I have to say that I feel like I am on an extended vacation. There is nothing and no one pushing me to get things done. I am getting things done, but at my own pace. I also seem to lack focus, discipline and a plan. I am sp0ntaneous in many ways. Odd that. Spontaneity has never been one of my traits.
I put three weeks into growing a goatee. What a marvelous waste of time. I shaved it this morning. I concluded that it looked awful, felt like there was always a Brillo pad on my face, added 10 years to my appearance and that maybe I should be in line for soup at the local shelter. I'm not ready for the shelter yet. I still have some money to burn through.
I need to get some more exercise, lose some weight and put some discipline back in my day. Sitting at the front window and watching the wildlife is fascinating. Sitting and reading is fun. Going fishing makes for good adventure. I just think I need a schedule and I need to stick to it.
Procrastination is always in my way, but I suppose it will happen soon enough. Most men have a wife or partner that will push them and help them organize their time.
I don't. I am so blessed.
What shall I do now?
Lake Aquabi is calling me. Yes, I know the weeds will not pull themselves out of the garden, but the bass will not catch themselves either. Someone has to do it. Decisions, decisions.
Where are my truck keys?
Talk at you later
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
The Power of Metaphor, An Observation
In his book, "Blue Like Jazz" Don Miller said he was invited by a friend to attend a lecture at Westmont College given by Greg Spence, who was a communications professor. The lecture was about the power of metaphor.
Spencer asked the group what metaphors they think of when they think about the disease, cancer. The response was interesting.
We battle cancer, we fight cancer, we rebuild white blood cell count in our struggle with cancer.
The point was that all these are also war metaphors. The effect of these metaphors on cancer patients is not always good. These words increase the sense of burden on the cancer patient, They become frightened and fear detracts from treatment and recovery. What cancer patients think about cancer affects their ability to deal with the disease. It becomes more traumatic than it needs to be. The fear is unnecessary because most people actually survive the disease.
At this point, Spencer got more serious. He asked what metaphors come to mind when they consider the word 'relationship'.
People said things like: we value people or we invest in people or a certain relationship is bankrupt, or my favorite, people are priceless.
These are all economic metaphors. Odd no? What about love?
It seems that we look at relationship in terms of a commodity to be traded or withheld until the price is right. We do this by giving or withholding approval and love.
As Don observes in his book, the church does this all the time. We use love like money to build or suspend or deny relationship with each other. It sucks. Is not Christian love supposed to be unconditional?
All of this came in the same chapter with Don's stories about living with hippies in the woods, attending a Unitarian church and working in a conservative baptist youth camp. He talked about how much he enjoyed living with the hippies and going to church with the liberals because they did not judge him. He was free to be a Christian and hold his beliefs as long as he was willing to tolerate their points of disagreement. On the other hand, he was expected to tow the line at the youth camp in his personal appearance, his speech and what he thought. Ostracism was always just in reach. He felt shunned for a bit after he first arrived. They even sent someone to tell him to shave, get a hair cut and shower.
Why are we like this? If we want to grow the church and expand the Kingdom, why are we so adamant about forcing people to conform to all our points of view and traditions of music and dress and whether we can dance or speak in a meeting of the body of Christ?
I confess that I do this. I want you to agree with me and do things the way I do them. I would like to think that I am not that way. I enjoy a spirited discussion. I get a bit animated sometimes when I feel strongly about an issue, but I hope I don't reject you because you disagree with me.
The bottom line is that love and relationship are not commodities. We should not treat them that way. Our friends are not who we want them to be. They are just who they are as God made them. The only One we need to conform to is Jesus Christ. I bet He almost never took a shower or shaved.
Spencer asked the group what metaphors they think of when they think about the disease, cancer. The response was interesting.
We battle cancer, we fight cancer, we rebuild white blood cell count in our struggle with cancer.
The point was that all these are also war metaphors. The effect of these metaphors on cancer patients is not always good. These words increase the sense of burden on the cancer patient, They become frightened and fear detracts from treatment and recovery. What cancer patients think about cancer affects their ability to deal with the disease. It becomes more traumatic than it needs to be. The fear is unnecessary because most people actually survive the disease.
At this point, Spencer got more serious. He asked what metaphors come to mind when they consider the word 'relationship'.
