Line Drive Down the Right Side

2008 Hall Family Reunion

2008-09-17T11:49:00.001-07:00

We had the 2008 Hall Family reunion last Saturday. It was held at the home of my Uncle Vic so that he could attend - he is in the final days of his battle with lung/brain cancer. He overcame well-meaning objections by the hospice nurse and his wife to have the reunion at his home, and he enjoyed telling us that "I finally got my way!" It was a bittersweet time, but we could laugh and enjoy our memories because we share the certain hope of the Resurrection.

Having 47 years of reunion history was a comforting framework to gather within. We know how to do this! We all gathered in one room and recounted the events of the previous year. We remembered my cousin Tonna, who died last spring, and heard updates from several families members battling cancer. We rejoiced over weddings and new babies, children and grandchildren going off to college and laughed together at how the "cousin's generation" is coping with advancing age. (We were teenagers just a minute ago! Who are all these people with gray hair and bifocals?????)

There is a side story that will be recorded in book for this reunion, and it involves my father's 'branch' of the family tree.

When the plan for this reunion was first announced by Vic's sons, it was to be located at Rick's house near Plymouth, Indiana, which is about 70 miles west of where we live. A few weeks later, Vic's doctor told him that he probably had less than 3 months left, and so Vic asked that the reunion be moved to his house. Aunt Thais was NOT in favor, but they managed to strike a bargain. (Vic agreed to have their picture taken for their church directory.) The location was moved, and announcements went out. Just a week later, at his final doctors appointment, it was clarified that "less than three months" probably meant something more like "two to three weeks." They had their first meeting with the hospice nurse later that day, and she was adamant that having a reunion at their house 3 weeks later was out of the question. (To be fair, she was not yet acquainted with 'Hall Determination.') The location was moved back to Plymouth.

The day before the reunion, my dad called and talked to Randy, who told him that they didn't really think Vic was up to the trip to Plymouth, but that he was determined to be at the reunion, and his sons were determined to do whatever it took to make that happen. They were waiting to talk to the hospice nurse to make a final decision. I guess when faced with the choice of having her patient travel 180 miles round trip to attend the reunion, or having 45 people gather around him at his home, she changed her mind, and so once again the location was moved. An email was sent out on the group list that had been active for the last few weeks, making sure that each branch of the family was notified.

For our branch, the only email they had was for my brother Tim. Which, it turns out, he only checks every 3 or 4 weeks, so he had no idea he was even getting these emails.

Saturday dawned, and we loaded up 5 cars with people and food (including 8 babies & toddlers!) and headed for Plymouth. It turned out that for the first time in many years, my parents, my three brothers and I were all attending AND we were all going to arrive on time and within about 10 minutes of each other. Tim got there first and discovered an empty house. Thanks to cell-phones, three of the cars turned back before going the last few miles.

It's true that we were initially not amused that no one had called to tell us the reunion had been moved again, and we'd made that long drive for naught. However, we also understood that given the situation, they had much bigger things to deal with and so we 'shook it off,' turned around, and drove to Vic's house. Of course, our older cousins hassled us for being late and not keeping up with email, and we hassled them for still trying to hide from us. (We were among the younger cousins, and the big kids didn't always want us little kids tagging along!) I'm sure we'll be going back and forth with this for some years to come.

In the end, we were all glad that we had a chance to gather together to say goodbye to Uncle Vic, to express our love and support to his family, to laugh together and remember our childhoods together. And to share those "2 cookers-full of beans."

*Note: While I was working on this post yesterday, my brother called to tell me that Vic had been called from this vale of tears to the glory of life eternal.

+ Amen, Lord Jesus, quickly come.+

The Book revisited...

2008-09-17T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today I'm going to re-post something from 2 years ago, as a prelude to upcoming posts. This post explained how we do reunions on my dad's side of the family. It will serve as a lead in to several posts that I'm working on. It's important to me to spend time getting them written the way I want, so they aren't coming quickly, but this will be a good starting point.

The Book....
It was the summer of 1961 when my parents loaded my baby brother and me (not-yet-three!) into the car (without carseats or even seatbelts!) and drove the 150 miles to his parent's house. His grandmother (Gran) was staying there and so all of our aunts and uncles and cousins were coming to spend the weekend to see her.

While I don't remember the weekend, I can tell you a lot about it. My dad and his 5 brothers and 1 sister were all in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. All but one were married, and all of the married couples had kids except one - and their first was born a few months later. "The boys," as my dad and his brothers were collectively called, pulled several pranks on their dad and each other. When some of the pranks started "going off" in the middle of the night, my parents announced that anyone who woke me up would have to be the ones to get me back to sleep!! One of those pranks was my grandpa's clock radio set to full volume. When it came on, it happened to be playing "When the Saints Come Marching In." My grandpa thought he'd died! It was a great weekend!

I know all this because we have a book, you see. Sometime that weekend, probably over a meal that included Toler-Creek beans and watermelon, they decided that this "reunion" should be an annual event. It was determined that my uncle Wendall (the first-born, of course!) would be the first "president" and the office would rotate each year to the next youngest sibling. They got a ledger book, and wrote this down. On this certain weekend every summer, everyone would gather and the president would be responsible for organizing the details, supplying the meat for the meal and recording the events in the book. Attendance was written down (with my uncle Gary and his wife listed as 2 1/2, because Deanna wasn't born yet - but she was there!) and some of the more memorable events of the weekend (including my parents need for me to sleep!) were recorded. They pasted in a picture of Gran and a group picture of everyone there, and the book was begun. And so it has continued for 46 years.

Every year at the reunion, there is a "business meeting." Everyone sits around and the "president" reads the account of the previous reunion. Then each family recounts the highs and lows of the previous year. Who had a baby, who had surgery, who graduated. Some of the funny stories of our lives, and the sad ones too. Adjustments to the "rules" are discussed and voted on. I know at some point, I think after my grandpa died, the date was moved away from the weekend closest to his birthday. And I think it was after my grandma died that my aunts and uncles asked the assembled group if we still wanted to have an annual reunion. I think they were a little surprised by the resounding "yes," but they announced that it was time to "pass the torch" to the next generation, and so now the office of president passes from Wendall's children to Vic's and so on. Every six years, my brothers and I host the reunion. We set the date and provide the place and beverages, plan games - and update the book.

The book is just the greatest thing. 45 years of family history, stories and pictures all in one place. At the 40th reunion, it was decided that while the ledger book still had blank pages, the binding was loose and the pages were yellowing quickly, so my uncle carefully took it apart and put each page in an archival quality sleeve. Now it is a large album, and new entries are still added each year.

And it says right there in the book, the current summary of rules...."It is the president's responsibility to be sure there are at least 2 cookers-full of beans......."

Lead me not into temptation

2008-09-11T08:16:00.000-07:00

Oh my! I am greatly enjoying listening to 'Issues, Etc.' Beyond the enriching focus on the Gospel, I'm just sure I get smarter all the time! I find when I read or listen to speeches and newstories from other sources, I am more critical. As in noticing "Hmm, that seems like an assumption. I'd like to know the source of that statement." "I don't accept the premise that argument is based on." Things like that. I think it's a good thing.

HOWEVER, the temptation is terrible!

I already REALLY wanted an iPod. I'm a Mac convert plus it's really cool! Having a phone and iPod in one! (Not to mention all the other stuff.) I've been delaying buying a new iPod (mine is pre-video) until I can make the switch. I was already struggling with the wait (the contract with my current carrier doesn't expire until January 2009.)

Then I started hearing ads in IE, telling me that I could listen LIVE on an iPhone. (Which I can't do otherwise because I'm driving home from work, not in the St. Louis area.) This was all distracting enough for me, and then I heard that iTunes has worked out their differences with NBC, so now I can download episodes of "The Office" to a video iPod or iPhone.

I confess, I called my carrier to find out the amount of the contract buy-out. But I'm an adult now, and there's just no way to justify that much money for something that is truly a 'want,' not a 'need.'

*sigh*

Coming back out to play.....

2008-08-25T08:21:00.000-07:00

The oldest email currently in my inbox is from New Years Day. It's a question from Orycteropus Afer, refering to my long blog silence, and asking if I was ready to come back out and play. I kept it in my inbox, and looked at it everytime I did a clean-out, but as much as I appreciated his encouragement....I guess I just wasn't ready.

I think I might be getting there tho.

I remember my younger self as being a very social person - I enjoyed having a full calendar and spending a lot of time with family and friends, cooking and entertaining, very active in church and choir activities. And then I went through several bouts of depression. Not completely debilitating, but I was very much affected. One of the first signs that I remember noticing but not paying attention to was when I began clearing my evening schedules so that I could stay home alone more often. When I cleared Wed evenings by no longer singing in the choir, something I loved for over 35 years, I should have realized that something was not right.

The biggest change, and most lasting effect is that I have become very much an introvert. It's often a real challenge to balance "people time" (which I need and want) and "alone time" which I also need and want. Over the last year or so, I often struggled to find that "quiet in my mind" time. There were often many demands on my time and attention, and plenty of stressful issues. Some days it seemed like the only "communication" I could "opt out of" was blogging....and so I did. I have another blog - a team knitting blog with one of my dear friends. That blog has also suffered neglect over the past year, but it was a bit easier to post an update on a knitting project, so I did keep up a little better.

In the past few months, I've noticed that it's less of a struggle to keep my balance. In fact (shhhhh, don't tell) I've actually enjoyed a higher level of social activity! I have become more active in my congregation, and my busier calendar hasn't sent me running for "my chair" at every free moment. And I'm kind of thinking of blogging again!

My first step was to begin posting regularly and frequently on my knitting blog. It was a good place to start - my goal has been daily short posts, even if it's just a picture and a paragraph. Kind of a stretching warm up. Now I'm starting to feel like doing a little stretching on this blog. Over the time that I've blogged here, one of the things I used this space for is to share and record childhood and family memories. I've always enjoyed learning about my family's history, and doing what I can to make our stories live on for future generations.

