David becomes King of Israel

 Second Samuel continues the historical dialogue of the people of Israel and David is now King of Israel anointed by God Himself at Samuel's hand when David was a child. The battles were described in great detail between the people of Israel and the Philistines as well as the battles within Israel and Judah but it is the historical context that we gain in the reading. David talks to God and Israel flourishes because David is King. You can see why the Torah has been separated out of the Old Testament and named as such. It is the law that God passed to the people of Israel and which they had to maintain at all times in order for Him to live amongst them. 

More matches to work on and they continue to be primarily Rawlings and Buller for the moment. A couple of excellent Buller matches which will be useful. I continue with that pursuit in my free time today.  Yesterday also revealed an excellent Blake match with a long colonial history in the United States but still I caution myself because this length is likely common to the British Isles although I do not see it very much in the other three matches; the Blake definitely predominates but could also be Knight so again caution in my thinking. Still looking for the applecart!

Yesterday was a busy day as we were off to spend time with family and it was lovely; we had a great time. I am not that much into going out and about but visits with family are always a wondrous event. It rained and that slowed down the outside events but we continued inside chatting away. I brought my slide rule that  my father gave to me when he knew I was going to University to study Chemistry and the only thing he asked of me was that I teach him how to use it which I did. He could have taught himself but he wanted me to teach him. It has a lovely leather case and I wanted to give it to my son in law and my grandsons can enjoy this beautiful somewhat archaic item and know its history. 

Cleaning was put off for a day and today I will clean the top floor and I will begin soon. Heavy rain today and I hope it is raining in the north as well to dampen down those forest fires. Unfortunately the storm came with lightning so always the danger of new fires but we are moving faster and faster towards the fall and then the winter and the snow will dampen them down if they are not already out as fall here tends to be the rainy season. 

The unknown box was unpacked yesterday and it is all the backups that Edward made since the 1990s. They range from CDs to DVDs to small drives all the way up to 4 Terabytes. I have his last drive on my spare computer which I use to keep most of my files on although my new computer is getting to have quite a few files as well. I also have his last backup which I check every month or so just to keep it active. Although we have published under his name most of the material that he has on his blog and on the website which my eldest will maintain when she retires. 

I have this goal in my mind to keep everything going until she does retire and so that runs my life most of the time and is my only thought. Other than of course my writing which occupies the remainder of my time. At 81 I can sometimes get restless worrying about lasting that long but time will tell in that regard. 

Garbage day today and everything except the actual garbage has been picked up. This new company doing the pickup is very efficient and often has everything gone by 10 a.m. Today was the metal/plastic recycling and every pick up day does recycled food. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

David saves Saul's life a second time.

 The meaning of David saving Saul a second time points to the value David places on Saul having been anointed by God. God made it possible for David to come right up to where Saul lay sleeping and to take his spear and water bottle and leave without waking anyone. But David did not believe that Saul would ever stop hunting him to kill him and Chapter 27 sees David seeking asylum in Gath. An interesting story within the last chapters of 1 Samuel. David in pursuing the raiders of his home in Ziklag had left behind 200 of his soldiers to manage the baggage as the other 400 moved quickly without encumbrance to overtake the raiders and rescue the people of Ziklag who had been taken prisoner. David was successful and when they returned to the 200 guarding the baggage the 400 said they would not share the spoils of war but David said that they would share with the 200 guarding the baggage so that all benefited that were part of the company. Another battle was ongoing between the Philistines and the Israelis and Saul was wounded and asked his armor-bearer to take his life but he refused and Saul took his own life. In this battle Saul and his three sons perished including Jonathan. This continues to be an historical record of the times of the Kings of Israel and their neighbours. 

The Church Service did not come up on Youtube so I went to Christ Church at West Wimbledom which is southwest of London, England. A lovely church service very reminiscent of my Home Church of St Andrew Memorial in London, Ontario. There are a number of Anglican Services online although I generally attend my now Home Church of Christ Church Cathedral online. The possibility that I will ever attend in person is pretty much nil although in the back of my mind it is one of my backup thoughts with regard to how my life goes. I prefer the solitude of my life except that includes my family as and when I am with them. Soon the dogs will come and stay with me for two weeks. 

