Growing grass

I just finished reading my daughters latest blog and it was great. She wrote about how she is doing in school, struggles with her teenags children, her husband supporting her, and homeschooling her youngest daughter. Reading about her strengths and growth through all these struggles got me to thinking about an issue i have been pondering lately, and what to do about it.

The issue is in the title of this blog and it is a serious issue for an old guy. I moved to Florida five years ago and i can not get grass to grow in my front yard no matter what i do. Now i realize that grass is not native to Florida but that is no excuse. When we lived in Delaware we had a really nice lawn, which was dandelion free, i might add. Living here i have tried different seeds, fertilizer, you name it and all i get is fire ants. Now that is a whole 'nuther story for a separate blog. I would be happy if the weeds would grow so at least there would be some green out front.

In the cracks in the driveway weeds grow. Where i have nice sago palms and fan palms weeds grow. Between the bricks leading up to the motorcycle shed what do you think i see? Weeds and fire ants! But do you want to know what the worst insult is? Well I'm going to tell you anyway. I pointed something out to my wife the other day that has been infuriating me for quite some time. Every day I travel over the Mid Bay bridge which is three and a half miles long over the Choctawhatchee Bay with a beautiful view. When i go over it in the morning i see the sunrise to my left. Traveling homw in the evening i see the sunset to my left. OK which direction am i heading?

Sorry, i got a little sidetracked. Anyway, traveling over this bridge seeing these beautiful sights; rainbows, sunsets, sunrises, sailboats and i haven't even mentioned riding over on the Roadie, but i digress. The other morning while traveling toward Destin, along with seeing pelicans and seagulls hovering along the side of the bridge, beautiful white clouds above and an oil barge below, what do i see? Grass growing in the expansion joints along the length of the bridge. Now Kim thought this was quite amusing but i was not amused. Think about this for a moment, it's got to be better that thinking about problematic teenagers or the current economy. Grass is growing in steel strips along a three and a half mile bridge many feet above a very large body of water.

I doubt that anyone sowed the seed. I can't imagine anyone fertilizing it. OK God does provide some watering but doesn't that apply to my lawn also. Where is the justice in the world of lawns? Do i need to build over a body of water? These are thoughts worth pondering to me. It helps to keep my mind off all the other STUFF going on in this world today. It also reminds me that no matter what happens around us, God is still in control and He will make the grass grow wherever He decides. Trust in Him alone!

Back to work

Well, it has been two days since my first blog so I thought I would try again. As I said before the concert was great, Kim and I had a lovely day together and now we are back to reality. Our 44th president was inaugurated yesterday and no matter what any of us might think about him it was a momentous occasion for this country and he is our president. May God continue to bless this great country.

Last night I went to teach my ESL class as I normally do on Tuesday nights. It was an interesting night as my two Vietnamese students were out and we don't know what happened to one of our Mexican students so we only had Javier who is Mexican and has a very difficult time comprehending English. He got a lot of one on one last night and I think we learned more of what we need to do to help him better understand the English language. My co-teacher Jack and I will need to work with him more one on one which is also what Lan, our Vietnamese student needs. It is challenging and I pray I can meet the challenge and help each of our students.

Back at work we are gearing up for what we hope will be a good season for the stores. I am the operations manager for a group of stores in Seaside Florida. This is our off season but a very busy time for me as I need to get the stores ready for the new season. That requires overseeing restorations, painting, changes and anything else necessary to get the stores ready to roll. In these tough economic times we have to be cognizant of costs and so must do more of the work in house, which means me and my son-in-law who works with me.

At home there is not much exciting going on. It has been to cold to work outside so I work with the computer mostly and read. I am trying to get back into writing which is why I started doing the blog. I have plans for what I want to do with the yard, I just need to get the money, the time and the energy to do it all. The last time I worked in the yard I got a bug bite and my hand swelled up and I had to go to the doctor. I also want to do some work on the Roadie in the hopes that it will start getting warm enough to do some riding. I love to ride and am starting to have Roadie withdrawal.

OK that is enough for now; it's getting to be near my bedtime and I want to read a little before getting some sleep and starting over again tomorrow. I am thankful that I have a job to go to, a loving wife and family, a nice home and a God who is graceful and does not expect me to be perfect. What more could we possibly ask for?

The Concert

Well, this is my first attempt at blogging. After following my daughters blog I thought it seemed like an interesting way to put down some thoughts and let others see them. Normally I would be working today but Kim and I just returned from a concert in Pensacola. Actually the concert was last night but being that it was late and I am not as young as I used to be we decided to stay at a hotel for the night.

It all started a couple months ago when my wonderful wife found out that I like Brad Paisley songs and that he was coming to Pensacola. She went and got tickets and set us up in a very nice hotel right across the street from the concert location. We got to the hotel Sunday after church and just enjoyed the room and watching the History Channel. We had a light dinner in the hotel and went across the street to the concert. There were hundreds of people lined up going inside. Thankfully we are in Florida so we didn't have to deal with snow, ice and freezing temps before getting inside.

Darius Rucker started the show and did a really good job of opening. Dirks Bently who also has a number of songs that I like came on next and he was great. Then Brad Paisley came on stage and he was awesome. Not only does he have some great songs that I like, he is an amasing guitar player. In addition to his talent every member of his team is extremely talented. It was a great show and we got our mony's worth.

At about 11 PM, way past my bed time, we worked our way out of the Civic Center to go back to the hotel. Unfortunately the first door we went out took us to the back of the Center and we couldn't see any way to get to the hotel short of crossing the interstate. We managed to get back inside, like salmon swimming upstream, so we could go around to the other side of the building on the inside and then exit to where our hotel was. After watching a little more of the History Channel we decided that by now it was WAY past my bedtime.

We woke up and got out of bed around 0800. I brewed some "in room" coffee and was ready to go for some breakfast. I spent the next hour " waiting on a woman". We went down stairs to the restaurant and enjoyed a very nice filling breakfast. After breakfast we returned to the room and figured since we weren't required to check out till noon, we might as well get our mony's worth. So we did some reading and watched a little more of the History Channel. Finally we decided we would have to leave and start the journey home. After returning home, we unpacked, got settled in and I decided to attempt my first blog.

Not very exciting, but that's my story and I'm stickin' to it. This was only the second concert i have been to in my entire life, and though I don't like crowds and loud noises it was very enjoyable. As much as I enjoyed the concert itself I actually enjoyed the time away with Kim and being in that very nice hotel that reminded me very much of being on a cruise ship. To anyone who might read this, let me know what you think