"I was wiped out from moving all of that water out of that big semi-truck. As I recall, on Sunday I slept between conference sessions. The kids were pretty antsy by evening, and so we decided to take them to a playground. It started to rain as we all got in the car and drove down Greenwind Chase. So we drove past the little playground, past the large playground at the intersection of Greenhouse Road, turned on Greenhouse, and and went to the playground in back of David and Karen Kessler's house. It was fun to play with Colby and Taylor on the swings and on the slides and on the teetertoter. It was fun to watch Jared play with the manual `steam'-shovel. When things slowed down I kept taking Taylor to go and visit the Kesslers, and as soon as we were out of sight of Melanie she would get upset, so we would come back. On about the third try we made it to their street. And lo and behold, David and Amir were walking to the park to practice baseball.
I was catcher while Amir practiced batting for a while. Then Karen and Yarden came. It was nice to reintroduce them to Jared, Melanie, Colby, and Taylor. As we sat and talked about old times, I think it was the first time that Yarden put together the fact that David had lived with us several times, and that he is like one of my kids. I am sure glad there was a little rain storm and that we went to the park by David and Karen's. Unexpectedly spending time with the Kesslers while playing with grandkids and talking to Melanie and Jared takes my mind to the positive side of the Walden 3-D `city built around people instead of cars.' It makes me want to pursue my plans for Red Cove (../0435.html, ../0436.html, ../0437.html, ../0438.html, ../0445.html, ../0446.html, ../0449.html, ../0452.html, 0501.html, 0528.html, 0532.html) or Shirts Canyon 0528.html.
The highlights of Monday were (1) that Melanie mowed the lawn while I played with Colby and Taylor, and (2) Family Home Evening with Colby and Taylor. Note the common theme: Colby and Taylor. Melanie read "My Turn On Earth." I forgot that we had taken this book over to Vidor for a Family Home Evening. I did remember I could not read it because I get so choked up, which is why I asked Melanie to read it. We also played hide and seek. I don't remember what else we did, but I do remember it was fun. Sometime this week Melanie told either me or Andrea how bad she felt about how all of the kids would gang up with their Mom and keep me from having Family Home Evening or Family Prayer or Scripture Study. Oh well! At least it was not my habit to use language around the kids like was recently recorded on Roice's Pumpkin Contest Announcement around the kids. Hopefully the scriptural promise `Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it" (Proverbs 22:6) will be fulfilled. I pray so each night, for the benefit of each of you and for your prosperity. It was a real blessing to see how proper training is continuing with Melanie and her wonderful family.
Power came back on at Melanie's house in Vidor Monday night, mostly because they have a guy that works for the power company living on their street. So our lovely experience with Melanie, Colby, and Taylor was going to come to an end on Tuesday.
Tuesday, as a going away present, Melanie, Andrea, Colby, and Taylor came down to the office to have lunch with me. It was nice. It was fun to watch the eyes of the people as they saw Colby and Taylor. Because of their visit, I did not walk the stairs (0536.html). I was reading from the Book of Mormon when they arrived. I had just discovered and noted the poetry of II Nephi 15 (Isaiah 5), which Wednesday evening I used to write a song based on the chord progression:
I like the way it turned out. I find it fascinating how the entire chapter, with only a couple of exceptions, breaks up into 16 9-line verses. I think Andrea hears it as another one of my versions of the song that never ends. Maybe someday one or more of you will ask me to sing it to you. Then again, maybe not. Oh well!
I believe it was Tuesday evening Jeff Jurinak called and asked me to be a Team Leader for the group going out to Vidor to cut trees with chain saws. It is a small assignment, and I do not lead teams very well. However, it felt good to be asked to take on a priesthood assignment to be a leader. I guess my reaction is because it seems so blatant how I have been passed over for priesthood leadership, whether it be because of my insecurities, my sins, my travel, how wild my kids were, the divorce, or whatever. Oh well! The call felt good and fulfilling. I have often reminded myself that I have a stronger testimony of the restoration than most, that I have provided more service than most (in both quantity and quality), and that the fact the Lord has not needed me in a leadership role more is not tied to my worthiness, but rather to my pride and ego. Anyway, we had meetings Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday night to make sure the work would go well. In a sense this many meetings seemed to be a bit excessive, and maybe this type of reaction is the real reason why I have not been given more leadership responsibilities in the Nottingham Country Ward nor in the Katy Texas Stake.
