Preparing for Travel

I flew last in December, 1998, nearly 3 years before 9/11/2001.

Things have changed quite a bit.

I am only going for one night though. And I actually flew frequently until my caregiving career began. Mostly my trips were short business trips and I became a bit obsessive about traveling light.

In fact I still have my little carry-on bag that I used all those years. It is a little Delsey soft-side. It has a little tear in it but I hunted and couldn't find anything I liked better. And I really didn't want to spend the money for a new one. The one I have opens flat on the bed. Let's me pack stuff more easily. I prefer soft sided bags for carry on and I don't like the ones with wheels because they weigh too much. I take the shoulder strap off my Delsey too when I'm not carrying anything else.

I checked the TSA web site for advice on what to bring and what to expect. I've been carrying toiletries in baggies for a long time. Learned that once when something I had leaked all over everything. I also put my change in a bag, too. I thought I might need to buy some stuff but they let you carry 3 oz sizes and that's pretty much what I have.

I used to have the cleaners fold my shirts so I asked my new cleaners to fold me a couple for this trip. I like to take an extra shirt so I'll take two with me.

No need for me to take my laptop on this trip but I will take my Kindle and read on the flight or at least I think I will.

Lots of work to do before I can leave though so have a busy Monday and Tuesday.

I think I'll pack my digital camera, too.

Father's Day Reunions

Father's Day has been officially celebrated on the third Sunday of June since after the first one was held in 1908. That first one was either in West Virginia or Washington or maybe both. That same year was the first Mother's Day.

As far back as I can remember we went to a family reunion on my Dad's side. It was always held at Redbud Park in Marlow, Oklahoma.

Marlow is where our family settled, more or less, when they arrived in Oklahoma in the 1890's or so. There were several families and they all had farms of 160 acres or so in the vicinity of this little one room school house. I'm not very clear why they chose Marlow. Several of the family are buried there in the Marlow Cemetery, too.

You may know something about Marlow although you probably are not aware of it. There was a 1965 movie starring John Wayne and Dean Martin called The Sons of Katie Elder that's based on the 5 Marlow brothers after whom the town of Marlow is named.

Redbud Park is on the banks of Wild Horse Creek in Marlow. I've always thought it was a very pretty little park and the creek is pretty deep, too. The creek was a good place for young cousins to swing out over and on occasion fall into.

There was a nice swimming pool there and when I was little I really looked forward to using it, too. It was much better than our old stock tank. There was this little train that made a trip around the park every so often. There were swings and other playground toys.

We, or rather someone of our family, reserved the shelter. And that's where we all began to gather about 11 or so. Some had been there much earlier of course and several had come in from far away and spent the night with other relatives.

There were quite a few of us young ones. Mostly I couldn't remember their names from one year to the next but we'd usually reacquaint soon after some initial discomfort. I definitely had favorites. One such favorite was a female 2nd cousin a couple of years my senior. I had a major crush on her when I was a teenager. I took every opportunity to sit with her and walk around with her.

Actually I loved her entire family and held them in such respect. Those sentiments were also shared by my family as well. My dad loved to tell about her mother, who was his first cousin, sharing a seat with him in the one room school. That was quite embarrassing for a first or second grader I guess. Dad said she was always looking after him as a child and she continued the tradition at the family reunions by insisting on fixing him a plate of food and sitting right beside him. Dad and Mom were very close to this family always.

During the polio scare years the pool closed at the park. Later on when I was older I just didn't want to mess with changing clothes and so on.

When we younger cousins got old enough we all pretty much stopped attending the reunions. But the older cousins kept the tradition alive. I took Mom and Dad to a few of them myself even before I came to live with them. After mom was sick though we never went to another reunion.

There were always a few "visitors" to our family reunions. Dad would always say that the family claimed these folks as part of us and I guess they must have felt the same way.

As the years passed so did the older ones. And a time or two some of the younger ones died, too. The attendance dropped nearly every year I guess. People became older. Eventually it was Dad's generation's time to be the old folks.

I think there are still some of our folks who gather for Father's Day but only those who live nearby and they moved it from Marlow to Duncan. So it isn't the same at all.

When we buried dad nearly all my first cousins attended. We thought we might hold a reunion for our group. My brother and I talked about it the other day. Maybe we will this summer.

Local Stores

I was thinking about how things have changed here since I was a child growing up on the farm.

There was a time when we were so far out in the country that if we wanted anything we had to go a ways to get it. If we wanted something fixed then we had to do it ourselves or take the "fixee" to the "fixor" (I love legal terms).

Bailing wire was probably the most important part of our fix-it-yourself toolkit. Aside from imagination and stubbornness anyway.

We did have a veterinarian who would come out though and that was certainly a good thing.

Now within a mile of my house there are so many stores it is unbelievable. There will soon be more, too. Now some of them aren't exactly "walkable" because there is an Interstate Highway between us. Those things are like the rivers of the old frontier except you darn sure can't drink from them. Still, trying to cross one on foot is about like jumping into the wild Colorado with no life vest.

One interesting store to me is this place called "Learn To Brew." It is exactly what it sounds like. They have everything you need including lessons and books to brew your own wine and beer.

