Fall has fallen

The leaves that is. We have 5 pecan trees in the yard and they are working overtime on making leaves, or at least making them fall. The picture is only showing less than half of them and the street is full as well along the curb. Raking and bagging the leaves is probably my least favorite thing to do. Usually we just mulch them with the lawnmower but this year there were too many. I have blown them into piles and am slowly getting them into bags. The city picks them up and they dump them out of the bags. It would be nice if they would invest in a large leaf vacuum and just come by and vacuum them out of the yard. I'm sure that will never happen, but it would save on bags.

Martha is on holiday for Thanksgiving and we will go to visit some friends for Thanksgiving day. We have much to be thankful for at this time. I recently traveled to our daughter's house in Louisiana and stopped at our son's house on the way. I had time to spend with both and with all our grandchildren. we are blessed beyond measure to have them all and we don't get to see them often enough.

As I drove through the forests of east Texas with rays of sunlight filtering through the trees with their red, gold and green leaves, I was reminded of our creator who gave it all to us to care for and manage. We haven't done the best job of that but even so, it is beautiful. We are reminded by Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 to give thanks in every circumstance. The apostle does not say "for every circumstance" but "in every circumstance". No matter what comes our way we can rejoice and be thankful that God loves us, cares for us and is in complete control. He is still on His throne and always will be.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving, not forgetting to really give thanks to Him for all we have.

The cat who came to bathe

The cat who came to bathe

We love cats but currently don't have one. We did have 2 who were brother and sister but they died after 14 years and we haven't felt like we should get another one. We do like them however and several seem to enjoy passing through our yard and drinking water. We keep water dishes in back for the birds and other animals that might pass through and the cats are frequent visitors. Usually they shy away when they see us and will not hang around. This morning though, one stayed around for most of an hour. He knew I was watching him and kept a wary eye in my direction but didn't leave. He would get a drink and then go lay in the sun and bathe. Then get more water and bathe some more. He left once for a minute but came right back to his spot. I enjoyed watching him for quite a while and I took a few pictures for all to see. Here is one of them.

Maiden Voyage

The Builder Chapter 7


The big boat that dad built was in the water but it was 70 miles away in Galveston and dad was itching to get it home to the creek so he could continue working on it. He had already begun to prepare wood to make the mast. It would be made from many pieces of wood and carefully glued together to form a very strong spar. Dad called me in December of that year and asked if I was interested in the maiden voyage. We would use the outboard to travel from Galveston to the house, a distance of about 65 miles by water. Thus I found myself in dad’s VW headed for Galveston way before dawn on a Sunday morning in December. We were to meet my brother there at the boat and be on our way by first light. We had snacks and drinks with us as well as charts of the Intracoastal Waterway which would serve as our highway home. My brother was coming straight from work and ran a bit late but by full light we were under way. We had traveled less than a mile when heavy fog set in and we were forced to put down the anchor and wait for it to lift. An hour later it did and we were once again on our way, but slowly. There was still some fog and we were headed against the tide. The remainder of the day was like that, patchy fog and contrary currents and what wind there was blew against us as well. There was a distinct chill in the air but after all, it was December.

Now the thing was, mother was expecting us about 7:30 or 8 PM and she was preparing a feast for our arrival. You might remember also that in 1972 there were no cell phones and there were few if any places where we might have stopped and called, but in fact I don’t remember that we even thought of it. We were on an adventure and even though we realized that we were hours behind schedule we still didn’t think of trying to let mom know. By dark we were crossing the Brazos River and had about 20 miles to go. At the speed we had maintained all day that was about 4-5 hours. We cleared the locks on the Brazos and continued through the night towards home. In the dark it was hard to gauge progress and we didn’t realize that we were now traveling with the tidal current and were going much faster. The fog was setting in again and it was cold and misty. At times we could not see the bank at all and we were running along very close to it. This part of the waterway has many small lakes on both sides and we were watching the shoreline as it disappeared and reappeared each time we passed the entrance to one of these small lakes. We had crossed the San Bernard River and thought we were crossing the entrance to one of the lakes since the bank had disappeared. We had gone quite a ways in the fog without seeing anything when the boat ran up on the bank and lodged there, firmly stuck in the mud. It was nearly 10 PM and we didn’t have a clue where we really were. At the house, mother was wondering if she should call the Coast Guard or the Sherriff. Supper was done 2 hours ago and now was getting cold. Back aboard the boat we studied the charts and finally figured out that we had been going faster and were about 4 or 5 miles further than we thought we were. The canal makes a left turn at that point and we had crossed the canal and run up on the bank on the far side. The boat was light and we were able to get off the bank and back into the canal. Once we realized where we were, we were able to head on toward home. We finally arrived around 11:30 and after all the apologies and excuses, mom insisted that we eat. So supper was warmed and we ate at midnight. I had to be at work the next day in San Antonio so I left and headed home. Needless to say I was pretty tired by the time I got there but the boat was delivered safe and sound and we had an adventure that I have never forgotten. I don’t think my brother has ever forgotten either and if mom were alive she would remember as well and probably still be upset with us.

