Evacuation!!

Here's what it looked like today when we evacuated. Very scary. We had no idea the fire was as close as it was until we turned out of our driveway. At this point we had not had any evacuation requests from officials. It seemed like nobody expected it to get like this so quick.

We were blessed to have a premonition that this would threaten us. At the first reports of a fire a few miles away, we started to load our car with the necessary items. Within an hour we were ready to roll without a minute to spare. Thank God with us that we were all safe and sound.

At this writing, we still aren't sure our house is safe. We've seen it on tv but aren't sure it's out of the path.

By the way, you should have seen how great our kids and the cousins performed under this scary pressure. We were a tight knit team when we left the house.

God is good.

Epic

I found a little brown, leather notebook on the shelf in the blue room. The following is an exact transcription from the original text. Attempts have been made to maintain the integrity of the original, so all punctuation and spelling are as they were written. Some words that were illegible have been transcribed as they appear.

This is The Epic.

Sat 12 Noon
Off for Mountains
Isaac, Freddy, Becky, Annie, Robbee, Andy, G.Pa
Ken & Mandy & Lincoln – will meet us at camp. Stopped at Renos – Good lunch – got gas film ice cream ice & off for camp.
Long train delay at Mojave – finally off about 2 p.m.

Mandy (crossed out) Becky drove the truck and made it most of the way tot the top. we saw crows a roadrunner a baby jack rabbit & an old one on our way here.
Made it to our camp side 5 p.m. Ken & kids came about 5 30.


Took 8 of us to put our dumb tent up.
Had a good supper hamburgers & peaches & peas & corn – roasted mushmallows at 9 p.

Sunday AM –
Great breakfast bisquits eggs & bacon juice & coffee then had church services – Ken Beck GP & Mandy on one side of creek – the others on opposite side. Isaac introduced Freddy who delivered an excellent sermon & lesson.
Robby will have the service tonight.


We took off at 10 AM & climbed & climbed really a long way


to highest part of mountain to east.


Then a scary trip back to creek where where we all refreshed our selves with cool water to drink & bath.


Back to camp at 330 P for sandwiches & cold drinks – guess what? We killed a rattler. Isaac nearly stepped on it and we got the kids back & killed it. – mass hysteria –


Drove in rain on highway Thundering now
Beautiful cloud formations – many infernal flies – large spider
Mosquito bites – all whittled – many mosquitos tonight – we ate in the camper
Pork chops – corn mashed potatoes apple sauce – well recieved by all.

Good church service taken from Revalations & John & Robbee made the sermon – had nice hymns too. Really a blessing the way Freddie & Robbee lead us today – I think of the scripture re a small child shall lead.


Andy found a big piece of obsidian – our only artifact.
Robby & Freddie to do dishes tonight – Becky is tired – she took a couple of hard falls today.
All saw (Jager?) & quail today.

Monday 10 AM
Good sleep – good breakfast – eggs bacon O.J. Hot cereal corn chips etc. going for hike
1 hr then to Kern River – hope our camp is all here when we get back. All OK boys climb trees & play catch Becky washes & cleans the camper over & over & over & Mandy lays around all time dreaming about whatever 14 year old girls dream about –


Monday eve
Glorious day – had a nice hike & drove to Kern river – stopped at the store for candy bars & chips – drove on to the river – made hot dogs for lunch while kids got muddy in the river –











so beautiful the clouds black & ominous Thunder & lightning. We put the canopy up & I made noodles & beef with cheese gravy. Pear halves & cakes. Kids are playing catch. Freddie thought he’d seen a snake & showed me where there was a little movement in the dirt. I dispatched it with the shovel & it was the fattest toad I’d ever saw. I felt bad because it was by the toilet and it had kept the bug numbers low – Nice soft rain & no bugs tonight


Annie says:
Tonight Lincoln and Andy are going to sleep in the camper (maybe) the rest of them are sleeping in the tent. And are going to have a great time and Annie is going to sleep in the camper with Becky. Have a great fire going in the rain. + Quoted Annie.
Hornets rough – I showed Annie how to train one so they wouldn’t sting. (With my fist!!)
Annie kicked Lincoln in the eye & made him cry – Andy and Annie comforted him & covered him with a towel while he bawled in the rain.

