Is in the hospital after a nasty brush with a heart attack. The prognosis at the moment is good, but he'll be there for at least a week, I'm told.
Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers and maybe drop by his blog to give him your well wishes.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Monday, October 5, 2009
Religion
Sunday, I posted a bit of a rant about a different twist on a haunted house, and in the comments, a bit longer rant about organized religion in general.
It never ceases to amaze me, how many people email me on a subject rather than comment on a post.
Not complaining, mind you. I get a little warm fuzzy feeling each time I look at the email account for this blog and see that someone has written me. It means people are paying attention, and going to the effort to look beyond the front page for my email address.
But some of the emails regarding Sunday's post weren't exactly flattering. And a couple contained exactly the sort of "Come To Jesus" posturing and bullying that I was complaining of in the first place!
So I'm going to clear up a few things.
First off, I don't hate god, God, Kali, Buddha, Apollo, Pan or any other deity. Regardless of what one of my more vehement emailers may think, I do have a quite healthy relationship with deity. I just don't feel that I need someone else to guide me in my beliefs.
As for why I use the term deity rather than God, well, it's a case of having far too many people assume that I am their particular stripe of invisible-being worshiper, and poke and prod at me when they figure out that I'm not.
My issues with organized religion come from bad interactions with said organized religious types, be they congregation, parishioner, or leader. I don't believe that any god would approve of some of the things done in their various names, and thus far have not found an organized belief system that I can agree with totally. I honestly don't feel that a deity cares whether you are in a church, temple, or sacred grove or not.
I'm not saying that I haven't met great people who believe very firmly in the tenets of organized religion. For one, an insightful and caring retired pastor from South Africa whom you may know as Bayou Renaissance Man who is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of what faith should be. During hard times, he has offered an ear, counsel, and simple loving friendship to me, and it has been much appreciated, even though most of the time I just can't bring myself to burden someone else with my worries. I respect and like Peter very much, and more so because he doesn't push his beliefs on others, simply makes sure that they know he is there if they do wish to talk about something.
Another is a Born Again Christian preacher who has that black-church-with-a-choir passion about his beliefs, who I had the great fortune to meet while I was at school. He felt very strongly about his relationship with God, but he never pushed. We had several religious discussions over the two years I was at the college, and I have no doubt that we'll have more. The great thing about this man is that with all of his passion for his faith, he never once made anyone feel like they were wrong if they didn't believe the same things he did. He would listen, and discuss, and think about the things they said. He has the kind of generous heart that is all too rare in this world. He smiles when he preaches, because his faith makes him happy.
Far too few people in this world can truthfully say that their faith makes them feel happy.
Is it so wrong to feel that my beliefs are no one's business but my own? Who does it hurt?
For that matter, who does it hurt if your neighbor worships at an altar in their living room rather than one in the church on the corner?
Or if someone wears an Ankh rather than a cross?
Good people are good people, regardless of what name they call their higher power. Everyone believes that they're right about the organization of the afterlife, but no one knows. That's why it's called faith.
Let your neighbor have theirs.
It never ceases to amaze me, how many people email me on a subject rather than comment on a post.
Not complaining, mind you. I get a little warm fuzzy feeling each time I look at the email account for this blog and see that someone has written me. It means people are paying attention, and going to the effort to look beyond the front page for my email address.
But some of the emails regarding Sunday's post weren't exactly flattering. And a couple contained exactly the sort of "Come To Jesus" posturing and bullying that I was complaining of in the first place!
So I'm going to clear up a few things.
First off, I don't hate god, God, Kali, Buddha, Apollo, Pan or any other deity. Regardless of what one of my more vehement emailers may think, I do have a quite healthy relationship with deity. I just don't feel that I need someone else to guide me in my beliefs.
As for why I use the term deity rather than God, well, it's a case of having far too many people assume that I am their particular stripe of invisible-being worshiper, and poke and prod at me when they figure out that I'm not.
