Tale of Two Brains

This pretty much explains it.

Blessings.

My Resignation

I am hereby officially tendering my resignation as an adult.
I have decided I would like to accept the responsibilities of an eight-year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald's and think that it's a four-star restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&Ms are better than money because you can eat them.

I want to run a lemonade stand with my friends on a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple, when all you knew were colors, multiplication tables and nursery rhymes, but that didn't bother you because you didn't know what you didn't know and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy, because you were blissfully unaware of all the things that should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair. That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible. I want to be oblivious to the complexities of life and be overly excited by the little things again.

I want to live simply again. I don't want my day to consist of computer crashes, mountains of paperwork, depressing news, how to survive when there are more days in the month than there is money in the bank, doctor bills, gossip (Pharisees), illness and loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth, justice, peace, dreams, mankind and making angels in the snow.

I want to play with my pets and my days of imagination to last forever

So here are my checkbook and my car keys, my credit card bills and my 401(k) statements.

I am officially resigning from adulthood. (Some people wonder if I ever actually grew up anyway).

And if you want to discuss this further, you'll have to catch me first* because,

"Tag! You're it!"

(Author Unknown)


* Seriously! All next week, we'll be on a big boat in the Caribbean

Blessings!

Don't Forget to Vote!!

I borrowed this idea from EE.

Don't Forget to Vote!

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

I apologize for not being around much lately. That crazy thing called "life" keeps happening.
The positive side to that is that I have a lot to write about. The negative side is that I don't have a lot of time to sit down and write it.

So in the the meantime, since part of my job is to write specifications for various construction projects, I thought I'd share a little something with you.

enjoy

NOTICE TO BIDDERS

General
The work we want did is clearly showed on attached plans and specifications. Our Engineer, whose had plenty of College, spent one hell of a lot of time when he drawed up these here plans and specifications. But nobody cant think of everything.
Once your bid is in, that’s it, Brother! From then on, anything wanted by our Engineer, or any of his friends, or anybody else (except the Bidder) shall be considered as showed, specified, or implied and be provided by the Bidder without expense to nobody but himself (meaning the Bidder).

Extra Costs
If the work is did without no extra Expense to the Bidder, then the work will be took down and did again until the extra expense to Contractor is satisfactory to our Engineer.

Errors
Our Engineer’s plans are right as drawed. If sumpthin is drawed wrong, it shall be discovered by the Bidder, corrected and did right with no extra expense to us. It won’t cut no ice with us, or our Engineer, if you point out any mistakes our Engineer has drawed. If you do, it will be one hell of a long time before you do any more work for us or him (meaning the Engineer).

Vendor Conduct
The Bidder is not supposed to make fun of our Engineer, his plans, or the kinda work we’re having done. If he do, it’s just too damn bad for him (meaning the Bidder).
Any Bidder walking around the job with a smile on his face shall be subject to a review of his bid.

Miscellaneous
If the Bidder don’t find all our Engineer’s mistakes before he bids on the job, or if the Bidder ain’t got enough sense to know that our Engineer’s gonna think up a bunch of new stuff that’s going to have to be did before the job is completed, then it’s just to damn bad for him (meaning the Bidder).

Materials
The Bidder has got to use good stuff on this job – none of that crap from Japan.
We done picked the best stuff for our client and won't let no cheep stuff be approved to save the Contractor money.

Value engineering and substitutions is alright as long as the cost savings go to the engineering budget or adds more purty do-dads to the project.

We don't take to no crybabies. Once you done bid this job you got no one but yourself to blame, especially the engineer or his client. Arguing with the engineer is like wrestling with a pig in the mud, after a while you’re going to learn he really enjoys it.



Questions and Answers

We have not succeeded in answering all your questions. Indeed we sometimes feel we have not answered any of them. The answers we have found have only served to raise a whole set of new questions. In some ways we feel that we are as confused as ever, but we think we are confused on a higher level and about more important things.

Finding His Purpose….

Remember this time of year when you would return to school and be asked to write an essay about “What I did this Summer”?

The following is a true accounting of something that happened not far from our home earlier this summer. It involved my 17 year-old step-son, Jonathan Ryall. So as to not try to steal away any of his thunder, I will let him tell the story, just as he wrote it. Jon gave me his permission to post it here.


My Purpose
By Jonathan Ryall

Steven Hawkins once said that “nothing leaves this universe.”

