Love Letters from the Past

This week has been slow. Or I have been slow. One or the other. I have not gotten much done, but I have read a lot, worked on my yard, and worked on my genealogy. Yesterday, I went through a stack of letters I had. I thought I knew they what they were, but had no idea at the pleasant surprise I found. Being something of a romantic, (and I emphasize the word "something") I was quite excited to find two different sets of love letters from two different generations. Here is some of what I found:

The oldest was from my great-great grandfather Jim Lane to my soon-to-be great-great grandmother Olough Means.

The first scan is hard to read so I will transcribe it:

June 15, 1893
Mifs Olough Means Ollie, Mifs Ella Brown gives a party to-night at the residence of (I forgot) and I would like to escort you there if you can to go. Sincerely, JHL
Tell Florence to break that engagement and go too. I don't think she has an engagement do you?

Yes, that is his "I forgot." I thought that was hilarious.

The next one is from Jim on a trip to Minnesota. He is writing from Chicago, Sept. 10, 1893.

Here are some excerpts:

Mifs Olough Means Jonesboro, Ark Dearest Ollie: I will now try and write a few lines, so that you may know we are still alive and kicking.
... some details about the trip, including a boat ride that "made a lot of girls sea sick. They were heaving up Jonah all over the deck, it looked real funny."
How many beaus have you had since I left. I have seen a thousand pretty girls, but none of them can compare in ???? with my girl. (don't tell her though)
Please answer this right away and divert to Coldwater, Mich. so that I will get it on my arrival there. Now write soon and relieve suffering humanity.
Lovingly, James Lane
P.S. I will write more next time. Will is over the other side of the office waiting for me to smoke with him before we go to bed. Good night, JHL

This just trips me out. How he can go from writing such romantic things to such common things as throwing up and smoking, and back again. This is so fascinating in that I now have an idea of his sense of humor, that I can put with those old black and white photos.


The last letter I came across from him was in Feb of the following year, 1894. Just a short note:


Dear Olough
Are you mad at me yet? I will never write another card to Florence or any one else if it is going to cause trouble! I got two seats at the Opera for tonight. If you are still mad I will send another fellow in my place.
Lovingly, Jim

I believe the Florence he sent the card to, and mentioned in his first invitation, was Olough's sister, one year older. I can only imagine the family dynamics there.
It is a nice reminder to know that these people had the same relationship issues we have. I guess some things don't change through time.
They obviously worked things out, since they got married a couple months later in May of 1894, and I am now here. Working in Arkansas, I got the opportunity to visit Jonesboro, and look up there marriage license. Very cool to actually touch the same paper they signed 115 years ago.

So this is what I have been doing for the last couple of days. I did work on my taxes in the morning, but was encouraged by Josh's end table project to pursue my own woodworking project. This is a cedar out at Barney's that I have been working on milling. I still haven't finished it yet, but it is coming along.

This is Josh's table, made from mesquite. It has turned out very good. The picture does not do it justice.

And this is my small project I was working on while being a sounding board for Josh. It is not from the cedar tree I have been milling, but it was from a scrap piece of cedar I recycled. It was the lid to an old cedar chests toy box. It has turned out very well. I was very pleased. I am making two of them. There were a few details I did not think through while building the first. But this is not half bad for my first wood working project. Not half bad at all.

Many, many thanks to Barney, his expertise, patience, and tools.

Back and forth

So, as many know, I have been planning an addition to my house. Well... I do believe things will not quite work out as I was hoping. The original plan was to build my "Barnhouse" in the back section of my 56' X 400' lot. (No, that is not a typo.) Well, the city likes single dwelling lots to stay single dwelling, so it would take a lot to get an exception. So I figured a way to make it an addition.

A little more planning, cost estimates, and the very valuable financial mentor's input, and at present time I will be scaling down the addition from the two-story, double the squarefootage, Barnhouse, to a single bedroom.

All in all, I tend to be very optimistic about what I alone can accomplish, and how far I can get money to stretch even when I haven't done this much before. And in fact, have made similar mistakes in the past. (I can have a very selective memory.) I am a little disappointed, but know that this will leave more options open for the future.

In other news... paperwork is proceeding for the teaching certification. I am getting small things done and out of the way on these days off.

I did get a planer and broke it out the other day. I am extremely pleased at how well it works. The mesquite looks incredible planed down. I cannot wait to put some polyurethene on it, and make something useful. And I think I have a new favorite wood - cedar. Barney has a cedar tree I get to mill for him, and I just started it, but am so excited on how it is going to turn out. I ran a small piece of cedar through my planer, and it turned out great. The smell is incredible. I wonder if you can become addicted to sniffing cedar? Hopefully not.

I don't know what it is, but there is something so satisfying taking a tree and cutting it down to useable lumber. Especially trees that would just be burnt anyway. I love it.

Some of what I do on my days off...

So here is a brief description of what I have been doing on my days off. Some of these are from over the Christmas break. I finally downloaded the pictures off my phone.


This is Christmas day, a typical holiday for the Burton's. I am helping dad install his Christmas gift for mom, none other than a new window. It got dark before we finished. I will have to get back up there and get a picture of the finished project.

