#Tree Trimming Norman Park

[yourtreezy]

Trimming for Growth: How Pruning Boosts Tree Development

Trees are a beautiful and essential part of our natural environment, but when they encroach on power lines and structures, they can pose significant safety hazards. The practice of tree lopping in Kingston, especially when it comes to managing trees near power lines and structures, plays a critical role in safeguarding both people and property.

Tree Trimming

The Dangers of Trees Near Power Lines and Structures

Electrical Hazards: Trees coming into contact with power lines can cause electrical outages, fires, and even electrocution. Safety is paramount when dealing with these situations.

Structural Damage: Trees that grow too close to buildings or structures can damage roofs, walls, and foundations, potentially leading to costly repairs.

Diminished Visibility: Trees that have grown excessively close to roadways or driveways may obstruct sightlines, elevating the potential for accidents.

Fallen Branches: Overgrown trees can shed heavy branches during storms or strong winds, posing risks to people and property.

Trimming Service

When to Consider Tree Lopping in Kingston?

Proximity to Power Lines: Trees growing within the vicinity of power lines must be regularly inspected and pruned to maintain a safe clearance distance.

Structural Proximity: Trees close to structures should be pruned to ensure they don't interfere with rooftops, gutters, or walls.

Health and Stability: Trees that show signs of disease, decay, or instability should be assessed and pruned as necessary to prevent hazards.

Tree Service

Best Practices for Tree Lopping in Kingston:

Professional Assessment: Start with a professional tree assessment to determine the specific risks and the appropriate clearance distance for power lines and structures.

Safety Gear: Ensure that trained professionals wear appropriate safety gear, including helmets, gloves, and eye protection.

Proper Tools: Use specialized equipment designed for tree lopping near power lines and structures, such as insulated tools to prevent electrical accidents.

Pruning Techniques: Employ selective pruning techniques, such as crown reduction or directional pruning, to maintain tree health while achieving the required clearances.

Regular Inspections: Establish a regular inspection and maintenance schedule to monitor tree growth and address potential issues promptly.

Environmental Considerations: Carefully plan and execute tree lopping to minimize environmental impact, especially in urban areas.

Compliance with Regulations: Be aware of local regulations and permits that may be required when lopping trees near power lines and structures.

Conclusion

Clearing trees near power lines & structures is not just about aesthetics; it's about ensuring the safety and well-being of your property and the people who interact with it. When it comes to tree lopping in these sensitive areas, it's essential to consult with a professional tree service. They can assess the risks, determine the necessary clearances, and perform the work safely and effectively.

[dankusner]

DALLAS

Memorial will honor men killed in lynching City recognizes three and other victims of racial violence — at last

Adjacent to the Sixth Floor Museum and the grassy knoll sits another patch of sacred ground with its own historically consequential story.

It took Dallas decades to fully face President John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

It’s taken far longer to acknowledge the murders that occurred about 100 years earlier — just on the other side of where the Triple Underpass would eventually stand.

In 1860, three enslaved Black men — Patrick Jenkins, Cato Miller and the Rev. Samuel Smith — were lynched at this site, alongside the original path of the Trinity River.

They were hanged after specious accusations concerning their part in setting a downtown fire, and their deaths became part of an infamous reign of terror led by white businessmen during which enslaved individuals were rounded up and tortured.

At long last, Dallas will formally dedicate a sculpture on the site next Tuesday that honors these three men and all other local victims of lynching and racial violence between 1853 and 1920.

Shadow Lines, the sundial-inspired weathering steel sculpture, is the work of artists Shane Allbritton and Norman Lee.

At one end of its semicircular wall is a poem written by former Dallas resident and poet laureate of Virginia Tim Seibles about this spot and its brutal history.

In early 2018, in the midst of the debate over removal of Confederate statues, City Council members expressed interest in a memorial to victims of racial violence.

George Keaton Jr., founder of Remembering Black Dallas, persevered until his death in December 2022 to turn the idea into action.

The Dallas County Justice Initiative, with Ed Gray at the helm, and Remembering Black Dallas finished the job.

The sculpture sits in a pocket of city land known as Martyrs Park.

It’s not an ideal place for a contemplative green space, trapped between the Triple Underpass and the access ramp to Interstate 35E and deafened by highway traffic and the Trinity Railway Express rumbling overhead.

It’s no mystery why the dedication ceremony is taking place at the Sixth Floor Museum before the ribbon-cutting at the sculpture site.

Hearing the speeches would be impossible at Martyrs Park.

The right location

But Gray, like Keaton before him, is steadfast about this being the right location.

“To the people who ask, ‘Why did we build this here?’ This is where it occurred,” Gray told me. “We can’t change what’s there now, but it remains historic and sacred.”

I took my first close look at the sculpture Saturday and was pleasantly surprised to find a more welcoming feel at Martyrs Park, a raw space full of trash and tents on my several previous visits.

Accessibility remains a challenge.

Your best bet is to park in the Sixth Floor Museum area and walk along the Elm Street sidewalk and through the pedestrian tunnel.

Once you emerge, you are only steps from the park.

The most important upgrades have taken place in the tunnel.

Never before had I walked through this long dark corridor when it didn’t smell like a urinal — and looked even worse.

It’s now been repaired, painted, scrubbed and lighted.

On order is vandal-resistant permanent lighting.

The park department has cleaned out decades of trash, underbrush and scraggly bushes that once encircled much of Martyrs Park.

The lower limbs of the stately trees along the street and in the background have been trimmed to allow for better viewing.

A new sidewalk is in place, and lights illuminate the sculpture at night.

Let me be clear — the place didn’t look great.

Recent heavy rains had left deep puddles throughout the park and threatened to wash away newly planted grass.

The railroad-owned embankment remained unsightly.

A man laid tucked up against the sculpture’s front wall — his sleep only disturbed when I began reading the inscriptions aloud.

But if you squint a little, you actually see a park, not a dumping ground.

It’s a minimalist landscape that keeps the focus on the piece of stark public art, just as Keaton wanted.

Echoes of violence

Still to be added are two Texas Historical Commission markers, one honoring Jenkins, Miller and Smith and the other commemorating Jane Elkins, an enslaved woman hanged in 1853 after her conviction for killing her white owner as he attempted to rape her.

Elkins’ name is also inscribed on Shadow Lines.

With the dedication of the sculpture, Gray said, Martyrs Park provides a homecoming for all local victims of racial violence.

“It gives them a sense of all being put together in one spot and further sanctifying that ground.”

The Shadow Lines dedication will mark the last of three high-profile events in Dallas’ reckoning with the violence wrought by racism.

To secure the markers for two other victims, the Dallas County Justice Initiative worked for years to meet the requirements of the Equal Justice Initiative, whose National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Ala., is a shrine to the victims of lynching.

The marker for Allen Brooks, who was abducted, killed and hanged downtown in front of a large crowd in 1910, was dedicated at Pegasus Plaza in November 2021.

The marker for William Allen Taylor, lynched by vigilantes in 1884 near the Trinity River, was dedicated last November at Trinity Overlook Park.

The names of Brooks and Taylor are also among those on the Martyrs Park sculpture.

Gray had many kind words about how hard City Hall, especially the Equity and Inclusion, Arts and Culture, and Park and Recreation departments, has worked to get the commemorations done right.

He said it was important, in contrast, to note Mayor Eric Johnson has not attended any of the events.

“His reluctance to be a part of these is troublesome and disturbing,” Gray said.

Johnson’s chief of staff, Alheli Garza, told me the mayor “regrettably has a preexisting immovable conflict” with next Tuesday’s event.

She said his office is “coordinating a private visit for Mayor Johnson to view the installation and meet the artists on a future date.”

Most meaningful to me at the memorial site is Seibles’ poem, the words of which are punched into the sculpture’s steel wall.

It’s exactly what needed to be written for Dallas, where we’ve made a lot of progress but still prefer the reconciliation part of racial healing to the hard truth-telling.

Seibles’ words are no Kumbaya moment, but rather searing honesty.

Please take time to read the full text, which accompanies my column.

Revisiting history

Finally, thinking about the 50 or so tourists I passed on the grassy knoll Saturday as I walked to Martyrs Park — where I was the sole visitor, not counting the homeless guy — here’s a suggestion:

The last JFK information placard is only steps from the pedestrian tunnel.

Can a sign be added about the historically relevant events visitors can find on the other side of the bridge?

That’s history Dallas and its visitors also need to understand.

[captainsbabysitter-blog]

Christmas Cheer

Pairing: Chril (Chris Pike x Phil Boyce)

Rating: G

Length: 4197 words

Summary: Kinda/sorta feeds into my Double Trouble universe. Chris and Phil meet in college and Phil’s finally taking Chris home to Maine to meet his family. Chris isn’t used to close families and knows he’s going to get overwhelmed, but hey! Phil’s great, so his family can’t be all bad, right?

~*~*~*~

He wasn’t really sure what he expected when Phil asked him over to study. By now, he should be completely aware that when Phil says study, he actually means study. Especially with finals coming up. What he didn’t expect after the sweet kiss in greeting was for Phil to pull his shirt up over his head so he could intensely inspect the way Chris’ muscles moved as he manipulated Chris’ limbs. Soft, barely intelligible mumbles any time he touched a different muscle replaced any official welcome.

Being shirtless with his boyfriend should be sexier than this.

“Philip?”

“Christopher.”

“What exactly are you doing?” He jumped a little as fingertips found a ticklish spot.

