The Best Years of Life...

The best years of life?

Perhaps 6 to 16... 

It's the period between finding your belly button and becoming  - - > Master of the Universe!

From learning to walk in the hallways...to learning how to race on the streets! 

From discovering a Red Crayola...to learning that Red means STOP!!!  OK, so maybe not everyone learns to stop when they see RED by age 16! 

And looking for all things Red (or perhaps Orange!) might be one of the most important accomplishments achieved over a lifetime...

But even more interesting - think back to the four short years specifically from 8 to 12.

Stop for a moment and truly think back to your own childhood...

      the house you lived in at 8 years old...

      the friends you had at 10... 

      the games you played... 

      the discoveries you had made by 11...

      and at 12, perhaps the last year of innocence...

What comes first to mind for you?

Are they good memories or painful to recall? 

Mine are happy.  Every day was an adventure.

A hand-me-down bike, a skateboard made from plywood and an old metal roller skate, playing with Matchbox Cars by the hours, and paper airplanes - 10¢ balsa gliders from Foster's, and skipping rope (the hard kind with people twirling the rope at both ends) and forever playing catch back and forth with a baseball or football...

And of course, sandlot baseball at the cemetery, out in the back, where there was nobody buried...or so we believed...

With our own "Ground Rule Double" so if you hit a fly ball past the infield, 2nd base was as far as you could go because everyone on the field was in the weeds searching for the ball!

Can't forget sledding on Dutton's hill...which was waaaay steeper back then!!!

Hours and hours of "to-back-go" and "olly-olly-in-free" playing Hide and Go Seek.  And getting to play past "dark-thirty" was always the best!

It was climb, run and discover - with no thought of past regrets and never a worry about the future.

At 8, I didn't realize how fleeting and precious time would become...and how life back then was the sweetest and most magical.

It was life lived in the present...fully aware...living moment to moment...from one adventure to the next.

But sometime during the 12th year of my life, I tried to convince the world I was a teenager.

It think it was then...at 12...

...the point at which childhood slipped quietly away.

I didn't see it go...we never shook hands, nor said proper good-byes...in fact, I'm sure at the time, I wished it would leave...

Like most, I simply turned away from the wonders of childhood, and shifted from being fully alive in the present to worrying about the past and about the future to come.

But now at 65...

I am thankful I have no real regrets from the past.  I've always attempted to give life my best and to live with virtue, honor and integrity.  I think that's all that can be asked of anyone.

Though perhaps I still think a bit too much about the future...

It's hard to ignore the uncertainty of life, the rapid passing of time, and of a certain death coming too soon.

The book of Ecclesiastes comes to mind - with life like the withering of grass and vanishing as a vapor...

My thoughts can grow very dark when I consider how fleeting the 65 years have been - and how short the time left...

Though it's not the dieing part which is concerning.  I have no fear of death, it's something I prepared for back at 14.

In fact like Paul, I'm very much ready for it - to die is gain...but still...

Please God, not just yet...

I still have Judy to protect...

I made a promise to her, till death do we part...I've given my life to protect and provide for her...please let me live just one day longer than her...

And I know that I can't control the next moment...

But, I AM in control of my thoughts right now.

So while still here - for perhaps another day...another week...another 30 years - 

I will endeavor to live my life as I did at the age of 8 - quickly forgiving mistakes, and no worrying about the future...

And live each day with focus - 

      to experience the day - just one day at a time...

      to be present between each sunrise and sunset...

      to be light...

      to laugh...

      to find the next great adventure...

      to look for the many wonders of God around me...

      to experience joy from just being alive in the moment...

      and most of all - to be Thankful...

And maybe...just perhaps...the best years of life are still yet to come!!!

Let the adventure continue...

 

Who I Am...

An introspective view from Windy Hill:

This is my DNA - this is who I am...

Love is a decision - which you make every day...

Don't agree to a deadline you can't achieve - and never ever miss a deadline... 

Focus...

Do it now!

Surround yourself with smart people - learn from them...

Watch others, learn from their actions, identify what is working - then do it faster or improve upon it...

I can't control anybody else - but I CAN control myself, my effort, my actions...

Everyone is smarter than me - but nobody will outwork me!

Have integrity - never ever lie...

Never break a promise...

Read "How to Win Friends..." once a month for a year, then at least once every year after - develop an agreeable, "easy to get along with" personality. 

