Fronter Planter Wall ~ Week 7 Monday Progress

Our plan after pouring the final concrete foundation on Friday was to finish putting in all the blocks for our wall this week.  We got home from church on Sunday and Les started looking at the forecast.  It was only suppose to be in the 70s yesterday but gradually trending up to the 90s by the weekend.  After talking about it for a while, Les decided to take a vacation day yesterday and we finished! 

It looked like this yesterday morning:

Les started putting blocks out, while I started mixing mortar:

The back wall is 12 blocks long and 4 blocks high:

The final piece is a diagonal wall.  This required cutting a few blocks to fit in a 45 degree angle.

We worked until after 6:00 last night, but we finished!  What we planned do a little at a time this week, we did in a day.  We were exhausted, but so happy!

Next steps:

Les will start working on the irrigation.

We will have a professional do the finish work on the walls (stucco and stonework to match our house.)

Finally, new soil and drought resistant plants.

Front Planter Wall Project ~ Week 6 Progress

We finished mixing and pouring concrete today!  We did a little calculating and figured out we have mixed more than 4,000 pounds of concrete.  That is TWO TONS!! 

We had to place an order for more concrete this week.  Our original order of forty 90 pound bags was not enough.  Home Depot only had 60 pound bags, so we got about 15 more of those.  We have a few left, but we officially finished with that part of the project this morning.

We will start mixing mortar on Monday for the final row of blocks.

Perspective

Perspective is always a good thing.  It's so easy to focus only on ourselves, but when we look outward, our perspective can change.  I don't know who wrote this, but various versions are floating around on the internet and I thought it was worth sharing.  Les' grandpa, Earl McElhaney, was born in the year 1900, so I've included a few pictures of him in this post.

It’s a mess out there now. Hard to discern between what’s a real threat and what is just simple panic and hysteria. For a small amount of perspective at this moment, imagine you were born in 1900.

On your 14th birthday, World War I starts, and ends on your 18th birthday. 22 million people perish in that war. Later in the year, a Spanish Flu epidemic hits the planet and runs until your 20th birthday. 50 million people die from it in those two years. Yes, 50 million.

On your 29th birthday, the Great Depression begins. Unemployment hits 25%, the World GDP drops 27%. That runs until you are 33. The country nearly collapses along with the world economy.

When you turn 39, World War II starts. You aren’t even over the hill yet. And don’t try to catch your breath. On your 41st birthday, the United States is fully pulled into WWII. Between your 39th and 45th birthday, 75 million people perish in the war.

Smallpox was epidemic until you were in your 40’s, as it killed 300 million people during your lifetime.

At 50, the Korean War starts. 5 million perish. From your birth, until you were 55, you dealt with the fear of polio epidemics each summer. You experience friends and family contracting polio and being paralyzed and/or dying.

At 55 the Vietnam War begins and doesn’t end for 20 years. 4 million people perish in that conflict. During the Cold War, you lived each day with the fear of nuclear annihilation. On your 62nd birthday you have the Cuban Missile Crisis, a tipping point in the Cold War. Life on our planet, as we know it, almost ended. When you turn 75, the Vietnam War finally ends.

Think of everyone on the planet born in 1900. How did they endure all of that? When you were a kid in 1985 and didn’t think your 85 year old grandparent understood how hard school was. And how mean that kid in your class was. Yet they survived through everything listed above. Perspective is an amazing art. Refined and enlightening as time goes on. Let’s try and keep things in perspective. Your parents and/or grandparents were called to endure all of the above – you are called to stay home and sit on your couch.

Front Planter Wall Project ~ Weeks 4 and 5 Progress

Week 4 of our project was extremely slow going as Les was digging the final trench.  He hit lots of rock and gravel, leftovers from when our house was built in 1987!  The trenching continued in to this week. 

We were finally able to pour more concrete yesterday.  Five weeks ago we started with 40 bags and are now down to one and a half!  We will actually need more bags to finish the job.

We consolidated our supplies yesterday - we've gone from six pallets to three.

