A Jeep and a Pie

Last week Blake had the opportunity to help the neighbor kid change the transmission in his jeep. Our vehicle lifts make doing a job like that much simpler!

They were very appreciative and his mom wanted to make us a meal, as a thank you, on Sunday evening. It probably took more time out of her day to make us the meal than it did for the transmission to get changed here, but late Sunday afternoon when we both woke from a nap, hungry and thinking about food, the door bell rang and she delivered us a lovely meal. Talk about service! :)

The blackberry pie was scrumptious!

I was reminded: Never grow weary of doing good (Gal. 6:9) and be intentional about saying thank you. It really can actually be a blessing to someone!

Truck Pulls

Two years ago I went to my first truck pull and secretly I was glad that we were late. We went to a few more truck pulls that summer and I really despised them. To me they were just an extension of work and they bored me horribly!

Now knowing a lot more people who are also at the truck pulls and understanding what is happening a little better, combined with prayer that I would learn to love what my husband does, I literally count down the days!

Saturday was the pull at the local fairgrounds. All week I reminded Blake that we had a date on Saturday. He was excited too and locked up the shop at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. The day was beautiful and warm so I forgot our sweatshirts- a fact which I really started regretting around 8 o'clock!

The dyno was first. A couple of friends put their trucks on the dyno to see how much horsepower they were putting out.
This one did 323 HP.

This one: 525 HP

(This picture was previously taken. :) )

Tractor pulls had been going all day but we began watching about the time the gas trucks started. I'm not a big fan of gas truck pulls because they are super loud and really not that fast or spectacular. There was one that I liked a lot because the front wheels came of the track as it pulled.

A few of our customers decided to pull. And lots of other people pulled. There were 40 trucks just in the work stock class!

Blake tells people that smoke does not always equal power, but there was an awful lot of smoke. :)

 The 2.6 class is a bit more impressive.

It got dark and we started to get quite cold.

In fact I got so cold that when a friend offered to get his jacket out of his truck, I took him up on the offer. He warned me that it was camouflage. I guess folks know what I think of hunting! I was too cold to care though and it made the rest of the evening much warmer!

 We had a blast!

The Alphabet

There is a problem that wise people who have lived life before me have already noticed. In fact, it was such a problem, that some wise people created an international solution in 1927.

Communication involving the alphabet can be confusing if the speaker is not in visible contact with the hearer. It can even be dangerous because sometimes simple letters leave people's lives at stake. The Radio Controller at an airport radios something about B1, the pilot hears D1... and such.

Telephone communication is challenging for me mostly when I am reading VIN numbers and tracking numbers. I always feel frustrated because I can't think of a word to match the letter fast enough to read it smoothly. I see a V and say "V, umm... as in verse" and I'm thinking well that should get the message across that it's not B as in boy.

Also referred to as the international radiotelephony spelling alphabet, the Nato Phonetic Spelling Alphabet is internationally recognized for oral communication. I decided I'd better learn it. :)

A= Alpha
B= Bravo
C= Charlie
D= Delta
E= Echo
F= Foxtrot
G= Golf
H= Hotel
I= India
J= Juliett
K= Kilo
L= Lima
M= Mike
N= November
O= Oscar
P= Papa
Q= Quebec
R= Romeo
S= Sierra
T= Tango
U= Uniform
V= Victor
W= Whiskey
X= X-ray
Y= Yankee
Z= Zulu

I found several of these words interesting as they seem hard to understand and hear or maybe they just seem to be strange words to me. Apparently as the years have passed, some of the words have changed. For example, "Mike" has always stood for "M", yet "P" has been Pup, Preparatory, Prep, and Peter, and finally Papa.

As I read a bit more, I found a simpler yet not internationally recognized option.

A= America
B= Banana
C= China
D= Dog
E= Elephant
F= Flower
G= Golf
H= Hotel
I= India
J= Jamaica
K= Kilo
L= Lima
M= Mars
N= New York
O= Orange
P= Prince
Q= Quebec
R= Radio
S= Sunday
T= Tiger
U= USA
V= Venus
W= Water
X= X-ray
Y= Yellow
Z= Zebra

So, I decided to learn them both; I will have two words for each letter. If they are memorized in my head, then when I need to order a transmission for a truck and must read the VIN over the phone, my thinker can have two options in there to think of!

