Not Quite Smoothly

When we purchased our camping trailer back in December, the dealership went through how everything worked. As we were getting ready to leave Carlton behind, to be stored there for the winter, my head was spinning. There was so much to remember! But one of the guys saw us off with the following wisdom, “Don’t worry about it. There’s a YouTube video for anything you need to know.”

Or twenty-five videos.

In anticipation of our first camping trip in a few weeks, I’ve been sucking up YouTube videos on RVs like a COVID patient sucks up oxygen. And they all offer different advice, and all the campers are a little different from ours.

I tell myself that we can do this; it’s not that hard. You can’t tell me that all those people driving shiny new RVs have master’s degrees. But ours isn’t shiny and new, so it doesn’t have quite as many bells and whistles as all those videos demonstrate.

But it will all be all right.

I mean, look, I got the bed figured out!

And actually, even the refrigerator, stove, and microwave. Even the furnace runs like a charm for us. 

The sinks? Water goes in and water goes out, but my OCD brain still is not happy with its little knowledge of where that water is coming from and where it’s going. Well, I know it’s going into our grey water holding tank, and we are pretty okay with how to drain that. Except when it comes to the black water tank (i.e., toilet). We’ve convinced ourselves we aren’t going to use the toilet, but really? It’s going to be okay. We got this.

This gadget still has me scratching my head—the hot water heater.

This plug needs to go in . . .

That hole and there is not a single video that makes this look difficult, but it took us two days. Again, I’m thinking – we just aren’t going to use hot water.

Everything will be fine, I continued to tell myself, as we worked on things in Carlton all last weekend – sanitizing the freshwater tank, lining the shelves with shelf-lining stuff, putting away the dishes, changing the license plate (that was another nightmare! And a long story). Until I found this in one of the hidey-holes, with a murdered mouse attached.

It’s going to be okay, Chris. If the pups can handle this, so can you. (Can you see all three of them? Sorry that the lighting's not the best.)

Yes, seriously, we got this. I just wish I could do a YouTube video showing the reality of RVs.    

A March Ride with Snow in the Woods

   For Hubby’s birthday, way back in the middle of March, we decided to take a ride. The weather was once again unseasonably warm – for March – and I wanted to do more campground window-shopping. It was 46 degrees out when we left home around 11:30 and all the way up to 60 when we got home late afternoon.

Too bad these pictures don’t reflect that heat. 

 I naturally directed him down backroads to get where we were going. Good thing we had the four-wheel drive. I'm always excited when I see a sign for a CCC camp. Too bad we couldn't explore that day. 

First county park campground. Solberg Lake in Phillips. 

The lake was pretty, but it was very wooded and the sites were fairly small and close together. 

And I'm concerned I would pick the partial sticks over the whole ones and get in trouble. 

Smith Lake County Park in Park Falls seemed a better fit. 

Even if there was more snow. 

It had a lot of large sites - even pull-throughs. 

Too bad they don't take reservations, but we'll just have to see how it goes. 

At least, I'm sure the ice and snow are all gone now. 

Save the People

 

1 When will you save the people?

O God of mercy, when?

Not states and corporations!

But children, women, men!

Flowers of your heart, O God, are they;

Let them not pass, like weeds, away,

Their heritage a sunless day;

God, save the people!

 Since shortly after Easter, I've been writing about the different songs in the musical "Godspell." As with many of the songs, this one is taken from an Episcopal hymn. 

The words to the original song were written as a poem titled "The People's Anthem" by Ebenezer Elliott, shortly before his death. Elliot lived from 1781-1849 in Yorkshire county, spending most of his life in Sheffield, working in the iron trade. Many of his poems were published in the Sheffield newspapers. He was actually quite political and was referred to as the Corn Law Rhymer, because of his work to repeal the Corn Laws, which caused hardship and starvation among the poor. (You can read more about his interesting life here.)

All that makes sense when you study these lyrics and note lines such as "not states and corporations" or the ones below.

2 Shall crime breed crime forever,

Strength aiding still the strong?

Is it your will, Creator,

That we shall toil for wrong?

"No," say your mountains; "no," your skies;

The clouded sun shall brightly rise,

And song be heard instead of sighs;

God, save the people!

3 When will you save the people?

O God of mercy, when?

The people, Lord, the people,

But children, women, men!

