The 21st was the birthday of our youngest son. He had requested that his mother fix crab cakes and sea food gumbo. She did and both were great. We had some family over and he had a good birthday.

I returned to work on Saturday. I was hoping for a quiet weekend, but when I got to work I found that the unit I had just started up after my turnaround was down. A compressor motor died just a couple of days after we had started the unit up.

The long and the short of it is, I returned to work Saturday just in time to begin restarting the unit. Of course there was problems with the new motor and so we spent the entire weekend getting things right. We were able to finish the start up today.

I hope to have a better day at work tomorrow.

Now I am going to bed.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

After Lisa and the boy's left for work and school, I finished cleaning up the kitchen and watched some news. At 10:15 I attended St. Michael's Episcopal's Eucharistic service. I am unable to attend normal Sunday worship services at least two Sundays each month. We are members at Bethel PCA and we usually worship there on Sundays. Pastor Wright at Bethel is a very good man and gifted minister.

After worship I returned home and continued my painting the house. I painted for several hours then it was time pick the boys up a school. After we returned home I worked on supper, and was about to return to painting when Gary J. showed up. We sat on the porch and were having a drink when Mark C. came over and shortly after that Woody also came by.

Our porch visit broke up and I came in for supper (Red beans, sausage and rice). I got the boys feed and I helped Mark take measurements for some cabinet work we need done.

Lisa came home at about this time she and I helped the boys with home work.

That was Wednesday at our house.
Kenith

This is going to be a short note.

My leg (staph infection) is much better. and so I can return to work on my regular shift. I will start days on Saturday.

MK came over last night. We discussed books, politics, history theology. The main subject last night was World War II. He is going through Norman Davies' Europe at War 1939-1945: No Simple Victory, which I finished a few months back. It is a very good book and I highly recommend it. We did open a bottle wine, but it was not good enough to recommend, but we did manage to finish off the bottle.

I started painting the house yesterday. I am now going outside to continue that work.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Now that MK has me on a couple of antibiotics, my staph infection is much better and well on the mend. Lisa removed the packing from it last night and I can walk with no pain.

Now the down side of things, my cold is not better. I woke during the night is a sweat, when my fever broke and I've had fever off and on today. Because of that I mostly been in bed all day. I watched some TV (a show on the F/A 18 Hornet was pretty good) and I've read a little bit in Boyd's book and a bit in my newest addition of First Things. I also did a little work with Rosetta Stone.

I at some toasted French bread with butter and honey for breakfast and I fixed myself an omelet with cheese and bacon for lunch along with an American Ale (from the now Belgian owned Budweiser). BTW Its not bad.

I just picked up the boys at school and I still feel like yuck, so I am going vegetate for a while.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I have such a wonderful, beautiful, loving wife!!! We have been married for 25 years and she is more beautiful and wonderful now than she ever was and she has always been both.

Last night MK came over. We visited, discussing important topics such as LSU and the lack of a quaterback, Obama's presidency, Democrats & Republicans, good books, etc... While discussing these important subjects we drank wine (Red Sky Ranch Meritage 2003) and snacked on sharp chedder cheese. The wine was VERY good.

Today, I plan to do a little work in the house, read some and spend time with the boys, who are home because school is out for Veterans Day.

Time to read a little.
Kenith

This morning I started my day with a visit to the dentist office. This afternoon I had a doctor's appointment with MK. He confirmed that I had staph. He lanced it, cleaned it out and then packed it with some ribbon like material. He also gave me another prescription. He also informed me that I will not be able to go to work this week.

With all that said I did very little today. I did start reading a new book today. The new book is actually an old one - England, Rome, and Oxford Compared as to Certain Doctrines by Archibald Boyd. This will be the second book by Boyd that I've read. The other Boyd book is Episcopacy and Presbytery. I found that book to be very impressive.

Now back to my health. I have also been sneezing all afternoon and have sinus trouble and a sore throat. I think I'm catching a cold - Yuk. I hate being sick. I can handle pain pretty well, but I am a wimp when I have a cold.

Later,
Kenith

For the last few days of the turn-around I suffered from a boil of sorts on my upper thigh. Lisa fussed at me for not taking care of it, then she called my doctor friend (i.e. MK). She was convinced (and is probably correct) that I have another occurrence of staph infection.

Yesterday my upper right thigh was very sore, red and swollen about 6" in diameter. I was in a great deal of pain. Lisa lance and dressed the area. I don't know which hurt more - my thigh or watching LSU loose to Saben's Alabama.

Today, my leg is still sore, but I am taking the antibiotics that MK called out for me. I regret missing worship services this morning, but sitting is not easy with my infection and I just felt bad.

I've been in bed all day, but I did get up and toss a football with the boys for a few minutes. Now I am back in bed.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

The unit turn around is over and I am off work this weekend. I worked a mere 62 hours this week. I am so glad to have this behind me. It was hard work work, but all went well. No one got hurt and the unit (which makes high octane gasoline) came up safely. Unit shutdowns and start ups are the most dangerous part of my job.

