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author
Edward H. Madden
The author is building a Chestnut log home, in rural Oklahoma. The logs were salvaged
from a Maryland home, which was built in 1790. One of the floor boards has a Hex mark,
to protect the home. It ...view moreThe author is building a Chestnut log home, in rural Oklahoma. The logs were salvaged
from a Maryland home, which was built in 1790. One of the floor boards has a Hex mark,
to protect the home. It must have worked, 220 years old and starting over.
The timber is the perfect place to spend time in the peace and quiet. It can also be
dangerous. Beauty needs to be tamed if you want to live with it. Moving rocks, cutting
logs, avoiding Copperheads, and even the vines can be vicious. There were thousands of
thorny vines, which had grown to the tops of the oak trees, 75 feet high. An ax and fire
slowly purified the land.
The actual house was redesigned around a central fireplace. There are no interior walls,
on the first floor, which reach the exterior wall. It is essentially a circle. The energy
radiates from the center. Building the house is labor intensive and again dangerous.
Using a chain saw as a precision instrument, stacking logs 16 feet high, hanging metal
24 feet high, often tempts fate.
The house has drawn the needed resources to me. Thirty ton of rock was given to me. A friend has given weeks of his time and expertise. We have made mistakes along the way. We have always fixed those mistakes as we discovered them, with one exception. I had placed the floor joist through the wall to be tied into the porch floor joist on an alternating pattern. When my friend saw it he asked why did you do that? I said you told me to. He said he had not, we studied it and left it like it was. Later when we put the second floor porch supports and the roof supports up they aligned perfectly with our mistake. If we had fixed it, we would have been wrong, in the end. Someone is helping us.
The author wrote his first poem, GROWTH, in 1981, which was published in Pegasus, and is included in the edition. Ed is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, with a BA in Journalism.
Ed’s writing career consisted mostly of writing parole summaries for the state of Oklahoma, Department of Corrections, and “shots” for the Federal Correctional Institution at El Reno Ok. A shot is a misconduct report, and is part of Due Process.
Ed has spent 25 years within the prison walls, and has spent ten thousand hours escorting prisoners to, and within medical facilities. During that time encounters of all sorts occurred, from the silly to the absurd. There had been some moments with evil. The Oklahoma City bombers were our responsibility.
Correctional Officers work a variety of duty post. Ed works the Control Center post, which facilitates communications, and passes out equipment; radios, keys, handcuff s, etc. Communications is very important. His first priority, is listening to radio traffic, on 7 different frequencies, for Assistance. He then dispatches help, everyone that may leave their station, runs to help. He also controls grills, or gates. Allowing staff and inmates to pass, or sometimes making them wait, as the condition dictates.
Old guards sometimes become bitter. It becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the Positive. Ed was at that point, when he called for Assistance, not on the radio. Assistance came via, spirit, people, information, emotions and insight. Someone again helped HIM.
Communications is about being tuned in. The following are the words HE heard.view less