Seams, transitions and responsibility

If there is nothing else you understand about life, you should know that there are places and times when things change.  It is in these places and times when you make decisions that will direct you until you reach the next.

At the confluence of two bodies of water, there is a seam that marks the point where the waters begin mixing.  Usually there is a clear difference either in water color or temperature when the two first touch and the distinctiveness of this seam fades as the two waters begin to mix.  If you ever find this seam, you should fish it, because that is where things are usually happening.

You see the same thing all over nature, seams that mark the change from one thing to another.  If you are looking at a field that is returning from farm to forest, there is an area where they meet called “edge”.  It is an area of neither field nor forest, and it is the place where life is more diverse, often more abundant and more interesting.

We also have seams in our clothes, you know, those areas where the sewing is done to keep the parts together.  How well these seams are done is often the determiner of the quality of the garment.  You could probably say that they are what determines if the clothes are going to be a good fit, or not.

In life, we have similar transition points or seams.  We have the first day of school, the start of summer vacation, switching from elementary to middle school and then to high school.  You know, those transition points when it seams that life is going to turn upside down until we go through it.

As we move toward and through adulthood there are also periods of time when we transition from one phase of life to another.  These seams are often turbulent, stress filled times in which we make decisions and changes that could have huge impacts on how we live our lives from that moment forward.  Usually there is an increase in responsibility after one of these changes, but sometimes there is a reduction of responsibility.  To better understand this, let’s take a look at keys.

Pile of Keys on a table
Keys are an indicator of how much responsibility we have at any given moment in time.

What exactly is a key.  It is a mechanism for controlling who has access to what and in what way.  It is the basis for allowing someone access to or use of something.  It is the thing that controls the lock.  In short, it is an outward sign of responsibility.

In my life, I can look to specific times when the change in keys was highly visible and it related to what was going on in my life at the time.  The first marked change was when I graduated from high school.  Up until that point in time, I had slowly accumulated keys.  I had a key to the house, a key to my car, and maybe a key to a locker.  Not a lot of responsibility.  Suddenly, I went off to college.

At this point, there was no loss of keys, just a new and rapid accumulation of keys.  I had keys to a dorm, and a dorm room.  I still had keys to home and car, and even though these keys were seldom used, they still marked a level of responsibility.  I suddenly had quite a few keys.  When I got a job as a resident assistant, it came with a key to get access to the “jailers key ring”, and that had keys to everything.  Everything.  There must have been 20 or 30 keys on that key ring, and we would carry that set of keys with us as we made rounds through the dorm.  I used to shake the jailer’s ring as I walked so people knew I was coming.  I didn’t want to have the responsibility for having to stop someone from doing something stupid, so I let them know I was coming.  It was a good arrangement.

Then I graduated college.  No dorm keys, no house keys, just one key and that was to my car.  I also had no plans, no vision for where I was going and no real need to know what was ahead.  I had a year to “kill” while my future wife finished up college and we could start accumulating keys together.  Do you see where this is going?  More keys, more responsibility, less keys means less responsibility.  Later, when you get that apartment key, or that house key that you have to pay the mortgage on, then the responsibility goes up way fast.  That house key is a killer load of responsibility.

So let’s go back and take a look at the points when you have the least amount of keys.  This is interesting times because freedom from responsibilities means that you have the freedom to make decisions about what you want to do.  Just like the animals and fish are drawn to the seams, we are too because that is where opportunities happen.  There is a world of opportunity at these times, because you don’t have keys to make decisions for you.  The world is your fishbowl just waiting for you to decide what you want to do.

When you first finish high school, you are in one of these magical times.  You are faced with a multitude of choices that are seemingly being carried right in front of your face just waiting for you to reach out and grab one.  Are you going to travel, get a job, go to college, or just sit around and wait for decisions to be made for you?  This is the time to be adventurous, a time to set your path in such a way that you will be able to do interesting things.

If that decision you make is to go to college, you will be blessed with another opportunity to drop off one set of keys and make decisions about what you are going to do with your life before you start adding more keys.  I was talking to a person I know professionally last week and he said, “I started to work on the Monday after I graduated.  That was the stupidest thing I ever did.”  Essentially, what he was saying is that he grabbed a hold of the first thing that floated by and it dragged him immediately into the current and filled his hands with keys.  He is now a very successful person, but he never got that time to go out and just move about life unencumbered by keys.

