Wednesday

Found on Facebook

"I wish you enough

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. 
I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. 
I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. 
I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. 
I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. 
I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. 
I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye.."

Wednesday

Wednesday

I am still waiting for every thing to be copacetic with my computer.  I got a TiVio from Mediacom.  They gave me a new modem and things stopped working.  So they put in a new modem in  - three times.  Then I had to wait until Easter Sunday and it did still not work and then Charlie came in and discovered that they had the wrong modem in my computer.

Since I do not have the phone service it would not work.  It is still not working and they may have fried my router which is a very expensive Mac Time machine and it has to be looked at so my Tech guy is going to come in and fix it or I may have to purchase a new router and they will probably tell me that they have to have the phone service for it to work.  That being the case I am going to have them go back to the other kind of set up and I will may have to find a new cable service.  I am very frustrated.  I have not able to use the Internet efficiently.  Anyway I am now waiting on Nick my Tech Guy who knows than I do and I hope he can fix it.

I had a "hit" at the Vet Tuesday and had to pay $400 for heartworm or flea medicine and then on I will have to first first quarter taxes on the 15th.  Not fun...

That is my story and I am sticking to it.  Hang in there.  I am going to put in some pictures for Thursday Throwback and that may be nice.  Hugs.

Happy Hump Day

Hump Day

Have a happy HUMP day!

But I shop at Fareway!

And this is just lovely!

Happy Hump Day

Molly and I are going to Nebraska on Thursday to Hearts United For Animals where we will meet Molly's new sister (currently named Wyotee).

Wyotee was found along the side of a lonely country road by one of our treasured volunteers. She is an incredible dog - gorgeous, friendly, calm and obedient. She was obviously once in a home where people taught her manners, but her appearance when she was found was horrendous. She was covered head to toe in ticks and filth to the point where we first thought she was a much older dog. Wyotee was patient and well-behaved as her caregivers plucked through her fur, then shaved her, then bathed her several times to rid her of her life on the run. Wyotee adores people. Just adores every single one of us she meets. She loves attention but does not jump up or demand it. She listens well and enjoys everything good that comes her way. She has great fun playing with her roommates and revels in the company of the other dogs. Wyotee will be a wonderful family dog and will thrive on the love and affection she so greatly desires and deserves. - 

So I asked and got this from Tara at HUA.

Yes, if you'd like to adopt Wyotee, you certainly may. She is absolutely perfect. I was there when they brought her in and she looked so rough. You could tell she had been out fending for herself for some time. Her coat was gray and full of dirt, covered in ticks, and just so tired and exhausted from being out in the heat for so long. She is such a sweet girl and very polite. She loves human attention! A more laid back girl ...


So my friend and John and I  (and Molly) are going down to go to the 4 hour drive down (and then 4 more back) and meet the new member of our family.  Wish us luck.

Wednesday

Wednesday is the penultimate day before my second cataract surgery.  I am excited.  I hope that it will go as well as the other one. The only problem is one of the drops makes my eye burn.  But I love that I can see to read the TV and not have to wear my glasses.  Modern Cataract Surgery

Hump Day

I was talking to one of my friends (who was driving me to the Hospital) and mentioned a song I used enjoy.  "Lovable old Maxie" (one of my mother's friends) had given her some Tom Leher records.  My mother did not enjoy them so I got them. Later they went to my cousin Rick and he also enjoyed the off beat humor so to help get over the hump I am sharing three of them.  The first is the one I was tell Craig about.  He won't see it as  does't read the blog.  Whatever.

It is "HUMP" Day.

Susan Boyle ushered in The Queen w/"Mull Of Kintyre" - 2014 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony

Giant Camel slowly stalks newborn lamb

Hump Day

A Little Poem, so true it hurts!

Another year has passed

And we're all a little older.

Last summer felt hotter

And winter seems much colder.

There was a time not long ago

When life was quite a blast.

Now I fully understand

About 'Living in the Past'

We used to go to weddings,

Football games and lunches..

Now we go to funeral homes

And after-funeral brunches.

We used to have hangovers,

From parties that were gay.

Now we suffer body aches

And wile the night away.

We used to go out dining,

And couldn't get our fill.

Now we ask for doggie bags,

Come home and take a pill.

We used to often travel

To places near and far.

Now we get sore asses

From riding in the car.

We used to go to nightclubs

And drink a little booze.

Now we stay home at night

And watch the evening news.

That, my friend is how life is,

And now my tale is told.

So, enjoy each day and live it up...

Before you're too damned old!