Christian has been in San Diego for the past several weeks, but is heading back to Japan in the morning. From there he is likely to go on a detachment elsewhere soon (likely to a war zone).

Morgan had surgery on here ankle last week. Her foot (ankle) was severely injured in an automobile accident earlier this year. She is doing well, but the doctor said that damage was worse than he had expected and she would need another surgery in the future.

Please keep us and ours in your prayers

In Christ,
Kenith

We are now in the start up mode at work. I am hoping that things go well for the night shift, so that we can finish up the turnaround by the weekend, so I can have a few days off with my family.

If I am off for the weekend I will end the week with a minimum of 73. It could be more.

Kenith

OK, I am at eighty hours for this week and I plan to end the pay week tomorrow with 93 hours work. Hopefully this will be my last week on the unit shutdown. If all goes well we will be starting things up by midweek, and I hope to be off next weekend.

I would write more but all I've done for the past 3 weeks is work and sleep. I did take the boys trick or treating last night, which is always fun to do. We did have some family and friends over last night as well. Lisa made chilli and we cooked some hot dogs as well.

Later,
Kenith

Today was a 14 hour day at work. I am very tired so I'm going to bed.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Today I worked 13 & 1/2 hours. I was at work for 5 AM and left work at 6:30 PM. It was a very busy day. Turnarounds are always hard and this one is no different.

Last week I worked 91 & 1/2 hours and the week before that I worked 87 hours. I will likely work in the 90 hour range again this week. This will probably continue for around two weeks, then life should return to normal. It can't come too soon.

LP cooked chicken gumbo last night and tonight we had leftovers. I can never have too much gumbo.

I have to get ready for bed. 4 AM comes early.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I'm working a turnaround. UGHHHH. This last week I worked 91 & 1/2 hours. I'm 13 hours a day seven days a week and every now and then 13 hours is not quite enough.

I have to go to sleep.

Later,
Kenith

Saturday morning I left the house about 8:30, picked up my cousin Chris and his son Josh. We then preceded on to St. Augustine Catholic Church in Basile for the funeral of our great uncle, Wilfred LaFleur. Nunc Wilfred, as I knew him, was also my parrain (God Father). His death was not unexpected. He was old and had been very feeble for some time.

Nunc Wilfred was the police chief of Basile for many years. His obituary, in the Eunice paper, can be viewed here . He was a good man. His favourite name he used to refer to us when we were kids was "neg," which was than used as a term of endearment and our families were very close when I was growing up.

Lisa was sick so she did not go to the funeral, and Chris' wife Mindy also stayed home because their daughter was also ill. I did see lots of family and friends that I don't see regularly. That was good, but it is always a bitter sweet event. I am always saddened by the death of old Cajuns, because as they die the Cajun culture, language and accent that was so prevalent when I was young is dying with them.

I came home after the funeral stayed dressed up so I could attend a wedding shortly there after. Doug and Esther were married at Bethel. Lisa and I attended together, even though she was still not well. We left soon after we congratulated the couple. We then went to meet Morgan, it was her birthday and she had plans to meet some friends to celebrate. We made visited there for a little while and come home.

This Morning the boys and I worshipped at Bethel.

Coram Deo,

Kenith

Ps. Here is Nunc Wilfreds obituary from the Eunice paper:

A Mass of Christian Burial will be Celebrated on Saturday, October 11, 2008 at 11:30 am at the St. Augustine Catholic Church in Basile, for Wilfred LaFleur, 76, died on Thursday, October 09, 2008 at the Basile Care Center. Rite of Committal will follow in the St. Augustine Mausoleum under direction of Ardoin's with Father Brian Taylor officiating.

Wilfred was a resident and a former Chief of Police of Basile.

A loving husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather and great-grandfather, Wilfred is survived by his wife, Rose Arabie LaFleur of Basile; a son, Donald James LaFleur of Basile; two daughters, Diana Courville and husband, Ronnie of Eunice, Gail Miller and husband, Joey of Basile; a brother, Lee Roy LaFleur of Lake Charles; a sister, Lucy LeJeune of Lake Charles; seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. Wilfred will be missed dearly by all who knew and loved him.

He was preceded in death by his son, Wayne LaFleur; his parents, Willis and Armide Fontenot LaFleur; brothers, Edward, Willard, and Allen LaFleur; and a sister, Eve Johnson.The family requests that visiting hours be observed at St. Augustine Catholic Church in Basile on Saturday, October 11, 2008 from 9:00 am until time of services.

Family and Friends may view the obituary and sign the guest book online at http://www.ardoinfuneralhomes.com/

I've been working a lot since the hurricane brushed us to the west. I had hoped to go squirrel hunting, but I had to work. I was called out to cover Mitch who was sick. I worked of Sunday Morning. I had to sleep and was not able to worship with the folks at Bethel Presbyterian. St. Michael's Episcopal Church has a 5 PM eucharistic service so I worship there instead.

