Please pray

for this great young man,
my oldest son, Oren.
he returned from Thailand more than a week
ago, and has Malaria. Fever, high heart rate.

school just started again for him, his senior year!
We NEED him and we need him healthy.

UPDATE: thursday evening
testing negative for Malaria, but he has some NASTY bug, will have more tests tmo - still feverish

Again!

3pm tuesday and a new fire is burning south of us
400 acres
its hot and breezy down there today
pray for the firefighters
and the chopper pilots
will update periodically
-------------------------------------

Pre dawn smoke smell
hanging in the cool air
grim but determined men
begin to suit up for their day in hell
a community prays
God's mercy and provision
it's not a good day
but not a bad one either
we live in the mountains
after all!
----------
update saturday - fire surrounded
humidity going up
humanity having success this tim over nature's forces.
a thankful mountain community breathes a sigh of relief

u thot u saw it awl

at the end of the day
the logger kneels
and says a prayer of thanks
to God, and Stihl who made the best durned
chainsaw on the planet!

here is a cute shot of my "baby"
she's a stock 029 Super.
cuts eucalyptus all day long
and I am the only one wearing out.
I Love God, I love my honey, and I shore love ma Stihl.

Old trailer and wheel

This wheel is older than I am.
The trailer I use and abuse for hauling wood
was built on an OLD Ford axle, or so i was told.

It worked hard today. so did I
the pile in the yard grows,
I am glad even though I ache a bit.
if a hub cap specialist knows the actual year or make, please let me know in the comments.

update: i am looking at old tires on google images and trying to pin this down, here is a picture of the whole trailer with 800 lbs of wood in it

a good day to get away

taking my chainsaw and trailer
right smack in the middle of this expanse
to cut some iron wood
(cercocarpus ledifolius )for my woodstove
so i will be warm this winter
going alone. Just me and the saw...
and God, because he lives out there.

---------update --------
saturday was also a good day ( aka: no work)
so I made two more trips, my front yard is looking like a BIG woodpile, I feel warmer already, but it could be too much sun.

ps. i would like to thank my saw, it performed well, and my beloved, who understands my need for this machine.

something wrong

this tree thinks that winter is coming soon.
I hope its wrong.
sign up for 2996 below, please 

It's right not to forget them

i am happy to invite like minded blogers to join us as we remember INDIVIDUALS
each by name and biographical info, on the fifth anniversary of the most terrible day in America.
Go sign up, then leave me a comment. Do it

time away

its always wonderful to get away
its hard not to want to make vacation last forever
what comes easy for me is being a dad
and that job is right here at home
so even when its hard to do, I will push the vacation into its proper place
and focus on getting Miss Hannah though her next project for school
( I did really well on this morning's assignment)
and on helping Jared make sound decisions for his educational future.
I never wanted fathering to be easy
its a great gig
if it were easy, every man would be doing it.
They are not ( witness the front page of every local paper)
whatever my weaknesses: I am Dad
and I am good at it.

nature's composition

i was just lucky enough to have a camera.

notice how the flowers with defects do not offend you?
neither should the humans.
---------------------------------
The flowers speak:
"we are all planted here on this hillside
briefly enjoying the same fine summer breeze and soaking up the gentle rains.
Our heads follow the sun's path across the sky
our bright faces reflect the glory of our creator
we bump into one another and some are taller than others. but we are all his creation. all precious, all lovely in his sight."
Learn from the flowers. Don't focus so hard on yourself, it is vanity, or on your neighbor, it will lead to discord. Focus on God, in heaven who gives life and creates beauty, for soon the winter snow will come and blot us all out with its killing frost. Then only He will be.

FFMB marches on

FFMB
Friends of the friendless marching band
is celebrating one year of friday marches to add comments to blog sites that had few readers.
they cheer me up and brought a new sense of community to my blog life.
I remember nominating Sabrina, and enjoying having several band members stop by to say hello. she joined and has had some fun marching with us these past months, while she was busy with school and bringing a new baby into this wacky world.
many thanks to barbara, who designed my template and imported my banner ( she is a techie) and i never had so much fun as during her BlogOlympics, where I was accused of terrible things and almost thrown out for having no fashion sense.

so take a trip friday night and go see some of my old friends.
Thay are not old, just extremely mature!

a world of good

Living
breathing
seeing with a new vision
hearing more carefully
touching the face of God in a sunset
That is why we take time to relax and renew

Iron wood

very heavy - very good fuel for winter
its bleached skin almost white
the heart is red brown
and laying on the forest floor
a sculpture 

I've got it!

my virus alert comes up with
"VIRUS DETECTED"
heal now?
which I clicked on
and it was either a gag or I was to late
something ate or renamed my file
"WININET.DLL"

so I am limping along last night and today
half the stuff on y computer does not work
buy I still get my vacation
Thursday night...... Yah!

hannah at camp

with one of the ladies who served as counselor. 

its still good

you know what?
I still really enjoy David Bowie's music.
it is rich, it is outrageous, it is musically interesting
and very entertaining.

So glad there is a tribute band
that is accessible, genuine, and makes a decent effort at
presenting classic Glam rock music
but also doing their own thing and having a fun time doing it.

My life in words

3 days of grace
35 hours of work
300 miles of driving
thousands of beads of sweat wiped from brow
-----------------
to remove old shower and
then some framing to gain 1 inch extra room
have termite guys out "for a look"
new trap drain in floor
concrete patch
mix 50 lbs of mortar to level shower pan
Solder in new shower valve, NO leaks
insulate water pipes
hang wonderboard, glued and screwed
set 60 square feet of tile - with an interesting design
23 feet of trim
4 hours of grouting the joints
one almost complete glass door (Grrrrrrrrr!)
all worth it? You bet!
I was too tired to take a picture
so trust me
My friend gets one brand new tiled shower - priceless!

turning

51

having a fine time on Monday Night!

tonight has been a busy one:
packing my Explorer for tomorrows trip south ( work)
testing out the BBQ repair by grilling 3 chickens
making 12 jars of peach jam from about 16 pounds of peaches
( this took til midnight)
testing out the chicken: yum
trying a bite or three of the jam: double yum!
praying now for my friends in Israel
I love you! God keep you all safe.
In the morning I am making a trip to Escondido at 6 am
to tear out and reinstall a shower, tile it,
and tile in a bathroom sink.
Piece of cake! - matter of fact it may be BIRTHDAY cake ( #51)

I'll be back on the blog in time for Michele's
Meet n Greet on friday.
You BET!
wouldnt miss that for the world.

Then on saturday night
i will go see this