Author Archives: normdave

My father-in-law built this house for his little tomato plants to live in.I am really surprised that Norm has not named each plant.

“I was a young man with uninformed ideas. I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything; and to my astonishment the ideas took like wildfire. People made a religion of them.”  Charles Darwin writing about the religion of Darwinism

My beautiful Norm built this cruiser for me to enjoy here in the desert.

  After looking at this photo, I can’t believe we actually worked off this scaffold. It turned out to be a stable platform, better in use than at looks. All these shingles have wrecked havoc on my back!

Merle is trying to figure out how Norm could get so much paint on her! In the background is the trim job that her and Martin did. Yesterday the three of us installed those windows, after Merle showed us how. This is the front of the church. Merle had to work on the entry floorContinue reading “Back to Building…”

  Leo has a great time in the desert. Here he is trying to decorate a saguaro with old oranges. He has one in mid-flight! The kid has a pretty good arm. All of our children have been here the last few days and we have been making the most of it. The weather hasContinue reading “Fun with Family…”

WHEREAS it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favour; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United StatesContinue reading “Happy Thanksgiving…”

“Mrs. Boss,” Jene, Merle’s better half, is the real deal. She has us praying and singing, keeps us fed, and laughing as she picks on Merle. Here is Norm, trying to get in with the “Boss.”

I think this is Mr. Mim, but I could be wrong. We also refer to him as the “Watermelon Man” as he always brings us some. Martin and I work to remove the outside brace. Martin climbed up so we could high five our success. We took a break for lunch. Our work up toContinue reading “From a few days ago…”

Mr. Lee, has been a blast getting to know. His life story sounds like it should be in a best seller.

  Usually when I climb a rope is attached to me. Instead I have the ropes tied to our tresses. The project so far.    

My art work just turned out to be a twist of the saw that I never planned on. Norm thought she would do some construction art work and modify the window opening. Here is Norm giving advice to Jene on how to use chop sticks to eat with. I wondered if Norm’s instruction and techniqueContinue reading “Church Building…”

Norm and I had to take time to clean up, the weather being so nice. I think this is Pastor Simon’s father-in-law working ahead of us as we were nailing up the siding. I wish I could squat like that. Merle likes to move into his work site and have a short commute. You justContinue reading “Construction Update…”

Merle’s tool trailer has everything a guy would need and then some.

Norm and my Mom doing something that they both like to do, shop. I complained about shopping and they both yelled “Just do it!” We got Mom some candy, a Starbucks cozy, a trip to the outlet mall and dinner at the Mellow Mushroom.

Stocker, on the left and Tucker were the first two to work with us on the sponge board. Norm had to check out the rides before any kids got on. “Safety first” she yelled. My Mom and my In-Laws helped make over 1000 hot dogs! Pastor Dean with some of our youth group.

“When I am weak then am I strong, Grace is my shield and Christ my song.”   Charles Spurgeon

Norm made friends with this high school gal and her grandma. This young lady had a clothing booth behind mine. Things were slow, so she modeled this hat for us. My booth.

There was no rest for the ‘roping dummy’ as kids of all age roped him without mercy. Sunrise on Friday morning.We worked in the food booths this past weekend and had a blast.

“In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide….It is alleged by men of loose principles, or defective views of the subject, that religion and morality are not necessary or important qualifications for political stations. But the Scriptures teach a different doctrine. They direct that rulers should be men who rule in the fearContinue reading “Voting Guide…”

I don’t want to call us professionals, but we have quite a few dog-sitting gigs under our belts. This was the cruel and unusual conditions we had to tolerate recently at our daughter Julie’s residence. Other than a few things on a ‘Mom and Dad to-do list” and feeding these hounds, we lounged around enjoying things weContinue reading “Dog-Sitting…”

  A.A. Hodge (July 18, 1823-November 11, 1886) an American author, lecturer, and theologian at Princeton University stated, “A Christian is just as much under the obligation to obey God’s will in the most secular of his daily business as he is in his closet or at the communion table. He has no right to separateContinue reading “He is Lord over all…”

On most Sunday’s this is where we can be found, awaiting the recreation time for our AWANA’s program. Norm is now working with the puggles group so I have to rely on my friend Thomas (on the left) to keep me in line.

Norm is showing off her latest creation! Norm’s Dad is on her right and Bill, her neighbor is to her left.

Nail polish and chain saws, just don’t seem to go together.

Our grandson Leo, is a Cubbie! Leo is working at his Grandfather’s rope factory in Kiowa Kansas. It is never too early to get that good work ethic into kids. From this shot it is obvious that he gets his good looks from this grandfather. He is a flashy dresser thanks to his grandparents inContinue reading “Leo…”

We drove from Yuma to Pinetop or from near sea level to above 7,000 feet elevation in around 8 hours. The temperature here in the daytime is not as warm as the over night low in Yuma. From ficus to pines, I am getting ready to scramble up this tree. I climbed above my topContinue reading “From Ficus trees to Pine trees…”

This is where we called home for the last 10 days in Yuma. The house belonged to Morningside Baptist Church and they were all so great to us. If you find yourself in Yuma, this church is a good place to worship. Our last tree to cut on. Norm is trimming some low branches whileContinue reading “Our last job…”

http://www.yumasun.com/sections/article/gallery/?pic=1&id=64471 Here is a newspaper article about our team.