Of course, I haven't stopped having things to say about other things (Welcome Back Issues Etc!) but for my stretching exercises I have several family history posts percolating in my mind. That's where I hope to begin.

So. Play! What a cool idea! Thanks Orycteropus Afer, for thinking of me. Sorry it took so long....

It just never gets old!!

2007-05-18T07:34:00.000-07:00

For the 11th time - I'm an aunt!!

See?? She's got my yawn!!

2007-02-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

"So write a post," she instructed. "and make it Lutheran. You have until Friday."

Alright then. Far be it from me to argue with The Rebellious Pastor's Wife when she decides to host a Carnival!

(Whiny voice) I've just not been in a very "posty" mood lately. You know, with short days and cold and snow and blah blah blah....I'm sure none of this will be accepted as any sort of excuse.

There has been something on my mind tho, and at the core it's very Lutheran.

The Lutheran Logomaniac first introduced me to the concept of blogs and blogging, and encouraged me to start a blog. While he was enthusiastically pointing out his favorite Confessional Lutheran blogs, a little covert googling opened the world of KNITTING Blogs to me! My first blog was a knitting blog, and I currently have a team blog that focuses on knitting.

At some point in my knitting blog life, I was encouraged to submit my blog to the Big Blogroll O' Vark®™© I remember saying, "But it's about knitting, not theology." I was told that it's not about always talking theology, but that in living (and posting) out our vocations, we are Lutheran. That's the point of the Lutheran Blogosphere. I was skeptical, and I've never submitted my knitting blog, Pickin' and Throwin' to the Blogroll.

I repent.

My blog partner Yarnthrower (also Lutheran) and I often comment that so many of our favorite knitting blogs eventually turn us off by straying from talk of wool and stitch patterns, of new designers and patterns and yarn-stashes-that-threaten-to-take-over-the-house, and start talking about karmic rebalancing or the guy they're living with or how much they hate the patriarchy or how they joined Knitters Who Hate Bush or something like that. Just yesterday, I was listening to a newly discovered knitting podcast, and the host thanked her boyfriend for his encouragement. Then she said, "He hates when I call him my boyfriend. But what do you call a great guy that you've lived with for 15 years and who has...." I muttered, "Husband" and hit the delete key. (Yes, I talk to my electronics.)

Who you are and what you believe is going to show through, whether you're talking about theology, politics, your job, your family.....or your knitting! And it should. It makes no sense to WANT people to see that I'm a Christian except for when I'm knitting. It's not that I don't want to read a good knitting story by someone who doesn't share my beliefs and values, my "worldview." But there should be good blogs to read by people who knit during Bible Class, who knit sweaters for their husbands or wives, (yes! I know some guys who knit for their wives!) Knitters who may disagree with a President's politics or even with the man himself, yet still respect his office and at the very least don't hate him and profess to wish him dead.

Basically, a Big Blogroll O' Vark®™© for Knitters.

When I started this blog, I said, "This is the blog where the gloves are off (and the gloves may be baseball gloves, you can never tell!) I am a Confessional Lutheran woman, (I almost said “lay-woman”, but that’s redundant for a Confessional Lutheran!) I work with “Higher Things: Dare to Be Lutheran,” I listen to pod-casts of “Issues Etc,” and I am a rabid St. Louis Cardinals Fan. That’s just the short list of what may appear on this blog!! I’m hoping that sometimes there can be conversations that will help me at least be able to articulate and defend my beliefs more clearly. And sometimes just have fun! Of course, all of this doesn't mean that I'm GOING to spend a lot of time discussing these things, just that it's possible." That is still what this blog is about.

Because I dislike it when a knitting blogger posts about liberal politics or feminism or whatever, I believe that if I am going to say I have a knitting blog, that isn't the place for me to expound on Real Presence or the abomination known as "The Designated Hitter Rule." However, I would like to have a blogroll on the side of Pickin' and Throwin' which lists blogs of like-minded knitters. There's already a good start - The Rebellious Pastor's Wife knits, Favorite Apron and Homestead Lutheran Academy both knit, I'm sure there are more!

So here's a shout out - if you're a knitter or know a knitter or want to know a knitter....and if they blog, or you can encourage them to blog...or hey! Encourage a blogger to knit! Let's extend the excellence of Lutheran Blogging to the knitting world! Email me or leave a comment, and we'll get 'rolling!'

And feel free to stop on over to Pickin' and Throwin.....hey, I've already told the story of how I knitted a cow sling. You never know what farm animal I'll be knitting for next!!

2007-02-19T11:07:00.000-08:00

create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

2007-02-13T17:29:00.000-08:00

I'm all snowed in!

But no matter - tomorrow is the big day. FINALLY!

STL Cardinals Pitchers and Catcher report!

Ah..... Spring Training - the promise of the season to come...

Go Cards!

2007-01-28T16:02:00.000-08:00

Carly Scott Hall

4/15/1997-1/27/2007

I adopted Carly in August of 2004. She was named for singer Carly Simon and Cardinals 3rd Baseman Scott Rolen.

She was a good dog. She loved tummy rubs, summer days playing in the creek, and me.

2006-12-19T12:58:00.000-08:00

I want to be like Jack Benny when I grow up.....

however, unlike the Lutheran Carnival, I will never make it.

My permanent age is set at 28. Has been for years.

Guess I'll never get my own stamp.....

2006-11-28T10:58:00.000-08:00

I saw this on Marie's blog....

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
Obsessive-Compulsive Bookworm
Literate Good Citizen
Book Snob
Fad Reader
Non-Reader
What Kind of Reader Are You? Create Your Own Quiz

2006-11-27T03:17:00.000-08:00

Yikes, I was travelling over the weekend and so I guess I'm late with this - but I've really enjoyed reading everyone's lists!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Homemade Egg Nog

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? Santa's presents aren't wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? Colored

4 . Do you hang mistletoe? No

5. When do you put your decorations up? Ok, I don't decorate anymore. Haven't for about 5 or 6 years. After a couple of years of no-one else seeing the decorations, I discovered it was simpler not to mess with them. There are plenty everywhere else to enjoy! However, our family tradition is to decorate the weekend on Advent 3. That way the live tree lasts until Epiphany.

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Our Christmas "dinner" is more finger-food - we don't actually sit down to dinner. We have shrimp cocktail, ham, smoked turkey, summer sausage, cheeses and appetizer type food, plus cookies and candies. I guess I'm gonna go with the platter of smoked turkey as my favorite.

7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: For 3 years in a row, I asked for a cassette tape recorder for Christmas. The third year, dad asked me to help him with a "Santa" gift for my 3 younger brothers. It was a cassette recorder, WHICH THEY HADN'T EVEN ASKED FOR. He wanted me to help him figure out how to record a message to play. I was SO sad that they were getting it. The next morning, we got up and when they got it to play, it said, "Merry Christmas Cynthia!" I was SO excited that I finally had one!

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? It must have been when I started school - because I remember that year explaining to my 2 little brothers that there was no such thing as Santa. THAT was followed by a long discussion with my parents about not spoiling it for the littler ones.

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? We did always open a gift from mom & dad on Christmas Eve, after church. Then one year, after the youngest was well into school age and no longer believed in Santa, someone figured out that if we just opened all the presents that night, we didn't have to get up so early - more sleep before church. Ever since, it is our tradition to open all our gifts on Christmas Eve. We have always gotten together at mom & dad's on Christmas Eve after church and opened all our presents.

10. How do you decorate your Christmas Tree? I collected ornaments in my travels - mostly an Angel theme. Then when I stopped decorating, I loaned them out to decorate a dorm Christmas tree. I did get them back, but lost them in transition, so I don't have decorations anymore. There are a few that I miss, but it's not a big deal really since I don't actually use them!

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it! For about a week around Christmas. Then I'm quite fine without, thank you.

12. Can you ice skate? Ha!

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? When I was about 10, I got a purse, a flashlight, and a Trixie Belden book. I remember riding around in the car for the next week or so, reading by flashlight (which I carried in my purse!) How could it get better!

14. What's the most important thing about the Holidays for you? Celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Chocolate Crinkle Cookies - my Aunt Jeanie's recipe

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Gathering my nieces and nephews around for a rousing chorus of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer!"

17. What tops your tree? An angel

18. Which do you prefer giving or receiving? Pfftt..how can you pick? They're both good!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Song? Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer!" hymn? Once in Royal David's City

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum? Yum!

21. Christmas Tree - real or fake? Real!

2006-11-15T04:54:00.000-08:00

Ha!

I knew it could be done!!

Oh, and Logomaniac - check today's date - nowhere near the first of April.....

2006-11-12T06:19:00.000-08:00

Denim madness......

My parents were home recently, and they took me out for lunch. We had a great lunch (fried oysters!) at the Oyster Bar, and then headed out. We got to the parking lot, when I suddenly gasped and grabbed for my camera. My mom was startled, but then she looked at what I was looking at, and started laughing.

"Oh, the jeans??"

"Yes! The jeans!"

It was the first time in my life that I had ever seen my father wearing jeans. Funny how I noticed and all.

My dad grew up in rural Kentucky. He was one of 7 kids, and they just didn't have money. My grandpa was a hard-worker....but it was just an economic reality of the time and place. Between grandpa's various jobs and grandma's thrifty ways and domestic skills, they fed and clothed and raised a fine family. Not that it was easy.....

So one day, my grandpa was working a job up in a holler, and he stopped in at a general store. He saw bolts of denim cloth, and made a deal with the shop owner for a bolt or two. My grandmother sewed that denim into pants for their kids. Including my dad.

