Ron Myrnes, An American Way

       I was so very thankful today to have a railing on both sides of my side entrance to my home. When this house was built, the builder made a higher than high, step into the house. You don't notice it unless you're carrying heavy packages, aging, a bad knee, back, or simply in bad weather have to be more mindful of where you put your feet. Oh there is one more thing. Little kids with small legs. This side porch/step for little legs is like a mountain.
      Getting railings was something Ron and I talked about for a while, but he's busy and responsible man with a family of his own, never mind all who want his excellent services and his ideas! They make me nuts. In a good way of course. They make me want a shed to build things in, get more tools and live elsewhere so I can sell what I make. I have a list for Spring, siding, bathroom vanity, new windows except the kitchen and  a few more, but for now look at those photos.
    So when you look at the photos, what is missing is a freshly cleaned and painted large cement step. That has to wait until Spring. But I wanted to show them anyway because the job Ron did today in freezing cold weather is what many would say, WOW! He is exact in his cuttings and measurements. Ron cut out pieces as to balance the railing, keeping things straight and firm He used a special tool, sounded like a mini jack hammer into the concrete. He cut pickets to give added style and made cuts at the end of the railing to give a touch of class. I am very thankful to have this now as snow and ice will be arriving soon. Now if i slip, I have something to grab onto. By the way, this is not at all like anything you can buy at Lowe's or a home Improvement store. This is hand made from scratch, by an American in America.
     Leave those foreign products were they belong, in the country they came from and hire an American person who knows what he or she is doing, has a conscience and is ethical in the work they personally provide. We talk about carbon footprints. Think about the footprints you are bringing into your life and home and where and how that money, that service, that craftsmanship comes from, an AMERICAN HEART, AMERICAN HANDS and an AMERICAN FAMILY !
                 


                         Okay, well for some reason, I can't load my pictures, so i'll see if for the heck of it, I can load another pic. Well not working...when I can, if I can, i'll show some, sorry, and Ron, Thank you

Ron Myrnes, That Says It All....

Yesterday Ron arrived, trailer in tow with my new upper cabinets. I couldn't help but try to sneak peeks as they were going up. As my walls transformed from that ugly old brown laminate cabinets, more than twenty years old into this new, bright open-spaced look, fresh and clean, I knew I was going to be more than happy. I was going to spend more time in my soon to be new kitchen.

        Late this summer Ron replaced my kitchen floor. I do things backwards. He also put up white beadboard and chair rail. The floor is a nice warm vinyl . I was away and he sent photos. Looking at the photos with my son who noticed the1/4 inch molding to the floor edges, my son stated how good it looks and said someone told him he should add the molding too, to his floor. Ron also explained how, due to weather the floor will expand a little and retract. Every step of the way, if I asked and sometimes didn't , Ron explained. That isn't to say he had to explain or I needed an explaination, but it was more like consideration.
       Ron Myrnes wealth of knowledge is beyond amazing. If we would see to it that our children are taught more than academics, computers, television, iphones and game systems, we would not only have a happier generation of children, we would have  a genertaion of kids who have learned real challenges. Learning hands on skills with a use of numbers, accomplishes things they can see and feel and over all we will have a generation of children who are MENTALLY HEATHIER !
       What has happened to generations of moms and dads who taught their kids the skills they were taught growing up? What?
     I asked Ron one time how he knew what he knew. While his career was different than his hands on skills, he told me he learned most of his skills from his father. Yes I know many moms and dads don't have the skills to teach their kids a hands on trade and it doesn't have to be for a vocational trade, but it can be a side skill, something as we know "to fall back on" and more than that, busy hands, happy hearts. Happy hands keep kids out of jail.
    Parents grab a grandfather. Go to a senior center and ask for help. Many of those seniors would love to come to your home to help and as I write this, I will do the same. You will accomplish a few things: letting a gentleman or lady use skills they may not have used in a long time, feel useful again , create a bond between generations and have a child learn more than what he may or may not be struggling with in school. We all know when a child learns more, he or she is happier. They feel they have accomplished something.
     Ron, I am so thankful, if you see this for all of your skills, sharing things with my little guy but most of all, being an ethical person, hard to find when you need a job well done, and the jobs you have done are more than well done. Thank you, again.

