A Touch of Magick

I'm a piss poor Blogger....

2006-03-18T16:32:00.000-08:00

I really don't make or take the time to blog. I used to. But now I don't. Have I lost interest, or just have nothing interesting to say. Probably a little bit of both, but mostly because I'm so damn busy and the Blogger World isn't ranking very high on my to do scale.

I mean geez loueez, we just spent a weekend in Vegas and I didn't blog about that. We had a great time by the way. I walked so much I had blisters underneath my toes. Now how grody is that?

So this is it, I'm signing off now, who the hell knows when I'll pop in again...I have boo coo projects to get done and my being a lazy ass doesn't help myself any.

See ya =)

They say it's my birthday..........

2006-02-13T08:32:00.000-08:00

so Happy Birthday to me! Cue the Beatles song.....

Happy Birthday Lincoln and Darwin!

2006-02-12T08:51:00.000-08:00

Two great men born on the same day. I read this article this morning over my coffee and wanted to share it here as I found it interesting.

On this day in 1809, two of the most famous men of the 19th century were born under very different circumstances -- one in a Kentucky log cabin, the other in an English country house complete with stable and servants' quarters.

The first is, of course, Abraham Lincoln.

And the second? None other than Charles Darwin.

That two such influential men should be born on the same day of the same year surely is one of history's most amazing coincidences. In fact, had the second man been anyone else in the world except Charles Darwin, the father of the theory of evolution, it might even be cited as an example of ... intelligent design! Needless to say, Darwin's birthday is not a day of great celebration in intelligent design circles.

On the contrary: Darwin's theory of evolution has been increasingly under attack by intelligent- design proponents -- an attack both shrill and nationwide.

It's important to keep in mind that an overwhelming majority of scientists, both here and abroad, consider evolution one of the most established theories in all science. Indeed, modern biology, physiology, biochemistry -- and even medicine and immunology -- accept and build upon Darwin's naturalistic explanation of both the diversity of species and the complexities of biological systems. Intelligent design adherents agree with Darwin that species are indeed diverse and biological systems unquestionably complex.

It's that naturalistic element they so heartily oppose.

According to intelligent design -- both its nonscientific supporters and the few fully credentialed scientists who also support it -- there are times when diversity is just too diverse, complexity just too complex, for the explanation solely to be natural selection. The examples most often cited include unexpected biological novelty in the fossil record and the existence of so-called "junk" DNA. If life were really informed by natural selection alone, says intelligent design, these examples should never exist. And yet they do. Therefore, there must have been something (or someone) that (or who) stepped in and, for whatever reason, "designed" them.

Regarding the exact nature of this designing force, intelligent design advocates declare complete neutrality: it can be God, Brahma, Gaia, even the Enlightenment's "Great Clockmaker." They claim they are interested only in making sure students are not misled into thinking that Darwin explains everything.

This is disingenuous in the extreme. There would be no interest in including an intelligent "disclaimer" in a biology class (as was proposed in the recent Dover, Pa., court case), were it not specifically to undermine Darwin. After all, while it's true that modern Darwinian thought doesn't explain everything in biology, there are plenty of unexplained mysteries in physics, too. Astronomy and cosmology also have lots of gaps.

But nobody's rushing to insist on "disclaimers" prior to teaching say, the Big Bang. Darwin comes in for this special treatment precisely because some zealous conservative religious believers see evolution as a direct threat to all religious belief in America. There's a sad irony in this for those of us who are ourselves religious, for the surest way to undermine religion is to insist on playing in Darwin's "ballpark."

That's because once you accept the standards of science and the scientific method -- which intelligent design vehemently claims to -- you run the risk that science will ultimately provide naturalistic explanations to its current mysteries. And if the day comes when a future scientist explains "junk" DNA as concisely as James Watson and Francis Crick explained what at the time seemed equally unsolvable -- the mystery of DNA itself -- where will this leave religious belief?

A more effective way to bolster religious belief than attacking Darwin is to remember that religion addresses questions that are completely beyond the range of science. The meaning of life, the nature of good conduct, the nature of the human soul: Science is not set up to deal with any of these.

This is why religion remains so potent -- and, I think, so positive -- a force in modern America. It alone provides answers to the hardest questions we all face. In a health crisis, we want help from a doctor who practices medicine in a completely rational and scientific manner. But our prayers that this medicine helps go to a supernatural being, not to the doctor.

Which returns us to today's other birthday boy.

Lincoln could never have accomplished the great tasks before him, nor inspired others to stay the course through so many defeats, disappointment and death, without recourse to ideas imbued with the deepest spirituality. Whether he declared that "this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom" or called on his fellow Northerners to press on to victory "with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right," he clearly saw the unique wisdom and power embodied in the great truths of religion -- wisdom certainly different from scientific wisdom, but equally certainly, just as valuable.

This, most of us would agree, is religion at its best: providing spiritual comfort, psychological strength, moral direction and righteous inspiration.

In this realm, evolution -- wonderful job that it does in explaining the natural world -- cannot compete with religion. In its own "ballpark," religion, as Lincoln knew, wins every time. It's only when it strays into the other guy's stadium that it sets itself up for inevitable loss and disappointment.

Cynthia Bass

Dream Interpreter Wanted.......

2006-02-02T13:20:00.000-08:00

Last night I had a dream that I was adopting a cat. Not any ordinary cat mind you, but one with green fur and what were Peacock Eye markings running down the length of it's back. It was a very cool looking cat.

Hopefully I wasn't going to use it as a circus sideshow freak act. But you never know...dreams can be like that.

Right On Google!!!

2006-01-22T09:10:00.000-08:00

What a bunch of crock for Yahoo, MSN and AOL to comply and sacrifice their user's privacy.

The news that major search engine operators Yahoo Microsoft's MSN division and America Online complied with a US government subpoena that Google is resisting has prompted strong reactions from Internet users on both sides of the issue.

Many users are expressing anger at what they perceive to be a governmental intrusion and an unwillingness by search engines to protect their privacy. Others feel the brouhaha is much ado about nothing.

Rodin Eckenroth, a photographer and graduate student in Sacramento, California, has decided to only use Google's search engine, whereas before she also regularly used the ones from Yahoo and Microsoft.

With her decision, she hopes "to show the other companies that there are financial consequences in not supporting their users' rights and privacy," she says.

William Boyle, a consulting software engineer in Illinois who has used search engines since the mid-1990s, feels the same way. "I will never use Yahoo or MSN for any purpose if I can avoid it in any way, unless and until they completely renounce this unreasonable invasion of their users' privacy, legal subpoenas notwithstanding," he says.

However, for Charles Perkins, a salesman at the Lexus of Smithtown car dealership in Saint James, New York, the government's actions are warranted in this case. "Almost whatever they need to do to keep us safe is justified," he says, adding that the subpoenas will not change the way he uses search engines.

Last week, the US government asked a California court to force Google to turn over information about usage of the company's search engine. The government says it needs those Google usage records to prepare its defence of the 1998 Child Online Protection Act (COPA) law, whose constitutionality is being so far successfully challenged in court by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

COPA aims to protect minors from the effects of exposure to "harmful" content, such as sexually explicit material, on the Internet. But the ACLU filed a lawsuit to challenge the law and a court granted a preliminary injunction, which, after much legal wrangling, still stands.

To prepare its defense of COPA in the ACLU suit, the US Department of Justice served Google, AOL, MSN and Yahoo with subpoenas last year. Google resisted. The other search engine operators apparently complied to varying degrees.

The government so far has only taken Google to court to enforce the subpoena, filing a motion to compel compliance in the US District Court for the Northern District of California.

According to the motion, the government wants Google to provide it with a "random sample" of 1 million website addresses found in Google's search engine index. It also wants the text of all queries filed on the search engine during a specific week. The government contends that it is not requiring Google or the other search engine operators to provide information that would identify the persons who made those queries.

Google is refusing, citing several reasons, including concerns about violating its users' privacy, disclosing trade secrets and facing an undue burden in assembling the demanded information.

The government contends that this search usage data will help it understand how often web users encounter material considered "harmful to minors" as a result of using a search engine, and to determine how effective filtering software is, according to the motion.

But Allen Weiner, a Gartner analyst, says the government is unlikely to accomplish its stated goal by gathering this data. "It's an odd way for the government to go about collecting such information. They easily could have either commissioned a high-value study or worked with one of the online tracking companies, like comScore or NetRatings, to give them more information to go on," Weiner says.

Yahoo spokeswoman Mary Osako acknowledged the company was subpoenaed, and says that it didn't provide any personal information on users in response to the subpoena. She declined to disclose specific details of what information Yahoo did provide to the government.

After declining to acknowledge having been subpoenaed, Microsoft confirmed it was contacted by the DOJ. "We did comply with their request for data in this case in a way that ensured we also protected the privacy of our customers. We were able to share aggregated query data, not search results, that did not include any personally identifiable information," says a spokesperson.

AOL also acknowledged giving some information to the government. "We didn’t and wouldn’t comply with such a subpoena. Instead we gave the DOJ a list of aggregate and anonymous search terms that didn’t include results nor any personally identifiable information. There are no privacy implications for our users," says AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein, who declined to elaborate on what the government asked for and what AOL provided.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), whose goal is to protect civil liberties online, chided AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft for complying with the subpoena, and praised Google for putting up a fight. The government's action could have a chilling effect on people's online activities, including browsing and internet searching, an EFF spokeswoman says.

"We wish other search engines had fought the subpoena the way Google is," says Rebecca Jeschke, an EFF spokeswoman. "We hope Google prevails in court."

"I Have a Dream" August 28, 1963

2006-01-16T08:37:00.000-08:00

The text of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr's "I have a dream" speech from August 28, 1963.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon of hope to millions of Negro slaves, who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacle of segregation and the chains of discrimination.

One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we have come to our Nation's Capital to cash a check. When the architects of our great republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir.

This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed to the inalienable rights of life liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check that has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is not time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.

Now is the time to make real the promise of democracy.

Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice.

Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.

Now is the time to make justice a reality to all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of it's colored citizens. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual.

There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.

Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must ever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality.

We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities.

We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one.

We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "for white only."

We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote.

No, no we are not satisfied and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of your trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by storms of persecutions and staggered by the winds of police brutality.

You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.

Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our modern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair. I say to you today, my friends, that even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow. I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed. We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; that one day right down in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and every mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plains and the crooked places will be made straight and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I will go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.

With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood.

With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to climb up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring!"

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that, let freedom, ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi and every mountainside.

And when this happens, when we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every tenement and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old spiritual, "Free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, we are free at last."

Long time no blogging....

2006-01-16T08:32:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, I have neglected my blog for awhile. I'll play catch up later on, but I wanted to acknowledge Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. today.

What Hit Song of 2005 are You?

2006-01-02T09:22:00.000-08:00

well huh...what are you?

Your 2005 Song Is

Don't Cha by the Pussycat Dolls

"Dont cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me
Dont cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me"

What happens in 2005, stays in 2005!

What Hit Song of 2005 Are You?

Happy 2006!!!

2006-01-01T00:37:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!

May 2006 be a year filled with much peace, love, good health and happiness for you all.

I don't do New Year's resolutions...so it's looking good so far! ;)

Farewell Tyler.....

2005-12-23T12:19:00.000-08:00

A boy I never knew aside from a message board, has lost his fight against cancer. More specifically leukemia. I am saddened by his passing...and what his family must be going through breaks my heart.

He lived his entire life in the shadow of this disease and now his pain has ended. And I am thankful for the life that he led, the inspiration that he gave to many and that he gave us a gift of his love.

We are temporaily in these bodies, and when we pass...we leave behind memories for the living. Memories and the works that we leave as a mark upon the earth and others.

