Airport Fun

I am headed to NYC today. I got up early and got dropped off by my wife at the airport for a 10am flight to Detroit then off to JFK. Everything was going great. Got on the airplane on time (early even) and all set. The plane pulls away from the terminal and out toward the runway. After a bit we get word from the pilot there is a flashing warning light for one of the doors on the plane (the luggage door i think). He mentions that we are headed back to the terminal to have a mechanic come check it out. It takes 20 minutes for the mechanics to get there and another 15 or 20 to head back out to the runway. Backing out of the terminal again we get word that there is another warning light. So back to the terminal we go! After a while we are told then that the engine won't start and they are waiting for information from the mechanic. Imagine how fun the people on the plane are to listen to at this point!

So we wait for the mechanics assessment and finally it is told to us that they need to replace a part and it needs to be flown in. So 3 hour minimum before that even shows up. We are then de-planed and off to the ticket counter we go. The line took at least an hour but I finally got rebooked on a flight out of MCI to JFK via Minneapolis (instead of Detroit). The problem: I am not getting in to the aiport until 10:45. That means to the hotel at 11:15 or 11:30. Yikes!

So the real point to this post isn't about the problems I have had with flying. The point is that it is amazing to watch how different people handle situations like this. Even the ones that seem calm and together get all antsy after a while.

The flight has a group of 17 kids and chapperones. They are students (highschool I assume) and the adults had to deal with getting all of the kids to Detroit. That would be very stressful if I was in that position.

I made a very concerted effort to keep a positive attitude and be happy even though it was a crappy situation. I thanked the people that were helping and trying to keep their composure. I was polite and happy. It is amazing how much easier things seem to go when you aren't all pissy about things that aren't in your control! I am waiting at MCI and my food just arrived. Yummy!

86 Years

Harold Ivan Smith was born on March 21, 1923 and lived a long life. This morning at 3am he went to be with the Lord.

My grandpa has blessed so many lives. There are two things that stand out that I will never forget. He always made me feel like I was such an important person in his life. I know that he did that for just about everyone he met and cared about which is such an incredible thing. His never-ending love and passion for grandma gave me a great role-model. Somebody that can be married for almost 66 years and still have that glisten in their eyes when they look at each other gives me something to look forward to.

The other thing that I will never forget is the way that Grandpa could talk to anybody. No matter where we were at or who we were with Grandpa could strike up a conversation and be truly involved in it with anybody. He always has some way to relate to people and that is a remarkable thing to me.

I pulled up an email that Grandpa sent my brother James about his past and am pasting it here. It makes this post really long but it is an interesting story. I have also posted some pictures below the story.

Dear Grand son ; My dad was uncertain of his true birthday all he can
remember is his folks putting him in the back of a wagon & telling him
they would come & get him there were several children in a wagon of a
German couple named Schmit he could walk but could barely see over the
tailgate which if right was about 3 ft . high[ Our friend Oscar Snyder
that I grew up with told us that Dad had told him it was at Galveston
Island & my grand parents stayed to help sand bag the dikes & were
drowned ] the German people took him to a town in Texas near Trenton he
always wrote [Dallas county ]were he lived was put in a Catholic school
were he went possibly 3rd grade .The Folks were very strict & punished
Him severely on one occasion he fell & broke a basket of eggs &the man
used a buggy whip & welted his back so bad he couldn't bear a shirt &
that was when his brother came riding in to find his little brother Dad
said he found the welts & said before he left that he had a job to do
out West & he would be back for him before he left he told the German
that if he used the whip again when he returned he would kill him Dad
said he was riding a beautiful black horse with a silver mounted saddle
he had Two pistols tied down . After he left dad was treated better for
awhile & the cruelty started with [we should never have kept an Irish
Kid.] At school in his 3rd year he heard boys talking about the cattlemen
gathering a large heard of cattle being gathered some ten
miles to the west to be driven north ,so early the next evening as soon
as the people were asleep with a pair of jeans & shirt extra put his
Demin jacket & headed to the cattle drive bye running & walking fast he
could arrived at the cattle drive which had several thousand head of
cattle ready to move before day light & hid in the cook wagons fire wood
box on the side of
the wagon which was empty of wood.,Where he stayed till night then
would find left overs& grain they carried for the horses pulling the
cook wagon After several days of this when he was far enough out so he
couldn't be taken back he came out & told the cook about the cruelty &
didn't want to go back so the cook let him stay help him do the cooking
& get fire wood , it took 2 or more years to reach KS where the cattle
on the blue stem grass put so much weight on like feeding them grain He
made several more drives but on the last drive he heard of the free land
in Ok la. the same year he met Grand ma Her name was Catherine
MaudeFairfax she lived some where near Emporia or Carbondale I think her
school records may be in archives in emporia's school records? Any way
they fell in love & at a dance she told dad that her dad was taking the
family & make the
run for land in few weeks Dad said he asked her to marry him & her dad
said it would be ok if he made the run & stake a claim so dad told him
he had came through Indian territory many times & knew exactly where he
wanted showing him where the spot was &that he had Avery fast horse &
tough from the hard work of the cantle drives so they agreed dad would
go ahead stake him a claim & one for moms folks who had two boys & 3
girls Mom youngest Dad leaving the crowd far behind arrived at his
perfect spot the bubbling spring with Two mean looking guys fondling
claim stake they were pounding in the ground before dad thought he
blurted out there is no way in H you could have beat me as he looked in
to the barrels of there pistols quickly adding unless you have some
awful fast horses which you do . Getting that said he Quickly move on
about a mile where his second choice & staked his claim & one for
Fairfax the claim is between Hitchcock & watonga just before you get to
the top of the hill south in the second Canyon is where dad homesteaded
& build a dug out cabin in the side of a hill. Mom & dad was the first
white couple married in watonga They lived there till the proved up
there claim bringing Bud, Roy ,Fred &
[Catherine MaryDiedat 2yrsTyphoid fever] Many stories of his early
life that he only told to me as I was growing up he was quite a man wish
you could have Known him? If able & you ever get time will show you the
claim am not sure if dug out is still there but the land is but I
realize am getting old too fast I could never get Ron interested enough
to even go lookJimLee did try to find it not sure if succeeded Dad spent
his whole Life in Blain county Okla[ Except a brief time in western
Okla]
tell you about it later G&G Love ya Will find out his death &
birthdate can't remember

