RockinRRanch: November 2016

So Jared here writing about Turkey day in Georgia 2016. We decided to leave Tuesday morning instead of Tuesday afternoon. We hit the road at 5am. They boys all let their teachers know about their trip to GA. Adam’s teacher asked him to take some pictures of his trip to present to the class when he returns. So on the way down we took pictures of the state boarders as we went and other pictures through out the weekend. We drove all the way to the north side of Atlanta on Tuesday. Stopped around 6pm and stayed in a hotel with a pool so the boys could swim. They commented a number of times that next year we should stop at the same place. We were up the next morning around 7 or so. Had breakfast and then hit the road to the Lego store on the north east side of Atlanta. On Tuesday during the drive down I checked our van’s digital read out of the tire pressures. I noticed that three were very similar and one tire was about 3 pounds lower. I thought that was a tad odd but continued to drive. I checked it an hour or so later and noticed another pound of air lost. The tire lost another 4 or so pounds of air and about a half hour outside of atlanta the low tire pressure warning light finally came on. We stopped at a gas station and filled it up with air. Drove on to the hotel with maybe a pound lost during the trip to the hotel. The next morning the tire was down, but not out. Enough air to drive to the lego store. We got to the store around 8:50 am or so. Expecting a 9am opening. oops Lego store didn’t opened until 10am. So I grabbed Kimmy’s phone and low and behold there was a Discount Tire store right by the mall. So around the loop we went and checked in at Discount Tire. Went in and had a great conversation with the tech checking me in. His Dad lives in Iron Mountain in the U.P. of MI. So he came out to look at the tire and in about 5 seconds saw the nail. We dropped it off and went to bum around the mall and the lego store. They finished up with the tire around 11am. No charge for the repair. I didn’t realize that Discount doesnt’ charge for tire repairs and thought that maybe Uncle Dee (aka Brother Cassian) phoned in a favor. Owners of Discount Tire are benefactors of the monastery. So tire fixed and now a life time customer of Discount Tire, we were on our way to the Monastery. On of my favorite groups was playing on the PA at Discount Tire, Third Day a popular Christian Rock group. Yes Uncle Dee there is Christian rock, it isn’t all chanted Psalms. So we arrived at the Monastery and had a wonderful time. Uncle Rick and Uncle Dee were going to surprise us at the Lego store but we were done and about to leave just before they got there. So we all sort of got back to the Monastery at the same time. Mom and Dad from, Indy, Uncle Rick and Uncle Dee returning and us. I handed out mugs I made to Uncle Dee and Uncle Rick as well as some honey. Over the next few days we had a great time. Boys played with legos and Jacob flew his drone. We toured the bakery and the monastery. Adam got some great photos with the Juniors. So here goes the explanation. First if one is interested in being a member of the monastery they become an observer for 2 months. Then if they chose to continue they are a Postulant for 6 months. Then they be come a Novice and then Jr Novice and after at least 3 years and up to 9 they would make their final profession and become a monk for life. We’ve really gotten to know this group of Jr. Novices as well as several other Monks. Nice to see familiar faces. So we hung out with several of the Jr. Novices as well as a couple of guys that were solemn professed like Uncle dee. So we saw Brother Hugh, Brother Peter Damion, Brother Philip, Brother Emilio, Br Ignatius, Fr James and we visited briefly with the New Abbot Fr. Augustine. We enjoyed the Russell humor, all were picked on equally. Mom was having trouble with this new generation and all their switches they put on machines. Kimmy taught a new slipper pattern to Mom. Lots of slip stitch and PSSO lingo flying around. Uncle Rick unloaded a ton of Stars and Allen American items as well as several bags of tubes and cardboard. Boys are always super excited to see what sort of treasures Uncle Rick brings. Lots of thunder sticks with lights. This year there were lots of green blinking bracelets. A nice green glow from the bedroom at night. Uncle Rick fed us again and once again that silly credit card company shut off his credit card. It’s quite funny. A couple of quick text messages and they let him spend money again. security first. I paid Uncle Rick my gambling debt, he should be able to make a house payment with it. Lots of good food, large amounts of ice cream and apple pie were consumed. Don and Rosemary stopped by again and it was great to chat with them. Don had some beautiful rocks that he is polishing and shared one with us. It is really really nice. He is quite talented. We gathered some chestnut hulls to attempt to make a dye for our white wool back at home. We’ll see how it goes, if it’s a success will add this to the regular GA tasks. Had a wonderful time made some great memories. We hit the road home Sunday morning at 6am. Tire held up and no issues. Traffic was good and we made it home to our chilly house around 7:30pm. Another great fun filled Turkey day in GA. Adam got lots of great pictures of the Monastery and with Habits of Monks. A group of monks is called a Habit of Monks. I bet you didn’t know that… well now you know the rest of the story.

Jared.

Tuesday