Viva La Vida Al Máximo

I want you to imagine that you've already lived your entire life.
As you look back on the many years you've spent on this earth, you see that you've wasted much of your time, and disregarded many of the blessings which you were given. Without making an effort, you allowed many of the opportunities which you had to help others and to accomplish great things to simply expire, leaving you only with the unsatisfiable contemplation of what could have been.

Now I want you to continue imagining that by some miracle you were given a second chance, and were sent back in time to this very moment, to relive the years of your life in a more productive and meaningful way. Like Scrooge waking from his visions on Christmas day, there is now an inextinguishable eagerness in your heart to live every second in a way that is more pleasing to God, and more beneficial for every man and woman upon whom the light of your influence has a chance to shine.

Now quit imaging, and begin living this way for today and for as long as you live. Never again say that you wish you could go back five or ten years into the past to do things differently. Instead, thank God that you still have yet to live every moment of your life from this day on.



”Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord…”
-Colossians 3:22

“Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
“I find no pleasure in them”—
before the sun and the light
and the moon and the stars grow dark,
and the clouds return after the rain;
when the keepers of the house tremble,
and the strong men stoop,
when the grinders cease because they are few,
and those looking through the windows grow dim;
when the doors to the street are closed
and the sound of grinding fades;
when people rise up at the sound of birds,
but all their songs grow faint;
when people are afraid of heights
and of dangers in the streets;
when the almond tree blossoms
and the grasshopper drags itself along
and desire no longer is stirred.
Then people go to their eternal home
and mourners go about the streets.
Remember him—before the silver cord is severed,
and the golden bowl is broken;
before the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
and the wheel broken at the well,
and the dust returns to the ground it came from,
and the spirit returns to God who gave it.”
-Ecclesiastes 12:1-7

*The first section of Ecclesiastes 12 is full of figurative language describing the process of getting old and losing things such as hearing and sight. So I wanted to include this passage as a reminder to serve God now.

Meeting Monday

This morning my alarm clock went off at 4:30am. Slowly my eyes and mind were able to muster enough alertness for me to attempt my Bible reading and memorization. At 5:00am I took the plunge out of my warm bed and proceeded with my workday routine of getting dressed, making breakfast, and preparing a lunch. Before I left for work at 5:45am I had a little free time and almost considered updating my status on facebook to express how tired I was after a weekend of camping; and how dearly I wished I could have slept some more. But my mind was still too numb to artfully express the thought; and my disposition was still so longing for the wrong side of the bed which I had awoken on, that I was unable to construct any sort of positive conclusion.

So with my cell phone lighting the ground before my feet ― I stepped outside to meet the 28° windchilled pre-dawn twilight.

As usual I arrived at work a little early. So I just sat in my truck and waited for the arrival of my coworkers and the keys which unlock the door to the employee time-card.

The one-hour-and-ten-minute-slow clock on my truck soon read "4:54", and yet none of my coworkers had arrived. It was a Monday morning though, so I didn't think too much of their tardiness. So I waited some more. And some more. And some more still.

I waited until 6:30am and besides the arrival and departure of a truck driver, no one else ever showed up. For some reason never in any way communicated to me, this was a no-work day. So I returned home with the first glimpse of the eastern sunlight shining through my truck's rear window. Once I got home and had climbed back into my warm bed I discovered something awful...
I was now fully awake.

Now warm and with a due smile on my face, I can tell of these circumstances.  I smile because it is funny; and because I am glad that I was able to learn a lesson from all of this. Despite my worrying and my dreading of the coming work day; my work day never came to be. Many worries in life are this way. We can spend hours fussing about any great number of things which will never happen. We should instead trust in God, and let come what may.


Time for a nap. :)

BONSAI

Two of the things I brought up with me from Kansas are my little bonsai-trees-to-be.

Bonsai Redbud

They are not actually bonsai yet. I need to let them grow until winter, and then prune their roots while they are dormant.

Bonsai Oak

I grew this guy from an acorn which fell from one of our oak trees in Kansas.

They may look small now, but just you wait…. Actually, I am hoping they always look small.