People said things like: we value people or we invest in people or a certain relationship is bankrupt, or my favorite, people are priceless.
These are all economic metaphors. Odd no? What about love?
It seems that we look at relationship in terms of a commodity to be traded or withheld until the price is right. We do this by giving or withholding approval and love.
As Don observes in his book, the church does this all the time. We use love like money to build or suspend or deny relationship with each other. It sucks. Is not Christian love supposed to be unconditional?
All of this came in the same chapter with Don's stories about living with hippies in the woods, attending a Unitarian church and working in a conservative baptist youth camp. He talked about how much he enjoyed living with the hippies and going to church with the liberals because they did not judge him. He was free to be a Christian and hold his beliefs as long as he was willing to tolerate their points of disagreement. On the other hand, he was expected to tow the line at the youth camp in his personal appearance, his speech and what he thought. Ostracism was always just in reach. He felt shunned for a bit after he first arrived. They even sent someone to tell him to shave, get a hair cut and shower.
Why are we like this? If we want to grow the church and expand the Kingdom, why are we so adamant about forcing people to conform to all our points of view and traditions of music and dress and whether we can dance or speak in a meeting of the body of Christ?
I confess that I do this. I want you to agree with me and do things the way I do them. I would like to think that I am not that way. I enjoy a spirited discussion. I get a bit animated sometimes when I feel strongly about an issue, but I hope I don't reject you because you disagree with me.
The bottom line is that love and relationship are not commodities. We should not treat them that way. Our friends are not who we want them to be. They are just who they are as God made them. The only One we need to conform to is Jesus Christ. I bet He almost never took a shower or shaved.
Monday, May 29, 2017
Sunday Was Good
I know I moaned about the quality of the church service last week and so it's only right that I 'High 5' them when they get it right. Yes, I know this is all just my opinion and it's probably good for some on any given Sunday; perhaps everyone. I was feeling kind of sparky yesterday too. Maybe that enters the equation here. Whatever.
We have a new worship leader on staff at church - an intern from a nearby Christian college. He is more than capable, very talented and most important, unjaded by past experience. Very refresing personality too. It's like he was born to lead worship teams or something. Again, whatever.
The Rev Insert Name Here brought the sermon along with one of the young people he shepherds. The sermon itself could have used some more polish, but bringing in one of the recent graduates to help with the sermon was an excellent idea. Leadership training cannot start too early.
1030 Sunday school was informative, interesting and idealogical. It was finally settled that women could do most anything in terms of ministry in the church that they were asked to do with some exceptions. They cannot serve in the eldership or be lead pastors - ever. They can team teach adults with men in the class as long as the other member of the team is male.
I'm not sure I agree with all of that, but at least we finally settled something in class and there is a position on it that appears to be church policy. It's alway nice to know the rules and not hear someone make them up on the spot.
Considering that it was a holiday weekend, there was a good crowd at church. Next week we will be having church outdoors. I have to remember to throw a lawn chair in the back of the truck. I hope someone will remind me.
Yesterday afternoon I was outside pruning the pear trees, a cherry tree an apple tree and a peach tree. There seemed to be a lot of dead wood in them. I hope they aren't dying. I guess fruit trees do have shorter life spans than other trees. Anyway, I must have gotten into some poison ivy or sumac. This morning I had a patch of rash on my lower left leg. Strangely, it does not itch. I'm wondering if it's not something else. I did spray an ant colony that had set up houskeeping in the control unit of the sprinkler system. I don't think I hit my leg with the spray, but you never know.
There are many hazards here at the compound and I have been spending much more time outdoors since retirement, so I am much mor likely to encounter the hazards.
Speaking of hazards, there is a lawn mower waiting for me, so I better get to it.
We have a new worship leader on staff at church - an intern from a nearby Christian college. He is more than capable, very talented and most important, unjaded by past experience. Very refresing personality too. It's like he was born to lead worship teams or something. Again, whatever.
The Rev Insert Name Here brought the sermon along with one of the young people he shepherds. The sermon itself could have used some more polish, but bringing in one of the recent graduates to help with the sermon was an excellent idea. Leadership training cannot start too early.
