Whats happenin' update

1) Went to White Water yesterday. Was fun. Got burned on my shoulders. The new ride The Tornado is really cool, but not worth a really really long line. It was good to ride it once though.

2) Finally got my surround sound system hooked up. It rock-diddily-diddily-rocks.

3) Have a couple from our Sunday School class coming over tonight. So that ought to be fun. And Tori is cooking a chicken ring. If you don't know what that is...then I pity you.

Recent Charlie Moment

Tori and I were out to eat with a bunch of people from our Sunday School class. Somehow, the conversation became about childbirth. This is a close approximation/ paraphrase of the conversation:

I said to a guy sitting next to me: "It's normal for them to gain 60 lbs. during pregnancy."

Tori overheard me, and said: "No. Normal is 30 lbs."

Charlie says, "60 lbs. is normal for a BIGGER woman!!"

Woman sitting near Tori: "....I gained 60 lbs. during my pregnancy...."

Losing Your Forever

I was going to wait and try to write more extensively about this; but I just don't find myself having the motivation right now. So I'll just throw it out there. (For all 2 people who are reading my blog right now.)

Micah thinks he is going live forever. [physically]

At least implicitly. I'm not sure that he thinks "I'm going to live forever." But I believe he at least assumes his continuance. And over the next couple of years, he will naturally embrace the idea of living forever.

But then there comes that point, when the truth is broken to us. When as a child, we are faced with the fact that one day our body will die. That can be somewhat traumatic for a child. I remember hearing an apologist talk about that once. He said he cried when his dad told him that. His father tried to console him by saying it was a long way off. But as that man said, once he had lost forever, he had lost everything.

There is that initial shock and dismay; but luckily that mental block that God created to keep us from jumping off cliffs kicks in and we stop thinking about it; only occassionally daring to re-enter that childhood moment to consider it for ourselves again.

But part of me wonders if that isn't part of being made in the image of God. We are distraught at the idea of death. Only we humans are. I think we reject it, because we feel like that is not what is meant to be. The neat thing, I think, is that it is not really true. We do live forever. Somewhere.

So it's like a circle. You lose your happy forever. And then, through Christ, you can get it back. That hope, that fulfilling thought, satisfies that primal desire that was once taken from us as a child.

My Sunday School class (Young Marrieds) have a once a month fellowship and also a once a month work project. This month's project was a Habitat for Humanity house out in Cleveland. We painted, put down moisture barrier in the crawlspace, and did some other carpentry work. It was a great time.

Me and another fellow, Austin, putting up some beam support for a vinyl ceiling in the carport.

Tori and Wendy paiting the door frames.

Tori and Amy Gailey painting. Her husband (who you see sitting next to her in another picture) is the guy who came over to give me a hand on the shed.

Tori and the other women workers.

New Micah Videos on Little Sugar Mama

There are two new Micah videos on "Little Sugar Mama and Son". See side bar for a link.

P.S. Leave a comment so Tori will know people are actually looking at it.

Staining the Back Deck

Me staining the back deck, and a quick look at the shed (still under construction).

This is where I'm at on the shed construction - thanks to help from Dad and Tate. Tate helped for a couple of hours yesterday, but there are just so many dad-blamed screws and bolts to this thing....it just takes forEVER.

Shed Update (especially for Michael)

Well, I thought I'd be able to build the shed and then stain the deck yesterday. Of course, as ususual, things take longer than you think. Dad came over early and we worked on the shed. But it was only half completed when I had to go to church (I had responsibilities there) and dad went home. So it is only half done. The problem is you need two people. So a friend of mine in my sunday school class (Tate Gailey [son of Chan Gailey - current Ga. Tech Football coach and former Dallas Cowboys head coach] is coming over at 5 this afternoon and is going to give me a hand for a couple of hours. His wife Amy is coming with him and the ladies will hang out and when we are finished we'll have dinner.

So....don't worry (Michael) I'm working on it, and hopefully it will be done by the end of the day today.

However, right now, I'm staining the back deck. I'm trying to get that done before Tate comes over.

Update complete.

