Dear Blog Reader
I hope that this finds you doing well. I am fine. If I get this done, I will have been on a roll of three weeks in a row. Alas, I did not get done so I spent a week of lollygagging and you had to read reruns. With regards to blogging, I spent the year lollygagging along. Suddenly the end is near and I try mightily to speed things up a little to save the year of reduced writing. Who knows what will happen next year.
A couple of things are going on here. I have just made the commitment to cut wood until I am 70 or 75. We made the investment of buying an outdoor wood burner 15 years ago. The furnace heats water in a vessel that surrounds the firebox. The water then is pumped under ground in insulated piping. Once inside of the house we use it to heat the house and all of our hot water. I suppose over the course of the 15 years we have saved close to $10,000. That is over and above the cost of the installation. Of course, I have spent a lot of hours during 12 weekends each fall cutting wood. I could have been making a whole $5 an hour. However, I wasn't doing much else that I could make that much money. What else would I have done; spend $40 a weekend to watch Purdue lose football games, write 12 more blogs a year and publish them in a medium where I get no money, or maybe work harder on my pickle ball skills in anticipation of a long career on the seniors tour? No, in each case, cutting wood was the big payday for me.
In the 15 years since we purchased this furnace, the technology has changed. The federal government did not like the fact that 10,000 people across the country were burning inefficient somewhat smoky furnaces. So they said that you shall make your furnaces more efficient. They burn much hotter and route the heated exhaust around the inside of the furnace to let that heat burn up the pollution so the furnace burns clean and extracts more heat from the wood burned. There is no such thing as a free meal. All of that routing of heated gas allows parts of the furnace to be covered with creosote. This causes the steel used inside of the furnace to corrode and start to leak much sooner than 15 years. That is unless you upgrade to the stainless steel model for 2x the cost.
The good news is that with the more expensive option, rather than passing on more cash to Ben and Grace when Bev and I pass, we will be able to pass this furnace down to our children. That is how the sales person on the phone with her Minnesota accent sold it to me. She may have to break the good news to the kids. When I shared the possibility of a bitter inheritance fight, I was a bit underwhelmed. I was hoping that a bit of sibling rivalry would break out and I could turn it into a long term containment facility that provided extra chocolate chip cookies for septuagenarians who no longer care about their borderline diabetes.
This is probably the first major purchase that the lovely Miss Beverly and I have considered the fact that we were getting old and may not be fit enough to use it until the end of its useful life. I remember my grandmother, Nanny making that decision with regards to her last new car, a blue and white two toned and two ton Pontiac Bonneville. I remember a lot of familial debate. The size of the old steel land ships had crested a few years earlier. In fact the car before the last car, was a green Pontiac Bonneville. My grandfather bought it. It happened to be his last car. However, there was no end of life discussions for Pop. His cancerous pancreas snuck up on him. When he drove that big green boat into the driveway, he believed that he would be able to replace that beautiful tilt steering wheeled behemoth with and even bigger tilt steering wheeled behemoth ten years later.
He loved the tilt steering wheel. He went on and on about it. He had a unique body type. Big bellied, short legged, and short armed, he had spent 30 years buying cars with his legs fully extended yet constantly having to mend his bib overalls where the steering wheel rubbed the spot where that belly that produced the nickname "Tubby" was wedged up against the wheel. I had the opportunity 10 years after his death to meet the GM engineer who patented the tilt steering wheel. His eyes lit with delight as I told of my grandfather's 20 minute discourse of "this is the steering wheel up and this is the steering wheel down." Who knew that a couple of strategically placed and engineered U-joints could change the world?
Any who, I remember the debate about the cost of a new car. She didn't drive very much. The green one still had a lot of miles left on it. She could live a long time yet. But in the end, it was going to be the last car she ever drove and it was her money. We all enjoyed riding in that blue and white two toned Bonneville. It did turn out to be the last car she ever owned.
I have friends who are downsizing to the last house that they will own. A few who are concerned about making a long term commitment to a dog or a cat that other family members may not want to inherit. These things are starting to weigh on my mind from time to time. And this is a new sensation. It seems like it was just yesterday that I thought that I was going to live forever. And while I do hold out some hope that I will be the first person to live to 150 years old (because someone will some day), I imagine that my earlier love affair with Big Mac's, in continuing love affair with ice cream and cookies, and my early childhood exposure to certain farm chemicals will leave me somewhat short of the goal. So somewhere out there is a day of reckoning where some of the things that I am currently committing to will be passed on to those who want them or maybe future Craigslist posters.
