JOBS

I awakened thinking about jobs I have had during my life. I have not actually been working now for several weeks due to my illness so I have created a new job that I am now doing. I am monitoring old TV series now shown on TV Land network. One show in particular is the Andy Griffith show. As many of you did I grew up watching this show weekly. I have watched thirty or more of the old reruns and discovered something I must have missed while watching this show growing up. There was evidently a time when Andy did not have a deputy? It must have happened after Barney left the show and the new deputy came on board. I have watched several shows lately with no deputy and they have used Goober, Floyd, Howard and other characters more to take up the slack. I have noted several other interesting points about the show that I will try to share later. One thing I will share with you is the target audience for these shows. It seems to be immobile senior adults. The scooter store is the main sponsor along with life alert. Not sure I am ready for this group but it's all a part of my new job.

Now to talk about jobs I have held in my lifetime. I believe that God puts us in situations or jobs that help build us into the people we become as we grow older. The experience of each job contributes to our ability to do the job that is really the one we are called to do. So I count each experience or job as a great benefit to my skills and ability. I will list the jobs as best I can in the order they occurred.

1. Landscape worker: When I was about nine years old I began mowing yards. My dad furnished a lawn boy mower and I entered this business with my uncle. My uncle Duane was the foreman or director of our business. I think because he was older (he was 10) and he had a yazoo mower. Many of you may not even know what a yazoo mower is but it was a heavy duty all steel red lawn mower. Sometimes the mowers were trimmed in yellow. They were manufactured in Yazoo City, Mississippi. They were purchased by those who were serious about mowing and a homeowner would feel very confident if the lawn mowing service had a yazoo. My little lawn boy was more of a finesse mower but did hold up well. Duane as the boss would go to the door to inquire about mowing the yard. I would stay hidden until the transaction was done. We did pretty well as we probably were paid $5 to $10 per yard. We had to push our mower from job to job or maybe ride our bike and pull it by hand. We had no weed eaters, edgers, etc. It was all handwork, no riding equipment, no self propelled etc. The biggest thrill about this job was the cold Mountain Dew you could buy for 5 cents after completing your work. Duane was a good boss and we both worked hard and earned a lot of money for nine or ten year olds.

2. Miscellaneous jobs: All boys my age worked at one time or another hauling hay and that type of summer work. One of the more interesting jobs I had was cleaning bricks. A local man bought an old brick building and wanted to use the old bricks to build a new house. The bricks were caked with mortar that had to be cleaned off. The method used was nails driven through a 2 x 12 board and each cleaner was given a board. We would scrape the bricks across the bed of nails (horrible sound and felt like scratching a blackboard) in order to clean the bricks. We were paid by the brick (about one penny each) so you had to really work to make 50 cents an hour. This job helped after school and Saturdays to earn some extra money.

3. Turkey Catcher: In my teen years, many farms grew turkeys outdoors on the range. We were hired to catch two big Tom Turkeys at a time and hold them by their wing joints and present the breast area to the technicians who blood tested, vaccinated and gave each bird a pill for Cholera. These birds weighed twenty to twenty five pounds each. We also did the same for hens (much smaller) at a later time. This job was a lot of fun after a heavy rain when you had to tromp through mud and manure all day in the heat to do this job. Don't remember what we were paid but it was not enough.

4. One Hour Martinizing: I did janitorial work for a dry cleaner along with waiting on customers after school and even closing the store each evening. I was only around thirteen or fourteen when I received this job. One of the highlights is that a few evenings a week I got to work with older teenage girls. About this time my hormones were in high gear and I did everything possible to steal a kiss from these girls. They finally got tired of my antics and allowed me an occasional kiss, for which I am ever grateful. I think I made 70 cents per hour and worked there for a couple of years.

