This is pretty much all I need

The Lonely Goat Herd
Gwen Stefani
and
A Determined Squirrel



I am easily amused. According to my father.

Fear & Grace

I keep expecting the worst from people,
& they keep failing to deliver.

Nerdshoveler's Fwd

This is the best forward I've gotten in a while.

Thanks Ben!

November Sunscreen

For Commencement, we had Nadia Comaneci. I remember that she told us that after the Olympics, she was could eat whatever she wanted.

?

In the spring of 1999, "Everybody's Free to Wear Sunscreen" addressed us - The Multitude - as we drove to the pool, worked on our cars, made our photocopies, waited on the weather report and baked our apple pies.

I didn't know the exact story, but I'd heard that some it was Some Guy (Kurt Vonnegut- I looked it up) giving a commencement speech.

I didn't know know who he was, so I pictured Martin Sheen.

It was comforting.

When you're worrying about What You're Going To Do With Your Life, well-after 4 yrs of expensive and arduous higher education.... When you dwell upon the countless hours in The Lab, The Library, The Dorm, The Band Storage Closet arranging pungent polyester marching band uniforms for Work Study, not to mention The Heartrending Separation that a family endures at such times... for....? When you factor in not only my sacrifices, but those of my loving and dedicated parents, friends, family and church folk, who gave me encouragement, ambition, time and $$.... for...?

.... you experience Anxiety. And Guilt.

And then, you hear someone similar to Martin Sheen proclaim with avuncular authority:

"Don’t feel guilty if you don’t know what you want to do with your
life…the most interesting people I know didn’t know at 22 what they
wanted to do with their lives, some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don’t."

Not Uncommon in Western Pa

Last Night

"Wait, where is my gun?" I asked.


This morning, at church
"... so when he shot the block of ice, it ricocheted back and hit 'em in the shoulder," said the kid.

"Wow," I replied. "That would be, like, the first musket ball injury I've heard of in the past two centuries."

"Oh, hey, I've got BB scars... here... here...anddddd here. We didn't have paintball when I was a kid," the Youth Director chimed in. (female)


This evening, in our driveway

Family friend's license plate: 6MM REM

Solace Finale

Looks like someone forgot to get this kid a playstation... he had to find something else to put his time & energy into. Poor guy. (pump up the volume)


And,
my soul is restored.


ironic restoration

Solace

As I cope with what might have been...

I curl up in the arms of YouTube.

Who's rattling who?

He handled the rattling this morning.

Missed a nice one.

20 yds.



Well played, Mr Big Horns.

et tu Chippy?

Preemptive Strike

"When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?" ~Eleanor Roosevelt

When is a deer not a deer?

When he's a lovebird.

Lately, instead of a mighty huntress, I'm feeling like a chaperone at a high school dance.

Last evening, a knobby kneed 4-pt, antlers gleaming, brought his "date" to my neck of the woods.

Actually, she brought him.

I gotta say, from an outsider's perspective, she's not the most attractive doe in the herd. But, I'm not a young buck with newly minted antlers.

He. Was. Lovestruck.

She'd come tearing through the brush... he'd be bouncing along behind her. She'd bed down... He'd plop down in the thicket next to her. She'd try to sneak out... he'd scramble to his feet, going, "Wait up!"

There was just no shaking this guy. And, he was a bit of a dork. Most first year bucks are.

Then, this morning. Who do I see at 1st light? Our fav 4pt is bedded 25 yds from my stand. He's looking a little rough. Eyes at half-mast. Someone had a long night.

After an hour or so, his girlfriend who was bedded even closer to me, who I did not see (how many am I not seeing?), got up and tried to slip away. No kiss. No note. No nothin.

No way! He was up and hot on her trail.

This guy's got it bad.



Meanwhile,

the other, very single boys are working on their wooing and their machismo...



I'm surrounded by idiots... Dang it!

Vintage21.com

It being Sunday and all, I went to church.

I wrestle with the perception that The Church or "Christians" are too judgmental.

And, sometimes we are.

I wonder if that is a helpful attitude? I doubt it, since the Bible tells us not to judge.

And we know that.

But, sometimes we Christians feel that we should ... "hold people accountable." And, I guess that's true. In certain circumstances.

But, overall, I think we may have overdone it. ...or, not done it well.

Rich Nathan has said that when Jesus talked about this sort of thing, he compared it to pointing out a "speck in our neighbor's eye."

Have you ever had something in your eye? Rich makes the point that dealing with the eye is an extremely delicate procedure- requiring the utmost care and tenderness.

And, I would add, that if done correctly, there is tremendous relief to be had post-op.

But it takes care. I would only trust this procedure to someone who loves me.

The more I think about it, the more I find myself believing that church should be a place where people can go to find acceptance, healing, love... the works. The good stuff. (Good News, you might say)

Or, as Martin Luther put it, “We are all mere beggars telling other beggars where to find bread."

Sometimes, when I am driving myself crazy grappling with the tension between Grace and The Law, the last line of this vid pops into my head.

And I find I can rest.


Supplementary Reading: "Who is My Enemy?"

Chickadee~dee~dee

11/03/07

PM Report from the Treestand

Location: Wilderness Rd. Reclaimed Strip Mine.

Locals call it "The Moonscape"








Deer Sigtings:

• "Funny Horns" @ 3:40pm. 20yd

• 1 doe and a 4pt at dusk. 40yds
• new buck. white antlers. base tines: ?
• he was hot on her trail

Other:

• Another hunter, w/in 150yds
• let him handle the rattling & grunting... like having my own Personal Hunting Assistant (PHA). An US celebrity moment in the woods. (US Magazine fans... you know what I'm talkin' bout.... eljabo? Liz? JenG? BenD? Yeah, I'm namin names!!)

MAJOR HAPPENING ALERT:

People, have I been waiting for this!

As the sun began to set, and my fellow hunter stranger was packing it in... a lone chickadee flitted up to a nearby branch.

He called out "see-saw."

Seeing as there were no other chickadees nearby to answer him, I did my best "see-saw" back.

Immediately, the little fella flitted right up to my face, dove, and landed on my arrow shaft.

For a moment.

Then gone.

My arrow lightly bouncing on it's rest.

As the sun sank to its.


now, who's going to handle my umbrella?

Battlestar Betty

Crocker, that is.



Why bake pies the old fashioned way,

















when you could be baking while pretending to be on Battlestar Galactica!






Supplementary Reading: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

Pie Baking Soundtrack

make sense?

"Christianity simply does not make sense until you have faced the sort of facts I have been describing. Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know they have done anything to repent of and who do not feel that they need forgiveness." C.S. Lewis

Rainy Morning Hunt

When the woods are heavy with rain,
and mist envelops the world below the treestand,
sodden leaves hush hoof-falls,
while shapes wax and wane in the distance,
the mind naturally drifts to
the personal life of ellen degeneres.

The hightlight of my rain-soaked morning in the woods consisted of a txt xchange with JenG.

Me: R ellen and portia kaput?

rain dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping dripping

finally, time to get down
safety belt off
gear stowed in backpack
lowering bow... lower...lower... touchdown
take out last 4 steps and hide them in the deadfall, jam in a few leaves for cover
start back the trail
eyes open... scanning... scanning...
step over the log
scan for fresh scrapes
note: rain kills the sound of my walking. I'd never hear a deer on a day like this...
phone vibrating, maybe dad had some action...

Txt msg

JenG: I vote no! I love them!

Oh Jen, I don't think we get to vote on this.