Let all of our works on this earth be good...that is our gift to others.

It's snowing!!!!

2005-12-16T22:35:00.000-08:00

Okay, not really. But I can make snowflakes...and so can you.

Make A Flake

Control the Show

2005-12-14T22:27:00.000-08:00

Wanna have some fun and control the Christmas lights for one minute on someone else's house?

Well, you're in luck...cuz I've got a site for you! :D

Control the Show!

Good thing I believe in Karma.......

2005-12-08T23:33:00.000-08:00

or else I'd really be mega pissed off.

What kind of person steals Angels off a child's grave? Huh? Tell me, because I really want to know.

We put the Christmas tree on the boys' grave Monday and noticed that the smaller of the two angels was gone from the top of the headstone. I was miffed then, but today I'm just flat out pissed off. When I went by to check on how the tree survived from the rain we had last night.... yep, you guessed it...the other angel is now gone.

It's not like kids walking by after school swiped them, that I could possible understand...but the cemetary is in the middle of freaking nowhere.

You drive there.

Period.

If you're old enough to drive, you're old enough to know better.

These angels have been there for at least two years. Nothing like ripping off dead kids...they don't need them anyway. Ass wipes. They were placed there by the living to commemorate the memory of two very precious little boys. The angels were their guardians. They were placed there, so the boys would never be alone.

Whoever took them...screw you.

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

2005-12-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

You Are Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

Truthfully, you're too spazzy to be chunky - you cheeky monkey!

What Flavor Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream Are You?

Run Baby Mole...Run!

2005-12-01T10:24:00.000-08:00

My son saved a little mole from the clutches of our "curious, playful and doing what comes normal for cats" cats.

Cute little thing. He brought it inside and I wrapped it up in a hand towel and held it in my hand until it warmed up and was moving around. Sitting here in my computer chair, I googled "caring for baby moles".

So it appears since it had fur, and it's eyes, albeit tiny ones, were open... it was not considered a baby and was probably ready to leave the nest. Whew...good thing. I certainly didn't want to have to try to feed it!

So we took it back outside in the general area it was found and released it back to the wild from whence it came.

Those babies can run!

Now...hopefully it can live it's little mole life without encountering another cat.

Well, a girl can hope can't she?

When do you start your Christmas shopping?

2005-11-30T09:40:00.000-08:00

I usually start making a Christmas list for those I want to give gifts to in September. Followed immediately after that by shopping.

It used to be so much fun to go into the stores, see all of the displays, the lights and hear the music. But it seems to me that Christmas has become so commercialized that it no where represents what it did when I was a kid.

So now I do most of my shopping online, in my own home where I can have the Christmas music going, all the lights on the tree blinking merrily and enjoying a hot Christmas beverage of my choice without facing the crowds. I like it better that way.

So far I've found a two million year old shark tooth fossil for my son and an out of circulation Princess Sophia doll for my daughter. Ahhhh, the joys of eBay. :D

I want to put together a prettily framed picture collage of my Mom and Dad to give to Mom for Christmas.

I need to get to started on that.

Soon.

Did you have a good Thanksgiving?

2005-11-27T15:22:00.000-08:00

I did.

A very nice one thank you very much. We traveled to my Grandfather's...over the dunes and cactus, to Grandfather's house we go.

I made the dinner and managed to watch no less than four football games. And cleaned up afterwards. Well, I clean as I go...less to do later when I'll be drunk or bloated or more than likely both.

Happy Holidays =)

November 22, 1963

2005-11-22T15:53:00.000-08:00

The first word came over the television airwaves at 1:40 P.M. EST when CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite broke into As the World Turns with an audio announcement over a bulletin slide: "In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas. The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting."

At 2:37 P.M. CBS news editor Ed Bliss, Jr. hands Cronkite an AP wire report. Cronkite takes a long second to read it to himself before intoning: "From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1:00 P.M. Central Standard Time, two o'clock Eastern Standard Time." He pauses and looks at the studio clock. "Some thirty-eight minutes ago." Momentarily losing his composure, Cronkite winces, removes his eyeglasses, and clears his throat before resuming with the observation that Vice President Lyndon Johnson will presumably take the oath of office to become the thirty-sixth president of the United States.

Camelot is no more........

Oh Set Me Free Bay-Bee.....

2005-11-19T12:06:00.000-08:00

What could be funnier than listening to your 6 year old daughter sing along to her CD player with the headphones on, to "Genie in a Bottle"?

Not much!

:D

Mooning....

2005-11-16T15:37:00.000-08:00

Our Moon's appearance changes nightly. This time-lapse sequence shows what our Moon looks like during a lunation, a complete lunar cycle. As the Moon orbits the Earth, the half illuminated by the Sun first becomes increasingly visible, then decreasingly visible. The Moon always keeps the same face toward the Earth. The Moon's apparent size changes slightly, though, and a slight wobble called a libration is discernable as it progresses along its elliptical orbit. During the cycle, sunlight reflects from the Moon at different angles, and so illuminates different features differently. A full lunation takes about 29.5 days, just under a month (moon-th).

Okie Dokie then....

2005-11-15T21:29:00.000-08:00

Well, apparently my blog went AWOL after Halloween. But I've fixed my code and yes, that's right...I'm back!

If I could remember what the hell I wrote in the last 2 weeks I'd repost it. Well, that's not exactly true, I probably wouldn't. Who wants to hear the same story over and over again...what's that? You never read it the first time?

Oh, well....gee that's too bad.

Really, my brain is scrambled enough as it stands now, you really want me to reach in there, draw back the curtain and tell OZ to get to crackin'?

Oh good, yes I think letting it slide is an excellent idea...and the Tin Man agrees.

Follow the yellow brick road...

Oh! I do remember one thing...it was about my computer chair...well not really the computer chair my ass sits in now as I type this, but the one in my dream. It was hot pink and trimmed in a matching feather boa around the arms.

WTH???

I really need to turn down my electric blanket...when I get hot, my dreams get weird. And that's a fact Jack.

Later gators. =)

Testing....1...2...3...

2005-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

Is this thing on?

Samhain

2005-10-31T21:03:00.000-08:00

Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st.

Samhain marks the beginning of a new cycle. Just as the Celtic day began at night, it is understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. The most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, Halloween.

It is a magical interval when the mundane laws of time and space are temporarily suspended, and the Thin Veil between the worlds is lifted. Communicating with ancestors and departed loved ones is easy at this time, for they journey through this world on their way to the Summerlands.

Originally the "Feast of the Dead" was celebrated in Celtic countries by leaving food offerings on altars and doorsteps for the "wandering dead". Single candles were lit and left in a window to help guide the spirits of ancestors and loved ones home. Apples were buried along roadsides and paths for spirits who were lost or had no descendants to provide for them. Turnips were hollowed out and carved to look like protective spirits, for this was a night of magic and chaos. The Wee Folke became very active, pulling pranks on unsuspecting humans. Traveling after dark was was not advised. People dressed in white (like ghosts), wore disguises made of straw, or dressed as the opposite gender in order to fool the Nature spirits.

Samhain Night by Wren

Beneath the square
Of Arthur's Wain
The Faery Mounds
So long have lain
Like sleeping giants
On the Land
Like dreams we seek
To understand.
The Darkest Night
Has come around
The bay of Hounds
The only sound
As star-white steeds
Race through the wind
And branches rattle
And dry leaves spin.
Flashing silver
Pierces the Moon
Swords held high
Against the gloom.
Wheels of fire
Roll on by
As shields are raised
Against the sky.
Gwynn ap Nudd
In white and red
Heads the Hunt
Of the Ancient Dead
Into the realm
Of darkened Light
A mighty Band
Charges in swift flight.
This Night holds both
Beginning and end.
The Wheel has come
Full Circle again.
The past and future
Come into our sight
All becomes One
On this magick Night.
Between the heavens
And the earth
The Way now opens
To bring forth
The Hosts of those
Who went on before
They come riding now
Through the Open Door.
Dark Wild Hunters
Racing the Year.
Time stands still as
Past and Future appear
Encircled between
The Dark and the Light
Together again
On this Samhain Night.

Starbuck's "The Way I See It" #58

2005-10-28T06:32:00.000-07:00

I have faith. Faith in our wondrous capacity for hope and good, love and trust, healing and forgiveness. Faith in the blessing of our infinite ability to wonder, question, pray, feel, think and learn. I have faith. Faith in the infinite possibilities of the human spirit.

-- James Brown
Sportscaster and Co-host of FOX NFL Sunday

Runes and Norse Mythology

2005-10-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

I've long had a fascination with runes...but as the years pass I have put aside interests and passions for certain things as there become more and more constraints on my time. My business has increased three-fold and I just don't have the time to pursue my interests as I would like. I'm not complaining mind you...I thank the Universe for my blessings.

I found this and to preserve it for myself to read in the future days, I will leave it here....

Words of the High One

Wounded I hung on a wind-swept gallows
For nine long nights
Pierced by a spear, pledged to Odin,
Offered, myself to myself
The wisest know not from whence spring
The roots of that ancient rood.

They gave me no bread,
they gave me no mead,
I looked down;
With a loud cry
I took up runes;
From that tree I fell.

Nine lays of power
I learned from the famous Bolthor, Bestla's father:
He poured me a draught of precious mead,
Mixed with magic Odrerir.

Waxed and throve well;
Word from word gave words to me,
Deed from deed gave deeds to me.

Runes you will find and readable staves,
Very strong staves,
Very stout staves,
Staves that Bolthor stained,
Made by mighty powers,
Graven by the prophetic God.

For the Gods by Odin, for the Elves by Dain,
By Dvalin, too, for the Dwarves,
By Asvid, for the hateful Giants,
And some I carved myself:
Thund, before man was made, scratched them,
Who rose first, fell thereafter.

Know how to cut them,
Know how to read them,
Know how to stain them,
Know how to prove them,
Know how to evoke them,
Know how to score them,
Know how to send them,
Know how to send them.

Better not to ask than to over-pledge
As a gift that demands a gift.
Better not to send
Than to slay too many.

My come back panties......

2005-10-24T07:47:00.000-07:00

The dream I had this morning upon waking, was that my Boo-Bah-Dah and I had accompanied a lady who appeared to be in her 50's age wise, to her doctor's appointment.

I have no clue who she is/was. She had short sandy blonde hair and was dressed in beige pants and a beige and brown V-necked shirt. The shirt was from the early 80's, I can remember wearing something similar.

Anyway, we were seated next to her and the doctor was explaining what tests her insurance would cover and that she could possible get a blood test at a cheaper price from SafeWay.

She then leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm wearing my blue and red come back panties."

Then the radio alarm clock went off...so now I'm left with wondering exactly what "come back panties" are.

Damn Spammers....

2005-10-23T14:29:00.000-07:00

They suck...therefore I've had to turn on the word verification thingy-ma-bob.

I mean I could have left it off and had my comments filled with them and then I'd look like I had a happening Blog...but that's just so shallow. ;)

A new look.......

2005-10-22T18:54:00.000-07:00

for Halloween.

Trick or Treat!

T' 'ain't no sin to take off your skin...

2005-10-21T14:15:00.000-07:00

When it gets too hot for comfort
and you can't eat ice cream cones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.
When the lazy syncopation
of the music softly moans
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

The polar bears agree up in Greenland
they got the right idea they think it's great to refrigerate
when we all cremate down here.
Just be like those bamboo babies
in the South Sea tropic zones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

When we gather by the river
listen to ol' Deacon Jones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.
When you walk down near the water
and you hear those sinful groans
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

Do as I say right away wicked sinners
this is the judgment day
come jamboree in the river with me
and wash those sins away.
Cast off your gin and razors
like wise your gambling bones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

When you're talking to your sweetie
on those hot house telephones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.
When you're on a crowded dance floor hear those red hot sax-o-phones
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones.

