Retraction

The other day I was waxing eloquently about how great spring is... I now retract everything I said. SPRING SUCKS! I have horrible allergies in the spring time. I'm talking about lay down in the bed with a wet wash cloth over my eyes because I can't even see bad. Right now I'm all fuzzy-headed, super doped up on allergy meds and feeling a fraction of relief, but I have to go to court in about 30 minutes for some crap case back in '08. It should be interesting.

Well Worn Books

It is finished. No, that's not a reference to Easter. It is the reality of the long awaited bookshelf. In no way is it extra special. The shelf is pretty similar to a dozen other things I've built with one exception...procrastination. For some reason, I just kept draaaging my feet on finishing that baby. But, now its done and put into position, only to realize I don't have enough books. You must understand I have always had TOO many books for my shelves. A few years ago we began systematically selling and giving away handfuls of books. Those handfuls have apparently turned into dozens. "Where are all my books?!" I wondered aloud as I stocked two and a half of the seven shelves. I go into a lot of houses all day everyday at work and I can't stop the thoughts of how shallow (and by shallow I mean dumb) the people must be who have giant bookshelves with little to no books. Most of them are filled with little baskets, nick-knacks and movies/video games. It is very seldom I see a bookcase packed with a well worn collection of books. I suppose some of them could be like me and have had their eyes opened to the year-round bountiful harvest that is the library. Based on the type of people I deal with this is most likely not the case. So, I guess a bookshelf thirty-six percent full of books I have actually read beats the mess out of one filled to the tippity top with things I know nothing about. I'm going to go read...and then possibly go to the book store.

Quick Learner

Part of Something Bigger

The longer days of Spring put a fire under my butt to get busy. Busy building stuff. Busy growing stuff. Busy cleaning stuff. Spring causes me to despise television time in light of breaking out the reel mower to give the grass a trim. I want to build a chicken coop or raise a barn. The Sun in the sky past 7 pm is just begging for someone's hands to get buried in the dirt it warmed all day. The overflowing gutters around the rim of the house lure me closer with the promise of satisfyingly hard work. My cheeks touch the ground as I watch intently for seeds to miraculously come to life expanding upward toward light and production. I want to gather hot fresh eggs and hear a rooster crow. I want to lie down on a blanket in the grass after dark and just listen. The buzz of bees as they finish their days work. Whippoorwills whistling their annual song. Guttural croaks from frogs on trees. Tiny bugs traipsing through the grass. The crunching steps of unseen animals deep in the woods.

Spring reminds me that I am part of something bigger. I am a living organism. Alive like the trees and frogs and Whippoorwills. I, like them, am composed of elements, atoms and cells. We are all linked on the same chain of food and life. I, like them, will rot someday. By the fundamental laws of nature we all move toward increased entropy. In the end, we are the same. Spring forces me to remember the brevity of my life. Like the drone bees who live little more than a month, I too will come to an end. What will I have accomplished? Who will I have influenced? It doesn't really matter if my name lives on as long as my ideals stretch on to impact lives even after my body has gone back to nature. Spring pushes me to be better. To be more. To hear more. To stop more. To listen more.

Late Fines and Other Lame Stuff

I have been slightly absent from posting lately due to the fact I have been working like a Hebrew slave for the last week at work. Here is a quick highlight reel of what has been happening: went to work a bunch, got a call from the realtor saying housing market sucks, decided to rent our house out again, planted some potatoes, planted some onions, planted some lettuce, planted some spinach, planted some carrots, helped Izzy plant her "Elmo" tomatoes, fertilized, watered, watched nice spring weather turn into 40 mph freezing winds and over an inch of snow, hoped my plants aren't all dead, almost finished the bookshelf I have been procrastinating finishing, found out my brother started running which motivated me to want to run, made some cookies so good I couldn't help gorging myself thus negating any run I actually would have completed, bought a yummy mango, ate the yummy mango, swept and mopped all the wood floors in the house, watched spring weather return, read some magazines, held a kids' movie from the library 6 days after its due date, and that's pretty much it.

Planting a Garden in a Homemade Skirt!

"Train up a child in the way (s)he should go, and when (s)he is old (s)he will not depart from it." -Proverbs 22:6

Small Town USA

I went to the country for a relaxing 4 day mini vacation, but got two sick kids. An emergency room visit and about five trips to town for meds and supplies later and we were home with a load of prescriptions for thrush sore-mouthed baby and allergy swollen-eyed toddler. What a beat down. Despite the difficulties, it was a fun trip. Somewhere in the midst of all the chaos I did manage to build a pretty amazing rocking giraffe out of old discarded wood for my buddy's upcoming baby (I forgot to take a picture of it before giving it away). The words of Justin Moore's Small Town USA ring true to me:

A lot of people called it prison when I was growin up

But these are my roots and this is what I love

Cause everybody knows me and I know them

And I believe that's the way we were supposed to live

Wouldn't trade one single day here in small town USA.

Life is far superior when surrounded by the happiness and helpfulness of family. Maybe I would find myself raving about life in the city if I had grown up with the same loving family in an urban neighborhood. I'm not sure, because the hard working life of soil stained hands is synonymous with my family. When I hear country, I think family. When I hear family, I think of the big blue house surrounded by woods, vegetable gardens, orchards, chickens, and the eclectic collection of stray pets collected through the years. I do believe that a simple country lifestyle of self sustainability being surrounded by family is the way we were supposed to live. I will be back soon.

Uuugg

I suck these days.

Coming to Life

Here are some pictures I took this past week of my parents' farm coming to life.

Grocery Store Wars

Want to Buy a House?

Ah...the country. We left the Front Porch Farm, along with the rest of the city, in the rearview mirror as we sped south to the country. Unfortunately, this trip is not primarily focused on R&R. Yesterday, I spent the entire day with my father driving down to the gulf coast to check on my house, which has been occupied by a renter for the last two years. The timing was perfect because the renter was driving off with the last of her belongings in tow as I was pulling up. But then came the damage assessment....(1) changed locks, (2) fat iron burn mark in the middle of the living room carpet, (3) chewed wood corners of every step on the stairwell, (4) the weediest/ugliest lawn I have ever seen, (5) flower beds that looked like the Vietnam jungle (seriously, I was considering napalm and agent orange as viable options), (5) approximately seven hundred thousand nail holes in the walls, (6) a couple of big damage-to-sheetrock holes, (7) shredded carpet in upstairs hall and one of the bedrooms, and (8) general overall filthiness.

Despite all that, I informed the realtor I had about 3, maybe 4, months of mortgage payments in the bank and she said, "I think I can sell it in 30 days!" I seriously considered making out with her on the spot. So, hopefully I am about to spend a little money and make some big money.

*The picture is a rare glimpse of snow on my parents farm. This was probably the most they have had in about 25 years.