God, save the people; yours we are,

Your children, as your angels fair,

From vice, oppression, and despair;

God, save the people!

I couldn't find anyone on YouTube singing the original version. For his musical "Godspell," Stephen Schwartz changed a few words and wrote new music for it, which I'm sure is much catchier than the one from nearly two hundred years ago. The words, in both versions, are still as meaningful.

Lord, have mercy on us and when our lives are difficult, grant us strength and the faith to greet each day. Amen

In case you didn’t catch all the highlights above, which were links to my resources, here they are:

               Video for the song “God Save the People” from the movie “Godspell” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw1j8QvtZZc

               The original words to the hymn “When Wilt Thou Save the People” – https://hymnary.org/text/when_wilt_thou_save_the_people

               Biography of Ebenezer Elliot – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebenezer_Elliott

               My source for the inspiration behind all the songs in “Godspell” – https://www.godspell.com/godspell-lyric-sources/

Oh, Dear. What Now?

 I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather all week. Like I was coming down with a cold – that congestion in the back of the head, sore throat, a slight cough, a little more tired than usual.

We had fired up the furnace in the new camper last Saturday, so I thought at first it was from that. The blowing around of stale air with who knows what kind of germs that had been dormant all winter and now were rudely awakened and out for vengeance.

I tried not to think about it as these symptoms dragged on all week.

Driving home from work last night, though, I kept yawning. And every time I yawned, it felt like someone was slicing open my throat with a serrated knife. When I got home, I finally looked in the mirror, a flashlight shining to the back of my opened mouth.

Yikes. It looked like the stump of a freshly severed limb. (Too graphic? Accept my apologies. I’m just stating the most obvious description.)

I loaded up on every kind of drug I had around the house (which isn’t much), gargled with salt water, drank some warm lemon juice, ate supper, and went to bed.

First thing this morning, with the throat still looking the same (but otherwise feeling fine), I did the responsible thing and took my temperature. I don’t have an ear thermometer or a forehead one, or even a digital one that goes under the tongue. If you know me at all, you may remember I am old-school. I dragged out the old mercury thermometer. The ones they pretty much banned a few years ago when they discovered how dangerous mercury is. Another thing the younger generation has to miss out on – playing with those mercury beads after the thermometer broke. I was raised in a simpler time and I’m grateful for that.

Also, grateful that my thermometer has a blue tip on it. For those who don’t know, if it has a blue tip and thinner end, it’s for use in the mouth. If it has a red tip and is more stubby on the end, it’s rectal. Good to know, right? In case your old thermometer has seen some action.

Anyway, my temperature was 98 degrees. Normal. But it’s time to do one more responsible thing. Call the clinic to talk to one of the providers about my “condition.” I could maybe tough this out, but I did, after all, work at that clinic all week, so my co-workers should know what I might have exposed them to, though our masks were all on and we social distance as much as we can.

I’ll try to keep you posted.  

After we ditched the boy at the hospital . . .

Today, my son goes back to his orthopedic surgeon for a recheck on his broken leg and torn-up ligaments. My apologies to him for not posting any updates, but there hasn’t been much to say (and truthfully, he hates that I’m writing about it all).

To refresh your memory, he broke his left fibula and pulled some ligaments off his ankle bone back on March 6. He had surgery to repair all of that on March 16 and returned to his surgeon on March 31 to have the cast and stitches removed.  

I can’t believe that whole odyssey began seven and a half weeks ago! The poor kid! Because he lives in a small town not too far outside of Milwaukee, I have only seen him twice in that time – after he broke it and when he went in for surgery.

Which is the actual reason for this blog post. Pictures!

While he was in surgery at Froedtert’s in Milwaukee, his sister and I went out for breakfast at Café Hollander in Wauwautosa and then took in the neighborhood. Unfortunately, after an unseasonably warm month, it was freezing cold out that day, with a fresh layer of snow.

Being from the Northwoods, though, we toughed it out. After all we couldn’t just drive around in my warm car the whole time, as we had my son’s dog with us. A long story and I won’t share it here coz you will think my kids and I are totally nuts.

So, here’s the area around the café, at the corner of W State Street and Harwood Avenue, along the Menomonee River. 

I love the little plastic huts. Yes, they are heated. 

And the ridiculously gorgeous neighborhood of Washington Highlands Historic District. Which has its own Wikipedia page.

