sunset years

I am not going to last forever,
but I want the work I do to last.
so I put all I have into it
this was my reward at the end of two long days
it was stunning, and I wonder now how many people looked out, and went on with their busy lives, instead of standing in awe.
I am in my sunset years, but I want it to be glorious!

I am the luckiest man on earth!

or so it seems
today I drive 3 hours south to
Carlsbad, Ca
and do some of my favorite type work
stay down near the ocean ( it has been too long)
and take on the same project Tuesday
and then scoot home while it dries/ cures
for a dental visit Wednesday ( there goes my luck)
and Next week I repeat the trip for finishing touches.
Oh God, you are so good!
Thank you all who pray for me

Lakeside

I think these are willows.
with the first fuzzy buds
telling me its near-to-spring.



the remains of last years"weeds" make a lovely dried arrangement in front of our ski slope mountains.

Too often I neglect to get out and appreciate my wonderful mountain valley. Not this week.

I also posted a picture or two here.
and MTR has a new post on Great Minds
Thank you for all your support.

Etta James

this will be a 5 minute blog post:

I feel great my mouth is not sore ( 7 am )
my face is only a little swollen
and I will not need anything stronger than
Extra Strength Tylenol to help me get thru my
(admittedly EASY) day.
Bless you for caring,

Should I go see Etta James in concert ?
hmmm
you get to vote
possible new computer found
now I just have to shop for it.

not much verbage today

Today would be a good day NOT to blog
as I am distracted.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
Update: 10 pm
Yarr - that really hurt.
As good as my dental student is
he was matched in strength by my stubborn and brittle teeth.
Three of which had to come out today to get my mouth ready for
a removable partial denture. ( insert sound of your own tooth breaking off)
-------------------- psychological train wreck ------------------------
Today I wanted to be bilingual, so I would have another language to
exclaim my deepest feelings without offending the assistant.
My mouth was full of large tooth pulling tools, and my face was numb to the tip of my chin and half way up my nose, but I had a few things that needed saying.

"Dear God in heaven, if you get me through this without a heart attack I will promise to brush and floss much more often. "
in german: Gott im himmel! bekommen Sie mich bitte aus diesem Zahnstuh!
( my mothers mother tongue)

for now I am ok
huge holes in gums, four stitches, some swelling ( aint that swell!)
and enjoying yogurt and white chocolate pudding for late snack.
Thanking God that I have strength beyond what I know.
Now, if Jack from '24' ever gets tired of torturing terrorists, my pal
at Loma Linda School of dentistry could do a great job!

its ok to laugh now, I am fast asleep, and drugged.

tuesday movie

take your kids to see "bridge to terebinthia"
young kids
its disney
and well, i kinda wished I had the good sense to sneak
over to the other side and see Ghost Rider.

but i explored youth culture tonight
and found out, again, that I am OLD

hero

This blogger went to the memorial of a fallen Marine Saturday.
I will try to post about it soon.
it is very hard to find words for something
so sad and yet amazing; That a man would choose his
country and a cause over his own self.
I think I have a lot to learn from this sort of man.

----------------------Sunday AM transitions --------

sights and smells
maple sausage frying,
low angle sunlight slashing across the back yard
coffee brewing in the Melitta
the chirp of tiny birds in their cages greeting the day

It is going to be a big day.
I am meeting a client after church to propose building a concrete counter top for their kitchen.
the hitch: its a three hour drive each way!
The good part: I am an independent agent, so I can take jobs that would not make sense to others.
I get to have fun AND do incredibly beautiful things for my clients
Life is good in these mountains.

wwcp ( it's Alive, click to zoom in)

through a glass darkly

olive oil

Down time

Matt has a new post worth reading over at Great Minds
please dash over there while I try to rationalize spending $ 300 to fix my old computer

WEIRD!

Children of Men; what a weird movie !
So so so very political, so very graphic. The extreme barbarism of paramilitary violence and blatant racism/ immigrant phobic "Americans First" philosophy.
( the trick is it is in England, and the immigrants are Europeans)
They even had militant Muslims as 'some" of the bad guys.
I had to go see it, it was only $5, but i would not recommend it.
Way too "all over the place" for any one message to come through.
I am sure critics will rave, I give it a BIG TOE DOWN.
which means, "I could have slept through it except for the coffee I had this afternoon".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In other news, I am NOT claiming to be the father of Anna Nicole's baby.
- - - - - - - - - -
Late breaking info, the crescent moon was Fabulous just before sunrise as darling daughter and I shared a moment before school, standing in our driveway, a powdering of snow at our feet, as she starts her 16th winter. Some day I must tell the story of her home birth. Remind me.
She's beautiful, she loves God and her ( weird) family. She is learning to drive (heart attack)
Pray for her Dad.

go, say "hey", then pray

ring ring
"Hello?"

"I know its late, sorry, but do me a favor"

"ummm"

Just quickly go over to Purple Kangaroo and read about her
work to figure out what is happening with her daughter 'baby E'
who seems to have lots of food allergies, Ok?"

*yawn*

"and if you think you are tired now, you will be flat out exhausted when you realize how little sleep this set of parents has had the last year and a half."

