Archive | January, 2013

Free-Wheeling Days

31 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Onisha

 My husband and I were reminiscing this week about used Coke bottles and the part they played in teaching us that money had to be earned. If you are old enough you will remember that each soda bottle required that a 2¢ deposit be paid. Just like today some people were too lazy to properly dispose of the empty bottles. Often they were flung out car windows, dropped by walkers or cyclist. Their trash became our big time treasure. I can still remember how dirty and disgusting some of them were. Smokers used them for cigarette butts.

 If we had a craving for chocolate or other sweets we hit the streets. No we didn’t mug anyone, we scavenged for empty soda bottles. At that time you could still buy penny candy so for an hour or so of “work” we would have enough bottles to take to the store. Most stores had some sort of bin for bottle returns. We would show our bottles to the cashier, put them in the return bin and choose our treats. If we had been really lucky we would have enough for a soda too but we had to drink it in the store to save the deposit cost. Man did that soda taste good after spending time under the hot Florida sun looking for bottles. Sometimes though we had to “share”, meaning we could only afford one soda.

I can’t remember a time when my parents just handed me money for no reason. Once I was in junior high school I was given a set amount of money each week for lunch. If I wanted something my parents felt was not necessary, I saved a little bit of my lunch money until I had enough to buy it for myself. Today that sounds harsh but it wasn’t really. I learned that gratification of my wants was not instantaneous. I’m sad the state of our culture has diminished to the point that children aren’t safe to walk the streets and woods. So many lessons were learned during those freewheeling days.

What about you, did you ever collect soda bottles?

Coke bottles

You might want to check out “The Next Big Thing” at RebekahLynsKitchen. She will be talking about her upcoming book set in these same “free-wheeling” times.

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I was a 12 Year Old Businessman-Part 2

30 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

It was like the difference between night and day to move from LA, a hugh city within an area consisting of almost 500 square miles of asphalt and concrete, to say nothing of the massive traffic problems there, to a small town with a 1960 census population of only 4000.

1a1b

 

The non-stopped work at the Kennedy Space Center to land men on the moon only lasted until 1970.  Not long after NASA and its many contractors had successfully completed this monumental accomplishment, the American public lost interest in space, manned space program funds were cut, and NASA started laying off contractors as the Apollo Program started spinning down.

2

At age 35, I was one of the last engineers at Rockwell International to be laid off in 1973, and since DiVoran and I didn’t want to return to LA, and there were no engineering job to be had in the immediate area, I worked and studied the construction business to obtain my General Contractors license.   I built houses full time for two years until I landed a job with Lockheed Missiles & Space Co. on the Trident Submarine Missile program.

3

For the next four years, I worked full time assembling and launching the Trident C4 submarine missile at Cape Canaveral, while building houses in my spare time.

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When that series of launches was completed, I was laid off by LMSC and went to work for McDonnell-Douglas who was launching communication satellites from Cape Canaveral using their Delta Launch vehicles.

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Then in 1979, I was recalled by LMSC to work on another series of the new Trident D5 submarine missiles launches, again at Cape Canaveral.

6

In 1987, after that series of launches was completed, I transferred to the NASA Space Shuttle program with Lockheed Space Operations Co. at the Kennedy Space Center.  I retired in 1996 with a total of 35 years as what I called an “Aerospace Nomad” having worked for eight different companies during my career in the U.S. aerospace community.

7jpg DiVoran and I enjoy our retirement, while living in the same house we bought new in 1965.  We stay so busy with the fun things in our lives now that I sometimes wonder how I ever found the time to go to work.  I am involved in the R/C model airplane hobby, and do volunteer work with a local Car Care Ministry, and as a tour guide at the Valiant Air Command Warbird Museum at the TICO Airport here in Titusville.

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DiVoran is realizing several of her lifelong dreams as she uses her God given talents with her painting and novel writing.  We both are enjoying having our extended family near us so we can spend quality time with them as often as possible.

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DiVoran and I are looking forward to many more years of life together, filled with the fun and adventures that only God, family and friends can give us.

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Proverbs 5:18 (NIV) 

 

                                            

                           

 

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A Moment with the Master

28 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

 

A friend of Bill’s invited us to the dedication of the new pipe organ at his church. We went early and waited long. When we finally got into the church, we sat down facing the front wall where some of the organ’s pipes were worked into a beautiful and artistic cross.

