Do You Know What A Drawing Room Is?

Bill Bryson can write a great book. (A Walk In The Woods; In a Sunburned Country; The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid) Bill Bryson can write a boring book. (A Short History of Nearly Everything)

At Home: A Short History of Private Life is both. In a tour of the English house he lives in, he tells us how we got from living in caves to the homes we live in today. Scattered throughout the chapters you will find yourself saying, “Ok Bryson, move along,” but it is fun to learn the origin and history of many of the things we take for granted today; like rooms.

One of the things I found most interesting, Bryson doesn’t even comment on. Taxes. One of the mottoes of fiscally conservative thought is “if you tax something you get less of it.” Three examples of that are in this book. When pane glass was first invented the government put a tax on glass. People built their homes without windows, or at least with very small ones. When the tax was removed, people bought glass, glass factories sprouted everywhere, and there was an employment boom. The same thing happened with wallpaper and soap. It was a great day for cleanliness when the king lifted the soap tax.

Compare these with our high unemployment rate. Our government taxes employment. If you tax employment, you get less of it. Social Security, Medicare, Worker’s Comp, Health Insurance (for over 50 employees), all work to keep unemployment high. Add to that the uncertainty caused by congress’ inability to act and we are in for more high unemployment figures.

Even as our government debates the estate tax, also known as the inheritance tax or the death tax, Bryson tells some interesting history of its beginning in England. Beginning at just 5% it increased until it became 60%. It is a popular tax for governments to impose because it affects so few people each year. During the years of the 60% estate tax, England lost many of its treasures. When people died, their heirs had yard sales to raise the cash to pay the tax. They sold their heirlooms. Among other things, they sold “Paintings, tapestries, jewels, books, porcelain, silver plate, rare stamps.” Most of these landed in the collections of Americans. I wonder if there is any lesson for us from this history.

Anyway, if you have an inquisitive mind at all, I recommend this book to you. Oh, the drawing room; read the book.

Reason 8

Reason #8 for a Road Trip—Signs or Spider Pig, Spider Pig


Driving into the Florida swamp we came across this warning sign. Hmmm, we wondered, exactly what is it we are too look out for? Could be a bear, but it could be a pig. After all, we were going into swampland, pig country, not forestland. Down the road we found another sign that clarified the issue. It was the same strange animal, with a baby following. No doubt here, it was a cub not a piglet. We got a lot of conversation out of this sign

The other sign that we saw was at a rest stop in Missouri. Well, I said we, but only I saw it. Jen just saw the picture I took. When I saw this sign I took it to heart and stood there until I could not wait another minute. It is not true. You do have to use your hands!

To Infinity and Beyond

Pause in the reasons for driving while I share the reason for going at all. We were headed to Orlando to see our son and grandson. We had three great days with them. One day to Walt Disney World, one day to just play around, and one day to the Kennedy Space Center. These we would have done whether we drove, flew, or walked.
It is tough to live 2500 miles away from your only grandchild. You have to make the most of every second you have, so every visit is cram packed with activities and little time to just relax together. This time though, he said, “Hi Grandma,” as soon as he saw Jen. He is beginning to remember us from visit to visit.
He seems to be into something different every time. Last summer it was race cars. We raced cars on the floor, in the pickup bed, at the beach, at the restaurant. He had a race car with him everywhere we went. This winter it was hockey. We played hockey down the hall, we played hockey in the street, we played hockey on the mezzanine at the E Center while a real hockey game was going on. This weekend it started with a race car, but it was quickly surrendered for an airplane and then a rocket ship. After our trip through pirates of the Caribbean, we played pirates for hours. I just hope there wasn’t anyone in the room below us as our little pirate hit the floor after being shot or stabbed, over and over.
We are on our way back west now. More reasons we are glad we drove later.

Reasons 5 & 6

Reason # 5 14,000 foot Mountains.(from the bottom up)
The mountains we drove through are the same mountains we fly over. They look different from the top. There is something amazing when seeing them from an airplane window. There is something awe inspiring when seeing them from the ground. At one point, while tooling along the highway, Jen was reading aloud from our devotional book. As we were meditating on the author’s words we could see four of the 14ers and the ground sloping up to them unmarred by anything man made. The view caused both of us to regard the magnificence of creation and of the mighty God we serve. Wow!

