Relaxin'

There is not much of anything better than sitting on the deck, enjoying our beautiful yard.
I am thankful when I look at all of the trees, bushes and grass.
My family and I worked so hard to plant and cultivate all of it.


(that's Joy relaxing in the hammock. It almost looks like she has been captured!)

Cruises

Aren't cruises nice!!??
I think every couple should be REQUIRED to take at least one per year.
All in favor say "AYE"

The ORIGINAL AX MAN

There is a new series on the History Channel that I am thoroughly enjoying watching.
It is about logging in Oregon.
As I watch and listen to these guys, I am transported back in time.



My father was the original AX MAN.
He started in logging back in Oklahoma, then logged in the Arizona White Mountains before moving to Oregon during World War II.

This is a picture of my dad and me (I'm the little one!) in May of 1948. When my mom sent me these pictures, I love that my dad had written on the back of each picture with a description and location.

This is one of my favorite pictures.
My dad is holding me and I am holding the loggers scale. It is a stick with markings that enables you to calculate how many board feet are in the log.


I now have that logger's scale in my garage. What a great keepsake.
If you are interested in more posts about my dad's logging, just let me know.
I've got a lot more pics!

Favorite Quotes

...been doing a lot of organizing, cleaning, boxing, tossing, cleansing....

came across some of my favorite quotes

"The significant problems we face
cannot be solved
by the same level of thinking
that created them."

Albert Einstein

"The scars you acquire by
exercising courage
will never make you feel inferior."

D.A. Battista

"Bring me
good news or bad news.
BUT
you'd better not bring
me surprises."

"The pain of discipline weighs ounces
REGRET weighs TONS."

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JOY - APRIL 8

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife today!



I have been married to this wonderful lady for 38 years this coming September.

I was impressed in 1969 when I first met her and I am much more impressed now.


She is so loving, caring, kind, creative, godly, gifted communicator, chef extraordinaire.
She is a gifted concert pianist.

She is passionate about her faith. A woman of prayer and devoted Christ follower.

She is an accomplished (published) author.

All who know Joy speak well of her.

She is a talented home designer - I would prefer to call her an architect. I have seen her work and she is better than some professionals.














She has designed four homes we have built and has been working on number five!

She loves and respects her family.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOY! I look forward to OUR future together!

FAST

I love this commercial.
Don't really know why.
I have noticed that there are some commercials that are cute the first time seen, but after that.... boring or dumb.

But I still chuckle about this one.
Let me know why you think it is still amusing me.

GET AWAY

Jesus wisely told His disciples, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while".
So Joy and I decided to do just that.... GET AWAY.
The place we chose is not too secluded (Minneapolis), but they do have a bunch of Caribou Coffee shops. It happens to be the headquarters for Caribou. http://www.cariboucoffee.com/page/1/home.jsp



It has been nice just reading, resting, praying and listening to God.

A nice little bonus was stopping in Rochester where Joy's parents just happened to be for an appointment. Neither Joy or her parents knew each other's plans until they conferred on the phone. How amazing is that!


So we had a nice time and meal together and sang happy b'day to Joy (a little early).

Joy and I spent most of a morning at Caribou reading, talking and surfing. We then got a sub and went down to Lake Calhoun to pic-a-nic (ala Yogi Bear). After enjoying our sub in the sunshine and fresh air, we took off on a walk and about halfway through a small storm system came in a rained on a bunch of people's parades. We loved it!



Interestingly, all our children enjoyed Lake Calhoun while they were student's at North Central University. Perhaps Joy's mom and dad did as well when they were students at North Central a "couple of years" ago.