Do you really want my opinion?

Posted on 08/21/2011 by RLW3

The penultimate moment In the movie “A Few Good Men” comes when Tom Cruise’s sharp young lawyer Kaffee demands, “I want the truth!” Jack Nicholson’s crusty old Colonel Jessup yells back, “You can’t handle the truth!”

It seems that am forced to relive a variation of this scene over and over again with my children. Tonight was one of those times.

Kimba, my second daughter, called to warn me that a certain young man would be calling to ask for her hand in marriage.

She has been attending a church for the last few years and has been growing tremendously. However, if the truth be told, I feel like her father in name only. I say that because she doesn’t really call me for guidance or direction.

So, when she asked the question, I was faced with a dilemma:  do I tell her what I really think and feel or just passively pretend in order to avoid conflict and get along?

I decided to put the question to her. Which direction did she want our relationship to head?

I told her that I was willing to do whatever she wanted. If she just wanted me to rubber stamp it, I would.

She said that she wanted to know what I really thought. So I launched out and told her…

I think that asking for my daughter’s hand in marriage is worth more than a phone call. I think that question should be asked face to face…man to man. In went so far as to suggest a weekend visit so we could get to know him a little. Besides, he needs to get to know us because when he marries her, he is also marrying into our family.

After discussing back and forth for nearly 40 minutes, she agreed.

Then she thought of one last potential problem…

“What if he can’t afford the trip?”

“Honey, if he can’t make it from Nashville to Kansas City, he isn’t ready to be the head of a family.”

She agreed with me.

When we hung up the phone, we were closer and our relationship was more “real” than when we started.

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Somebody is not happy!

Posted on 06/11/2011 by RLW3

Talked w/Big A-someone threw rocks through two of the Nissan’s windows last night

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The battle rages

Posted on 06/10/2011 by RLW3

Before I could get on the freeway to leave for TX, I was pulled over and given a ticket for doing 45 in a 35 MPH zone! After I got on the freeway and calmed down, I put in the CD of our pastor’s sermon on “Let’s Fight for the Family” and learned that I had inadvertently grabbed Part 2. I intended to grab Part 1. They read the text for the message:

Neh 4:7 Now it happened, when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry, :8 and all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion.

As soon as I heard that, I understood what was happening with our family. I had said those very words when describing Anson to Mom (see 5/19 History entry). The Lord had just used those very words to describe Jennifer’s situation that very day during lunch (see 6/10 Words entry)

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The Enemy’s counterattack

Posted on 06/06/2011 by RLW3

Jen came home to discover that her house had been broken into

computer and jewelry taken

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The Holy Spirit rescues Cakes

Posted on 06/06/2011 by RLW3
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O-ver-ra-ted!

Posted on 09/04/2010 by RLW3

Hurricane Earl was supposed to be meterological Armagedon.

The latest in the seemingly endless parade of “end of life as we know it because we filthy humans are destroying the planet with our SUV’s and air conditioners” weather events.

And, even though I have learned to be skeptical of such prognostications, we drove into Williamsburg expecting to see devastation and destruction.

What did we find?

Peaceful blue skies and normal life continuing on.

In the end, Earl did about $4 million worth of damage in North Carolina. I know that sounds big, but remember, it’s the government doing the reporting.

But, I should be grateful.

There was no traffic…

and I look like a fearless genius to my dubious friends at work!

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Thanks for the early warning

Posted on 09/03/2010 by RLW3

Something happened today that I have never seen before…

I was washing my hands after using the restroom when a co-worker from the shop walked in. Nothing strange or unusual about that. It was what he did next that got my attention…

He walked over to the wall mounted air freshener and pumped a shot of air freshener and then headed into the stall!

I have NEVER seen anyone do that!

After the fact…sure. Everybody has done that! With arms flailing!

…and then try to walk out as if you are completely oblivious to anything that has just transpired inside.

But in advance??? That is a first. 

Now that I think about it, it was a very humble act. This man went out of his way to extend a little protection before he launched a mushroom cloud.

And I, for one, was grateful.

On more than one occasion, I have headed into one of the bathrooms at work only to turn right around without ever making it inside. Toxic gas had so completely filled the restroom that there was no oxygen left. In fact, my breathing stopped before ever entering the room because the cloud was spilling out onto the shop floor!

