Last night's dream

In my dream, my family and I were on our way to Heaven. But in this dream, it was more like the opposite of the Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman, taking dead souls across the river Styx to Hell. In this dream, we drove up to a place where a boat would take us down a river to Heaven. When we drove to the place where we would catch the boat, it turned out to be run by one of my co-workers and her husband. In reality, they run a charter fishing business. Her husband is a full-time charter captain and my co-worker captains part-time.

She recognized us and pleasantly welcomed us. I was both excited and worried. I knew that this was the end of our life on Earth. I was sad to be giving up that part of our lives but I was excited that we would be seeing our deceased friends and relatives. We would be seeing Jesus and experiencing God's glory. So, as we got out of our car (what would become of it?) and headed for the boat, I was reluctant to gather my family together and head to the boat knowing they would never experience things I had hoped for them. But I knew they would be happy and contented where we were heading.

We climbed aboard the rickety boat that seemed to be leaking and not very stable. My co-worker would be guiding the boat with a pole and nothing else. As we headed down the river, the water became rough. There were twists and turns so that we couldn't see very far ahead. Our guide, my co-worker, now became more serious as she picked her way through the treacherous water. At every turn, I hoped to soon be seeing the bright light of Heaven. I strained to hear the voices of the angels praising God. But the trip went on and on. My family became anxious. Then, up ahead, there seemed to be a landing spot. We knew our journey would be over soon and we were all excited. We knew, even if Heaven wasn't as we'd pictured it, it would be a wonderful place where we would have no fear and be comforted by our Savior.

As we stepped on the shore, we looked around. We didn't see Jesus. We didn't see our relatives. We weren't comforted by God's glory. We were led to seats in an amphitheater. We saw pictures and posters being displayed. We saw a demonstration begin that was simply a presentation to try to get us to buy life insurance. A dream or a nightmare? I'm not sure which. But when I woke up, I was sweating and greatly disappointed. I looked over and saw my wife. I was glad to see we were still together. It would be a long time before we faced the reality of what I thought we were heading to. I know getting to Heaven will not be anything like that dream. And besides, I already have good life insurance.

Memorial Day

I'm writing this the day after Memorial Day. I was visiting my mother just before Memorial Day so it made sense for us to decorate the graves of our relatives while I was there. The graveyard is on a steep hill and the road there is not well maintained. I was going to drive my mother and some of our relatives to the site but in the end, my uncle drove us in his Jeep.

The top picture shows my mother next to the grave of my father. We put flowers right in front of his side of the marker (to stay out of the way of the grass cutters - if they ever show up!) so you can't read that my father was in the Royal Air Force (Great Britain's Air Force) as a corporal during World War 2. You can see that flags of the United States were put at the grave sites of US veterans in preparation for Memorial Day but my father doesn't get a flag because of his having been in a foreign armed force. I thought about getting a British flag and placing it there but I don't think he would have wanted that. When he became a naturalized citizen, he became very patriotic for his adopted country and wouldn't have wanted a foreign flag flying among the US flags. He loved England and Wales (where he was born) but felt there was a time a place for everything.

The second picture shows my mother next to the grave of her first baby. He would have been my older brother. My parents were married during the war but my father had to go back to England after they were married. My mother had a very difficult time during her pregnancy and the baby only lived for a short time. My father wasn't able to be there to help her during that time and when the baby died, there was nowhere to bury him so my grandfather (my mother's father) bought a number of plots in this cemetery, where he would be buried 16 years later, and gave one to my mother for "Johnny", the brother I never knew.

The next picture shows my Aunt Betty and Uncle Dave working on my grandfather's grave site (my grandmother has a separate marker to the left outside the picture). As you can see from the flag, Grandpa was a veteran, too. He was a US Marine and fought in World War 1.  Uncle Dave was a Marine, too, and it's nice that he is helping take care of my grandfather's grave. He helped us all out by trimming the weeds that had grown up around all the family's markers. This picture shows the steepness of the hill where the graves are located. In this part of Pennsylvania, flat ground is hard to come by so you put a graveyard where you can. The flatter land goes for farms and homes and, now, for shopping malls.

