August 2017

Is it hot or what?! Lesson learned from this summer: increase the garden watering frequency in time. My raspberries aren't producing anymore. I'll have to go out into the wilds to get huckleberries and blackberries if I want the wife to keep making fresh jam. And after years of nursing (and yelling at) tomato plants, we're going to simplify and just go with cherry tomatoes. A lot sweeter and more productive, too.

Lord Bless Ya, making good use of God's Bounty.

Kind-of a long way from being the Captain of a Warship to a Berry-Picker in Montana, eh?

Claymore wrote: Kind-of a long way from being the Captain of a Warship to a Berry-Picker in Montana, eh?

Just building up my resistance to scurvy.

I am in the market for a new job. I grow weary of the erratic schedule.

I have a different start time each day (start anywhere from 3:30AM-8AM).
Work different days each week anywhere from 8-14 hours per day (average 10-12 hours)

on top of that, after 3.5 years, I make 25 cents an hour more than new hires.  

But so far I am not finding anything  

A stable schedule is nice to have in life (tell ME, after working in the Military & Law Enforcement), especially when you have kids that need time & attention.

However, I believe that your job was a blessing when it came in.  If I recall correctly, you were living in an apartment, and were only getting about 30 hours of work with few benefits and had a patched-together car that was ready to flip over on its back.

Now you have a house, and I expect that your assets are doubled over what you had 3 1/2 years ago.

Maybe it is time to look for new opportunities, but the job that you got did serve you well, for a period of time.

Reminds me of the natural seasons of life. The warmth of the summer sun is a welcome change to the cold damp winter. Then you sweat for a few months and you're ready for some cold weather and fires at night. Just a natural tendency to start looking forward to the next season. However the hope and goal is that life is continually improved with each passing season, as Claymore pointed out about this current season.

I guess I'm saying that I agree with Claymore that you should look back on this past season positively, but that there's nothing wrong with having a feeling that the current situation may be coming to an end and it's time to start making plans and moves for the next season to come.

After almost 3 years working contracts down at the Boeing plant, I was SICK AND TIRED of it all! I had spent a lot of time away from my family and had to deal with more job sitw political BS than I enjoyed. I was more than ready to get away from that place! BUT, the profit from those contracts opened up more opportunities for my family. It boosted the company to another level of operational ability. So even though I look back on those years with a shudder, I can't discount the benefits.

Good luck in finding the direction for the next season Chris. Trust the Lord and He will direct your steps.

Had our "back to school bash" tonight at the outpost. Didn't have quite the turnout in kids that we had last year, but I know some of our returning kids were out of town for the last weekend before school starts back. We did have a few new people checking it out though.

We use the back to school bash as an ice breaker and orientation for the outpost. We'll start the real meetings next weekend. As the schedule would have it, I won't be there next Sunday night though. We have a bridal expo that we'll be at that weekend.

We did pick up FOUR new commanders for this year though, two of which don't even have sons in Rangers! We did lose one commander, so we have a net gain of three. I call it a win! Well, I guess we gained five new commanders because one of our graduated rangers is coming back as an Asst Commander, so... net gain of four!

I pushed hard at the end of last year to recruit more guys. The fact is that we all have jobs and families. The more guys we have, the less catastrophic it is if one or two are missing on any given night. So at this point, we have at pool of ten commanders for the outpost.

We'll see how it all goes this year... With all the new blood, I need to get on the ball with scheduling commander trainings. The way I do it is that you're an Asst Cmdr until you've taken Ranger Basics and Essentials. NRMC is recommended if possible, but not mandatory, and WCO isn't recommended at all...

Good for you guys. I'm glad to hear it.

We're kind-of in a period of Church Doldrums. Attendance is flat, and the Ranger Program is pretty thin.

I'm not really discouraged -- just attempting to recognize and evaluate the situation in order to attempt to overcome it.

I think what helps us in numbers, both for leaders and kids, is that  from the start we have (pastor as well) viewed RR & AHG as outreach ministries to the community as much as for the kids within the church. As I've mentioned before, well over half of our kids come from families that attend other churches on Sunday mornings. We've also started allowing some of those parents to be in leadership as we have gotten to know them and trust that they are reputable. The four new commanders I mentioned above are guys that attend other churches.

However, we have gotten to know these guys over the past 1-3 years. They're the guys that stay most of the time anyway during outpost meetings. They know what the program and we are about, and we've seen them around the boys and feel good about how they are.

Our most valuable asset is that pastor views RR & AHG as the main ministry of our church along with the school. It's not an after thought, or just a program to keep the kids out from under foot while the parents listen to another message from the pulpit. That's why there has never been anything else going on at the church during outpost meetings.

Claymore wrote:
I'm not really discouraged -- just attempting to recognize and evaluate the situation in order to attempt to overcome it.

If we all didn't know your background I would peg you military right off.

Phillip Gross wrote:I think what helps us in numbers, both for leaders and kids, is that  from the start we have (pastor as well) viewed RR & AHG as outreach ministries to the community as much as for the kids within the church. As I've mentioned before, well over half of our kids come from families that attend other churches on Sunday mornings. We've also started allowing some of those parents to be in leadership as we have gotten to know them and trust that they are reputable. The four new commanders I mentioned above are guys that attend other churches.

