It was missing something…
I spent the last week in Houston, Texas for the joint annual conference of the GSA, ASA, 
, and SSSA which boils down to scientist who study rocks, plants and dirt. During this interesting week 9200 scientist wandered around the convention center listening to different advances in each of their fields. I was truly overwhelmed by the amount of people and options to fill my mind with during my stay, however one item kept looming over my head…my presentation on Wednesday morning. This little 12 minute talk on the performance of a CO2 sensor consumed my every minute for the last three weeks and up to midnight on Tuesday it continued. Then the moment came on Wednesday and it was missing something…a prayer. As a practiced my run through I found myself opening in prayer…after a shocking laugh I realized I was not in the pulpit anymore. If I went over my time this day the moderator would pull me off the platform instead of just waiting until I finished my 3rd conclusion.
Sometimes you really don’t appreciate something like a opening prayer to invite your creators help until you are not allowed….wasn’t it Ronald Reagan who said “loss of freedom is just one generation away”
note – I probably could have prayed, however I would have been punished by my committee.
Macuen’s First Goal!
As a Dad there are certain times when you smile just a little bigger at your kids.
Now don’t get me wrong a Dad will always be pleased when their sons do their best but this last Thursday Macuen scored his first goal during a soccer game. The poor kid is at a disadvantage because his Dad didn’t play soccer, football, or basketball during highschool. His dad ran cross country and track with a few years of wrestling thrown in so when it comes to giving him the rules of the game he was lost. Then we didn’t play on the westside – when he started in the middle of last season he was playing with kids who had played all their lives. Oh he was green! Then there is the fact that he is blind in one eye and has a short attention span…that is why he will never play baseball..but that is another issue.
This season started out with him behind the eight ball because they lost him in the team lists which meant no team called him until the day of the first game and that was after two days of calling each coach trying to find out where he belonged. The coach said “I guess we will take him”..then the last few games the coach has shortened his playing time more than every other kid –
Game night came along and he was ready to go…mom and dad were ready to see how coach would handle the rotation if we were losing – then he got into the game made his rotations – the moment came where coach would sit him out early but this is time he didn’t and Macuen did a kartwheel in the middle of the field – and took the pass right to the goal and scored!
It was so thrilled and he will never know he got less playing time. Dad smiled.
The Power of the 2nd Amendment
I was five years old and sick with the flu when my grandfather (Bomps) came around the corner with a Daisy BB Gun to call my own. I was not thrown into the orchard without training and respect however. On the contraire, I was given detailed instruction on handling, ethics, aiming, responsibility and consequences. There was never a time in the early training when I was allowed to be alone with the gun but needed Bomps by my side.
Guns have been a part of my life since a very young age and that remains the same today. I have been licensed to pack a pistol concealed since I was 21 while investing in pieces for protection, hunting and fun. Yet, if you were to ask people I work with today they know I hunt but little more. If you ask my boys where to find them, their response would be, “in the safe with our BB gun but he it hid.” I may cling to my guns and God but I consider myself a response owner of firearms.
Friday night I was home with the kids and around 9:15 the windows shook as an explosive sound rocked the neighborhood. My first reaction was a pipe bomb had just been lit off. Upon walking outside there was no visible smoke just the distant sounds of police and fire coming to the area. The nervous dog came in the house and I returned to homework feeling a little uneasy as the football crowd from the highschool was strangely silent. Later in the evening I found out there had been a drive by shooting a few blocks over from the house. The sound and window rattling was caused by a shotgun and Russian SKS fired at a house two blocks over as a crow flies. Two teens were hit but not fatally. My kids and I were in front of the same house just a few hours early during an evening run/bike ride.
The nature of a drive by includes – the morons never getting caught – despite the fact everyone knows it was a gang shooting.