My issues with organized religion come from bad interactions with said organized religious types, be they congregation, parishioner, or leader. I don't believe that any god would approve of some of the things done in their various names, and thus far have not found an organized belief system that I can agree with totally. I honestly don't feel that a deity cares whether you are in a church, temple, or sacred grove or not.
I'm not saying that I haven't met great people who believe very firmly in the tenets of organized religion. For one, an insightful and caring retired pastor from South Africa whom you may know as Bayou Renaissance Man who is, in my opinion, one of the best examples of what faith should be. During hard times, he has offered an ear, counsel, and simple loving friendship to me, and it has been much appreciated, even though most of the time I just can't bring myself to burden someone else with my worries. I respect and like Peter very much, and more so because he doesn't push his beliefs on others, simply makes sure that they know he is there if they do wish to talk about something.
Another is a Born Again Christian preacher who has that black-church-with-a-choir passion about his beliefs, who I had the great fortune to meet while I was at school. He felt very strongly about his relationship with God, but he never pushed. We had several religious discussions over the two years I was at the college, and I have no doubt that we'll have more. The great thing about this man is that with all of his passion for his faith, he never once made anyone feel like they were wrong if they didn't believe the same things he did. He would listen, and discuss, and think about the things they said. He has the kind of generous heart that is all too rare in this world. He smiles when he preaches, because his faith makes him happy.
Far too few people in this world can truthfully say that their faith makes them feel happy.
Is it so wrong to feel that my beliefs are no one's business but my own? Who does it hurt?
For that matter, who does it hurt if your neighbor worships at an altar in their living room rather than one in the church on the corner?
Or if someone wears an Ankh rather than a cross?
Good people are good people, regardless of what name they call their higher power. Everyone believes that they're right about the organization of the afterlife, but no one knows. That's why it's called faith.
Let your neighbor have theirs.
Linky, Much Thinky
Just a link today, but it's not the usual linky-no-thinky, because the post will make you think quite a bit.
For those of you who don't already read Bayou Renaissance Man also known as Peter, he should definitely be added to your daily trek through the Internet.
Today he honors a fallen friend, and in the process reminds us that honor, courage, and great leadership are sometimes found in what, to us, might seem the unlikeliest places.
Go Read and remind yourself that great men still walk among us.
For those of you who don't already read Bayou Renaissance Man also known as Peter, he should definitely be added to your daily trek through the Internet.
Today he honors a fallen friend, and in the process reminds us that honor, courage, and great leadership are sometimes found in what, to us, might seem the unlikeliest places.
Go Read and remind yourself that great men still walk among us.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Judgement House
I was in the big college town this weekend for the rodeo fun, and noticed a sign on the front of the apartment building for older folks.
It said Judgment House. The painting on the window says "Tour your final destination! Bring the kids!"
Wait... wha?
So, haunted houses are bad because they're scary and make people scream and cry, but you can put on one of these Judgment houses and tell folks they're going to hell to try to scare them into doing more what you think they should do and that's OK??
I don't think so.
I'll tell ya what, folks. The day someone crawls inside my head and examines every decision I've ever made from MY perspective, that's the day they can judge me. Until then, unless I invite discussion of religious matters or my decision making process, keep your nose out of my business.
It aggravates the piss out of me that they've set up this thing and are running it, but there were radio spots all over the place last year (haven't been listening to local radio this year) about how your haunted house shouldn't be TOO scary because it's supposed to be fun and the children cry and then it's not fun anymore and besides it's not nice to make people cry ok now run along and play, love, City Council.
Or something like that.
Don't jump out and say boo, tell them they're going to hell, instead. Fabulous. Just fabulous. That won't scar the children for life anything like Uncle Randy jumping out of a closet with a scary mask on. Instead of being embarrassed for screaming like a girl, little Tommy is going to believe that God hates him.
Let us pray:
Dear Jesus,
Please save me from the things that people do in your name.
Amen.
It said Judgment House. The painting on the window says "Tour your final destination! Bring the kids!"
Wait... wha?