Take alook at the gals on the dance floor
notice the way they're dressed wearing silky clothes with out any hose
nobody knows the rest.
When a gal wears x-ray dresses
and shows everything she owns
Tain't no sin, take off your skin and dance around in your bones

My Favorite.......

2005-10-18T09:23:00.000-07:00

Halloween movie of all time....is:

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

What's yours?

Aurora Borealis...

2005-10-17T07:59:00.000-07:00

I collect vintage pieces of jewelry and I love Aurora Borealis pieces in particular. Hell, I really like anything that sparkles, who am I kidding.

When I was 12, I bought an Aurora Borealis necklace for my Mom for Mother's Day. I loved it, I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.

She thought differently.

But it wasn't until I was older, that I realized that the "oohhing and ahhhing" had been for my benefit.

I wish she still had it, because I have been searching for the same necklace to have for my own. But alas, nothing so far....but I have acquired several replacement pieces. ;)

This game ROKS!!!

2005-10-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am watching my first Hockey game...the Maple Leafs Vs. The Senators....I have got to look up the rules so I understand this fast paced sport...so far I'm just lovin' it. Power Plays are very cool to watch. More later....back to the game....

A shoot out...oh wow...I don't think I could have picked a better game to have watched for my first ever...I'm hooked...now the Ducks are going to play...oh yeah! :D

Now this is great NEWS!

2005-10-10T07:42:00.000-07:00

Aussie Cure for Cervical Cancer

Aussie cure for cervical cancer
By Adam Cresswell
08oct05

AN Australian scientist has developed the world's first cancer vaccine - a drug with the potential to save the lives of tens of thousands of women each year by preventing cervical cancer.

The vaccine - based on work started 15 years ago by Ian Frazer, director of the Centre for Immunology and Cancer Research at the University of Queensland - received a huge boost yesterday when researchers reported a 100 per cent success rate in final trials.

The results mean it could be on sale in Australia by the end of next year, after its developer, Melbourne drugmaker CSL, revealed the trial found it gave recipients 100 per cent protection against two strains of human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Together, the two strains cause about 70 per cent of cervical cancers.

The success rate has surprised and delighted Australian and overseas experts, who say the vaccine could potentially save 70 per cent of the 250,000 lives lost each year around the world to cervical cancer - especially in developing countries that lack pap-smear screening programs.

Australia has about 700 cases of cervical cancer diagnosed every year, and about 270 deaths from the disease.

The Phase III trial - the last step before a licensing application - involved 12,000 women in 13 countries.

It found the vaccine prevented all high-grade cervical pre-cancers and non-invasive cervical cancers associated with HPV types 16 and 18.

Already CSL is looking at a financial bonanza from the vaccine, to be called Gardasil, which is thought likely to generate worldwide sales of between $US1billion ($1.3 billion) and $US4billion.

Another winner will be Professor Frazer, whose invention made the vaccine possible, with some peers suggesting he could be in line for a Nobel Prize.

Fourteen years ago, Professor Frazer and his team used genetic engineering to unlock the secret of how to produce in sufficient quantities fragments of the HPV virus.

The dead fragments, called "virus-like particles", are put into the vaccine and trick the immune system into thinking the virus itself is present. The body responds by making antibodies that then protect the patient if the real virus later appears.

Gerry Wain, a cervical cancer specialist at Sydney's Westmead Hospital and director of the NSW Cervical Screening Program, who was not involved in the vaccine's development, said the results were "amazing" and had exceeded all expectations.

"You are looking at saving millions of women's lives - if that doesn't deserve a Nobel prize, what does?" he said.

Gardasil is designed to be given in three doses over six months, which data suggests will provide immunity for at least 10 years.

Most women who develop cervical cancer acquire the HPV virus in the first 10 years after they become sexually active. However, a booster shot to extend immunity beyond the initial 10 years may later be recommended.

The vaccine is designed to be given before women become sexually active, but it could still bring benefits for older women.

Even men could benefit, as it protects against two other types of HPV responsible for genital warts.

Professor Frazer told The Weekend Australian from New York yesterday he was "obviously delighted and surprised by the 100 per cent effectiveness".

"With most vaccines, you think you're doing a pretty good job if the vaccine turns out to be 90 per cent effective," he said.

"It's great for Australian science that something that we've developed here is going to have a global impact in the way that this vaccine should have."

He said the vaccine would have the biggest impact in developing countries that did not have pap-smear screening programs.

"In countries like Australia, where we have a very good pap-smear program, the good news for women is not so much that they will be able to stop doing the pap smears - because they won't - but rather that they are very much less likely to have an abnormal pap smear which will need something done about it."

CSL will market the vaccine in Australia and New Zealand but will receive royalties for overseas sales from its international distributor, the drug giant Merck.

It is thought royalties will be worth tens of millions of dollars a year to CSL.

CSL shares soared yesterday to a high of $38.80 before closing at $37.46, up 96c, giving the company a market value of $6.8 billion. A rival vaccine, Cervarix, is being developed by drug giant GlaxoSmithKline and is likely to become available shortly after Gardasil.

Happy Thanksgiving.....

2005-10-07T16:09:00.000-07:00

to our neighbors to the North......Cheers to a long Weekend!

What day is it again?

2005-10-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this before I went out of town a few days ago, but what the hell...I'll do it now instead while I'm still thinking of it.

Changes
Every now and so often
the wind shifts
and the sun, although warm,
lengthens her shadows.
A calm drifts along city streets
stealing from trees their
green aroma,
A waiting time
...September inhales her breath,
purses her lips
and blows out another summer.

- Doris Klein

Today is the 50th Anniversary....

2005-09-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

of the death of James Dean.

I told you I had a fixation with dead people, but would you listen....nooooooooooooo. ;)

Cholame is less than an hour away from me and I've been through that way many times and have stopped at the Memorial there a time or two.

On Wednesday, that part of the road was renamed the James Dean Memorial Junction to commemorate the place where he died. So, apparently I'm not the only one fixating.

Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today. Jimmy Dean

What's Gender Gotta Do Wit It....

2005-09-29T18:14:00.000-07:00

when love is all that matters?

Ahnold vetoed the gay marriage bill...I don't have a problem with people of the same gender marrying, raising children, the whole bit. But many do, the majority in fact.

At least there's not a law that forbids gay couples from living together. That would suck big time.

I'm on a "QUIZ" High........

2005-09-28T22:33:00.000-07:00

Kinky
Ok, accept it...your a freak!! You enjoy good sex. You like getting whipped and seeing your partner...or just anyone you f*ck, struggle to get out of their handcuffs.

What kind of sex do you like?

You Are Pocahantas!

Free-spirited and wise. You have a strong passionate spirit that touches and changes all who know you. The wisdom and common sense that you have is really what guides you through life. Even so, you also have a very playful side that loves adventure and excitement.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

You Are Absinthe!
You have a unique personality. Although most like you, sometimes you take some getting used to. You can be a bit strong. You are full of energy and sometimes flamboyant. You are the life of the party but if people are not careful you can knock them on their ass.

What Naughty My Little Pony Are You?

you're addicted to blank icons

you like to keep it simple and therefore don't need flashy, blinking stuff on your icons. you're sophisticated and elegant without looking overdressed.

p.s.: if you wanna use this icon you have to credit me in your keywords

What type of icon addict are you?

Tweedle Dee/Tweedle Dum

You're a creative, expressive person. Maybe it's writing, acting, music or painting but you like to express yourself. You have a reasonably broad perspective on things and that makes you a good person. However sometimes you need to float back down to earth from that artsy haze you live in...

Which character from Alice In Wonderland are you?

wow!!! ur very smart...did u know that
whoo-pee!!!you have a very extensive vocabulary...that's very good of you to get most/all of the definitions correct...

let's test your vocabulary!!!

Billy

You like the good bad boy Billy is good but he is also a bad boy he would surprise you he is ur Good Charlotte soul mate.

What Good Charlotte Boy Is Your Soul Mate...(With Pics)

Athena
Your Greek counterpart is Athena, Goddess of War and Wisdom. You perfer a quiet resolve to conflict rather than open hosility. You enjoy working with your hads and are not afraid of new challenges.

Which Greek Goddess are you most like? (girls)

Tarot Reading......

2005-09-28T22:21:00.000-07:00

Death- The end of a situation. Transformation.

Something will come to an end, but, do not fear, this will be a good thing!
An unsatisfactory relationship, illness or an unpleasant job is a few examples.
The ending of this situation will lead you onto bigger and better things.

Tarot Reading

A Toast..........

2005-09-28T22:07:00.000-07:00

To America... may the colors of our flag always fly high.

A Canadian's view of the US and Bush

2005-09-26T17:49:00.000-07:00

Blame Throwing

Blame throwing

There's plenty wrong with America, since you asked. (Everybody's asking.) I'm tempted to say, the only difference from Canada, is that they have a few things right. That would be unfair, of course -- I am often pleased to discover things we still get right.

But one of them would not be disaster preparation. If something happened up here, on the scale of Katrina, we wouldn't even have the resources to arrive late. We would be waiting for the Americans to come save us, the same way the government in Louisiana just waved and pointed at Washington, D.C. The theory being, that when you're in real trouble, that's where the adults live.

And that isn't an exaggeration. Almost everything that has worked in the recovery operation along the U.S. Gulf Coast has been military and National Guard. Within a few days, under several commands, finally consolidated under the remarkable Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, it was once again the U.S. military, efficiently cobbling together a recovery operation on a scale beyond the capacity of any other earthly institution.

We hardly have a military up here. We have elected one feckless government after another, who have cut corners until there is nothing substantial left. We don't have the ability even to transport and equip our few soldiers. Should disaster strike at home, on a big scale, we become a Third World country. At which point, our national smugness is of no avail.

From Democrats and the American Left -- the U.S. equivalent to the people who run Canada -- we are still hearing that the disaster in New Orleans showed a heartless, white Republican America had abandoned its underclass.

This is garbage. The great majority of those not evacuated lived in assisted housing, receive food stamps and prescription medicine and government support through many other programmes. Many have, all their lives, expected someone to lift them to safety, sans input from themselves. And the demagogic mayor they elected left, quite literally, hundreds of transit and school buses parked in rows to be lost in the flood, that could have driven them out of town.

Yes, that was insensitive. But it is also the truth; and sooner or later we must acknowledge that welfare dependency creates exactly the sort of haplessness and social degeneration we saw on display, as the floodwaters rose. Many suffered terribly, and many died, and one's heart goes out. But already the survivors are being put up in new accommodations, and their various entitlements have been directed to new locations.

The scale of private charity has also been unprecedented. There are yet no statistics, but I'll wager the most generous state in the union will prove to have been arch-Republican Texas, and that nationally, contributions in cash and kind are coming disproportionately from people who vote Republican. For the world divides into "the mouths" and "the wallets".

The Bush-bashing, both down there and up here, has so far lost touch with reality, as to raise questions about the bashers' state of mind.

Consult any authoritative source on how government works in the United States, and you will learn that the U.S. federal government's legal, constitutional, and institutional responsibility for first response to Katrina, as to any natural disaster, was zero.

Notwithstanding, President Bush took the prescient step of declaring a disaster, in order to begin deploying FEMA and other federal assets, two full days in advance of the stormfall. In the little time since, he has managed to coordinate an immense recovery operation -- the largest in human history -- without invoking martial powers. He has been sufficiently Presidential to respond, not even once, to the extraordinarily mendacious and childish blame-throwing.