Our neighbors continue their interest.  Many are people we hadn't met before who have asked if Les is the homeowner.  Others have asked if this is what he does for a living.  They've watched him at work and are amazed that he's never done anything like this before!

We are planning to finish the concrete and mortar work next week.  Next up will be irrigation work.  Then we're looking for someone to do stucco and stone work.  Les actually met a guy while we he was out riding his bike.  The guy was working on a house a couple miles away and is going to give us a quote.

Friday Foodie Summer RoundUp (And a New Recipe!)

Tomorrow is the first day of Summer.  I don't know about you, but I definitely eat different foods in the summer.  A big bowl of chili or stew has no appeal when it's 90 degrees outside.  I also avoid turning my oven on when possible.  So here is a full roundup of recipes that I've posted here on the blog that are perfect for Summer.  We also eat more burgers on the grill, corn on the cob, and baked beans!  Of course, you can see all my recipes on the Friday Foodie page.

Main Dishes

Pasta with Fresh Tomatoes and Basil

Sausage and Pepper Sauce
Sausage Filled Ravioli

Slow Cooker Ham Scalloped Potato Casserole 

Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti

Chicken Tikka Masala

Acai Bowl

Fish Tacos

Kalua Pork

Side Dishes

Rainbow Fruit Salad

Apple and Carrot Salad
Salsa

Pasta Salad

Layered Salad

Broccoli and Cranberry Salad 

Chilled Soups

Blueberry Orange Soup
Chilled Berry Soup
Chilled Peach Soup

Sandwiches
Turkey Salad
Turkey-Apple-Apple Butter Sandwich
Sunshine Chicken Salad 

Breakfast
French Toast
Smoothies
Crunchy French Toast with Corn Flakes

Lemon-Blueberry Pancakes with Lemon-Blueberry Syrup

Desserts

Orange Creamsicle Pie

Lemonade Pie
Peach Cobbler
Berry Cobbler

Fruit Torte
Chocolate Eclair Dessert

Orange Creamsicle Muddie Buddies
Old Fashioned Vanilla Ice Cream
Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Coffee Ice Cream

This week I used the Chocolate Eclair Dessert recipe and made a Lemon Eclair dessert.  It was so easy and SO very good!

Lemon Eclair Dessert

18-20 Graham Crackers
3 cups milk
2 pkg (3 oz) lemon instant pudding
8 oz. cool whip
1 tub lemon icing

Mix pudding, milk and cool whip together. 
Line bottom of 9" x 13" pan with graham crackers (my pan is slightly sloped so it took exactly 6 for the bottom)
Put 1/2 pudding mixture over crackers and top with another layer of crackers (this took 7 crackers for my pan.)
Put remaining pudding mixture over crackers and top with another layer of crackers (another 7)
Spread lemon icing over top of cracker layer and refrigerate for several hours.  You might be tempted to cut right into it, but let it sit for several hours so the graham crackers become soft.

From Love to Bitterness

My Bible reading this morning included 2 Samuel chapter 3.  There were three verses that especially caught my attention, verses 14-16: "And David sent messengers to Ishbosheth Saul's son, saying, Deliver me my wife Michal, which I espoused to me for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.  And Ishbosheth sent, and took her from her husband, even from Phaltiel the son of Laish.   And her husband went with her along weeping behind her to Bahurim. Then said Abner unto him, Go, return. And he returned."

These verses were part of the study that I did on Michal, the daughter of Saul and first wife of David.  I studied her in July 2015.  It was actually this part of her story that caused me to pause.  You can read my entire post here.

Many times all we hear about is when Michal mocked David for dancing when the ark of God was returned.  That is the end of the story.  Those are the words and actions of a bitter woman.  But bitterness wasn't what originally defined Michal.  1 Samuel 18:20 says that Michal loved David, the only place in the Bible where a woman's love for a man is recorded, according to footnotes in The Jewish Study Bible.  However, there is no biblical record of David having loved Michal.

