New Spot

Hey! I am not really going to be using this site anymore. As fun as it has been, I am trying to focus more on my writing and my new romance series, Jericho Falls. Thank you so much for all the fun and support over the years. And listening to my rants! The boyz say, "Thanks for the adoration we so richly deserved over the years!"

Guess What I've Been Doing?

Church Creek, I presume?

After at least three years of neglect, the walk to the creek was rotting and completely overgrown with marsh trees and grass. It wasn't as much work as I feared - two sessions about two hours each. The trees were mostly saplings growing off sucker roots and in the swampy mud, were fairly easy to just rock loose. The rest was just trimming the marsh grass back. Next we'll need to rebuild the walk. We are going to line it with some landscape timbers, pour out some sand and then put gravel on top. At high tide it floods, so hoping the timbers will hold the gravel in place. Hoping to be able to fix up the bank enough to launch kayaks.

The Power of Words

I don't have a facebook account, but I do read the people that Jason follows. He has such a wonderful group of artists and thinkers that I enjoy peeking in on their conversations.

One of his friends (on facebook and in real life) posted a cartoon the other day. It was a spoof on all the "wars" going on in America.

The War on Christmas.

The War on Job Creators.

The War on Religion.

The War on Freedom.

And off to the side, I saw this comment and it made my heart almost stop.

I don't know this person, but I am going to reprint his words here because I feel they need to shared:

"Dustin Whited As I sit here watching a group of family and friends plant American flags alongside the highway, in preparation for the funeral of a fallen soldier, I'm inclined to remind people what real WAR is, and to take care when throwing the word around. There's a dead kid coming home in a casket from a real war tomorrow. The shame is that sentence is applicable on most any given day."

I am humbled and shamed and will refrain from using the word "war" to describe political differences.

Got Peeps?

Loki sez: Happy Easter!

Threads

Jason is reading an awesome book, Karen Armstrong's 12 Steps to a Compassionate Life.

He has been reading me bits and pieces of it.

Here is a sort of meditation the book suggests. You can do this with any material thing, but lets look at this shirt I am wearing today.

It's a nice bright red t-shirt I probably picked up for $5 at Walmart.

Let me take a moment to think of the person who rang up my purchase.

And the person who stocked it on the shelf.

And the person who drove the shirt to the store, who was probably away from his family while on the road.

And a moment to think of his family anxiously waiting his safe return.

And the person at the warehouse who received the shirt from another truck driver whose family worried for him.

And the person who made the shirt, who stitched these seams that are still in good
shape after all these years.

And the person who dyed the fabric.

And the person who wove the fabric.

And the person who picked the cotton.

And the person who planted the cotton.

There is a long line of people connected to me through this simple red t-shirt.

Look around you at all your possessions. Imagine how many people, all over this planet who touched those things, who had a hand in bringing, creating these things for you.

Today, I think of them.

I Have a Problem

Actually, I have several problems, but this is the one giving me trouble today:

My sneaker obsession.

Other women go crazy over slingbacks or kitten heels or FMP's, but not me. It's sneakers.

Recently I purchased these:


Today, I ordered these.

This is getting worse than my Kindle book downloading problem.

Thor sez: Your biggest problem is that those "healthy" crunchies are still in my bowl, human.

Mandate Is What You Have Been Asking For People!

For all you people against the health insurance mandate, here is a simple explanation of how it will help YOU, the person paying his/her hard earned dollars for your own insurance plan and make those lazy welfare bums you hate so much begin to pay their fair share.

Isn't that what you want? People to pay for their own health care and stop making you do it???

Okay. So Joe Blow has no insurance for whatever reason - unemployed, pre-existing condition, job doesn't offer it, can't afford, or maybe he's just an idiot who is hoping nothing bad happens to him.

So he rides it out and oops! Something bad happens. And because he hasn't been going to a doctor for yearly physicals or anything, he ends up in the emergency room and/or having a nice little hospital stay.

He can't pay.

Hospital is out money.

Hospital raises charges for those with insurance.

Insurance company does not like paying out more money.

Insurance company makes up loss in profit by increasing your premiums, deductibles and co-pays and/or decreasing services covered.

YOU PAY MORE. GET LESS.

Now, if Joe Blow is required to find some sort of coverage, hospital gets paid, doesn't raise charges, your insurance company doesn't fear for its CEO's multimillion dollar bonus so doesn't take it out on you.

It is as easy as that.

So supporting the mandate helps you by requiring people to pay for their own insurance rather than gambling and leaving you to pay the ultimate bill.

Okay?

What's It All About, Alfie?

Loki-sass:

and Thor-bitude:

The Military Made Me a Liberal

I get confused when I hear some on the right claiming that those on the left are anti-military.

It was the military that made me a "liberal".

See, I was an air force brat.

I was taught to not see color.

I was taught to not see gender.

I was taught to not watch who went to which religious service.

I was taught to treat everyone with respect.

I was taught to respect those who wore the uniform.

And I took those values with me into my civilian life.

I was (am) against certain military actions simply because when I ask another citizen to risk his or her life for me, I want it to be an absolute last resort.