During the next two days I again found myself thankful for the second amendment (remembering the days when I sat on my deck with a loaded pistol watching my neighbors who had just threatened to kill us – it is a long story but it includes them believing we turned them in which resulted in the raiding of their house – they were the ring leaders in a large drug smuggling operation from Canada to Mexico – FBI and local authorities thought me might be in real danger)
If a gun fight would have erupted Friday night there is a real possibility they could have come our direction. SKS bullets travel nicely through empty space and even buildings at times.
Why do people want to take away my right to protect my kids who were asleep in their bed with nothing to do with the morons involved in the shooting? Regardless of what some my say – I really don’t think the guns used in this gang shooting where bought through the legal process in the same way I purchased mine. What makes people think this type of irresponsible behavior will change if my gun ownership privileges are taken away by a group of lawmakers? I don’t really care about “original intent” even though it is in my favor I care about the protection of my family and the providing food for their health.
That is the power of the 2nd Amendment – for without it I am left at the mercy of morons, evil doers and the local PD who are already over taxed in coverage. This is a core value and I vote.
I Made it on TV – Another Day at the Office
There are times when friends and family wonder what I do at my job on a regular basis. I can say there is never a regular day but this weekend one report was on TV. Hal Collins is my boss (committee chair) and Steve Fransen is on my committee. The guy driving the front end loader is yours truly. It is hard to tell from the picture but it is really me! Three different times I might add. I loaded 85 tons of human biosolid over 3 days.
http://www.kndu.com/global/story.asp?s=9043139
click the link and then the video – enjoy
The Call of the Wild
Posted by streubel in Running Free - Brooks ID on September 15, 2008
When you grow up in the woods of western Washington a person truly gets spoiled. There is truly no greater beauty then a patch of Western Red Cedar or Douglas Fir raising above the trail, the chill of the cool mountain air in the morning, the droplet of dew in the center of the Alpine Lupine, and the pounding hoofs of a spooked buck. The call of the wild is heard everyday; however in the middle of an irrigated desert the call doesn’t seem as loud. But it does call….
The wild, it calls to a man, “come and see what you are made of”, in a taunting tone to test guts and will. We long for the call deep down, in places sometimes forgotten but when it is heard it can not be ignored. In response to the call the preparation will begin; men will gather in tents, cabins, trailers and lodges. Prepare stew, chicken and dumplings, tortea soup, and home made bread to fill the physical hunger which will come as a consequence of the call of the wild. The gear will be lined up in the living room and kitchen table with a special attention paid to the rifle and knife reserved for this rite of passage. The wild it is calling…the cold frost covered morning when you rise just before day break. A bowl of oatmeal to warm your stomach is unmatched for taste as you grab your rifle and head to the door. The special uneasy feeling of anticipation and buck fever rushing through your veins pausing only when an early rising doe crosses the road ahead, even now my heart beat pounds hard. The pausing at every sound in the brush – could it be – no just a squirrel – yes it is – the incomparable feeling of pulling up the rifle with a legal buck in view then only having it catch your scent and run off – a fair hunt indeed.
Success or failure, hunting camp is full of tired laughs and old friends reminding each other why we continue to return. Stories of missed opportunities or precision aim shared among sons, dads, friends and brothers. An unmatched tradition started by the call of wild…
I miss the woods – my hands on my 30-06 hand carved by my grandfather when he was discharged from WWII – the cold frost mornings – the meals around hunting camp – and the skip of my heartbeat when you see the first buck of the season. Success or failure the wild is calling and I must heed its call…to feel alive…to connect with my roots…to share the stories that will live forever…for my boys.
Fear is Stupid
I am truly fearful about very few things. I have repelled off a 350 foot cliff with a 200 foot rope, walked through cougar infested woods in the dark, rolled a van at 55 miles an hour on the freeway, watched a baby being born and have been the first on the scene to a fatal car accident..yet failure still gives me a pause. At times deep down inside the idea of failure grips me, which is so contrary to who I am as a person. Who cares if I fail is my usual motto, the worse thing that could happen…is… but not when it comes to putting together a 15 minute talk for the American Society of Agronomy meetings next month. I have worked on this presentation for days yet a blank screen (almost) still appears. What is the deal?