(Picture is Mt. Massive from the 2nd Fairway of Mt. Massive Golf Course, Leadville, Colorado)

Reason #6 Stars
Reason number 6 is similar to reason number 6. When we walked to our cabin last night it was late. Well, it was late for us, around 9:30. Looking up into the sky, we could see millions, maybe billions of stars. It was a night sky invisible to us at home in the city. But in Lake City, really misnamed, it should be Lake Village, the night sky more closely resembled the sky Abraham observed. It was while looking into a starry filled sky that God promised him descendants more numerous than the stars.
We went on in the cabin. Profane person that I am, I turned ESPN on to check the day’s events. Jen found her hat and gloves and went back outside, lay back on a bench and played like an astronomer. There is something about looking into a black night sky, sprinkled with the light of the stars, to make a person think of eternity, and the eternal one.

ROADSIDE SERINDIPITIES

ROADSIDE SERINDIPITIES

Reasons 2,3,4 not to fly cross country.

2. Lunch. Look at this lunch spot and compare it to the city diner in any airport and tell me, which is the better lunch site? This isn’t even taking into consideration the homemade chicken salad sandwich vs the sterile deli bought one.

3. Golf. We have stopped twice now along the way for a stroll around a 9 hole golf course. By the time we get to the east coast and back, Jen may be a golfer.

4. Fresh peach. Need I say more? Colorado peaches are in season, there are roadside stands all along the way. I saw a vendor selling fresh apples in the Albuquerque airport once, but only once.

By the way, saving money is not a reason to not fly. My bookkeeper tells me we have already spend enough to have purchased two round trip tickets.

SMALL TOWNS

SMALL TOWNS
You have to love small towns. They have an ambiance and a pace of their own. We drove into Meeker, Colorado about 4 pm. We didn’t know whether we were going to stay there or 38 miles on down the road at Rifle. When we passed the golf course Jen suggested we play nine holes for a little exercise.

We went to the golf course; no sense turning down the opportunity, especially if Jen suggests it. It was described as the Meeker golf course and steak house. There were workers putting a stucco coat on the outside of the building. We wandered in the only open door and found ourselves in the steak house. We wandered around and found the pro shop but no Pro. We looked around, waited, tried to look conspicuous, but no one showed up.

Finally we went back into the restaurant and asked the bar tender. She said, “Oh, Jim is probably out playing. Just go ahead and play and you can pay when you finish.” We ran into Jim on the first tee. He said to play and settle up after we were through. Jim was about to play the back 9. (the back 9 and the front 9 are the same 9)

After golf we went looking for grub. The Meeker Café, located in the Meeker hotel in downtown historic Meeker was advertised in our guide book as an excellent chicken fried steak. Theodore Roosevelt is said to have stayed in the Meeker hotel. When we walked in the door, we realized that there was some kind of an event in progress. The Meeker medical community was welcoming their new doctor to town. I had a nice visit with the hospital CEO and Jen with the director of planning and development. They invited us to just get a plate and visit their buffet. It is a good thing, because the restaurant was closed, due to “a special event.”

Alas, when we found a Motel, there was someone there to take our money and assign a room. Pretty normal there.

Fear of Flying

I am not a fan of air travel. The time savings are nice, and if time is essential, worth the hassle. But every time while flying I look out the window, I know I am missing too much.
From 35,000 feet you can see so much more than you can from the 3 feet of your car seat; but you experience so much less. Flying over the Great Plains the other day I could see the earth beneath me laid out in nice neat one section squares. Some of the squares were further divided into two or three rectangles. In many sections you see circles touching all four sides of the square, but leaving gaps in the corners.
Then you can see the towns. Interestingly most of them neatly occupy two to four of the squares. To the air traveler who is even looking, they are just nameless little burgs that break up the landscape.
That is when I wish I was driving, and not on the interstate. We hurry too much across the country. Who lives in the town? What kind of businesses are there? You know there are churches and schools. Who is the pastor? How far do the kids travel to attend a consolidated school? All the questions we never ask, because we are flying over or buzzing by on the interstate.
I notice a clump of hills, not too far from one of the towns. On top of each hill, it looks like some giant bird flew by and left it spattered white. I would like to know what that is. If my Tahoe was my transportation, I could drive over and take a look, or at least stop and ask someone. Of course, if I were driving by in my Tahoe, I probably wouldn’t even know it was there, just some hills in the distance. I can’t even go back and look because I have no idea where we were.
Next month we are driving to the east coast. Our plan is to stop and experience a lot of the places we normally go over or around. Check in later, there might be some good stories.