1030 Sunday school was informative, interesting and idealogical. It was finally settled that women could do most anything in terms of ministry in the church that they were asked to do with some exceptions. They cannot serve in the eldership or be lead pastors - ever. They can team teach adults with men in the class as long as the other member of the team is male.
I'm not sure I agree with all of that, but at least we finally settled something in class and there is a position on it that appears to be church policy. It's alway nice to know the rules and not hear someone make them up on the spot.
Considering that it was a holiday weekend, there was a good crowd at church. Next week we will be having church outdoors. I have to remember to throw a lawn chair in the back of the truck. I hope someone will remind me.
Yesterday afternoon I was outside pruning the pear trees, a cherry tree an apple tree and a peach tree. There seemed to be a lot of dead wood in them. I hope they aren't dying. I guess fruit trees do have shorter life spans than other trees. Anyway, I must have gotten into some poison ivy or sumac. This morning I had a patch of rash on my lower left leg. Strangely, it does not itch. I'm wondering if it's not something else. I did spray an ant colony that had set up houskeeping in the control unit of the sprinkler system. I don't think I hit my leg with the spray, but you never know.
There are many hazards here at the compound and I have been spending much more time outdoors since retirement, so I am much mor likely to encounter the hazards.
Speaking of hazards, there is a lawn mower waiting for me, so I better get to it.
Prisoner 317110
Prisoner 317110 was charged with General Hooliganism and Public Defecation. His sentence was commuted to time served and he was released on his own recognizance at Yellow Banks County Park and ordered never to return again to my property.
Case Closed....
Wednesday, May 24, 2017
Idolatry, The Family and Community In The Church
It's odd how conservative evangelical churches have become such 'family oriented' institutions. It's as though we expect the future of the church to be in those families; that new converts will come from those families and the church will actually grow or at least maintain it's present configuration if we just take care that families are able to pass down knowledge of the one true faith to future generations. This is coupled with a fortress mentality. We have to circle the wagons, raise the drawbridge and close the fort gates to keep the evil influence of the world out to protect our families. We go so far as to set up our own schools or homeschool so that children of Christian parents are not exposed to anything secular that might contaminate their Christian culture. The notion of being secure in our faith through strong families that protect their own from outside, worldly influence has become a sort of mantra in our churches. We worship at the altar of the Christian family as the basis and future of the church.
This is not New Testament thinking. This is not what Christ and the apostles called us to do. We are not the families and tribes of ancient Israel being called by our God to seize the land and wipe out the inhabitants.
The Church is the Kingdom of God, ruled by her King, Jesus Christ. It is His command that we occupy the land and live with the 'Canaanites' of our day. Instead of becoming fort dwellers that preserve what we have, we have been commanded to open the gates and let the 'Canaanites' in. We have to live in our world and understand it, expanding the Kingdom accordingly, one body at a time.
No where in the New Testament are we commanded to 'focus on the family' to expand or maintain the Kingdom. The current focus of the evangelical church is just this however. It is idolatrous. It is exclucivist. It is white middle class Christian Americans that are concerned they are losing their place to a world bent on self destruction. It all springs from a desire to preserve something that is not part of the New Covenant in the first place.
As I search the Bible and try to find one happy marriage and one well adjusted family - I find none. What I do find are individuals that have found peace by knowing Jesus Christ and practicing their faith.
Jesus and Paul were not married men. Some think that Paul was divorced and that may well be. Whatever the case, the two did not recommend marriage or family life. They thought it got in the way of our greater purpose, which is, according to them, expansion of the Kingdom. Both of them said that if you can live life without marriage, then you should do it.
And all that brings me back to what the Church is as a body. It is diverse. To be sure, there will be large numbers of families, but there are also others. The elderly, the widowed, the divorced and those that choose or must remain single for the sake of the Kingdom and salvation. The church cannot be the vast and growing Kingdom of Saints that Christ intended if we are always focused on bulding stronger families.
The only family that needs to be strong is the family of God. That family is made up of individuals that must respond in faith to Christ and live accordingly in community with others of like precious faith.
And this is the hard part for me. I am not one to live in community with anything except the birds and squirrels. I am not a people person. It is actually hard for me to be in a group for any length of time. People just suck the life right out of me. There are many reasons for this, all revolving around who I am and how I am made. Even so, I have to recognize that I am not the only one in the church, that God put me with a group - His Kingdom - and like it or not - His people are good for me. Interaction is good for me. Human contact is good for me.