Building a big boat

The Builder Chapter 6

Launching the boat

Do you have dreams? I’m talking about those dreams where we envision what we might be or maybe what we want to be, or … I think all of us have them at various times of life. We have a childhood dream of being an astronaut or a star athlete or some other equally stunning career. Later we dream of a mate and a family and by middle age when the family is scattered we dream of reunions and grandchildren and worry that life is slipping away and we haven’t accomplished what we dreamed about. In the golden years, the autumn of life, we dream of retirement. Some will dare to dream big, sailing off into the sunset, exploring the unknown, searching for the meaning behind all that we dream about. I fear that most of us simply dream and never really attempt to bring those dreams to reality or maybe we try and somehow get discouraged and it just never happens. There are those however, who dream big dreams and forge ahead to make them happen. They have that determination, that spark that drives men and women to be successful in endeavors that seem to be huge to those of us that are “want to be’s”. This chapter and perhaps the next two are about such a man who dreamed big and a lot of it came to pass.

I don’t know exactly when dad began thinking about building a boat but it was in those years when I was away in the service. I would come home and he was surrounded with boating magazines. He would talk about the different types of boats and what he thought would be good. He was talking about sailboats and not small ones either. He talked of a long trip aboard the boat with mom as they would travel aboard their own sailboat. After a lot of study and correspondence with others who had done this, he ordered the plans to a 30 foot trimaran sailboat. It would be built out of wood with plywood hulls and glued with epoxy. The year was 1966 when he got the plans and after studying them for weeks, he brought the first pieces of wood home on the roof rack of his Volkswagen. Every piece of wood in the boat came home the same way. I remember coming home that summer and he showed me the first frame he had built for the main hull. This type of sailboat had three hulls tied together by beams that spanned the width of the vessel. It was to be 30 feet long and 18 feet wide. Dad had never built a boat before that I know about, and certainly not one of this magnitude. Noah building the Ark comes to mind. Piece by piece the frames were built and stacked in the garage. He built a backbone in the yard so he could assemble the hulls. Time passed slowly, months became years but always he made some progress. He was still working full time so the boat building was relegated to evenings and weekends. The hulls were finally finished and coated with epoxy and fiberglass. Then came the task of connecting them and building the beams that would be the strongest part of the boat. I think it was sometime in 1970 that he really set a goal to retire and have the boat finished by the time he did retire. The date was set for his 62nd birthday, October 1, 1972. So it would take slightly over 6 years to complete. Dad stayed doggedly on task and by late summer of 1972 it was nearly finished. The cabin was done with bunks and a galley and a portable toilet. He had ordered a sextant, used for navigation, and charts and was already dreaming of sailing off into the sunset. There was still much to do however as he lacked the mast, boom and the sails. These additions would come later but for now he had finished the basic boat. Plans were made to transport the boat to Galveston and launch it soon after retirement. Mom and dad owned the house at the creek that I write about often, so the house in Bellaire was placed for sale and they prepared to downsize and move to the creek in retirement. The boat was indeed launched in early October 1972 at Galveston and christened “Wanderer”. She still did not have sails or spars but there was an outboard motor to provide power.

I’ll continue this in the next installment, stay tuned.

A Car and a Washing Machine

The last two weeks have been an adventure for us to say the least. Martha’s car had developed a leak in the power steering pump or hoses and was scheduled to go in for service on that. As you will see, that service never occurred.

It was two weeks ago today, Martha had gone to Wal-Mart for some things and I was preparing to leave for a board meeting. The phone rang and I answered it. The caller identified himself as a sheriff’s deputy and then asked “who is the woman in your car?” Well that was a strange question so I said “what do you mean?” Finally we got to the point. There was a fire in a vehicle (ours) and they could not locate Martha. The officer called it a little fire but when I arrived there at the Wal-Mart parking lot it looked like a pretty big fire to me. By that time they had found her and the fire was out. No one was injured and no other property was damaged but the car was destroyed. We cleaned it out and they towed it away and it was sad to see it gone forever. We have owned it for 12 years and it was a good old car.

