Cactus Flower

Uncle Byron is not at home this week because he is at a conference for missionaries near his old stomping grounds in the state of Pará.  I know that you boys have met Granny Atha and know that she had been a missionary once with Granddad Atha, but you probably have never heard that much about Uncle Byron's time in Brazil as a boy.  He could tell you all about his pet sloth that was so slow that never had to worry about it running away.  They just put it in a tree in the middle of the back yard every night.  Each day it would make for the back wall of their property, but never made it very close.   He could tell you about some of their pet monkeys and the one time he carried a little monkey in his arms on a 24 hour long bus ride from Pará back to the missionary boarding school.   He could tell all about the neighbor who had pigs that would all roll over whenever the man walked by.  He had them all trained to roll over and get their bellies rubbed....

Today's post is a video with something funny in the middle.  Watch it through to the end to see what the Videographer does.  It was filmed while William and Kerri were here in June and July this year. The little joke in the middle reminded of the man that took photos and videotaped at my and Uncle Byron's wedding years ago.  His name was Joe Chopski.  I think he got bored during the festivities.  Sometimes he would talk to the camera and made funny comments.  Once or twice he turned the camera upside down while filming.  Needless to say it was never professionally edited.  It was just pure, raw footage. Look back next week for an account about getting lost with a GPS! Here's a very short clip of the boat farther out.  Have a good week! 

Have you ever heard about the time Uncle Byron got robbed at gunpoint?  There are three different versions of the story.  There is the real, true tale told by Uncle Byron.  There is the version told by missionaries Uncle Tim and Uncle Doug.  And then there is the version repeated by one of Uncle Doug and Tim's cousins who lives in Winston-Salem NC.  Each time the story was repeated it grew like a fish in the account of a fisherman.  The fish was this big... No, it was thisss big.  No, it was THISsss BIG ! I'm going to try to recount the event without a lot of embellishment. When we first came to Sobradinho, Uncle Byron would go into town at least once a month to buy parts and what not and to get money out of the bank.  We could get cash out of the bank machine here in town but the limit per day was lower and the fee per transaction was higher.  So one fine morning, Uncle Byron went into Petrolina over the barragem (the big hydro-electric dam...