The image I "borrowed" from their web site via print screen. It lists interesting facts:

• Before prohibition over 4500 independent brewers produced beer for their local markets.
  
• Germany had a prohibition law that limited a drinker to no more than seven beers in one session and no more than two sessions a day.
  

In a way that's kind of funny because in the prohibition days there were plenty of folks around here that could run a "still" and they didn't stop at wine or beer.

Now you can go over to this place and buy kits and books and sit in on actual lessons with demonstrations.

My dad told about one time when he was a kid that he and his brother (probably more his brother - you know how they are) decided to make some wine from grape juice. They put the jars in the cellar. Something must have been a little off because the jars exploded. They had a pretty good mess and an upset mother. But they definitely had some fermenting going on.

A coworker once made home brew beer. He had to go to the library and read and buy a bunch of stuff from here and there. He made beer though. I don't remember tasting it so I don't know what it was like.

A lady of Polish descent lived in a house near our business and she made her version of "white lightening" every year. I did taste it and it was awful and strong. But every year the guys that worked there would all go down to try it out.

We have liquor stores here. They are also called package stores. Not sure why that is. The one over west of us has these free tasting events every month. It is kind of interesting and a lot of people show up. There will be several tables and distributor representatives will be standing behind each one with a few bottles of their products. They have these little bitty plastic cups - maybe an ounce or two - and if you see something you think you might want to try then you ask for a taste and the person pours you a little in the plastic cup - nowhere near full either. Good thing, too, because some of it is really stout. Or maybe that's because I don't drink and am unaccustomed to it.

Some people stand around and talk about how this one is smoky tasting or that one has a hint of spring or something. I never really can tell any of that but I usually stand there and shake my head up and down like I am not a complete hick.

Anyway we're definitely not in the country anymore.

Oil Futures

There is quite a bit of sentiment to regulate the oil futures markets.

Basically oil futures trade in 1,000 barrel lots as I understand it. You can buy for future delivery or you can sell. At say $130 per barrel a minimum contract would be $130,000 but you buy or sell it on margin. The margin is usually between 5% and 7% so for less than $10,000 you can be trading in oil.

If you think the future price of oil is going up then you buy a contract which you can sell before the time of delivery and thereby your profit is the difference. So you buy a contract for August oil at $130 as an example. The "spot" price or the price someone actually will pay in August ends up being $135 and you sell your contract at that price thereby making $5 per barrel or $5,000. But you only invested $10,000 because of the margin so you made 50% on your investment. Pretty good.

It can be done the other way, too. You really aren't trading oil but contracts or paper.

So the current popular idea is that this speculation is causing the price of oil to climb more than it reasonably should.

That may be true. But it may not be true either.

There are several valid reasons for commodities futures trading. But generally such markets benefit both producers and consumers by spreading risk, helping to stabilize prices, and making demand less turbulent.

But there are famous examples of markets being manipulated and causing terrible consequences for all sorts of people.

The idea is to increase the margin requirement from the current low rate to a higher rate. One such rate that has been discussed is 50% which would mean it would take 7 to 10 times the amount of money to buy a contract. That would undoubtedly reduce the number of traders.

It is nearly impossible to predict what will happen though.

I worry about unintended consequences.

The Cliff Swallows of San Juan Capistrano

I posted Purple Martins in May with some images of nests and birds that I thought were Purple Martins but was confused because of the mud and stick nests. A few days later I saw a bird I identified as a Barn Swallow and posted Photos on a Sunday Morning.

The mystery is solved now. But the solution is very sad.

Tuesday this week (June 10, 2008) a man at a local lake became upset over some bird nests just like the two I have here. I am not sure why he was upset but I think it may have had something to do with his boat. He took a pole and destroyed every one of the 30 or so nests. The nests contained 186 baby birds. All but one died.

The angry man apparently called the marina demanding that someone clean up the mess from the destroyed nests and the dead birds. That's how it is that his identity is known although it has not been made public.

Both the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife and the United States Fish and Wildlife Service began an investigation.

The birds are Mud Swallows, also known as Cliff Swallows.

They are migratory birds and protected by the Federal Migratory Bird Act. The man can be fined up to $500 per bird. That's $93,000. No charges have been filed. A lot of people are pretty upset.

Cliff Swallows are rather famous. These are the same birds known as the The Swallows of San Juan Capistrano! They spend the winter down in Argentina. Then they fly north about 6,000 miles to get here about mid March.

It is rather a big deal in San Juan every year. Visitors come from all over the world to watch the birds arrive. They usually arrive all together on about March 19th.

Now get this:

There is a legend that an innkeeper in San Juan became irate because of the mess the birds made and destroyed their muddy nests. So, with their nests destroyed, the birds found refuge inside the old mission building.

The city of San Juan has an ordinance against destroying their nests. Scout birds precede the main group.

Anyway I am about as certain as I can be that my birds are Cliff Swallows.

Sleeping Arrangements

The other night I awoke to my lovely snuggled up against me and I similarly snuggled up close to her.

