Gone Fishin'

When my daughters convinced me to start this blog last year in March I really didn't think I had much to say. Ahhhhhhhh....that was 90 posts ago! So, we've solved the problem of 'what do I say' to all of you loyal readers. But I have grown envious of these college kids that have the summer off. With creativity waning as I look longingly out the window, I've decided to take a little sabbatical myself. 

Through the summer I will only be writing when something really important happens, or when I really have something to say. Otherwise, 'I've gone fishin!' (Not really - I plan on being right here!) Actually, a dear friend has encouraged me to write a book about the building process as sort of a "self-help" manual for all of you that might want to have something built one of these days. I'm about a chapter deep already - and wondering again what I really have to say!

Let me leave you for a while with a few pictures of comfortable spaces outside. That oughta cool you off!

Ain't Grandkids Fun!

Our oldest Grandchild turned three the other day. Being a grandparent may be one of the few "under-rated" experiences in life! We had a family blowout, and she had a blast!

Shelby and Jake's little girl reveled in all of the attention. The gifts were pretty good too! Of course Dolly and Shelby couldn't do anything just halfway, so our house morphed into one really good party!

The hit of the party was big girl's make-up, also know around here as "puff-puff." As you can see the puff-puff takes immediate precedence over the new shower cap!

Ahhhhhh, now we're all dressed up and ready to go! Just like Mommy, Mama Sissy, and Dolly we've got our make-up on and we are ready to step out on the town!

Let's stop and have some Birthday cake and dessert first - need to build up our stamina for tomorrow's shopping!

God's Infinite Design!

The arguement over "Intelligent Design" has always amused me. Evolutionists constantly fight with Creationists over whether or not God created the universe. It's always seemed to me that it takes a lot more faith to believe in a Big Bang that created you and me, as opposed to what they are now calling "Intelligent Design!" Someone once said that the Big Bang takes about as much faith as believing that the local junkyard will, completely unaided, assemble and yield a 747! I mean, do you really buy the story that man really started millions of years ago as a one-celled protoplasm and evolved out of the mud? Wouldn't that have all of us craving Mud Pie?

Last week I was watching a National Geographic show on The Oceans with my granddaughter McCall, and her Momma (my daughter!). We were wowed by the sea life and organisms that scientists were just now discovering. Strange species never before seen! Totally mesmerized, Shelby turned to me and said 'look at all the wonderful variations God has created! Why have we never seen or known about these creatures?' Ahhhhhhh...good question! The best I could offer in response was that humans with finite minds could not begin to comprehend the infinite mind of God! With an infinite mind, the variations are endless!

That got me to thinking about "Intelligent Design" versus "Infinite Design." Intelligent design implies a finite creative ability. Infinite design is - well, infinite! Endless. Timeless. Infinitely creative... Totally beyond our comprehension. Kinda like the universe. A finite mind can't wrap itself around  the idea of Creation, so it justifies our existence through a Big Bang. But where did the gases for the Big Bang come from? 


If we think we have seen all of God's handiwork and stumble across stuff like this, well maybe we haven't seen everything He has to offer! I'm betting on Infinite Design!

Possible Dreams!

Picasso - Photo courtesy of Bill Hurst Photography

In previous posts I have mentioned a whole host of people that have unselfishly given of their time, talents and resources to make "Small Houses of Great Artists" a reality out in the gardens of the Dallas Arboretum. When my business partner, Phillip McCloud - who has done the lion's share of the building, realized that we really  had way too much construction for either his driveway or the rented storage unit, Stan Goodell of Goodell properties in Celina stepped up with free warehouse space! Time and again our vendors and craftsmen (have I mentioned recently that we have the greatest vendors and craftsmen IN THE WORLD?) have come through with incredible products and efforts to help us build something really special for all the kids that visit the Arboretum!

Seurat's House - Courtesy of Bill Hurst Photography

Mona Crider and Company work their magic!

We are nearing completion now and our "thank you" to all who have helped make this possible seems woefully inadaquate! From the lumber yards that chipped in materials (Foxworth-Galbreath; Davis-Hawn Lumber; and Associated Truss); to those who have made it really special (Roof, Tile and Slate donated slate for Seurat House; Beach Sheetmetal donated the beautiful copper roof vent!; Lynn Watkins of Watkins Ornamental Ironworks created the steel support crown for Picasso; and Mona Crider and the talented artists of La Foofaraw that did the artwork), everyone has been so giving - and worked soooo hard! But it really shows.....