Phil paused to look at him as though what he was hoping to achieve was obvious. It didn’t take much to notice the dark circles ringing his eyes or to see the near manic glint hiding behind the steely gray. “I’m studying. Diagrams only get me so far.”

“So I get to play practice dummy,” Chris deadpanned, but still allowed Phil to nudge him toward the couch to sit.

“Mmhmm…”

“Alright. Continue.” Firm hands roamed and it almost became a sort of massage. An inconsistent, randomly shifting massage with no real direction, but Phil’s hands on him are Phil’s hands on him. He had almost let himself doze off to Phil’s prodding, but heard something that sounded more like a question than nonsensical mumblings. “What was that?”

A small smile twisted Phil’s lips as he leaned back, seeming satisfied with his explorations for now. “Ma invited you down for Christmas.”

Chris blinked. That wasn’t what he expected at all. His plans for the holidays hadn’t extended any further than staying in a dorm on campus, maybe looking for an apartment so he and Phil could share a place for spring.

His silence made Phil shift, the normally confident man suddenly looking uncertain as he added, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to. I just mentioned you were probably staying here over break and she offered.”

“No! No, I’ll go. I’ve just never done the whole meet the parents thing before. Isn’t your family huge? What if I fuck it all up?”

Phil shrugged and let out a stifled yawn. “You can’t do any worse than the woman my uncle brought a few years ago. She drank an entire bottle of ma’s favorite wine, cursed us all out in French, and then promptly passed out on the couch. Probably the funniest Christmas on record since the nieces and nephews took to drawing on her face. My sisters never did figure out where those markers came from.”

The spark of mischief present in Phil’s eyes pulled a chuckle from his boyfriend. “I’m sure you were a totally innocent party in all this.”

“As I am in all things,” he quipped back as he settled his head on Chris’ chest.

“You look like a zombie. Get some sleep.” Fingers combed through soft hair as he dropped his voice to a low, soothing croon. “You can’t burn yourself out before finals even get here.”

The only response he got to that was soft noise of agreement. In no time at all, Phil was out like a light and Chris was reaching for his bag of textbooks. If he wasn’t going to be getting any, he might as well actually get some studying done.

Two days and about twelve straight hours of sleep after Phil’s last final, Chris found himself bundled up in a car that looked like it would barely make it to the next town, let alone the three-hour drive north and back. Any implications that his bucket of bolts might die on the highway were met with an offended look that should probably be reserved for insults to one’s mother. Traffic out of Boston was brutal, but the roads were clear and the sun had come out to melt away the first snowfall of the year so it would be an easy drive.

About an hour in, Chris started getting fidgety. He still wasn’t sure how he felt about meeting Phil’s whole family in one fell swoop, but he couldn’t exactly back out now. Not now that they had already crossed the border into Maine.

“How did you make it through all your classes if you can’t even sit still for a car ride?” Phil’s tone was exasperated with just a touch of fondness.

“I’m not sitting in a car twiddling my thumbs, and I’m not a matter of hours away from meeting my boyfriend’s family when I’m in class,” he retorted.

“They’ll love you almost as much as I do.”

“I hope so.” He watched the trees blur past them for a while before he piped up again, “What are your parents like?”

“They’re both very kind people. Dad probably won’t talk much at first, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you. It’s if he gets overly chatty right away that you’re in trouble. Means he doesn’t trust what you’re saying and he’s trying to get you to trip up. Mom’s sarcastic, but sweet, and she’ll probably try to feed you the second you walk through the door. Don’t bother trying to say no, but insist you can make your own plate if you don’t want an entire full-course dinner for twelve stuffed down your throat.”

He nodded slowly. “And your sisters?”

“They’ll all be nice. It’s their kids you have to be worried about. Little shits, the lot of them.” Phil was hardly convincing with the wide grin plastered to his face as he talked about his nieces and nephew. “It’ll be our job to rile them up before they go home with their parents. They’ll ask you about a million questions.”

That made Chris a little uneasy. “How old are they?”

“Various ages between two and ten.”

Chris frowned a little at the thought of being around kids so small. Children didn’t happen to be in his sphere of experience, so all he could do was hope he’d have some epiphany once he had some in front of him. He glanced toward Phil when the future doctor’s fingers laced with his.

Phil gave a reassuring smile and tugged his hand up to press a light kiss to Chris’ knuckles. “You’re overthinking this. You’re not going to be the only person there, so you’re not going to be the center of attention the whole time. Not that I think you’d hate that usually, mind you.”

“Mmn… I’m going to catch some sleep before we get there.” At least if he was asleep, he couldn’t dwell on things.

~*~*~*~

He couldn’t help but feel like Phil had downplayed a few aspects of his childhood home. The green-trimmed, white cape style house sat on easily three acres of clear, open land and a copse of trees standing like pine sentinels around the edges of the property. The entire scene was coated in a couple inches of snow.

It looked like a Norman Rockwell Christmas card.

There were also almost a dozen cars parked carefully along the semicircle driveway. Chris inspected his surroundings with all the curiosity of an anthropologist exploring a previously unknown civilization while Phil pulled the car into the garage. They hopped out, Chis shuddering at the stinging bite of the icy air, and grabbed their bags before heading inside to be enveloped in warmth and the smells of dinner permeating the entire house. There was a hominess that was almost entirely foreign to Chris as he watched people stand around chatting.

“Philip!” An aging woman with gray streaking her neatly pinned auburn hair spotted them and wrapped Phil up in a tight hug that he returned with a smile and a soft, ‘hey, ma.’

She fussed over him before Chris’ presence in the background caught her eye. “And you must be Christopher! Phil has told me so much about you come here and let me look at you!”

“You can just call me Chris, ma’am, it’s good to meet you.” He held his hand out to shake and found himself yanked into a crushing hug.

“We don’t shake hands up this way, child. Especially not with family.”

Chris shot Phil a lost look, but gave up a quick hug so he could escape. Phil sighed. “Ma, I told you Chris isn’t big on hugs.”

“Oh it won’t kill him. Go on and show him the kitchen, I bet you’re both hungry after that drive and I’ll tell dad and the others you’re here. Coffee’s brewed and waiting for you, too.”

Escaping to the mostly empty kitchen was a bit of a blessing. Phil leaned over to kiss Chris’ cheek as he pulled down a couple coffee mugs and handed Chris the sugar container while he poured himself a cup. “Spoons are in the drawer by your hip.”

Clinks of silverware on ceramic as Chris stirred the coffee into his sugar were the only acknowledgement he received. Phil puttered around the kitchen with casual ease as he poured a splash of half and half and a spoonful of sugar to his own mug. It wasn’t long before they were both leaning against the counter and sipping at their drinks.

“It won’t be long until we’re discovered again, so you’ll want to prepare yourself,” Phil warned him with a gentle smile. “Sorry this is all happening so fast, I thought you’d have a few days to acclimate before everyone else showed up.”

“So this is where you’re hiding, Philly!” A tall woman flounced into the room and there was no mistaking the resemblance between them, so Chris could only assume she was one of Phil’s sisters. “I should have figured I’d find you by the coffee. And who’s this? Too attractive to be dating you.”

Chris snorted into his cup, trying to hide his smile behind the rim before Phil elbowed him. “Yeah, this is Chris. Chris, this is my oldest sister Becca.”

Becca reached out to give Chris’ hand a quick squeeze with a grin. “Good to meet you, Chris. It’s not often Philly brings guys home.”

“Because the very idea of meeting you all usually chases them away,” he grouses back.

“Mmhm… I’m sure.” She turned back to Chris. “Don’t let him poison you against us. We’re very nice once you get through the gauntlet. Has he met daddy yet?”

“No, we just got here. I figured he could use some coffee to fortify him first.” Phil leaned into Chris’ side as he spoke, smiling as an arm draped around his waist. “We’re about to head into the fray.”

“Well the kids are all out back playing until dinner’s ready, so he’ll have a bit of a break.”

Phil pressed a kiss into Chris’ shoulder and led him out into the living room. Overstuffed couches and chairs were rearranged to accommodate several foldout chairs and almost all of them had people seated in them. Warm calls of greeting met them as they entered and Chris just let himself be led around and introduced to each relative in turn. He struggled to remember names for aunts and uncles, cousins of all ages, and the other two sisters and let out a sigh when he took a seat. He nuzzled into Phil’s back a little when he settled into Chris’ lap and let the chatter wash over him while he finished up his coffee.

When his cup ran empty, Phil offered to get him a refill. The whole room seemed to wait until Phil was out of earshot before the nearest sister- Riley, Chris recalled- turned to him. “So you’re the guy Phil’s lost his head over. You be good to our Phil, or you’ll regret it, yeah?”

Chris blinked, but nodded slowly. This was what he expected, but he wasn’t expecting a whole room full of people when it happened. He offered her a small smile- the smile Phil always claimed would melt the ice caps- and leaned forward in his seat. “I don’t plan on letting him go any time soon unless he asks me to.”

She stared him down, not once breaking eye contact until she seemed to see what she wanted and nodded. “Alright, then.”

“So you wait until I’m gone to interrogate him, hm?” There was pure amusement in Phil’s voice as he leaned against the doorway, but there was also a warmth directed only at Chris. “I take it he lives up to my loving sister’s expectations?”

“For now.”

“I can hear all of you,” Chris grumbled, reaching for the mug in Phil’s hand.

“That’s nice, dear,” Phil waved him off as he handed the cup over.