That led us to begin the search for a new car, well not new, but new to us. We looked mostly on the internet at dealer web sites and Craig’s list. We eventually settled in on a Chrysler PT Cruiser. We liked the body style and a lot of the comments from owners were positive. Chrysler even offered original owners a lifetime limited power train warranty, whatever that is, but alas it is not transferrable. We found a couple that we would like to see but they were in Ft. Worth so we had to schedule a day to go see them.

In the meantime, the washing machine started acting up. I had a guy look at it and he didn’t know if it was the water valves or the timer. It still worked so we put off that decision until we dealt with the car. Last Friday was the day to go to Ft. Worth and we found a car we liked and we bought it. Since it was an out of state car we needed to get it inspected and on the way to do that we almost got smashed by someone who ran a stop sign right in front of us. On the way home we came upon an accident that had the road closed and we had to detour around it. Through all of this we give credit to God for protecting us.

We went to bed that night pleased with our “new” car and looking forward to a nice Saturday. About 3:30 am I was awakened abruptly by Martha yelling something about the washer flooding the house. Sure enough that was the case and after a bit of chasing around we got the water off. She cleaned up what had gone on the floor and we went back to bed. It had just started and somehow Martha was awake at that hour and heard it so there was no real damage from the water. The problem turned out to be the hot water hose that connects to the wall. In the process of fixing that I found that the other problem was a bad valve so I was able to fix all of that at once. So again we praise God for waking Martha up and her hearing the water leak. We are blessed and we are grateful.

The Builder Chapter 5

Airplanes again


I think I mentioned airplanes in the second post of this series but this post will be about a few more airplanes that were prominent in our life in the 50’s. As I said, my dad was a prolific modeler and sometime in the early 50’s he got into flying control line airplanes. We had two acres and the back half or more was mostly open. We mowed a circle of about 140 foot diameter and that was where we flew. Mostly dad and I did the building and flying, I don’t remember my brother getting into it much. These planes used a glow plug engine and flew in a circle with 60 foot control lines that allowed the pilot to control up and down as the plane flew. The rudder was installed in such a way as to drive the airplane to the outside of the circle and keep tension on the control wires. Dad built many airplanes and flew them all on Sunday afternoons and occasionally at other times if someone wanted to see them. I remember 2 particular models that he built that were twins. He built them from scratch using plans from a magazine and he labored on them for months. Parts were cut from balsa wood and glued together and the plane was covered with a silkspan paper and then painted with airplane “Dope”. This was a special paint that would resist the alcohol, nitro and castor oil fuel mixture used in the engines.

These planes were finally finished and were perfect. Dad invited some folks to watch the maiden flight. My job was to mow the flying circle and viewing area. I did that and on Sunday afternoon all was ready. The engine was started, the controls were checked and all was ready. As the plane started the takeoff roll it encountered a weed about a foot high that I had missed in my mowing. The control wires caught on the weed and the aircraft swung around and headed straight for the pilot, who was Dad. Of course with no tension on the control wires, there was no control so the airplane was pretty much in free flight. Dad stayed out of the way but soon it began to climb and then from an altitude less than 50 feet it dove for the ground on the other side of the circle. I don’t know how fast it was going when it hit but it was totally destroyed. There was not much to identify the pile of balsa as an airplane. Dad was a bit upset to say the least and I was well scolded for leaving one weed in the circle.

We did remove the weed and were able to successfully fly the twin airplane and in fact it lasted several years and endured several crashes that were more violent than the first plane had encountered. I think I finally did it in by running into an asphalt parking lot at a fairly steep angle.

These were memorable times spent with dad around the model building table and learning to fly them. Dad flew these airplanes for only a few years but I kept at it and even owned a hobby shop for a while in Austin Texas.

There are a few more of these stories and I will get to them as time goes by. Thanks for reading.

Retirement busyness

Retirement was supposed to be slowing down but it seems that since I began this retirement thing life has been speeding up. I have wanted to go to the creek and work on the house for a while but there seems to be something that keeps me here. I am on the board of a local non profit and two committees at church so there are periodic meetings. The non profit held a fund raiser recently and that took time. I am working on a backdrop for the stage in the children's worship room at church and HPU will celebrate homecoming this weekend. A couple of weeks ago was the Brownwood reunion where I drove the train in the parade. So I am staying busy. The trike is mostly done and has a few miles on it but I really should be riding more. I need to make a couple of repairs on it but haven't taken the time to do so. Oh, and the house needs painting and the camper needs some repair on the roof and... I think the list goes on forever. I am sure it will slow down someday.

Fall is here and we are enjoying the cooler weather. Nights have been in the 40's and days around 80 or sometimes cooler. It is much better than the hundred degrees or so of a month ago.

I do hope to post another story from the series I started on The Builder. Maybe I will find time to write that soon.