Photos were requested from some of my Nevada friends -- greenery and flooding. I can't blame them. I can't get used to the vibrant greens here, having eyes that grew up with browns. They flow through the whole spectrum from kelly green all the way to forest green.
I've probably said this before, but storms in the Midwest are nothing like storms in the West. Back in Vegas, the clouds would spend all day atop the mountains until they got enough ummph to move over them. The lightning storms were beautiful, but the clouds were high. Here, the thunder deafens, the lightning might be 20 feet away, literally (I have driven through a storm where the lightning was striking in fields on either side of me). It is overwhelmingly beautiful and sometimes fearsome. These clouds are probably only fifteen minutes away.
The green isn't fair -- because soccer fields are supposed to be green. The difference is, there are no sprinkler systems.
Here's my garden so far this year. Lots of stuff are not planted yet. The big pile of stuff is mint. The tall stuff is tarragon. Those both came back on their own. There are lots of seeds planted, but not much coming up yet. Its a thick clay that I've been working on...but have a long way to go.
I posted on Facebook today that after yesterday's and today's storms, my garden is like Venice. It was a lot worse when I posted this. The water was 3x as high and through all the paths. It's slowly soaking in. But none of the seedlings were hurt. Raised beds did their job!! We just got done digging these ditches. We'd expanded almost double this year. As a matter of fact, we had to run in with the shovels when the downpour started. Maggie had fun playing in the water.
My friend Barb the Evil Genius said she would like me to write about Manny, since she is an Indians fan, and very familiar with him (and since he's been going around advertising that's where he'd like to finish his career as well). Problem is, its just been too busy and too NICE to sit in here on the computer.
But here goes...STUPID GIT...or something that rhymes with that. I'm not concerned for the Dodgers. Manny has been a powerful influence, and his bat is important, but our guys have been doing just fine without him. I knew he'd be trouble one way or another, and have insisted all through the off-season that we did not want this guy if we could not have a contract that would be short, since he gets arrogant and difficult the more secure he is.
Anyway, so that man, and I use that term loosely -- HCG and all, drags us all through a tortuous contract process, knowing he's taking this stuff. He signs the contract, knowing that if he gets caught, he's of no use to us for 1/3 of the season, and who knows how he will be when he comes back.
Not only that, he's called into question our new record of most wins at home at the beginning of the season. Some say we wouldn't have gotten it if Manny hadn't juiced. I don't know if that is the case, with his sore hammy, he has mostly hit doubles, but then again, pitchers don't want to mess with him. He's also called into question all the success he has been associated with his entire career, including Boston's 2004 World Series.
My personal take...I would love for the Dodgers to sue to nullify his contract. I'm sick of these steroid guys (notice how a lot of them seem to be Boras's guys?). I really don't think that losing a few million and sitting for a month and 1/2 is enough. Manny intentionally signed a contract that he knew he might not be able to fulfill, that would put the Dodgers in a bind if this happened. Emphasize to these jerks that if they do steroids, they could lose it all. I don't think it will stop, really stop, until that hits home.
Today, Jeff and I were doing an errand and driving the van. A sparrow flew in front of the van and I heard a "THUNK" on the grill.
Jeff said that it must be okay, because he saw it fly on the other side of the van, so we drove on until we stopped at a convenience store for something to drink. As we came out, there was a dead sparrow sitting right on our bumper. "Guess I was wrong." Jeff said and went in side for a bag to take care of the poor little thing. "Is it wrong for me to laugh about this?" he asked, showing me the bag fated to be the little bird's final bodybag um resting place.
When we moved here, my daughter was just starting to walk, and quite the bundle of energy. There was no way that I could even contemplate gardening the first couple of years. I was content to see what came up when the snow melted. Growing up in the desert, having hostas and daffodils suddenly appear was a completely new experience. There were definitely things that I just let grow so I could figure out whether they were supposed to be there or were simply a weed. I'm struggling with some of things now because I let them freely grow those first couple of years..but oh well.
One problem with being a pastor's wife is that I never know how long I will live somewhere before God wants us somewhere else. Jeff usually has the guideline that he will not take another call before he's been somewhere five years, because that is just too hard on a congregation. Here is where my struggle comes in.
I love asparagus. I know I should plant asparagus. It's expensive in the stores...and we crave it grilled, in soups, in salads, etc. But it takes three years for asparagus to be fruitful. I also have this block with berry plants and currants, which I want to have very much. But when it comes time to decide what to grow, I always push it aside in favor of things that will harvest this year. Rather selfish of me, I know, because it might be possible that even if God called us somewhere else, the next pastor's wife could possibly appreciate not having to wait for three years, herself.
