Monday, October 9, 2023

My trip to church

 So Metro Bus trip planner AND Google maps gave me a hard time with the directions.  Getting there on the bus, easy, peasy.  Where to go after I got off the bus?  I was not interested in 4-step directions and finally pulled up a plain, "no directions" map and realized I could walk straight, make one turn, and walk down to the church.  

I caught the bus OK.  It was the kind I don't like with this huge horizontal "mattress" standing up on the passenger side.  It makes it hard to see out the windshield.  I sat on the driver's side. It was a long ride.  I won't say much more.  

I got up and talked to the driver when I got pretty close and she knew the stop, told me when we got close.  The map said it would be the first or second stop after a landmark, it was the third.  I was glad I listened to her.  

I walked on one side of the street. I will not do that next time, the sidewalk broke off in places and I had to walk in the street. 

When I got to the church they had a uniformed policeman at the door who acted as a bouncer and "got someone" to vet me.  I was OK with that the church was between two bad areas (the immediate locale was good though). 

Once the deacon or whoever got me to a reception area he left and I was by myself with a large snack table.  Every church I have attended in the last 10 years cuts the donut in half.  That is 3 PCA churches, 2 Calvary Chapels, and a Baptist church.  

The only person who approached me was another new person.  We found the bathroom but split up when the first service let out and I found a seat in the back of the sanctuary.  The actual service was fine.  

I was a little surprised they used kneelers at one point but it was padded and I could get up OK again after. The order of service was good and the teaching sound.  

The offering was sad I was, as I said, in the back so the plate went through the whole right side of the sanctuary before it got to me and it had maybe $20.  I did put a little in thinking of the widow's mite.  I hope everyone does online or recurring giving.  

After the service everyone was busy talking to each other  I did talk to the pastor and showed him a bag of candy with the New Testament in it.  He wasn't sure what to make of it. 

I have concluded no one, in any church, is really going to get excited about evangelism these days and I have to accept that.  

After church I went to a nearby grocery and got a drink, walked back to the bus stop. There was a gacked-out looking homeless man there as well but he didn't bother me.  My bus came pretty quick and I could tell she did not want to open the doors with that man there, but I was standing there smiling and had indicated I wanted a ride so she had to.  I gave her the candy and he got on quickly behind me, did not pay, and sat down.  

I'm sorry!  

He didn't go far.  I rode for a while and ran some errands, hit a grocery store and got some "pork cuts" that look good.  It looks like pork chop/roast/stew meat trimmings it was $1.70 a pound, good for days yet, nice fatty cuts of meat, and about 3 pounds so that is 2 crock pot's worth.  That is a lot of food for me and it was only about $5.  

Makes up for the offering plate!  Stew meat isn't cheap these days!  

I came back home, put the meat away.  I called my aunt.  I took a nap with the cats and called Dad when I got up.  He was very excited.  His 2 big issues for me have been finding a church and also health insurance. 

My grandmother is doing worse so Mom is extending her stay in Florida and has asked Dad to join her this week, so he's going. As I told my aunt, he'd walk across the country for her but all he has to do is fly.  

I hope his hat makes it to CA before he leaves.  Just on a small, selfish, note.  It should, though. 

Fed Ex ground is always so, so, slow. I remember they used to ship my soap making supplies Fed Ex ground or UPS ground and they would take 2 weeks to arrive sometimes (of course I was getting 5 gallon buckets full of coconut oil or whatever). 

I decided I had one last thing to do before I went to bed, and did my Green Gobbler drain treatment.  It is a 2 quart bottle full of glop that is poured into the drains and left overnight.  

My drains are fine, I am careful, but hair/grease, etc. do get in the drains and I wanted that gone before I had a backup.  I had a main line backup once and it was VILE.  So I did that. This morning I flushed them and they are running appreciably better.  I try to do a treatment every year or so at the least.  

I went to bed with the cats. I have (counting) 4 blankets on the bed.  I like a lot of blankets on the bed in the "winter" which to me is anything below 70.  The cats enjoy the blankets and it is easy to wash a blanket if Biscuit throws up.  Washing comforters can be more problematic. I passed a dry cleaner yesterday and  comforter wash was $10 which is about standard I think.  

I woke up at 12:30 instead of 2 but have a decent amount of energy here at 3. Plan is shower, God Time, get dressed, make my breakfast, make my lunch, do up candy. 

That's it for now!  

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