Ron and a Spalding Ball

    

  For some time now, this gentleman has been making home improvements to state it as a matter of fact. But more than that, he offers suggestion, always with a gentle few words such as, "now I'm not saying you should, just think about it". He's usually right on target. Anything from rototilling  a garden to fixing doors, cutting down brush, picking up and moving concrete blocks and hauling it away, measuring and replacing bathroom tiles, checking roof vents, put up a side awning, storm doors, well I can't think of more off the top of my head-oh yes, he has even driven over to do my driveway, snow removal.
      Ron has also at times given a little bit of manly advice to a kid here or there in my home. Now if he could just cook!
       While I feel guilty knowing he's working so hard, I really want to lay down on the sofa, put on the TV and rest. I am trying to improve things in the home, room by room and now my biggest issues is the kitchen, but day to day I get a little more done.
       Now, the spalding ball and Ron. Today he is outside clearing away years of junk piled up and comes across a "spaldeen", as we as kids always called it but officially a spalding ball, small, pink and happy. Lost in the debris of leaves, tires, iron posts and wood, it finds Ron. Yes, I know Ron found it. Yes, as many times as kids have been playing there, in all the last fifteen years, no one found it. You see that little ball was only meant to be found by a guy from Brooklyn. I am also from Brooklyn, made sense. I washed it right away. But years of dirt grabbed onto the pink surface. Like us, we wear away, yet underneath, we're just like that spalding ball, anxious to pop up again.
     Stepping inside Ron, bounces the ball and tells me look what I found; remember stick ball? Boy did I!  I could hit two sewers. This was the happiest part of my day. There's noting at all like a childhood memory from where a person grew up to bring a sparkle of happiness along with a step of youth, pictures of the block, friends and nostalgia. The windmills of our minds as the song goes. Thank you Ron, for all of your  hard work and the memory, refreshed.

A LadiesToolbox Times Two-Ron Myrnes

     Not for ladies only, however good to know stuff. Women, don't count on men to do it all as far as things that need to be fixed. It costs you in the long run and not just money. It costs you a sense of, I can do it, and Independence.

    So a basic tool box consist of the usual:
       hammer,
       two screwdrivers, a flat heard and a Philips.
       Screws and nails
    But to go further, if you don't know, take a lesson and Lowe's is great for helping women. Buy yourself a drill with a box of assorted drill pieces. Just a  little while ago when putting a bed together I though , uh oh, I don't have  a wrench to fit this huge screw. It was a hexagon shape, so for the heck of it looked into my little box with all the different pieces to fit my drill and there it was. One that would fit the screw. I inserted it into my drill and zip...Zzz it went in like ease. Yea, I didn't need help, didn't need to learn, explored on my own and did it myself. What a feeling of satisfaction.
     The past few years I somehow got way from my tools and as I did I think I lost some of that old pizazz, but now refreshed and at it again. I still do need help of course and have a guy who at times works with me and a budget.
    Soon he'll be back, hanging/putting it up an awning, or installing it I should say. He is very fair with prices, works with my time and schedule but most of all is so very honest and  a decent human being. While it seems hard to find a person like that, well okay it is. I am simply very lucky to know Ron Myrnes and his work ethic. If you live in or around York Pa. Call him-887-4219

     The second toolbox is for help situations with kids and yourself or anyone you know. It's called a wellness toolbox. In this box you keep, and don't forget to let your kids decorate theirs how they want, and so you place a phone number or two for friends you can call when stressed, a puzzle, a magazine, a favorite movie, a doctors phone number, the pharmacy on the same paper, a music Cd, crayons and keep  hobby stuff close by. You also need to get out. No money?
   Walk, look at your town, take pictures if you have a camera-if you don't ask people if they have one they would be willing to let go and you do something in return. Change your diet. Get a friend and get creative. Walk a pet, volunteer, be a friend. Find a church. There's nothing like having faith. Good luck, stay healthy, and start that toolbox.
Maggieshelpcenter.com

Repair This, WIth Ron Myrnes

        Okay, so it's early and Ron isn't here yet, but he isn't supposed to be until ten. Today Ron is coming to do small plumbing repairs, but something I couldn't do. This guy surprises me every time. I know he doesn't usually do the following but he did to help me out.

