One Busy Week

School is finally out! That has been an added bonus to all the other things that have gone on during the week.

For Memorial Day the boys and I took the opportunity to pick up limbs and mow Aunt Mar's yard. We went back over there and grilled out for supper.

PRAYER REQUEST. I'd like to ask you to pray for Eric Hulsey who is a member at our church. Eric was injured in an explosion at his work on Friday. Over 75% -- possibly as much as 90% -- of his body is burned. Eric is in his 20s. He and his wife have two young boys.

73RD BOMB WING REUNION. I went to the 73rd Bomb Wing reunion again this year. The nice thing is that I didn't have to fly anywhere as the reunion was in Nashville. This afforded me the opportunity to take my scanner along and scan a lot of documents and pictures in their memorabilia collection.

The pre-flight social for the reunion was Wednesday evening and we had a friend of mine, Mark Lowe, come to speak. Mark is a certified genealogist and spoke on his Tennessee heroes. He touched on many well known names (like Davey Crockett and Daniel Boone) and some more obscure figures as well. His whole point was how valuable our stories are as we tell them to each other. He had the whole audience when he got everyone in the room to sing the theme song to the old Davey Crockett TV show. I heard several people say he was the best speaker they'd ever had.

Thursday night was the banquet so Vicki, Mom, and the kids dressed up and went with me to enjoy the evening. I am glad I got the chance to introduce them to many of the people I've met at reunions over the years.

I went back on Saturday for the luncheon. This is always the best part of the reunion for me as we are divided into smaller groups and the men take some time to tell their stories. All the stories are interesting and many take the opportunity to express pain they still feel some 66 years later.

GOOD-BYE MR. ROBERT. Robert Yates has been a fixture at our church for all my life and for many years before I came along. He passed away last Sunday evening. He was 98, and I think he was the last World War II veteran in our church family.

Mr. Robert was a layman wholly devoted to his service to God. He was elected as a deacon as a young adult and taught Sunday school for over 60 years. He lead music at church for many years as well. In 1998 Mr. Robert was interviewed for a video promoting the building program to build our current sanctuary. His words are a remarkable testimony to his devotion to God. I am including a transcript of this interview below though you can see it if you visit our church website (http://www.mtcarmel.cc/sermons/).

Joe

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Robert Yates
Recorded in 1998

At one time I didn't really like to go to church. I'd rather been out playing ball or something like that, but we had to go. And we came here to church and back then we had one service a month. We wasn't able to pay a preacher full time so we had once a month he'd come in and spend the night with somebody and then he'd go off and we wouldn't see the preacher again for three of four weeks. At that time our church was pretty small and its grown mightly in the years that come.

When we first started coming to church here, the front of the we had two entrances to come in, [one] on each side. And of course, the auditorium was smaller than it is now 'cause we extended it back later on.

We had furnaces in here. [Mr. Robert is standing in the front of our old sanctuary and extends his arms to indicate where the stoves stood.] And the come up and we heated that-a-way. And I know a lot of them ... we had one old gentleman or two that would use that for a spittoon there [laughs] and I wouldn't want to call his name, but it's really changed since then. We didn't have near the modern conveniences we have now.

I also remember when we had our first basement in the church ... around behind there. All the different ones volunteered labor and came in there and dug out under there and the old part of it there was done then. And we thought we was really making progress at that time which we were, but nothing to compare with what's happened over the last few years.

I've seen so many changes in this church ... I think back about how it used to be and how it is today and you just can't believe it without you lived a long time ago. You see, I'm 86 years old and I've been to a lot of services here. And of course, I was elected a deacon when I was almost a boy. And I taught a Sunday school class when I was about twenty-something years old ever since, and I didn't do too good a job but at least I came every Sunday and tried.

And I'm thankful for my mother and father seeing that I come to church because if they hadn't brought me to church I'd never have gone. And that's an important thing for people to bring their children to church. They don't realize that they're going to shape their lives from what they learn when they're young.

And it's still a joy for me to come to church even though when you get old it's a little hard to get up and get ready, but it's still a joy. And I'm thankful for our church. Thankful for what it's done in the past and look forward to what it's going to do in the future. And actually, we haven't scratched the surface of what can be accomplished at Mt. Carmel. So it's a joy to have a little part in the growth of our church.

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Prayer Request Update
Wednesday, June 1, 2011

For the benefit of those of you who do not live locally I will pass along what Roni Martin, our church secretary wrote earlier today as she says this so well.