I thought how pleasant it was to share that intimacy of sleep and touch with someone I love. Really it is a great blessing. It is one of those "ordinary miracles" I think. It is ordinary because it is common and frequent. It is a miracle because it is wondrous and beautiful and joyful.

Well, to be fair, it may not always be joyful.

I thought of how I started out sleeping. I don't recall it actually but I know about it because I was told for one thing. And for another when I remember the earliest time then I can guess what came previously. That first arrangement for me in a baby bed that was inside my parents' bedroom. The house only had 3 rooms really: bedroom, bathroom, and combination living-dining-kitchen. So there wasn't much else. I'm quite certain I slept alone for the most part, too. Because there wasn't much room for anyone else. I am certain I slept sometimes in the bed with my parents but that's not a memory.

I was 5 when my brother came along. Before his arrival my dad had enclosed a front porch. He moved the front door around to the south side of the newly built room. Mom found this trundle bed for us.

It didn't look like the one in the image but it's as close as I could find. Ours was this height or maybe taller and had no drawers in between. The head and foot were open more and were the same height. It was kind of that color though.

He didn't sleep there at first though. He took over the baby bed for a while. He was a disappointment at first, too. I had big plans for a playmate and was surprised to learn that baby brothers don't come ready-made-to-play.

I slept on the top bed and I managed to fall off once or twice. It was a pretty good drop. We both manged to jump off a few times. So our bed set lengthwise across the room just in front of the door.

On the other side of our bed we had a play area with shelves that contained our toys and a few books. There was a desk there eventually that my uncle made me for some birthday. It was a very fine desk, too. I don't know what happened to it. I cut a hold in the back once trying to make a secret hiding place in that space between the back of the drawers and the back of the desk. It wasn't a very good hiding place.

Later on, when dad built the "new" house, I had my own bedroom and a full size bed. I was very proud to have my own room. Dad and mom were proud they were able to provide such a luxury.

I married when I was 20. We had a full size bed at first. I remember it was difficult for me to adjust to living in town with neighbors and funny tasting city water. It was more difficult adjusting to having a bed partner. I really did not like that snuggling thing at all. I wasn't old enough then to appreciate humans much or that's what I think now.

Eventually we became more prosperous and moved to a bigger place ourselves and had kids and got a king size bed. I remember that being pretty nice.

Then we divorced and I slept alone again. It was as hard becoming accustomed to sleeping alone as it was becoming accustomed to sleeping with someone. Although I do recall thinking there were definite benefits to sleeping alone.

Then I moved a few times and hauled the king size bed around with me. They are a PITA to move around.

Eventually I returned to mom's and dad's house and back to my old room. It already had a matching bedroom set of furniture. So the king size bed stayed in the garage and I slept on a regular size again.

Dad and mom had been sleeping together for 51 years when I came to live with them. They had moved up to a queen size bed but they liked to sleep close together. Mom loved to be in her bed in her room when she was ill and she loved having dad there beside her.

Before she died her leg had been broken in a fall on one of the stairs. I had gotten her a hospital bed and set it up in the family room. I had rented three roll away beds for aides and me and dad. We had pushed dad's bed up close to mom's hospital bed the evening she died. They both went to sleep that evening holding hands through the rails of her bed. He was right there by her when she died.

Dad could barely stand it when she died. I recall so clearly after she died that dad would sit on the side of their bed before retiring. He would just sit there and he was so lonely looking and so sad. He would sit there a good while before finally lying down. I had a bit of knowledge about the feeling I think because I felt alone and lost when I divorced and I could still remember that first time I slept alone. I had only been married 25 years.

It was just a few months before he died that I got the hospital bed for him. I took down the queen size bed and put it in the basement storage room. I didn't cry out loud but I was crying inside. The hospital bed was an air mattress one and it made a lot of noise and I'm not sure it was very comfortable. Dad didn't like it and he missed his other bed. I felt so bad. But the hospital bed was so much easier and it had become so hard by that time to take care of him and his needs. I wish I had been able somehow to keep him in his bed. I wish he could have died in his bed instead of that hospital bed.

But at least he was able to die there in his own bedroom. That's something.

I married 3 years before dad died and 3 years after mom's death. I love snuggling with her in our bed.

Blogger (and life) Updates

Blog List element.

I like it better than my old list because I can see when my friend's blogs have been updated and then click the link to read. Pretty handy.

Scheduled Posting.

It is now possible to set a future date for a post and Blogger posts the entry at the appointed date and time. Very cool.

Of course I see that some of my blogger friends are way ahead of me as usual.

One thing I notice because of this new feature is the increasingly infrequent posts of some of my blog friends. Those who are no longer caregiving are often not posting now for days sometimes. I think that is good. I think it means we are returning to the world. It sounds Tolkienesque. We have all been in search of the ring and have found it and the world has been saved after the great battle. Maybe the world wasn't saved but I think it must have been because I am still alive and here and writing. We are all hobbits I suppose although whether Sam or Merry or Pippin or Frodo I know not. There is no Sam or Merry or Pippin jumping on my bed. Two blogs are gone entirely now from my original collection. A few more are inactive. They must have returned to the shire I think.