I am looking down at little Ruby. She is an odd shade of blue and her eyes are closed. I think she is dead and I am too scared to think about it. Without thinking, I act. I am pumping her chest hard and hoping not to break a rib, not thinking about how delicate a two year olds ribs are. Luckily, through the procedure, I tend to not break any. I push my breath into her mouth and hold her nose. She has lived two wonderful years, and I could not imagine how it would be to take away the possible remaining. I have lived seventeen. Her parents are screaming on the dock above me. Ruby’s mother is on her knees next to me, praying to Jesus, and a crowd of other children are either running around in complete hysteria, or crying in complete shock. What makes me wonder is, how did I get to be performing CPR on a dock in Lake Geist, Indiana?

Let me go back to 1979, the Indian Hill High School prom in Cincinnati, Ohio. My dad was dancing with my mother and they knew that one day they would marry and start a family. I was the third child of four and we lived a typical American suburban family life. Several years ago, however, our family broke apart with divorce and my mom moved to Indianapolis and soon re-married my step-father. I was devastated. My dad re-married as well and I found myself shuttling between Cincinnati and Indianapolis. I could not favor either side.

How did this happen? How did my ideal childhood break apart? Why is God doing this to me? Why can’t my parents get back together? Where is God in all of this and why has He forsaken me?

Someone suggested I pray and things will get better. Yeah right, like that is going to bring back my family. I told them I doubt that would happen, because I knew nothing could be done. “It can’t hurt” they said, but I didn‘t listen. But I knew I needed at least something to help me, so I only hoped and wished to have something happen. So, with that, I guess it was a prayer.

One weekend while visiting my mother, my prayer was answered. I met a girl, named Lily, a stunning beauty with wit and charm. She immediately took a liking to me and welcomed me into her family. In the summer, we would spend weekends together and have so much fun. I would do things with her family, and she would do things with mine. We spent an equal amount of time doing both. Eventually, we would spend times out at her grandparent’s house on the lake in their boat, the Sea-Ray, or in their pool and Jacuzzi.

One Saturday afternoon, while we were packing up and getting ready to leave the house, we decided to go for one last boat ride. Lily’s little sister, Ruby took off ahead running to the boat, after hearing us all cheer about the decision we had made. She always liked being first. By the time we caught up to her, she had been floating face down in between the boat and the dock, in about five feet of water. It was such a scary image to see, of a little child, showing no act of movement to survive. Apparently, by the mark on her forehead, she had hit her head trying to get into the boat and was slightly knocked unconscious, making it harder for her to escape. My little brother saw her shortly after the children did, and began screaming at me Ruby’s name. I was confused on what he was talking about, because I could not think or begin to believe what he was talking about of her was true. Soon, Lily and I went up to the edge of the dock and saw her. Lily jumped in the water and lifted her out into my hands on the dock.

I can’t describe what it felt like to stare in the face of a dead child – to see one’s childhood gone in a second. I quickly remembered taking CPR in high school. One of the most boring classes in my High School career, attached to gym, but surprisingly understanding the material. The situation that occurred was like some version of Tom Cruise, getting into action and rescuing people. I tuned out all the sounds around me – the weeping, screaming, and praying. It all got very still and quiet as time stood still. I know it sounds cliché, but what we learn does come back to help us sometimes.
Finally, after the fifth chest compression, Ruby spit up some water and as I tilted her head back, she coughed up some more and started breathing again. Her eyes squinted and she looked up to me. Her blue eyes looked deep into me, penetrating me like a bullet.

There it was all at once.

Maybe the whole point of my life was to be right here, right now. Maybe that prom dance led me to be born and to be available to Lily’s little sister. To think as if I wasn’t born, how would this of been played out?
Maybe the pain of seeing my mom move away and start her new life in Indiana was some cosmic plan for me to visit Indiana and meet my girlfriend and save this little girl.

Soon as she started breathing, I was told to go search for neighbors that could help us. I took off going in all directions. I had no clue of where I was going, or any sense of what I might run into; But all I was thinking of was the voice of the father saying “Go get my neighbor!” When I got to their neighbors, there was no one home, and I began to run more. Thankfully I found a man on a bicycle, and got his attention to call 911. Shortly, another girl from the family, appeared on my left and helped me tell him where we are, so he could tell the paramedics.

The paramedics had arrived within 3 minutes. While they were doing procedures on Ruby, I searched for Lily. I had found her sitting and weeping in the back lawn. I ran to her and told her of what is happening to Ruby, and how she is going to live. Right then, she looked at me, with her pearly blue eyes, in disbelief of what I said. I told her again, holding her, and she started bawling. Ruby was later sent to the hospital, to get more lake water pumped out.

