April 15th, 2016, my wife Carolyn went home to be with her Lord. During her three year battle with ovarian cancer I witnessed the faith and bravery of a remarkable woman. I may never love as deeply again.  The 34 years we had together were wonderful beyond words. She was my best friend, confidant, lover.  Knowing she is resting in the arms of her Lord helps a little to ease the sorrow I feel.

Well we have gone and done it.
This pic is of our latest addition,
Sophie Joy, the day we got her
home.  She is just 8 weeks old
and 1 lb. 9 oz.  We expect she
will rocket to 5 lbs or so in her
first year.  Once we decided to
take the puppy plunge again Carolyn did all the research
and was able to find a family in Georgia that had both
the AKC parents and the price was very reasonable.
Left is a pic of the breeder
with Sophie’s mother.  The
biggest challenge has been
adjusting to the demands a
puppy makes on 60+ year
old bodies.

I will be sharing some Deming Philosophy with a local car dealership.  It amazes me that with Deming thinking at work in all Japanese and most Korean auto manufacturers, that I fail to see it at the dealership level.  Do the makers not believe that the same care and expertise should prevail in sales and service?  In any case I admit my addiction.  I am forced to point out Deming’s work wherever I go, I cannot help it.  Approaching 69 this summer and am looking forward to being out of the sign business. It will take no few speeches to get my groove back, but even that will be a refreshing change.

Thinking about the sign business and what direction to take for the short term.  Of course after 40 years I am ready to stop making signs already.  I may have 20 years left to make a difference, and I will spend that time speaking and teaching Dr. Deming’s ideas, helping as many as possible to start down the path of his transformational thinking.  The most powerful element of teaching Deming is trumpeted in the old saying about “teaching a man to fish”.  The main idea behind Deming is a transformation.  When this transformation takes place the hearer is no longer able to look at business management, or any kind of organizational management the same way.  Deming’s ideas pervade everything he does.  As this new convert starts to apply Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge he sees the results and becomes more and more convinced that it works.
I am more that 10 years into this transformation and have seen Deming’s ideas work in businesses large and small.  So now it is time to apply systems thinking once again to our situation at SignPrinters.  I will be starting the process in the next few weeks and will post updates here so you can share in our success.

At 9:15 am NZ time, a mentor and friend stepped into the light. As the author of this website I am just one of hundreds, no thousands, that have had their lives forever altered by an encounter with Roy Waldrom. Loved as a grandfather, father and husband, Roy was a simple man, simply hearing Father God and teaching what he heard to everyone he met. Simple. “Why are you trying to make it hard?” he asked. “Just ask Jesus.” I was certain the Christian walk could not be that simple. But it was. He will certainly be missed. But Roy lives on in the hearts and lives of those he touched, I for one, will never be the same.

As we wade into a new year I have a lot of wishes.  I would like to finally retire from the sign business.  Maybe move to a different local.  Start back at the gym.  When you are making money you buy stuff.  Many of us never really think that someday we will have to get rid of most, if not all of it.  Our cabin at Callaway Gardens has been wonderful.  A place we can go to relax.  But when we go there we end up working our tails off cleaning and fixing so that the renters can enjoy it.  We don’t have to sell it, but it is just a complication we don’t need at this stage in our lives.  Twenty years ago we bought the 6,000 sq. ft. building that houses SignPrinters.  When we had 9 employees we used almost all of it.  Now we can run the company in 1/4 the space.  Just a complication.  Finally our big house.  Who needs a 3,000 sq. ft. house?  Five acres of grounds to keep and heating and cooling the house is time consuming and expensive.  We could fit nicely in a house half the size.  But when we make these purchases we rarely think about getting rid of them, and that is something a few years has brought into focus for me.

We loved our third trip to Branson.  The Sight and Sound Theatre production of the Miracle of Christmas astounded both of us.  For 2013 Jonah is the show in Branson so we hope to find time for a trip during the year to see it.

We had one day with a temp of 8F but the rest of the time it was 30s and 40s, pleasant.
We shopped and ate and just enjoyed the stew out of each other.  Watched some real estate shows to get a handle on the prices.  Maybe this will be the year.

Our place at Stormy Point.

We arrived at Stormy Point Village about 2pm on Saturday, the 28th.
It was cold but not bitterly so, in the high 30’s.  We had sought
out Big Cedar Lodge for lunch and had shared the chicken livers which
are served on a huge bed of mashed potatoes, surrounded with a moat
of peppercorn gravy.  Two can split this, and we did.

Enjoyed the viewof Lake Tanycomo from our table.

 
After checking in and arranging our quarters we lounged about for 2
hours then dressed for Sight and Sound’s production of Miracle of Christmas.

Sight and Sound Theaters exist to spread the Gospel
of Jesus Christ by bringing the Bible to life.  If you are
ever near Branson, MO, make it a point to see one
of their productions.  You will be astounded.
Jonah starts March 22, 2014.

You are doing a great job.
The last three games Auburn played all contained at least one trick play.
A Kipling poem you have heard but bears repeating.

“Now this is the Law of the Jungle—
As old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
But the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree trunk,
The Law runneth forward and back—
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
And the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.”

Wishing you every success.

Two days after Christmas we are off to Branson, MO for our third visit there.  We have tickets for Saturday night to see The Miracle of Christmas at Sight and Sound.  Last year we were blown away with the production of Joseph. We are planning to ask a great many questions of the locals, furthering our desire to move to Branson.
Carolyn and I were both born in Florida and have lived there almost all of our lives.  Once the sale of our business, house and cabin materialize, we both would like to spend our last 20-30 years living outside Florida.