Great Progress

The last few months have been interesting. There has been a lot going on both in my life and the lives of people around me.

I took a summer class and am now taking a fall class at UMKC. This has been harder than ever before. Chloe is getting bigger and it makes it harder to do anything school or work related while I am watching her. This is ok though because it is so much fun watching her learn and grow.

Chloe has been learning so much. She has been speaking and is learning her animal sounds. She knows how to do several sign language signs and is running around like crazy. Some of the fun things lately have been her taking the tupperware out of the cabinet and 'organizing it' and putting it back. She is treating a lot of things like puzzles. She wants to put things together and take them apart again.

Along with the good things have been some bad as well. I have some family that have had job troubles and my grandpa has very advanced cancer. This is very bad news and we have been praying hard for everybody that needs help in our family. For my grandpa I pray that his pain is minimal and God will take him quickly and peacefully when his time has come. I pray for the rest of my family that they may understand that when he does pass that he is in a better place and we will see him again. The Lord has been good to him and he has many people around him that love and care about him.

I know this isn't a cheerful or very glamorous post but these are things that I feel that I needed to express. I wanted to get them out. I have a feeling that not many people will read this or be interested but this blog is a window into my life and these things are a big part of my life.

Project Complete: Water Heater

Project Water Heater was a simple one. I am thankful that I had help however. Last Fall/Winter I saw a very slightly wet floor and a bead of water running from under the top cap of the old water heater. It was the original with the house so it must have been 11 - 12 years old. I decided that I didn't want to wait for a real mess to replace it.

I waited until we had some extra money to buy the water heater. I did the research and found the water heater I wanted and was also watching for sales. The price stayed steady for about 5 months.

I replaced a 50 gallon tank with another 50 gallon. I did, however, get the 12 year warranty due to the research showing that they are built better. Better insulation and better efficiency led to that decision. It ended up being a bit larger in diameter and height too.

There were some possible issues I was looking at when replacing the water heater. First of all is the PEX pipe running throughout the house. I wasn't willing to go buy a crimper and didn't know anyone that had one laying around. I needed to replace the shut off valve due to it leaking and corroding quite a bit.

Using our tax refund I was able to purchase the tank I wanted. It only took a couple of weeks to get a free day to make the switch. My step-dad offered and came to help.

I ended up buying a new ball valve and flex copper pipe. I purchases shark-bite connectors instead of planning on soldering fittings because of the ease of using them and their ability to work on copper or pex. They have been touted worthy of this project.

The switch went fairly smoothly. Gary and I went to Home Depot before starting anything to get some extra vent pipe in case we had to move the tank and/or raise the far elbow to give it more of an upward pitch. As it turns out the location worked out so we didn't need the extra length and the extra height of the tank did not break the "at least 1/4 " per foot" incline rule I needed.

The only problem encountered was a faint gas smell. I opened all the windows and put a fan in to clear out the smell. Then checked again and still smelled it. Although I checked the fittings with soapy water it was a low enough pressure fitting that I didn't get bubbles. I called the gas company last night and they came over, checked it, and redid the connections for me.

So, project complete. I have several more to do that I will try to post before and after pictures.

Neverending...

Over the last couple years I have made great strides to be a better person and a better christian. I have become a husband and a father and try to be the best of those I can. I have spent time with God and studied his word and learned a lot. I have been going to school and learning there. I have also changed jobs a few times and had a lot of opportunity to learn in that realm as well.

So what is this blog post about? I feel like my brain is going to explode. I am rarely able to ever just settle down and feel like there isn't something else to finish. I love to learn. I love to read and keep my mind fresh. When I finished college I stopped reading and learning much. I realize this because I just felt dumb. Once I went back to school I felt better. Then I started reading to learn rather than just to be entertained. Wow!

Now, I have books for work, books for school, books on how to raise a daughter and be a father, etc, etc. I don't feel like I can do give any one of those topics the attention it deserves because there is just so much that I don't know.

I learned this first at church. I thought that I had a lot of the God stuff figured out. The more I learned, however, the more it was apparent that I didn't know squat. As I started learning other stuff I realize that this is the same way. No matter how hard I work at something there is always so much more to learn.

I guess I am just griping today because I feel overwhelmed. I am supposed to be reading for class or preparing for our presentation. If I'm not doing that I should be reading a new book I got for work or catching up on some work to meet a deadline. I could even go get the book I have been wanting to catch up on about what's going on with Chloe now that she is 7 months old. But nah. I decide to write this instead. Helps me vent and get stuff straightened out in my head.

Sorry to be all whiney today. I feel utterly blessed to have a very supportive wife and a beautiful baby girl. I have everything I ever dreamed of having. I don't need anything else but I have such a hard time settling when it comes to how much knowledge I have.