Praises – Almost a new bathroom, mower repairs, truck repairs scheduled, good medical reports
Prayers – July 21-26 travel, time with two children/grandchildren, safety and no issues with RV while we’re away; mower keeps working;
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14 NIV
Hello to our followers, family, and friends:
We attended First Methodist in Booneville again on the first Sunday in June, enjoyed communion, no organ this time, and the message “Get Empty” (so the Holy Spirit has room). The remaining Sundays were with our Journey Church family helping with worship. A lot of people were ‘missing’ due to church camp attendance and helpers the first three weeks, so our Wednesday and Sunday night studies were quite sparse and John was able to join the Men’s Fellowship this month.
John takes care of the yard work and this month involved some serious mowing and continued downed branch moving. Connie was the spotter as John used the bed of our pickup truck to trim a large branch and several smaller ones from our renter’s parking space. We hauled the downed branches to the burn pile one mid-afternoon; after about 30 minutes we were both drenched from the heat and humidity. Our mower has quit several times, mostly starting issues. John tried a few home fixes and managed to keep things presentable until the end of the month when it had to go to our local lawn mower repair man after hitting a bump and knocking one of the steering handles out. Repairs done, John mowed the back yard after adding more branches to our growing burn pile. The next day he tightened the other handle, got it started, and it stopped dead a few feet into mowing. We waited to get it back to the repair man who replaced a fuse link, and it is home working again. We are hoping to keep it going this season but John has started looking at zero turn 52” deck new and used mowers, on the wish list for next year.
It took us half the month to finish up our berm area. Brick planting was finished, dirt leveled out a bit, old seed and chaff mixed with top soil was scattered around, new clover seeds added to the front, and some water. After a week the hope of seeing new seedlings was shattered, and even with plenty of rain, sun, and humidity there are only a few signs of some clover growing. Hot and sweaty work, perhaps in the fall we’ll find some discounted plants to add.
John continued working on the multi-purpose room; window and door frames, corner trim, organizing and cleaning up, multiple coats of paint everywhere, sanding edges and painting ceiling beams, more wainscot and chair rail, all before the 10th. Connie helped by moving all the collector plates to the far corner, replacing some electric outlets complete with spacers so they fit, and emptying the little bath closet as we started demo for our contractor. Paneling down, nails pulled, electric wires freed up, studs removed, scrap piled in the middle of the floor, toilet and vanity removed, water turned off, and the contractor started June 12.
Our swallow nest in the RV hitch hatched out with lots of swooping feedings for a few days and the mourning dove nest also hatched one baby (typically they have two ‘squabs’ per brood); neither nest was revisited thankfully. We had ongoing dealings throughout the month with two female puppies that ‘showed up’ on the property. John chased them away a few times, and a renter contacted the local no kill shelter, promising they would be gone in two weeks. By the end of the month we still had puppies, our other renter walked her dog carrying a broom to chase them away, and John was tired of mowing through their messes. We visited the shelter, came back with two slip leashes, and Connie had a week of ‘dog whispering’ managing to catch them both (hamburger grease and peanut butter helped), work with them a bit, and finally got them into the shelter this week. It was bitter sweet, you get attached very quickly even with only a few hours total contact!
Along with working on projects “at home” John helped getting the steeple back on the church and crawled under a friend’s house to take photos of soft spots. Of course, both days were very hot! The steeple involved several church people plus the four hired crew. The video and photos under the house were not very helpful, there wasn’t enough height to get to the soft spot areas, so another attempt will be made with a small shovel in hand to dig out a path.
Salty Strings had a busy month! We helped provide music for Sunday worship services at Journey Church, gradually streamlining sound issues so we can hear each other. The Booneville Dulcimer Club had two practice evenings, the visitor center, and three care facility programs (complete with several fellowship meals). We provided music for the monthly SALT senior group, and prepared six songs for Journey Church Homecoming, an afternoon annual gathering in celebration of the founding of this church with a guest speaker and others attending. We started the celebration with three double dulcimer old hymns, and ended the event with three accordion songs. Connie pulled out the accordion for practice at 7pm the night before – it was pretty rough sounding but went smoothly the next day. We also prepared six songs for the 2nd Saturday gathering and shared three that evening.
Connie has had a few frustrations this month and a ‘prayed over’ batch of chocolate chip cookies (mostly for our contract workers) that turned out great. We received a notice from the IRS (of course audit is the first thing that comes to mind) but it was good; they needed a routing number to direct deposit a refund. It took a few phone calls and trying to get online accounts set up before that was resolved. She dealt with a credit card fraud alert and getting new cards, easier this time than it was two years ago. It seems holidays are the days she chooses to leave her phone at church – it happened last month on Mother’s Day and again this month on Father’s Day! John also did a lot of branch and demo material stacking and has had one burn day so far. Some days are more taxing on the body than others, earning him a shoulder-neck rub before bed one evening!
Connie spent several days working on Christmas songs for the dulcimer group; fixing wrong notes, timing, and adding chords. Early in the month she worked on some of our recordings briefly, was quite discouraged and is thinking it may be easier to start over! John got a new (used) band saw to help with his music stands and appeared to enjoy using it. He eventually got the shop smith set up to drill long straight holes. His first redesign this month was a bit heavy and bulky, then he streamlined it some and had a nice finished product mid-month!
