A Bird Fiasco

The rains came, wind gusts filled the porch, the end door blew open and something came in trying to wreck the place. The grill was banging like a bear was trying to wreck it. My blood pressure began to descend when I saw the bird.

A grouse flapping everywhere. Those things are dangerous in flight especially when they eat fermented berries this time of year and try to fly drunk. My house windows seem to kill a few every year trying to dodge those things.  I only wrecked a couple things with no screens harmed and nothing band aids couldn’t fix while attempting to catch the little grouse. Then, when he wrapped his little feet and claws around my fingers…we had to make some adjustments. Grouse in porch 3eml.jpg

I opened the screen door and placed him on the nice autumn leaves in the rain. He ran between my legs back into the screen porch. The chase was on again. It became easy to catch little grouse as he quit trying to fly. Flying into the screens didn’t work well. We repeated this twice so little grouse kept me company, I went back to reading until my wife got the camera and we posed for a few shots before I picked him up again and walked him out to the edge of the woods and let him go under a spruce tree in the heavy rain.

Now normal country living means little grouse for supper. Just so happens our freezer is full and I took a shine to the little guy. In a very real sense, I extended Grace to little Grouse and let him live. My hurting fingers wanted to wring his neck and grouse is a very tasty meal. I hunt them but a little drunk grouse? Um no.

As I get older, I appreciate more and more all of what God has designed including His grace. Since the origin of sin, death is a part of life about 100% of the time.

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I wonder how long it will take little grouse to fly again? It’s a life-or-death question for him in the wild. I have periods in my life where I couldn’t do anything risky. I was just tired of trying again and again. Have you ever been there? then you know what I mean. Giving up is easy. I doubt little grouse understands what grace means. I wonder how many people actually understand God’s grace? If we accept His gift of Grace it means 100% life. Fly little Grouse fly.

I mean, fly somewhere else!!!

Gary

Now, where was I Daryl…

Getting Noticed

 

I recently read (this morning actually) a passage on how much getting noticed meant to one man who has probably more influence than any of us could ever dream of doing. I have been thinking about it all day.

With a billion people on social media (whatever the number is it’s lot) it seems that getting noticed, going viral, getting likes and clicks, is the epitome for some people, largely ignored by some and then the very few who avoid the web like a flying insect (pardon the picture pun)spider web 2eml     I suppose it’s naturally human to want to make our mark, ding the world, stick out, get noticed or maybe even become famous (if only for 5 minutes). How else would one explain how people act or talk when put on camera or have a mic stuck in front of them. They become “somebody” even if they have no clue what they are doing or talking about. I know you have pictures of different people in your head  already and I don’t want to know because I have those relatives as well, never mind the ones in the news.

The last basketball game I watched had a “kissing Cam”, camera which zeroed in on couples and when they noticed they were on the big screen they were supposed to kiss in front of 32,000 people watching the screen. One gal couldn’t get her boyfriend to cooperate (He was busy  with a beverage and not interested) so she grabbed a total stranger nearby and kissed him. The boyfriend left (Click here, it’s at the end of the video)

Getting noticed has created countless political wars, media frenzies, lying, cheating, school shootings, smearing, countless murders and the negative list could go on and on throughout the centuries of mankind. On a positive note, getting noticed on a resume, playing well in sports, good products, courageous feats, defending from harm, righting wrongs and a countless host of good things can come from getting noticed. We all hope somebody will actually “like” our blog and maybe even make a positive “comment”.

Either way, there is leverage in getting noticed and the world wants leverage.

Consider what I read this morning. It really struck me how much Jesus Christ was worried about getting noticed. It is considered a prophetic passage about Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53:1-5 (It’s better to read the whole passage) says:

Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

There you have it. Jesus had zero concern on getting noticed. There was nothing physically that made Jesus stick out. He would not have been born handsome enough, charismatic enough or rich enough to stick out. No high society head start. So where does that put those of us who want to be like Jesus? Should it not be merely a fruit or after effect that we get noticed?

