Category Archives: Family Thoughts

Related to our family

My Dad-I Miss Him

My Dad
My father and grandmother

I penned this a year ago. Being a dad is not easy. Not being a dad when you can is worse.

This week is the celebration of Father’s Day. If you were looking for a list, I am probably not the right person and this is not the right place. I have made my share of mistakes. Even after the birth of my youngest daughter, there were things I was still “working on.” And as I look around I see that I am not the only one who figured it out the hard way. But I credit my dad and few other “dads” with standing with me during difficult times. Continue reading My Dad-I Miss Him

Mr. Arbuckle and His Small Farm

BARROCK1Living in the small rural neighborhood I did there were lots of little farms. One of these small farms was owned by Mr. Arbuckle.

Over time I learned a lot about life, farming and labor from him. He and his wife had retired from Pratt & Whitney aircraft. They had moved down here from Putney Vermont when jobs were plentiful. Their home sat on the end of the road. On one side was the small garage and barn, while across the street was their home.

When I first moved to the small community, driving by I would see his large German Shepherd. Jet black in color it would bark and pull at the chain for every passerby. (One time it got loose and attacked a neighborhood girl. Not too long after his new dog Emmy, a monster St. Bernard appeared.) I used to travel by his home to get to the main road.

One day through the relationship of another neighbor, Mr. Harrrison, I was introduced to him. He was looking for a young person to help with the chores about his small place.

I soon became his right hand man(I was only 8 or so, helping him a couple of times a day for a quarter each time. I would go down in the morning and feed the chickens and geese, gather their eggs and check for critters! Once a week I would shovel chicken manure out into a pile for summer growing. I would have to shoosh the geese out because if they got excited in the small coop it could be dangerous.

I remember at one point someone gave him this black and white Barred Plymouth Rock rooster. It had been hard enough with the other roosters. What a mean bird. Every day he would fly up in my face and attack me. Finally I could not take it, so taking the five gallon pail of water I poured it over him 2 or 3 times. No longer did he attack me.

I would carry the eggs over to wash and put in boxes for the neighbors to buy in the outside refrigerator. Mr. Arbuckle sold vegetables, chicken manure, eggs and the occasional chicken. (Want to learn how to prepare a chicken? Nahhh….Probably not!)

As he became more dependent on me he increased the produce and the chickens. One day he decided to put a well in next to the barn. (No longer would I have to trudge across the street with two 5 gallon buckets.) So, another neighbor, Mr. Cavanna, came over and found a branch. He began to dowse the property. In moments this branch went wild. He asked me to hold onto it. I could hardly keep it in my hands. “Eleven feet, more than enough water right here. “ Wow! I had never seen anything like that. So, as my dad, Mr. Harrison and Mr. Cavanna stood by beginning my instruction, Mr. Arbuckle sat in his chair(He was disabled.)pouring water for me. (Pretty sure they were all drinking Colt 45.) I began to dig and as the hole got wider and deeper, it was not but the following day before I was down in the slimy clay walls, with water trickling about my feet. I learned how to put in the valve and pipe and we were soon filling up around it. Running the line into the chicken coop, we bolted on a head for the crank pump. (Each day I would take some water from the previous day and prime the pump.)

In the spring I would start with picking asparagus and rhubarb, with a variety of strawberries and blackberries shortly after. During that time he would have me go to the barn and begin to pull out the seeds from the previous year. I would spend days planting everything from cucumbers, watermelons, squash, pumpkins and more. Tomatoes and pepper plants would be brought over from trades he made. I learned how to garden. Summer chores now included weeding, hoeing and refining the plants. His new dog Emmy would bark at me all day long from her age. But at the end of the day I would have money in my pocket. I got paid by the baskets for berries and I got paid for all the additional chores at $5 a day.

I learned you did not skip out on chores or bypass work.

He had to grandsons who came to visit. He often had us paint or clean around his home. One summer we were asked to paint the barn. While up on the top of Emmy’s cage, a gallon of paint “spilled” down dowsing one of them in the cage and Emmy. Red did not look good on her.

When his grandsons, Bruce and David came by we would usually get in trouble. Often we would “borrow” his big Chrysler, Chevy Impala or his Dodge pickup (I ultimately bought this 1952 pickup.) for a spin in the dirt pit behind his property. (It was here I learned why you do not shoot an arrow in the general direction of someone riding a bike from a hillside cliff. As the arrow flew towards Bruce riding in on a bike, it was only a miracle that allowed the arrow to embed itself in the front of his bicycle seat and not him.)