How could we forget the guys that came up with the designs in the first place? Robbie Fusch created Monet; Wilson Fuqua dreamed up Picasso; Paul Turney did Seurat; and Clint Pearson took on Georgia O'Keeffe! All marvelous - all extremely well built on a very, very limited budget. Which one's the BEST? You tell me!

Managed Expectations

For a destination wedding, every food station has a theme!

Everyone paints pictures in their mind. We all walk into situations thinking and wondering who will be there; what will they be wearing; am I wearing the right thing; what will he/she say; will the situation meet my expectations? Rarely does anyone just flop into a new scenario without a set of expectations. We all have hopes and desires that we wish will happen. 

Austria in July will be the site of the nuptials. 

I'm in Monroe, Louisiana getting ready to attend my nephews Engagement Party. We expect an incredible soiree -  eighty-three hosts and hostesses will entertain two shifts of probably a thousand guests as we celebrate Mac and Brittney's engagement! But what will it be like? Will the country club be magnificently decorated? Who will be there that I know? On a limited diet, will the food be anything I can eat? Will there be a band and dancing? Is it possible that I will be put in a situation where I will say/do something stupid (like call someone by the wrong name, or forget a spouse's death!)? Any number of expectations surround an event - will we be elated with the outcome, or downright disappointed?

The greater the number of participants in any given event, the less likely you are to be able to satisfy all the attendant expectations. Try though you may to manage all of the expectations of all of the participants, it just "ain't" going to happen! Strong communications with your target audience can improve the odds of success, but still someone is going to be disappointed. 

On a much smaller, yet no less important scale, that is exactly what we are doing when we build someone's home. Our client comes into the process with a set of expectations of what their home is going to look like; how rooms and areas are going to function; what the space is going to do for their family; even how we as Builders are going to perform. Our job is to efficiently communicate, while listening, to try to understand those expectations so we can manage them as tightly as possible. A well organized, and thoroughly thought out plan for trying to understand the pictures painted in the client's mind goes a long way towards minimizing expectation risk.

This is where "under promise, and over deliver" comes into play! In just the last post I was cranking about those Builders who were "over promising, and under delivering." Sure they get the contract signed by over promising, but they have set themselves up for complete mismanagement of their client's expectations. And the clients end up furious! The Builder probably doesn't care...after all, he/she beat out all the other guys and got the contract signed (though with a pack of lies!)!

All eighty-three hosts and hostesses would be delighted to know that Brittney and Mac's Engagement Party wildly exceeded our expectations! But that is the way in Monroe - quietly, and humbly "under promise" a wonderful evening of sending the future Bride and Groom off in style, then "OVER DELIVER" with an event that even the New York debutante circuit would be very proud of! I suppose that's the town's way of "managing expectations!"

Monroe photographs courtesy of Mary Dawson Photography

"Hindsight is 20/20"

"Would-a, Should-a, Could-a!" How many times have you looked backwards in life to realize that things today would really be different if I "Would-a, or Should-a, or Could-a" only handled a situation in a manner other than the way it was handled? Is the economy affording us too much time to re-examine issues long since put to bed, only to pine away for an outcome that might have us in a different position today? It certainly has for me!

Not operating at full capacity and having excessive time on our hands, we tend to re-play life situations under the microscope. I have found myself recently looking back at project interviews dissecting and micro-analyzing every phrase that was uttered, trying to understand if we said or did anything to "spook" the deal.  I continually find that my business partner and I are consistently plainspoken - simply espousing the plain unvarnished truth, and sharing how our skill set might help the intended project. We haven't over promised anything! Yet it seems our competition largely cannot make the same claim....

"Desperate people do desperate things!" We live in a world where a lot of people find it acceptable to say or do whatever is necessary to get a signed contract. 'Why not' they reason - once the contract is signed it's very hard to get out of it! And it is! Common is the conversation where we hear damaged homeowners describe Contractors who have over promised and under delivered!

I like to live in the world of "no regrets." That is to say simply that I want my decisions to always reflect my position of never regretting my actions or speech. Doesn't alway happen that way, but the majority of the time I am left with the feeling that I did the right thing. My benchmark is quite simple - did I say or do anything that I wish I had not said or done; and did I not say or do anything that I wish I would have said or done?!! If my answer to these questions is "no," then I have no regrets.

The tapestry of life seems so much clearer when we look backwards. Trouble is, you can't move forward if you're always looking backwards!

Plumb, Square & True!

