Random Thought
I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live by the light that I have.
Abraham Lincoln
Flag Counter started April 3, 2008
Flag Counter started April 3, 2008
Thu 30 Aug 2007
I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven’s door,
Not by the beauty of it all,
nor the lights or its decor.
But it was the folks in Heaven
who made me sputter and gasp–
the thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics, the trash
There stood the kid from seventh grade
who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
who never said anything nice.
Herb, who I always thought
was rotting away in hell,
was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
looking incredibly well.
I nudged Jesus, “What’s the deal?
I would love to hear Your take.
How’d all these sinners get up here?
God must’ve made a mistake.
“And why’s everyone so quiet,
so somber? Give me a clue.”
“Hush, child,” said He, “they’re all in shock.
No one thought they’d be seeing you.”
Tue 28 Aug 2007
Richard spotted this new wildflower blooming in the pasture and suggested I get some photos. |
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Tue 28 Aug 2007
This graphic from NASA shows the steps and timing (central time zone) of the lunar eclipse we had this morning.
 I went out last night and took some “practice shots” of the moon to work on my camera settings. I was pretty happy with the focus and detail on these. I used a tripod and the delayed timer on the camera (so you can include yourself in a photo) to keep from inducing any “shake” from pressing the shutter manually. |
 I tried reading about how to shoot an eclipse, but they lost me when they started talking about a motor to put on the tripod to adjust for the rotation of the earth! I was going to have to do it much simpler than that! |
 I got up at 5, and took this shot at 5:08 |
 and this shot at 5:09. Unfortunately, these were the only two which turned out. As the moon got darker, I couldn’t get the focus right. So, I just enjoyed watching it! I’ll be better prepared next time. |
And here’s the link to some professional photos of the eclipse on the NASA web page.
Sun 26 Aug 2007
I finally organized the wedding photos and built a web page for them linked here.
Mon 20 Aug 2007
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This morning it started raining off and on about 3:30 am. From about 7:30 am until 11 am, it rained really hard. We knew it was laying down the water, but we didn’t have any idea just how much until Richard and I took a walk to see how high the stream was. Then we checked the two rain gauges. We realized they just weren’t made for that much water as they filled as much as they could with the remaining rain splashing out.
Pleasant Hope, a town just a few miles east of us, was mentioned in the national news as all roads leading into town were flooded along with much of the town itself. A new bridge (just completed) into town was washed out. They received 15 inches of rain in 4 hours! The city of Bolivar was on the north edge of the main brunt of the storm, and they just received 5 inches of rain. We left the house to drive Garland back to Clinton and turned on the radio. That’s when we found out that Highway 13 between Bolivar and Springfield was closed in 3 places due to high water over the road! We got to Hwy 13 and had to make a detour because water was over the road just where we needed to drive. Luckily, we were heading north, and the bulk of the rain was to the south of Bolivar. At Morrisville, just a few miles south of us, the Little Sac River went from 3 feet on a gauge at 8:30 am to 21 feet at 11:30 am (the record there is 23.3 feet). Several people were caught in the flash flooding and washed off the roads. One woman was trapped in her house with her baby and called for rescue from the second story of the house. Rescuers were delayed in getting to her because all roads leading to her house were well under water. We were very lucky here that our house is nice and high. The roads were even ok to get out, though we did drive through water over the road in several places I’ve never seen it over before. |
Mon 20 Aug 2007
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Today was Delilah’s first day of pre-school. She’s all decked out in her new clothes and back-pack and ready to join the ranks of the steady learners! |
Sun 19 Aug 2007
We had been planning a family canoe trip on the Sac River below Caplinger Mills today for several months (had to coordinate Justin moving back from Chicago and a weekend when Garland could be here as well as other work plans). So, when we added the wedding into the schedule for yesterday (since this was a weekend everyone was going to be here for the canoe trip anyway!), we kept the canoe trip in the plans. We all felt it was an excellent culmination of the wedding festivities. It was a low-stress, relaxing way to to visit and rest after the wedding events of the day before. Although it wasn’t a “typical honeymoon,” Richard and I felt it was perfect to get to spend such a great time with our kids, grandkids, and friends. The weather even cooperated with mostly cloudy skies (so it wasn’t so dreadfully hot as it had been). There were some rain showers off and on, but it was warm, and we could appreciate it after several weeks of no rain whatsoever.
(L-R) Dave, Amber (friends of Jennifer), Anna, Rondle, Neiphi (Rondle was my matron of honor, and Ann and Neiphi are her youngest kids), Curtis (neighbor boy), Calie, Justin, Marvin (front, Andy’s brother), Richard, Jennifer, Tina, Ricky (Jennifer’s boyfriend), Garland, Jessica, Andy, Delilah, and Bryce.
A couple of people weren’t too pleased with how they looked in their swimwear and expressed that to me . . . so I added some graphical “covering” to please those who weren’t smart enough to cover up before the photo was taken (like I did!!).
Sat 18 Aug 2007
| Today at 11:30 am, Richard and I were married in a most lovely ceremony at our church with our family as witness. It was a low-key event, not difficult to plan or execute (oh, bad choice of words huh?) where everyone had a great time, no one got cranky at each other about anything, and I did look rather lovely in this gorgeous dress Jessica and Rondle (my matron of honor) helped me pick out!
It might have taken us a while to take this step, but we’ve known for some time we are meant to be together, for better or worse! Click here for more photos! |
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Thu 16 Aug 2007
We got up early to load Sparky, the butcher steer, into the trailer for his last trip to town. While I was letting the other calves out and fixing gates after Richard left, I had to get photos of the great sunrise!
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Wed 15 Aug 2007
GOD: Frank, you know all about gardens and nature. What in the world is going on down there on the planet? What happened to the dandelions, violets, thistle and stuff I started eons ago? I had a perfect no-maintenance garden plan. Those plants grow in any type of soil, withstand drought and multiply with abandon. The nectar from the long-lasting blossoms attracts butterflies, honeybees and flocks of songbirds. I expected to see a vast garden of colors by now. But, all I see are these green rectangles.
ST. FRANCIS: It’s the tribes that settled there, Lord. The Suburbanites. They started calling your flowers “weeds” and went to great lengths to kill them and replace them with grass.
GOD: Grass? But, it’s so boring. It’s not colorful. It doesn’t attract butterflies, birds and bees; only grubs and sod worms. It’s sensitive to temperatures. Do these Suburbanites really want all that grass growing there?
ST. FRANCIS: Apparently so, Lord. They go to great pains to grow it and keep it green. They begin each spring by fertilizing grass and poisoning any other plant that crops up in the lawn.
GOD: The spring rains and warm weather probably make grass grow really fast. That must make the Suburbanites happy.