Thursday, June 30, 2005

A mini-excavator and a major Dig!

Yesterday we moved my mom and dad’s Camper from its perch beside my garage. We cleared the area out and made our game plan. This morning at 7am Seth arrived with the first of his two trucks. This one pulling the trailer that carries His tractor. The tractor has a large back blade that we will be using a lot over the next couple of days. I drove him out to pick up his other truck. We then drove over and got a pickup load of rock, then it was back to my place. We unloaded his tractor and drove the truck and trailer to the thriving metropolis of Tomah to rent the mini excavator that I would be spending most of my day in. This is a good thing. I have driven by the rental place trying to think of even the thinnest of excuses why I should be able to play…uh…rent a mini excavator. Today would be my day. Thank You Mom and Dad! The problem is we want to keep mom and dad’s camper /RV close to the protection provided by my garage but still in a useable and attractive position. I have no water outlets on that side of the house (I actually have none on the outside of my house but we run a hose…) and the current electrical outlet (pun intended) consists of cord running from my garage along the top of the ground. Water run off from my garage and the new green house I am planning may make things messy for the camper and underneath. The solution: a private RV park! We decided to install a frost-free hydrant and a power box with proper receptacle along side the garage. To ensure proper water displacement we would also run a drain tank and pipe to handle all the water that comes off the garage and will soon (I hope) run off my yet-to-be-built greenhouse. The pictures below will show some of what that entails. We have another day or two of work yet but this is from today. It was amazing how much digging we had to do, and if I do say so myself, I think I did a fine job running the excavator-once I figured out how. Seth is wisely not saying how he thinks I did…

The problem stems from all the sand in our soil. For every foot you dig you can expect a cave in of three to six feet in diameter. To go down 8 foot you are looking at a 24-foot wide hole or more! I don’t think we went that wide but it was certainly wider than that excavator could reach across. I had to keep backing up! When you realize that all of this is so a little one-inch pipe can stick up out of the ground… well it’s probably better not to dwell on it…

After the Frost free Hydrant was installed, we moved on to digging a hole for the water run off tank. We used a double tank to make sure it would handle our needs and then some. We of course surrounded the tank with the rock from Seth’s truck (we also used the rock/gravel around the hydrant) and then dug the ditch to where the up-pipe for my future down spouts. (Say that out loud. There is something silly about that; I don’t know what honestly but it certainly sounds funny!). After the pipe was laid we realized we had for got to purchase the “elbow” that was needed for the “up-pipe”. As Seth went to buy one I decided to use the available time to “wipe-out” our compost pile. I decided that our “burn barrels” and compost pile were too close to the trailer and would need to be moved farther out on our little acre and a half lot. I simply buried the pile in the garden. That’s where compost is supposed to go after all; even if it isn’t exactly all composted…

Seth returned installed the elbow and up-pipe and started to smooth and grade the area with his tractor. Tomorrow they bring the gravel/road base to provide a nice finish to my parent’s personal, private RV Park. You can bet I will have some more pics when it’s all done and installed.

Numbers 6:24!

This is where our compost pile.....Used to be. Where our Garden now is....Garden...Yeah! That's the Ticket!

ok, let me see... this lever does this...oh! and this!...and this too! This pedal does....does what??? Oh! oops! just three more pedals and three more levers to figure out!!!

Aunt Carrie a.k.a. "Doll" providing moral support.

The groundbreaking.

I figure I must have been getting close, Seth had to use a ladder to get in And out of the hole. We had to be real careful because we were looking for the existing waterline and we didn't want to break it. (ever seen the movie where the car hits the fire hydrant?)

"A little more to the Right and a little farther down!"

"Forman Seth" Supervises. I will say this; it wouldn't have been near as much fun working that excavator if I didn't have a spotter. (besides Seth did all the hard work and Hand shoveling while I sat in my cushioned chair enjoying the breeze! )

I had WAY too much fun with this machine. I could see me spending alot of time in one of these...It's amazing what all you can do with it. It could have dug the hole alot deeper but it was deep enough that "seeing" became difficult.

Seth is fitting the "T" for the Hydrant. I held the bucket down there so he wouldn't have to shovel to the top of the hole. (He could've done it but...why?)

There is so much sand in the soil here that for every foot down you dig you have to expect a cave in 3 to 6 foot in diameter. Translation for our hole that was 8 foot deep, we had a roughly 24 foot wide hole. Remember this is just so a one inch wide pipe can stick out of the ground! LOL!

After the ditch was dug there wasn't much left for the mini excavator to do, so I used it to remove and bury a compost pile. The little camper there has been sold. (I think, they haven't paid for it and they haven't come to get it either...) so now I just have to relocate the burn barrels and fencing that were by the compost pile (behind where the excavator is now).

The Lord really did provide the perfect day for the job. The kids, Deanna and "Doll" played badmitton(sp?) and ran around on the lawn (what was left lol) but they did a great job of staying out of the way while being ready to help when called (especially if "help" means posing for a picture!)

Jessa inspects the work.

it's amazing how much digging was involved; but, we were able to get it all done in a day

The frost free hydrant is installed and the first hole is buried. We have laid pipe and a rain water drainage tank. After this picture we started filling in the ditch. Tomorrow they come to lay gravel/roadbase and to grade the area. R.V. Tie Down blocks will also be laid this weekend.

Another day in the life of.....