One thinks of Kipling's "If --" poem, which I learned to recite as a lad, and mention now in the full knowledge that it drives postmodern leftoids and gliberals to apoplexy -- as anything that is good, beautiful, or true:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise...

Unlike his critics, Bush is a man, in the full sense presented by these verses. A fallible man, like all the rest, but a man.

David Warren

© Ottawa Citizen

Comments?

Take a whiff.......

2005-09-26T07:49:00.000-07:00

It rained last night.

I love the rain. But I love even more, the smell of wet Earth. So I slept with the window open last night so I could get the full effect. There was even a thunder and lightening show.

Storms don't scare me...I'm one of the weird ones who actually likes them.

Totally cool...Mother Nature Roks! :D

Who's a freak for NASCAR?

2005-09-24T09:53:00.000-07:00

Well, I am.

I love the sport, love, love, love it. When Sunday rolls around, you'll know where to find me. Glued to the TV, watching the race.

My favorite driver is Ryan Newman, who's the pilot for the #12 Alltel Dodge.

The dude is cool, I love his dry wit, intelligence and of course....he has that smile. Maybe his being a grad at Purdue and being an engineer has something to do with my attraction to him. In short, I think he's awesome. Not in a hero worship sort of way, but just that I really dig his ability and his personality.

Here's a interview I read this morning on him:

RYAN NEWMAN (No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge Charger) -- First
"It was good. I don't think it was perfect, but it was a very good lap. We were faster than in practice, so we're happy with the speed. We also think we could've went faster, but you know, could have, would have, should have. But, we're happy with our ALLTEL Dodge Charger.

How important is momentum this weekend, coming off your win at New Hampshire?

"It's important, but we always look forward to coming to Dover. I really enjoy the racetrack. We've always performed well here -- both from a car setup-wise, and I think me enjoying the racetrack is a big part of it. We'll see what we can do on Saturday and Sunday. Dover is a really fast racetrack, and when you're off just a little bit, you can be off a lot and that usually means that the wall is coming closer to you at a faster speed than you want it to. It's just a really fun track when everything is working just right. I really enjoy it.

On the cooling temperatures later this weekend:

"This is definitely a physically demanding racetrack, so it's actually just going to help us out more being inside the car with the heat. That'll be the biggest thing. Everyone has the same advantage as far as the track getting faster if that happens. This car here is the same car that has qualified well in the past, and it's been in victory lane here in the past. So, this will be another opportunity for it. We'll see if that doesn't work.

What do you attribute to getting both poles today?

"Two fast racecars... I've just got to thank everybody from Penske Racing. There's a lot of great teamwork on both sides and together. I just really enjoy this racetrack. It's not necessarily the concrete, it's just the shape of it and the speed and the banking. I really enjoy banked racetracks. Again, not to be sarcastic, but having two fast racecars, I just enjoy being able to sit in them and drive them that fast."

Is this your chance to gain some points on Stewart, who qualified 31st?

"Obviously, yeah. Every chance is a chance. But, we're not just racing Tony Stewart, we're racing everybody for a win, and the other nine guys for the championship. Just because Tony Stewart qualified 31st doesn't mean he won't be fast tomorrow in practice."

On having a chance to match Sam Ard's record in the Busch Series tomorrow:

"I don't know how that deal works, if it's four consecutive races or four consecutive races by a driver. But that's a cool deal for me, whether it counts or not. Winning one race is awesome, but winning three or four in a row, that would make a great season in itself. We look forward to the opportunity. I'm not sure how it ranks in the NASCAR book as far as stats go, but if we can get into Victory Lane, we'll be happy one way or another."

What is it about you and qualifying?

"I enjoy qualifying. I enjoy attacking the racetrack. The only person I have to beat out there is the racetrack. There's no traffic, no dirty air, nothing but myself and the racetrack to be able to go as fast as I possibly can for one lap for that matter. I enjoy it. The team enjoys it. Obviously, I can't sit here and do what I'm doing as far as qualifying well, I'm in to represent the whole team. And those guys have given me fast racecars. I have to thank them. I've always told Matt (Borland, crew chief) I said, 'If you give me a straight arrow, I can shoot it pretty straight.'

And these 33 poles are a representation of straight arrows.

It seems like guys who win poles in an impound race generally aren't very good in the race:

"Yes and no. I don't mean this in a bad way, but who would have thought that Matt Kenseth would have gotten the pole at Bristol and then went on to win the race. First of all him getting the pole, but the pole and then winning the race... So, there are definitely cases where guys who can qualify well and race well at different racetracks. Yes, we have seen some instances where guys that qualified well can't race well. But, whether it's an impound or not an impound, we go with what the rules are. We didn't qualify the way we should have at Loudon. We were just misbalanced. We definitely raced better, but I don't think that was necessarily a representation of how we did qualify."

Doesn't it defy logic that when there's an impound race, where the cars should be closer to a race setup, that qualifying should be less of a parameter of how the race is going to go.

"You can say that in a way. But, you know yourself how much speed there is available by doing different things to the car. It's like the person who's addicted to chocolate, who has a candy dish in front of him the whole time. If they had an opportunity to get just a little bit more, as far as speed, then they would. Obviously, we're here for competition to be the best and look good for our sponsors, so some teams may do things... If you look a difference instance, but the same idea, the No. 32 car has been qualifying a lot better because they've had to qualify. They've changed their procedures, and it's been obvious. That's part of it. And I think that that's kind of like a masking of what happens at the impound tracks. Does that make any sense?"

What has happened to you and your team in the last four weeks? What's the difference in your position today as compared to one year ago:

"There's no one thing that's happened to our team. We had some personnel changes back five or six weeks ago. We took the same racecar to Loudon as we did the previous race. So, there's no one thing other than teamwork, a lot of effort and just pure performance to make the car go faster and us look better. That's a good question there's nothing that stands out in my mind that says, 'Man, this is why we're running good.' It's not like we've found some trick right-front spring or something. There's nothing that stands out.

"Compared to a year ago, we had just come off being out for blowing an engine at Loudon. So, now we're coming off a win. And in saying that, it's a perfect example of us just going out to try as hard as we can. Just because we blow an engine last year and came back to win the race doesn't mean that we're going to come back and be better now because we came off of a win. We're just going to go out and do the best job we can, and hopefully that is a win."

Do you feel that you're more of a threat, having won last week?

"I appreciate Biffle saying what he said, because it means a lot, knowing his success this year and his talent as far as driving a racecar. It's nice to be considered a threat, but we have been in the past and you've got to follow through with that. But, whether we're performing up to your expectations or other people's expectations, you've got to go out and do your job.

"We haven't exactly been sitting back kind of working. We didn't intend on going into Richmond in 11th in points at all. Just because we get a little streak going doesn't mean that we're the dominant team. I just think that right now, in the last two weeks, including this weekend, we've been looking pretty good."

What's your race plan for Sunday?

"I think every driver has the want to lead 400 laps. But you have to be careful. You never know what the balance is going to be like. And you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow in practice. Hopefully we can keep this car in one piece, start on the pole and lead a bunch of laps. But, yeah, we'd love to lead the first one to get those bonus points, and lead the 399 more after that."

Have you stopped to think about how dramatic of a turnaround this has been?

"Not really. We don't really sit around thinking about that. We just try to keep the car going faster and faster each run. Yeah, it has been sort of a turnaround. But I don't think that you can consider one race at the right time of the season a turnaround. But, we've got a good start on a series of 10 races, and hopefully we can do that for all of them. But, it's going to take 10 races to win a championship. You can't just count them two or three through.

Do you have a sense that this race, specifically, is going to be a big race?

"Every race is a big race. And every race is equally as important. Statistically, we've got a good shot at winning, and our competitors look at it like that. But, we've got to follow through as a team, stay focused."

Do you expect this race to be as eventful as last week's?

"I don't expect, and I didn't expect last week, to see a helmet laying on the back straightaway. I
don't know. But at this racetrack, it's especially important not to play bumper tag for egos as has happened in the past, because of the speeds and because of the safety issue. Then when we go to Martinsville we can play around a little bit."

Mabon

2005-09-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Mabon is the Autumn Equinox.

Now is the time to gather herbs and plants. Walk in the woods and breathe in the scent that is Mother Earth. Scatter offerings in the winds.

Mabon is considered to be a time of the Mysteries. It is a time to honor the Spirit World. A time of balance, to stop and relax, enjoy the fruits of our harvests...whether they be from working in our gardens, working at our jobs, raising our families, or just coping with everyday life.

May your Mabon be memorable and your hearts and spirits be filled to overflowing!

Oooopps I did it again...........

2005-09-21T00:03:00.000-07:00

I played with my blog.........

You likey?

I do, I love the look of the darkness, the blue roses and the stars. Kudos to SpankyJewels for creating this loverly template.

Let's see how long this one stays up....I'm banking on it's at least until Halloween. Then I gotta get dressed up for the Holidays...a gurls always gotta look her best. ;)

Until death do us part..........

2005-09-19T21:27:00.000-07:00

for my Mom and Dad. Today would have been their 14th anniversary.

A love that will last forever..............

I will remember you...............

2005-09-17T19:05:00.000-07:00

Dad passed away last night.

It was very peaceful and he was surrounded by love. His last parting gift was to touch us all with a sense of peace and happiness...very little tears... just smiles, hugs and much love.

My Mom is doing well, she is at peace with his passing and was laying by his side when he left this world.

Just as it should be...just as it was....

Fathers need not fathers be.
All one needs to do is choose
To love for life, and that embrace,
Held long and hard, bestows the grace each craves.
For all in time must lose,
Restored alone by memory.
So now it is with you and me.

Hospice has been called in........

2005-09-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

for my Dad.

Well I call him Dad, and that's just how I think of him even though he has only been my Step-Dad for the last 14 years.

This will be a very difficult time for my Mom. She has been ill and is just now back on her feet. But being such the strong woman that she is, she will do all that she can, to make his final days as comfortable and filled with as much love as possible.

I found this and it fits perfectly for Bob.

'Say not in grief 'he is no more' but live in thankfulness that he was'

Hebrew proverb

Oh Cedar Tree...Oh Cedar Tree...

2005-09-10T09:19:00.000-07:00

You Are A Cedar Tree

You are elegant yet unpretentious, modest yet vivacious.
Attractive and friendly, you are full of imagination but might lack passion.
You abhor vulgar people, and you don't like anything in excess.
You have little more ambition than to live a calm life and enjoy nature.
You create a content, peaceful atmosphere for others.

What is Your Celtic Horoscope?

Kudos to Patricia and everyone else doing the same....

2005-09-07T18:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/07/katrina.crowdedhome.ap/index.html

Dozens of relatives cram into home 'like sardines'
Woman takes in 39 family members fleeing Katrina

Wednesday, September 7, 2005; Posted: 12:19 p.m. EDT (16:19 GMT)

LANCASTER, Pennsylvania (AP) -- Patricia Edwards' home is virtually bursting at the seams.

After taking in 39 of her relatives fleeing Hurricane Katrina -- 20 adults and 19 children -- the washing machine runs nearly nonstop, mattresses are everywhere and meals require restaurant-sized pots.

Edwards, a New Orleans native who works as a machinist, opened her home to all her extended family after her mother told her they had nowhere to turn.

"I said, 'Wait a minute, stop right now.' I didn't think twice: 'Bring them all, I don't care,"' she said. They showed up a few hours before dawn Sunday.

The Edwardses and their family are now living "like sardines in the can," she said. But surprisingly, there is order amid the madness -- thanks to the continual cleaning and organization, and plenty of food.

For the refugees, the focus is now on assembling life's bare necessities. On Tuesday, a neighbor's donation of new underwear, diapers and baby supplies was eagerly divided up.

