The Royce Files

The employment cycle continues to churn. Today I returned for another stint at the Mill (Roman Meal Milling). It was a very simple day. It included plenty of waiting. Congeled coconut oil held up the start of making granola in the giant toaster. I ended up playing with the "larded" oil until it liquified to add to the recipe. And some recipe it was. Ah granola smells much better than donut crunch. The granola ran through the toaster and into hoppers overhead and then into a gargantuan sack. During production the bin that let the granola into the sack became congested. At first I only felt a few pieces fall on my as I was aiding the granola's distribution into the bag. Then a torrent rained down upon me. A flash flood commenced. So it was a pretty interesting Monday.

Cute stories have been floating around the Net for years. It seems my sister collects them and then forwards them onto me. I usually dismiss them. However, this one is particularly interesting although I would debate the worth of pumpkin seeds- in actuality they are very healthy. Of course seeds of doubt, hate, greed and all that jazz are not healthy if you desire to be a follower of Jesus. A woman was asked by a coworker, "What is it like to be a Christian?" The coworker replied, "It is like being a pumpkin." God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff. He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see."

This past week my picturesque and quaint hometown of Hastings had been mared by a tragic murder . This is not the way I want Hastings to be known. Horrible. Yes very horrible. A Shakespearan tragedy could do itself well based on the facts of the crime. A son kills his parents to get at the inheritance. There are hints that it was motivatived by some arguments too. What went wrong? All but one of the accused had been model students. My only guess is they had tasted religion but had not accepted the implications- the spirit lead life. Our only hope now is that through these circumstances and probably grave consquences these young men will find hope that rests on nothing less than the Cross. This is not the only crime to have brought attention to Hastings. There have been others in the 20 or so years I recall- an accidental shooting brother, a bizarre electrocutuion, an underage drinker dying in the cold. So Hastings is not so spotless. I'm sure I could dig a few more up but I won...

It has been dullsville out here. With the exception of a strange occurance at the Forks, nothing terribly stands out to me these days. Just look at the blog gap. Because of this I this I decided to embark on an extraoridinary task. Something challenging. Bike to Wilmar. Sure it's not Seattle but do I really want to cross the Rockies at this time of year. I am more confindent I can cross the prairies. In other news, the vicious employment cycle put me back folding shop towels again. Yep. The bottom rung of temp work. Although this time around I had a better attitude and survived. I even thing I might go back- I'm a bit desperate. To culminate my week at Ameripride my co-workers gave me cheers. Unheard of anywhere. It made it all the more enjoyable. I was also thanked numerous times that day from others. Incredible. Well, got to hit the road.