Here it is Thursday already. The week is almost over and I don't think I have caught up from last week. Truthfully, I think that I am still working on my "to do list" from the spring of 1999. I never seem to get caught up. When I mark one thing off of my "list", I write 3 or 4 more down. I guess you could say that I sink my own ship in that way.
We started yesterday working on getting Al and Betty's trailer/camper set up. Had to move stuff around so that nothing would be in the way when they bring in the two or three tractors they need today. Working on a time limit with the equipment so we did everything we could before. Trying to anticipate what will need to be where is always interesting.
To make matters even better, I had to deal with the camper from last years camping trip too. You see, my Aunts and cousins etc from the Oakes side all go camping over at Green Lake . It is a great and wonderful camp ground that we enjoy going to every year. Well, we bought a used camper for us last year and it worked wonderful. EXCEPT, when we got it home and tried to set it up to unload it.........it died. There it sat all winter with us unable to unload it for the most part. We got what we could reach out, but I wasn't quite sure what had been left in there.
Will was talking to one of the guys in his music group about the camper and they decided that Joe would buy one of the "2" campers we have to store their band equipment in and to haul it to their "gigs". Of course he had to come the next day while Will was at work. He came over to look at the campers and decided that he wanted both of them and so I had to unload it. After sitting there for one year and more, it all had to be done now on the same day as the other. I guess when things happen, they happen!
Will had cut the top off of last year's with a "saws-all" and he ripped it open yesterday. Oh my! We found our yard games and set up the badmitten set for the kids. With the collection of "mosquito coils" I found, I should be able to keep the state of Wisconsin free of pests for a couple of days.
As I was unloading in the hot muggy weather I got frustrated trying to find room for everything...so I chewed on my hubby for a while. He in turn got frustrated and decided to beat up the garage for a while. What was going to be a simple day ended up with everybody chewing, griping and losing what little patience we had. I would like to put it down to the weather, stress from the gathering and more excuses that I'm sure I could come up with if I tried, BUT the truth of the matter is I started feeling overwhelmed with the tasks that I had set up for myself and the tasks that everyone expects me to do because I always HAVE done them in the past. I have created my own problem and now
it's up to me to figure out what to do about it. The first option that came to mind was to "WHINE" and I ran with it.
We ended up cleaning the garage out (well at least half of it). The campers are cleaned out, both of them. The stuff is put away, at least most of it. We are ready for the equipment to come (I think) and life goes on.
One of the main problems that I find myself having is trying to take on too many responsibilities and "things". It is so much easier to just do it myself than it is to ask someone else to do it. There is that whole thing about explaining it takes so much time that I already could have finished it by the time I am done explaining it. To make matters worse I find myself measuring/judging people by the standards that I hold myself to. If I would treat a certain person this way......then they should treat ME that way too. What a way to sabotage yourself. I cannot hold people to my own ideals and that is very hard for me to remember. I would never try to hurt someone directly, but I cannot EXPECT the same from them just because it is true for me. I cannot expect someone else to go the "extra mile" just because I would. I have to expect the best from them, but their best is not always what I would consider "best". It's a difficult thing for me to deal with. God and I are working on it, but I still run into the walls of frustration and dissapointment often. Especially with family members because they should "know better" right? The farther I come with this, the farther I realize that I still have to go. Pray for me. For that matter, pray for us (I know you already do). Will is the one that has to deal with my frustration and he truly sometimes does not understand where I am coming from because I don't know that he expects anything from anyone. He is so layed back he just goes with the flow and I am the idiot over here having a fit about it.
So hopefully.......the camper situation for the folks will come together today. God willing the other 2 campers "situation" will be solved also. I would love to have everything accomplished to a point where we can just enjoy the "folks" being here next week and everyday life will not intrude greatly on our time together. Here's hoping!!
It's a glorious morning here and I am going to go out and watch the birds for a while. God's richest blessings on you all today.

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Well, the “Oakes Family Gathering” is officially over. There will be some who will hang around for a while but the “Official” gathering is done. We had somewhere between 30 and 40 people here for our “Non-Fire-Bon-Fire”. That was a real hoot and the Lord provided in His usual miraculous way. It has been so hot lately, yet when it was time to gather for the “fire and feed”, a wonderful breeze started to just lightly waft in. It was just too good to ruin with smoke and heat so the fire was never lit.
Even better was that just as everyone was starting to arrive and take their seats around the un-burning pile of wood; what seemed like a million dragonflies descended upon our circle. They were weaving through and over the crowd yet never were they a nuisance. In fact, for the most part, they did a wonderful job of keeping the mosquitoes and biting flies away. Every once in a while a big dragonfly would land on a shirt and hold perfectly still; posed, like broach, or on a hat, like a pin. It was a nice touch to the Evening. Deanna found the words to “ka ka ka Katy” which if you don’t know is a love song about a soldier so enamored with Katy that he stutters. I guess they used to hear the chorus a lot when she was little but never the verses. Dea and her aunt Gayle were trying to remember the melody and put it to the verses they didn’t know. By the time they were done, there were six or more others singing along. The funny thing is we still aren’t sure if that was the correct melody, it sounded a lot like “I was strolling through the park one day…in the very merry month of May…”. In the end it didn’t matter because it was pure fun to sing and listen to.