Tues AM
Finished breakfast Blueberry pancakes Bacon eggs & O.J.
Cleaning up camp & camper – Made a long close line for the sleeping bags _ tent let in about 1” of water on the floor & I really believe I could build a tent 2 people could erect & that would shed a little rain!
We are going to go on a desperation hike for artifacts after while – then we’ll eat lunch & head for lake Isabella.
Its a glorious day. We began it with swell prayer by Isaac Annie & Lincoln –


He has asked 55 times how far up the mtn we are going on our hike & I refuse to answer the 56th time.



Had a great short hike! no artifacts. Surely must be around somewhere. Maybe hit a (borvings?) next time.


We all had a good lunch prior to leaving for lake Isabella.
We’re off through breathtaking scenery.
Arrived at the (bicoray?)
(Becky’s handwriting) 4:00 gassed up in Isabella #21.75 60906 17 gal.
(G.Pa’s handwriting) about 2 PM and traveled through Onyx where terrible damage has occourred from Monday nights storm. One man dead by lightning and houses crushed by rocks & mud.
We saw beautiful Golden eagle, swallows hawks etc. Many squirrel & Beck saw 1 grey.
Isaac saw a jack rabbit.


We went to the T Shirt shop & got our T shirts & at 4 P started for home – 40 miles of unbelievable roads up and down because the canyon toward Backersfield is closed by rockslide. Got a good look at great hawk who soon tired of our eavesdropping & slid off the tree top he’d alighted upon.
Steadily droned on toward home stopped at grapevine for good dinner – good faire & happy trip
Praise the lord home at 8 30 P. to warm welcome. – Looking forward to (Alysaps?) Friday with howard.

Fourteen Funny Years Of Love

"I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox."
- Woody Allen

It's always funny to tell people we met singing karaoke in El Torito. They find it romantic, and odd, and sad, and sweet, and I think they all wish they met singing karaoke too.

Fourteen years ago TONIGHT, we went on our first date. It too was a bit of a shambles in the romance, expense, and intense departments. Then, as we sat on your floor laughing and looking through your photo albums, we somehow knew that in fourteen years, we'd still be crazy in love.

Happy first date baby.

The Desert of London Town

London Bridge Anchor

He came to the desert of London town
Gray miles long;
He wandered up and he wandered down,
Singing a quiet song.

William Blake, by James B.V. Thomson


With a grand total of 34 hours of layover, I enjoyed a nice slice of London life. A desert to be sure in the human sense, but an oasis of culture and stories long told.

Blue Bells At Shakespeare's Globe

St. Paul's Cherub

St. Paul's Impression on the Sky

St. Paul's Impression on the People

City Bustle

Ringers at Ready

Queen's Garden

Shy Queen Consort

Paddington Cathedral

We Got Annie!

"In the cookies of life, sisters are the chocolate chips."
~Author Unknown

Happy Birthday 1-14-14-9-5!

Fisherman's Luck

"Pitch a lucky man into the Nile, says the Arabian proverb, and he will come up with a fish in his mouth!"
- NATHANIEL PARKER WILLIS

I remember fishing with my Grandpa. I remember catching nothing. I remember pouting.

My Grandpa seemed to always have good luck when fishing, even when he didn't catch anything. But he didn't measure fisherman's luck by the number of fish caught. He measured luck in jokes cast, prank victims hooked, and smiles reeled in.

Happy Saint Patrick's Birthday Grandpa!

Uncle Freddy

Last Christmas, the children of my siblings totaled 3, and oh what fun we had. A couple months ago, my brother and his wife welcomed a little girl. Yesterday, my sister and her husband brought a new little boy into the world.

I look forward to the sweet day when all 5 of them can join me on the couch for a little bit of quality cartoon-time.

Thank you JDM and TMF. I love you very much.

The Pearl of Africa

Traveling Together

"Like cold water to a weary soul is good news from a distant land."
- Proverbs 25:25

God has given you to me to be my traveling partners.

Though we are apart these few days, we travel still together. I will be thinking of you each day, anxiously waiting to hear the good news you have that will refresh my tired soul.

I look forward to the day when we travel side by side again.

Plus One

Last year, my Dad turned 60. We all went to Catalina Island to celebrate.

Now he's 61 so we'll celebrate by remembering Catalina. Enjoy.

