I've Been Watchin' You by Rodney Atkins

I was just thinking the other day how many weird and interesting people there are in my life. So I kinda got this urge to write character sketches on a couple of them…. Here is one of them.

Bernard Wallace is his name, or just Bernie for short. When I first met him two years ago he seemed to me like the prince of curmudgeons as he eyed me critically from his perch on the porch steps and asked the friend who had introduced us if I could really mow his lawn. When my friend told him that yes, this shrimpy blonde-haired, blue-eyed twelve-year-old could actually do a satisfactory job mowing a lawn, believe it or not, he replied with a non-too-enthusiastic grunt. When I had finished the lawn work, a task not completed without adventure, he was quite pleased with the work I did (even though I left his mower run down the hill, across the road, and into a fence post). I mowed his lawn and weeded he flower beds for him whenever he asked me to, and he took a liking to me. But I soon noticed one thing that bothered me. He never smiled-- never, and I took upon myself the challenge of lifting the corners of his mouth. He complained to me about his neighbors, about the crazy people on the road, about being old, about neighborhood hoodlums, about… well, just about everything. I tried to be positive (Lord knows I didn’t always get it done) because I could see beneath the shell of anger, frustration, pain, and pessimism a heart of gold, and I was determined to uncover it. It was not an easy task, and sometimes I wondered if there was any hope for the man. Then, slowly, he started coming to life. I watched him smile for the first time since I had met him with the same feeling of tremendous joy and satisfaction as when I watch a pet bird takes its first flight. Winter’s spell was finally broken, and spring had come. He learned to laugh; he learned to love; He learned to live to its fullest.


Caleb and me went out to eat with Bernie this morning at Bird-in-Hand Restaurant. He is a really nice guy once the real Bernie comes out, even if it takes him a while to warm up to you. It is really crazy how this guy is changing, and really cool to watch him change from a grump into a friendly man that will actually crack a joke or two.

ok you guys have a really nice day and be good and all that nice stuff,
conrad

Amish country at sunset... enjoy :)

BACK OFF SHORT STUFF!

water lily

wild flowers

I am LOVING highschool. So i bike to work... write down fifteen minutes of phys ed in my log book. work at bens? write it in as science. Weed in the garden? scribble down 2 hrs. of a science project. wow. :)

merry christmas and a happy new year to ya'll,
conrad

Just to let you all know that... yeah, there are still a couple good ppl on the face of the earth.
Me and Leonard went biking on Sunday and he wanted to go to Smoketown airport to watch the airplanes for awhile. so we walk over to this little porch thingy and an old dawdy walked up to us. He was bout as tall as i am and he had a long beard, twinkly eyes, and a dutch accent (and he could speak dutch too cuz he asked me "bisht doo dietch?". funny thing,) the old guy wanted to show us around and he was telling us all about his day. The poor man needed someone to listen to him. He walked us down to this one plane and was showing us around when a tour plane comes in. Then he kinda lighted up and said, "Hey! you guys wanna go up? C'mon! i got a blank check!" so we went up in this tiny cessna (it was full with the pilot, me, leonard, and the old dawdy) for about a half hour. we flew right past our house and everything. really awsome. :)

I applied for a job at this place called Pioneer. Its like a farm and greenhouse where they raise seed corn and all kinds of hybrids and stuff. so i'm really excited about that.
my day looks really busy. I gotta plant strawberries, spray weed killer, weed eat, and then at one oclock i have a dentist appointment, then i needa go milk after that. so why am i sitting on the couch updating my blog!!!

ttyl,
conrad9

school picnic

It was a great day to hold a picnic... probably in the upper seventy's- low eighty's.

my big bro. jeffro

playin ball

the dude we call one or all of the following: Rudolph (theres some obvious reasons for that name), Short Stuff (He's almost as tall as me and taller than anyone else in the class), Marcus, or Marky. whatta guy. :)

Everbody is tryin to get me an my good buddy chrit to come back next year. I doubt it. I'm frantically searching for a good excuse to not come back. so whatever.

ttyl,
conrad

I inverted the colors of something i drew... i think it looks cool

Today was the last day of school-- ya know… when the teacher says how much he enjoyed having you in his class and you say goodbye to everyone an all that.
I brought doughnuts and chocolate milk to school today for my birthday. The girls kept teasing me about bringing coffee cuz sumtimes brought it in the morning and they think it’s the weirdest thing, so I got mom to bring some along. nobody but me an 1 of my buddies drank it. :)
I am starting to train for a triathlon happening at the end of June. Ok so this is a huge MAYBE. I would possibly do the running and Caleb would do the biking. This afternoon I ran 2.5 miles in 16 min. and 51 sec., which rounds to 6 min. and 45 sec. per mile… not too bad. That’s bout the speed I’d need to go, but I would have to go 4.4 miles instead of 2.5 miles.
One of my friends is coming over tomorrow morning and staying till Saturday when we go to the school picnic at lunch. gonna be a party!!

