Workin' for a Livin'

I started back to work this year after having retired in July 2011.   In my first post for this blog, I quit calling it retirement and started calling it renewal.   The Bible says we are "renewed" day by day. 

Well, I was fortunate to land a job with the state of Texas writing air permits for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).   I use the term fortunate because I found it difficult to land any kind of a job at my age.   Age discrimination really exists.   Of all the "protected" classes defined by the government, discrimination of older folks is the easiest type to get away with.  I heard that in the past, companies had to prove they did not discriminate because of "age", but a Supreme Court case changed all of that.   Now the individual has to prove the company discriminated against them.  With all the lawyers at their disposal, most companies aren't afraid of losing that battle.

I found the state of Texas was different.  They fully embrace these protections under the law and have a very talented and diverse work force.  It was a joy finding so many professional and friendly people here at the TCEQ.   The agency has a good understanding of what a "work-life" balance means and they provide their workers with adequate time off to spend with their families. 

The job is not stressful.   Well, it was at first while I was trying to learn the ropes, but it is getting easier by the day.  I have a good Team Leader who understands us old guys.  There are several retirees from the Air Force, Navy, Marines and Army working here.  I think I will start a new club for old guys.  We'll call it Club 60.   If other groups can have their ethnic and cultural clubs, why not old folks?

One reason I think I got the job was the fact I told them I didn't want to make much money.  I don't want to have to pay a lot of taxes and the Social Security Administration will penalize me if I make over a certain amount.  So I did the math and what I lose in SS payments, I save in health benefit costs.   It is a win-win for me.   The other bonus is the TCEQ re-instated almost five years of service time for when I worked for them in the 1970's.  I didn't think anyone kept records that long.  In five more years, I will be able to retire.....er....I mean renew my life again.  I will then have five small streams of income to finance my frugal life style. 

There are times when I find the new job a little boring.  I chose this job because it wasn't stressful and I get to go home every day at 5 PM.   When I have worked here six months, I will get vacation and I can flex my hours to avoid the Austin traffic.  But, not having the freedom I had before and the ability to travel across this beautiful country of ours, makes me a little sad.  I used to brag "I had all the time in the world and money was no object."  The truth is at some point you run out of both.

Getting old is not for cowards and neither is retirement.  Being able to retire and maintain the same lifestyle is almost impossible today.  Even if you saved enough money, your lifestyle will still change.  You no longer work with the same people or have the same routine.  You have less worries from the job, but you manage to have a whole new set of worries.  Health becomes a major concern.  Relationships change as you get older.  You often get overlooked or excluded.  Your older friends may have the same health problems that keep them from participating in all the things you once enjoyed.  I was never very athletic, so I don't miss all that sweaty stuff.

But you do feel a loss.  You begin to evaluate what you really want to do with the rest of your life and what is most important to you.  A lot of activity that I once did doesn't seem as important now.  Being with people seems more important than buying things or going places.  I guess the only thing we take with us when we die are memories and relationships.  I don't want to sound morbid, but I do want to be serious about the rest of my life.

My goals are to stay healthy and to work to get out of debt.  Melissa and I have incurred some debt due to taxes and other expenses during our "RV days."   We have a five year plan to get out of debt, achieve another pension from the state of Texas,  help raise our new grandson until he starts school and make as many friends as possible.  Plans are good, but I have also learned to live one day at a time.

We have sold our home and possessions twice and started over with nothing but the smiles on our faces and the open road.  Most everything in our lives is temporary.  We have very few "roots" in this earth, but we are looking for treasures in heaven.   We are investing our time in our grandson and daughter and we still teach a Bible study for adult men and women.  So, I guess we are giving ourselves away along with our possessions.

I read a book called "Die Broke" that teaches you to give away all your money while you are alive and literally die broke.   One of its' sayings is "The last check you should write will be to the undertaker and it should bounce!"   I think I will qualify.

In saying all of this, I am reminded that it is presumptuous to think we have complete control of our lives.  So many other factors come into play and saying we will do this or that tomorrow or next week is just an exercise in self-will.   God's will for my life may be different from what I planned.  But I have come to know that God's will is always better than anything I could imagine.   So.....I'll take it one day at a time and leave the rest to Him.
 
For now, I feel I am doing what I am supposed to do and living where I should be living.  Although it is sometimes boring and I get weary with the daily grind, I have peace in my heart of hearts.  As a Christian, I mostly have "leaving" on my mind. I do believe in heaven and I so want to go there. When I watch the news, I am convinced that I won't have to wait very long. My last goal is to cheat the undertaker and the grave. I want to make the Rapture and rise to meet the Lord in the air.  These are more than goals or plans, these are God's promises.
 
