August, 2004
Shoot fire, folks, it's been a while. Was the last Epistle General in May?
Oh, dear.
This Epistle is kind of long, but you know, we're discussing the issues of
communication and technology in general among the faculty at Grace, and
we're going to have a speaker on the subject at our fall workshop in a
month or so. We get so enamored with the medium that all of our
communication is like these kids with Instant Messaging: "Wazzup?"
"Nuttin. You?" "Nuttin" and then they have all these two- and three-letter
messages like you've seen: LOL (Laughing Out Loud) and stuff like that.
And they think they're "communicating". We're used to taking an average
of about 12 seconds per E-mail (to read or to write?). So you can delete
this or read it when you have five minutes. (If you don't ever have five
minutes, maybe you need to quit doing something and find a good book!)
Guess I take after my mother. She used to write a weekly column for the
local paper in Snohomish. I just scanned all of the copies I could find.
She started in January 1968, near as I can tell, and continued until
November of that year. That may have been when my dad had his first heart
attack and she got all worried and stopped writing. Too bad, because there's
a lot of interesting stuff in there. Like when friend Roland cut his hand
real bad and when they got to the hospital they found part of a finger
missing and poor Dani (sister-in-law) had to go looking through the debris
for it and upon finding it didn't know how to handle it -- but Roland
finally got stitched together again somehow. My dad jacked up the house to
level it and the front door was jammed tight shut; they were going to trim
the bottom of it when the neighbor came by and said, "Don't do it! I did
that and now that the house settled back down the paper boy can throw the
paper right under the door into the living room!" She complained about
taxes, wrote about hiking in the Cascades, the lady who made the dress
with 3 armholes, graduation at the University of Idaho. Probably the best
columnist the Snohomish County Tribune ever had. And, like my Epistles,
never stayed on the same subject for more than a few sentences, other than
when she wrote about hiking.
Kathy and I went out to dinner while the kitchen counter dried and we were
talking, and I told her about the hay house as
I guess about 10-12 years old. She says I need to write about that. Reckon
I will, pretty soon.
Finally broke down and got a $99 scanner. Works pretty well for the most
part and has a slide attachment so now I get to go through a couple of
thousand slides and pick out the best maybe 50 pictures, in addition to more
shoeboxes full of 3x5 and 4x6 photos. (I've already send some to some of you
as attachments.) About 80% of them I don't have a clue where they were taken
(OK, OK, in the mountains!) and half the people I don't recognize. And then
there are half a dozen really outstanding pictures so far that I will put in
a "special" collection and maybe post it for anyone who might be interested.
Well, we took a couple of vacation trips and we already need another one but
Kathy is back to work and classes have started so we might do a day trip
somewhere. Went to Boston as some of you already know and helped daughter
Kriss decorate the "new" house that she and her fiance have bought. Kriss
painted her kitchen bright yellow, which gave Kathy the courage to paint
our kitchen red. Kriss also painted/splattered her countertop and it looks
great. Kathy is in the process of doing the same to ours but with slightly
less luck on the final finish. Humidity perhaps. She used the oilbase
version for the (new) last coat and had friend Eric Crawford spray it on.
That might do it when it sets up for another week.
Stopped at Niagara Falls on the way back from Boston. For 68 bucks
(hotels.com) including taxes, we ended up with a honeymoon suite about
1/4 mile from the falls. For all I know, they all have red heart-shaped
jacuzzis. After a good laugh, we used it anyway after we walked several
miles over to the Canadian side and back. Made a great halfway break
after 8 hours in the car. Shuffle Off To Buffalo and all that....
We've started in the choir at church since they needed all the help they
could get for the summer. They were desperate enough that they welcomed us
in. Once all the faculty and students return there will be a few more I
should hope; although, philosophically speaking, it seems that for the
young folks if you want music you buy a CD rather than make your own.
