No Rides For Awhile!

A dismal day has dawned for those of us living in the Great American Desert. I took this picture through the screen on the patio. It did not improve the looks of our outdoors. The ducks aren't very happy and Snickers has the opinion that he would rather do his "business" in the bathroom. Maybe I should build him a little potty bippy of his own to see if he could manage it. This weekend we have the annual spring swapmeet in Sioux Falls, SD. I doubt that anyone will be riding their scooters. I had looked forward to attending but the weather is proving to be less than cooperative.
Looking on the bright side, though, I do have two new Vista builds up and running. One with 3gb of ram, the other with half that. I waited for Vista sp1 to come out before building the wee beasts. It seems everyone has had major problems with the operating system. Thusfar I have only experienced one lockup and that was after it had been left running for two days with no attention. I suppose I'll keep the three XP Home builds for backup. After a few years of use even the largest of hard drives is stuffed with stuff. Then there is the Win '98 sitting in my wife's office that we will have to decide what to do with before the big move. Can you tell I've been staying in to avoid the weather? There is also an UBUNTU build on the drawing board that I am really looking forward to having in my future office. I've had it all together and running for a few hours, but that was just a test. Now I'll do the real thing with a larger hard drive and more stuff. When I think about this it puts me in mind of how pleased I am that my Creator doesn't do that with us. Yes, I know He did at one point, but there was a remnant spared! It seems that there are a lot of folks in the ecumenical community subscribing to "end time" theology. They scare a lot of the ordinary church goers, and they scare me, too! My Bible tells me that no body knows the time of our next "tear down." There is a calendar pointed to by some that say 2012 is the final year. Personally I think they ran out of space to carve in the stone any more dates. Every medium has it's limitations. In God's time all will work out as it is intended. You and I are to be faithful, patient, and kind to one another in the meantime. As for today, I will probably have to go out at some point and wage war with the snow. That is truly a losing battle. Maybe, on the other hand, I will just wait it out and let the heat of the sun disperse the snow. It has been known to happen, even here this time of the year.
God bless, Preacher.

Happy Easter 2008!

My wife has a "new" thing happening in her experience of life. They are called "ducks" and they not only live in the backyard but are now moving into the house we presently occupy. The first one(big mallard)came to us from a farm where he could no longer get along and play nice with the other ducks. Personally I find him amusing, but he has some really bad habits. This past spring and summer he followed Cheryl around the yard just like a pet duck(really quacked me up-pardon the pun)does. Then there came the white duck with the broken leg which we could not heal properly so she just gimps around and enjoys the water a lot because once immersed she is not handicapped. Then there came the whole ancient house project which may or may not ever truly end, but that is part of our life. Now, in this old bed and breakfast someone 80 or 90 years ago hand painted a duck on the bathroom door. He's a little on the cartoonish side, but Cheryl took a liking to it and insists that it will be preserved. Now we have a pattern forming. A passion, if one can call it that for the duckish things that continue to come our way. So the piano bench has now seated her three little duckie friends who are headed for a home in the original bathroom of the bed and breakfast. Needless to say the ducks will probably drive me crazy but I didn't have that far to go. Anyway as we close the night on a theme that is just "ducky" I wanted to share how much we enjoyed worship this morning. Easter is always special in many ways. The best part of the morning was just sitting back and actually worshiping without having to play, preach, or perform. Thank you Lord. God is like that! He always seems to know what we truly need, even if it is not exactly what we wanted. Praise God for a beautiful day, an opportunity to share great food with family and friends, and the reminder that I am forgiven as a Child Of God and therein we find ourselves being really lucky ducks!
In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Ideas, Thoughts, Assumptions!

I ran across a blog of interest that has to do with "collages" and their true beauty as experienced through the eyes and hence, minds, of others out here on the net. Fascinating stuff to say the least. So I put together the photo you see up above. A natural collage of objects in my kitchen(well, one was on the entertainment center, and the vase filled with flowers was brought to me by my loving wife in honor of St. Patrick's Day)so one might say it was a collage of "stuff" prepared on a whim and without the aid of the camera that does good photography(this was from the phone 'cause the other was not anywhere to be seen). God has a wonderful way of bringing things together when we least expect them. One of my favorite stories concerns my own road, which has not always been easy, but it has more often than not, been fun to travel. Even in the midst of riding the Ultra Classic back into the garage to get her out of the snow this morning I was grinning. Who would think I'd be riding my Harley through the snow, again! I was amazed that the engine started up and ran. Life has a way of doing that with each of us, the blessings intermixed with the not so blessed feeling times. For those of us attempting to live this life in faith, of faith, and through faith there is a wonderful bottom line. Maybe it lets us off the hook, but I think not. We have to be and must be responsible for all that we do and share with others. Be it for better or worse we are ultimately responsible for the impression we leave on other's lives. Sort of like the collages that impacted my perceptions this evening, each of us provides a different slant on how life is viewed through the eyes of people we come in contact with every day. I love Lloyd the ancient greeter at our local Walmart! He always has a smile for me and his life experience has been shared a number of times. I would not want it to be any other way, for in him I see both the past and the future. And it has all been good, and will continue to be as long as we place our faith in the One who has given His all for us. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Are We What We Are?