Those who are caregiving vary in their posting frequency. The ones that post infrequently I worry about because I do not know what is happening to them. I can guess because I've glimpsed the future. For the same reason I worry about the ones who do post.

I have an upcoming airplane trip soon. I'm nervous about it actually but just a little. I have not flown since the end of December 1998. It is only a one day trip and I will post about it afterwards. I am excited about the trip. It is something that few get to do. I recognize how blessed I am and I am so very thankful.

Speaking of which, blessings that is, I have to file the estate tax return in 11 days. I have yet to decide whether I will write about it. Even writing that I have to do it reveals a lot and maybe too much. It seems too personal right now. I will say that it is a terribly painful experience. I am again in the vice. Maybe later, maybe not.

Weather. Wind and tornadoes and storms. We had the worst wind storm the other day. We have a lot of wind but this was significant even by our standards. Extreme weather of any kind always reminds me of Michener's Texas. I read all of Michener's works. I loved the detail and how he traced the history of a place and its people. I might read him again. In Texas though there is a place where someone settles near a little creek. They build a cabin and the spot was chosen so they could have close access to water. Later on the rainy season comes one particular year and the creek rises well above the cabin location. Afterwards the person looks around and realizes when he chose the spot that the signs were easily apparent that floods had been as high and higher than his cabin spot. He just didn't have the perspective and he was too interested in being near the water.

You look around the earth anywhere. You see the results of these giant forces. My brother and I were talking about a place the other day where you can see sedimentary rocks that have been turned vertical and then covered with more sedimentary layers. You can only gasp at the power that did that. Or all that oil and coal that we extract from the ground. That stuff came from living organisms. They aren't living now and to get turned into oil and coal in the quantities we see is beyond anything I can comprehend.

At the office yesterday we were talking about the big star, Betelgeuse. I posted about this star once before along with an image. It's not the biggest at all. We probably don't even know the biggest. Probably can't imagine it.

Back to bed before I have to get up.

Me, a politician, Ha!

The other day at lunch my son mentioned that his friend had filed to run for a state legislator office.

I said that I could not think of a worse job. I believe I would hate it and that I would not be good at it either and I allowed as much.

Two lunch companions both said they thought I'd be great at it. My son agreed with me. (Thanks son!). Later I told Judy and she said that she thought I would do a good job except for my moodiness. She said that would make me appear inconsistent and that would hurt my effectiveness.

It is always interesting to learn how other people really think of you. I have on several occasions noticed that my own self-image is considerably at odds with that of my friends.

I am moody, too. Judy says it has to do with my astrological sign. I am a cancer and my sign is the crab. She always tells me when I've withdrawn. She'll say "you're in your shell again."

You read the descriptions for cancer and they all talk about moodiness and changeability and sensitivity and shells.

What was I writing about?

Oh yeah, being a politician. I hate to argue with people now. It wears me out. I also don't like to be in crowds of people. I have no interest in giving up any of my privacy. Sitting in a big student council deal just sounds awful to me. And I don't care if anyone agrees with me or not nor do I care if I agree with anyone else or not.

I've become a curmudgeon.

Sharpay or Shar Pei

Shar pei:

Sharpay

High School Musical 3 is supposed to be out in October, 2008.

Vice President Predictions

I know it isn't quite official but it certainly appears that we now know the candidates for President of the United States.

But who will be the Vice-President candidates?

I think there is a good chance that Bill Richardson will be the Democrat candidate.

For one thing he ran for President so he is arguably qualified to be President and he should be vetted to some extent at least. In addition he is Governor of New Mexico and has extensive foreign relation as well as other government experience. He is Hispanic and maybe can help pull some of that demographic. He's 60 (my age) so that makes him a little older than Obama but still relatively young. (Biden for instance is 5 years older.)

Republican - going way out on a limb here - Joe Lieberman.

I know it is a little nutty. But the thing is that if McCain has a chance of winning at all, given the unpopularity of Republicans; then, he must pull votes out of the middle of both parties and the non-affiliated. For that group I think Lieberman is a very good choice. Also, Lieberman was Al Gore's running mate so he should also be qualified and vetted. He and McCain are allies and friends and get along well. He is imminently qualified.

Yes, the R's are going to go nuts. But Lieberman is already invited to the convention and I think is going to speak. He is an Independent now.

So there it is for everyone to read and remember and a short few weeks from now we can all come back here and say "No prophet here!"

However, I do want to point out that back on February 7, 2008 I guessed McCain. In that same post I wrote '... doesn't "feel" like there will be another Clinton presidency.' So far I haven't embarrassed myself too much.

Gasoline

I didn't know we (us USAns that is) had an Energy Information Administration (EIA for short). But we do. I found the graphic on the site.

I thought the graphic was interesting and there wasn't anything more recent than the $2.80 average graphic that I found at least.

Gasoline here in Oklahoma as of the time I am writing is about $4 per gallon depending upon grade and where I buy it and when.

That's still about 1/2 what I'm paying for coffee. My Venti black coffee from Starbucks is about $2 plus which works out to nearly $13 per gallon.

Most of the cost of gasoline though is in the cost of the crude oil. That hardly seems surprising to me but is apparently to a lot of people.