5. Farm laborer: I began working for Tyson Foods the summer of my sixteenth year. The first day was pretty cool in that we (my good friend Jim Shepherd) and I were allowed to ride horses and round of cattle for vaccination and other medical procedures. I thought we were in heaven. Reality set in a few days later though when we had to haul hay in the daytime. We were paid $1.10 an your as I recall with no overtime, so you really earned your money. Later our real job we were hired for began. We shoveled manure from research houses and worked for a colorful pair of guys. Our foreman was named Glen and his asst. Junior. These guys liked to drive to Tontitown every afternoon and buy some really cheap beer and wine. They would drink all afternoon while Jim and I worked. We shoveled all types of manure including liquid manure from caged layers (really great experience). We also did some fun jobs such as bush hogging various Tyson farms, drove trucks and had a variety of jobs that taught us both how to do many different types of farm work that helped us later in life as we both ended up working in the poultry business.

6. Newspaper proof boy: I began working at the local newspaper running proofs of ads out to all the advertisers to check for errors prior to publication. After the ad ran I would deliver tear sheets (copies of the ads) to the stores to post on windows etc. This was a great job as I got to drive my car (paid me mileage) and run around all over town. This was a lot of freedom and paid me pretty good for a Junior in high school. I kept this job until I graduated from high school.

7. Newspaper Ad Sales: After high school I began calling on customers for the newspapers and was paid a salary plus commission. I was pretty good at this and made some good money at the same time. I was making such good money at an early age that I really did not see any value in attending college. This of course was a mistake but it was my choice. I continued in the newspaper work for several years.

8. Director of Advertising/Sales Promotion for Sears Roebuck: I was hired by the big Sears store in the new Northwest Arkansas Mall to manage all the advertising/marketing for the store. This was a pretty good position. My boss was a guy named Ken Perkin and I owe him a debt of gratitude for teaching me all he did. I worked at this job for about five years when Sears started down sizing and doing away with our positions.

9. Farm Manager: I was hired with no experience to manage a primary breeder farm for Tyson. I owe this job to the fact that I had worked summers in high school for Tyson on the research farms and that my dad worked for Tyson. Dad was in charge of all hatcheries for Tyson, so this opened the door for my. I was twenty-five years old and suddenly managing a fourteen hundred acre farm with sixty chicken houses, a hatchery and about fifty hard nosed mountain folks. Most of the folks were related so when you made one made you had all of them mad at you. My boss was a guy named Ed Rice. Ed was probably the greatest boss I ever had. He would spend hours teaching me about poultry science, husbandry, genetics, how to manage people, etc. I actually became pretty good at this job after a year or so. After seven years I had peaked in this position and Leland Tollett the president of Tyson called with a new challenge.

10. Director of rendering: What in the world is rendering I wondered? I had never heard of this type of plant but Leland had a need for someone to manage this business for Tyson. Rendering is basically taking all the inedible parts of the chicken and cooking (removing water) and producing from this a pet food ingredient. Also we made a liquid fat for livestock feed and feather meal. The job really came down to this: You eat the best and we handled the rest. It was a dirty, stinking job but a highly profitable, capital intense business. It was the most challenging business I had ever been a part of. We had six small plants attached to processing plants. Over the next few years we closed the little plants and build one monster plant, located in Clarksville, Arkansas. I spent the next few years hiring managers, developing new managers and getting this plant built and operational. It is still operating today.

11. Director Tyson Animal Goods Group: This included the rendering business, fresh and frozen pet food ingredients, ingredients for hot dogs/specialty meat products, etc. Anything not a first line poultry product fell into our department. This job included a sales staff, operations, engineering, R&D. It was an integral part of the business at Tyson and I worked in this area until about 1996.

12. Owner/operator of True Value Hardware, Holiday Island, Arkansas: This was a job I always wanted to try. I wanted to work for myself and operate a going business. We build this new store from the ground up and started from scratch. We were doing pretty well the first few years but then 9/11 occurred and our business went into the tank. We lost all our savings in this business and it was a test that Sharon and I lived through but truly challenged us in our faith, etc. We came out with no assets but a much stronger marriage and and stronger faith and belief in God. We had many great experiences during this time that we will never forget.

