Time WILL Tell

My Back Yard Series                                                          Thinking Tree                                                         c-2012

Time Will Tell

I had an opportunity to meet with some folks yesterday to go over their planned project and it was a very positive exchange. It’s a small residential project but has tremendous potential and I have been stoked about it since I first field measured the place earlier in the month. Owners travel a lot and have multiple plates spinning constantly, so it’s taken quite a bit of time to coordinate a meeting. Of course this presented challenges for me because all of my “thoughts” for the place were in place before I packed up my lasers, camera and tape measurers many weeks ago, but that’s my problem and I was happy we met.   In the interim I was able to get all the as-builts done and move the ConDocs forward so even if a change was made yesterday it would be just a matter of adjusting and keep moving forward. Fortunately they too are stoked, so we’re moving forward with full steam.

It’s a cool older home with like most in the development. Houston still has no zoning codes so it is not unusual to have a 30 story hi-rise next to a 50’s ranch, literally. Fortunately this neighborhood was well planned early enough that it is indeed fully residential and is one of the areas I ride through on bike ride #2. There are some challenges in the home which are to be expected but none as critical as the exterior siding. ASBESTOS, yep………ugh. “Hazardous Waste” no matter how you cut it and unfortunately I have to cuts some of it away for the planned work. It’s manageable and fortunately I have been dealing with this stuff long enough that I can easily skip through the hoops and will be tested on this soon.

As I looked again at the siding I thought to myself that this was “State of the Art” material “back in the day”. Fireproof, Weather Proof, Easily cut….etc….Of course now we know that it a major contributor to all kinds of cancers and frankly is a mess. Of course that got me thinking about many of the other “State of the Art” fads and crazes folks (me too) get hooked into. I used to have a LORAN on my boat – Military Grade “State of the Art”……could not give it away once GPS became available. I had rooms of Drafting Tables and “Drawing Instruments” that I also could not give away once CADD became the norm, Then I thought about “Wonder Drugs” but that bummed me out too quickly, then Diet Fads, Safe Cars, Airplanes, Space Shuttles, (Fashion does not count because you KNOW going in that IT is going out)  …..and on and on……………Time WILL Tell how much VALUE anything has………..and most times you won’t even have to wait until ..”the end of the day”………..In YOUR lifetime you WILL know, guaranteed.

I finished up really early with the meeting and went over to the yoga studio to sit on my bench and make my meeting minutes and outline my specs for the work that I planned later in the evening. As I sat and wrote I watched my bird buddies frolic in the communal o-furo next to the gutter; they were having a blast. As I watched I spied a older gent with a little white puffy dog (breed?) and a boy of about 10 walking out of the far buildings and through the parking lot. They were deep in conversation as they turned right and soon left my sight. I continued to write my notes and sketch some structural details I would later plug into CADD and said a quick thank you to the talent gods that I learned how to do this early on as most graduates today would need and electronic appendage to do what I was doing with a #2HB and a notebook.

I head soft voices coming from my blind spot on my left and as they got louder I heard bits and pieces of a conversation which soon became very clear as the three-some from across the street made their circle back in front of me. “Well, they don’t believe in Saints or Mother Mary or many other things we hold true as part of our religion” The (assuming) Grandpa was explaining to the (assuming II) grandson. The young boy was nodding and the “grandpa” continued to explain other things as they continued past until such a point that I could no longer so or hear them. “Good Catholics” I said to myself as I returned to my bird watching. “Bravo to Grandpa too”…………..”And the Grandson too”………..”shoot, and to the puffy dog too for that matter”. “What a pleasant and informative stroll they just had. Yes, Bravo Indeed !”

I cranked until the wee hours on the project and picked it up again early this AM to get it out the door ASAP. I broke for church and yoga and had good experiences at both venues. I was sandwiched in between two of my favorite regulars, one of whom you may remember in that she sings her heart out in her own personal key and the other dances with similar enthusiasm. I was definitely “vibrating” on my way home from there. Yoga was a later class and it was pretty full. Then later, I had a chance to catch up with a fellow yogi I miss because of schedule conflicts and that was a really unexpected perq. We discussed a myriad of topics that all centered around gratitude on varying levels. I like those kinds of conversations.

Well, I’ve been working on the project for quite some time and just wanted to take a break to use another part of my brain before I “get back to it” throughout the night. It feels really good to doing work I enjoy , particularly for folks who also enjoy it. Sometimes I get really bogged down trying to figure out why these “slow periods” come and why they always cause angst? Things always work out just fine and history has shown this to be the case time after time………..Time HAS Told Me This already, and for what ever reason the "reception" seems so much clearer today.