LDKBox

Gosh,  it has been wet down here in Central Texas.  It is going on weeks since we had a full day of sunshine.  I do not state this because I am complaining.  It would be the complete opposite of that vector.  You see a few weeks ago I planted flowers in my little six square foot garden.  It has been a plan that took years to get accomplished.  Not that it was so hard.  Even though I did scoop every shovel full of dirt that went into the six foot garden… twice…. to place  it there.  Well,  it took a garden tractor, two wheeled wagon(which I assembled myself) , and my Dad’s surveyors kit that was setting in the garage at the house when the brothers distributed all the tools that my Dad had accumulated amongst ourselves.

Last year I raised pigmy corn, pigmy stringbeans, and some pretty big butter squash.  Don’t know why the beans and the corn turned pigmy  on me but the butter squash cooked pretty good in the oven,  I am reticent to say that it was the seeds in both the good and the bad crops.  I thought I had fertilized adequately.  I tended to weeds( my likely to the detriment of the vegetables).  I watered faithfully.(What does it mean when the leaves turn brown?)  I am from Iowa where it can go weeks without rain and the gardens still grow.  So I thought that if it was watered regularly with lots of sunshine things would grow by leaps and bounds.  Such was not my experience I am sad to say.  The corn row was a cute little site with its pygmy little stalk and it pigmy little tassel, and of course the pigmy little ear replete with silk at the upper part of the ear.  I never got a brace root.  Possible since I did hill up on a lay by either.(Old farmer talk that my peers might remember).  I heard my Father and uncles all say that in August and my friend, Raymond (Junger) Jungerson,  referred to it many a times during our pinochle games at the town pool hall.

That was one year of work.  Good thing I have no limit on budgeted time.  I tend to be over budget on everything else starting with the bank.  First Federal Home Mortgage & Hage(FFHmM&H) was not even eligible for the federal bail out offered by Obama because even Bernie Madoff told people not to invest in this fly by night outfit.  FFHmM&H is only slightly better shape than dba Knotty Pine Construction (aka K. Hage) a general contracting company and its small but ever growing subsidery,  Kbox Keepsakes.  If you added all the assets of the two companies one would figure that bankrupcy was in its future.

You know the saying that the a boy’s toys do not stop they only get more expensive.  As  a friend of mine once said to me about the tools in his shop, “I have enough tools to make a space ship to the moon with all left handed threads.  I would like to think that way for my shop tools as well.  I said I like to think about it I did not say it was true.  Thank goodness that the First Federal Bank of Ellen(FFBE) had a moment of clarity and helped finance the whole show for another season.  It has been ten years for FFHmM&H and FFBE working hand in hand.  First it started with organization.  FFBE is wonderful on computers and spreadsheets.  It is a good thing too.  Knotty Pine Construction would be dust in the wind with out the ongoing support  of FFBE finacially and providing reciept records to let me know the cost of the project.   It takes a good construction foreman, master mechanic, and surveyor to keep up with the one and a half yard total production for the entire plan.  Maintenance on the lawn tractor, yard vacuum, and two wheeled trailer would cripple a man more than me.  That is why I take it to a mechanic when trouble starts rearing its head.  I have a rare talent.  No matter how big and no matter how long I worked a machine I have always managed to break dpwn.  Never was much good at fixing.  One way to assure that nothing breaks down is to not work the iron.  This is illustrated by the hour meter on my five year old lawn tractor that has less than a hundred hours on it.  It is not even broke in yet.  It takes a good man to purchase something nice like that and not use it.

Yes, it is spring in Central Texas and the flowers are blooming.  Even the ones that I planted weeks ago.  I had a neighbor compliment me the way the flowers were growing in the flower box.  Thank goodness for the weeks of rainy weather because the truth be known if it hadn’t rained I think I would have managed to kill most if not all the flowers by now.  The saving of the flower garden from total mismanagement can be contributed to my complete dislike of work and rainy days in general.  Some people have worked harder than me but I don’t know any one that is harder on themselves then me.  I looked at that garden every over cast morning.  The days of rain kept me from messing with the flower bed.  Now after weeks of rainy weather I am happy to announce that despite my best efforts to completely kill my freshly planted spring flowers they are growing and the neighborhood friendship is too.  Because of the flower garden I met a new neighbor this week.  I sure love spring showers!!

Comments (0) Apr 24 2010

On Sunday morning I was returning from a bass fishing trip in Decautor, Texas with friends that my wife and I had made when we last had a cruise out of Galveston, Texas in July of last year.  I had a great time.  I  enjoyed the banter amoung the camping fisherman. The eternal campfire was tended with respect and joy as it provided light, warmth, and sustenance for all who gathered around its inviting smokey glow.  It cooked up beans, bacon, onions, and chicken to suffice us until the bountiful harvest of the lake produced fresh bass, perch, and catfish.  Although the camp provided no ameneties other than the lake, fish, and dead wood no one in our camp mustered up nary a complaint.  It was all about the fishing, eating, and friends both old an new.

