[Gathnet] Greetings from St. Louis

[Jonathan Gathman]

Hello all,
   It's been a bit since I've written, but frankly, I've had so many 
things to do, and important ones too, I've been pretty anxious, and not 
felt particularly like writing anything, just doing item after item. 
This even though some momentous occasions have occurred.

   First, my heart still aches for Uncle Eli's passing.  I remember good 
things, of course, like he is with the Saviour, and the times I had 
interacted.

   My first recollection is when we were in Virginia.  The only picture 
I had seen of Uncle Eli was his graduation picture.  Black and white, 
and a crew cut.  I was the only one home, not very old, probably about 
7th grade.  I go to the door when I hear a knock, and there is a smiling 
man, but with typical 70's hair cut (longer but not long enough to be 
"long hair", mustache, I think, though I don't remember a beard.  There 
was something vaguely familiar about the eyes and the smile, but not 
enough for any recognition.  I must have looked pretty cagey, because he 
realized I had no idea who he was, and said, "I'm your Uncle Doyle" in 
that chipper voice of his.  The next few moments were spent with me 
trying to reconcile the 50s picture I had seen with the man standing 
before me.  I'm not sure how long I kept him there, but I decided to let 
him in...  a good thing, since we had a wonderful visit; so many things 
come back, the white Opel... I think it had mechanical problems.  Some 
friends came up too.


   Another good memory is going to Rochester to apply for Eastman School 
of Music my senior year of Wheaton.  I suppose I shouldn't think of it 
as a good memory, since Eastman had decided I was only a Music Ed 
Masters, and had scheduled me as such without telling me.  I was a bit 
put out, and decided that I wasn't interested.  Uncle Eli and Aunt Judy 
were so gracious to have me at their place, and I enjoyed my time there, 
getting to know more of the details of orthodox living first hand.

   A regret is that I had always had a standing invitation for Aunt Judy 
and Uncle Eli to come to Israel for a personal guided tour.  With the 
kids so small, and not being the most adventurous traveller in the 
family anyway, I never made it.  I was able to see everyone when they 
came to California though, and that was good.


   Judy, Moshe and Ortal, you continue to be in my heart and prayers, 
even in this busy time.

   Back to St. Louis, we have moved, as most of you know, and as of a 
week or so ago, we got our house sold.  Since we wanted to sell in July, 
  and the closing was actually in October, the wait seemed interminable. 
  What happened was that after a time of strong market activity (most 
houses of good condition were selling in a week or less), the bottom 
dropped out.

   I am thankful, because the Lord saw fit to sell through a company 
called "Assist 2 Sell", which charges a flat fee of $2995 if the buyer 
is through found with their agency, and 4.5% if an agent comes from 
outside.  Running rates for real estate had just moved from %5 to 6% for 
the most part, and now, many agencies want 6.5%.  The long and short was 
that the buyer was working with Assist2Sell, so while we had to, because 
of market pressure, accept a lower selling price, the amount we got back 
was about the same as if our original asking price was obtained with a 
regular 6% commission, for which we are very greatful to the Lord.

   (Hmm, this seems like a good exercise for Gathman Home-School Algebra 
students... kids, feel free to email me your formula and your 
calculation of the price.)

   Just played an "emergency" Java Nights last night (the group playing 
that night had to cancel because the trumpet player got "Bell's Palsey", 
which paralyzes (usually temporarily) the face muscles. They were a bit 
worried, because some symptoms seemed like a stroke, but that was ruled 
out.  I played an assortment of hymns and songs with the Music Pastor, 
and cannot help but think Dad and Mom would have especially loved to be 
there.  Aside from liking to hear the payback of all those lessons, etc, 
  I think these would have been favorites.  I received more pressure to 
start the CD.  My friend Tim Arrington has practically got it all 
published.  All he needs is me to figure out what to play (he's a real 
go-getter).

    One of the things about the "new" place is that there is little 
inside lighting.  The bedrooms, the music and living rooms have the 
light switch wired to outlets, which I dislike extremely.  We have no 
floor lamps (and few table lamps), and don't really want many because of 
the ease at pulling them down by a certain small child.