Us- and Others

Sundays are usually slow and lazy for us. Blake gets bored and I enjoy getting to spend time with him when he's not all greasy. :) Some Sundays Blake's siblings show up because, like us, they too are bored.

Maria walks in and sometimes asks for the ice cream and sometimes just helps herself, but she always eats it. (Ice cream is a staple at our house.) The other girls then are polite and eat some too. Logan just entertains us.

This Sunday was different though. We dragged the guys out for a bit of a photo shoot- they weren't really thrilled, so as we started walking, they grabbed the two bikes in the garage. Shannah began adjusting her camera settings and then snap! Two amazing things happened at the same moment:

 Yep, the camera clicked at the same moment that Logan's brakes clicked because his front tire was too close to Blake's back tire. So we stood there and laughed for a while since, after all, no one got hurt!

I begged Blake to pose with me for a picture and Logan thought that was funny, at least I'm guessing from the look on his face. I told him - Blake, not Logan- that I knew he really wanted to pose with a cute girl like me.

He smirked but then obliged. And instead of posing just with me, he had to pose with several cute girls. Look how happy he looks! *wink*

 And then I heard that there was a dead cat in the river so I was studying the river (yes, you guessed it- I was trying to spot the thing!) while everyone else started to walk away and then my friend came riding up.

I love that he got off his bike to stand beside me, even though I think he missed the memo to smile!

We went to take a rest on the chiropractor's door step, and Shannah's camera came back out.

Although he looks grouchy, we did get him to smile, just a tad.

Do the dead flowers remind you of anything other than Miranda Lambert's song?!

Our relaxing time was over and we moved on. We spotted this old building out behind another building and we girls contemplated whether it would be considered trespassing to go over and take pictures beside it. Maria decided that Dad knew the owner of the land so it would be ok.

When we got close to it though, we realized the whole building was covered in poison ivy, with the leaves just beginning to grow. We all look slightly cautious about how close we got. :)

 There was an old car inside and I so badly wanted to get in there somehow- despite the poison ivy!- and get a picture of my man peering in the window at me. It would be classic because I would be smiling and he would be saying "Get out of there! You are trespassing!" He and Logan hadn't even ridden their bikes back to this building with us though, and so I called him and encouraged him to come over. He very happily said "No thanks" and stayed out on the road because, as he said, he wasn't going to trespass with us.

So we left the old building and kept on walking. :)

We saw this building on a side road and decided to take a picture, using Shannah's tripod. I believe this building was part of the old railroad station, and this would have been the back side of the building back in the day.
Logan and Blake were having trouble concentrating on the camera though. Blake wanted to be riding his bike; Logan felt a great need to reach the boarded window above. He tried extra hard, but was greatly bothering Blake so he stopped.

We found a nice grassy spot to rest some more. Of course, more pictures were taken. I told Blake to say really sweet things to me so that the picture would be more romantical. (That's a word, right?!)

So after he had stuck out his tongue for a while, he started whispering quiet insults, which is what he always does when we're getting pictures together. That makes me laugh and then we get good pictures. :)

In case you couldn't figure it out, I love hanging out with this guy!

Thank you Shannah for taking great pictures and for the rest of you who hung out with us for the afternoon. We enjoyed ourselves!

"Praise You in This Storm"

"I was sure by now
God You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say "Amen", and it's still raining

As the thunder rolls
I barely hear Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You

But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth"

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Randomly I chose this song for my text message ring tone. And it's been incredible for me today. He holds me. He knows when I cry. He hasn't left my side. And I will praise Him. Even when I feel like quitting. When I wonder why I try. When I feel beyond tears. He still is there and I choose to praise Him.

Even though I know my security is in Christ, there are times when I forget that and allow my circumstances to define who I am. This week was one of those times.

