more normal than not

I don’t know who took this picture.

Probably one of the older kids.

I should give credit….but….I should always give credit.

I had a big day today….hung a tire swing …and framed, insulated and sheet-rocked the repair job on the wall in the kitchen that I needed to do after the leaking toilet flange repair that I did late last month.

Big day…and I’m tired….but, it’s the “good tired” that comes after a day of getting things done.

The little guys have a profoundly hilarious time on the new tire swing…..

Simple pleasures.

I don’t know what other folks do for Labor Day….but the name makes me think of “work”.

They should have called it something else if they didn’t want me to make that connection.

They should have called it “go to the lake” day….or, “sleep on the couch” day….or, anything, really….laze around day.

“Labor Day”?!….what kind of name for a holiday is that?

Nate had a case of strep throat at the beginning of the weekend, but he rallied aggressively after some penicillin and had a big day checking out all the power tools that I’d left plugged in.

That’s some scary stuff, that.

You don’t want to hear the whine of a table saw when an almost seven-year old is at the switch.

The big kids didn’t come home to avoid the sore throat….so it was just us big guys with a couple of little guys holding down the fort…..and playing on the new tire swing.

I get such a kick out of taking Nate to the home improvement store to buy supplies to fix things around here.

It’s kind of a pain in the rear….and memorably hilarious at the same time.

Is that what parenting is?

A pain in the rear….and memorably hilarious in the same moment?

I am chronically blessed!

We order stuff from Amazon.

We shop at Wal-Mart.

Shoot.

Sometimes, when we get our package from Amazon, it’s a really small item in a big, big box.

That’s crazy.

It’s worse than McDonald’s with the packaging.

So much stuff to throw away after unpacking my ink cartridge or pack of pencils.

More stuff to throw away recycle after I consume whatever I’m buying.

I guess that I’d rather shop at Amazon than work for Amazon, though.

That’d be kind of bad to work for Amazon.

Pulled up to a box yesterday and noticed all the ripe persimmons littering the ground around my Jeep.

Behind the mailbox was a giant persimmon tree, one of the biggest I’d seen.

I didn’t have the time or long enough arms to reach any of the fruit still on the tree, and that’s kind of a shame, because a ripe persimmon is good.

Of course, if you don’t time your eating right, a persimmon can be a mouth-puckering mistake.

I am really settling in to enjoying this new route.

Saw a doe and a really young fawn up on the highest part of the mountain today.

The fawn still had spots….so I guess it was a young one.

It’s ears were big.

All this stuff that happens around the periphery of my job are the good parts.

It’s good to be out in the country.

This guy fascinates me.

Lloyd Kahn has featured him in most of his books…and deservedly so.

What imagination!

What energy!

Something to shoot for, for sure.

Sun Ray Kelley!

Google “Sun Ray Kelley” and do an image search to see a  kaleidoscope of crazy free-form building.

I know that building codes are with us for a reason. If you didn’t have the skill and the vision that this guy has, you could end up with a pretty horrible hodge-podge of bad (and dangerous) structures.

But….why do you have to be a renegade to do something really interesting?

And…could I find the energy to finish the treehouse after working a 10 hour shift delivering mail?

Surely, there has to be a way to do that?!

Sun Ray looks older than me.

Surely I can rise to the challenge of finishing the treehouse if he can build all this wild stuff?

I don’t even have to stomp around in the mud to do a treehouse.

I can do it.

Here’s another Sun Ray video…

Working for a living is OK….but, I could be spinning on one of these things.

That’d be kind of cool in a weird way, too.

(Hah! Here’s one of the comments from the YouTube site about this video: “You are crazy so the Indians won’t scalp you.” Hah!)

I have some budding engineers in the family and a lego obsessed younger son….so this is right up their alley.

Legos.

Playing guitar.

Legos playing guitar.

This is pretty cool….but I still like seeing the people play the guitar more.

Still…..this is pretty cool.

Who saw this one coming?