Mountains

So, Caleb and I left this morning at 9am to go to mom's property, have a little party for Caleb and a food fest and visit for a while. It will presumably be the last time Caleb and mom see each other until whenever next year.  When we arrived I was wondering what the heck all the caution tape was around the trees for?  My brother's 4-wheel drive Suzuki was in the way, had to wait for him to move his vehicle and then, getting closer, I realized my mom went all out on this affair.  She bought yellow ribbon and put it around trees and on fences and then up Luau signs all over the place plus she had Lei's for everyone.

I was helping my oldest brother do some repairs on her driveway - anything I guess to get close to him, he's just off on his on world forever I guess - but he was being cool.  Chris and Linda - my brother and his wife - basically came up this weekend to do the party, they were not otherwise going to come up to their cabin this weekend, they apparently had other plans that they had to alter to be there.  So that was really pretty cool and nice of them to go out of their way to go up there and be a part of it.

It was a huge feast. My ham and ribs plus a lot of other stuff.  I brought up so much meat there was a lot left over, both my mother and my brother have food to eat for a while, lol.  It was kind of a sentimental thing leaving there today - we did not stay overnight - just because I knew this would be the last time mom sees grandson for a year and of course life, who knows what may happen.

Caleb also dropped a bomb-shell on all of us today, something I had not heard before.  He will have no internet access on the Salvation Army compound in Hawaii.  Meaning he can't send us emails or update his Facebook wall or anything like that at all.  The SA does that on purpose, but a lot of missionary organizations really do that as well. They want you to focus on the Lord and the reason you are there, not on all the technology and junk that the worlds thrives on nowadays.  I remember going through 5 years of having very little access with the world and travelling around Mexico with NO access at all.  I did not miss TV - and I still don't, lol - Facebook and the internet did not exist at that time or if the internet did exist, it was in it's infancy, laptops and all this other stuff we have now simply weren't around.  You remember, the days when payphones were everywhere?  Yeah, that era, lol.

It is really good for them to do that with the recruits they bring over there, but for a parent, that's kinda hard to take.  So beit and such is life, but I am not going to sit here and say it isn't going to affect me.  They did tell him on the Sabbath Day he can take a bus to the library and use the internet there if he likes, otherwise, it's not a happening event.  Knowing my son?  Probably won't be hearing much from him.  It's basically write letters and send them out.  I didn't write letters when I was on the mission field but I did make phone calls here and there to talk to my mom and my dad.  Well, this is just something that we're all going to wade into and see what happens.

Going over to visit him will not happen, not the way they have it set up over there.  I mean, I have always wanted to go to Hawaii so I could go anyway and spend the day he has off with him, but other than that it just won't work out.  It's okay, though.  But on my bucket list are to go to the 2 states I have never been to: Alaska and Hawaii, and I really would like to take a cruise ship up to Alaska.  I know, seasickness. I don't really think that's that much of a problem on a giant cruise ship that isn't getting tossed around as much by the ocean.  I could be wrong, however.

I'm winding this vacation down.  It has not really been one of those relaxing type of vacations, but I didn't expect it to be.  It's been go, go, go.  The drive today up there and back wasn't really that bad excepting on the way back it was raining so hard it was hard to see the road in some places.  I'm just tired of traveling/driving and now the car has a heating issue of what the problem is I don't yet know.  Fans are working, there are no leaks, the engine is running fine as far as I can tell and so, I assume either a clogged up radiator or a faulty thermostat.  I am going to start by flushing out the cooling system and replacing the thermostat and see if that fixes it.  If it doesn't, I will either pull the radiator and have it cleaned out or I will take it into a shop to have it evaluated - does it have a blown head gasket?  It doesn't act like it does.  I have seen plenty of cars with blown head gaskets and they don't run well at all.

Start with the easy - and cheap - stuff first and go from there with it.  I have no more long drives to go on at the moment, just getting to work and back and it's not overheating type of thing, it's just the temps are getting up there, much higher than that car normally operates at and I know cars: you don't deal with them, they will deal with you.

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I wrote all of that yesterday and just didn't finish.  But no sense rewriting what already happened, so there it is.  It's almost my bedtime and yes, I would love to have a few more days off. I have realized in the last 2 days that I am getting bored at work.  Yes, I keep busy, but it's the same thing every day and we have been slow for quite a while now. I think it's the slow part that is getting me bored and the fact that I rarely get a longer run. I am kept in-town with a few out-of-town runs but nothing too far out of town.  I am also realizing that this isn't my life's calling and that ministry is what gets me going.

I am also hating living in the desert.  I like tall trees and streams/water.  I don't want to live in a desert.  I really don't like it here anymore.

Whatever.  I need to get a plan and get with it.

Goodbye vacation.

Soon, goodbye to my son.

ben