In Between

The holidays are all in the rearview mirror now, and a new year....even a new decade is at hand. Somewhere in between Mad Cow Disease and my home value falling 50%, our family underwent a major metamorphosis in the last ten years. Despite the disasterous overall events for the world at large, we were blessed. In January of 2000 this was our family's world:

1.) We lived in a 110 year old house in Georgia.

2.) The combined value of our two cars was less than my dog is worth today.

3.) Christy was 19, living at home,and I was unlocking her car door about once a month.

4.) Ryan was 9 and Nick was 8. I was coaching them in Dixie League football and baseball.

5.) We did not have King Bowden, but we did have Tobias Blue...he didn't care for visitors either.


6.) My Mom, my Dad and Tilena's Dad were all still alive...we didn't see a cloud on that horizon...

7.) I knew absolutely zero about tropical plants.

8.) None of us had ever heard of Emma Grace or Parker Clayton.

9.) The size of my police department? They averaged about 380 lbs. each...

10.) I had been to Clewiston only once in my life, Tilena had never heard of it.

I didn't realize just how much things had changed until I actually began thinking about this. God has taught me an awful lot personally since then. My temper has almost completely disappeared, and my judgement is lessening. Tolerance of others has certainly improved...except for when I'm in traffic (he ain't finished with me yet), but then, there was an awful lot of room for improvement in most areas of my life. Hopefully the next ten years I will learn even more. As far as change...who knows what will be? If you had told me ten years ago that today we would be living in a place where the grass never quits growing. Or how much I would love a grandchild. Or that I could love another dog as much as Toby...I just wouldn't have believed it.

Tilena has changed very little in ten years. But then she didn't need to. Well.....maybe if she wasn't quite so lippy... Otherwise, she is still as gorgeous as ever. She's as wise as ever. She taught me a lot about life and myself.

Christy went from being a child, to being married and having two children of her own.

Ryan and Nick went from being very small children...to being very big....children.

Ole Toby....if there's a dog in heaven, it's him. He suffered a Libby every where he ever went...that's a story unto itself and maybe I'll tell it on another day.

As for the rest of the world, it was a painful and crushing decade. Disaster upon disaster at every turn. My heart hurts for the people I see on TV and read about in the papers. As bad as the natural disasters were, they paled in comparison to manmade ones. Lies have been told and retold....we've allowed ourselves to be governed according to some of the largest lies in history. We've all suffered from them. The worst of it all is that the most vulnerable are the greatest believers in the lies. People like me who never believed a word of it will survive....maybe even thrive. But those who had so much to lose....and wanted so bad to believe such incredulous, fantastic tales, will be saddled with crushing lifelong debt. So sad...so very, very sad. How can we not understand the most basic principle of economics..."It profits the wage earner nothing, to destroy the wage payer, but it will cost both their livlihood"...OK, enough of politics...that temper thing does not appear to be completely cured...

So, my thinking is that we must surely have a better decade ahead than the one behind. Ten years from now I plan on being 3-4 years into retirement. But you know what God thinks of us making plans in advance...In the words of Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes o' mice and men, Gang aft agley"...bet some of you didn't know Steinbeck took those words from an old Robert Burns poem did you?

As for the next decade, 'twill be the teens...pray for us all, it's a difficult age.

Don & Co.

Thanksgiving

Well, it's coming around again. Thanksgiving and all the Holidays that trail behind. I'm not complaining mind you, I really enjoy the next couple of months. They just seem to come around more often these days.

Hopefully Emma Grace and Parker will be coming to see me for the Turkey Day weekend. Christy says Parker is beginning to look like the Michelin Man with his fat little self. I sure miss them. Emma Grace was all decked out for Tricks and Treats. Did I say I miss them? I've posted a couple photos of them. One of Parker and Christy and the other is Gracie and Carlton. Christy sure takes a good photo doesn't she?

These guys are just four of the many things I give thanks for regularly. I am THE most blessed man on earth for sure.

Well troops....I just haven't felt particularly inspired to write for some time. Sorry about the absence...The feeling just ain't there you know? I tell you what though. You guys send me some ideas or opinions of a few things, and maybe I'll find some creation or controversy in some of it. After all, I do want to put out things you're interested in.

Take care all and send an idea or two my way.

D & C

Late Afternoons

Brian would have enjoyed seeing these things. All of God's creatures, scenery, and plants were a neverending sense of wonder to him.

