I believe I have always heard voices in my head. Most of us do, perhaps. But, yesterday, a small voice, close to my ear, reminded me that my battery was low.
The voice was so soft, that I was confused for a moment or two. Yes, I was tired. My morning started around 2 a.m., because I just couldn't sleep. Thinking that it was such a waste to lie in bed and try to get back to sleep, I got up and started putting away the pumpkins and turkeys and proceeded to haul out some Christmas stuff. So, I reasoned that my physical battery was low.
However, I soon discovered that the little voice was coming from my new hearing aids. The left one to be exact. It seems that, not only was I tired, so was my hearing aid.
So, I maneuvered my first equipment change of the new hardware. It was a piece of cake. I'll be an expert in no time.
The world of the hearing is a great change. (Or and, I just heard from the sister of Left-Blue. Right-Red reminded me that my battery is low!)
Dear Lord, We all need to listen more carefully. We all talk to much and love to hear ourselves rattle on and on. Remind us to spend some time on reflection. Reflection and Prayer.
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Friday, November 23, 2018
To dump or not to dump. That is the question.
Our community has curbside recycling. Once a week, the truck comes by our home and our blue plastic bins are emptied into the collection truck. Used papers, boxes, cans and plastics are driven away to the big recycling center, somewhere. The empty plastic bins are set down for us to return them to our homes and fill them up again.
Recycling has become a ritual, in our city, and judging from the number of bins placed at the curbs, most folks in town are participating.
However, I have noticed that all of those plastic bins are appearing a little worse for the wear. Every one that I have seen is being held together by duct tape. One of these days, all of those plastic bins are going to fall apart. They will all become unusable. We will be forced to throw away all of our blue plastic boxes. Each household has one or two plastic bins and think about that being multiplied by over 50,000 homes. Egad! That is a lot of used plastic.
My question is.......Will the amount of waste, created by those broken bins, outweigh all of the recycled material we have put in them, over the past 8-10 years? Maybe and maybe not?
Would we have been better off throwing the recyclables into the trash and not having all of those bins created and sold.....and soon filling the land fill?
I don't know, but I am thinking about the issue. The answer will probably never be made known. Powers at City Hall would not eagerly tell a whole city that, due to recycling, we environmentalists might have made the trash problem even worse.
Dear Lord. We are questioners by design. We are "doubting Thomasinas". Show me how to work on my Faith, in all aspects of my life. I want to "walk by Faith."
Recycling has become a ritual, in our city, and judging from the number of bins placed at the curbs, most folks in town are participating.
However, I have noticed that all of those plastic bins are appearing a little worse for the wear. Every one that I have seen is being held together by duct tape. One of these days, all of those plastic bins are going to fall apart. They will all become unusable. We will be forced to throw away all of our blue plastic boxes. Each household has one or two plastic bins and think about that being multiplied by over 50,000 homes. Egad! That is a lot of used plastic.
My question is.......Will the amount of waste, created by those broken bins, outweigh all of the recycled material we have put in them, over the past 8-10 years? Maybe and maybe not?
Would we have been better off throwing the recyclables into the trash and not having all of those bins created and sold.....and soon filling the land fill?
I don't know, but I am thinking about the issue. The answer will probably never be made known. Powers at City Hall would not eagerly tell a whole city that, due to recycling, we environmentalists might have made the trash problem even worse.
Dear Lord. We are questioners by design. We are "doubting Thomasinas". Show me how to work on my Faith, in all aspects of my life. I want to "walk by Faith."
Sunday, November 18, 2018
New Ears #2
Several days have now past, since I started using my new hearing aids.
Yesterday, Saturday, my normal day to go shopping, was another "ear" opener. Who knew that driving was so loud? On my way home from an outstandingly unproductive trip to WalMart, I suddenly became extremely uncomfortable. It was so cold in my normally toasty old car! Then, I remembered that I had turned off the heater, earlier in the trip. Well, that darned heater, and the engine and the turn signal, and the traffic had all been so loud, something had to be turned off! I went for the safest thing.
This morning, I realized that enhanced hearing needs fine tuning. In my kitchen, bells and whistles are always going off. The microwave, the coffee pot, the over timer, etc., all make noise. And, this is the first time I have heard many of them. And in the process, I now realize, that my ability, to figure out out from where the noise it originating, is lacking. Today the coffee pot buzzer seemed to be coming from above my head and I swear the microwave signal was coming from the living room!
However, this whole new experience is getting easier day by day.
I think I will soon miss the daily surprises coming through my new ears.
I am blessed. Life is a wonderful and awesome journey. Thank you, Lord, for being my Guide and Leader.
Yesterday, Saturday, my normal day to go shopping, was another "ear" opener. Who knew that driving was so loud? On my way home from an outstandingly unproductive trip to WalMart, I suddenly became extremely uncomfortable. It was so cold in my normally toasty old car! Then, I remembered that I had turned off the heater, earlier in the trip. Well, that darned heater, and the engine and the turn signal, and the traffic had all been so loud, something had to be turned off! I went for the safest thing.
