"Those are my principles, and if you don't like them...well, I have others." - Groucho Marx

I'm surprised when I come across businesses or churches that don't have a web site. I came across one yesterday and two today. One, the church, has a big Facebook presence. Odd.
Does anyone use a phonebook anymore? We got two of them when we moved in, and both of them went directly to the recycle bin.

It rained this morning and drizzled off and on this afternoon so I spent most of the day on inside tasks. I got the trim painted and spent more time on the kitchen floor. During a break in the weather I started digging a posthole out in the garden area. The PO had a fair size garden with an 8' deer fence, but the posts were just poles made from tree trunks about 4" in diameter, and a couple of them are rotted through at the ground. I have some treated 4x4's from the mess I took out down by Fred that I'll use as replacements, which is why I'm digging holes. In ground that is surprisingly hard. I expected soft soil with lots of organic material, but it's a compact clay that gives my upper arms and shoulders a workout. I worked for about 45 minutes before the rain started back up and got about 16" down.

We're going to attend a different church tomorrow, a non-denom about 15 minutes north of us. It's not because we have any particular problem with Emmaus, but it seems like the right thing to do - to at least explore other options. I called the pastor yesterday and asked about some basic doctrinal issues and his answers were...interesting. He grew up in a charismatic church, went to a charismatic college, then a Baptist seminary, and described himself as a "Baptistmatic." (Sounds like something they'd sell on an infomercial.)  I asked if their services were charismatic and he said no, but they wouldn't shut someone down who began speaking in tongues. "Calvinist or Arminian?" A: Sort of both because of his mixed roots.
Yeah.
So we'll see. If we end up at Emmaus it will be a more thoroughly explored decision.

Rain on the roof of an old mobile home is noisy.

Pam went to a farmer's market in Veneta this afternoon and brought home some huge carrots. "People are just so friendly here."
Different areas of this country have different cultures, and we've experienced that as we've moved around over the last 45 years. After college in MI it was out to SoCal, then to the CA central coast, then back to SoCal (inland empire), back to MI, then AZ, and now in OR. The differences between MI and AZ, and AZ and rural OR are significant. There are plusses and minuses to each; none of them is Utopia. But we're both struck by the openness and friendliness of this part of OR as compared to Phoenix.

This part of OR also has some really big snails and banana slugs. Neither of those in Phoenix.