TAKING THE GOOD WITH THE BAD

Iowa weather is a fickle thing.  They say if you don't like the weather here just wait 24 hours and it will change.  Last week we went from hot to cool to hot again and we haven't had any real rain in almost a month.  At least I thought it was hot.  The real heat and lack of rain was becoming evident.

Monday I formed up the pieces for the covered patio job.   It took me most of the day because all the pieces required caps.  This is the job that was supposed to be ready in 10 days.  I think some clients think we just pull these things out of our hats.  They don't realize the labor involved.

Our boss gave us an extra three days.

some odd shapes

On Tuesday we poured the covered patio job and had it out of the molds that night.

where the magic happens

Tuesday night at the bar was special.  The tempurature had been hovering around 85 for the last few days and the humidity made it miserable, but the air conditioner in the bar was set on frosty.  My brother-in-law Mike stopped in to get out of the heat.  I don't see him often enough even though we only live a few miles apart.  Then we were joined by my sister Debbie and she brought along my sister Sherry, who I rarely see.  Sherry lives across the country and dosen't get back often.  My fellow worker Chris dropped by also.

I was especially glad to see Sherry.  As siblings often do, we don't see eye to eye on a lot of things.  But we do both agree on one very important thing, and that is that Jesus is our Lord.  All of us talked and laughed into the night and by closing time it was just Debbie, Sherry and myself.  (my friend Danny was with us too)  We ended the night with our regular Tuesday night prayer circle.  Sherry's input helped to make it deeper and more thought provoking.  It would be nice to have that more often.

I believe Mike may be suffering a heat stroke

On hump day we loaded up the pieces for the giant job in Paton Iowa.  This project has been ready to go since last fall.  The Iowa weather changed too fast and we had to hold off on the install until now.  The land scape company doing the job is one of the better ones.  We have worked with them before and they demand perfection.  So far we have delivered.

almost 2500 pounds of concrete

Thursday the color for the other 4 benches for the Iowa State project came in, so we got the rest of the job poured.

Chris gets the mix ready

We also continued on processing the covered patio job and got the second coat of sealer on the big 12 piece job.  

signed, sealed and awaiting delivery

At the end of the day I demolded the ISU benches.  All these projects will be installed with in two weeks.

tree stumps in a concrete jungle

Friday morning I came into work and stopped at the koi pond to feed the fish.  It has become my responsibility to do the feeding since the guy that used to do it left to pursue his own career.

After several weeks I have the fish following me everytime I walk past the pond.

the smallest fish has actually ate out of my hand

Then I began forming the big project for the Iowa Shelter.  This will be the reception area for the new homeless shelter.  This may be our biggest project to date

just the beginning

The heat for the last few days has been pushing the mid to upper 80s.  My niece Sarah had asked if I would help side her garage this week-end.  My nephew Dean and Canyon were going to do the roof (I knew that I would be up there too).  

All week long people had been complaining that their lawns were so dry it was like walking on glass. 

So as Iowa weather always does, just when I didn't want rain, it showed up.  At a quarter to five on Friday, just when I was preparing to head over to work on the garage, the heavens opened up.

where's Noah?

I took a couple ladders over to the garage and snapped a quick pic to use as a before reference.

we can rebuild it, we have the technology

Early Saturday morning we headed over and got started.  Robyn and Nick came to help out too.  The temperature approached the mid 90s and the humidity from the rain made it a little hard to breath.

Canyon and Dean on the roof, Nick works on the siding

For some reason, Sarah decided to feed us health food for lunch.  We had pin wheel finger sandwhiches and fresh veggies.  Not real manly.  (admittedly it was yummy)

We worked until 5 or so.  Robyn and I had a graduation party to attend, but right about 5:30 I got a call from Robyn's boss.  His wife was ill and they had tickets to the production of Billy Elliot at the Civic Center.  They couldn't go but he didn't want the tickets to go to waste.  If we wanted them they were ours.  

Of course we did.

The show was at 7:30.  So we rushed home, showered and raced downtown to the Civic Center

a little culture in our lives

The musical was very good.  It was the story of a poor mining town on strike.  The son of a miner wanted to be a ballet dancer but his dad will not allow that.   The dancing and singing were exceptional.  The down side was that the show was riddled with profanity.  When we got home that night we were exhausted.   We slept in and missed church.  When we finally got moving we went back to Sarah's to finish up the garage.

By noon Sunday we were hard at it.  I got up on the roof to show the boys how to hammer down some shingles.  A nail gun showed up at about 1 and I challenged Dean to a race.  I used a hammer and he used a gun.  He has a hard time admitting it but I out shingled him almost 2 to 1.

making progress

As the siding started going up it became evident that we didn't have enough.  It is special order and the boxes only contained half the square footage that the order desk said was in them..  I didn't want to tell anybody that it was probably my fault because I'm a Griswold.

So about 4:30 we had the roof done and all the siding on that was available.  The tempurature was in the upper 90s and I was beat.

a work of art

Then Dean and Canyon asked if I wanted to go golfing.   

I know, right?

I told them they were nuts.  It was almost 100 degrees, and I just got done working my behind off.

That's when they played their ace.  They threw the Father's Day thing in my face.  "Won't you play golf with your son on father's day?"

I agreed but only if they could get a tee time this late, and I needed to take a shower first.   I knew that would never happen...

