Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Wedding Announcement:




















Ok so this is NOT an image of my devising.
It was sent to me by my good friend Bill Harris (Computer Sherpa/Horizon's Dad) and he got it from some one else.

If the artist be known, then let him stand and declare himself.

In the mean time I say, lets all enjoy his handiwork!

Sorry for the non posts for the last month and a half.

Extra work has come my way...that and my step mom has taken a turn for the worse.

Kids come first and work.

And when I do get a block of time, I will be busy querrying Mr. Max about the next steps to be taken in the Lysts upgrades.

He and Walt, Peter and Lehsa have been stalwart "fort-holder-downers."

So there that is.

That and I have been working on my kids computer since it has something and apparently the Norton cacked on it. Fine! Screw Norton anyway, it was starting to suck. So I am putting PC-cillin on theirs and Zone Alarm on my own. Sorry Symantec. Your were the king for many years.
What the heck happened.

And Blue, Studio Ghibli - - - I did not forget your question. Lehsa or Og can answer.
In the mean time, Myasaki is the "King of Anime." His studio is called Studio Ghibli. Produced Spirited Away, Howlings Castle, Kiki's Delivery service, Castle in the Sky etc. At first, I thot it was not all that special and couldn't figure out the fascination, but MacKenzie kept wanting to watch mor eof them and as I became familiar with his work, his art really began to impress me.

Anyway, there that is.

See yall later. Gotta run.



Friday, September 22, 2006

Well the trip was originally planned for a number of reasons:

1-so that the girls could see their grandparents who are in their late 70's.

2-I was hoping to do a little more research into early French history in the area for a historical fiction project.

3-Shoot alot of photos to process this winter.

About a week before leaving, I rec'd a phone call here at home stating that my step mom had gone into the hospital. She has been on dialysis for 9+ years and was having a few serious issues suddenly. It was good that we were able to go at this time as it gave the girls a chance to visit gramm in the hospital and see my dad, plus it gave me a chance to "survey the elder parent scene" and it really is not a pretty site.
Pride is a huge hinderance in all walks of life.
Pride is not a thing to boast about.
People (espeially older ones) will say, "Well I've got my pride you know!"
Well that is more of an ugly confession than something to be admired.
Anyway...it gets in the way of acomplishing important goals.

This is a place I have been before in life: Parent Care.
When my mother contracted Altzheimers Disease in her 50's I moved back home and my dad and I were her primary care givers until incontinence set in with a vengeance,at which time we sent her to fostercare set up to deal with Altzheimers specifically.

So a large part of this trip was spent cleaning my dads house.
They refuse to hire a housekeeper even once or twice a month.
They are both nearly blind, and so cannot see the dirt. (filth is a better word)
So after the girls went to bed each night, and dad settled in front of the TV, I went quietly into the kitchen/bathroom/laundry room and committed janitorial acts upon each room until about 2am.

"I'll run out to Coggeshall Farm with the girls tomorrow and take a bunch of photos" I would tell myself.

"Maybe we'll take a run up the Cape and see my cousin Janet tomorrow afternoon?"

These things never happened.

So the trip that was, wasn't - - - BUT - - - More importantly, familial things DID get done.
There will be years to take photos elsewhere, but not many more when I can serve gramma or grandpa despite themselves.

;o)

The Poops!

So it was a good trip.
It was just altered to meet the needs of the day.

We did get to go to Mystic Conn. (No we did not eat pizza.) And we did the obligatory trip to Plymouth.

Many of these photos are up now and can be seen at this Gallery.

Monday, September 18, 2006

From East to West




















Well we JUST got home tonight and it was a crazy trip.
Updates to follow.
Of course the foto above, graphically illustrates the gaping hole that exists on the west coast:
We no longer have ANY Dunkin' Donuts stores in Oregon.
We made a point of going to Dunkin Donuts every day we were in RI, Mass and Conn.

More to come...

Monday, September 11, 2006

Connections

Well the connection is back up but I am still hitting the road. To see my dad and to shoot some images for projects this fall.

We watched Totoro this weekend, and SPirited away, again. (Howlings CAstle was still on the New Release shelf so we skipped it.)

What can one say about the Masters at Studio Ghibli? (spelling?)

