Today got off to a much better start than yesterday did, which is good, because today is the actual first day of summer vacation. There are roughly 60 days to go before returning to the grind of teaching full-time.

But enough of that negative talk. Today began grandly: coffee in the morning with Heidi, then taking her car over to our local mechanic for service. Nothing exciting there, but that fact that we were together, was enough.

Dropping off the car is actually where things got interesting. Danielle, the lady who is the cashier in charge of the books at Freddie Kish’s Automotive, also rescues homeless cats. She is the reason we already have two cats, Pericope, and Synecdoche. (See below). She finds homes for strays and betrayed kittens all across the county. Our two, Pericope and Synecdoche, were found abandoned in the trunk of a tree, and rescued. This caused them to be a bit stand offish when we first got them. After a year and half, they’ve warmed up to us.

But alas, back to Danielle. She was letting Heidi hold a beautiful little black male kitten… and … well… it looks like we are going to get a third cat in about six weeks. He has to grow beyond the bottle feeding that he is going through now. I would put my foot down and say “enough! we already have two cats.” But I couldn’t do that to Epitome… did I say we already named him?

We had to name him in keeping with the literary terms, and Epitome fit. We had Grok help us, but actually came up with Epitome on our own.

Once we dropped off the car, she decided she wanted to go to Atwood’s… for a dress. They sell farm and ranch stuff, along with clothes and chickens. She saw the chickens and said she wanted about 10 of them. Nope! I stood firm. Three cats will be enough… unless… well, let’s not go there. (I think I plan on not letting her around Danielle any more.)

The day was filled with other events:

• A trip to Hobby Lobby for knobs, hooks, and paint. She wants me to add more hooks to the many we already have. A woman cannot have enough hooks!
• Yard work: I cut the front yard in an attempt to thwart the local man who wonders around looking for an extra $40 by cutting my yard for me. He never does as good a job as I do.
• Trying to save one of the bushes I planted two weeks ago after someone stepped on it.
• Digging up grass that is in the wrong place. This is a full-time job.
• And watching the first part of Band of Brothers in honor of Memorial Day.

I think this was a great first day. I pray that I have many more.

Wait, I also published two sermons on the church’s Substack, Waco Reformed Church.

The first sermon is Bless Those Who Curse You and focuses on Christ’s instructions on turning the other cheek.

The second was Do Not Sound a Trumpet, and deals with how we are to give charity to those in need, in view of the Father, and not what others think of us. The surprise in preaching this sermon is the realization that the Bible forbids giving to those who will not work. We are to give to those poor, who do not have enough. This is really quite a realization since so much of what is done in the name of charity gives to the sluggard and the lazy in our culture. That needs to stop. More on that later, perhaps.

Well… that is a great start to summer vacation.

This is Pericope, hiding from my amongst my commentaries.

Here is Synecdoche. As I looked for a picture for her, I realized I have very few of her. Pericope is obviously the family ham, or as some would say, the photo bomber.