One nice thing about having a graveyard on a hill, though, is that you also get a nice view - if you're just there visiting. My last picture shows what you can see from this spot. For a few minutes, you can look around and appreciate the beauty of this world that God created for us and allows us to use. But it's all temporary. Afterwards, we go back to our daily routines and much later we come back to this place or one like it as we journey on to our final destination.

My thanks to all the veterans and also to their families who suffered in different ways.

Yard sale

We're having a yard sale today. I should note that my family is having the yard sale and I'm just helping. I'm not selling anything. I just move things around, put things together (for display) and take things apart (when they sell of if we have to put them back in our basement). I am not a salesman which is why I am an engineer and not in sales or marketing. I realize that you can have the best product in the world but if people don't know about it or how to use it, you won't sell many.

Our neighbors across the road are having a yard sale, too. It's by design. My wife talked to them and we all thought it would help both families and it seems to be working. People stop on our side of the road and shop among our stuff and then walk across the road to our neighbor's sale. And we've seen people walking across the road to our house from the neighbor's sale, too. You can see my mother-in-law watching from her door in the top picture. She's not into selling either but she does have a few things that my wife and kids are selling for her.

You can see some of the things for sale in these pictures. If you see something you like, and it's not gone already, make us an offer. But my family has learned not to let me set the prices or negotiate with people. I tend to drop the price too much. I let my wife and kids set their own prices. That's why I'm not selling anything. I'd probably just give it away.

My visit to my mother

You wouldn't think this was such a big occasion but it's been about two and a half years since I was able to take time to travel 600 miles to visit my mother. We talk all the time on the phone but that is not nearly the same. Mom is 87 years old and needs more help than in the past. I would like to see her move near me and my family so I could take care of her but she is hesitant to leave the home she's lived in for 60 years and she is worried about how much more expensive it is to live on Cape Cod than it is to live near Pittsburgh. I've got a few stories to tell about my visit but the first is about my getting there. It could be titled, "A miracle happens and how I almost ruined it".

I love traveling by train but if you travel anywhere but busy routes, your options for selecting when you want to travel are limited. For instance, there are only two trains a day from the East Coast to Pittsburgh. If you don't want to take the circuitous route through Washington DC, that means you have only one choice and you must arrive in Pittsburgh at 8:05 pm. That's not so bad except that the only bus service from Pittsburgh to my old hometown has only two buses leaving the city after 8:05 pm - one at 8:20 pm and one at 10:10 pm. They get to her town an hour later but Mom doesn't usually stay up much past 9 pm so the earlier bus is preferred. Would Amtrak operate the train that close to schedule? I've had good luck with them in the past - except for the last time on my ride home where the train was 45 minutes late. But there was no choice. The train is less expensive and at least gets me to a place (downtown Pittsburgh) that airlines cannot match. Also, I can't imaging traveling that far by bus and I didn't want to drive and deprive my family of the use of our car for over a week. So, I was going to hope and pray that the train would be on time.

We started off well. The train from Providence to Philadelphia was on time and the train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh started out on time. It remained on time until after we left Harrisburg. Then, another train (a freight train I believe) got switched onto the track ahead of us and we started losing time. Comparing the arrival time at each stop to its scheduled time showed that we were losing ground - first we were 5 minutes late, then 10, 15, etc until we were 35 minutes late at a stop, Altoona, PA, that is 117 miles from Pittsburgh. I called Mom and gave her the bad news. Of course, she could have asked one of our relatives to pick me up or I could have just walked the half mile from the bus stop to her house but she felt she already asked our relatives to help too much and she wouldn't hear of me walking. "No," she said, "I'll pick you up at 11 pm when that last bus arrives." She wouldn't be able to take a nap or even rest before that, of course. She would be too worried to lay down. I knew it would be a horrible start to my visit and would certainly get our first full day together off to a late start. But then the miracle happened. The train normally averages about 39 miles per hour through the mountains from Altoona to Pittsburgh but this night, the engineer averaged 48 mph. They also kept the waiting time at each of the three remaining stops to a minimum. Slowly, the time deficit shrank. We were down to being 25 minutes late when we got to Johnstown (78 miles to go) and we were about 15 minutes late when we got to Latrobe (41 miles to go) and by the time we left the last stop before Pittsburgh, Greensburg (only 31 miles to go), the conductor announced that we'd arrive in Pittsburgh only 5 minutes late! I could make the bus if I planned my moves and nothing else happened. As we got close to the station, I got my bags ready but then I felt I needed to go to the bathroom. I had never been to the new bus terminal in Pittsburgh and had no idea where the restrooms were and I knew there were none on the bus.