Something that does surprise me is that when gasoline prices follow the upward price increase of crude oil that so many people become experts in the field. I think a part of this is attributable to the fact that so many of us are users of gasoline and also that we pump it ourselves. So the kind of "hands on" part of it gives us a distorted view of our own understanding.

I find it interesting that the cost of distribution, refining, marketing, and profit has stayed pretty constant as a percentage. I don't find it surprising really but interesting. It is, after all, a relatively mature industry so the channels for distribution and processing are all pretty much finished.

Oil and natural gas are important here in Oklahoma. They aren't as important as they used to be but they're still pretty important. A lot of us have royalties of one kind or another and/or we have friends and relatives who work in the industry. My brother is a geologist as was my uncle.

Nearly every part of the oil business is really, really hard. And very dangerous, too. You can easily lose your shirt and your life in the oil business.

One of the amazing things about the oil business is how cyclical it is. Right now we are in a high part of the cycle. We've never been this high before but we've several times been in high cycles. They are always followed by huge downturns.

I don't know what will cause it to happen this time. Probably it will be the dampening of the world economy. I don't know when that will occur or even if it will but something will happen I suspect.

I wonder what the price will drop to. The last big oil bust we had there were more than 1 million jobs lost inside the industry. Thousands of businesses were wiped out. It startles me sometimes to think about what we as a nation lost in terms of knowledge and ability. It would be like losing the automobile industry several times over.

But for right now things in the industry are pretty good except for the bad press and bad publicity.

Some of that is funny, too. I watched a congresswoman the other day when oil executives were called to testify. She was threatening nationalization of the oil industry. The government does such a good job at stuff I am sure they would do an equally spectacular job in getting oil out of the ground. She couldn't get the word "nationalize" though and was tongue tied for a second.

In my experience oil has been cyclical and I suspect that will continue. I don't know why. There are those who disagree. No less than T Boone Pickens is one and his knowledge, experience, and instinct has to be given considerable weight. Still I think something will happen and the price will drop again.

Just one possibility is the Bakken Formation that lies beneath Montana and North Dakota. It is estimated that there is 3 to 4 Billion barrels of oil technically recoverable from the formation. That's at current prices and current technologies. But there may be as much as 400 Billion barrels there that's not yet technically recoverable. Well, people are recovering reserves now that no one believed possible a few years ago.

That's significant because the total production from Saudi Arabia's reserve is estimated at about 265 Billion barrels.

Seemed a good idea to write something about gasoline prices now.

More Reading

Dark of the Moon by John Sandford

According to the Acknowledgment Sandford (whose real name is John Roswell Camp) wrote this book with his friend, Larry Millett.

It takes off on a character from the Lucas Davenport "Prey" stories. The character is a another cop whose name is Virgil Flowers. He is often referred to as "that f***n Flowers" and that fact becomes a kind of inside joke.

I enjoyed the story. I liked the characters.

I suppose I like characters the most in fiction. Maybe that's true in non-fiction as well, come to think on it. There has to be some kind of quirky and interesting and likable character for me or I don't keep reading.

But I need an interesting story and the plot needs to move along, too. Otherwise I get antsy and start skipping pages.

But this was a good story. I'd read more.

Tepees to Towers: The Story of Building the Sooner State

Tepees to Towers: The Story of Building the Sooner State
by Walter Nashert

In the piles of books that my daughter has created as she cleans out dad's house I noticed this title the other morning.

I noticed for a few reasons. One is that my daughter had put a little sticky slip on it that noted the book had been given to my old friend and not my father. That interested me right away. For another I have been reading a lot lately and the title captured my attention immediately. And for another I knew the author and that increased my interest. And I vaguely recalled this book.

Mr. Nashert was probably older than I am now when I first met him. I would have been in my early 20's or maybe late teens. The book was self-published by Mr. Nashert I think in about 1970 so I was only 22 that year.

He was the founder and then head of a successful general contracting firm in Oklahoma City and my dad's company did a lot of work for his. We were a roofing sub-contractor. Back then we usually had certain general contractors we preferred and Nashert was one. It is just kind of human nature I suppose that certain people and certain groups of people just kind of naturally mesh better and when that happens then things work better including projects. And when projects run better then everyone makes money. Part of it is that you do more jobs for a certain contractor and that increases the level of communication. Even then we had to be cautious of the relationship though because familiarity can be a problem. One could never take it for granted because there were other competitors waiting for an opportunity for themselves.

Mr. Nashert's book is one that he published as well as authored. I don't know how many books were printed or if the book might be available today. I do know that at the time it was a very significant endeavor to author such a book and then to publish it. No internet back then for certain.

There are 27 chapters beyond a preface. It is hard bound in a blue cover with a clear dust cover. There is an engraving on the front that depicts a wilderness explorer on one side and a more modern construction man on the other. Behind the explorer is a tepee and behind the modern man is a downtown skyline. The book covers the period from 1889 to 1968 more or less. The first chapter especially includes time prior to 1889 which was the time of the Oklahoma land run and the founding of the city of Oklahoma City.

My dad's name appears in the book along with those of his partners. The chapter deals with which roofing company might be the oldest in Oklahoma as of the the date of the book. There were three legitimate contenders including our old company. That company still is going strong today, too, by the way.

