10 7 18 Tourmaline Classic Sunday

10-6-18

I'm working on this blog post early because Saturday and Sunday there's a surf contest in Pacific Beach and they asked Larry and myself to go down there and video the contest. The contest start's like really early so we got to get down there and I won't have time to post the blog so I thought I'd do it today. On Sunday, we will go after church and get the final 3 hours of the contest.

It was Harriet's birthday this month. Last month I had my birthday and Larry and Judy & Bob and Diana took me out for a hamburger for my birthday. They gave me birthday cards. I wanted to show you something special that Diana did. Check out the picture. You see candy bars and you see some typed paper. I'm gonna read the first couple of lines to you so you can get the drift of what's going on.

"Turning 72 is nothing to (Snicker) about there are a few things to look forward to. Your mind will play (Twix) on you. Your joints will begin to (Crunch) and you will have (Butterfingers). Diana inserted candy bars instead of the words that I put in brackets. It was very cool and delicious!

I wanted to bring something up. Last week we had all those terrible hearings going on in Washington DC. So last Friday I was listening to KFI which is a Los Angeles station and one of the commentators made this statement, "80% of rapes are not recorded". What a stupid, stupid thing to say. How can you possibly put a percentage number on something that's not reported? It could be 99% of rapes are not reported or it could be 1%. "Then during the week I watched a movie and a guys reading article out of a newspaper and he says," 87.2% of your average salary goes for housing". That is crazy, you could not survive on 12.8% to meet the rest of your needs, auto, gas, electricty, food, Ins, just to name a few.
How do people get away with putting these numbers out there and we have people who are so devoid of knowledge, they don't understand what's going on. Lest you think I'm going over the brink, I heard a number of years ago a  reporter say that there are 10,000 new homeless people every week in the United States". You just have to do the math and you find out really soon their more homeless people than people that are paying taxes. That my friend is an exaggeration.

Okay I'm done venting. I just feel that people lose all credibility when they do things as I described above.

I hope you have a great weekend.

Maranatha!

Frank

Pic taken 10 years ago

416

This will be the 416th post I've done since I started doing the blog. Honestly I didn't realize there were so many posts. The reason I bring this up is because I got it email from Daniel this past week. A few days ago he sat down and read every post from the very beginning! He was not here one Harriet was going through chemotherapy. So, he got a real good feeling for what it was like. God bless you Daniel!



I wanted to included a picture of my good friend Larry. We've been friends for over 25 years and Larry goes flying and taking the surf videos with me. So he and his wife Judy went to breakfast and here's a picture of him taunting me with a beautiful piece of bacon.

That's just the way I like it cooked extra crisp no rubber! Actually, that's looking really good right about now at 5 AM.

We just completed the Book of Daniel in the Monday night Bible class. Monday is Labor Day so were taking that day off and then we're going to show on 3 consecutive Mondays, messages given by Walid Shabbat concerning The Minor Prophets and End times. It's really excellent.

Pastor Jack is starting a new series on the Book of Genesis this Sunday. If you don't have a good place to worship the Lord, I would encourage you to give East Valley Christian Fellowship a try. First service starts at 9 AM on Sunday morning. I will see you there!

God bless you and keep you. Maranatha!
Frank

Sat. 8-4-18

This morning it is Saturday, August 4, 2018, 2 days short of 3 years since Harriet died. 3 Years and a lot has happened since then. Boy, I sure miss my wife. I know you've heard this before, I'll just say it one more time, Harriet was the best part of my entire life. Now she's gone and there's a be empty space. I was thinking of the verses in first Corinthians chapter 15, where Paul the apostle talks about the resurrection and the resurrection body.

⁵⁵ O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?
⁵⁶ The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
⁵⁷ But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 1Cor. 15:55-57

This is the picture I have sitting just below my monitors so that every time I worked on the computer it's right there and I can see my girl.

This is one of my favorite pictures,. Harriet  and our son Joe.

