produce

i love this time of the year. i love it. leaves fall. the breeze cools. pumpkins and squash adorn front porches. the smell of wood lingers in the night air. it is good. dad an i went to see a living legend on saturday. gallagher. the guy who smashes stuff. produce. a living legend. it was a night i will not soon forget. i performed in front of a sold-out crowd. i was a tree. a maple tree. i told a joke about a turtle and shared a wet dogfood and pepto bismol pie with my new found friend. shook his hand. i had 2 litres of coca-cola shot up my nose... and delivered his barely filled glass of tequila. it was fairly incredible. dad laughed. we both were hit with mustard, mashed potatoes, chocolate cake, sauerkraut, corn, rice, flour, cottage cheese, lettuce, butter, soda, and of course watermelon. gallagher left the stage covered in slop and only wearing underwear. we left the theatre entertained, slightly exhausted from the evenings festivities and longing to build our very own sledgeomatic. oh... and dad lost twenty bucks.

single file

ten of us gently glided over the still waters through jungle settings and animal surroundings. my best friend is getting married saturday. it's a big deal. we jeeped to turkey run state park where we canoed for miles and spoke about life. love. and the pursuit of happiness. i felt lucky and blessed beyond measure to be surrounded by such strong men. i thank God he gave me such bold encouragers. wise counselors. and deep hearts to associate with and know. we paddled with the current. we paddled against the current. we paddled apart. and we paddled together. we shared lunch and stories from our lives. i was proud of every word spoken... and that we were all together celebrating a friends' union with the love of his life. the weather was beautiful... no storms blew our way. the waters were tame while the bends were quick to negotiate. i wonder if the waves were rough and for some reason or some how we were shot out into the depths of the ocean how we'd survive. i can't say for sure to be honest... but i can say i wouldn't want to be with any other group of warriors. we climbed rocks and scaled cliffs. we sweat and laughed. we challenged one another and prayed for the marriage. i am lucky to know them... and welcome any storm, because my rowing team is quite strong. it was a good day.

rocking the boat

Character is doing the right thing when nobody's looking.  There are too many people who think that the only thing that's right is to get by, and the only thing that's wrong is to get caught. Don't try to be different.  Just be good.  To be good is different enough.  -unknown

one step at a time

today mom took her first steps. the surgery was yesterday. new legs. well, actually knees. but i like to call them "new legs". i don't like seeing my mom in pain. it's hard to watch. she's been pretty doped up since yesterday... and has fallen asleep in the middle of most every conversation we've had. it's ok though. rest heals the body and i know she needs that. she has a long road ahead of her... but i know she will deal with it incredibly. she's my mom. and raising 3 boys makes one strong. you can do it, momma. i love you. (phil 4:13)

"the greatest education in the world is watching the masters at work" -mj

michael jackson died yesterday. michael jackson. the thriller. the king of pop. wow... amazing. whether or not you grew to overlook the drama that came later in his life... you at one point were a fan. all of us were. he was a creative genius. i moon walked. wore a glittery glove on one hand. squeezed my chubby butt into pants made of parachute. and danced like it was my job. michael jackson changed who we were. who we are. i have to admit... i have experienced sadness over this passing... for a few reasons. one. it's never fun when someone leaves us. 2. because one of my biggest fears in life is that i would be misunderstood. the king of pop had this problem. and 3. because when he died... a piece of my childhood died. a piece of hope... a piece of magic. a piece of wonder. a person who did good who gave to others has left this world. we need more of them. believe me, i'm not endorsing... grabbing your goodies in public, reconstructing your nose 37 times, buying a chimp and naming it bubbles or swinging your baby from a balcony. sure he was bizarre. there is no doubt about it. but that's what made him interesting. he was an artist. he once said, “in a world filled with hate, we must still dare to hope. in a world filled with anger, we must still dare to comfort. in a world filled with despair, we must still dare to dream. and in a world filled with distrust, we must still dare to believe.” he dared to be different. i believe when i go home this evening... i will put his music on and remember the times.

pandemic

i sat out this year. no half marathon for me. what was i thinking anyway? i chose to hand out water. much easier i must say. the world is falling apart as i type. the swine flu has taken over the planet. i've given up bacon and increased my personal space regulations. i've increased consumption of hand sanitizer, and stay far away from those who look germy. the lovely is lovelier than ever... and her belly is feeling better. i've mowed a time or two and am looking forward to spending a great deal of time outside this summer. it's raining today however. the track opens and the cars that go fast sit inside on days like this. i leave for colorado next week and a new adventure at hermit basin. i think anything grilled tastes better. i want to ride a roller coaster. now. this very minute. i'm itching to spend a cool night in a tent hearing crickets and sit in a field while a thunderstorms showers me. sunday, lovely and i got stuck in a ditch while jeepin... it was awesome. i wish i had the jeeper in colorado. i'd drive up the side of that mountain and look at forever. instead perhaps i'll just walk... and see some long horn sheep. a few horses. cows. a bear. a wolf. oh my. who knows what this year will bring... but i will tell you this. in the land of peaks and pine i will say no to flu and swine.