Charlie Builds the Shed Floor

Charlie buys small tool shed. Floor no come with it. Charlie buy lumber and build floor. Snickers...no help...no help at all. Also starring a torn up skill saw that smokes. Watch the end to see the credits.

A whole lotta shakin' goin' on...

I have a lot of irons in (or about to be in) the house project fire over here. I sanded, primed, and painted the back porch rails. I bleached, pressure washed, bleached and pressure washed again, the back deck. But it looks uneven in color, so I'll (after conferring with David, not-so-local paint guru) probably be going with a solid stain to cover up the uneveness in wood color.

Thats just the back porch project...

I actually have a couple other things going....

Tomorrow morning I'm going to Lowe's and buying a small, cheap tool storage shed. First I've got to clear the place I'm going to put it, then I've got to put the kit together on the spot. Then I'll fill it with some stuff.

I'm going to redo the whole garage. I was going to buy one of those large wooden storage buildings, but the cost is too prohibitive. So I'll use the little metal one for basic storage of a few things, (ex. pressure washer, weed-eater, air compressor, etc.) [Not the lawn mower, I am parking it under the truck camper-cover I have put up on two picnic tables.] Later, I'll probably buy some wooden posts and put them in the ground next to the little shed and put the cover on that and park the mower next to the shed.

So, here's the plan for the garage....I'm going to take EVERYTHING out of it. Everything...the 5 million pound metal cabinet and all. I'm going to take everything off the wall...everything comes out. I'm going to put it all behind my house, instead of the backyard to keep my neighbor from having a coronary.

I plan to buy some of that epoxy floor paint for the garage. You have to put some chemical on it first for a few days, (3) and then after you paint it, you have to wait like 10-14 days before you can park on it. But it looks really cool, and you put these little sprinkles on the paint with like a salt-shaker thing, and the floor looks glossy and you can mop it and about nothing sticks to it. They have several colors...but I'm thinking about going with the dark blue with white "sprinkles", and then after priming the garage walls, painting the bottom half of the walls the same tint of dark blue...probably from the ground up to about 4 feet...and then the rest white. I'm going to super organize the garage, and buy some cabinets and shelfs and put up ALOT more peg board. This is all the plan anyway.

Also, I may be repainting (at least pressure washing the front porch), I KNOW I will be pressure washing the trim after bleaching it. And we are even considering in the fall, redoing our master bedroom with pergo wood floor and new bedroom furniture.

So.....alot going on. Maybe I can use my new-found blog video powers to take you along for the ride. Oh and if you have any experience with these types of projects, your advice would be appreciated.

Micah the helper and mailman

Micah likes to imitate the work we do around the house. He saw Tori sweeping, so when she put the broom down, he went to it. He also likes to check his little mailbox. But whenever the little plastic envelopes get left out, Snickers chews them up.

Everyone know what time it is?!?!

It's Tool Time!

When Micah saw me put the sander down for a minute, he promptly took over for me. He even does the motor noise. (Which happens to be the same noise he does for toy cars and trucks.)

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Red Barron's Buddy

I have a very nice local airport in town. Reminds me alot of Berry Hill Airport where I lived growing up. It has your typical elements: airport dog, old guy that seems to just live there, etc. My local guy's name is Jim. His counter-part's name at Berry Hill was named (it was pronounced anyway) Ma Perkins. But it was an old man. I guess that wasn't his real name, but thats how I always heard it. ...anyway, I'm getting side-tracked...

Dad really likes my local airport, and I introduced him to Jim, and the rest is history. He likes to go over there and be the caretaker of all the old and new airplanes. He loves to just hang out and piddle in the hanger. Jim gives him some free flight time for his work.

So these pictures are of the kit plane dad few to Hiawassee and back, and pictures of the new construction on McConnell Memorial Baptist where they (and I used to) go to church.

The kit plane is one of those experimental plane you don't even have to have a regular license to fly. But I've looked in it and it looks like a conventional plane to me. I think it's the weight that makes it the class it is. But dad has flew in several of the planes stationed at the airport; a taildragger, 150, this kitplane, and I think a couple others.

(BTW - My dad's nickname is "Buddy" - hense the title.)
(Also, remember you can click the pictures to see a larger version.)