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Bring your beauty, humor and grief

 

holloween decorations

 

kids memorial stone emlThis morning I checked my motives for what I put on social media. It’s good to do once in awhile or we can be sucked into getting noticed for the wrong reasons. So when I really have nothing to say, I shouldn’t post it. Let’s make a deal…Please don’t just hit the “like” button unless any of my posts really had something in it to like. It just makes me run over to your posts to find something to like. You people are good enough so I often find a lot to like (unless you use foul language, it’s a turn off).

Let’s make getting noticed a fruit of our labors and not sacrifice who we should be.  The whole world would be quite a place if we were all like Jesus.Here’s to getting noticed for all the right reasons. Cheers! (I have a ginger ale in my glass)

Gary

Note: Pictures were taken this morning on an afternoon walk. No, I’m not in Wisconsin today. It looks like a kid (?) was really missing someone, they left this painted rock by the lake. 

Living in Mid-Autumn

Oak and mapleAutumn beauty is everywhere around our neck of the woods. Stuff is dying like crazy. Beautiful fall leaves changing color are dying leaves. Most of the worker bees have been chased out of the nest and are gone even though there are still a few flowers blooming. That will end this week as temperatures will finally fall below freezing.

There is tension because this is a favorite time of the year, but winter is coming.

The air is crisp, clear, there’s nary a bug to slap and it’s time to take a moment or several and drink in some beauty before the snow comes. Now is the time to shoot some photos and marvel at natures colors, textures, shapes and smells. I took a walk around our place today just to share a few shots with you from northwest Wisconsin USA. just click on a picture and the slide show will come up. Complete with an October sunset.

 

Are you ready for winter? Me neither. I want to revel in the full pomp and circumstance of Autumn. Fall may just be the most imperfect time of the year. In the spring everything sprouts and buds almost perfectly. Age, sun and storms have taken their toll and yet in a metamorphosis of color their last hurrah is a repainting of the landscape in an explosion of color. Then they fall to the ground.

I said to a friend the other day after discussing 100 reasons why we love this time of year “You know..we are in the fall season of life you and I”  He said quietly “yes we are and I aim to make the most of it”

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Come Friday the flowers will freeze and the little worker bee will either hibernate in the nest or be driven out. That part of Autumn is hard. Life is hard.

And that friends is why I get up early in the morning, make some coffee, read from my Bible and pray. I have done this much of my life. I meet with God and he is there. Winter is coming all too soon in my life. I know old age is harder, it already is. I’m not ready..sigh…I’m still a worker bee. When my color fades and winter is over I will be ready for eternity.

Gary

(Header picture) Hey you like our spider? That little guy has slim pickins for bugs. The bee (two feet away) is bigger than he is so little spider may go hungry.

I do appreciate your considerate thoughts and comments.

Thoughts with a view

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Our dining room, kitchen and living room are all one big open space. To the west through the patio doors is a huge screened in area we call our west screen porch. We have a view and I try to share some of the things we see out the window now and then. Have a peek starting with tonight’s sunset. I’ll set it up as a slide show if you click on a picture

 

All seasons, animals looking in our windows or checking out the grill (see the bear in the grill picture?). All pictures were taken from the house or the front lawn.

Here’s the deal. I love nature, wild beauty, country living and all that goes with it. But, all this would be meaningless without knowing the creator. Fun, peaceful, passing beauty. Like the sunset every night it’s just a great moment in time. Ultimately meaningless except it seems to touch eternity in my soul. Enjoy this years 9/11 sunset with me. Where do your thoughts turn?  Sunset over the Forest 3eml

Hmmmm….Eternity is close isn’t it.

Gary

Dazzling Dew Drop

I watched the sun come up. It was my meeting place and time with God.Dew Drop early Morning cp3 eml

In all the hundreds of Flowers outside the porch, I noticed one with 3 dew drops on it’s petals and reflections in each drop.

The thought has crossed my mind often that each of us has no more significance in the universe than a dew drop. I ask God again about my significance. He answers in powerful ways sometimes.

