Life Lessons

Reflections

/ Gary Tucker / Leave a comment

Today, the last day of the year, a good portion of the population will take stock of what has happened during the year and reflect on it. While this reflecting is happening, deep down in the subconscious another thing is taking place. The New Year’s Resolution list is forming and coming into the conscious mind. I think we all do it to some degree. It seems to be part of our nature. So I say “enjoy it” for what it is. Resolutions rarely get done and most are forgotten by the end of January. But reflections are different. Think about what I/we may have done this last year. Or how have I/we grown in our relationships? Who did I/we get to meet this last year and how has that impacted their life or how they impacted ours? Relationships are the stuff of life and we get to choose each day how we will interact with those around us. Are we a blessing to the people we meet? Let’s reflect on those things as we move into 2015.

 In regards to my current project for my in-laws, I was finally able to log some time on it this week. The work thing keeps getting in the way but I will post again about it soon.

On another note, thank you to all who have read my blog this year.

Thanks for perusing,

Gary

Memory Minders

/ Gary Tucker / 1 Comment

We were blessed this Christmas Day with 8″ of snow on the back patio. It reminded me of the scripture that says that “we will be washed whiter than snow” by the blood of Christ. We had a great day making memories and I pray that you did as well.

While I enjoy Christmas, Thanksgiving and a few other holidays, I truly look forward to the Winter Solstice and the lengthening of the daylight hours. Again, another reminder of the grace of God who created the universe.

But this post is not about holidays. Three months ago Kristin and I were wearing shorts, t-shirts, and hiking boots as we were in Maine celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary. We were staying in Greenville and found the Moose Mountain Trail. It was one the those trails that went straight up the mountain and was made out of granite steps and tree roots. Going up was a challenge due to the steepness of the trail but descending seemed worse because of the pounding that our legs were taking from the granite steps. And there was the tree roots that tried to trip us with each step. There was one part of the trail that did not have any steps but did have an abundance of tree roots. One of these reached up tripped KT and she came down hard on a small stump that was only about an inch in diameter and eight inches high. She left  a piece of skin about four inches long and half an inch wide on the stump. I left it there as well. It look like an accordion bellow all scrunched up and I knew it would not go back where it came from. It’s probably still there. Anyway we patched up her leg and hiked the remaining two hours back to the car. Her leg did the usual swelling and throbbing but she would not quit. We still hiked almost every day of our trip and even scored some “over-achiever” points on her Fitbit.

We did finally see a doctor a few weeks after we got back and he said it was healing fine.  KT even talked about getting a tattoo to cover it. Now it has been three months since that day and she has this reminder of our 30th anniversary.009I can only imagine the stories she will share with our grandchildren sometime in the future.

Write back and share some of your memories and the reminders.

Thanks for perusing,

Gary

It started with Randolph

/ Gary Tucker / 1 Comment

Sometime during the year 1775 Thomas Jefferson was riding in a coach from his home in Virginia to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. I’m not sure what was going on inside his head during the 260 mile trip. I can envision that his brain power was near overload capacity. Think of all that was going on in the colonies at that time and then there was talk of kicking King George and company off of the continent. The colonists needed a Declaration of Independence and Jefferson was given the task. I can see him on the journey, bouncing around inside the coach, trying to get his homework done and it just wasn’t happening. When he gets to Philly he secures a room with Benjamin Randolph, a cabinet maker. Imagine that, a diplomat renting from a tradesman and probably eating with the family as well. How times have changed. Anyway,  Jefferson gives Randolph a set of drawings for a small lap desk with a drawer for his writing essentials and a fold out writing surface. Randolph builds the desk, the Declaration was written and the world has never been the same. A tradesman saved the world.  At least this is how I think it happened. some details may have been left out, but you get the picture.

 

Fast forward to the spring of 2006 and my seventh grade son is on a field trip to Washington DC. He visits the Smithsonian Museum and sees the desk. He comes home and a couple of nights later comes out to the garage where I was trying to build something. I just remember that Kristin’s car was out of the garage and there was an assortment of tools and a lot of sawdust. He politely flashes the lights to let me know that someone has entered my domain. I shut down everything that was making noise and dust so that he could talk with me. He simply said that he would like for me to make him a lap desk. I had never heard of the story above, so I was at a loss as to how to respond. I think I said something like, “Do you have a drawing or a blueprint?” He grabbed my drawing tablet and a thick, dull carpenters pencil and drew me a picture that was about 1″ x 2″. Keep in mind that he had seen the desk but had not mentioned seeing it until this time. I looked at his drawing and told him, “I would have to see what I could do”. He did not know that was code for “Dad doesn’t have a clue about this”. Fortunately, later that year in October, we were on a trip to DC to celebrate my father-in-law’s 80th birthday and I got to see the desk. I knew that I would have to build it now but I also knew that I did not have the skills to build such a desk.