There's dad in the house.

I went out several times to cut mesquite out at the property. I love the rich, dark brown of mesquite, and have grandiose plans of installing it as a hardwood floor. In the meantime, the smaller stuff gets cut up for summertime grilling. It should be good grilling summer!

Cutting mesquite requires good equipment, so I was forced to buy a Stihl chainsaw. :)

And here is some of the milled mesquite planks. And since these are only rough cut, I was forced to buy a good planer as well. Darn all these new power toys, er tools.

And finally what I have been working on today. It was colder outside, so I stayed in and worked on my new addition to the house. Planning for it that is. One of the drawbacks of living in the city, you have to go and get permits for everything you do. So I am putting together what all needs to be done to build an addition to the house, and then start the renovation of the house. That is the big project for the spring, besides working on my teaching certification.

All in all it has been a very good week.

So Far So Good

So far so good. I have given up sugar for at least the next 6 months, possibly a year, in order to lose a little weight and get back in shape. I really wasn't sure if I would do it. But I started the day after my family's Christmas (Dec. 28), and come to find out I do not HAVE to have sugar. I know that I can do it for an extended time, because I did give up sugar for a year, some time ago.

As for getting in shape, the two games of football yesterday and today are a great reminder of just how out of shape I am. My legs are complaining quite a bit tonight.

I am back in Bryan, and enjoying it. This week I need to get my paperwork in for BISD substituting, TAMU teaching certification program, and for permits to build my barnhouse out back. If I can just do that, it will be a successful week. Other than that, I just plan on breaking out the chainsaw and cutting some wood.

I have it in my head to get a planer and plane down some mesquite that I have cut. I know that I want to install mesquite hardwood floors in my barnhouse. So maybe I will start that project tomorrow. Sounds like fun to me.

Happy New Years!

Nothing like New Years. I was fortunate enough to get the Christmas holidays off, but I got called back to Arkansas this week. So I have plenty of time to contemplate the new year from my slow, night job.

And contemplate I do... I cannot think where I have my resolutions from last year, so I cannot see if I completed any of them or not. I should find those. I think I do have my diary from the past year. I will check that right quick...I do have it, but there is not a whole lot there. I guess I could go back and check my blog... Nope not anything there. It looks like I was in a similar position. Still have the house to fix, but now have the money to do it. Still have to exercise somehow and get into shape.

So enough of what I should have done this last year to current plans for this year...

I made a list up the other night of 13 thing that would be ideal to complete this year. Included in that list: (it is not inclusive)

Bible studies on various topics – to be essayed and reviewed by friends/mentors.
Exercise and diet – goal is to be in shape and 180 lbs.
Get teaching certification this year if possible.
Be able to be home to be involved in leading Bryan youth group.
Finish renovating my house by May.
Finish my “barn house” by mid-Feb if possible.
Take a mission trip overseas or out of country.
Pay off my house.
Renovate the 18 acres my family owns, by building fence, clearing, etc.
Buy a portable sawmill.
Start restoring my 1953 Jeep Willys truck.

That is an extensive list, especially for me. This time of year has me contemplating goals and accomplishments, and I often bounce back and forth from frustration to optimism. From knowing that I can do these things to doubting my ability to do anything. Such is my life. But I know the blessing on my life, and look forward to this coming year. As always, optimism wins out.

This will be a good year. Once again.

Birthdays

There is not much more that can make me stop and think than turning a year older. Another day, another year. It feels weird turning another year older. I have been trying to get myself used to the idea of being 31 over the past couple of months, but still not there.

I find it funny that we as people have “feelings” about different ages, and they are just numbers. Inanimate, logical, simple numbers, and yet not quite when we add them to who we are. Those numbers turn pretty quickly from objective to relative when we apply them to ourselves. “I don't feel that old. I feel like I am still 23.” “How can I be nearly 200 lbs? I was 160 in High School.” “Ahh, kids, they think they are old at graduation, 23 is not old.” And I can just imagine my parents and grandparents thinking the same thing of me at 31.

All fascinating, and what does the Bible say? We are as a vapor in the wind. A blink of an eye. And yet we hold on so dearly to what we have here. Talk about perspective.

So a recap of this year... Mostly bouncing back and forth from here to Arkansas and back. Working nights, but still getting several weeks off at a time which was nice. (Hopefully that will continue right now.) I did get out of credit card debt in August which was a huge blessing. I look back right now at where I had been over the past 10 years, and am amazed. I actually have a positive net worth, some savings, and have wise counsel I listen to. The wise counsel is by far the most valuable thing I have access to.

I don't feel like I have accomplished much over the past year, but the more I think about it, maybe I did. I got to grow friendships, which is quite important. I read some, but was somewhat random, and didn't finish all the books I started. (A bad habit) I did renew and add quite a bit to my genealogical research. The biggest goal of the year, was getting out of credit card debt. It took a little longer than I thought it would, but God has blessed tremendously. This coming year I should have a few more things to concretely show what have been done. More on that to come with New Year's Resolutions.

Well, enough reverie. It is a good day. And not just because it is my birthday. God is good regardless. And I have to remind myself of that everyday.