Dave Oakes (yup, Dea’s Dad) was asked to perform the service for the tractor pull in Tomah (SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY!). As usual, I was asked to speak at our church in his stead. It is a wonderful thing. I don’t think I get to see the Lord work so plainly at any other time as I do when He chooses me to speak. We are such a small little old time country church and Yet (and of Course!) God shows up in such a miraculous way every single Sunday!
With Dennis Frost and Dave Oakes as Co-Pastors and both only working “to store up treasures in Heaven” They try real hard not to inconvenience or over-burden the other. One speaks at the morning service the other at the evening. The next week they switch. I come in as filler when one is unable.
The three of us for the most part do not fill each other in on what the Lord is leading us to say, yet every time the Lord confirms that He is in control of our little church by the way that He gives to each of us the same or supporting message. Often it’s a three-part sermon given by three preachers who had no idea what the other two were doing. I won’t go into all the details now but suffice it to say that God came through again. As the song says: God is Good – All the Time!
I keep promising to start another blog with the sermons I’ve collected over the years. Remember I don’t do this every week but only when asked. I don’t ever (knowingly!) reuse them and I really don’t know why I kept them except maybe just to put on this new blog. I would love any suggestions as to how I should do that.
I thought perhaps I could go back and see if I can find the oldest one first and then say every week or so add the next oldest and so on. This way it will be a while before I catch up with myself.
I have yet to write a sermon in advance. I really don’t like to. I am trying to avoid the “Will on a Soapbox” syndrome. This isn’t about me it is about what God wants me to say to the Church right now. I realize that I’m limiting God by assuming that because it is written in Advance it isn’t for the Church or whoever when it is finally given. But I like to think of it more as “Faith that God will provide the words when its time”.
Saturday night at 10:30pm was when I was finally able to sit and pray. God met me there and it was a whirlwind of effort trying to keep up with what He was telling me. It doesn’t always happen that way but Wow! Do I love it when it does! In no time at all it was 2:30am, the sermon was printed (in spite of our rebellious printer’s best effort to thwart me! Ha! I can read the type even if it is printed crooked on the page! Ha!), and I was glad to be exhausted or else I would have been too excited to sleep.
You have to understand the fear and trembling that I have when I’m asked to speak. I so do not trust myself, and my understanding of the Lords ways. I am so mindful of the responsibility I have before the Lord. God I trust; myself, not one bit. In any case it is such a wonderful thing when the Spirit provides in such a clear and mighty way that honestly, it doesn’t matter what the reaction of those that hear it is. I know I gave exactly what God gave me. That kind of confidence I don’t have of my own accord (no Honda jokes please!), so it’s an extra blessing for me when He provides it.
That self-confidence bit (my lack of it) is probably another reason for my procrastination in starting that other blog. I know every pastor and every preacher has those words he has to eat and they don’t taste too good. I can’t help but wonder how many will I eat? Will I, after all these years, find that I wasn’t as faithful in backing up my words with “scripture-in-context” as I believed? Did I allow my flesh and human nature to mislead me and therefore possibly others? Ooh Yuck. Ah well, “God is Good, All the Time”. Anyway, if you would, pray about it and then just “leave a comment” and let me know what you think ok?

I have to go to work for the next two days, doing my 12 ½ hour days and then on Wednesday Seth Frost (not the red head Seth in the pics below ;-) ) is supposed to arrive and we will begin setting up our “trailer park for one” for my mom and dads camper. I really, really hope this works out like we planned. If it does, it should look and act like it’s been set up permanently and yet still be ready to be moved in a little less than an hour. “…Best laid plans of mice and men…” Squeak! Expect more pics of that endeavor.

This is Seth. We loved watching him. You could see the "little wheels" inside his head turning. This guy is Way too smart. Look out mom and dad!

I just realized how badly I need to finish siding the back of the garage.

Beautiful weather. Too warm for a bon fire, so we gathered 'round' the woodpile. The breeze just felt too good to ruin with smoke.

I don't have a lawn. I have a park!

oooh! spicy mustard!

giddyyap go!

grandpa pulls pretty good too

Varoom!

Kathy and Kael and one on the way

Dea at the grill. I paid a whole dollar for the cart and utensils at the auction

The Spread

Well the Gangs all here!

The Oakes Family Gathering is on! They all started arriving on Thursday from all over the country. It has been great seeing everyone and finding out what is going on with all of them. We started out having lunch at our little local restaurant. Our table started out with 5 people and then 2 more came in and so we moved to another table. Pretty soon 2 more came in and we all just got "cozy" and sat there and ate and talked.
Friday night my cousin Bill was ordained as a Minister for the Assembly of God Church here in Warrens that my Uncle Lloyd and some others in the family started. Lloyd is going to stay on, but in a different capacity and Bill will take over the senior pastor positition. It was a blessing to be there. Bill was already a minister, but wanted to change over to Assembly of God that goes along with the church. His whole family was there except for his kids and their generation. You know how it is with the young.....trying to make it in the world. You never have time or the money to do things like travel. Of course I don't know if that particular concept changes as you get older. Somehow we all seem to fill our lives to overflowing yet never seem to accomplish anything.
Saturday morning we met out at our local campground where some of the family is staying for "camp cooked" biscuits and gravy. It was wonderful! Then the hearty spirited people climbed the rock ( a VERY large rock formation here). Will and I took advantage of the kids being busy and ran to Walmart while they were up there with Grampa.
Last evening they came to our house for a "bonfire". It was too hot when they got here to start the fire and we were all having such a good time, we never did light it. It was the best non fire bon fire I've ever been to. I cooked hot dogs and sausages on our grill and had already made sloppy joes. There were baked beans, potato salad and some other salads. Gallons and Gallons of southern sweet tea and lemonade and lots of eating talking and even some singing!
I took everyone on a tour of the house and they all just loved the stone fountain Will installed for me on our bedroom wall. I think that we probably have one of the most romantic bedrooms around. Stucco "castle like" walls with arched doorways, painted stone walls with ivy on them in the bathroom, a cast iron canopy bed with hand made crochet panels lit by many white Christmas lights and a fountain. All it needs are a fireplace and a hot tub. Just give us time. Now that I think of it, it was pretty funny with 9 of us or more, standing in our master bathroom talking about the wall finish.
Today is the actual main get together. We will all meet this afternoon for a huge pot luck lunch with talking, eating and singing again. We all are going to look at slides my grandparents took and old home movies. It should be great fun. There will be family pictures displayed, genealogy finds and more. I hope that everyone has a lovely time!
The best thing that happened though this weekend was our visitor Friday night here at the house. Someone had left the back door open and we ended up with a bat inside. My hubby who I call "oh Mighty hunter" had to get it back out of the house. He grabbed his bath towel and the chase was on. From the family room to the bedroom where Jessa was (of course) it was "hot pursuit!" Will prevailed and the intruder was dispatched to the outside again. Oh and let us not forget the cat that was "helping" and managed to pull the thing down out of the air before it got away. I'm glad that Will was here because I would have closed the bedroom doors and hid. Most people around here don't play tennis but they do have tennis rackets FOR THE BATS!!