Monday morning, Cudd and I went fishing in Prien Lake. We caught sixteen speckled trout by the time I had to head home. I had to sleep so I could work last night.

Now I have to switch back to days so I can work on turnaround planning.

Later,
Kenith

Since my last post we caught a glancing blow from Hurricane Ike. Ike knocked out our electricity we just got it back today at 2 pm, so we were out of electricity for 2 and 1/2 days. For Rita we were out of electricity for 3 weeks and I am sure that there are many people in and around Houston who will not have electricity for at least 3 weeks. I know what they are going through and I do feel for them.

The little bit of good news is a cool front came through last night and we will have cool weather for the nest several days and nights. The three weeks following Rita were sweltering misery, so this cool front will be a small blessing.

I spent the week and a half following Gustav at the refinery, trying to get my part of the plant back up and running. We got it things up and running on Thursday and Ike came in Friday. I worked over 15 hours on Friday, and left the plant some time after 9 pm. I did not leave on good terms with that nights shift supervision, but that is not something that I will go into detail about here.

I had to work Friday, so I knew I could not evacuate with Lisa and the boys. I got them a hotel in New Orleans and Lisa and I ran to Sam's and bought her a Tom Tom (GPS) system so that they could get around N.O. and to the hotel. They took time to go to the Aquarium on Saturday. The boys had not been there before and they loved it.

I fell asleep at about 11:30, while watching the Weather Channel as Ike closed in on Galveston. I woke at 3 am. The power was off and I could hear the wind whipping outside. I closed my eyes and went back to sleep. I woke a 6 am. The wind was still blowing hard. As soon as it was light enough to see, I got in the Jeep and drove around the neighbourhood to see how things looked. There were lots of branches down, but no large trees like we had in Rita.

The one thing similar to Rita was the flooding. Ike flooded everything that flooded three years ago when Rita crashed into the coast. Ike's flooding was worse and the water was higher. Lisa and I are just now finishing post Rita work. I am sure many of those flooded by Ike were also just finishing getting there homes back together. I feel for them also.

Lisa and the boys came home Sunday evening. We all slept in the living room, because I borrowed a window unit from Gary J. and put it there and ran it by generator. I was able to keep the refrigerator, AC (small window unit) and some lights running.

Later,
Kenith

Things are getting back to normal. Lots of people are pouring back into town today (we got back early yesterday afternoon) and the local Market Basket and Kroger are both open, though Walmart and the fast food joints are still closed.

Lisa and I "celebrated" our twenty-fifth aniversary yesterday. The morning was spent watching Hurricane Gustav coming on shore via the Weather Channel. Once the eye of the hurricane was on land, we loaded up and headed for home. I led the way in my truck, followed by our daughter in her car and then Lisa in her Jeep.

We did learn that almost all of East Texas has NO Sprint cell phone service. There was no service from just north of Dequincy, LA until almost I-20 by Marshal, TX.

We were back in town a little after noon. Woody had never left and we joined him for a fish fry.

Later,
Kenith

Far SW Louisiana dodged the Gustav bullet and to celebrate we had a fish fry with Woody and a friend of his. We had one strong line of wind and rain come through yesterday afternoon and it is drizzling this morning, but all is well.

I am expecting people to start coming back today. I would hate to have to fight the traffic that will exist with all the people trying to get back into Louisiana.

Kenith

We have been getting ready for Gustav and still have a lot left to do. I have gassed up all the vehicles and extra gas cans. I still hope and pray that we miss the brunt of the storm, but it is certain that someone on the upper gulf coast is going to be hammered good. and of course Hanna is also out there and may well gome into the Gulf as well.

In 2005 we stayed and went through Rita. I had always wanted to go through a hurricane, I did that with Rita and had hoped that I would not get another chance for a long time. I plan to evacuate my family this time. I will likely be needed at the refinery to help get it back up and running.

A good number of refineries are now in the process of shutting down. The refinery I work at is cutting back and getting into position to shut down tomorrow morning. Gasoline supplies will drop pretty soon and prices are going to spike soon.

I need to get back to work,
Kenith

Lisa and I went out to eat last night for our anniversary (25th). Our anniversary is actually Monday, but Hurricane Gustave may be breathing down our throats at that time so we got "a night out" early. We ate at Mazen's and then went dancing.

The band last night was Louisiana Country. They played mostly Cajun and Swamp Pop and Lisa and I "passed a good time.

I have to shut this off and go start doing my hurricane preparations.

I HATE HURRICANES!!!!!!!

Kenith

I've been in Anaheim, California since Sunday evening. I flew out of LC on Sunday. Was in Anaheim for a VPPPA (Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association) conference. VPP (Voluntary Protection Program) is an OSHA program where the company, workers and OSHA partner and work for ever improving safety in the workplace.

I was asked to serve in this by some of my fellow workers and decided to get on board because I see it as something to help keep me an my co-workers at the refinery. Refineries make oil and gasoline products by basically boiling oil and gasoline. It is safe when done properly and everything is treated with respect, proper caution and good sense. Safety is VERY important in this industry.