Dear Church Family,

As many of you are already aware, Eric Hulsey passed away last night at 5:30 pm. We are all so deeply saddened this morning for Heather, the boys, and their entire family. Please continue to lift all the family up in prayer. The journey ahead is going to be very difficult, but we will continue to surround Heather and the boys with our constant love for their family.

Eric has touched so many of us, always willing to help others, while always loving his beautiful family. We are all so blessed to have known Eric. We are thankful for his spirit, his faithful witnessing for Christ, and his love for his friends and family. May we all find comfort in knowing that we will see Eric again, and may we honor him, by continuing his good works in this church and our community.

Blessings, Roni

The Night Riders

This week has been perfect ... except for the mosquitos. Those little boogers have hatched, and boy, are they vicious.

ONE MORE WEEK OF SCHOOL. Teachers have continued to squeeze in field trips as the school year winds down. Ben's class went to the Robertson County Museum sometime in the last week. He said he enjoyed it, but he had been there before so he probably remembered a lot of what was there.

Jenna went on a field trip Thursday that she has been looking forward to -- the Jr. Beta trip to Holiday World. She was worried about the weather because it has been too cool to think about enjoying water rides at an amusement park. Thursday wound up being a pleasant day. It warmed up enough to enjoy a few wet rides, but there are plenty of other rides at the park to allow for her and her friends to have a great time together.

BASEBALL. Ben's baseball season has got two more weeks left. I think he's had a good experience this year. He's gotten to play every infield position now except pitcher. Yesterday was the first time he's played catcher. He was moved behind the plate when they needed to relieve the catcher. We couldn't believe our eyes when we saw him suiting up in all the catcher's padding. He did a good job for the brief time he got to play there.

SMOKE: A BALLAD TO THE NIGHT RIDERS. Last night we splurged and drove over to Adams to see a musical. We got there a bit early and enjoyed supper at the Schoolhouse Cafe before the show.

Smoke (http://www.smokenightriders.com/) was written by David Alford, the local playwright who wrote Spirit, the story of the Bell Witch (http://bellwitchplay.com/). All the music is original. The story is about a fictional family and how they cope with the Black Patch Tobacco Wars that happened in this area after the turn of the last century. It was very well done and we really enjoyed the whole evening. When we got up to leave Nate was full of enthusiasm when he said, "That was the best thing ever!" I could tell Ben was impressed as well because all the way home he asked some really good questions regarding the historical events and moral issues addressed in the play.

I know this sounds like a small time show, but this production is made of professional actors and musicians. While this is performed in the open air pavilion behind the old Bell School (with trains rumbling through just a few blocks away, blowing their horns for the railroad crossing), it could easily be staged at TPAC in Nashville or some similar venue. We had a wonderful evening.

ABOUT THE BLACK PATCH WARS. In case you don't know, Robertson County is part of a larger area of northern Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky that is known for raising dark fired tobacco. This variety of tobacco is fire cured after it is harvested (something similar to how people used to smoke hams to preserve the meat before refrigeration). This is the aroma of tobacco smoke I mention on occasion in the fall.

Tobacco had been raised in this area from the beginning when people began to settle this area. Farmers of that time raised almost everything they needed for food on the farm, but tobacco was their cash crop. By the early 1900s the American Tobacco Company had created a monopoly, buying out or running the competition out of business, becoming the only company farmers could sell their tobacco to. Once they controlled the market they continued to offer lower and lower prices until farmers were losing money just to plant a crop. There were two factors that further compounded the problem for farmers. First, tobacco was the only crop that made any significant money for a small acreage farm, and second, the farmer was practically starting the next crop before he could get the last crop ready for market.

In 1904 an association of farmers was formed to oppose the monopoly by boycotting the American Tobacco Company. This was working to a small degree, but some more militant farmers began to pay night visits to those formers not part of the Association to persuade them to join. Within two years the violence had caught national attention as barns were burned, warehouses dynamited, and farmers killed. Terror reigned in this area until 1908. This whole event has gone down in American history as the most violent civil uprising since the Civil War. In 1911 the US Supreme Court ruled that the American Tobacco Company was a monopoly in violation of the Sherman Anti-Trust Act.

As I said above, the play follows a fictional family as they are caught up in the events of the day, choose sides, and are affected by their activities in the Black Patch Wars. What I am failing to capture here is how the music gave such a strong voice to the characters' emotions throughout the story like the helplessness of their situation, the anger with the tobacco prices, the pain of being part of something going the wrong direction, and the love the couple shared for each other and their son. Alford did a great job of exploring the people and what they must have been feeling during that time.

