steps

I started a new project this week. We are replacing the carpet in our hall and my office. That also includes an area in our bedroom by the master bath. 

Our master bath is sunken from the bedroom. There are 3 steps down.

I purchased oak flooring for the floor but did not want to have 2 inch strips of flooring on the stairs.

I went to the local lumber yard and bought oak boards. Then I cut and routed them to fit where I wanted them to go. It was a very slow process of measuring 3 times before cutting once. Tolerances may be about 1/4 inch in a rental house but they are about zero in my house.

I put 3 coats of polyurethane on the boards and then installed them. 

After the steps were in I could begin to lay down the floor in the bedroom entrance. 

Once the bedroom part was finished, it was time to move on to the hall. But to lay the hall floor straight through the doorway and into the office meant my desk needed to be taken apart and moved.

And not just the desk but all the bookshelves as well. I have half of the office emptied into other rooms of the house. The other half I am hoping I can move inside the office once half of the floor is in. Just do it in steps, so to speak.

On Wednesday I was able to get a bit of a start. At least the first rows are in and now I can speed up across the hall and the office. Thursday morning we left on a get away to North East Iowa with our sons.

Joshua our oldest is married to Casey. They are on the right. In the middle is Micah with Lindsey his girlfriend. On the left is Matthew with Meagan. Matthew and Meagan are getting Married March 30 next year.

We rented a house to stay in.

Maybe for the first time I could say my boys are grown up.

They might have thought they were grown up for years now, but that doesn't mean their dad has always seen it that way.

I have seen them take a lot of steps in their lives, but now I realize that they are all moving on and in relationships that are, to them perhaps more important than the relationship with their parents.

That is a good thing. They are adults. Forming their own families. They are taking steps and maturing in ways that I can be proud of.

They are adding people to our family.

Micah and I went for a walk along the top of that cliff for a bit.

Then we went down the stairs to the valley below. If we had gone the other way I would have a great picture of climbing steps to go with this post. I have a picture of descending steps. I see that happen in too many lives around me. Instead of life getting better it gets worse as people take steps that lead down instead of up.

This evening I stopped to talk to Steve again. I was going to ask him to come to church with me tomorrow. I had the conversation all planned out. Steve came out of the house and I was ready. Steve is always up for some conversation, but not tonight. He said " I am really tired it's time for me to go to bed." He turned around and walked back into the house. I was left standing there wanting to say, "no wait, I want you to come to church with me, we are serving a meal." But he was gone inside and I was left outside alone. 

I drove back home almost wanting to cry. I want Steve to have the joy of assurance of salvation. But then I told myself life is a series of steps. Tonight is not the last time I will talk to Steve. I will talk to him next week. I will talk to him next month. The Devil may have won tonight, but God will have the final say. As long as God leaves Steve in my life I will keep trying. It may be a series of steps. When climbing a stairway, you don't quit after the first riser. You keep taking steps till you reach the top. 

The fact is the destination is not up to me. My job is just to keep climbing the steps God puts in front of me. God has the end planned out and in sight, when all I can see in front of me is more steps.

So lets keep climbing.

It's a journey

     Micah and I bought a house back in February. We knew when we bought it that we would have to reside it this year. It had the Masonite 12 inch siding on it. The stuff had out lasted it's life span. 

     We are using an engineered wood siding called Smart Siding. I am not sure how smart it is because it is made from particle wood with a veneer on the outside. 

     We caulk all the joints and everywhere it meets a trim board to try to keep moisture out.

     And then we paint. we paint with a sprayer to try once again to get all the joints and ends coated with paint so they are sealed.

     We put on all new trim boards. It makes it so much easier to paint if the boards are not weathered

     Narrower siding and new trim with a new coat of paint can make a house look a whole lot better.

     I know the old is still underneath, but it is hidden away. It has become part of the structure even though it is out of sight. 

      It is definitely a process. First you decide you can not just paint the old but have to do a radical improvement

    You put up the new and make sure you have closed all the avenues for destruction to work it's way in.

    Then you put on the finish and you can see the difference.

     Irv put in a tile around a house of ours to try to keep the basement dry. The fill is settling and I don't have a loader to move the dirt where it needs to be. I am in the process of getting the lawn level again. It is a a slow process. I do some each day. Each day it may not look like I get much done but it adds up day after day. 

