June Week 3, 2008
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June Week 3, 2008
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Monday, June 16, 2008 The struggle with evil by means of violence is the same as an attempt to stop a cloud, in order that there may be no rain. Leo Tolstoy, novelist and philosopher (1828-1910) I let Amanda drive us to Newport. She had a visitation scheduled to see her brother, Scottie, and the twins... I usually dread these things because there is nothing for me to do for two hours except shop... this time I was shopping for DVD-RW Cd's, I finally found some at a Ben Franklin store, but I had to go through 4 other stores to get there... Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Victor Kiam
Nothing much accomplished today, put up a rail so Christy can hang her plants. I went to Boundary Dam with Rick and we took pictures of the spill at night. My camera has a setting called Aperture Priority, I never knew what it meant. I took this at night with the moon about to rise... it is a little blurry but it did a good job. The thing that surprised me was that it could take a picture of something I couldn't see. This was taken at about 10:30 at night, I could barely see the water and the moon was just coming up. Cancer (June 21 - July 22) - You will have a grilled cheese sandwich today, and a bowl of tomato soup. When nobody is looking you will secretly dunk your sandwich. You never tire of the wild life, do you?
Wednesday, June 18, 2008 Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously. G.k. Chesterton Christy and I had Autumn, Amanda was at her friend's house and the girls were still at Soap Lake, Cindy has moved out and Christian was at his buddy's house. We were getting a taste of what life was going to be like in about four or five years... I am not sure I like it... I am used to being around kids and having to 'do' for others. I think I would have a hard time trying to stay active... perhaps not, Autumn takes a lot of time, she is a 'high maintenance girl'. Watching Autumn 'reading' a book it occurred to me that Autumn always does everything just as perfectly as she is capable, her accomplishments are at once miniscule and monumental. To Autumn, reading is looking intently at every word on a page trying to recognize 'sight-words' that she has memorized, she is methodical and turns every page one at a time... I wonder what all of us could accomplish if we always put forth our best effort 100% of the time... Girls should get home from Soap Lake today... late... they got in at about 2145... Calie never got to play because of her foot Thursday, June 19, 2008 I've got a lot of ideas. Trouble is, most of them suck. George Carlin I had a meeting at the Town Council at 1400 to take and decide on bids from two firms who want to get the job to build our new water tank, purification plant and modify the water system. We ended up having to reject both bids because they were for more than our budget would allow. Friday, June 20, 2008 Even if you've been fishing for three hours and haven't gotten anything except poison ivy and sunburn, you're still better off than the worm. Author Unknown
Amanda is flying to Alaska today to see her Grandfather Leif somebody. If she was younger and less competent I would be concerned about how little I know about where she is going and who she will be with. We got her there on time, she drove most of the way. Monica took over driving when we left Spokane, she did OK... when we got to Colville to get her shot something happened to the Trailblazer... a weird flapping noise that sounded like a broken fan belt but not a rhythmic... more like something trapped in the engine compartment. I opened the hood and the engine cooling fan was flopping back and forth while it was spinning, like the shaft it was mounted on was broken. Luckily the Chevy dealership was only a block away... I took it in and went into the service department and one of the guys said let me look, Two guys came out and I took them to the car, one said open the hood and turn it on... I opened the hood, and turned it on and they both immediately said TURN IT OFF!!! I did, they said your Water pup is broken Saturday, June 21, 2008 "You know your country is dying when you have to make a distinction between what is moral and ethical, and what is legal." John De Armond Nothing much accomplished, I got my chainsaw back from Mike, broken, he said he would pay to get it fixed... we'll see. I was reflecting on yesterday's trip to the airport, I put my daughter (I have deemed Amanda to be my daughter) on the plane. I watched her check in, they were very nice at the counter, then I walked with her to the security section. I watched the ticket examiner, wearing a replica of a pilots uniform, don a pair of purple plastic gloves before he touched her ticket. I watched the people... Doctors, Lawyers/ Businessmen, elderly people, families with children... shuffle, barefooted, in a long line to surender their personal belongings to be examined for lethal shampoo and after-shave, like they were entering the showers at Auschwitz. All the hapless dweebs in phony pilots uniforms were wearing purple gloves, not white or flesh colored, purple, to ensure that the potential terrorists shuffling toward them knew that they were deemed to be "suspects", unhealthy, a subspecies of some undetermined alien origin. Where do they find people to man the gates at airports and the borders, do they wait outside the office where they test the applicants for the DMV to proposition the drop-outs? They are rude, insensitive automatons without the autonomy to function outside the regimented organization that employs them. I was afraid I was going to do or say something that would get me arrested... my children don't know any other way, they have not been aware of what it was like before Bush took the country on a nose-dive into paranoia and depression. They may never know what it was like before September 11, 2001. When the employees at the Airport treated you with respect and deference, when the DMV was just insensitivem not arrogant and uniformed. We need to put up signs saying:
Turning a nation of empowered citizens into "Suspects" since 2003 I have been across the border twice, neither time was a positive experience, I have coffee with those people at Cathy's Cafe and then I am treated like a criminal at the border. I think it is the uniform that transforms them, the training is obviously part of it but they cease to be regular human beings and turn into "The Authority" - "Elite" - "Superior" - "Powerful"... Something happens when you tell someone they are unique, powerful humans when you tell them they have the authority to impose the will of the government on anyone that they meet and then give them a gun, you have created a potential tyrant.
Sunday, June 22, 2008 How hard to realize that every camp of men or beast has this glorious starry firmament for a roof! In such places standing alone on the mountaintop it is easy to realize that whatever special nests we make -- leaves and moss like the marmots and birds, or tents or piled stone -- we all dwell in a house of one room -- the world with the firmament for its roof -- and are sailing the celestial spaces without leaving any track.
John Muir, naturalist, explorer, and writer (1838-1914)
I have been thinking about getting a little boat but to be
truthful, at 230 pounds and 65 years of living I don’t swim as well as I used to
and I am a little afraid of boats these days. I was thinking along the lines of
an aluminum row boat with about a 15 horsepower Evenrude. I just ordered a
new
hat… for my next reunion. A friend wrote to mention that he is being inundated with Anti Obama stuff to. "I wish we could get these people to bookmark Snopes. I would start sending their... back with the links showing all the lies, but I know they'd just snicker and ignore it, a bunch of sheep following the party line." My reply: Snopes is only for people who have been wrong some time in
their past… It’s a lost cause, people only believe what their preconceptions and
bias dictate that they believe… it is exasperating but everyone seems to have
their own version of reality and they twist the facts to fit their beliefs…
Religion, Politics and Road Runner Cartoons, reality is only a product of our
perspectives. The part of this theory that concerns me though is that, if it’s
true, you and I are doing it too. I hate when I am forced to shoot my sacred
cows, but I feel better about myself when I can correct my misconceptions. You have read my speculation that people have their Liberalness and Conservativeness coded in their DNA. Democrats and Republicans are not created they are conceived. We all know, and are related to, people who can only see two sides to any situation, right and wrong. They will never understand our ability to see all sides at once, they will never understand why we have a difficult time passing judgment. The phrase “There, but by the grace of god, go I” is what prevents me from being a Republican. Life would be so uncomplicated if we were only infallible
too. “If I am infallible and you
disagree with me then you are wrong… life is so simple…”
This is an oldie with a cute twist:
A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some
items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very
large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about
2" in diameter.
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What's really important in life? Sitting on a beach? Looking
the television eight hours a day? I think we have to appreciate that we're alive
for only a limited period of time, and we'll spend most of our lives working.
That being the case, I believe one of the most important priorities is to do
whatever we do as well as we can. We should take pride in that.