Joe

Summer or Winter?

It's almost surreal to watch the rain we got so long ago move down the Mississippi River and cause so many problems for the people living along the way. I guess I never paid much attention before, but I always wondered how long it took runoff water that rained here to get to the Gulf of Mexico. It's amazing to think that trip takes 2-4 weeks. It's also surprising to think that we came really close to tying high temperature records last week (the highs were near 90°F) and now we've got the furnace back on because the temps are getting close to record lows for this time of year. It sure isn’t normal to need a jacket at a baseball game in mid-May.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM! Mom's birthday was Thursday, but we actually celebrated on Friday when we went out to eat at Cracker Barrel. Mom usually gets dessert, even if she's the only one doing so when we're out, but this time she didn't. She knew she had something better at home. The kids had picked strawberries and Vicki had the fixings for strawberry shortcake. Mom ate two big pieces and had the look of heaven on her face.

(To include a footnote about myself, I've eaten several strawberries this season just to try to expand my horizons being the picky eater that I am. I did not inherit my mother's love for them. I'm giving that idea up now.)

BLESSED. Vicki sang at church today. (Kelly Raglin sang backup.) If you are familiar with “Blessings” by Laura Story then you know the song. She (and Kelly) did a great job. It was hard for me not to turn around to the people sitting behind me and say, "That's my wife!"

READY FOR SUMMER. We still have two weeks of school left (actually, the seniors are done as of this week). Everywhere I look I see teachers with glazed expressions on their faces as if they're asking, "Is it over yet?"

I could see that same feeling at Awana Wednesday night. Our Awana club is over for the year, with exception of the awards night next week, and as much as everyone enjoys it I think they are all ready for a change of pace. I know I'm ready to have a break from the routine. School starts back up August 4 and it will be here all too quickly.

RAIN GAUGE. Speaking of rain, I have to tell this on myself. Ever since I got one of those electronic thermometers that give you the digital read outs of the temperature inside and out I've wanted to get an electronic rain gauge. I even hinted about it several times last year, but since that was all for nothing I went to the store and got one for myself.

At first I mounted it on top of the swing set. I figured this would be a good place for it since it would be too high for the kids to mess with it. I don't think the battery compartment got a watertight seal because it never worked there. I fiddled with it for several weeks -- enough for Vicki to tell me to stop wasting my time and throw it away.

Before throwing it away I put up a short post near the kitchen window and mounted the gauge to the top of the post. I also made sure the battery cover was on tightly. Well, it started working at this point, but we were never sure if it was accurate. That's when I suggested we get a regular rain gauge to test its accuracy. Somehow I think she missed the humor in this proposal. Now she just rolls her eyes when she hears a rain gauge reading. Of course, this is the woman who didn’t see why I thought it was interesting to get the daily weather report from the Phoenix Lander on Mars either. (These stopped when the lander died last year.)

SNAKE BITE DISEASE. While I’m telling things on myself I’ll share this. I have a condition I call Snake Bite Disease. A friend of mine calls it “man looking.” This showed up the other day when I emptied a bottle of saline and couldn’t find the new right in front of me in the bathroom closet. As they say, if it had been a snake it would have bitten me.

This reminded me of a close call I had a week or so ago. I stopped by Aunt Mar’s when Marisol happened to be there cleaning. She wanted me to go down to the shed to see something (she had been down there to get the patio furniture out). I couldn’t truly understand what she was wanting me to see due to her accent, but she truly saved me from getting bitten by the snake by stopping me from walking into the shed. The shed was on a shelf right there at eye level and I had completely missed it.

THE REST OF US. Our kids have chores. Some chores, like making up their own bed, are theirs all the time. Others, like sweeping the floors, are up for grabs each week to allow for a change of pace. This week was Ben's week to load the dishwasher.

The other day Ben was hand washing some dishes that aren't supposed to go in the dishwasher when he absentmindedly put his towel in the sink to use it as the wash cloth. He was a bit embarrassed when he realized his mistake, but Vicki was quick to say, "That's alright. It happens to the best of us."

Ben was unknowingly cutting with his comeback. "Does it happen to you, too?"

Joe

Mother's Day, Etc.

We're ready to dry out. It has taken about a week for the deepest puddles to disappear in our yard. I'm also ready to have some pleasant spring weather. Last week it was cool enough to run the heat at night. This week it has warmed up so much we’ve skipped having the windows open to just running the A/C.

