cuttin' stuff

a couple of weeks ago i picked up a chainsaw blade sharpener at lowes. i had to try it out... so for the last couple of weeks i've been cuttin' stuff around the property. i've got a lot of trees, so there's a lot to cut.

i grew up in indiana. my dad converted our car port (do they make those anymore???) to a family room in the late 60s complete with green paneling and orange carpet. we were mod. anyhoo, rather than tieing into the heating system, my dad put a wood stove in the room. turns out, we could heat our entire house with the thing. the only problem was that he would keep it about 95 degrees in the family room. i remember times when it was like 20 below zero outside and i'd be sitting in the family room wearing shorts and no shirt. balmy.

well, in order to keep the room a comfy 95 degrees, we spent the spring, summer and fall cuttin' stuff. my dad would hear about someone who had a big oak tree down and we'd hop in the ford pickup to drive out to where it was so we could cut it into manageable pieces to throw in the back of the truck. when we got it home, we'd have to split it. so, we were pretty much cuttin' stuff one way or another most of the year.

i cut a lot of stuff today. gonna go in on renting a chipper with my neighbor. there's this bradford pear tree that i never really liked...

18 years ago

february 17, 1987 (18 years ago yesterday), God blessed us with our son zak. having your first child is a pretty weird experience. you leave for the hospital with just you and your wife, and you come home with a stranger in a car seat who's planning to live with you for about 18 years. on the way home from the hospital, i thought "what if we don't like him?" well, we did, we do, and we're very proud of him. happy birthday z!

that kobe bryant guy is a lot bigger than he looks on tv...

be careful what you preach about

last summer i taught a message at fellowship where i used an illustration of a flying pig. since that time, i've received numerous flying pig gifts including stuffed flying pigs, ceramic flying pigs, battery-powered flying pigs, wall-hanging flying pigs and christmas ornament flying pigs. i really like all of my pigs (they go well with my chickens - but that's another story).

so i started thinking...i'm teaching again this week. rather than use a flying pig illustration, maybe i'll use this one:

2005 dynaglide lowrider in case you're interested. :-)