Warehouse Blues

Something I don't completely understand is why people want to stay on in a warehouse job even though they know the job will be ending and they must find something else.

I would submit to you that one reason is that we have tried very hard to build a family feel into our work and we have really tried to care about each other.

We felt like we had grown the business to the size where it would continue on for years and we wanted people who would come and stay for a while to be part of the team.

I think that we will all feel like we were part of a successful team even though they're going to shut us down this fall. We know we did the best we could and we didn't fail at what we did. We grew the business and made money.

My true feeling is that they are taking a perfectly good horse out back of the barn and shooting it.

I won't let my emotions run away with this. I know God has a reason for this that I don't fully understand now. I will trust Him that all will work out for the best in the end.

Sunset Today

This was taken today, August 19, in Irondale, Alabama. It is appropriate as I found out this week that the branch I opened in town eleven years ago is going to be closed down. It is the sunset on eleven years of hard work.

I have no illusions about work and that the results are in God's hands. We can't do anything that will last on our own. Only God and eternity will show the true value of things. Everything will be burned up eventually.

Store up treasure in heaven where moth and rust do not corrupt and thieves do not break in and steal.

Manipulation One

I fully realize that if I claimed to have done this piece of strange art in a fit of drunken rage it would be an all time classic and I would have an instant reputation in the art world as a genius and a tortured soul.

I did, however, shoot this photo on the way home from church with my youngest son helping me. I then manipulated the image on the computer to come up with this. I originally called it Manna or "what is it?"

Ernest and Jake

My brother, Ernest, had a very close relationship with our dog, Jake. Jake would obey him no matter what. He even sat perfectly still while my brother dumped snow on him. They picked on each other. One time Jake got my brother's cocount cream pie before my brother could lick the wrapper.

Mike and Jeff on Trowbridge Street - Allegan, MI

We lived on bikes when we were teenagers. We rode everywhere. This is Mike and Jeff on Trowbridge Street in Allegan, Michigan. It was a five block ride from my house to downtown. It was several miles from our neighborhood to where Jeff lived, but even that didn't take too long to ride.

Speaking Of Laughter

This is another Mike from my neighborhood. His back yard was near our back yard. He would laugh and it would make everyone else want to laugh, too.

My brother used to play with our dog, Jake, by putting on work gloves and telling him "attack!" One day Mike's dad was raking leaves in his back yard and our dog went over and kept trying to attack his work gloves while he was raking and he didn't understand why. He asked Mike, "What's wrong with Sieder's dog?"

Photo Booth Incident

This famous incident took place at the Allegan County Fair in 1975. My good friend Mike went in the photo booth at the arcade tent and was reading the directions when the first flash went off. He then posed with his equally famous camouflaged hat. I was fortunate enough to be nearby when Mike came out of the booth with the pictures. My other friend, also named Mike, and I laughed until it hurt. All of the guys in our neighborhood loved to laugh and make each other laugh. I somehow ended up with this sequence of pictures and am happy to have them, but thought it might be time I shared them again.

Thanks for the fun guys.

New Bob Dylan Album: Modern Times

Could it be the third installment in a trilogy beginning with Time Out Of Mind and Love and Theft? An August release date is scheduled.

Modern Times: the new Bob Dylan Album (Info)