MOTHER’S DAY. I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother’s Day this year. We did for the most part. Sunday afternoon I started feeling a little sick at my stomach. By the time we went over to Aunt Mar’s and grilled out for supper I was starting to feel really bad, and by midnight I was one sick boy. Fortunately, the bug I got only lasted 24 hours, but it was plenty rough. I’d like to redo that now that I’m feeling better.

FIELD TRIPS. Now that we're in the final stretch of school we've got field trips going everywhere. Last Wednesday Jenna went to the zoo, and on Friday Nate's class went to Honeysuckle Hill Farm. Ben has a field trip next week.

I bring this up because I went on Nate's field trip as a chaperone. This was the first time I've been able to accompany any of my kids on a field trip. We had a lot of fun looking at the farm animals and doing all there is to do. The boys I had were all well behaved and we enjoyed jumping on the “Popcorn Popper,” riding the hayride, and playing on all the playground equipment.

MAMMOTH CAVE. Speaking of trips, Saturday Ben was invited to go with his friend, Jake, and Jake's parents to the Snowball tour at Mammoth Cave to celebrate Jake's birthday.

This tour is fairly strenuous, and lunch is served at a cafe in the cave. They all came back talking about how much fun the trip was. Ben also spent the night with Jake.

While they were in Kentucky we kept Jake's younger brother, Luke. He and Nate had a great time playing together all day.

We had to run a few errands in Springfield so we piled Jenna and the boys in the van and took off. We had to laugh at all the Pokémon speak going on the back seat. I'm sure Ben and Jake were doing the same thing all the way to Mammoth Cave and back.

ART FAIR. One of the places we went in Springfield was the Robertson County Art Fair. This is open to all students in the school system. Each school has its own art contest and the winners are sent on to the county contest. We saw some impressive art projects by our students.

Both Ben and Nate submitted projects, but only Ben's work placed and was on display in Springfield. He decided to take a picture of 36 (our goldfish) which won third place at school. He had quite a challenge getting a good picture of his fish when the camera we have doesn't have a fast shutter speed and kept wanting to focus on the fish bowl glass rather than the fish. The funniest part of all this was that Ben was so happy to get a ribbon that he has hung it on the side of the fish bowl for 36 to see. All in all it was nice to see him represented among the students across the county.

TONGUE TWISTERS. Nate has been introduced to tongue twisters. He loves them. It's been fun listening to him try to tackle something like "rubber baby buggy bumper."

The other day we were in the van when he came up with a twister of his own: "Sammy slapped Silly Sally." He asked me to try saying it five times fast.

Now, tongue twisters aren't my strong suit, but I managed to come back with, "Are you sure Sammy slapped Silly Sally? Maybe Sammy slapped Sally silly. Or could it be that Silly Sally slapped Sammy? Or just maybe Sally slapped Sammy silly." in near rapid fire speaking with no trip ups.

By the time I got done I could tell Nate was impressed from the tone of awe in his voice when he said, "Dad's really good at tongue twisters."

BACKYARD BASEBALL. With baseball season comes playing ball in the backyard. Ben has decided he needs more batting practice so he and Nate usually go outside and have at it (I'm usually trying to get us ready to go out the door to whatever's next on the schedule). Sometimes the boys next door come over and play too.

What's so funny is that Nate, who says he isn't interested in playing baseball, loves to play and comes in bragging at how good of a pitcher he is. Nate is normally pretty humble about his accomplishments, but when he comes in and describes a particular play he'll drop a line like, "I threw the ball to Ben, which was a really good pitch by the way, and Ben hit the ball out in the field!”

MOVIE REVIEW. I haven’t written a movie review in a while. They sort of stopped when we subscribed to Netflix. Before Netflix we’d have two rules to guide us in choosing movies at the video store: we could not choose a movie either of us had seen before and the movie had to be something we both agreed on. Netflix made those rules a moot point so we just alternate movies in the queue we want to see and if we both want to see a movie so much the better. (I watched all of James Bond a couple of years ago this way!)

I watched a really good film this weekend. I don’t even remember what made me put it in the queue and by the time it got to the top of the list I had almost lost interest and thought about sending it back unwatched. I’m so glad I didn’t. After seeing it I told Vicki she should watch it. When she finished she said it should be required viewing for all high school students in America.

Taking Chance is based on the true story of a Marine, Lt. Col. Michael Strobl, who volunteers to escort the body of PFC Chance Phelps back to his hometown for burial after being killed in the Iraq War. The film focuses on the experiences Lt. Col. Storbl has as he travels with the body. The story is moving and beautifully told. It really made me appreciate the sacrifices those serving our country and their families are making.

Joe