Bush Haters Beware

If you hate George W. Bush and are content to hate him based on erroneous and biased reporting, DO NOT READ THIS BOOK! Karl Rove was there from the beginning. He explains all that happened in a reasoned way. He gives the explanations that were not forthcoming from the president at the time. Unlike our current president W. felt that it was beneath the dignity of the office of president to get in a spitting contest with every critic on the public airways.

Rove admits there were mistakes. He does however strongly defend the choices that ended up with war in Iraq, including reminding the short memories of those who forgot all those who agreed with Bush when the choice was made.

He explains Katrina and the way decisions were made and not made. For example, in Mississippi and Alabama, two states that had capable leadership in place, the help from FEMA was excellent. Rove explains the battle between the Mayor of New Orleans and the Governor of Louisana and how that affected the help the Feds could offer. Unknown to many, FEMA couldn't just take over. They either had to be invited to do so by the governor, who wouldn't give the invitation, or by declaring Louisana in a state of insurrection which Bush was hesitant to do.

He explains the 2000 election dispute with Gore. He reminds us that when the count was in Bush won. When the recounted Bush won. When the Florida supreme court went against Florida law and called another recount, Bush won. The supreme court of the US voted 9-0 that the Florida Supreme Court overstepped its bounds. In a second vote it voted in favor of Bush 7-2. In the third vote,it voted in favor of Bush 7-2. And finally the vote to stop all the recounting, was 5-4.

Later after all the votes were in, all the chads as far as possible examined, it was decided that Bush won the election. So why are there still those that say Bush cheated to win? Because they hate George Bush and they want to believe that.

This is a great look at inside the Bush whitehouse, by someone who was there. Read it. I highly recommend it.

UTAH TO THE PAC 10 (12) or Could I possibly be a Utah Man, Sir?

Well I hope Utah isn't about to fade into National insignificance. HUH? How can you say that Rodger when they are now in the Pac 12? Well, for those not under the influence of Ute Mania, who can look objectively at the situation, a glance at history would tell them there are hazzards ahead.

In the first place, the last few years, since the Urban Meyer years, have been an aberration in MWC/WAC football. From 1962-1999 Utah never won the WAC championship. They shared a title with New Mexico and Arizona in 1964 and a four way tie in 1995. In the 11 years of the Mountain West Conference Utah has won the title only 3 times. They are not quite a yearly powerhouse.

Compare their record with Arizona and Arizona State. Many of you young UTE fans my not remember that they were members of the WAC with Utah from 1962 to 1978 when they left to make the PAC 8 the PAC 10. In the last 10 years they were in the WAC with Utah, BYU, New Mexico and the others, Arizona and Arizona State won or shared the conference championship 9 times. That is 9 of 10 years. 90%. In the 32 years since joining the Pac 10, Arizona State has gone to two Rose Bowls, Arizona none.

During Whittingham's tenure, the Utes are a mediocre 4-3 vs PAC 10 teams. And besides football, a peek at the conference champions in other sports shows that Utah is mediocre in the MWC. (They are national powers in Women's gymnastics but that isn't a MWC sport.) These other sports will likely struggle in the PAC 12.

Don't misunderstand. I think this is a great opportunity for Utah and I am very happy for them. As far as athletics goes I think BYU would have been a better choice, but I am glad they didn't get the nod. And I realize that more than Athletics is involved in the choice.

While I hate to lose Utah as a Lobo opponent, I will now be free to root for them, and I will. Go Utes! I am not quite ready to sing I am a Utah man sir, but I look forward to seeing the big boys come to town.

