My ol' friend, Wing T. Lee, once observed not long after he got married, "When you are about to get married, you go and register for wedding gifts, and you have to choose from thing like napkin rings, place mats, wine racks and soup tureens. I got this far in life without napkin rings and I never even heard of a tureen before - and I certainly can live without one. But, how come nobody has a list of practical gift things for the couple, like heavy duty jumper cables or a chainsaw?" Wing T. Lee always had his own ideas, and some of them were not bad.
I have long remembered Wing's lament about not getting a chainsaw for a wedding gift, and ever since he mentioned it, at times I myself have felt a little bit deprived. The other night a strong wind blew in during the small hours and brought with it the perfect combination of opportunity and lament, justification and the means. It was fast-flashing lightning show spectacular, with strong wind gust and a serious hail core that came into my backyard. In the morning, we discovered that the top of our peach tree had been broken off, pushing about two-third of the branches over the fence and into the driveway. My thoughts were:
A) That there mess will be a lot of sawing with my current collection of hand saws,
B) Wing T. Lee was right, a groom should get a chainsaw along with a soup tureen,
C) My birthday is coming up pretty soon,
D) There will be question of "What do you want for your birthday?" and some gift dollars coming my way.
This works on so many levels! I will get a chainsaw for my birthday - only it will be an early birthday to me. It is like a sign from heaven or a word from the prophet; I heard the words come to me and they sounded something like this, "Lo! And Behold! Thine days of lament are over, for thou shall not mourn the topping of thy peach tree, for out of this disaster thou will be compensated.
Go now to Lowe's and Behold! - there you will find a chainsaw suitable for thine appointed task. Thou art to saw the downed branches of peach wood into lengths of one cubit and stack them in the side yard. And once they have dried they are to be consumed by fire for warmth. This task is to be a celebration of thine years upon the earth, and the day shall be filled with much rejoicing amongst the revving of the chainsaw. Amen."
And so it came to pass, with the addition of chainsaw oil and 2-cycle engine oil, the 18-inch [1 cubit] chainsaw was acquired and accomplished it's job in short order and the days of Wing's prophetic lament came to an end.
Now, with that appointed task done, I think I'll go make a tureen of peach soup.
I have long remembered Wing's lament about not getting a chainsaw for a wedding gift, and ever since he mentioned it, at times I myself have felt a little bit deprived. The other night a strong wind blew in during the small hours and brought with it the perfect combination of opportunity and lament, justification and the means. It was fast-flashing lightning show spectacular, with strong wind gust and a serious hail core that came into my backyard. In the morning, we discovered that the top of our peach tree had been broken off, pushing about two-third of the branches over the fence and into the driveway. My thoughts were:
A) That there mess will be a lot of sawing with my current collection of hand saws,
B) Wing T. Lee was right, a groom should get a chainsaw along with a soup tureen,
C) My birthday is coming up pretty soon,
D) There will be question of "What do you want for your birthday?" and some gift dollars coming my way.
This works on so many levels! I will get a chainsaw for my birthday - only it will be an early birthday to me. It is like a sign from heaven or a word from the prophet; I heard the words come to me and they sounded something like this, "Lo! And Behold! Thine days of lament are over, for thou shall not mourn the topping of thy peach tree, for out of this disaster thou will be compensated.
Go now to Lowe's and Behold! - there you will find a chainsaw suitable for thine appointed task. Thou art to saw the downed branches of peach wood into lengths of one cubit and stack them in the side yard. And once they have dried they are to be consumed by fire for warmth. This task is to be a celebration of thine years upon the earth, and the day shall be filled with much rejoicing amongst the revving of the chainsaw. Amen."
And so it came to pass, with the addition of chainsaw oil and 2-cycle engine oil, the 18-inch [1 cubit] chainsaw was acquired and accomplished it's job in short order and the days of Wing's prophetic lament came to an end.
Now, with that appointed task done, I think I'll go make a tureen of peach soup.
 |
| Post Massacre Peach Tree About 1/3 of it former self following Wind-Hail Storm |
No comments:
Post a Comment