I've been rereading some Don Miller (Blue Like Jazz). He talks about a period in his life when he lived out in the country away from everyone and how being alone effected him. He said he would talk to himself outloud. He would invent stories about people he saw. But what he said he noticed the most was that the longer he was isolated from people, the more difficult and tiring people became. He thought that the only cure for this was to submerge himself in a group and so he lived in community with 5 other guys from his church. That turned into quite the adventure.
My point here is that I understand what he is talking about. He's right. I do talk to myself outloud at home all the time. I do invent stories in my mind about the people I see, but never talk to. I really like being by myself. I like being single and my philosophy has always been that it's OK to be lonely as long as you are free. And it's possible to be lonely even if your social calendar is completely full. Think about that all you single people. You know it's true.
So while I sit here bitching about the church's focus on families and talking to myself, I need to be thinking about returning to humanity and bulding more of a presence in church. I can't just sit here typing all this crap and never try to do anything about it or refuse to become part of the solution. It all seems so unpleasant to me at almost 60 years old, but I will be dead soon and it will be too late.
OK Lord, let's see if this turns into anything. I've taken a shot at everyone including myself. Let's see if I hit anything. Lord, we need to talk.......
This is not New Testament thinking. This is not what Christ and the apostles called us to do. We are not the families and tribes of ancient Israel being called by our God to seize the land and wipe out the inhabitants.
The Church is the Kingdom of God, ruled by her King, Jesus Christ. It is His command that we occupy the land and live with the 'Canaanites' of our day. Instead of becoming fort dwellers that preserve what we have, we have been commanded to open the gates and let the 'Canaanites' in. We have to live in our world and understand it, expanding the Kingdom accordingly, one body at a time.
No where in the New Testament are we commanded to 'focus on the family' to expand or maintain the Kingdom. The current focus of the evangelical church is just this however. It is idolatrous. It is exclucivist. It is white middle class Christian Americans that are concerned they are losing their place to a world bent on self destruction. It all springs from a desire to preserve something that is not part of the New Covenant in the first place.
As I search the Bible and try to find one happy marriage and one well adjusted family - I find none. What I do find are individuals that have found peace by knowing Jesus Christ and practicing their faith.
Jesus and Paul were not married men. Some think that Paul was divorced and that may well be. Whatever the case, the two did not recommend marriage or family life. They thought it got in the way of our greater purpose, which is, according to them, expansion of the Kingdom. Both of them said that if you can live life without marriage, then you should do it.
And all that brings me back to what the Church is as a body. It is diverse. To be sure, there will be large numbers of families, but there are also others. The elderly, the widowed, the divorced and those that choose or must remain single for the sake of the Kingdom and salvation. The church cannot be the vast and growing Kingdom of Saints that Christ intended if we are always focused on bulding stronger families.
The only family that needs to be strong is the family of God. That family is made up of individuals that must respond in faith to Christ and live accordingly in community with others of like precious faith.
And this is the hard part for me. I am not one to live in community with anything except the birds and squirrels. I am not a people person. It is actually hard for me to be in a group for any length of time. People just suck the life right out of me. There are many reasons for this, all revolving around who I am and how I am made. Even so, I have to recognize that I am not the only one in the church, that God put me with a group - His Kingdom - and like it or not - His people are good for me. Interaction is good for me. Human contact is good for me.
I've been rereading some Don Miller (Blue Like Jazz). He talks about a period in his life when he lived out in the country away from everyone and how being alone effected him. He said he would talk to himself outloud. He would invent stories about people he saw. But what he said he noticed the most was that the longer he was isolated from people, the more difficult and tiring people became. He thought that the only cure for this was to submerge himself in a group and so he lived in community with 5 other guys from his church. That turned into quite the adventure.
My point here is that I understand what he is talking about. He's right. I do talk to myself outloud at home all the time. I do invent stories in my mind about the people I see, but never talk to. I really like being by myself. I like being single and my philosophy has always been that it's OK to be lonely as long as you are free. And it's possible to be lonely even if your social calendar is completely full. Think about that all you single people. You know it's true.
