by Greg | Aug 31, 2010 | Blog Posts
Last weekend Aaron and I were in my car running errands and he pointed to my dashboard and said, “You just past 100.” Rest assured I was not racing the MINI down Washington Rd. at 100 miles per hour. I am doing good to break 20 mph with all of the traffic. My car has now over 100,000 miles on the odometer. Turning 100,000 miles is really not such a big deal anymore. It wasn’t too many years ago that if a car or truck ever made it to 100,000 miles it was ready for the junk yard or Ripley’s Believe it or Not. To own a vehicle that made it past 100,000 miles gave you bragging rights for the next six months and an article in the weekly paper, right beside Earl and a picture of his 20 pound mud catfish. Now we just assume a car will last well past that mile marker. My niece drives the same car she bought used when she was 16. It has well over 200,000 miles. My dad recently retired one of his pickups and his best guess is that it had over 300,000 miles – at least that is what it was before the odometer quit working. My car is doing pretty well considering it is over 100. As with anything getting older it has its problems. The power steering has not worked in six months, which is okay because it has really strengthened my biceps. Who needs gym membership? The air conditioner smells like a wet dog is taking a nap under the hood, which doesn’t offend me, but...
by Greg | Aug 24, 2010 | Blog Posts
A couple of months ago I handed over a rather plain fountain pen to one of our church members, Bill Engels, and asked him if he thought he could repair it. I knew Bill had recently taken up the hobby of making ink pens and pencil sets and thought perhaps he could repair this old pen. This vintage pen has been in an equally old cup with other artifacts from the past. It belonged to my grandfather or my great-grandfather. I have never known it to write and it has been nothing more to me than a sentimental antique that reminds me of family. Bill took on this project and soon began to give me reports on its progress – yes, progress. Apparently this was not going to be a simple job. I learned from Bill that it was from 1946 and Parker discontinued this particular model the next year in favor of something more modern. Today Bill presented me with the pen, repaired and ready to write. The pen itself is plain and unassuming. It has a black barrel with nickel plated cap and a very simple nib that has to be dipped in an ink well and filled. I am not sure what my grandfather paid for it, but I am sure it was a small yet necessary investment for a farmer. I am certain that with this pen he figured and refigured milk prices, the worth of cows, calves and other livestock, and made notes to himself. Unlike today where people give pens away, this was a pen that was kept and used for years, perhaps...
by Greg | Aug 19, 2010 | Blog Posts
One of the rewards of gardening is growing and eating your own food. There are few things that can compare with sitting down at the table and knowing that the peppers garnishing the peas and the slices of tomatoes alongside the bowl of spinach all were planted, nurtured and harvested out of the garden in the back yard. Of course my two little plots do not have much room for little else than tomatoes, peppers and a few varieties of herbs. Still, there are few things better tasting than a homegrown tomato. Can I get an amen?! I figured my tomatoes averaged about forty dollars apiece, which does not include my labor in planting, staking, tending, watering, fertilizing and chasing away pests like hornworms, squirrels and other varmints. I certainly did not garden to save money. A church member reminded me that it was still cheaper than paying a therapist, which I concede is a good point. I have had some nice surprises during this otherwise abysmal harvest season. Early in the summer I noticed a couple of vines growing volunteer (meaning I did not plant them but they came up compliments of last year’s compost). At first I thought the vines were cucumbers, but as the blooms gave way to fruit they looked gourds. Finally the shape was unmistakably that of cantaloupe. While my tomatoes ran forty dollars apiece, I have four cantaloupes for free. This is not quite a wash, but I will take it. By next spring I will get over my failures in “the back forty” and plant again. In fact soon I will replace...
by Greg | Aug 10, 2010 | Blog Posts
This past Monday was a “Last First” for us, well for our oldest son anyway. It was his last first day of school. Beginning with Kindergarten he has had for the last thirteen years a monumental first day of school and now that he is a senior he observed his last first day of school. I thought about this as both boys were eating cinnamon rolls that we bake, always on their first day of school. This will not be his last cinnamon roll of course, but it will be his “last first.” Once you become a parent the seasons mark by school take on a heightened significance. I remember holding his nervous little hand walking with him to his kindergarten class and thinking to myself, “this school is too big for my small son.” Now both of my sons seem too big for any school to contain their dreams and ambitions. The school bus no longer stops for them because they drive to school. It has been years since either one of them brought home a drawing to post on the refrigerator. I am no longer invited to eat lunch with them in the cafeteria. There have been many “last firsts” along the way; I just did not always know it or recognize it. This is the way of life. Things come and move and have their being and then are no more. Life cannot be frozen or halted. Children grow up; parents get old; employment changes; friends move and the seasons unfold. In fact growing involves shedding things along the way. Did you know that every five...
by Greg | Jul 27, 2010 | Blog Posts
…that sounds so mysterious, doesn’t it? Well, it is in fact mysterious. Recently I was listening to a podcast where a physicist was interviewed about his ideas of the “consciousness of contemplation” – or something like that!! He kept referring to “dark energy.” “What is dark energy?” I asked out loud to no one in particular, but I was hoping Amy might have an answer. Finally the physicist speaking from my radio answered my question. Dark energy is the most popular way to explain recent observations and experiments that the universe appears to be expanding at an accelerating rate. It is thought that it accounts for 74% of the total mass-energy of the universe. (Thank goodness for wikipedia for convenient statistics!) The very thought that there is energy out there – that cannot fully be explained, let alone defined – that accounts for most of the energy in the known universe is enough to make one’s neurons pop. A few hundred years ago it was thought that the earth was the center of the universe. Now we know that not only is the earth not the center of the universe, but it is not even the center of the solar system in this galaxy. Furthermore, our galaxy, according to some astronomers, is just one of hundreds of billions of galaxies. Our solar system is more like a suburb among the other galaxies, known and unknown. The very thought alone draws me into a sense of Biblical awe and reverence. Long before telescopes the Psalmist thought as much. In Psalm 8 David wrote (and no doubt sung) “When...
Recent Comments