He was keenly aware that his homemade blue jeans marked him as one of the "have-nots." He observed other kids in their nice dress pants....and swore that someday he would have nice pants and he'd never wear jeans again.

Fast forward to the 70's and he has four kids who WANT to wear jeans. They are in style. They are in fact THE clothing of high school. We begged, we pleaded, we pulled out the old "everybody ELSE is wearing jeans." But no kids of his were going to wear jeans and be laughed at. We explained that we were being laughed at because we didn't wear jeans....but to no avail.

Even after we were adults living on our own, he didn't approve of our showing up for dinner or going to a resturant in jeans. By time his grandkids started wearing jeans to school, he'd come to accept that the rest of the world was going to wear jeans. But not him.

So....when I noticed him getting into his truck wearing blue jeans.....I gasped. I needed a picture. When you see something for the first time in your life, it's a sensible reaction.

Just when you think you've figured your parents out......

2006-11-03T10:48:00.000-08:00

I love quizzes....

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
The Northeast
The West
Philadelphia
The South
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

2006-11-03T08:50:00.000-08:00

Breaking news!!

Roger Clemens is undecided about whether or not he will pitch next year. He really hasn't even thought about it.....

Oh wait, my bad. That's not a news flash. That's pretty much his every-day status. If I but had a quarter for every time I watched a game where the announcer said, "This may very well be the last time we see Roger Clemens on the mound....."

Kinda makes me giggle....

2006-10-27T21:48:00.000-07:00

WAHOO!!

2006 World Series Champions

David Eckstein - MVP

2006-10-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

Completely spoiled....
I come from a family that is mechanically inclined. My father was an airplane mechanic in the Air Force, and two of my three brothers are professional mechanics. You did not grow up in my house without understanding the basics of both the gasoline and diesel-powered engines. I remember sitting around the table after supper while dad drew illustrations of how it all works. (I also remember the fox, the goose and the bag of corn, but that's another story...)

Back in the day, before cars depended so much on computerization, we did all our own repair work. And if I couldn't get one of my brothers to fix something quickly enough, I was likely to fix it myself. (Yes, I can replace your heater core.) I guess because there was so much "know-how" around, we developed a rather "cheap" attitude towards cars and repairs.

I remember the sense of shock I had when friends took their car in for repair and it cost $400. "So, what did you do?" "We paid them $400 to fix it." "But...that's a $50 part, and it only takes an hour or so to replace it....you paid $400?????" We had a somewhat different decision tree when it came to fixing something.....

Number One - Is it truly broken? Sometimes if you hear an odd noise or think something acts funny it will eventually stop. Now, it's a double-edged sword - you have to know which kind of things are ok to ignore and which ones aren't. Example: Odd rattling under the radio - probably not a problem. Check the ashtray for change. Engine rattling and losing power going up an incline - about to blow a head gasket, do not start out on a road trip. (Ask me how I know.)

Number Two - Does it really need to be fixed?? Just because the car came with, say air conditioning, doesn't mean you really need it. And if it's September, you for sure don't need it for at least 6 months. Don't rush into any wild repairs.

Number Three - How much will it cost to fix? Don't take the first price you get - check several parts suppliers. Don't forget that junkyards have lots of parts available.

Number Four - Really, do you need it? I've never in my life had a fuel gauge fixed. Once it quit working, I've been reliant on my memory to keep track of about how much I have left. My first car didn't have a speedometer - I was instructed to "count the seconds between telephone poles" to estimate my speed. (No, the policeman who stopped me wasn't impressed either.)

Number Five - Which family member is available to fix it? (I always found that starting the repair myself and going until I needed help was effective....)

Number Six - It really HAS to be fixed? Seriously, will the world end if your brights come on every time you signal a left turn?? Toughen up!

How times have changed. My 2003 Buick Rendezvous is in the shop (an actual car repair shop!) getting a new intake manifold and water pump. So I'm driving the family "spare" car - my dad's 1982 Mercedes Turbo Diesel Coupe. Great car - but it has quirks. My brother has fixed the quirk where in order to shut the engine off, you had to open the hood and press the "stop" button. But sometimes it doesn't want to start, and so he came over last night and brought me a piece of wire that I can touch to the top of two screws to bypass whatever switch isn't working and start the engine.

He demonstrated how it worked and then grinned at me....."Just like the old days, eh sis!?" "Yeah, driving a car where everything just works has really spoiled me!!"

(I can explain the fox, the goose and the bag of corn, but only if I have a salt shaker, pepper shaker and small tub of butter.....)

2006-10-20T12:09:00.000-07:00

WHOO HOO!!

That was some excitement last night. I admit that I didn't breathe much during the last inning, but wow! What a finish!

And "the catch?" Scott Rolen's 2-run homer that Endy Chavez hauled back in and then turned into an inning-ending-double-play? The baseball fan in me marvels at an amazing play. The Cardinals fan in my is REALLY tired of the replay! ;) Guess I'll have to suck it up and get over it, because it won't be going away any time soon.

Plus I loved the saftey-squeeze that scored our first run - classic baseball. As was the bottom of the ninth when Adam Wainwright managed to fill the bases before striking out BELTRAN on 3 straight. I can still hardly believe my eyes.

So, on to Detroit. Let's hope the Tigers under-estimate us as well....... ;)

Go Cards!

PS - Oh! For those of you who didn't tune in to hear about baseball, but are waiting with bated breath for the results of the poll.....I just want to say that generally everyone (except one) under-estimated just how much I hate living with a mob of huge spiders! And secondly, how much I missed my computer over the week it was gone! New knitting needles are wonderful, but it's not like they were gonna keep the spiders away. And I have other needles, so I was able to knit....

So first I set out the spider traps, then I unpacked my computer and caught up on a few things. Finally, I switched the scarf I'm knitting from the rose-wood circular I was using to one of the new ones. For more about how I like the new needles, come to Pickin' and Throwin!

2006-10-17T06:15:00.000-07:00

It's all about priorities.....

Wow! Yesterday was a red-letter day here in my world. It was all about shipments.

I stopped at FedEx and picked up my computer which was being shipped back from repair. When I got home, in my mailbox was a package containing spider traps to help with my infestation. AND left on the front porch was a box from KnitPicks containing a set of their new "Options" needles!

It was a late 'coming home' time for me. Last night was meeting night for the Fort Wayne Knitting Guild, which means that Sheree and I went out for sushi after work and then to the guild. It was well after nine when I got home. (AND I was in a knitting store and didn't buy any yarn. Now, I'll be going back this week AND going to Indy on Saturday, so I'm not saying that I WON'T be getting any, but yesterday, I stayed clean!)

And so here's how the process went. Once I got everything gathered in, dogs in bed - but before I even got my shoes off, I.....no, wait, I'm not going to tell you. I think we should have a little poll to see who can guess the order in which I processed my three packages.

Keep knitting!!

Cynthia (aka Designated Knitter)

***Edited to add:

Ok, completely brain dead today. I prepared this post to upload to my team knitting blog, 'Pickin' and Throwin', but I accidentally posted it here! Once I noticed, I fixed the other blog, but forget to take it down from here. Since I've had some votes and a comment here, I'll go ahead and leave it up!

2006-10-10T06:55:00.000-07:00

Big weekend!!

Now that was a great weekend! Saturday night we had a bonfire party to celebrate my baby brother's 40th birthday. (No, I'm not "over 40." He kept having birthdays after his 28th. I did not.) We also celebrated the expectation of his 5th child, due late in May. (Now my sil just has to manage not to be in the delivery room during their oldest daughter's high-school graduation ceremony!!)

It was the perfect night for a bonfire party - clear and chilly. We had lots of laughs around the fire - I actually stayed up for this! I'm usually only good for an hour or two, but this time I was there until after midnight!!I'm quite excited to be an aunt again. Gonna have to get knitting more baby things!

PLUS on Sunday night, the Cardinals won the first round of the National League Playoffs, downing the San Diego Padres 6-2. It was a really scaring first inning - let's just say that Chris Carpenter walked in the first run, something he hadn't done in 5 years....but he hung on and did a great job the next 6 innings. So, now it's on to the Mets....

Go Cardinals!!

2006-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

October baseball.....

I remember growing up and being quite disgruntled at having the World Series on TV for ALL of October. (My brother was a fan of the Cincinnati Reds during the Big Red Machine years.) And even if we wouldn't have had to watch it, it pre-emtped other shows that I could watch that WEREN'T baseball.

I repent. I was young and foolish and wrong.

October baseball is what it's all about.

Marie - thanks for asking - the Cardinals are doing grand! We have a one-game win streak going! (I love that everything resets to zero when the regular season ends.)

Seriously, winning the first game on the road was a shot in the arm. I'll be racing home from work to watch an hour of today's game before I head off to Thursday night knit-in.

Go Cards!

2006-09-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

Ok, I was curious, so I took this. I would like to preface my score by noting that in the 80's, the music that I listened to most was either by Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Hayden....someone like that. My friends used to mock my music collection for being, shall we say "light on anything from the current century?"

And when it comes to current music that I do like, and know well enough to sing along to or whatever....well, I never paid any attention to the band or singers or any of that. (For the record, I'm the same way about movies. If I saw it, even if I liked it - I usually don't know who wrote it, directed it, appeared in it, and only rarely can I quote lines or identify quotes supplied to me. Brain deficient, I suppose.)

So, here it is!

Rock Wanna-Be
You scored 48%!

On the tests that ask the maiden name of Clapton's mom, this is a pretty good score. Here, though, it's not real hot. Maybe classic rock just isn't your thing. Maybe you're young and haven't matched songs you've heard with the names of the bands who sing them. In any case, you haven't really got your classic rock basics down yet.

My test tracked 1 variable How you compared to other people your age and gender:

You scored higher than 99% on notes

Link: The BASIC classic rock Test written by allmydays on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test

Actually, I scored higher than I thought I would.....