Okay I guess that's enough going down memory lane. Now to bring you up to speed on my car accident. If I remember correctly I included the picture of my van last month's blog post. My van was totaled and of course the insurance company never gives you enough money to replace the vehicle with the equivalent. I'd looking since the accident because I was given the advice that it looks like the vehicle would be total and I was prepared. I was looking at the smaller Hyundai Tucson which is there smallest SUV they make. I went around with my son Daniel and tested a few of them and I found one up in Cardiff that had all the things I wanted on it electronically speaking, and my friend Larry took me up there on a Friday and I purchased the vehicle. I had to add about $3500 of my own money to get this 2012. It really is in pristine condition. They must have garaged it and taking excellent care of it. Here's a couple of pictures.

This car drives so good, the steering is so tight I just love it. I'm getting 42% better gas mileage than my van and since I can't use my surfboard anymore this will take care of all my needs. Realistically you can seat for adults and one child. At this point in time the most people I carry around our 2 of my grandchildren Samuel and Ethan. So this will work great.

I made a startling discovery a couple of weeks ago when I was watering Harriet's  plant that's on her nightstand. Check out the picture below.

You see all those little branches that are heading toward the window, I just realized there was another little branch that missed the window and went down behind the nightstand so I didn't notice it. Now I've moved it, it is growing out into the bedroom and eventually if I keep feeding it and watering it it will take over my entire house and then the world. 

Last week I was videoing at Windansea and my drone was attacked by a squadron of seagulls. Probably a half dozen of them and they kept swooping down making extremely threatening passes at my drone. I was able to capture one of the frames of the seagull that was flying right toward the drone. Look at this picture and look at the face of the seagull he's really ticked off.

I'm going to pick up our grandsons Samuel and Ethan and bring them back to my place this morning. They are such fun kids. We have this regular routine and they are a lot of fun to be with them.

I think that's about it. I hope that you have a great weekend.

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 7-7-18

July 7th is the day I will not forget. I graduated from high school 1964 and a month later on July 7th I was boarding a plane to fly up to Alameda California for boot camp. I joined the Coast Guard reserve in May just a few months earlier. This happens to be one of the smarter moves I've ever made.

While I was in boot camp we got news of the situation in Vietnam and the escalation began. I was fortunate enough, not to be called out from reserve to active duty.

Last Sunday I was heading home from church at approximately 10:48 AM there was a slow down on westbound I-8 by the Mollison offramp in El Cajon. I was able to stop, but the guy behind me driving a Ford Excursion 4 x 4 was unable to stop. When you look at the picture below of my van, note that he did not make contact with my bumper. Because it was lifted high it went right into the back of my liftgate. If you look carefully you can see the imprint of his Lic. Plate, right below my Lic. Plate.

Fortunately he has insurance and taking 100% responsibility. The bad news is they are going to total my van because the last I heard from the bodyshop it's over $8000 worth of damage so far. I started getting pain in my left shoulder and neck the following day. I went and saw the doctor a couple of days ago and this is the proverbial "soft tissue injury". I've never experienced this type of injury before and I'm just surprised at the pain involved. They said the pain will continue for about 2 weeks and then it takes approximately 2 months for the healing process if we're lucky.

As you know in March 2017 we lost the lease for our church building. The past year I've been going to a nice church and the pastor's great. About 3 months ago I asked the guys in the sound booth if they could use some help? The lady that was currently doing the live streaming, said that she could use an alternate and I started my training. God bless Michelle she trained me well. Now for the past 2 months I've been doing it hundred percent of the time and she's got a different job in the children's Sunday school.

I took a picture of what it looks like so that you can see. They have 3 cameras that are attached to the back of the church either the ceiling or the wall and the 4th is the projector which projects onto the screen. There are 3 monitors starting from the right and going to the left, the right monitor has 4 segments and you can see the 3 different views from the cameras and then the one that is in black and white are the verses that go up on the screen if you look on the platform you can see the same verse on the screen.. The other 3 segments of the screen are the 3 video camera views and they're all adjustable zooming in and out, left and right, up and down. One of the 3 video camera angles this live, then I have a 2nd camera set up to transfer the image to the main screen. Transitions from one screen to the next are about every 10 to 12 seconds. This way people don't get bored watching the same image. The separate monitor that's in the center shows the live image and the monitor to the left shows what it looks like in live streaming if you're watching this on your computer or television. Anyway I like these type of things and I find it challenging to get the best angle and position possible.