 

Research had to begin. I found a set of plans and also a great little book about the desk. It cost about $8.00 then, now it’s close to a $100.00. I found a beautiful piece of Honduran Mahogany that would work. It measured 1″ x 8″ x 8′ long.  I studied everything I could about how it was built then and some recommendations for how it should have been built, and how to build it today using today’s techniques. Being hardheaded and stubborn I decided to build it just like Benjamin Randolph did, including using hot hide glue from a glue pot. Everything about this desk is small. It measures 14 & 3/4″ long, 9 & 3/8″ wide and 2 &1/2″tall. The drawer sides are 3/16″ thick. The book stand support is a scant 1/8″ thick with a half-lap joint of only 1/16″. So I had to start practicing everything. I learned how to rip a board down the middle to make the 3/8″ leaves. I learned how to sharpen and use  the handplanes and card scrapers. I learned chisel techniques and how to sharpen them for specific purposes. Remember, it’s all about process.

 

Finally after six years of my son waiting for his desk, I was able to present it to him before he left for college. It’s not an exact replica. I left out the space for an ink well and quills and just made a space for pencils and such. I made the paper storage to fit our current size of paper with a relief cut into it in order to get the paper out. I believe it to be the most intimate item that I have built to date with hand tools. I enjoy just holding it and feeling the wood through the simple oil finish.

 

I don’t know if this desk will be used for great writings or not but I do know that it started me on this journey of hand tool woodworking. These are the tools that I used to make the desk:

26″ rip saw, 26″ crosscut saw, 10″ dovetail saw, assorted bench chisels, a  1/16″ dovetail chisel, 3 handplanes, card scrapers and some 400 grit sandpaper. And here is the desk image                                         image

You can see a few more pictures under Stuff I Make.

Thank you Benjamin Randolph and thank you for perusing,

 

Gary

 

Where’s the Rants?

/ Gary Tucker / 1 Comment

You may have noticed the name of this blog is” Old Man Rants ‘n Rambles” and you may be wondering why I have not posted any rants. The answer is that while I have not posted any I have written five or six of them. But let’s back up a bit and discuss the reason for having what I call a “Rant Space”. My poor family has endured my many rants through the years and just sort of rolled their eyes or brought them up later just to have a fun laugh at dad. Now that I have my “Rant Space”, I can rant to my heart’s content and no one knows it. To my way of thinking, a rant is a great way of releasing toxic, bile infested junk that finds its way into my thought process. It’s a lot like experiencing a hard day at work and then coming home mad at the world. Unless I have a way to release it like a “serious” run or a hard hill climb on my bike, the dog will get kicked or I will yell at the wrong person at the wrong time. Think George Bailey in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. So when when the bad toxic junk creeps into my mind I simply write a rant. I will usually let it sit for a few days and then trash it. I’ve learned that President Lincoln would do the same thing for his generals. Write them a nasty letter, telling them to get on with it or whatever he would say and then he would burn the letter.

But, “aren’t you a Christian?”, some one might say. As if being a Christian saves one from having bad days or thoughts. I just say, yes I am and Jesus still loves me. I was reading from Galatians 5:19,20 this morning and it says that the “works of the flesh are obvious” and it lists real some nasty ones. Then in verse 20 it lists ” hatred, discord, jealousy,fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions”. Those sound like the seeds of rants to me and I don’t want that for this blog. Then in verse 22 it says “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law”. That seems to be a better way to live, to walk and to write. I want this space to honor God and rants cannot do that. Besides, it would only give my boys more ammunition to laugh at me even in a loving way.

Thanks for perusing,

Gary

Process

/ Gary Tucker / Leave a comment

This is he day that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Psalm 118:24

 

We are born and eventually we die. The stuff in between is where and how we live. The time that we have and what to do with it is ours to use how we seem best. Some people are type “A” people who always seem to be in perpetual motion and cannot sit still. The goal (whatever it may be) is always in front of them. Do not get in their way. They cannot help themselves. That is how God wired them and they are of great benefit to the world. There are also people who do not have any focus and cannot spell it. They have a “when the Spirit moves me then I’ll act” mentality. Or we might say that they dance to different drummer. They also drive the type “A” people crazy, especially as employees. Then there are people like me who are what I would call process driven. When I am getting ready to, let’s say build something, I envision it in my head, draw it up and then build it. I enjoy every bit of the process. If I have to stop to sharpen a chisel or a saw, I enjoy that as well. To me, it is all part of the process of living, enjoying the journey all along the way or finishing the product that I may be building.