2006-08-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Rainy Monday, Part 2

And then the rains came harder. And for some reason, when I walked to the kitchen for more ice, I went past the bay window instead of my usual other-side-of-the-table route. And felt the carpet squish.

Just sayin'

2006-08-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

Rainy Monday, Part 1

It rained Monday - which is a good thing. We really needed the rain. I was happy about it even!

And I was also quite happy with the fact that the "low tired pressure" warning light in my car performed correctly. I did drive the last bit to the bank before checking it tho - I only had 10 minutes to get that deposit in. But when I got out of the car, I did check and notice that my back tire was "round except for on the bottom," as my brother likes to say. (And when my dad asked me what size my tires are, I gave him my standard answer. "Dad, they're round. Well, 3 of them are. And black. That's all the detail I know about my tires.")

I was most happy about the fact that this brother offered to come and change the flat for me when I called and asked him if he was still in town.

However, that donut spare is one sorry looking sight. I'll be getting that fixed ASAP.

Stayed tuned for more of my Rainy Monday Saga.

2006-08-25T10:05:00.000-07:00

Your Taste in Music:

Progressive Rock: High Influence
80's Alternative: Low Influence
80's Rock: Low Influence
90's Alternative: Low Influence
Adult Alternative: Low Influence

How's Your Taste in Music?

2006-08-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

Tagged by Lutheran Logomaniac

Yes, I've been tagged and it's about books.......

1. One Book that changed your life:
Proper Distinction Between Law and Gospel by C.F.W. Walther

2. One book you've read more than once:
Most everything by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey.

3. One book you'd want on a desert island: (note: not the ONLY book)
Winds of War by Hermann Wouk
(I was scared for a minute. The thought of only ONE book on a desert island gives me chills!!)

4. One book that made you laugh:
Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

5. One book that made you cry:
Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog by John Grogan

6. One book that you wish had been written:
The final book in the Robert Jordan "Wheel of Time" series. I am NOT going back until I know he's gonna finish the thing before he dies. (Looks like there is one more left....)

7. One book that you wish had never been written:
I'm completely stumped......

8. One book you're currently reading:
San Francisco is Burning by Dennis Smith

9. One book you've been meaning to read:
As We Are Now by May Sarton

10. Now tag eight seven people.
The Rebellious Pastor's Wife

Not Worthy

Homestead Lutheran Academy

The Chanting Chatter (Come on! Get a blog! ;)

Yarn Thrower at Pickin' and Throwin'

Necessary Roughness

Steven S. Billings

2006-07-31T07:13:00.000-07:00

The Book....

It was the summer of 1960 when my parents loaded my newborn baby brother and me (not-yet-two!) into the car (without carseats or even seatbelts!) and drove the 150 miles to his parent's house. His grandmother (Gran) was staying there and so all of our aunts and uncles and cousins were coming to spend the weekend to see her.

While I don't remember the weekend, I can tell you a lot about it. My dad and his 5 brothers and 1 sister were all in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties. All but one were married, and all of the married couples had kids except one - and their first was born a few months later. "The boys," as my dad and his brothers were collectively called, pulled several pranks on their dad and each other. When some of the pranks started "going off" in the middle of the night, my parents announced that anyone who woke me up would have to be the ones to get me back to sleep!! One of those pranks was my grandpa's clock radio set to full volume. When it came on, it happened to be playing "When the Saints Come Marching In." My grandpa thought he'd died! It was a great weekend!

I know all this because we have a book, you see. Sometime that weekend, probably over a meal that included Toler-Creeks and watermelon, they decided that this "reunion" should be an annual event. It was determined that my uncle Wendall (the first-born, of course!) would be the first "president" and the office would rotate each year to the next youngest sibling. They got a ledger book, and wrote this down. On this certain weekend every summer, everyone would gather and the president would be responsible for organizing the details, supplying the meat for the meal and recording the events in the book. Attendance was written down (with my uncle Gary and his wife listed as 2 1/2, because Deanna wasn't born yet - but she was there!) and some of the more memorable events of the weekend (including my parents need for me to sleep!) were recorded. They pasted in a picture of Gran and a group picture of everyone there, and the book was begun. And so it has continued for 46 years.

Every year at the reunion, there is a "business meeting." Everyone sits around and the "president" reads the account of the previous year. Then each family recounts the highs and lows of the previous year. Who had a baby, who had surgery, who graduated. Some of the funny stories of our lives, and the sad ones too. Adjustments to the "rules" are discussed and voted on. I know at some point, I think after my grandpa died, the date was moved away from the weekend closest to his birthday. And I think it was after my grandma died that my aunts and uncles asked the assembled group if we still wanted to have an annual reunion. I think they were a little surprised by the resounding "yes," but they announced that it was time to "pass the torch" to the next generation, and so now the office of president passes from Wendall's children to Vic's and so on. Every six years, my brothers and I host the reunion. We set the date and provide the place and beverages, plan games - and update the book.

The book is just the greatest thing. 46 years of family history, stories and pictures all in one place. At the 40th reunion, it was decided that while the ledger book still had blank pages, the binding was loose and the pages were yellowing quickly, so my uncle carefully took it apart and put each page in an archival quality sleeve. Now it is a large album, and new entries are still added each year.

And it says right there in the book, the current summary of rules...."It is the president's responsibility to be sure there are at least 2 cookers full of beans......."

2006-07-28T08:05:00.000-07:00

Toler Creek Beans........

I've always loved the fact that my family has our own beans. You can't buy them, you have to grow them. Plant them, cultivate them, pick them, string them, put them in a pressue cooker with bacon (maybe a few new potatoes for a treat!) and those are our beans. You can't even buy the seeds! You have to keep seeds from year to year, and if you have a bad year and didn't have seeds to save, you have to ask someone else in the family to stake you some.

They're my grandpa's beans. They're called Toler Creeks.

This is my grandpa of the "watermelon in the well pit fame." I remember him as big. He was taller than my other grandpa, and louder. He was a classic mechanical tinkerer. He could fix just about anything - but it probably wasn't the way the book said to fix it. (This trait has passed down through my dad to my brother Andy - of whom we always say "he can fix anything using a pipe wrench and bailing wire. Give him duct tape to boot and it isn't even a challenge...")

We kids always loved family get-togethers when my dad and his brothers would tell the stories of all the pranks they pulled on their dad! And I know for a fact that my grandpa enjoyed watching the fruits of their labors come home to roost. There was perhaps some glee when he saw my dad trying to deal with three boys who were just like him! But that's another story (or two or three!)

My grandpa had so many different jobs in his life that I don't know if there is anyone left who could compile a complete list. His own father died when he was in 4th grade and he left school and went to work in the coal mines to help support his family. Before he married my grandmother, he was a pitcher in a semi-pro baseball league and they say he was really good. Had a wicked curve ball. At some point he owned a gas station, a pool hall and I think a general store. He farmed, drove school bus, and worked for the gas company building pump stations.

And at one point, sometime in the 1940's, his job was to travel up into all the hollers and creeks of southeastern Kentucky, maintaining and repairing the smaller engines that pumped natural gas in the piping system. (Some of those old lines are still supplying natural gas in the area.) Many of the places he went to were pretty remote, and since the roads were tiny twisty things more like paths than roads, he would be gone for days at at time. And there was no Motel 6 to "leave the light on." He would pay a local family for room and board.

As the family lore states "One time when R.V. was up Toler Creek workin' on engines, some lady fed him a plate of beans that were the best he'd ever had." She told him how she made them, and gave him a packet of seeds.

They are a type of bean called "half-runners." They have a thin shell and big white beans in them. They have vines which need to be trained, so the prefered technique is to plant 2 bean seeds with 1 corn seed so that the beans can vine up the corn stalk.

Over the years, my aunts and uncles all grew Toler Creeks in their gardens and passed the seeds down to their kids. Only one uncle still has a garden, but he faithfully plants an extra row for seeds. Two of my brothers garden, and my sister-in-law Chris cans the beans using a pressure canner, just the way my mom taught her.

And when we have our annual family reunion, it says right there in the book that the host family is responsible for supplying at least 2 pressure cookers full of Toler Creeks.

2006-07-25T07:47:00.000-07:00

Summer side of the family.....

Lately I've been pondering something that I've noticed over the past few years. It's how weather or season of the year triggers childhood memories. We all know that certain smells or tastes or pictures can be triggers. And of course walking through an antique store - "My grandma used to have one just like that..."

But the last couple of years, I've noticed that hot steamy weather takes me back to growing up and farming land at my paternal grandparent's place. Of course, food is a big part of that. I get "a hankerin'" for fried okra, Tolar-Creek-Green-Beans in the pressure cooker, fresh sliced tomatoes, corn-on-the-cob dripping butter.......and watermelon.

I have fun memories of summer events at my maternal grandparents as well; kick-ball games with our cousins, climbing on the roof of the milkhouse (we weren't supposed to do that...shhhh) and playing in the newly refilled haymow.

But when the thermometer hits the 90's and the humidity matches it, all I can think of is watermelon.

Grandpa used to grow watermelons in the garden. When he determined that they were ripe, he would take out his pocketknife and cut them off the vine, and then carry them to the well pit. He'd take off the cover and lower the watermelons to the bottom. I don't think it was very deep - I remember we'd climb down to hand the melons back up...but it was COLD down there.

Then in the hot part of the day, when it was too hot to work or even play, we'd sit around in the shade and grandpa would decide that we should probably pull a melon. He would split that perfectly icy cold melon and hand out big half-moon slices. There were always several salt shakers on the picnic table in the back-yard, so that if there was a crowd, you didn't have to wait too long to salt it up and start enjoying it. I guess the big mystery is why the lawn didn't have watermelon vines instead of grass, because we certainly "seeded it" well enough!

