Yikes....hold the Milk!!!

My daughter and her husband are in England, as many of you know. Recently, she was sharing information with a friend of theirs who lives in China and one in Little Rock, AR. The idea was to compare grocery prices. It sorta puts things in perspective when you see the numbers....

Of course at the time they ran these numbers gas in the US was lower. Now it is around 3.55 in our neck of the woods. Milk is $3.98 or higher. And yes, their beef in the UK is from "Mad cows" so you can see how the price is affected! :) Hence the price for cheese too! If the cows had a better attitude, the price might be different.

	China	USA	England
Bread (loaf)	$0.68	$2.69	$1.17
Milk (gallon)	$3.68	$3.62	$5.17
Butter (stick)	$1.57	$0.86	$1.00
Eggs (dozen)	$0.62	$2.26	$2.30
Cheese (24 slices)	$3.39	$3.53	$5.73
Pampers (40pk)	$7.25	$11.29	$12.56
Chicken Breast (lb)	$1.40	$3.49	$7.99
Beef (lb)	$2.15	$5.29	$2.00
Gas (gallon)	$2.71	$3.19	$10.00

Total grocery bill (excluding gas):

$37.92…England
$33.03…USA
$20.74…China

What a Weekend and more

Well, mother nature decided to give us a swift kick in the shorts this past weekend and Monday. We received buckets of rain, for which we are thankful however many of those moments were severe. On our way to Church Sunday evening it was raining so hard you literally could not see. The roads were absolutely flooded by the church.

Then Monday, we got another round of severe storms, some of which made their way to VA and caused massive damage in the Suffolk area. Several of our neighbors have one or more trees down and some of them were rather large. Fortunately, and thankfully, we had no damage or downed trees. Power did go our for about 3 hours Monday, but that was no big deal in the scheme of things.

It is barely 60 today and the wind is very strong. So it is almost like an Autumn day rather than late spring. But hey.... it's North Carolina, so who's to worry. :)

Hope all is well wherever you may live.

Some "FIRSTS"

Here is the first rose of 2008 on one of our rose bushes. This poor bush is one I have written about before. It was on its last stump when we transplanted it right after we moved here. With much coaching and conversing with it, it produced wonderful roses last year. Looks like shes ready for the same this year.



This is the first picture of the year for our flower garden. And of course a shot of Eli's "blue" ball. We call it a blue ball because he knows his large ball as that and his small Kong ball as the red ball (it actually is red). Of course, dogs are colored blind, but it doesn't seem to make him any difference. He knows which one to go get when we tell him.

One more first......


WE RECEIVED OUR FIRST OFFER ON THE LUBBOCK HOUSE!!!!!

Naturally we were all over it like flies on stink! If I had the courage I would say it is less than we wanted....buy hey, it's under contract and things are looking good for a May 13th close date.
YEAH!!!!! Praise God!!!

Plant Thieves

I told Alice, "I'll bet the neighbors call the cops on us." But she didn't seem worried as we pilfered the vacant lot for plants and trees. Oh, perhaps I should add that the company Alice works for owns the lot and the land developer said we could have anything we wanted prior to their clearing the land. So we took advantage of that offer.

Our harvest included Iris, Lilies, a couple of Dogwood trees, a Magnolia tree/bush, and some assorted ground cover. It was a full days work digging things up and then replanting them at the house - but hey --- can't beat free stuff!

There are also many other things that I was drooling over, but my lovely wife kept reminding me, "And what will you do with that?" When I did not have a coherent answer, I walked away thinking "Uhm, what would I do with that?" All in all it was a fun day and only encountered one unidentified critter slithering in the tall grass.

Last weekend we had our friends Paula and John over for dinner. Sunday was Paula's birthday so we had a little birthday party for her. It was fun. We always enjoy our time with them.

Regarding our house in Lubbock.....this month is Open House month all month long. So we are hoping we get some offers.

Word from Paul is, "Trystan is being ornery" and causing his mom all kinds of grief. So they are looking forward to May 1st. Paul is having some back problems and they are not sure what is causing it. He had his spine fused many years ago, and there may be some problems related to that.

Our niece Kimmy will be celebrating a milestone in her life as she gets ready for graduation from nursing school. There will be a "pinning" ceremony in May, so we'll most likely head that way and get stuck!

Ben, Heather, and the boys spent some time in Scotland a while ago. They arrived back in Durham to discover their boiler was out. So they have been invoking the kindness of friends to shower and acquire an electric heater. Word is the "boiler man" will have parts in shortly and get things back in running order. Uhm....if it's like the US could be a surprise lurking around the corner. We'll hope not!!!

Well...reckon that'll do it for now.

God Bless and have fun!!

Time to share

Spring is moving quickly into NC. The grass is green, trees are leafing out and the smell of fresh flowers is everywhere. Of course, that "nasty" yellow pine pollen is everywhere as well. Guess that is the price one pays for the new growth of Spring.

Alice continues to be very busy. They have started and new building and are looking at beginning another one as well. That is good news.

We continue to wait in the shadow of God's grace for our house to sell in Lubbock. By the end of this week "we" will have painted the entire interior. I have also been talking with a landscape company to do some work along with some Spring planting. AND>>>we are exploring putting in new flooring. Heck, it'll be so nice, we may want to keep it! Yeah, right!!!! The good news in all of this is I am learning a great deal about stewardship, patience, and waiting on God. I am truly a slow learner, so as you can tell, it is taking God quite some time to teach me.

In the meantime, we are doing minimal work on this house and yard. Only doing those things that may save us in the long run, for example, cleaning and staining the deck. Not doing so would cost us far more if it were to deteriorate than the expense of preventative maintenance now.

One of the projects Alice has going is doing some land development. The contractor said we could have any trees, flowers, rocks, bricks, etc, that are on the property. So when things dry out --- yes we have had much needed rain -- we'll take the truck out and start harvesting.

My mom is doing well. Had some cancer removed from under one of her arms. They believe they got it all and there does not appear to be any problem with the glands. She continues to walk to improve her leg circulation and that is paying off.

Mom and Dad Hutchison and well. Jean's brother and his wife will be up from AZ for a few days so they are looking forward to that.

I have received word on an article publication that will come out in March of next year. Talk about patience. Nevertheless, it is a widely circulated publication and the best part is -- IT PAYS MONEY!!!! I also have two more I am working on. One for Guideposts and one for a local feature article in one of the PA papers.

Eli is doing great. He is learning some new disciplines and taking to them well. We walk almost every day and he really gets excited about that. We bought him a new "bouncy ball" today since he finally bit a hole in the other one. I'm surprised on how long that one lasted.

Well...that's about it. Guess I better get back to work.

Thanks for stopping by....

Norm, Alice, and Eli --- Clan MacDonald

PHOTOS...Yes indeed Photos!!!

As remarkable as it may seem, we finally received some of those photos I've been promising. It's great to see everyone in Texas and share in their experiences. I hope y'all enjoy them. I don't have names yet for everyone in the wedding photos but the bride and groom should be apparent to all! :)

Besides the photos, Alice and I had a quick trip to PA this past weekend. It was a good time and an wonderful opportunity to share some time with family. We did not get to see everyone, but we did have an opportunity to share in Kylie's 12th birthday and catch up on the Oliver clan and the Schultz's.

Mom and Dad Hutchison are doing well, but definitely ready for Spring!

It's a blessing to say that everyone is in good health and enjoying life.