The church held 350 people, but we found out later the crowd had swelled to 600 in the foyer and around the aisles and were grateful for the suggestion to arrive early.

One thing we had time to do was to read the excellent program we’d been given. Here are a few of the things we learned about the organ: The pipes we could see were just a sample of the number of pipes behind the wall, 2,197 of them to be exact, each with its own voice. The A. E. Schlueter Pipe Organ Company, pipes are made by hand one at a time, no assembly process there. The organ is assembled at the factory and tested for sound, then disassembled and taken to the church where it is put together so voicers could adjust it for the acoustics of the building.

The organist, Peter Beardsley, who is a wonder in his own right, played. “The Carnival of the Animals,” by Camille Saint-Saens, and several other pieces and we immersed ourselves in the music. We learned from him that if the organ as instrument had a patron saint it would be Bach.

The concert was almost over when one little pipe decided it did not want to stop sounding off. It wasn’t too loud, but no more music could be played while it was stealing the show. Mr. Beardsley rose and the pastor went to the front along with several other people. Everyone looked puzzled and helpless.

Down the aisle from the pew behind us strode a very big man in a black suit who had been introduced to us earlier as A. E. Schlueter, himself. A wave of relief swept over the crowd. He spoke to the puzzled professionals at the front and then came back to his seat. In a moment, the pipe quieted down.

So now, maybe you think the point of this story is to tell you that the master organ maker made everything right. Yes, that’s what I thought at the moment. But just to make a good thought better I wanted to know what the master had done to make it happen. As we filed out past Mr. Schlueter he was greeting people and shaking hands within a foot of us.

Oh please let me ask him a question, I thought, and to my delight and surprise he moved closer to where I was standing and looked right at me. Out of six hundred people, I was to get my answer without having to try to find him and talk to him at some other point, which I probably wouldn’t have done thinking he might be too busy for me.

“Did you do something to fix the organ?” I asked.

“I sent a man up to release the stuck valve,” he answered.

“Oh, the master was here. That’s the theme.” I said with delight. He understood that I was writing even though it looked as if I was just standing in front of him.

“The Lord has a sense of humor,” said Mr. Schlueter. “He likes to keep me humble.” It seemed as if he wanted me especially to tell my readers that, so I have–your own special message, dear reader, from the master.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying: this is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.

 Isaiah 30 : 21

Pipe Organ

 

 

 

 

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A Suicidal Nation

25 Jan

Today marks the 40th anniversary of the  landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that created a constitutional, nationwide right to abortion.  Patricia Franklin, one of our semi-regular contributors shares her feelings as thousands attend The March for Life in Washington, D.C. – Onisha

A Few Thoughts

Patricia Franklin

I sit in the stillness of the morn

Contemplating in the silence of nature surrounding me,

With a pain in my heart that is inconsolable.

The silence and stillness surround me

And there is no solace for the little souls of the unborn

Who have never seen the light of a day like this.

The silence of their screams is deafening

In my ears and in my heart. Their sighs echo

In the breeze soaring through the pines.

How can this selfish nation live with its guilt?

How can it sleep, or survive

Knowing what it has done and careing not?

How will our Creator deal with us,

This greedy, ungrateful, unseeing, uncaring and insensitive nation

As it slowly drowns and dies from its own gluttonous appetites,

Not knowing or caring about the silent cries

And senseless slaughter of its children?

 I sit in the stillness and I mourn

And contemplate the suicide of a nation,

Which cannot,and will not survive without its children.

 

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I was a 12 Year Old Businessman-Part 1

23 Jan

A Slice of Life

 Bill Lites

 

I was born in Dallas, Texas in 1938.  I lived in the big “D” with my parents until 1945, when we moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico.

bsby boy

The trip from Dallas to Albuquerque was on an American Airlines DC-3, and I was hooked on aviation at age seven.  As it happened, there were two large U.S. Air Force bases left over from WWII in Albuquerque.  So, it was no wonder that one of my main lifelong interests, was airplanes.

plane

That interest was carried from small wood models, thru the years, to large gas-powered u-controlled flying models.

remote plane

I started cutting the grass at our house and the neighbor’s, during the summers, around the age of 10.  My parents helped by taking me to jobs outside our neighborhood.

old mower

By the time I was 12, I had saved enough money to by a Sears self-propelled gas powered mower.  During the next few years, I put so many miles on that mower, that I had to rebuild the mower engine more than once.

gasmower

 

My grass cutting business thrived so well that, by the time I was 14, I was able to obtain my unrestricted driver’s license and buy my first motorcycle.

