The Power and the Glory

Tonight a thunderstorm is flashing around the heavens, crashing amid the rain, the crown on a spectacular day. For some reason, weather like this always makes me think of the Biblical expression "the power and the glory." It's like an expression of God's might to me. We're all aware, or should be, that weather can be violent and dangerous. From the comfort and safety of home, though, it's beautiful beyond belief.

Some wonderful things happened today. My cousin Joe and his wife Wendy were here from Wisconsin. This is my Aunt Cookie's oldest son, and we shared bison chili and memories, sat outside and breathed in the beautiful 82 degree weather. It was a fine day, made all the sweeter by their rare visit.

When the day had ended, and promises made to other friends necessitated their departure, we piled into the car together. As we drove past the house next to ours, we passed several does and a few young bucks. There, tucked into their midst were the two baby fawns, curled up by their mama for a rest. All is well in Bambi's thicket.

I love a Hollywood ending.

Finding a Decent Babysitter

It's so difficult to find a diligent babysitter. I'm not sure it's ever been easy. Some mothers have a wonderful partner who can share in those duties, but others must use every care when leaving their babies with the head of the family.

He might be more interested in eating than watching his precious offspring. The little one might wander off without big daddy even being overly concerned.

He might not even notice how quickly the little guy can move.

For the mother of twins, the problem is doubled. Even those super dads who can manage one baby will often bolt when faced with the responsibility of two at a time. Often twins can need more than twice the attention, because they tend to bounce off of each other.

Another problem arises because they often eat and sleep on their own individual schedules. Therefore, while one of these little beauties ran out of the gate and left the yard, without Daddy even noticing, the other calmly lay down for a little nap. Dad continued nibbling his way through the lower bushes in the yard nearby.

He stopped by to look at the one resting, then wandered off and out of the yard. I kept expecting him to come back. After all, the other baby had disappeared around the other corner of the house and I hadn't seen him in about five minutes. Daddy didn't seem concerned. I started looking for the Mama. This was a good story and all, but these babies were pretty new.

Waking up, the first thing the youngster did was look for his twin. Nap time had only lasted about five minutes, but when he stretched and walked to the fence, he found that not only was his twin gone, but Daddy was as well.

He ran along the fence rails, looking for Daddy or somebody—anybody besides me up on the deck watching with my camera clicking.

He didn't ask me for help. Maybe I looked too dumb. He asked others.

"Did you see where my Daddy went?" I'm sure he was asking.

"Nope. I just few in. He wasn't here when I got here. Sorry," said the Robin.

"Who, me? Nope. Those guys all look the same to me," said the bunny.

So he jumped the fence and ran in the direction his daddy the buck had taken. I hope he caught up with him, or found the herd. I knew better than to try to keep him, but felt kind of helpless. About ten minutes later, I heard a coughing sound and looked down. Guess who?

"Hi, Mama!" I yelled down. I took her photo, since I was still holding the camera. She stood there looking at me, and I pointed down the hill and said, "They went that way, but he lost one of your babies," and I pointed behind the house. She nodded her head (I swear she did, even though I know she didn't understand me) and in a few giant leaps and bounds had run out of the yard and down the hill on the same basic route the Daddy and one following twin had taken.

I know myself well enough to know I'll worry a bit until I see them again. (Who could make this stuff up? You left too soon, Stacey!)

Celebrating Guests

It's just impossible to explain how much joy there is when a visit comes together just right. This has been one of those special times, when a guest just clicked. If we could keep Stacey here longer, we would. It's been fun, but too short, and with her leaving tomorrow, today just flew by much too quickly.

It's amazing how many memories can be shared in a few short days. There were things I hadn't thought of in nearly ten years, like the gag gift of an ugly (we're talking really pathetic) dress Tighe bought her for her graduation. Of course, he had some wonderful jewelry stashed away, but she proved how polite she could be before she ever got to see that. She opened the dress in front of her entire family (and me) at a party in her honor, and was as gracious as anyone could ever ask a person to be. More so, if you had seen the dress.