Still Just

In 1970, they drove away into their future together, remnants of their old lives dragging behind.

At 37 years, they are still "Just Married" and act like it more and more.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.



Share the memories, but keep the details to yourself.

Moving Forward

"We're moving forward!"

These are the encouraging words I hear almost daily from my partner and dear friend, JJ. He finds himself up against resistance, walls, or unexplainable stalls from people who are apparently on board with our projects (least of all me) and he still has his eyes set at the big goal beyond.

Thanks J for moving us forward even when we wanted to stop.

Happy birthday from your fellow CAACONAA child,

- The Chindo

You Must Have Been

"You must have been a beautiful baby
You must have been a wonderful child
When you were only starting to go to kindergarten
I bet you drove the little boys wild."
- Bing Crosby

Wife. Mother. Friend. Child of God.

Happy Birthday!

"You must've been a beautiful baby
'Cause baby look at you now."

Gateway To Glory

"I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels,
and all your walls of precious stones."
Isaiah 54:12


There are myriad sights in this world that would astound us unto uncontrollable praise if we would only let them. When I saw this odd, optical delight in Quito, Ecuador I was tickled, afraid, awed, and sad all at once. Had I been a prophet, I may have mistaken it for a vision.

"The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald..."
- Revelation 21:18,19


Having trouble making it out? You're not the first. Why not guess what it is in the comments section below? It is best viewed at full size so click on it to enlarge.

The Pit

Welcome to the pit, The Pit Of Hell!

These were the words that echoed back to us the night we first entered the water drainage tunnels beneath Orange County.

When you're pushing 20, you don't have a girlfriend, school is out, and you aren't heading off to war, you come up with lots of ways to entertain yourself and your friends. In the summer of nineteen hundred ninety, I, along with my friends Jeff (Fox Fortress), Loren (The Hoss), and Derek (Dude), found many ways to keep our idle hands out of the devil's toolbox. We used my car for dirt clod target practice. We fashioned broadswords out of hardware shop leftovers and battled one another on windy nights. We found new, not quite rule-abiding, ways to enjoy amusement parks.


But the diversion we enjoyed the most was to find an accessible underground waterway and spelunk it to our hearts' content. Don't faint away quite yet, dear reader. Remember, we were in Southern California in the summer time. Never was there more than a 4 inch trickle of water at our feet so the danger of drowning in a torrential flood was quite remote. Still, there were abundant dangers at every turn.


We lit small candles or cracked glow sticks for a little light. Flashlights were never allowed. At times, we would even limit ourselves to 3 matches each just to make it interesting. We dodged homeless squatters and police helicopters. We raced through the dark on skateboards and a homemade go-cart called The Gutter Chariot.

One night we found ourselves in a wet and soggy tunnel. It was a bit breezy there so we knew we were near some sort of exit. Candles were flickering out quick and often. We decided to walk on in the dark until we really needed light. There was a crunchy, sticky feeling beneath our shoes like walking on hard-boiled Easter eggs. Flashes of imagined (or was it) movement at our feet made us quickly light one of our last matches to find that we were shoelace deep in hundreds of writhing crawdads.


Another night, Jeff, Loren and I found a construction site and ducked down into the brand new tunnels before the streets were even laid. As soon as we were deep enough to lose our sense of direction, we doused our lights. Just then, an unearthly BOOM shook the tube around us. A gunshot?! Our only instinct was to run back the way we came. The echoes there go on for minutes at a time so this horrid sound chased us through the tunnel. Then another bone cracking BOOM crashed above us, behind us, around us. Cave in?! Then another BOOM! Then another!

We found the exit, an open tube at the bottom of a freshly dug trench. Loren started climbing the dirt wall first, and fast. Then me, with Jeff behind, but not for long. At the sound of another BOOM, I felt a heavy hand crash down on my shoulder. I tried to grip the dirt wall but began to fall back. Another hand gripped my shoulder and then my face pressed into the mud. Jeff was climbing over my body to escape the tunnel and that horrendous BOOM! He got to the rim above and reached down to pull me up. Thanks buddy. We ran and hid in the brush and watched for a sign that the danger had come to an end.