While in Anaheim I finished the Abhorsen Trilogy, by Garth Nix. It was GREAT. When I was young, I read a lot of fantasy, but not for a long time. My daughter, Morgan, has been after me for some time to read these books. She finally gave them to me in an audio format. Once I started them, they were hard to put down. I listened to them during every minute that I could find.


While in Anaheim, Instead of watching TV in my room, I listened to these books every evening until they were finished. Before leaving I listened to C.S. Lewis' ScrewTape Letters. I first read this interesting little book in 1980. I was on board the USS Francis Hammond and we were on station in the Gulf of Oman. I did some of my reading in the back of an SH-2 anti-submarine helicopter, on which I was a crewman, sensor operator and rescue swimmer. The book is a difficult read at times, but it is a book worth the effort it takes to read. (FYI: I took these pictures of our helicopter in 1981 somewhere off the coast of Eastern Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula.)

Today, I am getting things ready just in case Gustave becomes a hurricane and heads our way. I hope not. It has taken us almost to now to recover from Hurricane Rita, which hammered us three years ago.

I have work to do.
Kenith

I woke at 3:45 this morning and was at work for 4:30 am. I got there that early because I had to make 12 hours, but instead of my normal job, I spent most of the day meeting with management and uion reps to discuss safety and health issues at the refinery. I'm on the committee because the union appointed me to it earlier this year.

I think it is a good goup and our discussions are good for workers and the company.

At this moment I am tired. I stayed up late to watch the men's beach volleyball championship match .

Later,
Kenith

Yesterday, I fixed pain perdu for breakfast. Then we all dressed and went to worship at Bethel. It was nice to have Morgan and Danny as well as Christian and Jessica there to worship with us. After the service we all went to lunch at Casa Manana and we were joined by or friends Mona and Dan along with Mona's son.

Yesterday afternoon Lisa, Jessica and I brought Christian to the airport in Houston, so that he could start his two day journey that will bring him at last to Northern Japan. He was stoic (for the most part) and Jessica held up nicely also, but it was obvious that both of them were dreading the rapidly approaching separation.

Today, I mostly worked on my son's truck, getting it ready to sell. Lisa was with Jessica most of the day helping her do what she need to do before she caught her flight tonight for California. Morgan came over to say her goodbyes as well.

Yesterday evening and today were hard days for me, and I can't imagine how hard it was for Christian and Jessica.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I'm watching the olympics, like millions of others around the world. in the last few minutes Michael Phelps just one his 8th gold medal in these games. I watched Dara Torres when two back to back silver medals. What a night at the Olympics.

Tomorrow we will go to Bethel for worship services and tomorrow afternoon we drive to Houston to bring Christian to the airport, so that he can start on the first leg of his trip to Japan. I'm going to miss my son a great deal.

My alarm went off at 3:20 AM and though I was caught by to separate trains I still made it to work a little after 4 in the morning. I had rescue training, but that did not start until 7:30 AM, so I went to the central control room and visited with the guys on the control board (i.e. computers) then I walked to the satellite which is where I normally work to see how the guys were doing in the unit.

I had to make 12 hours at work, but rescue training was only eight hours. I left the refinery at 4 PM and met with Lisa.

It's late, I'm tired si I am going to bed.

Kenith

Monday evening I started working nights. My last set of day light shift was very busy. We had to work from can to can't each of the 12 workdays. Our nights were better, but something went wrong every evening so that none of the were "good" shifts.

I worked of this morning and slept until a little after noon. I visited with Christian and Jessica for a little while before they left to meet with Morgan and Danny. The boys and I took of late this afternoon for Longville. We visited with my parents for a couple of hours. Dad and I picked some muscadine grapes (native wild grapes, golden color) that he has growing at his place. I ate most of the ones I picked, as I picked them.


I am up way too late, because I plan to get up a 3:20 AM. I got a bit hungry while watching the Olympics so I made myself a snack. I t was a can ofVienna sausages, half a dosen pickled tobasco peppers, Louisiana hot sauce (more tobasco) and some dill relish. Not a bad snack.

Now I need to go to sleep so I can get to work very early tomorrow morning.

Later,
Kenith

Just for fun I decided to put some more Banana Spider pictures up. Some of them may already be posted below. If so Sorry for the repeat.

More pics from the wedding.

The handsome couple.

Getting ready for the wedding.

The groom doing the same thing.

Lisa and my beautiful new Daughter-in-law.

Today, Christian, his (Navy) buddy Graziano and I went to Longville. They wanted to do some shooting before Graziano heads back to San Diego tomorrow. Graziano is a very nice young man. He and Christians became good friends while the were both in Pensacola, Fl.

I took my SKS, a .22 caliber pistol and a few hundred rounds of ammo. We drank coffee and visited with my parents and then went out back to shoot. The boys did the shooting and I took a few photos.

The SKS looks bad and is a lot of fun to shoot.

