April Week 2, 2005

Monday  April 4 , 2005

If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.

Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., 39, shot to death on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

Monica had an eye appointment at 13:40, and they had baseball practice till 1600 so I got her back to school and had a late lunch, even got to watch then practice... they aren't very good, some of the boys can hit OK and they have a fair pitcher. but their fielding is just wretched. they are worse than the PeeWee league.

I got the tractor stuck again... if you're keeping score this is #4. It's been completely my fault each time one of the contributing factors is that it has brand new tires on it, those damn things can dig a hole in a heart beat and if I don't get the Gannon up in time it hangs me up with the tractor resting on the front tires and the Gannon and the tires just spinning.

Tuesday  April 5 , 2005

I never saw an ugly thing in my life: for let the form of an object be what it may, -- light, shade, and perspective will always make it beautiful.
-John Constable, painter (1776-1837)

Monica to Therapy, me to dentist... therapy went great the dentist did not. They had cemented in a post for my new crown and taken my partial because the crown will be anchoring the partial and it had to fit perfectly. The crown was a little high so he ground the tooth down a bit so the crown would fit down a little. He managed that then put the crown on and found that he had to modify the side where the clasp would fit. In the process he set the crown on the post and tried to grind the crown, the drill caught the crown and ripped it out of my tooth breaking the post and cracking the tooth... now we have to do the same thing all over again and it will be Friday till I get my crown and partial back, and we don't know if the crown will even work now with the damaged tooth... I am not a happy camper... After he told me what happened he asked if I was OK,

I said "Is there anything I can say or do to change the situation"

He said "No"

I said; "Then I guess I'm OK"

Damn...

The Pope's demise has been accompanied by a decided escalation in religious fervor among all religions. Like they are somehow resentful of the attention the Roman Catholics are getting. And the Roman Catholics are certainly taking every advantage they can of their moment in the sun. I heard a Catholic Bishop say that Respect and Tolerance of all religions was akin to atheism... it got me to thinking, "Is there a difference between worshiping God and Worshiping religion?" I should say so. I am having a revelation , I am sure many others have figured this out before me but this is a new concept for me. God appears to be like an orphan child and all the Religions are playing the part of relatives wanting to claim him for their own. I think they are letting their arrogance, greed, envy and jealousy get in the way of reason. If the professed goal of all religion is to worship God, and all religions practice this worship why are they at odds with one another unless it's some combination of arrogance, greed, envy and jealousy

I am a little put out by the lowering of the flag to half mast for the Pope. Not only is it presuming that the citizens of this country would want that, lowering the flag in respect to a fallen American is one thing but lowering it for the death of the head of state of a foreign country is a bit much, especially if that country sole reason for existence is the Roman Catholic Church. Honoring the Pope for his accomplishments is commendable but honoring him because he's the Pope is going too far. Leave the ceremonial honors of his rank to his followers and respect the traditions of the country by lowering the Flag in the honor of Fallen Americans.

Wednesday  April 6 , 2005

"My country right or wrong." The words have been used by others to justify greed, atrocity and intolerance but the full quote comes from an 1872 speech by Carl Schurz, a German-born senator from Missouri. What he actually said was:

"My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."

I took B to the dentist, the Hygienist that was assisting when my tooth was broken saw me there and didn't realize that I was with B. She said with genuine surprise, Peter, what are you doing here, your appointment isn't till Friday." Folded my arms, glared at her and said "I know, I'm waiting till the crown comes in." then  grinned my toothless grin and let her off the hook... I wanted to get a copy of DVD X-Copy but apparently the program has been taken off the market, it would let you copy Copy Protected movies... damn, day late and a dollar short. I can get a copy off the Net for $149.00 no thanks.

I went to the Adventist School and picked up a bunch of kids and took them to their baseball game. Slow Pitch Softball is a fairly difficult game. The kids did well though, they even won the game 10 - 7, I was impressed. I took a lot of pictures of the kids, this is Calie and Monica. Cool uniforms don't cha think, they look like the Angels?

I am very pleased with this school as far as what they are teaching the girls about their abilities and their willingness to try new things. I wish they stressed academics a little more there but they are doing OK. Self-esteem may be getting a bad rap in the conservative press but it still counts for something with me. My kids need to believe in themselves and these two and Christian do, I am very proud of them.

Thursday  April 7 , 2005

When I can look Life in the eyes,

Grown calm and very coldly wise,

Life will have given me the Truth,

And taken in exchange---my youth.

Sara Teasdale, poet (1884-1933)
 

We had to take the Van into T&J for brakes and to check the transmission fluid, it seems to be developing a problem engaging first gear after going in reverse or vise-versa, Hope it's just the transmission fluid being low. I saw Tom and John (T&J) in Don Cuco's yesterday, I thought to myself at the time, "That's a bad omen. Probably means one of the cars is going to break down." I was right.

I talked to my sister in Boston about the third one of her children getting married. Christopher D. and Isabel D. . They are awfully young and I fear that this marriage will require a lot of work on both of their parts but they are both pretty sharp kids and though I don't believe they have a clue what they are in for I think they can make it. The marriage will be on the 14th of May...I won't be able to make it, bad timing... Oh well, my sister has six more children to go, I should be able to make a few of ceremonies.

