A Father's Regret: One of Them Anyway

I don't remember what prompted the angry outburst. Maybe when I found my plate block stamps helpfully separated into single stamps so I could use them easier. Maybe when we were cleaning out the nook under the house and he dropped an antique punch bowl. Maybe something else.
But I remember what I said in anger: "Matt, if you do that again I will cut off your fingers!!!". Then within microseconds of the words coming out, I realized a couple of things; One, it was a hollow threat because I would never do that and; two, he will realize I didn't mean it. But I said quickly "I am sorry I said that. I would never hurt you. I just got mad."
The words were out before the brain really engaged. A frontal lobe failure. And not just some brain, but MY brain. And he was a young child. Maybe he didn't know that I wouldn't hurt him.
I know probably most parents say things in anger to each other or their kids that they don't really mean, and mostly the things we say get forgiven. But obviously not all of them get forgotten.
The lesson in this? Try to be very careful what you say. Because even if you follow up something nasty with "I'm sorry", the words may cut too deep to be excised.
And I am truly sorry.
Please, just be careful.
Image: https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/p480x480/922870_484950154909697_353493361_n.png

Little Angels Pissing Contests

 

I was reminiscing with my brother the other day about some of the things we did when we were kids. I would have been less than 10 and he less than 13 (based on where we lived at the time.) We eventually got to the “dueling stream pissing contests” we would get into. One of us would start to wee, and then quickly the other would unlimber and try to knock the stream to the side with his stream. Lots of fun. Then Tom said “remember the cigarette butts?” Oh yeah, I said. Pop would pee and sometimes throw his unfiltered Chesterfield butt in the toilet afterwards. He usually didn’t flush if he knew we were next. So Tom and I would both stand in front of the bowl and try to “sink the butt” with our powerful jets of pee. We would often shred the butt to pieces, but only if we didn’t get diverted by trying to knock the other’s stream aside. Uninhibited kids do amazing things, don’t they? Anyone else ever engage in this kind of jousting?

Image: Angelic brothers

Christians, Atheists, Agnostics and Others

I know lots of people. Most but not all are Christians. There are a sprinkeling of other types including atheists, agnostics, and Buddhists. No Muslims though. Not from choice or exclusion but rather from a lack of opportunity. See, I don’t seek out people based on their religion.

So, when I hear statements (1) that we have to watch the Anti-American and Anti-Religion activities on college campuses it makes my blood boil. For starters, the so-called “Anti-Religion” crap is a tired retread of the right wing cry “They [whoever “they” are is never defined] are trying to kill Christianity” in America. Nobody with a brain bigger than a pea actually believes that. Well, a lot of people actually seem to believe that, but they are all pea-brained morons. The people pumping that crap out are shrewd manipulators of the public they control. But I digress.
I have been on college campuses since 1958. Continuously. I have seen the civil rights era, the Woodstock era, the Vietnam war era, the shameful Nixon era, the fall of Communism era. I have seen, heard and been part of many different kinds of protests. WAKE UP RIGHT WINGERS!!!! This is AMERICA where freedom of speech and association is guaranteed by the same Constitution that you thump about guns.

Calling for the separation of Church and State is not an attack on Christianity. Keeping religion out of public events is not an attach on Christianity. It is the exercise of a Constitutional Right. You know, like the one to bear arms? And for the umpteenth time, THIS IS NOT A CHRISTIAN NATION!! We do not have a national religion.

In America we all have the right to protest what we want, to be free of religious coercion and to hang around with whomever we want. GUARANTEED BY THE CONSTITUTION, so quit whining about the demise of your faith and read the Constitution instead of the Bible. You might actually learn something.

1. Private correspondence

Image: http://www.heardcitizen.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/we-the-people.jpg

Florida Governor RICK SCOTT taxes the POOR: AGAIN!!

 

“3. Florida
The poor in Florida pay taxes equal to 13.2% of their income, compared with just 2.3% for its wealthiest citizens. With no income tax and a 6% sales tax, Florida is among the more regressive of the states, and a recent increase in the exemption for business from corporate income tax adds to relative burden that the poor bear in the Sunshine State.”

This quote is from an article listing the 6 states that have the highest taxes on the poor. Florida is on the list. And now the Governor is getting ready to be regressive again: Internet sales tax. Oh, you say, what is wrong with collecting sales tax on internet sales? Probably not the poorest residents buy from the internet anyway. So what is the BIG DEAL?

Simple: Scott will sign into law a bill mandating collecting of internet sales tax ONLY IF the legislator makes it revenue neutral. REVENUE NEUTRAL!!! In other words, cut taxes somewhere else to balance the increase in sales tax collection. Which taxes? Most likely taxes that poor people don’t pay anyway. Most likely taxes that wealthy people pay. Most likely taxes that the cronies of the legislature and the governor pay. So the addition of more sales tax is regressive.

What a great big goddamn surprise. And from a Republican Governor, House and Senate. Who’da thought?

