You know how I know it's Summer?

Because I can snap a random photo of the backyard and capture...
1. The charcoal Grill
2. The newly set-up swimming pool (complete with "first dip" this evening...super-cold, but worth it)
3. A healthy looking garden
4. Chairs around the fire pit
5. Some random kids in a jon boat pulling catfish out of the lake.

...all in the same photo. What you can't see is the 15 or so sunnies and blue gills that the boy and I landed before dinner tonight....we threw them back :^)

Let's see...we just harvested all of our broccoli today (Gavin and Pa blanched and processed it). Our Spinach and Swiss Chard are coming to an end of their plantings...we're going to take over the broccoli garden with a new planting of those. It's the first year we've ever done any mid-season plantings. It's so exciting to see the months of planning and work come together in a garden full of goodness.

Here's to hoping anyone reading this has a stellar Summer season.

Keep the drinks cold
Keep the grill hot
Keep the garden green
Keep the fish biting
Keep the kids close
Keep Christ first

Go Summer!

"I'm the dang....Pater Familias".

Father's Day is one of those interesting times of the year when you can take the "holiday" from two very distinct angles.....
1. "It's Father's Day and I want to spend as much time with my kids as possible, embracing the beauty of my family and this special day"....that's nice and all, but the reality sometimes is.....
2. "It's Father's Day and I'd love an hour to myself to do just about whatever I want to do...I love my kids and all but....a break would be wonderful."

This year....I'm stacking the deck....I'm going for the best of both worlds.
Now, as a parent, you know that there are a million variables that govern every aspect of your daily life....wake-up times, meals, sickness, naps, injuries, attitude, discipline....any of these can create either harmony or havoc at times within your household...all that being said.....
Sunday morning.....I'm waking up early....I mean EARLY....my Father's Day plan is to be out on the water fishing....by myself....by 5:30am.....brew up a strong pot of coffee....grab some fat night crawlers....and hit the lake....just me, myself, and I. I'm sure that the boy will wake up soon enough, maybe by 6:30-7:00 or so....but I am looking forward to that hour when I don't have to think about anything but me and the lunker that I'm yanking out of the lake Sunday Morning.
The rest of the day will involve family, church, doing the Sunday Paper Crossword, and perhaps some greasy take-out food and a good 6-pack....all of which I love....but I'm really looking forward to that early morning fishing session.
Even now, part of me feels guilty....I mean, my boy has been my fishing partner all year....is this a breach of etiquette to have a session without him? I'm not sure. I guess I'll leave that up to The Lord....If He wants me to take Gavin with me.....I'll leave it up to Him to wake Gavin up in time....otherwise....he's just going to have to be subject to the fish stories that I relay to him after he wakes..... I'm gonna leave that one up to The Lord.
I am so thankful for my children. I never imagined that I would enjoy fatherhood nearly as much as I have....what a blessing these little children are to me. Children are so equally beautiful and terrifying....I'm grateful for His continued wisdom, direction, and guidance.
Now...if He could also manage to guide a nice 5lb. bass onto my hook Sunday morning....that'd be alright with me.




blessed am I.

Lunkers and Leafy Greens

Let me just start by posting the best first:


I pulled this mother out of the lake this afternoon. Now....let me post my "fish story"...
I started Gavin fishing for the first time early this season....we had pulled a million bluegills and sunnies out of the lake, along with the occasional catfish and the gift pickerel that we nailed....He's becoming quite the fisherman, even at 4 years old, the kid is learning how to set the hook like a champ....in fact, today...I taught him how to cast an open-face reel....I figured, why bother with these push button junkers...just teach him the real deal...anyway, he nailed it. He's a bit sketchy on the back swing but, he's nailing the release. Very "proud papa" moment there, but nothing like what would come later in the day.
So today, we're on the dock...a pretty standard day of fishing for us....he's pulling in bluegills every 5 minutes or so...usually, a day fishing on out dock turns out like this:

