It is Friday morning, and I will be off to the tennis court to have another butt kicking administered by the "Posse". That would pretty much sum up Wednesday morning's experience as the combination of my ineptitude and the skill and "rascality" of my regular group put me to great shame. I do have a little inspiration this morning as one member of the group, who will go unnamed, has really got me hacked off. You see John will be celebrating a very significant birthday on Monday, and he is going to be ducking us in order to, as he puts it, celebrate with his family on a trip to Leavenworth. The guys has had 80 years to celebrate with his family! He can't tell them all where to get off and celebrate with his friends?...despicable!
In the past few days I have had some requests for the results of the meeting regarding the sad state of safety affairs on the stretch of US Highway 195 that passes in front of our church. What is very unsettling is the fact that the government authorities and officials can't even come to an agreement to whether it is US Highway 195 or State Route 195. The end result of Tuesday's activities will not be evident until the latter part of this year. This section of highway will be designated a "Traffic Safety Corridor", which means that it will be a priority for "low cost improvements" over the next two years to make it a less dangerous place to drive. There were many ideas bandied about. I brought up the idea of dropping the speed limit, which had the State Patrol salivating but the traffic engineers were cringing. They claim that because it looks like mostly a rural highway many drivers will not obey the lower speed limit creating a greater safety problem. Using my new found friendship with the State Troopers I had them all immediately stopped and cited for failure to yield to my right of way. One thing that the State will be spending a little money on is to educate the deer, elk, moose and coyotes to stay off the roadway during high traffic periods, and they will also be installing railroad style crossing arms that come down across the intersecting roadways anytime a driver of 70 years or older comes to one of the intersections to enter or cross the highway.
Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Cold, Wet & Loud
Rain has once again spread over the Spokane area and there is snow falling in the mountains today. A Winter Storm Warning is up for the I-90 corridor through the Idaho Panhandle. Down here in the bottom lands it is just a cold rain, as temperatures are just in the low to mid 40s. It looks like it will be this way through the rest of the day, and a few showers are going to be lingering into tomorrow. Tomorrow should be a bit milder as well, into the mid to upper 50s. For the weekend it will remain a bit on the cool side for the beginning of May, the best we will do is get to around 60 on Sunday, and the skies will be cloudy a good part of the time, with only periodic breaks in those clouds and sun shining through.
As I was leaving for church this morning I got a call from our secretary that there was this awful noise in the building, and it was worst in the sanctuary. She didn't know what it was, just that it was really LOUD! Be the time I got here it had stopped. I went to investigate, but just like with a car that makes a weird noise when you drive it, if the noise doesn't reoccur it is hard to figure out what might be causing it. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the LOUD noise returned briefly about 15 minutes later. It was definitely coming out of the speakers in the church and fellowship hall, and it sounded like the static that you get when you change the channel on the TV away from the one that the cable TV signal comes in on...only LOUDER. I turned the volume down on all of the microphone channels, and muted them all, and since then the LOUD sound has not reared its ugly head again. We do have the programmer and technician from the multimedia company that we bought the system from here today (Media Joe), so he is going to be making a diagnosis and hopefully performing the necessary surgery to amputate these LOUD noises.
As I write this morning I am looking out my window and watching the landscaping company move dirt and gravel for the preschool playground. As mentioned, it is not a lovely day to be playing in the dirt, but they don't seem to mind, as long as they can take frequent cigarette breaks. The only ones who seem put out by today's activity are the marmots who have adopted the playground area as part of their domain.
As I was leaving for church this morning I got a call from our secretary that there was this awful noise in the building, and it was worst in the sanctuary. She didn't know what it was, just that it was really LOUD! Be the time I got here it had stopped. I went to investigate, but just like with a car that makes a weird noise when you drive it, if the noise doesn't reoccur it is hard to figure out what might be causing it. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, the LOUD noise returned briefly about 15 minutes later. It was definitely coming out of the speakers in the church and fellowship hall, and it sounded like the static that you get when you change the channel on the TV away from the one that the cable TV signal comes in on...only LOUDER. I turned the volume down on all of the microphone channels, and muted them all, and since then the LOUD sound has not reared its ugly head again. We do have the programmer and technician from the multimedia company that we bought the system from here today (Media Joe), so he is going to be making a diagnosis and hopefully performing the necessary surgery to amputate these LOUD noises.
