June 03, 2007

Another Sunday

There have been some interesting news stories coming out of our local rural community lately. A few weeks ago, the high school had to go on lockdown because a topless woman was shooting a gun at cropdusters. Then last week, a man along the Sacramento River tried using a shotgun to trim some tree branches that were hanging down over his boat ramp. Unfortunately, one of the pellets landed in the boat of another man fishing in the river.

As I sat in my living room tonight wondering what sort of people do such crazy things, I smelled what I thought was a barbecue. I got up to investigate, and saw that the cement porch outside the sliding glass door was on fire. Apparently, in at least one teenager's mind, a little paint thinner and a match is the best way to get rid of the weeds growing up through the cracks.

This morning at church we had our monthly elders' meeting. This meeting is my regular reminder that I live in a fishbowl. The meeting's topics ranged from the behavior of my children to what my wife is doing when she's not in worship. (Today she was taking Stephen, the teenager who lives with us, to see his family, since his grandmother died during the night last night.) I was also told that I need to pick up the grass clippings that are left after the lawn is mowed.

I wonder if there's any of that paint thinner left.

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