So while I sit here bitching about the church's focus on families and talking to myself, I need to be thinking about returning to humanity and bulding more of a presence in church. I can't just sit here typing all this crap and never try to do anything about it or refuse to become part of the solution. It all seems so unpleasant to me at almost 60 years old, but I will be dead soon and it will be too late.
OK Lord, let's see if this turns into anything. I've taken a shot at everyone including myself. Let's see if I hit anything. Lord, we need to talk.......
Monday, May 22, 2017
Yesterday
Yesterday started out like any other Sunday. It was good. Still good from my perspective, but we will get to that later. As I have mentioned awhile back, retirement has brought much in the way of relaxation. I think that permanant wrinkle between my eyes is even beginning to disappear. So what follows here is not what I would call particularly irksome. I am not mad or irritated about any of it. I'm just kind of disappointed.
Early Sunday school was good. We discussed the seven sayings of the cross; Jesus did not talk much as He suffered, but what he did say had meaning and import.
Church was kind of boring. I do not say this to berate anyone in particular. I just find the way that conservative churches do worship to be boring in general. We get the occassional good sermon and sometimes praise time is meaningful, but it's all in that 'rock concert' kind or way. Going to church has become much like going to a show. There is the audience. There is the stage. There are the 'performers'. There is applause. But aside from the occassional 'amen' there is little or no participation by the body that one would not expect from the average secular concert audience. It's all designed to pump up mood. Really, all that's missing is a smoke generator. I suppose they already have one and are just waiting for the right time to roll it out. I can't wait.
Some might say that it's all in what you put into it and what you bring into the auditorium with you.
That's wrong.
There just ain't much edification going on in a room where everyone is silent while someone tells them all what to think. Edification requires discussion of ideas and participation of the learners. There is more than one point of view about most everything, even those things the church calls 'doctrine' and claim to be set in stone. The Spirit works in all of us to test the truth of these things, but only one point of view is promoted or perhaps, even allowed.
But I digress...
My 1030 Sunday school class, which is always a hoot, was particularly interesting yesterday since the instructor exposed his bias toward Old Covenant type families dominating the New covenant church. It was very informative for me on many levels. I finally know where his mind is at.
The class itself has been described as sort of a 'Seinfeldesque' experience. It's really about nothing. Nothing that is relevant to salvation. And this is true. But what was discussed yesterday about women and their place in the church was backward in the extreme. I would go so far as to say that if this point of view is promoted heavily in the church, it will ultimately diminish and perhaps destroy it. The focus on male domination was heavy handed and unnecessary. We do not live in an age where women are property, where they are uneducated babymakers and babysitters. Women in our world wield power at work, at home and within the family structure. To deny them this at church on the basis of Paul's personal opinion in 1 Timothy 2 about the curse in Genesis 3 is ridiculous.
The whole discussion made me stop and reaccess. Do I want to worship with a body that promotes and Old Covenant, patriarchal family system on which to build a church? Did Jesus or Paul or any of the apostles really promote such a thing in the New Convenant?
The answer is clearly 'no'.
In the New Convenant, everything is about kingdom and kindom building. Everyone that has faith can get it. The body is diverse and we all perform different fucntions and NONE OF US should be limited by our genetalia or marriage status in pursuit of our walk with Christ. Instead, our efforts must be focused on becoming like Him regardless of who we are.
We are not trying to build a nation in a promised land where the men will all be little kings within their tribal boundaries.
We have only just left Egypt and our journey to the New Kingdom is an on going effort to take as many as possible from all walks of life to this New Land!
We are not all Hebrews or even Messianic Jews in pursuit of a land flowing with milk and honey. We are God's people and, might I add, Gentiles, in pursuit of a better country where Jesus Christ rules forever; a place where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female.
I will probably have more to say about this as the week goes on, but I am going to say it here for all to read.
And to anyone that is wondering....I love very much the people that were part of this dialogue with me yesterday, both inside and outside of class. As you said....we simply disagree.
But as Barry Goldwater once said, "in your heart, you know I am right".
And so truth marches on.
I think I'm back!
Early Sunday school was good. We discussed the seven sayings of the cross; Jesus did not talk much as He suffered, but what he did say had meaning and import.