13. Director of Business Development: I started over in the rendering business in 2003 with American Proteins. We located in Alabama where we stayed about sixteen months and transferred to our current home in Cumming, Georgia. I am in charge of all contracts with poultry companies for rendering services. It really is the job I was created for. I currently am unable to work due to my illness but it has been a great seven years I have spent with the folks at API. I was truly taken in and they have taken care of us. I have learned more about our business than at any time in my career.

I thank God for all the experiences I had in my lifetime. For the great people I came to know I will be forever grateful. Our work is important as it provides for our families but it also brings us into contact with many great people who help us to become who we are. We should value the jobs we have and the people we work with. Hope this was not too boring to the readers today.

Doug

The Next Chapter

It has been months since my last blog. I lost interest and became busy with other activities. Now it seems I have a new reason to share my thoughts with you. My wife Sharon and I began seeking a diagnosis for a medical problem I was experiencing in April and May. Finally after many weeks we discovered that I have lung cancer and according to my Doctor it is not curable. That will take the wind out of your sails and turn your life upside down. I will try to tell our story below and where we are today.

A few weeks ago we were given the news by our Doctor and you wonder how you will react? Sharon and I had that peace that passes all understanding encompass us in that office and we walked out together with a purpose to live for. The first thing I wanted to do was visit the local Barnes and Noble and buy a new Bible for this next chapter in our lives. My favorite Bible has been with me for over thirty years and is worn, coffee and tear stained and written in to the point that it can be difficult to read. I chose a Max Lucado study Bible that is broken down with daily readings and study notes. The very first day I began to read this Bible was July 10th. That day's reading included 1 Chronicles 16:12. This verse says "In the thirty-ninth year of his rule, Asa got a disease in his feet. Though this disease was very bad, he did not ask for help from the Lord, but only from the doctors. Then Asa died in the forty-first year of his rule." As has happened many times to me over the years I was blown away by this message from God. Of course Sharon and I and our friends visited with the Lord long before we talked with the doctors. We continue to seek His wisdom in all things and we know that our situation is in His hands.

I want to say that this trusting in God happened long before my cancer. I made up my mind many years ago that no matter what the situation I would trust God. This give us much comfort for what lies ahead. I will tell you that a million questions go through your mind as the news sinks in. The unknown can be scary, but I really wonder what I would do without the Lord Jesus sitting beside me holding me up. That would be very scary to face this situation without His strength.

I am very early in this journey and I know that unless the Lord intervenes there are some tough days ahead for us. Where I am trying to get to is the place where I value each and every day and utilize each day to it's fullest. The physical limitations are there but I am praying for strength to overcome these.

There are always more people to thank for help and you don't want to leave any out, but I especially want to thank Sharon for standing by me and also my family for always being there. Our friends at Church have been wonderful and we don't know how we would have made it without them. Finally the folks I work with have been there for us and we thank you and want you to know that we love you very much. As strength allows I will try to update this blog with any new thoughts or insights.

A Century Turns

Hello to my friends. Once again my busy life has consumed much of my free time. I have been blessed with two trips with customers on a quail hunt in South Georgia. Hunting quail in a southern pine Forest is a wonderful experience. The beauty of massive oaks draped in Spanish moss is something you don't see every day. In the midst of this traveling I completed reading a new book by William (Bill) Bennett, titled "A Century Turns".

This book is a true history book. While I must admit that I don't spend a lot of time delving in historical writing. This book however is a history of our country through the Bush One presidency all the way to our present leader Barrack Obama. I truly can say that each day I looked forward to my time with this book. I learned many things about the nineties that slipped by me when I was living during this time. Each presidency was analyzed with insights that few of us have the opportunity to hear during the actual time in which they take place.