I went to see Brian one last time last week. I was not ready to say

goodbye to him...but God sets those

dates and has no obligation to check

with any of us. Many times He told us how unexpected the time would

be upon us. Still we wait and delay. I pondered His Word on the subject long since Tilena and I returned from the trip. The afternoon following our ride home, I was wandering around about the place as the remains of the day drifted away. Any number of thoughts crossed my mind when I thought to pick up the camera and see what God showed me. In the first shot there on the left, my focus was drawn to the basketball sitting in the back of the photo forgotten where it was long ago tossed across the fence and left for me to mow around. It has been months now since I've heard the old familiar and comforting thump thump thump of the ball on the driveway. Nick's attention is being drawn to other matters these days. He grows from boy to man and the familiar fades. It's tough to keep up with things. Ryan has long since given up those ways so comforting to a Dad.

The next shot is Pepper....what was on his mind is uncomprehendable. But I think he was hoping I would try to take that bone from him and chase him about the yard. Play is still at the top of his "to do" list. He has no concerns of the future, but it will change him too...just as it has Bowden, Christy, Ryan and Nick.

The third click I took that day is an old Blue Fisherman. There is no play in his day. He has fished the canal since sun up and will stand in concentration until a soundless call draws him back to his nightly sanctuary in the Everglades. For him it's a matter of survival, not choice. That design has been successful for eons. Just like the Heron, we will all have a soundless and unexpected call....it will be time to go.

All of the photos spoke to me of God's timetable. Independent of our wants or imagined needs...just according to his plan. We must be prepared. That was the message God sent through Brian....."Enjoy it all, love the gifts of God's Hand...glory in it, wonder in it...breathe in, breathe out, move on....but prepare your soul." Brian was a deep thinker, but I don't think I ever really knew all that was on his mind. I don't think anyone did actually. He did look below the surface of things...that was evident. It came out in any discussion with him and more so in his art. His drawings seem to breathe on their own.

I know this....He was loved. His parents are crushed, but can never fault their effort. They loved Brian as God loved us all... It was just time. Twenty-eight years, eleven months and twenty days...who knew that was God's time? The silent call came. What does God's calendar have for you?

I don't know if Brian was prepared...I can't imagine such a deep thinker not being. It's impossible to ponder God's creation as closely as Brian did and not KNOW. I hope he was. I hope to see him again. But to make any guess would be to judge. That, my friends, is God's obligation alone.

My nephew, I'll miss him.

This n That

So we've come to this, have we? Two kids in college.....neither with the sense to wipe his butt or blow his nose. How did it come to this? Nigh on twenty years I've been raising these two boys, and I don't have much so much as a scorched skunk for my trouble. I do have stained carpet, busted drywall, and a car insurance bill Donald Trump couldn't pay.

The genetics are there...or so Tilena says anyway. Sometimes I just don't belive there is any evidence at all that my genes have been passed on in these boys. By the time I was 18 I was able to figure board feet in my head (the computation of area in any given section of lumber). These two clowns can't get from the bathroom to their bedroom without losing their underwear and socks. Nor can they figure out how to get urine from their bodies into a round hole without bouncing it off the wall and floor. WHEN I WAS EIGHTEEN, I had already left home, worked at a full time job and was a full time student. If I peed on the floor, I had to clean it up myself....but I digress.

My honest intent here was to update you all on us since I had been otherwise occupied for the last five months. Unfortunately, I've been busy with Bevis and Butt-Head since Friday Afternoon and that was fresh on my mind. There is much to report though, so here goes.

1.) We have a new family member in the home. My mother in law "Penny" has moved in and become one of us. She is actually away at the present having gone for a brief visit with other family. We expect her back any day now. She is a joy to have around, and I miss her greatly.

2.) Speaking of Beavis and Butt-Head, both of them are college students now. I do give them both grief, but must confess... they both work and go to school, and neither one has their portrait hanging in the post office....though the day is still young. I enjoy harranging them, but they are great kids who really try. Both still worship and attend Dad's Sunday School Class. That is a treasure to me. They're well mannered respectful gentlemen who always make their parents proud....poor with their aim, but honorable with intent.

3.) My dear Emma Grace is still my very heart. Pappy doesn't get to see her much, but I will be getting up there very soon now that I have only one job. Mr. Parker is prospering and making a regular jolly old elf. I regret not being able to watch them grow. Christy is good about calling, but it's just not like being there. Thinking of Christy always gives me hope. You know she was crazy as a sprayed roach for a couple of years too...But she sure made good citizen once she "got right".

4.) Eric and Mark e-mailed me this week. They're out in LA now working with Heather's husband. Hard to believe both those boys have earned degrees and hit the work scene. I have no idea what they studied "other that girls". But in this day and age, having boys who like girls is an accomplishment itself.