Getting use to my surroundings

One of the things I have always enjoyed is long and rejuvenating walks. Evening walks are best because the humidity and temperatures are low, and the colors are amazing. All my life I have lived in cities; so I would try to take my walks to the edge of town, a quiet park, or along some train tracks.The funny thing is that usually I spent half of my time just getting to a place like that where I could enjoy my walk. Things are different now though. Now for the first time in my life I live in the country! I need only walk to the end of my driveway to find myself on a beautifully scenic country road. I have already gone on several nice long walks since moving one and a half weeks ago. I would like to share some images from the walk I took yesterday evening.

Looking down the road…

One thing I love about this part of Minnesota, is that it contains a healthy amount of open spaces and pastures. This makes it a lot easier for me to adjust after spending most of my life in Kansas.

I still can’t believe I live here…

I think this view will look nice come fall.

Daisies along the fence

Sunset view from Steam Boat Road

Freshly planted power poles

I am not extremely thrilled that there are signs of civilization being installed in the pasture down the road. But the sunset’s colors were so superb that it was hard to not enjoy the view.

A final look at the day’s final colors

One of the horses grazing (I’m not sure which one)

And these are only the views from a short walk down my road... This is such a wonderful place to live!

Yard Report May 22nd

It has been just over three weeks since my last update. The trees were all pretty much full then, so the only noticeable difference has been in the garden and fruit trees. I am actually kind of disappointed with the progress lately due to the fact that we haven’t had hardly any rain for the past two weeks. However, even though the garden may not be as lush or vibrant as could it be; our early spring means everything is still ahead of normal, and we have already enjoyed quite a bit of produce from our garden.

The Yard (you may notice that Teddy managed to sneak into three of these photos)

The Trees
The apples and pears have actually grown slower lately since they are shaded by a large oak and other trees. The walnuts are soaking up lots of sun though

Pear

Apple


Walnut


The Garden
I didn’t take pictures of everything, since carrots and other such stuff are not so exciting until they are actually harvested.

Grapes

Pumpkin


Corn (chest high for me)

A lady bug eating the eggs of some garden pest off of our corn


Black Raspberries


Red Raspberries

Broccoli (we have been enjoying fresh broccoli for the past couple weeks)


Tomatoes, Onions, Broccoli, and Potatoes (Left to Right)


Cucumbers are planted all along the fence


There were many more plants which didn’t make it into pictures including peppers, Romaine Lettuce, Swiss Chard, Squash, Carrots, and other things I am not sure about. It has been fun to take these photo updates as the trees and garden came alive this spring. It is pretty interesting to look back at my first post and compare the changes. Though the calendar says it is spring still, I have a sunburn which is telling me it’s summer. I do hope to do something like this again some time. Maybe on a smaller scale though.

Until next time….

Work Shoes

Let me tell you about these shoes….

With the preparation for a move comes many decisions. Decisions about which stuff to bring, which stuff to give to my younger brothers, and which stuff to throw away. Looking at the above picture, you might think that the fate of these shoes is not only obviously the latter of the choices, it is also a bit overdue in the making. But you don’t know their story. Let me tell you about these shoes….

The year was 2004. My older brother Michael was working his first job, as a cook at the Pizza Hut in North Topeka. Anyone who has ever worked fast food knows that one of the employee’s required out-of-pocket expenses is some black slip-resistant shoes. Often employers have a program where money can be withheld from your paycheck to purchase shoes which are usually more comfortable, more stylish, and cheaper then the selection at your local Wal-Mart shoe department. So from a Pizza Hut employee catalog, Michael bought these shoes.

It wasn’t long before I turned 16 and also entered the workforce. In January of 2005 I became a pizza-making apprentice under my brother’s training. Regretfully, I opted for a pair of not-so-stylish and not-so-comfortable shoes from K-mart. The long shifts (sometimes 12 hours with no breaks) were murdering my feet, so I quickly commandeered his shoes when Michael found a new job at Ace Hardware.