"The clothes that we did have were the clothes on our back," said Bryant Major, 33.

Major left Violet, Louisiana, with his wife, Leile, and their three young children the night before the storm hit. The family scraped together about $500 and joined a six-car caravan filled with relatives for what they figured would be a short stay in Texas.

A few days later, with money running low, the group got word the Edwardses would take them in, so they left their crowded hotel rooms to drive 1,200 miles to leafy Amish country in south-central Pennsylvania.

The evacuees, ranging in age from 7 months to 72 years, were hungry, exhausted and relieved. They spent their first hours drinking coffee, praying, crying and hugging.

"I was just so happy, I was just overwhelmed. I get emotional every time I think about it," Edwards said.

Donors have come out of the woodwork -- from the co-worker who stripped blankets off his children's beds to the neighbors who contributed a spare barbecue grill, a refrigerator and mounds of food.

Housing, of course, will eventually be an issue. Some people have offered shelter, but for now, the family is reluctant to split up. They figure they got this far together, and they want to stay together.

More may be on the way, including a cousin who was trying to catch a flight from Baton Rouge. Six others are unaccounted for, and Edwards is determined to make room for any who need it.

"I'll take some of my furniture out of my house and put it in storage if I have to," she said. "Stick it out in the garage."

The Blame Game Begins....

2005-09-07T17:54:00.000-07:00

By BOB WILLIAMS September 6, 2005; Page A28

As the devastation of Hurricane Katrina continues to shock and sadden the nation, the question on many lips is, Who is to blame for the inadequate response?

As a former state legislator who represented the legislative district most impacted by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980, I can fully understand and empathize with the people and public officials over the loss of life and property.

Many in the media are turning their eyes toward the federal government, rather than considering the culpability of city and state officials. I am fully aware of the challenges of having a quick and responsive emergency response to a major disaster. And there is definitely a time for accountability; but what isn't fair is to dump on the federal officials and avoid those most responsible -- local and state officials who failed to do their job as the first responders. The plain fact is, lives were needlessly lost in New Orleans due to the failure of Louisiana's governor, Kathleen Blanco, and the city's mayor, Ray Nagin.

The primary responsibility for dealing with emergencies does not belong to the federal government. It belongs to local and state officials who are charged by law with the management of the crucial first response to disasters. First response should be carried out by local and state emergency personnel under the supervision of the state governor and his/her emergency operations center.

The actions and inactions of Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin are a national disgrace due to their failure to implement the previously established evacuation plans of the state and city. Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin cannot claim that they were surprised by the extent of the damage and the need to evacuate so many people. Detailed written plans were already in place to evacuate more than a million people. The plans projected that 300,000 people would need transportation in the event of a hurricane like Katrina. If the plans had been implemented, thousands of lives would likely have been saved.

In addition to the plans, local, state and federal officials held a simulated hurricane drill 13 months ago, in which widespread flooding supposedly trapped 300,000 people inside New Orleans. The exercise simulated the evacuation of more than a million residents. The problems identified in the simulation apparently were not solved.

A year ago, as Hurricane Ivan approached, New Orleans ordered an evacuation but did not use city or school buses to help people evacuate. As a result many of the poorest citizens were unable to evacuate. Fortunately, the hurricane changed course and did not hit New Orleans, but both Gov. Blanco and Mayor Nagin acknowledged the need for a better evacuation plan. Again, they did not take corrective actions. In 1998, during a threat by Hurricane George, 14,000 people were sent to the Superdome and theft and vandalism were rampant due to inadequate security. Again, these problems were not corrected.

The New Orleans contingency plan is still, as of this writing, on the city's Web site, and states: "The safe evacuation of threatened populations is one of the principle [sic] reasons for developing a Comprehensive Emergency Management Plan." But the plan was apparently ignored.

Mayor Nagin was responsible for giving the order for mandatory evacuation and supervising the actual evacuation: His office of Emergency Preparedness (not the federal government) must coordinate with the state on elements of evacuation and assist in directing the transportation of evacuees to staging areas. Mayor Nagin had to be encouraged by the governor to contact the National Hurricane Center before he finally, belatedly, issued the order for mandatory evacuation. And sadly, it apparently took a personal call from the president to urge the governor to order the mandatory evacuation.

The city's evacuation plan states: "The city of New Orleans will utilize all available resources to quickly and safely evacuate threatened areas." But even though the city has enough school and transit buses to evacuate 12,000 citizens per fleet run, the mayor did not use them. To compound the problem, the buses were not moved to high ground and were flooded. The plan also states that "special arrangements will be made to evacuate persons unable to transport themselves or who require specific lifesaving assistance. Additional personnel will be recruited to assist in evacuation procedures as needed." This was not done.

The evacuation plan warned that "if an evacuation order is issued without the mechanisms needed to disseminate the information to the affected persons, then we face the possibility of having large numbers of people either stranded and left to the mercy of a storm, or left in an area impacted by toxic materials." That is precisely what happened because of the mayor's failure.

Instead of evacuating the people, the mayor ordered the refugees to the Superdome and Convention Center without adequate security and no provisions for food, water and sanitary conditions. As a result people died, and there was even rape committed, in these facilities. Mayor Nagin failed in his responsibility to provide public safety and to manage the orderly evacuation of the citizens of New Orleans. Now he wants to blame Gov. Blanco and the Federal Emergency Management Agency. In an emergency the first requirement is for the city's emergency center to be linked to the state emergency operations center. This was not done.

The federal government does not have the authority to intervene in a state emergency without the request of a governor. President Bush declared an emergency prior to Katrina hitting New Orleans, so the only action needed for federal assistance was for Gov. Blanco to request the specific type of assistance she needed. She failed to send a timely request for specific aid.

In addition, unlike the governors of New York, Oklahoma and California in past disasters, Gov. Blanco failed to take charge of the situation and ensure that the state emergency operation facility was in constant contact with Mayor Nagin and FEMA. It is likely that thousands of people died because of the failure of Gov. Blanco to implement the state plan, which mentions the possible need to evacuate up to one million people. The plan clearly gives the governor the authority for declaring an emergency, sending in state resources to the disaster area and requesting necessary federal assistance.

State legislators and governors nationwide need to update their contingency plans and the operation procedures for state emergency centers. Hurricane Katrina had been forecast for days, but that will not always be the case with a disaster (think of terrorist attacks). It must be made clear that the governor and locally elected officials are in charge of the "first response."

I am not attempting to excuse some of the delays in FEMA's response. Congress and the president need to take corrective action there, also. However, if citizens expect FEMA to be a first responder to terrorist attacks or other local emergencies (earthquakes, forest fires, volcanoes), they will be disappointed. The federal government's role is to offer aid upon request.

The Louisiana Legislature should conduct an immediate investigation into the failures of state and local officials to implement the written emergency plans. The tragedy is not over, and real leadership in the state and local government are essential in the months to come. More importantly, the hurricane season is still upon us, and local and state officials must stay focused on the jobs for which they were elected -- and not on the deadly game of passing the emergency buck.

A question I have is why were the inadequate levees not rectified/bolstered/fixed whatever was needed, when it was known that they could not withstand a Cat 4 or 5 Hurricane?

Interesting interview....

2005-09-06T16:40:00.000-07:00

I agree wholeheartedly with Russert...

From Imus in the Morning.

Imus: What Happened?

Tim Russert: We don't know but we do know the following. That as this hurricane began to bear down on New Orleans that people understood that there was a very high probability that this was going to be a 3, 4 or 5 category storm and it was going to hit and hit hard. And so an evacuation began. Then come the unanswered questions. "Why weren't troops pre-positioned? Why weren't supplies pre-positioned, in a way, in a capacity that could deal with hundreds of thousands of evacuees?"

The one thing that government is suppose to do, the reason we have a government is to protect its people. And the local, state and federal government has failed miserably in protecting its people. No one can question that. Now we have to find out exactly who did not fulfill their responsibility. The perception is after September 11th we created a department of Homeland Security because we were told its not a matter of if but when there would be another terrorist attack and this time we would be better prepared. There would be command and control, there would be communications and there would be preparation. Guess what? No command and control, no communications, no preparation. The state, local, federals couldn't talk to each other.

Nobody was in charge and we've talked to the head of the Hurricane center at Louisiana State University who one year ago, Don, did a simulated computer model, tabletop exercise called Hurricane Pam in which they predicted this almost to the letter and he called FEMA and said on Saturday or Sunday, "you have to have 10 cities setup outside of New Orleans, outside the State. You're going to have hundreds of thousands of evacuees. You have to be able to absorb them or they are gong to die in the streets." And FEMA said to them, "Americans don't sleep in tents."

That is what went wrong and that's what we have to find out. Who's accountable? This notion that we are all too busy now to look forward if we can't look back, we can do both because to ignore what happened in New Orleans is to guarantee it will happen again.

"Imus: Well Kanye West said on a concert on NBC, that George Bush does not care about black people, which I don't believe is the case but I do believe that neither he nor anyone else cares enough about them, and if you are a black person in New Orleans what else are you supposed to think. I mean, the facts are the facts.

NBC's Tim Russert: Well I mean... You can't say things like that because there is absolutely no evidence of that and...

Imus: The evidence is....

Tim Russert: The idea that somehow a federal... the mayor of New Orleans is African American. Okay? The notion that he somehow turned his back on his own people, or the governor, a democratic governor, turned her back on her people or the President... But there was a level of bureau-paralysis, that is inexcusable and we have to find out why. For example when the President went on television and said no one expected the levees to be breached...

Imus: Not true.

Tim Russert: That is just so far from being true, from being so misinformed. Who told him that? Why would he say that? Every computer model, every one, and the one I talked about earlier, Hurricane Pam, FEMA was there, the White House was there, there is a CD that exists that says that if a hurricane level three or more it is going to breach the levee. The levee was breached, it was posted on the New York Times website at 10:00 P.M. Monday night. Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff told me that he did not know until Tuesday afternoon. There were tens of thousands of people at the convention center without food and water and any security. On Thursday, Chertoff and the head of FEMA Michael Brown said that they were not aware of that. Command and control? Communications? Come on. I mean there is nothing disloyal or not being patriotic asking tough questions. It's why we are here. We have to call the government accountable particularly when there are bodies floating in water through the streets of New Orleans.

Interesting article.........

2005-09-05T17:09:00.000-07:00

An Unnatural Disaster: A Hurricane Exposes the Man-Made Disaster of the Welfare State by Robert Tracinski Sep 02, 2005

It has taken four long days for state and federal officials to figure out how to deal with the disaster in New Orleans. I can't blame them, because it has also taken me four long days to figure out what is going on there. The reason is that the events there make no sense if you think that we are confronting a natural disaster.

If this is just a natural disaster, the response for public officials is obvious: you bring in food, water, and doctors; you send transportation to evacuate refugees to temporary shelters; you send engineers to stop the flooding and rebuild the city's infrastructure. For journalists, natural disasters also have a familiar pattern: the heroism of ordinary people pulling together to survive; the hard work and dedication of doctors, nurses, and rescue workers; the steps being taken to clean up and rebuild.

Public officials did not expect that the first thing they would have to do is to send thousands of armed troops in armored vehicle, as if they are suppressing an enemy insurgency. And journalists--myself included--did not expect that the story would not be about rain, wind, and flooding, but about rape, murder and looting.

But this is not a natural disaster. It is a man-made disaster.

The man-made disaster is not an inadequate or incompetent response by federal relief agencies, and it was not directly caused by Hurricane Katrina. This is where just about every newspaper and television channel has gotten the story wrong.

The man-made disaster we are now witnessing in New Orleans did not happen over the past four days. It happened over the past four decades. Hurricane Katrina merely exposed it to public view.

The man-made disaster is the welfare state.