This Banana Spider and several others were hanging out at my parents hous. Just chillin and watching the shooting.

Yesterday afternoon my eldest son married a beautiful young lady from Pennsylvania. They were married here at the house with just a very few friends and immediate family. It was a nice ceremony performed by Pastor Wright.

Christian drove 2,900 miles, in three days, to get here for the wedding. He picked up Jessica in San Diego, after the first 1,300 miles, and they drove together from there to here together.
Lisa spent most of the last week getting everything for the wedding. It was a very busy week, but she did a great job making arrangements and pulling everything together. Here are some pictures:

The lovely couple.

Later,
Kenith

My son and his fiancee drove in this morning. He drove 2,900 miles since Wednesday afternoon. He picked up his fiancee a little less than halfway home and the two of them drove the rest of the way together.

I have to work this weekend, so I will not be able to attend worship services tomorrow. The past week I started painting the house the front of the house, and will finish the rest of the house over the following weeks (as time allows).

I hope we have a quiet day at the refinery.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I worked night shift on Wednesday evening. It was an uneventful shift. I spent much of my time reading and red lining (i.e. looking for needed changes) start-up and shutdown procedures for my unit. This is not very exciting work, especially at 2am. As I got sleepy I got up and went outside and walked briskly through my units.

When got off work Thursday morning, I went to S.P.A.R. for exercise. To loosen up, I played racquet ball for a while. I was by myself so I just hit the ball around and worked up a sweat. Next I did some weights. I have a bum shoulder I was careful to not do anything that would hurt it worse. After a short workout, I went to the pool. I swam a couple hundred meters in the olympic size pool.

After that I came home and went to bed. I slept until 12:30. I then got up ate, the boys and I went to Longville. We visited with my parents for a while and then my youngest son and I went fishing.

Friday, I had to work. I spent all day in meetings for the JH&S comittee (Joint Health and Safety). This committee is made up of Union and Company appointees that work together to make the refinery safer for everyone there.

Last night, Lisa and Yska went to eat at Pujo Street Café. I met them there. We then went to Yska's for a short visit and after that Lisa and I went dancing for a couple of hours. I was a good evening.

Kenith

More Sunday Pics

Pa-paw, Me-maw and great grandson

Reaux Reaux and her two grandchildren

Four generations

LP and grand niece

Ditto

Photos

Sean and his mom

Sean and his grandpaw

Kim, Elizabeth, Morgan

Me and my wife

Morgan and Danny

The above photos are from Sunday, when we had folks over for Sean's visit.

Today was a non-eventful day.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Sunday morning we woke and went to church at Bethel (PCA). We came home afterwards and got ready for company. Our nephew Sean (Lisa's brother's son) is in on leave from the Air Force, and we had him and other family members over to celebrate his home coming.

Sean has been in Okinawa for the last few years. He will be stationed in Shreveport when he heads back to the Air Force. We had a good visit. I grilled rib-eyes, sausage, hot links and dogs and we had cold beer, Guinness, Killians, Shiner Bock, Negra Modela, Corona, and Miller Light.

Eveyone ate until they were full, the steaks were soooo good, and and everyone who drank did so in moderation. It was a good family event.

I have to go but I will post some pictures next time I blog.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Thursday evening I joined Woody and his neighbour Bob for a beer. We sat in ice chests in Woody's driveway and talked. Bob is retired. He is originally from Tupelo, MS. It was a fun visit. He told stories about moving to Cajun Country from from dry (no alcohol), Baptist part of Mississippi to South Louisiana.

Yesterday, I the refinery rescue team had its monthly eight hour training day, so I did not work my regular job as top operator. I got home from work a little after 5PM. Morgan and Elizabeth were visiting with Lisa and the boys.

Later that evening, after every one had gone home, Lisa and I decided to go dancing. I had learned that Barry Badon & the Bayou Boys were playing at the Isle of Capri's Caribbean Cove Lounge. I had heard that Barry Badon would play music I liked, so we went there to check it out.

Barry Badon and his band were great. Lisa and I danced to almost every song they played. They played, Cajun, Swamp Pop, Zydeco, and some old time rock and roll. The only problem we had was the dance floor was so crowded that it was hard to jitter-bug without bumping into someone.

We passed a good time.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Monday, the boys and I went to Longville to visit the folks. Mom and dad have one chickens that have just hatched bunch of chicks and another chicken that was hatching a brood of chicks while we were there.
Before going to my parents we did a little fishing at my sister's pond. We caught a few fish but we released them, mostly because I did not feel like cleaning fish that afternoon.

Yesterday, I returned to work. Shortly after I reached our control room the sky ripped open and let loose a torrent of rain. We got more than four inches in a few hours. Much of the refinery was soon under water.

The only good thing to come from it was all the maintanance hands were rained out and sent home.

Work today was very busy. We have to catch up for what we missed yesterday.