Once dinner was done and over with and everyone was in various states of wakefulness, Chris helped Mrs. Boyce clean things up despite protests that he was a guest. They compromised and he dried off the dishes handed to him before handing them off to Phil to be put away. He enjoyed the quieter, one-on-one conversation, and Ruth had a mind like a steel trap. A doctor herself, she seemed to enjoy grilling him on his own studies at MIT as well as asking about how they met.

“I was attending a lecture at Boston University last February,” Chris began, shooting Phil a look, “and your son was running late. Emphasis on the running.”

“He ran right into you, didn’t he?” Ruth finished for him.

“With coffee in his hand that came to know my very white shirt. He apologized, handed me a card and said to give him a call when I got it cleaned and he’d pay for it then he took off again. I didn’t have the heart to stop him.”

“But he did call me that night and offer to let me buy him coffee to make up for it.”

“Well aren’t you two a regular romcom couple?” His mom chuckled.

“Complete with bumbling first dates because a certain someone can’t flirt worth a damn when he likes someone.”

“Philip.”

“Christopher.”

“Alright, you two. Go on upstairs and make yourselves comfortable. I got your bed ready, Phil, hopefully you can both fit on that double alright.”

Phil leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Thanks, ma. I think we’ll be fine.”

“Good night, Mrs. Boyce.”

“For the last time, call me Ruth.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he gave her a cheeky grin when she slapped his arm. “Night, Ruth.”

When they were settled comfortably in the bed upstairs, Phil’s head tucked comfortably under Chris’ chin and limbs tangled together until they were both in positions they could sleep in, Phil murmured against his chest, “Thanks for coming with me. They already seem to love you.”

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” Chris admitted after a bit of thought. “Your family is really close. I wasn’t really sure how to react to that I’m just glad I didn’t end up passed out on the couch.”

Phil’s eyes sparkled with amusement as he tipped his head back to meet Chris’ gaze. “They can be your family, too, you know. Dad seemed to like you and so did Riley. That’s about half the battle right there. Riley hates pretty much everyone.”

Chris trailed his fingers up and down Phil’s back for a little while before speaking again, “So are they all going to be here through the whole break? Everyone who stayed over tonight, I mean.”

“Nah. The kids have school and the adults have work. Ma just wouldn’t appreciate any of them driving home after drinking. They’ll probably head home sometime after lunch tomorrow and it’ll be just us, mom, and dad with some occasional visitors until Christmas. Then after that, it’ll be a few more weeks of just the four of us. My sisters and their spouses usually go to whatever in-laws they have or visit other family for New Year’s.”

“Alright. I can do that.” He went back to stroking along Phil’s spine until he could hear the soft sounds of his boyfriend slipping off to sleep. Instead of dozing off himself, Chris spent most of the night staring up at the ceiling, contemplating a few things.

~*~*~*~

The rest of the holiday season seemed to race past them. All of the two weeks leading up to Christmas were mostly spent with the boys helping Ruth and Tom put up any remaining decorations, wrapping presents, and keeping Chris far, far away from any cooking utensils. The first time Ruth asked if he’d like to help Tom with dinner, Phil paled.

“Ma, you don’t want Chris anywhere near that stove unless you want to set the whole place on fire.”

“Oh, Phil, stop being so dramatic. He can’t be that bad of a cook.”

“Actually… Yeah, I am. My roommates don’t even let me boil noodles on their hot plate,” Chris admitted with a shrug.

“I’ll help you, ma. Chris, you sit there and drink your coffee far away from us cooking.”

Everyone folded him into their lives so neatly and quickly that Chris hardly remembered he’d only known them all a fortnight when Christmas Eve came around and everyone was once again crammed into the house. Phil was regaling his nieces and nephew with stories of Boston when one of the kids, a little girl whose name Chris couldn’t remember for the life of him, broke from the group and made her way over to him. He gave her a little smile as she studied him closely and he tried figuring out the politest way to ask a child what the hell they were staring at him for. He finally settled for a prompting, “Yes?”

Careful consideration and a steely determination that Chris was beginning to recognize as a Boyce trait settled over her features as she demanded with all the seriousness of a 7 year-old on a mission, “Are you going to marry my uncle Phil?”

Whatever he was expecting her to ask, it sure as hell wasn’t that. He choked on the sip of beer he just took and sputtered as Phil admonished her with a horrified, “Missy! Why would you ask him something like that?”

She turned a confused look toward her uncle. “Cuz mommy said that if you don’t get married soon, you’re gonna die an old maid.”

A twitch of the lips in Phil’s direction spoke volumes about how entertained by this Chris really was. Phil crouched down in front of Missy and offered her a charming smile as he spoke just loud enough for her and Chris to hear, almost like he was telling her a secret, “Is that so? Well you can tell mommy that uncle Phil hasn’t been a maid since he was 15 and she doesn’t have to worry about that, okay?”

Missy nodded excitedly and bolted off to go tell her mother this new and very important information. The loud call of, “PHILIP!” from Becca in the other room pulled a smirk from him as he leaned in to give Chris a quick kiss.

“A kiss for luck because it sounds like she’s going to kill you,” Chris mumbled against his lips.

“Only a little.”

The next morning was a bit of a surprise for Chris. He had expected maybe a present or two from Phil, but included in the pile were also presents from Phil’s parents and a nice set of knitted gloves, hat and scarf obviously made months ago by Phil’s grandmother. He’s really not usually one to get emotional, but the warmth that bloomed in his chest at the thought that went into it all had him giving over weak smiles of thanks.

Phil opened the messily wrapped gift from his boyfriend and grinned at the hand-bound copy of Pliny the Elder’s Natural History. Chris offered an affectionate half smile and explained, “I figured if you’re going to reference the thing all the time, you might as well have more than the stack of printer paper held together with binder clips and prayer.”

“Thanks, Chrissy. It’s perfect.” He handed over his own gift, much neater in its wrapping of metallic silver and green stripes.

When he unwrapped it to find a book he’d been eyeing on astronomy for months, his entire face broke into a wide grin. “Thanks, Phil…”

“Of course Philly would get his boyfriend a book,” Becca broke in with a chuckle.

“And he’d find a boyfriend who’d get him books,” Ashley rolled her eyes, but looked fond.

The men in question just smiled at each other.

Later that night, they were curled up together under the warm weight of a quilt draped across their shoulders, cups of homemade cocoa clasped in their hands. Chris couldn’t remember a single day in his life he could call this good, but he couldn’t make himself sit still. A deep pit of nervousness had opened in the depths of his stomach and it wasn’t until Phil finally lost his patience and asked what the hell was wrong with him that he finally spoke up, “I have something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about”

A sudden seriousness shadowed Phil’s usually genial features. “What is it?”

“Well… We’ve been together for almost a year now. And it’s been an amazing year even with both of us studying our asses off and barely having time to spend more than a few hours together a week where we’re not studying or reading. And then you bring me here and… Holy shit, Phil, your family is amazing.”

Phil’s brow furrowed as he listened to Chris ramble. He wasn’t entirely sure whether he was being broken up with, or if Chris suddenly decided to a 180 with his expression of emotions. Chris seemed at a loss for words for a moment and looked a little like he was going to be ill. The now empty mug was set off to the side so Chris could rest his forehead against Phil’s and let his eyes slide shut. He missed out on creeping grin spreading across Phil’s lips as he started to realize where this was going.

He pulled in a shuddering breath before trying again, “Fuck, I’m awful at this. Will you marry me?”

“Chris…” Phil’s eyes were wide, but the smile was still there as he pulled Chris in the scant few inches that remained between their lips for a lingering kiss. “Yes, you idiot!”

The ring Chris had made using some spare platinum wire from some project or another and it was wrapped around some deep blue stone Phil couldn’t identify. It fit perfectly and Phil couldn’t help but stare at it.

“I figure we’ll wait until you’re done med school before we actually get married. Give us a couple years to live together and make sure you won’t get sick of me.” Chris traced the line of the ring as he spoke.

“Never.”

~*~*~*~

The next morning, Phil left Chris to sleep in and practically flounced downstairs for breakfast, eyes bright and a besotted, dreamy smile plastered across his face. Riley was the first to notice his strangely cheery mood and paused mid-bite to watch him. Her eyes were drawn to the ring like a homing beacon.

“He proposed,” she gave a little smile as she spoke.

“He proposed,” Phil confirmed, looking every bit like he was floating on a cloud.

The rest of the kitchen exploded with excited chatter. Becca and Ashley jumped up to grab his hand while his mom pulled him into a crushing hug. Riley just returned to eating her breakfast and sharing a look with their dad who also looked thoroughly unsurprised. Phil watched him carefully, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

“He seems like he’ll make a good man,” Tom nodded a little as he turned a page in the paper. “He make that ring?”

Phil glanced down at his hand. “Yeah. He doesn’t really have a lot of money, so he used some leftover wire and I have no idea what the stone is or where he found it, but it’s perfect.”

“It’s piece of lapis I picked up when we were checking out those shops in Salem over the summer,” Chris mumbled sleepily from the stairs, Phil’s robe draped over his shoulders and his hair a mess of bedraggled curls.

“Hey you… I thought you’d sleep in a while longer.” Phil got him some coffee and gave him a quick kiss.

“Bed got cold.”

“Oh poor baby,” Phil cooed at him, tone only a little mocking.

Tom put down the paper and watched the two of them until he had Chris’ full attention. “So you want to marry my son.” It wasn’t a question, but it demanded confirmation either way.