       He put my story photos into files for the printer. One day chatting a little about word and pdf's my concern was making corrections once in a pdf file, so Ron offered to do this for me, said he knew how and it worked. With a lot  patience and time I have the proof of the Jelly Bean Forest, story book.  It will be ready for sale in tow to three weeks. Without Ron's knowledge and help, this project would not have made it by Easter 2013.
     With e mails back and forth between mainly Ron and the printer, success and ready to sell. Thank You Ron. I look forward to a new awning and repairing the front step and more as Spring gets closer.


     This book will be republished in it's original art works size for Christmas. Red and green jelly bean and a book on how they grow:)

The Jelly Bean Forest Story Book

     

 A finished product which has taken eleven months of collaboration is finally coming true. Well by the time the books arrive it will be one year, start to finish.

       I never had any idea how this would go. To me it seemed simple. I wrote it, had an illustrator, and a guy who knew all about adobe programs and more. Sounds simple too now the way I wrote it. But there wasn't anything simple about it, except possibly my part. Writing comes easy to me, and the rest, now that's a story in itself.

      The idea started with a friend and I who were e-mailing back and forth all kinds of silly stuff, and from that I thought about a Jelly Bean Forest. As I wrote it, in my mind it came to life. I could actually picture it. But once written, who would do the illustrations? Contacting the local high school started out good, but financial expectations were beyond me. So I was  e mailing a cousin in Norway who said to me, come to family first and it's cheaper.
    Siisel let me know her son Tom was an excellent artist,  I sent two stories to him and Tom sent  art work to me, and all I could think was, this kid is only fifteen? Family, cousins and boy was I thankful. The artwork is brilliant and he sent me the originals to scan and then my printer broke down.
   My daughter gave me her printer, but it was so different and didn't scan the way mine did, but again, I was thankful. Family, a daughter. She sent the originals back to Norway, helping out with that expense.
   Now it was time to go from word to a pdf file, but here I was worried as this was all new to me.  One day a guy Ron Myrnes was over for a home repair and in talking he let me know he could put it together for me in no time at all as he had much more computer program experience than I did. I am thankful.
    It took almost a couple of weeks. E mails went back and forth. phone calls back and forth and then  files to the printer. Yes! Finally it was about to come true. Then, the printer said something about the colors and compression and it wasn't good. He asked for different files and Ron hoped, I hoped, cousins in Norway hoped. Ron called, said well if that doesn't work I'll come over and get the originals. I could feel my hope go flat with saying, they were returned. I wanted this book, The Jelly Bean Forest to be ready by March tenth.
     Today, Wednesday I decided to go ahead anyway, as I made tee shirts, jelly bean bags and coloring books with Toms sketches. Then I ran an errand and came home, opened my e mails and there it was.
     The printer said the new files Ron sent worked and I will have a proof  copy tomorrow. I was ecstactic and called Ron who was on his way to meet his wife.
He was happy to hear the news and I was happy to let him know. I am thankful.
The Jelly Bean Forest story is a collaboration of family, family across the sea's, of a man who came one day to roto till a new garden, a printer who, yes will be paid, but many months ago taught me things here and there and I am thankful for everyone, yet I have to end with Tom and Ron who without their skills, talents and kindnesses, The Jelly Bean Forest would surely be overgrown.

Ron Myrnes Home RePair Guy-The Lone Ranger

     Hey everyone. If you live in The York County( Pa.) area this is the man to get.
Today he finished putting on a six panel door that had to be planed from yesterdays work, patched a hole under a light, put up towel racks and added a strip of metal between two rooms to give a finished and polished look. Within a year, my house will once again be in a very nice condition. By the way there is noting like a six panel door to enrich a look.  Before this one I had what's known as a slab door, plain looking, hollow core and boring. Many new homes have them put in. They are the cheapest way to go and that's what was done here. But the six panel-doors, also hollow-core, are only a few bucks more, so very worth it!!! Go, go now and call Ron Myrnes, 717 887-4217,
You'll know he's just like the Lone Ranger, can do it all and without a posse.