It is Hump Day

To be issued by the Iowa Tourism Bureau to ALL visitors:

1) Don't order filet mignon or pasta primavera at Jonesy's. It's a diner. They serve breakfast 24 hours a day.  Let them cook something they know. If you upset the ladies in the kitchen they'll kick your ass.

2) Don't laugh at the names of our little towns (Greeley, Strawberry Point, Cresco, etc.) or we will have to kick your ass.

3) Don't order a bottle or a can of soda here. Here it's called "pop". Accept it. Doing otherwise can lead to an ass-kicking.

4) We know our heritage. Most of us are more literate than you. We are also better educated and generally a lot nicer. Don't refer to us as a bunch of hicks or we'll kick your ass.

5) We have plenty of business sense.  You have to make a living here. Naturally, we do sometimes have small lapses in judgment from time to time, but we are not dumb enough to let someone move to our state in order to run for the Senate. If someone tried to do that, we would kick some ass.

6) Don't laugh at our giant fiberglass strawberries and our Five Seasons trees made out of metal. Anything that inspires tourists to buy 50,000 postcards can't be bad. And in Cedar Rapids don't point at the genitalia on Frank and laugh or we'll kick your ass.

7) We are fully aware of how cold it  gets here in the winter, so shut the hell up. Just spend your money and get the hell out of here or we'll kick your ass.

8) Don't order the vegetarian special at the local diner. Everyone will instantly know that you're a tourist. Eat your steak well-done like God intended and have some potatoes with that, for heaven's sake! Also, don't ask what a hot dish is or we'll kick your ass.

9) Don't try to fake an Iowa accent.  We don't have an accent. Do NOT mention the movie "Field of Dreams" because that will incite a riot and you will get your ass kicked.

10) Don't talk about how much better things are at home because we know better. Many of us have visited big-city hell-holes like Detroit, Chicago, and Minneapolis and we have the scars to prove it. If you don't like it here, Interstate 80 is ready when you are.  Move your ass on home before it gets kicked.

11) Don't complain that Iowa is flat and that all you can see is corn and hogs.  If you whine about OUR scenic beauty we'll kick your ass all the way back to Milwaukee.

12) Don't ridicule our mannerisms. We only speak when spoken to. We hold doors open for others. We offer our seats to old folks because such things are expected of civilized people. Behave yourselves around our sweet, little grey-haired grandmothers or they will kick some manners into your ass just like they did ours.

13) So you think we're quaint or losers because most of us live in a corn field? That's because we have enough sense to not live in filthy, smelly, crime-infested cesspools like New York or LA. Make fun of our fresh air and we'll kick your ass.

14) Writing it "Ioway City, Home of the Hogeyes" is NOT a joke. Your ass will be kicked.

15) Last, but not least, DO NOT DARE to come out here and tell us how Iowa should "go back to the Indians."  This will get your ass shot right after it gets kicked. Just mention this once and you will go home in a pine box. Minus your ass.

It is Wednesday

This is a picture which I took in 1976 from Cairo - It is one of my favorite pictures.  What interested me is that the house boats.  One of these may have been the Papyrus Institute which will give you a little feel how papyrus is made. When I was there in 1976 the Institute was housed in a houseboat on the banks of the Nile. Papyrus is a plant that is grown along the river and it is cut in strips and then layered and made in made into paper.  It is a fascinating.  Click on the link to get more info, 

Click for more.

Papyrus Institute: video & Satellite map

Hump Day -- Photos by Bob Kelly : Trimmed

I shot these in Arkansas, as a farmer had several of them in a pasture.  From Bob Kelly

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Trimmed

For several years I have just "let things go" around my bushes and shrubs and now things are a lot better.  Here are the pictures.

Molly had to get into the supervision of the backyard.

Hump Day

May 21st Trivia.

1932 First Solo Transatlantic Flight by a Woman Amelia Earhart arrives in Ireland, after having departed from Newfoundland the previous day.

1927 First solo transatlantic flight Charles A. Lindbergh, in The Spirit of St. Louis, arrives in Paris. He had departed from New York the previous day.

1881 - Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross.

1934 - The first city in the United States to fingerprint each of its citizens was Oskaloosa, Iowa.

1979 - Former San Francisco Supervisor Dan White was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the slayings of Mayor George Moscone and Supervisor Harvey Milk.

Hump Day

Give us a little Kiss!

Hump Day

 

Just for today I am sharing some things which I like.  I have no problems right now but I do like these readings and I hope you will like them.

