I Will Myself to Blog.

Weekend update:  for what that's worth, citizens.

So many things are spinning and yet there is this sense that everything is proceeding on as it always has.

                                                                           Is it? 


I've heard there is a Chinese saying, ( and how do we know it wasn't some Hungarian, or even a brush Hippie from Humboldt county that comes up this stuff-I mean we can't all be ultra-cool Chinese Philophists!
When I have My Big Thought , it will attributed to Fu Man Chu 'cause that will be infinitely cooler, don't cha think?)


The saying is actually a blessing, " May you live in interesting times."

Well baby, we got it.




 Citizen, I had the great fortune to be raised by my grandparents, who survived this:

And this

They built this:

And now we.. I mean I, can't even maintain it. Potholes. School closures. Unemployment. This worries me.


And now this right wing bomb thrower, Glenn Beck comes out with news that the 'former' big wheel in one of America's most influential Unions has a plan to sabotage the economy. In May.



I listened to the unedited tape, and you can take a listen here.


Is Beck a kook? Maybe. Are polluticions on both sides sellouts to an agenda and ideology that would make my forefathers puke? Certainly. (I read the book 'Sellout' by David P. Schippers, you should too since all the major players are still active, including the VP.)

And Rick Santorum, GOP Presidential hopeful

What if Beck is right?

Maybe you don't like his agenda? Ok. Even my 15 yr old son recognizes that EVERYONE has an Agenda. Even you.


Do you really feel like everything is fine?  Does it seem like the people in charge are in fact pursuing your best interest's?

Dick Daring has only one word for this,  TERM LIMITS!!!!!

(I also find myself fuming and cursing under my breath a lot, but that never comes to anything)


Always remember, Citizen; just because your paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you!

I could label this 'thar she blows' but that would be most lame....

OK Citizens, time for a reality check.

WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MOTIVATION, ?

What would motivate you to 'toss a caber'??

Or wear a kilt?

Or wear kilts while tossing cabers?

How about brotherhood,

and family?

I have to say, good Citizen, that Dick Daring found plenty of both while training at a top secret facility, a multi-purpose compound whose goals included finding the very limits of gastronomical endurance and spiritual stamina.

Also on further reflection, kilts would come in handy if you needed to 'toss a big log'......

However.

When the log being tossed weighs 20,000 pounds,

And is tossed by 60 MPH wind

What would motivate you then?

Why would you purpose to go on, knowing the devastation is likely worse ahead,

or possibly coming down on your own head?

I suppose we could say we ran into the thick of it because we didn't know better, but I won't lie, we did.

Nor were we caught up in the moment.

Every moment was it's own terrifying reminder who frail we were.

But our boy's were there.

We had set out to bring them home, and by the time this storm looked really serious, we were pretty much committed.

So we pressed on.

 And retrieved our sons, and in the middle of their encounter with a truly dangerous storm  together we found shelter, and made decisions, and acted together to cut our way out when it was over.

What motivates you?

As for me, brotherhood,

Family.

Weekend Update

Wow-big weekend, did so much, not the least of which was to get the Web hooked up! Funny, the 'Rest of the World' makes a phone call, pays the man, and bing bang boom-you have service!


Not I! Oh no.


First- no land line at the Bunker for at least 5 years...any body see a problem here? You betcha! Nasty cobweb skanky 'find the mystery phone line and fix it' kind of problems.


But, the crimper tool I have for doing computer terminal ends wont do phone. Sigh. This calls for a trip to town


One note to all y'all that dream of living out in the country and leaving town behind,(like I did), that means leaving town and then driving to town for EVERY LITTLE THING ! Every one thinks we are prepping for the Apocalypse because we buy everything in bulk (and I mean everything that is bulky is bought bulky,)

But no, I'm just tired of driving to town. Again.


On the way, my cheapo, gas sipping car tells me it needs a little something to sip. No problem, as soon as I get this thing here. And run over there. And o crap, the car doesnt run right now. Because I ran it so low on fuel that it sucked up the sludge off the bottom of the tank.