Hey, we do know some young musicians who do practice, and for those few it's
Katy Bar The Door! It's Knock Your Sox Off time when the MasterWorks kids
come during the summer! They do orchestra, ballet, opera, come from all over
the country, and sound as good as professionals. Concerts are open to the
public, free but they do take an offering. Plan on visiting us in the early
summer and we'll show you. And y'all know we're great fans of Southern Gospel.
(Well, except for one group from Nashville at the fair that we couldn't
understand one word in 10 so we sort of thought of a previous engagement
with a corndog and moseyed out between songs.)
Kathy and I have done a few gigs (for no pay of course), she on bass and I
on piano, four at retirement homes and one at the Kosciusko County Fair for
about 2 hours; we "opened" for their talent show. No, we weren't the
"talent"; apparently only young people have "talent" and you had to be
under 20 to enter the contest. We were just entertainment for the fair-goers.
And you know, the only compliments we got were from teenagers! I think
there's a reason for that, namely, you are socially obligated not to like
whatever music your parents like, even if you're 50 years old. The music
we play is what these kids' grandparents (and in some cases
great-grandparents) liked and their parents therefore dislike, so it's OK
for the teens to like it. And swing dancing was "in" for a short while
recently -- same phenomenon. (Or maybe they were just teens who have been
taught to be polite and say nice things and they really hated it, but I
don't think so.) Oh--the talent? Well, there were a couple of girls who
danced around no better than your average middle-school cheerleader and
then a young lady about 11 did a masterful job on the piano (sorry, can't
remember what she played, something classical and famous) and another about
13 did extremely well on the violin, so there is some hope; however, I'll
bet they don't get to play for church very much. Hope they get a nice prize
or at least encouragement when they compete statewide at Indianapolis.
Kathy has played bass in church a couple of times recently with the praise
band. She's done that before, but this is the first time in this
church, which is sort of the "flagship" church of the Grace Brethren. About
half the staff of the G.B. missions headquarters, Christian Education
offices, probably 25% of the faculty of the college, etc. go there. And the
pastor was the moderator of the national convention this year. The students
are back, and the ones in either of the services thought it was "cool" to
see Kathy up there, especially after meeting her in the Student Health
Center area at registration. It ain't country but it's still cool. Doesn't
come anywhere near taxing her abilities, though; no "walking" bass or solos
like we do together.
Our most recent gig was with a guitarist from our praise band at church. He
can noodle around very jazzily and he learned some new stuff from our music
like augmented sevenths and he can play in E-flat no capo. Anybody who can
play like that in E-flat has my respect. No, he's not exactly a teen; younger
than we are but he actually recognized about half the songs we play after we
got in a measure or two. His wife is one of the secretaries at church. And
Kathy has been sort of understudying the bass player at church who is really
good, again sort of middle aged but not quite. She learned something
significant the other night (I forget what) just before choir practice. I'm
just pleased as punch that Rik Lovelady, a national-contest-winning banjo
player, asked her to back him up. Regular bassist was out of town so she's
playing second fiddle -- er, bass that is -- but it's not often that an
artist of that caliber walks up after church and asks you to accompany him.
Reckon those bass lessons are paying off.
Speaking of caliber, Prof. Homer Kent is teaching the current series in
Sunday School. Kathy is going to have him autograph her copy of his book on
Hebrews that she finished a few weeks ago. That man seems to know everything
and makes it interesting! He turned 78 on the 14th of this month, same as
Fidel Castro. Yup, same day and they're the same age. Whatever that's worth.
Biggest real excitement around here was when Kathy woke up at 2:30 the one
night and smelled smoke. She went all over the house looking for the source,
never found a thing but got back to sleep about 6:00 and the alarm went off
at 7:00. Turns out that one of the old, small dorms burned -- if not clear
to the ground then I guess they had to tear the rest of it down to make sure
no "hot spots" were left. It housed 18 guys. There was no one there at the
moment, it being summer, and nothing of great value was stored there, but
now there was a mess to clean up and the guys will be shuffled around somehow
when they return week after next. Story is that the Winona Lake Fire Dept.
was returning from a medical call aboaut 12:15 AM when they smelled smoke.