So....when the outlook seems bad, try the uplook.

Memorial Day - How did it get started?

Three years after the Civil War ended, on May 5, 1868, the head of an organization of Union veterans — the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) — established Decoration Day as a time for the nation to decorate the graves of the war dead with flowers. Maj. Gen. John A. Logan declared that Decoration Day should be observed on May 30. It is believed that date was chosen because flowers would be in bloom all over the country.

The first large observance was held that year at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.

The ceremonies centered around the mourning-draped veranda of the Arlington mansion, once the home of Gen. Robert E. Lee. Various Washington officials, including Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant, presided over the ceremonies. After speeches, children from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Orphan Home and members of the GAR made their way through the cemetery, strewing flowers on both Union and Confederate graves, reciting prayers and singing hymns.

Local Observances Claim To Be First Local springtime tributes to the Civil War dead already had been held in various places. One of the first occurred in Columbus, Miss., April 25, 1866, when a group of women visited a cemetery to decorate the graves of Confederate soldiers who had fallen in battle at Shiloh. Nearby were the graves of Union soldiers, neglected because they were the enemy. Disturbed at the sight of the bare graves, the women placed some of their flowers on those graves, as well.

Today, cities in the North and the South claim to be the birthplace of Memorial Day in 1866. Both Macon and Columbus, Ga., claim the title, as well as Richmond, Va. The village of Boalsburg, Pa., claims it began there two years earlier. A stone in a Carbondale, Ill., cemetery carries the statement that the first Decoration Day ceremony took place there on April 29, 1866. Carbondale was the wartime home of Gen. Logan. Approximately 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, many of them in the South where most of the war dead were buried.

Official Birthplace Declared In 1966, Congress and President Lyndon Johnson declared Waterloo, N.Y., the “birthplace” of Memorial Day. There, a ceremony on May 5, 1866, honored local veterans who had fought in the Civil War. Businesses closed and residents flew flags at half-staff. Supporters of Waterloo’s claim say earlier observances in other places were either informal, not community-wide or one-time events.

By the end of the 19th century, Memorial Day ceremonies were being held on May 30 throughout the nation. State legislatures passed proclamations designating the day, and the Army and Navy adopted regulations for proper observance at their facilities.

It was not until after World War I, however, that the day was expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars. In 1971, Memorial Day was declared a national holiday by an act of Congress, though it is still often called Decoration Day. It was then also placed on the last Monday in May, as were some other federal holidays.

Some States Have Confederate Observances Many Southern states also have their own days for honoring the Confederate dead. Mississippi celebrates Confederate Memorial Day on the last Monday of April, Alabama on the fourth Monday of April, and Georgia on April 26. North and South Carolina observe it on May 10, Louisiana on June 3 and Tennessee calls that date Confederate Decoration Day. Texas celebrates Confederate Heroes Day January 19 and Virginia calls the last Monday in May Confederate Memorial Day.

Gen. Logan’s order for his posts to decorate graves in 1868 “with the choicest flowers of springtime” urged: “We should guard their graves with sacred vigilance. ... Let pleasant paths invite the coming and going of reverent visitors and fond mourners. Let no neglect, no ravages of time, testify to the present or to the coming generations that we have forgotten as a people the cost of a free and undivided republic.”

The crowd attending the first Memorial Day ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery was approximately the same size as those that attend today’s observance, about 5,000 people. Then, as now, small American flags were placed on each grave — a tradition followed at many national cemeteries today. In recent years, the custom has grown in many families to decorate the graves of all departed loved ones.

The origins of special services to honor those who die in war can be found in antiquity. The Athenian leader Pericles offered a tribute to the fallen heroes of the Peloponnesian War over 24 centuries ago that could be applied today to the 1.1 million Americans who have died in the nation’s wars: “Not only are they commemorated by columns and inscriptions, but there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them, graven not on stone but in the hearts of men.”

To ensure the sacrifices of America ’s fallen heroes are never forgotten, in December 2000, the U.S. Congress passed and the president signed into law “The National Moment of Remembrance Act,” P.L. 106-579, creating the White House Commission on the National Moment of Remembrance. The commission’s charter is to “encourage the people of the United States to give something back to their country, which provides them so much freedom and opportunity” by encouraging and coordinating commemorations in the United States of Memorial Day and the National Moment of Remembrance.