food for thought

i haven't run in weeks. it's ridiculous. better things to do. not sure how i will survive what will surely be a thirteen hour tour. things are good. i haven't written in a while... not because i don't have anything to say. just simmering. my professor in college would say, "I need to let that cook a while..." what he meant was... be slow to speak. it's a good thing. it helps me process my thoughts. sometimes i'm so slow to speak, i can't even get the words out. sometimes those thoughts get overcooked. dry. crispy. crunchy. apparently i have quite a fan following. people from all over the globe, i mean greenwood who tune in to these ramblings for wisdom and enlightenment. it's a lot of pressure. i probably learn new things about myself every day, but seldom do i remember those lessons. i almost killed the easter bunny yesterday. driving too fast. i still want goats. or some sort of livestock. an animal. but one i can catch... something slower than me. that shouldn't be too hard to find. sunday is easter. i will spend it with family and family. i'm looking forward to it. the giant woodpecker came to my tree again last night. i'm feeding him well. turns out when you nourish something with goodness... it wants to return. speak... do... live... goodness. woodpeckers will be attracted to you. 

march madness

in the past few days i've seen a number of deer around my place. no dogs to chase them away. i've been fairly unmotivated to write much of anything these days. just been busy with pleasant distractions. we all need these in life... and at times i feel long overdue. it's been warm as of late. todays a bit cooler and they say the cold is not gone. the folks return from a paradise today, and i remembered yesterday to water their plants. most appear to still be living. work has been insane. once an individual has had the opportunity to 'work behind the scenes' one discovers why they call it march madness. perhaps march sadness or march i want to squeeze your head til' it pops off-ness... is more fitting. i've been thinking quite a bit about many things. stuff i want. stuff i need. stuff i can do without. in the end however, it's just stuff. in the past few weeks i've entertained the idea of purchasing goats. i found four of them for sale. i can afford them. i've seen pics. they are nothing short of awesome. i emailed the man who owns them with a list of my questions. things i need to know to become a goat farmer. what they eat? what kind of shelter do they need? will i need to cut their hair? do they need to see the vet? how long do they live? and so on. the gentleman assured me goats are a wonderful pet to have... and maintenance is minimal. 'you just need to have them vaccinated once a year, but you can give that shot to them yourself'. hold the train. shot? i may need to give these goats shots? four of them? what if they make goat children and i have more shots to give? i can just see myself laying in the grass unconscious at the very sight of the goat needle. no thanks. but i may have to rethink taking 4 goats in the honda with me to a vet. perhaps fish are best for me. silence is golden like an egg and easter is right around the corner – a month of meaning and not of madness.

just shy of a month

it seems like it's been forever since i've released my thoughts in this capacity. alot has happened in the past few weeks. most i've forgotten to be quite honest. mom and dad are in paradise and leave for their cruise this sunday. i'm so excited to hear how it goes. cupids day came and went with a smile and a starlight. work is busy, and they've let people go. the economy is continuing to tank and it looks grimmer by the minute. i'm looking forward to summer adventures with lovely and have thought about dabbling in the art of farming chickens. i visited a junkyard. grilled out. swung in the rain and went to a yard sale. i still have the beard and may shave it off any day now. i'm suppose to be training for the marathon. umm... this past weekend i took the jeep for a ride. it was a beautiful day and speeding along the country roads help the cobwebs disappear. i came across a yard sale where i bought 'the book of virtues: a treasury of great moral stories'. a thick book. more pages than i've read in my lifetime. all for a dollar fifty. seemed like a good deal. i thumbed through the pages before i bought it... and decided i wanted it after reading a note that had been written from a father to a son on the first page. i could tell the book contained many treasures. those of the literary nature as well as discovering a financial treasure. i discovered a crisp two dollar bill sandwiched between the pages once i had brought it home. moments later the lovely discovered another. i bought the book for a dollar and two quarters... and it now has paid me four dollars. it is a magical money book. i've flipped through every page since hoping to find more bills. no luck. but i will continue to search for treasure in that book. a book of virtues and moral stories... and i know that i will come away from it richer and better off than when i found it.

critter

something is living in my garage. it comes in the middle of the night and leaves gifts all over the garage floor. it eats food and hides from the daylight and any removal attempts. it has found a home. and i am not fond of this critter. today i left the door open and a trail of food to the outside world. i hope it will escape. the folks are in the sunny place... and i long for warmth. today is 62 degrees. i guess i got it. i had a great weekend. i am learning how to be better at things. i'm gonna buy a salt block to attract deer to the yard. and i hope my attempts to feed the birds here recently keep them in my yard this spring. i'd love another lovely jeep ride in the snow... but look forward to warm summer nights in the country. my wallet is hurting my bum today and so it sits on my desk right now. it's light. nothing much in it. the president spoke last night... and it felt like we should all be scared. like there is a critter in our garage.