I cannot imagine hurrying through something just to mark it off my list. I know folks who have long bucket lists. They want to “get er dun” so that they can move on to the next thing. That may be their definition of living life on purpose but not mine. In my mind that never allows a person to master anything except marking off items. I would rather experience a few things in life and enjoy every part of it. One of the things that I am enjoying right now is the planning of our trip to Maine next month. KT (Kristin) and I went out and bought a travel book and have been pouring over it. We found out the best flight for our schedule. We’re researching the different parts of the state and what each has to offer. We are having fun doing the process.

I believe that when we slow down and enjoy the process, it makes the end be even more enjoyable. Just like building something, I enjoy planning it, building it and using it.

Thanks for perusing,

Gary

Growing Old Pains

/ Gary Tucker / Leave a comment

Kristin and I facilitate a money management course at our church and we tell folks who are trying to get out of debt to be patient. Few people get into debt overnight, so it takes a while to get out of it. The same goes with trying to get back into shape and losing weight. I’ve been able to ride over 500 miles since the middle of May and I’m still feeling some pain in my legs and a lot of pain in the back side area. I know that I’ve probably pushed too hard, but that seductress of memory keeps forcing herself upon me. A friend of mine said that growing old is not for the weak so buck it up. As in financial matters, it is truly better to do something bit by bit than to try and do it all at once especially when you’re older. So pay attention young people.

 

Thanks for perusing,

 

Gary

God’s precious gifts.

/ Gary Tucker / Leave a comment

I had a dream the other night that actually woke me up. I had dreamed that I did wake up but had lost all six of my senses. You may be saying “Gary, you only have five senses: hearing, touch, taste, sight, and smell”. You are right but I believe that common sense is just as important as the other five. More on that later.

Can you imagine the impact on my life if the dream were true? I would not be able to taste or smell my coffee or even know if it were hot. I’m not even sure if I could find my cup or would know when it was against my lips. In my life, this would a bad thing.

Now, think about a young mother with a newborn baby and the ramifications of not having her senses as she tries to nurture her child. How lost would she be in a world like that?

But now consider, without our senses, we would not smell the “aroma of Christ”  in our fellow Christians (2 Corinthians 2:15). We could not touch the hands of Christ as he wants us to (Luke 24:39). We could not “hear what God says” (John 8:47). We could not “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalms 34:8). And in Proverbs 3:21-26, Solomon encourages us not to ” lose sight of common sense and discernment”. I’ll address that sense in a later post.

God has given us these precious gifts to use for him and others. Yet too many times we complain about a variety of things that have no bearing on life here and eternity later but are just baggage that we carry through life.  I would say that we should be grateful that we can worship him with ALL the gifts he has given to us.

Just my rambles,

Gary

It’s the mileage

/ Gary Tucker / 2 Comments

image_2  So I decided that I would get back on my bike and join the assault on Mount Evans with some guys from my church. I basically stopped riding 13 years ago so that I could engage with my 3 boys on their journey to manhood. Now that my youngest is “ready” for college, I knew now was my time to once again tackle the hill. I started riding (about five weeks before the ascent) and (was) keeping track of the miles and what food to eat and so on. The problem was that while I was putting on some good miles they were not really the right kind of miles for a ride of 28 miles sustained uphill riding. I realized that what I had done was not working. Deep down in my body was “The Zone”, but I couldn’t find it. I had been like a college kid cramming for a final in a class that he had not been to all semester. Relying on things he had studied in high school and hoping that it would help now. That’s how I felt yesterday. I know that hills are a cyclist’s friend, but I had failed to do enough of them. Actually it was worse than that. I really failed to do something everyday to keep this body that God gave me in shape. Or at least in better shape than I had kept it.

So that got me to pondering about things. Sometimes when I ponder too much I lose track and then rant. Yesterday though, my pondering took me to how do go through life. Do we choose to not do anything that would challenge us? Do we ride, but only on nice hard flat surfaces? Do we wait until everything is just right before we begin? Do we give up when the wind blows? The apostle Paul tells us that life will be difficult when we choose to live it for Jesus. Those years of engaging my boys for their journey taught me a lot about how hard life can be when you want to glorify God with it. The challenges of being a Godly father when society says that men are not necessary are real and hard and are meant to be taken head on everyday. That is the mileage that really counts.

 

Just my rambles,

Gary