a bucket full of bluegills, fun as anything for a four year old...but after a while, Gavin decided that he wanted to practice casting. I took the hook off his line, showed him a thing or two, and let him rip, bobber only. I, in the meantime, strung up my pole, sent the line low and casted to an area that I I've pulled some impressive catfish out of this season. I'll spare some details here but....suddenly...I got a hit...I mean, a HIT. If you've fished long enough, you learn how certain fish hit. "Kivers" poke and prod and then zig-zag the whole way in. Bigger stuff like Catfish and Bass hit quick and strong and pull strong in one direction. This thing took my bait (just a simple hook and night crawler) and RAN. I said "Gavin...I got a big one"...he immediately knew what his job was...drop his pole and get the net. I reeled this guy in and Gavin was right there with the net in the water. I wasn't sure what I had on the line until it was about 7 feet out from the dock. After I saw that it was a MOTHER of a Bass, I was freaking out. Gavin got the net in the exact right spot in the water. I got down on a knee to start to lift this lunker to the surface and grab onto his bottom jaw with my fingers when.....suddenly....**SNAP** my line broke.
The biggest Bass I've ever pulled out of my lake in my life dropped and fell.....right into Gavin's net. We pulled him up onto the deck and got the hook out. It wasn't until things calmed down that I realized that....the only reason that we landed this fish is because my son...my 4 year old son, knew exactly what to do in the moment and performed marvelously. I realized that, through it all, I didn't give him 1 command or instruction. he just knew what to do. He was trained for this moment, and did exactly the right things. Had he not been at the ready and on point, this would have been just another story of "the one that got away", but...not the case today. I have to say....that was more impressive than the fish we landed (well, almost :^).
We showed the girls, snapped some pics:


and then let him go . I know, I know...here come the comments "why didn't you eat him"..." I can't believe you let that thing go"....well...gutting, cleaning, and filleting will be next years training. This year, we'll just continue to focus on catching them.

Also tonight....
I had to thin out our lettuces. I planted way more than we needed....which I guess is a good problem. Anyway, I decided to do a major harvest and give individual bags of lettuces and spinach to the participants of the day program that I run. Both kids helped me harvest. Ivy helped me wash:


then we dried:


Then bagged:



I'm sure that the folks at my program will enjoy these garden treats.
It was a very busy, yet very fulfilling weekend for our family. The Lord is using us to serve others in so many neat ways. I'm grateful for the Servant Heart of my wife and kids. That He is using us (and especially the little ones) to bring Him glory through service. I'm specially thankful for the down time that He gives us...and the blessings, like garden greens and this HUGE fish, that He sends our way....

Tragedy, Triumph, Chainsaws, and Chicken

Matthew 6Do Good to Please God
1 “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly.
Before I even begin this post, please allow me this caveat: I am in no way posting this to bring any glory to myself or any personal efforts. It is mainly to serve as a remembrance for myself and my family...mainly...this post is for me....that being said...