 Yesterday it was 107° in Santee. That's the hottest it's been for a long time. Today it's going to be down in the 90s and then it will go down into the 80s the following day. I'm taking my grandkids to see one of those action movies that's kids appropriate. We have so much fun together. I've heard it said that grandkids are a reward for not killing your kids while they were growing up and misbehaving. That's not very nice, but you get the drift

I've not taken a whole lot of surf videos because the waves have not been real great. We had a swell that came in yesterday but it's not just the size of the waves, there has to be some good form. It takes a lot of time to do the videoing, editing and posting to YouTube and I don't want to waste my time on 1 to 2 foot waves.

 Here's the Father's Day card I got from Joe and Hilda.

 There's a piece of fabric that imitates here and of course it was a humorous thing. Joe and Hilda are great!

Here's a picture I took of Harriet, Hilda and the grandsons in January 2013 at In-N-Out hamburgers.

Here's a picture of my good friend Pastor Mike and Harriet, taken on the North Shore of Oahu at Turtle Bay Restaurant. They're very good hamburgers. What is interesting about this little restaurant if they have wood framed glass pocket doors and they slide all the way back into the wall that all of a sudden you are outside and of course it has the million-dollar view.

The picture below was taken at Duke's restaurant in Waikiki about 2013. I still miss my girl. You know I don't that will ever go away. They say the time heals all. I'm not sure if that's true.

That's about it for this time. I hope everyone's doing well.

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. 6-2-18

Can you believe it, another month has gone by? Time goes by so fast when you're looking backward and when you're looking forward it moves so slow.

I got a really nice surprise this past week. UPS came by and they had a big package for me. I opened it up and it was a beautiful quilt that my longtime good friend Susie made for me. A little bit of a background for everybody. Susie was my first serious girlfriend. I was only 17 years old. You know when we look back 17 is so young and lacking in life experiences, but when you are 17 you think you're so grown up and you know everything. Back to the story, I met Susie her friends and her parents while vacationing in Yosemite. I joined the United States Coast Guard before I finished high school, with the caveat that I would not go to boot camp until after high school. I graduated in 1964 and in June of that year we went to Yosemite and that's where I met Susie. The next month July 7, 1964, I flew up from San Diego to Alameda California to start my tour of duty in the United States Coast Guard.

Long story short, we started writing while I was in boot camp and after I finished my training we continued our correspondence and I used to drive up to Susie's mom and dad's house in Northridge California which is in San Fernando Valley. I remember it was 169 miles from my house to her house. I made the trip so many times back and forth and I would spend the weekend at her parents home and they were so nice to me and long-suffering because I was well unsaved. We stayed friends throughout 5 decades. Susie married Bruce and when they come down to San Diego area we would meet with them or as in the case last summer I went to visit them at the RV park they were staying at right on the Bay.

I talk to Susie usually on Fridays when she's on her way to her sewing class. The name of her sewing class is, "Stitch and Bitch". It's such an apropo name for a sewing circle. I googled it to get a little background and was really surprised to find out that the Stitch and Bitch name goes all the way back to World War II when the ladies use to gather together in a sewing circle and talk about events that are going on and there's over 1400 of these by the same title in over 280 cities around the world.

I want to show you some pictures of this quilt because it's incredible.

Here is the other side and it's just as beautiful.

Each one of these little shirts that you see is a different Hawaiian print. It's hard for me to imagine how much time it took to make this.

I've done some sewing in the past 50 years, having been in the upholstering business. So I took a close look at all the seams and how Susie made this and I am very impressed. Her attention to detail is just incredible! I wish I had a place to wall mount the quilt because it's so beautiful.