Below is the only house I was able to identify. Which according to Wikipedia is: The Wittenberg house at 6614 Hillcrest Drive is a Spanish Colonial Revival-styled house designed by Hugo Haeuser and built in 1927. It has dramatic asymmetry, interesting bays, a red tile roof, and some stylings like the parapet borrowed from Islamic architecture.

Not sure what’s going on with this house, hopefully just some remodeling.

And now, I’ve spent a half an hour on Google Maps trying to figure out where this was at. I’m pretty sure it was next to Neumann Family Field, which is next to Rabbe Stadium. Just out driving around trying to find someplace to walk the dog. (Did you find him in one of the pictures above? Not the one below.) 

What I pray for Day by Day

  Day by day,

  Dear Lord, of thee three things I pray:

  To see thee more clearly,

  Love thee more dearly,

  Follow thee more nearly,

  Day by day.

 Last week I started sharing with you the songs from one of my favorite movies, Godspell. If you’ve never seen it – either the movie or a live version of it – you still may have heard this song, if you were alive in the early seventies. In July of 1972, it reached number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100. Stephen Schwartz wrote the music for that version for Godspell, but the words date back much further.

Richard of Chichester, also known as Richard de Wych, lived from 1197 to 1253 and was named a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. The following prayer is reported to have been written by him:

  Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ

  For all the benefits Thou hast given me,

  For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me.

  O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother,

  May I know Thee more clearly,

  Love Thee more dearly,

  Follow Thee more nearly.

The words would later be made into a hymn.

My research on these beautiful lyrics took me down quite the rabbit hole, and I’m going to leave it up to you to pursue that as you choose. What always strikes me is the order of the pleas in the prayer.

We ask first to know Jesus more clearly, then to love Him more dearly, and lastly to follow Him more nearly. My thought has always been (and maybe I’m off base, but I’m gonna tell ya anyway) that these petitions go from what we need the least help with down to what we need the most help achieving.

With enough motivation, we can get to know Jesus better – by following His word, reading our Bibles, and attending worship services. With all that under our belts, we find we can readily love Him. But do we follow Him as nearly as we should? Do we lead lives that aren’t so Christlike? Do we deny that we know Jesus? Do we let our priorities get messed up?

I don’t know about you guys, but I admit that I need the most work on following my Lord and Savior as I should.

Dear Heavenly Father, send Your Holy Spirit into my life so that I might live more closely to Your Son. Amen.  

The river baptism at Mosiro, during my first trip to Kenya in 2006.

 

Another COVID update

 It’s been two months since I posted about COVID19. There hasn't been much to report. People are getting vaccinated at record rates – data shows 36% of Americans have had one vaccine, and 24% are fully vaccinated. At my clinic, we have met our waiting list. Anyone who tells us now that they want the vaccine can get it within one or two business days if their schedule allows. Our schedule has openings. Last night, we did the last covid vaccine clinic which we had scheduled. They are talking about doing more of them, but I’m not sure the patient population requires it. And, honestly, our staff is getting burned out.

Sadly, many people are still refusing to get it. I know there are risks, but you have to realize it’s still better to vaccinate when weighing the pros and cons.

There is no conspiracy theory, the vaccine doesn’t change your DNA, the shot doesn’t carry a microscopic tracker so that the government now knows where you are at all times, there is no anti-Christian juice in it, it’s not going to cause the mark of the beast to suddenly sprout on your forehead.

Yes, you might get sick for a few days, you might be one of the tiny percent of the population who develops some weird long-term effects. You might say, I rather get COVID; I’m young and healthy, and I’ll recover from it as quickly as I would from this vaccine. Or you might get COVID, end up in the hospital for weeks, need a ventilator, and die. The coronavirus is one of those diseases which is not picky – there’s a word for it, but you know what I mean. It doesn’t care who you are. We’ve had ninety-year-olds sail through it and forty-somethings who end up that vent.

Here's the other thing – in many places, the pandemic is ramping up and seeing record number of cases. Probably because people are letting their guards down, sick of staying home, sick of their masks. But along with nearly everyone I’ve talked to, I want this thing to be over with. So, once again, I’m going to say (or write), wear the mask, keep the distance, be safe.

Have a good weekend, Chris

Just like spring flowers, the end of the pandemic will happen. Some day.