Flyboys: A True Story of Courage by James Bradley


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Well researched and written by the son of one of the Marines who raised the flag at Iwo Jima, this book is about the aviators who won WWII in the Pacific and the enemy who fought them. If, like me, you are unapologetically American in your outlook, you will find some of the book "politically corrrect" but I urge you to read through it.


It is a commentary not only on WWII, but on war in general and the soldiers who fight for the generals.

It is worth the read.

View all my reviews >>

Angel’s Landing

Ok! I am impressed. Wow! Might be a better exclamation. I knew Angel’s Landing, in Zion National Park, was a steep climb that had some real cliff exposure. I have read about people falling from the trail. One man was recently convicted for pushing his wife off the trail. So I expected there to be some places on the trail where we would be really close to the edge.




The hike starts normal enough. It leaves the parking lot and crosses the river on a bridge. The trail follows the course of the river for a short distance. Leaving the river the hiker begins the ascent. Here the trail is paved and steep. It continues for 1500 feet in elevation gain in 2.5 miles. The last 500 feet in elevation over the last ½ mile is along a very narrow ridge with a 1200 foot sheer drop to the canyon floor on one side and 900 feet on the other.

The park service has added chains to hold onto, and cut steps into the sandstone, but it is still very scary. When I walked up to the place where you see that last ½ mile and the steep sides, my stomach just flipped. There have been at least 5 or 6 people slip and fall to their death in the last 15 years.

If you are headed to Southern Utah and want a guide to help you on the Angel’s Landing hike, don’t call me. I DTA. (Did that already)

The Pony Express

150 years ago the latest technology in mail significantly decreased the time it took a message to get across the country. Using the new method a letter could get from Missouri to San Francisco in a mere 10 days. That really isn’t that long, even today, considering it took us 14 days to get a package from Salt Lake City, Utah to Hiawassee, Georgia.

All across the west, Pony Express Stations stood ready for the rider to come by carrying the mail pouch. About 8 to 10 miles apart, across mountains, plains, and deserts the rider would change horses as he sped on his way. At the end of the rider’s day, he would hand the mail pouch off to his replacement, and day by day, express station by express station the mail traversed the country.


After church yesterday Jen and I followed the Pony Express route across Western Utah to the Nevada Border. We found the location of every station along the route but one. The Dugway Gulch station is about a mile south of the road and we chose not to make that hike to search for the marker.

Back in the 1930’s the CCC of the depression era built a monument, (see picture) at the approximate location of each station. The monuments are about 8 feet high made out of rock with two plaques on them. One is the symbol of the pony express and the other tells about the station. Many of the plaques have been stolen but no one has carted off any of the stone pillars.


After 133 miles across the desert on the Pony Express Trail we reached pavement again on the Utah-Nevada border. We drove 45 minutes on the pavement to Wendover, Nevada where we ate a late dinner before heading across the Salt Flats on Interstate 80 to home.

Terrorism, The Movies, and Homeland Security

American Lightning: Terror, Mystery, The Birth of Hollywood, and the Crime of the Century is a 2008 book by Howard Blum. The century is the last one, the terror is homespun, and the security is provided by the man who became the first director of what we know today as the FBI.

All I can say is, "Wow!" What do you think the Crime of the Century might be? I didn't even know it happened. Early in the morning of October 1, 1910, an explosion ripped through the Las Angeles Times building. 21 people were killed by the explosion, the fire that followed, or by jumping out the windows of the building on fire.

The terrorists were not foreigners, but labor union employees. In the early part of the 20th century labor unions waged a terrorism campaign against any building project that wasn't being constructed with union labor. The L. A. Times was pro business in those days, drawing the ire of the unions.

The man responsible for breaking the case was later charged with using unconstitutional methods in his investigation, arrest, and transportation of the bombers. William J. Burns was a private detective hired by Las Angeles to solve the case. When the city became unhappy with the lack of progress they quit paying and Burns borrowed the funds to continue the case.

The famous lawyer, Clarence Darrow was the attorney for the defendants. He was later put on trial for bribing potential jurors and in a trial similar to OJ was acquitted in one trial and achieved a hung jury in the other. Jurors split 8 to 4 in favor of a guilty verdict.