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Swamp Thing

I bought concentrated outdoor bleach; soaked my back deck. Later I start pressure washing it.

I had no idea how much mildew was on my back porch. What I thought was the color of the paint on the deck, was actually just the color of the mildew on the paint on the deck.

Bad thing is, (I don't know if this is just because it is not a high powered pressure washer) I have to make the water a little jet stream for it to be powerful enough to get it off. The stream is about the size of the tip of a sharpe marker. So it's like I have color my entire deck with a sharpe marker. I literally filled the tank up with gas, worked on it yesterday evening until the gas ran out....and I am probably only 1/4 the way done. I didn't know it would be this much work. Oh, well....

Obsession

Micah has a new obsession. One that we are trying to break him of, but unsucessfully at this point. For some reason, he finds it quite entertaining to pitter-patter his way over to the dog's food and water bowls in the kitchen, and one by one pick up a piece of dry dog food and drop it in the water bowl.

Inspirational

This is a really, really, good article about how Tony Dungy (Headcoach of the Colts) has kept his faith in God after his son's suicide. I recommend all of you read it. (David: You should try to whip up the energy to at least read the big bold words on the side.)

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/feature/featureVideo?page=amazinggrace

Tranzor Z opening

It exists! See, I told you! It exists! I used to LOVE this show when I was a little kid. I even had the big robot toy. You never see this any more. I new I wasn't crazy.

Score

I did really good on ebay. All 3 things sold, and for a pretty penny, if I don't say so myself.

I love eBay.

J-rod has a blog. See link in sidebar. If it seems like he posted something on the internet just yesterday....then 10 months must seem like yesterday to you.

So far, score:

Charlie: 1
Michael: 1
Jared: 1
Jason: 1
Ryan: 1
Tori: 1
Mom: 1
David: 0

On the Set of Spiderman 3 - June 10th

This was filmed a couple of days ago.

Evolution of Dance

This is pretty funny.

Charlie Moment - V.B.S. style

To my thousands of readers: sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been out of town.

Let me crank it back up with a nice Charlie moment from Vacation Bible School today.

So our VBS runs all week, starting today, from 9 - 12. It starts off with the kids coming into the Sanctuary, where the head honcho talks to them and then the head music guy gets up and introduces the VBS songs ....with motions.

Ok, so I'm teaching 5th graders. And as I'm sure you all know, the big, dramatic movements and hand gestures to these songs are corny. But if I don't do them, some of them don't do them. So I pretend that I don't look retarded and do them anyway.

So its all going according to plan, the main music guy's up on the stage singing and doing the motions....we're all copying him.

Ok, then the song is over, and he's like "time for another song". So the music to the second song starts playing. So he starts singing, and doing hand motions. So I start singing and copying his hand motions. After a moment, I realize that he is doing choir director hand motions....and he and I are the only ones doing it. He was just directing the tempo, not doing hand motions. But if you could have been standing in the corner....you would have seen me in the middle of a bunch of people doing choir director hand motions.


stupid stupid stupid

howdy neighbor

Another story about my neighbor.

My grass around the house admittedly needs to be weed-eated. (I don't suppose you would really say "weed-eaten"?) But I've been painting and didn't want any of that to get in the paint, plus my weed-eater is out of commission and I have to do it with an electric bush trimmer and a very long and tangleupable extension cord. But I am going to do it soon. Really, I will. Of course this bugs my neighbor; who has been known in the past to ride his mower across parts of my yard when he can't take it anymore.

But it was funny, because today, I was in my DRIVEWAY, putting some different GAS CAPS on my TRUCK..., and he walks out and says, "What'ya working on? Your weed-eater?"

Free at last

I am very happy to say that, with the exception of the house, we are debt free. God has provided through different means, and we no longer have any reoccuring bills. I give God the "credit" for that.

eBay time for Mr. Mom

Well, as planned, Tori is at work at Church today and I am playing the role of Mr. Mom from 9 - 4. I took advantage of his mid-morning nap to post some things on ebay. All three things are electonics stuff that I just don't use enough. I'm hoping to clear enough from them to order some diamond treaded metal rails for the bed and tailgate of my truck.

