MY SPIRIT
I sat there today… thinking, then I silently said to you
I need to talk to you right now, please show me what to do
Please come on down and sit with me, we need to talk a while
Or we can take a walk outside, we’ll walk the endless mile
For many days I reach to find the peace inside of me
I know that it’s in there hidden deep, this smile that people see
Please talk with me, you know my pains, my wants, my needs, my hurts
You know I want to make you proud, I want to put you first
So why did you lead me to a road where love and heartache flow
Why did you let me feel these things, the path I had to go
You know I strive for good and whole, my life is yours to be
The strength right now is yours alone, this force inside of me
Touch me now with angels breath, let me feel your kiss
Wrap your arms around my life, the lessons I shall not miss
You brought me to this place in time, this is all here meant to be
I will find the path you brought here now, the story that is me
I didn’t always make for you the wisest choices then
Where life’s decisions have taken me, you know just where I’ve been
From here on out, I’ll find your blessing in my hardest hour
You’ll help me build a life anew, I’ll simply be a tower
Walk me through the darkest tunnel, hold my hand at night
For dawn is breaking at the end, I bask now in its light
The creatures beautiful melodies are erupting into song
Let me feel their purest joy, I’ll simply sing along
You shown me life’s too beautiful for regrets and ache and pain
To step out there, enjoy the view, for dancing in the rain
Thank you for each day, each breath, each moment that I see
I’ll dance and sing and laugh and love, give all that is in me
So go back now, thanks for our talk, I’ve finally found my voice
I will be what you’ve made me to be, I always have a choice

–

LORI,

Thank you. From the bottom of my heart.

Bill

Here is a typical weather report, at this time of year, for our part of California. Thought you might be interested in seeing it.

A COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM DROPPING OUT OF THE GULF OF ALASKA WILL
BRING MODERATE SNOWFALL AT TIMES TO THE MOUNTAINS OF NORTHERN
CALIFORNIA LATE MONDAY NIGHT THROUGH TUESDAY. ALTHOUGH HEAVY SNOWFALL IS
NOT EXPECTED...AS MUCH AS 4 TO 7 INCHES OF SNOWFALL WILL BE
POSSIBLE ABOVE ABOUT THE 4000 FOOT LEVEL BETWEEN LATE MONDAY NIGHT
AND TUESDAY EVENING. HIGHER ACCUMULATIONS OF SNOWFALL WILL BE
POSSIBLE OVER THE HIGHEST ELEVATIONS OF THE SIERRA CASCADE RANGE.
THE COLD AIR ASSOCIATED WITH THIS LOW WILL BRING SNOW LEVELS DOWN
TO AROUND 3000 FEET AT TIMES WHICH WILL BE LOW ENOUGH TO IMPACT
SOME OF THE MAIN HIGHWAYS OF SHASTA COUNTY AND THE INTERIOR
COASTAL RANGE. THE HIGHER ELEVATION TRANS SIERRA ROUTES WILL LIKELY BE
IMPACTED AS WELL.

IF TRAVELING INTO THE MOUNTAINS OF INTERIOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
LATE MONDAY THROUGH TUESDAY...CONTINUE TO MONITOR THIS WEATHER
SITUATION CLOSELY AND CHECK THE LATEST ROAD AND WEATHER REPORTS
BEFORE DEPARTURE

It was a crappy day today. Could hardly breathe and I hurt all over. I turned up my oxygen, at the doc’s instructions, a few weeks ago. But it may have to go up some more. So out of energy, I didn’t do anything but sleep and sit. Was too tired to even go to the doctor. Hope for a better day tomorrow.

Housing Red Flags Ignored

My incredible friend and first cousin, Lonnie, has a daughter named Lori. Lori wrote a poem that I want to include here because, though it may not have been written for me, it might as well have been. Thank you, Lori, for letting me reprint it.

–

“Inner Strength”

If there is something that I have learned this year
It is that we find our strength in weakness, find our strength in fear
Just when we feel life has taken our air
An answer will show, a soul will appear
Life hands us moments where we must make a choice
They help us to grow, discover our voice
We don’t know our own strength til the walls crash on down
Do we sit there and crumble, or move up and move out
Decisions are painful, some break your heart
But today, you will see, they’re the means to a start
So follow your voice in the moments so dim
That inner strength you find comes only within
The choices in front are not easily made
But know that tomorrow is a much brighter day
For you were not built to crack and to break
But meant to move mountains, for your soul to awake
You will find in due time that there is much more for you
Once the storm clouds have lifted and you take on the view
But til then, step out and take on the rain
And know that you are strong enough to take on the pain

• Newfoundland’s Premire has come to the U.S. for heart surgery. Newfoundland is part of he the Canadian health care system.
• Rahm Emmanuel dropped both the “F” and the “R” bombs at a meeting in August, reports the Wall Street Journal. Palin is furious, because the “R” word was “retard.”
• The Saab sale was almost stopped by the U.S. because of the Russian Mafiya’s involvement in the deal. As do most crime syndicates, the Russians are laundering and legitimizing their money and themselves, by investing in legit businesses.
• What does Iran have up its sleeve for Feb. 11. Ahmadinejad has made the threat. Is that why we’re moving more missiles to the Gulf region?

Last U.S. veteran of WWI turns 109

Why is President Obama working on eliminating nuclear weapons, on one hand, and then:

Obama seeks money for nuclear weapons work

I will read anything Connie Willis writes. She hasn’t had a book out since 2002, I believe. But here new book, BLACKOUT, was just released today. I got it for my Kindle for PC, so I can read it on — you guessed it — my PC. I highly recommend both: Kindle for PC, a free download; and anything Connie Willis has written. Period.