This was one gnarly tree to cut. Martin and I got the ‘Big Boy’ Stihl 660 chain saw with a 36 inch bar to whack it up. Using this saw is like wrestling with a gorilla! Here is Martin and his wife Betty sharpening a chain. Betty has been a real trooper and jumped intoContinue reading “There is always a tree to cut…”

This house belonged to an 87 year young lady. She told me she woke up one day and was 87! The before and after shots are quite dramatic. We tried to get the next door neighbor to sign a release form so we could go on his property and remove his trees also, but weContinue reading “Yuma, still cutting…”

I have failed to mention that the city of Yuma Fire Department has given us lunch everyday we have been here and also have provided us with back up chain saws and repair help. We even got home made cookies delivered to our work site this morning (thanks Kayla). Kneeling in front is Martin onContinue reading “Yuma, day 6…”

Like I said, the pucker factor was real high, so I really am more comfortable sitting there and cutting. It looks like I am all tied up in my work. We could not figure out how to drop some large limbs without crushing this chicken coop, so we used a dolly and moved it. MarkContinue reading “One Big Tree, part 2…”

This is the biggest job I have ever had to climb without Chris and the pucker factor was real high! The final product, cut as far down as we could. Here is how we accomplished the removal. Mark is on the right and Les is to the left. Mark is good with a saw andContinue reading “One Big Tree, for me…”

This is Chris, our fearless leader. We refer to Chris, with all affection, as “The Tree Whisperer.” As you can see from this photo, an expert rope climber and rigger along with the ability to use a chain saw with surgical procession. The photo below, is well, the exact opposite. “Uh, which way does theContinue reading “Yuma, day 5…”

We started Monday looking over about 15 tree jobs in Yuma from a storm they suffered in August. Talk about being timely! No one knows that the Southern Baptist Disaster Relief teams in Arizona have the capability to remove and cut large trees with surgical procession. As you can see in these before and afterContinue reading “Disaster Relief work in Yuma Arizona…”

Have you ever said something a while back and then kind of forgot about it or thought that since no one took you up on your offer, it was probably for the best because if you did do it, you would stink it up? Well this happened to me a few weeks ago. Norm andContinue reading “I said I would do what???”

A few years back, Norm and I thought we were finished working with youth. We did that and were really looking forward to working with seniors (old people), the normal progression, we figured. Of course, we did all this planning without consulting the Lord. He had other things in mind and here we are workingContinue reading “Our Youth Group…”

This is a former climbing rope. We have had this rope for quite some time now. I was sitting in the climbing office at Devil’s Tower a few years back when Michael, one of our climbing rangers, asked if I wanted to go with him and find an abandoned rope that some visitor reported? “You bet!”Continue reading “Norm is so crafty…”

Camp site # 14 in Flagstaff Arizona. We had a great time walking around down town and swallowed down some good grub. This is the burn area where we worked in July helping clean up. We took the time to drive through some of the harder hit areas. Some houses showed dramatic improvement and sadly,Continue reading “And just like that, it was over…”

This random plant was growing in the middle of no where, with nothing else around it. After completing our last hike, we were driving back to camp and Norm looked to her right and asked me ‘Is that someone on top of that truck?’ and of course I agreed with her. It turned out toContinue reading “Our last day in Goblin Valley…”

Many people wonder how we can stay in the cargo trailer. As you can see, it is very cosy. There is a place for everything. This looking in through the two rear doors. I tell everyone that it is a work in progress. It may look like chaos and cluttered, but we had a goodContinue reading “Random Items…”

We do not know for sure, but someone told us that the movie “Galaxy Quest” was filmed on location here. After this much thinking, studying, and contemplating, I should be much wiser.

It almost seemed that we had to hike through tight spaces on every hike. This is really down in the drainage on the trail to goblin valley. This was our last hike, so we sat on a big rock with a big drop off, basking in the Sun.

I think I was looking for something to eat. If we look like we are having a good time, your right! These goblins were so much fun, Norm could not help pointing out how the goblins all looked like some item or animal. This goblin looked just like a throne. So, my Queen took herContinue reading “Goblin Valley…”

A lot of people are curious about what we eat while travelling. Some people think we eat at restaurants all the time. Nothing could be further from the truth, as you can see. We cooked our own meals for almost three weeks before giving in to one of Ray’ s burgers. I think we pickedContinue reading “Camp food…”

This looks strange in the photograph, but it is solid rock we found in the canyon.

This is a lot higher than it looks, and deep also. We had to climb over with some effort.

If you look real close, you can see Norm has to put one foot in front of the other. Stepping wise, this is the narrowest part of the canyon. Self portrait. As you travel through the canyon, you come in and out of the slots, with some few wide areas. You are still surrounded byContinue reading “Little Wildhorse part 3…”

When there were no big rocks to climb over, the trail was good gravel. Yikes! You can never be sure who you might run into in these canyons.

Norm spent much of her time saying ‘Wow’ and laughing. It was an incredible experience that we will never forget. It made for a long day, about 8 miles round trip (loop). We liked the first canyon so much, we hiked it twice. Norm is way up near the front of the shot. The LordContinue reading “Little Wildhorse and Bell Canyons…”

Campsite#12 proved to be quite expensive. We had to pay top dollar for a site, nine dollars to wash the truck and trailer (okay, it was really a rinse, I hate to pay), $9.50 to do laundry and two hours of our time cleaning the inside of the trailer and every piece of equipment weContinue reading “Green River Utah…”

Our experience with this drive was not good. We could not recommend this unless you like bumpy, very dusty conditions. Campsite #11, somewhere in the seventy mile stretch of road that is Nine Mile Canyon. Must be some sort of new math? We loved our spot till Norm had to spoil it by pointing outContinue reading “Nine Mile Canyon, Utah…”

This is the remains of a chicken coop that belonged to a lady named Josie that lived on or near the monument for more than 50 years. No modern conveniences, she canned her veggies and killed her own beef and wildlife. The cabin still remains and there is one color photograph of her sitting atContinue reading “Dino # 5 and Jenson Utah…”