I am going to pass on the ROF tonight, I am too self-conscious about my toothless grin. I have always associated 'visual' toothlessness with poverty and taken a certain snobby pride in my ability to pretend that I am fooling the public with my prosthetic front teeth. Even though my current appearance is not caused by my inability to afford pretty teeth I don't feel like spending all night repressing the urge to explain the situation to everyone either... so here I sit. Tomorrow I should get a new crown and my partial back. I know, sorry to put you through this, as my niece Christine says TMI (Too Much Information) but to me this is a big deal...

Friday  April 8 , 2005

Boredom is the fear of self.

Comtesse Diane

And no philosophy, sadly, has all the answers. No matter how assured we may be about certain aspects of our belief, there are always painful inconsistencies, exceptions, and contradictions. This is true in religion as it is in politics, and is self-evident to all except fanatics and the naive. As for the fanatics, whose number is legion in our own time, we might be advised to leave them to heaven. They will not, unfortunately, do us the same courtesy. They attack us and each other, and whatever their protestations to peaceful intent, the bloody record of history makes clear that they are easily disposed to restore to the sword.

My own belief in God, then, is just that - a matter of belief, not knowledge. My respect for Jesus Christ arises from the fact that He seems to have been the most virtuous inhabitant of Planet Earth. But even well-educated Christians are frustrated in their thirst for certainty about the beloved figure of Jesus because of the undeniable ambiguity of the scriptural record. Such ambiguity is not apparent to children or fanatics, but every recognized Bible scholar is perfectly aware of it. Some Christians, alas, resort to formal lying to obscure such reality.

Steve Allen

I got my teeth back... I feel presentable again... they still aren't right but they are definitely better than nothing.

I helped Joe (aka "The Old Fart") get his old tractor up the hill, the starter is broken and the battery won't recharge. His wife died a few weeks ago and he seems a little more anxious to communicate. He's pretty old, in his 80's at least, he's had a quadruple bypass and it's slowed him down quite a bit.

The Daily Show won a Peabody Award for it's coverage of the Democratic and GOP conventions... that is amazing. It took me a while but I really like the Daily Show, they are filling a very important niche. I hope they can keep the show on the air and viable for a long time to come.

Saturday  April 9 , 2005

Just as he showed us something about suffering and sickness and dying in his last days alive, in death Pope John Paul II showed us something about grieving and taking our leave. The good death, good grief, good funerals come from keeping the vigils, from bearing our burdens honorably, from honest witness and remembrance. They come from going the distance with the ones we love.

Thomas Lynch, a funeral director, author

I got the road finished ...  I was pulling dirt and then pushing dirt over and over, I was in the swing, in a groove, and after a bit I looked down and I was done... it sort of shocked me...

I discovered a very good website, on Liberalism the statistics and exploded myths are worth the link in your favorites.

Sunday  April 10 , 2005

If it makes me laugh out loud, I put it here...

I read an interview with Dustin Hoffman, in it he said "I don't give short answers, I don't know how to give short answers." I can't say I can pretend to know what he had intended by that statement but the remark certainly resonated with me. I really have a hard time with glibness and small-talk... I just can't do it, I am one of those guys who you learn never to ask the time because I will tell you how to build a watch... well I'm not that bad but I do want to answer truthfully and completely but when someone asks me "What's going on?", it's very hard for me to say "Nutt'n" when I would really like to sit down with a cup of coffee and talk.

Living will

I, Peter Allen Daggett, being of sound mind and body, do not wish to be kept alive by artificial means. Under no circumstances should my fate be put in the hands of self serving politicians who couldn't pass ninth grade biology if their lives depended on it.

If a reasonable amount of time passes and I fail to sit up and ask for a computer or a cold beer, it should be presumed that I won't ever get better. When such a determination is reached, I hereby instruct my spouse, children and attending physicians to pull the plug, reel in the tubes and call it a day.

Under no circumstances shall the members of the Legislature enact a special law to keep me on life support machinery. It is my wish that these boneheads mind their own damn business, and pay attention instead to the health, education and future of the millions of Americans who aren't in a permanent coma.

Under no circumstances shall any priest or politician butt into this case. I don't care how many collection plates they need to fill or fundamentalist votes they're trying to scrounge for their run for the presidency in 2008, or any other year. it is my wish that they play God and politics with their own lives and leave me alone to die in peace.

I couldn't care less if a hundred religious zealots send email to legislators in which they pretend to care about me. I don't know these people, don't want to know these people, and I certainly haven't authorized them to preach and crusade on my behalf. They should mind their own business, too.

If any of my family goes against my wishes and turns my case into a political cause or tries to use my dying to make a religious statement, I hereby promise to come back from the grave and make the rest his or her existence a living hell.

_______________________________________
Signature

____________________________________
Witness
 

I flattened all the jumps the kids made 5 years ago and never use... they have been using it for Paintball and when they get bored with paintball they start shooting at the water tank and the shed and my tractor... I'm just tired of it, they can go play paintball somewhere else.