As a college professor, I work daily with young adults (and older adults) who are approaching that magical seam that comes when you graduate from college.  Unfortunately, most of them are carrying a heavy debt load from student loans, so the window for them to play within their seam is usually limited to about 6 months.  But, when they ask me for my advice, I tell them to take advantage of this time when you are free from the responsibilities that will start making decisions for you.  Usually I suggest they travel.  Go some place you have never been, see things you won’t get to see and do things you won’t get to do once you have passed through this seam.  These are the transitions that allow us to make decisions that can lead us toward exciting lives.  They are the chance for us to slip into the current, dance the dance of life and do the things that will carry us through the mundane periods of life between transitions.  Many of us don’t take advantage of these opportunities.  But we should.

There is one other of these transitions that comes much later in life, that is when we shed our careers and the keys that come with them, and transition into the age of retirement.  I haven’t reached that one yet, but you can bet that my wife and I are going to swim into that one with gusto.  I have been told that divorce is another one, but I’m not going to get the chance to experience that one.

Then of course, there is the last one when we give up all of our keys and we enter into the biggest seam of all and give up the last of our responsibilities whether we want to or not.  I hope that I have the ability to enter that transition knowing that I have done well with everything has come before, and with the peace of knowing I am ready for that transition.

In the mean time, live life the best you can and don’t be afraid to do something big with your transitions.

PEACE!

KT

Day 30

 

Categories: Live Pondering

I sold my boat

I bought a boat in 2009, I sold it today for the same price I bought it for.  It wasn’t much of a boat when I bought it, it was even less of a boat today.

Sunset in windshield of boat.
One of the early pictures when I first got this boat.

I put it out on the front yard on Sunday, and within a couple of hours I had someone at the door.  He wanted to see it run before he took it and needed to get the money, so we decided to do the sale today.

I put it on a trickle charger and the battery didn’t take a charge, so I… well, I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story.  There is always a way of getting things done.

https://youtu.be/787POYs59uE

Later when I had cleaned up the cables and tightened them back on the battery, it worked to start the engine again so I could show the guy how it ran when he came to pick it up.  The boat, she is gone.

PEACE!

KT

Day 29

Categories: boat

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That cliché post about old friends

I have known a lot of people over the years.  But my life has been one of a nomad.  I have moved so many times that I have developed very few of  those really deep friendships that require years to develop.

Friday I had a chance to see one of those friends.  Dean Curtis is The friend who has done the most to stay in close contact with me over the many years.  We developed our friendship starting about when our two boys were born in 1992.  His son Andy and my son Brandt grew up together.  They attended play groups and daycare together, our wives worked together, and our families spent a lot of time together.  We got to be very close over the years.  Then in 2001 when we moved to Australia, Dean was there for some 15 or 20 going away parties as our departure date to move to Australia kept getting moved back in the days following 911.

Photo of a photo
Dean captures a screenshot to upload to social media.

When we can back to the US in 2004, the welcome home party was at Dean and Cindy’s house.  We haven’t seen each other too many times since then, but I often get a phone call from him.  He is always telling me to eat my green leafy vegetables and has a fun inside joke that I won’t embarrass my wife by sharing the details.

Anyway, we got a chance to see his family again this Friday at his son Andy’s Senior Vocal Recital at St. Olaf. College.  His son performed one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen by an amateur.  And we were there.

It was great to see our old friends who have gone out of their way to maintain our friendship.  And as the cliche goes, it was as if we had seen each other yesterday.

PEACE!

KT

Day 28

Categories: Friends

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Spring Eye Candy

This is the first flower I saw this spring so I thought I would share it.

White Magnolia tree
This, I believe, is a white Magnolia. It is the first thing I have seen bloom this year.

A row of three or 4 of these trees line the street between Wilson Park and Heritage Hall on the UW-Stout campus in Menomonie.  I’m not going to have a lot of time to dedicate to writing today, so I thought I would just throw up some spring eye candy.  Enjoy!

White Magnolia blossom
A lovely blossom from a White Magnolia

PEACE!

KT

Day 26

Categories: Flower

Reflections

This is day 25, that means I am halfway to my goal of 50 days blogging in a row.  Actually, there was one day I missed while I was traveling, but still not bad.  Today is a day of reflection.

