Love you always, MOM!

Yes, it has been quite a month. Now it's Dad, Mac and Mom.
It has been four years today since Mom left us and my sister
called to say "Mom is happy again". Love you Mother!


This is the verbage I picked for Mom's funeral pamphlet.
I read it all the time when I miss her.

If this were my last day I’m almost sure
I’d spend it working in my garden. I
Would dig about my little plants, and try
to make them happy, so they would endure
long after me. Then I would hide secure
where my green arbor shades me from the sky,
and watch how bird and bee and butterfly
came hovering to every flower lure.
Then as I rested, perhaps a friend or two,
lovers of flowers would come,
and we would walk
about my little garden paths and talk
of peaceful times when all the world
seemed true.
This may be my last day, for all I know,
what a temptation just to spend it so!
Anne Higginson Spicer

Sunday Joke.

TWO PRIESTS


Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly Gates.

St. Peter said, "I'd like to get you guys in now, but our computer's down.
You will have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back
as priests. What'll it be?"

The first priest says, "I've always wanted to be an eagle, soaring above
the Rocky Mountains ." "So be it," says St. Peter, and off flies the first
priest. The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks, "Will any
of this week 'count' St. Peter?"

"No, I told you the computer's down, There's no way we can keep track of
what you are doing."
"In that case" says the second priest, "I've always wanted to be a stud."
"So be it" says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears.
A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to
recall the two priests."

"Will you have any trouble locating them?" he asks.

"The first one should be easy," says St. Peter, "He's somewhere over the
Rockies, flying with the eagles. But the second one could prove to be more
difficult."

"Why?" asks the Lord

"He's on a snow tire, somewhere in Iowa "

Love.

Popularly, Love is any of a number of emotions and experiences related to a sense of strong affection or profound oneness. Depending on context, love can have a wide variety of intended meanings, including sexual attraction. Psychologists and religious teachings, however, define love more precisely, as living for the sake of another, motivated by heart-felt feelings of caring, affection, and responsibility for the other's well-being.

The ancient Greeks described love with a number of different words: Eros was impassioned, romantic attraction; philia was friendship; xenia was kindness to the guest or stranger. Agape love, which the Greeks defined as unconditional giving, became the keystone of Christianity, where it is exemplified in Christ's sacrificial love on the cross. Some notion of transcendental love is a salient feature of all the world's faiths. "Compassion" (karuna) in Buddhism is similar to agape love; it is represented by the bodhisattva, who vows not to enter Nirvana until he has saved all beings. Yet love encompasses all these dimensions, eros as well as agape.

Perhaps the best context in which to develop such love is the family, where the love that is given and received is of various kinds. Closest to agape love is the sacrifice and investment that parents willingly give on behalf of their children. Children, in turn, offer their parents filial devotion and respect that grows more profound with the passing years. Siblings care for and help one another in various ways. The love between spouses is a world in itself. Grandparents bear a profound regard for their grandchildren. All of these types of love have their distinctive features.

Love is universally desired, but love can be fraught with infidelity, deceit, possessiveness, unrealistic expectations, jealousy, and hate. Love, in fact, is at the root of much pain and conflict in the world. Marriages break down when the passion of romance cools. Religions like Buddhism and Roman Catholicism regard family love as incompatible with the higher life. Nevertheless, people still long for "true love," love that never fails. Psychologists and character educators hold that much of the heartbreak of failed love could be avoided by education about the nature of love, and by cultivating the self to be able to love well.

Respect or Tolerance?

Respect denotes both a positive feeling of esteem for a person of other entity (such as a nation or a religion), and also specific actions and conduct representative of that esteem. Respect can be a specific feeling of regard for the actual qualities of the one respected. It can also be conduct in accord with a specific ethic of respect. Rude conduct is usually considered to indicate a lack of respect, disrespect, where as actions that honor somebody or something indicate respect.


Respect should not be confused with tolerance, since tolerance doesn't necessarily imply any positive feeling, and is compatible with contempt, which is the opposite of respect.


The RESPECT (TM) SYSTEM is a 7-step treatment system that relies on concrete, repetitive interventions involving kinesthetic actions that can be activated with one word. The system addresses issues of denial, empathy for the victim, and low self-esteem through group interaction. It also helps the client incorporate a plan that helps him dynamically evaluate changes in behavior as progress and skills are learned. The client gradually develops an internalized system of responsible behavioral choices that eventually empower him to trust himself to behave appropriately out in the community. The name for the system, RESPECT, is an acronym that represents each step a client must take in his profound and powerful struggle to transcend the scars of his life on the journey back to trust in himself, and trust received from the community.

Minus One!

Headless prick!

Sunday Joke.

NO ONE BELIEVES SENIORS

No one believes seniors . . . Everyone thinks they are senile.