Do it now!

I am NOT the center of the universe...

Never complain, never whine...

Change it, else accept it - but never stop moving forward...

Life is 90% wanting to and 10% knowing how - just get on with it!

Waiting for all the answers is destructive procrastination - keep moving forward, adjust your actions based on results... 

Do it now!

There are NO menial jobs...

There are NO menial people - everyone is important...

I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me...

Say "Thank You" often - and truly mean it...

Do it now!

Never Quit...

I promised 46 years ago to take care of Her, to protect Her, to provide for Her...to love Her - never ever break a promise...

Let the adventure continue... 

Recent Jordan Peterson Quote...

 

Monday Reflections

"A wise person is someone who finds what they lost in childhood and regains it. You return voluntarily to the state of childhood well awake and then determined to participate through truth in the manifestation of a proper being." (Jordan Peterson)  As I've stated before...someplace between 8 and 10 is the perfect age...it's the most free and adventurous you've ever been in your life... Freedom, wonder, excitement from just being alive - and every day is a new adventure! I'm doing my best to return there...and to take my closest friends with me!!! Let the adventure continue...

The Mist...

There's something ethereal with the mist

Rise and stretch, fade and twist

Shape and size in constant shift

Alive and moving, my spirits lift

The creation of God...and yet another gift

Let the adventure continue... 

Trailer Trash...

It's early May on Windy Hill...and just for the record, we've not always been "Trailer Trash".

Yes, it may be accurate to say we live in an 8' x 30' trailer - but it started life as a swanky "RV" and it does have 3 slide outs!

OK, yes it does have an ugly, sea foam green  skirt around it...but it still has the wheels on underneath - it could RV again!

And Yes, it may be true that one of us likes to decorate with blue plastic tarps...

But it's mainly for when we're having parties!

And it may be true that we had a refrigerator in the front yard...

But it was only for a few days - until we could get it moved...now it's working in the shed!

OK, OK, so we have a vehicle under a tarp in the hedge row...

But it's a Dune Buggy, so it's not your common "Chevy in the hedge row"...and it's not like it's up on cinder blocks!

And OK, Yes, we have been known to hold extended day-long Corn Hole competitions...but we don't have matching team shirts with our names on the front and "Johnsonville Brauts" embroidered on the back.

But hmmm...that WAS before Judy got her embroidery machine...so MAYBE we could???

Nah, we'll just add our names to the front of our matching orange and neon green shirts.

And Yes, we do feed the local stray feral cats, but at least not on the porch.

Course there's not really room for the cat food bowl on the pallet we use for a porch, but still, we have standards...

OK...so maybe we are just a wee little bit Trailer Trash...

But we won't always be!

The house plans are done...the red lines complete...the structural engineers are finished...the blueprints are stamped...

And the race has officially started.

The Builder is on board, a well respected local, known for building tight well-built homes, and he only lives half a mile away.

And we attended our first Nelson Township monthly Board meeting -  with all 8 people in attendance.  Although it was just me and one other local busy body who were not part of the Town Board or Committee members!

But we endured the entire meeting...and we now have our officially approved - - - Land Use Permit - - - and received a formal "Welcome to the Community" from the Town Supervisor!

It only cost $25 dollars to be a respected member of Nelson Township (but we'll always be "flat-landers" to them!)

The local Building Inspector has a copy of the stamped plans, along with our formal request for a Build Permit, so another check for $3000 (Dad was never paid that kind of money when he was the Building Code Enforcement Officer!)

So three more items on the 'Must Do' list are complete - only 9,997 more to go...

Unfortunately, these may have been the easiest tasks in the house building process!

Remember the post about what you can learn by going through hell?

Well, we're getting a full education as we go through Construction Cost Quote hell with Joe Biden's inflation running rampant...

Life sure was easier when we were happy with just being Trailer Trash!

Let the adventure continue...

May the Fourth Be With You...

Spring is happening at Windy Hill...finally!

Saturday was a spectacular 65 degree, bright sunny day with a slight breeze from the North, keeping humidity low.

A welcomed day for working outside with long sleeves and not breaking a sweat.

And a great day to walk Windy Hill...

         ...to take comfort in what has been completed...

                      ...and to review what still needs to be done!

Last fall we planted about 500 flower bulbs...seriously it was 500.  We are now seeing the results, and since Daffodils self propagate...there should be lots more over time.