For the past few days, I have found the news from New Orleans to be confusing. People were not behaving as you would expect them to behave in an emergency--indeed, they were not behaving as they have behaved in other emergencies. That is what has shocked so many people: they have been saying that this is not what we expect from America. In fact, it is not even what we expect from a Third World country.

When confronted with a disaster, people usually rise to the occasion. They work together to rescue people in danger, and they spontaneously organize to keep order and solve problems. This is especially true in America. We are an enterprising people, used to relying on our own initiative rather than waiting around for the government to take care of us. I have seen this a hundred times, in small examples (a small town whose main traffic light had gone out, causing ordinary citizens to get out of their cars and serve as impromptu traffic cops, directing cars through the intersection) and large ones (the spontaneous response of New Yorkers to September 11).

So what explains the chaos in New Orleans?

To give you an idea of the magnitude of what is going on, here is a description from a Washington Times story:

"Storm victims are raped and beaten; fights erupt with flying fists, knives and guns; fires are breaking out; corpses litter the streets; and police and rescue helicopters are repeatedly fired on.

"The plea from Mayor C. Ray Nagin came even as National Guardsmen poured in to restore order and stop the looting, carjackings and gunfire...."Last night, Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco said 300 Iraq-hardened Arkansas National Guard members were inside New Orleans with shoot-to-kill orders.

" 'These troops are...under my orders to restore order in the streets,' she said. 'They have M-16s, and they are locked and loaded. These troops know how to shoot and kill and they are more than willing to do so if necessary and I expect they will.'

"The reference to Iraq is eerie. The photo that accompanies this article shows National Guard troops, with rifles and armored vests, riding on an armored vehicle through trash-strewn streets lined by a rabble of squalid, listless people, one of whom appears to be yelling at them. It looks exactly like a scene from Sadr City in Baghdad.

What explains bands of thugs using a natural disaster as an excuse for an orgy of looting, armed robbery, and rape? What causes unruly mobs to storm the very buses that have arrived to evacuate them, causing the drivers to drive away, frightened for their lives? What causes people to attack the doctors trying to treat patients at the Super Dome?

Why are people responding to natural destruction by causing further destruction? Why are they attacking the people who are trying to help them?

My wife, Sherri, figured it out first, and she figured it out on a sense-of-life level. While watching the coverage last night on Fox News Channel, she told me that she was getting a familiar feeling. She studied architecture at the Illinois Institute of Chicago, which is located in the South Side of Chicago just blocks away from the Robert Taylor Homes, one of the largest high-rise public housing projects in America. "The projects," as they were known, were infamous for uncontrollable crime and irremediable squalor. (They have since, mercifully, been demolished.)

What Sherri was getting from last night's television coverage was a whiff of the sense of life of "the projects." Then the "crawl"--the informational phrases flashed at the bottom of the screen on most news channels--gave some vital statistics to confirm this sense: 75% of the residents of New Orleans had already evacuated before the hurricane, and of the 300,000 or so who remained, a large number were from the city's public housing projects. Jack Wakeland then gave me an additional, crucial fact: early reports from CNN and Fox indicated that the city had no plan for evacuating all of the prisoners in the city's jails--so they just let many of them loose. There is no doubt a significant overlap between these two populations--that is, a large number of people in the jails used to live in the housing projects, and vice versa.

There were many decent, innocent people trapped in New Orleans when the deluge hit--but they were trapped alongside large numbers of people from two groups: criminals--and wards of the welfare state, people selected, over decades, for their lack of initiative and self-induced helplessness. The welfare wards were a mass of sheep--on whom the incompetent administration of New Orleans unleashed a pack of wolves.

All of this is related, incidentally, to the apparent incompetence of the city government, which failed to plan for a total evacuation of the city, despite the knowledge that this might be necessary. But in a city corrupted by the welfare state, the job of city officials is to ensure the flow of handouts to welfare recipients and patronage to political supporters--not to ensure a lawful, orderly evacuation in case of emergency.

No one has really reported this story, as far as I can tell. In fact, some are already actively distorting it, blaming President Bush, for example, for failing to personally ensure that the Mayor of New Orleans had drafted an adequate evacuation plan. The worst example is an execrable piece from the Toronto Globe and Mail, by a supercilious Canadian who blames the chaos on American "individualism." But the truth is precisely the opposite: the chaos was caused by a system that was the exact opposite of individualism.

What Hurricane Katrina exposed was the psychological consequences of the welfare state. What we consider "normal" behavior in an emergency is behavior that is normal for people who have values and take the responsibility to pursue and protect them. People with values respond to a disaster by fighting against it and doing whatever it takes to overcome the difficulties they face. They don't sit around and complain that the government hasn't taken care of them. They don't use the chaos of a disaster as an opportunity to prey on their fellow men.

But what about criminals and welfare parasites? Do they worry about saving their houses and property? They don't, because they don't own anything. Do they worry about what is going to happen to their businesses or how they are going to make a living? They never worried about those things before. Do they worry about crime and looting? But living off of stolen wealth is a way of life for them.

The welfare state--and the brutish, uncivilized mentality it sustains and encourages--is the man-made disaster that explains the moral ugliness that has swamped New Orleans. And that is the story that no one is reporting.

Discuss........

A most excellent quote..........

2005-09-04T08:31:00.000-07:00

"When one defines oneself as Pagan, it means she or he follows an earth or nature religion, one that sees the divine manifest in all creation. The cycles of nature are our holy days, the earth is our temple, its plants and creatures our partners and teachers. We worship a deity that is both male and female, a mother Goddess and father God, who together created all that is, was, or will be. We respect life, cherish the free will of sentient beings, and accept the sacredness of all creation."

Edain McCoy

Doing my part........

2005-09-02T12:38:00.000-07:00

I can't find the words to describe my feelings on the utter devastation that Katrina left in her path....it will come I'm sure, but for now all I can do is help monetarily and offer up thoughts of peace and comfort to all those who are affected.....

http://www.salvationarmyusa.org/

http://www.redcross.org/

www.feedthechildren.org

www.WorldVision.org

COMFORT AMERICA PROJECT
c/o International Festival
7660 Woodway, Suite 550
Houston, TX 77063

QUILTERS COMFORT AMERICA is the collection of quilts of all kinds to be distributed to the refugees here in Houston so that they have something soft to sleep on instead of the hard concrete floors of the temporary shelters and something warm to cover up with against the chill of otherwise welcome air-conditioning.

I have a friend that did not leave his home when he knew all too well what the consequences could be. He told me that he couldn't leave knowing that the 84 year old woman who lived down the street was unable to leave or most likely unwilling and he was staying to see her through it. There has been no word from him...he lives near the lake and I can only hope that he was able to survive...if not...he died helping someone else...people helping people.

My friend has checked in, they are fine and after the hurricane blew through, he drove the little old lady to relatives that had power so that she can be taken care of. Excellent.

Praying hands.....

2005-09-02T09:50:00.000-07:00

I think digital art is cool. My sister-in-law sent this to me in an email today...

Excuse the mess.......

2005-08-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

I'm undergoing a face lift...I got tired of the purple and I wanted a change. I'm adding some new things and changing the curtains and carpets around here...bear with me while I find the time to make all of the color changes.

And somebody talk to me!!!

I've added a new chat tooley and I'm talking to myself if you haven't already noticed. ;)

What year were you born under?

2005-08-29T21:05:00.000-07:00

You Were Actually Born Under:

Delicate, timid, and attractive - sometimes you really do act like a bunny.
You're very compassionate and protective of those you love, sometimes too protective.
Your home is really your castle, and you make sure your home is comfortable and well furnished.
You don't like to argue - and you prefer a quiet, peaceful life.

You are most compatible with a Goat or a Pig.

You Should Have Been Born Under:

Resourceful and practical, you are a quick thinker.
You are very observant - and it's hard to get anything past you!
A total perfectionist, you are especially picky about looking your best.
You're a big dreamer - such a big dreamer that reality can disappoint you.

You are most compatible with an Ox or Snake.

What Year Were You Born Under?

Katrina.......

2005-08-28T20:28:00.000-07:00

I just read this article on the monster named Katrina...thoughts and prayers for the safety of all in her path.

In Camille's Deadly 1969 Solo, A Grim Prologue To Katrina

The problem with hurricane stories is that one uses up the adjectives on minor-league storms. Mail-order meteorologists and blow-dry weathermen have been inundating us for so long with evacuation hysteria for mere tropical disturbances -- complete with breathlessly narrated TV images of homeowners buying plywood and flashlight batteries -- that we think we've seen it all before.

We haven't. But we may well see it all before sundown. Because for years truly knowledgeable hurricane experts have been warning us that The Big One is what our coastal communities really need to worry about, and today The Big One is here.

It may well be that New Orleans will dodge another meteorological bullet, as it has for more than 250 years, and once again escape the doomsday scenario that has long haunted the dreams of disaster officials and any Crescent City resident thoughtful enough to listen or read.

But it won't be because Hurricane Katrina is a patsy. Yesterday morning the National Hurricane Center cleared its throat and upgraded Katrina to a Category 5 hurricane -- the designation for storms capable of truly catastrophic damage and deadliness. That, however, wasn't the center's most significant statement. The real news was the center's chilling declaration that, at 902 millibars of internal barometric pressure -- the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in the Gulf of Mexico -- Katrina was "comparable in intensity to Hurricane Camille of 1969 . . . only larger."

Those of us who lived though Hurricane Camille will never forget it. Camille struck with the force of several hydrogen bombs, altering forever the topography of the Mississippi coast. Its nearly 200-mph winds and 25-foot storm surge exploded concrete buildings and erased entire communities -- then gouged open graveyards and hung corpses in the live oaks like so much Spanish moss. There was a problem for a time telling the storm victims from those already embalmed.

More than 250 were dead before Camille swept up the Mississippi Valley as a tropical storm. Then, three days and 1,000 miles after it hit the coast, it took a right turn over West Virginia and, in some sort of terrifying meteorological joke, dumped 20 to 40 inches of rain in eight hours on Nelson County, Va., hosing away entire mountainsides, drowning or burying 150 more people and touching off 100-year-record floods in the James River basin.

Katrina, the National Hurricane Center said, is capable of more. Yet for a true New Orleans doomsday scenario, the storm's eye and strongest winds will have to thread a fairly precise path that carries its deadly northeast quadrant just east of the city. The real vulnerability of the city is not just that it's 10 to 15 feet below sea level, laced with more drainage canals than Venice, and must pump for its life around the clock in even the driest weather. Nor is the city's biggest problem the flown-in TV reporter's favorite specter of a hurricane storm surge up the Mississippi River that overtops the city's famous levees. That could theoretically happen, but it's less likely.

The real nightmare has always been the prospect of a Wagnerian hurricane like Katrina coming ashore so that its strongest winds push the Gulf of Mexico into the eastern-facing entrance to Lake Pontchartrain, which borders the city's northern edge. The lake is both unusually shallow -- rarely more than 20 feet deep -- and unusually large -- more than half the size of the state of Rhode Island. A 20-foot storm surge arriving in concert with both high tide and 20-inch rains could overwhelm the city's more vulnerable lakeside levees and then flow downhill all the way to the French Quarter. Many of the city's massive drainage pumps are located closer to the lake. Were they to be flooded out, the city would not only be helplessly inundated while the hurricane is overhead -- it would remain so for weeks if not months.

For more than 2½ centuries, that precise scenario has never quite happened, though hurricanes rake the Louisiana/Mississippi Gulf Coast regularly and sideswipe the Big Easy more often than not. One reason it hasn't is that the city was long protected by scores of miles of surrounding saltwater marshes capable of sponging up even massive storm surges like a swampy dishrag.

