The big boys

Grandson Aidan working with the big boys.

Classic shot

Do you guys remember the family archive with Greg and Jackie mixing mud for the retaining wall @ 738 Bennington. This is the identical shot but Uncle Greg is the tutor.

Blue Ridge wonderings

We toured Luray Cavern today. It was 160 ft. deep and had a whole lot of stalagmites and stalactites.

I ain't afraid of no stalagmites!

Someone figured out it took 7 million years to form. That's a lot of figuring. Go figure!

"....and it was evening and morning the first day ",
comes to mind when I hear these old earth theories.

Genesis 1 (New International Version 1984 (NIV1984))

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. ² Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

³ And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. ⁴ God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. ⁵ God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the first day.

⁶ And God said, “Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water.” ⁷ So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. ⁸ God called the expanse “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning —the second day.
⁹ And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰ God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

¹¹ Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds. ” And it was so. ¹² The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. ¹³ And there was evening, and there was morning —the third day.

¹⁴ And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark seasons and days and years, ¹⁵ and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. ¹⁶ God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. ¹⁷ God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, ¹⁸ to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. ¹⁹ And there was evening, and there was morning —the fourth day.
²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the expanse of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning —the fifth day.
²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: livestock, creatures that move along the ground, and wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

²⁷ So God created man in his own image,
    in the image of God he created him;
    male and female he created them.

²⁸ God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground. ”

²⁹ Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. ³⁰ And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. ” And it was so.

³¹ God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day.

Hickory Run

3.5 mile hike turned into 10 miles of rugged rocky path and this gravel road

"Shades of Death Trail" The trail name was a portent of things to come. Two out of four got hurt on the hike.

The limbs on this tree are so thick that it seems like a bad design that would have the branches breaking off after they got so big.  Trees are an endless variation on a theme.  This one has such a beautiful symmetry.

Worry and work

I was twenty one or twenty two and had changed careers.  I had quit being a carpenter's helper and gone to work for Dave Miller as a mason's helper.  Pretty quickly I mastered the helpers job to the point I could keep the bricklayers going and had time to get on the wall and lay bricks.  It wasn't long before my boss would leave me behind after the crew was done with the foundation and the brick veneer to build the chimney with a helper. 

This was a big deal to me.  I felt very honored by his trust and a little intimidated with the task he entrusted to me.  I was used to working with scaffold by that point and was comfortable with being up in the air.  Somehow I could not get confident that I was doing the job adequately to the point that the house would not burn down when the fireplace was used.  I don't know why there was all this uncertainty in me but I would build chimneys in my sleep and it seemed like a special way to worry about things. 

I was always a worrier.  I was very motivated to the task of bricklaying though.  With only a high school education I was making $6 an hour when most men in blue collar jobs were making $5 an hour.  I needed the money and was glad to have the job.   

Greg would have been two and Jen was born or about to be born.  Life was good.  I had not met God yet and was blissfully pursuing my own dreams.  Most of them were good dreams but laying bricks in my sleep was tiring.  I always felt better actually doing the brick laying than dreaming of doing it. 

I thought about this today working with Greg and Peter.  They were worrying the scaffolding and I was enjoying the moment.  I don't know why I never worried about the scaffolding.  I just seemed to see what would work for some reason.

Living in Babylon

This was my birthday story for my grandson, Marshall (on his 4th birthday) and for all my children and grandchildren who were present...that they would worship the one true God.

Joe's Answer

He sat mussing as his managers bustled around the plushly appointed reception area escorting the last of the previous party out the exit even as the next party was being shown in at the opposite end of the long hall.  His job as head negotiator for his boss’s food empire was really not a demanding job.  The ostentatious tall marble ceilings and magnificently appointed stuffed furniture in this room had been carefully designed to humble its guests and soften them for the kill as he liked to think of it.  Already he had made hundreds of billions of dollars for his boss’s enterprise.  His own position was secure and as the number two men in the corporation he enjoyed every comfort and benefit a man could imagine.  Life was good.

He was not really troubled but still he wondered what possible meaning there could be to his dream last night.  How could he not know the meaning?  Long ago he had stopped thinking about his family.  The memory of them was just too painful but now he wondered what he would do if he were to ever see them again.  He stirred from his day dream as the next group was being ushered into his presence.  He prepared himself mentally for the long negotiations that would take up the rest of his morning.  He loved it really and this was perhaps the best part of his day.  A small group of ten men were being introduced to him.  This would be an easy negotiation no doubt.

As the men one by one began to make their appeal to him he felt an uneasy apprehension.  Not only were they speaking his native tongue but there was something familiar about them.  Then it dropped on him like a sledge hammer.  They were older and had facial hair now but their mannerisms were unmistakable.  These men were his brothers.  It was all he could do to keep from fainting.  He feigned disinterest and rose to excuse himself with a wave of his hand as he quickly exited the hall. 

Now in his chambers he vented the tears that came in uncontrollable waves.  Now he saw everything that he could not see for all those years.  Now he understood the meaning of the dream that had gotten him in trouble so many years ago.  Now he understood why God had caused him such sadness and misery.  Now the renowned interpreter of dreams could see the meaning of his own dream.  All his misery had come right from the hand of God.  His brother’s mistreatment, painful as it was, had come at the direction of his God and master.  His heart welled up with love for his brothers even as he prepared to go back to the reception area to resume negotiations.  “God help me but I do enjoy these negotiations,” he thought to himself as he entered the room and now Joseph had the answer that has eluded him all these years.  “These knuckle heads meant to do me evil but God meant it for our good.  I should have known” he thought to himself as he mentally prepared for negotiations and chuckled at the thought of how much fun this was going to be.