I've enjoyed some great watermelons the last couple of years, but somehow it's just not the same when you pull it out of the refrigerator. I just want someone to dig me a well pit so I can properly chill a melon....

Tomorrow we'll talk about Tolar-Creek Green Beans!

2006-07-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

Happiness is.....

Busch Stadium, real-live-on-the-field-in-front-of-me baseball.

I got to go to the new Busch Stadium last Friday evening for a game against the LA Dodgers. I was in the club section - the seats were padded, I had a great view of the field and of the arch, and there is a very spacious feel to the park. (I am, of course, Lutheran - so I have to say that I liked the old one better! I'll get used to the new one in time.......)

The downside for me was that the speaker volume seemed much louder, and the big screen in center field is pretty obnoxious. Pre-game included a "mini-newscast and weather show." I already knew it was hot, and part of the appeal of the ballpark is getting away from constant updates on the disasters everywhere. (Although, in regards to yesterday's big news story, I just want to say that anyone who can discuss the Middle East without using the word "sh*t" isn't really paying attention.)

Between innings there was constant "stuff" on the big screen and the volume was so loud that any actual conversation with a live person sitting next to you was impossible.

However, despite the negatives, I'm happy that I went. Watching the game unfold on the field in front of me is one of my greatest pleasures, and it had been 2 years since I was able to do that. I was so overwhelmed to see the Cardinals take the field that I think I may have teared up!! ;)

And at the end of the day, the true sweetnesss.........

"That's a winner!"

2006-07-13T07:28:00.000-07:00

I just have to ask.....

Yesterday, one of my co-workers hosted an informal IM poll. I was shocked by the results - I could not believe that more than 50% of the respondants were so completely wrong. I blame the small sample size. (13 people responded.)

I asked the Lutheran Logomaniac to choose between the two options, and he chose a third option that I hadn't even considered. ^shaking head^

So, I'm hoping for a larger sample.......

The original poll question was: Which is creepier, Ronald McDonald or The Burger King?

My poll is here - please help spread the word and get the sample size up!!

2006-07-11T03:20:00.000-07:00

My brother is TOO cool!

Greetings from Baby Shower Central! My niece is expecting her first child early next month, and so my sils and I are giving a baby shower next Sunday. At my house!

A bit of background here - my parents have been living in southeastern KY for the last 4 years. They bought property there and it's dad's "retirement project." After they had lived there for about a year (but kept their house in Indiana also) my landlady announced that she was selling her house. (I lived in a walk-out basement apartment that was quite lovely.)

Since I had such a good experience in that apartment, I decided to take my dad up on his long-standing offer to finish his walk-out basement into an apartment for me. Let me count the ways that it is the best apartment I've ever had! I have a yard, so I now have a place for a dog or two, my brothers and their families are within a couple of miles, I'm right there when mom & dad come to visit, all new appliances and my choice of paint colors and layout....it's fabulous! Can you say "attached garage!?"

So after living there for 2 years, this is my first BIG event to host. Since I'll be out of town the 2 days before the shower, I spent last weekend scrubbing and rearranging and ....well, yes, I even washed the windows! And noticed that while we've talked about the need to power-wash the mold off "my" side of the house....we hadn't done it yet. My windows face north and overlook a creek that runs behind the property. The combination of the shade and the humidity means that we have to power-wash the siding with chemicals every year or two.

I mentioned this to my brother Andy on Sunday evening. I had already checked with my brother Mark who OWNS a power-washer, and found that it isn't working, so I was looking into renting one. Andy just nodded his head and said he had a plan.

I arrived home Monday after work to see this:

This is not just a little power washer - this is construction equipment which his boss let him borrow. This, this is Tim Taylor with a power washer. (Insert appropriate "manly" grunts!) The mold is gone!! (So are the screens from the windows and one of the vent covers, but let's not quibble....)

It is in fact so powerful that it can be used to dig post holes. The spray is sharp enough that it will "cut out" dirt. He also used it to replace a couple of fence posts along the lane. (I know what you're thinking and no, I didn't back into those posts. HE did. I only backed into the propane trailer!) Anyway, he just "cut" in a circle with the power washer, and had a suction hose laying there to suck the mud up as he went. Pretty snazzy.

Aren't power tools fun? And brothers even better????

2006-06-28T09:35:00.000-07:00

New Find....

Greetings after an extended absence! I certainly never meant for such a long time to pass between entries, it just kind of crept up on me.

For now, I want to point out the link to a new blog that I discovered, Dark My Road, which is "A Lutheran blog exploring the theology of the cross and mental illness, particularly depression, anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. Written by an LCMS pastor, this site hopes to serve as a refuge for pastors and others who suffer with diseases of the mind, and to offer hope in the Gospel."

Having journeyed along the dark road of situational depression myself, I am eager to follow and participate in this discussion, and I hope that you will also.

While it sometimes seems that depression and other mental illnesses are happening more often than in the past - I think it is more likely that as we understand these things better, more people are seeking and receiving medical help that was not available even 20-30 years ago. I think this is especially true among Pastors. I would think that being seen as "counselors" would make it even more difficult to admit to needing that help. (It is certainly difficult enough as a layperson to admit that!)

However, recognizing the chemical and behavioral triggers and imbalances involved does not isolate the impact and consequences of mental illness to the scientific/medical fields of study. When our minds suffer any disorder (beyond the disorder of our original sin) we are even more so Satan's prey, and as always in desperate need of the comfort and rescue of the Gospel. I am excited for any discussion which seeks to balance this tension.

2006-05-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

Great Sunday.....

Yesterday I went with my parents to St. John's (Bingen) Lutheran Church, located south of Fort Wayne. After the Divine Service (and a wonderful sermon by Pr. Olson) we had lunch in the parish hall.

This lunch was a celebration for new confirmands, new adult confirmands, new members, and those marking special anniversaries of their confirmation - 25 yrs (2 of my cousins, one in attendance) 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 (my mom!) 65, 70 & 75 years.

There were 2 of the 3 surviving members of the 75 year class - they had the highest percentage attending! There were at least 5 from each of the 60, 65 & 70 year classes - there was lots of laughing going on at those tables! I sat with my cousin and her family (which includes her son, my godchild, and her mom, my godmother!) At the end of our table were several members of the 45 year class, I heard them laughing and discussing the ABBA musical "Mama Mia!"

Confirmation is a weird issue to me. I've spent a lot of years explaining it to non-Lutherans who find it confusing. And with every discussion I have about it in Lutheran circles, I find that I understand less about what it is - and that most of what I've always explained to people isn't correct! I'm pretty much left with..."It's a thing my church does."

For all that, it was obvious yesterday in that room that for the 50 or so people gathered in that room, their Confirmation was and is important to them, and my Confirmation was and is important to me.

St. John's (Bingen) is the church where my mother grew up. Her grandparents (or great-grandparents, I'm not sure which..) were members at its founding. I know my grandfather was baptized, confirmed, married and buried there, and that is true for many of my family members. My mother was baptized, confirmed and married there, although she no longer lives in the area, so she isn't a member there. Her two sisters still live within a mile of the church and are still active members.

After the dinner, (as is our custom when we are there) we walked behind the church to the cemetery, and visited my grandparent's grave, and my uncle's and....well, obviously there are a lot of family members there. I've always thought that funerals there are done the very best way. After the service in the church, the procession follows the pall on foot to the gravesite for the committal. That is so much more intimate and comforting than splitting up into separate cars and driving for miles to reach the cemetery. After the final service, smaller groups break apart and wander among the stones, looking and remembering with each other. Then it's a short walk back to the parish hall for the dinner. I don't know of many other churches that have a cemetery "in the back yard." I think it would be great tho, if newer congregations could start to see the opportunity to build that kind of history and community. It certainly doesn't happen overnight, but if you never start, it never happens....

So, those are my ramblings from yesterday.

2006-05-16T10:06:00.000-07:00

Shhh...it's a Secret......

Yes. I have discovered a way to save twenty-five to thirty cents per gallon on gas for my car! I don't have to have a special "company credit card" or buy gift cards at Walmart. I don't have to get my car washed, or sign up for a "rewards card." I can go to any gas station, no matter what the listed price - I never have to drive out of the way to find a special station offering this price.

Thanks to my brother Andy for his help in this endeavor. He spends less on gas as well.
It's quite simple really - you too could spend less money on gasoline the easy, no-hassle way.

Lighten up on the accelerator. That's it. As Andy explains it, pretend that there is an un-cooked egg under the gas pedal. You don't want to break it...you accelerate gingerly.

When I first got my car, I was getting around 21 miles per gallon. Nothing to write home about, but I was willing to live with it. However, over time, my fuel economy kept dropping lower and lowever, until at 19.3 I went to Andy and said, "Something is wrong with my car!"

He explained (as my personal mechanic) that he doesn't try to diagnose poor fuel economy mechanically, there are too many variables. He suggested I try his method of driving and see if it made a difference.

I went from 19.3 to 21.5 right away. I've done some distance driving lately, so I've been hovering at 22.5 for the last month or two.

That adds up to a 10% increase in gas mileage, and with the price of gas hovering near $3.00 per gallon...I'll take the 30 cents savings! And if that doesn't sound impressive...I've been doing this for 6 months, and can reasonably estimate that I've saved $100 on gas. That's enough money to buy some nice yarn for a sweater!!

And I know this is a secret, because every time I start forward at a stop light, all of the the other cars on the road just about rear-end me because they have their foot on the floor. Yes, I'm the car in front of you that is going to make you 20 seconds later to your destination! I do stay in the right lane to give you a chance to go around...but I'm not gonna go faster just to get out of your way!

I've also discovered the zen of it all. In order to drive more economically, I spent the first month chanting to myself..."I'm not in a hurry, I'm not in a hurry. I'll get there in plenty of time." And it's true. I haven't noticed any discernable change in the amount of time it takes me to go places. Possibly this has also been good for my blood-pressure!