When he would go away I was given responsibility for things. One Saturday morning my sister and I went down to feed the animals, including the St. Barnyard. But life went different that morning. She had not had anyone visit, so when I opened the door to put her feed and water in she hit the door with so much force, I could not stop her. She bounded out in to the garage and ran at my sister. She hit her underneath her chin, pushing her into a pole. As my sister fell to the ground she took off. (Never leave garage door open!) She took off and headed towards the main road. It was many hours, but because it was so hot, she stopped running. We rescued her and I learned a lesson.

At some point I outgrew the pay and I think his wife dying knocked the steam out of him. (I will never forget kneeling beside my dad at an open coffin and seeing her chest “rise.” So out of there!) I am thankful for all the things I learned at his hand. Because of his disability I was able to have an educational and profitable opportunity. I made money for treats, trips to swim at Powers Pond and more.

Frankly, I think the world might be different if kids learned about animals, produce and work!

 

My Neighbor, Mr. Harrison.

2014-03-15 11.16.51Mr. Harrison

When I was a child we lived in a small rural community. My mother and father were always good at making friends and when we moved this time was no different. My dad’s friends were frequently considerably different than my mother’s. My dad was an Army veteran who drank hard and worked hard. And a lot of his friends were similar. Mr. Harrison was one of those friends. Continue reading My Neighbor, Mr. Harrison.

Relationship Changes – Are We Open?

A Word To Hear
A Word To Hear

I often find myself thinking about seasons of goodness, of increased relationship, of tremendous change. I just went through a season, so to speak. It was as if my family pulled in “tight” so to speak. I am in a different season now. It is a season where we have not “lost anything” and I can see the gains, but growth and change are not explosive.

Last week, while we were getting ready to sleep, Jacob asked me “how old is God?” I worked some of the easier answers, but he persisted with “how old is He?” I finally told him a “googleplex and more.” Fortunately he was tired enough, not too much more conversation happened. (When I was a child, I remember being his age and lying in bed in this old farmhouse, thinking about infinity and the universe and feeling the “frustration” of not being able to wrap my brain around it. My teachers were frustrated I would not let up on the topic !) Continue reading Relationship Changes – Are We Open?

It Is About Time

What High Ridge home looks like now.
What High Ridge home looks like now.

This morning I was thinking “my chronos is important to my kairos.” The tribe of Issachar, “And of the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do, their chiefs were two hundred; and all their kinsmen were at their command.” – 1 Chronicles 12:32 NAS

If I am reduced to nothingness that leaves room for everything! Continue reading It Is About Time

One Life To Change

2013-12-20 17.14.38Christmas as celebrated on the 25th is over for 2012, but there is still much to do. The very spirit of giving that surrounds Christmas can not be contained a day, a week, or even a year. (And yes, my Christmas clock, has begun the countdown to Christmas 2013…)

My week was a fun filled, family weekend. Alyssa, my oldest showed up with children on Saturday and that “began” my holiday weekend with friends and family. I was able to get a candlelight service. More friends and family. Tuesday was the main event here as the meal began it’s route towards the holiday table at 2PM. Foods, snacks, traditional turkey, egg nog and lots of everything else. It was fun. My son had asked if a few friends could come, so that happened. My children and grandchildren…it was a full and “noisy” day. Lots of fun. I am so glad we did it. Continue reading One Life To Change

Halloween and Believers

Christian-Cross-Carved-Pumpkin(Because many have asked my take on Halloween, let me share my recent thoughts. My old thoughts are all over the internet!)

So many know my background prior to becoming a believer and how I got here. In a nutshell I went from being one who religion did not really mean much to, to one day being confronted by God. Continue reading Halloween and Believers

Running Fast Running Free

vision
Don’t lose your vision.

When I was 13 I attended a camp that had lots of canoe and hiking trips. One of our trips was canoeing the Saranac Lakes of New York. We had gone through the locks and been out on the lakes for a few days. One of our counselors thought it would be a good idea if we hiked one of the area mountains. As we climbed, it was a beautiful, clear and hot day. When we arrived at the summit(Ampersand Mountain) you could look around for miles. (Gosh, do I love the Adirondacks!) Continue reading Running Fast Running Free

An Abundance

radishWhen I was young, I bought this old house next to our store. The yard had been a “mill river” running the grist mill in the garage area. The previous owner and friend had witnessed the water rising too high and too fast one rainy weekend and brought his excavator in the next weekend and diverted the water. (Uh…you can’t do that now!!)
Where the river had been, I wanted a garden. Continue reading An Abundance


A Quandary

dontworryA Quandary Like so many these days, I feel as my life is a quandary. Perplexing. I read the news. I look at the changing events across nations. I watch economies shift and slide. And in the midst of it, my natural self rebels at the changes I am forced to “go through.” Why? Because I am caught in the issues of the globe! I have watched my business change as other businesses have floundered and gone out of business. I wonder what is going on as so many do. But I trust God. Continue reading A Quandary