“Yes I do.” No hesitation, no reservations, and he suddenly looked wide awake as he waited for a reaction.

All of the man’s mildly intimidating presence rose from the table to place himself in front of Chris. Phil stuck to snuggling up against his boyfriend’s- fiancé’s- chest while the other two men stared each other down. When it was obvious that Chris wasn’t about to look away first, Tom reached out to claps his shoulder with a slight squeeze.

“Welcome to the family, son.”

Tagging: @gracieminabox @pinkamour1588 @thevalesofanduin @yourtropegirl @mccoymostly @auduna-druitt @thinkwritexpress-official @southernbellestatues @emmkolenn @its-life-jim @insane-sociopath @shroom-boi

[thesimplyluxuriouslife]

Norman and Oscar went to Washington! Oops, wrong capital, Jimmy Stewart’s film title slipped in there (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington). 😉 But the boys did get to go to Salem! Oregon’s state capital! The park in front of the capital was stunning with the manicured greens, trimmed boxwoods and spring blooms on the trees still hanging on. Add a thunder cloud passing through and the moment was complete. #tsllmyoscar #tsllmynorman (at Oregon State Capitol) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx3QAYwnaAE/?igshid=1x2g976lzg4ut

[travelonlinetips-blog]

New Post has been published on https://travelonlinetips.com/13-hands-on-cooking-classes-to-fire-up-your-inner-masterchef-2/

13 hands-on cooking classes to fire up your inner masterchef

Does the thought of hosting a dinner party make you wilt faster than a basil leaf in a Brisbane kitchen? Have you lost your mojo to come up with clever new weekday meals?

Whether you’re a wizard when it comes to Insta-worthy creations or a toasted sandwich kinda chef, your kitchen will rule after signing up to one of these hands-on cooking classes, all within a few hours of Brisbane.

1. Spirit House, Yandina, Sunshine Coast

Expect a little spice when you book a class at Spirit House. Located just off the Bruce Highway, two hours north of Brisbane and about 20 minutes inland from Noosa, total immersion in nature also awaits. Oozing oriental charm, the alfresco restaurant is nestled amongst towering bamboo trees and a picturesque lotus pond.

If you love the flavours of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine, but the daunting recipes make you run for your Uber Eats app, this cooking school is for you. They aim to serve up a basic knowledge of Asian ingredients and methods, with classes including ‘Gluten Free Asian’, ‘Asian Shared Table’ and ‘One Bowl Wonders’.

At the end of your four-hour session, you can wash the fruits of your hard work down with free wine and beer!

2. Life’s a Feast Cooking School, Noosaville

For a homely vibe, this boutique cooking school is housed in a… well, a private house, a few minutes’ drive from Noosa’s Main Beach.

The freshly-baked muffins on arrival give you a taste of owner and teacher Gail Rast’s cooking style – that is, effortless, wholesome and crowd-pleasing. Her class options take you on a global tasting experience, from authentic American barbecue cuisine to flavoursome Moroccan feasts and advanced pasta-making.

But Gail’s teachings involve more than just a pinch of this and a sprinkle of that; at Life’s A Feast you’ll also score piping hot tips on menu planning, food and wine pairing, and food presentation. We guarantee your knife-cutting skills will go up a notch or four under her careful tuition.

3. James St Cooking School, New Farm, Brisbane

This Brisbane institution was serving up culinary lessons long before James Street emerged as a cool dining (slash everything) hub.

With super fresh ingredients at your disposal, the chefs at James St Cooking School encourage you to get messy. Forget just tasting; these guys are big on touching and smelling the food to really get absorbed in the cooking process.

Although they cover a bunch of different cuisines, their most popular class is ‘Fast and Furious Seafood’ – think pan-fried fish in bush spice or prawn cutlets poached in coconut milk. Delish!

4. Wild Lime Cooking School, Scenic Rim

Who cares about food when the scenery is this tasty? Ninety minutes’ drive south west of Brisbane is The Lost World Valley, an inspiration for your taste buds encircled by the dramatic ranges of Lamington National Park.

For a true gourmet getaway with friends, attend one of the monthly Wild Lime Cooking School classes, then spend the night at the delightful homestead next door and wake up to the bleating sounds of roving sheep.

The focus here is on using local produce to create everyday dishes that are elevated to perfection. Learn how to make leek-wrapped scallops, mint couscous with native greens or lamb shoulder with fig paste, and sit back on the huge balcony to drink in the country scenery while you devour it.

If you’re travelling with kids, the local homestay operators work in unison, so you can drop them off at nearby Cedar Glen Farmstay for horse riding and milking cows while you create grown-up flavours.

5. Vanilla Zulu, Teneriffe, Brisbane

A modern set-up, this Teneriffe school for culinary adventures is run by Zimbabwe-born Melanie Townsend, who has travelled the world to bring foodie tricks to Brisbane.

Perfect for the reluctant cooks and shy bench-sitters, Vanilla Zulu is all about giving you a hefty dose of confidence, while showing that you can pull together gourmet meals without losing too much precious Netflix time over a hot stove.

Classes run two to four days a week, and the list is pretty extensive with a focus on rustic Italian or vegan one day and meat lover’s or pastries the next. Or, for the ambitious, Melanie also runs a six-week chef skills course.

6. The Golden Pig, Newstead, Brisbane

Take a funky warehouse in inner-city Newstead, add a plethora of premium chefs, and you’ve got Brisbane’s edgiest cooking school.

The groups at The Golden Pig are big, but so too are the flavours. Whip up a classic beef pho from scratch in the new ‘Vietnamese Soups & Noodles’ class, trim beef like a real chef in ‘Kitchen Essentials’, or learn to preserve and cure pork in the ‘Pork Charcuterie Class’. Bread and pastry on your learn-to-master list? They’ve got classes for that too.

A big supporter of local, small-scale producers, there’s also a coffee bar, lounge, rear BBQ deck and retail goodies to browse.

7. Tenteram Cooking School, Gold Coast

If you’re on a mission to be a bit more #health focussed in the kitchen, then a four-hour class at Tenteram, and its lush Bali-inspired property in the Currumbin Valley, is the place to start.

Owners Kay and Justin have a passion for Indonesian cuisine – and creating healthier versions of it. The bench tops here might be sans refined sugars, fish sauce and white rice, but the dishes you create are so bursting with rich (and medicinal) flavours that your palate will be none the wiser.

They also sell their own gourmet product range, Tenteram Fine Foods, that you can stock up on before you leave.

6 more cooking classes to get your kitchen cred soaring

Tamarind Cooking School, Spicers Tamarind Retreat, Maleny Take the lead from expert chefs in a beautiful rainforest setting at this Sunshine Coast delight. Cuisines include French, Italian and Thai.

Norman Hotel, Brisbane With their 20 years of meat-flipping, this is the number one place to learn how to fire up the grill in a two-hour Mastersteak BBQ cooking class.

The Jam Pantry, Greenslopes (Brisbane) Fancy yourself a kombucha fiend? Upgrade (or get introduced to) your pickling and fermenting skills with monthly workshops here.

My Thai Kitchen, Auchenflower (Brisbane) The sumptuous flavours that come out of this kitchen also fill the cooking classroom, led by the restaurant’s chef Taya Meeikeaw.

The Sauce Kitchen, Toowoomba This foodie haven sits within a heritage building and offers a range of classes from baking and Asian cooking to coffee education.

Mecca Bah, Brisbane and Gold Coast For pizza-making lessons with a twist, head to this Middle Eastern and Mediterranean-inspired restaurant. Competitive cooks, take note: Prizes are up for grabs!

Have we missed any great classes? Let us know in the comments below.

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[thoughtfulcupcakesublime]

Community members learned more about a local business owner last week.

Mike Garcia was the guest speaker of a Hispanic Council meeting.

The Prince William Chamber of Commerce hosted the discussion at its headquarters in Manassas on November 5.

Garcia is the owner of Mike Garcia Construction, which was established more than 35 years ago.

Here is a video of the meeting:

Here is a translation of the video, which was completed with 80 percent accuracy:

Mike Garcia: And, and it’s, it’s, people ask me all the time, how did you know? And I said, very, very easy. I said, I watched the man that lived across the street from where we lived. I grew up in Manassas park. I watched the man across the street from the age of 10 till about the age of 12. So over a two year period, he retired. I took an early retirement from Sears. Um, he bought the first seamless gutter machine in Northern Virginia. So at that time you only bought gutters and 10 foot sections and you put it together and that’s where it would always leak. And, and that’s, that’s just what you expected. So he bought this machine that would make a 400 foot long gutter and no seams and started contracting through Sears. And I watched him in two years go from, from being as poor as we were to all of a sudden, um, you know, he’s gotten new vehicles and he’s building a house.

Uh, he built a 120 foot long rambler on a full basement on five acres in Nokesville. And I thought that’s the richest, was the richest man I knew, and I S I witnessed it happen. So I thought, you know what, I can do it. So I just started working for him. Um, I was the guy when the gutters hit the ground, I would take my little tape measure and cut, cut it into eight foot sections, load it in the truck, rake up all the debris that fell out, and he would pay me $10 a day and I’d go sit under the shade and read comic books for the rest of the day. I mean, and, but I watched and I’m, I observed. So my wife and I, uh, well my soon to be wife, we, uh, it was as simple as I’m going to follow him.

