Portable Outdoor Clothes Dryer Project

This is not such a novel idea, people have been using these kinds clothes drying contraptions for years. My dilemma, if you can even call it that, is three-fold. First, I wanted to air dry my clothes outdoors to save money and resources. Secondly, I didn’t want to have to walk up and down 19 steps every time rain threatened, which is fairly often. Lastly, I also was a little shy about drying our unmentionables in our dear buddy Fred’s* front yard. See, his front yard is our back yard. I’m funny about that, bashful I suppose. I asked Big Daddy if my idea would work, and he thought so, so here is what we did. We went to the local hardware/home improvement store and bought: 1 five gallon bucket, one outdoor ‘umbrella-style’ clothes dryer, one bag of quick-set concrete and one PVC pipe (only slightly larger than the base of the clothes dryer). Now I will be able to dry my clothes right on my sunny back deck which is next to the washer and super convenient. I can keep the unmentionables discreetly on the house side, and in the interior of the dryer. I can remove the clothes dryer when not in use, and replace it with my beach umbrella, and have some shade. I can move the base around if I need to, or rather Big Daddy or Adam can, since it weighs about 70 pounds!

1. What you will need

2. Drill hole in the bottom of the PVC pipe and place a piece of metal or wood to anchor it to the bottom of the bucket.

3. Mix concrete and pour in bucket

4. Let cure for 24-48 hours

5. Assemble clothes dryer and place in bucket and use!

There are 2 sections of pole from the clothes dryer assembly that I don’t need to use, you can see them on the deck in front of the bucket. When the dryer is anchored in the bucket, you probably won’t need them unless you are tall!
Edited to add:
I used it for the first time today. It is a windy day and it blew over, so I will have to find a way to make it more secure. I am thinking of using bungee cord or a ratchet tie down and

keeping it in the corner, and anchoring it to the deck railing and around the dryer pole. Any suggestions?

Love Letter to Florida

I am humbled, awed and amazed by God’s goodness and favor toward me. I’ll tell you why, it’s simply this, because God moved me here to the Southern most tip of the great state of Florida and the continental USA, and I love it. I was driving Flora to her horseback riding lessons, viewing vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean on the one side of me, and the Gulf of Mexico on the other and thanking God. The colors of the sea were aqua and emerald, depending on the depth, the sunlight, and weather or not there was sand or sea grass below. Here and there the vast expanse of ocean was broken up by a small mangrove island or a sail boat. Otherwise there was only ocean on either side, shimmering on and on towards a faraway horizon that was yet another shade of blue. How did it happen that He allowed us by His Providential Hand (and His ministry purpose for us) to come to such a paradise? I feel so blessed. Humbled. And something akin to survivor’s guilt.

Now you will have to pardon me while I brag about Florida. I think that all of Florida, despite the palmetto bugs, mosquitoes, fire ants, strip malls, cookie-cutter subdivisions, etc., is a bit of paradise on earth. I have loved and appreciated the beauty of the various places I’ve lived: Pennsylvania, Northern California, West Virginia. I’ve been awed by the places I visited while traveling across the country twice when I was younger. Florida, though, holds a special place near and dear to my heart. I hated her at first. I wanted to get back “to my city by the Bay” when I first moved here frome there. My old best friend T (who was not impressed with Florida) once told me the reason I liked it so much was because I had good things happen here, chiefly meeting and falling in love with Big Daddy. Of course her point has merit. I know where and when I fell in love with Florida, though. It was when I first began canoeing down the Wekiva river as a teen. I felt my heart softening towards her though a couple of years before that. Sometime during my misspent youth I was trying, along with a friend, to see some punk rock rated R flick *. Of course, my friend was able to purchase her ticket and get in to the rated R movie without a hitch. I was flatly turned down and had to buy a ticket for the movie Cross Creek which was also playing. Turns out Cross Creek was a great movie, a real jewel, and though I probably denied it then, I loved it. The Florida background of the movie is as important a “character” in that movie as the actual main characters were, in my opinion, much in the way that the musical score and soundtrack is essential to Cameron Crow’s movies. Sometime after that, I acquainted myself with Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’ writings and was smitten with both her work and the Florida locales that are so predominant in her works.

Back to the first time I canoed Wekiva - I was impressed. I was enthralled. It’s a mostly shady trip - huge oaks dripping with Spanish Moss make a canopy over the river. Banana spiders spin their large webs overhead, doing their natural pest control thing. There are cranes, turtles, fish, and on rare occasions, a small alligator or water moccasin. One can expend all the energy that is necessary to maneuver one’s canoe upstream on a warm (or hot!) Florida day and then refresh oneself at the end of the run by dipping into the cool blue-greenness of the Wekiva Springs. Then it’s all easy gliding back downstream to Wekiva Marina. It’s a lovely and easy run by which to initiate yourself with canoeing. As I began to visit, canoe, hike and swim the local springs, state parks and beaches of Florida I came to love and appreciate my adopted home state more and more. And there is still so much of this state that I have not yet seen. I hope to explore my new locale and truly occupy and enjoy the life and time the Lord has given me here, and fulfill whatever His purposes are in this time and place!

*By the way, as best as I recall it was Surf Nazis Must Die, but internet movie database tells me that it came out in 1987, which does not fit my time line.

