The best job ever!

Grandparents Day

Last Wednesday was Grandparents Day at Taylor's school. She goes to a great school and once a year they have a day when Grandparents can go see a little program and then visit their grandchild's classroom. So Diane took the day off and I took a long lunch and off we went to see Taylor.

Now, let me say, I have had a lot of jobs in my life. I've worked as a janitor, copier repair man, a salesman, a grunt, a manager, and in construction. I could probably not even list all the different jobs I have had. There were many years in my life that I had two jobs and sometimes even three!

You could even count 4 at a time if you counted the job of daddy. And until a few years ago, I thought the job of daddy was the best. It was really annoying when the other jobs got in the way of the daddy job. But I had to pay the bills so the other jobs got done. Well, I'm finding that the older I get, the more annoyed I get at the interruptions in my life from this bothersome thing called a job. I'm thankful for the money and free car and benefits and paid vacation days, but wanting me to come in to work every day is just getting out of hand! Oh well, retirement is, unfortunately, not around the corner. So I will continue to go to work.

But that will not stop me from enjoying the best job ever:

Grandpa.

When I think about it, I did have a little training on how to be a grandparent. I used to watch my dad as his eyes sparkled around the grand kids. He was not as rambunctious as I am. He would not have jumped on the trampoline or gone to Scout Camp with the grandkids. But he did ride them around the ranch in the electric egg cart. He liked to take Pug for a walk and have a grand kid along with him. He liked to watch TV with them, especially if it included a nap! He took the grand kids fishing and made sure they got a big orange from his tree when they came to visit. My mom used to cook and sew and do crafts with them. This grandparent thing can take up a lot of time. And though it's not time yet, I am ready for just one job. I want to be a full-time grandpa!

The Legacy Assured

Tilt-O-Whirl

This is Andy. He's my buddy. Last February we went to Scandia with him and his family. He wanted to ride the Tilt-O-Whirl because it was included with the wristband we had bought him. It wasn't included with ours, so he rode alone. It brought back a lot of memories for me. When I was a boy we used to go to the Orange Show in San Bernardino. I remember walking through the midway wanting to ride all the rides over and over. The Tilt-O-Whirl was one of those. To be fair, my Mom and sister would ride it once, but I liked it and wanted to ride more so I usually took another turn or two by myself. Watching Andy reminded me of a fun tradition we had as a family when I was young. I didn't think of it as a tradition at the time, but looking back, I guess it was. I can remember riding over in my Dad's big Buick. We would park in the dirt parking lot and I would hold his hand as we walked across the street. He would squeeze my hand and I would squeeze back. We'd do that over and over. I thought my Dad had very big hands. And he always had dimes in his pocket for me to throw to try to win a dish or fish. But the best part was the corn dogs and lemonade. Dad thought that corn dogs were the best invention for kids. And fair corn dogs are the best. I don't even remember sitting down to eat them. We just kept walking through the fair. We would walk through all the buildings with displays. It wasn't as fun as riding the rides, but for some reason I liked it. Maybe it was because I was with my family. And there was always that big hand to squeeze.

The legacy assured.

Silhouettes On The Beach

Sometimes we see life in silhouettes,

Though the light beyond is as bright as it gets.

But shadows follow close behind,

And bring tender moments to our mind.

Of quiet times in beautiful places,

And our children's warmth and their happy faces.

Follow my amazing daughter-in-law's blogs.

First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.

Tonight my grandson Michael and I finished Douglas Southall Freeman's seven volume set biography of George Washington. In 2008 when Diane asked me what I would like for Christmas, I suggested this long out of circulation set (first published in 1957). Well, she found it on the internet and it is one of my all-time favorite gifts. I had also received, some time that year, a bookmark with a picture of Michael on it. So, for 2 years as I read thru this set, I had Michael with me all the while. TeriLe, Michael, and Daniel lived with us for a few years and I miss them all the time. But with this bookmark, it was like Michael was sitting with me every time I read of George Washington.

Washington was eulogized by many. Perhaps the most famous words (forming the title of this blog) were by Henry Lee, his long-time friend and fellow Virginian. But I think my favorite were by Thomas Jefferson: "His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives or interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was indeed, in every sense of the words, a wise, a good and a great man".