Last week our business computer crashed- something to do with a bad virus that is new and can get past antivirus programs. My frustration that day turned to distress as several days passed and I was still not able to do payroll and write any bills. The situation weighed even heavier on Blake because I let projects go out without being paid, which then put the bank account in a bad position for ordering more parts for the next jobs.

Then to top off the stressfulness for Blake, I didn't work much this week. Lanna was able to come visit for a few days.  After she got here on Tuesday afternoon, we spent the next 72 hours discussing wedding plans and shopping far and wide for necessary stuff. After spending several hours in Jo-Ann's, we succeeded in making good use of a great pre-easter sale they had. She has lots of pretty fabric now that must be sewn into dresses. Yes, she is sewing her own wedding dress. I'm thankful that it is her doing that project. :)

Once I finally got my computer back, it had a whole new hard drive with no programs so today I finally got all my programs downloaded back onto it. My accounting software was recently backed up but my billing software... well let's just say I thought I was diligently doing it every day and didn't realize what exactly was happening. I'm still hoping that my old hard drive can have that info gotten off it because otherwise... there might be a lot that is lost and I'm hoping my position as wife is not one of those. Blake wasn't exactly happy with me over that one!

Yesterday Lanna and I drove her back to Michigan, where she and Micah were catching a train to Chicago in a few short hours. Then I delivered my truck load of engine parts to a guy about an hour from Lanna's and arrived back home before it was even really late! It felt good this morning to see a little more space back in the engine/transmission room from cleaning out those parts that I took.

My brother Josh moved out here last week and this week started a job doing...something with building. Truthfully I'm not exactly sure what he does but he said he was wearing a hard hat and it sounded like a roof was being put on. All that to say, he now has a cute little apartment over the library and has a job he likes and I'm happy to have him near by, even if he does work most waking hours and some hours where I'm still sleeping!

I enjoy those few times when I get to hang out with my siblings- it's not every day I get to see them and I'm thankful that we get to see each other once in a while. I pity those poor settlers who traveled west in covered wagons and who didn't always even get to see their family ever again!

Black Pepper

Last week when Blake's sister was cooking some food to take to a function, I offered to stir the pot of green bean casserole fixings together. She handed me a spoon to taste it after she flavored it with a lot of salt. It struck me how differently people cook. I would have used about half the salt and added pepper, so, being my typical self I told her how I would flavor it. She shrugged and got out the pepper, so I sprinkled a bit into the pot. I heard a gasp behind me and stopped abruptly, scared. I hadn't used as much as I would use in a dish for just the two of us, but apparently I use more than most people.

Later I asked Blake if he liked black pepper. He stared dumbly at me and asked if I had ever noticed how much he uses on his food. Oh yes, that's right. First he turns his food white with salt and then he wants to add some color so he blackens it with pepper. I guess he doesn't mind if I add it to the food from the get go.

Realizing that maybe I cook with a lot of the stuff sparked my interest about whether or not it is even good for me.

Prized highly in antiquity, black pepper is grown on a plant native to southeast Asia;Vietnam grows the largest percentage of the world's crop. The fruit is harvested before it is fully ripe and allowed to dry, which turns the peppercorns black.

Although it has high quantities of Vitamin A and K in it, the amount of pepper consumed under normal circumstances is not enough to get any substantial dietary amount. Amazing, little, useless fact there, huh?! :)

Black pepper's greatest substance is a chemical known as piperine, which is responsible for the spiciness. Piperine enhances digestion, as it stimulates digestive enzymes and reduces gastrointestinal food transit times. It also increases beta-endorphins in the brain, acts as an anti-depressant and boosts brain function. It is antioxidant, significantly reducing cancer causing cells.

For those with an aversion to black pepper, piperine can be bought as a supplement called Bioperine.

Peppercorns maintain their nutrients for a long time but as soon as it is ground into powder- the form most often bought, it will only maintain freshness for up to a couple of months. Maybe I should consider buying the peppercorns and grinding them from here on out?

I'm thinking since Blake likes pepper, I'll continue to use it. At least it isn't bad for us! :)