Church was kind of boring. I do not say this to berate anyone in particular. I just find the way that conservative churches do worship to be boring in general. We get the occassional good sermon and sometimes praise time is meaningful, but it's all in that 'rock concert' kind or way. Going to church has become much like going to a show. There is the audience. There is the stage. There are the 'performers'. There is applause. But aside from the occassional 'amen' there is little or no participation by the body that one would not expect from the average secular concert audience. It's all designed to pump up mood. Really, all that's missing is a smoke generator. I suppose they already have one and are just waiting for the right time to roll it out. I can't wait.
Some might say that it's all in what you put into it and what you bring into the auditorium with you.
That's wrong.
There just ain't much edification going on in a room where everyone is silent while someone tells them all what to think. Edification requires discussion of ideas and participation of the learners. There is more than one point of view about most everything, even those things the church calls 'doctrine' and claim to be set in stone. The Spirit works in all of us to test the truth of these things, but only one point of view is promoted or perhaps, even allowed.
But I digress...
My 1030 Sunday school class, which is always a hoot, was particularly interesting yesterday since the instructor exposed his bias toward Old Covenant type families dominating the New covenant church. It was very informative for me on many levels. I finally know where his mind is at.
The class itself has been described as sort of a 'Seinfeldesque' experience. It's really about nothing. Nothing that is relevant to salvation. And this is true. But what was discussed yesterday about women and their place in the church was backward in the extreme. I would go so far as to say that if this point of view is promoted heavily in the church, it will ultimately diminish and perhaps destroy it. The focus on male domination was heavy handed and unnecessary. We do not live in an age where women are property, where they are uneducated babymakers and babysitters. Women in our world wield power at work, at home and within the family structure. To deny them this at church on the basis of Paul's personal opinion in 1 Timothy 2 about the curse in Genesis 3 is ridiculous.
The whole discussion made me stop and reaccess. Do I want to worship with a body that promotes and Old Covenant, patriarchal family system on which to build a church? Did Jesus or Paul or any of the apostles really promote such a thing in the New Convenant?
The answer is clearly 'no'.
In the New Convenant, everything is about kingdom and kindom building. Everyone that has faith can get it. The body is diverse and we all perform different fucntions and NONE OF US should be limited by our genetalia or marriage status in pursuit of our walk with Christ. Instead, our efforts must be focused on becoming like Him regardless of who we are.
We are not trying to build a nation in a promised land where the men will all be little kings within their tribal boundaries.
We have only just left Egypt and our journey to the New Kingdom is an on going effort to take as many as possible from all walks of life to this New Land!
We are not all Hebrews or even Messianic Jews in pursuit of a land flowing with milk and honey. We are God's people and, might I add, Gentiles, in pursuit of a better country where Jesus Christ rules forever; a place where there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female.
I will probably have more to say about this as the week goes on, but I am going to say it here for all to read.
And to anyone that is wondering....I love very much the people that were part of this dialogue with me yesterday, both inside and outside of class. As you said....we simply disagree.
But as Barry Goldwater once said, "in your heart, you know I am right".
And so truth marches on.
I think I'm back!
Thursday, May 18, 2017
Where Have I Been???
The Lenon Mill Dam on the Middle Raccoon in Panora is a favorite place for small mouth bass. I did catch some, but they were small. I also caught a small walleye that day. Here's a picture of the dam. It is such a peaceful place. The sound of the water lowers my blood pressure. You can't beat spring in Iowa.
 |
| Big Creek Spillway as it enters Saylorville Lake |
 |
| "Wiper" |
 |
| In The Tree Off the East Deck |
 |
| Rocky Arrives At Yellow Banks Just Prior to Release |
 |
| On the Ground in the Front Yard...Robin is Watching |
I am not bored yet. Maybe someday soon I will return to bitching about things, but really...I'm just too relaxed right now to care. Maybe I just need someone to piss me off...or maybe none of that other stuff matters to me anymore... Is that possible? Too soon to tell. I .know that everything I reported today makes me very happy. God is getting me ready to move topside. Gotta get ready
Later....
Tuesday, May 9, 2017
What Up...?