Rainy days and mondays always make me blog.

hi
how are you?
I am so glad you dropped by, cause I was looking at the dripping off the eaves while my breakfast cereal was cooking ( wheat, yum) and wondering if anyone would come by today.

Used to be when it got gray and cloudy that I would too. Now I get even!
I write about it, and turn a damp dreariness into a piece of literary ----ness.

now I will do the slipper shuffle over to the stove and feed myself,
which is rather amazing for a man of my advanced years.

Last night I even made THE MOST DELICIOUS BBQ beef sandwiches!
and since today is Sunday, better pull on my least tattered threads and hop on Bessie the mule and amble on over to church. ( If I am not there , they could talk about me!)

Hope you have a very nice day, watch the steps, it's a bit wet out there.

now that's Hot!

from Joe

Friday

hooray
i am hearing from you ( in comments)
and feel less "netherworldly"

I do wish I had something great to post.

I will see if I can get my camera to download to this ( temp) computer
and then I will have pics to share

for now the parakeets are chirping
and my next job is waiting

the cruise ship to the Bahamas seems to have forgotten to stop by and pick me up, so I wait for another dose of weather, rain this time, no snow, or so they say.
----------------------
we will all miss Anna Nicole doing TrimSpa commercials.
what a story!
Now here come all the books and the made for TV miniseries.

day two of what's new

ok
I got ONE comment all of yesterday.
Was there an international holiday I was not aware of?
Is there a shortage of virtual ink?
Is google being a tryrant and not letting you comment?
If problems, email me, and I will take it up with Mr. Google himself.

My dentist is a combination genius and hun ( as in Attilla)
my mouth progresses to health, my lip is hamburger.
I bought a few goodies at the Salvation Army and Goodwill
while i was awaiting my turn in the chair.
Southern Calif is such a great place to live, I will miss it when I flee to some place where the inhabitants speak a foreign language because it's the custom.
( I am thinking Fargo, ehh Marge?)

so what? this is NEW??

I had to do it (switch to the new booger)
so I could get in here and battle the robots making comments.

for a while I may put a word verification

I kid you not, there were 200 comments
which got me very excited
until I found they were ALL telling me about the new fabulous browser
which I already know about. I deleted them wholesale, if I nixed your pearls of wisdom I apologize and welcome you to ( TRY ) commenting again
report any trouble you have.

I joined a new web site for mountain folks ( local yokels)
hoping to get to know more of my neighbors,
and maybe advertise my blog and my business.

Can't recall

Either I have too leave RIGHT NOW to get to the dentist
or I could go in 4 hours
for my 1 1/2 hour drive'
I know my appointment is today Feb 6th because it is also my mom's birthday #88
Was it in the morning, or afternoon ?
If morning I am a little late
if not, I will waste the morning reading in the warm sunshine on the grass
at LLUMC (sounds like a WIN WIN deal)
I wonder which it will be??

stay tuned - MATT has a new post over at Great Minds ( the ADHD blog)
so. go. read.

We pray - and we reach out

Many thanks to all of you who visit, and pray and leave hopeful comments at Minerva's.

I never do mass emailing ( until now)
I am convinced there is something much larger than blogging going on.
I am sure God is at work. Pass this on if you would like.
I am humbled by the goodness of the few against the backdrop of the dullness of society.
What does it matter what Sean Penn thinks of the war?
Does it matter which starlet was drunk driving?

Here is what matters:
Someone needs you right now.
Go, hold them, tell them you love them.
Give all you have to give, and be surprised that your giving tank does not go empty, it ALWAYS has reserves.
Rejoice that sunset does not mean end ( as in death, obscurity)
it gives a chance to rest and reflect and renew.

If you know FaithinFlorida, she could use a hug and your prayers.
read a bunch before you comment, get the big picture.
- - - - - - - - - - -- - - - - ----
"if you don't hav sumpin nice to say, don say nuffin atal. " Thumper

6:28 the Bunny hop

funny sad and then thought provoking (post for today)

Thank you for the thoughtful comments on my previous posts,
sometimes I take time to reply in the comments section,
mostly I do not. Some of you know precisely how I feel and what I think on many topics,
and I like that. "being known"

ok some funny things:

folks who grind their beans every morning and can taste the difference that freshness makes, hmm?

Blogs that have no editor, or censor, which end up too long or too raw to be of use.

TV news, which showcases pretty boys and face-lifted women who simply "read" what is on the screen in front of them. This is crap. Give me an intelligent mind, and a good voice to bring me meaning with my content. ALL news sources have this "info-tainment" problem, even FOXnews.

Other fussy coffee folks, who pay $3 a cup to have some pimple faced kid grind their beans.

That the sun comes up EVERY day in a new miraculous way, and so few people get out doors and appreciate it.

That children learn to make beautiful music with all kinds of instruments and their parents fail to show UP at their performances. ( ok we are apparently into the SAD category and soon I will need an editor)

Sad that one of the "scooter" bunnies got smooshed in the road a few days ago, but since I saw two in my yard just now, doing the bunny hop, I am sure we will have plenty of bunnies for a long time to come. ( i wish I had video)

more later - time to rock n roll the talented viola girl to school ...

Be well, and go watch a sunrise!