Roddys have served their country in EVERY major war. We’re directly linked to primary ancestors, Roddys, who fought in the Revolutionary War.

Now, here is photographic evidence of how long I wanted to serve in the Navy. The little guy is my brother, Bob, who is now a big guy and a real hero to me. He served his country by being a teacher for his entire career.

Republican, running for U.S. Senate, in Illinois.  “The Illinois Scott Brown”?

Judge: Italian spies likely knew of CIA kidnap

Jerusalem Post

Jeb Bush is back, and some think he’s looking presidential

Was the recent trip to the White House by Jeb and his father a courtesy call or a portent?

One word leads to another, as does one discovery. Following up on a mention of the Sumerian civilization, I tried to track down some cohesive and coherent thread of understanding, but found myself wading in a morass of gods and daemons, and ultimately staring blankly at Genesis 6:5-6.

“. . . there were giants in the earth in those days,” said the text, rather cryptically. Word for “giants” is reported to also be  “the Nephilim,” which might be interpreted to mean  “the fallen ones.” Or not. But the life-like representations of humans, carved in stone, along-side stylistically depicted “gods” of the time before the Flood, a complex, puzzling communication from the past.

The Sumerians were probably the oldest know human civilization, and they occupied the area of Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq. They flourish for about 3 thousand years, beginning 6 thousands years B.C.E.

So it could be said that we moderns are now fighting over the most ancient of places, that no matter how far afield we travel, inevitability will always draw us back to that land. As I’ve mentioned before, Iraq the second-most mentioned place in the Bible, aside from Israel.

I’m making not conclusions here, not even trying to, I’m just fascinated by the chain of events that led me to sit here in my chair, typing on a computer.

President Obama likes to think of himself as another John F. Kennedy, while many of his policies have been the exact opposite of the president who challenged the country with the famous, “Ask not what your country can do for you, as what you can do for your country.”

In another un-Kennedy-like policy decision, Obama has stripped funding from further moon missions, sealing the probability that either India or China will get there first.

The early moon missions were emblematic of this nation’s strength and its ability to accomplish anything.

Obama’s anti-Kennedy decision declares exactly the opposite.

The Obama administration has begun to look at possibilities for new locations where they can hold the trials of KSM and friends, now that congress has promised to de-fund the trials if they are to be held in New York. I suggest they (whomever “they” are, in the Obama administration) move the venue to Florida and hold it at Disneyland, since it will be such a circus anyhow. Perhaps all the Secret Service can dress as Donald Ducks, and the other guards can dress as the Seven Dwarfs for this Micky Mouse trial, which should be at Guantanamo. And maybe Goofy can be the judge, ya think?

In one of the most sensationally stupid moves of the Obama administration, Richard Reid, the infamous, convicted “shoe bomber,” serving time in the Colorado Supermax prison, was moved out of the isolation wing and into the general prison population. Worst fears realized, he, with his celebrity among the worst criminals in the world, has the opportunity to proselytize his warped view of Islam and Western society.

What a stupid move, on the part of the government.

U.N.’s Global Warming Report Under New Attack for Rainforest Claims

Click on this video link and hear an actual announcement that is being played in some schools in Australia.

SCHOOL ANSWERING MACHINE MESSAGE (click to play)

Sometimes, don’t you just wish . . . .

Tonight, Oregon voters approved Measures 66 and 67, which raise taxes on the wealthy and on businesses. This makes Oregon’s taxes higher than those in California, which has, if not the highest, among the highest. What will be left will be for the wealthy and the businesses to move to other states where there are no taxes.

Oregon was once peopled by loggers,  fishermen, and farmers. The demographics have changed considerably, in no small measure due to environmental laws by the spill-over population from California.

Now, Oregon will become a beautiful but broke state.

The Navy’s Domestic Secret

One of my first cousins recently tried to reconnect with me, via email. Our contact, over the past 50 years, has been minimal. I responded rudely, with my usual ridiculous suspicion and self-defensiveness. He, however, replied with grace and dignity. Then he recounted his own personal history in a sort of matter-of-fact way, and I was simply amazed. If not for his graciousness, I would have missed an opportunity to try to get to know an absolutely phenomenal human being.

To my kids: yeah, your Dad’s a schmuck. But your cousin, Lonnie, is quality. Beyond-your-imagination quality.

And I’m thrilled to be able to tell you that.

Why is it that Terry Pratchett has sold 50 million books, world-wide, and is still writing, but I have yet to meet one single person who has read him, except myself (whom I’m still meeting)?

He’s the worlds preeminent satirist and humorist, and I firmly believe that the answer to every question in the Multiverse can be found somewhere in one of his books, if one looks hard enough.

Perhaps the trouble lies in the fact that I have so few friends.

Such humor as the following is to be found in enormous quantities in all his books. Try them.

“I’ll be more enthusiastic about encouraging thinking outside the box when there’s evidence of any thinking going on inside it.” Terry Pratchett

You may not believe the Earth is flat, but you may find yourself wishing it was.

Dismal isn’t a word one gets to use very often. But I finally found enough courage to fling open the massive curtains on on the windows of our hotel room in Reno and found that “dismal” was the first word that sprung to mind. The mountains are not in evidence, having been hidden behind a thick light-gray curtain of absolute uniform intensity. In short, the entire world now looks like my hair and my mood.