Cat in the Attic

Update: The cat escaped on Monday. Laura heard it around the side of the house.

It all started Saturday morning when we heard a cat meowing from somewhere near the entry to our apartment. We thought it was a cat which had gotten into our trash we had left outside. It turned out to be a kitten trapped somewhere in our attic/wall, a wall that we shared with our neighbors. So I donned my headlamp and hankerchief (to provide my lungs some protection from the fiberglass insulation) and proceeded to crawl up into the attic. I found the approximate location of the cat (after scaring off its mother) but for the life of me I could not find it. I reluctantly retreated only to tear up the ceiling a little when exiting. Still the needy little cries constantly filled our apartment, so I repeated my trip several times with no success. I even hauled my drill up there and made a sizable hole in a section of the ceiling that dropped down a bit but still no cat. Now Monday morning, it is still crying and my best guess is it is somewhere above the neighbors apartment. Hopefully the apartment people will come today.

Here is a sectional sketch showing where I thought the cat was and where I think it is now: (I have been doing too many construction drawings at work)


And for the sake of randomness, here is a sketch of an Ent:

Jars of Clay Competition

Well, I made the first cut for the t-shirt competition. Here is my design and a brief description of the thoughts running through my head:



The incarnation of Christ heralds the arrival of peace into the chaotic, fallen world. It is interesting that our culture should juxtapose this gospel with the stress and disorder of the consumer season. In this design I wanted to incorporate the idea of peace in the midst of chaos by using the imagery of hibernation. The bears remain fast asleep throughout the blizzard above them knowing that through the storm there are the peaceful stars above. As the chaotic holiday season approaches, we too need reminding that the world has been redeemed unto Him who holds all creation firmly in place.

It is supposed to be a cross section of a winter night (J=stars, A=Clouds, R=Storm, S=Trees, OF=Snow, C=Leaves beneath the snow, L=Caves, A=Bears, Y= Ground beneath the bears). I hadn’t used photoshop in a while so it didn’t come out exactly like I planned.

Anyone who wants to see all the other t-shirts designs and to vote for your favorites go here:

http://www.nettwerk.com/contest/2007/jars_tshirt/

Busy

We’ve had a busy week and weekend around here.

Laura has been preparing for her panel over Auden on Tuesday.

I flew to Harlingen to set up the new Southwest boarding system.

I went to tour several modern houses this weekend.

I finished up my design for the Jars of Clay t-shirt competition.

I went and saw No Country for Old Men last night with Raghu, Adam, and David.

And afterwards we (with Laura in tow) went to a huge Indian celebration (Diwali) at Texas Stadium in which a giant 8 headed statue was set on fire and much weird food was eaten.

Really Scary

Happy Halloween and Reformation Day! I have decided to sketchup some concepts of Halloween costumes that would scare me.


From Left to Right:

Rudolf Clausius
Though he is a little scary looking, the real horror is his discovery of entropy which predicts that the universe will eventually reach heat death in which there is no motion or life and all matter and energy are equally distributed.

Joel Osteen
He is the poster boy of the health and wealth gospel and can continually give me the jibblies with his “7 steps to becoming all god has created you to be”.

Supreme Court Justice
They are not elected, are appointed for life, and are the only clear and direct law/policy making branch of the government. That’s pretty scary.

McMansion
Involuntary shudder. If these ever start showing up in my nightmares, Laura might have to commit me to an asylum.

Ketchup Clown
Combines my loathing of ketchup and Blake’s fear of clowns. Don't ask.

Industrial Revolution (dog)
Is anyone really grateful for mass production?


Oh and here is my jack o lantern. It is some kind of dragon or fell beast.

Upcoming Movies

There are not a lot of sequels or big impressive movies being produced over the next couple of months so that means there might be some good stuff coming out. The following is a list of a few that I am looking forward to. As a disclaimer: I am not vouching for the entertainment or moral value for any of these, as I have yet to see them. There are even a few that I know beforehand that aren’t for everyone, especially if you are adverse to violence.

No Country For Old Men (Nov 9)
I have been looking forward to this movie for a while. It is based off a book by the brilliant Cormac McCarthy (All the Pretty Horses) and is directed and produced by the Coen brothers (Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou). It is set and filmed in West Texas.

Southland Tales (Nov 14)
What could make me interested in a movie that contains The Rock, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Mandy Moore, and Justin Timberlake? This line: Directed by the director of Donny Darko. That in and of itself makes it worth seeing (in my little world) and seeing the trailer: it looks like a pretty solid sci-fi, musical, parody of American culture.

The Golden Compass (Dec 7)
I am still a little skeptical being a fan of the book but the latest trailer makes me want to give it a look. As a forecast, I expect the evangelical community to have a feeding frenzy with the source material (greater than Harry Potter and the Da Vinci Code put together).

I am Legend (Dec 14)
I will go see this if only for the preview for the next Batman movie, but it looks entertaining enough on its own. Nice to see Will Smith back to doing end of the world movies (well I guess he only previously did one end of the world movie, but now he has two).

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Dec 21)
Perfect material for Tim Burton. A dark comedy musical about a barber that goes over the edge and starts killing people to give to the meat pie lady for filling. Seems like they got the entire Harry Potter supporting cast.

Charlie Wilson’s War (Dec 25)
Interesting story and it has Tom Hanks, good possibility it will be worth watching.

Celebration of Family (In Memory of C.A. Haynes)

This weekend I traveled out to West Texas for my Grandad’s funeral. The service took place out at my great aunt Cathy’s ranch and as you will see from the photos it wasn’t your ordinary funeral. My father officiated from a dirt road to a small gathering of family seated upon folding chairs in the desert. After several stories were told and some songs sang, the grandkids took his ashes up to a ridge to scatter them and bury his boots. Afterwards we ate a huge meal of beef ribs, barbeque chicken, and freshly slaughtered goat with too many sides and deserts to name (this was after a large breakfast of burritos before the service). Needless to say there was a whole lot of eating, all while catching up with family that had grown out of touch.

The thing that many will find odd was the general uplifted spirit of the crowd. There was very little black being worn and posing for a picture at one point Christina asked if we shouldn’t be smiling. Stranger still is the fact that most of my family are not from a Christian background (in any case my Grandad wasn’t). This wasn’t necessarily a recognition of his passage into the kingdom nor was it in any way an irreverent. The only way I can describe it was a celebration of family, the gratitude for a man that brought us all together in life and in his death.

Aunt Cathy's Ranch



people gathering for the service



My dad giving the eulogy




looking back at the service as we go to spread the ashes

(clockwise from top) Aunt Annette, 2nd Cousin Bradon, Uncle Mark, Dad, Mom

C.A.'s sons: Tye, Robert (Dad), and Mark (holding his grandson Bradon)

C.A.'s grandchildren/great grandson/grand daughters-in-law: Corey, Bradon, Josie, Carra, Alex, Heath, Christina, Jacob, Laura




Laura (my wife) and Corey (my sister)

And we eat...

and talk.

My dad preparing the breakfast




My mom preparing for a 4-wheeler ride

My great uncle Bubba

Heath (my brother) holding Bradon

Christina (Heath's wife)

Corey

and a baby javilina.

Woodshop

This weekend I discovered once again why we should have bought a truck. I built some shelves and a ladder at the UTA wood shop. The shelves were for our DVDs and I designed them to fit together like large legos. The ladder is for my future treehouse which I will explain in a later post.

Our poor little car filled with lumber.

The completed shelves.

The big oak and my ladder (note that the ladder is 14’tall)