At that time, New Mexico allowed a person to qualify for a driver’s license at age 14 because so many of the farmer’s children needed to drive to support their family farm needs.

I kept cutting grass until I was 16, when I got a part-time job in the local Furr’s supermarket.  I started out unloading trucks and mopping floors – then to bag boy and stocking shelves –and finally working my way up to cashier.

bag boy

stocker

This allowed me to be able to sell my first motorcycle and buy a new 1954 Harley Davidson 165cc motorcycle for more reliable transportation to work and school.

165cc

When I was 17, I bought a used 1940 Chevrolet coupe to customize, and ended up rebuilding the engine and repainting it.  I met DiVoran’s brother, David, at Furr’s supermarket, where I was still working, and she told me later that he was awed by a guy my age who owned a car and a motorcycle.  She said she decided right then and there she wanted to meet that boy.

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In 1955 I traded in my 165 cc motorcycle in on a new 1955 Harley Davidson Sportster.  This motorcycle would end up serving me faithfully for years to come.

sportster

 

At 18, while I was still in my senior year of high school, I joined the local NROTC and began my short career with the U.S. Navy.  I met DiVoran that year in typing class, and by the time we graduated, we were engaged.

young beloved

 

Senior picture

Not long after that, I shipped out on my first U.S. Navy shipboard cruise.  That 10-month cruise first took me to the many ports around the Mediterranean, back to the U.S. and then to stops on both sides of South America and at Panama, and finally to Bremerton, Washing ton.  We wrote to each other every day while I was gone, and just knew we were meant to spend the rest of our lives together by the time I was transferred to my next duty assignment.

 

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DiVoran and I were married when we were 19, and lived in San Diego during the 6-month stateside assignment to my next ship.   When I shipped out on my 8-month cruise to Hawaii, Japan and Hong Kong, DiVoran returned to Albuquerque to live with her parents and attend Beauty school.

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After I was released from active duty with the Navy at age 20, DiVoran and I moved to Los Angeles for me to attend Northrop University.  I started my engineering career in the aerospace field while still in college, first with Douglas Aircraft Company and then with North American Aviation.  We ended up staying in Los Angeles eight years because after my first two years in college, I went to work full-time while continuing my college classes at night, and I couldn’t always get the classes I needed.

salon

At first, DiVoran worked full-time as a beautician to help with our living expenses.  Then after our children were born, she stopped working to be a stayed-at-home mom.

baby girl

bsby boy

As soon as I graduating from college in 1965, we moved to Titusville, FL with North American Aviation, on the Apollo Manned Space Program.

Colossians 3:23

                                    —-To Be Continued—-

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Writing Randomly

21 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

I’m retired and I believe in writing randomly. Schedules and deadlines are for people who don’t freak out, block, get nervous over schedules and deadlines. In order to write randomly, I need to have my life in harmony with the Father and with my own needs, which He has promised to meet. For instance, I need time to make coffee in the morning, write in my journal, read something super uplifting (like the Bible), maybe draw a little, pet the cat, and cook an egg with a bit of cheese and butter. The cat likes me to leave the tiniest bite of egg for her, and so I do.

Well, look there, I have already written—in my journal—that counts! Lots of journal entries turn into blogs.

I need time to check Face Book and read my emails. Oh, hey, there’s one I’d love to answer. Oops, I’ve written again.

When I take a walk, I try to have my post-a-note pad and a small pen in my pocket for sketching or jotting down a few words of poetry. There you go, I wrote again.

My car door has a good, molded pocket in which I keep a notebook and sometimes after praise practice and before church, and after I’ve visited a bit, I go out and write for a few minutes.

I don’t do a lot of housework, yard work, or cooking, but I do a little at a time and then I feel like sitting down and where should I sit but at my computer. What shall I do there, oh, I’ve got a couple of projects going—I’ll take a look at those.