Reflection
A view of spring seedlings popping up underneath the reflection of the clouds from my cold frame.

I have done my best to stay away from politics, work and religion because this blog project was an effort to allow me to think about other things.  It seems I have spent the last 25 days blogging about:

  1. Arts
  2. Education
  3. Food
  4. Friends
  5. Garden
  6. Live
  7. Love
  8. Pondering
  9. Reusing
  10. Stage, and
  11. Work (but not employment work, more like garden work).

It has been a chance for me to reflect on the things that I hold dear in life, and it has been a success so far.  I have learned that it is really harder than you might imagine to blog every day. Coming up with a topic is sometimes the hardest part.  I have had to rely on using photos that I have taken either during this period or in previous years to provide the visuals and sometimes the inspiration.

I have learned a lot.  For instance, my Google Analytics gives me a pretty good picture of how people are visiting my blog.

Google Analytics Dashboard
This image shows the analytics behind my first 25 days of blogging

From this data I can tell that there have been 305 visits to my site by 161 unique users.  They have read 559 pages of my content and they average almost two pages per visit.  Almost half of the visits to my site are by returning visitors, that is good.

If I look at the peaks and valleys, I find that when I am talking about Little Women I get the most visits, when I am talking about my garden I get the fewest.  The spike on April 14 is from when I posted the pictures of the Little Women Rehearsal.  This post was also shared to a facebook page created for the cast and crew, and some of them shared it on their Facebook profiles.  That explains the spike.

The comments are interesting.  Most of them come from people I know, but the spammers found me pretty quick.

Anyway, thanks for following my blog.  I hope you find it interesting or entertaining.

PEACE!

KT

Day 25

Categories: Pondering

Tags:

Compost piles are food for your garden, the evolution of my compost pile

For most people, the compost pile is not something worthy of a blog post.  But for the true gardeners, there is an understanding that the compost pile is the heart of the garden.

At the most fundamental level, composting is easy.  You throw a bunch of organic matter in a pile and leave it there to rot.  But as you spend more time gardening, and seasons composting, you start to learn that there is composting and then there is composting.  I am not going to go into the chemistry and process of composting.  I have nothing to add that hasn’t been spoken about before.

But what I can do is share with you the evolution of my composting pile.  When I first started out I decided to use a wire frame cylindrical frame.  This was easy to set up and did a good job of containing the compost, but it was hard to mix, and the good stuff was down at the bottom out of reach.  That combined with placing it in a shaded area meant I didn’t get the results I wanted as fast as I wanted.  I needed more compost than I could produce, so I moved on.

Wire Bin Compost Pile
This wire circle was my first compost pile. I made the mistake of putting it in the shaded corner of the yard where it didn’t get enough light to really heat up.

The next evolution of the compost pile found me out in a sunny area.  I had learned about the three bin method, where you migrate the compost from one bin to the next as it aged.  This process allows you to turn over the pile and aerate it as you move it from one bin to the next.  And that is the way to keep your compost hot, make sure it gets plenty of air down in the composting materials.  You also need to have the right combination of green and brown materials, but the real key is air and moisture.

Pallets used to make 3 bin compost pile
The pallets were used to create a three bin compost pile.

This worked pretty well, but I still found myself needing more compost than I could produce in this way.  So, I went to the next version, they straw bale enclosure.

The idea behind the straw bale compost is pretty easy.  You use straw bales to build the container that the compost goes into.  This provides a barrier that helps keep the heat in during the colder months so you can compost when other methods would have shut down.  Along the way, the straw bales start to compost themselves and provide additional carbon materials (brown) to the compost pile.  I would cover it with a black tarp to trap in the heat and keep out excess water, and I would hold the  plastic down with, you guessed it, old pallets.

straw bale compost
This shows how the pile covered in plastic.

I got a couple of years out of the straw bales, but they eventually broke down into compost. The image below shows it the second and last year that I used straw bales.  That year I decided that I still needed more compost than I was producing.  That fall, after watching truck after truck drive by bringing leaves to the dump, I decided that it was silly for them to drive by my house on the way when I could use them for my compost.  So, I invited a few of the neighbors to bring me their leaves and I ended up with a much bigger compost pile, and a tradition that continues today.

Straw bale compost pile
The straw bales break down and the pile becomes less contained.