We can, however, define our experience of God, recognizing that what we call “a God experience” may well turn out to be a subjective delusion, but I do not think it is, at least not in most cases. So when I try to make sense of what I believe is my experience of the transcendent, I use three concepts. I experience God as “the Source of life” empowering me to “live fully.” I experience God as “the Source of love” freeing me to “love wastefully,” by which I mean to love without stopping to count the cost; without pausing to determine whether the recipient of that love is an appropriate recipient. I experience God as “the Ground of all Being,” who gives me the courage to be all that I can be. If that is what God means to me then I worship this God by “living fully, loving wastefully and being all that I am capable of being.” My mission as a Christian is not “to convert the heathen” as we once asserted, it is rather to assist in the task of helping all people “to live fully, to love wastefully and to be all that they are capable of being.” This is a Christianity grounded in a radical understanding of humanity.

The reason I call it Christian and the reason I claim my identity as a Christian is that when I look at Jesus, I see in him a life fully lived, a love wastefully given and the courage to be himself in all circumstances, even when people are seeking to make him their king on Palm Sunday or when they were seeking to put him to death on Good Friday. So Jesus is the human life through whom the meaning and the presence of God is mediated to me. I can then join with St. Paul in the assertion that God was in Christ.

John Shelby Spong

Dedication Prayer

by His Holiness, the Fourteenth Dalai Lama

May all beings everywhere

plagued by sufferings of body and mind,

obtain an ocean of happiness and joy

by virtue of my merits.

May no living creature suffer,

commit evil or ever fall ill.

May no one be afraid or belittled,

with a mind weighed down by depression.

May the blind see forms,

and the deaf hear sounds.

May those whose bodies are worn with toil

Be restored on finding repose.

May the naked find clothing,

the hungry find food.

May the thirsty find water

and delicious drink

May the poor find wealth,

those weak with sorrow find joy.

May the forlorn find hope

constant happiness and prosperity.

May there be timely rains

and bountiful harvests.

May all medicines be effective

and wholesome prayers bear fruit.

May all who are sick and ill

quickly be freed from their ailments.

Whatever diseases there are in the world

may they never occur again.

May the frightened cease to be afraid

and those bound be freed.

May the powerless find power

and may people everywhere think of benefiting each other.

  In the Kalamasutra, Buddha said:

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.
Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumored by many.
Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books.
Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders.
Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations.
But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

Scottish Rite Meet and Greet

Had a great time at the Scottish Rite Meet and Greet. Trevor and his girl friend went down with me and we went to the Iowa Beef Steak House with Robert and Mike. Life is good. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, j-

Over the Hump

I had a good day today. Busy and I got out of the house and after the last week I am really glad.


I met some of the elected officers of Specialis Procer Lodge U D for lunch and to talk about things to plan for the rest of the year. I enjoy this Lodge and what it stands for. We are a group of Masons interested in studying Masonry and learning more about it. To that end we hold very short meetings and then hold a Festive Board where we listen to a paper prepared or delivered by one of the members. It is not about boring business meetings and paying bills but rather about a deeper fellowship and learning more about Masonry
After our meeting I went out to Costco to get gas and replenish some supplies. I then went back to the Consistory to help Kurt with some work in the Library. As you can see from the pictures things are really shaping up. The picture on the left is a shelf full of New Age Magazines. This is a monthly magazine which the Scottish Rite puts out. It was a big job to sort them and get them bundled so they could be easily found if necessary. (Kurt did most of the work) He has cataloged the Consistory Library (almost) and placed it on a searchable on-line database.





I get a kick out of Kurt. Now that he has gone through all of the books and shelved them he is just a little propriatary (read that "anal") about them. If somebody moves them he is going to be looking at them askance. He will think that locked doors will need to be installed on the shelves to keep them neat and pristine. And you know what? I feel exactly the same way. I don't like people messing with my "stuff" either.

I had a "tear up" moment when I saw the Bible which Barak Obama took his oath of office. I thought about Abraham Lincoln and the symbolism which using that bible stood for. It was really meaningful. There is a nice bust of Lincoln in the Library.





Then I went downstairs for supper with the York Rite Masons. I always enjoy my time with this group. Tonight was the Installation of Officers. W. Charles Smithson was installed at the head of the York Rite (downtown) bodies. It was a good installation and the meeting was well run. We had a "mini-school" to review all of the secret work (signs, grips and passes) and it was well conducted by Director of the Work Grand Commander David Michael Dryer. I enjoyed it a lot.

The York Rite has placed repeaters (what ever the hell they are) all over the Consistory Building so that the Internet is available from any part of the facility. It is really nice. At our Specialis Procer meeting last Friday I was able to access the Internet and send a report to Grand Lodge right from the meeting room. I am awestruck by the capabilities we have in this world.

Thanks for stopping by. ARTYAL, Hugs, j