Now, I'm all about saving money for gas, and I'm all about helping the environment, reducing pollution etc.

But that's not actually my point.

We in the United States pay way too little for gas. Sure, I whine and complain with every price hike....but I don't get serious about making changes until the price at the pump goes up. NOW I start to drive smarter, run all my errands on one day, try to avoid extra trips. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Double the price of gas, and I'm finding someone to carpool with, screaming for better public transportation and eyeing a mo-ped. I won't be the only one driving on eggshells, and car manufacturers won't be able to sell anything but Volkswagen beetles (diesel).

Raising the price is the only way to actually change our wildly wasteful consumption of oil. We won't change because of the environmental destruction, or the fact that we depend on getting our most vital resource from people who hate us.

Which still isn't the point. The point is: Oil is not a renewable resource. When it's gone, it's gone. And just because it isn't scheduled to happen in my lifetime isn't an excuse to use it all up.

Our ancestors laid waste to many non-renewable resources. Great herds of buffalo are gone. There are small domestic herds, but the great wild herds are gone. Old growth timber!! Sure, we replant, but native old growth trees will certainly not happen in my lifetime, or that of the next few generations. Let's take a lesson....

Tax the heck out of me for flagrantly wasting gas, and use the money for public transportation and the cost of changing the infrastructure of our society to renewable fuels. Don't use the money for social programs, or propping up Social Security, or disaster relief. That's what all my other taxes are for. Don't give it to big oil companies, or foreign governments and organizations bent on our destruction. Use to fix the actual problem.

Yes, my paltry 22.5 mpg is an embarassment. But I'm trying to see if I can get further improvement by slowing down sooner as I approach a stop. Just thought I'd give fair warning to all of you driving behind me.....

2006-05-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Listening on Pandora.....

So.....I've been listening on Pandora.com and it is really interesting how things migrate around in there. I don't know if any of you have tried it, but you set up your own "radio station" and tell it a song/group or a couple that you like, and it will search for similar things that you might also like, based on measureable characteristics. (They do not have Mendelssohn listed...)

So, I set up a radio station based on "brian eno" "tangerine dream" and "toy matinee"

It has been an interesting result. Once you start listening, you can say that you like or don't like each individual song. It helps if you let the middle-of-the-road ones just slide, don't specify one way or the other. And you also get some completely unknown artists, which is kind of the point, to find new music that you might like.

It wasn't long before I started seeing other familiar names....Genesis, King Crimson, Porcupine Tree, then some Pink Floyd, Peter Gabriel, eventually I got Ozric Tentacle and Sigur Ros. I could see all that. But I also got some unexpected things. Like the Beatles!

And after I had clicked enough Brian Eno, I was getting a lot of "atmospheric" type stuff, I guess you would call it. Some of which is absolutely horrible. A couple of New Age type renditions of hymns (NOT) and there are quite a few people out there who do that type of sound really badly. A mindless repetition of a 4 or 5 note fragment until you want to scream. Or such a sickly sweet sound that you must retch. Or so harsh and grinding that you gnaw your arm off to stop the pain. I've decided that very few people can pull that off. My "new" favorite is 'Thursday Afternoon' by Brian Eno. I know that for an hour I won't get anything terrible!!

Anyway. That's what's I've been listening to a work instead of my iPod....

2006-04-27T07:57:00.000-07:00

Stars of the day........

I'm staying with friends on my vacation. Members of Team P. include a 5-year old girl, an almost 3-year old girl and a wee bitty 5 week old baby boy. There have already been memorable moments.....

The 5-year old gets star of the day already today. She was coloring a picture and humming. What song does this little girl hum while she colors??? "Glory be to Jesus, Who in bitter pain, Poured for me His life blood, From His sacred veins." Now that's a song to hum!!

Her little sister got a very memorable star of the day yesterday, but more because the event will always be seared into my brain than because it was so...wonderful. It was most certainly not! We were just finishing supper when she announced that she had a rock in her pants. Which she dug out for all to see. It wasn't a rock.

Note to self: When child being potty trained announces that they have a rock in their pants, an alert adult grabs child and heads for bathroom right away.
Also note to self: Said child could use more fiber....

That's the Team P. report for today!!

2006-04-09T11:15:00.000-07:00

Lutheran Carnival is up!!

Check out the Lutheran Carnival XXI over at Necessary Roughness.

And you should know that while I technically know Roman Numerals, I don't like them, so I pronounce it Lutheran Carnival Ex-Ex-Eye. I have been mocked for this. It does not deter me.

Just sayin'

2006-04-06T11:21:00.000-07:00

Music is not neutral......

Thanks to Dan at Necessary Roughness for his comment about Mendelssohn's Elijah! I have never sung the entire Oratorio, so when I listen to the recording, I usually pay the most attention to the pieces that I've sung. Upon his recommendation, I've spent some time with the "rest" of it, and I echo his love of the "Blessed are they that fear the Lord".

I sang parts of the Elijah my freshman year in college (bonus points to any of my friends who know what my first major was that year...) but I sang the Angel Trio "Lift Thine Eyes" my senior year in high school. My best friends Ellen & Julie & I sang it for the Solo & Ensemble contest. The funny thing was that no matter what we tried, we could not end in the same key we started in! We always went sharp - which drove our teacher batty - she knew the answer to going flat, but we never did that. She had us start in a higher key, a lower key, stand in a different order, stand in opposite corners of the room, stand in a tight circle...didn't make a difference. And we always were in tune with each other...just half a step to a whole step sharp. Finally she started shifting which part we sang. By time we went to contest, we could each sing (by memory) any of the three parts standing in any place we wanted. Good thing they didn't deduct too many points for being sharp!!

Spending the last few days revelling in the glory of Mendelssohn brought to mind a conversation that I recently had with one of my friends. Her kindergardener came home from his public school with a flyer for a concert at the school. He was all excited about the concert and wanted to take his money to buy a CD when they went. She told him that they would wait and see what mommy and daddy thought after the concert. When they got to the concert, it was put on by an organization that uses a hip-hop sound with postitive messages for kids.

She said that she was upset first of all by the sheer high volume of the music - she wants her kids to learn to NOT listen at such high volume. And how did this organization get access to the school kids? And when would they be promoting a classical concert with such fervor?

I said that I thought an even bigger problem was that the kids are learning to like this style of music, using positive words. In a few years when they take their allowance down to the music store and buy more music that they like the sound of, they certainly won't be getting such positive messages.

But the thing that I wish I had said is that it's time for those of us who love good music to stop apologising for it. Learning and loving good music is not snobbery. Just as good music does not exsist only in the "classical" world - there is much good music crafted in various genres. And it's not like it's the only thing we listen to! Come on, I've already admitted to being hooked on "When Crabs Walk Sideways." Variety is the spice and all that.

However, while music may be a matter of taste and culture on some levels, that does not mean that any music can carry any message. It is not "neutral." And it is precisely BECAUSE music contains cultural messages you can't just put the words that you want to communicate to just any style of music. No matter what words you put with hip-hop, the overriding cultural mores will not go away. Just as Mendelsshon's "Lift Thine Eyes" could never carry the lyrics to any of your basic hip-hop songs. The artistry and mastery of music occurs when the music and text are crafted together.

It's a lesson that I think the whole "contemporary worship" movement has finally learned. At least I haven't heard the Divine Service Liturgy sung to the tune of "This Land is Your Land" for at least 30 years. At least they are making up new music instead of trying to use existing melodies. But now we have secular self-esteem taught to the sounds of hip-hop. It just never ends....

2006-04-04T06:46:00.000-07:00

Falling in love all over again.....

You know how it is when you listen to a CD that you haven't listened to in a long time? Or a composer? Or an artist you never noticed before?

Well, since I've gotten my iPod, there has been lots of falling in love going on! First and foremost, I discovered Rev. Todd Wilken on Issues, Etc. I'm a junkie. Always a couple of weeks behind, but I gotta have my fix.

Then there was a brief fling with the Smothers Brothe rs. I love men who make me laugh!! Once I have "Crabs Walk Sideways"
stuck in my head, it's stuck in my head for a week!

Jimmy Buffet was new to me - I had a friend who loved him, but I had never paid much attention. Now I have 4 or 5 CD's!

And now for something completely different. Felix Mendelssohn - that's my current love. I have a compilation of choral works, and the Oratorio "Elijah". I've had the choral works on repeat for days....

^sigh^ That man can sure write music....

2006-04-03T14:58:00.000-07:00

That's a winner!!

Nothing is more wonderful than the first baseball game of the season...unless it's WINNING the first game of the season! This is my 8th Opening Day as a Cardinals fan - I just love early April!!

Pujols homered twice, Rolen got a grand slam - which is great to see since he's coming off injury and surgery from last year.

Chris Carpenter did a great job as well - so it was a great day!

2006-03-28T13:06:00.000-08:00

Spring Forward

Next Sunday, for the first time in my life, I am expected to change all of my clocks to observe “Daylight Savings Time.” I am VERY disgruntled about this. It has always been a point of pride that I live in one of the only two states that have ANY sense about time.

To quote my brother Andy, “Daylight Savings Time?? What?? You can’t SAVE daylight. There is how much daylight there is!”

That says it all.

I’m hoping to emigrate to Arizona.

2006-03-25T17:40:00.000-08:00

I are one too!!

How grammatically correct are you? (Revised with answer key)

You are a GRAMMAR GOD!

Congratulations! If your mission in life is not already to preserve the English tongue, it should be. You can smell a grammatical inaccuracy from fifty yards. Your speech is revered by the underlings, though some may blaspheme and call you a snob. They're just jealous. Go out there and change the world.
Take this quiz!

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2006-03-21T15:25:00.000-08:00

I've officially stopped saying, "What will they do next?"