The Hollywood angle is interesting. There was no film industry in Hollywood in 1910. Moving pictures were just coming into existence. During this time, in addition to telling a good story, they were attempting to change the attitudes of the American public on the social issues of the day. They were as successful at it then as they are today.

I had two prevailing thoughts as I read this book. The first was a smoldering resentment that I had never heard this story about the union terrorism before. I think I am better versed than the average American in history, it was my minor in college. But this was a part of the Union/Management debate that I had never heard.

The second was how easy it is for visual media to present viewpoints that the public at large accepts without question. They were just learning to do that in 1910. They are experts at it today. It was only in the Movies then, it is on TV everyday now. The movies were 15-20 minute films that showed in cinemas, and were 5 cents a ticket. New ones were out every few days. It was probably closer to television drama than the movie blockbusters for today.

It is an interesting book. I recommend it.

To Be A Lobo or Not

I had an interesting invitation today. An old friend, an avid fan of the Utah Utes, invited me to desert the inept New Mexico Lobo football team for a new team. He also graciously offered me a spot as a Ute. His invitation at least made me think. It’s not the first time Lobo football fans have been treated to winless seasons. In the late 80’s, there were 6 years with a total of 9 wins. Considering each year usually includes a game against a division 2 team and a game against New Mexico State, it would seem the minimum number of wins in 6 years would be 12.

So what if a guy decided to abandon his alma matter for a new team, what considerations should be made? I am not saying it is a real possibility, but what are the alternatives?

For the last 10 years Salt Lake City, home of the Utes, has been home. I have no plans to move anytime soon. My daughter is a graduate of the University of Utah, so I guess it would seem logical to switch allegiance to the Utes. In addition, they have enjoyed some recent success. In one Sports Illustrated article that told the best years for each school’s football team, Utah’s greatest success is in the present. (Lobos experienced their best years in the late 50’s and early 60’s.)

Just because you live somewhere, you don’t have to adopt their teams. I lived in Texas but didn’t desert the Colts for the Cowboys, the Lakers for the Mavericks, nor the Yankees for the Rangers. In addition, I lived in Fort Worth and didn’t’ become a TCU fan. (More on that later.)

Since the day I enrolled at UNM, the Lobos and Utes have played football once and basketball at least twice every year. After rooting for one team against another for 42 years, it is tough to even think about changing sides.

What are the other alternatives? Well the only other major college in New Mexico is the New Mexico State Aggies. That is using major college loosely. Becoming an Aggie would be no easier than switching to the Utes and wouldn’t solve the futile football anyway.

Other alternatives? Well I was born in Texas. In my very early years, actually until I enrolled at UNM, I did follow the Longhorns as much as you could follow an out of area team back in those days. It wouldn’t be much of a switch however, as I continue to think of Texas as my favorite “National” team. That isn’t much help locally though since there isn’t much chance that New Mexico or Utah will play Texas in football. They do play occasionally in basketball. I remember a NIT game in the Pit between UNM and Texas that went into overtime.

I could never be a BYU fan. The Mormonism would keep getting in the way. But what about the flag ship college of my Baptist denomination. Cheering for the Baylor Bears is about as hopeless as cheering for the Lobos, with the exception that at least they play in a BCS conference.

The College nearest my birth place that I lived close to for the first 8 years of my life is Texas Tech. However, I don’t have any logical connection to the Red Raiders. A lot of folks in Eastern New Mexico consider Texas Tech the home team.
The other city I lived in while getting my education could solve the dilemma. I earned a Master’s degree in Fort Worth, Texas. In fact, the church we attended in Fort Worth was University Baptist Church. The University in the name being Texas Christian University; TCU. In addition, they haven’t been a conference foe all that long. They have a winning program and there is the added benefit of seeing them play a couple of times a year.

Texas has a great live mascot, Bivo the Longhorn. I think the orange shirt with the white longhorn emblem is a great logo. I have such a shirt. TCU on the other hand has a horned frog. It is as fake as Lobo Louie and Swoop. Baylor has live bears and Tech has a real Red Raider. While I am glad that Utah didn’t go the politically correct route and dump the Ute name nor the feather logo, swoop looks like poop, and their live mascot is a . . . red tailed hawk? (New Mexico dropped the live Lobo when they had trouble with it chewing the fingers of children who tried to pet it.)

