Category: Family
Nov 09
Two days in November
The air was warmed by the cheesecloth-filtered sun. If felt much warmer than the 45 registering on the car thermometer. The parking lot was virtually empty as we arrived for our golf outing on the last weekend in November. It couldn’t be nicer out as I teed off from the first hole with my brother and my Dad. It was late enough in the season that the sun on half the holes, was always in our eyes. The air was perfectly calm and the only breeze was when we sped to our next shot on the propane power cart. I don’t think we’ve all golfed together this year and here we were out for the second weekend in a row, two days after Thanksgiving.
It is amazing all the things that crop up to prevent you from doing some of the things that matter the most. My dad is 78 and living by himself. It has been a little over two years since my mom passed away, and this time of year – the holidays – can be very difficult for him. I’m sure it would be no different for us if we were in his shoes. We all spent a wonderful time at my brother’s house on Thanksgiving Day as the house was filled with food, football, a buzz of activity, and family. Leaving that atmosphere to return to an empty house would be tough. I would think it would amplify the loneliness.
As we were walking up the 18th fairway, the sun was sitting lower in the sky, and still the weather was taking center stage. When we putted our last putt, put the flag back into the hole, and tallied up the scores, who won or lost was of little importance. It became clearer that the vehicle that gets us together is less important than just spending time with each other. Time and again, I come away wondering why we don’t do this more often. I am dumfounded. One reason could be that we just don’t feel like doing things that may take some effort. But, maybe what we should be asking ourselves is, ‘Will we be happier if we actually do the thing we are contemplating?’
Anyway, back from the rabbit trail. I could not be happier that I was able to spend the last two Saturdays in November with both my brother and my dad. Time goes by so fast. This winter I will be looking for other avenues to get us together. Cold, snow, short days, and being locked inside – these all work to isolate us in the best of circumstances. With my dad, I am sure it is even tougher.
I will remember these days and I give thanks to the Lord that I still have my dad around to do things and build memories with. Oh, by the way… unlike last week, he beat me today.
Nov 09
Happy Thanksgiving! . . . wait, is it over?
Did you have a Happy Thanksgiving? I sure did. Now onto Christmas! Wait a minute… the Christmas season started right after Halloween, right? Christmas music has been playing on the radio, and the stores have been decorated for a few weeks now. It seems like this pesky little holiday called Thanksgiving gets wedged into the mix and then gets used as an accelerant for Christmas called, “Black Friday”.
I am certainly not against Christmas. It is probably my favorite time of year. What I don’t like is that it seems like we allow everyone else call the shots when we are celebrating these holidays. Why does Halloween and Christmas garner so much attention and Thanksgiving comes and goes in a puff of smoke? We even actually get two days off for Thanksgiving—and none for Halloween. I guess we need one of those days to celebrate Thanksgiving and the other to start shopping for Christmas. We can’t even slow down long enough to let the dust settle.
The hijacking of these holidays serves one major purpose—to sell more stuff! The stores, TV stations, and advertisers start earlier and earlier to sell more and more. They couldn’t care less about what these holidays are really about. Family, friends, God, and country? Who needs it… Now let’s get selling! Thanksgiving pays the highest price, because we don’t buy anything for it. It is a time to stop, pause, reflect, and give thanks for all that we have in America.
Thanksgiving Day is a day set aside each year for giving thanks to God for blessings received during the year. We live in the best country in the world. We are the freest. We are the most prosperous. We are the most generous. We are truly a blessed nation. I feel very fortunate to call America my home. I am very grateful. Along with that, I have an awesome family and great friends. I am able to freely worship and exercise my Christian faith. I am not persecuted for my beliefs and can travel freely anywhere I choose. No other country in the world, besides Canada, celebrates Thanksgiving. That should tell you something.
So here is what I am doing. I am opting out of the hustle and bustle of this 30-second sound bite “holiday”. The retailers don’t have anything to gain by droning on about Thanksgiving, but we all do. I am going to take these few precious days to slow down and let the Thanksgiving aura persist before it gets snuffed out by the oncoming freight train of the Christmas season. I will then prepare for Christmas in its due season, because right on its heels is Valentine’s Day.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Oct 09
Feeling Like a Dope
White streaks of painted frost were sprawled across the yard as I ventured into the garage to start the process of replacing my lawn mower engine. I opened the garage door and the blast of the cool morning air set me back again. I proceeded to dust off the “Mr. Heater” from the top shelve and attach it to the propane tank. In a few minutes, my Dad would be here and I at least wanted to work in a little comfort.
It had been a couple of weeks since I was able to mow my lawn using my less than two year old mower. After hearing a disturbing noise coming from the engine area, I quickly brought it back to the garage, checked the oil and knew this was not good. I packed the mower up, brought it to the shop and waited for the report. As I expected, the engine was blown and by the way, it is was covered by the warranty. They were happy to put a replacement one in for me. Price: $1100 – $1500. I was stunned. I need time to think about this one.
I had the weekend to explore my options. After looking around for a replacement engine, I was able to buy one locally for $560 before taxes. It was a 24hp engine compared with the 22hp I had on it. It was cheaper than anything else I could find on the Internet. I ordered it but it would take another week before it arrived.
In the meantime, the grass kept growing and I pulled out my nice 22″ push mower and fired it up. I hadn’t used it in years – and yes I checked the oil. 1 acre + 1 afternoon = time to mow. 3 hours later I was finished.
