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You wannu know what the Very Best Part about growing up is? Hopefully you do, because I'm going to tell you!! It's changing. The VBP about growing up is changing... evolving... learning!... sharing!! When we grow, we change... and in order to change we have to learn. In order to learn we have to think. In order to think we have to comprehend. Do you want to know what the most unfortunate trait a human being could have is? The inability to learn - this drastically hinders the ability to grow! You can tell me something about something that has nothing to do with my beliefs. Perhaps you believe that the solar system is vast? Maybe you think that worms don't live below your feet? You might ponder whether or not the earth really is round...? Next time this type of conversation takes place - PLEASE - take a moment to listen.  Take a moment to hear. Make that person you are speaking to feel important! Let them have dignity and courage! Be at...

DBR... no... A DBR.... huh?  I officially proclaim that the Amazing Doors By Russ company needs to be formed!  One of my first impressions was that he seemed like a nice "Southern boy"...   He has this sweet twang in his voice.  What I eventually came to learn was that he was from California... Southern California!  Everyone hates Californians, don't they?!  What?  Did I say that?  haha - only jokingly of course - it's just that, there is a stigma that seems to come with being a Californian, right?  Sophistication or Surfer dude...  the different aura he had was apparent, but I wasn't sure exactly why.  Turns out he grew up as a desert rat... not as a hippie dude surfer or movie star... but in a small military based town near Death Valley.  He grew up as a nice mannered kid with a couple of brothers, lots of friends, fun outdoor activities and interesti...

   I recently heard that scientists have calculated the odds of you being born.  Yup..  they took into account wars, natural disasters, dinosaurs...  and they determined that the odds of you being born, in the moment in time you were born, to the parents you were born to, with the DNA structure you have...  is 1:400,000,000,000.  One in four hundred trillion!  Life is given...  but life is also taken away.  We all changed the day it was taken away.  We were on auto pilot.  We NEVER ONCE thought it would happen to us.  To us as family... to us as parents... to us as friends & teammates and buddy's and pals... to us as neighbors, community, fellow citizens... to us as living, breathing human beings. When we are that age we are invincible... INVINCIBLE!  There's nothing that can stop us - except, of course, ourselves.  Our journey has yet to begin in a sense.  It begins in numerou...

I found a most incredible treasure!!  Something about it captivated me - the way that baby looked at me.  The way that Mama stood.  Both seemingly lost in a moment - standing close to one another to feel the others' support - and knowing that if something were to happen in this world, they would be there for each other.  The colors and texture of it.  Soft fibers made it appear as a rug, yet the colors were not painted on.  They were woven.  The shades of amber and sienna and tan.. the bluish greys and the greyish greens. The gold metal matte was very dating - perhaps to the 1970s - yet it was ultimately surrounded by this mammoth wooden frame that was  difficult to discern the species of due to it's over-finished patina.  Someone had adhered them to a wooden back and tried to keep the whole presentation all together with rusting old nails. There was something about them that captivated me - he wasn't really sure....

We managed to come up with the money to hire Monte, the Log Home Restoration Man.  To save a bit on the bill, he lent us some scaffolding and we (meaning me) diligently got to work to remove the brittle, curling caulking between the logs.  It had long ago lost it's effectiveness, so, inch by inch I poked, prodded and pulled what remained.  The product I was removing was inefficient, ineffective and unattractive.  Some of it was still somewhat pliable, but it was not helping to retain heat inside the house, nor did it help in keeping the cold out.  I managed to fill a few buckets full of the stuff before Monte was due to come over and start removing the old stain. Monte, it turned out, did not actually have employees to help him with this substantial project.  He brought with him a couple of guys he had probably picked up at the local shelter.  Neither of the two men had many teeth nor did they seem to have any i...

Shortly before Spring had sprung that year I noticed an eye catching advertisement in a local periodical that had arrived in the mail.  Log Home Restoration.  Intrigued, I called the number and although it was after 8pm on a Friday night, had an educational conversation with Monte.  He told me about his experience, the materials he used and approximate cost of re-staining this house.  The house looked like battered up Lincoln Logs I told him.  Monte responded with the fact that he would make it look like a beautiful piece of furniture.  With those words, I agreed to have him over on Sunday morning so that he could demonstrate his technique to both the ex and myself.  It was a very brief meeting that Sunday... he stayed only 30 minutes or less, but we got a good feeling from him.  He was knowledgeable, seemed hard working and showed us (by pointing to rooftops further up the mountain) projects that he had recently complete...

Soon enough, Spring was finally here!  The snow had melted, revealing nothing but what appeared to be grass, but was soon to be discovered as just green weeds with a few blades of grass here and there.  The trees on the property (eleven groves of trees) started to sprout leaves.  And Magpies built nests...  for bird lovers, I'd bet that would be magnificent!  And it was fascinating...  but Magpies build the biggest nests you could possibly imagine out of everything available!!  Twigs, dog hair, leaves & dirt.  Sorry: but Yuck!!  The grass/weeds in the back forty, as we evenually, (with affection of course) called the back field, soon became overgrown.  My ex got out there with the push mower - haha.  It was funny and horrible all at the same time.  The grass got to at least 18" seemingly overnight!!  He pushed that thing about 20' and that took him at least an hour ...  Not good....