I know that I am not imaginative enough. Lord knows that there some things that have been brought to my door by the UPS guy that will be the last one of "those" before the sands of my hourglass have passed as the Days of my Life. I will never purchase another pet rock. I think that I am over getting another chia pet. If I lower my expectations, no new toilets will pass my threshold. If I don't get too big of a garden and don't leave them out in the rain, it is a good bet that I have a couple of pretty good hoes that will be available in the year 20??.
Yes, I think that I am entering a different stage of life. A stage with a bit different calculus. Do I want to deal with this in 15 years when I'm (gulp) 70?; will be a question that pops up from time to time. While the possibilities of the never ending have been fun to contemplate and enjoy, the thoughts of ever after are starting to show themselves and they feel a good place to be.
Take care.
Roger
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Sunday, December 4, 2016
Giving Until It Hurts
Dear Friends.
Did you see the explosion last Tuesday? My email blew up. From early in the morning until late in the evening, my aol account burst to life. In the morning, it was the initial ask. "It is giving Tuesday. Please give." Some were more special than others. Bill and Melinda was matching your gifts. Or was that the Floyd and Ethel foundation fund? Either way some people were able to make their dollars go further. Its all good. They were all good causes.That is obvious because they were all causes that the lovely Miss Beverly or I had given to in the past. That is how my email became their target. Even so, no matter how good the cause, or the Gates' Foundation endorsement, I was fatigued by the end of the day when they were encouraging me to get on the bandwagon.
However, I didn't this time. I chose not to because I had joined the trend. I was out there with my hand out. No, I wasn't raising money for the Sharritt CNC router (look it up) fund. The lovely Miss Beverly and I agreed to help Safe Families of Madison County raise money. If you have scoured the blog over the past year, you would have seen a few mentions of Viki and Vaeh, two lovely young girls who stayed with us while their dad sorted some things out. The following is a note that I wrote for the fund raiser. While specifically for this fund raiser, I believe it to be applicable to what many of us felt last Thursday.
I must admit that I am a bit reticent about asking you to support a good cause. And I do believe that Safe Families is a good cause. Not that it saves the world one child at a time. As you may have read in my blog about our experience providing a place for the lovely and talented Miss Viki and Vaeh (the V girls as the hipsters might say), I am not always sure of the good that was done. Bev and I hope and pray the girls' course through life may have been altered just a little. In fact as we have continued to be a presence in their life, we see little glimpses of change and pray that God will continue a good work in them.
The cause is good. However, I am reticent because of a lesson taught to me ten years ago by a good friend. We were busy one hot and humid August afternoon sitting up for the Back to School Fair in Fall's Park. The Back to School Fair was another good cause that used the thousands of dollars generated by playing in the park to purchase back packs for kids in Southern Madison County. It was a good cause and a big deal. Hundreds of person hours were required to plan, organize, set-up, run and tear down this great event. It was held right as school was starting so the volunteer families were under a lot of stress getting the fair set up all of the while wondering just a little about the $100 that they needed to lay out for their own kids supplies and even more desperately wondering where the time would come from to get to town to do the shopping.
The fair opened and the throngs appeared right on time. A group of volunteers had gathered under a shade tree astonished that it had come together and how good everything looked. One of the volunteers wryly said "This would have been a lot easier if some of these good people would have volunteered to help." Several of us nodded in agreement. That is when my wise friend stepped in to give us an education.
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "Joe over there runs the cub scout group mostly without help. Kerry is the coach of a softball team. Doesn't Manisha organize the Indian cultural fair? I think that Marvin is recruiting help for the Cancer Society walk," He continued. We were surrounded by volunteers who had given all they could and needed an afternoon in the park with their family to enjoy one another. Chastened, I am always reluctant to assume that my cause is the one you should give to. There are tons of opportunities and only a limited amount of resources.
Last night, while sitting at the dinner table, my alma mater called to ask me for my annual contribution. Annie, a sophomore in the school of agriculture started in on her spiel and I blurted out, "I will give you $25 if you don't say another word but if you continue the script I will give you nothing." The hands out and manipulation can be overwhelming sometimes. I get it, and yet I ask.
If you have the money, and/or time to give, Safe Families will put it to good use. If not . . .