Well, time to get busy and get ready for another day. We were so busy yesterday that we even didn't get a chance to call Mom Donaldson and wish her a happy birthday. It ended up that they called us before we could call them. Even then, I was so busy that we sang and I continued on with clean up. I hope it was a happy one for her. I'm not going to mail her present to her because they are hoping to come up for the Iola car show July 8th and I will give it to her then and we can all enjoy watching her.
Well, onward and upward!!!! Everyone have a blessed day. May the Lord reveal himself to you all in a new and exciting way today.

Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Where's the beef?

A funny thing happened at work yesterday that probably is pretty much a Wisconsin thing. I was on route 4 which happens to run through Amish country and through all of these dairy farms. I came around a corner and low and behold standing in the middle of the road was a 2000 lb. White face Hereford BULL! To tell you how big he was his nose was facing south and his head was hanging past the road into the ditch. His rump was facing North and was at the very North edge of the road. Let me tell you I am glad that I was not going any faster.
Well, there were some "lady cows" in the pasture he was facing and he was romancing them with a song when I got there. I honked my horn and edged forward. He turned looked at me and "Moooooed". I edged a little forward and he ignored me and my car. I kept edging and honking. Finally when I was about 10 feet away...I stuck my head out the window and yelled "Move it Buster" to which he mooed again, but this time he turned and very slowly strutted down the road 15 feet. I yelled again and he walked off the road and into a shady part of the ditch. Turned and looked over his shoulder as if to say "Well woman?". I pulled by him and he turned around and walked back out onto the road and started his romancing again. It was comical. Boy can I ruin a moment! He had this long suffering look on his face. I laughed the rest of the day.
This is not a unique occurrence in any way for this route. This is the 5th time I have found a cow in the middle of the road. Usually it is an Amish owned cow and I know where to watch. The Amish on this route have need of a few fencing skills. I know where to watch for cows in the road most times, but this time was a hoot!
Another thing that happened this week that made me wonder about the world today is....
I went to Walmart to get some copies made of some family pictures. One or two of them were pictures from Civil war time. Let's see, my great grandfather was in one and he was 7 or 8 at the time. He died 20 something years ago at age 93. He would be about 113 now. That picture was old! Walmart refused to make a copy of it because the owner of the picture might prosecute them! Even if the photographer was only 20 when he took the picture that would make him 133 years old. Where do they think he is going to come to them from? Another picture was from 1850 and they thought that photographer (at least 170 years old) would get them too. You have to wonder if society's "Suit happy" theories have caused all of this. People sue people for the dumbest things and win! It sure seems that someone somewhere in our past hit the self destruct button doesn't it? I guess today's society proves Adam and Eve's sin better than anyone thought we could. You really have to wonder what people are thinking.
Well, onto more work.....Today is a new day.
One tradition our family tries to keep is watching the sunset with each other almost every night. At least two of us watch it together for awhile. You should try it too. God sure paints some beautiful paintings!

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

I have to wonder; will I ever again have enough time and energy – together - at the same time? I mean with the way things go around here, if I ever do, then somebody will probably want to charge me for having it and I won’t have enough money…

I didn’t mean to start this off with a whine; but hey, it’s a hobby! Besides, you have to stick with what you’re good at right?

It’s been an interesting couple of days around here. I had to work this last weekend so of course that means on fathers day I was out doing what fathers are supposed to do, provide for their family. Its ironic that I pointed out in my last writing that things have slowed a little at my work, because now work is saying everything has “cranked” right back up. We should be back on full schedules and in a rush from here on out. I guess it's another case of “feast or famine”.

I got to speak to my father Saturday night so that sort of took care of my “obligations” for “Fathers’ Day” but it still felt amazingly inadequate. Made especially so because he called me and not the other way around. Of course it is his fault. He’s the one that taught me to be independent and to stand on my own two feet. He’s the one that showed me how to place my family’s needs before my own. I watched him trying to figure out how to get a gas station like he wanted and accepting that without God it wasn’t going to happen. I also watched that when God opened up the door dad didn’t hesitate but through the door he went. If it wasn’t for that, odds are good that I wouldn’t be up here in the woods of Wisconsin and loving every bit of it - except for the distance between so many loved ones and me.