Though listed as not touched by deer...ours were nibbled when they first emerged.

But not too badly!

And a few more.

We planted the 500 in groups of 30 to 40 bulbs.  So color has been scattered about in lots of spots across the property.

And remember the Fire Breathing Dragon post that highlighted the destruction and carnage from over a year ago? 

Below is one of the areas since cleaned up with 50 hours of landscape raking, slash cleanup...and about 60 stumps ground down into sawdust.

We're just waiting for the leaves to emerge and the grass to grow in the Windy Hill Park...

Oh, and the bird houses were built mostly by the Windy Hillers, and the rest were Amish built.

Twelve so far...but we've only just begun!

The entrance to Windy Hill has had some significant transformation.  Originally there were a set of 4' deep - say good-bye to your car - drainage ditches that ran along the drive, with two culverts under the drive for drainage.

The ditches have been replaced with culverts, then back filled and leveled.  The grass seed is down and hay added to keeping the birds away.

We are just waiting for the mystery of new growth to happen...

With still a bit of work planned for the down stream side of the driveway.

One of the ditches was not needed and filled in.

The other is waiting a 20' x 18 inch culvert which will connect to the existing under the drive culvert at the base of the Poplar tree. 

Then some backfill and raise the grade for the rest of the ditch to make it all mowable...

But - first the new house...then the ditch! 

The reclaimed field on the west side of the property ended up much better than expected! 

What originally looked like this... 

Now looks like this...

The brush has been cleared along with about (50) 10 to 15 inch diameter trees pushed over and roots removed, plus a few larger trees cut and stumps ground away.

Also the 4 foot high by 6 foot wide top soil berm surrounding the field was relocated for planting fruit trees and berry bushes.

This area was so thick and over grown with invasives that you could not walk through it...totally unusable. 

So that's another 2 acres reclaimed from scrub and now mowable with the finish mower!

Plus it opened up a grand view to the West!!!

Fruit trees are planned for the built up topsoil berm starting on the right, then Raspberries and Blackberries in the center section, and you can see the fenced garden in the upper section.

All work in progress...

And the 250 garlic cloves started last fall - are now fenced in.

We discovered that Windy Hill deer are fond of garlic...but we caught it early enough to prevent damage to our first crop!

We suspect our venison may be more garlicky than gamey!

And the harvested wood pile...trees cleared from the reclaimed fields.  I just need to find time to morph from lumberjack to wood splitter! 

We are looking forward to the first fire in the new house fireplace using seasoned Windy Hill wood.

But...the most important project on Windy Hill...

Transforming the Fox into a modern farmhouse - with a view!

More to follow on this work in progress...

Let the adventure continue...

Work Ethic...

I have found...

It matters not what anyone else is being paid.

Some really get hung up on this...

But it's a very simple concept which they don't teach in high school, nor during a Freshman's feeble pursuit of a Biology degree.

It truly matters not what anyone else is paid...

It only matters that YOU provide more value to the business than what YOU are being paid.

It's Economics 101, but many never get it! 

If - you are providing more value to the business (meaning you're productivity is higher) than your cost, you'll always have a job, or at least be able to earn a paycheck.

If - you produce less business value than your cost...prepare to be made available to industry, you're corporate welfare - so expect to get fired!

It's an important lesson to learn early in life.

You have to generate value...the more, the better!

Generating value helps with the process of creating a desirable reputation and work ethic. 

Finding how you can generate value helps with finding and establishing your own personal order in life.

And being someone who provides high value helps to smooth some of the speed bumps encountered on the adventure journey.

It also helps you to always have an income and often results in new, unsolicited job opportunities being offered.

Now, you'll encounter some who approach work with a mind set to not do anything more than they are paid to do...nor to ever try anything they've not been formally trained to do...which typically makes them great candidates for paying Union dues.

And just my personal view - I believe Unions are actually a detriment for the achiever.

Remember the point about it doesn't matter what someone else is paid?

Generally Unions enable the worst employees on the spectrum to receive the same pay as the best, which makes Unions enticing for some.

But...Unions often handicap the best and highest achieving workers with limited Union pay scales structured for the average and the worst performing members.

It's hard to excel in that type of situation, both financially and with taking on increased personal responsibility...since many are watchful for anyone attempting to do more.

They are the ones most concerned with what everyone else is doing, and how much everyone else is being paid!