Working away on the 23 and Me matches and extracting that information on new matches in the last couple of years. There are several very good matches known to me by their cousin matches which I already have. Thus far they are primarily Rawlings which reveals to me some areas on the chromosomes that are Rawlings rather than Cotterill including some X Chromosome matches always very interesting and one new one is the longest that I have for Rawlings. Tempting as always to write but probably I will not. Mostly these matches are people living in England at this time. 

Yesterday was a very busy day as we had an item to return, kayaking and a walk to do and then grocery shopping and finished up the day with clothes washing - two loads in all.  Today has a slight promise of rain and some sun and we will see how the days goes. 

Still looking for the Allen material and I wonder if I have to go through all of those boxes to find the pictures. Strange really as Edward was very organized but by 2019 he was finding it harder and harder to work away at these items. He mostly watched the television and found being house bound because of COVID coming very soon after the end of 2019 really intolerable. He loved to be out and about mostly shopping. Edward loved to shop. He was very good for the economy. 

Solitaire puzzles to do.  

 

Saul and David

 Still reading the book of 1 Samuel and one learns of kindness and resisting initial impulses. A lesson in human goodness comes out of these chapters in my mind. A continuing story of the people of Israel. God listens to them and tells them what will happen if they ask. It is a fascinating historical document of the events in Israel but also the love of God comes to us through the text. God loved mankind but He could not get them to move to the plain that He wanted them to live on. But still no mention of a Messiah who will bring God's words to us the peoples of the world. That message has resounded through the two thousand plus years since Jesus Christ came to us - love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind and love your neighbour as yourself. 

Yesterday was a work day and the front lawn is trimmed but desperately needs some grass seed one of these days and a little fresh earth. I also weeded here and there mostly the front patio that I can see out the windows. So much to do and perhaps I will not get to more of it. Time will tell. 

Sunday once again and it is God's day. I will go to Church on YouTube shortly.  Thank you God for this beautiful earth which you created and filled with all its goodness. Help us and direct us to protect it for the grandchildren of tomorrow so that they too will run on the beaches and into the waters to enjoy just as we did as children. 

Must write a letter to my sister today and I think I will talk about some of the ancestral lines we share. I  just write two pages and put them into the cards that I bought. I must get some more cards or it will just be a letter. 

Soon it will be August and the dog days of summer will begin as we coast into Fall and all that beautiful winter time here in Canada. My working days become considerably longer and the work outside will be done by others namely the snow removal people. Perhaps the man with the huge truck will think about how hard it is for the snow crew to clear my laneway when he parks his truck that takes up the entire space in front of my house and not do that and keep it in his laneway. We will see. 

Solitaire puzzles next.  

David and Jonathan

David and Jonathan, the Bible Book (1 Samuel) that taught us about love between people; a love that saved a life. Jonathan the son of King Saul and David the son of Jesse shared a love of God the Creator and believed in Him. At least I read it that way. It is a beautiful book of the Bible which talks about this brotherly love between the two young men. David is now married to Jonathan's sister Michal who also loves David dearly. The two children of Saul risked much to save David. 

That the Messiah will come is still not visible as I read; it will be as I know when the prophets to come start talking about the Promised Messiah from God. 

Yesterday I completed for the most part the moving of the rooms and I am pleased with the result. I have one extraneous box looking at me and I will sort through it today. It is a brand new Bankers Box so likely we put it together and now I need to make decisions on its contents. I was also looking for the material on the Allen family. I had an Archival Box labeled "Allen" but it didn't have in it what I thought it might so I was back at square one and then I found the binder that listed contents as Kipp/Link/Allen but it too came up with very little. But then I thought about the one box that we put together but I haven't looked at the five business bags that we put into it. It is labeled latest research and that is how Edward managed his research by family line putting in the material that he wanted to work with on various trips here and there. He put into these business bags (from conferences) the different family items he was working on and today I shall also have a look in those bags to see if there is a devoted Allen bag as it was one of the last trips that we made before COVID to meet with Edward's Allen's cousins. It was two trips - one to Gravenhurst in Northern Ontario and another to Belleville I think along the 401 in south eastern Ontario. 

