Recent Happenings @ Rocky Road Ranch

Say goodbye to Cranky Frank!
I found out this week that after over 6 months Work Comp has finally approved for me to go to the Mayo to consult with a doctor to have a joint in my thumb replaced. I am finally able to see some glint of light at the end of the tunnel since my accident two years ago.

After 18 years of off-n-on school I finally finished,

and it was only by the love and support of my bride

The kids are enjoying each other

and "resting place" enjoys being a big sister to "dark boy"
who is just a stinkin' happy little guy

Many of you know we raise Boston Terriers, now we are going to the other extreme by raising Great Danes as well.
Here is the newest addition to our homestead

She is only 9 mos. old so she still has some growing to do (she is about a third smaller than our stud) We haven't decided on a name yet, but we are throwing around Appaloosa Annie or some such variation
Here she is with Yona, our "watchdog" who hasn't quite figured out her role yet, and Romey our Boston stud

the image of God

Martin Luther King, Jr.
an excerpt from "Loving Your Enemies" given on November 17, 1957

I’ve said to you on many occasions that each of us is something of a schizophrenic personality. We’re split up and divided against ourselves. And there is something of a civil war going on within all of our lives. There is a recalcitrant South of our soul revolting against the North of our soul. And there is this continual struggle within the very structure of every individual life. There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Ovid, the Latin poet, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do." There is something within all of us that causes us to cry out with Plato that the human personality is like a charioteer with two headstrong horses, each wanting to go in different directions. There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Goethe, "There is enough stuff in me to
make both a gentleman and a rogue." There is something within each of us that causes us to cry out with Apostle Paul, "I see and approve the better things of life, but the evil things I do."

So somehow the "isness" of our present nature is out of harmony with the eternal "oughtness" that forever confronts us. And this simply means this: That within the best of us, there is some evil, and within the worst of us, there is some good. When we come to see this, we take a different attitude toward individuals. The person who hates you most has some good in him; even the nation that hates you most has some good in it; even the race that hates you most has some good in it. And when you come to the point that you look in the face of every man and see deep down within him what religion calls "the image of God," you begin to love him in spite of. No matter what he does, you see God’s image there. There is an element of goodness that he can never sluff off. Discover the element of good in your enemy. And as you seek to hate him, find the center of goodness and place your attention there and you will take a new attitude.

$#@* or get off the pot!

*WARNING* Vulgar Analogy Ahead
Sitting on the toilet with naught but a fraction of the toilet paper left to use, about a third of what I would normally use. No other options, none reasonable anyways. I use what there is...let's just say quite cleanly, with no complications.
Simplicity seems so difficult to master sometimes, and yet faced with the situation where your only choice is to use what you have efficiently, wisely, and thoughtfully it becomes quite easy to master.
So if what you desire is masked by a myriad of other options, eleminate the options while you work for what you long for.