Happy father's day

I will tell you that golfing was much more relaxing than roofing.  And I beat them both.   I let Dean know that I am twice his age, twice his weight, nailed down twice as many shingles (using a hammer) and kicked his butt on the links.  

We finished up just as the sun was setting.

Canyon puts one in there tight.

Monday morning came way to fast.  I was sore and sunburnt.  But we had a massive install to do so I had to be at the shop by 6 A.M.

rise and shine.. well, rise at least

We got the carts loaded into the trailers and started out toward Paton Iowa.  About half way we stopped at a convience store for some eats.  When Chris checked the load he was horrified to find this...

crushing through the floor boards

The weight of the pieces loaded on the carts was too much for the trailer.  The floor boards were giving way.  I know your thinking the Griswold factor here.  Luckily, we had some steel ramps that we slid under the tires and spanned the holes in the floor.

The scale of this patio is unbelievable.  Just for starters, they have a stream running through it, but that's not all.  The stream lights on fire!

a cool feature

The first thing we did was get the pond wall caps installed.  The wall is more than 30 feet long and I had some difficulty getting the pieces to line up.  My arch wasn't quite right and the seams were looking strange, it wasn't perfect, but we moved forward.

just a little off..

There was a little struggle with the bar pieces, but a bit of fanaggeling brought it all together.

some commercial bars aren't this big

This whole project is phenominal.  They have been building the house for 3 years and doing the landscaping for 2 1/2 years.  This back yard could easily be in a park or a zoo.  Here are some pics to check out...

origionally a corn field

the big pond out back is 40 feet deep

The temp was over 100.  We were there all day.  On the long drive home the AC never really got cold enough, but I was glad to have that job done.

Tuesday morning we poured the waterfall cap.  By that afternoon we recieved a phone call from the client in Paton.  They did not like the pond caps.  The pieces didn't fit right and lined up funny.  My heart sank.  I knew the day before that it didn't look right.  If they couldn't be adjusted to fit better, the fault would fall squarely on me.  This could turn out to be very expensive mistake.  

My boss would make a trip up there in the next day or so.  I felt horrible.  I templated and formed the job, and I don't know what I did wrong.  I feared I may lose my job.

I was thinking about the possibility of being fired for the rest of the day.  As I drove home I told myself that I would stop out on the dirt road that I take and get out and pray.  When I stopped and got out it started to sprinkle.  People driving by must have thought I was crazy.  I stood in the rain and prayed.  I asked God if He would show me what I was to do if I lost my job.  I realized that I wasn't necessarily sad about that possibility but more upset that I could have cost the company a great deal of money.

I knew that God didn't promise that there wouldn't be trouble in my life.  I also know that loosing my job wouldn't be the end of it all.  As a matter of fact, maybe it would be the push I need to start my own business.  I prayed that God would ease my heavy heart and help me put my best foot forward.

into every life some rain will fall

Wednesday morning I awoke not feeling much lighter.  I usually get pretty down on myself when I screw up.  I went into work with the feeling of letting everybody down.  But I continued with my job.

We had to install the covered patio job.  This one went together with relative ease.

this one looks good

At small group that night we studied the story of Daniel.  If I thought I had trouble in my life it was nothing compared to Daniel's.  When he was threatened with loosing his life for not following the orders of the King, he didn't wallow in self pity.  He put his faith in God, and God delivered him from the lions.

That helped to ease my burden, because I should, and would, put my faith in God and He will provide.

I have been feeling a call to do something worthwhile to further the kingdom of God.  Maybe this was not a mistake, but part of His plan.  Maybe now I could step out and do what it was that He was calling me to do.  

But what is it?

I would continue to ask Him to reveal it to me.

Thursday at work I was working on the Iowa Shelter job when my boss came back from Paton.  

I drew a deep breath.

He said that I had to rebuild the caps.  He brought me new templates and said that although he was disappointed he knew that these things can happen.  His only request was that I make them a priority.

Although the threat of loosing my job was no longer of any concern, I still feel upset with myself.

The devotional that day offered me some advice.  It says, "What has God called and equiped you to do?  Step out and do it, and He will empower you."  Hmmm...

I called Robyn and told her I was thinking of getting out of this line of work and doing something else. I offered a couple of ideas and told her to read the devotional.  She called back and informed me that it also says, 'Plan, prepare and save."   She told me not to quit my job just yet.  

I stayed late and got all the caps reformed.

here we go again

I had been noticing all through the week that I had several itchy bumps on my arm.  I thought I may have stuck it in some kind of mosquito nest in Paton.   By Friday Robyn had the same bumps.   We suspected the dog or cat must have brought in some kind of bug.   Robyn called Sarah and found out she had bumps too.  It was poison ivy.  By Friday night mine were starting to blister.  No one else at the garage work site was afflicted.  I would like to personally welcome Sarah to the Griswold clan.

ewwww!

Saturday morning my self pity was beginning to wain, but I still have a strong desire to serve God in a bigger way.  Maybe this whole thing has been a test, to see if I can handle being humbled and deal with trials and tribulation.  Sometimes He turns up the heat just to refine us a little more.

 

I went and got us some coffee.  We sat and enjoyed that, then I went out to pluck the huge thistles that have sprung up seemingly over night in our flower garden.

I think He is testing me again, to see how I handle weeding my garden.

I wonder if this whole week has just been a giant weed in my life.

I can be so dramatic at times, don't you think?

this test I can pass

Peace

Dan