Everyone says I saved this girls life, and that I am a hero; but in fact she saved mine.

Up to that day I was living a life without purpose, not understanding what my role in this big universe is. I know now that God has a plan for me and that if I stay open to all the possibilities He provides me, I will live a really happy and productive life. I now see how what I learn in school can have huge impacts on my life. I learned that one person can make a difference. I realize that I am not alone and that Steven Hawkins is right. Ruby didn’t leave this universe. She has some things she needs to do when she gets older, just as much as everyone else. Having the ability to bring someone back to life is a gift, but using the ability to give back someone’s life is a trait.
I am extremely thankful to be a hero, and save that girls life.

Jon visiting Ruby at the hospital the next day.....

I have watched Jon grow during this last year since he met Lily and her family.

He is turning into a fine young man, and his mother and I are very proud of him.

“…for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.”
(Philippians 2:13)

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
(Jeremiah 29:11)

Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.
(Proverbs 19:21)

Blessings.

The Fence….

These words are engraved on a plaque which hangs on the wall above my desk at home:

And I have filled him with the Spirit of God,
with skill and ability, to engage in all kinds of craftsmanship.
(Exodus 31:3-5)

And here is my latest project that has kept me occupied lately…….

My wife and I had discussed the need for putting up a fence for quite some time. Mostly, because our little dog was confined to the limits of the long line every time she went outside. We had a small post which screws into the ground, with a swivel hook, attached to the long leash that we would hook onto her collar each time we let her out.

So, I took some measurements, made a rough drawing, marked the location of each post, put together a materials list, calculated the cost and found it affordable to do. Especially since I would be doing all the work myself.

A friend loaned me his post-hole digger (so I didn’t have to buy one) and on one Sunday a couple of weeks ago, I started installing the posts for our fence.

I put in 18 4"x4" posts this way, each one is eight feet apart, and planted 2 feet into the ground.
I only hit one big root near an old stump. It was too big to chop through, so, knowing I needed a new chain for my chainsaw anyway, I stuck the end of my chainsaw into the hole and cut the root out.

Once the posts were installed, I put up the framing for the fence (the rails). I built the rails out of pressure treated #2 pine two by fours and attached them to the posts with 3 inch long exterior wood screws.

Once those were in place, I put up the pickets, which are made from 1” x 4” x 5’ long cedar.

Even though my fence is only 4 feet high, I put up the pickets a little long for a reason. (You’ll see why in a minute.)
My wife made fun of my hat, but it kept the sun off of the back of my neck so I didn’t really care.

After all of the pickets were in place, each spaced at 2 ¼” apart (I used my 4’ level as a guide), I made some more measurements, made some marks, made a template, and trimmed off the tops of the pickets with my circular saw.
Okay, so I’m holding my driver/drill instead of my saw. Each piece of this fence is secured with heavy duty exterior screws. There are no nails. All screws.
I got a little creative with the gate entrance.
I finished just before it got dark, except for the gates.
It had been in the 70’s, sunny, with a light breeze all day.
It was a beautiful day to be outside.

Here it is after I built the gates.

And on the other side of the house……

The dog loves it. She can now run as much as she wants all over the yard, and not in just one small circle.

It has even met with the approval of the neighbors (I asked them about it before I started).

And now for my next project?

I have yet another antique table in the garage waiting to be finished.

Blessings.

Getting the Back Yard Ready…..

Sorry I haven’t been around for a while, but I’ve a little busy.
The play is finished and it went really well.

Then, my wife and I enrolled in a Dynamic Marriage course at church which involved quite a bit of homework, but was still a great class to be a part of.
Work also keeps me pretty busy, but somehow I managed to squeeze in a few other things.

When I looked into my back yard, I noticed that a couple of our big pine trees had died.

They were becoming dry and brittle, so with the help of my handy little chainsaw….

Now, what do you do with all those little pieces of twigs and debris?
Haul them away? Throw them in the trash?

Well, there was way too much to deal with, and I also had another rather large pile in the other corner of the yard where I’d been stockpiling trimmings and branches, so here’s how I got rid of all of it!

It took some time, and the flames reached as high as 12 feet at times, but it’s all gone and cleaned up now.

Here it is, all cleared up.

I left the stumps a little tall on purpose. The one on the left I carved out to make a high-back chair.

Hey! My wife said we needed more places to sit out there!

Those little flags are from the utility companies so I would know where all the underground lines are in preparation for my next project….