The National Moment of Remembrance encourages all Americans to pause wherever they are at 3 p.m. local time on Memorial Day for a minute of silence to remember and honor those who have died in service to the nation. As Moment of Remembrance founder Carmella LaSpada states: “It’s a way we can all help put the memorial back in Memorial Day.”

(taken from the US Department of Veterans Affairs) 

EARTH DAY – THE REAL HISTORY

On April 22, 1970, the first Earth Day “teach-in” was celebrated.   It was 44 years ago, on the 100th birthday of Vladimir Lenin, that the U.S. first began this environmental protest.  Another little known fact about Earth Day (other than it is Lenin’s birthday) is that President Richard Nixon died on that day in 1994.  Nixon was the one man most responsible for the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency one year later by special executive order.  Also, in many ways, he was responsible for Earth Day. 

Let me explain…..

The scene is the beach in Santa Barbara, California.  The date is January 28, 1969.  The place was 6 miles from the coast on Union Oil's Platform A in the Dos Cuadras Offshore Oil Field.  On that day a blowout occurred which resulted in an estimated 80,000 to 100,000 barrels of crude oil spilling into the Channel and onto the beaches of Santa Barbara County in Southern California.  Within a ten-day period, the spill fouled the coastline from Goleta to Ventura as well as the northern shores of the four northern Channel Islands. The spill had a significant impact on marine life, killing thousands of sea birds, as well as marine animals such as dolphins, elephant seals, and sea lions.

Media coverage of the spill was intense from the moment the oil reached the shore. The spill was the major headline in many morning newspapers on February 5, also receiving wide coverage on radio and television. The same morning, a U.S. Senate subcommittee interviewed local officials as well as Fred Hartley, president of Union Oil, on the disaster in the making. Three major television networks were there along with over 50 reporters, the largest media turnout for any Senate subcommittee meeting since the Committee on Foreign Relations discussed the Vietnam War.

During the meeting, local officials made their case that the Federal government had a conflict of interest, in that they were making money from the same drilling they were mandated to oversee and regulate. Hartley defended Union's record and denied that the event was a disaster: "I don't like to call it a disaster, because there has been no loss of human life. I am amazed at the publicity for the loss of a few birds."

Late on February 6, the day after the spill washed ashore, President Richard Nixon announced a complete cessation of drilling, as well as production, in federal waters of the Santa Barbara Channel, with the solitary exception of the relief well being drilled to intersect the blown-out borehole.  Still the spill continued to spew from fissures in the ocean floor, undiminished, and by noon on February 7 a $1.3 billion class action lawsuit had been filed against Union Oil and their partners on Platform A.

On March 21, President Nixon came to Santa Barbara to see the spill and cleanup efforts for himself. Arriving at the Point Mugu Naval Air Station, he then took a helicopter tour of the Santa Barbara Channel and Platform A.  Dressed in a suit and tie, he walked along the polluted, partially cleaned beaches. He spoke to residents in Santa Barbara and promised to improve his handling of environmental problems.  He told the crowd, "...the Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people." He also mentioned that he would consider a halt to all offshore drilling, and told assembled reporters that the Department of the Interior had expanded the former buffer zone in the Channel by an additional 34,000 acres, and was converting the previous buffer zone into a permanent ecological preserve now known as the Channel Islands National Park.

Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin, a staunch environmentalist and Vietnam War critic, was on a trip to California, where he spoke at a water conference and took time to check out what he described as the "horrible scene" of a major environmental disaster - the Santa Barbara oil spill.  On a plane, he picked up a copy of a magazine and read an article about “teach-ins” on college campuses against the Vietnam War. "I suddenly said to myself, 'Why not have a nationwide teach-in on the environment?’" Nelson recalled. "The objective was to get a nationwide demonstration of concern for the environment so large that it would shake the political establishment out of its lethargy," Senator Nelson said, "and, finally, force this issue permanently onto the national political agenda."

In 1995 Nelson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, our nation's highest civilian honor. "As the father of Earth Day, he is the grandfather of all that grew out of that event: the Environmental Protection Act, the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act," said the proclamation from President Clinton.  But this was not true.  It was a Republican President, not a Democratic Senator who really founded the modern environmental movement.