Could it be that We are supposed to reflect His Glory in all things? Who I am and who I am becoming? How easy would it be to miss what God is trying to show us. If he can use a dewdrop off a flower petal to display his glory…the possibilities are beyond human thought.

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You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah. Psalm 39:5

Gary

Filling Dads Shoes

It’s not possible, you know, to fill dad’s shoes. Why do I even want to try? What drives one to be the hero and mentor to others just like dad? Why do I want to retrace his steps or maybe to accomplish similar feats? I don’t know. I do know it’s hard to just stand and grieve without making promises that parts of dad will live on through me. Dads Shoes_1eml

Then I look at dads shoes. They are weary and worn, like his life at the end. Why it wasn’t long ago a nice young couple paid for his meal at the local burger place because they thought he looked homeless. He had been working and welding in the shop and got hungry for a quick burger. He felt guilty nodding to them with a smile and climbing into his shiny, and expensive looking, truck and driving away.

I have a similar stride and gait in life as dads in many ways. Somewhere between integrity, work ethic, hunting, fishing, loving God and family, our paths have many similarities. Dad’s path has taken him into eternity while I’m still bushwhacking the valleys, scooting across the ledges and climbing the mountains of life. From the looks of it, my shoes just might have some miles to go yet. I hope to make the most of that time given.

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I do want to find the old tree dad often talked about deep in 2000 acres of public land hunting territory. When dad was young, he knew this tree. In later years he would stop and rest awhile and say to “his” tree “how are you doing old timer”. My shoes will take me there soon just to say some last words. I know…talking to a tree? I sensed you might understand.

My oldest daughter best describes why dads shoes walked well and influenced so many people through life. When her younger sister needed medical attention for long periods of time, she spent that time with grandpa and grandma. One day when she was very young she was following grandma around and asked her “Grandma, why does grandpa sit at the table every morning with a cup of coffee and read his bible?” Grandma put her basket of laundry down, turned and grabbed her by the shoulders and said, in a husky urgent voice, “listen…since your grandpa started doing that, he has become a changed man!!!”   

So, I cannot, will not, don’t have to fill dad’s shoes. They are retired. But I find myself following in his footsteps which not so oddly seem to be following someone who wore out their sandals.

  The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and he delights in his way. (Psalms 37:23)

Gary

One Cast, Two Fish Story

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Its not often a fish is caught on the first cast. Two fish with one cast is, well, unusual and has the makings of another fish tale. This one is special as it’s one of dad’s oft fished lakes. It’s still hard to think that while I was fishing, dad was taking his last breaths.

I was getting together with a close life long friend and we decided a boat on the lake over a crappie hole would be just fine. Taking the old boat out with an iffy motor was possibly an adventure so after it started we circled the lake and shut down for a nice drift, cast and chat down the less fished side of the lake.

First cast and bam, nice fish! got off. Wham, another hit and a tussle bigger than the usual crappie began. A very nice walleye was netted. The fish rolled up in the net and my hook swung free so I tossed it out of the way and untangled the fish. I was going to put the fish in the live-well but saw my rod going over the side of the boat. Dropping the fish I grabbed the rod and felt another fish on. Fish #2 was bigger and that’s my story. I had thrown my hook over the side of the boat into a waiting walleye.

We made several drifts, caught many small perch, another big walleye, talked about the stuff of life, dying, the future and navigating the days ahead for both of us.

My phone interrupted fishing and we had to go. Upon entering dads home I knew it was true. Dad was gone. I thought I had a little more time. This fisherman would trade all the great fishing stories in the world for some more time with dad. The reality is that life is that way. We live, work, raise a family, retire and die. Yes, I know, we fish and do lots of other stuff and it’s good. There has to be things in our lives as an aid to building deep bonds relationally. There must be ways to model faith, hope and Love.

Our family has a deep bond of love for one another. Dad and mom set out to follow God and live that way. Their kids (including me) live that way. Our kids live that way. Yes dad would have loved that fish story. I guess I’ll have to wait till I pass on to tell him.

Please click on some of my deeper thoughts and spiritual insights on dad and dying here. I wrote it last month after visiting dad knowing that time was short. Meanwhile, I will keep loving my family and fishing. In that order.

