Dan Vs. Nature Scoreboard

Dan: 0, Nature: 1






Dan: 1, Nature: 1

Dan: 2, Nature: 1

hallelujah!

I'm so cold-blooded, I can shoot my favorite dog without blinking if it needs done, but I thought this was so cool that I almost got choked up. I doubt that 1 out of 10 people there were trying to praise God, but I just thought it was so awesome that God was being praised and glorified, whether their audience wanted to hear it or not!

Maybe clicking this link will work better than the embedded video below.

on the merits of winter

An early Sunday morning several weeks ago we had our "first-frost" of this year (an event at my house) I took my boys outside, booted but shirtless; we stood warming in the sun in the midst of the cold and breathed out “smoke” and stood quietly and still while watching the sunlight steam frost off of green garden fencing and chicken shed roofs. I told my boys that the first "first-frost" I remember was on my birthday, and on a Sunday as well, and I recollect being so amazed at the brightness and stillness of the air, piercing my cheeks as I made quick, giant steps through the breaking grass to stay next to my daddy while checking on cattle before church. It seemed to me the most extravagant Birthday present from a most benevolent Creator that I could not have even imagined.


At the risk of being over-prosy or even waxing poetic, I would like to write a little about why I disagree with people who dislike Winter. I wonder if it is a privilege of our modern times to view Winter as merely an inconvenience to our daily and uninterrupted lives; where we must go from a climate controlled house to climate controlled car that was maybe 10 or 20 degrees cooler than we would prefer it, at first anyway, because our attached garage has no climate control. Then, on top of that, we must suffer through listening to the crunch of our climate controlled 4 wheel drive vehicles drive over the 1/2” snow that the road grader left on the streets. As if all of that wasn't enough, we have to suffer the indignity of being stuck in our climate controlled homes after 5:30, when it gets dark; thereby missing our golf games, so we happily plop in front of the glowing image box and watch whatever those more intelligent folks 1500 miles away decided last season that would be good and appropriate for us to see this winter.


Maybe I have it all wrong, maybe I am the one benefiting from our technology enabling me to enjoy winter. But the thing that I enjoy about it isn't the comfort or the discomfort (Wife claims that I am impervious to both) but that it is a whole different lifestyle. It is one that requires forethought, planning, preparation. This I enjoy; it is a challenge, Winter tests the mettle of which I am made, and it exhilarates me to rise to that challenge. Animals need special care in the winter. Double check tires on vehicles, got lots of tread left? What do I have to put in the back of my truck for weight, and how will I get it in there? We heat with 99% wood heat; in order to do it well, I have to plan for next winter this year. Often it is dark by the time I get home, if I don't spend my weekend productively, I bring firewood into the house in the dark. Also, I plan what projects I will do to keep me occupied in the long inside evenings.


It isn't that I am opposed to climate control in homes (I have AC) or am opposed to 4-wheel drive vehicles (I own 2) or that I hate golf (would love to learn), it is just that it seems a little petty (in our world without TB, Measles, Polio, where we have EASY access to antibiotics, and virtually unlimited clean hot and cold water at our fingertips) to complain about the cold when little more than 100 years ago, the majority of people were either hand cutting their own firewood or dragging coal through their house in order to keep just part of their homes warm. It wasn't just an inconvenience, it was an complete and utter lifestyle change; not that they enjoyed it any more than those today that dislike it, but at least they had a legitimate reason for disliking it.

But think of it- hasn't it been a long, long time since a country with a Mediterranean climate was truly a "world power"? Doesn't it seem that the northern countries (except for Canada, who we are hard pressed to think of at all) have historically proven their worth by their industriousness? I remember reading in my world geography book that so many tropical countries suffer from a term I think they referred to as "Sustenance Affluence Living"; where the climate was so good, that living was so easy with fresh fruit all year around, that there was not much need for work to stay alive, and so in these modern times, without much industry, their main source of financial income for the whole country is remittances from ex-pat emigres.

Not that most people care about what I like, but I love the initial relief that comes with October and November. It's as if I just can't absorb enough cold-ness into me even though I will get chilled, I still hunger for it after dry July, and moist August, when I can never truly dry off, then sneezy September. I love it when working hard and losing track of time, looking up into the steel-grey sky where there is no sign of sun, and realizing you have no way of telling by sun or by temperature whether it is morning or afternoon. It thrills my blood to feel the tension in the sky, heavy, low and near bursting with icy moisture and arctic air sent down, again, to test that mettle of which I am made. It is one of man's oldest adversaries, Man vs. Nature. Nature isn't our mother, benevolent and kind; it is a wild and powerful force and is to be reckoned with.

I enjoy counting 5 gallon containers of gas, figuring how long I could run the generator to sustain my house without any electricity like we did 2 years ago after the ice storm. I enjoy the opportunity to feel like a producer rather than just a consumer as I am told I am by the television and textbooks. I heartily enjoy literally bringing home the bacon, not just that I earned, but that I raised! I enjoy butchering chickens, raising food in my garden, more than enough for us; in a good year, more than my neighbors want; feed it to the pigs! Turn it into bacon! I enjoy directly providing heat for my home; I feel like I am winning when Wife is uncomfortably warm in our house and it is 5 degrees outside, never mind that I am miserably hot! These things that I was indirectly taught that men are to do: provide food and shelter for family, I enjoy doing them to excess. My wife gets frustrated at the volume of meat we accumulate sometimes, that is not a bad problem to have, as I see it. We've never throw it away yet! I enjoy the thought of driving on icy roads, of beating the snowplow on the way to town, or best of all, being stuck and stranded at home without power after all my best efforts to get out, stuck where I most like to be, with the people I most like to be with.