Which takes us to the next point...

Step 2 for the successful is to constantly improve your personal skills and pursue taking on additional responsibility - not for the pay - but simply for the benefit of the experience...and to learn!

"...You have to cut wood for the fire before you get heat..."

It's a more eloquent way of saying...if you do the work, the pay will follow.

As you expand your personal responsibility and improve your ability to provide increasing value over time...it auto-magically expands the roles and opportunities being offered to you, and generates need for the company to offer meaningful salary increases.

Companies never want to lose high value contributors.

And while seemingly contradictory to the above, from the employee's perspective, about the only way to exponentially increase your salary is to take a new position outside of your present company.

You are far more likely to measurably increase your income with a 15 or 20% salary jump as part of a job change to a new organization, than to expect your current company to offer continuous 5 to 10% annual merit increases while you remain in your current role.

But to be successful...

One must continually expand their personal skills and responsibilities, which eliminates the fears and mitigates the risks associated with a job change.  And it prepares you to start quickly generating value in your new role at the new company.

At least that's how it has worked successfully for me over the last 50 years...

Yet, I'm not planning to work for someone else again.  So these are just the musings of an old man.  Terry-isms about the glory days...

But what really matters is that you save and invest that new found income.  That's what supports the adventures which is a whole different discussion!

Let the adventure continue...

Hell...

It's often said that war is hell...

For all its evil, war sometimes has a silver lining.  It can clarify the mind and reboot our ethical compass.  It puts less serious things in perspective.  It nudges us towards our neighbor and reminds us that our needs and interests are intertwined.  It reignites our compassion.  (Historian Dan Carlin)

That's the great irony of war, one I never know how to reconcile: So many of the greatest things we value came from the worst events we pray to avoid. (Finance Blogger Morgan Housel)

Much to consider in these few words.

Read them again...stop and think for a moment after every stanza.

But it's not just war that is hell.

Nearly all of the most impactful life lessons and character building experiences happen while going through hell.

Not the Biblical "Hell" - that word you couldn't say as a child...but man-made hell.  "Chaos" or "disorder" as Jordan Peterson describes it.

And if you've never experienced order, everything is disorder, all of life is hell.

Life generally starts out that way.  No one enters life with a personal grasp of what order actually means when they start out on the journey.

Hopefully we start to gain some experience of "other people's order" while growing up in a family with loving and caring parents.  And there's always a spectrum...so one can only hope you had a happy childhood with parental order provided from the good side of the spectrum...but not everybody does.

But realize your happy childhood experiences were not the result of your own personal order...they were the product of your parent's life order.

So actually everyone has a personal life mission to identify and establish personal order for their own life - and then live within the results.

And it is the most difficult and trying times which create opportunity for clarifying our own personal order.

The challenging events help to calibrate our own personal compass and to test the decisions we've made.

And the tough life events are foundational to confirm what are of highest value and importance in our own lives.

They help us find our true passions and provide meaning to life.

Successfully overcoming challenges is what makes us most alive.

A life shaping event for me happened while sitting on a swing seat - you know, the 10 inch x 20 inch seat found on a child's swing set...

Except this one happened to be suspended from a 3/8" steel cable routed through a pulley atop a 90 foot tall aluminum mono-pole and then finally attached to a large winch truck.

Monopoles...you've seen them...those tall aluminum spires, roughly 8 feet in diameter at the base rising high into the sky supporting cell phone antennas.

But this happened back in the good ol' days, so it was not for cellphone antennas, but for 3 meter microwave antennas (a big metal dish about 10' in diameter) which were state-of-the-art for high-speed communications!

If you look closely, you'll see a series of bolts sticking out of the pole about 4 feet apart, running up the side of the pole...they're for manually climbing the pole if needed.

On this day the plan was simple - sit down on the seat at ground level, hold on while being winched to the top of the mono-pole, then bolt down the new 10 foot diameter monstrosity waiting for me at the top.  All easy to describe in a single sentence.

It.was.HELL

This was my first real experience with tower work and there was no man cage to safely climb into, nor climbing harness, no safety belt, not even a piece of rope to tie myself off with...just that flat 10" wide board to sit on...it was described as simple child's play...so I sat down.

And the winch started to pull... 

Remember those bolts running up the side of the mono-pole?