Later folkses,
conrad

Conrad Fisher has officially completed the grade school studies.

wow. Really hard to believe. I did like three finals today. grammar, science, and math. I was extremely happy with the science, moderately thrilled over the math, and I still didn’t get my grammar back. So I’m holding my breath till then…. sorta. Tomorrow is party time pretty much…. takin stuff down of the walls and cleaning up.
There’s a rumor out that my teacher is gonna take us guys canoeing. We did it last year too, and it was a total party. gonna be great. :)

Bye bye for now,
conrad

Today I had a science test. It was kinda pathetic cuz I left my backpack in rosina's car and so couldn't study for it. ok. so thats not the first time this has happened, and I think I have a chance for maybe an A or better.
I have a bunch of finals this week and then Thursday school is done. cheers. sorta. Everybody wunts Conrad to come back to school next year. Like at the end of the program, we get one of the sheets with all the songs we sang on and right signatures and little notes and stuff while we party in the classroom, bout all the girls in my grade wrote something like this. "Hey conrad, it was really cool havin you in my class this year. Can't wait till you come back next year." whatever. but the only guy my age is not really in the mood to do ninth grade. so we'll see. I told them that if he comes back I will too, even though I really don't wanna. I'm gonna have to be as good as my word.
Reading final tomorrow.
Music final tomorrow.
Maybe a math final tomorrow too.
Science final on wednesday.
Clean-up on thursday.
No school friday.
Picnic on saturday.
so thats what my schedule looks like. very busy, very exciting.

cya every one,
conrad

Church camping was great...
It felt really weird. I was hanging out with people all a couple years older than me. Its kinda funny when you think about it, but I learn alot more if I'm with people older than me. Most people could hardly believe that Conrad is only fourteen. lol
The weather was simply miserable. It was raining one third of the time, which really stank.But I kinda figured out that it doesn't really matter where you are or what the weather is like, but who you are with and what you make of it. I had alot of fun.
Good ole Conrad forgot the camera. :( so, no pics for now.

In other news, Caleb went to a triathlon. Its like a race where your team (maybe 2-5 guys) and you bike and canoe and run. Caleb biked and got second place in that. His team got an overall 5th place (there were 60 teams, so thats really good.)

ok so cya folkses,
conrad

in my dreams... i have guitars like this sitting around everywhere in my mansion

He was born in the ghetto of a nondescript town to a girl of only fourteen; no one seemed to know for sure who his real father was. His curly hair fell thickly down in matted tangles over his face and shoulders, though his body carriage was of such authoritative and eloquent style you might have mistaken him for a king in disguise. Some people thought of him as a hero, some as a rebel, and still others thought of him as a schizophrenic who had just lost his last marble. He was the leader of a group of young fanatics clamoring for social and religious reform in their upside-down world of inequality and religious upheaval. He was possessed with a spirit (some thought that it was evil) driving him on and giving him supernatural strength as he propagated his cause of freedom and a restoration of a kingdom of peace among the lower class. He was often to be seen along the beach, or standing on a crate in the middle of a city, addressing the common people in his eloquent style, drawing them to his cause of freedom and peace and spreading his message of a better way of life. He was a type of Robin Hood for the lower class- he fought for their cause while revealing the inconsistencies in the lives of the rulers. This so infuriated the authorities that they began to conspire together for ways to be rid of the Liberator, as some called him. They hired a spy from the man's inner circle of friends to give them leads on his whereabouts and eventually executed him on a hill outside the city called "The Place of the Skull" His name was Jesus.

This was for another grammar essay. We were supposed to write a character sketch. I kinda got the idea from Josh Turner. yeah you saw that right... that country singer. I was listning to "The Way He Was Raised" and it was talkin about this long-haired hippie dude that went around causin trouble... and i thought it was just another song. and then the song said how this hippie died on a cross outside of Jerusalem. It kinda caught me off guard... I liked the perspective.

Sometimes I try to boil Jesus down into a little saint with a halo spinning around his forehead. I wish I wouldnt, but sometimes the subconcious cant help it. Like in C.S. Lewis's Chronicles of Narnia the little girl says that "He (Aslan) isn't a tame lion you know." This might really rattle my teacher's cage. It shouldn't, and I hope it doesnt, but it might.

I dont think much of the music or the style of the poem... but the perspective really woke me up.

