Wow

All I can definitively say is that it did not look like this before my daughter got a hold of it!

This was a "rah-rah" for my nephew's Cub Scout and Weblos troops that she has made some sort of statement with

Why I love my wife

Yesterday when I redeived some frustrating news at the Mayo, I called Christy with the raged confusion clogging my throat and burning my eyes, she calmly and lovingly held me close to her on the phone and helped me to start over. Thank you my love.

Since then I have been gaining perspective:

the woman in the Mayo lobby with an inoperable tumor in her spine cheerfully encouraging me even when I had said nothing.

Christy reminding me of our power of adaptability to date.

the mass of people in Rochester who have the tell-tale hairless signs of chemotherapy.

and the list goes on...

Through Tony I was able to hook up with some guys here for wonderful conversation.
Thoughts for further reflection:
what is the purpose of church as an entity and the church as the body;
the cult of personality;
politics and voter issues;
cussing in a mid-western accent...donchano!

COLD, COLD, COLD

peace

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.

My Hypocrisy is Complete

Please see the 5th comment on the last post
Christy is right I am wrong

Amy is still wicked

And Beth....being the good sister is a very ambiguous state

Mean Girls

My sister, who happens to be a girl...a mean one, turned me on to this. Now since we don't have a TV we watch the DVDs supplied by the aforementioned wicked sibling.
We are HOOKED...HARD AND FAST.
So you're asking "why, if she supplies us with such wonderful addictions, is she so bad?"
Let me tell you a little story...
This weekend my wife, who is also a Sister in the "Nefarious Sorority," is going down to Woodland without me and will see my sister. I, in a panicked state, forbade her to watch the series, in fact I went so far as to "request" that she not go anywhere that my sister and a electronic digital viewing device are sharing the same space and time. As some of you know my wife, you cannot make such statements or "requests" without a raised eyebrow of defiance for an answer. So faced with that I contacted my sister...who was no help and even though she is sick, with a cold, I could actually hear her brighten up as she was trying to devise a way that she and the wife could watch it this weekend.
Wicked Tricksies!
After exhausting my impotent decrees to both of them, my sister asks if I noticed the "Jacob Loves You" scrawled on the cover of the DVD she has posted on her blog. ARGHHHH!!!!

So I enlisted the help of my eldest nefew, who has his own stylistic blog now, to sequester the DVD until a time that would be suitable for ALL parties to be involved in the viewing.
If he gets grounded I will rescue him...

Peace of...

so the deal is there is just a lot of stuff going on right now, a sort of circumstantial perfect storm.
Christy's health and my hand
Growing kids and a two year old who is causing us to evaluate discipline
Holidays and our search for simplicity, spirituality and reality
School ending with major questions about what is next
Animals who eat and shit...all the time

So every morning after I feed the kids I go outside to feed the ruminants
This morning I have major unrest in my spirit, about what I am not sure
I realized how much I get from the practice of cleaning up after our horse
I feed her, she eats, I get the rake and pick up the processed remains of last night's meal
and there is a peace and tranquility in that

a peace of shit

On my way to the Mayo?

So I received an email from my doctor yesterday, following our Thursday visit with him to remind him I am still alive, stating that the doctor in MN will see me, IF insurance will cover it as well as travel expenses. So does this mean I am going to have surgery there? Soon?

Are you real?

The isolated individual is not a real person. A real person is one who lives in and for others. And the more personal relationships we form with others, the more we truly realize ourselves as persons. It has even been said that there can be no true person unless there are two, entering into communication with one another.

This idea of openness to others could be summed up under the word love. By love, I don’t mean merely an emotional feeling, but a fundamental attitude. In its deepest sense, love is the life, the energy, of God in us. We are not truly personal as long as we are turned in on ourselves, isolated from others. We only become personal if we face other persons, and relate to them.

- Kallistos Ware