Sold on the Old

The nostalgia craze...It's all the rage

In this marvelous, modern, high-tech age!

Flashbacks to the past few risks will unfold,

Perhaps why we're so romantically sold on the old?

Cherished inner recordings let us spotlight the best,

As we relish past glories and fast-forward the rest.

They aid in escaping from our cares and distress

If briefly we visit but the present caress.

Such a Fine Day!

Winter chokes its way into Spring, spitting and coughing,

Making up its mind, as if for breath it is gasping.

Should it concede and let Spring win this round?

Or should it execute one final blasting?

The dawn's pale saffron glow

Hangs like a curtain above the horizon so low.

Stark silhouettes of trees shatter the peaceful sky.

While smoke from chimneys does scarcely blow.

An early spring day begins calm until

Punctuated by the honking of geese so shrill.

In V-formation they swarm from the south

Descending to open water, farm ponds, and rills.

In town it's the time of the mud and slush

As busy streets awake from the hush.

Water in rivulets sparkles in ditches

While traffic flies by in its usual rush.

It's the first warm day and a jogger in shorts

Puffs his way up a slope with his many cohorts.

Teen joyriders' music of high decibel beat

Greets joy-walkers with their dogs of all sorts.

When the weather is perfect as upon request,

Dad used to say of a day so richly blessed,

“Such a fine day...just like I would have made it myself!”

In flawless Norwegian was his comment expressed!

Mud Fight

The farmer and his wife got along with very little strife.

Until one day he came home and sensed her anger rife.

She cried, "Across my Oriental carpet are your tracks of grimy mud."

"This means war, the line is drawn. You'd better stop it, Bud!"

He said, of her complaint, "If I were you I'd drop it!"

"Well, sobbed she, it's hard to clean. You see, I can't just mop it!"

He stomped out, defiant, and let the screen door slam.

"That woman!" he stammered, "I'll show her exactly how riled I am!

On second thought, perhaps, upon a dozen roses I should splurge."

But nixed the urge...

And brought for her instead, a bouquet of leafy spurge!

Lost!

Here's a photo of you at the age of two.

You're a-walking and wobbling in mommy's shoes.

Playing peek-a-boo under a big straw hat.

Any wonder you stumbled--ka-boom--and sat?

But you shuffled unruffled across the floor,

As if making a beeline straight for the door.

Like a shadow you vanished as I turned by back.

Had you wandered far down by the railroad track?

As I summoned the neighbors and called your name,

And we searched the back yard and the police came,

I returned to the house, my heart filled with dread,

And I found you asleep there... in your own bed!

Book I am reading.

I have been reading a book, The World's Last Mysteries.  It tells of various ancient civilizations and what may have caused their rise and fall.  Atlantis may be only fiction but others like the ruins of Stonehenge, Easter Island, Aztec and Mayan ruins are amazing in that primitive people were able to find ways to quarry and move enormous stones to distant places without even the benefit of the wheel.  Archaeologists believe that large slave labor, was necessary although they did make use of levers and ropes, rocking motions, and wood scaffolding to aid them.  I believe also that it was a way to control people through concocting a religion that kept people busy erecting these monuments (and therefore less likely to revolt) so the heads of governments, often shamans, could keep them under submission.  The people of the Indus Valley (from near eastern Iran, Pakistan, and part of northern India) may not have been as influenced by religion but a powerful central government controlled the building of homes of monotonous similarity with almost no decoration.  People probably did not have much freedom or ownership of property except for personal things.  The central government was able to plan cities based on a grid street system with courtyards, covered sewer systems, canals from the river, etc.  But at some point, perhaps because of political instability at the top or a possibly revolt, it all came to a halt.  Also flooding might have been a factor.

One foot on the dock, the other on the boat--choices!!

I have often felt as if I were stepping off a dock into a fishing boat with the possibility that the boat slip away from me without being able to jump in fast enough and yet being unable to regain a foothold on the dock with my other foot. Splash! Indecision is often the greatest risk we face in life. But life forces us to choose to do something at all times and even not acting is a choice. Time being what it is, if we use our time to pursue one course of action, we cannot also use that time to pursue another.

 Unlike us, it seems that God is able to live outside of time. I know we as mortals desire to do more projects, have more interests, and learn more than we could ever pursue in our short lifetimes. Surely we are destined for a type of eternal life in which we can do so. But in this life God wants us to be proven worthy so he can trust us with such an increased knowledge and power. Such freedom would require great responsibility for which we are not yet ready to assume. 

If almost anyone were asked if they would like to be given a few million dollars, they wouldn't turn it down. But without the ability to use money wisely, most of us would probably not learn some important lessons that come with restrictions to our lifestyle. Hard work for our living makes us appreciate what we do have more. We develop an empathy for the poor if we have had to struggle. We can't just “throw money” at a problem but may need to actually sacrifice our precious personal time and energy to solve it. Character is forged by having to decide how to spend our limited resources. Most who have gained great wealth have experienced struggle and failure on their way to riches. A few  seem to be able to retain good character and not resort to corruption on the way up while others abandon it along the way.

A Year Later!!!

I am continuing my blog that I started almost exactly a YEAR ago.  I had forgotten all about my blog until my daughter-in-law mentioned that she had started one.  I went back to see the blog I started and find that I am doing the same things again this year--such as coming to the end of the garden/canning season and selling tickets to the North Dakota Policy Council's speech, this year to be Ron Paul.  We are getting to be Ron Paul junkies.  Duane looks him up almost daily on the web to watch his videos etc.  Saw him twice in 2008 (in Fargo at NDSU and in Appleton, WI, at the JBS 50th Anniv. Celebration). 

A lot has happened in a year.  Our granddaughter is 15 months old now and we just enjoyed visiting with her and our son and daughter-in-law last weekend.  She walks well now and also enjoyed the baby swings in the park and wanted to go down the small slide over and over and over!!  She still eats cooked broccoli and likes it.  We last saw her just after her first birthday in Aug.

Today we listened to a CD made from a tape our family made at Thanksgiving in 1997.  We had made it for our youngest son who was serving a mission for the LDS Church in Argentina.  We were visiting at our daughter's in Denver then and our other son had brought his girlfriend along.  (They  later parted.)  I remember how much fun we had.  It seems like yesterday--14 yrs. ago.

In March we had to put our cat Chicago down at the vet's but got two part-Siamese brother cats who have been so much fun.  They have settled down a lot from when we first got them, although they still have lots of energy.  They are Si and Sam.  Si used to jump on everything and on my back but now seems to be over that.
Sam is more cuddly and less outgoing.  Their personalities are so different.

Got to make dinner--continued later.