5.) Kim also sent me a note. She and Jason are thinking of leaving Colorado and moving to the West Palm area. That would be a treat for us. It's tough having family on the opposite side of the continent. Hopefully, they will find a nice place here near us.

6.) I haven't talked to my old friend Simon in some time. However, I do think Les may be thinking of going with T-Bug to see Christy. I'm not certain of that, but Tilena did mention asking her to ride along. Del will be going up with them. I always rest better when Del goes with Tilena...though too trusting of people sometimes, Del is tough enough to hold her own (and Tilena's share) if it comes to a showdown....she is always willing to "fist" someone. I do believe Del could kick your butt hard enough to make you wear it for a hat.

7.) My Sister and a couple of her sons were down to visit a couple weekends back. Guess what? Brian, her eldest, has taken up gardening. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing my plants and ideas with him. He and Timothy were both loads of fun. We hadn't been together in many years. Hopefully, I'll get to see her third son Darren soon. Actually the weekend prior, we had made a fast weekend trip up to Ocala to have an impromptu family reunion. All my Dad's surviving family members came down from Virginia, so we went up to meet them. Angie & Paul and Susan & Gary came along...and even Sara was there. Great weekend!

Well troops, that's enough for now. We're about to head off to Church. It's dinner on the grounds night. Wouldn't want to be late for that now would we? I need to go to church...the more I keep thinking about that whole "genes" thing...the madder I get. I think I'll go in there and whack my wife up side the head.................maybe not...she is the kind to make me a big bowl of grits.

Don and Company

Time in a Bottle

The Immortal Jim Croce once penned the words "There never seems to be enough time to do the things you wanna do, once you find them, and I've looked around enough to know that you're the one I wanna go through time with..." The song was entitled "Time in a Bottle", and it fits more every day.

When I was a wild teen the song meant nothing more to me than a chance to "dance a slow one" with a girl. Today with the sand in my hourglass slipping away, at least I have garnered real appreciation of ole Jim's lyrics. I have gotten to the stage in life that I really do know what I want to do and accomplish "in this life"...but there never seems to be enough time to do the things I wanna do....well, you know the rest.

But aside all the time restraints and busy life....I did get to look around enough to know "The one I wanna go through time with". That is enough for me. Should this very sentence be my last act upon God's Earth....it was enough to spend it with her. God's gift to Man is the woman he goes through time with. As I post these thoughts, mine is at Church helping out with Vacation Bible School. Her boss has been kind enough to allow her to leave work early enough every day this week in order to make it to VBS on time. You can't buy that kind of loyalty from an employer. Let alone one that understands the value of the Gospel to our children. I myself, am very thankful for his heart, and we're both fortunate to work for organizations that honor and bear a commitment our Lord. She will be home any minute and Nick will be in here soon, hungry, and you can bet there will be something ready for him to eat.

T-Bug and I have seen a lot of days slip through our hourglass. There are fewer today than there were. Some we enjoyed and some we tolerated. Some days we thrived...some we just cried..but as with all Christians , our best days are yet to come. I just couldn't imagine having spent them with anyone else.

I'm afraid I'm spending too much time these days with work and too little with the ones who will be there when work is all over. I've heard it said, " No one leaves this world wishing they had spent more time at work". By August, I hope to be back to normal with my work. Then I'll go back to examining every grain of sand as it slides on through the glass. Hopefully, I'll take a bit of that time to reflect upon it all here with my friends. I'm sorry I've been so neglectful. Looking back at the number of posts I've had, it's easy to see when I picked up the extra duties in April. I will get back here if God allows me to tarry. If not, you can complain to me about it when you find me in Glory.

Until then...love the one you go through time with even if you can't find the time to "do the things you wanna do". God wants it that way.

Seven years and a payoff

It doesn't look real does it? The Hand of God can be surreal in perfection sometimes. In the Summer of 2001, I had finally managed to get another of these plants to bloom. I had picked up a mature specimin at a yard sale, and managed to provoke it to bloom in three years. Conditions (sunlight, food, water and age) all have to be perfect for that to happen. The following winter, our house in Georgia burned, along with the ric-rac (or zipper) plant like this one which was sitting next to the garage. Most of my patio plants are descendants of plants from Georgia...that one just happened to perish. The plant is actually a member of the cactus family and has some wicked thorns embedded at the base of each "zipper". I've born hundreds of nasty punctures working with it over the years. Anyhoo, the next spring we moved down here and I was at a nursery in Winter Haven with Pee Paw (Tilena's Dad). We saw one of these in a small planter behind the cash register and I tried to buy it. Unfortunately, the owner said it was a personal item and not for sale....they're relatively rare. When we got back to his house, he handed me a 2 inch piece of the plant he said the owner's wife slipped to him while we were checking out.....don't know that I ever believed that story, but anyway, I brought that small piece home and got it rooted. I think of that old man every time I see this plant. This photo represents seven years work and a single payoff. Blooms on these plants are even more rare than the plant itself. It's about 4 inches across and it really looks artificial. This photo was taken with a flash right after dark when they usually initially open...its still not fully unfurled. The stamen on it sticks straight out about an inch from the petal base.

