test #2 – canoe + other basset

since we live 5 minutes away from three different river/creeks we decided we would take the canoe out after supper and see how roux would respond to being on the water. roux liked the canoe a good bit less than montana but apparently felt much more comfortable with the idea of walking around in the canoe. i’m not sure that we ever got real close to tipping the canoe over but we moved enough that it scared me a little. the video above is one of those jerks.

the good news is that both of the basset rides were good enough that we are going to keep on trying it. who knows after a month or two of basset training i may be able to go out and fly fish for smallies with a basset companion.

my run for the day
distance – 6.0 miles
time – didn’t take a watch
weather – 68º/night run

test #1 of basset + canoe

 

pam and i decided that me fulfilling my basset version of “a river runs through it” was a worthy enough goal for us to work on. therefore, i went to the pet companion today and purchased a basset size live vest. then pam and i grabbed montana and the canoe and headed out to mcdill pond for a little trial float. we decided to try montana first because she is a little more calm than roux (very little). we put her life vest on and put her in the canoe. it was at this point that i kind of expected things to run out of control. i pictured montana bouncing from side to side checking things out and maybe even deciding that she was michael phelps and going for a purposeful swim. i was wrong. instead, was frozen in fear. she stood as straight as possible. she barely moved for the first 30 minutes we were out there. she wasn’t shaking but i tend to think that was because she was afraid it might be enough motion to tip the boat over. after 30 minutes she was a little more used to the situation and began to move around a little bit. not much mind you, but enough to tell pam and i that she was feeling a little more comfortable. thus, it was time to see what would happen when i started fishing. for my first 5 casts montana jerked every time the lure went flying. canoes were not meant for sudden 50lb low center of gravity jerks. thankfully these canoequakes weren’t to bad, so other than a slight heart palpitation on my part there was no real harm. i didn’t plan on catching any fish during this float and that part of the plan went exactly as i had thought it would. not a bite. so i still don’t know how she would respond to a fish. we’ll have to try that later.

i’ve got a 20 second video that i’m uploading to flickr at the moment. until it finishes you’ll just have to be satisfied with this photo.

basset canoeing

canoe + bassets = ???????

blurry bassets

does anyone have any experience with basset hounds and canoes? for that matter, does anyone have any experience with medium to large size dogs and canoes? i have a compelling desire to take at least one of my dogs out on the canoe with me when i am fishing. the probably is that i’m worried this could bring about certain disaster. if no one has any experience i’ll probably just test the situation out in a very shallow area. i actually think the canoe part will probably be okay after the chosen basset gets used to it. i’m more concerned what will happen the first time i bring a fish into the boat.

calling volunteers?

i have a request for my wisconsin CHRISTian friends who read this blog but are already active in a church – would you consider being “missionaries” to tapestry for 3-6 months? here’s what i mean. it does the kingdom of GOD no good what so ever for me to encourage CHRISTians to move from one believing church to another. in fact, i would describe doing such a thing as basically evil. i have some wonderful friends around Point that are actively involved in some wonderful churches and i do not want them to swap to tapestry. i want them to stay where they are and help those churches in following CHRIST.

with the above said, we need a “critical mass” to begin our worship service on september 14th. it’s pretty intimidating to walk into a room with 6 people in it. it’s especially intimidating if it’s a church service and you don’t have a church background (the very people we are wanting to connect with). so we’re looking for some volunteers who will agree to come to our sunday evening services for 3-6 months to be “seat fillers” and maybe help volunteer in getting things working. i’m asking people to do this while always remaining loyal to their actual churches (every other church in town has morning services). once, we’re up and running i want these volunteers to slowly stop coming to tapestry (a mass exodus would be weird). once again the goal is to expand the kingdom of GOD, not reshape it. these volunteers will be hugely important for birthing tapestry but once we’re born they will need to go home.

we have a couple of friends who have already agreed to be a part of this, but i’m still looking for a few more.

SIDE NOTE – if you’re not already involved in a local church then this doesn’t apply to you. you are more than welcome to come and stay. 🙂

SIDE SIDE NOTE – one of the things i and the launch team have talked about is regularly paying a non-church goer to come and critique our worship services. we want to make sure that we are not saying and doing things in a religiously coded manner. the goal is for everything to be easily understood and grasped by people who have not been raised in a church. we jokingly call these idea “rent an atheist.” we’ll do it every 6 months or so. thanks to some friends at emy j’s we have our first reviewer for the launch service. she will come to the service with critical eyes and then report to the launch team the week after. i’m very excited about this.

august prayer email

here’s the august edition of the monthly tapestry prayer email i send out. if you would like to receive this in your inbox each month just email me and i’ll add your name to the list.

thanks for praying.

rave card back

i’ve tweaked the rave card front a little (basically adjusted the sky & grass color) and i feel pretty happy with it now. here it is.

rave card 2

you can look at the original one here. i think the difference is pretty clear and obviously i prefer the newest one.

now it’s time for the back. here are the two 1st mock ups that i’ve worked on. there differences between the two are just in their wording. just click on them for larger (aka readable) views.

 rave card back copy rave card back version 2 copy

any thoughts?

i’m going to mull this over for a day or two, have through launch team look at them, and then order the cards & signs next week.

lighting

WEEKENDMX_lg

i’m now researching the next big tapestry purchase. truthfully i’m about fed up with buying large items for tapestry, i would much rather use our resources doing something good rather than just buying more equipment. yet i guess this is a part of it all right now. anyhow, we will be meeting in a gym so the lit up ugliness factor of the room is pretty high. i want to reduce this ugliness factor by controlling the lighting and thus i am looking into buying portable lighting. the key concerns here are that the lighting needs to be a good value, rugged, portable, and dependable.

i know next to nothing about lighting (i put some up in the parkview student center and it worked but i think that was luck). right now i’m looking at this set up, the mbt weekender dmx. it’s $823 plus $110 in shipping. oh how i hate spending money like that for lights. still i want to hide as much of the gym ugliness as possible and lighting seems to be the best way to do it.

so blog readers who know a thing or two about lighting (phillip & chester)  lend me your brains. is this a good buy? too much lighting? too little? we’re not going to be doing much with lighting (other than hiding gym ugliness). on and off is a must, dimming would be nice but it’s not essential.  i don’t want to spend any more than this and i would love to spend less. any suggestions?

presto

if you haven’t seen the pixar short that’s in front of wall-e then you should. it’s quite good. you can see it in hd here.

my run for the day
distance – 5.0 miles
time – 50:31
pace – 10:07/mile

signage

i’m in the process of having to produce signage for the inside and outside of washington elementary when we are in the building. right now it looks like group imaging is going to offer the best deal for portable and easy to put up signs (but i’m very open to other companies if someone knows a better one).

anyhow here are the two 3’x7’ signs that i will probably be ordering for inside the building. these come with an easily collapsible stand.

any thoughts?

inside banner 1 copy inside banner 2 copy

here’s what i’m looking at for the portable sign for outside. it’s 3’x9’ with grommets. woohoo!

outside banner copy

Our Inflation is Nothing

I read an article today concerning the amazing inflation of Zimbawe. The official inflation right right now according to the government is 2.2 million percent a year, though some analysts believe the actual rate is closer to 12.5 million percent a year. For those of you who are not economically inclined, think of it like this. If a Diet Coke (God’s nectar) costs $1 on January 1st it will cost about $34,223 on January 2nd and by December 31st it will cost $12.5 million. Since, most analysts contribute this inflation to mismanagement by the Zimbabwean president, Robert Mugabee, it makes me feel for the population. How do you survive in the midst of this type of inflation.

Here’s the article on the situation.