Our fire station is right across the street from the dorm so it was real
handy. They got the rest of the crew out of bed (it's a volunteer dept.)
and also the Warsaw crew came charging over and were here in less than 5
minutes. A few firemen were still "on the scene", as the paper says, until
after daylight. Irony is that they had just re-roofed the building and were
going to connect the brand-new fire alarm system two days later. Best guess
is that it was started by lightning since we had one of those Midwest
whanger-bangers a short time before. As of when the new Freshmen arrived
with their parents, there was nothing there but an expanse of dirt which
looks like an odd front yard for the old house (another dorm, "Gamma C")
behind it.
Something started leaking in our bathroom and we thought it was the washing
machine drain clogged and/or the vent. Water dripping down into the basement
kitchen, Kathy putting pans on top of the cupboards to keep the plywood from
being ruined, not knowing where all the water could be coming from. Turns out
it was an actual leak. I was muttering something about "well-built house" as
I was disassembling the connections and lo! and behold! when I got the
sheetrock off the wall, there was a screw driven into the hot water pipe.
Now who would do such an idiotic thing? Hm. Well, on the other side of the
wall I was putting up the backsplash for the kitchen counter, and, well,
there you are. And to make matters worse the valve was one of these
one-handle-shuts-off-both-hot-and-cold deals so I had to destroy, I mean
carefully cut both lines with a hacksaw and replace the whole mess in that
the hole was just below the valve. Well, the valve didn't actually shut all
the way off anyhow so it needed replacing to say nothing of the flakey
electrical connection 240 volts to the dryer, so now the boxes and conduit
look like something you would find at the mill but it's solid and even
grounded to the cold-water pipe (a) below the plastic compression fitting
and (b) with something other than a loose metal strap. At least it's all
behind the washing machine. Well it's all fixed now and then I finished
laying 1" conduit across the driveway for our Christmas display. Good thing
I only went down about 4" because it's like digging in rock -- in fact, it
is rock; gravel at least, packed down for the past 40 years with "silt"
underneath, almost clay. Pulled a 12-conductor cable plus half a dozen
power-supply and ground wires through it. All I have to do now is put the
outlets every 20 feet down the fence, on the posts. Always something going
on here. Keeps me out of the bars.
Had to scurry around and clean up some of the construction debris from the
kitchen to accommodate 11 Freshmen and their student leaders. Parents had
mostly gone back home amongst tearful goodbyes and now it's our job to keep
the Freshmen so busy that they don't get homesick for at least 6 weeks. It's
good to get back in the college routine, though. We told the students that
we could have the house spotlessly clean or make cookies and they agreed
that our choice (cookies) was the better one. Our "mixer" wasn't some stupid
game; we had a couple of them find additional bowls for ice cream, a couple
of them set out the soft drinks, etc., then each of them make their own
banana splits on the newly-finished kitchen counter, and by the time all of
this was over they were chatting to where you couldn't get a word in
edgewise. Oh, and chocolate-chip cookies. That always livens up a party,
especially when you ask if anyone likes cookie dough. I think that was when
we ran out of spoons. Also saved on the electric bill since we didn't have
to bake one of the batches....
A faculty friend had some firewood he sort of "inherited" whey they bought
their house and wanted to give it away, so I volunteered. Got perhaps the
oldest and rustiest (worse than the other one we borrowed) pickup from the
college, no tailgate so I fabricated one out of a couple of boards and went
over to his place. (Only one taillight had a lens, other one was bulbs
hanging out by their wires but I didn't get a ticket in spite of going by
the sheriff's office and Warsaw City Hall twice every round trip.) Well, we
loaded that pickup, his pickup, brought it all to our place, then went back
and did the same thing again. Final trip was only part of a pickup load,
finishing up nearly a cord and a half, mostly ready for the stove. I
estimate we have nearly 3 cords counting some maple left over from last year.