An elderly couple was celebrating their sixtieth anniversary.

The couple had married as childhood sweethearts and had moved back to their old neighborhood after they retired.

Holding hands, they walked back to their old school. It was not locked, so they entered, and found the old desk they'd shared, where Frank had carved "I love you, Sally".


On their way back home, a bag of money fell out of an armored car, practically landing at their feet.

Sally quickly picked it up and, not sure what to do with it, they took it home.

There, she counted the money - fifty thousand dollars!

Frank said, "We've got to give it back".

Sally said, "Finders keepers".

She put the money back in the bag and hid it in their attic.


The next day, two police officers were canvassing the neighborhood looking for the money, and knocked on their door.

"Pardon me, did either of you find a bag that fell out of an armored car yesterday? "

Sally said, "No".

Frank said, "She's lying. She hid it up in the attic".

Sally said, "Don't believe him, he's getting senile".

The agents turned to Frank and began to question him.

One said: "Tell us the story from the beginning".

Frank said, "Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday ....".

The first police officer turned to his partner and said, "We're outta here!"

We now have 3 boxes.

We picked up Mac today thanks to Emile & Dianne. They drove to Las Cruces. We ran errands and had lunch, then picked up Mac. They called the other day to say Mac was ready. We now have 3 dogs in the kitchen of the camper. We took Maggie to the Bahama's with us, which at that point, we still had the other 2, Jaz & Mac. Now all are gone. When Jaz died I told Dave the next dog name was named Stella. Well, this morning I changed my mind and the new name is Isabella, Izzy for short. Dave doesn't know this of course. He also doesn't know that the breed of dog has changed to a Wiredhaired Pointing Griffon. How long will it be for the new baby? Good question.

Sunday Joke.

A fifteen year old Amish boy and his father were in a mall.
They were amazed by almost everything they saw,
but especially by two shiny, silver walls that
could move apart and then slide back together again.


The boy asked, 'What is this Father?'
The father (never having seen an elevator) responded, 'Son,
I have never seen anything like this in my life,
I don't know what it is.'


While the boy and his father were watching with amazement, a fat old lady
in a powered wheel chair moved up to the moving walls
and pressed a button. The walls opened,
and the lady rolled between them into a small room.
The walls closed and the boy and his father watched the
small numbers above the walls light up sequentially.


They continued to watch until it reached the last number…
and then the numbers began to light in the reverse order.
Finally the walls opened up again and a
gorgeous 24-year-old blond stepped out.


The father, not taking his eyes off the young woman,
said quietly to his son.....

'Go get your Mother'

It is so quiet here!

qui·et
1    /ˈkwaɪɪt/ Show Spelled [kwahy-it] Show IPA adjective, -er, -est, verb
–adjective
1. making no noise or sound, especially no disturbing sound: quiet neighbors.
2. free, or comparatively free, from noise: a quiet street.
3. silent: Be quiet!
4. restrained in speech, manner, etc.; saying little: a quiet person.
5. free from disturbance or tumult; tranquil; peaceful: a quiet life.
6. being at rest.
7. refraining or free from activity, especially busy or vigorous activity: a quiet Sunday afternoon.
8. making no disturbance or trouble; not turbulent; peaceable: The factions remained quiet for twenty years.
9. motionless or moving very gently: quiet waters.
10. free from disturbing thoughts, emotions, etc.; mentally peaceful: a quiet conscience.
11. said, expressed, done, etc., in a restrained or unobtrusive way: a quiet reproach; a quiet admonition.
12. not showy or obtrusive; subdued: quiet colors.
13. not busy or active: The stock market was quiet last week.
–verb (used with object)
14. to make quiet.
15. to make tranquil or peaceful; pacify: to quiet a crying baby.
16. to calm mentally, as a person.
17. to allay (tumult, doubt, fear, etc.).
18. to silence.

Mac's last ride.

It's really quiet around here. Dave said yesterday "you have to love them enough to let them go." So we drove the 80 miles to Las Cruces yesterday to send Mac home to be with Jaz. My comment on the way there was "I think God is getting a bit greedy, wanting both of our dogs." Dave & I met in Washington Park, Denver. Dave had Nikki with him. We have NOT been without a dog since. What was the date you ask? It was 1985.

Sad news today, Mac's dying.

Mac has had a bad cough for the last 2 weeks. The vet's in Tor C said, "My lab did that". They took some blood, charged $250.00 and sent Dave home. (I knew I should have gone along). So after hearing him cough for sooo long I said "Let's go to Cruces
to a real vet". So we did today to find out, after an xray, that his lungs are floating in fluid and the reason for the cough is that he can't get a real breath. The vet said it "won't be long and it's a bad way to go". So we will enjoy what time we have left, keep an eye on him, then send him up to Jaz.