Among the Fight Club assignments for this week: deliver flowers anonymously to someone with a note that Jesus loves them and you’re praying for them. Beth and I delivered flowers to Linda across the street. Also this week included a neighborliness sort of challenge, where we set up something in our front yard or driveway to attract people over, and show the love of God. I set up the firepit in the driveway on Saturday and put up a sign for free s’mores, but there were no takers all afternoon. Maybe it was just too hot.

Also as part of an exercise in loving your wife, find creative ways to say yes this weekend. So Beth and I spent a lot of Saturday doing a bunch of little things that she’s wanted done for some time. We pruned all the bushes in the yards, planted a bunch of mums, replaced the broken headlight in the van, weeded the gardens, delivered the flowers across the street, put up the curtain rods and started working on shortening the curtains in Alex’s room, and cleaned the tub. Later in the day she says “I had so much fun doing all that stuff with you!”

Softball got rained out Tuesday. The forecast was for rain, the skies were dark most of the afternoon, and they called off the games before 5:00. It never did rain.

Marve and Beth came by Saturday. They were in Indiana looking at a truck at a used car dealer, and since they were close by they came over to visit and go out to dinner with us. We took them to Oak & Alley. They didn’t buy the truck, though, it seems the dealer they went to was doing something of a bait & switch. Honest mistake or not.

 The pool came down this weekend. It’s been cooler in the past week (although it was super hot for the weekend) and the water was really frigid, so it seemed like the time. Not sure what it was this year but the water stayed really clear, even though I was fighting to keep any chlorine in it all summer. Must have been the algaecide I put in it. Definitely will have to do that again next year. With a new pool, because I drained most of it with a utility knife. I let it drain for several hours before slashing the sides and cutting the whole thing up into smaller pieces that are manageable to put in the trash. We just couldn’t keep any air in the inflatable ring any more, and there were a lot of patches on it for small leaks over the years. So we’re hoping we can get a new one next year…they were hard to find this year.

Missy has quit Kelainey’s. The late nights closing were really getting to her. On school nights, they close at 9, so she was making it home by around 9:45 or so on a good night, but it had been almost midnight before school started and they closed at 10. Typically a bunch of people would come in just before closing and make a mess and order things that had just been cleaned or put away, and it was getting to her. The place is crazy busy during the summer but it was continuing too and she couldn’t stand working there any more. They were going to be closing in a couple months anyway. Maybe Missy will get another job, maybe not…