     We had 3 rental houses inspected this week. The tenant in one works a lot of double shifts. 16 hours a day. She had done all of the laundry for her family. The clothes had been washed and dumped in a pile in front of the washer and dryer. The inspector was not a happy camper. That had to be picked up and put away. I tried to explain to him that when I went through the house last week to make sure all the smoke detectors, carbon dioxide detectors and GFI outlets were working there was not clothing by the washer. I think he thought I was lying.I am not sure what city code he could cite but I didn't ask. The inspector told me if I had the tenant get all of the clothing put away and send him a picture he would pass the house. 

    Working double shifts with 3 children, trying to get the bills paid without any Government help has to be tough. The middle son was home so I went back in and said "lets help your mom out, I will help you and lets get all these clothes gone." The boy got right at it and thanked me several times for helping his family. I just didn't want to have to pay the $75 reinspection fee. Sometimes we can have everything cleaned up and we end up with a mess again

     I spent some time talking to Steve tonight. Steve is having some tough times. he was getting above water and then he got in a relationship. Wow did life do a high dive off a cliff.  Steve kept trying to help the woman. He said "I thought I loved her". She was carrying to much baggage from a traumatized childhood. Steve said "I learned you can't save everyone."  It ended up with both of them arrested because she was beating on him and he dialed 911. Domestic situations and they arrest both. 

    Steve said another couple of weeks and he will be back out of the hole he fell into. "I just hang around with the wrong people, but good people, people who aren't poor don't want me around." 

     We had been talking awhile and we were talking about God. I said "Steve, you should go to church." He said,"I have read the Bible, I am a Christian, but I have a problem with the church. They show up and are Christian 1 maybe 2 days a week. The rest of the week they aren't."

     I said, " Steve our minister said a couple of weeks ago if you are only serving God on Sunday, you are an empty suit. You want to meet better people go to church." I will see him again next week. After he thinks about it for a week maybe I can get him to come to a church. 

    It's a process. It's a process for each one of us. We kind of like to think we started life all cleaned up. We started life looking good on the outside, just like a house with new siding. We forget what is under that veneer. We don't want to think of the sins we keep hidden from the world.We like to think the tile is laid and the lawn has regrown and it was not an ugly process. We like to think the laundry is always put away and we never slide back into having a messy life.

     Do you know anyone like Steve? If you do, do they know you care about them as they are now. I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see. We have sung that for decades but do you apply it to yourself. I was lost, I was blind. I was in a hole just a different hole than Steve. Doesn't make me better than Steve, I am just further along in the process because of God's grace. I pray that I am going to see God change a life again. I would love to have Steve as a brother for eternity.

   Steve had a point tonight. If we only act "christian" on Sunday and treat those who have less than us with contempt the rest of the week, God might say at the end of our life " I don't know you."

Never too Old

 

Sharon received an e-mail from Tony's mom in China. She does not speak English

 so we have to use google translate to communicate.. I am going with the explanation that sometimes the translation is off a bit

哦，几乎要忘了告诉你：连衣裙很可爱，非常适合你。Royce看起来胖了一

Because this translates as "Oh I almost forgot to tell you the dress looks really cute. Royce looks fat" Now although I am sure Sharon's dress was really nice in the photo she sent, I am having a little problem with that next line. I know I am getting older but still let's try to keep the observations that are insulting down to a minimum. You want to work into a statement like that. Perhaps start by saying, "wow you must be wealthy because it looks like you can afford a lot of food." See that makes it sort of a compliment. Or she could have gone with "dress looks really cute and Royce's clothes look new also what with the new sizes he needs." But nooo, she just laid it out there, Royce looks fat. Well, I shall struggle on keeping a smile on my face while I cry on the inside.

    Here I am being all fat with Micah and Matthew being all skinny while we look at a house.

      Yep, definitely going to have to cut back on the marshmallows.

     We have a few of these old air conditioning units. They never seem to quit working. They may not be very efficient. I have replaced units installed after the year 2000 and these old ones from the early 60s just keep on running. They may not be pretty and they may be old but they get the job done and cool the houses.

    The original part of this house was built in 1900 according to the county website. It was 432 square feet. Later another 144 square feet were added. It now is 576 square feet. We are residing it and fixing it up a bit.

    It is starting to look better and has a lot of useful years ahead of it. It's value will rise because of the new face lift. Even though it is a very small house the tenant tells me he loves living there.