So, haunted houses are bad because they're scary and make people scream and cry, but you can put on one of these Judgment houses and tell folks they're going to hell to try to scare them into doing more what you think they should do and that's OK??
I don't think so.
I'll tell ya what, folks. The day someone crawls inside my head and examines every decision I've ever made from MY perspective, that's the day they can judge me. Until then, unless I invite discussion of religious matters or my decision making process, keep your nose out of my business.
It aggravates the piss out of me that they've set up this thing and are running it, but there were radio spots all over the place last year (haven't been listening to local radio this year) about how your haunted house shouldn't be TOO scary because it's supposed to be fun and the children cry and then it's not fun anymore and besides it's not nice to make people cry ok now run along and play, love, City Council.
Or something like that.
Don't jump out and say boo, tell them they're going to hell, instead. Fabulous. Just fabulous. That won't scar the children for life anything like Uncle Randy jumping out of a closet with a scary mask on. Instead of being embarrassed for screaming like a girl, little Tommy is going to believe that God hates him.
Let us pray:
Dear Jesus,
Please save me from the things that people do in your name.
Amen.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Vehicular Madness
A while back my car started malfunctioning in an odd way. If it wasn't run every day, the battery would go dead. Didn't seem like such a big deal a brand new battery met the same fate.
It's been sitting, and I've been driving other things, but I finally got it into the mechanic and got him to poke around and discover the problem. Which was actually fairly easy to discover, considering.
See, I had figured there had to be a short somewhere draining the battery. I just had no idea how to go about finding it. Thus my need for a mechanic. Who, first thing hooked the battery up to a trickle charger for a few hours, then flipped it over to boost to try and start the car.
Of course being concerned about an electrical malfunction and a possible battery malfunction he checked the battery for heat as the boost kicked in, so he was under the hood and not inside the car when smoke began rolling from my dash.
It seems that my eight year old (give or take) stereo had decided to give up the ghost, by shorting out and drawing charge off the battery. Today, it decided to commit suicide by catching on fire.
Frankly with the amount of dust and dirt that must have made it's way into that thing I'm amazed it hadn't blown up earlier.
Luckily the mechanic was quick thinking and jerked the cables, and then dismantled the dash to see what exactly had caught on fire.
Hopefully re-installing the factory stereo (which doesn't have a CD player, but I'll survive without that for a while) will solve the short, which appeared to come from inside the stereo itself. Mechanic will be going over everything once the new battery is installed (I got it at El Marto Del Wal, it's got three year free replacement, they can give me a damn new battery) just to make sure there's not another incident, but he figures the culprit was the stereo.
So, possibly as soon as tomorrow afternoon I'll have my car back, yay!
And hopefully nothing else catches on fire.
It's been sitting, and I've been driving other things, but I finally got it into the mechanic and got him to poke around and discover the problem. Which was actually fairly easy to discover, considering.
See, I had figured there had to be a short somewhere draining the battery. I just had no idea how to go about finding it. Thus my need for a mechanic. Who, first thing hooked the battery up to a trickle charger for a few hours, then flipped it over to boost to try and start the car.
Of course being concerned about an electrical malfunction and a possible battery malfunction he checked the battery for heat as the boost kicked in, so he was under the hood and not inside the car when smoke began rolling from my dash.
It seems that my eight year old (give or take) stereo had decided to give up the ghost, by shorting out and drawing charge off the battery. Today, it decided to commit suicide by catching on fire.
Frankly with the amount of dust and dirt that must have made it's way into that thing I'm amazed it hadn't blown up earlier.
Luckily the mechanic was quick thinking and jerked the cables, and then dismantled the dash to see what exactly had caught on fire.
Hopefully re-installing the factory stereo (which doesn't have a CD player, but I'll survive without that for a while) will solve the short, which appeared to come from inside the stereo itself. Mechanic will be going over everything once the new battery is installed (I got it at El Marto Del Wal, it's got three year free replacement, they can give me a damn new battery) just to make sure there's not another incident, but he figures the culprit was the stereo.