In the book department, I've finished the Aeneid by Virgil. I enjoyed it. It was very Homer like, which I expected. I also finished Nathaniel Philbrick's Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community and War. This a fascinating book about the English Pilgrims, Puritans and the Indians of New England. I highly recommend the work. My only critical point is I think he gives the native Americans a little to much "benefit of the doubt" on a few occasions. If you like American history this is a great book to read.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Yesterday, Lisa, the boys, and I woke, got ready and went to Bethel Presbyterian Church (PCA) for worship services. Pastor Steve is preaching through the Creed. Yesterday's sermon was on "He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried" and it was very good.

Bethel is fairly liturgical for a modern Presbyterian Church, which I like because I prefer a more liturgical form of worship. We also celebrate the Eucharist every Lord's Day.

After worship service, we went to Tequila's Restaurant for dinner, then we came home. Most Sunday's we avoid work around the house, but this Sunday we had an ox in the ditch and so we had work to do. Lisa and I spent much of the rest of the day painting in our future family room.

Christian recently informed us that he has been engaged since April. We already know his fiancée. She is a pretty young lady from NW Pennsylvania. Her name is Jessica. We should have known that she was special, when he brought her home for a visit earlier this year.

Last night my 12 year old asked that I cook my only specialty for supper, so I made pain perdu (known as French Toast in non-Cajun Americans) for supper. Our daughter, Morgan came to visit and my pain perdu is one her favourites as well, so she joined us for supper.

After supper MK came over to visit. We opened a bottle of wine and sat on the porch and visited. Lisa and Morgan joined us on the porch for a little while. After the bottle was gone, MK and I went for a walk around the neighbourhood and spent that time in prayer.

It was a good Sunday.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

I was taken off shift Monday morning, and spent the rest of the week working (long) days.

This morning, Saturday, I slept in a bit and then got up and did some work around the house. I woke the boys at 9. Then I brought them to a birthday party at 11, while they were at the party I went to see Morgan. She was at work at the library.

This afternoon I watched a good portion of Fox News' tribute Tony Snow, who died of Colon Cancer this morning. My own brother, Gerry, was diagnosed with colon cancer eight years ago. He died five years ago after a three year battle with cancer. Colon cancer is a terrible disease and it is hard to watch someone you dearly love wither away while they battle this horrific cancer.

Yet, it is amazing how our great God uses such evils to bring glory His amazing grace and salvation to those who turn to him. Cancer, horrible as it is, gives the one stricken time to turn to Christ and find salvation in the only Saviour between God and man.

Tony Snow wrote about God's grace, even with cancer, after his cancer returned last year. You can read about it here in Christianity Today.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Thursday, the boys and I went Longville for a visit. I filled the back of my truck with bags of leaves that we had racked up in the back yard. The leaves came from our Live Oak. I was not able to get all the leaves in the truck, but I got most of them. I will bring the rest of them. Dad and I dumped the leaves in his garden.

After a nice visit (and several cups of Community Coffee) with mom and pop the boys and I went to see Sandy and Brian's. We visited for a little while than the boys and I went for a swim in their pond. We did not bring our fishing gear, but we feed them. I took a fish of my son with the fish eating all around him. It was fun.

Lisa and I met Lynn and Morgan for supper at Casa Manana.Lisa and I decided to go dancing so we went to the Isle of Capri to see what band was playing. The band was Static, and Lisa and I danced almost non-stop for a couple of hours, before heading for home.

On Friday, Lisa and I slept in a bit, but we were up by 8AM and went for a walk and got soaked by a storm. Later Mark came over to build the new posts for the porch. I helped to get things started, but I had to take a nap so I could start the graveyard shift.

Morgan posted some photos from her wedding on her Facebook sight. You can click on the Facebook link to see the rest of them. I copied them (stole?) some of them and posted them below.






Our great and Holy Lord has been good to us.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Yesterday, Christian left San Diego headed for Whidbey Island, Washington, which is in Puget Sound a few miles a little north of Seattle. He had a finder bender just outside of Anaheim. Thank the Lord, it did not do serious damage to his truck, but it did take out his AC.

I spoke with him off and on as he was driving yesterday. He decided that he would drive straight through. It was a 1,350 mile long drive and I was concerned with his decision, but he did OK. I did wake before 5 this morning and I called him. He was just about to cross into Oregon when he answered the phone. It was 3 AM his time. He asked me to stay on the phone with him. He said he was doing well and was not tired but talking with someone would still help.

He finally arrived at his base in the early afternoon his time. I was very relieved when his 22 hour (+ or -) drive came to a save end.

I also cut the grass in my yard, which was too long, and Lisa and I took the boys to see a movie this evening.

Now I'm ready to go to bed. Ive been up since before 5 AM, and I'm tired.

Coram Deo,

Kenith

I'm currently working days. One think about the group on my shift is we eat really good on most evenings and weekends. Today, Kratzer cooked a great meal. We had deer roast, pork roast and deer and pork sausage, with rice, corn and green beans. It was so good.

I brought drinks for today's meal, a twelve pack of Cokes, diet Cokes, Dr. Pepper and A&W Root beer. I also brought grapes for a snack.