But anyway, all I'm trying to say to you winter haters, is this: It is a challenge, but an exhilarating one! Here's hoping this winter is a nasty one!

adventures of GutterMan

So I tried to email this photo unsuccessfully to several people yesterday from my phone, much to the confusion of many people. Anyway, the picture doesnt do it justice, we are 35 to 40 feet in the air and Dodge City Street Dept were good enough to shut down the street for us so that we could go up and over the power lines, which the power company was good enough to shut down for us as well. As hilly as Dodge City is, we were able to see the tops of grain elevators from this point

For those of you who know him, that is "Good-Man-Fearless-Driver-Downspout-Crasher" (native american name) Clifford Nininger in the basket, but that is another story...

on sin nature, and dont pet the wet cats.

While the 3 older kids and wifey are at NBS, (Nightly Bible School, as they have to do it nowadays, apparently-grrrrr) I stayed at home with Stu-Jack. In order to alleviate some of the pain of being left behind that I can sympathize with since I am a "youngest" as well, I kinda switched it around on him and told him that we were going to banish everybody except the 2 coolest members of the family so that just Stu and I can hang out. He thought that was pretty cool and we did the obvious things that Man and Boy do together, eat ice cream, (Downstairs, even! Whoa!), sit at the table without our shirts, slop hogs, chase chickens, look for cats for Stu to pee on, watch Cowboy Pooh, turn the music up really loud and dance, and all the other normal stuff dads do with their boys. (I guess)

Mostly, though, we did whatever Stu wanted. Whenever he expressed himself, I just said "Whatever you want- today is Stu-Day!" and he was pretty impressed. At first it was very foreign to him, being the natural humble youngest child that he is, used to never getting anything you want and having to scrap for anything you do get, whether by sheer and sudden intensity of all the force his little body can muster against larger and more selfish older siblings (naturally), or by natural youngest-born charms. But, it only took him about an hour and a half before he fully realized the implications about his new found position in the universe, made evident by his yelling for me while he was in the bath. I came in at his perpetual insistence and asked His Nibs what he needed. He informed me he needed another toy, so asked him what toy he required. In reply, he pointed to a toy just out of his reach on the ledge of the other side of the bath. THAT was the end of Stu-Day.

When Wifey got home from VBS, everyone came in the house except Isaiah, so I went towards the back door to find him. Wifey beckons me over to the window to watch something and there he was, trying to pee on a cat. I stuck my head out the door and asked him if he had any luck. His quiet pride in his shy way showed through when gave his little smile and said: "they are pretty quick, but sometimes if you are fast, you can get them a little bit". I am very proud of my boy. I am proud of his modesty, I am proud of his hunter-spirit, and I am proud of his aim.

Disclaimer:
Just as a side-note, I would like to say that I do not pee on my cats, and as far as I remember have never told them too, but I exercise discernment when considering petting the wet ones...

Some stuff is too gross to feed to the pigs; So I ate it...

Last week good friend, neighbor, renowned culinary artist, and quite intrepid food taster, Gaylord, was at my house and we happened to be wandering through the garden when he spotted the disgusting pus-looking fungus stuff growing out of the top of the husks of corn. Not just growing, but BURSTING forth out of. He made a comment similar to how lucky I was to have that because it was worth quite a bit of money if sold for food.





I was a little dubious at first, not because I don't typically believe Gaylord, but mostly because I couldn't imagine anyone actually eating it. But if anyone would know something as obscure as that, it would be him. (Did you know that you could eat Queen Anne's Lace? I didn't, but now I believe him) And as my curiousity grew, so did my internet searches, and I disovered one of two things; either he was right and people do eat it or he is the master of practical jokes and went to a lot of trouble to prank me, because there is actually a lot about it on the internet. Often called "Mexican Truffles", they are basically a mushroom that feeds off of the corn. But dont take my word for it; check it out for yourself.
Remarkably, I couldn't make any of my family try it out with me, execpt an unwilling Wifey. Grace's remark as she was staring at it in horror was: "It kinda makes me shiver when I look at it". Here's some more pictures:



After eating it, I have to say, the looks of it and the name of it (according to wiki it translates into something roughly "raven poop") are the most defining things. It mostly tasted like slightly musty sweet corn, with a lot of jalepeno, to help my digestion, of course. It was mostly unremarkible in taste; my only regret about this cooking experience is that Gaylord is working nights and I never know when I can call him up and have him try something. You should have tasted what he did with a huge snapper-turtle I caught last month!

on my restlessness

After the wind blew the end wall out of the shed, I found myself milling about aimlessly and restlessly while the insurance company decided what to do about my shed. One thing that Wifey hates is aimlessness; so she aimed me in the direction of the backyard. She had been talking about a patio area next to the house for some time now, and so we grabbed our chance one weekend. Here is a series of pictures showing progression, starting with the "before" picture:

First batch- Go, Mama, GO!! Look at those muscles!!

I got the easier, but more frustrating job! "MORE MUD!!!!"

And, finished product. Turned out alright for a couple of home-owners, I thought.

And here is a picture of Brynn's mosaic artwork made of 100% post-consumer, recycled dishes that her and her mom have been saving for years. The "stash" of broken dishes ran out and she had me stopping at Good-Wills and garages sales looking for just that right color. She is actually much nearer to completion now, but hasnt had much of a chance to do it this weekend, on account of the 9" total of rain that we have had this weekend. She complains about the tedium of the white.

Then, the kids have been pestering me to building them a tree house or something; so I opted for the "something". I told them when they finished playing on that level, I would build them another one, then another one.



And then, Stu-Jack and I decided that even us big boys needed a nap every now and again!!!