It is cool (as in rewarding and exhilarating) to stumble across your father's name in such a book. Even cooler is reading a history like this and thinking about the changes that have occurred. It is a little sobering to realize that another 38 years have passed since this book was written. Arguably the changes in the construction industry in the last 38 rival the changes in the preceding 80.

I knew a good many of those mentioned in Mr. Nashert's book. Mostly they are all gone now as is Mr. Nashert himself. I believe he died just a year or two before I came to live with mom and dad.

The thing that I enjoyed about this book is all the characters that are presented by the author. They are presented in such a way that the reader easily understands that Mr. Nashert knew most of them. History is sometimes thought of as a series of events. Really though it is about the people who lived during the time covered.

I am reminded of that time in Wilder's Our Town when Emily Webb has died and she wants to go back and relive a day. Mrs. Gibbs tells her to pick something unimportant and insignificant or it will be too painful. There's another time in Our Town when someone says "Wasn't life awful - and wonderful."

That reminds me of Walter Nashert's book. He describes 80 years of construction in Oklahoma by describing a lot of the people and some of the events.

One story that struck me was about Solomon Layton, the architect of the Oklahoma State Capitol building. Layton interviewed for an assignment to expand Georgetown University in 1894. He was awarded the commission largely because of a shared interest in the poet, John Ruskin. Layton had adopted for his own creed an excerpt from Ruskin's work, "Lamp of Memory." I was struck by the excerpt which follows:

Therefore, when we build, let us think that we build forever.
Let it not be for present delight, nor for present use alone:
Let it be such work as our descendants will thank us for,
and let them think, as we lay stone on stone,
that a time is to come when these stones will be held sacred
because our hands have touched them,
and that men will say as they look upon the labor and wrought substance of them, "See! This our fathers did for us."

I love the sentiment and it reminds me of dad telling me that a "job worth doing is one worth doing right." But you know so much of what we do does not result in anything material like a building or a monument. Still the sentiment is valid I think for all of us whether builders or not. We should indeed look farther into the future than we do when be begin some work.

Ten Commandments

After my Grass is Greener post I thought it a good idea to review the Ten Commandments.

Exodus 20 (New International Version)

1 And God spoke all these words:

2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

3 "You shall have no other gods before me.

4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.

5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,

6 but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.

7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates.

11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.

13 "You shall not murder.

14 "You shall not commit adultery.

15 "You shall not steal.

16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

This next part is intriguing to me.

18 When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance

19 and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die."

20 Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."

21 The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.

22 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Tell the Israelites this: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have spoken to you from heaven:

23 Do not make any gods to be alongside me; do not make for yourselves gods of silver or gods of gold.

24 " 'Make an altar of earth for me and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, your sheep and goats and your cattle. Wherever I cause my name to be honored, I will come to you and bless you.

25 If you make an altar of stones for me, do not build it with dressed stones, for you will defile it if you use a tool on it.

26 And do not go up to my altar on steps, lest your nakedness be exposed on it.'

That part was intriguing because just a few chapters later the people who have just heard this and who have been so afraid of God that they didn't even want to hear His voice directly have built a golden calf to worship.

The first four commandments are about the people's relationship to God. Really the first four are pretty simple: no other gods, no idols, don't misuse God's name, and keep the sabbath day.

It is these first four that apparently offend so many people who don't want the Ten Commandments displayed. Displayed or not it seems to me that people pretty much ignore these today.

The next 6 are pretty simple: honor your parents, no murder, no adultery, no stealing, no false witnessing, and no coveting.

It is interesting that number five, honor your parents, is the single one of the then that is all affirmative with no "shall not" attached to it. The sabbath day one is close but it has a "shall not work" phrase.

There are plenty of folks who take issue with the honor your parents commandment and they have pretty good reasons. Then again there are quite a number who don't honor and have no reason at all.

I think there is pretty strong objection to the prohibition on adultery.

Surely there aren't too many people in favor of murder, theft, and giving false testimony.

Coveting is pretty widespread in my experience although I suspect a lot of folks would deny doing it.

About one thousand four hundred years later someone asked Jesus a question about the law and His response is in Matthew 22:

36 "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?"

37 Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'

38 This is the first and greatest commandment.

39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'

40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Grass Is Greener

Dad and I used to comment about this phenomenon when we were working out in the pasture together.

We'd see the cows all bunched up at the fence. They'd stick their heads through the barb wire. You knew that had to stick them so it had to be uncomfortable as anything. They'd be trying to graze the grass on the other side of the fence. And the grass on their side of the fence was exactly the same or better as the grass on the other side. And they could have gotten to the grass on their side a whole lot easier.

Dad and I would stand there sometimes and watch them. He'd tell me "People are like that, too."

And I'd ask him to explain it.

He'd say that you had to learn to be content with what you had and some people never did learn it. He thought they were just like the cows trying to graze the grass on the other side of the fence while ignoring what they had on their side.

I think on one occasion he told me about one of the Ten Commandments in the Bible that said not to do this.

