Wow, it is so easy to get lost for a month ...

It is easy to not post for weeks at a time. Busy, busy, busy and coming up on a busier time now that spring is here.

All my children are smart cookies. This one went to the state science fair as a freshman. Isn't she lovely.

She said to me recently, "I love my cat with my whole heart. I love the dog with my whole heart. How can that be?"
"Ah," I said, jumping on the 'teaching moment.' "That is how moms feel about their children."

She gave me words for the mom's dilemna. Thank you

Happy Easter.

A March Snow Storm

We were in the SW bottow corner of a big eastern snow storm. Went all the way from us to Maine.

Snowy Luau at Timberline.

Here is a pict - not fom this year, but coulda been.

"What will become of me..."

"What will become of me..."
2/23/1999 alternate lyrics DMB

i'm spilling out
i'm...
i'm melting out
i'm out.
ask me again, my friend...
what will become of me when i'm all poured out?

i'm spilling down
i'm emptied out
i'm asking you again, my friend...
what will become of us
what will become of us when we're all poured out?

come and relax now...
leave your trouble down
no need to bear the weight of your worries,
here let them all fall away...


Once again, My philosophy by song lyric...

The Ohio River is almost at flood stage and it is raining still. Of course, raining here is not always the problem, but cumulative raining in the water shed. The creek that runs between the cemetary and the road I drive was churning this morning. It could have swept away a grown person.

We found out that the community college next door dosen't get water in their elevator shaft until 44' and the river is now at about 38', so there is a ways to go to get to our building. But we will have to keep our eyes on it. There are several hours of work and moving things to the second floor that would have to be done.

I am bringing back my camera after the weekend. I want to illustrate my blog with current images. Like the flood out our window.

Beware the Ides of March.

This is a picture by Ed.

Ogden Nash

Read any Ogden Nash lately? I started looking for his poem about the panther, but ended up reading several.

A panther's a leopard that hasn't been peppered.
If you behold a panther crouch, prepare to say ouch.
Better yet, if hailed by a panther, don't anther.

I've been reading Nash and listening to Dave Matthews Band. An interesting combination.

Picture from June 2006 at West Virginia Independence Hall.

Day light savings

Funny name that - day light savings - after all, the daylight is what it is.

I am waiting for my computer to upgrade its time. Our computers did not get the message that the federal government has changed the time. I went on line to find a download to slap the program around, but for whatever reason, my computer is taking an inordinately long time to get its act together.

I've been thinking alot lately about how inconsequential our lives are. Life is brief. Our lives are marked by very little. We are mostly only important to ourselves. We spend most of our times trying to figure out how to live well. What's it all about, Alfie?

"What's it all about, Alfie
Is it just for the moment we live
What's it all about
When you sort it out, Alfie
Are we meant to take more than we give
Or are we meant to be kind
And if only fools are kind, Alfie
Then I guess It is wise to be cruel
And if life belongs Only to the strong, Alfie
What will you lend on An old golden rule
As sure as I believe
There's a heaven above, Alfie
I know there's something much more
Something even non-believers
Can believe in
I believe in love, Alfie
Without true love you just exist, Alfie
Until you find the love you’ve missed
You're nothing, Alfie....
When you walk let your heart lead the way
And you'll find love any day
Alfie... Alfie... Alfie... "

Ah, yes, philosophy by pop music.
That's the american way, is it not?

Good bye, friend

This is our old dog Rocky. We had her from about 1998 til winter 2007. Here she is sporting a Rudolph nose that she would not let be put on her nose. Can you blame her?

Good dog, Rocky.

One monitor is dying

From 2005 at Christmas time, Canaan Valley tubing...

Uh-oh, this monitor is losing its color. It is fading away. Now that I can't go without a computer and internet access, it is an expensive habit to feed.

Another expensive habit is a cell phone.

But the most expensive habit has been having children. They are some of the most interesting people on earth to me, but costly. And I wouldn't have as much to think about if it weren't for them. I do a roll call mentally everyday to reassure myself where they are, if I have heard from them, if I have something to tell them. I give thanks and praise everyday that my children are such nice people and have caused themselves very little trouble.

On that cheery note, I think I will stop and savor the thought.

Wow, neglect.

I have neglected my little blip on the internet.

In May of 06, I left state parks and began work for a state museum. Still into the stewardship thing. Must of really wanted to leave the parks system, as I now commute on weekends about 150 miles one way through the mountains. Yes, that says much about the state of parks right now. It is an archaic boys network. At my age, I have given up trying to change the world.

But enough for today. Have a picture of my new workplace. Way cool.

Blackwater Falls, WV 

Migraine headache

That is how I spent my day. From beginning to now, migraine headache.