So, possibly as soon as tomorrow afternoon I'll have my car back, yay!
And hopefully nothing else catches on fire.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
"If I Have To..."
Ya'll know I don't do politics, but tonight I heard something that I just thought I'd share, to show, in general, how the people around here are feeling.
Tonight we had a visit from one of my favorite older farmers. I've known him, well, forever, and he's a man who's opinion I respect.
He's a level headed man, very much you do your thing and I'll do mine, always willing to help a neighbor. The things he believes in though, he'll stand up for.
The talk came around to politics, as it will, and discussing things like Obamacare, and the Tea Party protests...
At one point this man, who has children, and grandchildren, has survived cancer and open heart surgery and joy and loss and a lifetime of work, raised his chin, looked me right in the eye and said "If I have to, to protect my kids and grandkids from living in a socialist regime, I will bear arms, I will go out and fight for my rights and my freedoms. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm afraid it will."
The current administration is alienating the very people that this country depends on. I think they'd be wise to keep that in mind in the future, though I doubt they will.
Tonight we had a visit from one of my favorite older farmers. I've known him, well, forever, and he's a man who's opinion I respect.
He's a level headed man, very much you do your thing and I'll do mine, always willing to help a neighbor. The things he believes in though, he'll stand up for.
The talk came around to politics, as it will, and discussing things like Obamacare, and the Tea Party protests...
At one point this man, who has children, and grandchildren, has survived cancer and open heart surgery and joy and loss and a lifetime of work, raised his chin, looked me right in the eye and said "If I have to, to protect my kids and grandkids from living in a socialist regime, I will bear arms, I will go out and fight for my rights and my freedoms. I hope it doesn't come to that, but I'm afraid it will."
The current administration is alienating the very people that this country depends on. I think they'd be wise to keep that in mind in the future, though I doubt they will.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Rain
It's been hectic around here, as usual, and not as inspiring as it could be, and this blog has suffered because of it.
Today, it's raining. We were planning on working cattle today and then looked at the weather and decided to put it off until tomorrow, so I'm using the time to catch up on some housework. Dishes and laundry, yay!... or not.
Progress is being made on my house, and we're reaching the stage where it's going to be more visible all the time, which makes me feel a lot better. The whole fam will be working on different projects over the next little bit, me on the last room of demo (yay, destroying stuff!) Farmmom on the electric and Farmdad on re-framing the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. After that stuff gets done I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be crawling around underneath the house doing plumbing.
I don't believe I've mentioned it here before but a while back Farmmom tore up her knee, requiring surgery. She's doing much better now, but is alternately praising and cursing her physical therapist, which seems to be the way it should be, to me. She comes out of her sessions in a good mood, but he gives her enough of a workout to have her muscles feeling all weak and wobbly afterwords.
He says that Determination is definitely not her problem. I was kind of hurt when I heard that, whenever I act like that they call it "stubborn." Not quite fair, is it?
Today, it's raining. We were planning on working cattle today and then looked at the weather and decided to put it off until tomorrow, so I'm using the time to catch up on some housework. Dishes and laundry, yay!... or not.
Progress is being made on my house, and we're reaching the stage where it's going to be more visible all the time, which makes me feel a lot better. The whole fam will be working on different projects over the next little bit, me on the last room of demo (yay, destroying stuff!) Farmmom on the electric and Farmdad on re-framing the wall between the kitchen and bathroom. After that stuff gets done I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be crawling around underneath the house doing plumbing.
I don't believe I've mentioned it here before but a while back Farmmom tore up her knee, requiring surgery. She's doing much better now, but is alternately praising and cursing her physical therapist, which seems to be the way it should be, to me. She comes out of her sessions in a good mood, but he gives her enough of a workout to have her muscles feeling all weak and wobbly afterwords.
He says that Determination is definitely not her problem. I was kind of hurt when I heard that, whenever I act like that they call it "stubborn." Not quite fair, is it?
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