Why is it that as you get older, other people are more interested in celebrating your birthday than you are? As a kid, you can’t wait for the day to arrive and to see what presents await you. As an adult, you hope the day passes without too much fanfare. We have an agreement in our house that we will not embarrass each other at restaurants by telling the wait staff about birthdays. I find with each passing year, I just want the day to be over with so I can return to my normal routine. A cake at home and a cake at work is a little much. Fortunately, I was able to convince my co-workers that one cake at home was enough and left a cake there for everyone to finish. So 42 is here and 43 is on the way. Maybe next year I can sneak by unnoticed.
Pondering the past and appreciating the present.
As I drove into Barstow this morning, I got off the freeway on an earlier exit than normal to take the back roads to the office. Immediately after leaving the on ramp, I found myself behind a crew of tree trimmers in two trucks that looked like they were barely holding together. They were moving well below the posted speed limit on a double lined road so I didn’t pass them. Instead, I was behind them for most of the way to my office. I then began to remember how 23 years ago, I was in a truck just like these guys. I trimmed trees in Barstow until it got warm enough to cut lawns. It was cold hard work and many times we were up before dawn and working until sundown. All these years later, I sit in an air-conditioned/heated building with a state-of-the-art computer designing websites. I no longer ride in a clunker truck, but a 2005 Dakota. Thanks Lord for reminding me to be grateful for just how far I have come and how you took a tree trimmer and opened opportunity before him.
As if Barstow wasn’t isolated enough already….
Yesterday, our internet, phones and even my cell phone went down at work. I am getting a new appreciation for all kinds of things lately…electricity, internet, phones. Read the full story below.
Cut cable downs communications systems in Barstow
February 19, 2008 – 2:52PM
BARSTOW
Back on the Grid
We experience a little of life before 1900.
Last night we were fortunate enough to experience a little taste of life before 1900 as we spent it without electricity. The inspector failed to make it by before quitting for the day after the electricians fixed the pole, so we added extra blankets to the bed and used flashlights and candles for light. Nothing like being without power for a day to make you appreciate having it. We watched a DVD on the portable player and drank hot chocolate to pass the night. I am glad our water heater and stove were not electric or it would have been more interesting.
Another “Only in the High Desert” Story
This is one of those stories that seem to only happen in and around the high desert. Makes you wonder if it’s the heat or too many years on meth that causes these nutty things to happen.
Men tell strange tale of kidnapping, near hanging
February 8, 2008 – 5:30PM
NEWBERRY SPRINGS
High winds reak havoc!
How did you spend Super Bowl Sunday? We woke up to almost hurricane force winds with gusts to 75 mph. Looking into the backyard you could see the tin shed expanding with each gust. Finally, the stress was too much and the roof blew out. We quickly dressed and rushed to gather what we could before the wind spread it from our place to Lucerne Valley. Several times we had to just stop and hold our ground or the wind would have blown us down. We secured what we could of the shed by smashing it, flattening the walls down, and throwing heavy objects on top of it. We then turned to see the power pole with our electric meter tilting toward the ground. After a call to our insurance company, they dispatched a contractor to brace it in the midst of the winds. All of this even before kick-off. What a day!