I now had a reasonable amount of compost, and it allowed me to leave some there during the year.  And what I found out, is that during the summer, the location that normally holds the compost pile, really want things to grow.  So I have experimented with things like potatoes, and squash, pumpkins and tomatoes, and really anything that wants to grow there.  At the very least, it will become next year’s compost.

Plants growing in compost pile
For some reason, things want to grow in my compost pile.
Plants growing in compost pile
Another view of the compost pile in relation to the rest of the garden

This last fall I went all the way and put up a sign that said “taking leaves” beside the road inviting the entire neighborhood to bring in their leaves.  And several did.  I ended up with a very large compost pile.  It is big enough now that it takes up the whole area behind the white fence, and is about 5 feet deep in the fall, and about 3 1/2 feet deep in the spring.  Then a couple of weeks ago I had a friend call and ask if they could bring in their leaves, grass clippings and pine needles to throw on my pile.  “Well yeah!”

So now I have this really massive compost pile.  It is a bit of work to turn it over, but I do that to keep it composting hot.  Last Sunday I reached my hand into the middle of the pile and it was HOT!  That is exactly what you want.

Big Compost pile
The pile at the beginning of spring, and before a friend brought in another truck load of stuff.

I think this year I may have enough compost.  It still has some rotting to do, but another 4 weeks and it should be mostly ready to spread.  And my garden is going to love it.

PEACE!

KT

Day 24

Categories: garden reusing

Things that help us to remember

It is hard to believe that it has been almost 29 years since my grandfather died.  Fritz and I were buddies.  He was that special adult in my life that had a significant influence on me, and has always held a special place in my heart.  And, for as long as I can remember, he had one of these tractors out in the yard.  I don’t remember him ever actually touching it, but for some reason it is firmly tied to my memory of him.

Johnson Sprinkler Tractor
I have been waiting 29 years to get one of these.

There weren’t many toys at my grandparent’s house.  A couple of old toy tractors, mini bikes, riding lawn mowers, real tractors, and guns were the things we had to entertain ourselves.  Oh, and of course the millions of things that you find on a farm in West Texas.  But, for whatever reason I just loved that tractor sprinkler.

Tractor sprinkler mechanisms
This picture shows most of the mechanism that makes this thing work.

The engineering behind this is quite brilliant.  Technically I think it is referred to as a walking sprinkler. The intended function is to move forward as it waters the lawn/garden.  It is designed to follow the hose, with the front tire being designed to fit over the hose.  The water hose is connected to the tractor and turned on.  The water flows out through the swing arms and forces an inclined plane to rotate.  That is interconnected with a gear that us turned by the rotation of the inclined plane.  Attached to the gear are two arms, each extending to a swinging metal tooth.  The tooth is designed such that as it moves forward in the rotation the tooth pushes another gear, which is the tractor’s tire causing it to turn and propel the tractor forward.  As the tooth swings back, it freely flops over the teeth of the wheel gear and repeats the cycle again for the next rotation.  You can create a path with the hose and it will follow that path until it bumps into something, dragging the hose behind it as it goes. I watched it do this for hours as a kid.

When Fritz died in the late summer of 1986, that tractor became a part of my memory of him, and I always wanted one ever since.  They still manufacture versions of the tractor sprinkler, but they aren’t that old fashioned sturdy kind.  They aren’t Fritz’s tractor. I had seen a few of the vintage ones over the years, but they were either too expensive or I just didn’t have the ability to get them at the time.  But this spring I was at a construction material reclamation business looking for doors (that is another blog story for someday in the future), when I saw it.

This one was cast iron, just the way it should be.  It was used, but not abused, and it still worked.  I haven’t run any water through it yet, but the swing arms turn and all the mechanisms follow suit accordingly.  And after all of these years, I finally have my tractor sprinkler.

Garden with lawn ornaments
This is the spring ’15 layout of Brayden Garden

I have given it a place in Brayden Garden.  Brayden Garden is a memorial garden that I built after the death of my nephew.  He was 5 years old and he died of the flu and meningitis within hours of first showing symptoms.  It has become a place of grounding for me.  I always find myself reflecting on the fragility of life when I am working that garden.

Cherub in garden
This cherub was donated the day after a neighbor learned of Brayden’s death.

The artifacts in the garden are growing in number.  The first thing that went in was a cherub statuette that was given to me after my neighbor heard the story.  I watched her heart break right in front of my eyes when I told her about Brayden.  The next day, she brought me the cherub while I was out working on the garden.