I’m gonna follow in his footsteps and I’m going to do exactly what he does. It may take me longer because you know, the economy or whatever. But I, I, I had what we called in our family. We have the Mexican mentality means we work, we work no matter how long it takes. Uh, as a matter of fact, as I grew and went up, up in his company, he used to call me and it wasn’t racist back then. We didn’t, we didn’t know anything. I mean, I didn’t take it as being racist, but he used to call me his Mexican Bacco, y’all know, when a backhoe is, it’s a piece of machinery, uh, you know, and, and I was proud of it, you know, because he was bragging on me to, to the people that they could dump, you know, to dump truck loads of gravel, give me a wheelbarrow and a shovel, and I would move that whole pile inside the basement.

I never complained because I knew I was on a path and I would eventually get there, but I just had to, I just had to work for it. So I got a Robyn and I got married at 18. Uh, I went to work for him full time after I graduated and stopped working just in the summers. Within one year, I was running his crew out in the field. Uh, so I surpassed, he had four other employees and they hated me because I wanted, I wanted to be his number one. And I, I just worked my way up through the ranks. I would stay late, I would work weekends. It didn’t matter. I told my wife before we got married, I said, you know, I’m going to work a lot of hours. You know, that right? And she goes, I, I know, but it’ll, it’ll, it’ll be worth it, be worth it in the end.

So, uh, you know, I, I, uh, became his foreman, and within a year and a half I knew that I had learned all I could learn from him and it was time to move on. So I moved to North Carolina. The reason why I made that decision, it was a crossroads in my life. Uh, I realized it was all about the money for him. Okay. He was in business just for the dollar. There was no pride. Um, you know, and the way I figured it out was I asked him if I could build a house, could he help me build a house on this side? He gets the loans, I will do all the work and we’ll sell the house and then split the money with me. So he did that. So he was getting mad at me because I put more quality into the house that we were doing on his job.

So I was learning because our path is all about learning and, and I realize it’s just about the money with him and, and that, that was okay, but I wanted to make them make my Mark. So he, it came out of his mouth one day that I heard him say to, uh, to another subcontractor. I’m rich, I’m tired of hiding it. And that hit me wrong, you know, because it was, it, to me, it was, it was a very arrogant thing to say. Um, so I, I just stored it away. I said, you know, it’s, I’m going to treat my employees better than that. I’m going to, um, you know, he never had an employee longer than five years. So I, I just, I’ve observed and I just got better and I, and I thought, well, money will come by doing what you love. You do it, you do it for the love of doing it.

You gotta make a living. And sometimes you have to work seven days a week to make that live in, but you’re still trying to, your name, your name is, is the value. It’s not what you do, it’s your name. So I don’t know why I knew that. I took all the pieces and I started on all my out on my own. Uh, and I use Mike Garcia construction. I felt like, what better way of, you know, creating, uh, quality and, uh, I want to protect my name. So off I went and for about 15 years, I had blinders on. I built five houses a year for 15 years. And I did everything. I mean, I, I say everything I framed on my, I cleared the trees off off of the lots. Um, I didn’t lay the block, but I poured the footings. I, I frame, I framed the houses, I trim the houses.

Uh, I even put in the yards and the driveways. I did as much as I could. And I did five, five houses a year. And, and I never focused on the money. It was all about the quality and the houses were getting more and more complicated. And, and I’m, I’m doing the pre-selling and I was my own salesman. And, uh, you know, when people were struggling to, to sell their house, I would say, you have a house to sell. And they’d say, yeah, I bet I can’t sell it. I’ll say, well, how much, how much equity do you think you have in your house? I’d like to come see your house. So I’d go look at the house and I go, you know, I can build you a house and I’ll take your house in on trade and I’ll give you 50. I’ll take 50,000 off of the value of a new house and we’ll just trade houses.

And, and I was doing that. And other people were sitting back and they couldn’t sell their houses. And I was, you know, to me it was just a little nother little stepping stone. And all of a sudden, my wife and I owned about 25 rental properties and it was created a nightmare of headaches, nightmare headache. So, uh, to get a phone call in the middle of the night that, uh, you know, the house is on fire, uh, or a pipe burst and it’s just, you know, flooding the house. Uh, you know, I realized this is probably not how I’m going to create wealth, you know, it helps, you know, I didn’t understand money. I didn’t understand investing. Uh, all I knew was what I knew, which was construction and, and making a name for myself. So, uh, I started selling those off. Well, in 1996 I read and I’ve read the art of the deal by Donald Trump.

Okay. Whether you like them man, or not, had no idea who he was. I, that book was referred to me and was like, my blinders came off and I S I told my wife, I said, I think it’s time I build an office building, so I’ll never forget it. She, she just said she laughed at me. She said, with what? And I said, I don’t know, but I’m gonna figure it out. So what I, what I did is this is how simple it is. And I certainly don’t make it wanting to make it sound like it’s simple, cause it’s not, you have to have guts to do this. You have to be fearless. Okay. And, and I’ll get into that a little bit later, but you know, I didn’t want to fail. I was the only son. And as you know, and, and in our culture, we’re expected to take care of the family, right?

So, so I knew that was gonna be on me, so I could not fail, but I knew this was the right thing to do. So I called John Norman Norman Realty back in the time John’s since passed on. And, uh, I w I, he sent me out with his son to look at commercial properties. So we looked at, spent a half a day and, and then I asked him, I said, so John, if you were me or, or, uh, there was Jay, his son, I said, Jay, if you were me, which one would you go with? And, uh, cause that’s something I’d always ask my trades, Hey, if this was your house, how would you do this? So I wanted his opinion. And he said, I do, I would go with this one and this is why, and made a lot of sense. So I put a $5,000 on that piece of property and I, I, uh, I said, do you know of an architect?

Cause I was drawing my own house plant and that’s all I knew was yeah, was a residential. So he gave me a name of an architect. So I went to the architect, his name was Mike Carroll. I said, Mike, I don’t have any money to pay you right now. I said, but this is a piece of property that I have. I said, true Jewish draw me a building that goes on it. He says, well yeah, I can do that. He says, but first you need to go to an engineer and you need to have an engineer take the lot and figure out how much parking you need and then give me the size of a building and I’ll draw you something. I said, okay. So, so I did that. I went to my residential engineer and he did that for me and uh, didn’t charge me a lot of money.

I went back to the, uh, architect. He drew me a building. It was on a ledger piece of paper. I still have it. And I just went around to every business owner that I knew and I said, I’m thinking about building an office building. Do you want to be my partner? And I had to go through about a dozen people and I found his name is bill Laith on hands budget motels. Um, and he says, uh, yeah, you know, I think I’ve, I think I would like to do it. How much? How much is it going to cost? I said, I figure it’s going to cost $4 million. He goes, okay, well bank’s gonna require 25% down $1 million. I have my 500,000. Do you have yours? And I want, yeah, no, not yet, but I will, I said, I’ll get back with you. So, uh, in reading re reading that book, it’s, it starts with an idea and then you just, you just got to get down into the weeds.

And I said, well, you know, my builder fee was going to be $375,000 and this will be good. Nathan, you’ll like this week, 375,000. So I called BB and T and I said, is there any way you could just keep that 375,000 and I’ll give you 125,000 spread out over six draws while I’m building the building? And they said, I don’t know, nobody’s ever asked us that. Let me check. They came back and says, yeah, well we’ll let you do that. So I literally, uh, that’s how I started my first office building. So, and that’s something I, that I, you know, of course I had houses that I’m trying to sell and I sold some of those and used it to put in the 125,000. But that was my first building. That was in 1997. It was the first, uh, first office building that had been built in Prince William County in like 10 years.

I mean, it was, it was a dry period. So I jumped out first, at least up. And, and then I’m like, I’m in commercial construction too. So we started growing our commercial division, um, 38. So, so I’m in my 38th year now. Uh, I’ve, I’ve accumulated, uh, I think it’s, it sounds terrible and I should know this, but again, it’s not about the money. And, and I have about 46, 47, 48 properties in my family’s portfolio that we manage. I don’t do it. My sons do it, my wife does it. So Mike, my construction company has become a tool in my toolbox to create generational wealth. And I think especially for, for our heritage, it’s a bout family. It starts with family. You know, I, um, I’m embarrassed to say when I, I remember this and I tell people that I’m embarrassed about it. I, when my wife and I, you know, from such a young age, I told her, you know, we waited over five years to have kids cause I was working all the time and I told her, you know, but when we started having kids, you know, I’m going to pull.

And then the kids, you know, we ended up having two sons. Um, and I wanted more, but she, I told her, I said, you know, when you’re, when you, cause you’re, it’s the kids are on you. I’m working. And that was the deal. And I told her, I said, you know, if you, if we can just cause the value of, of anything you get out of life. I mean, I’ve been married 41 years now and you know, that that truly is the greatest success of my life. It really is. Because I wouldn’t have done it without her. We don’t need that. I mean, men know we could live in a garage, you know, have a nice car and live in a nice garage. I mean, it doesn’t take that much. But, uh, you know, there’s been plenty of times when my wife has said when is enough enough.

Okay. That, I mean, we’ve had all of those. I mean, in my business it’s like this. So we’ve weathered three really hard recessions and you got to know what’s gonna come. If you’re in business today, you, you’ve got to know that, like right now is the time to be putting 110% in it. And, and you know, when my oldest son got out of, he graduated from UVA on a Sunday, Monday of the next day, I put him building a 40,000 square foot square foot medical office building. Oh, okay. There was no week vacation, you know, off in the tropics. No, you know, he knew, he knew if you’re going to come in our business, you are going to work. My average employee stays with our company. Uh, I’d say right now our average is probably 16 years. The oldest, uh, he retired for medical reasons. He was with us 34 years.

