True to the Music

Since the mid-seventies, KINK radio has been my music station of choice. For most of those years, Les Sarnoff was the one introducing me to new music. Most of the artists I listen to I discovered through his program... many of them, due to interviews he did with the artist in studio. A lot of pirated albums in Portland were compliments of Les' KINK Album Preview.

Les was responsible for a Thanksgiving tradition in my family. Every Thanksgiving, at 12pm, we listen to "Alice's Restaurant" by Arlo Guthrie. It's 18 minutes and 34 seconds that my kids can recite from memory.

When I think of Les Sarnoff, I think of "how it used to be" on the radio. How KINK used to be more of an indie/underground/folk/rock station... how they used to be before big money made all the decisions.

Les died Friday night after a year-long fight with cancer. It kinda feels like those old days of FM radio are gone with him.

That's kinda sad.

Saying Goodbye

I've had 3 canine companions in my life. Droopy, a wiener dog I had as a very small child (gotta love that name, huh?); Betsy, a german-shorthair pointer I got for my 8th birthday; and Rocky, a beagle that was a gift from my wife 12 years ago.

I was too young to really remember what became of Droopy. Because I was away at college, my dad ended up taking Betsy in her old age and did an incredible job with her "hospice" care. Today, I had to bury Rocky.

We had a tree go down in our back yard which took out part of our fence. Rocky escaped and spent about 12 hours running loose before someone took him to the pound. When we got him back, we noticed he couldn't walk very well. Soon, he couldn't walk at all, wouldn't eat, and was noticeably in a lot of pain. Turns out, his back had gotten "really messed up" on his little outing. Don't know what happened (car? a cruel person?), and probably don't want to know. The vet said that he wouldn't get better. So we had him put down.

When we're young, we never really think about the fact that we will have to say goodbye to pets. We don't really have any concept of lifespan. However, when we get older, we know better. We know that we'll bond to these animals, talk to them, process with them, call them "friend" and then one day - most likely bury them. Why do we do this to ourselves? Why do we put ourselves through that pain? Why would you ever go out and get another dog - train it, care for it, love it, etc. only to one day have to say goodbye? I'm not sure why... but one day, I'll probably do it again.

For today though, I'll just quietly miss Rocky. The talks, the walks - him just being there... always being there to listen. That's a good friend.

Reboot... Ah, That's Better

After one of my most grueling weeks of the year (over 1oo hours), I took a couple days to catch up on some rest. While sleep is good, it doesn't necessarily press the reset button for me. One thing that usually does the trick is a day on the river, flyfishing.

Every once in a while, I'm so wiped out that it's hard for me to even convince myself to go fishing. It's in those times that I can usually count on my wife to force me to go (crazy, I know). Today was one of those days. I was full of excuses why I might not go. Those included less than stellar fishing reports and snow in Maupin yesterday. Anyway, I finally went.

God served up beautiful weather (too warm for anything more than short sleeves) and lots of fish (four about the size of the one pictured below, and a handful of smaller ones.) This one was the first fish of the year - a beautiful Deschutes Redside. Photo quality is a little lacking as I forgot the camera... shot it with the cell phone.

Lenten Fast - Week Six

Suggested Fast – Noise
As we enter into Holy Week, a time when we are especially aware of the price paid for our sin, we thought that would be appropriate for us to fast from noise.

Much of this world’s noise is thrust upon us, but much else is self inflicted. We’d like to suggest that you find time throughout the week for periods of silence, fasting from external noise and from speaking. On Friday, to the degree that your commitments allow, spend the day in silence. Together, we will break that silence as we come together for our Good Friday service.

Prayer
Lord, I talk too much. It’s Your turn. Speak, for Your servant is listening.

Scripture
Ecclesiastes 3:7; Psalm 46:10