Randy Wray's Blog

We’re back down in Mexico helping with another building project.

Worked all day long today and drove only 1 nail.

Can you believe that?

Between the hard working crew from Oregon and the local workers now involved in our building projects it’s hard to get a nail in edgewise.

It’s great, absolutely fantastic to see so many people working so hard.

May not have been able to help frame (which is my favorite part) but the boy and I did run the chop saw all day long.

The boy, like his mother, has a head for numbers and comes in handy making sense of fractions.

Yes it has been a long time.

So long I forgot my username and password!

Busy?  Yes

Lots of activity in our lives?  Yes

I know that’s true for you as well.

In spite of the frenetic pace everyone is well.

August will be a month of transitions and changes – part of the normality of  growing kids and full-time jobs and school.

Joe Harrington was the first.

Starlin Castro was the most recent.

Will Clark was somewhere in the middle.

Any idea what list this is?

These are just three of the players who hit a homerun their first at bat during their MLB debut.

Our # 1 son accomplished the “toastmasters” equivalent last night – receiving a standing ovation for his first ever public speech.

The great thing about the standing O was that it was begun by people not directly connected or related to him.

Proud, proud, proud we are of his academic accomplishment, his well delivered and received speech (you should have seen the head nodding*) and most of all we are proud of his character and leadership.

*Greg would be familiar with head nodding while he speaks but it usually was indicative of speech induced comatic sleep.

. . . and I still didn’t come up with anything.

The boy said I should write about not being very funny.

How could I write about such obvious lies?

I can tell you I’m getting some new creatures and critters for my salt water tank today.

Picked them up Friday in Sacramento but kept them in the massive saltwater system of reefjester until the transfer today.

A green anemone, a yellow anemone, a maroon gold band clown (hopefully his face paint is waterproof), a lunar wrasse and finally a snowflake eel.

It’s always fun to have new sea life in the tank.

Today is the boy’s last normal day of Middle School.

Though we might well discuss the definition of normal.

We are blessed to have the boy.

He has an ability to rise above the antics of others and not stumble over the obstacles.

He speaks the truth from a pure heart and is very, very funny.

His Valedictorian speech is finished and now he must only deliver the speech.

Eighth grade will soon be only a fading image in the rear view mirror.

A well deserved summer break before the next task:  Surviving Ninth Grade!

Conducting graveside services today for Clarence Van Dyke Jr.

No idea if he’s related to the other Van Dyke.

Do know he was a longshoreman for over 30 years and retired with the highest ranking honors of seniority.

I’m told he loved telling stories of how he would take the girl that would become his wife of 54 years on dates (on horseback)  - back when cokes were five cents and movies were 50 cents.

Those certainly were the days . . .

Though it seems like more of a monumental task than it actually is, I’ve gone 2 weeks without my signature White Chocolate Hazelnut Mocha in the morning and 1 week without a single Dr. Pepper.

That’s right . . . not even one single drop of nectar from the gods.

Believe it or not going without the Dr. Pepper has been a bigger deal than going without Coffee.

I’m under no illusion that I will never again drink a Dr. Pepper or have a coffee drink.

I just felt like it was a good way to work individual self-discipline.

Many people go without more important things on a daily basis.

When “give us this day our daily bread” is so far off your radar screen that you give it no thought whatsoever you have to find some way to tell yourself no.

We’ve seen a couple episodes of undercover boss and have been quite impressed with the show.

I hope it’s not another case of manufactured reality.

It does give me an idea.

I’m not going to shave for a couple of weeks and show up to work undercover.

Keep an eye out for the video.

The kids had different spring break weeks this year – who planned that?

The boys decided to take advantage of the time off and go fishing.

Want to guess who planned that?