Breathtaking work.
Gotta love it.
Kenz seems to have foudn her niche.
She has married her love of drawing and her love of Anime.
She wants to be an animator when she grows up.
these kids better get screamin' grades so that they can get kickin' scholarships.
Or they are gonna bury me.
;o)

Friday, September 8, 2006

No Internet and On the Road

We have no internet access and I am checking from the library today.
May not be back online till early next week, and then I go back on the road from the 12th through the 19th of September.
See ya in a few weeks!
mih-

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

People in the General Sense...

Some peoples only goal is to stir up strife and contention.
To create a sense of drama and urgent matters where non exist.

I don't know what is going on.
What might God be trying to show me?

Back story:

I do not answer the phone.
I screen all calls.
Pain comes via the phone. Why? Because it brings people.

I have become a bit lax in my phone answering lately.
I have even been caught answering the phone before the machine picks up.
I opted to do this two days ago.
Bad. baaaaaaaad choice.
The neighbor lady, (we will call her debbie) who does not live here but this is her vacation home and she lives 3 hours north, has become flustered that my next door neighbors (we'll call her Suzie) her pine trees are dying. Debbie called me to express her concern and divulge the results of the *research,* concluding that I (yes me) needed to approach Suzie, and convince her to take samples of her tree tree branches/needles in to the extension office to make sure they were not a product of beetle infestation. "Heaven forbid we should have to cut our trees all down and lose our pine trees!"

I pointed out to Debbie that the death of the trees in question more more likely to the septic system being dug up and replaced, including the drain field in the vicinity of said trees. I also pointed out that there has been a lack of water recently and that like New Mexico - home to acres of Pinion Pines once-upon-a-time has lost most of their trees due to developement and careless waste of water. I pointed out that this was very similar to what is occurring in our nneigborhood. Debbie took this opportunity to launch. I had inadvertantly given her another ill-percieved cause to chase after. She became very excited, stating that there was going to be aneighborhood meeting to decide how to handle our water provider. ( a family that inherited th land and now runs the Community well.)
"They need to be given the ol ' what-for!" was Debbies opinion.
Selfish, brutish, citi-fied nitwit! Have you never done without water, woman?

Back story:
we have frequent water outages. sometimes aounting to once a month for 24 hours.
it is a drop in the bucket. Where I used to live, the power woudl go out and we woudl be without pwer and water for a week at a time in the dead of winters ice storms. You get used to it.
Anyway, we have had water outages here. small ones. mostly due to vandalism on the well pumps. The water providers put up a fence and that took care of it. Well, our neighborhood has increased developement. 8-12 houses have gone up within a 1/4 mile this summer. Contractors (with no bonds) have been breaking the lines with heavy equipment.

So there is flaw #1 in the neighbors attack onthe water provider : it is the developers fault partly. And the home owners who are hiring the builders with no bond required.

Flaw #2: The local electric company has been payed in excess of $230,000.00 to complete power updates to the system, allowing the providers sufficient power to pump the water that they already have. The power company has not done the upgrades.

So what we have here is a self-centered batch of well-to-do americans who think they are entitled to certain luxury's (as though they were a given!) and get bent out of shape when their desires are not met.

I am frustrated with humanity.
I guess the old Christian addage really applies to what I think:

"Does each one of us, by the fact of our imperfection, deserve death and Hell?
Yes!
Does each one of us, through nothing we have done to merit it, have better?
Yes, almost to a man, globally speaking.
The shut up and be happy with what you do have!
Have you got a shirt and pants?
Did you eat this week?
More than once?
Do you have something to get in under, to avoid being rained or snowed on?
Then you are already richer than the majority of the world.
So shut your stupid, gloating, efete face American Majority!

Shut your face, Sisters Oregon.

people!
They are the reason I no longer want to answer the phone.
They are the reason I would like to be able to shut my doors and lock then and never lay eyes on the majority of them.
With a few exceptions.

- - - - Conversely - - -

God says in His own words, that He Loves all people, and that He has made all of them in His own image.
God says "Love your neighbor as your self." ( Oh please got, not Debbie!)
God says " Love your enemies.) (Wha....? What? Crap! I'm screwed now!)

Never the less, God IS God.
So where does that leave me?
My only hope is to trust that He will educate me as time goes on about such things.
Fortunately, He is reliable to do that, as long as I force my heart to hear Him and not the world around me.

Even so...
I am NOT answering the phone.
Ever again.
If you get my message machine, its not because I don't love you, its because I will call you back.

No more 'cold-calls' taken by me.

:o)