Ever notice that the coveting commandment is the last one? Wonder if that has significance? Strange in a way that you'd even find it in the list really. But there it is along with murder, lying, theft, and marital unfaithfulness.

Sometimes when we'd drive down to Marlow we'd see cows trying to graze grass on the road side of their fences. We'd always talk about the grass is greener phenomenon.

I don't remember ever getting tired of hearing Dad talk about it We explored the subject in considerable depth.

I remember once asking Dad if he thought the cattle knew there was the same grass on their side. He said it was all about perspective really and that somehow the cows were too close to the fence to realize what they were doing.

Dad and I knew about cows and one thing we knew for certain was that they were plenty smart. A lot of people think animals aren't smart but that's people who don't know animals. There are some smarter animals and more not-so-smart ones but they have smarts.

I miss Dad and him talking to me about cows and green grass.

Father's day is coming up soon. We always went to Marlow for Father's Day and had a family reunion down there. I'll have to blog about that.

What If Momemts

Dad and I used to work together a lot on the farm when I was a kid.

We'd be in the pasture back when I was a kid and he was even younger than I am now. We'd fenced the entire farm with perimeter and cross fences. We had 160 acres and today that seems so small but when you do the work yourself then those are a lot of fence posts to have dug by hand and a lot of barb wire to have stretched.

When we started we dug those holes by hand. It was much later when we got the tractor mounted fence post attachment. That thing almost killed Dad once. He was up in the middle of the pasture working by himself. I am uncertain why I was not there. My brother probably was still a bit young to be out there maybe. So I heard this later.

Mom and my brother looked out the west window and saw Dad walking across the pasture towards the house. So it must have been before we built the big house. Mom said she could tell something was wrong and finally she could see that Dad wasn't wearing any pants. I think they ran out to meet him but I don't remember.

He had been digging post holes with the new attachment. In one particular place the ground was hard apparently and he felt he needed some more weight on the post hole digger. So he left the tractor in idle and stood up and walked back along the top of the attachment to add his weight and try to help it along.

The attachment was driven by the power take off assembly of the tractor so there was a shaft that went horizontal out from the rear of tractor to the top of the digger. There was a universal joint there where the shaft connected by a shear pin.

Well that shear pin was kind of long and Dad's khaki pants had cuffs. And so when Dad stood in the right place and the shaft was turning and the shear pin caught on the cuff of his pant leg. The khaki was pretty good material and the cuff was pretty strong. So as the shaft turned the shear pin twisted the pant leg and suddenly Dad felt his leg being pressured downward.

He said he knew he was in a lot of trouble but he said he didn't really panic or anything. There wasn't really time for it anyway because suddenly he was prone along the shaft and his body would be turned with it.

Except there wasn't really room for his body to turn with the shaft. This all increased the load on the tractor. The pants tore which tells you there was pretty good pressure if you've ever tried to tear a piece of khaki cloth.

Dad said he could hear the tractor engine load up and he fully expected it to kick in with more power and then his leg would break and be twisted off his body. And he wasn't sure what else was going to happen. But all this happened so quickly he couldn't do anything about it anyway.

But the tractor engine died when it loaded up and the digger stopped turning and Dad was able to find his little pocket knife he always carried in his pocket. Then he cut his pants free.

That he walked back to the house shows how upset he was.

Getting Over A Cold

I'm not exactly certain how I caught the cold. I think I know but it is only a suspicion. It doesn't really matter because the person I caught it from didn't mean to give it to me and couldn't have done much about it in the first place.

I don't know that it is a cold either. Maybe it is something else. It might be allergies but unlike I've had previously. It might be a new disease that no one has identified. Right! But it is my disease and I choose to name it and so I am calling it a cold.

It began with a listless Sunday for me. I didn't have any energy and I didn't want to do anything except sit and read and watch TV and sleep. But I didn't feel particularly ill. I was asked that question a few times and I was a little irritable at being asked and snapped back a few times. That day I did not believe myself to be sick either. It is only now looking back more than a week that I realize I was. Must have seemed more apparent to Judy though.

Next was the little cough that started. It was small at first and very quick. It would surprise me and force me to cough with no time to cover my mouth. Someone told me I should cover my mouth when I coughed. I think several told me that. It was embarrassing that I could not get that done. I think I did not know what to say.

Then there was the congestion and the increasingly frequent need to blow my nose. I am a loud nose blower. There's apparently a lot of empty space up there in my head or in my chest or wherever all this stuff is stored and I must have a healthy system that makes it all because I have a lot and it takes a lot of effort to get it out. And it is loud and I have to use more than one tissue. Finally I resort to paper towels.

Then my nose turns red and gets sore but by then I feel so bad that my nose is the least of my worries.

The throat is sore as can be. That lasted a couple of days. The eyes are watering. The nose is running. There is no energy. Hot showers feel really, really good if one can past the stage of getting into the tub.

Eating is difficult but in a way seems to help. Coke (as in Coca Cola) makes me feel better. Coffee is not appetizing.

Is it allergies? Or is it allergies and a cold? Or is it the flu? Should I go to the doctor? Should I stay home? Nothing really matters. I am as miserable one place as another.

