I bought one of these long-sleeve t-shirts for everyone in the family and gave it to them when I graduated. I had never worn it and even forgot that I had it. This morning, I dug deep in my shirt draw and there it was. It is now my favorite t-shirt. Perfect to protect my delicate skin for walks in the sun.
Lorena is the most amazing cook in the world. This morning we ran down to McDonald’s for an Egg McMuffin breakfast after which we ran across the parking lot to HEB to get some meat and veggies for a Shish-Kabob super AND a ham and some other items for Easter dinner. Lorena boiled some eggs that she plans to paint and enjoy for awhile before she turns them into deviled eggs. We must be getting old because all of this makes us quite happy. Still keeping the fact of Jesus death and resurrection at the forefront–nothing more important than that.
The weather here in our part of Texas has turned just about perfect for gardening and working outside. Lorena is in a near nirvanic state. When the weather is like this and she has some dirt and plants near by, she is wildly happy. She has gotten most of the maintenance stuff she wanted out of the way and is now moving on to special new projects, planting at least one new tree, putting borders around the trees in the front yard, making the ornamental drainage rocks flow more nicely in the landscape, replacing a bush that died, figuring out some new herbs she can plant that grow well in Texas, and the BIG project of working with a contractor to extend the sprinkler system and add some sod to manage erosion in an area where we are starting to get a little bit of an arroyo.
I just got notice of approval to become an adjunct professor at University of Nebraska–Lincoln. It is not official yet, but it appears that all the required approvals have come through. In the meantime, I am working on a paper based on an extended version of the fourth chapter of my dissertation that we hope to get published soon. This picture is of the University of Nebraska–Kearney team putting up infrastructure for a second post-doctoral paper on measurement of water level with very small (staff gauge-size) calibration targets for the purposes of crowd-sourcing and less obtrusive targets in streams. Really appreciate Dr. Mary H. and the work her team does to support all this.
We found out today that the grandfather of Omar, one of our most dear friends in Mexico fought in the Mexican revolution as a Carrancista. If you do not know what that is, it is okay. You can read a little about it here. He enlisted in the forces of Pancho Villa (not a nice man) when he was very young–maybe just a boy. That war was brutal. My thesis adviser for my Masters degree at University of Texas at El Paso told me that one out of every five people in Mexico lost their life during the war. I am not sure that is true and there is not a consensus on how many actually did, but there is a consensus on the fact that a LOT of people died. The sad part is that is that the influenza epidemic of 1918 took even more people. We are looking forward to the next time we can get together with Omar to ask him about all this.
Lynn sent us a ton of great pictures of the final touches being applied to the basement apartment. He has been showing the apartments to potential buyers for a couple of weeks, but this is Semana Santa, so there is hardly anyone in Mexico who could be a potential buyer who is not on vacation. The good news, though, is his whole team has moved up the hill to double the effort on our house there.
My PhD adviser, Troy, at University of Nebraska just sent me an image from a new camera he put up for some research we are doing. I actually have quite a few updates about the work I am doing with Troy (and others) since when I graduated. It is still pretty weird to have people calling me Dr. Chapman, but it is also pretty fun. So, I am just going to do this as a list and might fill in details on some of it as things start to happen. Here is what is going on:
This is the stream/drainage ditch that runs beside our house. It only fills up when we have a big rain storm. Those storms are semi-frequent events during parts of year in our part of Texas. We were excited about it because everything turns green and the bluebonnets start to bloom when there is rain in the spring. In thinking about this, I realize I have turned into my parents and grandparents. We watch weather, birds, the price of gas and steaks and, more than just about anything else, we cherish the times when we get to meet with people.
Lorena and I got to do that at lunch today. The elder of the church we used to attend came into our favorite restaurant in Granbury with his wife and a couple of other friends. We had a wonderful lunch and enjoyed just being together. I am not sure if I want life to get more exciting than that, but I DO want to spend more time with people of good will… And be one of those people of good will myself.
Lorena ran down to the Spring Market in our town to buy a few things and fill the tank up with gas. She came home all a flutter with the really big news that the gas kiosks where we get gas had been replaced with new and completely amazing digital electronics. They even added a supply of plastic gloves so you no longer have to touch anything that the previous people have touched. Thrilling beyond belief!!!
On the other hand, we have to admit that our little town has been upping its game fairly dramatically, even in the face of all the complaints of the local citizenry that the town government is just nuts. In one sense, we agree with them–they make every attempt to fund the local government schools much more than they deserve and/or can reasonably use to provide an education to the local, young minds full of mush. All the leftover, which is a lot goes to sports and stupid stuff like marching bands. What a waste. At least, the voting public had the good sense to turn down the latest bond issue to make the already, college quality sports facility up to an NFL/NBA/MLB quality level.
Lorena went with me to my annual lab test appointment. There was a lady there who had a Dobermann Pinscher service dog. He was nothing short of spectacular. His owner gave him her business card to carry to Lorena, then gave him one to carry to me. The picture is of him delivering it to me. He was a joy to watch. The magnitude of these kinds of dogs was impressed on my like never before. It is one thing to see them in a demonstration, but is a whole other thing to see it all up close and personal. It was also impressed on me that these are not pets but working dogs and they love their jobs.
