Jeff and family visit for Thanksgiving

November 21-28, 2020

School schedules during the Covid year were complicated, so only Jeff with Jordan and Luke could get free to come on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, Nov 21. They arrived about 7pm. We visited for a while, offered them snacks, and settled in fairly early.

We went to Sunday School and they joined us for the worship service. We were glad for them to meet our new pastor, and Jordan and Luke visited briefly with Janet Vineyard. Janet was very pleased to see them after working with Jordan in Vacation Bible School in 2019. One example is with the Grade 2 group. We are meeting with "social distancing" and wearing face masks and have thus far had no Covid cases originating from our church services to our knowledge.

Mark came out to join us for Sunday dinner, and we enjoyed the first dinner at our house for Luke. Brenda, Jeff, Mark, Luke, Jordan.

The weather was amazingly mild for November 22, so we gathered outside in short sleeves for conversation after dinner. Luke, Jordan, Mark, Rod, Jeff, Marty.

Monday, November 23

Monday dawned as another beautiful, mild day. At about 9am the sun was backlighting the leaves nest door, and we enjoyed the beauty of the morning.

Relaxed conversation after breakfast. This is where we tended to gather to talk.

With Marty's and Jeff's shopping, we had lots of interesting foods. Here Jordan samples the fruit rambutan. It is a strange, hairy fruit that is native to southeast Asia, but the ones we had came from Honduras. You had to peel off the thick outside layer, and then it tasted somewhat like a green grape with a fairly large seed. The photo at bottom right is from Honduras.

In the afternoon, Jeff and Rod took on the repair of the chain link fence at the back of the yard that had been crushed downward by one trunk of the big triple-trunk tree that had fallen across it. It gave us an excuse to make actual good use of the enormous pipe wrench that Jeff had given Rod as a Christmas gift a couple of years back. With it and the huge screwdriver that he had also given Rod as a gift, we managed to do a good bit of straightening of the top rail, but then went to Home Depot and got two lengths of new top rail.

Tuesday, November 24

In the afternoon Jeff and Rod took on the repair of the electric line to the back sheds that a falling limb during the tree cutting had jerked loose. This was quite a saga because I didn't know where the wire feeding power to the sheds was connected. The connection may have been made as long ago as 1985, and I didn't remember where I had made the connection. I thought it was in the wall close to center where the new water drain line was connected after sewage was installed. I spent two days cutting holes in the pegboard wall trying to find it. Finally I decided to just dig across the back of the shed, knowing that I would have to encounter the conduit carrying the wire. I had checked the wall from west to almost the east end, so I started digging on the east end. I found the conduit 30" from the west end!

I was confident that the junction box on a 2x4 near that location was for wiring a cabinet that I had planned, but I was wrong! When I reached under that box, I found the conduit leading into the floor! As I had anticipated, the limb hitting the line in the yard had just jerked the wires loose in that box. The image lower right shows the power leads, and the attached wires had been jerked cleanly out of the box, breaking the wire nuts. Jeff and I cut the conduit, inserted a new junction box and ran a new wire from the inside box to this new box. It was certainly a relief and a great pleasure to go down and turn on the lights in the sheds after all this work. I had no power to the sheds from when the trees were cut.

In the evening we enjoyed relaxing downstairs with Luke and Jordan and hearing them play and sing. This is an excerpt from one of their songs.

Darla had to teach on Tuesday, and Elyse had class, so they couldn't start the trip until after class on Tuesday. Ashleigh also had class, but was free earlier and was waiting for them so the three of them could head in our direction, but they didn't arrive until after 1am on Wednesday morning.

Wednesday, November 25

We were prepared to let the late arrivers sleep late, but the group was up and gathered around the kitchen island about 9am. Brenda, Luke, Jordan, Darla, Ashleigh, Elyse.

Jeff joined us, so the gang is all here, and we had a good time of fellowship at the usual gathering place.

We settled at the breakfast table for further conversation. Luke had to inform us that his grandfather had died. They had been anticipating it since they arrived, but now they made arrangements for him to take a noon flight to Phoenix to join his parents there.

Luke was taken to the Atlanta Airport, and now about midday, they are gathered around their computers on the dining room table. Jordan and Ashleigh have studying to do, and this is their traditional place for computer work.

The dining room computer lab gives them all access to the wireless network.

At about 4pm the ladies attention turned to preparation of the special salads for the Thanksgiving meal tomorrow. Elyse is preparing part of the jello salad which is so popular with our family.

Jordan prepares the bacon that will be crumbled up on top of the seven layer salad.

Ashleigh prepares the vegetables for the seven layer salad. She also contributed the nice pumpkin pie. It is a pleasure for Brenda to have the girls working with the preparation of the Thanksgiving dinner.

Marty joins in with the busy kitchen. He has the turkey in preparation at his house.

A productive afternoon of preparation for tomorrow's feast.

We settled down for a nice spaghetti dinner that Marty had prepared.

Game time! Marty has many games, and this intense dice game takes a lot of concentration.