That's when we saw him. A dark figure with something large in its hand was coming toward us in the moonlight. No more booms, but what was that sound? Was it laughter? Yes. This stranger coming toward us was laughing at us. We readied ourselves for a fight or a good, fast run. Then we recognized the Maui & Sons t-shirt. Derek had followed us down to the tunnels and waited for us to get inside. When he was sure we were good and deep, he had slammed a piece of plywood down on the open manholes with all his might. Terror gave way to more laughter, and the memory was cemented.

"You don't want to go in there! It's so scary, you'll poo your pants!", we'd say to those who asked to join us. "Shine that! I'm not going in there!", we'd say to one another at the entrance to a demonically grafittied tube. We never knew what we'd find and we never knew exactly how we would get back out.


Though I'd probably never do it again (my wife and kids need me too much I think), I still dream of returning to experience the adventure, the terror, and the brotherhood found in the Pit Of Hell!*



*The situations described here are real. However, any resemblance to the real "Hell" or any of its subsidiaries or agents are purely coincidental. Use of the phrase "Pit Of Hell" is solely for the descriptive purposes of the author and does not in any way imply that the author has been to Hell or wants any part of it.

"Hell" remains the eternal trademark of The Devil and his angels.

Beautiful Sister, Wonderful Mother

Why would my little sister become anything less than a beautiful mother?

At 10, she was anxious to show us how much she could do and be. At 20, she adored and influenced my own sweet daughter. Now at 30, she is showing herself to be a mother of grace and intuition.

Happy birthday sweet flower. Sister mother.

Sculpted For His Glory

"Alexander - When will you finish Campaspe?
Apelles - Never finish: for always in absolute beauty there is somewhat above art."
- Lyly's Campaspe

At this point in her life I still hold one of the main sculptor roles. One day I will be positioned to sculpt a lot less.

But if I began sculpting more today and more every day after that, I could never make her any more than her creator, the master sculptor, has planned.

My daughter is 12. May God never finish the beautiful work he began in her before the foundations of the world.

There She Is

There she is.

The God focused Mother I'm privileged to spend my life with. Though she humbly shrinks from the praise I give her, she leads my children with strength and guides them in the truth of God's Word.

May her joy be full this day.

50th post by the way. Not that you were counting.

Lazy

Like a Rook partner who's ready for bed, my blog has been a boring visit of late.

Please forgive and put The Chindo back among your favorites. I will endeavor to make this a fun destination once again.

I Sense A Pattern

Although he wasn't as consumed with fishing as he is now, my brother is surely describing the fish he almost caught in Rock Creek (aka "The C&L Ambush 10) while I was away in California, imagining myself the star of a John Hughes film, for summer vacation.

It's the same even today.

Although we are different now, he's less interested in impressing his older brother (though no less enthusiastic when he does) and I'm slightly less interested in impressing everyone else (though no less pleased with myself when I do), we still yearn to share our lives in deeper and more meaningful ways.

Happy Birthday Laughter!




Now, look back at the picture. We are in the Portland airport. I've been away to visit our families in Southern California and I'm just returning. The outfit speaks of that pitiful time in adolescence when one cannot see himself in a mirror quite clearly enough to realize his wretched attempts at style. I am wholly impressed with myself. My brother is dying to tell me all the cool owl pellets, beaver lodges and possible forts he found in the 2 acre woods by our house. I'm trying not to be impressed. I have, after all, seen Ferris Bueller's Day Off and he hasn't. Though the more he tells me about it, the more I want to change into camos and let him take me there. Our sister, unfortunately, is not registering on our radar. We don't intend to leave her out, but it's like natural or something y'know? Mom let her go to the airport in dolphin shorts. Dolphin shorts, Mom? Are those geometric mystery shapes on her dolphin shorts, Mom? Sorry sis. It was Mom, not the brothers that did that to you. Fortunately for Mom, she took the picture so I can't mention her denim jumper or crocheted peach and green cottage vest. Dad is having a tough day. Although he was excited to go and get his first born after a month away (he probably took the family to a waffle shop on the way over to the airport), he's not impressed with his son's newfound impression of his favorite girl cousin. Aloofness and snobbery never struck him as endearing qualities. If I don't give him "the joy of being back with the family" that he expected soon, we're gonna skip the trip to the Bonneville Dam to see the sturgeon.

Note the banner behind Isaac's head fortelling his future home away from home.