I learned that I truly liked the Bush One presidency far more than I realized. President Bush made decisions that were right for our country and for this he was relegated to only one term. I also learned that Bush Two was not quite the man his father was. Perhaps it was the situations that he found himself in that caused some decisions that were not the best for the country. Each President during the nineties and the turn of the century are looked at from a historical perspective. It is also interesting how decisions made in early 2000 to 2008 will affect each of us for years to come.

I felt that Bennett writes from an unbiased viewpoint and really tells the story of a twenty year period of turmoil, terrorist attacks, economic disaster, social ills and all the good bad and ugly of our country during this time. His book will be used as a source of history recorded during these turbulent years. He also tells of where we are today and the challenges we face.

Did the book encourage me as an American for the days that lie ahead? I am not sure as I write this review that I know the answer to this question. He did help me understand how some decisions, good and bad are made during times of crisis. Mr. Bennett served during the Reagan and Bush One presidencies and has enjoyed a seat near great men who served our country. He writes from a perspective that few have experienced.

I think anyone that will take the time to read this book will walk away with a better understanding of where we have been as a country and where we are heading. I think that any serious student of history should read this book and even the person with a casual interest will find this book rewarding and enlightening. It is well worth the time spent and the person will be rewarded with much knowledge of our history and the future.

A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

I just finished a new book by Donald Miller. The title is "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years." The author said this book is about what he learned while editing his life. The book describes a situation where a company was making a movie about the author's life. The author realized early on that his life was not worthy of writing a book about or making a movie. He realized luckily at a young age (mid-thirties) that he was not writing a very good story about his life. He did something about it and began to take on various challenges, such as climbing mountains in Peru and riding cross country from Los Angeles to the East Coast ( a two month bide ride). He also begain his greatest work....starting a mentoring program for fatherless children.

Miller points out that we all have a story to tell. Some are exciting some rather bland. He describes in the book that "a story is a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it." He goes on to say "if I have a hope, it's that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically into the story, and put us with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say enjoy your place in my story. The beauty of it means you matter, and you can create within it even as I have created you.

This book is not an action packed adventure, but a man pouring out his heart about his place in this life and the story his life will tell. Yet I found myself unable to put the book down. I read this book in a few nights and know that I must reread it for all the nuggets hidden in it's pages. While this is the first book I have read by this author I know that I will read his other works.

Now to my problem with applying this book. The author as stated is in his mid to late thirties. I am in my late fifties. Am I too late to edit my story and make it an exciting life? I believe that God writes a story for each of us. The question is do we live the story? Or do we live aimless lives, rolling with the flow and taking life as it comes? Can we make our latter years more exciting than our early years? My faith tells me that we can start where we are, today. We can make the most of the time God has given us.

I can say unequivocally.....buy this book....buy it today. It will change your outlook. It will change your life. I believe with all my heart that God ordains books such as this in the hopes that His children will live their stories as he wrote them. It is never too late to start. Today is the first day of the rest of your lives. Again the book is titled....A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller.

A Boring Life??

Dear friends,

It has been many days since my last post and for this I apologize. It seems that things were so busy for a while that I got out of the habit of writing on a regular basis. I also began thinking that nothing really significant was going on in my life, so why bother with taking your time to read rambling from a boring life. I sat back today and realized that I really have been lazy. It is easier to sit in front of the tube than to share with friends via my blog. I also realized that I have in fact had a rather eventful life for the past 30 days. I will try to recap my life and forgive me if I get a date wrong, etc.

December 22nd: Drove straight through from Cumming, GA to Dallas, Tx to spend the holidays with my family.

December 24th: Witnessed the first white Christmas in Dallas since 1910.

December 25th: Enjoyed Christmas with my daughter and her family. My first Christmas with our newest "Baby Mary".

December 25th: Drove part way to Oklahoma City in slush, ice and snow. We spent the night in Gainesville, Tx. and enjoyed IHOP for dinner. I realized that I had eaten breakfast three meals in a row.

