Sunday morning, I was headed towards the Glendale cage, after spending most of the night running around Tempe and Chandler driving very drunk students around ASU and the surrounding environs. After I had passed the 32nd Street/University Drive exit, a call came over the computer for an address at 32nd St. and University. Jenny needed a ride.

I got turned around and headed back, took the exit, and pulled up in front of the Waffle House. Jenny is what we refer to as a “character”. Jenny had bright red hair, like the Wendy’s Hamburgers sign, and she wore it in two ponytails – like the Wendy’s Hamburgers sign. Instead of freckles, though, Jenny had sparkly makeup on. And overalls. And glow stick bracelets. And breath that could be bottled and sold as 100 proof. Jenny was very happy to see me, and asked if I could take her home. Being too tired to come up with a really snappy answer, I said “Of course. That’s what I do.” I started loading her bicycle into the trunk, and things started to click together a bit. Jenny said “I have no idea how I got here.” I mentioned that it would appear she rode her bike. She said “Well, yeah, but I mean, I left a party that was two blocks from my house and I ended up riding on the FREEWAY for f**** sake, and then I f****** fell off my f****** bike. I figured I was too drunk to finish riding home.”

Colorful character, colorful language. How could this possibly get any better? “I live in Tempe. Can you take me there?” We were a couple of miles from Tempe, so the mystery about the party two blocks away from her home deepened. We started down University, since that was the straightest line back to Tempe. Jenny had insisted on sitting up front, and I have learned not to argue with drunks. I have also learned not to turn my back on drunks.

As we passed under the 143, she said “Can you f****** believe that I ended up on that freeway? And I f****** fell off my bike!” I said “That sounds like it hurt, and you’re lucky you didn’t get hit.”

“I know, right?” That classic ‘I wanna act and talk about half my age’ line made me take a closer look – she wasn’t exactly new freshman age, if you know what I mean. “Thanks again for saving me!”

She gave me directions to her house – right here, left there, straight on for a while… we pulled up in front of the house she had an apartment in. The meter read $12.25. She started digging in her backpack/purse (did I mention the fairy wings attached to her backpack? Yeah – same color as her hair.) She was talking a mile a minute, digging around, and pulling out various items. One item, a rather large glowstick, she says she won at the party for being the “glowiest”. No, really, she said that. She kept handing me packages of glowsticks (unopened) and various flotsam and jetsam out of her backpack. She eventually came up with eighteen dollars in bills. She said “Oh, shoot. Hang on, I’ve got more inside.”

Well, that was already the meter and a nice tip, so I said as much. She said (here is where I started yearning for the camera – she stood there, with her knees together, toes pointed towards one another, slightly bent at the knees, dreamy look in her eyes…) “You SAVED my LIFE! I need to get more!”

As I was unloading her bike and rolling it towards her door, she popped out and said “Hang on, don’t go anywhere! I’m still looking!”

I parked her bike, and started back towards the cab. She popped out again, “I’ve almost found it!” I closed the trunk.

She came skipping down the sidewalk, and stopped in front of me – danger close. I backed up a half step. She stepped forward three quarters of a step. She popped open a twenty dollar bill, and said “Here you go! I wish I had more to give you!” I took another half step back, and she stepped forward again, as I said “Really, this is very generous, and more than enough. Have a good morning!”

Before I could get out of range, she struck.

Gathering all her happy-drunk courage, she threw her arms around me. I started to turn and twist out, but she landed a big ol’ sloppy kiss on my cheek, under my left ear. She released her hold, and skipped back up the sidewalk and into her door.

I wiped my cheek, and examined my hand – just as I thought. I was now wearing sparkles on my cheek. I got back in the cab, and made a beeline for the car wash. While the car was getting it’s bath, I used all the napkins and paper towels I could find in the glove box to make sure I didn’t have a trace of the glitters left.

I have GOT to start taking the camera with me.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Run over to Do The Right Thing and wish Pastor Ed a Happy Birthday!

