"Gerald Ford can't fart and chew gum at the same time." - Lyndon B. Johnson

I liked Gerald Ford and most people now think he did the right thing by pardoning Nixon. I put that quote up there because it's a clever insult. And you never know when you're going to need a clever insult.

It's 7:30 and I'm sitting in a Starbucks in Springfield. I've been here working for an hour and now  have my Sunday morning class prep pretty much done. I may add a few slides after I go over the presentation a few times. I can't decide if I've got 60 minutes of material or 50. I have more material to cover but I don't think I can do it in 10. Probably need twice that. Hmmm. Next week's class?

I'm in Springfield (right next to Eugene) because at 8:30 I have my semi-annual pacemaker check. The tech downloads the data from the last six months and looks for anything amiss, and also uses the % of pacemaker activity to plot the point at which the battery will die. To prevent me from dying they want to know that point ahead of time and swap out this unit for a fresh one.
Seems like a good idea.

When I get to the office I'll start writing the sermon. I've been doing the study part for several days now and feel like I have a pretty good handle on the background and text of Ps. 3. Now I have to package it in a way that communicates its lesson effectively. In this case I think it requires a little more care and attention. This one isn't just "here's the truth and here's how it applies." To be effective it requires an emotive connection that I need to develop. Not my strong suit.

And I'm already thinking ahead to next Tuesday night's class, the last one in this 4-week series. Having discussed systematic, biblical, and historical theology we'll talk about dogmatic and contemporary theology. To do two in one session will require some efficiency in presentation.

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It's now 5 p.m. and we'll head for our Thursday night pizza meal in a few minutes. We won't be driving the truck over because it's still in Springfield.
I came out of the dr. office and drove to Fred Meyer to get gas before heading to the office. The truck started making HORRIBLE noises from the back end. Long story short, it's now sitting in an auto shop a mile from that Meyer thanks to a AAA tow truck.

That pumpkin-shaped thing in between the two rear wheels is called the differential and it's pretty important. It's filled with gears, the most important of which are the ring and pinion gears. And they're the ones that typically fail first because they get the most load put on them.
Yep. Gone.
$1500 to $1700 is the preliminary estimate. That's for a used or rebuilt diff.
Middle of next week if they can find one locally.

Ninety minutes for AAA to arrive, an hour at the shop, another 45 minutes for Pam to arrive, and I never made it to the office.

The really irritating thing is that this is a perfect illustration for my sermon Sunday about dealing with stress. Psalm 3.
Don't tell me God has a sense of humor because this isn't funny. This is a hit our budget does not need. Yes, God's got this. But that doesn't make it easy.

I needed the therapy of work when I got home. So the barn is cleaned with fresh straw down in both the main room and the kidding room.

Yesterday I decided to put a skim coat on Sally's trunk lid. So after cleaning the barn I put that on and then did the first sanding with 60 grit. In the process I found a couple of other minor dents I want to fill. Tomorrow after doing that I'll sand with 120, 180, and 220 grit. Then primer. I want to have the paint on by Tuesday so I can drive it into work because the truck won't be done until at least Wednesday, maybe later if they have trouble coming up with a diff.

Yeah, fun times.