I don't know if you remember, but when Harriet was really sick during the final couple of months, I was paying all my attention to her and there is a little plant that's on her side of the bed on her nightstand that I failed to water and it was dying. It lasted a couple more months until I realized it needed water and then I started watering it and then giving it some of that Miracle Grow. This is a picture I took a little over 2 years ago, the plant had recovered except for that little one strand that I had to cut off because it was dead.

Then about a year ago we tried an experiment, I pivoted the plant 180° to see if it would turn by itself to the light.  Now look at the picture below, I have not done anything to this except for water it and this plant is literally climbing out the window through the shutters, check it out. I think this is amazing!

I'm taking Samuel and Ethan for an outing this morning. A few weeks ago I took them out to teach them to fly my drone. Samuel is 11 years old and he has the skills and coordination, but Ethan is a little bit too young yet to put it all together. I know that he'll do well when he gets a little bit older. And my teaching them is under strict supervision for a number of reasons for safety number one and also because there is a certain dollar amount invested in these  drones.

It's been almost 3 years since Harriet died. I just don't think I'll ever get over missing her. Harriet is truly a Proverbs 31 woman. If you don't know what that means read the Book of Proverbs chapter 31 starting at verse 10 through the end of the chapter. Verse 10 goes like this, "Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." Harriet was/is the treasure of my life.

Maranatha,
Frank

Sat. May 5th

Today is Cinco de Mayo. I think the gringos celebrate this more than they do in Mexico.

What went on last month? Not a whole lot. So, what's new? Well, the waves have been really small the entire month of April. So my friend Larry and I have not gone out and done many drone videos of the surfers.

I am still teaching the Bible class on Monday nights and I've got a new job at church. I've always been interested in the technology, even back to elementary school 5th and 6th grade I used to run the projector. This is when you had to thread the film through the projector from reel to reel if you remember those. I'm volunteering to work in the sound booth at church. They have one lady there that has been doing the live streaming for quite some time without any relief. There are 3 separate cameras that are controlled by remote control, it's very cool. So I learned about it and the last 2 Sundays I was doing the live streaming. This way I can alternate with Michelle and give her a break. I've come to the realization that when you're working in the sound booth it's hard to focus on what the pastor is saying, because you are trying to make everything come out perfect on the technology side.

I remember pastor Tony senior said 25 years ago that if you have a job in the church you need to serve during one service and then sit down and listen and participate in a 2nd service. I think that's wise advice.

Today I take the boys to the new Avengers movie. I really enjoy spending time with them and they are so much fun. Something I'm not mentioned is how much I appreciate Joe and Hilda watching out for me and taking care of me. If I need something that I can't order on Amazon, I just take a picture of it and send a text to Hilda and the next time she goes shopping she buys it for me. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this. It's because when I go into the grocery store, it's like "Boldly going where no man is gone before". Now, if you can get groceries at Home Depot, I'm good. I know where everything is at Home Depot, but when I go to Vons grocery store, I'm lost. So, I really appreciate all that Joe and Hilda do for me.

Which brings to mind all the kindnesses that Harriet did for my dad. My mother died in 1985 and my father lived for another 23 years. Harriet was so kind to him. My dad loved Harriet's enchiladas. Harriet would do for my dad, all the things that Hilda is doing for me. I'm very thankful for Joe and Hilda and of course Harriet, taking care of my dad was very special. Harruet also made some of the Hungarian cookies and desserts that my mom used to make. My mom showed Harriet how to make certain desserts and of course one Harrit made those desserts I would take some over to my dad and he had this cute little saying, "these are too good for me". My father communicated pretty well, but he was an adult when he came to the United States so there was always some problems in sentence structure. Heck I still have problems with sentence structure. I'm going to give you a classic, line that my dad used to say. "You know more, then I don't know"
think about it........

With those words of wisdom, I leave you for another month.

Maranatha,
Frank

Some of my favorite Pictures