Besides laughing and eating (yes, there was plenty of that), game playing and sight seeing, we just enjoyed being together. It was a good diversion for all of us, and I hope it gave Stacey time to recharge her batteries before heading back for the job hunt. Her teaching position had been eliminated in the downsized budget in Newbury Park, CA, so she's been interviewing. That's not a lot of fun. I'm going to end up this piece with the promised photos, showing that we gave her some smiles while she was here. I hope she had enough to take some home with her.

You know the way here, now, Stacey. Don't be shy.

Benson Park:
Some day I should make a collage of all my friends romping with this ring of children. They're all such good sports to jump into the ring and play when John asks them to. (Now, who could say no to John?) Besides, if he didn't ask, I would.

This quiet old gentleman is one of my favorites. I'm glad Tighe sat down with him. My telephoto lens was perfect for capturing him from far away, but I was unable to catch any of their conversation.

Like me, Stacey really seemed to appreciate the native sculptures. There is a majesty to some of them that goes beyond strength and beauty. I find myself going back to stare at this one every time we visit the park.

Last night's BBQ rib dinner was good, and the ribs kept falling off the bones, so we nearly didn't have our s'mores. It was pretty dark by the time the marshmallows and Hershey bars got anywhere near the graham crackers. It's a good thing my camera works so nicely after dark. (Thanks, Jeremy, for the recommendation of the Lumix!) It was the end of a fine day, even if we did eat too much.

Some things are worth doing two at a time.

This is the spot we picked out for our picnic at the Rocky Mountain National Park. Before we drove up here, though, we stopped at Estes Park and walked through the Scandinavian Festival. We got to watch some folk dancing and hear some music, as well as see some crafts. I always go straight for the pottery. I'm hopeless.

The streams are all full this year. We've had a good amount of rain, most of it falling in the late afternoon and evening, which is mighty convenient if you ask me. Temperatures have been in the low 80s at our home, but were about ten degrees cooler up in the park. It takes us about forty minutes to get there from home.

I know these people. It's Tighe and Stacey, posing in front of the snow. It wasn't the snowiest peak around, but it was the one they were standing in front of, so that's where I took the photo. I hate moving people around if they're smiling where they are. It seems like that's more important than the background.

I think it's time to replace that bra. I mean, that's me with Stacey. I guess I look like I'm in my 60s. At least I'm not having to color my hair yet. I'm glad you can't see the big dent in my forehead from the cupboard door I bashed into that morning. We smiled so much my cheeks hurt tonight.

This was Stacey's last sunset here, so I wanted to make sure she got a photo of it. Unfortunately, I waited a little too long, so I missed some of the color, especially in the foothills under the sky. Well, it looked much better in person. Happy trails, Stacey.

Another Day in Paradise

The four of us hit the road today, John and I showing Tighe and Stacey what a wonderful area we live in. Of course we had a wonderful breakfast first, and I still have to remember to type out that recipe for impossible breakfast pie for Stacey. I'm sure I'll remember all the changes I made, won't I?

We headed to town with a cooler full of sandwiches and soda, apples and trail mix. We came home with most of it, since breakfast stuck to our ribs better than I had thought it would. We started by heading into Loveland for a nice stroll through Benson Park. That's the park with all of the statues and sculptures in it. John and I really enjoy walking there, and it's a favorite spot for artists as well. I'll post some photos tomorrow, although I'll admit we were there almost exactly at noon, not the best time for photography.

From there we went to the Budweiser Plant for their tour. We always like taking our guests there, because the tour is so interesting, and the tasting room is very accommodating for guests. I'm still trying to remember why we didn't take Ben and Ruth there... I'll have to try hard to remember.

Anyway, when we went through the stables there, we were looking at the beautiful Clydesdales when a little boy asked if they were boy or girls horses. The guide explained that they were all geldings, which meant that they were males that had been gelded. He stopped there and all got quiet in the stable. Then he asked if there were any more questions. The same little boy said, "Yes. If they're all geldings, how do you breed them?" His mother took him by the arm and said, "That's another tour, Son." Some mothers are priceless.