     It would have been nice if they had not done the roof line this way when they built on, but it was most likely the cheapest, easiest framing. This house may be old but it is still providing a good home. It is still doing the job it was built for 118 years ago. It's not a fancy, flashy house but it is useful.

     Yesterday these mushrooms showed up in the front yard. I am not an expert on mushrooms, but I am guessing there is an old stump of a tree under the grass somewhere. That old stump is still generating life.

     I was talking to a neighbor at some of our houses this week. I didn't ask if I could share his story so I am giving him a new name. We shall call him Ron. I have talked to Ron occasionally over the last 2 years. I helped put a picture window in his house one day because he couldn't lift it. Ron is 83 years old and his wife gets around with a walker. He still works part time so I figured they were in some financial duress. They have a great-grand daughter and great-grand son who spend a lot of time at their house. I know Ron's daughter and grand daughter have not led very "respectable" lives. I wondered what Ron's household was like when their daughter was growing up.
     This week Ron asked me if I enjoyed being a land lord. I replied, " there are good days and bad days, but I get to share with a lot of people that there is a God and Jesus came to give eternal life." Ron said "that is why I still work part time. I get to meet a lot of people. I get to hear their troubles. I get to pray with them and tell them I will pray for them. When I tell someone I am going to pray for them, I mean it, I will pray for them."
     He told me he has a son who is an attorney and his billing rate is $600 an hour. I said " He should send his daddy a little money." Ron said "He would if I needed it but I don't need any money."
     Ron is 83 years old and goes to work so he can share others' burdens and pray with them. He said they call him "counselor Ron" at work. How crazy great is that. When a lot of people have settled into their recliner, Ron is out there working to build God's kingdom. Oh and that daughter and Grand daughter I wondered about. Ron and his wife adopted the daughter and all the baggage that came with her, but for all her shortcomings, I bet she has heard about the love of God over and over again.
     I heard Ron's story and I thought "hey if I last like Ron has, I have another 23 years to tell everyone I meet, God loves you and Jesus has salvation for any who will believe." Of course that is if I don't get so fat I can't get out of my chair.
     Point is this, you are never too old to be of value. You are never too old for God to use you in building His kingdom. Never stop looking where God can use you no matter what your age. I love to see young people changing and reforming our world. I love to see senior citizens out there serving too. 

trip up north

     Sharon and I went for a drive up north. I keep hearing how wonderful the crops are this year. 

     We drove east through Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and up through Michigan. When we were in Michigan the crops started looking like they were in trouble. Now for all I know they may never harvest much corn in Michigan. I have never seen what I would call a good field of corn there.

    We traveled on and crossed the border into Canada. It looked like decent farm ground and the corn was only 6 inches tall. We traveled across Ontario and back down into upstate New York, through part of Pennsylvania and back through Ohio. It was not until we were into Indiana again that we saw corn over 8 inches tall. The third week of June, the corn was short and there were fields that were planted but nothing was up yet. I am no expert but we drove past 1000 miles of corn that I would not put in the good to excellent category and the tall soybeans were 2 inches. 

     When we crossed the border into Canada, we were asked why we were going to Toronto and if we had any weapons or guns with us. I am assuming most people transporting guns across the border illegally do not answer "yes we have a trunk full of guns." Coming back from Canada into the US there was a drug sniffing dog being walked between the cars. The dog was checking each vehicle at least twice. There was a local police officer walking through the cars in line continually also. When we got to the border we had to shut off the car, and open the back so an officer could go through our luggage. (you could watch him doing it to the cars in front of us and it looked like a total waste of time. He would push the suitcases around a little and occasionally open one and move the top piece of clothing.) I am going to guess they catch absolutely nothing and if they were serious they would have the drug dog right there when they open the trucks of the cars. This looked more like an exercise of trying to make everyone just a little on edge and belittling them.

     We stopped at a beach along lake Huron. Beautiful scenery but the cold wind off the lake made you think of a fan blowing over a tub of ice. Looks can be deceiving.

     Sharon wondered along the beach just in the water's edge. I found a right nice log in the sun and absorbed the warmth while the waves crashed into the sand. I don't know that I could live on the beach if it is that noisy part of the time. 