As a son, Fathers’ day and Mother’s day will start in a couple of weeks when Dad and Mom come to visit.

As a Dad, Fathers’ day started when school let out. One of the best things about my job is that I get whole days off in the middle of the week. I get to catch up on chores and to spend some quality time with my kids. I don’t know if they would call it that. “Daddy” is not a very patient man…(sigh). Sadly I don’t think they will know how much I treasure them until they are much older. Hebrews 12:6 says:

: For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines,

I figure that when they finally read and understand that verse they will begin to understand how much they mean to me. Right now, well they are like I was at that age. Really wishing I would just buy them whatever they want and let them do whatever they want. Sorry kids; can’t do that. You can blame it on “Grampy and Grammie”. It’s their fault! Yeah! Hey! I like this “passing the buck” thing!

Deanna is at work again today. Things are picking up for her at work as much as they are for me. There is a really good possibility that she may be able to pick up an “aux route” at the post office. If it works out like we think, it could be the perfect thing (next to just being given extraordinary amounts of cash!). There is a really good possibility she wouldn’t have to leave for work until after the kids leave for school and she would be home before they are. The down side: she very well might have to work 6 days a week. She would have all the benefits that I don’t with my schedule and but none of the benefits I enjoy either. Could be interesting. Please keep praying for the Lords intervention in our jobs and for our continued ability to be Gods ambassadors there.

Well, I think I have played around and put off my chores long enough.

Numbers 6:24

Will

Saturday, June 18, 2005

What are YOU doing at 2:45am?

Well, its 2:45 am and I’m adding to our blog, its almost sad. I worked at Cardinal yesterday for my usual 12 ½ hour day. I’ll leave for work again this morning at 5am. No, I don’t usually get up this early. Usually it’s more like 4am. I think its another sign of my age (sigh). I remember when I was younger I could sleep and wake on demand. Anytime I had a few minutes or when I knew I would be up late and needed to sleep now to facilitate that, I could tell my body to sleep and I would. Better, I could tell myself to wake up after so many minutes and I would. Now, well its not so good. My work schedule is a little different then most. I work on Monday & Tuesday; then I’m off on Wednesday and Thursday; Then I work Friday Saturday and Sunday. At which point it switches around for my second week so that I’m off on Monday and Tuesday; Work Wednesday and Thursday and then I’m off for the Friday Saturday and Sunday. The only remnants of my younger self is that on those days that I work I am able to wake myself without the alarm clock. Usually, I sleep-in on the days I’m off. The key word here is “Usually”. Last night I decided to go to bed a little earlier than usual. I was tired and figured if I go to bed at 9pm and wake at 4am that would be 7 hours. That’s more than I “Usually” get and still less than the experts and doctors all say we’re “supposed” to get right? (Please insert the “Wrong Answer” buzzer sound here.) I woke up at 2am and was only able to force myself to stay there until 2:30a. At which point I admitted defeat and got myself ready for work. So, here I am, praying this whole thing doesn’t backfire on me and leave me too tired at work. Thankfully, I shouldn’t have to work the whole 12 ½ today.

Cardinal has made some significant upgrades over the last two years. We are now equipped to produce significantly more than we are currently able to sell. Our sales due to the economy and other factors such as weather etc. are only slightly down from last year. There was also some shifting around of some accounts last year among the Cardinal plants that altered our production (all of this is according to what various individuals have explained to me at my workplace, the truth of course may well be different). The short of it has been that they have reduced our hours since last winter. If you tally up my normal hours with that work schedule above, you will notice that with Sunday officially being the first day of the week for Cardinal, I work only 36 hours one week and 48 hours the next. I do get paid time and half for that extra 8 hours, so it more than compensates for the “short” week. Last winter they cut our Saturday hours to only 8, cutting back our overtime hours to only two. So, if my traitorous body should cause me an ”early decline in my capacity for rigorous activity”, it shouldn’t be too disastrous. They tell me our 8 hour Saturday’s may well be coming to an end as orders are increasing. If this “waking early as punishment for responsible sleeping habits” thing keeps up it could make things interesting…

The Oakes Family Gathering is coming up. I had made big plans to catch up on all my chores and even make significant headway into preparing to have Deanna’s family visit. I lost count of all the Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and adopted family members who participate. (I don’t like to dwell on it for fear that if I should realize the actual number; I may go hide in a closet and spend the entire weekend engaged in the less-than-adult activity of sucking my thumb…) So, of course, after having made such lofty plans for my last 2 days off, I promptly came down with a cold and accomplished close to nothing (sigh). Hopefully, I will have enough energy when I get off from work early today to at least mow my lawn. It will have to be mowed again at least once before the “gathering” so its not like I’m gaining any ground there.

Of course, because we can never have too much going on here at the Donaldson household, sometime between now and say the week after the Oakes family gathering Seth Frost is scheduled to come with mini excavator-in-tow to start digging up my driveway and side yard. He will be installing a new frost-free water hydrant; a power post for my mom and dads camper and leveling the area where the camper sits. The idea is to make the camper look like its been placed there permanently while yet still being able to move it whenever we want. We have it placed so that it receives weather protection from the north by my garage while still leaving me room to install a green house between the garage and the camper. (I will probably start that little project later this summer providing the Lord is willing.) Hopefully we will have that project done before my mom and dad arrive early July. They still need to find a “house sitter” for their cat and plants (in Florida) before they can make the trip. We’re still praying.