As I write this morning I am looking out my window and watching the landscaping company move dirt and gravel for the preschool playground. As mentioned, it is not a lovely day to be playing in the dirt, but they don't seem to mind, as long as they can take frequent cigarette breaks. The only ones who seem put out by today's activity are the marmots who have adopted the playground area as part of their domain.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Hold My Calls
I will be tied up in a meeting all day today. I am actually looking forward to it...kind of. Today the Washington Department of Transportation (from now on labeled the DOT) will be convening the first general meeting of the US Highway 195 Safety Action Team. I may not have been taken in the NFL Draft, again, but I was selected to this team due to my persistent complaining to the DOT about the unsafe conditions on the highway the passes by the front door of St. John's Lutheran Church. Just last May, on Mother's Day, a 9 year old girl was killed in an accident at 195 and Meadowlane Road, which is the intersection where the church is located. That was the same day as we held the ground breaking ceremony for our new building. The DOT has a grand plan for that roadway, costing many, many millions of dollars, of which they now have about $13.67. It will be 20 or 30 years before anything "concrete" is done. The purpose of today's meeting is to find low cost (less than $3.52) solutions to the safety issues in this fast growing part of Spokane.
Anyway, I would like to make a motion...actually two! First, I move that the DOT lower the speed limit along the 6 mile stretch of 195 from Hatch Road to I-90 from 55 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour. Do I hear a second? Good, all in favor say "aye"...opposed just be quiet! Motion carried. Now, I move we adjourn. There...wasn't that easy!
I don't think it will be quite that simple. Oh well, it is going to be a rainy day anyway, so I might as well be stuck inside. At least they are feeding us lunch. Actually, I'm buying...it is being payed for with tax dollars.
Anyway, I would like to make a motion...actually two! First, I move that the DOT lower the speed limit along the 6 mile stretch of 195 from Hatch Road to I-90 from 55 miles per hour to 45 miles per hour. Do I hear a second? Good, all in favor say "aye"...opposed just be quiet! Motion carried. Now, I move we adjourn. There...wasn't that easy!
I don't think it will be quite that simple. Oh well, it is going to be a rainy day anyway, so I might as well be stuck inside. At least they are feeding us lunch. Actually, I'm buying...it is being payed for with tax dollars.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Baby Steps
There is the old saying, "you gotta walk before you can run". That pretty much sums up where I am at this evening. Our church, St. John's Lutheran, has been transplanted to a new location in a brand new building over the course of the past two and a half years. We have a new neighborhood of people that we are here to serve. This neighborhood is full of young families with kids coming out of their ears, and it seems all sorts of other places too. In order to be relevant to folks of Generation X and Millennials we have to do some things in a more "contemporary manner". That effort took a big step forward this evening, with mixed results. We held our first contemporary worship service, and it turned out very well. Our musicians were great, the audio and video production was well done, and I believe that all that were in attendance came away refreshed and rejuvenated. I only wish that there were a few more of us. In our morning worship we had 115, which is about what we have been averaging over the past 5 weeks...discounting the 250+ we had on Easter. This evening we had 30. I have to look at it as a good first step, and if we continue to build it...they will come. Out of humble beginnings God can do great things. The next big step is going to have to be in the area of marketing.
Before I turn in I must say a few words about the weather. Up until the final days of her life, at the age of 91 years (at least I think that is how old she was), my grandmother would not go to bed at night without watching the weather forecast on the 10pm newscast. Even for the last 10 years of her life, when she almost never left the house, she had to know what the weather was going to do tomorrow. Perhaps you are the same, you just gotta know! So here we go...The news is good. After high temperatures only in the middle 50s Saturday and today we are headed for the upper 60s to near 70 degrees tomorrow, with mostly sunny skies. The warmer and sunny weather won't last long though as rain moves in by Tuesday morning, and temperatures take a tumble once again. Through the middle of the week highs will be back down into the 50s once again with mostly cloudy and breezy conditions and a few showers on Wednesday and Thursday. Take heart though, as it looks like the weather will improve again by the next weekend as sunnier days return and the temperatures will rise back into the 60s.
