I liked this... has a good sound

Lessons from my dog...

My dog is the consumate nature lover. She adores the outdoors. She rolicks and plays in the grass and weeds, sniffing out bunnies and squirrels. She has taught me to love the outdoors, too.

Do you have one to share?

Lessons learned from my best friend...

Hello Friends; Over the years, I've had the misfortune to be an often angry, confused, miserable person. I've had hatred in my heart, shame, envy. And, in my many years, I've also had the great fortune to spend some years with a great friend, a wonderful companion. Such does things for the heart that words don't quite match. So, I thought I would add a simple posting, a very incomplete posting, that begins to extoll the virtues of sharing my life with a pet. I invite you to add your lessons here, too. My dog loves life. She lives in the now. When she looks at me, she sees me with eyes of hope... hope for love, play, food, a scratch behind the ears.... When my dog has done wrong, she feels bad knowing that I am upset with her. She seeks to behave in a way that makes me happy, but may not always be a way that she would like to. Food comes and food goes.....where it stops, the smell really tolls. Farts are mysterious happenings. Sleep is to be shared....the closer the better. Forgiveness. This is going to be a repeating post. I invite you to send me pics of your dog with your caption...or even a pic you think is especially cute and/or funny with caption. My hope is to do a post a day with dog pics.

Sticks and Stones

It was a wonderful moment for me to find that Micky is still out there, still writing and sharing. I look forward to the moment when he is able to restart his blog.

Perusing what he has shared through "Leaving the Grey Room", I stumbled upon memories of my own. Words and actions said in anger some 25 to 35 years ago that still resound in my mind and spirit. I sometimes wonder if such ever leave us. Maybe they do more than just shape us, they become a part of who we are and are therefore no more removable than a hand or foot. I don't know.

Someone once told me that we have to be careful with what we say. Our words may seem insignificant to us at that moment, but they may be the anchor for another's soul at that very same moment. We can be positive and lift someone up to the clouds with thoughtful words of kindness, appreciation and affections. Or, the words that we see as simple anger venting at someone may be that very thing that defines that person for that moment, and then stays for years. I'm sure my father would not have been so loose with his words if he knew I would remember them to this date. I'm sure they were but of the moment to him.

Me? I'm still trying to find a way to make him proud of me. It's only been some 40+ years, I'll keep trying to change these words in my mind.

Family Values...... wha?

After reading Scotties posting today about the blocked internet access for gay themed sites, I began a search for an understanding, oh - even a definition of the republican term "Family Values". Couldn't find one. I don't think it exists.

One fun columnist described family values much like obscenity was defined: I don't know what it is but I'll know it when I see it. Great. Thanks for the help. With my trusty google in hand....ok, get your mind out of the gutter!...I began a search. I found a veritable mine field of El Toro's edifications......

It would seem that in the 14th Century, the common definition included all within the patriarchial control. ie; a family is headed by a patriarch, and included all blood descendants and spouses, servants and slaves. By the 16th Century, that definition changed to only include the blood family and spouses. Now, if we can do a little parallel thinking here we find that the founding and rise of the United States seems coincidental to the very change in definition of what makes a family. Isn't that ironic.

As things seem to have progressed, the spreading of the family - perhaps due in great part by the opening of a whole new world for exploration and settling, held a greater declination of the family than anything - see Little House on the Prairie. Charles Ingalls left his family home in Illinois to head Minnesota to make his fortune. What then happened is that the family became fractured; the head of the family was no longer the great patriarch, but, well, Pa. This fracturing of the family continued with the moving on of Mary, Carrie, Grace, and Albert....no one could get rid of Laura. For that matter, we never really do know what happened to Carrie and Grace....and Albert just drove off into the sunset.

So, what does dictate "family values"? The term seems most evident in referring to Pa going to work, Ma cooking and cleaning, and little lambs 1, 2, and .5 all frolicking in the prairie grass on the way to school. Everyone gets back together for dinner and church. Oh, yes....you have to go to church. It all depends on where you are as to what church is described as "acceptable" verses "radical". And yet, if we follow the Ingalls family, we find that Pa worked at home in the fields and sometimes away from home in town, in other towns, even on a railroad. He even worked in a bar! (Gasp!) At that time, the Ingalls were living over a bar!!! There was scandal! So, were they still the "family values" champion? What about when Ma worked....the shame. But, it was ok, she was still cooking and cleaning.

Well, perhaps we need to look at things a bit more philosophically. Since the republicans will never actually define something - lest they be held to that definition - and instead proclaim this ideal trait called "family", how does Charles Ingalls regard family?

He works hard. He values community, helping his neighbors and town. He values education. He looks toward a brighter future for his children by working and saving and seeking better things for them. He loves them when they make mistakes, he supports them when they do things their way rather than stay at home under his roof, and he never casts them to the side.

• So, Mr. Republican: why is it greater to give to the rich than the working man?
• Why is the rich, who need little, more worthy than the poor in the community?
• Why do we need to beg to have our children fed, educated, and given health care?
• And why are you more interested in that adult child's bedmate than what is in his belly, mind, and the health of his body?

One columnist I read said that the best and perhaps only definition of "family values" is that the man spouting it the loudest is just really only valuing his family. I would add...his wallet.

-randy.