Long years of labor and a payout....not an uncommon theme. Nick will graduate high school in a couple of weeks. I bent over to change his diaper and when I looked up, he was 18 years old. He's the last calf out of the stall. The rodeo is over. I don't feel old enough to have three grown children. Then I look in the mirror, and I'm not sure who that guy looking back is. He does look old enough for three grown children....sigh, It's time for the payoff. T-Bug and I have talked on and off over the years about what the payoff may eventually be. We found with Christy that it can be a big payday. Given the least guidance of the three, she paid off big. We actually had the least invested in her because we had no idea how to raise her; we were learning on the fly. We all three just kind of grew up together. Ryan is finishing up his first year of college and the jury remains out on that charge. I'm not sure my parents would have professed great blossoms of their cactus plants. The five of us yeilded a sundry of results all across the spectrum ranging from poor to average...none of us produced particularly spectacular results. Joelene, probably the best chance at spectacular bloom, was killed at age 17.

With these two boys now, the hay is in the barn. Studies taught, lessons learned, what is done, is done. Only God knows what their future holds. Mom and Dad's knowledge have been imparted. Time will tell. We pray constantly over them, but the time for influrence has gone. It is time to let go. I can only lead now by way of model rather than word. Their eyes work much better than their ears at this age. Will we have another blossom, or a couple of thorns? We've had a lot of nasty punctures over the years....maybe we'll get another bloom or two for a payoff. There is great comfort in the promises of our Lord, and T-Bug's favorite verse. "Train up a child in the way he should go; when he is old he will not depart from it". Proverbs 22:6.

One proven, two to go.

PeepsDay

Couple of interesting shots from the weekend. First look at the shot of the Walking Iris Bloom. I'm convinced the most perfect of all God's flowers. Three pure white petals signifying the perfection and purity of the Trinity. Then inbetween each white petal is a corresponding petal of royal purple rising up and curling back over itself as if preparing to cloak the shoulders of the whole blossom. This one opened with the early morning sun of Easter Sunday.

The other shot is the end result of four straight days of dawn to dusk kitchen duty. The undisputed queen of hospitality and sausage biscuit birthday cakes.....this was taken about 5 pm on Sunday Afternoon. I DO so love that girl.

Well Peep, Easter came again. You were thought of often Sunday. It was your favorite holiday of the year and I always remember the fun we had at your house every year. We do our best to continue in the tradition of fun, food and mostly a reverence for the awareness of our Risen Lord. The kids....as when we came to your house were the focal point of the day....but like you.....the big kids had their fun too.

I guess my greatest treat was watching my Gracie daintly pick through the shrubbery for eggs....nothing like the "Helter-Skelter manner of he mother. You know Christy has never been shy about anything. You should have seen her go after the "money eggs" There's nothing she wont pick up through or look under. Watching her with Parker is just such a joy. He's a colicky child and certainly a challenge sometimes...but she is so patient through it all. He does pay off in his good moments. I was fortunate to enjoy some of those. I even enjoyed my turn with him through the colic jags....a good reminder of the year plus we endured that with Stinky Ninky.

My sister Angie came up with husband Paul and daughter Sarah. They are still relatively new to the "discovery techniques" necessary to successful camoflage egg hunting, and therefore didn't fare quite aw well as the others who have 20 plus years of experience...but we did make sure as you always did that "everyone scored".

You would be glad to know Mimi and Penny both came down with Cheryl. Neither Cheryl or Penny get around too well just now....both have a bad wheel. Mimi seems to have fully recovered and looked good. Kristine "a friend of mine and Tilena's" joined in and completed the fun.

Well, Peep....I'm gonna go hit the bed. It's 10:00 and I've had a long long day preparing for Commission Workshop tomorrow. It will be my first one and I'm not really confident on how it will all work out.....but it will work with the Grace of our God.

Hope you enjoy the photos Peep. We all miss you so much. It will just never be the same.

Don and Company