I needed to write about my last 36 hours. As you may or may nor know, a devastating tornado ripped through our area (about 4-6 miles from our home) a week ago. Yesterday, my family and I went into the heart of the devastation to drop off some supplies to the Relief Center. I then drove us through an area that was mangled by this force of nature.....devastating. Homes which stood for decades reduced to splinters. Unimaginable devastation. I have never even come close to seeing, with my own eyes, tragedy anywhere near this level.
Yesterday, I spoke with someone in the area who said that their biggest need was "men with chainsaws". Folks are still in a place out there where they are digging themselves out of an avalanche of trees which may or may not have crushed their homes to nothing. I knew that the extent of my aid didn't end with dry goods. I went home and prayed.
About 1:30pm this afternoon I called Chrissy and told her that "I need to go back there, I need to help....I need to go and cut wood". She agreed.
I was unsure as to how I was going to approach helping the folks out there. My initial thought was to just bring out my chainsaw and find a house that needed aid and start cutting. But The Lord kept putting in my head these words...."make contact"...."make contact". I wasn't even sure what that meant.
There's a church in Brimfield which is serving as the hub for relief efforts. I placed a call to them this afternoon. The woman who answered the phone was very exasperated and it was apparent that she was carrying on several "live" conversations beyond the phone which she just picked up. I told her that I was a guy with a saw and willing to help out. After she gave instructions to someone next to her, she quickly gave me an address...."Just go there" she said..."just go there and help".
I had no idea what scenario I was walking into. I got home from work, scarfed down an egg salad sandwich that Chrissy made me and headed off to Brimfield with my saw...to this address.
When you are on Rt 20, leaving Sturbridge towards Brimfield...if you have your windows rolled down, the first thing that you notice is the smell. It smells fantastic. Like wood, sawdust, pine sap. If you're a "wood guy" and routinely burn and build with wood....these smells are wonderfully seasonal and nostalgic. But when you get a glimpse as to why the town smells like that....it represents the aroma of widespread destruction. I'm not sure that smell will ever be the same for me.
Anyway, I got to the address I was given (and I'm going to make a long story short here)..It turns out it's a residence. A family who didn't lose their home but did lose half their roof and about 80 of the 100 or so trees that were on their land. It was unreal to see. This was a community that was basically built in to the woods. Every lot had at least 30-50 trees on it...and now they are ALL gone.
I met the homeowner and within 5 minutes I knew that he was a Christian. (I had been praying that The Lord would sent me to the home of a Christian to help out, score one for The Divine). We talked about The Lord and trials and tragedy and growth through struggles, then we got to work. I ended up cutting and hauling wood for about 3 hours with him and other volunteers who were at his property.
I have read of this level of devastation, but have never witnessed it with my own eyes. It is literally indescribable. One of the most amazing things is how this community has rallied to help one another. The church "relief center" has been stellar. While we were cutting, a car pulled into the house lot...they were from the church delivering meals. "How many?" they shouted....and they delivered an amazing hot meal for each of the workers....they were 2 guys in their 60's driving around in this busted station wagon with about 100 meals packed in the back. They were just delivering to anyone in need. We took one for each worker....the food was incredible. Roasted Chicken, meatballs, pasta, salad, bread and butter....Wright's Chicken Farm would have been jealous of this meal....perhaps it was the exhaustion and dehydration but...it was an amazing meal that I will never forget. In addition, they had an array of materials donated by stores and individuals from all over....work gloves, tarps, fasteners, bungee chords....this crappy station wagon was like it's own little charitable Wal-Mart....I mean...tarps, 60'x40' that cost like 80 bucks a piece, were donated free to anyone in need. It was amazingly surreal.

When I left at about 8 pm, there were many other volunteers who were leaving for the day as well, many putting in many more hours than I had. When I pulled up to the traffic light at the Brimfield Town Common, I was greeted by two amazing things....The "relief center" church with church bells being played and a sign over their front door that read "Food and Rest" and a boy scout troop, about 40 strong....all standing there with handmade signs on posterboard which said "Thank You" and "You Rock" and "Great Work"...and at every change of the light they were going nuts....jumping up and down like it was a freaking Beatles concert...cheering for the folks who had sacrificed their time to help dig out this community from wonton destruction.

At the beginning of this blog, I had it in my head that I wasn't going to post it to Facebook, which I normally do, as not to draw excess attention to these acts. My intention is to only glorify The Lord through any of this but, I feel now as though I want to post it if only to inspire others to head out to Central Mass, get in the mix, and share God's Love, Mercy, and Service with those who need it now more than ever. Just get out there, you WILL be used.


The devastation, as viewed from outer space:

"Dominion" wins and fails

Genesis chapter 1 gives man "dominion" over "every living thing that moves on the earth".
"Dominion" is a cool word. The fact that we are allowed, by God, to "have dominion" is even cooler.
"Dominion" is defined as:
1: supreme authority.
2: the right of the owner of a thing to use it or dispose of it at his discretion.
3. a territory or sphere of influence or control; a realm.