I mean, when he came to work for me, he was living in a van. He was 17 years old, living in the back of a band. So, you know, we, we, um, my employees become family. My goal with every employee is for me to help them build a house that should be everybody’s goal. You know, you can buy a house but build a house, put the thought into that house. Uh, R R I, I just hired someone. Uh, I’ve known him since he was two years old. His name is, uh, BJ, Brayden, he, he is a, uh, he’s a son of one of my partners in the excavation business. Hardworking, worked for his dad, but his, his dad is not like me. He, he, uh, he’s just hard. He’s hard on his kids and, and you know, you, you, there’s a balance there and that balance wasn’t there and you, you got to figure out, you just got to figure out what that balance is.

But I always thought, man, I a great worker, you know, but he didn’t pay him enough. He gave him a place, he gave him a house to live in. He gave him a vehicle to drive paid for his insurance, but his, his salary was so small that what his father didn’t realize. His friends all make 10 times more money than he does. They live in nicer houses, but he was going to inherit a big chunk of money. My, my horn Baker project, that’s, he’s my partner in that development. Uh, we made a lot of money off that development. It’s a industrial park, corn in industrial park called, um, horn, Baker industrial park. And uh, but you can’t expect your kids to be a slave to you and then wait for you to die. But that’s not, that’s not good. You know, it doesn’t, it doesn’t bring them along the way, the way that you should bring them, you know.

So, uh, but anyways, so he came, he quit his father and, and I, I stayed out of it for one year and my son, my oldest son, Michael says, dad, um, I think you should reach out to BJ cause somebody’s going to grab him. And so, so before I did, I talked to his father and made sure it was okay. I said, look, somebody’s gonna get him. Why don’t you let me offer him a job and and see if, um, he would take it. At least he’s close. He’s not going to move out of state cause you guys may make amends and he may come take over your company. So he, he was fine with that. So I offered him a job, got him on, on board. Within two months I took him to a one acre lot up on bull run mountain that I had just, I buy things and just stick it on the shelf.

Uh, it was a one acre lot that I paid $25,000 for because it didn’t, perk means it did. You couldn’t get a drainfield if y’all know what that is. But I knew how to solve all those things, so I solved it. Uh, and then I had $30,000 into it and I said, BJ, uh, would you like to build a house here? I said, I’ll sell you the lot. Uh, I sold it to him for $10,000. That’s gives you an idea of who, who I am. I get, I sold it to him for $10,000. And I said, you can use the equity and value of this land and you won’t have to put any money out of your pocket. You can build a house. And, and it was like the greatest gift I could ever get somewhere. So do you think he’s going anywhere? No. No.

And he’s been working on his house for a year and a half. Okay. I maybe he’s, he’s taken forever. He wants to do everything himself because he’s going to live there his entire life. So you help people and they, you know, you share, because I was talking to Nathan earlier, you know, money is the root of all evil. It is. I’ve, I’ve witnessed it. Uh, I’ve seen, I’ve seen people’s family. Parents died. The kids turn on one another and you know, and that’s part of it. You know, you got a, um, the value is, is, is, is knowing how to make it, knowing that you’ve got the security of knowing, no matter what happens in the world, you can survive. That’s why I personally believe I a trade a trade school. You know, the greatest value we can give our kids is to teach them our work ethics.

My kids have seen how I work and it was, and it still is to this day. I have, I can work, I can, I can tell you this, I can work about 31 to 32 days in a row and then I have to have three days off. So I’m right now I’m pushing about 30 days. I’m, my energy level is really low so I’m going to be recharging. I’m taking Friday, Saturday and Sunday off. But that’s me. That’s, that’s what drives me. It’s not the money. It’s the creating the relationships, helping as many people as I can. Um, I try, I want to give you guys something that you can take away from this today, that, that can alter how you think. And I think the way I can do that is, you know, even to this day, I, well I, I checked how many emails I have in my computer and I don’t, I don’t erase emails. I’m involved in 23 different LLCs, have many, many partners. There’s many, many things get said and I have to protect myself, so I’m afraid to, you know, but I have 293 emails. I have not opened.

And I opened them. I, I, I, I made it to be unread so that I’ll go back to it. Okay. But it’s, so I, I know I’m falling behind. I know it. Okay. But I’m still doing the best I can and anybody, if they get to me, I apologize. You know? But it’s, it is, it’s not, it’s not for me. Cause I have built some of the most gorgeous things for people. People come to me and it’s like, I have the money, I can afford anything I want. I just don’t want to be taken advantage of. So, I mean, I built bowling alleys in people’s houses, indoor swimming pools, secret rooms, guns, vaults. I mean, what, what, what? I just tell people, whatever you think you’re going to tell me, it’s unique. I’ve already done it, you know, and, and you know, your secrets are your seniors.

I’ll never, never go anywhere. Uh, but you know, they’ve known that, that it’s my passion. They, they chose me. Not because I was the smartest guy, it’s because I had a passion to work for them. And you know what, I, I know I had 10 times the money that most people come to me that wants me to build a house. You know what, I, I still have that passion side about the money. I just want, I tell people I want to satisfy you so that you’ll tell everybody you know how you retreated. And that’s, we don’t advertise. We’ve never really advertised other than I tell people, you know, good people help good people. So if I can satisfy you, you’ll spread my name and they do it.

I do. I do have a little little smart car. When they first came out, we bought one and we wrapped it a micro say construction and I said, I will drive that thing and please do you have right now? You know, we had as many, uh, in the boom time we had about 30. Cause I have it goes up and down. Yeah, we had about 30. And I will tell you this, um, I, I, uh, I didn’t make any more money when I had 30 as I do now at 15. Okay. Right? So, so we’re smarter now. I know I have partners that did $40 million worth of volume and they broke in. Okay. Now he says he breaks even, but if you calculate the liability, okay, then he takes on, cause he has over a hundred employees and he’s had employees turn equipment over and die and, and he has trucks on the road that gets an accident and kill people.

Okay. So he’s always in a lawsuit, always in a lawsuit. Now for me, that’s just not me. I, I, you know, but he’s very, you know, it, it, it goes very gradual and everyone seems to think that, you know, the more I do, the more money I’ll make. That’s not true. Okay. It’s not about working, you know, more and making more [inaudible]. It’s about being smarter. I, I would, I, I’m more the tortoise. I want it, you know, I, I S I’ve always said I want to do this 50 years, 50 years. Now that I’m in my 38th year, so another 12 years, I think I’ll make it. I really do. I think I’ll make it. Um, I’ve learned a lot of things. I mean, in 1999, you know, well, let me just back up. So when I jumped out, built that first office building, it brought some attention to me.

Yeah. Here, you know, economic development. I mean, they got me a building permit off of a footing plan. I didn’t even have a full set of plans. They just, there was nothing had been built in so long. When I was naive enough to think I’m going to build an office building, everybody was like, come on, come on here. You know, they gave me a building permit off I went, well, it got the attention of Cardinal bank. If y’all remember Cardinal. So, you know, they, they approached me, they said, you know, would you like to become a director for the bank? And I’m like, well, you know, I, I don’t know a whole lot about banks. I’m afraid of banks. I’m afraid they’re going to come knock on the door. And one of, you know, call the loans that I have, you know, some, and maybe, maybe I should go over to the other side a little bit, learn a little bit.

So, uh, so when they said, yeah, you only have to buy $50,000 worth of stock. And it was like, do what? But, but I did it. I did it. I probably took a second out on my house or something, I don’t know, but I came up with the money and, uh, so cart, I, I kind of, I was one of 11 directors and I learned about money and what it taught me was, you know what, uh, it’s, it’s a relationship. It’s a partnership. We, you know, so don’t think of your bank as, you know, it’s us against them. They are your partner. Okay. They want you to succeed. You just gotta be very transparent with them, let them know the challenges and, and they want you to succeed. So I had to learn all this from, from the inside. Uh, and, and so when United bank bought Cardinal, uh, I was the only director. They asked to come over. Now, I think it’s because of my last name. That’s what I tell people. I think they just IX, they’re just a bunch of white people. [inaudible]

woman. Yeah. So, so I, I, whenever they did have one woman, uh, so I, I went, I went and I was there for one year and then, uh, John Marshall, uh, asked me to come over to them, to their bank. And it’s a small community bank. So I like small community banks. Um, you know, the big bank. I will tell ya, uh, I have, I’m gonna, I’m gonna write a book. I, it’ll be funny, it’ll be the funniest book, you know, going, going, building for people. Uh, cause it’s, I built houses for people trying to save a marriage and never worked, never worked. Uh, but I’ll, I’ll a lot of funny stories. Um, but uh, I just lost my train of thought while you’re thinking, and then you’d have to leave. I just wanted to introduce the name Lewis. She’s at the museum now. I know you guys helped up in museum.

She’s in the gift shop area, so she has got some treats for you all. And Mike is done. This is courtesy of the day. And that’s right. That was the secret. That was the secret you were doing right there was like, Oh yeah, you remember that. So go ahead. Um, so anyway, I got a call from a BB and T, uh, this’ll, this’ll keep you awake at night. So I built a, I built a, I did a hundred acre, uh, commercial residential mixed use development down on Quantico down off route one. This was back, you know, 2000. It was wide open. I mean, just wide open from 2000, obviously to about 2006, you know, uh, and, and I knew, I knew it was, it was riding and I knew it was going to eventually, you know, run out. So, you know, and I had had experience talking with other, uh, customers of the bank that were much older than me and had done everything that I’m doing.