If one has a creative bent, do we create because of "Who we are," or do who we are dictate what we do with our creativity? I don't know, but I have the question in my mind and I do wander(wonder)through the possibilities. In music we create, quite often, on the fly. What happens is what is on the recording and to recreate it could be impossible. In recent years I have met Rod, blind since 'Nam, who plays the guitar in extraordinary ways. What he sees and hears falls far beneath my threshold and yet he creates images musically which are indescribable. Where do we take this? It is similar to a painting which JoAnne might say, "I don't know where it is going, but it is where I want to 'be' today!" For all intents and purposes that is modern jazz. I don't really play it, but I can appreciate the form and content for what they say to me as I listen. Maybe that is part of life that each of us must get close to. We can realize our inner selves! Perhaps it is not immediate or as personal as we might like. But truly possible if sought in sincerity with our heart and mind focused on the end result. For those of us dwelling within the context of the Christian Faith it has to do with being willing to subject ourselves to the "Mind of Christ" attitude and therein becoming that person we would have ourselves be. Too deep and too long these thoughts run this evening. I pray that your days provide you with space to postulate and enjoy the life we have been given. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

One Of Those Nights

There are times when life just cannot get any better. Tonight is one of those. With the house settling down to slumber I bid goodbye to eldest daughter and set youngest grand to sleep with her favorite companion Snickers. Cheryl has headed her head for the shed and I will do likewise soon. Thank you Lord! In Christ's Love, Preacher.

Geese Are Winging North!

Indeed, the geese are winging their way north out here on the Great American Desert! We are moving forward with construction although it does seem as though the slope is more than a little steep at times. Deadlines were set the past two weeks for the crew doing the exterior finishing work. Needless to say they have let us down, again. I'm learning and relearning the patience lesson that it seems is so difficult for me to ingrain. I continue in prayer for patience as the days grow warmer. That is a wonderful blessing we are enjoying day by day. There are predictions of more snow for the first of the week. At the present time I can only say, "I would like for it to miss us by a lot!" The ground surrounding the project site is all loose fill and clumps of earth that become impossible to deal with when wet. I know, one day the grass will grow, the gravel will be firmly packed in parking areas and I'll be able to see solidity evidenced on the turf. Until that time we will slog around in the mud and have the very ground beneath our feet attempting to suck our shoes off! One would not think there would be so many details. The further we have gotten down this road the more bumps we have encountered. It's quite a bit easier on two wheels when all one must battle are the wind, the road, weather and fatigue. That is a piece of cake compared to this. Five thousand miles in ten days, no problem! Rain for three days in a row while trying to put miles behind us? No problem! But these inches and feet of progress that seem to be going as slowly as "molasses" in January. Lord help me, I'm trying. Now all I need do is find mental, physical, and emotional energy to make it the rest of the way up this hill. When that time comes I'll have the vehicles shining on the driveway, my hammock swinging in the sunshine and a cold glass of lemonade awaiting me on the porch. The grand piano will be in her new setting, the organ will be firmly ensconced where the speakers can pound out hymns that I love, and the digital recording studio will be up and running. Now, about that new Windows Vista. I do believe I'll be able to traverse all of these roads before MS gets the new operating system up and running. Well, to be fair, I haven't installed it yet on the build that is hanging fire in the shop. I was waiting for the SP1 for Vista to become available. Well, this is the time, and I have yet to hear one encouraging word(I live where there is never supposed to be a discouraging word)from the computing community. Oh, well, I have a clean copy of UBUNTU just to the right of centerstage. In Christ's Love, Preacher.

The Season Opener!

What an absolutely glorious day on the Great American Desert. Praise the Lord! This was a good one. I was off to the project to meet with our plumber before noon. About two hours later I was returning home and ready to scoot! I had properly prepared for the day by starting the battery charger on Monday, turning the engine over on Tuesday, and checking levels and pressures on Wednesday. The ultra was a tad bit reluctant following the winter's slumber, but finally agreed to rise to the occasion and enjoy the sunshine. Cheryl was not quite in the spirit so I gave her a towel to clean the seat and the rest is now history. The cockles of my heart were glowing bright as I snapped a few pictures before our departure on the first adventure of the season. All the way to Aurora, SD to my sister-in-laws home. I proceeded to get her washer and drier up and running in addition to giving a few unrequested suggestions on how to rid her lawn of the enormous amount of dog doo left by the previous denizens of her ancestral home. Life could not have felt a whole lot better than rolling towards home after doing our good deed for the day. My honey on the back and the wind in my face relieved a lot of built up stress acquired during the long, dark days of winter. Our eldest daughter shared dinner with us this evening and between the two of them they managed to amuse me for several hours discussing stuff that has to do with life. I give thanks to God for days like this and pray that there are many more in the not too far distant future. In Christ's Love, Preacher.