And so, somehow thru osmosis or something, this is what I wish for Michael. He's a good kid. I hope he learns well how to be a good man. I know TeriLe is teaching him how to work on the "farm" and that will help.

Michael, I hope you study hard in school, listen in Church, and mind your Mom. These are all things that George Washington did. I can't wait to see you again so I can tell you some of the stories I remember of George Washington. And, yes, I wish this for all my grand kids, but Michael's picture is sitting here looking at me! I hope they all learn to have integrity that is most pure.

Now go look up consanguinity....

Dad's watch

The inscription reads: From Doris to Floyd 10-10-62. That was my Dad's 46th birthday. On that day he was 13 years younger than I am today. I was 11 and just that June we had moved to the ranch in Yucaipa. I remember sitting next to Dad in the little church on 1st Street watching the little second hand go around and looking at his hands. His hands were large and rough. The hands of a life-long farmer and rancher. Hands that worked hard and were proud of what they did. They were tanned from working outside and there were some age spots beginning to show. His hair was dark and there were callouses on his palms. He used to look at my hands and tell me I should be proud of having callouses, they were the sign of a real man. I used to tease my friends because they didn't have callouses. Dad and I worked together on the ranch and when he talked (he was usually pretty quiet) he would try to teach me what it took to be a man. Mostly, he said, it takes a lot of work. He taught me to be proud of my work, to sit back and admire it when the job was completed. "Don't rush off, take a look at what you have done". Even to this day, when I get done with a project, I sit back and enjoy what I've done. Sometimes I will just pull up a chair and look for awhile. That is actually one reason I like to put on this blog the projects that I am working on.

Today is Christmas eve. We don't have any family here today. It's kind of quiet and lonely. But we get to spend Christmas morning with Tyler and his amazing family and that will be great. I have worked on a little project for his girls. The paint is drying in the workshop. I will post pics when I get it put together. So I have been reading my kid's blogs and taking a look at what my family has done. I'm pretty proud of them all and hope they all have happiness thru the Holidays and forever. Life's not easy. It takes a lot of work. But they are all working hard at making a good life for my grandkids.

I think now I will put on my Dad's watch, his golden ring, and go enjoy Christmas eve with my beautiful wife. She just brought home a rib eye roast, so it looks like we'll have a good Christmas eve dinner! But before that, maybe I'll go out to the yard and see if I can work up some callouses. Because that's what a real man does.

October 3, 2010... click here to see when this adventure began. Remember that room?

Our back porch/laundry room serves as a main entrance to our home. Since we park toward the back of the house, and since we use our back yard so much, we use the back entrance the most. So it should look decent, right. Well it is 99% done, just some touch-up to do.

It's hard to get a picture of it all, but here are several views.

Here's the washer/dryer Tyler got for us out of a house he was selling. We'll leave our old white set over in the Little Red House.

So, these aren't as cute as our kid's blogs with pictures of our grand kids, but hey, you blog what you got.

One more day!

I took a day off work to try to get this finished before Sunday when Di's family is coming.

Here is the new entry door to the kitchen. It's kind of a ribbed glass thingie. It's all in and painted... just need to touch up the paint. This is a custom order door and they actually cut it a little too narrow... I had to take off the trim and shim out the case so it would fit. Nothing is ever easy in an old house, but it doesn't help when they don't make the new part right either!

From the kitchen side.
Putting a shelf above the washer/dryer.
Kind of dark, but this is the new floor from outside looking in.

Putting in the floor... I think my pictures went in upside down.

Cabinets installed and painted.

Stopped while painting to get a pic. See the ceiling above the cabinet? Nothing level, plumb, or square in this old house. There is no way to make this look good, it will get trimmed as is.

1 coat primer, two coats paint. Easy when the room is empty.

I don't remember what I was doing when Di took this pic. But see all those spots? That's dust on the flash. I must have been stirring something up!

This is doing the plumbing... under the floor and up the walls. It was easier to cut access thru the floor than work in the 2 foot crawl space. That's the new sub-floor leaning on the wall behind me. After I was done with the plumbing, I put the patches back in and covered it all up with another layer of sub-floor. There were already 3... now there are 4.

So, tomorrow is Saturday and after I take the Scouts down to sell mistletoe for their fund-raiser, I'll be back to install the baseboard, move the Coke machine and washer/dryer in and be DONE!