Last evening I watched the sunset with regret. Body tired and aching I mounted my faithful Ultra Classic and rode the highway home from Volga. Tomorrow I would begin the process of building the stairway leading to the new basement from the kitchen, utility and bathroom area of the addition. My most challenging task to date. If I could have gotten just a few more hours of daylight I might have been closer to my goal of being able to walk down a flight of stairs instead of climbing down a ladder into what has now gained the nickname of the "pit."
The "pit" is ten feet deep, five feet wide and runs under the southern wall of our victorian home and down a fifteen foot hall to the new basement. Out here on the Great American Desert we are never quite certain what the storm clouds may bring us so I decided when we were pouring the concrete and laying block that the new home would have adequate protection for residents. Steel plate 1\2" thick caps the end of the stairwell, and the whole of the construction is geared to providing a comfortable area to sit out even the worst of storms(excluding another cataclysmic flood, of course)on the prairie. Each of the ten steps is 7 1\4" high and 11 1\2" deep by 5' wide. I know that sounds like a really wide stairway, but if we ever have need of being down there for a protracted period of time there should be plenty of room even if all of the bedrooms are in use. I tell folks jokingly that I wanted the stairway and hall wide enough to get the big HD under the house for wrenching in the winter. It also had to be built big enough to allow the passage of my theater organ, a vintage 1953, and accompanying speakers. I look forward in the next few weeks of setting up that organ and playing hymns to the house. I'm certain that there will be some blues and jazz not far behind as time allows. God has truly blessed Cheryl and I with a home we pray will be a blessing to others. A call came in on my cell phone just as I was preparing to leave to pick up more lumber 7 miles away. The call was from the lead guitar player(I have not had much opportunity to get together with anyone lately). He was in town getting lights repaired on the band trailer and wanted to know if there was anything he could do to help. I may not have gotten back to work today if it were not for his offer and the timely delivery of the needed supplies. When my number was dialed Gordon was only a few blocks from the lumber yard with the perfect means for conveying my 2 X 12s on his way home. There is a promise in the Bible which states that God is busy about the task of filling our every need before we are even aware of the need. Quite often I have been a recipient of this blessing and today was one more for the long list of unanticipated answers to prayers before they were uttered. Tonight I give thanks for all of my friends, and especially for my helpmate, Cheryl, who keeps a positive spin going on everything. In Christ's Love, Preacher.