The Way He Was Raised

He always wore those worn out flip-flops
Spent hours in his Daddy's workshop
he loved being on the water
Fishing with His friends
He always listened to the old folks
When they'd tell stories and crack jokes
Didn't talk back to his Mama
When she got onto Him

Oh, that's just the way He was raised
Had to finish all His chores 'fore He could go outside and play
they always went to church that's were he learned how to pray
And that's just the way He was raised

He grew His hair out when He got older
Grew it clear down to His shoulders
Started hanging with the outcasts
When He went off to town
Some called Him a troublemaker
Even some said a lawbreaker
No matter how they talked about Him
He never put nobody down

'Cause that's just the way He was raised
When people start to gossip, He'd just walk away
He always loved his neighbor no matter what they'd say
Oh, that's just the way He was raised

On a cross, on a hill
That longhaired boy was killed
All our sins washed away
When He walked out of that grave

Oh, that's just the way He was raised
there's no way we can measure
The sacrifice He made
He knew He had to die
For our debt to be paid

Oh, that's just the way He was raised
It took the hand of God to roll the stone away
And that's just the way He was raised
Yeah, that's just the way He was raised

Church camping is this weekend... and there's only eight more days of school... so be good everyone... have a good day... ttyl,
conrad

If, in life, you are less than the Universe intended
then, in death, your spirit may return as a lesser being.
Be, therefore, kind and generous to all creatures,
that the circle of life may return compassion unto you in due time.

Aint it great folkses!! I found it on this bird forum. Wow. Sounds like someone believes in reincarnation. :)

Three weird and unrelated facts:
1. The election is really dumb and all the candidates are infidels. I get frustrated at myself for rooting for Obama. That’s really weird cuz he is like terribly liberal but he has such charisma (<--- look at that… I used a big word!) He got a silver tongue. Maybe he was trained under Bin Laden. Maybe he is just a terrorist in disguise. Maybe…. Maybe he is a really good guy?
2. I went like 40 on my bike today.
3. We were at Pequea for church.

We are having beautiful weather up here right now... i'm llovin it.

HAPPY MOTHER"S DAY EVERYONE!!!
conrad

birds... again! :)

went into the woods with a camera today... I love these colors.

I love the way these birds are frozen in flight.

ella's bein really crabby lately. bein protective of her mate's eggs. lol. whatta bird.

later folks,
conrad

Yesterday at Ben's these two ladies were at the door when I came on my bike. They stare at me and there like, "You're not Conrad are you?!!" whoa. ok I have nooooo eathly clue who these people are. So they say, "yeah we were here a year ago." man that is soooo weird. A hole year and they still know my name. Mom had her own ideas about why they remembered me, but I think I'll keep that to myself. lol.

On Sunday me and Dwayne Beiler were biking down East Newport Rd. when all asudden this lady comes down the road hollerin at us like nuts. "You get off the road right now kids.... and tell your mom!!! I'm gonna sue!!!" fiesty little red-headed thing she was. Then she hops out of her car bout fifty feet ahead of us and starts yelling out obscenities I shall omit for moralities sake. wow. Aint Lancaster County great folks!!!

and a poem i wrote for grammar class. I asked my teacher if she will get mad at me if my poetry sounds evil. so she looked at what i had written so far and she said it looks all right. :) cheers!!! I dont know why that happens to me. Sometimes i just feel like writing about death and demons and witches and pain... and then the next time it'll be about nature and water and blue skies and dreams... Weird bein different from every one else... then again, you get more attention that way too. :) here it is.

Grim Reaper
A lightning bolt streaks 'cross the sky
A thunderclap replies.
A ghostly rider gallops down
From lands beyond the skies.

His cape is long, his clothes are black
His voice is scraping bone.
His mount drums grave-procession beats
Upon the cobblestone.

He slithers up a cabin's steps
Unveils his icy face
He takes an unsuspecting soul
To Master's dwelling place.

A thousand demons screech their glee
The elements reply
The long-caped feind of life rides on
To lands beyond the sky.

His steed breathes fire, his hood hangs low
And hides his fiery eyes.
His name is Death. He gallops on
Through lightning-shattered skies.

later folkses,
conrad

this is absolutely nuts... this bird was on Annie's porch... so i walk up to it snapping pictures every few steps in case it flies. But it didn't i walked up onto the porch and snapped pictures like crazy. I gave the camera to Joseph and then he took the one at the bottom.
IT SAT ON MY HAND!!!!

and just to prove to you that it ACTUALLY SAT ON MY HAND!!!!

a cock was showin' off to one of my hens... thats why he's got the wrong end pointed at the camera

beauty in motion

getting ready to land on the greenhouse roof


In your wildest dreams
Take a magic carpet ride
There's nothing that your soul can hide
In your wildest dreams.

In your wildest dreams.
Take what you cannot keep
Come to my side and weep
In your wildest dreams

In your wildest dreams.
Fly past the cloudless sky.
Ask not the reason why.
In your wildest dreams.

Seize your wildest dreams
Out of your foggy mind
Go and see what you can find
In your wildest dreams.
In your wildest dreams.

come fly with me

pics of my homing pigeons... it is extremely hard to get a good pic of birds swooping and diving at 25 miles an hour

Talk to me,
Coo to me,
Bow to me,
Listen to me.
And I'll teach you
To fly with me
And I will love you
Like no other....


till next time,
conrad

we went to the park today... i dont know what kind of birds these are... but i like the pic

lets take a walk :)

i took this a while back... a robin bathing in a puddle.

wildflowers at the park... i still dont know if i like this pic

this weekend we have off of school since wednesday lunch... wow. so i think I'lll waste my time watching movies and eating junk food.

life is good,

conrad