I’m big at not, not being the first, I like to follow a member, my mentor, I just wanted to follow in his footsteps. I don’t want to, I don’t have to be the, the, the uh, the guy that creates everything. I just, you know, cause it’s not about the money, cause I’m doing this over 50 years. It takes a lot of the pressure off. But, so I did this mixed development and I sold off a hundred lots to Washington homes for $5 million. Right? I sold 300 apartment units for $3 million. And then I was going to keep the commercial component out on route one and I donated 17 acres to a church for a $3 million tax write off because it was zoned for apartments. I mean I’m, I’m in the middle of all of this and figuring it all out and I was having a blast and, and I, I built the first building and the FBI came to me and they, we want to floors 10 year lease.

So I mean, I mean it’s just, it’s all just, you just had to show up. You had to show up and you had to spend 10 12 hour days and, and just, you know, just stay in the game, stay healthy at number one, stay healthy. And uh, when I went to my second second building patent built the building, you know, I landed the United mine workers, it was their national headquarters. They took two floors in the building and then 2006 hits. And BB and T calls me up and says, Mike, uh, you know, we really appreciate all the business that you’ve given us over the years, but, uh, we like to pay you to pay your loan down a million and a half dollars.

And I’m like, do what? I said, are you kidding me? No, no, Mike, we’ve, we did an inhouse appraisal and you know, things aren’t just, they’re not valued what they used to be. So we need you to pay a million and a half, pay your loan down a million and a half dollars. And I was only a 25% partner. Okay. Because I am the creator. I’m the, I’m the construction guy, so I find the dirt, I would develop it, I would take and find the users, I bring them in and I would retain a small piece, like 25%. That was kind of my, my norm. Uh, even my office building that I’m in now, uh, on the Prince William Parkway, right net, right. We’re right. We’re old bridge road and the Parkway hit, there’s a mini lad kill the Keller Williams building building. Uh, it’s really my building, but I put their [inaudible] there. They’re helping me pay off my building.

I believe it will be paid off and four and a half years. Wow. Four and a half years. So I put their name on it. It’s not an ego thing. I’m in the basement, I’m in the basement, I’m in the cheap rent. Uh, but yeah, so they, they um, so I only had 25%, but still a million and half dollars. That was a chunk of money. So I said, are you sure you want to do this? Cause I have given you guys, I don’t know, $300 million worth of business over the years. Yeah. Mike, I’m sorry, this is coming from corporate, you know how to North Carolina. And I said, okay, well let me just send you over a list of all the accounts that I have with you, including all the condo associations that I created that I’m the president of. And let me just send that over to you. Maybe that’ll make a difference. Oh, okay. Well I sent it over. They call me back. Yeah. I’m like, wow, we’d had no idea how much money you had in our bank. Ah, I got you approved to ho you only have to pay $1 million. [inaudible]

so, so, uh, I had two other partners, so I took a $250,000 check over to him and I said, here, here’s my, here’s my 25% you guys send it off. And it was like flushing the toilet. Uh, but no. Yeah, not really. Cause we weren’t gonna sell the building anyway. You know, cause real estate goes up and down and, and I, you know, no matter what you do in your business, you should dabble in real estate. Okay. Just know it. There’s been more millionaires made from real estate than, and I think that will be the case going forward. I don’t think that ever will change. W would you agree? Yep. So it’s not something, you know, it can be a lot of headaches, but no matter what you do, whatever business you have, you want to own, you’re the, if obviously you want to own your own house, you want to own your own business.

So one of the successful things I did is just realizing that an over at horn Baker, uh, you know, we created these warehouse condo buildings. They were 86,000 square feet. They were 37, uh, 2100 square foot, little, little condo base. And, and, and we started selling those to small business owners. And I was telling Nathan, you know, in our portfolio, we have about 30, 35, 36 of them, and they’re all full. Every one of them. And I would tell you, if you ever get an opportunity to buy one, um, buy it because it is a, to me, and I’m involved in a lot of real estate, uh, condo warehouse is the safest commercial real estate that you could own. Okay. Because the tenant takes care of everything on the inside. The condo association takes care of everything on the outside. So for you as the owner, obviously if you’re going to run your business out of it until you hopefully out grow it, then you go up somewhere else and you retain it, you own it personally and you’ve rented to your company so your company’s profits can pay for your personal asset. Okay. Cause at the end of the day, that’s, yeah. I mean, how many here believes social security is going to take care of us when we get older? No. Now that, that money is going to be squandered. So it’s us and our work ethic, uh, is what’s gonna, you know, give us that as we get older, that lifestyle that we’re gonna we’re gonna want

Speaker 2: on behalf of the Prince William chamber and the Hispanic council, we want to present you with this small token of our appreciation and let you know that it means a lot for you, for us, for you to take time out of your busy schedule and everything you’ve got going on to come and share some of your experience, your wisdom with us. So we’re presenting this to you. Recognition for your support or the Prince William chamber, Hispanic council, your tireless dedication and to our community continues to greatly impact the lives of those who live, work, play, and play in Prince William. And thank you very much. And as we do in the military, we’re also presenting you with the Prince William chamber coin for all the contributions that you made. Thank you very much. I can’t, here’s your certificate and let’s take a picture.

Speaker 3: [inaudible].

The post Mike Garcia Construction Owner speaks at chamber appeared first on What's Up Prince William.

via What's Up Prince William

[jurassicparkpodcast]

On the Set of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom | Part Two | Building A Jurassic World

Welcome back to the second part of my sit-down with Andy Nicholson – Production Designer on Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

If you missed the first part of our sit-down, you can check it out HERE!

Following the introduction to Andy’s work and how he got into the industry, we then, of course, had to dive into some deep Jurassic World talk. Andy did an incredible job nailing the sets for the film – with lots of intricate details that I really wanted to take the opportunity to pick apart. We talked a little bit about my experience about my visits to the Fallen Kingdom sets in the UK – particularly those at the the MOD (Ministry of Defence) site in Minley and how the logistics of such a location work when getting assets, etc. to where they are needed for filming.

“It’s quite good using a military location as they run the place like clockwork, and they also tend to have quite good infrastructure so vehicles, etc. can access the location for training exercises. I do remember, however, that we turned up for one location scout and found ourselves in the middle of a battle. We were walking through our future exterior Lockwood house when suddenly, fifty infantry emerged from the bushes, charging and screaming, firing blanks at fifty other infantry who were about a hundred and fifty yards away. The Officer who was overseeing the exercise had just told them to ignore us, we all kind of stood there, like lemons, in the middle of a very loud battle exercise...it was memorable!

Minley was a great location. Lockwood House in the film is in Northern California as it made sense for the animals to be transported there from Nublar, they’d have a big country to escape to at the end of the film! The challenge therefore, was finding redwoods and Northern Californian-style nature in the UK. There isn’t a lot of that kind of stuff in the here but much of the property owned by the MOD in Surrey has the Scots pine trees and they work. We also needed to find a building to use as the exterior of Lockwood House. We ended up finding this at Cragside, a National Trust property in Northumberland. Cragside was an amazing location! We had looked at a lot of alternatives but wanted something which could double for Victorian American architecture. Cragside was built in 1863 as a country getaway for industrialist and inventor William Armstrong. An engineer, scientist, and philanthropist, Armstrong is remembered as the father of modern artillery. In 1880 Baron Armstrong called upon architect Richard Norman Shaw to transform his house into a state of the art mansion, an elaborate country house in Tudor style, incorporating a science laboratory and even an astronomical observatory! Armstrong was also a passionate Americanophile. He had visited Northern California, and loved Redwoods, Sequoias and the other flora alongside American architecture. He got his architect to incorporate features of both in the interior and the exterior of the building, and then planted Redwoods and Sequoia around the entire area of his home. So, turning up there one hundred and fifty years later all you can at first see is empty Northumberland moorland but then suddenly it’s as if someone has just dumped a load of Northern California in the valley. It was incredibly surreal & it was perfect!

The next thing we then had to address was the driveway at Lockwood House. The driveway that Cragside had wouldn’t have worked as it was all a little bit too tight, which would have prevented us from getting the camera angles that we really wanted for the scene. So, we then needed to find somewhere which had a large amount of space. Luckily, Minley has a ex-runway (built for Spitfires during WWII) cut through a wood. It was the perfect location for us, it had a slight uphill slope so we could put the portion of the house we built on location at the top of the hill, and then have the road sloping down from there – allowing us to go away and CG in the rest of the house in post production. We were also able to built the back of the house, where you see the dinosaurs being unloaded in the film around the corner from this location which was essential. Currently, if you look on Google Earth at the location, you can see the set going together which is really cool.”

At this point – I mentioned how the stuff which was filmed at Blackbushe Airport in the UK had made it onto Google Maps, which Andy Chuckled at as he mentioned they had only actually filmed there for a day.

“With big builds you do sometimes see them on Google Earth. Minley is great because it currently shows up. You can see both of the sections of Lockwood house that we built and all of the parked film vehicles. It’s been similar with some other productions I worked on – like Band of Brothers – If on GE you go back in time you can see sets some that were built on locations which have now been totally transformed. Its the same in Hawaii where we built the security gates and damaged main street. If you still go to that location and look at the clearing, you can still make out where things were constructed.”

