Tuesday

I guess that we are all having a hot time in the ole town today. We have been setting some real heat and humidity records, lately. I have had my joy juice IV today and am now getting ready to send out some email smoke signals. I am making good progress on kicking free from this infection. It improves each day and I can tell by just feeling my right calf that great improvement is occurring.

I got a sad surprise late last week. A Springhill friend and neighbor and classmate died suddenly. He and I started in first grade together, in Mrs. Upchurch's class. (Isn’t that a great name?) We went all the way to high school graduation together. Jimmy and I both lived on Hickory Street, just four houses apart. We spent much time together and he and I were roommates on Banks Street in New Orleans when we were both freshmen at LSU Medical School. He went ahead and finished and I decided to acknowledge that medicine really wasn’t where I needed to be; so I began the process of being a Presbyterian minister. I think it turned out to be the right decision for me.

I talked with him while I was sick and that is the last time we talked. We did homework together; he was in the band and I played sports; his mom made great lemon icebox pies and served us generous pieces with good cold milk; we put rear speakers in our cars and did all the small town things that mean so much to us now. We would talk about those days and how great a time we had growing up in the 1950’s in a great small industrial town. It a was an idyllic time and was probably one of the golden ages in the life of the US. It is quite something to be over seventy now and reach back for those memories; it is great to have them and great to be able to remember Jimmy and smile about it. He and his wife lived in DC and were together over forty years. I wish him and her well and appreciate the good memories of the good times that we shared.

Hello to the You All Gang

I have been home one week from the hospital and it has been a good week. I get an IV each day but Anita handles it easily since the medical technology has made it easy to do at home. I am getting better each day and the bugs are being stamped out. It will be slow but it is happening.

I do church tomorrow and that will be fine with me. It has been so hot, humid, muggy and oily that I have heard that Satan has left the state. I sometimes wonder what else can happen to Louisiana. Once again, the government turns out to be a problem even bigger than the oil spill since they do so many senseless things to hurt. Like shutting down all off shore drilling and further choking the state. Big layoffs are occurring in a spreading ring of financial shutdowns. The companies that supply the industry are now being shut down because of the six-month penalty. Just like an uninformed leader to do even more damage to the state and other gulf states while they bicker and further strangle the state.

I heard an atheist say that God must be after us because even the government is wounding the area. It gives real meaning to the claim that we are from the government and government is here to help you. Down here that is like telling us that they are rounding up a firing squad to put us out of our misery. The president made a hasty not well thought out decision and still won’t reconsider even when shown what it is doing to the oil states and punishing those doing a good job. I feel for those hearty Cajuns who are now getting clobbered by oil and by government. To hear them interviewed on the radio is really sad. Their lives are coming apart right in front of them and they are powerless to stop it from happening. They have to ask the president to help them and so far that has been not listened to; it is really sad what is happening.

It is now almost summer here in Louisiana. We now are the state of heat, humidity hurricanes, oil spills, and dumb presidential oil decisions. The heat has really been tough with very high heat index and people are staying in to avoid the unpleasant temperatures. Hope you are doing well where you are. I have to finish off this little email and get cracking on some other things to do before I declare myself ready for tomorrow.

Keep Louisiana in our prayers because it looks like God would even have a hard time helping with all the crazy decisions floating around down here. But the state government has done much better this time. And Ray Nagging is in Dallas, so that is very helpful. Stay cool and out of the heat. Hope to hear from you soon.