Sabbatical

Wow! It's been a while since I've posted anything here. It's been a busy summer and I've had lots of things on my mind, but never took the time to write them down.

Church
We left the church we've been attending for the past five years. I really thought this one was going to work for us, but the pastor went "dog day afternoon" on us, i.e. starting bullying from the pulpit, became argumentative with anyone that didn't see things his way, etc. There were some situations/conversations where he wasn't completely truthful and frankly, I don't need that in a pastor or a church.

We have visited several different congregations in the area and have been attending one in particular for the past few weeks. I worked real hard not to sway the decision-making process this time, since I was the one that picked the last church that didn't work out. Dana seems to like this one and has made comments to that effect the past couple of weeks. We know quite a few people there already, so the transition hasn't been too bad. I don't anticipate us placing our membership anywhere right now; maybe not for a long time. I've always said, church would be a great place if you didn't have to deal with people...myself included.

Alaska
We went to Alaska this summer; our second time. The first trip was for our 20th wedding anniversary. This time we took the boys and celebrated our 30th anniversary. We took a flight-seeing tour of the Misty Fjords in Ketchikan and went whale watching in Juneau. Absolutely gorgeous! Here's a few of the pictures I took (culled from over 1000!)

Another Project
When we bought the home we're currently living in, there was an 8 ft x 12 ft portable storage building in the back yard. Over the years, it started to deteriorate, so this summer I decided I would tear it down and replace it. After removing the roof and walls, I discovered that the floor was actually in pretty good shape, so rather than trashing the whole thing, I simply added on. The building is now 12 ft x 20 ft! I've completed all of the construction, just need to paint it. You can take a look at the finished product here

Reunion
I'm attending my high school's homecoming this weekend. We're throwing an "all 70s classes" reunion, i.e. all classmates from classes 1970 through 1979. I graduated in 1976. Should be fun. There are some people attending I haven't seen in over 30 years. I'm sure I look the same!

Hopefully, I won't be so long between posts this time.