three thirty

the steelers win the superbowl. company's spent ridiculous amounts of money in a horrible economy to sell me potato chips i don't care to eat and grown men wear tight pants and shove each other to the ground. i only saw a few commercials which is usually the highlight of the event, and wasn't all that impressed with most. it seems like a lot of bells and whistles and very little substance. i hope i'm seen as someone with substance. bells and whistles optional. yesterday i turned 33 years of age and celebrated by playing football with friends and family. today i feel 73. a bit sore. it was a great time. the weather was warm for february... and the sun showed its face most the day. fires burned and chili was gobbled up. hot chocolate with marshmallows was sipped and snowballs were thrown. the red team versus the blue team. i was on the blue team... and dad was the referee. whistle and all. the 'flag football' game quickly turned into a game of tackle as the snow served as a cool cushion to soften the opponents attacks. the kids rolled monuments of snow over the hill. the adults talked about grown up stuff. the smell of wood poured out of the chimney... and we enjoyed that moment. all of us did. blue went up and red came back. to tell the truth, i'm not sure who won the game yesterday or if we tied. it doesn't really matter. it was just good to be with the ones i love... and act younger than i am.

thin mints and presidents

a co-worker's child is selling girl scout cookies for her troop. the order form sits on our conference table. i walk by it everyday. thin mints. tagalongs. do-si-dos. shortbread. caramel delights. i find myself avoiding the conference table at all costs. i have a game tomorrow and a half marathon in may. i can not be fat for that. it's taken me almost 33 years to learn that cookies make you fat. and girl scouts are an evil clan of miniature pudgy pushers. that's why they are here. the country got a new president. he seems like a nice guy i guess. i wouldn't want the job. the economy is in a downward spiral, the housing market is the pits, war and fighting surround us, our planet is suffering great environmental decline, and we continue to be a society of consumers. consume a tree. consume an ocean. consume a credit card. consume a cookie. thank God for guitar hero. it's still january. it's still cold. i'm in need of a jeep ride. i may bundle up and do that this weekend. we play our second game tomorrow night. i still haven't figured out whether or not our team is good. i mean, i think we could whoop some girl scouts or a team of third graders... but it's a bit too early to tell. i daydream alot these days. hard to stay focused. it's wonderful... like a cookie.

old guy

coming out of retirement is more difficult than some would think. i recently joined a men's basketball league at my church. it's easily been six plus months since i've held a basketball. needless to say, i'm a bit rusty. last night was our first game. we won. i started out slow trying to find my form, but hit a few shots before it was all said and done. everything felt fine... almost. lungs and legs were great. however i somehow twisted my back, and find myself walking like an elderly man today. it's really sore. i guess i have six days to recuperate. but i look forward to the season ahead. the friendships. the teamwork. the competition. today on my drive in the temperature was -12... with a wind chill of -30. it's cold. i can't imagine what trees feel like. i've got to say i'm a bit mushy these days... and owe it all to a beautiful brown eyed girl.

service

i was greeted this way, "what's up, man". i was a civilian. he was a paid employee. i was having a difficult time trying to figure how who he was speaking to and why i was his man. i was at the store to spend what i feel is a considerable amount of money on a piece of modern technology. what happened to customer service? really. my snackwrap had sauce on it today. i specifically order it without sauce. no sauce please. but it's all a game you see, once you leave the window... you'll eat what they made for you. and like it. a snack wrap with sauce. however i did not like it. i enjoy walmart greeters when they are friendly. some are quite scary... and have kept me from going in the store a time or two. the bag boy at my grocery store likes to smash the bread in the bottom of my paper bag with jars of heavy pickles and brick shaped frozen foods. nothing says joy like a communion wafer-sized peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwich. there was a time when the person in charge was a person with manners. when the customer really was always right. and when those serving in the public greeted one another with smiles and good fortune. i do not want to hear about your baby's dead beat daddy, your sister's skin infection ointment, your mom's bad perm, your cracked nail or why your aunt is living in your garage... i just want my pickles in the bottom of the bag and my eggs handled with care. a smile wouldn't hurt. tonight i start playing league basketball at my church. i have not shot a basketball in months. i will try to make it up and down the court without passing out or twisting an ankle. it's cold outside. i'm sure the sunshine will bring a bit more warmth... some day down the road.

best man

my best friend asked me to be his best man. i am honored and thankful. colorado. tubing. haunted housing. concerts. costumes. storm watchin. camping. tornado chasing. worshipping. bonfires. working security. hiking. jeeping. cruising. serving. the list is endless. i could go on. and on. we've had many good times, and i pray we will have many more. today has been slow. the weather is chilly. it's early january... the calm before the storm. things will pick up here quickly. the past week has been nice. a new year found me a reason to celebrate. i caught up with an old friend who shared his love for his bride to be. made a child laugh. and found warmth in the hand of a beautiful woman. i count myself blessed. i've never been one for resolutions... they seem to be promises that are very quickly forgotten. so i won't call them 'resolutions'. i'll call them 'plans'. this coming year, i plan to take more walks through the woods, lose more weight, take more road trips, be 'inconvenienced' every once and a while. keep my life and what i have in perspective. be kind to the cat. be prepared for the mountain and the mini. drink more water. be better than i was a year ago. love anything more. grow closer to God. make someone's day special and bet on red.