Right now, I have to try to figure out why Micah doesn't want to eat his peas and only delights in squishing and flinging them.

It is sunset, so the picture's not that bright....but I've now put 2 coats of primer (although the first coat was months ago) and one coat of regular paint on. This is what its lookin' like right now. I've got one more coat to go tomorrow. It's nice to have white rails again. After the rails, I'm re-staining the deck. Then the next project is the garage. Last summer I kept putting off projects during the summer. Then I was reminded just how fast those 9 weeks fly. So I'm trying to get stuff accomplished this time.

After I finish my back-porch, and clean out and organize my garage, I may paint the front porch too (see picture). But then I would hate to disturb the mildew and wasp nests community.

I bought this Grass * Weed * Root killer today at Walmart and used it in my front flowerbed. It said it worked within hours. I just checked it. I think they've grown 2 inches.

Why do I have a dog?

Like a fly to honey. Personally....when I actually stop...and look at Ronald's face.........Dude looks freaky.

Lame Jokes

It is now time for some lame jokes.

Two peanuts were walking down a spooky road at night... One was assaulted.

Two ropes walk into a bar. The bartender says to the rope "Hey! we don't serve ropes in here" so one of the ropes left. The other rope frayed up his hair and tied himself in a knot. The bartender said to the rope "Are you a rope?" and the rope said " I'm afraid not"

Two old guys at an old folk's home shooting the breeze. One says "How's the memory?" The other says "Perfect, knock on wood", and raps his knuckles on the table. 2 minutes go bye, and then he says "Somebody gonna get the door or what?"

Did you hear about the cannibal who passed his brother in the woods one day?

Whatdaya call a cow with two legs? Lean Beef. Whatdaya call a cow with no legs? Ground Beef. Whatdaya call a dog with no legs? Doesn't matter, he ain't gonna come anyway...

One day this guys house was on fire so he decided he better call the fire department. He got on the phone with the chief and the man was very frantic. The man said chief you have to get over her my house is on fire. The chief says calm down, how do we get to your house, and the man said you don't have those big red trucks anymore!

Did you hear about the cannibal who came home late for dinner and his wife gave him a cold shoulder?

What do you call a sleepwalking nun? Roamin' Catholic.

Why don't blind people skydive? Because it scares the crap out of their dogs.

What did the bald man say when he got a comb for his birthday? "Thanks, I'll never part with it!"

Well, I’ve been needing to post something substantive for awhile. I’ve been thinking about some stuff. But that’s not the problem; I’m always thinking, I just can’t write it down in time to remember it for the blog. At any rate; I’ve decided to blog about this:

You ever get mental pictures? Just about life stuff? I do all the time. That seems to be how my mind envelops ideas. It puts it in picture form. This is really helpful, because I can remember it better and relate to it better if I can see it.

Well, anyway, I decided to remember one I had just so I could have something to blog about. Last weekend we went camping. (Tori, I and her parents). We went shopping in Commerce. They dropped me off at the Pottery and they went ahead to some clothing stores. (I would just about rather pick up trash on the side of the road than be in a womens clothing store.)

So for a few hours I wandered around the Pottery. If you’ve never been to a store like that, it’s a HUGE…and I do mean HUGE…store full of all kinds of plants, and pots, and random garden stuff. They have acres of stuff outside with trails and all kinds of plants. Well, the place was packed, but its so big I wandered to the very back of the outside trail where they keep Asian plants. It was a hot, sunny day, and I found a covered bench. So I sat there for awhile. Enjoying the day. Then I laid down on the wooden bench. Not really trying to think about anything…just chillin’. Being around the flowers and plants, my mind decided to put those together with the idea of generations. (People generations). Great grandparents has a child, then dies, grandparent has a child, then dies, parent has a child, then dies, child has a child, etc, etc. So I pictured a long skinny flower bed. And tulips were growing in it. But the thing was, they weren’t growing all at once. Instead I saw one grown way down the line, then one start to spring up next to it, and before it was all the way up, the old flower starts to die. And so it was kind of like tulips doing the wave. They were growing up and proliferating and dying before getting to see their grandchild flower. And so the tulip wave started making its way down the long, skinny flower bed.