It's a good thing that I listen to Issues, Etc on my I-Pod. Just yesterday, I heard a discussion about how it would be difficult to parody what passes for worship in some churches anymore. If you thought up a skit where the pastor actually showed a movie AS the sermon, well, it's not a joke, it happens.

Since I was up-to-date on some of the possibilities, I was able to NOT drive off the road this morning when I saw the signs for a new church in the Fort Wayne area. The Pointe. Located at The Rave movie theater.

I suppose it makes sense, using a space that is normally empty on Sunday morning...and they already have a lot of high-tech stuff, movies screens, surround sound, etc.

So, there you are.

2006-03-19T17:06:00.000-08:00

My Girls Got My Sunday Afternoon Nap....

....while I slaved away, keeping them in Kibbles & Bits...

2006-03-15T18:43:00.000-08:00

I'm honored....

to receive the coveted AARDIE award for my post "We Are Children." Thanks to Orycteropus Afer for hosting the awards and the GREAT Lutheran Blogroll that he maintains. And a special thanks to my dear friend K for the wonderful friendship and ongoing conversation which inspired the post.

Be sure to check out Aardvark Alley - it's the place to find out all about the Lutheran Blog World.

Thanks again!

2006-03-13T06:27:00.000-08:00

Who would have ever imagined??

I went to a Komet Hockey game with Not Worthy last night – always a good time!

This game was special because for the first time in Komet history, a woman was in the starting line-up. Molly McMaster, 29, is participating in one game in every UHL city this month as part of an initiative for Colorectal Cancer Awareness Month. McMaster was diagnosed with stage II colon cancer in February, 1999 at the age of 23.

We got to the game, and as we passed through the lobby, we were handed a free stuffed-toy! Well, we always take the free stuff that they hand us, and I didn’t pay much attention until Not Worthy asked me, “You do know what that is, don’t you?”

So I looked at what I was carrying…

Yes, I had been handed a stuffed enema toy!! EneMan!!

It only went downhill from there. The little kids…just saw a cute toy. The older kids and adults, however.....

And it turns out that SOMEHOW they convinced someone to WEAR AN EneMan COSTUME and participate in all the “character hi-jinks.” I’m just going to say “wheel-barrow race” and let it go at that.

EneMan. The friendly face of colorectal screening. There’s a board meeting I would have liked to overheard.

But it is a serious issue, and everyone should talk to their doctor about screening for this fairly preventable form of cancer. (And if you want a warm fuzzy friend to hold while you do this, I have a little stuffed friend available! Free to a good home.)

2006-03-07T03:15:00.000-08:00

We Are Children

“Mama, can we play with this game?” asked the little girl one morning.

“No,” her mama replied, “you haven’t cleaned up the mess that you made in your room. No new messes until you’ve cleaned your room."

But there were other rooms and other messes to play with, and nobody likes to clean their room. So it wasn’t until supper time that mama finally said, “Girls, it is time to clean your room NOW.”

And so two little girls climbed the stairs and started “cleaning” their room. It is easy to get distracted, however, by all of the fun things that the mess consists of. Eventually their games took them back downstairs and mama asked, “Did you girls clean your room?”

“Yes Mama! It’s clean!” they assured her. And to be fair, they had worked at cleaning their room, and they did feel that it was “clean enough.”

“Alright then, I’ll take my broom upstairs to sweep the floor for you,” she told them. “Anything on the floor that I sweep up, I’m going to throw away.”

“Oh no, Mama! You won’t throw away my Barbie house, will you?” Please Mama! Don’t throw away my Polly Pockets!” they protested.

Now the cleaning began in earnest and soon the floor was cleaned and swept. Mama went back to cooking supper and the girls went back to their play. Suddenly, what had almost happened sank in, and the oldest girl ran through the kitchen, crying.

Her mama followed her and asked her what was wrong. She sobbed, “You said you were going to throw away my toys! Why did you do that? It made me sad!”

I listened to my friend gently explain to her daughter that it is her job as mama to teach her girls to take care of their things, and to clean up their messes. And while she knew that it sometimes made them sad, it was still her job to teach them.

Now, we have to stop a moment so that I can say that it was one of those moments when I, not being a mother, was awestruck at how my friends are such good mothers. I can’t imagine doing this so well!

But the light bulb that went off in my head had to do with a conversation that this mother and I had recently. She is going through hard times right now. Her husband is sick, she’s due to have a new baby any day, and all of the simple things that we all take for granted are just HARDER. They are scared and sad and unsettled.

As we discussed this, we tried to lighten the mood (as we do) and laughed that this is “another stinking growth experience.” We’ve all had them, we all hate them, and we decided that, sure, it may build our character, but we’re not that unhappy with our character. Obviously, it could be better but we could get by at our current level, thank you very much.

Now listening to her daughter’s complaint that she did not like her lesson, I realized that WE are the children. We were complaining that we don’t like the lessons our Heavenly Father is teaching us. We’ve been playing in our rooms and having a fine time. We’ve made some messes, but we’ve tried to clean them up and now we would really like to not have any more lessons.

But while we’re playing in our room, and times are good, it’s easy to put God in a box. Sure, we’re thankful that He took care of our salvation, and takes care of us and will bring us to be with Him – but look at how good a job we’re doing taking care of ourselves, taking care of others, we’ve got a job, a nice car, all the good things. God takes care of the church stuff, and we take care of the rest.

It’s like the “Footprints” poem. You know, the one where there are two sets of footprints in the sand, and where there is only one set, that is where God carries us through hard times? That’s not right!! There is always only one set of footprints – God always carries us. It is our own imagination that sees times when we walk along as God’s companion; that there are times when we don’t need Him to carry us.

We never seem to learn that lesson. The lesson which is not that we should stop making messes, or that we have to try harder to clean them up, but the lesson that God has already cleaned up our mess. All of our messes. We don’t have to clean them up – we CAN’T clean them up. The beautiful gift of this lesson is that we don’t have to be grown-ups who take care of ourselves and we don’t have to be whiney kids who don’t like our lessons. We are little babes, lovingly carried in our Father’s arms. We have a cross to cling to. Always.

2006-02-28T18:08:00.000-08:00

I've been tagged - the Oddest Thing in My Office!

My good friend, The Lutheran Logomaniac has tagged me to admit to the oddest thing in my office.

Ok, first of all, calling it my "office" really overstates the reality. It's a "cubicle!" Yes, I toil in the land of interconnected boxes. In the world of insurance. Therefore, I fear I will not live up to the oddness of hubcaps.

There are three choices, and I'll let readers of this blog cast votes in the comment section. (Sorry it won't be an official high tech poll, but I'm not that much of a blog guru!)

1. My knitting calendar picture for this month, which plainly shows 2 knitting needles producing crochet fabric. (Probable favorite for my fiber nut friends.)

2. A package of balloons. (Hey, you never know....)

3. An icon of a Phalanx of Angels. (What is common art for a pastor's office is considered odd in an insurance office! I'm sure my co-workers would vote for this one!!)

So, what say you?

I'm going to tag Not Worthy and The Rebellious Pastor's Wife and Steven S. Billings!

2006-02-26T16:06:00.000-08:00

Abortion - Execution

I found two posts in the last few days that echoed the contradiction that I noted between the ethics of execution and that of abortion. Rev. Cwirla & Rev. Alms both noted this. I really liked Rev. Alm's connection to the Hippocratic Oath. It gives me a good seque into another thing that I heard on NPR.

I was listening to further interviews in regards to the postponed execution of convicted rapist and murderer Michael Morales in California. At one point, they interviewed a doctor who represented a Medical Association. While personally opposed to the death penalty, he felt that doctors should be allowed by their association to participate in an execution as part their care for their patients. When the interviewer asked, "But what about the Hippocratic Oath? 'First of all, do no harm.'"

This doctor replied that he felt that the medical profession uses that as a straw man argument, they only drag it out when it suits them. Then he did the "higher criticism" thing. He said that the Hippocratic Oath is from another time. Things are different now. It also says that doctors are only required to treat males, and that they should keep patient information confidential. Now doctors are often REQUIRED to break confidentiality. He quoted statistics that most medical schools no longer use the oath, and that others use a modern revision. It sounded so familiar! The poor Hippocratic Oath has gone the way of the Bible. No longer relevant to modern man.

I was curious, tho, about the "only required to treat males," so I looked up the classical translation. I believe I misunderstood that - the oath only requires that they TEACH males. But a reading of the classical text also shows that the oath says..."I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy." (Emphasis added)

Clearly, Hippocrates was able to equate an "abortive remedy" with ending a life. And I suppose that when the Bible is relegated to the status of a quaint historic text with nothing to offer modern society, it should not be suprising that the Hippocratic Oath is sharing that fate. While the Oath obviously does not share the authority of God-Breathed Scripture, it is a shame to know that so few doctors ascribe to it. There was a time, at least, when even pagans knew to value human life.

2006-02-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Headline.....
American Dream Come True, Immigrants Hit Top Jackpot!

This was the headline in the Fort Wayne newspaper earlier this week. I had to stop and reflect that when my great-grandparents were immigrants, their American Dream was to have the opportunity to work to provide their family with a better life. In fact, several of them became farmers, which has always been an incredible amount of work. Other than a weekend trip to visit family, I don't know that my grandparents took a vacation or travelled for recreation their entire life. When you have dairy cows, there is no such thing as a day off....

It's interesting to think about what constitutes "The American Dream" these days. I know that dairy cows are not for me....but as much as I grumble about getting out of bed so early, I can't seriously imagine not wanting to work at all. Well, for very long - the first month or two sounds nice!

2006-02-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Irony on NPR.....

I was listening to NPR on my way home from work. I had enjoyed a segment on writing by the US Poet Laureate. Then I listened to the controversy over turning over US ports to foreign companies, and probably something about the environment.

