Wind

If you happen to live in Kansas right now I don't need to tell you that it has been very windy for the last two days. That's really nothing new to Kansans but successive days with high winds always causes one to sit up and take notice of the wind more.

The wind is a very powerful part of the world of nature. Straight winds blowing at a high velocity can do a tremendous amount of damage. Winds that blow in a circle can cause even more damage under the right conditions. Many Kansas towns as well as rural areas can attest to that.

But wind power is something that many today are seeing as a potential source of energy that could greatly affect our world in a positive way. There are already many areas of our country where wind power is making an impact as a viable source of energy. As a matter of fact, my father in law many years ago used wind power as a source of energy for his home and machine shop. He had a wind charger, as it was called, mounted atop a high mast which turned a large generator, which in turn stored electrical power in a large group of batteries stored in the attic of the machine shop. These batteries powered the electrical equipment in his shop and in the house where my wife's family lived. It was only a 32 volt system, but it served the purpose. Too bad that many others couldn't have found a way to expand that idea into something much larger.

Sometimes I get tired of the wind blowing day after day but I know that without wind our world would not function properly. We could all do without the storms that come in spring and summer but the warning systems in place now help protect us all when they do come. Hopefully there will soon be more systems in place that will harness the power of the wind that blows so forcefully in many parts of our land. That would make the wind seem more friendly to a lot more people. I would hope that people near such projects would not try to keep out the seemingly unsightly wind chargers just because they clutter up the view or something to that effect.

Until I can come up with a more interesting blog, I remain

Pilgrim on the way

Renewing Old Friendships

Recently I have been able to renew some old friendships of at least 20 years ago. A lot of things happen in 20 years - people grow older and look different for one thing, they get married and have families, they retire and/or move to places unknown to us, etc., etc.

I had been seeking for some time to make contact with some friends we had in Ohio and NYC with whom we had lost contact since we left there in 1988. Through some other friends we finally discovered where these people live and contacted them via letter. They have responded and now we are able to communicate with these friends of yesteryear.

I also have renewed acquaintance with some people I knew previously 25 years ago or so. These contacts were made through FaceBook. Yes, I got on FaceBook and found out that there were people who were also there that I barely could recognize by their picture. It has been interesting to at least say, "Hi, how are you" to these folks. Most of them are people that were in a church I pastored back then. Some were quite young when we left there making recognition difficult. But FaceBook, I find, is not all its cracked up to be, at least as far as I'm concerned. I guess it is for the younger set of people, but to keep up with that may be a bit much for this old gieser.

And last but not least, living here in the Villa and attending Hesston Mennonite Church has helped me reopen friendships that I had many years ago. Some of these people I knew here at Hesston when I went to Winter Bible Term here, and some from attending Hesston College.

Each of these friendships have their own nature and character, i.e. we are much more involved with some than others. And for some it was just finding out about them but not relational in any way. There are other folks that I would sincerely like to know about but whom we will probably never again see. That's sort of sad. We have enjoyed knowing many people that we now have no knowledge of at all. I guess that's the way life is. As life moves on we can't retain in our memory or experience everything that happens to us.

Pilgrim on the way

My Hobby

I've stated in my profile that my hobby is woodworking. That's a general description of it, and that's good enough most of the time. But is seems that at some point I always need to say just what it is that I make.

Some people whose hobby is woodworking make fine furniture, such as desks, etc. My woodworking is a bit more relaxed than that. In the past four years or so I have made numerous outdoor things, such as dutch windmills, lighthouses, bird houses and feeders, patio furniture, and flower boxes. For indoors I have made wall clocks, lamps, coffee table, gossip bench, nut bowl, small cabinet, file cabinet, etc., etc.

Now my main project is making pens and pencils. My brother used to make pens and pencils and he gave me some of his products. That's mostly where I got the idea. I guess I thought if he could do that I could too. Making these writing instruments is simple in one respect, but a bit more tedious in another. In my early experience in doing this I have ruined a couple of the parts and made some that were less than perfect. In fact most of them are that way. I probably will have trouble making a perfect one.

Some of the pens and pencils I have are made from padauk wood, some from lyptus, walnut, cherry, and osage orange. Some are thinline, others trimline which is a larger diameter pen. Some have gold hardware, some chrome, some gun metal. Later I hope to do some more difficult ones, depending on how my skill develops.

Now I have one problem to deal with - what to do with my pens/pencils. I have given some to family, and sold a few to a friend. My inventory is growing and I will soon need to find an outlet for my products. I want to donate some to the Villa Gift Shop, and sometime the rest of my family will need to have some. But selling them may prove to be a bit more difficult. I'm still thinking about that.

Well, that's my hobby. I enjoy what I'm doing a lot and hope I can continue working in The Little Wood Shop for some time.

Pilgrim on the way

Arizona

Yes its true - we've made plans to go to Arizona. We're hoping that we will not need to cancel this trip as we did the one to Ohio last fall. We have a direct flight which will get us there in a couple of hours, which should be quite tolerable for this old man.

Arizona is often spoken of as the land of the sun, and it is usually quite sunny there. It is a shame that there's so much smog in the air that it is visible as one approaches, or leaves, the area by plane. But it is a really nice place to be, at least this time of year before it gets almost unbearably hot.


These are some of the wonderful people we will see in Arizona. Family is very important to us and we want to see them as often as we can. We chose to live where we are now, knowing that seeing our family might be difficult at times. Thankfully, there are ways to communicate with all our family now that we didn't used to have, and I like being able to do that.


This is where we will be staying while in Arizona. Too bad that the picture wasn't taken in the daytime, but this does make a nice view. This house is located in an area called Agritopia, an area subdivided by the family that owned the farm it is on. It is a very interesting area with a different style of houses than most others in the Phoenix area.



This is one place we want to visit a bit, the office of our kids' business. It's in a very nice spot, not too far from where they live. They employ a number of people and so far their business is doing well. Hopefully that will continue.



We are hoping to be able to go to one of the Cubs' spring training games while we are there. Sometimes the games are sold out, but hopefully that won't be the case in the middle of the week. That has always been one of the things I like to do in Arizona.


Well we will need to come back home again, bidding Arizona farewell for another time. Our Missouri "kids" will be there too, so all in all we're looking forward to a very good time in The Land of the Sun. How many more times we will be able to make this trip will be determined as time goes by. We hope it will be many.


Pilgrim on the way