Towards the end of the month John started his ‘weight’ exercise routine. Connie has a hard time doing her morning exercises consistently, and we’ve only had a couple of walks this month in the early morning. We still swim typically three times a week but have had a few times where one or the other swim alone (we can do that now with the cover lifters) as the day’s activities have drained us of our energy. The best time is before breakfast but then we don’t want to do anything that will get us dirty and sweaty!
Hot and humid definitely sums up our June north Mississippi weather and our electric bill will confirm. We can tell by the sky what to expect, and there were only a few days with clear deep blue skies and occasional puffy white clouds. We had several thunder storms, usually later afternoon after the heat and humidity build up, and a few power outages as more branches came down from the wind. We returned home one day and the power was out for about 1.5 hours causing concern since our refrigerator display didn’t seem to be working. We were both up really early one morning after a power glitch reset our clock! Most days were a heat index of upper 90’s up to 105 – when our heat index is >8 degrees above the temperature that means Connie stays inside as much as possible! We tried leaving our ceiling vents open and no air conditioning when we were gone most of a day, never again – it was 93-95 inside and took quite a while to cool down. Instruments were slightly warm in their cases but no damage was done.
Our contractor found additional work was needed to clean up some mold and re-insulate the wall we had hoped to save, the door frame had to be removed to get the shower into the room, and the building began. The old platform was removed, new platform built, plumbing re-routed with inside shut offs, shower installed, walls framed with a pocket door, electric, drywall, and finally mudding and sanding! We installed the vinyl floor, and Connie had some very sore muscles the next few days. John remodeled the old platform into a nice decking addition for our swim spa. We pulled up more carpet and tack strips and did some occasional sweeping and vacuuming, mostly just stayed out of their way.
For most of the month Connie dealt with various dermatitis issues, likely from the heat (and/or stress), different than ant bites or poison ivy, but still very annoying and unsightly. She researched rashes, eczema, and heat blisters seeming to have a bit of each, refrained from scratching, used calamine lotion (even more unsightly) and eventually the areas healed with occasional burn-type scars that are still fading. John followed up from last August, finally getting an endocrinologist appointment an hour away in Tupelo. More specific blood tests were ordered along with a MRI, and we received a lot of information on various types of pituitary gland growths. There was a mix-up in the lab work that sent us to the lab at the hospital where we had to reschedule for earlier in the morning after fasting. The MRI was done July 2, and the results from all tests appear to be within normal limits, perhaps the growth is smaller.
There were many long shopping days, mostly involving our large Lowe’s order with several items arriving on various days. We found and scheduled our truck at a diesel shop (with a German shepherd guard dog named Diesel) for the end of July, checked on repairing the chip in our windshield (they were too busy that day), and dropped things off at Goodwill, along with several breakfast and lunches out. When we discussed details with our contractor the plumber suggested checking at a discount store in Golden, MS (very near the Alabama border) so we made two trips there, purchased our new shower after a credit union cash stop, and brought it home the long way through Booneville to hear a presentation on the Chickasaw museum being built (we shared a dulcimer song as well). We know the presenter from the dulcimer club gatherings at the Natchez Trace visitor center; he sings some of the hymns in Chickasaw/Choctaw that he learned from his grandmother.
We’ve discussed future plans before and always default to ‘in a few years’ answer, but we’re realizing that it is likely next year. So, this is a time for letting go, admitting we’re not able to do all we used to, and planning the next step to live comfortably year-round on this property. The result – lively discussions/disagreements and visits to shed/manufactured/mobile home sites. We planned a day out to drive to Tupelo for a supposed open house with hot dogs followed by treating ourselves to DQ blizzards – no hot dogs, no homes small enough for our site, and blizzards are expensive but still very good! We did stop on the way home and got a wonderful thick crust garlic chicken pizza with plenty of leftovers. Our date nights were limited this month, but there were two lunches out with other church friends. We had a movie night at home, complete with microwave popcorn, and enjoyed “Remarkably Bright Creatures.”
DEVOTION THOUGHTS THIS MONTH:
** The nation whose people submit to God will be blessed. The Lord longs for relationship and continually reaches out to humanity to restore it.
** We are stewards and caretakers of all that God has entrusted to us.
** The only thing you can change about the past is your orientation to it!
** Give me eyes that look to you for help in every need. Give me ears to hear the promises found in your Word. Give me a heart to trust that you are all I need and that I need never worry.
. . . so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God . . .” Colossians 1:10 NKJV
Until next month – thanks for traveling with us and being part of our family ~
John and Connie Nicholas ~ Salty Strings Music Ministry
Contact Information:
Mail: John & Connie Nicholas
Salty Strings Music Ministry
30A Hwy 367
Burnsville, MS 38833
Phone – John 909-336-8910 or Connie 909-336-8912
Email – SaltyStrings@hotmail.com
Facebook – Salty Strings Music Ministry
Web site – SaltyStrings.com
ONLINE DONATIONS via PayPal through our web site
PURCHASE our SONGS: SaltyStrings.com/shop
TRAVEL PLANS AND UPCOMING LOCATIONS
> July 20-27 – With two of our children at Dollywood and visiting TN waterfalls
>August 26 – Jolly Seniors, Lincoln Christian Church, Lincoln, IL
>August 24*-September 9* – Clinton, IL – Little Galilee, Family Camp, family visits
>September 10*-16* – South Beloit, IL – Wisconsin friends and family visits
>September 16*-24* – Carlinville, IL – Memorial Christian Church friends
>>Contact us if you’re interested in some music programs<<
