Times Have Changed - McDonalds

The very first McDonalds I ever saw was in Knoxville, Tennessee in 1963. It was one of the original McDs with the golden arches. It was strictly carry out and all you could get was a hamburger with ketchup on it. Kind of like the original Model-T cars which you could get in any color as long as it was black.

Our plan for watching the kids here in Fort Collins is to do something every day that will get us out of the house. Marie has been our activity planner and she suggested we go to a local McDonalds just up the road from where they lived. This is the first time I've been in a McDonalds in many a year.

McDonalds today are a far cry from that original McDonalds in Knoxville. It was a chrome and polish and had a humongous play area for the kids which is the attaction for Juliet and Leah. And the menu has come a long way from the Model-T menu of years past.

Here are a few pictures of the girls at play at McDonalds. No pictures of the food - sorry.

 

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Grandkid Sitting - Day One

Well, we survived day one of our grandkid sitting assignment. We took Juliet and Leah to a local, indoor playground called 'Cool Beans.' It's a fun place for the kids, but it would drive me nuts to work there.

Here are some pictures from last night and our day at Cool Beans.

 

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Headin' North

Betty and I are on I-25 heading for Fort Collins, Colorado. We're going to visit our kids and grandkids.

In fact, we're baby sitting on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Juliet and Leah's day care person is taking some days off, we're going to fill in so Wade and Marie don't have to take time away from work as they both are very busy right now.

Of course, that doesn't bother us too much. It will be tiring, but spending time with the girls will be fun.

So, be good and stay out of the cookie jar.

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Monday Video - Olympic Trick Shots

This video may not be of the Olympics, but it has some Olympic competitors in it and is very supportive of the USA team.

Enjoy.

 

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Sunday Reflection - Gifting in a Marriage

Each person has his own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. (1 Corinthians 7:7)

In the above scripture, Paul is writing about spiritual gifts that help build up the church. Over the years, Betty and I have learned how important gifting is to our marriage.

I'm not talking about physical gifts that come wrapped with a pretty bow - although I love getting those kind of gifts, especially if it involves computers or horses. Nor, am I talking about the spiritual gifts that Paul writes about.

I'm talking about the daily gifts that we give each other that come out of our time, personality, skills and energy.

We gift each other with encouragement, building each other up, love-talk, physical touch (we each love to have our backs and feet rubbed), etc. However, there are some gifts that are unique to each of us.

Betty uniquely gifts me through her skills as a cook. Man, is she a good cook. Over 45 years I can remember only one meal she ever cooked that didn't work out - a corn soufflé when we were newly married. Other than that her meals have been great ever since.

My gift to Betty is the morning. I'm a morning person. When I wake up, usually around 5:30 to 6:00 AM, I'm totally awake. Betty is a night person so her morning wake ups are usually much more prolonged. She can do the morning thing when she has to, but that's not her God-given nature.

So, I feed the horses in the morning, prepare the evening feed and clean up the manure. I fix the coffee and help her slowly wake up in a way that has worked over the years. I'm also the breakfast cook - which is about all I'm good for when it comes to food. I can fix cereal, toast, eggs (scrambled or fried), bacon, cinnamon toast and chile cheese toast. That's the extent of my morning culinary skills.

Gifting in this way is not something we do in a rote way. When Betty cooks a great meal, I know it's done with love and care for me. It truly is a gift. I believe that when I give Betty the morning, she knows that I do it because I love her beyond words.

It works for us.

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Be Prepared

As a kid I was a Cub Scout and then a Boy Scout for a few years. I never got past Second Class - more interested in baseball and comic books. But, to this day, I still remember the Boy Scout motto - Be Prepared!

This came to my mind this morning as Betty and I worked with Sugar and Morgunn in the back using the things we learned at our riding lessons in Tennessee.

One of the things that became clear is that before we ask the horse to do something we need to prepare ourselves and them for the move. A good example of this is asking Morgunn for a turn.

Betty was having a little trouble stopping his turn as getting him to go forward out of the turn.

As we analyzed what was happening, Betty realized that she was holding her cue for the turn too long. I was doing the same with Sugar.

We both started releasing the turn cue as we progressed through the turn and prepared ourselves and the horses for straightening and going forward while still in the turn.

We realized we need to stay ahead of our horses in our thinking so that we're prepared for each cue before it's time to execute that cue.

All in all, a good morning working with the horses.

 

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Need a Positive Pick Up Today?

If you're in need of a positive pick up today, listen to how the Piano Guys work a piano like you've never seen nor heard before.

 

 

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