I was the oldster of the crew.  One member was a cohort in the same trucking company as the the friend that invited me and the last man was an entrepreneur of the housing market.  All were married and all were in their thirties with families.  One had nine children.  (Boy did I take a deep breath when I heard that one!)  The common link between us all was the fact that we were there.  I did not even grab a pole the whole time at the camp.  Between keeping the coffee percolator going and tending to the fire by gathering wood I managed to do very little else while continuing to have a good time watching the antics of good friends on a fishing trip.  Each had an embarrassing story to tell about each other.  Always the last topping the former.  Guffaws often turned to tears because our sides hurt from laughter and our smile muscles were getting a work out as well.

Because it is a natural camping area with out any services provided each participant brought a truck load of items.  In fact I ordered items from Cabela’s last evening just because of the fishing weekend.  One can never have enough cast iron when working around a fire pit.  It will be nice to have my ordered items for the Cub Scout crossover ceremony scheduled for the 14th of May upcoming.

The events of the last weekend gave me hope for the future.  It has been said that everyone needs something to look forward to. Always have a plan for the future.  Our family had a plan for this years vacation and it started the next day after our last cruise.  Now the new trip is planned and paid for through family involvement and self sacrifice.  I purchased the items from Cabela’s with a plan for the future.   Kellen’s Cub Scout crossover ceremony will only be one of many in the years to come.  I plan on being at every campout with cast iron in tow.  I also purchased the items for the next time that I go on a guerilla fishing trip in Decautor, Texas with my cruise friend, his cohort and the entrepreneur.  I have something to look forward to outside of family but still in a warm and fun atmosphere.  I think I finally found some Texas friends.  I am truly a lucky fellow.

Comments (0) Apr 14 2010

I don’t seem  to be consistent with my blogs.  I received my blog count today and found that even if I don’t write there is someone out there that is thinking of me.  Thank you to all who took the time to stop by the blog.

I have been steadily getting better in my health and wellness of the total body these last months.  I went through a bevy of doctors and tests to come to this part of my life.  Being satisfied has not been one of my motivators in life.  It would seem that the most pronounced  change in my that was the hardest to come to terms with was the fact that it is alright to be satisfied.

It always seemed to me that the message I heard as a youngster from older folks was to work hard and make your mark.  These people were not monetarily rich  yet they seemed happy and content.  Living seemed to be the commonality of all the folks that I recognized as role models.  Living is something to cherish.  It is also something that needs support.  Part of the support needed for living is participation.  When one lacks incentive to participate one loses part of life in the process.  I do not like admitting to this but trying to find an incentive to find my deepest and darkest thoughts were lacking in fortitude and desire.  It is simply easier to do nothing.  Something is lost when one fails to participate.   To bad my latent lazy tendencies started to show when I needed them the least.  Never fear I do believe that I see them far in the background and they are fast approaching invisibility.  Not with out my best efforts to the contrary though.

Which brings to mind my flower garden in front of the house that I planted three weeks ago.  It is 36 square feet of hell that I did to myself.  I remember having to scoop the whole thing into a trailer from a neighbors pile of dirt.  It took several days but I managed to get the little space of hell filled with a foot of good Texas soil. ( IF there is such a thing as good Texas soil compared to Iowa soil.)  The first year we raised pygmy vegetables.  Looked pretty but the yield was minute.  This year I have forgone the possible epicurean rewards for a little bit of color and garden art.  I can’t paint but I do love the vibrant colors of flowers growing against the brilliant green of my lawn.  If the garden were to take a form  or shape it only accents the palate of which it has been set.

First,  I purchased the flowers on a Saturday morning at Lowe’s.  I returned home and placed them in the planter still in their plastic little container.  The placement gave me an idea of how it was going to look.  In my minds eye it was brilliant.  A sculpture in flower petals all the colors of the rainbow.  Then I went in the house and forgot about them.  The next morning we had a frost.  the flowers did not look to good.  They had dried out in the afternoon sun.  Then were beat down by the early  morning frost.  I planted them anyway.  What the heck…?!  I spent the money…??!!  They can’t grow if they are not planted.  They don’t grow well if they are dead either.  Which for all intents and purpose they were dying when I planted them.

After three weeks and one replant I am happy to say that despite my best efforts to kill these flowers off with to much water, tilling,   herbicide, and fertilizer they seem to be growing.  I had fresh flower buds growing from the base of almost every flower.  My flower garden happens to be a good metaphor of my own existence these last few years.  The frost and water happened to be my cancer.  The flowers are me.  The doctors are the tilling.  The chemo and radiation are the herbicide.  My faith, family and friends  are the the fertilizer.  Like the flowers despite my best efforts to foil my recovery I have managed to still be here and growing.  Thanks God for fertilizer.

Comments (0) Apr 05 2010