The fumes then twisted the thoughts in my mind…

“I need to go, but not that bad! Man, that guy needs to see a doctor! Something is wrong with him! How do his wife and kids handle that at home?”

Maybe it was this man…I don’t know.

I DID NOT wait around to find out!

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Vacation…or rendezvous

Posted on 09/02/2010 by RLW3

Hard to find time to write these days…

Work…work on the house…sleep…do it all again.

I have even seriously considered ending the blog…and still might…

But…I just had to tell this story.

6-8 months ago, I did, for me, a very responsible thing. I booked a vacation…in advance!

You might scoff at that but the truth is that I have never been very good at that. Usually, we make “our plans” about a month ahead of time…if that!

I figured that since we have to get Big A back to Philadelphia for his second year at school, I would kill two birds with one stone and booked a vacation on the east coast…

Williamsburg, VA to be exact.

I figured that my parents could come down and visit for a few days and then take our son with them when they go home to New Jersey. They would get some time off, we would get time off and he would get back to college.

My plans were to leave at lunch on Friday directly from work and head to Nashville to pick Kimba up. We would then spend Saturday visiting with friends in the area and then leave early Sunday morning and arrive at the resort Sunday evening.

Three days ago, my wife called to verify our check in time…

Saturday afternoon!

Ooops!

After mulling that over for a day, I decided that instead of visiting friends in Nashville, we would pick Kimba up and drive straight through to VA. That means that we will get there right at check in time on Saturday afternoon. We will essentially gain 1 1/2 days at the resort.

That is why they (the family) pays me the big bucks! To figure these things out…

One problem…

After I announced my decision to my wife and our two youngest, called Kimba and also told our Nashville friends, an unforeseen complication has arisen…

His name is Earl. You might have seen pictures of him recently…

It looks like we will get there just a few hours after he leaves.

At least we won’t hit much traffic on the way in!

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A chip of the old block???

Posted on 08/22/2010 by RLW3

Our house has three 3′ x 7′ south facing windows in the living room and three more in the master bedroom. I don’t say that because our house is unique. That is the style in our neighborhood.

Those big, beautiful windows look great but they sure do let the heat in! One of our neighbors has actually covered ALL of his front windows with aluminum foil because they face the west. It looks terrible but the alternative is paying to run the air conditioner non-stop.

When I ordered the screen for the master bath, I also opted to replace those six old screens with the solar screen material. After seeing how dramatically the screen reduced the heat in the master bath, I wanted to figure out a way to mount a screen to cover the upper 4′ of those six south facing windows.

But, I had to get hoofing it on the bedroom ceiling. I didn’t have time to figure that problem out.

I made an offhanded remark to my son that that if he could figure out a way to make a frame that would be easy to install and remove, he could possible make some money with many of our neighbors.

This afternoon, as my wife and I pulled into the driveway, Big A walked out the front door with a wood frame that he had designed and built from scratch. As we walked up to the house, he tapped it into place. It fit perfectly.

It is an ingenious design. I mean, it is really good…and I am not one of those fathers who thinks that everything my kids do is fantastic. If anything, I need to be a little bit more complimentary.

First, it will hold a screen that will cover the entire window AND hold it securely in place. Second, it is relatively easy to install and remove. Third, it mounts flush with the existing exterior wood trim and when it is painted white, will look like it came from the factory!

He must get that from his mother’s side of the family!

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Mea culpa

Posted on 08/20/2010 by RLW3

Having trouble finding time to write these days…

Nights are out of the question. By the time I finish working on the house and taking a shower, Cakes and Big A are just arriving home from the restaurant and want to talk. So, I am going to bed AT LEAST an hour late every night.

Despite the late retirement, I still end up waking up before 5:00. I can’t really control that. My internal clock is set.

So, since I am getting less than six hours of sleep, I have been so tired that I am taking a 15-20 minute nap during my lunch break. So, no posts are getting written.

Besides all that, I don’t think that I have the skill to make construction “entertaining” or “interesting.

The construction on the bedroom ceiling is finished. I have started on the ceiling in the master bathroom.

I am pushing hard to finish because Big A is helping me with the “mudding and taping” of the drywall. I hope that we will have both rooms primed and painted before we leave to take him back to school in two weeks.

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