Next "project" will be getting some downed timber where the new conference
center will be. Oh -- the ancient pickups? The college actually bought two
new ones and I think they'll get rid of the rustiest ones when they either
fall apart or the license tags expire in 2005, whichever comes first.
(College is actually in its best financial shape for past 3 years at least
but still no money to burn.) Our friend Tom keeps all the buses and trucks
running well and the brakes are still good, it's just the rusted bodies
where the radio has been removed, brake release is a piece of coat hanger
and you can see the street down under the driver's foot. Drive with the
windows open....
As if there isn't enough to do, I built a couple of storage bins on the end
of my 2-cord firewood storage rack in the garage. One bin is for Big Flat
Things (4x8 masonite, plywood) and above that is a bin (rack) for Long
Skinny Things (2x4s, conduit, copper pipe). Got a lot of junk -- I mean
Potentially Useful Materials out of the way, plus used the rusty pickup for
one more trip (to Lowe's this time) and got some assorted 4x8 sheets of
stuff that I know I will need for projects this winter, like shelves for one
cabinet downstairs. It's getting kind of tight to get the car into the
garage, but if we're careful we can still do it. Definitely have to back the
car out to swing that big stuff through the table saw, though. That 3/4"
Masonite (MDS? Whatever) stuff must weigh 100 pounds per sheet. Kathy kept
trying to help me unload it and I kept shooing her away because I was afraid
she would strain her back or drop it and break her foot. Lower it down and
"walk" it to storage, everybody stand back! Lowe's will help load but they won't send anyone home to help unload. Odd.
And we got another dead tree from the campus, made both the campus and our
woodpile look better. Lots of nettles in the way, got stung a few times.
Splitting it will keep me busy for a few weeks. Son Jonathan was here and
helped out, also a couple of my students at various times. It's nice when
I can just keep sawing away and have help to load the pieces. Couple of
neighbor boys (teens) helped Kathy unload when she brought the truck home.
She gave them some chocolate-chip cookies. Probably another cord or so in
that pile. Couple of more dead trees on the campus need to come down this
fall. I think I'm getting a partly-dead cottonwood this weekend from where
the new Event Center will be built, so its days are numbered anyway.
Probably has a cord or more in it. Gotta figure out where to put it, as the
space between the two sheds holds about 1.7 cords (stacked 5ft high) and
it's full and the garage area holds about 2 cords and it's full. (Don't
worry, I'll manage!)
Exercise? I don't need no steenking exercise! I need a couple more cords
of firewood!
Sweetwater Music is about 30 miles from here, near Ft. Wayne. I took Kathy
to IHOP for breakfast a couple of Saturdays ago and then we stopped in at
"Gearfest", Sweetwater's Katy Bar The Door Sale each year. She got so
enthusiastic that we came home with a new Kurzweil portable full-length
keyboard synthesizer to use when we play our "gigs". And a Roland amplifier,
Quiklok keyboard stand, cables, I forget what all, for the same price as the
Kurzweil alone at their regular price. It's not as good as our old Kurzweil
but it's portable and 1/3 the price. I've been learning all kinds of stuff
about it. I may even read the manual one of these days....
I'll put back the sheetrock in the bathroom when I'm good and ready. Also
after the kitchen is finished (molding, a couple of switches, move the
downstairs loveseat up and the upstairs one down) and the 6 or 7 cords of
firewood is all split and the Christmas display is wired and the light
routines for three new Christmas songs programmed on the computer....
Anyone want to buy a used Kurzweil Mark 10, still in good shape? (You pay
shipping!)
Like I keep telling everyone, keep your Windows updates current, same for
your antivirus software and firewall. Davy Crockett would have said, "Keep
your powder dry!" Same thing, just updated 180 years.
Glance at your address list and make sure you have the return address from
this. The spam filters on my other accounts keep intercepting stuff I
actually want.
Y'all keep in touch now!
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