Hodgepodge 2

Cardboard Testimonies

You will need the tissues.



more cat pictures

Hodgepodge

I have posted a few interesting links for your reading pleasure. They are a hodgepodge of things interesting, serious and humorous. Enjoy.

Emma Spaulding Bryant letters

from here.

A fascinating collection of letters written by Mrs. Bryant to her husband during the summer of 1873. I know it sounds rather dry, but begin to read one or two of them and I think you will also be fascinated by the dynamics of their conversation. They are not very long.

Funny Image

Five Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids Do

I think he makes a really good point, and I feel like I have been a bit too sheltering and protective as a parent myself. So, it’s a good reminder.


I really enjoy the TV show Lost. This trailer will update you on what’s been happening lately.
Previously On Lost

The above were found here.


10 Things Information Technology Workers Want Users To Know From here.


10 Reasons I Wish I Could Be More Like SpongeBob Squarepants from here.


And finally this one is for Big Daddy. Happy Anniversary, baby.

Movin' On

My goal was to do one post a week, but I have not done that lately. We are in the process of moving and when I get set up in our new location, I will begin again.

This is not only a hectic time, but an emotional one. Our 'old church' is like family, and was so much a part of our daily life. It was our first pastoral position, and we were there seven complete years. I say “our” because even though Big Daddy was the pastor, his family labored in that vineyard right along side him. We all certainly will miss our dear, dear church family at Harvest. We are also moving away from our relatives. That will be difficult since my Mom and brother are local as well as Big Daddy’s brother and his family. His youngest sister and her family also live nearby, however we are estranged from them. It is unfortunate that this move will likely advance the estrangement rather than remedy it. Then there are our neighbors, co-workers and friends - so many good people to miss! They all have been a blessing to us, making our lives interesting, colorful and fun. We look forward to the change, the new life, the new ministry, church and home, but it is bittersweet. These are the things I have been thinking about. I will miss swimming in the local springs, canoeing down the rivers. I will like swimming and canoeing in the gulf and the Atlantic, though. So, Big Daddy really is my moving buddy, and has been many times. We have lived in our current home for about eight years and that is the longest I personally have lived anywhere in a single location. I hope to put down some roots in the keys, I like sand between my toes! Will I grow best in sandy soil? Stay tuned.

Happy Places, Happy Faces

"My happy place"

"I found my moving buddy"


Big Daddy and I have been together so long we have a few little inside jokes between us. That comes from a few shared experiences. When our oldest child was little we had to watch Toy Story many, many times. There are two quotes we say to each other. The first is, “I found my moving buddy.” If you know the movie as well as we do you recall that this is said by the character Bo-Peep, after she and all the other toys witness a cool stunt soon after they meet Buzz. We say this to each other when either one of us is particularly pleased with the other. The other quote is when the character Hamm(?) is scared or nervous and he keeps repeating, “Find your happy place, find your happy place!” to himself. Whenever we see a nice bit of scenery, or find ourselves someplace nice and relaxing, I tell Big Daddy, “This is my happy place.”
Naturally that's what I thought of when I saw these two photos we took recently in the Keys.

The Journey's End

I’m told it’s not uncommon to be reading and studying a passage of scripture, only to have one part that strikes you in a particularly important way. This happens to me, the Caleb's Spirit post below is an example of it. Perhaps you're reading a very familiar passage and you never noticed a certain word or detail before. Perhaps the phrasing speaks to your heart in a fresh, new way. Something like this happened to me again recently. I have been studying using my parallel Bible which has a KJV, NKJV, NLT and NIV all side by side in columns. I was reading 2 Corinthians 11:26. The KJV says “…in journeying often…” but the one that I noted was the NLT where St. Paul says: “I have traveled many weary miles.” This portion of scripture didn’t jump out at me, as the saying goes, but it did wave its hand and say, “Hey there! Take a look at me.” I don’t presume to even compared myself to the Apostle Paul, who wrote that verse under the Holy Spirit’s anointing. St. Paul is speaking of all the hardships that happened to him while he traveled and preached the Gospel of Christ. It’s in his list of the difficulties he endured. I haven’t even experienced a FRACTION, no correct that, a HINT of what Paul faced in his journeys on behalf of Jesus. But I have gone some weary miles in my own little way. Like St. Paul’s list, I have my own list of bad things and difficulties God has brought me through. And I am so grateful to Him. My list is mild compared to St. Paul’s. My list and my weary journeys are just as worth it though if the end result is pointing others to Christ and being in His Glorious Presence one day! I think that if Paul can endure all he did and comment so strongly on how God’s grace is sufficient; and how everything is worth the trouble with heaven as our goal and Jesus as our King, I can too. And so can you, whoever you are!

In this life you will undoubtedly travel some weary miles. They may be literal, they may be figurative or both. We can be taught and inspired by those who have gone before us - Jesus through Calvary; and those like Paul, through persecution and hardships. They endured it all realizing that at the end of the long, weary journey is victory - the Resurrection; and also a refreshing and a party, a feast as we attend the marriage supper of the Lamb of God!
Spurgeon said, “This fact, that men shall partake of the marriage supper of the Lamb, might seem too good to be true if it were not specially certified by order of the Lord, under the hand and seal of the Spirit of God.”
An old hymn goes like this:
“Oh I want to see Him
Look upon His face
There to sing forever
Of His saving grace
On the streets of glory
Let me lift my voice
Cares all past
Home at last
Ever to rejoice!”

I hope to see you there!