While we were talking about Hawaii, Andy shared some interesting facts about Blue’s Nest with the Ford Explorer.

“Where we built Blue’s Nest is the same location which was used for the sequence where Owen is riding with the Velociraptors on his motorcycle in the first Jurassic World. It’s a jungle, so obviously, it’s very hard to tell that it’s the same location. We cleared back a lot of stuff for the Nest, so we had space for a bit of a clearing for Blue, but when they shot there before in Jurassic World they had brought in a lot more materials to make the location denser with foliage. It’s funny thinking about that location as it’s only about 50M from a main road – but it’s so dense that you really can’t tell. It was also useful, because the other side of the road was the Marina where we had the dock and the sequence with the truck jumping onto the Arcadia ramp. It was all so close to Blue’s Nest – so it was useful in allowing us to move between both locations quite flexibly. By chance I found out while researching the dock that my friend, the Production Designer Rick Heinrichs, had built a full Galleon in the water for one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies!”

We then proceeded to touch on the photos which Andy has been uploading to his Instagram of the production, and Andy wanted to say the following before we explored them:

“I’d like to say a big thanks to Universal for letting me share these photos. I’ve seen a fantastic response from fans, and it’s nice getting to highlight some of the smaller details that weren’t necessarily as prominent on screen.

“I wrote Universal a formal letter asking what I could show, and they were receptive of me doing this which was nice. They really want to keep the interest in these movies going as much as is possible.”

It was quite funny as well, as at one point we were talking about requests for photos, and Andy mentioned how us Jurassic fans are notorious for asking for the smallest and most intricate details which won’t mean much to anyone unless they are a massive fan of the franchise and want to know every little intricacy. We then proceeded to talk about one of Andy’s most nostalgic touches – the model of Jurassic Park which features in Lockwood’s room.

“The room that was Lockwood’s Bedroom was also used for Mill’s Office, so it was a really big room to transform into a bedroom which suddenly had a lot of space. We had lots of discussions on set about small details which we could fill the space with – and I then suggested a model of Jurassic Park. It was partly inspired by the model of the Sanctuary Island which was in the Diorama room, but also partly inspired by the fact that at one point in the script, Maisie was playing with a model of the original Jurassic Park in her bedroom. It kind of got moved and changed from that, which eventually came to him having it in his room. It was nice, as we were then able to get these old photocopies of the original blueprints from the first film. So, we used the original blueprints of the Visitors Centre and Raptor Pen which were built in Hawaii. Everything from the layout of the lake and the other detail were based on this Blueprints as well.

It was a shame that some of the background of the stuff we built in Hawaii isn’t there anymore, as we originally had a lot of set dressing for the entire way down to the log they hide behind in the stampede sequence which is barely glimpsed in the background of the shots in the final film. The idea was that there were service tunnels across Isla Nublar – so I really wanted to play with the ideas of those. We also had a Gyrosphere Service Bay right by the treeline, and we then destroyed about ten Gyrospheres to add to the backdrop – showing some of the chaos which had occurred since Jurassic World. It was interesting as originally, we also had a lot of carcasses – like the carcass Owen passes in the River. We really wanted to show the progression of time on Isla Nublar – so we made sure to hint at the natural order of things which had been occurring on the island since the dinosaurs broke free. There was a massive skeleton of an Apatosaurus laid next to the bunkers on the set as well, which you barely see in the film, but which hinted again at the passage of time. A lot of this was trimmed down for running time – but we really tried to place carcasses and other details which would help to tell the story of what had happened to the location since the events of Jurassic World. I think it’s nice as you have the people who pause when they have the Blu Ray, and go through scene by scene, so hopefully there’s a lot of little smaller details which people will notice as the film ages. Part of the justification for leaving small details in is that there is always something which someone will notice.”

I then touched briefly on the carcasses – in particular, the skeleton Owen walks past in the Behind the Scenes footage, which is believed to be a Deinosuchus. Andy touched on it:

“It was one of many skeletons we hired which we added into the film. Being able to add dinosaurs which hadn’t been seen before was the reason why I enjoyed working on the diorama room so much. I mean – if you were into dinosaurs, wouldn’t you recreate scenes and have these sculpted things made for you? There was some talk about them being taxidermy dinosaurs at one point I think, but that wasn’t the idea behind them. The idea was that they were fake recreations. The Concavenator, which is my favourite, came from when I was doing some research and discovered that the only fossil had been discovered near Barcelona, so it was a Catalonian dinosaur. With JA being from Spain and being Catalonian, I thought it would be a nice touch to add to the film as a nice tribute to him. That’s why this dinosaur really became the focus of the display. It’s a cool dinosaur – and I’m glad that we managed to get that one in.

“There was some talk about them being taxidermy dinosaurs at one point I think, but that wasn’t the idea behind them.”

There’s a couple of other species which we were glad we could get in – one of which is the Dimetrodon. When my supervising art director and myself were discussing what other dinosaurs we wanted, we knew that the Dimetrodon must be one of the ones in there as it’s a favourite – especially with Jurassic fans. The one with the Dilophosaurus and the Velociraptor was more down to my creativity, as it was originally scripted as a Dilophosaurus skeleton. Over time, this gradually evolved into different dioramas. While we were creating dioramas, the writers were still finalising the sequences at the manor – so gradually, what we constructed changed to accommodate the final sequence where the characters run through the back of the display. This, of course, influenced how much space we needed in the displays – and it explains how we went from two Dilophosaurs, to one, and then the final diorama that you see on screen. We originally had three Dilophosaurs and one Velociraptor, but we had to get rid of one as soon as we knew about the stunt, as we knew we would need more space in the diorama. When the stunt happens, we ended with one Dilophosaur as we needed the extra space to facilitate the stunt.”

Make sure you come back for the third and final part of our chat with Andy soon.

Whilst you wait for the final part – make sure to check out Andy’s website, and follow him on Instagram for more behind the scenes insight.

Written by: Tom Fishenden

[annarbrandt]

12 Exterior Home Projects That Increase Home Safety And Look Great

Increase the safety of your home with a few simple tricks that go a long way!

Photo: Luxe

After coming back from my Australian vacaYour home is your castle and with the average Australian home costing $679,000 AU it is a large investment which you will want to protect.

With this end in sight you should consider adding the following safety measures. Of course, Australia is generally considered a safe place to live but with such a hefty investment it is worth taking a few extra precautions:

When considering home projects it is worth being aware that the building envelope is the physical divide between the interior and exterior of your home. In effect, this is the walls and windows. These projects are all outside this envelope.

Photo: The Z Hush Blogspot

Plant Bushes

The bushes round your home can keep unwanted intruders out, providing they are thick enough and prickly. No one will want to crawl through this just to see if it is worth getting into your home.

However, the bushes should only be on the perimeter and should not be too tall; you don’t want to create hiding places!

Keep Trees Trimmed

A tree too close to your house can allow a burglar access! It can also act as a good place to hide and watch your home. Keep your trees trimmed to ensure this is not an issue.

Photo: John Comitskey

Arrange Parking Areas

Create a parking area where all residents and home owners can park. This can be arranged to look nice but also ensure you have a good visibility of your land and even the vehicles. Thieves like to work where no one can see them, you need to make this as difficult as possible.

Don’t Underestimate a Fence

A fence is not actually your friend as they are comparatively easy to climb, allowing someone access to anywhere on your property. Instead, replace them with mesh fences, there are no hiding points and they are difficult to climb!

Photo: Fun Gardening Today

Cut The Grass

Keeping the grass cut and the yard maintained will ensure that your home looks lived in and cared for. This will discourage many opportunists. It will also ensure that you can maximize your visibility of your grounds.

Security Door

The most likely entry point for anyone looking to break into your home is the front door, with the back a close second. Replace them with security doors to ensure you make this as difficult a process as possible. There are many attractive designs on the market which can really improve your home.

Photo: Vanessa and Valentine

Digital locks

If you’re ever tempted to leave a key out for a relative or friend then it’s time to consider going digital. This will allow anyone access with the right code or you can be more advanced and use a finger print!

Window locks

The window is the second most popular access point. Safeguard it by replacing the standard locks with deadlocks.

Shatterproof Glass

It can be easy to gain access if you break a window, no matter how good the locks are. Make sure all your ground floor windows have shatter proof glass. It can be designed with patterns to add to the appeal of your home.

Window Stops

If your window is ajar then they don’t need to shatter the glass, simply open it! Make sure you fit all windows with stops to prevent them from being opened more than an inch.

Use Security Lighting

Security lighting can benefit you when you are sitting in the garden. Connecting it to sensors means you’ll be aware anytime someone enters your property. This will turn away most burglars before they start.

Photo: Helen Norman

Invest in Cameras

Finally it is worth considering adding cameras outside your home. Security systems are an essential investment to keep your home safe. Having your cameras connected to your mobile home makes a smart home that is secure and safe. You will need to ensure there are signs and that they only point at your land, but this can be an effective deterrent. They also come in a wide variety of designs, allowing them to be an attractive addition to your home!

The post 12 Exterior Home Projects That Increase Home Safety And Look Great appeared first on BetterDecoratingBible.

12 Exterior Home Projects That Increase Home Safety And Look Great published first on betterdecoratingbible.com

[yourtreezy]

When done correctly, by a licensed arborist, trimming can improve the look and health of your trees significantly and should be done regularly to maintain a beautiful, hazard-free landscape.Get the highest standard of Tree Trimming in Norman Park.