Conventional wisdom would look at this title along with the picture above and probably guess that I was headed towards a blog about perfection in the building world. While watching my business partner Phillip McCloud sight in a building level line through an instrument called a transit, my mind immediately went to the basic tenants of our faith: "plumb," or up and down, is our vertical relationship with our Lord and Savior; "square," or perpendicular to plumb, represents our horizontal relationship with all of God's children throughout the world; and "true," or absolute, denotes The Word of God, or the Bible.

The parallels are uncanny! In our work we constantly strive for perfection. Perfection in the construction industry means perfectly vertical, completely perpendicular to plumb, and totally absolute (true). Sounds like a Sunday School lesson doesn't it?!! Christianity encourages us towards "sanctification" or perfecting our live to become more Christlike. Sanctification directs us toward a stronger vertical relationship with God through prayer; a more horizontal relationship with friends and people we come in contact with as we share our faith; and true, or truth as we scour the scriptures to increase our knowledge of the Almighty.

The Bible reminds us that 'we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave with nothing' (a Hoebeke paraphrase!). So between birth and death if we came with nothing and will leave with nothing, then our role while here on this earth is that of a "steward." We have stewardship responsibilities with everything that is placed in our path - that includes plumb, square, and true. Our relationship with God; our relationship with man; and our relationship with God's word. What about you, are you plumb, square, and true? Might I encourage you to spend some time looking through the transit of life to see how you measure up?

A Surfin' Christmas!

(Editors Note: Time off re-charges the battery! I have so much to tell that the break for Christmas has obviously restored my thinking. Look for our posts from here forward to be a bit more regular.)

What do you get when you cross total relaxation with an architectural lesson? Seaside, and WaterColor Florida! Overwhelmingly our family wanted to head to the surf for Christmas, so we packed everyone up and headed to WaterColor. The community is truly remarkable! We had a FANTASTIC time!

My love for architecture and design was totally satiated by just wandering around the development. The history is worth repeating.  Way back in 1946 Robert S. Davis purchased 80 acres along the shore of Northwest Florida as a summer retreat for his family. Two  generations later the kids decided to transform that 80 acres into and old-fashioned beach town of wood framed cottages. They hired Andres Duany and his New Urbanism movement which seeks to end suburban sprawl. The result is charming!

Enter huge paper producer The St. Joe Company who owns hundreds of thousands of acres of timber land around Seaside, and WaterColor was born. Same type of architecture; same basic theory of eliminating urban sprawl; add Southern architecture with a lot of screened porches; and build it all on 499 acres, and you have WaterColor. Think of an oyster that encloses a pearl and you have the idea of WaterColor cloistering the much smaller Seaside right in the center!

Few people drive. Everyone rides bikes! Norman Rockwell himself could pop out from behind a tree to paint a melodic scene of Mom, apple pie, and down home family hospitality! It's a great place to unwind...

We count ourselves privileged and very blessed to have spent some wonderful family time down there! Very hard to come back to reality and get in the groove for 2012. Happy New Year to everyone!

Our "Jack" Attack!

He finally has arrived! Shelby, Jake, and McCall's son/brother Jack stepped into this world Monday morning about 1:25am. Dolly and Dutch are struggling to contain their excitement!

Fortunately the Navy was gracious to Jake, granting him a couple of days to meet his son. Although he couldn't be their for the birth he was able to oversee Jack's trip from the hospital back home. Everyone is doing very well!

Even Jack's cousins are getting in the act! Rachel Ledbetter drove all the way from Monroe, Louisiana yesterday to meet Jack. Hard to know who is enjoying whom - more!

Big Sis McCall is warming up to the idea of having a little brother. She has been an enormous help to Shelby and Jake - sometimes!

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!

Have I mentioned that I am married to Mrs. Christmas? Every year our home looks like the inside of a Christmas package - it just explodes with color and fun! This year is no exception. It's just that it happened on October 25th - a WEEK BEFORE HALLOWEEN!

If one tree is good, two is better! Ahhhhhh, but one is upside down!

But there's method to Molly's madness. You see, within a matter of moments Shelby and Jake will be having their second child, AND the Christmas rush is already on at Heart's Desire, Molly's retail store! To say that she is way out ahead of the curve is to put it mildly!

Old 'stick in the mud' Bob (Dutch to some of you) wouldn't be up for decorating that early so Molly got really smart and brought in Michael Hamilton to do the honors. Michael has a wonderful touch, and he is loads of fun, so the two of them giggled like little girls all day long while they decorated. Kind of put me in the mood!

While many will think it kind of odd that we decorated so early, I really kind of like it! Careful though - too many kind platitudes and next year Molly may start decorating for Christmas in JUNE!!