My, People come and go so quickly here....

I usually write about the weekend simply because that's when most stuff seems to happen, but today was a life changing day of sorts, on both a global and personal level, although it may take awhile to determine exactly what the changes are that are going to happen. Back in March, about the time I started this blog, I started a new job working for a couple of brothers (Joe & Ken Nowak) who'd put together a good company thru their own hard work. It's not what I'd call a dream job by any stretch, but I'm doing something I like, the money ain't bad and to be in Michigan these days and be able to say that is saying something. Manufacturing jobs in Michigan these days are going the way of the dinosaur at an ever increasing rate of speed and Nowak Machined Products has been able to grow and prosper in spite of the dismal econmic climate in this state.

Anyhow, today started off like any other Monday until about 9:00am when we got notified that Joe had had a heart attack. Well, while that's serious stuff so many people nowadays survive and go on to live normal lives for years after, that while we were worried, we just figured he'd be away from the plant for awhile and then after the recoup period be back out on the floor. That worked for us until almost lunch time when we heard the plant superintendent get paged to come to the office right away and then a minute later the chief engineer got the same page. We looked at each other but didn't say much until just a couple minutes later, when the super came over the P.A., obviously crying, asking everyone to meet immediately in the lunchroom. By the time we got there we'd already found out that Joe was dead. Killed from a massive heart attack that took him almost immediately. the paramedics couldn't get his heart restarted.

Although I've only been there 7 / 8 months and didn't really know the guy all that well, I liked him. He knew his stuff and was no dummy. I was kinda stunned by it all. I'd just spent awhile BS'n with him Friday and when we parted he said we'll see ya Monday. People were told they could leave if they had to......people were crying all over the place, people who'd worked for him for 5, 10, 20 years or more.......I really didn't know what else to do but go back to work, but the amount of work that got done was minimal as we spent the bulk of the afternoon discussing things. It came to light later in the day as to what happened....

Two months ago Joe's wife was disagnosed with breast cancer and has been doing the chemo treatments. That's been a cause for concern around the company and you could tell without too much work that the stress of that situation was wearing on him a bit. This morning Joe had taken the wife to the doctor for her treatment and as they returned home, pulling in the driveway, he had his attack. The car proceeded to crash into the boat parked next to the driveway and then plow into the garage before it came to a halt. In just that blink of an eye he'd gone from the caretaker of his sick wife to the one gone before. My heart goes out to his wife who has had no doubt the worst day of her entire life. It's my understanding she's staying with friends while the details of what's to follow gets worked out.

From a purely personal and selfish level this makes me wonder what will happen to the company. Will someone step up to take his place so we can continue on or will his brother say screw it and put the place up for sale? For a short period of time here I felt like I'd found somewhere to stay indefinitely, but today that's pretty much all changed. I will be looking although I'm not making any moves until I have to....sick of starting over and over and over again. the reality of the situation is that at the very least things are going to change quite a bit at Nowak. For now I'm gonna sit tight and see what happens, maybe I can help out someway that's not obvious as of yet.....my sincere condolences to the entire Nowak family and to his wife in particular. The suddeness and finality of what happened today has had more of an effect on me than I wouldn've thought possible. I also didn't know until today that he was only 50. I had thought that he was several years older than me for some reason.

On the global level......just heard this afternoon that North Korea had set off an underground nuclear explosion. That's not a good thing and puts us all one step closer to the possibility of the earth becoming a smoking cinder. Sooo much negative energy in the building of bombs that will do nothing but kill millions of people for no good reason. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about what could happen if that lunatic decides to blow one up above ground. It just makes no sense to poke holes in the bottom of the boat you're sitting in.........there's no where else to go if we trash this planet....why even build bombs like that in the first place? Insanity is what it is....pure and simple.

On a lighter note....me and Chris went up to the campsite Saturday and spent the day mowing, raking, stacking firewood and just organizing stuff. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day with temps in the high 60's. We decided to stay over night so after an afternoon of work we went into Ludington for supper and to hit the grocery store for breakfast fixings. By the time we got back to camp it was already starting to get dark. Only 7:30 and the light was disappearing. I got a fire going and for a couple hours we sat around the fire. Chris decided it was bedtime about 9:30 so he headed for the camper and left me, Bailey and Mercury to tend the fire. There was a mostly full moon rising in the eastern sky and the light from it shone down on our little meadow opening in the woods and filtered thru the trees. As it climbed higher in the sky it lit up the night enough to walk around without any need for a flashlight. It was one of those times that I wish you could put in a bottle and save for when you need something to calm the inner termoil. I managed to stay up until midnight and then decided it was time to call it a day.

Sunday morning I was woken up by a big silver and black dog who obviously was trying to tell me that he had to go outside and do his business. Chris woke up about the same time I did and he stayed at camp and got a small fire going while I took the dogs and went for a walk for about an hour. I took the same route I'd taken Labor Day weekend and tried to photograph the changes that had occurred in the last 5 weeks. There was color but it isn't at it's peak yet. By the time I get back up there again it'll probably be past peak. After the hike I fired up the stove and made us all a breakfast of smoky links and pancakes. After the dining experience was complete we started cleaning up the campsite and putting stuff away. It was almost noon before we turned off the water, locked the doors and headed for the highway. I have hopes of making one more overnight trip yet this month but that of course depends on how the weather cooperates. Today the weatherman is saying we'll have snow flurries Thursday or Friday so it sounds like I'll have to hold out hopes for the weekend after this one coming up.

Don't have a whole lot else to say after the events of today.....just another reminder that the best way to live life is one day at a time and to do your best to make each day count. Rest in Peace Joe. I hardly got to know you and now you'll be missed.

night.