Well enough of this. I know, and you probably do too, I ain’t changing. Eventually NM will get on track again. I think it is going to require a new Athletic Director. The one we have seems to make poor choices where coaches are concerned. Utah will eventually come to the end of their current run. In the meantime I will ask you to remember the Lobo football mantra that is at least 40 years old. “Wait til basketball season.”

The Further Adventures of Giblet

I am sure many of you have lost sleep wondering about Giblet the wonder chicken we took with us on the Appalachian Trail. In a post last spring I told you she was missing. Well today we found her. She was located in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

She decided she had enough of hiking, so she caught up with some motorcyclers. They were a nice couple and said that Giblet wasn't too much trouble, but I couldn't help noticing the biking had put quite a bit of stress on her.

A Trillion

I came across an interesting comparison in World Magazine this month. It compares 1 million with 1 billion with 1 trillion.

This is relevant since our beloved government is talking about debt in the trillions now. In our current budget we are slated to spend 1.5 trillion dollars more than we take in. But that is just a number. One trillion is 1,000,000,000,000. To met that is just so many zeros.

Thus the comparison. 1 million seconds ago was 12 days ago. 1 Billion seconds ago was 30 years ago. 1 Trillion seconds ago was 30,000 BC.

I am not an economist but this is what think. Well, backoff, it's my blog. This will affect our children and grandchildren as they live with a grossly indebted government. It will affect us in that the only possible way to ever pay it off will be by inflation. Over the next few years inflation will rise steeply and as it does, the money we have set aside for retirement deflates.

I Would Do Church Differently

Attending churches as a guest has left me with an impression of some things I would do different if I were to ever be in charge again. Our worship is designed so totally for those already a part of the church outsiders can miss the whole message. By outsiders I mean, not just the unchurched, but believing church goers who are simply guests in our church.

We sail through our order of worship as mindlessly and as heartlessly as if it were a formal liturgy. We sing the song and say the words and if they ever had meaning to us, they no longer do; and anyone looking in from the outside would have to wonder, “what are they doing?”

In a newly designed format of worship I would continually explain to people what we were going to do, why we were doing it, and then after it was over explain what we did. Everything!

EXAMPLES:
“We are going to begin our Worship this morning by singing this amazing hymn about grace. It is a song about God’s amazing grace that allows us to experience Him without deserving to experience Him at all.”

“In our opening prayer we are going to ask the Lord to bless our church service this morning. We are calling on the Lord to make Himself present with us as we spend this hour with one another in His presence.”

“Prayer is when we address our thoughts and our requests to God believing He hears us and responds to us.”

I would include in each service a statement of belief. Either one of the traditional confessions of faith or I would write one for our particular church.

“I believe in One God, present in three persons, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”

It would be short, and maybe change the emphasis from week to week, or month to month and I would take a minute or two to explain what it is we are confessing as our faith.

I would insist that each song, hymn, carol, chorus, etc., be introduced with an explanation of why we were choosing to sing this particular song, or in the case of a string of music which is more the norm in today’s worship, what are we intending to accomplish, say, confess, pray, etc., by using these particular choices.

I would attempt to use the purpose statement of the church in each service to remind our members and to inform our guests of the purpose for which this church exists.
I would explain scripture readings before they happened.

“This passage of scripture was given to the prophet Isaiah by the Holy Spirit some 700 years before the birth of Christ. Isaiah, whose name means “the Lord is Salvation” was a prophet in Jerusalem after the time of David and Solomon whose main purpose was to remind his readers of the special relationship they had with God as members of his covenant community. ”

Now this is only a seedling of an idea. I see some pitfalls in it. You would have to be brief, yet you need to be sure your explanations really explain and not just further confuse things. You would have to change what you said, or before long it too would become ritualistic and ignored.

God has given us the privilege of meeting with Him and his earthly family on regular occasion. I believe we ought to work harder to give it meaning.

Go Ahead Turkey, Jump!

Would you be interested in a new ministry? Suicide Jumper Assistant. Don’t threaten to jump from the bridge when Lian Jiansheng is around. He will help you jump, rather, he will push you off the bridge.