But for the last half of the 20th century and into the present day, those wetlands have been disappearing -- hundreds of acres of them every year -- starved by levees from the Mississippi River overflows that once fed them with silt from Minnesota and Iowa and Missouri, and eroded by canals dug for oil exploration and suburban subdivisions. To compare a 1930 aerial portrait of Louisiana with a contemporary satellite picture is to realize with stunning force how hundreds of miles of the state's beautiful if mosquito-laden southern wetlands now resemble moth-eaten lace.

With a far smaller marshland buffer zone to suck up Katrina's ferocious storm surge, New Orleans is very definitely in harm's way. Never mind the roof-ripping winds. Water fed New Orleans with commerce most of her life. If she dies today, it will be water -- born of Katrina's catastrophic power -- that's the death of her.

Snow day.....

2005-08-25T09:37:00.000-07:00

A picture of the last snow we had here....a dusting really, but pretty none the less. This is behind the house.

Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh

2005-08-25T08:05:00.000-07:00

Brrrrrrrrr...it's been a wee bit chilly here in the mornings...cold enough to don sweats and slippers upon rising, instead of going barefoot with just shorts and a tank top on.

Summer is slipping away and I'm reminded of my favorite summer song by Mungo Jerry...

Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh

In the summertime when the weather is fine
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an' twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for livin' yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we're hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah
Dah-dah-dah do-dah-dah

Alright ah
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh

When the winter's here, yeah it's party time
Bring your bottle, wear your bright clothes
It'll soon be summertime
And we'll sing again
We'll go drivin' or maybe we'll settle down
If she's rich, if she's nice
Bring your friends and we'll all go into town

Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh, uh
Chh chh-chh, uh Chh chh-chh

In the summertime when the weather is hot
You can stretch right up and touch the sky
When the weather's fine
You got women, you got women on your mind
Have a drink, have a drive
Go out and see what you can find

If her daddy's rich take her out for a meal
If her daddy's poor just do what you feel
Speed along the lane
Do a ton or a ton an' twenty-five
When the sun goes down
You can make it, make it good in a lay-by

We're no threat, people
We're not dirty, we're not mean
We love everybody but we do as we please
When the weather's fine
We go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy
Life's for livin' yeah, that's our philosophy

Sing along with us
Dee dee dee-dee dee
Dah dah dah-dah dah
Yeah we're hap-happy
Dah dah-dah
Dee-dah-do dee-dah-do dah-do-dah
Dah-do-dah-dah-dah
Dah-dah-dah do-dah-dah

The kids are back in school...

2005-08-24T13:56:00.000-07:00

Hee Hee...Ha Ha

The kids are back in school...

Hee Hee...Ha Ha

And it sure is quiet around here....

when's summer vacation again?

What's that smell.......

2005-08-23T10:13:00.000-07:00

I love incense...absolutely love it.

I'm a sniffer...I love to smell things, I think it triggers something in my mind, or maybe soul is more accurate. But aren't the mind and soul intertwined?

Lighting incense or candles, can sooth me instantly. My favorites are Patchouly, Sandlewood, Coconut and Egyptian Goddess.

Auric Blends has the best incense sticks.

In Your Power

2005-08-22T17:26:00.000-07:00

Ground and center yourself.

Call on your connection to Spirit.

You have everything you need within you.

Stand in your power.

Goodbye Norma Jean....

2005-08-20T17:53:00.000-07:00

I have an obsession with dead people. OK, maybe obsession is too strong a word, let's go with interest or even fascination...yep those work better. But Obsession for Men smells soooo good...but I'm rambling like I so often do. Oh, if you could step into my mind...hear the mumble jumble of random thoughts that run rampant through my mind...but hey...I know what I'm talking about, it makes perfect sense to me...What? You have no clue what I'm babbling about?

OK back on track....

I have always been drawn to Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 to February 3, 1959), so much so that I had to visit his grave. He's better known as Ritchie Valens.

It was something I felt strongly moved to do...I just needed to see it, to stand there, look down and read his headstone and to talk to him in my mind. Weird huh?

and the eternal beauty that is...

Marilyn Monroe. My Gawd, if I could describe the ultimate in classic sensual beauty, it would be she. And apparently I'm not the only one who thinks this way. Her style has been closely mimicked by countless individuals. She is another "famous person" I would have loved to talk to. I wonder what she felt, how overwhelmed it must have become at times. There seems to have been so much sadness surrounding her. I don't think she overdosed on purpose...I don't think suicide was her intention.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of Norma Jean...

Hey Nick! Here's a MM look-alike picture just for YOU!

P.S. I like her better without make-up.

P.S.S. I still think she's scary looking! :p

Amendment to the meme...

2005-08-17T23:36:00.000-07:00

Upon further review, I do have an answer to:

Five famous people I would like to meet:

But it's only 2:

David Blaine

and

Criss Angel

Not just because I find these guys incredibly attractive...but that their magic is totally awesome.

MindFreak...it will trip you out.

The sky is falling...better pack your chute....

2005-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

Excerpt from a conversation between my children today:

Daughter to son: Can you touch the clouds?

Son: Sky divers can. When I grow up I’m going to sky dive.

Daughter: Cade, here’s an important safety tip. Don’t forget your parachute. Or else you’ll go kersplat, right on the ground!

Dontcha?

2005-08-12T00:19:00.000-07:00

Dontcha just love memes…huh, huh, dontcha?!?!?

What was I doing 10 years ago?

Uhhhmmmm…ten years ago…that would be 1995...oh easy!

10 years ago I had my first child, a son…who’s like 10 now…::snort, snicker, I crack myself up!:: I was 32 (if you use all of your fingers to count, or toes if you are missing fingers…that makes me 42) and working for the State of Cal-e-forn-I-a. I can’t tell you in what capacity, cuz it’s classified ;)

Ok it’s really not, I just like to try to impress people. :D

What was I doing 5 years ago?

2000...2000, what was I doing in 2000?

Well one of the best things that happened 5 years ago was moving out here to the hills as I so lovingly refer to our humble abode. We have a house on 240 acres surrounded by hundreds of oaks and pines and other trees that I have no clue what they are. I CAN spot the poison oak though…that IS a good thing. And wildlife up the ying yang.

I no longer worked outside of the home and started collecting fabric…lots and lots of fabric. I am a freak for fabric.

What was I doing 1 year ago?

Getting ready to have my youngest child go to kindergarten. Yes, I cried the first day of school with both of my kids…I may be a bitch, but there’s a soft center in there somewhere. Kinda like that ogre thing. ;)

What am I doing today?

GAWD, AM I BUSY!!!!!

I have my own business and it has been booming lately…I design quilts and people are going nutzo with orders. OK, to be more exact, people are ordering and I’m going nutzo.

Five snacks I enjoy:

I love food period! I prefer salty over sweet, so here’s a little list:

Tortilla chips and home made salsa
Avocados
Cheese…I love cheese; Swiss, cheddar, mozzarella it don’t matter, bring it!
cherries
Nectarines

Five bands I like:

Steve Miller Band
Bonnie Raitt
AC/DC
Journey
Eric Clapton

Five things I would do with a million dollars:

Pay off every single bill I have and that my Mom and sisters have.
Savings accounts for the children’s education.
Build a really cool house that has secret passageways and a round tower with a skylight and hot tub in it.
Give to the homeless and women’s shelters.
Buy more fabric :D

Five locations I would like to run away to:

I wouldn’t want to run there, but I’d like to see Egypt.
One of those Island getaway resorts would be cool.
Cabin in the woods.
Cabin in the snow.
Grand Canyon

Five bad habits:

Crap…do I have to list those????

I cuss too much.
I use way too much toilet paper, or so I’ve been told. ;)
I forget to eat.
I leave my shoes all over the place.
I demand foot rubs…OK not really, but I needed to put something for #5.

Five things I like doing:

Sleeping in.
Spending time with my family.
Floating in the pool.
BBQ’s
Taking bubble baths.

Five TV shows I like:

This is tough, I don’t watch much TV….

Whose Line Is It Anyway
That 70’s Show
NASCAR - gotta watch my races Baby!
The Mole….when it was on
Popularity Contest…when it was on

Five famous people I would like to meet:

Huh…famous…famous, who do I want to meet that’s famous? Honestly, no one comes to mind.

Biggest joys in my life at the moment:

My family and being so close to nature.

Five favorite toys:

Ha, ha, ha…batteries not included.

My flute, my computer <- that can be a toy can’t it?, Mah Jong, my kids.

I better get the speedo pic for this! :P

And I’m not tagging anyone because this meme needs to die a slow death…….

Arrrrrrrrrrr Matey!

2005-08-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

What kind of pirate am I? You decide!
You can also view a breakdown of results or put one of these on your own page!
Brought to you by Rum and Monkey

Dancing Hamsters.......

2005-08-08T21:58:00.000-07:00

Aren't they cute?

Given a choice of a picture of a cute guy in a speedo or dancing hamsters...which would you pick?

Sub Surfaces...

2005-08-06T21:23:00.000-07:00

Hooray!

ETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia - Seven crew members aboard a Russian mini-submarine trapped for three days beneath the Pacific Ocean were pulled to safety Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled it, Russian naval officials said.

Amos Lee...you move me...

2005-08-06T14:58:00.000-07:00

Looking for a new Artist to listen to? Want to add a new CD to your collection? Then I recommend Amos Lee.

Kinda a cross between Norah Jones and Percy Sledge with a bluesy-folksy feel to his music. The Dude writes the songs too.

I dig "keep it loose, keep it tight" and "arms of a woman".

Check it out if you get a chance.

Is it live or is it Memorex?

2005-08-05T10:16:00.000-07:00

Ever been sure of a "memory" only to begin to realize that it might have just been a dream "memory"?

It's happened to me before and I think it just happened again...lol

It's in the cards.......

2005-08-04T17:33:00.000-07:00

The Fool- A fresh start. A new concept.

The fool card refers to a new start, a journey, relationship, business venture etc.
The feeling in this card is optimistic, joy and success surround you as well as
fun. Your willingness to try new things will pay off this time.

Tarot Reading

Chain, chain, chain...

2005-08-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

So, there I was at the grocery store yesterday afternoon perusing the shelves and selecting items to carefully toss in my cart.

One of the items that was carefully placed into my cart, was a six pack of beer. I thought nothing of it. Buying beer is like a staple. Occasionally I will purchase new beers to see if I will like them...that's how I discovered Pete's Strawberry Blonde. A rather tasty delight, but I digress.

Back on topic.

While I was deciding on which type of pickle I wanted to put in my macaroni salad (I chose a bread and butter pickle for those wondering), I was approached by a middle age gentleman who was neatly groomed and wearing a Hawaiian shirt. He asked "Is that any good?"

I thought he was referring to the pickle jar I held in my hand. And I say "Why yes, I love them."

He said to me, "Oh, I meant the beer."

I laughed and said, "Yes it is, it's rather pricey, but the flavor is excellent."

He leans in and says to me, "My wife will only give me a certain amount of money to spend and so I don't want to waste any of it."

I reply, "She has you on a short leash, huh?" with an inflection of a wink in my voice.
"Oh yes, she has me on quite a short leash and I have a curfew and must keep the house immaculate." "On Saturday mornings she goes shopping with her girlfriends and will stand there with her hands on her hips telling me the house better be spotless when she returns."

It was then that I noticed the blue chain around his neck secured with a small brass pad lock. Thinking back on this, I wonder if my eyebrows raised...lol

Thinking I've stumbled upon a submissive/slave type, I reply with a laugh and "well then, you have it good don't you?"

He heartily agrees with me and I say "well, it has been nice chatting with you, have a good day."

I then continue on down the aisle laughing in my mind over the recent "chain" of events.