We had ribs for dinner, and then relaxed until sunset, when it was time for our evening campfire. Once in each visit, whenever we have guests, we like to build a fire in the pit and have music outside, build s'mores and play guitar, light off sparklers and have the fun of camping out without the air mattresses and sleeping bags. It was a wonderful night.

Now, if only I hadn't cracked my head nearly open this morning, it would have been a totally perfect day. Oh, well, we can't have everything. If I slam my forehead into the edge of an open cupboard door at full speed once in awhile, I guess I have to live with that. I haven't yet figured out a way to make myself stop it. I just start doing too many things and I don't see it. Well, this time it was bad enough so I think I'll remember for awhile.

News That Makes Me Tired

I seriously considered posting this with just the title. There's a sarcastic little voice inside myself that's saying things like, "Wow, it's a good thing nothing else happened in the world today besides Michael Jackson dying, because according to the news, that's all that's going on."

A comment on Facebook proclaimed how sad it was that "God could take such a great man." (What?) Brother...

I'm going to make this short and to the point. God will know what to do with each of us as we cross that line. I'm not sure what He'll do with me, so who am I to judge another? I'll admit to being human and finding it very hard to keep from jumping to conclusions. Whether he was saint or sinner, I wouldn't have taken a chance on putting any little boys I loved around him. Like most people, he probably had much good keeping company with his shortcomings.

I loved some of his music. He could certainly dance at one time. The theatrics I could live without. But face it—he wasn't Princess Diana or John F. Kennedy. I don't believe an entire day of news coverage was warranted.

Fair and Balanced—Well, Almost

My son Tighe introduced me to The Daily Show. I've added it to my little battery of daily (no pun intended) political media to watch in order to know just what these crazy politicians are doing to our country. I'm having a hard time right now actually trusting anyone who would run for office. It takes a considerable amount of time and fortitude to sift through what's being broadcast in order to have an informed opinion these days.

I'm not sure Jon Stewart would appreciate my choice of media professionals. I consider Glenn Beck and Bill O'Reilly necessary. Most people who don't like them really don't watch them, so I'm not concerned with their opinions. Sometimes I think O'Reilly is too concerned with being fair, but that's not really fair of me. It's just that I get stressed out hearing the ultra-liberal point of view so often. It just doesn't compute to me, no matter how they word it. With all the mainstream media ignoring the traditional point of view, I don't know why the only traditional media coverage available to us, Fox News, has to give any time at all to the Secular Progressives, but I guess fair is fair. I'm sure the balance helps build character—somehow. Of course, the SPs don't see the fairness or the balance, so it's certainly not building their character.

At any rate, here's a seven minute segment from one of the Daily Show programs that I particularly appreciated. The gentleman being interviewed was familiar to me. He's been a guest speaker on The Factor and the Glenn Beck Show. I loved this interview. After hearing it, I programmed our DVR to tape The Daily Show. If I'm going to see interviews like this, and I'll admit the humor helps, then I'll learn something without adding too much to the stress I already endure to be politically astute. I do hope I get some comments on this one.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Peter Schiff
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

To the Kids Who Survived the 20s Through the 60s

[Sent to me by friend Sherm, with comments added by me, of course.]

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes. Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with bright colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had baseball caps not helmets on our heads. As infants and children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes. Riding in the back of a pick-up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this. We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight. Why? Because we were always outside playing....that's why! We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were O.K.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride them down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem. We did not have Playstations, Nintendos or X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound or CDs, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet and no chat rooms. We had friends and we went outside and found them.

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever. We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever. The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If you are one of them, congratulations. You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives "for our own good." While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

[This originally came to me with a "quote" attributed to Jay Leno attached. I did the responsible thing and went to snopes.com and checked it out. It was an urban legend, not a true quote, so I have deleted it. I don't distribute fallacy.] The rest of this is great. I can add to it that I also remember playing with the mercury from thermometers. In fact, I remember having a little bottle where we kids kept the stuff when we broke a thermometer, which we occasionally did intentionally. (Gee, Mom, we're so sorry!) I also remember running behind the DDT truck, while it sprayed great clouds of insecticide. That was great fun. Instant fog machine.

I'm still alive to tell about it. Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?