Overall, long-term environmental effects of the spill seemed to be minimal. In a study  through the Allan Hancock Foundation at the University of Southern California, the authors suggested several hypotheses for the lack of environmental damage to biologic resources in the Channel aside from pelagic birds and intertidal organisms. First, creatures there may have evolved a tolerance to oil in the water due to the presence of natural seeps in the vicinity for at least tens of thousands of years; the area around Coal Oil Point has one of the most active natural underwater oil seeps in the world. Second, the abundance of oil-eating bacteria in the water may be greater because of that routine presence of oil in the water. Third, the spill happened between two large Pacific storms; the storms broke up the oil, scattering it more quickly than happens in many other oil spills, and additionally the sediment load in the seawater from freshwater runoff would have been greater, and this assisted the oil in quickly sinking. Fourth, Santa Barbara Channel crude oil is heavy, having API gravity between 10 and 13, and is both minimally soluble in water, and sinks relatively easily. Therefore fish and other organisms were exposed to the oil for a shorter time than was the case with other oil spills.

While the Santa Barbara oil spill was not the sole event which built the regulatory and legislative superstructure of the modern environmental movement in the United States – some prominent pieces of which include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the Clean Water Act, and in California the California Coastal Commission and California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) – it was one of the most dramatic and visible of the several key events that led up to those changes.   President Nixon was the one who signed the legislation and executive orders to implement these changes.

Through the 1960s, industrial pollution and its consequences had come more and more to the public attention, commencing with Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring and including such events as the passage of the Water Quality Act, the campaign to ban DDT, the creation of the National Wilderness Preservation System, the 1967 Torrey Canyon tanker accident which devastated coastal areas in both England and France, and the burning of the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland, Ohio.   But none of these events mobilized the American politicians to pass legislation to clean up the environment.

At the time, the Santa Barbara spill was the largest oil spill ever in U.S. waters, and its occurrence during a fierce battle between local residents and the very oil company responsible for the spill only made the controversy more intense, the battle more public, and the anti-oil cause seem more valid to a wider segment of the populace.   In many ways, the modern environmental movement is more anti-oil than pro-environment. In the several years after the spill, more environmental legislation was passed than in any other similar period in U.S. history.

Earth Day indeed increased environmental awareness in America, but without the Santa Barbara oil spill and the subsequent actions of President Nixon, the modern environmental movement may have been just another sensational news story.  

Transporter - On the Road Again

One of my favorite movies was Transporter and Transporter II.  Jason Statham starred as a high-priced driver who transported valuable cargo - no questions asked.   I recently applied for a job with a local rental car company because the job title was "transporter."

Although I didn't get the job, I am always up for a road trip.  I have transported my daughter to and from many places during her wanderings.  One of my favorite TV shows was Route 66.  I have also done my trek on Route 66 in my sports car from California to Texas.

My sports car 

                      
    














Like the transporter, I have my own set of rules.  Rule #1:  I always do the driving.  I love to drive in all kinds of weather and on all kinds of roads.  I get bored just riding as a passenger.

Rule #2: Stopping during the day to see some sights is mandatory.   The worst road trip I ever experienced was in a '55 Buick from Camden, New Jersey to Brownsville, Texas.   My step-father drove most of the trip with no stops for anything.   I was car sick most of the way and once when he wouldn't stop, I threw up all over his shoulder and lap.   Liberty Bell-No!  Washington Monument- No!   Alamo-No!   Just miles and miles of road for over five days on two-lane roads.   I decided at the age of 8, I would never do that to my family.

Rule #3:  Make memories along the way.  We take pictures of any strange or unusual sight. Pictures of water towers that look like a giant peach in SC, huge craters in Arizona, cars buried in a field in Texas, a giant chicken in Georgia and a huge crawfish in LA.

On March 26th, I will be flying to Greenville, SC to visit Larry and Kathy Romero and to pick up my 2006 Pontiac G6 GT.   It is a classic, hardtop convertible which I will transport back to Texas.  I have always loved this car and I was glad it wasn't sold by my friend Billy Anders.  

I plan to visit Uncle Bo in Birmingham, AL and Mom and Larry in Paris, TX before driving back to Austin, TX.   But like the TV show, who knows who I will meet along the way.  This will be one of my last treks before returning to work and ending my second retirement.  That's why we will need two cars.  

I have interviewed with the environmental state agency, TCEQ, for an engineering job.  I worked at this agency for four years in the 1970's.  I received financial help to complete my Masters Degree from the state of Texas and EPA.  I would like to give a little back to them before I retire a third time.  

I am hopeful that I will be offered the job and will have my service time reinstated.   If I work for them 10 years, I will be vested and will receive benefits for life.  I will keep all you blog followers posted on my trip and the new job.  

Snip, Snip, Snip......