Then came the news about the Supreme Court reviewing the ban on partial birth abortion. All abortion is offensive, but partial birth abortion seems exponentially more heinous. Even those who deny that life begins at conception and place the beginning of life at implantation must oppose this. A child is being killed as it is born. Just let that little body slip entirely out into the world, and by all laws in all lands, that is murder. It is truly a matter of inches between life and death.

And I had to see irony when doctors defended the practice as a medical necessity to stop hemorrhaging, save the mother's life or preserve fertility. Preserve fertility. Yes by all means let's be sure that more life can be conceived and then destroyed.

At that point, I had to turn the radio off. I could not bear to hear another word. I know that I have a responsibility to be an informed citizen, but I was at my limit of information. After a few minutes, I judged it to be safe to listen, and when I turned the radio back on, the story was about the execution that was stopped because the anesthesiologist that was to monitor it had backed out.

And I respect that. He is following his conscience. I do support the death penalty. I believe that the government has the solemn right and duty to execute those who have been convicted of crimes that carry the death penalty. It is a hard thing, and should be, to take another life, even when it is done lawfully, and those who carry out the sentence should have the right to refuse to do so based on their beliefs.

The real irony was the statement by one of his peers that "doctors are healers, not executioners." Ah yes. It is not a problem to kill a child as it slides through the birth canal, a child who has never drawn breath or offended against any law. A child whose only crime is to be unwanted. But to take the life of a convicted killer.....that offends.

Kyrie Eleison. Christe Eleison. Kyrie Eleison.

2006-02-20T19:13:00.000-08:00

Wanted:

Female confessional Lutheran baseball fan wanted for small but expanding fantasy league to balance the male/female and clergy/laity ratios (right now we have 4 females, 5 males....4 clergy, 5 laity)if interested, please submit an essay regarding your opinion on "astroturf and the designated hitter" or "open communion between Dodger and Giants fans or Cardinals and Cubs fans" to the comments section..... Sense of humor heartily recommended.

Play Ball!

2006-02-16T12:01:00.000-08:00

Catchers & Pitchers Report!! It's Spring!!

Look, look......here's a picture of Cardinal's Ace Chris Carpenter....see? see what he's doing??

He's THROWING A BASEBALL!! Yippee!!!!

I have to confess that I've pretty much taken the winter trading season off. There has just been too much other stuff going on for me to track trades and signings and all. I've had several friends ask me what I thought about the Cardinal's moves, and my answer has had to be: Quite honestly, I can't even tell you what moves we made!" The only thing that really stood out to me was losing Matt Morris on the free trade market.

I can't tell you where he went - I do wish him well, and I remember some regret when I heard he had moved on. He did a great job for us, and I'm not sure I've seen a pitcher of his caliber on our roster to replace him. My one concern was always that he could be erratic in his performance - and when he wasn't on, he could give up more home runs than you could shake a stick at!!

Anyway, time to dig into that depth chart and looking ahead.....

Play ball!!

2006-02-14T06:10:00.000-08:00

Just another item on the list of reasons that I should never be White House Press Secretary

Imagine, if you will, being a guy on a hunting trip. Hangin’ out, shooting stuff, cracking jokes, having a good time. Hey, look, there’s one…you track it…and bang!

One of your friends drops to the ground – you didn’t even know he was standing there – you shot him.

What is going through your mind? Horror, fear, concern…”Is he all right? Please, please, please let him be all right. Get help…Someone help….”

Now, sometime further in to it all, once you start to know that he’s probably going to be okay, other things start to hit you. Among them is the realization that this will probably be one of the most embarrassing things you have ever done.

(I can say for sure that if this happened on one of my brothers' hunting trips…they would NEVER let him live it down. EVER. They’d be sitting around the nursing home in 50 years saying, “Hey, wanna go hunting?? Oh wait, you couldn’t shoot straight when you could still SEE!!”)

All of this would be bad enough for a private citizen. You have to answer police questions, face the guy’s family, your own family. And the guy in intensive care. Let’s not forget him.

Now add the fact that you are the Vice-President of the United States. This is also going to be embarrassing not just for you, but also for your President, your country and your political party. And the media is generally hostile to your President, your political party and sometimes even your country, so you just know they’re going have a field day with this.

So seriously, it would be a bad thing for me to be White House Press Secretary on the day that the media insisted on knowing why they hadn’t been given this information sooner.

DUH. Because we thought you might over-react and think that the Situation Room should have been tracking the VP’s hunting trip…..

Just sayin’

**Also want to note that once again, the only law broken in this story was lack of proper documentation. He didn’t have the correct stamp for the bird he was shooting. Or maybe he didn’t have the correct stamp for they guy he shot. Could go either way. It’s all about the paperwork….**

2 days, 48 minutes until Pitchers and Catchers report....

2006-02-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

Let us begin with a little weirdness....

You know, you can find plenty of websites that track "News of the Weird." Those stories with catchy headlines to pique your interest. Sometimes it's really just the headline - the story isn't all that weird. And sometimes the story truly is weird. And then there are the times that whether the story is really weird or not, there is one sentence, or one paragraph, just casually tossed in there, that completely takes over my mind.

Such as this headline that appeared on my Google homepage. (I heart Google!)

Woman Carrying Human Head Arrested in Fla.
(Click for full story)

Now, that's a promising headline! And the story lives up to it....but the sentence that really got me was this one ".....was charged Friday with smuggling a human head into the U.S. without proper documentation."

*Stunned pause*

It would have been okay if she had possessed proper documentation??????
There exists proper documentation????
Just how common is this? Should I be wondering if the lady next to me in the movie theatre has a human head in her purse, but it's ok because it's registered?

And then...
Why is no one curious about where the rest of the body is? I mean, hey, I watch CSI and there was an episode where someone found a human head in a newspaper machine, and no one asked..."Was there paperwork with that head?" No, they really focused on where the remaining body parts were. And the circumstances surrounding the body losing its head!

Why is no one asking, "Was this human a willing donor of its head?" "Did the person die of natural causes?" "Human sacrifice?" "Any other crimes besides lack of registration occur?"

So, the moral of the story is...."Always declare the human head contained in your luggage." It may be useful for warding off evil spirits, but it is not effective against Customs Agents.

3 days, 14 hours, 33 minutes until Pitchers and Catchers Report.

2006-02-10T09:03:00.000-08:00

Welcome to “Line Drive Down the Right Side…”

Last spring, I discovered the world of blogs. Specifically, knitting blogs. I love reading about what other people are knitting, seeing original designs, finding out the pitfalls of specific projects or techniques….and enjoying the sense of community in the knit-blog world.

At the same time, several of my friends were blogging in the theological/churchly realm. Pr. Peperkorn encouraged me to start my own blog. (I kind of think he might have meant a general or theological type blog, but when I latched onto the idea of a knitting blog, he was still very supportive!) So, my knitting blog The Designated Knitter was born. Originally, it was to have both knitting and baseball related content, but I have really focused on knitting.

(And a few weeks ago, my friend Laura from Madison WI and I decided to start a team blog, which is a bit like a public correspondence. We don’t get to sit together and knit very often, so it feels like we get to keep in touch more!)

When I started reading knitting blogs, I found that I disliked reading blogs that have posts or links relating to radical feminism, anti-Bush-ism, pro-abortion or other such hate themes. And they are hate-filled. Radical feminists hate “the patriarchy,” anti-Bushers hate and disrespect President Bush, and supporting abortion kills babies. That isn’t what I’m looking for. I want to read about your knitting! Your family, your travel and adventures, selling your house, the weather, pictures of the SKY!….that’s fine too. But it’s polite company; we are acquaintances visiting each other and as a matter of etiquette, politics and religion are verboten.

All of this leads me to the point of this blog. I’m ready to step out into the world of blogging beyond the knitting arena. I am as opinionated as the next guy – and I don’t mean that in a good way. I have opinions which I hold strongly, but can’t necessarily defend; beliefs which I hold strongly and can somewhat defend….and LOTS OF QUESTIONS. There is so much going on in the world that is alarming, confusing, and just plain WEIRD. If you know me, you know that I tend to discuss these things in a very dry and sarcastic manner. If you don’t know me – you’ve been warned!

This is the blog where the gloves are off (and the gloves may be baseball gloves, you can never tell!) I am a Confessional Lutheran woman, (I almost said “lay-woman”, but that’s redundant for a Confessional Lutheran!) I work with “Higher Things: Dare to Be Lutheran,” I listen to pod-casts of “Issues Etc,” and I am a rabid St. Louis Cardinals Fan. That’s just the short list of what may appear on this blog!! I’m hoping that sometimes there can be conversations that will help me at least be able to articulate and defend my beliefs more clearly. And sometimes just have fun! Of course, all of this doesn't mean that I'm GOING to spend a lot of time discussing these things, just that it's possible. Don't want you thinking "how boring" about my blog before I even get started!

Oh – and the title? Pr. Peperkorn came up with it when I mentioned that I was thinking about another blog where I could post the things that I don’t feel are appropriate for a knitting blog. A place where I could openly be a Confessional Lutheran Republican . If you’re looking for knitting, try my other blogs. If knitting isn’t your thing (and I can respect that. I don’t understand it, but I respect it…) then maybe you’ll visit with me here!

5 days, 23 hours, 55 minutes until Catchers and Pitchers report! Go Cardinals!

In what order did I process my packages yesterday?
	Knitting needles, spider traps, computer
	Computer, spider traps, knitting needles
	Spider traps, knitting needles, computer
	Knitting needles, computer, spider traps
	Spider traps, computer, knitting needles
	Computer, knitting needles, spider traps

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Which character is the creepiest:
	Ronald McDonald
	The Burger King
	Count my Burger King vote twice because the commercial where he shows up in the guy's bed gives me the willies.

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