December 26th: Arrived in Oklahoma City. OKC had an all time record snowfall 14". My son's driveway had 4 to 5 ft. snow drifts. Temps were in the teens for a high. We celebrated a late Christmas with my son and his wife Jama and daughters Avery and Reagan. It was a time of joy. My daughter Holly and husband Mike and daughters Mary, Anna and Ellie joined us. It is a rare treat when all my kids and grandchildren are together at one time.

December 27th: My power window became inoperable (in the open position) while paying a toll at the toll booth. Drove around OKC in frigid weather with the windows open.

December 28th: Spent the day trying to get the window fixed. I finally was successful.

December 29th: My sons car had recently been pushing snow during the blizzard and lost a serpentine belt. To get to the belt the bumper had to be removed as well as a front tire and wheel. This was all done in cold temps. We finally decided we did not have the tools to do the job and had to reassemble the bumper and wheel and called a wrecker and paid a mechanic to fix the problem.

December 29th continued: My son's sink stopped up. We crawled on the roof and tried to unstop the vent, then tried to unstop the drain outside (in frigid weather). My son's father-in-law joined the fun and we disassembled the sink trap and unplugged one drain. In the process we broke a compression ring. Luckily there was a spare in the garage. We put it all back together and discovered the same problem with the other sink. Again we broke the compression ring...this time no spare. Drove 25 mile round trip and bought several compression rings and we cleaned the drain, reassembled and all worked well.

December 29th Continued: Celebrated my wife's 60th birthday and daughter-in-law Jama's (not sure how many) birthday at a great restaurant in OKC.

December 30th: during the evening I contracted a stomach virus. We had two rooms at the Hampton Inn in OKC (long story why we had two rooms). My wife and granddaughters were thankfully in one room and I was in the other. I spent six hours on the throne with a trash can in my hands (and read a good book in the midst of this problem). I don't need to describe what was going on but it was not a pleasant experience.

December 31st: We left for Springdale, Arkansas with clear roads to visit my dad and his wife. It was an uneventful trip. We had a nice dinner with dad and my brother and a nice visit with Dad and his wife. We spent the night in the Hampton Inn and were both asleep well before the new year.

January 1st, 2010: We celebrated the new year by driving straight through to our home in Cumming, GA. This was about 800 miles.

January 2nd/3rd: We crashed to get over the trip. Watched a few ballgames and slept.

January 4th: Back to work in order to get some rest and of course to get caught up on projects after being off for two weeks.

January 7th: Off on a deer hunting trip with customers in South Alabama. Up every morning at 4:30 and to bed at 10:00 PM. No deer were present on the 7th or the morning of the 8th.

January 8th: Shot the largest deer in my life. 11 Point buck. The deer had a lot of character. The rack told stories about the battles this buck endured to reach a ripe old age. I actually dreamed the night before about this deer coming out of the woods. The reality was exactly like the dream. I felt a spiritual connection with this animal. It took a couple of hours to regain my composure after taking the deer.

January 9th: Back home again

February 3rd-4th: Preparing to go on an annual Quail Hunt.

Other than all these events it has been kind of boring. Sometimes we need to sit back and think about our lives and how really full they can be. It is a shame that we neglect to tell our stories.

A Real Hero

It is not often that I follow a story in the Atlanta paper. I usually get mad when I read the slanted news and editorials, but the AJC recently ran a two part series that captivated my attention and Michael Carvell did an outstanding job in his story. The story is about a small town football coach and his struggle with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). The story is lengthy so my small blog will not permit telling all the details but I will try to summarize as best I can.

Jeremy Williams is the 38 year old coach of Greenville, Georgia High School. The town of Greenville is about 90 miles southwest of Atlanta and has a population of 946. The coach married his high school sweetheart and has two children, an eight year old daughter and a six year old son. His son was born with spina bifida and just last week underwent surgery on both legs. This coach not only faces a tough future with his disease but as any parent knows a real fear for his son who faces years of treatment.

