the I found the Lord, or more like it: He found me, before my appointment with death arrives. I hope that appointment isn't too terribly soon, I would like to watch my son growing up, going into his adulthood. My parents didn't help me at all at the age he is going into - perhaps I didn't deserve any help but at the same time it made life extremely difficult. I suppose that's what I needed at the time: a good kick in the ass and a boot out the door. It certainly toughened me up, I can say that for a fact. Living in the back of a station wagon and then progressing to living in various rental rooms until finally going on the mission field after giving my life to the Lord - and THAT in itself is a book's worth of experiences.
And much of what I experienced on the mission field? You wouldn't believe my stories if I told you. A normal person would brush me off and say that didn't happen and it's impossible. Ohhhh, contraire: God IS real and He is still in the miracle-making business, I've seen it time and time again.
That is what the death of anyone close to me does in me: brings out thoughts of God, eternity and where we're headed, cause, Frank and Jane, if you don't know, I can pretty much tell you and it isn't a very pleasant place. It mostly causes me to do a lot of introspection and even a realigning of my life and the direction it is headed in, which this time around? Certainly no lack of those ideas floating around in my head.
Oh, and let me throw this out there: simply because you don't believe that there is a God or a heaven and hell does not, therefore, eliminate the fact that all 3 not only exist, but as real as the air that you can't see but are breathing right now. Jesus Christ - my Lord and My savior - is knocking at the door of your heart. Let Him in, he won't hurt you, he's not a thief or a bandit coming to steal from you.
I'll get off the podium now, haven't been on one in a long time.
The work day is here. I slept very well last night, amazingly enough. I mean, I woke up once and went right back to sleep. That is not a normal thing for me, no, it is not. The newest tenant paid me in full for the entire month. He had given me $100 to start and then the rest yesterday. The Army Reservist is nowhere in sight. It's getting later and later in the month. I'm going to wait until tomorrow - strike that, tomorrow has enough for the day with that funeral - this weekend and if she doesn't show up or at least call, I'm going to have to post the dreaded notices. In this case, a notice of abandonment. I took my frozen Standing Rib Roast that I bought in November on sale out of the freezer. I figure to cook that this weekend. After that, I am going off of red meat for quite a while. Chicken and turkey will be my mainstay, which it normally is anyway, but this holiday season I went overboard with the red meat stuff and you know they say eating too much of that simply isn't good for you. It isn't a New Year's resolution, it is a lifestyle for me. Eat as healthy as possible, which is why I usually, not always but usually, eat my lunch at Subway so I can have the sandwich made to order without all the calorie laden dressings and junk put on to it. I only made one resolution this year: start working out again, which I have started at a slow pace, but never-the-less, I have started.
The stuff about the Lord cannot be a resolution, as resolutions can be easily forgotten and put onto a shelf. No, that is also a lifestyle thing, something you implement because you want to, need to and have to. It is as much a matter of life and death to me as is my beating heart.
With that, I bid you g'day.
ben
Ben,
His death is what I hope for in my own death. I know it was quick and a little painful but it was also merciful.
I'm sorry to read about your friend.
Bobby
Hey Bobby
No, it didn't take long. He had the heart attack, they brought him around, he then had a stroke, another heart attack, all within a very short time. His wife said his last words were: "who are you?" when he saw an attendant and probably didn't have a clue at that point what was going on with him.
The interesting thing is, there were clues that he might have had some idea his time was up. Giving away personal things to grand daughters and doing things that he normally wouldn't do. I spoke with him 4 days before he died, he said a blessing and other things that were above and beyond what he normally did. I bid him the same. Funny, you think about the last words you say to someone, I can thankfully say mine to him were the same as his were to me and were heartfelt. No regrets there.
ben
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