Well, I think that’s enough for now I think, its almost time to wake up!

To all who read this: Numbers 6:24!

Tuesday, June 14, 2005

Down memory lane

All of the recent losses in our immediate and extended family have had an impact on both Will and I. Aside from the obvious frustration of being far away and unable to help. Is all the reminders of others that I have lost over the last few years. Memories of those loved ones have flooded through my mind in the last week. I'm sure that my working on the Oakes Family Gathering has added to the flood also. I still miss them all so much but I am grateful for the time that they were a part of my life. I don't think that I want to even imagine the person I would have become had they not been around.
I happen to be one of those people that think that one of the most important things after God is "family". I have been sorting through my mind looking for what "my" definition of family is. It has been an interesting question. Obviously first and foremost would be my husband and children. It extends from there to parents, aunts, uncles, cousins and the other "blood" related relatives, BUT it goes on from there to others that are not related by blood, but by love. Some of these are even closer than "blood" because they choose to be part of our lives and to love us even when they don't have to. People say that you can choose your friends but you're stuck with your family.
I myself have been blessed greatly with a loving family and many friends that are blood relatives, but I have so many others that although not related by blood are infinitely important to me. I am so grateful for these people who are not "stuck with me" but choose to love me for who I am. I thank God daily for these great blessings he has added to my life.
The second thing that has come of this is a renewed desire to get our family "tree" down on paper. I realize more and more that knowing who I am and where I come from is also important to me. I would like to leave it behind for all of the younger generation in our family. I of course know "whose I am" and where I am going in the future when I leave this world, but knowing the history of my family is answering questions that I have always had. I have had to deal with a few disappointments in it though.....
I had always hoped that our family were part of the American Revolution as Patriots fighting for our nation. Now I find out that they were loyalists who were kicked out of the country. That was quite a blow to my ego. Although it was a help to know that they were loyalists mainly because of religious beliefs, it didn't do much to soothe my wounded pride. Here I went through all of this to find them and they couldn't even be hero's.... just redcoats.
Now, I am stuck on this one 20 year stretch and cannot figure out which John Thomas Oakes was my GGGGgrandfather. They were both alive at the same time, had the same occupation and lived in the same town. To make matters worse they both had wives named Elizabeth. Maybe I will never know, but I'm not giving up yet.
When I finish with this portion of the family I have my Father's Mom's side and then both of my Mother's lines. Then I will continue on with Will's side of the family. It should take me years and I love a good puzzle!!!!!
The garden is tilled but not planted yet. We keep having these afternoon rain storms. It's like living in Florida again, even down to the humidity. Hopefully, I can get it planted in the next couple of days.
Our house was struck by lightening yesterday. We lost the phones for awhile until Will came home and worked on them. We also lost the Directv receiver. Will came home and took it all apart and somehow fixed it. Believe me I was very impressed watching him look at that thing and understand what it was and what it did. Looked like brain surgery. What would I do without my genius husband?
This next two weeks should be interesting here at our house. Besides getting ready for the Oakes Family Gathering and all the other things that are going on. My Father who is a Co-Pastor at our church is going to be bringing the Sunday morning message at the National Truck Pull held here in Tomah. That means that Will is going to be bringing the message at our church that morning. God nearly always has something profound happen during the week before to bring the message home to Will. I am always amazed to see what happens. Kind of like being on the 50 yard line of a really good ball game (Will's description).
Well, time to go fold more clothes and then steam the family room carpet. Work never quits, but then again, I'm not one that can just sit around. Too much life to live and way to much to see in this world God has created. Hope you are all having a Wonderful, Wonderful Day!

Saturday, June 11, 2005

We need a vacation ... and yet here we are.