     We met Matthew on Friday (he is in Toronto for 6 weeks working with a mission to the Somali population)  and went to down town Toronto. 6 million people in the Greater Toronto area. I soon was very tired of driving on the 401. Busiest highway in North America. 16 lanes of traffic at times. We paid $18.95 to park in this space ( it was a good thing Matthew was with us or Sharon and I might still be looking for our car and we had both taken pictures of where we parked). I met the director of Toronto Parks on Sunday. He is responsible for 22,000 acres inside the city of Toronto. Told me he pays $3,000 a year for a parking place at his office. I think if I was the director of Parks there would be one park that was about 10 foot by 20 foot that would provide free parking for the director of Parks.

     We took the ferry out to the Islands in Lake Ontario right off Toronto. When we arrived there was a sign that pointed toward the clothing optional beach. As cold as it was we were quite safe from any unwanted sights if we happened to wander in the wrong direction. The sailing ship above went past the Islands while we were walking the trails. We could hear the music being played loudly where we were on land. I think I am too used to silence in my life. I would not sign up for a cruise on a sailing ship if I felt I would need ear plugs for the voyage. I also think, I would have found the party on board perhaps not to my liking. From a great distance it looked like an idyllic sail on Lake Ontario, but close up it appeared to be a raucous party of dubious morals at best. 

    The Cliffs are also right in Toronto. They look like sand from a distance but they are a strange type of soil. They stand as cliffs and then in areas some of the soil has given away as though it turned to liquid in a heavy rain. When you walked over to the pile it was hard enough you could not leave a foot print or even dent it by kicking at it. The soil washing down must not happen often because the cliffs are still standing. Someone had carried in a table with food and drinks to the bottom of this cliff, eaten and then just left everything, table included. I am guessing they were not of Dutch heritage, who leaves a table behind?? 

     On Monday morning I had had enough of the 401 and it's crazy drivers. Our hotel was only 1 block north of the lake so we drove down Lake Shore Drive all the way out of Toronto. Everyone must have been on the expressways because we had a lovely lonely drive along the lake.

     We drove east below lake Ontario until we came to a place where a lot of people had gathered up to see a river drop a couple of hundred feet. There were even people paying to ride on a boat to get wet from all the spray and mist at the bottom of the water fall. We only paid $19.95 to park there. ( I see on my credit card that every day the exchange rate is different. Ah, the fun of international finance, you never know just how much your money is worth.)

    The waves were larger and much quieter on Lake Erie. The water was warmer also. That is until we went further out on the peninsula. We had spent some time on a beach where there were just a couple of others wondering along. When we drove further out to where the life guard was on duty the wind was ferocious and there were people trying to hold down their food and picnic paraphernalia. A few brave souls were actually trying to play in the water. I was thinking I needed a sweatshirt or a coat. 

     Having driven along Lake Erie for a while we stopped at a park, which was really just a Parking lot, a boat ramp and a cement pier to fish from. There was a crane (I think a crane, but some bird with a long neck and long legs anyway) walking sedately around the pier.

     He might have been eyeing the free fish lying everywhere. There had been a really nasty rain down pour the night before and fish had gotten left high and dry.

     I don't enjoy fishing. I know nothing about it and do not have the patience to wait for a fish to come to a line and hook. Here I could have just picked the fish up. Although a dead fish is very soon a decomposing fish and these were already starting to stink. A free fish just for the picking up is not a bargain. Maybe not even for the crane.

     Met friendly people, saw people from different cultures (Toronto is 51% nonnative), heard many languages spoken. There were 2 young men who had breakfast in the hotel at the same time we did every day. They didn't say anything the first 2 days. The third day they met another guest and the 3 of them had a long conversation. They spoke Italian. I wonder if they even knew much English. We were in Toronto and I won't share what I thought of 2 young men staying in a hotel together (saw guys walking along holding hands) until I heard them speak. Sometimes what we think we see is not what is fact.

     The lake may look beautiful and the water is frigid. The border guards may look like they are searching but they are only going through the motions. The sail boat without the motor may be the noisiest place for miles around. The place no one goes may be the best beach instead of the well marked beach with the life guard. The fish may look free and easy but who wants them already dead?

      Much of life is like that. Nothing is as it seems at first glance. That is true of a lot of people too. We have a tenant who had become a concern. Her life seemed to fall apart around her unbelievably fast. The house went from clean and well cared for to a terrible mess. Today I saw her with a man. He looked like what I call a weed. Thin, tattooed, dressed strangely. I am thinking, Oh great I am trying to get her to move out and she is moving in trouble. Later in the day the door to the house was open and they were carrying out a couch. Then they threw a bed out onto the lawn. I walked up to find out what was going on. The man had on a pair of rubber gloves and was bagging up garbage and junk. He had washed the floors and was cleaning the place up. She told me she had been in a "bad place" but was better now. She was sorry there was some damage to the house. 