Here is a brief timeline of Michal and David's marriage:

1008 BC - they were married

1007 BC - Michal helped David escape from Saul

1005 BC - Michal is given to Paltiel in Gallim

1000 BC - Saul and Jonathon are killed in battle, David becomes king

998 BC - Michal returned to David

992 BC - The ark is returned

I wrote in my 2015 post:

They were only together one year, now some nine years and six wives later David wants Michal back.  I can't even imagine how she must have felt.  Her father and brothers were all dead.  The young man she loved and married has spent years as a warrior on the run and is now the king with six wives and at least six sons.  I'm sure that's not quite the marriage she had dreamed of.  Some commentaries said he wanted her back because he loved her, but others said it was purely political.

Sadly, Michal seemed to be married to a man who wanted just her. When Ishbosheth took her from her husband, he "went with her along weeping behind her." (2 Samuel 3:16) "Because of his great affection to her, unwilling to part with her, but forced to it at the command of the king." (John Gill) That is such a sad picture to me! And I wonder if it was then that the root of bitterness that had been growing reached full growth. Maybe Michal was proud to be called back to the palace, but it wasn't going to be easy.

I am in no way excusing Michal's bitterness or the actions that followed.  But her story causes me to pause, to ponder.  There are people in my life who have let bitterness separate them from God.  They didn't start out that way, but through the hard times and hurts of life they allowed bitterness to grow. 

Last month I had a minor bike accident.  I landed pretty hard on my right arm and by the time I got home it was swollen.  I ended up with a huge, deep bruise from my elbow all the way to my wrist.  It hurt for weeks.  I had abrasions on my elbow.  I cleaned the wound and treated it with care. Cleaning that wound hurt!  I kept it wrapped because I didn't want to get an infection.   It has taken weeks for it to fully heal, but it has.  Now there is just a tiny area that is slightly red, all other signs of injury are gone.

We need to treat the injuries of life with care.  Take care of the wounds.  Cleaning a wound hurts!  We can't let the infection of bitterness get in.  Forgive.  And forgive again.  Even when no apology comes, forgive.  It is the only way to keep bitterness out.

Clean the wound and recover or let the wound fester.  The choice is ours.

Together Again!

A few weeks ago we started having church services in the church again!  It's not without its challenges, but it is so good to see beloved faces again.  Our church is in Los Angeles county, which still has a high number of cases of COVID-19.  Everyone has their temperature taken and must wear a mask.  Families must sit together and every other row is left empty.  I can't hug my friends yet.  But it's still so good to be together!

Obviously, it's difficult trying to sing and worship with a mask on.  Praise singers, musicians, and ministers don't wear their masks while leading worship or preaching.

Children must sit with their parents so our Sunday school department has a time during service for a song or two and a lesson.

Right now we're having two services on Sunday.  Our church is divided in to three teams because we can only have 25% of our seating capacity in attendance.  We continue to live stream for those who are at home when it's not their team's turn to be there or for anyone who is sick.

It's different than what we're use to, but it's good to gather again.  Our worship service on Sunday afternoon felt so good.  I think we're starting to understand that we can praise God, even with a mask on!

Front Planter Wall Project ~ Weeks 2 and 3 Progress

Things are coming along with our wall project.  We have slowed down since Les is back working during the day.  I wasn't much help last week - Les was trenching and using his rototiller in preparation for this week's work.

I got back in the action this week.  On Monday we poured the concrete footer.  The bags of concrete mix are 90 pounds.  Who needs a gym?

On Wednesday I mixed up about 120 pounds of mortar (3 batches of about 40 pounds each.)  We were able to get 31 blocks in place.  It was HOT!  We finished working by 10:30 and we were both drenched.

We were back at it this morning, but the weather was wonderful!  It was slightly overcast and about 68 degrees.  What a difference!  We finished the second of three courses of blocks today - another 21 blocks and about 90 pounds of mortar.

Here's a little action sequence.  Slather on some mortar...

Tip the block...

and on it goes!

and finally, a shot from across the street: