IT'S ABOUT TIME

Yep, it's about time.

The beauty of the English language is it's double entre, odly a French word. It's time we got GENDADS launch. But it's not time. I keep promising, as does my dear friend the Web Guy. He's trying to meet heavy demands and learn me stuff, too. Lots to learn, lots of TIME required. CAN YOU HOLD ON AND STILL SLEEP WELL IF WE LAUNCH IT NEXT WEEK?!

And, it's about TIME; the subject of a blog comment I posted on TFL, "The Father Life" (http://thefatherlife.com ). Take some TIME. What, four minutes? And read this excerpt about you and your kids/grandkids and TIME.

I liked your post. Simple focused, flowed well. The main point, though, is your main point: TIME.
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Yep, take it from this very old—but lively and young—old dad: “quality time” is a Boomer myth. QT is spelled simply, T.I.M.E. An alternate spelling is: L.O.T. as in "Lots Of Time" (Hey, I like that!). That’s why I’m up here in Utah with my five grandwonders and their folks (to whom we loaned these marvelous little, growing, creatures). And writing the book, Generational Fathering. WE've got a site for the book platform*, but we're launching an interactive blog next week. We call it a "diablog"(Yep, made that up myself. Pretty good for an old coot just turning 70, eh?). Old cowboy, young cowboy, one a therapist, the other a global, life-long adventurer.

The "WE" is soninlaw, Matt, a residential youth ranch therapist and equine director. I write stuff, he knows stuff. WE are partner parenting. Keeping the life lessons and experience (read, "TIME") of my lost or forgotten or ignored or devaluted generation in the mix. Our two generations are actually needed for the turmoil ahead for our third generation we gang up on. Matt doesn't have the TIME he'd like. I fill in. Time WITH INTENTIONALITY. I have a list of stuff I want to subtly but consistent TEACH and MODEL for the five (well, the 11 mo old is a stretch; I'm going for teaching her to say "Popi". So far, a failure. That, too, will take TIME.). We're in high desert valley cowboy land, so breakfast and lunch wth each of the four at one of three "cowboy cafe's" is bonding and teaching highlight (Yes, it is a highlight for the 5 year old, my twin born 65 years late).

Thanks, Joey, for stirring me up all over again; thanks for taking the TIME.

* That asterict is to let you peek at our book platform if you have TIME: www.generationalfathering.com

Strawberry--M&M--Oreo Shake...and 12.5

Ok, we're keeping the wild and gray for this old Goose, but let's pretend the Challenger heading up to rescue the GENDADS site still floating in the blogosphere is serving Strawberry--M&M--Oreo shakes on the way up. That's the hook for the date I conned my grandson, Taylor, in to for going with me for that generational fathering chat. I'm a contributor on the Legacy Dad blog and decided to put my story there while awaiting the premier of Matt's and my GENDADS blog in a week. Hurry. It's a bit long, only 1000 words, and a test of the length blog readers will accept for a story-telling. www.legacydad.com. Comment back if at all possible.

CHALLENGER, WERE SENDING UP A SOLUTION

Stay glued to your screens Wild Gray Goose fans. New plan. Matt and I are opening an entirely separate blog, we call it a "diablog," to be the active platform for our book, Generational Fathering. GenDads will feature discussions, ideas, musings, and surveys. And, we hope, lots of dialog. We think we have something to share with you out of our lives about fathering--together. We need to hear stories and ideas and those revolutionary (ok, "outlandish") concepts of parenting from you. It'll keep our book real. And, we'll listen to the struggles you have that are common to fathers. We've been there and Matt makes his living rescuing families at the residential ranch for, well, "challenging" teens.

When? Houston is sending up a rescue ship. Should reach us in yet another week. GenDad diablog hopes to premier August 1. Yeah!!

And the Goose? Still wild and a little grayer and filled with the Wild Goose. Gary will blog here weekly or more. Idea is to engage others in their walk with God. Learn a little, prod a little. You might read a subtitle as Wild at Heart Redux.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE A TEENY WEENY PROBLEM !

Yeah, like I blew the launch countdown. July 13 came and went. It's like moving all you are and have in to a new community...in another country...time-warped to a future generation, ie., BIG.

Yes, I'm up to it. Yes, I'm working it hard. Yes, I am actually eager to get the new blog rolling. Lots and lots to understanding, design, then configure. And the results? Not that much will be noticable. Like what, your ask?

Well, podna, my full life efforts will focus on the book. Here in Utah wth the family for the summer, I'll be spending interactive time with Matt, co-author. Sorta. I write, but he knows stuff; a therapist. There will be Twitter and Facebook and LinkedIn connectivity and activity. There will be a couple of widgets inserted to make the blog more interesting and more valualbe. And we'll toss in a few short U-Tube videos out of our fathering/family/spiritual/therapy world.

So, STAND BY. Again. For a few days. We can't wait. Can you? Tell us you can't. Make us smile.

STAND BY FOR LAUNCH

Stand by.

Seriously, stand by for a few days. “Under Construction” sounds so mechanical. Trite, too. But, the new and improved and very active blog of the Wild Gray Goose is nearly ready. Tuesday July 13 sounds like a good launch.

I am inviting—no, urging—you to return in a couple of days.

Why? I’ve spent three weeks digging in to the social media phenomenon—yes, it took 90+ hours and 48 documents from blogs and help sites to print and re-read. Now it’s time to get my Web Guy on to the apps that will make this blog my primary platform to relate to friends, comrades, fellow fathers and even moms (to include “Grandmoms”).

It’s about THE BOOK. Soninlaw, Matt, and I have seen our unique relationship turn to a passion about raising his and our daughter’s children (two girls, three boys). It is our hope, our goal, to leave good and godly children as lights in an increasingly dark, chaotic world for generations to come. It's about our legacy.

This passion and the relationship it is built on should not be “unique”. THE BOOK is about sharing our experience and the insights we believe are transferable. He as a licensed family therapist, me as a grandfather. We bond at vital levels in our walk with God, our outlook, and our commitment to raising healthy children. Matt, knowing fathers have the tough challenge of the world’s poor history of fathering and facing work and provisioning to deal with, has invited me in to a fathering partnership.

So, GENERATIONAL FATHERING is now in the works. My wife and I are plugged in to the family for the summer. Literally. Our RV is parked in their long dirt Utah driveway. We tend to the kids, join family activities, contribute our heats and the perspective of our long years of living out God’s Story for our lives.

And I write. Well, I will, once the platforms and the “NU MEDIA ME” plan is set in motion. Matt and I will continue our occasional long horseback rides, now and then with a cigar, to share our hearts and ideas. The book will take all summer, and that’s just for the outline and the intro. This is, yes, a work of passion. Transferring passion takes time.

THIS BLOG is about engaging you. The Web site, www.generationalfathering.com is about you engaging us and our concepts. Twitter (Windmillduke) and Facebook (Gary Taylor) are fruitful connections, too.

SO, Y’ALL COME BACK, HEAR! Become part of my Tribe. See, this old dog has learned new tricks (and the tricky termonology that goes with them).