Before I turn in I must say a few words about the weather. Up until the final days of her life, at the age of 91 years (at least I think that is how old she was), my grandmother would not go to bed at night without watching the weather forecast on the 10pm newscast. Even for the last 10 years of her life, when she almost never left the house, she had to know what the weather was going to do tomorrow. Perhaps you are the same, you just gotta know! So here we go...The news is good. After high temperatures only in the middle 50s Saturday and today we are headed for the upper 60s to near 70 degrees tomorrow, with mostly sunny skies. The warmer and sunny weather won't last long though as rain moves in by Tuesday morning, and temperatures take a tumble once again. Through the middle of the week highs will be back down into the 50s once again with mostly cloudy and breezy conditions and a few showers on Wednesday and Thursday. Take heart though, as it looks like the weather will improve again by the next weekend as sunnier days return and the temperatures will rise back into the 60s.
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Left Out Again?
The NFL Draft is winding down, and it looks like for the 30th straight year I am on the outside looking in. At this point the phone has not rung, at least not with an NFL General Manager on the other end of the line, but there have been a few people who have called today to find out what time our church service is tomorrow. The day began with a trip across the cul-de-sac to my buddy Brady's family garage sale. Brady wasn't there at the time as he had gone to his "Sissy's" soccer game with dad and grandpa Larry. He did make it back before I headed off to work at the church. I think Brady really likes this garage sale stuff. All of the old toys come out of the closet and its time to play, kind of like Christmas times 10!
Today I am bouncing back and forth between my role as "The Sermonator" and the King of Power Point. The two are very closely inter-related. We are holding our first, of what we hope will be many and regular, contemporary worship service tomorrow evening at 6:00pm. You might want to come, it should be interesting, and bring your friends. Right now we hold one service every Sunday morning at 9:30am, and it is hoped that in the not too distant future we will need to have two services, for the sake of the masses. Our morning service is rather traditional, and a second morning service would allow us to do contemporary type worship in a more traditional time slot. We'll see how that works!
Today I am bouncing back and forth between my role as "The Sermonator" and the King of Power Point. The two are very closely inter-related. We are holding our first, of what we hope will be many and regular, contemporary worship service tomorrow evening at 6:00pm. You might want to come, it should be interesting, and bring your friends. Right now we hold one service every Sunday morning at 9:30am, and it is hoped that in the not too distant future we will need to have two services, for the sake of the masses. Our morning service is rather traditional, and a second morning service would allow us to do contemporary type worship in a more traditional time slot. We'll see how that works!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Nice Rain, Nice Day
The day started off with a driving rain. It was nice to hear the pitter-patter-splatter of raindrops off the roof. We picked up almost a half an inch as the rain came pouring down for almost 2 hours. After several days of dry weather, with a stretch of temperatures in the 70s, it was nice to get some moisture on the lawn to make things even greener. By 10:00am the rain had moved to the east, but the clouds hung around through early afternoon. Then the sky cleared off nicely and the temperature jumped to the mid to upper 60s...very nice!
Looking ahead to tomorrow, and I am looking ahead toward tomorrow since I am taking the day off, we will be enjoying the sunshine once again. It will be rather chilly early, near freezing, but in the afternoon the temperatures will climb to the low to mid 60s. I've got tennis in the morning, and yard work to do in the afternoon, and I am looking forward to both of them. I have found that the secret to my success at tennis is eating bacon. Last Friday I cooked bacon and made some scrambled eggs for breakfast, and then went out and hit some incredible shots on the court. The bacon began to wear off in the third set, and things started to go in the dumper, so tomorrow I will be sure to take along a little doggy (or should I say " hoggy") bag with me to ensure my stamina.