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/04/21/these-6-states-tax-the-poor-the-hardest.aspx
Image: http://hipiseverything.com/hipblog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/rick-scott-by-donkey-hotey.jpg

 

Ten Tors: Not an Outing for the Casual Walker

Ten Tors Team with Fin Godfrey (far left)

Tor: a rocky pinnacle; a peak of a bare or rocky mountain or hill. (1)

“Ten Tors is an annual weekend hike organised and run in early May for 2,400 young people by the British Army on Dartmoor.” So starts the Wikipedia entry on Ten Tors. For the past several years, my nephews have taken the challenge and hiked the rugged terrain of Dartmoor. Although a “spring” event, the weather in England in the spring runs from beautiful to worse than awful. From warm and dry to freezing cold and raining or snowing. The young prople who take on this challenge of 35, 45 or 55 miles train for months, then after a gear check and briefing, strike out on the hike. They carry all the food, tents, clothes, cooking gear and first aid gear they will need to meet the conditions on the open Moorland. They purify water as they go for drinking.

These are tough young men and women.

This year my nephew Fin will lead a team 45 miles from Tor to Tor until all ten have been reached. He was chosen because of his experience on previous outings, his ability to navigate in the wilderness and his personality. No better choice in my opinion. He will lead the group to success and the entire family is as proud as a proud family can be.

All there is left to say is “GO FIN AND GO TEAM!!!!!”

Image: Fin (left) and some others I don’t know, including the team members
Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Tors
1. Definition: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/tor

It is Certainly Terrorism

Boston not Damascus

Foreign or Domestic? The word as of 7:30 AM on Tuesday isn’t in. We don’t know. We don’t know exactly what happened in Boston.

What we do know is this: some sick assholes killed and maimed nearly 159 innocent people to make some unknown point. The key word is “UNKNOWN”. We don’t know who or why. Yet.

So I beg everybody to stop the mindless speculation and wait for the evidence to point to the purp or purps. Then let’s get the bastard(s) and kill them.

Image: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/boston-marathon-explosion-580.jpg

A Chapter Closes: Rainbow Farm is Sold.

Rainbow Farm has been sold. Officially as of today at 3:00PM. The trials, memories, fun, work and everything else are now behind us. All of us who may have shared a moment there. Sal and I will recycle memories for years about the Aussie parties, the weddings, the weeds, the dogs and cats, the steers and goat, the ponds and nuts. And more.
The new owners are a Church. No, not someone named “Church”, a real Church. The First Believers Christian Center will take title and use the house for a fellowship hall and day care center. The chapel will be built on the front lot. The stories of “fellowship” the old house could tell would make the congregation blush, probably, but philosophy aside, we are happy to have the property in good hands.
A chapter never seems to close until another is ready to open. We move on, they move in. And so it goes. We have no regrets, just some latent sadness. We spent 24 years there, and you just can’t cut that much time out of lives without a bit of sadness. So to the First Believers Christian Center we say “WELCOME”. We hope you have joy and fulfillment at Rainbow Farm as we did. And to our friends who remember, we say “THANK YOU” for sharing our lives and home.

Now we live at “Rainbow Rise” and are content. We also have “Rainbow Ridge” in Gulf Terrace. Between the two of those rainbows we will be busy for years to come. Then, another chapter will close. No worries mate.

Image: Rainbow Farm

Red, Yellow and Blue

Ah, Spring! It has finally arrived in some iteration and yesterday was the “day to get things done”. We mostly emptied the big fish pond (water feature for our “haute” friends [we don’t have any, BTW]), sucked the muck out of the deep end, replanted lots of plants and tossed many too. The weather was perfect, and as we sat with our coffee looking over the domain from the kitchen, the final evidence of Spring: A Cardinal, a Goldfinch and an Indigo Bunting all feeding on the same feeder. What a sight, even for little old colorblind me. You see, I can see yellow just fine, and in bright sunlight, Cardinal Red and Bunting Blue shines out to me. So it was breath taking to me and Sally.

What a TREAT!!!!

 Image Bunting: http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/images/IndigoBunting431.jpg
Image Finch: http://sdakotabirds.com/species_photos/photos/american_goldfinch_10.jpg
Image Cardinal: http://www.statesymbolsusa.org/IMAGES/Illinois/NorthernCardinal2.jpg

Now it is Time to be Worried

Discussing, arguing, debating about this religious nut or that religious attempt at coercion has been a way of life in blogs and other venues for a long time. Now things are poised to take a dramatic turn. North Carolina (1) may adopt an official State Religion and challenge the U.S. Constitution to stop them. Who knows where this may lead, but I can tell you this: it is time to be worried.

This flies in the face, no, worse, this flings shit in the face of the Constitution and of the Founding Fathers that these conservative morons claim to love and venerate. If I were any religion other than Christian I would began making plans to evacuate the State of North Carolina. If I were a Christian I would be terribly embarrassed. If I were an American, I would be really pissed off. Wait. I AM an American, and this really, really pisses me off. How about you?

1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/03/north-carolina-religion-bill_n_3003401.html

Image: http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-ash3/41598_106460822743085_4789_n.jpg

Look at these STATS! Just DAMN COOL!

	Pageviews
United States	125
Germany	19
Poland	9
Australia	6
United Kingdom	5
South Korea	3
Netherlands	2
Russia	2
Brazil	1
Canada	1

 

The above are the pageviews from March 26 – April 2, 2013. I think this is so damn cool. Look at the range of locations where people took a look at my writings. Amazing. I wish some of the folks in these counrties would let me know who they are and what they think. I have some idea about the visits from the USA. And the UK, Australia and Canada are places where I know I have friends. But the rest? Wow. And these STATS are only for one week. Thanks all of you for checking out my Blog. I love it. Wheeee.