They are hopefully coming on Monday to till up some more of the field for our vegetable garden to be bigger. maybe I'll reserve some of it for asparagus. Pray for me...hopefully in three years, I'll have asparagus..or someone else will. :-)
I saw on a tweet yesterday that there is someone who is pushing for tax credits for pet owners. Now, I'm not talking about what they are doing in California, by possibly allowing someone to deduct their adoption fees. The argument is that to many people, pets are their children. Vet bills are expensive, costs of maintaining the pets are expensive. So there should be a deduction.
Every Christmas, Target goes with a theme for their advertisements. Several years ago, I remember it was the Velveteen Rabbit with Amy Grant singing "Love Makes You Real." Somewhere, I think we got confused on all that.
I love animals. Really, I do. But they're not human. Children are human. Maybe because I have both, I know the difference. I know when I was pregnant with my firstborn, my biggest fear is that he'd be allergic to the animals...what would I do then???? But it was clear to me what I would do, and I would've found homes for those animals or put them in a shelter -- preferably a no kill one, but if I had to, the right is there.
The government doesn't have an interest in making sure you take care of your pet...not beyond nuisance level. Your pet is not going to need an education, grow up, and be able to serve in the military or as a concerned citizen. That is what the tax deduction for children is about. There was a time before the Pill and Global Warming that people thought it was good for our future to have children, and several of them. They not only brought us joy and heartache, but they also helped out the family, took care of each other, and grew up to repeat the cycle.
But to say basically that the government should give you a tax deduction because you chose to bring an animal into your home, but its expensive -- that a deduction is in order because you wanted something to love...now that's just silly. But silliness abounds.
Everyone wants to have what they want and they want it to be okay...and to make it really okay, it has to be government sanctioned. Men who want to cut off their genitals and pump themselves with hormones (or women who want to do the same) want the government to give them a new identity saying that they are a woman, when they are not. Down to their DNA, they are men -- men who for some reason hate their bodies. But instead of finding out why, we simply condone it, call "Joe" "Jo" and ignore it.
People who find themselves having feelings for someone of the same sex want to have their relationship put on an equal status with marriage, but the reality is, its not. Even where the government recognizes it, its not. Every culture on this earth recognizes that marriage is between a man and a woman. Many don't think that marriage is about love at all, but about survival, economic benefit, and a safe place for the woman and children. But we've lost all concept of that since birth control is a reality and now children have become not much more than pets, in some cases, instead of a valuable addition to the survival of the family.
Marriage is not about two people coming together just because they have emotions for each other. We have a huge divorce rate because people think that. The vows made in the marriage ceremony really matter - till death do we part, because the need to remain together even if things sucked was much more important when a marriage was two people with different skills coming together to raise a family instead of two workers coming together to share a bed and a place to live while those feelings last.
And the survival of the family and a safe place to raise future citizens is in the interest of the government (however, I'm much more in favor of a flat tax with no tax deduction for kids). Recognizing another class of relationships that will clog up our courts with divorce cases is not in its best interest.
There is more than being a family than just choosing to love somebody. Even if that love is not there, the existence of the family is still a reality, no matter how broken it is. If that bond is only based on emotions, then it is very fragile indeed. And our divorce rates and the amount of animal shelters we have show this.
But the point is, the government can give a tax deduction for pets and mandate how you treat them, and give them alleged rights, but it doesn't change the fact that animals are not children, no matter how much you love them. Marriage IS between a man and a woman, even if the government says differently, because marriage is not about just wanting to be together. Just like they can call Stan "Loretta" and fight for his right to have a baby...he still can't. And occasionally it would be nice to have some sanity on this.
Photos were requested from some of my Nevada friends -- greenery and flooding. I can't blame them. I can't get used to the vibrant greens here, having eyes that grew up with browns. They flow through the whole spectrum from kelly green all the way to forest green.
I posted on Facebook today that after yesterday's and today's storms, my garden is like Venice. It was a lot worse when I posted this. The water was 3x as high and through all the paths. It's slowly soaking in. But none of the seedlings were hurt. Raised beds did their job!! We just got done digging these ditches. We'd expanded almost double this year. As a matter of fact, we had to run in with the shovels when the downpour started. Maggie had fun playing in the water.