Some time later, Michael once again required the use of these shoes. On top of working full time at Ace, he also picked up a part time job as a fry cook for Sonic over the summer. So he would wear the shoes during the times he worked at Sonic, and I would use them whenever they were available to me. They saw a lot of use that summer. Finally, about two years after they were purchased I escaped Pizza Hut; and the shoes went into temporary retirement. They moved with Michael and I to Denver in August of 2008; where they periodically saw some use being the comfortable and quick-to-slip-on shoes that they were. Denver was an expensive place to live, and it was hard for me to find a job at first. So I lowered my job search standards back down to fast food; and in May of 2009 the shoes were once again employed full time. Actually that summer they became employed overtime. I worked three jobs for awhile that summer. Wendy's, Subway, and finally a third as the front desk clerk overnight at a Comfort Suites hotel. My job at the hotel didn’t require non-slip shoes though, so these shoes got a little rest. I was soon stabilizing financially, and was able settle down to working at Subway only. And then I had my bike accident…. Though it only would cover a portion of the medical costs, I had to sell my car. Which meant walking to work. Getting to Subway was a tedious 40 minute walk each way. And believe me, I walk fast. Since I worked in these shoes, I also walked in these shoes. The speed-walking commutes I made to work five days each week were starting to take a toll on these shoes which was many times greater than what the several thousand hours of employed standing had already done. The padding behind the heels started to fall out, which caused the comfort level of the shoes to fade almost as quickly as the once non-slip souls beneath my feet. Seven or so months later I was able to start biking again; but so much damage was already done. Still I took the shoes with me when I moved back to Kansas at the end of August, 2010.

Though living in Kansas is cheaper, I still needed to work. So these shoes accompanied me as I found a job at another Subway, and eventually also at Red Lobster. When I first got the job at Red Lobster I used the shoes which I had purchased long before at K-mart. They were almost never used, and looked much more presentable than this worn pair. But that didn’t last long since they were still much more uncomfortable than the worn pair. I would just have to be careful walking on slick floors, and hope nobody looked at my feet. Red Lobster puts more wear on shoes than a standing only fast food job would; so again their stability started to decline.

So here we are eight years after Michael originally bought them. What you see in these pictures is what the shoes look like today. Many times throughout the last year I nearly broke down and bought a new pair of work shoes. But each time the comfort and ease of these ones called back to me. I guess in that regard, these shoes are much like living here in Topeka. There are better places to live; but Topeka is comfortable, cheap, and what I’m use to. So, after learning the story behind these shoes I hope you will understand my choice when deciding their fate. You have to consider that it is hard to throw away memories; and besides, my younger brother Thomas might be getting a job in a few years. So…

.

.

.

.                                             GOODBYE!

Preparing to say ‘Goodbye’ to North Topeka

If all goes as planned, then I will be moving away from North Topeka in less than two weeks. (I haven’t decided on an exact date yet.)
I would be lying if I said that I am not eagerly anticipating my move; but I would also be lying if I said that I won’t miss this place.

I spent 17 of out of the 22 years of my life in North Topeka.
Despite it’s oddities, Topeka has a feeling of stability to it.
I feel as though the ground beneath my feet is solid here, more than anywhere else I’ve ever been.
It is the simple things about North Topeka that I find relaxing.

4th of July fireworks on our street corner,
the old hound dog and chickens that reside on Jefferson street,
our tree-lined street,
the summery sound of cicadas,
and much more…

For better or for worse, there’s no place like home.

One of the comforting oddities of North Topeka

The End of April

It has been three weeks since my last update. I did take pictures, but I didn’t post them since I lost my camera cord. I am still not sure where it is, but I decided to go ahead and use my old camera since things have significantly changed in the last three weeks. Here are the pictures I took today.

The Yard





The Trees
About a month ago I predicted that all the trees would be fully-leafed by May 1st. As you can see that is almost the case. One exception is our Pecan trees.

The Pecan Trees

The Apple Tree

The Walnut Trees

The Pear Trees

The Garden
The Garden has taken shape quite a lot since my last update. There are many plants in it which I did not photograph today, but hopefully I will next time.

Grapes (same cluster as in all of my previous grape photos)


Sweet Corn


Potatoes and Swiss Chard (Left to Right)


Tomatoes, Green Onions, And Broccoli


Raspberries


I actually think it is better doing an update just once every three weeks now that things are not changing as noticeably each week. If things go as planned, then my next update will also be my last, since I hope to move that week. I expect many crops will be very far along by then, so I will be very thorough. The grapes have already come a long way, and the corn is about a foot high and growing nearly an inch each day.

One Last shot for this week is of our Peony blossoms. They normally arrive in mid to late May; but like everything else this year, they are very early. Peonies are one of my favorites.