My work is cut out for me today and those two boxes will occupy me for the rest of the morning. I need to do this whilst I am still able and then I can get back to writing my books in the fall and winter. I do so look forward to all that snow on the ground for days and weeks on end. I get so much work done at that time. A note on the door asking people to please not disturb me as I am writing and soon the letter carrier will no longer deliver mail as well since we are going to postal mailboxes. I still prefer the idea of virtual mailboxes - it would be the making of Canada Post as there could be all sorts of spin offs from that when people want printed copy they can pay both to have the job printed and to have it delivered to their home. Canada Post offers the best delivery service in Canada; they are good at it. The monies would keep Canada Post solvent instead of always having shortfalls. 

Exercises all completed first thing this morning with a cardio load of 35 and 1 hour of exercise. It was a good spread of times in each zone - light 19%, moderate 37%, vigorous 39% and peak 5%. Today I will run for 30 minutes a little later and perhaps some weightlifting. Time will tell. 

Canada continues to point itself towards diversification of trade; breaking down any remaining provincial barriers to trade and increasing our defense spending. The pipelines are finally a go and I am very happy about that as well as the mines that are in the works/in thought process or just waiting to be thought about. The Gordie Howe Bridge got its official opening day in Windsor and everybody is happy. The extra 320 million in cost is likely financing the debt a longer period than planned. Extra maintenance for sure. 

Conrad Black's editorial today very well written as always. Thank you to him for so concisely producing a lecture that everyone can benefit from reading. The United States is our great friend and neighbour but we can and will stand on our own as we did at the end of the Second World War and well into the 1960s. We need to get back to that sort of strong defense ability, independence and break down those provincial barriers. I hear there are now British Columbia cherries on the market but haven't seen them here yet. I continue to support 100% Prime Minister Carney's ideas on how to increase our defense and diversify our trade around the world. 

Solitaire puzzles to do. 

Samuel and Saul

Continued reading the Book of 1 Samuel and the times of Samuel as an old man anointing Saul to be  King of Israel. The Creator God considered Himself to be King of Israel but none the less He had Samuel anoint Saul as King. Saul is very successful in battle but does not follow strictly the rules that God has stated. It is the history that I am re-reading and I remember it. I think we have learned the Law told to us (the Torah) in the first five books and now we are into the history of the people of Israel. God has allowed the people to have what they requested and allowed for an anointed King to be in Israel. Still the prophecy of the Messiah has not yet appeared in the text and I do not see that there is a reference to a coming Messiah. Tomorrow I continue with reading 1 Samuel. Rethought and changed it somewhat. 

Gradually getting everything back in place once again after all of our moving things about. It does give the place a shakeup so to speak moving away any accumulated dust from hard to reach spots. I used to thoroughly houseclean each room when I stayed home all those years when the children were young and actually my eldest was fifteen when I started to go into work as a proofreader although still did read some of the work at home in the afternoons. By then both of our children were in school all day. They are eight years apart in age.  

No work done yesterday as I cleaned the basement and then continued on into the afternoon completing the move of all of Edward's boxes into a different room. It gave me a chance to glance and I discovered a binder that I was missing (not surprising since there are still at least 60 binders of his work including the 40 binders of family pictures). The task of downsizing those binders begins now and I do hope to complete some of that work by Christmas this year (the intent was Christmas last year). I was somewhat unwell last year and my work level was lower than normal so did not accomplish that task. I feel stronger this year although I can tell that the years are adding up and my days on this earth are much shorter than I have already lived. 

I shall cut the front lawn today and perhaps some of the back lawn. It is meant to be a good day and suitable for that I rather think. I am also now relocating my few boxes of material for my genealogical work and will accomplish that today as well. 

I will try to do some work in between. The days move quickly but are bringing me to my favourite seasons of the year - Fall and Winter. I will get lots of work done. The books will not publish themselves so my work load will increase to help move that along. 

Will stay away from the news once again for awhile. The Prime Minister, as always,  has it in hand and his ideas are sound based on his many years of experience in the business/finance world. It is good to see the Premiers of the Provinces and Territories all working together to diversify our trade around the world and to create a strong Canada. It was the dream of the Fathers of Confederation and they did their best to prepare our country to be strong within Canada.  

Solitaire puzzles to do.