   Therefore, we ordered ceiling fans for the rooms, and Laurens came 
in.    The problem came that when I went looking for the access to the 
attic, I couldn't find any.  I had relied on the building inspector, 
instead of going up myself, though I was sure I had seen an access point 
at some time while we were buying.

   I had to call the seller (he left me a number) and ask.  It turns out 
that the fire inspection told him that he couldn't have an access (or at 
least the access he had), and that it must be sealed up.  They didn't 
have any other suggestions either, as they didn't recommend any of the 
common ways of accessing, so he took wall board and sealed it up, 
intending to come back later to fix up, but forgot.  I believe him, but 
I had to spend my time creating an access point.  I modified the entry 
(having removed the wallboard) into one that does seal well (I don't 
care for critters or wasps in the attic, if I can help it).

   THEN, and only then could I actually go up and put in the ceiling 
fan.  I finished up about 9:00 last night, with an excellent 
installation; the only problem being that I had reversed the two black 
wires, one's always hot, one's from the lightswitch.  Not unsafe at all, 
but the lightswitch turns on the fan, and the light only works from the 
pull string.  A simple fix, but not one needed last night... ;)

   Lauren's is down, I've got several to go.  Lauren's was the hardest. 
  The boys' will be as hard in terms of ceiling wiring (that's a bit 
tough, figuring out what wire goes where, and which one actually 
controls what socket... all fromt the attic, which has no room 
partitions.  Plus which, Lauren's sockets were on the outside wall 
requireing me to do most of the work lying down on the rafters, trying 
to use two hands to strip/wire and box while not falling through the 
ceiling.  I did pretty well, regardless of my advancing years.

   One thing I discovered is that there are some poor wiring practices 
up there.  The original stuff is fine, but one of the owners who put 
something later apparently didn't do so well. Unattached boxes, and a 
few other issues.  That and the wood-pecker holes (punched out some 
knots) in the cedar need fixing.  I've got a fairly substantial list, 
but not too bad for a 26 year old house.  At least I don't have aluminum 
wiring.  Many houses in St. Louis have that.  What a nightmare.  You 
can't use regular fixtures, because of the interaction between the two 
kinds of metals, and aluminum wiring tends to be more brittle, and thus 
more prone to shorts and subsequent fires.

   Well, this is long, and more than one Gathnetter has probably fallen 
asleep over this.

   Take care, and God Bless.

   A final note on the election.  There are so many issues of severe 
import to life and morality at stake.  I know we have some Gathnetters 
who tend to vote for the Democratic Party, and I don't want to hurt 
feelings or offend, but it seems to me that the Democratic Party has 
been hijacked by those who hate marriage, won't budge on any abortion, 
even the grotesque and ridiculously unecessary Partial Birth Abortion, 
and are doing all in their power to the things in this country that will 
bring God's judgement.

   Know that I think that there are many people who tend to vote 
Democrat who are very moral people.  Missouri resondingly voted for a 
state Defense of marriage act (70% totally across party lines), and we 
have plenty of Democrats in office.  But the leadership, especially the 
National Leadership of the Democratic Party ignores these Democratic 
voters (and everyone else) and appoints judges who don't do their stated 
judicial jobs, and actively block those decent judges who would.


   Not every Republican sits well on the morality and judcial issues, so 
please find out who supports issues most in line with God's principles, 
and if you can avoid feeding the national Democratic Party's 
anti-morality/anti-God agenda, please switch over; t least temporarily., 
The moral people of this country have to send a message with their 
votes.  The only thing that will save the Democratic Party is continued 
and severe loss of power when they choose policies that actively violate 
both God's principles the will of the people.  Hopefully, decent members 
of the Democratic Party will then jettison the current leadership, and 
we can stop doing the things that will bring down heavy judgement on 
America.

   I long for the day when election issues are restricted to the best 
way to improve the economy, even war issues, and not the further 
destruction of marriage and families, genecide, infanticide etc  by 
legislation and judical activism,


-- 
Jonathan Gathman
"Think, Speak and Do Well"
Urquhart Family Crest