Besides there are responsibilities. Even if one is not a caregiver there are responsibilities. Strange that I would have forgotten that during the caregiving.

Finally the week is done. The responsibilities shoved aside. I crawl into bed early. I think it was 8 pm or maybe earlier. It was Friday evening. I didn't care that Dr. G was investigating death in her morgue. I figure I might be next on her stainless steel table if I can't lay down soon. Then there's nothing. I remember nothing that is. Until the next morning sometime when I awaken. The entire Saturday is spent inside resting.

Well, resting and coughing and hacking and blowing my nose and breathing with my mouth open and not talking. Is that really resting? Can't decide for sure if the cough syrup helps or even if the Tylenol or whatever it is helps. Finally one tries because not trying seems nuts.

Judy ordered me some of that Capsaicin nasal spray called Sinus Buster. Wow!! That stuff works pretty well for opening up the old nasal passage.

Sunday makes it one week. I feel better early on and head over to the house and get a shower and maybe a coffee. If coffee is wanted then wellness is on the horizon. But the good feelings subside quickly. I always forget that part.

Monday is a holiday: Memorial Day. Not much remembering going on though but a lot of people at the lakes. The hacking cough is nearly gone but still present. The drainage is better. There is slightly more energy. Enough to do a load of laundry and work on a spreadsheet and word document.

Tuesday. I can face the world again today. Only an occasional cough. Still some drainage. Bought some more Kleenex or whatever brand it is. Got the big box. Wish they could fix it so the sheets would come out one at a time.

Of course Judy is sick. She's a few days behind me I think. Bless her heart.

Wednesday now. No drainage anymore. The nose isn't hurting. Can breath through the nose again all the time. Maybe a cough on occasion but not noticeable.

But have to take Judy to doctor today.

So much for colds.

Jesus Camp

Watched this program on one of the satellite channels the other evening called "Jesus Camp."

I thought it was very disturbing - not the program itself - rather its subject: the camp and the activities at the camp.

It reminded me of one of my own early childhood experiences.

There was this one particular time when I was the only child that refused to go forward at an alter call. I can still recall the pressure of that time and the humiliation I felt and the fear and the rage and all the other mixed up emotions. In my case it was a Southern Baptist church and it was 40 years before I would willingly step foot inside one again.

I absolutely detest the idea of alter calls. I find not one shred of evidence for such a thing in the Scriptures. I am convinced they are for the benefit of the preacher and no one else.

God has known me forever but I have only known Him a few years now. If anything I suspect the mostly well meaning efforts of those people in my earlier years postponed my coming to know Him.

It was not that He was absent anyway but only that I could not see or hear or feel. It was my illness that required cure. When I could see I realized He was there all along.

There were people who loved me and prayed for me and cared for me. Prayer is considerably underrated by most folks, misunderstood and misused by so many Believers, and an object of scorn by the faith haters.

Back to Jesus Camp though. Some of the children had this idea that it was a struggle to obtain this or that from God. Some had been taught that only one kind of worship was pleasing to God. Some felt guilt and shame and some felt it was a matter of doing this or not doing that.

God is not some stingy miser. He pours out blessings on His children. He is not some cruel monster that delights in His child's misery and struggle. He loves diversity. Just look around at what He created! In His presence there is no room for guilt or shame or sadness; rather there is joy and peace and ebullience. And there is no sense of constraint but the expansiveness of freedom without limit.

Above all else is love.

When there's no freedom and no love then that's not Biblical faith.

Memories for Later

When I was a child I would, on occasion, have something happen that I would tell myself I was going to make a point to remember later when I was an adult. Usually it was something that was particularly disappointing and I would say to myself "I am going to remember this when I'm grown so I will know how my kids feel."

I remember doing this but I just don't remember what those occasions were. I don't know that it helped me be more sympathetic with my kids either.

I continued doing this as I grew older but the circumstances changed and there occasions were not as frequent. There were even a few times during my caregiving for my dad that I wanted to remember something for later.

Sunday I was watching something on TV and this commercial came on. I have no idea what was being advertised. But in the commercial there was this mother and a young child. The child was asleep on the mother's chest.

There was something about how the child's hand rested on the mother's chest that made me double take the scene.

And then I remembered.

It was one of those things that I told myself I wanted to remember for later. I may have done it twice but I don't remember that. It may have been both my children or it may have been just one. I don't remember that.

But I do remember this time when my precious little baby was asleep on my chest and his (or maybe her) hands were clasped around my neck. I could smell the shampoo and the powder and feel the softness of the skin against my own. I could feel the faint whisper of breath against my cheek.

I remember thinking that this was a moment that I wanted to cherish and remember forever.

And I did.

Photos on a Sunday Morning

I think this is a Barn Swallow.
So I think we have both Barn Swallows and Purple Martins.
I bet the Barn Swallows built the nest.

I met these guys on the way to Dad's house.
About 1/2 of them left. These 4 didn't seem to care whether I was there or not.
I think they are Turkey Vultures.

How would you like to pay for this sprinkler?
It had just started up when I passed.

No energy problem here apparently.
Another Vulture hanging out at a substation.

This fellow did not like me taking his photograph.
He shook his head at me.