20 Questions to a Better Personality

2005-08-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

Better personality? While I don't necessarily agree with the name of this quiz...I think 20 Questions to Access Your Personality would be a more aptly named title, but it wasn't my quiz to name...just to critique. ;)

Here are my results...no big surprise here folks. :D

You are a SECF--Sober Emotional Constructive Follower.

This makes you a Hippie.

You are passionate about your causes and steadfast in your commitments. Once you've made up your mind, no one can convince you otherwise. Your politics are left-leaning, and your lifestyle choices decidedly temperate and chaste. You do tremendous work when focused, but usually you operate somewhat distracted. You blow hot and cold, and while you normally endeavor on the side of goodness and truth, you have a massive mean streak which is not to be taken lightly. You don't get mad, you get even. Please don't get even with this web site.

Of the 139725 people who have taken this quiz since tracking began (8/17/2004), 10.4 % are this type.

20 Questions

PLEAPOLAGIZZ

2005-07-28T17:31:00.000-07:00

My daughter is a night owl and last night no matter how many times she was asked, then told, to go to bed and go to sleep...her little eyes would just not cooperate.

The last straw was at roughly 11:30 PM when I heard her sneaking into the room where I have my little office set up. I hear this because I am typing away on the computer and she accidentally bumped into my desk.This brings out the mandatory exclamation where you use not only the first name of the child, but also their middle name. That way they know just how much trouble they are in.

She promptly goes running back to her bedroom wailing the entire way. I on the other hand, shut off the computer and go to bed.

What do I find this morning on my keyboard?

Why, thank you for asking...it's a note. Not just any sort of note mind you, but a teary eyed little girl wanting an apology, note.

My first response was to laugh out loud, well really, it was more of a "Muttley" snicker and promptly scan the page for posterities sake.

Should I circle Yes or No?

HA!

2005-07-26T20:25:00.000-07:00

I found the following extremely amusing...warning: the language may be offensive to some.

Error Message

Alohilani Lanikai

2005-07-23T21:33:00.000-07:00

Your Hawaiian Name is:

Alohilani Lanikai

What's your Hawaiian Name?

Happy Birthday Sensational Son!

2005-07-22T00:13:00.000-07:00

Happy 10th Birthday to my wonderful, talented, compassionate and lovable son. May peace, love and happiness always be your shadow.........

Dream a little dream....

2005-07-21T22:13:00.000-07:00

I dream things....and in that grey area right before slumber I can see things.

Let me go back quite a few years to when I was a child.

As far back as I can remember, I would "know" things...things like peoples names before I was told them. I could find lost things just by thinking of the object. And I see things in dreams that later come true. Things like plane crashes; the one in 1981 where the plane crashed into the icy river comes to mind; deaths of people, Dean Martin for one.

When I was a small child I could leave my body, or Astral Project. I remember waking up one morning and I was literally paralyzed, I couldn't move a muscle. I was terrified, I was hovering above my body and looking down at myself motionless in bed, only my eyes were open. Wide open. I wasn't able to move until I re-entered my body. This was so frightening to me as a child and I have never been able to leave since then.

I have seen blobs of glowing silvery see through masses hovering in the air.

I have had red tailed hawks land near me and send sparks of silver light in my direction.

I have had a man appear at the end of my bed and speak to me in my mind.

While the hawk episode was not at all frightening, the other instances were. Not that I felt danger, just that I felt fear.

The Man Episode, as I refer to it.

As I had just turned off my alarm one morning and was laying in bed mentally going through the dresses in my closet and picking out something to wear, a voice in my head said, "open your eyes Carol and you can see me." Without thinking I immediately did and saw a man dressed in a long overcoat and buttoned up shirt and vest, whose shoulder length wavy hair was a medium brown in color, standing at the end of my bed.

I was terrified, my heart raced and I quickly squeezed my eyes shut and said to myself "when I open my eyes he will be gone."

And he was.

But I'll never forget it and I've often wondered just who he was and what he wanted. And there are times I've wished I hadn't been so afraid and sent him away. That I could have talked with him. And I wonder if I'll get another chance to.

I have very vivid dreams, I feel, I can taste and I can smell in my dreams. They are colorful and so very very real.

I love to dream, it's like entering another dimension. I used to keep a dream journal, but have somehow pushed that habit aside. I think I shall pull out that black journal from it's place in my nightstand and continue to fill it's pages with the words of my dreams.

Good night.....

Dear John......

2005-07-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

You were a very good man and you will be deeply missed by all that knew and loved you.....

Where's an egg when you need it?

2005-07-19T16:12:00.000-07:00

So there I was, standing there in the hot sun wondering why I didn't have the foresight to bring an egg with me.

What could be more fun than seeing if an egg would fry on a rock in 118 degrees heat?

Getting back in the truck with the air conditioner blasting...that's what.

But the Red Rock Canyons were worth seeing.

At the boiling point........

2005-07-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

For my fan club of one....and you know who you are....I will be gone for the next few days.

As if it wasn't hot enough here...oh say 107 frickin' degrees, I will be traveling to the Mojave Desert.

Yes, that does say 107 frickin' degrees.

That's where my Grandfather lives. And that's where I'm going.

He's 84 years old and lives alone now since my Grandmother died in October of last year. Well, that's not exactly true. Not the part about my Grandmother, but that he lives alone.

He has a dog.

Buddy is his name-o.

To say Buddy loves me is an understatement. This dog drools on me and licks me...whatever bare skin he can find...el-yukko. If he can find no bare skin because I'm sitting on my hands and all other body parts are covered, he licks my clothes.

Makes me wonder what I did in a former life.

Anyway, the reason I'm going to hell and back is because my Grandfather has an appointment for a check-up for his heart. The kicker is, that since he is a veteran he goes to the Vet's Hospital for his appointments. Normally he will go to the one nearest him, which is about an hour and a half away. But this one is scheduled at another Veteran's Hospital.

IN FRICKIN' LA.

So....I said I would drive him.

I know, I know...I can be nice when I want to be. :P

Wouldn't it be nice if our frickin' government would allow the Vet's to just go to their nearest hospital or Doctor and have the visit covered, instead of having to drive hundreds of miles just to be seen?

Yes, yes it would.

I need to be in charge...yes indeedy...could I possibly screw it up any worse?

I think not.

later =)

What is that?...That freaky thing?

2005-07-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

On this warm summer evening sitting here at the computer with the front door open hoping for a light breeze to cool the room...and with only the light of the monitor to give a faint glow to the room...I have noticed something.

There are some freaky ass bugs landing on my screen. Freaky. Ass. Bugs.

That is all.

They're out there.......

2005-07-10T22:48:00.000-07:00

I just know it. Too many freaking weird stuff going on for them not to be. I mean dreams are one thing, but the unexplained sounds and sights are a complete other.

Plus, the animals are going wacky.

It's making me jumpy. And I'm not the jumpy type. Really I'm not. When you live out in the boonies you expect to hear strange sounds in the night. That's a given.

But it "feels" different tonight.

Tonight will be a night where I won't want to go to sleep. I can feel that already.

Before I had children it was different, I would venture "places". Now I will not. There are too many things that I might not be able to control. And protecting my children is foremost.

Have you ever seen something that you know shouldn't be there, but is?

Thoughts and prayers....

2005-07-08T08:53:00.000-07:00

are going out to the victims and their families of the London bombings....my heart goes out to you in this time of tragedy.

Happy Birthday Baby J!

2005-07-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today is my niece's 21st birthday. Since she was a baby I have always called her by my pet name for her...Baby J.

The J. stands for Jennifer.

21. Man, where have the years gone? 21 years old. That brings out a sigh...a very heavy sigh.

I live on the West Coast and she on the East. We get to see each other once a year and I last saw her in March. When we hugged each other good bye...she says to me "what am I to you?" and I reply back to her, "you, are my Baby J."

What a beautiful young lady she has become. Happy Birthday Baby J...may all your wishes come true.........

And the rocket's red glare......

2005-07-04T12:25:00.000-07:00

Oh, say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars thru the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Slog me baby....

2005-07-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

Now this is a cool site: Sloganizer

«I'd do anything for Celtic Witch.» <----- That's my personal favorite! ;)

These are a freaking hoot!

Today's lesson....

2005-07-02T01:42:00.000-07:00

By the light of the storyteller's fire, and with the play of the harp, the Druids dreamed magic for their people. In the deep woods they would gather, bringing together their mysticism and philosophy, their insight and learning. Their spirit emerged from the the tides of the sea, the light of the sun, the wind in the Oak, the cry of the deer.

The moon still dances for us now as she did then, and so the wonder of Nature remains as awesome as in those lost days. The Druids may be gone, but their magic is not. It may yet emerge from the earth again, if we remember her and love her again.

It's Elemental my dear Watson.....

2005-07-01T09:47:00.000-07:00

Which element are you?

I am:

Your element is Fire. Like fire, you have a hot
temper and you can be warm and loving as well
and angry and wild. It all really comes down to
what you are feeling. You have a lot of close
friends who you are very protective over, and
with your temper probably some enemies too. You
are not Miss Popular in school since you are
your own person and don't want to be forced
into behaving this or that way. You are the
untamed wild horse, the kind that everyone
wants to catch. But you don't want to be tied
down for the moment and just keep going with
your little crushes. Your will is strong and if
you set your mind to do something, you will
most likely succeed. But beware, your friends
may not always accept your mood-swinging
behaviour. Even if you don't mean to be mean,
they can still feel hurt. You just need to
start thinking some things through before you
do them, and not always jump in with so much
courage. One day you may be hurt because of
that, but then again, your element isn't fire
if you start to analyse situations before you
act. After all, your nature is to shoot first
and ask the questions later.

Then and now..........

2005-06-30T17:58:00.000-07:00

well at least a more recent picture.

Pick a number...any number.....

2005-06-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in June of 1980. Using your mental image of me, which number am I?

Thanks for playing the game has ended!

How much is this tooth worth.........

2005-06-25T13:10:00.000-07:00

says my son to me as he is holding out his newly lost tooth, is this a molar? I have no clue if it is or not, so a googling I go. Yes, yes it is a first molar.

Congratulations Sensational Son...hopefully the Tooth Fairy thinks kindly of you. ;)

A Z+ for you........

2005-06-23T13:41:00.000-07:00

This is a short bit of a conversation I overheard today between Darling Daughter and Sensational Son:

DD: "Very good, I'll give you a Z plus!"

SS: "There is no such thing as a Z plus."

DD: "In my world there is!"

The wheels on the bike go round and round.....

2005-06-22T23:51:00.000-07:00

So BooBahDah learned how to ride her bike without the training wheels today...Yay for BooBahDah!

Where does the time go, wasn't it only yesterday she was learning to walk?

Where do these seconds of time disappear to? Is there a great big recycling center in the sky that let's us re-use these memories?

I think so...I'm big on recycling. My mind gets too full...I need to filter through some of the useless junk in there and toss it out to make room for the good stuff.

In with the good....out with the bad.......ahhhhhhhhhh.............

Midsummer.......

2005-06-21T20:43:00.000-07:00

Summer Solstice is a time of light and of fire. It is a time to reflect upon the growth of the season: the seeds that were planted in the earth and the seeds planted in our souls. It is a time of cleansing and renewal. It is a time of love and growth as well.

"Turn your face to the sun and the shadows fall behind you." -- Maori proverb

A Painter's Canvas

2005-06-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

What do you see when you close your eyes?

Jerry Is Home!!!

2005-06-19T11:25:00.000-07:00

He came home this morning, one leg is swollen and we have put him on antibiotics...but my baby is home!

:::Does the Happy Happy Joy Joy Dance:::

:D