Every Sunday night for as long as we’ve been married my father-in-law will call us. The phone rings at either 7:24 p.m. OR 8:13 p.m. I haven’t figured out the reason behind that, but you can almost bet money on it. My theory is that it’s a commercial break.

One of the best inventions we invested in was caller id. At least if I know who it is I can throw the phone to Nate. I admit there are some Sunday’s when neither of us feels like talking and we let the machine get it. Although the conversation is typically short, it will include these topics in this exact order:

1) Weather - My father-in-law watches our weather online. He compares their weather with ours. Gives us a breakdown of the past week and the forecast for the upcoming week.

2) News - He has learned how to watch video clips of online news channels in our area and frequently keeps up with things that happen here. Then, he tells us what has been going on where we live.

3) Projects - Usually about something he’s doing around their house, in the barn or restoring one of his tractor’s.

4) Do you remember…? - This portion of the phone call consists of asking Nate if he remembers so & so OR so & so’s brother’s neighbor’s uncle.

5) Weather - Yes, again. A recap.

6) Have a good week, love you’s, etc….

We have no reason to watch the news. Our personal newscaster lives 6 hours away, but can tell us the record high for the day.