Golden retriever and Border collie

Got to church in time. The pastor was Shane Stickel from Westminster, who traded with Dave for this week after the synod. He isn't as good as Dave. Philip says he's only been doing this a couple years, being formerly from this congregation, so maybe he'll get better, but his technique needs work. The sermon topic was Psalm 123, focusing on its exposition of certain aspects of prayer. I stayed awake better than I expected, considering the night I'd had, but it didn't benefit the sermon. Philip and I agree that the man has trouble with his analogies, for one thing--one made no sense and another was just wrong.

I had a nice chat with Jenna, and then Mrs. Marble with Mr. Marble in attendance (he listens, mostly), and then Jenna came and hijacked Mrs. Marble, at which point Philip took the opportunity to drag me home. We also have an invitation for next Sunday at Jenna's house for lunch--today, she said, was a bad time because it was leftover soup. It was also a bad time for us, because Chuck and Phil were coming.

They showed up in the middle of lunch, having calling from Monument to say they weren't hungry. We chatted until two, about Walden and, come to think of it, quite a lot of things, and then they went back to the hotel for a nap. Phil's still driving the Escalade. Chuck, behind his back, demonstrated the clear belief that his little brother was insane. I love those two......

Lark and I went out at three, after I caught up with a few things. We met a couple of young men early in the first leg; the main impression I got of their faces was brown hair over sunglasses with light beards below. One seemed to be shading a dark patch on his upper arm, and after giving Lark a few words ignored her. The other petted her a bit, and exchanged greetings with me. Later, in the second leg, we met a youngish woman with a Border collie and a golden. The collie was pretty close to Lark in size, if possibly lighter. The Golden, while on the small side, was not.

It was sunny when we started, but by the time we met the guys I'd taken off my shades and hat, and there was a constant rumbling mutter from the sky behind us as we came up the Heller road. A few fat drops fell as we came up the driveway. It was raining buckets within a minute of getting inside.

Chuck and Phil came back, in the pouring rain, bringing with them a lemon meringue pie. Philip left after  eating, after a good long chat session, for the church meeting to report on the state of the denomination after the synod. I elected to stay. Everybody chatted for awhile longer (which mostly means that Grandma and the boys talk and I--or Philip and I--listen) while I took the dog in and out for ball and brushing, and then Phil noticed the loppers in the greenhouse. Apparently the branches in the driveway had hit the Escalade, which I can well believe, and Phil couldn't resist. He lopped quite a pile, which I dragged out to the curb, with some canine assistance. She actually brought one branch right up to the pile and, upon request, left it there. The rest of the assistance was more questionable, of course, and then when we had finished and were walking around looking at the result, she disappeared. I went behind the house and Phil stayed in front, and we both called until the dratted dog came running down the street to Phil. At which point I shut her in the house. Anyway, I had to get the sap off my hands when we went in (Phil didn't have any) and then it was decided to go get some frozen pizzas. Phil drove, Chuck got us there, and I got us to the frozen foods. We left with three frozen pizzas (one for the freezer), a box of Coke, and a package of Oreos. So for dinner we had pizza with Coke followed by ice cream. Grandma and Chuck had coffee, with one Oreo, but Phil had mint chocolate chip, and crumbled four Oreos over it. Philip and I had more pie. Karen called with an update on their third dog, a pointer-ish mutt younger than Lark who's having a seizure phase. He's Karen's darling, and he's so upset by the seizures that she's pretty upset. So she called after dessert to say she was taking him to the vet, which was supposed to be tomorrow.  All the guys left about nine, with hugs all round. The house is pretty quiet now. Maybe I can get Philip to take me along when he takes them up on their invitations. And they say they aren't stopping by in the morning.....*whimper* Although I must say, it would be nice if the next time I see them it's one at a time. Both of them together is tricky, because of the brotherly teasing that got old about fifty years ago at the latest. You don't want to laugh, but.....you really can't help it, because they've had all that time to come up with jokes that are actually funny. Sigh. Also I haven't heard the stories very many times, and Phil tells stories well.

I want them both back already. Maybe I'm just missing boys around, but.....I don't think that's it. Part, maybe, but not all. Also they're both very huggable. Something about the shape, maybe. Sigh.