At 10' high, the seat got too close to the pole.  One of those 6" climbing bolts sticking out from the side of the pole gouged into my right thigh, then caught the edge of the wooden seat.  Hmmm...nobody mentioned to look out for that!

And the winch continued to pull...

The seat, held firm by the bolt started to tilt...and then tilt some more...it all happened so quickly...tilting to the point where I was hanging onto the swing chains with only my hands, my butt slid totally off the seat.

I was holding on tight...and hanging in mid-air! 

OK, sure it was only 10' high, and maybe I wouldn't die if I fell...but still, it felt that way!

I was able to push back away from the pole with my feet and the bolt lost it's hold on the seat.  It righted and I pulled myself back up onto the seat.

And the winch continued to pull...

That 90 foot pole happened to be next to a two story building, although at this point, I was only very keenly focused on staying away from those bolts.

Nothing else mattered in life.  Holding myself away from the pole with my feet - legs extended, with a death grip on the chains supporting the little swing seat upon which my life depended, and the winch continued to pull, higher and higher...

Only 80 more feet of hell to go...

Although it happened over 40 years ago...to this day, I vividly recall what occurred next - as if it had happened just yesterday...

As I came even with the roof top of that two story building - time stopped.

It didn't really stop...but it slowed...so that every heart beat seemed to last a minute long.

They say this type of thing often happens during accidents.  The perception of the passing of time measurably slows, resulting from your brain hyper focused on capturing and assessing your visual images every nanosecond...

My normally small quiet voice in my head was screaming at me.

   "I can't do this.  What am I doing here?

    I can't do this.  I'm going to die!

    I can't do this.  I need to quit! 

    Get me down...now!"  

And in those minute-long seconds, I thought of my little baby boy back home...500 long miles away.

I saw his little face clearly - he was just looking up at me - questioningly...

We were so poor at the time...break-your-heart-dirt-poor...

But that baby still had to eat - he was depending on me - and so was his Momma...

And in that moment in time...I came face to face with one of life's most elemental decisions.

Do I put the needs of the people I love above my own? 

 

That's a pretty existential question to resolve suspended in mid-air, while perched on the edge of a swinging seat headed to the top of a 90 foot pole.

But really, there was no decision to make.

I HAD to go on...for them...

But as it turns out - I really had to go on for me...

I learned more about life in those few nanoseconds suspended 25 feet off the ground than I could ever learn in a 12 year PhD program.

The experience of going through that was necessary for me to clearly understand what life and responsibility truly mean...

I needed to learn the importance and life-long benefit of putting the needs of those I love above my own.

I needed to learn for myself what it means to be responsible...to be a provider...to protect...and to truly love another.

And to establish my own personal life order...to become fully alive.

I don't know how to tell others about learning personal responsibility, or telling someone the importance of loving another more than they love their own self.

But there are lots of great examples of how to fully love another all around if you look for them...

And there is a perfect example of true sacrificial love from over 2000 years ago - - - you just need to look...

Perhaps others may get the chance to realize what life is really about during a few nanoseconds of going through their own hell.  For others, it may be a slow process across 40 years...

But sadly, there are many poor souls who go through life and never learn what life and love are truly all about...

My hope is that you will embrace every opportunity you get to go through your own personal challenges...and to learn all you can from them.

You might even find what true love means...and find a lifetime of happiness from putting the needs of your loved ones above your own...

You'll be the better for it!

Let the adventure continue...

Life is Not Over Yet...

 

As I look South, my back to the North

Across the lake the cars go forth

At breakneck speeds beyond belief

And in my soul there's great relief...

They race to work at 6 am

And from Windy Hill I say "Amen"

Then they turn, running home at 4

Their purpose I too pursued before

I hope they find reason to answer the call

An internal drive to give it their all

And no matter what - to fight the good fight

To face all challenges with strength and might

Like many have done in times long past

I too fought the good fight up to the last

I diligently gave the world my best

And now that it's o're, I relish the rest...

And the cars I see trigger reverie

Of a life before, a distant memory

Was it worth it? - I sometimes ponder

Without a doubt says my responder...

But life is not over so we look ahead

The mission: To LIVE - until we are dead

So bring on new adventure, one day at a time

Living moment by moment...line by line...

Life has been full for this ol' boy

Challenging work, deep love and joy

God is so faithful, His mercy so great

And for the next adventure - - - we hardly can wait!

Let the adventure continue...