Will and I were talking yesterday that we both are ready for a vacation except for a couple of pressing matters: money and time. Of course we usually have one or two of the three: money, time and need. Mostly we find need at the top of the list. Unfortunately, with my job the time is nearly impossible to get. I am a rural route substitute at the Tomah Post Office. I substitute on all 7 of our rural routes, which is probably why I'm ready for a vacation. In plain numbers it is overwhelming so I try not to think about it, but I will type it for you to let you see why I am brain dead most of the time.
7 routes with a total of well over 5000 boxes, each with it's own 5 digit address and at least 1 person living there. Most times 3 or 4 names are in each box. It's a big joke around our house for Will to meet someone and come home and ask me where they live. Cute parlor trick. Add that to the 3 routes that I learned here in Warrens and it's quite a big chunk of junk floating around in my head.
The only problem is that when I am gone from work they are short handed. I will be glad when I get my own route and my being gone will affect nobody except my own sub. Will and I are both looking forward to me getting a route of my own.
We are hoping to be able to take a trip to Walt Disney World again in the next couple of years. One of the best times we have ever had was our last trip with Will's parents. We just loved watching them walk hand in hand with our kids. We had to stick a kid with each of them otherwise they would be off and running and none of us could keep up( and I'm not talking about the kids taking off and running). There is something about Disney that "is" magical. It was great for us all to be away with no phones, errands or jobs. We could just devote all of our time and energy to being together. You know how it is when you go and visit people at home. It's great, but routine life seems to creep in on you. A phone call here, running to the store there, practise with the group, meeting that was set months ago. When you are away anywhere from everything else it is wonderful. I would highly reccomend it for everyone. Will and I said we needed to do that at least once a year. We kind of have this list in the back of our minds of places to go. We plan on taking at least one set of our parents with us to each destination, but you know how it is with best laid plans of mice and men. I am praying that we will be able to before the kids graduate.
As for my other "job" I am an executive officer (Secretary) on the Warrens Cranberry Festival Board of Directors . It is a huge undertaking and one that I enjoy more and more each year. We are just building a new site for the fest at cranfest.com. The fest is now 104 days away and things are starting to get busy. Our little town of Warrens is home year round to 300 or less people except during Cranfest. During Cranfest we see 150,000 or more over the weekend with over 1400 booths covering the entire town. It is a unique experience and has been going on for 33 years.
I don't get paid for any of it except in fun and that's ok.
During the summer our church (actually about 4 of us ladies) will make and bake almost 500 cranberry pies. Some are plain cranberry and some have other fruits in them. I think that there are about 7 flavors. We freeze them after they are baked and then serve them at Cranfest with icecream. We also serve breakfast and lunch in the church basement so that people have a place to sit down. I and my group of 4 ladies have a tent/booth upstairs that we serve coffee, pie and cookies along with my special recipe of Cranapple cider. All the profit from both booths get sent to our missionaries. Some gets sent to the Lettons and most gets sent to an orphanage run by a friend of ours in Bogota Columbia. She has over 100 kids in the orphanage and helps hundreds in the mountains too. We are such a little church it is a special blessing to us all to be able to work at cranfest and send such amounts to help. The men collect garbage at Cranfest and Cranfest pays them an hourly donation. This money is used to send our work crew to build churches in Mexico and to pay for materials. Really, for a church of less than 50 people for the most part, it is truly a wonderful blessing to be able to do this.
Will is very sunburned right now. He spent hours yesterday tilling the garden, although it kind of looked like he was trying to subdue a bucking horse. He worked extremely hard and did a good job. The kids and I went out and worked pulling grass and roots out of it. We will work some more tonight after I get home too. I hope to plant it on Tuesday. I love having a garden and seeing what is ready to harvest. It is such a peaceful feeling for me to be out puttering. I love to be outside. Will laughs at me because I get cabin fever all year around if I have been inside too long. He just wonders why I still make him set out the trash for the garbage man, after all the trash is "outside" right?
Well, I am off to work again. Will and the kids are going to go in and work at cleaning up some more auction at the farm. Should be interesting.



Thursday, June 09, 2005

2000 miles away

Roughly 2000 miles away from where I'm sitting now, my Family both immediate and adopted are going through the emotional roller coaster that Christians such as ourselves go through when someone we love dies. We know that as Christians we are fellow heirs with Christ. When a Christian dies it is only a new beginning. We are filled with Joy knowing that a Loved one is seeing Jesus face to face. We envy them that. We are also filled with grief and jealousy that we don't get to spend anymore time with that person until we too finally meet Jesus in the flesh with our glorified bodies. I often feel guilt for the selvishness of such feelings but then I get angry for feeling guilty; it can wring you out. Eventually though, The Holy Spirit provides the comfort (if we let Him) and the Peace that comes from the Lord will replace the roller coaster. For my Family and friends I pray that the Peace comes Quickly.
Please take a moment to notice that there are two new links. The one is for Joel Hayes' site entitled the First Cause. Joel's site is the one that finally convinced me to start this one. It hasn't been updated in a few days because of the passing of his father John. The second Link is to the site that belongs to Joel's sister Rachel. Rachel is a writer and has done a wonderful job describing her Dad, so I won't bother. Except for this:
Joel Hayes and I became friends in the fifth grade. From that time on I was either at his house or he was at ours. Even better was that his parents became good friends with mine, eventually our whole families- brothers and sisters -became good friends. Joel's Older Brother Danny was the best man at my wedding. I remember the way Rachels laughter would ring through the house and Pete and Beka used to ride with me every Christmas to go look for the decorated houses and to see if we could get lost while doing it. The best thing though is that Both Joel's and my parents loved the Lord and made sure that Jesus was apart of our daily lives. As kids you don't usually think too much about other peoples parents except not wanting to do anything that might make them be mad at you. Its strange that as a kid I knew that Joel's dad Loved God and Loved his family. I say its strange because as a kid a was way too self absorbed and certainly not astute enough to see that on my own. If you were to ask me back then how I knew, I think I would have said "Watch him when he's home. It'll tell you everything" Now, today, I would say: "Look at his children. Look at the love they have for the Lord and for each other. It will tell you everything" You should check out the links. You will learn alot about my friends and adopted family. You will also learn alot about loving Jesus and loving each other. To Mrs Hayes, Danny, Rachel, Joel, Pete, and Beka : Thanks for sharing your Dad and your family with me and for being a part of mine. I miss you guys and can't tell you how much I ache over not being able to be there with you. I pray for you all often:

Numbers Chapter 6:
Aaron’s Benediction
22Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 23“Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, ‘Thus you shall bless the sons of Israel. You shall say to them:
24 The LORD bless you, and keep you;
25 The LORD make His face shine on you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you,
And give you peace.’
27“So they shall invoke My name on the sons of Israel, and I then will bless them.”


(if anyone else has a site they would like me to link to, please email me. If you don't know my email address then feel free to leave a comment)

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

I'm old, beat up and worn away.....

