Somewhat new picture in the header

I just love this picture of my granddaughter Brenna and me in the swing. She's definitely a talker when she wants to be! (Wonder where she gets it???)

By the way, in case you've forgotten, my wife Debbie is the "Gabby" that "Gabby's Guy" refers to...long story involving a hilarious mis-hearing. The swing that Brenna-bear and I are in goes back a long way in Debbie's family. I first encountered it on her G'Momma's screened-in front porch in Fairfax (now Valley) Alabama. We actually 'courted' on that swing! But it was either made by or purchased by G'Momma's grandfather or great-grandfather. So Brenna is the 7th or 8th generation of family members to sit in that swing!

A Rare Dry Day--Painting!

Can't believe I'm still trying to get the final parts of the roof on my workshop! But at least today we had a break from the constant rain...I managed to get a coat of paint on all the other metal for the roof! So I'm not too far from having all the "Sanford and Son" (Debbie's term) out from under the carport.

We also had to do some involuntary remodeling in my bathroom...Debbie was cleaning last week and found cracks in the blue toilet. So it was off to Home Depot to get an AlGore toilet (you know, the kind that supposedly flushes with a cup of tears from blathering treehuggers?) So far, so good...but I don't know if the good flush carries through with the "stuff" getting all the way out to the septic tank. We'll see.

Now if I could only get the new kitchen exterior door up, finish installing the shed roof, insulate the building, dig a trench for wiring (and find the $$ for the heavy-duty wiring needed to run power to the shed), get my friend from church to help me wire the building, install the lights, etc. etc. etc.

And this doesn't include the "honey-do" list!

The roof...a light at the end of the tunnel?

I've been trying to get the final parts of the roof on my almost-completed building for quite some time...weeks in fact. I was going to put shingles on it, and even have several squares of shingles purchased (seconds/discounted from Ace hardware). But then I actually climbed onto the roof, and decided that a metal roof would be better.

Luckily, my youngest aunt, Janice Lance, is married to a very generous guy, Bobby Lance, who just happened to have some excess galvanized steel 5-v roofing. So a couple of weeks ago, I went and picked it up. It's not quite the right length, but that's OK, the price was right...free!

In the meantime, on days it was dry, I was busy with work, and when I could get some free time, it's been raining! That's just the way it goes.

Today I finally rigged a spray paint stand in the yard, and painted the first 6 long sheets. It took more paint than I expected, but it turned out great. Of course I have a few 'runs' in the paint, since I've never worked with a compressed air gravity-fed spray gun before. I think I'll get the hang of it before I'm through. The roof's going to be a great hunter green color, and I'll paint the building in a couple of shades of brown...fairly dark for the background, and a lighter brown for the 'battens' that will hide the seams. That should make the building fit in well with its surroundings down in the woods.

As I write this, I've realized I'll need to paint the outside of the building before putting on the roof metal, to avoid overspray. Now if I can just get some dry days to do all this!

The big compressor and tank are really useful. I've used all the tools that came with it, and even purchased a 'jitterbug' sander. I have a similar electric sander, but the air-powered one just seems to work better. It really knocked the rust down on the 'tin' roofing. Then I spray painted with Ace's brand of rust-inhibiting paint. I hope I'll never have to roof the building again. With shingles, I'd have been facing a reroof job at a time (if I live that long) when I definitely couldn't get up on a roof. I may even be looking at a metal roof for the house here. That's one of the maintenance things that will have to be done before many years go by.

Electronic de-evolution

Have you noticed that all the new electronic forms of communication seem to be 'pushing out' the older forms?

The telephone call started the trend of fewer personal letters, but E-mail put an end to almost all personally written mail. I don't know the last time I got a really long handwritten letter from someone, but this used to be a really important form of communication.

Blogs seem to have replaced diaries/journals.

Now facebook and other social sites have comments that seem to be pushing out e-mail and blogging.

There's not any real point to this, just an observation.

MissionFuge survival

I first went to Centrifuge about 20 years ago. Can't believe that at 57 I'm still trying to keep up with teenagers...but I love it!

We had 4 guys get saved at camp, and the other 3 I think really got serious about their faith at camp.

MissionFuge is like Centrifuge, but with a longer missions component...roughly 5 hours a day are devoted to a mission project. In our case, we had 2 hours of travel to get to/from the site each day, so we had to pack a lot into the 3 hours we spent there.

All this got me thinking about some 'rules' for going to youth camp--some serious, some not.

1. Pray ahead of time, and recruit folks to pray for specific youth while they're gone.

2. Do NOT, under any circumstances, let the youth learn the song named, "This is the song that never ends..."

3. Pick a camp with a staff and a very full schedule, so that you don't have to supervise the kids every second.

4. Go far enough away to be 'away' but near enough to send kids home in an emergency. (Of course, next summer I'm violating this rule by going out west!)

5. Recruit a good person to lead fundraising

6. Jump in to the action, even if it's sliding around on a dark, wet field and getting flour dumped on you. The bruises are worth it.

7. Take LOTS of photos.

8. Don't forget to pray yourself and let God speak to you, too.

9. Help kids put perspective on 'camp romance'

10. Be sure to give a report to the folks back home who helped you go!

Things you call your Dad for...

Strange, isn't it, that adult kids still need their folks?

Today I got a call at the office from Nathan, who'd arrived home in HOT Texas last night...this morning when they let Annie the Jack Russell terrier out into the back yard, she promptly went under the house. They heard her barking for awhile, then...silence.

This is the kind of thing that gets folks who love their pets in a panic, so Kayla naturally wants Nathan to check on her (Political Correctness and Feminism aside, crawling under an old house with the spiders and potential rattlesnakes is definitely a 'husband' thing to have to do.) Nathan called me for advice...

The first thing I learned was that Nathan's flashlight batteries were dead, so I suggested checking around the house skirting to make sure there were no other places Annie could have escaped, then taking more of the house skirting loose in the area enclosed by the fence, and finally putting out some tempting food while he left to get batteries.

I got a call a little later...while Nathan was gone to the store, having followed all my suggestions, Kayla was surprised to see a 'strange' cat streaking across the backyard, with Annie in hot pursuit! Nathan remembered having seen a cat of the same description (I'm sure smaller--without its fur fluffed out!) that morning, near their front porch--with kittens in tow. So I'm hoping they don't have a new family living in the 8" high 'basement.'

Still, it's good to be needed, if only for advice on dealing with errant pets!

Chalk on the carport

Our granddaughter Brenna (3) has been visiting with us the last few days (with her Mom Kayla and Dad Nathan, our middle son.) We've had lots of fun, with a traditional 4th of July celebration, church with K/N singing a special, going to the GA aquarium, but one of the best times was just taking Brenna out under the carport yesterday, messing around with her new chalk. It's supposed to be "3-D" somehow, but I never got the little glasses to work for me. Still, it was fun tracing the animal stencils, coloring in the outlines to make them look more real, and listening to her chatter.
Today they leave, going to see friends in Athens. Sad that we live so far away. We've been trying to set up video on the computer so we can call back and forth. It's really not good when you only get to see your granddaughter once or twice a year.
More later, with maybe some pictures...