A few days later, the engine finally arrived and it was time to dig in.
Dad arrived, we assessed what we had to do and dug in. We needed to move some of the engine parts from the bad engine onto the new good engine. We dropped it into place and cranked it down. The morning air warmed and we shut off the heater. The sun was doing it’s job. A break for lunch and then back at it. We got all the wiring back in place, hooked up all the pulley’s and belts and double checked our work. Last thing was making sure the oil was filled to capacity. A novel idea! I fired it up and all systems were a go. No adjustments needed!
So yes, I blew the engine. It is not an easy thing to fess up to. For cripes sake you should know better that that! A fairly new mower and this happens? But here’s the deal, even in those times of trouble, God is always working on your behalf. It was not looking so good and then the sky brightened and hope started to shine. I ultimately saved about half the amount of money by doing myself and I was able to spend time with my dad doing something we both love.
I am thankful for that . . .
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Oct 09
An ounce of effort, a pound of results
I am constantly thinking about ways to improve the things I do. It bugs me when there is wasted effort. So much of what I do is because of expediency. “I don’t have time to fix it” is a common mantra. “That’s just the way we do it”, or “I have always done it that way” are also generally used. Do we ever slow down long enough to ask why we do the things we do, and why we do them the way we do them? What are we trying to accomplish? What is the ultimate goal? Maybe this is over-thinking the issues we face, but it sure beats the under-thinking that seems way more prevalent.
I want the things I do to matter. Is it more important to temporarily fix an issue, or back up and look at the root of the problem? Initially, there is more work and effort go back to the beginning and address the “big picture” problem, so ultimately there is much less effort in the long run.
In my garage, there are four bikes that need to “put away” in order for the cars to be parked. I initially put large rubber hooks from the rafter to hang them. I have to hoist them up to hang them… Nice! They are out of the way and issue resolved, right? Well, not really. While it was easy and it resolved one problem, another one still existed. The kids cannot get them down or hang them without my help.
Well, what I needed to do was to actually install a bike pulley system. But that means I have to go look for one, see how much it costs, and then install it. It sounds like a lot of work. Maybe it’s just easier to for me to always hang them and get them down.
Well, what really happens is that the girls stop riding their bikes because it’s too much hassle. I always have to be involved, so it is a double hassle. If I would have taken a little more time to look at the big picture, I could have resolved the issue right the first time. The end result would have been doing it once. Empowering the girls to take care of their bikes themselves. And finally, no wasted effort!
I am still on the journey, but I want to be purposeful in all that I do. Time is short and wasting precious time and resources is not acceptable. I don’t want to put in a pound of effort for an ounce of results. I want an ounce of effort to multiply into a pound of results.
Sep 09
Minnesota State Fair
The great Minnesota get together. That time of year when a million people gather to eat, visit, mingle and just get away from hustle and bustle of life for a few short hours. Yes, this is the Minnesota state fair.
It had been15 years since I had been to the fair and now I have been back three years in a row. It is a very interesting experience. It is crowded and for someone like me, that is not a place I want to be. I am not a big crowd fan. I do not stand in lines. I am impatient in having to wait. There are few places to sit. It is too expensive. But through it all, I really have enjoyed it. Weird!
There is so much to see that after three years we still have not seen it all. Now we don’t spend 8 hours there. Probably closer to 3-4 hours. Maybe that is why it is more tolerable. In small doses it is doable. Here are a few of our favorites:
[singlepic id=9 w=320 h=240 float=right]The horticulture building. I am fascinated by the bees, grains and produce they have on display. The 1000 pound pumpkin is pretty unreal to see. Each time I go in there, both Julie and I get a little more interested in raising bees.
[singlepic id=7 w=320 h=240 float=left]The food. Our first stop, the cheese curds in the food building. Even though it may sound “not right”. I think that is my favorite food at the fair. In all of it’s greasy goodness! The next stop was a home made nut roll. Wow, that was really good also. It was huge! Not too salty, but for 4 bucks it was a tad overpriced – but then again what isn’t.
[singlepic id=8 w=320 h=240 float=right]Machinery Hill – Old Iron Show. On display was old farm tractors, some going back almost 100 years. Other small engines that were absolutely fascinating to see. My dad loved this area the most. He recognized some of those single piston engines as ones that used to pump water with when he was growing up.
[singlepic id=6 w=320 h=240 float=left]The food. The 1919 root beer was a big hit. The floats were especially good. One of my fair favorites was next, the “Turkey to go” turkey sandwich. It is shredded chicken that is really juicy on a fresh bun. The bun does get a little soaked though. Something I can look past.
[singlepic id=13 w=320 h=240 float=right]The farmers union. The last couple of years they had a group of old time accordion, organ, and violin music players playing there. They play Swedish music and it was so good we bought their CD last year. I never thought I would like that kind of music so much.
[singlepic id=11 w=320 h=240 float=left]The food. Up next? The Fresh French Fries. The go through 150 tons of potatoes at the fair. My dad is talking to the French Fry guy who has been at the fair for the last 19 years. Lastly, the pickle on a stick that Julie always needs to get before we go.
Although we missed a bunch of food stands and exhibits (we did not even go into the animal barns), we know that next year we will take another bite out of what we missed this year. Get it, bite out of . . . the food? The fair and food? Anyone? Anyhoo, till next year!
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