One hour until I need to heat supper in the microwave, so why not put in an hour on the book. Yeah. That’s how books get written sometimes. That’s how they get written if you’re a random writer, anyhow, and a random housekeeper, cook, gardener, reader, hobbyist. I say up with randomness. You can do anything a little bit at a time. I have two favorite quotations on that: “By the yard it’s hard, by the inch, it’s a cinch,” and “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Let’s see, is there a scripture as well?. Well how about Ecclesiastes 3:1

bird.

 

Serendipity

20 Jan

SUNDAY MEMORIES

 Judy Wills

Judy

                                                     

I just LOVE the serendipity times that happen in my life!  They provide such fun – even though I really didn’t have anything to do with the event.   I remember when we were living in San Antonio, Texas.  Our church was in downtown San Antonio.  Frequently, when the morning church service was over, we would walk the few blocks down to the famous River Walk, and have lunch at our favorite Mexican restaurant.

English: Casa Rio restaurant along the shores ...

English: Casa Rio restaurant along the shores of the San Antonio River Walk. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

One time, while Fred’s parents were visiting us, we took them down to the River Walk, since it is such a tourist attraction for the city.  We usually would walk down one side of the river, then cross over and walk back on the other side, giving us a full view of what was on each side.  While we were walking that one day, we happened upon a small wedding being held across from us, on one of the large flat rocks.  Just the bride, groom, minister, and two witnesses.  But after the “kiss” everyone who had stopped to witness the event clapped and cheered.

Another serendipity happened just recently at Downtown Disney.  Fred and I like to go fairly early, to catch the cool of the day.  We park in the “middle” then walk to the end and back, just to see everything and get some exercise.  This one particular day, as we were about to head over the bridge to West Side, we saw a young man walk quickly to a young lady walking just ahead of us.  In one swift motion – with her saying “what are you doing here?” – he was down on one knee, ring box open, and asking her to marry him!  She was screaming and squealing at the same time.  And then he was placing the ring on her finger, and they were hugging and kissing, and we were all cheering!  Then we realized we were hearing a small plane overhead.  As we looked up, we saw the plane with a banner trailing……”(name) will you marry me?”  The plane with the banner flew around and around for about five minutes, causing quite a stir among the guests.

As we were finishing our “walk,” and approaching the same area on our return trip, we saw about 25 people all lined up for a picture – the couple’s families.  They were all in on the proposal.

As Fred said – there goes the money for the honeymoon!

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Your’re Music Is Annoying

17 Jan

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Onisha

While strolling through my twitter timeline on Wednesday I came across this tweet from someone I don’t know. “How to Communicate your Displeasure with Neighbours using Wi-Fi”.  Intrigued, I followed the link (If you don’t click this link you won’t get my point.)

After I finished snickering I began to think of how this could be used in a positive way. My first thought for use in my life was Christian outreach. What if I named my network Micah 6:8? Would anyone be curious enough to look it up? How about a weekly encouraging word?

Sadly, my second thought was how could this be used for marketing? Now my mind was working overtime and I found myself giggling. If you don’t feel the need to be anonymous the possibilities are endless. I could title my network OldThingsRNew.wordpress. If you are an author you could try posting your book links, novel lines or announce “another 5 star review!”

Moving beyond marketing I imagined a whole neighborhood getting involved in a mini-flash fiction.

Carrie slowly opened the door

            Drat! It’s that weirdo down the street

            I let him in once.

You can see my quirky mind has taken off on it’s own tangent. I would try to be more normal but it’s not nearly as much fun.

 

            

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U.S. Space Walk of Fame

16 Jan

A Slice of Life

Bill Lites

 1

As two of the many workers on America’s Apollo moon landing program, Ron Spangler and Bill Lites were looking forward to attending the ground breaking ceremony for the Apollo monument at the U.S. Space Walk of Fame.  When completed, the U.S. Space Walk of Fame will honor the men and women who have been part of the U.S. Manned Space programs, from the first Mercury launch to the last Space Shuttle launch.

2

The ceremony took place in Titusville, Florida on July 16,1999 exactly 30 years to the second of the launch of the mighty Apollo/Saturn V rocket from Kennedy Space Center.  This was the rocket that carried the Apollo 11 spacecraft, and the first men from Earth, to a landing on the moon.  The Apollo monument was the third in a series of four planned monuments making up the U.S. Space Walk of Fame.  Astronauts Wally Schirra and Gene Cernan were among the honored guests, and more than 300 attendees were on hand to commemorate this special event.  As part of the ceremony, a bronze bust of President John F. Kennedy, who originally challenged our nation to what became the Apollo Lunar Landing program, was unveiled.