(I bet some people think I’m on acid)

At any rate, that was just like the people part to me. Except with tulips.

Now…I like to write. Creatively. I enjoy poetry, and other kinds of art. I actually saw some really cool art at the Pottery I’d like to have. I’m not saying I’m good at it or anything, but I do have at least a creative desire. I’ve tried writing music on the piano, writing stories, poetry. I wish I could draw because I’d like to paint, but that a no-go. If I weren’t always so busy I’d do it a lot. But, that’s the way it goes.

At any rate, when I got home from work today (my last day at work), I decided to sit down and write about that mental picture. And then I decided to not just mention the picture…but to put it into a poem. So then as I’m writing the poem, I took it in a little different direction. At first it started off being a kind of morbid poem that reflected the mental picture. But fortunately, my Christian world-view, allows me to have faith in life and death that is not limited to this physical world. And so my poem took a different turn, to reflect not just the morbid physical reality, but also the just as real spiritual one.

So be prepared to get put off the hook, ‘cause I went Jason on ya’ today and wrote the following poem. (See post below)

P.S. – So that it will sound more fluid when you read it in your head, it follows the 8-6, 8-6, syllable meter. So you have to read it that way for it to sound better.

"Gardener Good" - by me

The touch of water, I do feel
Primal epiphany

Growing and rising, I do reel
The sun I rise to see

Pedals stretching, my stem raising
My blossoming is nigh

My potential is amazing
A sprig no more am I.

On my flank a progenitor
A cast of what is me

Pollinates effervescent lore
Is this what I will be?

Ushering with whispering tales
Of seasons long gone by

Of farmers plows and mighty gales
And predators that fly

But not all cursed, for also told
Good news of Gardener Good

Who hummed a hymn of streets of gold
And on this garden stood

He spoke of loving his flowers
Perennials we were

He said he gave us our showers
And he, witherings cure

But Gardner Good had said goodbye
And has not been seen since

My forerunner looks to the sky
Waiting, ever so tense

How proud I am to learn from you
My wise parental plant

To learn what not and what to do
Argue with you, I can’t

Our stature now identical
Our symmetry achieved

I’ve grown to reach my pinnacle
Achievement of the seed

Our matching zeniths, but a wisp
So short they coincide

Drooping under the solar disk
Death says you must abide

As I see my sire tire
My petals writhe with grief

My author with wilt is mired
Pulled in by Death the thief

My gaze is pulled away from hence
When at my side I hear

Out of the soil, like a lance
A new seedling appears

Though barely tall enough to reach
A large grasshopper’s knee

I start to remember and teach
All that was taught to me

I tell it about the hard times
But too, of Gardener Good

I repeat the stories and lines
Just like my parent would

Content I feel about its growth
And how its’ roots go deep

Reveling in our life, us both
When I feel weakness creep

I can not hold my leaves up high
Or bloom much anymore

As I sink with heavier sighs
And my tall stem so sore

To the young one over again
I tell of Gardner Good

How his fine love has always been
Again see him we would

I feel now my death approaching
It’s knocking at my door

I hear my ancient’s wise coaching
To its’ hope, hearken more

In winning fashion, the sun pounds
Zapping away my zest

I kneel my belfry to the ground
And tell my roots to rest

But as my roots release their dirt
They are again renewed

I can nere believe death so curt
But truly pain has soothed

For where there once was sun-baked ground
There stands a bright, white vase

I bend up high and look around
And see a smiling face

He says “My name’s Gardener Good,
And welcome to my home.

I knew that coming here you would
From the time you were sown.”

I see on the shelf beside me
The one who came before

The one who taught me how to be
From which my form was forged

Empty vase also beside me
The place was not yet filled

Ah yes, I know, it is to be
For my offspring when healed

Gardener Good says, “I told you so.
Perennials you are.

Now here forever you can grow.
You and I never far.”

Leave Gardener Good, I will never
It’s Joy to be with him

Perennial life forever
A life that never dims