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Loving God,
As we stand on the brink of change - both hopeful and fearful - I ask you to be with us. Please keep President Obama and his family safe and continue to bless him with wisdom, courage, and steadfast hope. Bring all our public servants the compassion and inspiration they need to lead well in uncertain times. Most of all, help us to open our hearts and eyes those around us and enable us to enthusiastically embrace the positive possibilities that await us just beyond the horizon. Amen
Friday, February 20, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
How I Spent My 3 Day Weekend
For the 2nd day in a row, I have put on my work jeans, my lime green garden gloves, as well as my favorite baseball cap, and headed outside into the blue skies and very chilly winter air.
Grabbing my trusty shovel, I headed into the back yard where the meticulously placed landscape cloth has been peeled back like an overripe banana. I surveyed my work – three asymmetrical holes varying in depth from 8 to 12 inches. As I stood there, I considered that I could now add “hole digging” to my ever-growing resume.
Why, you may ask, am I digging holes? I wish I could say it was to plant trees, but with 22 pine trees already in residence, that would seem excessive. A water feature, perhaps? No, the last thing we need in a place where moss grows on anything that slows down is more water. No, the truth of the matter is that I am trying to find our septic tank.
While I believe that the nice septic man deserves every penny he charges for the nasally traumatic job he does, I still decided to save a little money by locating the “cover” for him. Armed with a vague idea of where the tank should be and the “directions” of where the cover is usually located, I took shovel in hand and started digging. Well, at least I took my shovel in hand. Did I ever tell you that we live on an ancient lake bed? You know what a lake bed looks like after all the soft sand washes away? Well, it looks like a gravel quarry. So, digging in our yard is a lot more like excavating.
In the first hole I dug, I managed to unearth several rocks the size of a small cat. The next hole yielded rocks similar in size, as well as the added bonus of semi-indestructible roots the length of my arm. What the holes didn’t yield was the elusive cover. Then I found the steppingstone. I was so excited that it might have been a marker left by the previous owner to aid me in my quest of the holy tank cover that I began excavating with renewed vigor. What did I find? Rocks, roots, and a note from the previous owner that said, “Just kidding”. Well, not really, but that’s what it felt like. I mean, really, why in the world would anyone bury a steppingstone in the middle of the yard?
As I stood there today, contemplating where to dig my next hole, I tried to find a lesson in all this. I came up with a few:
1. Always leave a map for the next guy.
2. When all you find are rocks, use them for landscaping.
3. When you don’t know where to dig, STOP DIGGING.
Being a good student, I have found a long stick to mark the cover. I have gathered up all the cat-sized rocks and set them aside for future use in my garden. And, I have stopped digging. I have decided to let the nice septic man find the cover for me before my yard looks even more like it’s been invaded by giant gophers from hell than it already does. I have abandoned my digging and growing frustration for a nice cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream. I encourage you to do the same.
Grabbing my trusty shovel, I headed into the back yard where the meticulously placed landscape cloth has been peeled back like an overripe banana. I surveyed my work – three asymmetrical holes varying in depth from 8 to 12 inches. As I stood there, I considered that I could now add “hole digging” to my ever-growing resume.
Why, you may ask, am I digging holes? I wish I could say it was to plant trees, but with 22 pine trees already in residence, that would seem excessive. A water feature, perhaps? No, the last thing we need in a place where moss grows on anything that slows down is more water. No, the truth of the matter is that I am trying to find our septic tank.
While I believe that the nice septic man deserves every penny he charges for the nasally traumatic job he does, I still decided to save a little money by locating the “cover” for him. Armed with a vague idea of where the tank should be and the “directions” of where the cover is usually located, I took shovel in hand and started digging. Well, at least I took my shovel in hand. Did I ever tell you that we live on an ancient lake bed? You know what a lake bed looks like after all the soft sand washes away? Well, it looks like a gravel quarry. So, digging in our yard is a lot more like excavating.
In the first hole I dug, I managed to unearth several rocks the size of a small cat. The next hole yielded rocks similar in size, as well as the added bonus of semi-indestructible roots the length of my arm. What the holes didn’t yield was the elusive cover. Then I found the steppingstone. I was so excited that it might have been a marker left by the previous owner to aid me in my quest of the holy tank cover that I began excavating with renewed vigor. What did I find? Rocks, roots, and a note from the previous owner that said, “Just kidding”. Well, not really, but that’s what it felt like. I mean, really, why in the world would anyone bury a steppingstone in the middle of the yard?
As I stood there today, contemplating where to dig my next hole, I tried to find a lesson in all this. I came up with a few:
1. Always leave a map for the next guy.
2. When all you find are rocks, use them for landscaping.
3. When you don’t know where to dig, STOP DIGGING.
Being a good student, I have found a long stick to mark the cover. I have gathered up all the cat-sized rocks and set them aside for future use in my garden. And, I have stopped digging. I have decided to let the nice septic man find the cover for me before my yard looks even more like it’s been invaded by giant gophers from hell than it already does. I have abandoned my digging and growing frustration for a nice cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream. I encourage you to do the same.
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