‘Gizmo’ ~~ A Very Good Friend’

 I can’t remember the first time we met. What I do remember ~~ is an amazing amount of times that we worked together. And of all the people that I’ve ever met in my life ~ Mr. Gizmo ~ was not just a friend, nor a good friend ~ no, I consider Jim Towle to have been a very good friend! And I’m going to miss him.

There was the major plumbing crisis at our rental in 2008 ~ Jim and I, a week later completed a total overhaul. Or replacing our cold water pipes, along with Jay, where I would see first hand the true meaning of claustrophobia. Five minutes was all he could take under my ‘Army-man Crawl’ of a house. As well, along with Jay, they would repair a leak in our main water line. So many plumbing adventures ~ something of which we both noted our dismay and our mutual saying, “Haven’t I ever told you how much I hate plumbing”? But none of these adventures, or perhaps tragedies, would compare to December 2013.

The story actually backs up to March of the same year. Jim and Marna’s mother Marian had died. Jim with a couple traveling restrictions, and myself having just retired, asked if I would be interested and able to travel to Ketchikan, Alaska to assist with his mother’s house. To which I said, absolutely! But then, time would happen. Only a week before Thanksgiving I would receive a call from Jim. “Rick, is that offer to go to Ketchikan still good”? To which with a smile I replied, “You do realize that it’s Winter”? After a pause, I said, “Of course”!

Jim, Roger & Steve

Twelve days and more than twenty inches of rain, Marna, Travis and I, along with multiple calls to Gizmo for his guiding assessment & direction, completed an incredible amount of items off of the ‘to-do’ list. None perhaps greater than, you guessed it ~ a plumbing project on the bathroom. More than fifty years had passed and that pink, yes, all pink bathroom, had not been witness to a change. The main objective was to replace the shower surround. In the middle of that project comes the below, now infamous picture. Yes, I really do hate plumbing! But wait, for you my friends I now provide a special rate. Yes, all your plumbing needs for only $250 an hour. And wait, there's more ~ call now and receive your very own 'Ginsu' knives for only an additional $129.99 Ha!!

Ketchikan 2013

Anyway ... as fate would have it ~~ at the exact time that I was working on Jim’s house in Alaska, Oregon had one of only two times since 1982 where temperatures dipped below 10 degrees. Fortunately for us a neighbor was walking by and saw water leaking from our second story. Unfortunately for Jim (and Jay once again) his plumbing dismay was called into action. And I’m pretty sure that his thoughts were ~ ‘Haven’t I said how much I hate plumbing’ …

You’d think that plumbing was all we did ~ but fortunately, NO! There was his ingenious creation and fabrication of a part in the shape of a kidney bean in order to repair the drivers door on my 85’ Honda Prelude. Which he cleverly attached using aircraft rivets from his father's collection. Or the fabrication from a street sign (shhhhhh ~ don’t tell the County) of the plate which holds the ‘Tail Bag’ on my Yamaha FJR motorcycle. Or the seriously countless times when I called or visited to inquire some ‘Gizmo’ brain time. Outside of the brilliance of my own father, I don’t believe that I ever personally knew someone who obtained such a mind of genius. And how humbly he would dispense of his wealth of knowledge, to myself and whomever might ask the same.

Milling the Siding for our Garage 2011 

Wow! Where do I stop with projects. Gas lines and stove in our Rental (yes, with Jay). Or a complete overhaul of a porch at the Rental. Of course there were other projects at our own home. I’ll always remember his blue face spraying under the eves. Or our front porch, in which we laid marine grade plywood down. And there was our multiple week chore of a complete overhaul of our 100 year old garage. Steve would help as we removed the ‘tumor’ from the back of the house. With a chain wrapped around the roof timbers, Steve gently backed his truck up as the roof slowly lowered. Jim kept saying, “It’s ok, it’s ok”. As my face grimaced waiting for the moment of collapse. Once again, Jim was right, the roof remained intact. Whew! We even milled our own siding from wood purchased at the Yoder Mill, and routered the exact contour to match the siding on the house.

Rental Porch Remodel 2016

He was the 'Altoids' man ~ Indeed!

Somewhere along the way when the final act of the project was completed, we would say, “And now the ‘Fat Lady’ sings”. To which we would bellow … “Laaaaaaaaaaaa”!

So Jim … the final act of this side on heaven is now complete, and the ‘Fat Lady’ ... well, she gives her final bellow ………… Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa……….. 

 

Written on Travis' 37th Birthday January 28, 2022

 

You ... and I

 Hey son, watched this movie on Tuesday with some friends. It is called, 'American Underdog'. It is the true story about Kurt Warner. I followed his story some as it was unfolding in the early 2000's, but now with the movie ... wow, even more so for sure.

Ready to work, yeah baby!

In the YouTube interview called, "Kurt Warner, Zachary Levi (the actor who plays 'Kurt' as well was the lead in the show 'Chuck'), and Wally Talk American Underdog", Kurt says these words.  

.... talking about ‘facing’ the aisle, i.e. pulling the store product to the front of the shelf. “I don’t know if when you make your trip to the grocery store at 5am in the morning you’re ever going to notice what my aisle was like. But I never left the store at night until I said, “I’m gonna have the best aisle in this store”. My aisle is going to be faced better, it’s going to be cleaner, it’s going to look better than anybody else's aisle in this store. And I would walk out at night and nobody ever told me, “You got the best isle”. And nobody ever walked in and said, “It looks great”.

But it was a moment for me...

“Doesn’t matter where I’m at, doesn’t matter what my circumstances are. There’s a way that I want to do everything. There’s a way that I want to live, and I want to live with excellence. ~~ I found myself in that grocery store and had no idea why I was there. But it was something that I learned in that moment that I took with me everywhere I went from there. Whether it was my football career, whether it was being a husband, being a father, being a Christian. Didn’t really matter. That mindset was shaped in a grocery store at two o’clock in the morning, but would ultimately shape who I would become as an individual.” Kurt Warner

And I thought about that morning when my son (you) was working as a Merchandiser for Coca Cola. I went to the Fred Myers in Newberg to drop something off for you. You were kneeling down while cleaning up from a fellow merchandiser. It was a Wednesday, though your first day back ... i.e. your Monday. While kneeling down you stopped, looked up at me and said, "You know dad it's a curse". "What", I said. "This work ethic that you gave me".

I'm sure that I've said before, that it comes naturally as through my very own mother. Kept in balance with life ~~ it will always serve us well. And take us to places ... wow ... I would never have imagined where my Paramedic schooling would take me. Now across this globe a few times. All because, as with Kurt, I want to live with excellence!

And even baseball ~ from those young days with my coach 'Joe'. It didn't matter what others thought or did. I was ALWAYS going to do it best. Show the best. Be my best! And now I have the privilege to take those skills and that ethic to Mexico and beyond to prepare the next generation to always give their best regardless of their circumstances ~ Who knows where it will take them. Or who knows which one might become an amazing builder, a doctor, a scientist ... discover or do that which might provide for their community in amazing ways. And to know that it all began ~~ just because someone 'did their best'. Because someone 'lived with excellence' in such a way that they took a hold of that ethic and did something amazing with it.

Anyway, just thinking of you ~~ my nearly 37 year old baby. Ha!

Love you, Dad

 

                                                            "I want to live with excellence!" (Minute 6:30 and on ...)

                                                    "Life made him an underdog ... Faith made him a Champion"

 

 

 From the 'Wally Show' ~ https://youtu.be/0uqCpSqKMPY