Finally tonight (have you ever noticed that at the end of every 11:00 o'clock newscast anywhere in the world they say "Finally tonight"), I want to welcome some newcomers to the neighborhood. In reality, these are not newcomers, but rather "now and them comers". After a long and not so cold winter our friends Larry and Darlene have arrived from Boise to visit my buddy Brady and his family across the street. Larry is Brady's grampa, and Darlene is gramma. To us we just refer to them as good friends. It is great to have them back in the cul-de-sac again!
Looking ahead to tomorrow, and I am looking ahead toward tomorrow since I am taking the day off, we will be enjoying the sunshine once again. It will be rather chilly early, near freezing, but in the afternoon the temperatures will climb to the low to mid 60s. I've got tennis in the morning, and yard work to do in the afternoon, and I am looking forward to both of them. I have found that the secret to my success at tennis is eating bacon. Last Friday I cooked bacon and made some scrambled eggs for breakfast, and then went out and hit some incredible shots on the court. The bacon began to wear off in the third set, and things started to go in the dumper, so tomorrow I will be sure to take along a little doggy (or should I say " hoggy") bag with me to ensure my stamina.
Finally tonight (have you ever noticed that at the end of every 11:00 o'clock newscast anywhere in the world they say "Finally tonight"), I want to welcome some newcomers to the neighborhood. In reality, these are not newcomers, but rather "now and them comers". After a long and not so cold winter our friends Larry and Darlene have arrived from Boise to visit my buddy Brady and his family across the street. Larry is Brady's grampa, and Darlene is gramma. To us we just refer to them as good friends. It is great to have them back in the cul-de-sac again!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Great Days!
Today was another beautiful day. The sun was shining all day long and the official high temperature was 74 degrees. As always, it was warmer than that in town. The official temperature is recorded at the airport, and just who lives at the airport? Maybe in places like Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles and New York...or in the case of volcanic ash...most people in Europe live at airports, but not in Spokane. There is now a big storm system that has been moving in from the Pacific into California, but the effects of it will mostly be remaining to our south. This evening there has been a lot of rain over southern parts of the State of Washington, but most of that has been moving toward the northwest and not advancing much in this direction. This evening was a nice one on the front porch. For tomorrow I expect a few more clouds, and it will be a bit cooler, but I think that the rain will remain south and west of here, and temperatures will be getting close to 70 degrees...not a bad day.
Today was a kind of a special day. 3 years ago we hosted an exchange student from Germany, Anna Lena Sieber. Today marked her 20th birthday. These kids grow up so fast. She is now going to the university in Leipzig, preparing for a career in dentistry...at least that is the last reliable intelligence that I have. I hope that she had a wonderful birthday. It is going to be just a little over 3 weeks until we pick up our daughter Beth from school after completing her freshman year at Concordia University of St. Paul, Minnesota. Again...these kids grow up so fast! Yesterday she officially declared her majors to be music education and music performance. She also informed us that this would keep her occupied for the next 19 years...well maybe she said the next 4 or 5. Anyway, if you would like the make a contribution to the "Keep Brian and Kay Out of the Poor House Fund" please send your checks care of the debtor's prison of Spokane, Washington.
Today was a kind of a special day. 3 years ago we hosted an exchange student from Germany, Anna Lena Sieber. Today marked her 20th birthday. These kids grow up so fast. She is now going to the university in Leipzig, preparing for a career in dentistry...at least that is the last reliable intelligence that I have. I hope that she had a wonderful birthday. It is going to be just a little over 3 weeks until we pick up our daughter Beth from school after completing her freshman year at Concordia University of St. Paul, Minnesota. Again...these kids grow up so fast! Yesterday she officially declared her majors to be music education and music performance. She also informed us that this would keep her occupied for the next 19 years...well maybe she said the next 4 or 5. Anyway, if you would like the make a contribution to the "Keep Brian and Kay Out of the Poor House Fund" please send your checks care of the debtor's prison of Spokane, Washington.
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