This morning, I realized that enhanced hearing needs fine tuning. In my kitchen, bells and whistles are always going off. The microwave, the coffee pot, the over timer, etc., all make noise. And, this is the first time I have heard many of them. And in the process, I now realize, that my ability, to figure out out from where the noise it originating, is lacking. Today the coffee pot buzzer seemed to be coming from above my head and I swear the microwave signal was coming from the living room!
However, this whole new experience is getting easier day by day.
I think I will soon miss the daily surprises coming through my new ears.
I am blessed. Life is a wonderful and awesome journey. Thank you, Lord, for being my Guide and Leader.
Friday, November 16, 2018
New Ears
(This will be the first of several posts about my new hearing aids.)
Day One:
Life is Loud! And, I had no idea it was. Over the past few years, I have been noticing that my ability to hear clearly and distinctly has been diminishing. So today, is my first day with hearing aids.
Were you aware that hearing aids come encased in metallic colored cases? I'm a Kansas University Fan, so I decided to have my right aid fashioned in metallic red and my left one in metallic blue. If I had, God Forbid, been a Missouri Fan, I could have had gold and black. All the colors of the rainbow were available.
Anyway, in less than 24 hours, I have discovered that my car's turn signals actually make clicking noises. I was flabbergasted while, when typing, I heard the sound of the keys on the keyboard, for the first time. When the housekeeper ran the vacuum around my desk, I nearly fainted from the roar.
Life is so loud.
But I will adjust. I now know that I have been missing a lot of life, and I will adjust to this new "hearing" world.
Dear Lord. I am blessed. My life has been good, but it is going to be better. Thank you for watching over me and my family.
Day One:
Life is Loud! And, I had no idea it was. Over the past few years, I have been noticing that my ability to hear clearly and distinctly has been diminishing. So today, is my first day with hearing aids.
Were you aware that hearing aids come encased in metallic colored cases? I'm a Kansas University Fan, so I decided to have my right aid fashioned in metallic red and my left one in metallic blue. If I had, God Forbid, been a Missouri Fan, I could have had gold and black. All the colors of the rainbow were available.
Anyway, in less than 24 hours, I have discovered that my car's turn signals actually make clicking noises. I was flabbergasted while, when typing, I heard the sound of the keys on the keyboard, for the first time. When the housekeeper ran the vacuum around my desk, I nearly fainted from the roar.
Life is so loud.
But I will adjust. I now know that I have been missing a lot of life, and I will adjust to this new "hearing" world.
Dear Lord. I am blessed. My life has been good, but it is going to be better. Thank you for watching over me and my family.
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
BRRRRRRRRR.....
We've all heard and read the stories of elderly folks going out in sub-zero weather, getting lost and freezing or nearly freezing to death. Just the thought of such a thing happening horrifies all of us.
Well, at about 5:45 this morning, those thoughts were racing through my brain!
I had the best of intentions, this morning. I woke up a little early and as per my usual custom, ventured out into the driveway to pick up the morning paper. We are having unusually cold weather, for November, so thankfully I was dressed for my brief outing. I had remembered to wear my long robe and SHOES, for a change.
Well, as long as I am out, I reasoned, I will take our trash, and deposit it on the curb (we keep it in the garage). After completing those tasks, thoroughly chilled to the bone, I closed the garage door and attempted to open the kitchen door. Locked, I discovered.
What to do? Knowing that my spouse is asleep at the far end of the house, my only alternative to freezing is to go back outside and try the front doorbell. Maybe, he will hear it, get up, grab his walker and shuffle to the door.
On the third ring, he opened the door. I thanked him profusely, and asked If he knew it was me, at the door. Of course, he replied.
Well, we have been married 52 years. I guess he knows me awfully well.
Dear Lord. Thank you for being my guardian and protector. Thank you for blessing me with folks who care about me. Show me how to care for others.
Well, at about 5:45 this morning, those thoughts were racing through my brain!
I had the best of intentions, this morning. I woke up a little early and as per my usual custom, ventured out into the driveway to pick up the morning paper. We are having unusually cold weather, for November, so thankfully I was dressed for my brief outing. I had remembered to wear my long robe and SHOES, for a change.
Well, as long as I am out, I reasoned, I will take our trash, and deposit it on the curb (we keep it in the garage). After completing those tasks, thoroughly chilled to the bone, I closed the garage door and attempted to open the kitchen door. Locked, I discovered.
What to do? Knowing that my spouse is asleep at the far end of the house, my only alternative to freezing is to go back outside and try the front doorbell. Maybe, he will hear it, get up, grab his walker and shuffle to the door.
On the third ring, he opened the door. I thanked him profusely, and asked If he knew it was me, at the door. Of course, he replied.
Well, we have been married 52 years. I guess he knows me awfully well.
Dear Lord. Thank you for being my guardian and protector. Thank you for blessing me with folks who care about me. Show me how to care for others.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
Thanks Giving
In a current TV commercial for something (I can't recall just what the product is), an actor makes a statement, something like "our Thanksgivings used to be small" and immediately a mob of folks, presumably family, rings his doorbell. Then the same actor makes a follow-up comment about how times change.
Change is a fact of life. In reality, the only constant in life is change!