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

I changed things up a bit today. With the ongoing-ness of TMBWitW, and a hope chest that really needed to get started on (I’m refinishing a thirty-plus year old Lane Furniture “solid” cedar chest – ‘nother story, ‘nother time), I stayed at home today. I was working in my shop (my wife insists on parking her car in the middle of it, and calls it the “garage”) and sanding away on the old, dark, contemporary finish of the chest and the numerous deep scratches that come with age, and naturally my mind started wandering and making a connection between what I was doing and what God does.

First, though – the surgery has been scheduled, for the 18th – the latest possible date for the surgery, according to the doctor, and well after month end stresses. Also after the church retreat on the 11th through the 13th, so the pastor’s wife is happy about that. Thank you to all who have expressed concerns and prayers.

Back to the hope chest. I kept thinking about how much work it was to sand off the old finish (the outside of the chest is veneered with walnut), and at the same time I was trying to avoid digging too much wood off the veneer, I was trying to remove some pretty deep scratches from the lid. I kept thinking how much this action compared to what God is trying to do in each person’s life – removing the marks of hard hits, bad positions, a history of unhappy encounters; while stripping off the facade of the life we placed upon ourselves and at the same time preserving the foundation that He had laid in our life to begin with. I finished working on the lid – that is, the sanding part – and I had to leave one particularly nasty and deep scar on the surface. I had taken off a lot of material around it – in fact, I am afraid to work on that section any more for fear of revealing the substrate beneath the veneer – but unless you know where to look for it you can’t see it right now in the sanded version. I am pretty sure that once I put a finish back on this piece, the scar will jump back into prominence. This is where the analogy really starts to come together – you see, I am going to use some of “God’s Grace” (wood putty) to fill in the last part of this deepest scar, and to cover the result of a long and hard life so that only the beauty of the walnut shines through, much like God’s Grace in our lives covers our old sins and falls and bumps and bruises of life to where only the beauty of God shines though us.

I know that not all of the people who happen to stumble across this little corner of the internet will know what I am talking about – but the ones that understand what I am saying will see what I mean.

Yes, I will post pictures of the finished product. I didn’t take a “before” shot of the lid, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. Here are some shots of the body, with a sanded picture of the lid:

You can see where I’ve started the detail sanding on the front left “waffle weave” – a feature that really dates the piece. This is going to take some serious time; I told the customer the charge would be for my labor more than anything else. I will also be building a drawer to replace the missing one. The toughest part of the build will be to match the drawer front with the rest of the chest. I’ve been researching and tracking down a supply of walnut veneer – pricey stuff, that.

UPDATE 8/31/09:

A 4×8 sheet of walnut veneer lists at about $240. At the same outlet (Woodworker’s Source) I found they also offer “hobby packs” of veneer – about seven square feet of veneer, for about $14. Perfect! that will take care of the needs for this project, and even leave a little bit left over.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

So – you’re probably wondering where I disappeared to. And, since I do feel I owe an explanation to all two of my readers, here it is: Remember last week when I mentioned I was working on a shade modification for the game room/former horse barn? Take a gander:

Last Friday, TMBWitW got news about the results of her exam (sorry, didn’t tell you about that) and she has a polyp that needs to be removed. Like, in the next week or so. We have been scrambling getting surgery information and scheduling various items (who’s gonna watch MEG? when can we get this done? it is only done on Thursdays, should it be the Thursday of close week, or the Thursday before the church retreat? impact work, or impact church? how are we going to pay for this?) and TMBWitW has been trying to find as much info as possible on the ‘net. She gets squeamish at the sight of blood. Most of the information has been graphic illustrations of the procedure. That’s not working real well.

So – between that, the eBay thing, driving cab, and raising a two and a half year old, the blog is last on the list of priorities.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!

Official Democratic Party Health Care Campaign Car – designed exactly the way Obama laid out his message:

You figure it out. I have a headache.

Chat ya later…

Thank you for stopping by, In GOD We Trust, God bless you all, don’t buy or breed cats or dogs while homeless pets die (spay, neuter & adopt a pet, one by one, until there are none), Wear Red on Fridays, and support Warriors for Innocence!