Well, the auction is over and done with. Ha! Ha! Now that is funny. Actually the selling part is done, but now we are left with the clean up part. Everyone that bought things took what they wanted and left the remaining stuff just sitting there. Now we get to clean up the good stuff and either pack it away for another consignment auction at a later date, throw it away or take it to Goodwill. Mom is ordering a dumpster, but we all decided to take Tuesday off.
We decided to take the day off, but the Post Office didn't. They called bright and early Tuesday morning and said that would need me for the rest of the week. No rest for the weary I guess. Well, there is always next week. Actually, I'm kind of afraid of what next week might bring. You just never know around here.
Things went for wierd prices at the auction. Things that you would have thought would have brought a great price didn't and these old beat up benches that Dad had sold for huge amounts. I told Dad and Will that our new business was making "old" benches. Low cost items that sell well. I can make them look as old as they want. Shoot we could just leave our kids in the same room with the new benches and they will be looking old in no time.
I planted new flowers in all my pots etc. last night, so what did it do after we went to bed? Rain, lightening, small hail. I'm so glad that I planted them. I am praying that they will recover. Will is going to take a picture of the house soon and we will post it. All the pictures we have now have snow in them.
I am starting to get ready for the Oakes Family Gathering on June 25 &26. They are coming from far and wide and I want to make some memories for them. I have been working on getting our family tree down on paper. I am not done yet and have over 360 names. We are going to try to make large print outs of the tree print out from my computer. I have many old pictures now and would like to make copies for everyone that wants them, even if it is just a CD.
Well time to leave for work. We will try to post more pictures soon.

Thursday, June 02, 2005

Pictures as promised

Well here ya go! Pics of Dave and Dotties farm and auction site. The Farm is sold and the house in town won't hold it all. They have been saving stuff for years just to have this auction and it shows. The pics are in no particular order so enjoy!

It was such a beautiful day and such a pretty setting that I had to snap some pics of our pic nic!

Deanna and her parents Dave and Dottie take a break while I keep slaving away! Not really, someone had to take the pic!

Where does all this stuff keep coming from???

It says snapper but this 1980 "1650a tractor is actually made by Massey Ferqusen. It has hydrostatic drive and full hydraulics with pto's in front middle and rear. This one had a few minor problems but mostly it was unused for too long. Sadly for us we fixed most of its problems so it can be sold. It has a huge snowblower for the front and a tiller for the rear; also, there is two cultivators (front and rear) and a disc. There's more to it as well as the 50 inch mower deck seen here. She was quite the machine in her day.

one very cool farmall H tractor. It sat in the barn for two years but we cleaned out the carb and put a new muffler on her and she fired right up. We used it quite a bit to move stuff around the farm in a trailer. Runs like a champ and I will be sorry to see her go.

We are going to have 2 auctioneers going at once. One will be the "household circle" and the other a "tools and lawn/farm circle" as you can see we still have a lot of sorting to do yet. The mowers and tools will be going out to the field and the household stuff will stay here in the driveway.

Doors and dressers and stoves and tables and more doors and grills and doors and carts and did I mention doors? We have over a hundred I know. Theres one waiting for me to cart to the "door pile"

Under the tarp is a hay wagon full of goodies all laid out to sell. In the background are some (only some sigh) of the refridgerators and freezers we brought out.

This represents about a one third of the "stuff" up for auction. Currently there are four hay wagons full of dishes, knick knacks and antiques plus what you see here - and there's a whole lot more!

After working hard all morning we took a minute to relax at Lunch (and take the pics I promised) on a beautiful day, then in was back to work!

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

June 1st 2005

7:19pm and I feel like it must be closer to 10pm. I am "plum tuckered out!” Dea and I started our morning out getting the kids ready for school. Dea started earlier than I did (she's nice that way!). Jacob needed to be driven to school today because he is going on a three-day trip with his class. It’s actually supposed to be a part of his grade. I hope so; he needs all the help he can get! Seeing as how Jacob needed to be driven Dea went ahead and drove Jessalyn as well. After that we went and dropped just shy of a "grand" on a transmission for the Lumina. Let me tell ya there isn’t much work involved in writing a check like that but it sure can make you tired! It wasn't even a new one! Sheesh. Well Mechanics have to eat too I suppose; but still, it hurts. For those of you that don't know; the transmission going out is my fault; I paid the car off (sigh). After doing that Dea drove it to her parents farm and said it ran fine but that one of the shocks or struts is "squeaking". I drove it later and heard noises in the engine bay I don't like, so now, I'm kind of nervous except I'm thinking warm thoughts: "Warranty on parts and labor"; "Warranty on parts and labor". Its not the greatest of all mantras but it works for me!
Any way we spent the rest of the day getting ready for her folks auction. I can't wait for June 6th to be done and gone. The amount of stuff they have collected is staggering. Even they say so! Unfortunately a very large portion of that stuff is large and heavy. That’s where I come in. Hi! My name is Manuel! Manuel Labor! I think today alone I moved 20 doors, a refrigerator, a freezer, a large coal burning (I think) stove, several tables, a couch, 20 or more windows, and at least a dozen chairs. Dea was hard at work too but with the little stuff. There was lots of glass collectables and things to sort. I kept hearing snippets of conversation that sounded like "...no, you have to keep that because (whoever) gave that to you and they will know if you sell it and then they'll be upset...." or "...oh yeah we got that at (again, whoever’s) auction. Think I paid a quarter...” Jessa joined us after school and did a great job too. Now, we are home and the girls are watching TV while I type this. It’s kind of quiet without Jacob around.... I will try to get some pics of the farm and all the stuff tomorrow but no promises!
Numbers 6:24
Will