This is the view from the lower azotea (there is one up higher) in the first house we bought in Mexico. He has some finish work to do, but it is easy to imagine the setting for carnes asadas. This house is the one that we turned into apartments way down the hill from the one where we plan to live. We can hardly wait for it to be completed.
Lorena makes me a big salad (in the spirit of the Big Salad from Seinfeld) every night we eat at home. Lorena makes an olive oil and vinegar dressing for it that is fabulous. I LOVE my big salads. Two days ago, we ran out of the olive oil Lorena buys from Costco, but she found a gift package of several different oils and vinegars Kelly had purchased as a gift for someone, but forgot about so we stole it, tried it, and it changed my entire perspective on big salads! The first one we tried was absolutely fabulous so we are going through them to figure out what we like best. We LOVE them. Hope Kelly does not remember.
Yesterday we learned that we need to do about $700 worth of work on our irrigation system. That was after our 8-year old dryer’s motherboard went out and we had to buy a new dryer. This is the joy of home ownership. I think we have decided to downsize again, by a lot. We love our house, but do not need the hassle. In Mexico, we have plenty of local resources to work on these kinds economically. Here, not so much.
I am putting this image up for future reference. Tío Lauro took the picture before the front of the house started changing. We should get some great new pictures within the next couple of months as Lynn finishes with infrastructure work and starts adding some finishing touches to the ground floor apartment.
We have been thinking of a good name for the house. We have really never named any of our houses, but it somehow, in the spirit of Grandpa Milo, to give it a good name. La Casa de los Ventanales del Cerro de las Mitras was the first name proposed (by Tío Lynn). We actually kind of like that, but have not really settled on anything yet. We are hoping our friends will help us pick a good name. We might even get a plaque!
Christian was given one of the coolest challenge coins ever for some of the research he has accomplished in his job. He got one from his professor when he was getting his PhD, but this seems like a much bigger deal. They gave it to him after and invited talk he gave on that research. He is scheduled to give and even more important talk in a few months. It really is amazing to see him performing at this level.
Aunt Julia is the absolute best person. She promised to send me something from Grandpa and Grandma Jenkins house and, yesterday, it arrived in the mail. It is the Cottage Grove High School Yearbook for 1948, the year Grandpa Milo and Grandma Sarah graduated when Milo was Student Body President and Sarah was Honor Society President. My plan is to scan it in and send it out to all the siblings, cousins, and anyone else who wants to see it. The note says:
Hi Ken,
I promised to get you something from Grandma J’s house and came across this that day we all went to C.G. to see all the things Ann had collected.
Love,
Julia
Well, shoot. We just found out our dryer is kaput and it is only eight years old. The repair guy was just excellent, but we all decided (he, Lorena, and I) that it made a whole lot more sense to just buy a new one than to try to repair this one. That is frustrating, but it is also just life. After Lorena finish lunch we are going to head out to Lowe’s to order a new one. Oh, well.
There are big culture and spiritual things going on in our lives right now–many of them to do with just getting older and the kids really “owning” their own lives, but also in terms of global and national events and changes in the community we have been a part of our whole lives. Some of my very best friends have died (Warren B. and Al R. in particular. I was feeling a little sad yesterday when I noticed this picture of Warren and I from the time I visited him when he worked in St. Thomas, V.I. I could be mistaken, but I think this picture was taken from above Trunk Bay in St. John. He was the best of friends. Al was that way, too. Whenever we had not seen each other for a long time, we would just start up where we left off. I had to hold nothing back from either of them and they would call me out when we disagreed, but they did it agreeably. They are both gone now, but I am grateful for the times I had with them. It is really good for me to remember people who loved Jesus and lifted me in my always too weak efforts to follow Him. Al and Warren were both that way.
Lorena and I are embarking on an effort to read through the whole Bible together today. We have been reading through the New Testament 3-5 nights per week with Grandma Conchita over Skype, but just Lorena and I are going to start in Genesis and try to read the whole Reina Valera 1960 version of the Spanish Bible. This is as a result of some significant new changes in our church life. Depending on God is a good thing, but it is hard to remember that in times of turmoil and change. We are working hard to not lose our peace and joy. I actual ordered two, fairly high quality (goatskin cover) Bibles to facilitate the whole effort. I have made my way through various English versions (KJV, ESV, NASB, NIV, etc.) of the Bible over the last twenty years or so, I have never made it all the way through the Spanish Bible. Let’s see how we do.
I was in a really good place, health-wise, just a couple of months ago. Then, after the graduation and the holidays, I gained a bunch of the weight back that I lost (maybe 60%). If one squints their eyes, they might say I had a little bit of a viable excuse through the new year. But now it is MARCH! And there is no excuse for anything after mid-January. Yesterday, though, I climbed back on the wagon. I ate the appropriate amount of calories with zero junk food. Today, I am doing it again and also I put in my first walk in several months. The worst part is that I have move back up into the obesity range. I can get back down. I just need to make sure I do not get distracted again.
Month 6 WEIGHT: 220.4 lbs. BMI: 34.5
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