Lian was an observer at a possible suicide jumper event in the city of Guangzhou in southern China. Chen Fuchao had been atop the Haizhu Bridge, threatening to jump for 5 hours.

Traffic was held up for those five hours as a crowd gathered. Chen sat on the bridge, threatening to jump. Lian offered to talk Chen down but police refused. Lian then broke through the police cordon, climbed to where Chen was sitting, shook his hand and pushed him off the bridge.

"I pushed him off because jumpers like Chen are very selfish. Their action violates a lot of public interest," Lian told Xinhua news agency. "They do not really dare to kill themselves. Instead, they just want to raise the relevant government authorities' attention to their appeals."

Chen is recovering from his fall in the hospital, Lian is in police custody at last report.

There is no information on Lian. Beyond his comments, why did he feel compelled to give Chen a hand? He was probably in the five hour traffic tie-up at the bridge. He grew weary of waiting for Chen. He decided to do something, even if it was wrong.
Don’t you feel like that sometimes? “Go ahead and jump if you have to, just get out of the way. You are holding things up.” That is not very compassionate nor Christ like but sometimes we grow weary in helping the hurting. One of the hazards of serving the Lord is compassion fatigue. Several times Paul warned the church to not get tired of doing the right thing.

“But as for you, brethren, do not grow weary of doing good.” 2 Thessalonians 3:13 (NASB95). See also Galatians 6:9

Here’s wishing you patience for today.

AT Journal

Jen and I have been reading the journal of our AT hike day by day as it happened two years ago. Every day was an awesome experience. Of course reading it in my easy chair I don't feel the knee pain. By now I was existing on 3200 mg of Ibuprophen per day. That is maximum dose, but I knew I would not be smart to keep it up for another 4 or 5 months.

That isn't what I wanted to blog. I wanted to write down the awesome experience we had. We had opportunity to enjoy life, one another, new friends, and develop a new kind of relationship with the Lord. The mind is an incredible thing, and as you hike, hour after hour, day after day, you can spend a lot of time in prayer and meditation.

We are aproaching Virginia in the Journal. 150 miles from our drop out place. How you can be so thrilled and so sad reading a journal you wrote only two years ago is beyond me.

Appalachian Trail Redux

March 15 arrived and our thoughts returned to Georgia, 2007 when we set out to hike the AT. We have been reading the journal of our travel, reminding ourselves of the experience. Last night we had a serious conversation about whether or not we should give it another try. We agreed that if we were to do it at this point, we would want to return to Georgia and start all over. We also agreed that it is impractical to even think about.

Today I am working on Lectures for a Doctoral class on relationships I will present in May. Jen has already left for her shift at the hospital. (It is 6:16 AM) Two years ago we were hiking out of Hiawassee, Georgia and crossed into North Carolina. We hiked 11.6 miles that day, almost all of it was uphill. Life is much different in 2009 than 2007.

Today I have to go to the gym to get an hour’s workout, then this afternoon I will walk 3-4 miles with Uma and the rest of the day will be spent sitting on my hinder. Then I was on my feet all day long with maybe an hour on my hinder all day. Then I was possessed with finding water, today I am stressed confining my liquid intake to water. Then I was satisfied with a tortilla spread with peanut butter and honey, today’s lunch will be significantly more complex I am sure. Then a cup of instant coffee hit the spot. Today I am about to have my third cup of brewed coffee from gourmet beans we purchase by mail. Then I was looking for places to put everything, my bag, my groceries for the week, my water bottle, the pump, etc. Today I am wondering where the best place to put the piano would be, and whether or not we can let Amy take the sofa that is in the basement den. Then I was wondering about the best way to put duct tape on my feet to avoid blisters. Today we are thinking of getting a new car before the tax credit runs out on hybrids. Then I was deciding which shirt combination would be the best to wear to combat the weather. Today I am wondering if the weather will return to warm enough to play golf on Thursday or Friday. Yes, life is different, but life is still life.

The tree is a trail landmark, about 100 yards after passing into North Carolina. My thoughts are with the fine folks who will be camping at Muskrat Creek Shelter, North Carolina tonight. There is a great campsite about 30 yards on up the trail from the turnoff to the shelter.