Wednesday I received a note from Ajay Kalsi in India. He asked for a regional stratigraphic interpretation of his block. There were dozens of follow-up e-mails, reconnection with Ward Abbott, and it culminated in a meeting at the SEG (0546.html) where he informed me, as we walked down one of the aisles in the convention center, the contract had been given to Robertson Research. Looking back over my poor handling of this commercial opportunity, it is obvious to me why I have not been given more responsibilities like being a team leader. I'm too honest. I'm too optimistic. I'm too naive about the competition. I'm too trusting. I'm too too many things which do not fit with being a team leader in `modern business.' Oh well!
I also received a note from Pat Hyde. However, I'm not certain what day I received this because the clock is broken on the Sun workstation, and it got further off when the computer was turned off for our Rita evacuation (0539.html):
People need people. Friends need to spend time with friends. Everyone has struggles, and everyone needs someone to talk to their problems about. In a sense, the listener is the Team Leader. Hopefully my weekly calls provide a safety valve for those of you who need it. I wish we were closer, and yet I am very proud of each of you and your independence. It is better for you to be independent than dependent.
Friday nights have become our night to stay home and watch the television show `Numbers.' They are always talking about things related directly to Bavinger's work in data mining, or things that relate to my work. It would be nice if it were not just another cops and murder show. And I admit I enjoy it.
Saturday morning we met at the Stake Center at 5:30. Don Keller was about to leave when I arrived. Thought he had missed the crew. We arrived at the Vidor Chapel at 7:00 AM, just on time. There was an orientation session. The Bishop who is responsible for coordinating the relief effort is an ER Doctor at one of the local hospitals. He got right to the point by pointing out that it is an ER Doctor's nightmare to have hundreds of white collar workers running around in the country using chain saws! There was an opening prayer, and we were dismissed.
We went out to the parking lot, where Jeff had some munchies for us. Melanie, Colby, and Taylor drove down to pick up some mail and things they had left at the house and to say high. It was fun watching Melanie interact with Joe Amason, Fred Knies, Alan Peterson, Brent Peterson, Jeff Jurinak, Steve and Dan Jones, and others who had not seen her for years. Melanie, I am very proud of the choices you are making, and the example you and your family are setting.
Carlos Venegas from work came with me. I think he had a good time. I took 10 digital photos, which are at http://www.walden3d.com/photos/NottinghamCountryWard/051008_NCW_Vidor_Team. As a team leader, I had been asked to bring Lyle Rowbury's chain saw. Because it was temperamental, I ended up spending much of the day running the saw. It was a classic example of why I do not make a very good Team Leader: I get involved in doing things, and do not want to sit back and manage how others are doing things. And I not only get busy doing things, I immediately get all the way involved. At the first house, I climbed back in the middle of a bunch of branches and started up the chain saw, fell, stuck a tree branch into my arm, and bled all over my new Levis. Oh well! There was a big tree down between two of the houses we were working on, and it was not really a problem. However, Carlos and I attacked it, and pretty soon the entire crew was working on it. In fact, there were too many people around, and I got in trouble for walking around with the chain saw running at full blast (the only way to keep it going). Oh well! It was only a slight reprimand, and a snide comment at lunch.
At the second place we went to, there was the top of a giant pine tree that had fallen. The top that fell was about 30 feet long. The place it broke off from, was probably 60 feet up in the air. And there was a big piece of the tree just sitting on another branch, about 20 feet above us. Steve Jones and I spent a half an hour trying to toss a rope around it and pull this branch down. We did not succeed before it was time to move on. Oh well! I also tarped the roof of a little house away from the main house at the third stop. I was almost as tired as I had been from hefting boxes of water the week before (0540.html).
We finished our assigned work orders about 4:00, and so we took the whole crew over to Melanie and Jared's house, and took down their fence which had blown over. It was a blast to have Colby helping me put the nails in a bucket, or take broken boards to a broken board pile, or grab one end of a board and have me following him with the other end. He is a great worker for such a little kid. I'll claim good genes. The only issue is I lost Andrea's new hammer. Oh well! Also, Wright's Bar-B-Que was not back working yet, and so we left for home without any dinner. We also left without any injuries, and with all of our folks. It was a good day, and I was very tired, even though I was suppose to have taken time to scope things out and think about the best way to take down trees as a Team Leader."