Tractors and Tonka truck in garden
The Tonka was Brayden’s

The next thing added to the garden was Brayden’s Tonka Truck.  This truck was bought by my brother the day Brayden was born and it sat in the hospital room with a bouquet of flowers.  The next time I saw that truck with a bunch of flowers in it was at his funeral.  My brother James and his wife Melissa gave us the truck when they found out we had created the memorial garden and wanted some toy of his to go into the garden.  Every year I plant flowers in it and it sits out in the garden.

Other things have been added to Brayden Garden over the few years it has been, but none with the significance of those two.  Anyway, when I got this tractor, it was a bit of a memorial to Fritz, so it was obvious that it needed to be added to the garden.

Now I can guarantee you, that there is going to be a time when I put that tractor to work doing what it is supposed to do, but in the mean time it gets to sit there in Brayden Garden.  And there, it will serve as one of those things  that bring me back to another time and place, gives me access to memories that I otherwise might forget while at the same time helping me to stay grounded in the present.

PEACE!

KT

Day 23

Categories: garden Love

Tags: , ,

Making sausage with Little Women

It is a lot of work to be in a stage production.  Many hours are spent reading lines, and blocking, and reading lines, and learning lines, and working lines, and listening to other people doing the same.

Laurie and Amy working lines on stage
Amy practicing reading her last will and testament

Then, we get direction from the director and work it in as we go through the process all over again.  Along the way, it stops being about the lines and starts being about the characters.  There is much, more to a show than the lines.  The lines tell the stories, but the characters are what the show is really about.

I can only speak for myself when I say that I have a real hard time working on the character before I have mostly memorized my lines.  When I am sitting on stage trying to remember the next cue, and my lines that come after, I simply cannot focus my energy on character building.

Marmie and Beth working lines
The cast spend so many hours together that they often form great friendships.

That is where we are at right now.  I might have mentioned that I was given a role as the Father (Mr. March) in Menomonie Theater Guild’s production of Little Women.  My part is very small, about 38 words, and I am only on stage for about 3 minutes.  That is about all I could handle at this point in time.  I have only had to show up for two rehearsals, the rest of the cast has been at it for 5 weeks.  This is about when people start to make the transition.

Now to be honest, they have been working on characters the whole time, but from the inside it often feels like it has been all about lines.  But I have been given the opportunity to walk in fresh just as the magic begins to happen.  We have a set, which is extremely helpful for setting the stage.  That is after all the purpose of a set.

Aunt, Meg, and Mr. Brooke
An awkward encounter as Meg struggles with her self.

The cast is getting to know each other, and they are starting to relate to each other as characters.  Facial expressions and mannerisms are being tried on for size, then adjusted and readjusted and sometimes adjusted back to where they started.

Amy in costume
It is always fun when we first get to try on our costumes
Laurie in Costume
Laurie getting his first feel for the way he will look on stage.

Today, we got to try on our costumes.  This is another magical time when suddenly we start to get a vision for what we are going to look like on stage.  It is great fun.  Sometimes you laugh, sometimes you think you are going to cry.  A tear is a wonderful form of applause.

And, while all of this is going on, the cast that is not working at that moment spends time watching and learning, and reading and practicing, and well, passing a lot of time.  I have known more than just a few people who knew everyone’s lines in the entire show by the time we get to dress rehearsal.

So while we are making the theatre sausage, we find things to do.  Laughing and singing, knitting and sewing, texting and blogging.  Did I mention that I am writing this blog while we are running Act II.  I am still starting to know the cast and crew.  Having those interesting conversations that you have when you are first meeting people who by circumstances have something wonderful in common.

Sewing on costume
The costume director has a huge role in a show. They work with the director to provide the visual backdrop for the personality of the characters.

And you know that this thing is going to come together, probably at the last minute.  And when the lights and sounds, makeup and sets, costumes and characters all come together, the curtain is going to come up and you and the audience will join together and step into the long wonderful history that is the theatre.  And if you are anything like me, you will be captured by the experience and look forward to the next time you get a chance.

And if you are lucky, really lucky, you will get a part that works just right for you so that you can do it all again. Be careful, this can be addicting.

PEACE!

KT

Day 22

Categories: Arts Stage

Tags: ,