You may have noticed that blogging has taken a back seat in my retirement life. I think I need to develop some retirement discipline. Get some structure. Maybe plan out the next day before I go to bed at night. So far it's been a day by day, completely spontaneous event. I seem to do what I want when I want to. It is an addictive habit and one that seems to suit me. It's like permanent recess. It will be interesting to see what happens next fall and winter. I may find myself in the truck going south or in a plane going to Aruba. Why do winter if you don't have too right? I will have to be careful though. I am on a fixed income.
So anyway....last week was uneventful. I managed to get the lawn mowed, some flower seeds planted and a garden bed weeded, but there was much goofing off in between and also some 'man shopping'. As a general rule, I hate shopping, but last week I went to Menard's (where real men go to get wood...sorry...I apologize...that's the Lumber Yard) and I looked at weed trimmers and chain saws...yes chain saws. Manly yes, but I like them too. Anyhow, I did not like the selection so I went over to Lowe's and found the trimmer I wanted and then to Walmart for the chain saw I wanted.
Now that I am fully armed for yard work, I can hack and destroy at will. And I have been doing that. However...I am easily distracted. I went out to get some coffee at Caribou last week. I hit the drive thru and as I was pulling on to the street I realized I did not want to do yard work. I wanted to go fishing. And I did. I've been fishing three times since that day. It seems to be impulse driven. I got a walleye yesterday at Big Creek. See..
He did not survive the day. He ended up in my deep fryer with some French fries. I washed him down stream with some Coors Light. Delicious.
Then there is this...
Bird watching has been good here at the Compound. I have yet to see any Orioles, but a Rose Breasted Grossbeak and a Wild Turkey made appearances.
When I sent the turkey pic to my friend Steve, the hunter, I got a two word response...."shoot it". You may note that this particular Tom has quite the long beard. This would indicate age and possibly some substantial meat to be had. Even so, If I shot him, I'm not sure I would know how to dress him...or undress him as it were. Steve's answer to this was to call him.
I have also seen hummingbirds about the yard, so I put out the hummingbird feeder today. We will see what happens.
I have another developing problem. There is a rather intelligent squirrel trying to work out the engineering required to get at my bird feeders. I have some unexpected allies in this guerrilla war. A pair of robins dive bomb him when he gets close. They have a nest in the tree next to the house and they are quite fearless in their fight. I have also taken on some advanced weaponry to sting the buttocks of this clever rodent.
Behold the Gamo Big Cat Whisper pellet gun. 1300 FPS muzzle velocity. Between me and the robins, I think we have this rodent invasion handled.
He may even perish in this righteous suburban battle to subdue nature and drive back the squirrelish hordes to the trees of my neighbors!
So anyway....last week was uneventful. I managed to get the lawn mowed, some flower seeds planted and a garden bed weeded, but there was much goofing off in between and also some 'man shopping'. As a general rule, I hate shopping, but last week I went to Menard's (where real men go to get wood...sorry...I apologize...that's the Lumber Yard) and I looked at weed trimmers and chain saws...yes chain saws. Manly yes, but I like them too. Anyhow, I did not like the selection so I went over to Lowe's and found the trimmer I wanted and then to Walmart for the chain saw I wanted.
Now that I am fully armed for yard work, I can hack and destroy at will. And I have been doing that. However...I am easily distracted. I went out to get some coffee at Caribou last week. I hit the drive thru and as I was pulling on to the street I realized I did not want to do yard work. I wanted to go fishing. And I did. I've been fishing three times since that day. It seems to be impulse driven. I got a walleye yesterday at Big Creek. See..
He did not survive the day. He ended up in my deep fryer with some French fries. I washed him down stream with some Coors Light. Delicious.
Then there is this...
Bird watching has been good here at the Compound. I have yet to see any Orioles, but a Rose Breasted Grossbeak and a Wild Turkey made appearances.
I have also seen hummingbirds about the yard, so I put out the hummingbird feeder today. We will see what happens.
I have another developing problem. There is a rather intelligent squirrel trying to work out the engineering required to get at my bird feeders. I have some unexpected allies in this guerrilla war. A pair of robins dive bomb him when he gets close. They have a nest in the tree next to the house and they are quite fearless in their fight. I have also taken on some advanced weaponry to sting the buttocks of this clever rodent.
Behold the Gamo Big Cat Whisper pellet gun. 1300 FPS muzzle velocity. Between me and the robins, I think we have this rodent invasion handled.
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