However, we have gotten to know these guys over the past 1-3 years. They're the guys that stay most of the time anyway during outpost meetings. They know what the program and we are about, and we've seen them around the boys and feel good about how they are.

Our most valuable asset is that pastor views RR & AHG as the main ministry of our church along with the school. It's not an after thought, or just a program to keep the kids out from under foot while the parents listen to another message from the pulpit. That's why there has never been anything else going on at the church during outpost meetings.

Its great when you don't feel like an afterthought.

Phillip Gross wrote:Reminds me of the natural seasons of life. The warmth of the summer sun is a welcome change to the cold damp winter. Then you sweat for a few months and you're ready for some cold weather and fires at night. Just a natural tendency to start looking forward to the next season. However the hope and goal is that life is continually improved with each passing season, as Claymore  pointed out about this current season.

I guess I'm saying that I agree with Claymore that you should look back on this past season positively, but that there's nothing wrong with having a feeling that the current situation may be coming to an end and it's time to start making plans and moves for the next season to come.

After almost 3 years working contracts down at the Boeing plant, I was SICK AND TIRED of it all! I had spent a lot of time away from my family and had to deal with more job sitw political BS than I enjoyed. I was more than ready to get away from that place! BUT, the profit from those contracts opened up more opportunities for my family. It boosted the company to another level of operational ability. So even though I look back on those years with a shudder, I can't discount the benefits.

Good luck in finding the direction for the next season Chris. Trust the Lord and He will direct your steps.

Sometimes life feels like one long winter in Narnia.

RRCmdrBennett wrote:

Its great when you don't feel like an afterthought.  

Exactly Dan! That's a much more efficient way of saying it! It totally kills me that pastors don't see the benefit of this ministry for the Kingdom.

I elected not to drive south to catch a total eclipse. We had 93% coverage here, and at best it seemed like late evening. It definitely cooled things down, though. Looked at it through filters, so not all was lost.

Was definitely a neat thing to see! I'm glad I got to experience it as I don't know if I'll ever see another one. We had totality over the house for a couple minutes. A very unique experience.

Who else thinks the friendly skies have worn out their welcome? As the years go on, travel by air has gotten less dependable and more onerous.

Took my wife to the airport at 5 am this morning, only to find out that her flight was cancelled due to mechanical problems. She re-booked for a later flight in another city (!) and we went home for a few hours. Drove to the new airport, only to find that her new flight was going to be delayed to the point of missing the connecting flight. So now she's going to spend the night in another city between flights. Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Hate to hear it. Haven't flown in years, but I know it was getting annoying ever since 9/11 to fly.

Can't keep flights on schedule but we're going to Mars!!! (Sarcasm).

Phillip Gross wrote:Was definitely a neat thing to see! I'm glad I got to experience it as I don't know if I'll ever see another one. We had totality over the house for a couple minutes. A very unique experience.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-plan-for-the-2024-total-solar-eclipse/

Glad it was cool for ya Philip but its hardly once a lifetime event. Next one is April 8, 2024 day after my birthday.  I joked with some people if having this eclipse was bad omen in the first and potentially last years of Trump presidency.  If you overlay the path of totality it forms an X over N America. NC won't be 100% darkened sun but even Ohio had 81% totality where I live.

Oh I've seen the maps showing when the next ones will take place and their paths. Maybe a road trip will be in order for the next one...

So far as the percentage goes, IMO unless you're in totality it's fairly anticlimactic. It was neat to look through the shade glasses at the moon encroaching on the sun, but when it turned dark and you could look and it with the naked eye,... THAT was cool!

A little excitement yesterday. Lightning strikes started a fire a mile up my road. When the wind shifted, people at that end were under mandatory evacuation, and my end was on standby.

My wife is back East, so I was loading my pickup with the important stuff. Then it was decision time: 5th wheel or the sailboat I just bought. Hmmm, can't live in the boat.

Watched small tankers, helos with buckets, and this awesome DC-10. Takes guts to bring a big jet that close to the ground. Fortunately, winds were calm all night. A lot of crews moving in this morning to take care of hot spots.

Phillip Gross wrote:Oh I've seen the maps showing when the next ones will take place and their paths. Maybe a road trip will be in order for the next one...

So far as the percentage goes, IMO unless you're in totality it's fairly anticlimactic. It was neat to look through the shade glasses at the moon encroaching on the sun, but when it turned dark and you could look and it with the naked eye,... THAT was cool!

You looked at the moon with the naked eye during totality?

Were you able to see any of the moon's features before or after the eclipse?  You would think they would plant a camera on the front and dark side of the moon for eclipses.

It does go through Ohio in 2024... just saying!

Yes, you can look at it durine totality, but as soon as it starts to pass you know it! You can't see any features of the moon because you're looking at the dark side the moon. You know, you could write a song about that...

Here I sit at 3:50 a.m., talking to a bunch of Rangers who are asleep. Not a good feeling to be jarred awake by a smoke alarm, especially after the last couple of days. But all is well, and I can see stars for the first time in weeks.

Figure out what set it off?