They are the bane of my existence. I have lost so much time from these headaches.

Now mind you, I have had headaches as long as I can remember. The first GP my mom took me to about cramps and headaches, kinda patted me on the head and told her it was all in my head. Just loved those old timey doctors who lumped everything as women's problems.

Now I know my mom had migraines too. She would have to lay down with a "sick headache." She suffered and now I suffer. I tried all day (after I awoke from a drug induced coma sleep) to think what I had done wrong yesterday that set off the headache. Nothing new, nothing different.

Maybe it was blog reading. You know the little box at the top of the page that says next blog?

the picture is a white moth on a toilet seat. I couldn't see it, can you? Pretty good camouflage, huh?

Busy Sunday

First work, then a funeral, then a covered dish dinner/ceremony with girl scouts.

At work, a family found me and took a picture of me with their six year old grandson. I had been on a rescue team six years ago when he, grandma and grandpa, mom and dad, and another couple got lost off one of the park trails. Seeing them all again was kinda cool and there is more to the story.

At the funeral, 4 young women sang Amazing Grace with only an acoustical guitar as back up. They sang harmony. It was quiet and low. If they weren't sisters, they had to be cousins. They were all tall and thin and had a family resemblance. They made beautiful music. It was moving.

The service was more evangelism that remembrance. Never have liked that. The preacher figures he has you in a church, he should try to save you in case you are a heathen. Catch ya while you are thinking about death and dying, I guess.

The girl we had the ceremony for to 'bridge" her from Brownies to Juniors, didn't show up. Kinda anticlimactic. But we did our flag ceremony and candles and then had a feast. The picture is of Rhonda reciting the Girl Scout Law.

Chilly Saturday

Wild raisen is the picture

Yes, today feels like October. Chilly, windy, warm in the sun.

Many of the trees are still green, they are just dropping their leaves. My guess is the drought we have has affected the color this fall. It has been the dryest, least colorful fall since I have lived here.

However, a tree, here and there, is just beautiful.

And it is half way through the month, just a little more than a month til the holidays start.

Prayers for all the folks across our land who are still homeless for these holdiays.

Emmy's

Not much.

Of course, what do I know about TV? For the last 7 years we have only gotten CBS. Lately we get CBS and NBC because we got a new antenna.

Now we do watch movies. We get netflix. That keeps us busy.

My son tapes Stargate so we can watch it. Daughter just got Joan of Arcadia on DVD, so we are watching that.

Just doesn't make us TV connoisseurs.

The leaves are starting to change ... some maples. The fern are turning yellow. The berries are orange on the ash tree and red on the American holly. The cotton grass is white topped. It is lovely.

Autumn, WV

leaves and moss

Suddenly September

Wow, not suddenly September, almost halfway through the month. Life marches on.

I hope to go to a training class for helping the Katrina refugees at Camp Dawson. It is scheduled for Wednesday evening. All I need is a vehicle to get there. We have seven, only one of which is running right now.

My plans for this week may be altered.

Saturday

Saturday evening.

When I was young I assumed Saturday nights would be big times, lots of fun, going places.

Hmmmmm. Silly me. Rarely do we go anywhere or do much of anything. Alas, we work. And that is the way it goes.

There is one fellow who works where I work, who say he won't work weekends. Mind you, I work weekends, so you can imagine the sympathy I have for him. So he didn't show up for work today. The fellow he was to work with had to cover the whole day by himself. Gee, I think I don't need him anymore. I wonder if my boss will let me take him off the schedule.

Men stick together that way.

Well, thinking about that didn't make me feel any better.

School starts next week. I just hope for cooler weather.

Do they have any idea how they look?

I was walking behind a young girl in a store today. She was not too tall and none too thin. She had bleached blond hair: the kind with the dark roots and white tips. It was tinted a bright shade of green.

As I walked along, I noticed the gap between her white gauze skirt and her knit black top. That is when I wondered: "Does she have any idea how she looks." There was more of her than I wanted to see.

Then I noticed that her gauze skirt was see through. :0 It was too late - It was evident that she had on thong underwear. :0

I was traumatized.

Haze Germany Valley

I thought I had transfered several pictures to a CD, but alas, somehow I only copied one.

How do I get a picture posted?

Good grief, how do I get a picture posted?

Well, I figured out you have to take off the pop up blocker.

Now how I the world did I get the picture so many times?

Phew! Deleted the extra seven pictures.

Margaret, the daughter.

August already

August already? How can that be.

I am watching a special on Jackson Pollack. Not the documentary, but a PBS type thing.

A technique is a trap. Pollack as a cliche. Selling his soul to Hollywood.

I watched Ed Harris' movie on Pollack.

Interesting stuff.