Fear is useless. It does us no good. The muscle tension, the procrastination does nothing for me except make the situation worse. So remembering the words of Paul to a young Pastor – God doesn’t want us to be shy with our gifts but loving, bold and sensible – God has not given us a spirit of fear. Fear is stupid (this kind at least)
So, I’ll suck it up and get r done.
A Family Milestone
In a family of Christ followers there is a moment in a child’s life when he acknowledges his need for Jesus. I received a phone call from my oldest son yesterday telling me that he has just led his brother to Jesus. Meaning, he had helped him ask Jesus to be his savior. Once I got home I was able to hear the whole story from their mom…and well…I am proud of both boys – now I just need the wisdom to continue to help them grow in their spiritual maturity, so when they are out of my care they will still love Jesus.
It is good to be alive!
A Roller Coaster
Our family’s life has never made sense to some, how we would pick up, leave and start anew at different times in our marriage for the call. If you read the post “Why I Press On” one can see where I am at in my thought process; however this mindset does not come easy at times.
The few months prior to my post I was in a pit of doubt which was filling full of water. Throughout the summer I was able to dig deep and remember the purpose and the call…yet faith is always a roller coaster. Here are just a couple examples…as of late
1) Three weeks ago I spoke at King Mountain Bellingham and following the service a connection was made with a wealthy man who is looking for an agriculturally educated person with my exact qualifications (the whole list is amazingly God designed) to run orphanage projects in West Africa. We sent a couple encouraging emails and now have not heard anything as a follow up…
2) I received a job opening email from the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, they are looking for someone with a soils background to run their Sub – Saharan division – an encouragement again that I am obtaining skills that will be needed…but I don’t have the degree yet
3) Have a great job that helps feed my family…boss told me today that he can not cover tuition because the school will not allow it.
4) Scooter broke down yesterday…but I fixed it for really cheap.
5) Van is still in the shop…after a month.
This roller coaster ride is a thrill a minute – if you have ever wanted to live at the edge of your seat just hang out with the Streubel family. All this to say – it is another day of hanging on for the next twist in this journey of faith.
The Beauty of Fall
Posted by streubel in Running Free - Brooks ID on August 29, 2008
You could smell fall in the air last night as the dark red sunset loomed over the horizon. In the distance blackened images of high school goal posts rose from the field. It is that time of the year when fans fill the grandstands showing support to the hometown team, the lure of the Friday night lights can’t keep them away.
Now I am not a huge football fan but I understand the need for my Cougars to beat the Huskies and the Beavers to beat the Ducks. I go to local games if I can but that is not the highlight for me…last night running around the track with Maizy in the jogger stroller,(a tradition among my kids – Joash logged 300 plus miles when he was two) now that was a highlight. It was the perfect evening for keeping us coming back for more. We are runners, we don’t need the lights on Friday or the applause of the crowd just a pair of shoes and an open road or trail. Deep down however we have a competitive spirit driving each step – a drive to beat clock, the pain or person in front of us. The same drive to qualify for Boston is driving the high school and college cross country teams of the fall. There is not Olympic event to strive for in the future just the pure thrill of doing your best to pass the guy in front. There are no pads, no back ups, no trick plays just guts and the satisfaction of knowing you would still run if it was just you and your daughter on a cool night in September. If you have never seen a XC race in person find one around you and see pure competition at its best.
Awesome!
My grandfather (Bomps) is slowly dying and was going to tell his doctor to turn off his defibrillator – Bomps is actually ran by a machine that tells his heart to pump then he has a cool defibrillator that keeps it normal when it is out of control. You can’t take Bomp to security check points without knocking him back a couple of feet. He has been feeling much better the last couple days and of course the family has been praying. The doctors told him yesterday that the improved condition in his heart was not a product of any medical treatment …pretty cool. Any day extra with Bomps around is a good day!
Tales From A Poopsmith 