Random Thoughts of a Catholic Husband, Father, Physician, Licensed Commercial Septic System Operator, Driving Instructor, Tractor Mechanic, Gardener, Deliverer of All Foods Carry-out, Amateur Book Reviewer, Neo-Texan, Novice Chicken Rancher, Beekeeper, and Writer of Really, Really Bad Poetry. I try to live up to Chesterton's observation that 'a thing worth doing is worth doing badly.'
Yup. The Aardvark, which is looking at 190,000 miles, has been replaced by another fine product from Ford Motor Company. It will still be kept as a 'short hop' errand car for the youngsters. It was paid for a long time ago, and it still runs well. I just did not want it to suffer a major breakdown while making the 30+ mile trip each way to my work.
The new car, a Ford Escape Limited, satisfied our requirements for a Texas vehicle while also providing better gas mileage for commuting. The only thing I have to do now is finish the owner's manual. The instructions for the instrument panel, with all the interfaces for cell phone and iPod and other things, is a short novel in itself. I told my best beloved that we should go on a road trip so she can read the manual and figure it all out so she can tell me what to do.
By the way, we celebrated the birthday of Wifeofdadwithnoisykids on Tuesday! I cannot thank God enough for the blessing of my wife. I cannot thank her enough for marrying me and being such a wonderful wife and mother of my children.
We shall name the new car after it has been blessed.
This took more than a year; in fact, some of the wood in this pile was cut when we were building the house back in 2003. One pile of wood was left near our neighbor's house, so we had to haul that pile onto the back part of our property so we wouldn't smoke Mr. and Mrs. L. out.
The rest of the wood was collected from various projects on our land, from one end to the other.
Then I waited for the right time. Since this pile was completed in the Summer of 2008, I planned on burning it during the rainy season, some time in November, in North Texas. God had other plans, since we did not have much rain for the remainder of 2008 up until this March. I had to wait for the burn ban to lift.
I also wanted to burn this pile on a day when I had no other obligations(i.e., no call), and the weather consisted of drizzles with not much wind. So after a late start on mowing the grass, we got rained out, and that is when the boys started pushing for a bonfire. I am a pushover for setting things on fire.
To be on the safe side, I called the sheriff's office to verify that the burn ban was lifted. Not only was it lifted, but the nice lady on the phone took my name and number so they could reassure anyone who called to report a fire that it was just a bunch of right wing nut jobs clinging to their guns and religion. More importantly, they would not send the fire/rescue folks unless I called them.
This is probably far more information than you wanted to read about a bonfire in North Texas. So, without further ado, here are three videos of the brush pile/bonfire:
Then today, between torrents of rain, we set fire to said brush pile:
Within a short time, the pile was reduced to coals, which would have been great for a barbecue. All of us were standing around the fire at 3 o'clock, so Max led the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.
When the fire was reduced to a pile about two feet tall and five feet in diameter, the heavens opened up and soaked us(and the fire). It was as if God was telling us that we had had enough fun for the day and it was time to make dinner.
Some of you might think that a better way to eradicate this pile of wood should have been used. I did think about that, and I came to the conclusion that this was the best way to minimize the ecological impact of clearing the brush. Any other way, be it shredding or carting it away, would have used up far more gasoline than what was used here; besides, moving the pile would have just made it someone else's problem.
Now to go hug some trees....
The fire inspired me to write some bad poetry. What could be more romantic than a brush fire in your back yard, and a Haiku to go along with the occasion? Basho would be proud. Read on:
Like this here bonfire I am consumed with a love for you, not Haiku.
Mary my mother, take my hand today, and all days. Lead me away from all occasions of sin. Guide me in fulfilling your last words in the Gospel, "Do whatever He tells you." Amen.
I used to have a section here where I listed some of my interests, but I was saddened to see that it linked my site to folks who had, well, behavior not really in line with that of a Catholic working hard to be a good dadwithnoisykids.
We have 12 living children, and their ages are: 21, 19, 17, 16, 15, 13, 12, 10, 9, 7, 5, and 2 years old.
Our third child, Theodore, passed away on April 3, 2008, at the age of 15.
