red wing blackbird (enlarge)

I am very stealthy,
or it is very dead.

Happy friday friends

off to drive mom toward LA
and continue working on the project that never ends ( no NOT paying down the credit card, haha!)
------------------------------
Update: the friday drive was a bit beastly and I kept wishing I had a gun. Mom thought that it was unkind of me to want to shoot the other drivers, whereas I see it just as traffic control. If you keep letting new people ( code word for recent immigrants) onto the freeway you must also get rid of some of the current freeway users. Permanently! hahahaahaha

fall colors

Pardon my obvious bias
I am thinking that God, when in all His wisdom, created poplars, aspens and oaks, He wanted them to do more than drop their leaves to signal the fall. I have this silly notion that making maples and birches and a thousand other trees was easy for the Lord, and so he showed off just a bit by making them color changing, just for those who would see and apreciate.
For readers who miss the spectacle of Fall colors, get thee to the mountains or the north woods and check out God, His love for us, and His infinite wisdom.



I am going to take a blog vacation: probably a week
I think my bible has some passages that I need to reread.
My personal Journal needs some attention, and then there is always work.
(I have a terrific tile job, but without my helper, pray for Gary's injured back.)
I know I will be back, and maybe better than ever.
Stay tuned for the new re-grand opening of the highly improved, Larger - economy sized- Sugarloaf Mountain.
In the meantime please dig in the archives, there are a few gems there.
comments welcome, but I don't think I will be publishing them during this time.

I need to go to church

I am in a crappy mood.
Why?
I just went to Post secrets and their visitor count is 44 million ahead of mine.
I know I am not posting artwork, or terrible secrets of strangers,
I know that there are no gratuitous flashes of body parts here.
BUT I WANT MORE TRAFFIC!
Part of being a blogger is wanting to put something of your own out there for other people to experience. We want to be 'almost famous'. This post secret guy is doing it! he has two books and traveling shows and probably a cool place to live. ( mine is cool, YES. that is because I have not turned on the furnace yet. yuk yuk )

Enough already! I like postsecret.com and so do 44 million others. I am over it almost.
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In cooking news:
Chicken in the pot for 'chicken zuppa' *
Chocolate cake on the counter from 'father-daughter' baking event.
Plum preserves on the top shelf from my ernest desire to 'out-Martha' Martha Stewart.
I am good at preserves, what can ( pun) I say?

* borrowing italian words from my last completed read: I Know This Much is True,
by Wally Lamb. I am so proud to have read all 897 pages by myself WITHOUT moving my lips!

from the kitchen window, I can see various birds feeding on the seed I spread on the back yard dirt. ( in drought country we call that water efficient landscaping, the Landlord calls it saving money.) One mourning dove was pecking at the dirt finding what she wanted. very alone, and very busy with getting her fill. later there will be dozens of brown cow birds, and sparrows. I cut up chicken for the soup, and cleaned a bit from the mess that results when I make when the cooking/ baking/canning bug hits me. hannah helped, which makes it so much more fun, and
asked; "Do you like making jam? is it sort of a hobby thing?" Yes - that and more! its taking summers abundance and preserving it for the colder months ahead. It takes me all the way back to 1980 when I was still living in the family home on Allott Ave, and had custody of three fruit trees. I learned to can peaches out of neccessity, since there is only so much fruit you can eat or give away. I have worked on it these last five years and developed some skills, and made lots of sweet treats. Most recently, showing my daughter how its done, and that it is really uncomplicated, maybe the sweetest part of all.

After church, I am making eggplant casserole ( I it that for now since I have no recipe and never know what all is going into it) I'll let you know how it turns out.

late in the season the poppy blooms
it does not know or care
that it missed the early summer rush
it is not worried about the snow that will soon fall
it just is. the poppy is beautiful
that is its mission

what is your mission? 

boycott Citgo Gasoline

when Hugo Chavez came to our soil
and uses his speech at the UN to
insult us and call our president the devil,
he went too far.
Screw Venezuela and their oil.
let it back up in the pipelines and their economy go bust.
Citgo gasoline stations are now the subject of agrass roots boycott
in my town its sold at 7-11
I was there ready to fill er up, when I saw the symbol
"Citgo" I stopped the pump at 2 gallons, just enough to get home and later, to another station.

I amdone with dictators insulting us and then profitting from us.
Hugo, you got to go!

Boycott Citgo. don't buy citgo gas or shop in the minimarkets there!
Just say NO to citgo and latin American marxism.

quaking aspen

 

a while ago

me
up high
















having fun with my chainsaw 

***Expletive***

so now the pope is in trouble with the Muslims
because he said something about the teaching of their book being ( related story)
(in parts) evil and inhuman. Some muslms are demanding an apology.
Wouldn't it be cool if the pope for just five minutes could have Richard Nixon's vocabulary?
Just so he could just tell the people who are cutting off childrens' hands for stealing and stoning women for going out in public without their 'man', that not only their teaching but also their ancient primitive practices are evil and inhuman, and as far as an apology, **** you!

Hollyhock

its
a perfect
day in
paradise

its not bad here in the mountains either! 

travels with charlie

travels with charlie

tribute to Franciso Liriano
fallen at the WTC 9-11-2001

one of the 2996

wed sept 13th - a flower for you

something simple
something beautiful
not outrageous
nor mundane
its strokes the hair of your psyche
and says, "calm down, its alright."
a flower
with power

i have so little to write

but really enjoy hearing from you
so its your turn:
What is the best thing in your world today?

breakfast

Sausage, biscuits, coffee
and prayer
---------------------------
I'm so happy
I really am
I have good relationships within my family
I am very healthy, though over-taxing my body on these firewood days
I am strong as an Ox
(some would say stubborn as a mule)
I am getting so much from church, and bible study.
I have hope, which is more valuable that a fat check book
and I have people who read my blog
What more could a man want on a clear blue high mountain Saturday?

What do you want from your day today?