I remember thinking that the babies were never going to get out of diapers, and then that the afternoons and evenings watching little league baseball and soccer were never going to end, and on and on. Now, I wish I had taken the time to really enjoy all of those rites of passage, instead of wondering how and when we could move on.
Now, we have nine grandchildren. We certainly have many blessings for which we are so thankful. If I had one gift to give to all the teenagers and young parents of today, it would be to enjoy the journey. We will never have enough time to experience all of life's joys and sorrows, but take time to enjoy the people and events of your life. No one knows just when we will reach our final destination.
Lord, I am thankful for the life I lead. Life is not a bed of roses but it isn't a mattress of prickly pear cacti. It's a journey and we are blessed to be on the road. We are all fellow travelers.
Guide us and show us every opportunity to share our blessings.
Change is a fact of life. In reality, the only constant in life is change!
I remember thinking that the babies were never going to get out of diapers, and then that the afternoons and evenings watching little league baseball and soccer were never going to end, and on and on. Now, I wish I had taken the time to really enjoy all of those rites of passage, instead of wondering how and when we could move on.
Now, we have nine grandchildren. We certainly have many blessings for which we are so thankful. If I had one gift to give to all the teenagers and young parents of today, it would be to enjoy the journey. We will never have enough time to experience all of life's joys and sorrows, but take time to enjoy the people and events of your life. No one knows just when we will reach our final destination.
Lord, I am thankful for the life I lead. Life is not a bed of roses but it isn't a mattress of prickly pear cacti. It's a journey and we are blessed to be on the road. We are all fellow travelers.
Guide us and show us every opportunity to share our blessings.
Saturday, November 3, 2018
"Oops, I did it again."
I really need to work on my Patience Portfolio. Just what is a Patience Portfolio, you might ask? Well, a Patience Portfolio is what I call my stockpile of "wait-awhile-before-you-spout-off answers".
For instance, my number one question EVERY day is, "Is the mail in, yet?" This question is first asked around 8:05 a.m. I clock in at 8:00 a.m., so I am tempted to reply, "Lady/sir, how would I know? I haven't had time to read the sign posted, on YOUR mail room door. I just got here!" Or, my other answer could be, "The mail never comes before 10:00 a.m. Have you looked at the clock?"
But, most of the time, I just reach into my Patience Portfolio and calmly reply, " No. It isn't here, yet."
My Patience Portfolio also contains other stock answers like, "Let's look at the Activity Sheet, for the Bingo Time", or "Yes, we do have several Public Restrooms, and they are located....." What I really want to say, "Have you consulted the Activity Sheet, which lists daily times, whereabouts and costs, for every single activity for every day of the week, every week, and has done so for the past five years???!", or "No, this is a private residence and we don't allow anyone to go to the bathroom here. We require the public to either hold it, or go back home to their own bathroom."
My Patience Portfolio is large and I use it daily, but it still needs work. Occasionally, I let slip with a few moderately snide remarks. When a lady comes up to my desk, in the dead of winter, dressed in a thin sleeveless top, and dares to complain that she is cold, I have been known to suggest that she return to her 85 degree apartment or put on a sweater when she comes to the lobby. Rude, I know, and I really do try to apologize for the slip, afterward.
So, allow me to beg for forgiveness in advance. Sometimes the impatience just falls out of my mouth, and in spite of my Patience Portfolio, I am powerless to stop it!
Lord. Please help me to watch my mouth. Lead me to use kindness and care in my speech. Remind me that patience is a virtue.
For instance, my number one question EVERY day is, "Is the mail in, yet?" This question is first asked around 8:05 a.m. I clock in at 8:00 a.m., so I am tempted to reply, "Lady/sir, how would I know? I haven't had time to read the sign posted, on YOUR mail room door. I just got here!" Or, my other answer could be, "The mail never comes before 10:00 a.m. Have you looked at the clock?"
But, most of the time, I just reach into my Patience Portfolio and calmly reply, " No. It isn't here, yet."
My Patience Portfolio also contains other stock answers like, "Let's look at the Activity Sheet, for the Bingo Time", or "Yes, we do have several Public Restrooms, and they are located....." What I really want to say, "Have you consulted the Activity Sheet, which lists daily times, whereabouts and costs, for every single activity for every day of the week, every week, and has done so for the past five years???!", or "No, this is a private residence and we don't allow anyone to go to the bathroom here. We require the public to either hold it, or go back home to their own bathroom."
My Patience Portfolio is large and I use it daily, but it still needs work. Occasionally, I let slip with a few moderately snide remarks. When a lady comes up to my desk, in the dead of winter, dressed in a thin sleeveless top, and dares to complain that she is cold, I have been known to suggest that she return to her 85 degree apartment or put on a sweater when she comes to the lobby. Rude, I know, and I really do try to apologize for the slip, afterward.
So, allow me to beg for forgiveness in advance. Sometimes the impatience just falls out of my mouth, and in spite of my Patience Portfolio, I am powerless to stop it!
Lord. Please help me to watch my mouth. Lead me to use kindness and care in my speech. Remind me that patience is a virtue.
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