We had a quiet day yesterday and today.

Since I worked this Sunday and missed worship service, I read St. Paul's epistle to the Philippians, and I plan to attend the Wednesday morning Eucharistic service at St. Michael's Episcopal Church.

I've started reading a short biography of Blaise Pascal.

Now, I plan to get a beer and then get cleaned up and ready for bed.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

We had an awesome thunderstorm roll through here about lunch time today. I had just fed the boys and so I took my hot cup of tea and went outside on the porch, sat on a bench and enjoyed the cool breese, the intense rain and the incredible lightning and thunder. AWESOME!!

I love storms, as long as I have a nice shelter over my head.

Later,
Kenith

On Sunday morning, Lisa was not feeling well, so I let her sleep. I let the boys sleep in also, but I got dressed and went to worship services. I went to St. Michael's Episcopal Church, so that I could get home more quickly than I could from Bethel. The minister at St. Michael's was a visiting pastor, because Rev. Cook was on vacation. I the service was nice, but I found the homily to be rather weak.

Sunday evening MK and his son came over. MK and I enjoyed a nice Zinfandel (not a "white" or "cafe" but a true red wine) and sat on the nearly completed porch and visited. Lisa did say hello, but our niece Kim and her daughter came over so the ladies talked inside, Mike and I did the same on the porch and the boys played all over.

On monday morning, my yongest son and I drove up to Longville. We fished in Sandy's pond for a little. We caught some perch and a bass, but it was getting hot so we went for a swim. After our swim we went to visit my parents. Mom had cooked some sausage and red gravyand my brother Terry had baked some flounder that he had caught the day before, so we feasted with them. Afterwards we drank coffee and talked. Before heading for home my son, dad and I picked blue berries (we picked two gallons). We ate a ton of them while picking them. They are so good.

Mark came over yesterday evening and we worked on the porch some more. Now all that is left to do is to install the new posts, wich he is making. When we finished our labour we ooled off on the porch with a couple of Sam Adam's Summer Ale. It is a very refreshing beer.

I little later Woody and Elisabeth walked over with their baby and joined us on the porch. Mark left shortly after and we moved the visit inside.

This morning, Lisa was up before the alarm went off and I got up shortly there after. She got ready for work and I came out on the porch with my French Press full of cofee, a cup (from Café Du Monde) and St Augustine's City of God. I have sat here on the porch, drank coffee, and read from the City of God. I also listend to part of a discussion betwen Richard Dawkins and Alister McGrath on my iPod.

Now that I have recorded all this on the blog, I need to get moving and start today's work.

Coram Deo,
Kenith

Thursday morning I finished this weeks set of nightshift. I got home a little before six AM. I let the dog out and played with her for a few minutes. Soon after I arrived Kevin and John came by for a beer (I had invited them). We sat on the porch, enjoyed a couple of Killians and talked.

After that they headed home and and I came in and got ready for bed. I woke up about noon. I had my typical graveyard groog but I did pull out my saw's all and cut the handrails of the porch.

On Friday I had a meeting (8:00 AM to 4:00PM) but I had to make 12 hours so I got to work at four in the morning. I used the extra time to get ready for the meeting. That evening Lisa and I went to Club 90 in Iowa, Louisana for a surprise retirement part for my good friend Bird (Wayne Partin).

This morning Mark came over. He got here about 8. Lisa had picked up donuts and I made coffee. She then left for work. Mark and I started taking the front porch apart. After demolishing it, we spen the rest of the day building a new one. We got about 90% of the work done and should finish it next week. The new porch is much stronger and looks a lot better than the old one. Lisa is very happy with it.

I took a little time from the porch to grill some steaks for lunch. This after noon Lisa took the boys to see Get Smart and I cleanup from our work.

Later,
Kenith

Last Saturday Lisa, her sister Rhonda and I went to Lafayette for the wedding of Rosalie Hays and 1st Lieutenant Alec Moyer. Lisa and I have been good friends with the Jon-Ella and David Hays for many years. The were members of Bethel when they lived in Lake Charles. In the aftermath of Hurricane Rita, Lisa, our boys and Lisa's sister Rhonda all stayed with the Hays for a number of weeks.

I've been working graveyards this week. I woke early on Wednesday (12:30 PM) and instead of going back to sleep, I took the boys swimming at the community pool, where we were joined by several of their friends. We stayed at the pool for an hour and a half. We then came home and they got ready to go to McNeese for a leisure learning art class that they are taking. The class is being taught by my son-in-law, Danny.

I then returned home, got ready for work, ran to the store to pick up a few items that we were low on. I brought the items home came to work. As I am writing this, it is now just after midnight and I'm starting to feel tired because I did not get my normal amount of sleep and swam instead. It is going to be a long night.

In the reading department I finished reading The Life of Philip Melanchthon by Frances Augustus Cox. The book was published in 1817 and proved to be a very good book.