    I had never seen her without long sleeves before, now I saw all the scars on her arms. They were old scars but they told me she had been a serious cutter when she was younger. She was all cleaned up for several months after she moved in, but her demons came back to visit. The man I thought looked like trouble was helping her get back in a "better place". Looks can be deceiving.

     She thanked me for caring today. The truth was I had just wanted her gone for the last couple of weeks. Looks can be deceiving both ways. I looked like the good guy, but my heart was not in it. (We had been praying for her though, that she would come to know God and see a need for salvation, and get her life fixed.)

     Don't just see the surface. Get involved with the people God puts in your life. You never know what you may find. Looks can be deceiving.

Unwanted

     Micah and I shingled most of a house between the rains last Friday and Saturday. Friday afternoon was miserably hot and we had to replace a section of sheeting. When an addition was added to the house they sheeted it with OSB board. My Dad called it particle board and I despise the stuff just like he did. It can not handle any moisture. The shingles had been poorly installed and water had seeped in around a roof vent. We could remove the sheeting by the handful. 

      While we were working around the house I saw there were a lot of trees growing in the flower beds. Thought I would have to do something about that before they got completely out of hand.

     Tuesday I was finishing the flat roof over the patio when a woman called to me from the neighbor's yard. "Are you the owner of that house." Although I probably should have told her "no, I just like to randomly wander around town and work in the hot sun" I said yes I was. She then asked if I would cut down the trees and remove the blackberry bushes behind the garage. I was on the roof and did not go down to look at what she was talking about. I like to have good relations with the neighbors, so I said sure. I will take care of it. I assumed the trees and blackberry bushes were growing wildly through the fence and into her property. It is best I did not go look right then, because I might have told her to get a life. First of all I might have asked her where her property line was. Because if our garage wall is right on the property line, which is possible, maybe, a lot of strange things happened back in the day, her fence connects to our garage 6 inches inside the north wall of the garage. Municipal code states a fence needs to be 12 inches inside your property so this fence is at least 18 inches too far south and is on my lot. Then there were 2 canes of blackberry plant growing through the fence and no tree limbs or branches or even twigs over the fence. So snip off the blackberry canes on your side and leave me alone. Like I said it was a good thing I didn't look while she was there.    

     I did not want the trees growing behind the garage anyway so i cut them down and drug them across the lawn and loaded them up to take them to the city leaf dump.

     I sprayed the stumps with Tordon to hopefully get them killed so they do not grow back.

     I could not make myself spray and kill the blackberry plants so I hooked them and drug them back away from the fence. Yes they will straighten back up, but at least the neighbor will know I moved them back from the fence. (sure they will go back but that is just too bad. It's still on my side of the fence.)

     Then I started spraying trees in the flower beds with weed spray. I might have mixed it a little heavier than the instructions. 

     I was thinking maybe I had gotten a decent response because the leaves were wilting pretty good by Thursday.

    Most if them were curling real nice.

     Some even had brown spots on the leaves.

    But by week's end they were starting to recover.

    Yes I believe the patients will live. They are recovering nicely. I am going to have to look for a herbicide labeled for trees or brush. 

     The trees need to be removed. They will ruin the flower beds. The ones that are close to the house will eventually put pressure on the foundation and if left to grow will damage the siding and the roof as the wind whips their branches back and forth as they grow ever larger. Soon the whole yard will be shaded by trees that were not meant to be there and the flowers and the grass will die. The property will get an abandoned look and the value will fall.

     I wonder how many of us have trees growing in our lives. What seems almost like a harmless sin that starts out small but will continue to grow if it is not weeded out. Oh sure, no one knows about it now. Its' not hurting anyone else. It's not even really hurting me even though I know it's something I know I should not do. Does that thought pattern ever run though your mind? 

     The thing is, that is how the devil likes to work. He likes to worm his way into your life with small seductions. But they grow and they grow until they consume your life and your life is in tatters. If you have a sin growing in your life like an unwanted tree in the flower bed, dig it out. Sins are like trees the longer they are left to grow the harder it is to get rid of them.Weed the garden and bloom with the flowers that God plants in your life.