Gary

A Family Tastes the Wilderness, and it’s Good

Another Small-mouth bass for release

My oldest grand daughter is going into her senior high school year so she had the privilege of choosing the family vacation. She chose to go to the BWCA wilderness with grandpa as guide. How cool is that? 5 days unplugged from technology and looking at the sky for hints of a weather forecast. 5 days of learning how to see. Really see. 5 days of soaking in all that nature provides at it’s whims without asking. 5 days of gorgeous blue waters, rain storms, wind, cold, hot, starry skies, open fire cooked foods and, well, mosquitoes and black flies.

To all you families considering a week of being unplugged; go for it and work through the learning process. You will be better, much better for it. Kids, go for it. Your eyes and ears will be opened and conversations and memories will be had the rest of your life. Take a peek at a few highlights.

Grandma and grandson on the portage trail between lakes in the rain.
Otter eating fish swimming by camp
Yep, big walleye, catch of a lifetime
And she caught supper. This Kentucky girl knows how to fillet fish as well.
My son with a very nice small mouth bass
Sunset after a long rainy day
Ahhh…The art of taking all the bones out of a pike on a canoe paddle with enough fish left to eat
The boys were always drying something around the fire
Fire, hot chocolate and great conversation. A family that loves each other.
Wonder boy won the tussle from shore after almost being pulled into the lake
little man decided frogs were safer after hooking a huge alligator by the canoe (probably a monster pike). Lost the fish and all his line …Proud of his “frog moat” though

We watched a nymph crawl on the tent and become a dragonfly. We used life jackets for sleeping pads. The kids found out that 30 degree (F) ratings on sleeping bags mean you will get cold at 40. The colors in nature never clash, they just enhance each other. There must be 30 shades of green! It would take a lot of faith to believe all this order came randomly by chaos. We love the wilderness! Life lessons abound and were talked about.

Now we are home, it was better than a good dream. Tonight we toasted our wilderness trip with Smores (toasted marshmallows over a fire put into a graham cracker sandwich with a piece of chocolate bar).

These pictures are but a very small taste of our wilderness experience. Thanks for coming along, and yes we ate several meals of bass, pike and walleye as well as returned most of our fish to live a bit longer. Many fish stories for another time. You really should go into the wilderness if you can…go for it. Unplug awhile!

Gary

Gone Fishing Stories

Getting a group of fishermen together on a nice saturday morning is kind of like throwing a party for introverts. It’s hard to get people to show up. fishing day eml

About 40 guys and a slew of boats at this little but mighty country church. I suspect a nice breakfast helped the draw. Many are friends. father and son combos arrived as well as the guest speaker (Me). I’m still not sure if they clapped enthusiastically because I did a good job or because I was done in a timely fashion so they could git fishn..

Diversity all over the place. Why there were canoes, pontoons, big, little, old, new, and the guys were as different as the boats. I think I got about 3/4 of the guys in the picture as I was being introduced.fishing day a

Here is the starting point but not the gist of it.You guys have been telling stories all morning. . I want you to realize that your life is one big story and you only get one shot at it.” I followed with stories and points and ended quickly as we are fishermen, and fishing takes valuable time.

Thanks for the pictures guys

 


Without hesitation, these guys are helping each others story. As much as they love fishing, they realize that we only live in the dash between the numbers on our headstone someday. All the stories that we make happen on the water are much more important than the catching. Thanks for a great day Marty and gang.

Gary

Gary at the river

My Kind Of Fishing Event

It’s a bit like a roundup, a get-together, all kinds of people passions and relationships meshed to rub off on one another. All these pictures have one thing in common aside from “Show me your fish”. 35 years ago I decided to use my passions to make a difference in other peoples lives. Friends, family, a camera and total strangers later have given me a picture book of proof. A life of giving to others of one’s passions, is truly worth it.

There is so much more to fishing than catching fish. How are you going to start your summer?

Me: I still have some stuff to untangle from last year and I had better get with it.

Gary