Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Well, 3 nouns and 1 adjective. 2 nouns are just wrong. I'm back I don't know for how long. Life continues. This is where I am. First, I have fallen once again madly in love with my wife. We are going away for a bit and will begin a new segment of our lives when we get back. She wants to travel more, I'm looking at schooling. We are going to be Grandparents! My daughter has grown up. Not completely, but a fine young lady. Alex is persuing his dreams and going to be attending a 4-year college soon. Just love my kids. The family will be going to Washington DC for T.A.P.S. this year. It's spring and the worst of winter is over, here comes the floods. North Easter Lake is forming. That is where my north hay field floods until the drain channel thaws enough to drain it. I keep hearing the first line of Cream's song, Tales of Brave Ulyses. "You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, so you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun." Bring on the violence, can't wait. Last January, LM laid off 165 employees. I am out-of-work but looking. It's hard to find $16.00 an hour, even though the ND economy is the best in the nation. My favorite Governer is in Washington now in the Senate. We replaced two of the three Dems from our state and the third won't be running again. What else? Who knows. It's a new year and I might have more hope. God is still in control.

Weather or not.

Last week we had a few days of warm weather. It's still warm now if you compare it to whatb we had in February. 99% of the snow melted and everything on the outer frindges of the proprerty was flooded. It has since gone down and it's looking good. Friday before Easter I got home from work, I went in the house and only spent 10 minutes inside before going outside and spending the next four hours outside. I was just having fun. My Lilacs are already starting to sprout new growth as are our roses. Now, the Lilacs we just planted as seedlings last year. Up here as soon as the land gets a chance, it wastes no time blooming. This is something you don't get in California since it's green all year.

I Voted!

It's such a rush when you get to exercise your power. Here in Petersburg, most of the folks are elderly and didn't want to go out to vote so the entire town (pop. 195) did absentee voting. We went to Lakota which is the county seat and voted there. This may be one of the most important elections ever. McCain is not Bush and Obama is not a centrist. Without the backing of the mainstream media and internet contributors Obama would never have beaten Hillary. So we have a moderate republican against the #1 and #3 most liberal democrats in Washoington. I just worry about extremeism on either side. I would never have voted for a David Duke either. Here's another thing that bothers me. The FBI stopped a couple of idiot neo-nazis from assasinating Obama and I say that's great. I'd never want harm to come to anyone like that. This is a great country and Obama wants to change everything. Don't argue about it, it has been documented. When he feels the constitution is flawed because it doesn't give the government enough power over the people there is something wrong. The constitution is designed to give the power to the people. Yeah, Vote early, vote often.

Skulking Deer

I looked out my window the other morning, and saw this little deer in the back yard. I took a couple of pictures. Later, in the afternoon, it was back. I got a great picture from my window when it got really close to the window. Also one where the babe is up on hind legs grabbing leaves. Look closely in the trees and you'll see mommy, too. The I got one of the mom as she moved around a bit. Cool!

Anniversary Passed!

August 8th was the anniversary of our moving to North Dakota! Has it really been 12 Years? I've only been back to San Diego twice but we're going back this fall. A lot of memories, kids growing up, adjusting to new weather, different houses and towns, a great church, and now, Laurie's fantastic new career and my current job that's a departure from what I've always done. Wow... We first moved to Devils Lake into an apartment where some friends of Laurie's lived, Then moved to this house uptown. It had been fixed so two small families could live in it. One in the basement. We've become friends of the landlord and always stop to talk with them when we see them. The house was weird so we moved into this 80 yaer old huge house near downtown. It had one time been 5 apartments but was originally a single family dwelling. Here is where we spent most of our time in ND. Laurie eventually locked herself in the attic that was very big and studied for a year or so when she got into nursing school. It was here that we went through most of the troubles of raising high-spirited children. Here we lost Jeremiah. Then we moved outside Petersburg to our current place. 28 acres of hay and insects. There's a lot that needs to be done but I have never felt so at home in my life. I can sit out on the porch at night and listen to nature and sometimes I think I hear God. I know I see has hand out there. One day, it was evening and this fog rolled in. It was so low that it just sat in the channel that runs across our land. The sun was sinking behind it and the hay had been cut but more had grown. It was magnificent but faded before I could break my rapture and get a camera. One night I was coming back from the barn and walking towards the front of the house. It was lit up from the yard lights and there was this gigantic full moon just above the garage. I had no equipment capable of capturing such a sight but it was wonderous. It's August late, so football's starting which means the weather is changing. We'll be watching for tornadoes and soon the deer will be everywhere. I am so thankful for what I have. I know it really doesn't belong to me, God is just letting me use it. But until he calls me to a better place, I'll cherish this one. Selah.