. . . I have surrounded myself with giving people. You, the giving people, are just more fun to be around. Your parties are bigger. Your homes are more inviting. You let me stop by your pool or ride in your boat. I love what you have done with the patio. That dinner party was so much fun. I love your generosity. Thank you for all that you give.
Take care
Roger.
Thanks to all of you who gave $850 toward Safe Families. And if you would like to give but haven't yet, go to:
http://crowdrise.com/safe-families-for-children-of-central-indiana-giving-tuesday/fundraiser/bevsharritt
Did you see the explosion last Tuesday? My email blew up. From early in the morning until late in the evening, my aol account burst to life. In the morning, it was the initial ask. "It is giving Tuesday. Please give." Some were more special than others. Bill and Melinda was matching your gifts. Or was that the Floyd and Ethel foundation fund? Either way some people were able to make their dollars go further. Its all good. They were all good causes.That is obvious because they were all causes that the lovely Miss Beverly or I had given to in the past. That is how my email became their target. Even so, no matter how good the cause, or the Gates' Foundation endorsement, I was fatigued by the end of the day when they were encouraging me to get on the bandwagon.
However, I didn't this time. I chose not to because I had joined the trend. I was out there with my hand out. No, I wasn't raising money for the Sharritt CNC router (look it up) fund. The lovely Miss Beverly and I agreed to help Safe Families of Madison County raise money. If you have scoured the blog over the past year, you would have seen a few mentions of Viki and Vaeh, two lovely young girls who stayed with us while their dad sorted some things out. The following is a note that I wrote for the fund raiser. While specifically for this fund raiser, I believe it to be applicable to what many of us felt last Thursday.
I must admit that I am a bit reticent about asking you to support a good cause. And I do believe that Safe Families is a good cause. Not that it saves the world one child at a time. As you may have read in my blog about our experience providing a place for the lovely and talented Miss Viki and Vaeh (the V girls as the hipsters might say), I am not always sure of the good that was done. Bev and I hope and pray the girls' course through life may have been altered just a little. In fact as we have continued to be a presence in their life, we see little glimpses of change and pray that God will continue a good work in them.
The cause is good. However, I am reticent because of a lesson taught to me ten years ago by a good friend. We were busy one hot and humid August afternoon sitting up for the Back to School Fair in Fall's Park. The Back to School Fair was another good cause that used the thousands of dollars generated by playing in the park to purchase back packs for kids in Southern Madison County. It was a good cause and a big deal. Hundreds of person hours were required to plan, organize, set-up, run and tear down this great event. It was held right as school was starting so the volunteer families were under a lot of stress getting the fair set up all of the while wondering just a little about the $100 that they needed to lay out for their own kids supplies and even more desperately wondering where the time would come from to get to town to do the shopping.
The fair opened and the throngs appeared right on time. A group of volunteers had gathered under a shade tree astonished that it had come together and how good everything looked. One of the volunteers wryly said "This would have been a lot easier if some of these good people would have volunteered to help." Several of us nodded in agreement. That is when my wise friend stepped in to give us an education.
"Oh, I don't know," he said. "Joe over there runs the cub scout group mostly without help. Kerry is the coach of a softball team. Doesn't Manisha organize the Indian cultural fair? I think that Marvin is recruiting help for the Cancer Society walk," He continued. We were surrounded by volunteers who had given all they could and needed an afternoon in the park with their family to enjoy one another. Chastened, I am always reluctant to assume that my cause is the one you should give to. There are tons of opportunities and only a limited amount of resources.
Last night, while sitting at the dinner table, my alma mater called to ask me for my annual contribution. Annie, a sophomore in the school of agriculture started in on her spiel and I blurted out, "I will give you $25 if you don't say another word but if you continue the script I will give you nothing." The hands out and manipulation can be overwhelming sometimes. I get it, and yet I ask.
If you have the money, and/or time to give, Safe Families will put it to good use. If not . . .
. . . I have surrounded myself with giving people. You, the giving people, are just more fun to be around. Your parties are bigger. Your homes are more inviting. You let me stop by your pool or ride in your boat. I love what you have done with the patio. That dinner party was so much fun. I love your generosity. Thank you for all that you give.
Take care
Roger.
Thanks to all of you who gave $850 toward Safe Families. And if you would like to give but haven't yet, go to:
http://crowdrise.com/safe-families-for-children-of-central-indiana-giving-tuesday/fundraiser/bevsharritt
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