Christian is in San Diego and will begin S.E.R.E. school soon. His drive to California proved interesting. His water pump went out on him about 5 or so miles after Junction, Texas. He called me and I was able to get in touch with the Sheriff's department. They gave me a number to the only tow truck in town.

So Christian was towed back into Junction, spent the night at the Lazy-T Motel, which is owned by a Navy retiree, who gave him a room for half price. The man who towed him in was also the mechanic, and he had Christian back on the road by mid morning on Monday. I spoke with him at 5 AM (our time) on Tuesday and he was in San Diego looking for a hotel to crash at for a few hours.

Today is our middle son's birthday. He turned twelve we went swimming for most of the afternoon and had a small party this evening.

31 May to 8 June 2008

I recently inherited, from my wife, her iPod. I bought her a new one for Mother’s Day. I was never very interested in having an iPod, but I now realize how much use I could make of one of these things.

Mine has eight gigs. I have downloaded numerous lectures from the web, I purchased C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce and The Abolition of Man from the iPod store and I also have Virgil’s Aeneid, which I got from the library. I am now very excited about my iPod.

I have finished several books. Lord of the Flies by William Golding and C.S. Lewis’ The Great Divorce and The Abolition of Man on audio book and I finally finished reading Three Empires of the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899 by Dominic Greene. I have started reading City of God by Saint Augustine and on audio book I’m listening to Virgil’s Aeneid. I checked the audio book out from the library and have up loaded onto my iPod. I’m now in book six.

Saturday before last I flew to Albuquerque, NM for our annual rescue school. I had an early flight and flew out from Lake Charles at 6:10 AM had a two hour layover in Houston and landed in Albuquerque about 10:30 AM. I took a cab to the Embassy Suites put up my stuff. The rest of the crew arrived just in time for happy hour, so we met down stairs for drinks (which are free from 5:30-7:30 PM).

I did not make it to worship services on Sunday. All eight members of the team went to the Sandia Peak Tramway and took it up the mountain. We looked around and then went down the other side of the mountain and back up on a ski lift. It is a beautiful place. I would like to take Lisa and the boys there some day.

Our training was a Roco Rescue one course. We have two members of the team who had not yet taken the rescue-one course, and we like to train as a team so eight of us (half the team) went to this course with our new members. It was a good refresher for the rest of us.

I loved the weather in Albuquerque. It never got very hot because the humidity was so low. When it did get hot, if you could get into the shade it became much cooler. The other great thing was at night it cooled of substantially. It cooled off into at least the 60’s at night and on one night the temperature dropped into the upper 40’s. It was great.

Our training involved a lot of physical work, but you never broke out into a sweat, because of the low humidity. I sweated more under the awning while waiting for my baggage at the Lake Charles’ Airport than I did the whole time I was working in New Mexico.

I returned home yesterday (Saturday). Christian was in town, he is driving out to San Diego for more training and stopped here for a few days. Lisa, Christian, the boys and I went to our community pool and swam for a while. After that we went to Outback for supper. Morgan and Danny joined us for supper, as did Eric. We had a good meal and a great visit.

This morning I cooked bacon and pain perdu (i.e. French toast) for breakfast and then we to Worship services as Bethel PCA. On the way to Bethel we stopped a Starbucks to see Morgan, who had to work. I got a cup of coffee (black) and one of the boys got some kind of lemonade. Morgan was able to take a break, so we visited for a few minutes then we went on to Bethel.

Pastor Wright has started preaching a series on the Apostles’ Creed. This morning’s sermon was excellent.

After church, Christian got his stuff together and headed out for San Diego. Lisa is on her way to Welch, LA to pick up Duke and Donna’s kids. Donna had surgery last week so we are going to keep their children tonight so that she can get some rest.

I am sitting on the front porch writing this. I have a fan going and it is a very nice (though humid) afternoon. After I post this on my blog I intend to open City of God and do a little reading.

Later,
Kenith

I have been absent from blogdom for over a month and during that time I've had only a few days of from work. I work shift work and each shift is 12 hours. Twice in the past month I worked an 84 hour week. That is half the hours in a week and these were very trying times at work. I have not had much time home and what little time I did have was not spent to blog.

I worked off Friday (and thankfully I am not on call). I invited a bunch of guys to come over for beer and Pizza on the front porch. A co-worker, Wayne "Bird" P. worked his last shift before his retirement so we drank beer, ate Pizza and wished him well.

While we were on the porch enjoying our Pizza and cold beer, Lisa took the boys to see the new Indiana Jones movie. We were still on the porh when they got home, but every one had gone home shortly there after.

Saturday, I took the boys to Longville. We visited with my folks and fished and swam in my sisters pond. We caught a few fish and swam a lot.

On Sunday we worshipped at Bethel after church we went to a buffet for lunch and then home for a little while. After that Lisa and I took the boys to Sulphur Parks and Recreation (SPAR) waterpark. We got a bit too much sun, but had fun.

Now I have yard work to do.

Coram Deo,
Kenith