3

The first of America’s Manned Space vehicles was the one-man Mercury capsule that carried a succession of American astronauts on missions into Earth orbit to prove man could live and work in space.

4a    4b

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Next in the progression of space vehicles was the two-man Gemini capsule that carried additional American astronauts into Earth orbit where they practiced space vehicle maneuvering. This involved rendezvous and docking procedures with various target vehicles.  In addition, space walks were performed to test space suit design and function.

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6b

The Apollo project used the mighty Saturn V launch vehicle to carry American astronauts in the three-man Apollo space capsule and the two-man Lunar Landing vehicle to the moon, where Neil Armstrong and Buss Aldrin were the first humans from earth to set foot on the moon.

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8b

The Space Shuttle was America’s 7-man reusable space plane that was used to assemble and serviced the International Space Station, and perform many other important manned space missions.  This was truly an International venture.

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10a

10b

The Hubble Space Telescope along with countless military and scientific satellites were placed in Earth orbit using the Space Shuttle Orbiter.

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So it was that Bill and Tom were there with the many others, that day, who came to the U.S. Space Walk of Fame ceremony to represent the nearly 300,000 dedicated men and women employed by NASA and a variety of contractors from all over America, who toiled to make the United States Manned Space Program a reality for the world to see and appreciate.  What a great feeling of satisfaction and pride each of those workers deserves to have, as a memory, for the rest of their lives.

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Hope

14 Jan

My Take

DiVoran Lites

DiVoran Lites

When I walked past Jim’s house, yesterday, he was standing in the driveway with his beautiful collie, Maggie, and his son’s pit bull, Ace.

When asked how he was, Jim replied, “Now that I have given up all hope, I feel fine.” He was joking, but the statement had meaning, too.

Jim (somewhere in the 45 to 50 age range) and Maggie are living at the poverty level because, Jim, a tile man, stopped getting contracts after the last national money crash.

He hoped to continue looking after his mother and eking out her social security check for both of them, and Maggie. He was doing a good, loving, job, too, but somehow, someone deemed Jim’s care inadequate, so his old mother was taken to another town and placed in a nursing home, and of course, the check went with her.

Jim’s house is going up for sale this month for back mortgage payments. Someone else got his mother’s house. His plans are dashed and his hope is gone. He gets odd jobs, no job too hard, and sometimes neighbors hire him to remodel their bathrooms. He thinks about trying to get to Texas to find work, but again—he has no money, and no transportation and he’d have to leave Maggie with his elderly aunt, who helps him the best she can.

As we stood in Jim’s front yard, he began to tell me the fascinating history of pit-bulls, then he, Maggie, and Ace gave me a delightful show: football runs, keep away, tug-of-war, and leaping. It was a Sea-World worthy demonstration in my opinion and brought tears to my eyes. He said Ace looks scary, but Maggie is the mean one. Maggie is mean?!?! It wasn’t her that loved footballs so much she ate five of them. (That’s why they have a plush toy now. It doesn’t taste as good as footballs.)

But yes, Maggie is the matriarch and when necessary she takes command. Ace shoved Maggie down once and it made her so mad she bared her teeth and snarled. He was so contrite; he lowered his head and followed her into the house with his tail between his legs.

But now, I was wondering, how could Jim be so carefree as to entertain a passing neighbor and enjoy his dogs so much when hope was gone?

It’s all about hope, actually. You see Jim has apparently decided to give up on his own plans and trust God’s.

That reminds me of something our pastor’s wife said Sunday: When something we hoped for doesn’t turn out as we planned, we can become heartsick, but if it’s God’s plan it works out for Him and for us. Doors close and doors open. Maybe it was God’s plan for Jim to look after his mother for a while and then it was His plan for things to change for both of them. God does surprisingly serendipitous things when we trust Him. I’ll be interested to hear what happens next to Jim and Maggie.

Proverbs 13:12, Romans 8:28, I Thessalonians 5:18

 

dog 1dog 2

 

 

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