Coach Williams received a last minute scholarship offer from the University of Memphis and started his freshman year as the 5th string safety. By the time the season was to begin he had moved up to second string and right before the opening game the starting safety was injured and he was elevated to the starting position. He never missed starting a game for his entire four year career. I think it is very clear that this man is a fighter and he has instilled that same never give up attitude in his players at Greenville High.

The coach is a devout believer and he stated in the article that he knows that in Christ he will someday be cured. I don't think he is speaking of a miracle cure in this life but a complete healing when he is in the arms of Jesus. He has become so weak that he must ride a golf cart to the field and his voice is so low that an assistant has to repeat plays to the team. The players have the utmost respect and belief in their leader and their play this year illustrates this. The team was 10-0 before the playoffs and recorded five shutouts. The first playoff game was a 26-0 win over Pelham High School. The coach could have wallowed in the prognosis of his disease but instead has chosen to coach his team and lead his family for as long as he can.

I would love to write the ending to this season with a state championship but that is not for us to decide. The players will play the games with all their hearts and win or lose they will be champions following a coach who is a true champion of men. I think of those that we put on pedestals and commemorate as heroes and I can't help but think that this coach of a small town high school in Georgia is a true hero, the truest of heroes. He may receive little renown outside of Georgia, but he is well known by his savior for whom he lives. He is a true hero to his wife and his two small children. He is a true hero to a group of players who have watched their coach in his struggles and they know that he has never given up. I think those players, win or lose will never give up. They play in the second round of the playoffs this week and I hope you will join me in a prayer for strength for the coach and success for his players. I will keep you posted on how they do the rest of the year. I would like to thank the author of the story as most of this information came from his article. You can google coach Jeremy Williams of Greenville, Georgia and get a link to the AJC article.

My President

I have about had enough. I lived through the last presidential campaign where the "anointed one" ran against GW Bush. I lived through co workers continuously slamming my president. I lived through the quasi media elite making fun of my president. I will admit that he is not nearly as eloquent as the "anointed one" but I felt that when he looked you in the eye he was speaking his heart and he was speaking the truth. He was attacked because he did not hide his faith behind some political ideology. He was who he was and that's all that he was. You know, he did make some mistakes and I did not always agree with all he did but I will never forget that when the twin towers fell and we were under attack I had the utmost respect for him and his ability during this crucial time. I will never forget his greatest speech. He spoke from the national cathedral and gave me hope during the darkest days that I had ever experienced as an American. He has conducted himself with dignity since leaving the presidency and I can say that the First Lady, Laura Bush has been a class act both during her time in the White House and since.

I loved the man and I loved what he stood for. I heard daily in my office the slurs, the verbal attacks on the man and his character. I did not always stand up for his as I should have but I think most would agree that if we ever experience (hopefully we will not) another situation such as 9-11 that we will all be wishing that George W. Bush was still around. He truly had a deep faith in God (not so sure about the anointed one) and while he did not push his beliefs on others, you knew where he stood.

I write this today because of an article that my daughter sent me. I have attached this article and I urge you to read it. The article was written by a gay rights activist who truly says what needs to be said. I was truly touched by the authenticity of the writing. One might think that the activist is upset by the lack of progress he is experiencing under the Obama presidency but I think it goes much deeper than this. I urge you to read it in it's entirety and you will see why I was impacted by this statement from a most unlikely source. This story includes an account of a visit that the former President and First Lady made to the families at Ft. Hood.

I close by saying that I hope with all my heart that our President will come to understand the gravity of his decisions and his actions. My fear is that he is controlled by others who may not have the best interests of the American people. Go to the link below and read this amazing article.

http://hillbuzz.org/2009/11/10/thank-you-former-president-george-w-bush-and-former-first-lady-laura-bush/