I rushed to the restroom on the train but many people were already in the aisles getting ready to leave. I had to weave my way around them and some people were blocking the close restrooms. I ended up needing to travel three cars back to find an accessible restroom. As I was finishing, we arrived at the station and everyone else on the train was in the aisle with their bags. I couldn't get through so I jumped off the train at the nearest exit and ran up the side of the train. But I couldn't get into my car until everyone at that door was off. Finally, I jumped on, collected my bags and jumped off the train again.

The bus station is right across the street from the train station and I got there in a few minutes. I still had over 5 minutes before the scheduled departure for my bus. As I said, I'd never been to this newly built bus terminal. It was built by Greyhound but they rent out space to some independent bus lines like the one that traveled through my mother's town. I could see no information about which gate had which bus or what time they were to leave. I ran down the line of buses and found one from the bus line I needed. But there was no one there and the bus had no destination listed on the front. The doors for all of the gates were locked but I finally found one door that would open. Impulsively, I pushed through the door and ran to the bus anyway. I thought about just waiting there for the driver to show up but what if this was the wrong bus? Were there other gates for this bus line? I decided I'd better look.

But when I tried to reenter the terminal, I found the door was locked. All the doors for all the gates were locked. I ran back to the one door I found that let me get out to the bus but it was locked in this direction. I ran around looking for someone to help and finally someone inside opened the door for me. I ran to the information desk (which had been busy before) and found only two people ahead of me. But the customer at the window was having a hard time deciding which bag to check and which bag to carry on the bus. Then she needed more information about times and routes and... All the while I am getting more desperate. I tried to keep my eye on the bus I suspected was the correct one but I also wanted to keep looking for other buses of the same bus line. Finally, it was my turn to talk to the agent.

She didn't know anything about the town I was heading to! She worked for Greyhound. She was going to call her supervisor but I noticed someone walking near the bus I'd had my eye on. He opened the gate to let in the one customer standing there and they headed to the bus as the door closed behind them. I excused myself and ran to the gate only to find the door locked (of course). The man who had opened the door turned out to be the bus driver and was getting ready to start up the bus to leave. I waved to him but he was too busy to see me. I knocked on the door but it was too noisy and he didn't hear me. So, I started pounding on the door. Yes, he'll let some mad man onto his bus! What was I thinking? But I pounded louder and louder. Finally, he looked up and came over to let me in. Yes, it was the right bus and I'd made it.

I settled into my seat and breathed a sigh of relief. Then I realized that I'd better let my mother know that I'd be there at 9 pm. You never heard a more relieved voice as when I told her she wouldn't have to stay up until 11 pm that night. This started off our wonderful week together. Yes, miracles do happen but that's only the beginning. God gives us a great start but we've got to be careful not to mess things up.

As fast as a truck

This is a two-part story. The first part happened while I was still in college. I routinely took a long ride on my bicycle in the evening. It was about a ten mile ride if I remember correctly. My route followed a major river and I was riding for the enjoyment of it as much as for the exercise. You can't ride a bicycle for long, though, without having a run-in with a dog who likes to chase bicycles. But I would hear them coming and speed up until they gave up. But this one day, I ran into a wily one. I didn't know anything was wrong as I leisurely rode along until I heard someone shouting, "Stop! Rover [I don't remember the actual name], you come back here!" I turned my head in the direction of the yelling and saw a medium sized dog running after me faster than I'd ever seen a dog run. And he wasn't making a sound! In the act of turning my head, I slowed down and he was gaining even faster. So, I turned straight ahead and pushed with all my might. I turned the crank as fast as I could and then switched into a higher gear. I was afraid to turn around for fear of slowing down again and allowing my chaser to catch me. But after a while, I wasn't sure how long I could keep the pace up so I decided to take a quick look hoping it wouldn't slow me down too much. Just as I turned, he finally started to bark at me and it slowed him down enough that I knew I would be able to outrun him. What a relief. I learned two lessons - 1) dogs don't run as fast when they are barking, 2) looking behind you slows you down.

