And the secret is...be spontaneous!

The secret to not overdoing a little party, for me, is to make it spontaneous. When I plan something I feel the need to put on the dog, so the speak. Don't worry, Maggie is safe.

Yesterday, when I got up, I pondered if I really wanted to have a BBQ. Our little, a tad cooler, front was over. The muggies were back with avengence. There was a chance of rain. But you know I had that meat and BBQ sauce taking up space and hollering from the freezer.

After a short ponder yesterday morning, I decided I'd go for it. It turned out to be the most relaxing BBQ I've ever done. No time to worry, make a thousand lists, go to 10 grocery stores, work for 3 days and fill the house with food that people have to haul off in trailers. It also limits how many people can come due to prior engagements. And several I asked already had some. That's OK.

We had about 4-5 decent days of cooler weather last week but yesterday it was back to being horribly hot. I asked my clouds for a little help. Y'all know I have a relationship with the clouds. Well, as I was trying to get my pit fire going, along came a frog strangler. No problemo, I had a big unbrella set up over the pit. That shower cooled it off a little and then it stopped but some of the clouds remained. I moved my chairs out to the wharf to catch a little breeze that comes off the water. While we were sitting on the wharf, one of my friends pointed out that it was raining in the front yard. I said, that's OK we're in the back. I knew that we were OK even though I couldn't explain it to him. Thanks clouds.

Indian Market in Santa Fe

Last August John and I took little 8 year old granddaughter on the train to the Indian Market in Santa Fe. SF was packed with people. The lines were long to all bathrooms, so John decided to stop drinking water. The temp that day was in the 90's. When we arrived back in Alb we had a flat tire. Although our son was coming to change the flat, John thought he would get a head start on the tire change. He began to get dizzy and nauseous. He sat down on the van's sliding door ramp and in a minute he fainted and slid onto the street. His color was ashen and he was cool and clammy despite the hot temperature outside. I was afraid he had had a heart attack. EMT's were there in 10 minutes. Fortunately at the hospital his heart and other signs indicated he had fainted. No heart or circulatory problems. I have captured our day in pictures.

Someone here must have a new post idea. Where is it?

Early Saturday morning. Can't take that away from me!

Finance your Mosque with people who hate our hate.

If you don't have the money to finance your project, you need a good marketing plan. What better way to do it than to get everyone on the news talking about your project, ad nauseam. It's best if that project is controversial so it will get the attention of the news media. This one is perfect. And hate seems to be a good part of that marketing plan. .

Since Fox News does have the biggest viewing audience, and they love to stir the sh--, this sh-- in particular, they are doing the best advertisement for this Muslim Community Center and I bet it is all for free. Hmmmmm. I still think it is a brilliant marketing plan. I bet there is money rolling in somewhere whether this center is built near ground zero or not.

Jon Stewart made some connections last night that proposed the question....."is Fox News a Terrorist Command Center?" He used some silly connections Murdock has with questional people. Jon used the kind of connections their Network is often quilty of making. It was funny but...what is it they say about things that are said in jest?....they are often true.

Since it has been reported that this project had no financing, if they do actually get the money together, we will know that it was financed by....people who hate our hate.

"Bows and flows of angel hair and ice cream castles in the air..."

Recently NOAA released research where they found that clouds communicate. I thought, it they can communicate, I'm going to try to talk to them. The other day I tried to get a little cloud cover and a nice shower to cool things down. Anything for some relief from this heat. I did get a nice cloud cover to show up but the rain didn't come until the next day.

This morning my clouds sent me a message. They said....thank you for talking to us.

Happy Birthday to Us!

A year ago we started an experiment. We all met at Trailmix, our good friend Craig's place. I think most of us found him because we heard this honest, neat guy on cable news, who shared some of our philosophy and we wanted to look him up and thank him. When we did that, we fell into an entire group of neat people, who, many, also shared some of our philosophy and concerns for our country. Worrying about our country does take it toll though. It can wear ya down. We needed a "grab two beers and pull the chute" place. We created one and one year later we are still together. Amazing! I feel like I've known you all for a lifetime. In fact, I have known one of you for almost that long and the rest of you, maybe, in a previous life.

Thanks for sharing this experiment with me. It's been wonderful getting to know you all. You all are as important to me, maybe more, than any friends I've ever had before. And having you, at a distance, might have allowed me to share more of myself with you than I ever have with any other friends.

I love you all and Happy Birthday to us!

Our best friends

Time for a new post so I was going through my photos and found some pictures of my good friend Carl and his best friends. I met Carl through Lobie. As one can plainly see, Carl loves dogs. Carl does landscaping work for UNM and when Lobie and I walked on campus together we were always running into Carl who always had some treats for Lobie. A few weeks ago Carl brought his canine friends by on their way to the river where his dogs love to play. These are some photos I took that day.

Happy Birthday John

Happy Birthday John, It is hard to believe that 20 years have passed since we met in the hospital cafeteria. I was there with students and you were a student in the Pastoral Care education program. We had both been through some difficult relationships so it was surprising that we were both willing to try again. I, for one, am happy we did. Here are some pictures of you that bring memories of this past year together. Each one has lots of meaning for both of us. We sure spend a lot of time in the car and you do most of the driving. Your life as an Episcopal priest has been an important part of your life - and now of mine, and of course Lobie is in that picture. We had no idea we would lose her this year. We had lots of fun in Pagosa springs and on our cruise in the Mexican Riviera. I had lots of other pictures I could have posted of you, but these most remind me of this past year.

Just another way to outsource a job people

Last night I mentioned that I saw this story on the local news about this new therapy in Europe somewhere. They use these little carp, minnow size, to remove dead skin. A lady was sitting with her legs in a large bath filled with these little carp. They were feeding on her dead skin. I bet that tickles.

I have heard of using leeches to remove small hematomas and maggots to debride wounds but using the little carp to remove dead skin is a new one.

Well I had time to sleep on that whole carp idea. That is really a bunch of BS people. A washcloth and some elbow grease will remove dead skin. They've just found another way to outsource a job. Of course, those little carp might need the work.

Now I want to say that the leeches and the maggots were good ideas even though a tad on the gross side. The maggots had a really dirty job. They have to climb down in a nasty stinky rotten wound, eat out all the bad tissue and leave the nice pink stuff behind. Just like with those illegal immigrants, who are they going to find to do that job.

The leeches were also worth the weight of their little slimy black bodies. They actually injected an anticoagulant, I think maybe even a little pain killer, and suck old blood out from under the skin. They've been used to get rid of a black eye before a wedding and years ago, I read where they were used to remove small hematomas after fine hand surgery, making healing much better.

Those carp..... that's going way too far. I tell ya, they’re never going to stop coming up with ways to outsource jobs.

Hot enough!...well, let it snow....

It's August, it's hot, it's humid, so take a trip down memory lane & remember what those
cold January days bring to some of us....


some deer foraging in the woods this past winter...

And during a snowstorm, my fur & feather

friends seek shelter in the tree branches

during the storm....

So while we swelter right now, just a reminder of

what may be coming soon enough....

And hopefully these scenes of winter will bring just a little relief to the summer blahs...