So. New fuel filter. From Town. Drove by my old house while getting said filter (the one I sold so we could move to the country) and got all nostalgic.....



For.......




Redneck Saturday nights, playing guitar and roasting stuff around the fire pit.

Farm fresh eggs we grew ourselves. Kinda

Big gardens full o goodness and flowers

friends who are neighbors

nieghbors who live half a mile away......

I could go on and on, but then someone might get envious and start dreaming of a semi-rural life and sell their house in town and find someplace not to far out but far enough and start buying in bulk and having to step and fetch stuff from the very place they left behind and then regret it.

But not me

Not ever

Where have you been?????

Gone, baby gone. Off the Net, the grid, hunkered down in the TOP SECRET SECURE LOCATION.

truly. Who Knew that the internet bill had to be payed every, single month? And they get grumpy and shut you down if you dont. So remember boys and girls, if you cant live without it ( whatever it is) and you want your girl (who blogs) to be happy (and blog) pay up and keep it up!

Since everyone wants a good laugh, and making you laugh is important to me, lets start this off right......

oh yeah, insert funny stuff here, i dont have any. better luck next time

Let me help...

What is the most stressful time of your professional year?

Is it April and May, for all you bookkeepers and accountants?

Or June through October for the construction contractor.

Maybe its every couple weeks when payroll is due, or when you have to, must do this or that for a client and if you don't, well.....

Consider that time, thing, deal that takes all your concentration, and see the strain and worry of it reflected on the face of the highway worker who plowed your way to work, or school or possibly even hospital.

Know that he feels personally responsible for your safety, and that he would much rather be home, taking a snow day, sledding with his kids.

Will he make over the mountain one more, two more, four more times tonight without 'finding' the invisible edge of the road? Can he be gentle with his equipment, make it last long enough to get you and you kids where they need to be, or will it breakdown and lose him hours?

And what about those kids, driving way to fast and that road he just cleared, will they make another corner, another mile? Who will be there first to pull them from their car, to call for help.


Consider his family, who want to share their day, and be with him, and all he wants is to eat, shower and shut down. To wake up for the next shift to see that all his effort, skill and professionalism gained him nothing.

Four more inches of snow, freezing rain and a tricky commute.

Let me help, I'll go first, just give me room to work.



.

Wow

My friend buried his wife yesterday.

I hadn't much opportunity to ask him how he was doing, I was certain he was absolutely overwhelmed and I didn't want to add yet another "how you holdin' up?''

I do know that she is what stabilized him and brought him back to Christ. And I assumed with her being literally torn away he would be angry and defiant toward God.

I'm sure I would. And on both counts, I would be wrong.

Growing up, my friend was just enough younger than me, I always considered him and his wife "kids". I was his counselor and 'cabin dad' at summer camp. I watched him grow up, screw up, and mature. In fact the picture I used for my profile was taken from a softball game this summer where he hit 9 home runs. I remember thinking what a man he had become and of all it had took to get him there. It all looked good, babies, job, beautiful wife, the whole deal.

All I can say is she faced death on her (figurative) feet, had one week to bring closure to her life as a mother, wife and friend and demanded that no one cry for her. I watched him put his wife in a hearse, and then wrap his huge arms around his aunt, to comfort her.

God uses all things for good. That is His Way.

I wonder how, why, and ignorantly search for answers. And someday I may think I have the answers, and that I now I have understanding.

And on both counts, I'm sure I'll be wrong.



.

Still here

Dear Citizens, thank you for checking in, it has been too long since my last post and I feel I should DO SOMETHING. But I cant. I am too depressed over the death of my friends 28 year old wife and mother of his two way too young kids to be witty and charming. And I am too emotionally constipated to cry about it on the Blogosphere. I lost my mom when I was the age of his oldest and all I know for sure is that it is possible to continue breathing, walking and living, that one day will continue to follow another, whether he wishes to or not. If he loses faith, if he can no longer trust and believe in God thats ok- I'm certain God still believes in him.