The second part of the story takes place about seven years later. I was riding my bike to work every day back then. At this point I was riding about ten miles each way. Now I was on my way home and I wasn't just riding along at a slow pace. I was anxious to get home and get something to eat. This day, I heard a dog barking as I often did on these roads. I pretty much knew all the dogs along the route and I could outrun them all. This one, though, wasn't in the usual place. Ah - a vacationing dog looking for a little thrill to tell his friends about back home. I ignored one of my lessons by looking around to see where my pursuer was coming from. I didn't see him and wasn't even sure he was chasing me. I picked up the pace a little but I wasn't worried. He was barking, after all, and I knew barking dogs couldn't run all that fast. But there was something wrong here. This one was catching up to me! I could hear him getting closer. Fast! I really stepped it up. There was no time to think about it. Use the lessons you've learned in the past. Keep your eyes forward. Keep your legs pumping. Look ahead for obstacles in the road so you don't get a surprise. I was in much better shape now than I was seven years ago and I was really moving. Yet, the dog was still catching up to me - coming at me like a truck.  I could hear him getting closer. I was getting desperate and didn't know what to do. In the last seconds, I decided to turn to see my attacker so I could brace for the impact. I turned my head - just as the pick-up truck with the barking dog in the open bed passed me. I learned another lesson that day. You can't pedal as fast when you're laughing your head off.

Water

My first real job was in the US Geological Survey's Water Resources Division. I was happy to have a job, of course, but it was especially nice to have a job where I felt I was doing something useful and for the good of the country. Water Resources was tasked with gathering information about the location, amount and condition of the water in our nation. That group doesn't specifically protect the water but it provides the information needed by the people who do protect the water we need and use. So, it's nice that in my present job, we make equipment used by groups like the Water Resources Division and its equivalents in the states, regions and cities. The big project I was taking about in my post "Take a Deep Breath and Start Again" produced a new dissolved oxygen data logger. We make the device itself as well as the software needed to control it. It allows people to program the device to take readings of dissolved oxygen in water at a regular time interval, store that data and, when the device is brought back to their lab, read out the data and plot it and put it in tabular form for use in other programs. This way, you get a continuous record of what is happening in the water instead of needing to send a field worker to the site once in a while to get a sample of the water. Dissolved oxygen is very important because if there isn't enough oxygen dissolved in the water, animals and plants that live in the water cannot breathe. This is just one of many data loggers that we make that can be used to monitor important resources.

A very interesting visualization of just how limited the water on Earth is can be found in this link at the USGS. Please click on that link and look at the image. There are also some interesting links to follow to get more information. The thing to keep in mind when you look at this image is that the small sphere of water contains all the water on the world. It's not just the water in the United States. It's not just the fresh water that we can use. It includes the water from all the oceans, lakes and rivers. It includes all the ice and snow at the poles and all the water in all the living things on this world. It is a limited resource and it's not something we can make. All the water we have now is all the water we'll ever have. It makes sense to take care of it. God made us stewards of this world. Can you imagine having a guest in your home who used up everything you had? What if they came into your home and threw garbage everywhere? God gave us this world to live in but it is not ours. He told us, in Genesis (after he created mankind),

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” Genesis 1:28 NIV

He told us to subdue the earth (in other words, bring it under our control), not to destroy the earth. He told us to rule over the animals. It's a poor ruler who destroys his subjects. It's a good steward who leaves his charge in better shape than he found it.

Abbey Road

Those of us of a certain age remember the release of the Beatles Abbey Road album. I was in college and it was the beginning of my acceptance of the Beatles. I'd never liked them before.

When they first arrived, I was in the seventh grade and all the girls in our school went nuts over them. Somehow, it didn't seem like a very "manly" thing to like them. And anyway, they were foreigners!

Later, as both their music and I matured, I started to recognize that their music was well written and performed but then John Lennon said something stupid about them being more popular than Jesus. So, once again, I mostly ignored them.