I both succeeded and failed at "having dominion" over my land this weekend.

"Taking dominion" over the earth and that which lives on it is one of the first jobs that God gave Adam. He gave him this job even before The Fall...which tells me that, original sin or not, we ought to have an understanding of how our environment works and how to control what lives on it. We were going to be doing this whether or not we screwed up. It's a mandate that is both simple and daunting.
We feel that a big part of "taking dominion" over the land is to understand how things grow and to utilize the soil to produce food which sustains us. In doing this, we are in control of our our land, we understand the basic principles of planting, germination, growing, and harvesting, and use what The Lord had provided for us to survive, as well as to bless others with produce. Given our proximity to water, it also includes having a knowledge of fish and fishing.
In that aspect, while being humble, I'd give our family a "Win". This year. The fish are biting and our garden is doing very well. Many of the first time crops that we tried this year are producing wonderfully and we have been harvesting this-and-that since mid-May. All of the "warmer weather" crops have taken nicely and we anticipate a nice harvest of veggies as the months progress.

But....there was also a big "Fail" attached to this weekends "dominion".

Traditionally, we do not have a problem with varmints and critters eating up our garden. I'm not exactly sure why but, there are a number of nut trees surrounding our property, as well as the lake, and maybe there is enough food being produced by those to keep the squirrels, rabbits, woodchucks at bay. We have never had any widespread varmints getting into our garden.

Until recently.

There's a rabbit....one rabbit...that keeps showing up in our yard. I snapped a pic of it earlier in the year, maybe you remember...it was in our yard while the swan was right off out dock and it seemed like a cute little photo op (See if you can spot him):


Well, that little cotton-tailed nuisance has been back here just about every day....and every day, it has been content to sit and nibble the clover in the backyard. When we spot it, we send The Boy out to chase it out of the yard...we'll yell "Go Get 'I'm Mr. McGregor" and everyone has a laugh...it's all innocent fun...yeah...until today when he was spotted in my carrot patch. Now, say what you will but, one rabbit can absolutely decimate an entire garden if it wants to. I've got way too much invested in our garden to allow some twitchy-nosed long-eared rat to take down our plants. It was time for action

Now remember, we were given dominion, or: supreme authority, over that which moves across the earth. I set out the have-a-heart trap but the little bugger didn't take to it. We had to get more serious. The fate of our crops were hanging in the balance (can you feel the Hollywood-like suspense building?!)....It was BB gun time. (just so you know....we, by law, can't shoot "real" guns on our property due to the closeness of other houses or else...this things head would have been turned into a canoe.)
My BB gun is a sweet one. A Crossman 10-pump with a fantastic scope that could allow you to shoot the wings off of a gnat at 30 yards. It's 14 years old, a bit rusty, but still fires true. I pulled that baby out and lobbed an old diet coke 2 liter into the yard to take aim to dial in the scope which needed a few adjustments. I got it true and by this time, the rabbit was along our side yard, less than 25 yards out....an easy kill-shot.

I pumped the BB gun up, chambered a BB, took aim....the thing was so close that I could have decided which eye I wanted to shoot out. I drew a bead on this adorable little Destroyer of All Leafy Delicacies.......and fired......

nothing

The little bugger just sat there, twitching his little nose at me....then he hopped into the neighbor's yard.

Turns out, the misfire happened due to a misshapen BB that got hung up in the breech of the barrel. I've fired thousands of shots out of that gun and never had an incident like that before. The weapon WAS old, unoiled, and not kept in the best possible operating condition. I'm left wondering if The Lord was telling me to be merciful over the creatures in my yard or to take better care of the weapons that he's led me to learn to use. I may have to pray this out a bit.

But...I'll tell you this much.....

WalMart opens at 7am and you better believe that I'll be there purchasing a brand new air rifle....If this new one hangs up at the moment of truth...then I'll KNOW that God wants me to let him go....Otherwise, I plan to have unmolested veggies and a nice new pelt for Gavin at about this time tomorrow evening.