Living in my travel trailer at Snyder Ranch

While enjoying living in Hendersonville, NC, I received a prophecy from a trusted minister named Steve Sampson.  I have known Steve for over 30 years and he has been used of God every time there was going to be a significant change of direction in our lives.  If you read my last  blog, you know that Melissa and I were living in Beautiful Western North Carolina, hiking to waterfalls, having four glorious seasons, and meeting wonderful neighbors and friends. But all of a sudden God gave me a word that started "Snip, snip, snip...."

Steve laid his hands on my head and said those three words.  He then said, God was snipping away all the ties that held me back and nothing in my future was going to be permanent, only temporary.  I would like to say this was good news and I had already been prepared for it, but it was not.  I finally found "the place" where I wanted to retire and spend the rest of my days.  My lifelong dream of getting out of the swamps of Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida and Texas was fulfilled.  Only glorious Blue Ridge mountains await me.  

I lived ten minutes from the Blue Ridge Parkway and 90 minutes from The Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  I was in heaven.  Well, maybe not the real heaven, but it was in the same zip code.  Billy Graham lived just a few minutes away near Asheville and I was available if he needed any advice.  

I was in the promised land.  Our house was in the mountains on an acre of wooded land and we had our own waterfall and creek in our backyard.  We could sit on the sun porch and listen to the water cascade down the creek, as we smelled the long-leaf pine trees.  Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Oh yeah,,,,,back to the prophecy.  I took this word from the Lord and did what I always do when I don't understand (or like) something I was not expecting.  I put it on the shelf and prayed about it.  On this one occasion, Melissa was sick and did not attend Steve Sampson's meeting.  So, I did not really talk to her much about it.

But something was happening.  I had applied for two jobs for which I was very qualified and had multiple interviews. Everything went very well and I prayed that I would get this job.  However, I was rejected by both jobs.  At the same time, Melissa was having problems with her new job.  She was working long hours and not making much progress. Her boss was sending her 100's of emails every day with yet more duties to perform.  I became concerned for her health because she wasn't getting enough rest and brought work home continually.  

Then, my landlord called me and said they were going to sell our house when our lease expired.  We would have to find another place to live.  Our debts were increasing and we desperately needed to reduce our cost of living.  We owned a new RV which we repeatedly tried to sell. Though buyers came with the cash to buy it, they would change their minds at the last minute.  I am used to a good God that answers prayer and when He doesn't I try to find out if I am doing something wrong.

So I prayed.  This time, God put a funny idea in my head to sell everything we had, pay off debt, give to the poor and move into the RV.  He would tell us where to go and provide for our needs.  We would continue to write books and speak to all who would listen about the wonderful love and grace of God.   I thought this was a pretty radical step.  So I kept it to myself and waited to see what God would speak to Melissa.

Melissa and I are two halves of the same person.  We have been married 39 years and we know what each other is thinking.  We end each others' sentences (as annoying as that is) and we have very similar tastes, dreams and ideas. We both love the Lord with all of our hearts and would do anything for Him.

On the eve of Rosh Hashanah, which is the beginning of our spiritual new year, Melissa came into my study and told me that God wanted us to sell everything and move into the RV.  I was shocked.  We knew God had led us to buy this RV and wondered why we hadn't used it for a long time.  

So began our new journey of life on the road with Jesus. We sold all our furniture and "stuff" and what we didn't sell, we gave away.  Our house was sold to a couple from Georgia and we moved out one year after we first arrived in Hendersonville.  Our friends and neighbors wept with us and said good bye.  Our families thought we were crazy.  Our cats were confused.  But we launched out into the deep not knowing where it would lead us or where we would end up.

We often say, "Faith is a Fantastic Adventure In Trusting Him."  It really is an adventure and to know Him is to know true joy and peace. I often think about Jesus' life and ministry where he had "no place to lay His head."  He was dependent on others for food and lodging.  He ministered in the outdoors and seldom in a building.  He would just talk to those He met along The Way.  We wanted His ministry and now we are sharing in His life.

We have met many good people along the way and found friends that invited us to stay with them with open arms. We traded our expensive RV for a modest travel trailer and we will be trading our Jeep for a larger pickup truck soon.  We are staying in the Austin area where we attend a church with our friends.  God is using us to encourage people and give them hope.

How long we will be here only God knows.  It is often difficult to explain our new life, so we really don't try.  Being misunderstood is a burden you sometimes have to bear.  

Our mission is: 

To imitate Christ by becoming the servant of all (religious and non-religious, sinner and saint); 

By entering their world, without judgement or condemnation; 

Seeing things through their eyes.  

And in exchange, 

Showing them the reality of a God-saved life.

(1 Corinthians 9:19-23 MSG)

We hope to see you someday, somewhere on The Way.