Then, Abbey Road was released in my freshman year at college and every stereo on our floor was either playing Abbey Road or Led Zeppelin's second album (along with Creedence Clearwater Revival, Blood Sweat and Tears,  Gordon Lightfoot, and some Motown albums). So, hearing their songs every day, made me really appreciate the Beatles' musicianship.

Then of course, there were the rumors about Paul being dead! Notice his bare feet in the picture and the fact that he's walking out of step with the others. These were big clues! So, the other day I ran into a link for a webcam outside the Abbey Road studios in London that shows the road crossing from the Abbey Road album cover. It's amazing how many people, after all of these years, still stop to have their picture taken in this same crosswalk - often long enough to hold up the traffic. And many of them try to imitate the positions of the four lads. The webcam is looking in the opposite direction from the picture here but you'll recognize it.

Today, as I was looking at the "This Day in History" website, I noticed that on this day back in 1964, the Beatles were knocked out of the top spot in the Billboard Hot 100 list by an unlikely source. They'd held the top spot for three and a half months! I'll leave it as a mystery that you can solve by looking at this link. You'll never guess it.

On my way into work today

Here's another interesting scene from my trip into work. I pass this farm every day (if I ride my scooter - it's on a back road) and see horses in the field from time to time. But they are not often out at the times I pass and sometimes they are in a different field. Most of the time, I'm running late and can't afford the time to stop and take a picture. But today, everything worked together. Click on the picture to enlarge it. I left it in its original size, 2816 x 1584, so it may take a while to load.

I've always liked horses but I have to admit I'm a little afraid of them. Not at this range with a fence between us. When I stand close to horse, though, I'm amazed at their size and the power they have. I know they are usually gentle but I always imagine the worst and can vividly picture them trampling me into a pulp. So, I leave the riding of horses to my wife. They are magnificent animals with a long history with humans. I love the tranquility of this scene. The horses moved slowly and ate leisurely. They knew they were in no danger. They seem to be well cared for and pampered. The fence not only keeps them from wandering into danger but also keeps danger away.

There are many nice scenes along my way to work. I hope to include more in the future.

Take a deep breath and begin again

"End of the Trail" by James Earle Fraser

Well, our big, rush project is finished and I hope I'll be able to calm down and not be so weary in my off time. Then, maybe, I can catch up on my blog. I was going to title this post, "Back in the Saddle Again," after the Gene Autry song. But I feel like the past few months have been all in the saddle with no breaks and what I need is to get out of the saddle.

My part of this project, let's call it Project 3, started right after a previous project, lets call it Project 2, that had finished in early January. That's right, I had to shorten my Christmas vacation because we had to finish Project 2 over the holidays. And before Project 2, another project, we'll call that Project 1, had been scheduled to finish in the second week of November.

I hadn't been able to visit my mother for over a year and had been planning to see her for a week in October (she lives about 600 miles away). But then they moved the end of Project 1 up a week to the first week of November. I worried that my week at Mom's was too close to that deadline so I canceled my trip to see Mom until after Project 1 finished. The day after I canceled my tickets and other plans, they moved the end of Project 1 back to the original date - the second week of November! It was too late to change my trip to the earlier time so I planned to visit Mom after Project 1 completed. Then my wife broke her foot and I needed to stay home to help her. As sad as I was, it was harder for my wife because she had to limp along over Thanksgiving.

Of course, I figured I'd just visit my mother after Project 2 was finished after Christmas but then Project 3 was announced and that it was a "fast track" project to see if we could get it done faster than we normally do. It was a much bigger project that involved new equipment and more departments. Oh boy. I'd have to wait again.

So, we're finally done and I've bought tickets to visit my mother again. It's been over two years since I've been able to visit her. As has been the case the last few times I've made the trip, I'll be going alone. While she would love to see my wife and our kids, we just don't travel well as a family for long trips like that. Also, she has a lot of work needing to be done around her house so it's better if I just go alone. As lonely as it will be and for as much as I will miss my family, it just needs to be done.

So, I hope to write up a bunch of posts before I travel on May 16 and I hope to schedule some for the week I'm gone. Let's hope I can get back in the groove again. I really enjoy writing in my blog and I always feel badly when I can't. It's like not going for a walk.