Stories and other stuff

Ugh.  I give up. It's garbage now.  It's so bad down there that I salvaged what I could, but I'm ready for all of it to be thrown away.  The clean-up crew and dumpster are on the way.  They'll be here at eight-thirty. I asked God on Sunday to give me the money to divorce.  I meant it.  I was at the end of my rope. God sent a flood. And more rope. The thing is this:  It's a disaster that's housing a blessing.  It's cleansing.  My basement is gonna be clean and I'm gonna get rid of stuff I don't need, don't want, and probably don't even miss. I'm praying for something else tonight. God, my friends, is so good!

I'm done for the night. Tomorrow I have more to do but for tonight, I'm finished. Tomorrow I'll need rubber gloves and bleach.  I have the bleach.  Some kill everything known to man stuff has been applied to the basement.  Once everything is cleaned out, Servicemaster will come back and clean the floors.  Everything, and I mean everything that was in contact with the floor in my basement has to come out.  By the time I'm done, the only thing left will be the ceiling and the studs. Honestly, the best thing the Servicemaster man could say is "Tear out everything.  Keep the sinks but that's it." That sounds like a bigger chore than it really is.  The only room in the basement that's done with drywall is the little bathroom.  The rest of it is wood paneling and only around the exterior of the basement.  Taking it out is going to be easy. I'm just going to need a big dumpster.  A really big dumpster.  Fortunately, the...

Hey, gang. Well, I survived the traffic from Ogden to Salt Lake and back and made it through another visit to my former place of employment.  I surely like seeing my Guard friends but I just feel so out of place there.  It's odd, but I can't shake the feeling each time I visit there that I just don't belong there anymore. Still, always nice to see my friends and I think I have a pretty decent fantasy football team this year. Anyway, if you're wondering what stuffed tomatoes has to do with anything, well, so am I.  The story goes like this: When I was trying to rebuild some trust in a relationship a couple of years ago, I found some internet accountability software and set it up so I had an accountability partner.  Sadly, things changed and the only persons I'm accountable to for my internet usage these days are myself and  God.  I get an e-mail once a week telling me about the questionable websites I visit and if there are none listed, then I didn't...

You learn a lot of things in the military.  One of the things I learned is that if most of your clothes are of the same color group, you can wash them all together.  When you're on a long TDY at a base with a couple hundred of your closest friends, laundry can be a chore.  I don't like laundry.  I'm not good at laundry, but I'm learning to do my own laundry, when it doesn't magically disappear.  I'm not good at it as I said, but I'm getting better. My day was a combination of blue and pink, mostly surrounded by a cloud of sadness.  I went to say goodbye to an old friend today.  It's always nice to see people I grew up around and I chit-chatted with them for a few minutes before leaving.  One gave me a great idea for a blog that's going to turn into a message I was asked to write for church.  I've been struggling with that but one of the guys I used to work and bowl with gave me a great idea.  Thanks, Chuck! When I got home, I cut the...

It's been a bad day at the ranch.  On top of everything else that's going on, I found out that my friend, old boss, and mentor, Glen Sutton, passed away.  The list of folks that had the most influence on my life is kind of short; Glen was one of those men. I have a lot of fond memories about Glen, but nothing was more profound than a conversation we had about being a supervisor one day.  It was a short conversation, but an important one that I never forgot and influences me to this day in many relationships.  As I think back on many memories of Glen, I can still hear those words as clearly as the day they were spoken. But that's not my best Glen moment.  The day he beat up the airplane will stay with me as one of the funniest things I'd ever seen. We often, as human beings, ascribe personality traits to mechanical things, like our cars.  Airplanes are no different.  They are made of the same components, same wires, same metals, but different airp...

How can so much be happening in my life and so little at the very same time?  It's an interesting little quandary.  Also, something to think about... why isn't the word spelled quandry like it sounds?  It's akin to spelling color "colour".  It means the same thing but really doesn't require the extra vowel. But I digress. Done!  Finito!  Finished!  Folks I'm all done!   eating a foot long chili dog for dinner. I've had enough!  Everyone gets to that point and I'm so there!   there were chili fires too. Seriously though, I think everyone gets to the break point and tonight I found mine.   did I mention it was a real deli-style foot long hotdog with the bun and everything? Anyway, a lot of stuff happens in my life I don't get.  But I saw this the other day and thought I'd share with you.   Click here  and you can read a story about a guy pushing a rock.  It's germane to the ongoing saga that is my little ...

When was the last time you bought clothes pins? The clerk at Winco Foods (shameless plug) was surprised her store even carried them.  Honestly, so was I.  I thought this was going to be a difficult item to find but the same folks that make stick matches also make wooden clothespins.  I didn't go completely old school, they're the metal spring kind.  I like Winco.  They're cheap.  They also had foot long hotdogs AND foot long hotdog buns.  And chili for 95 cents a can.  Guess what's fer supper around here one night next week? Why did I need the clothespins? Well, I've erected something in my backyard that looks like some sort of 1950's television antenna array.  It's a clothesline.  It was embedded in the garage.  I mean that.  Boards were nailed up to hide this thing in the studs.  I had to saw them to get the thing out.  Fortunately, I had just the power tool for the job.  I'm not on a survivalist kick by ...