deer hunting

FYI

Just for your information, my BLIND Grandfather went hunting this weekend and shot two deer. He takes a buddy with him, and his friend and he have silent codes which help Grandpa aim; such as, raise the muzzle, his buddy taps his head; lower the muzzle, his buddy taps his mid back; left and right are on the shoulders; for a good shot, he places his palm right between Grandpa's shoulders, and the gun goes BANG! So with the help of a dedicated friend, my Grandpa is able to continue his life-long habit and hobby of hunting.

Who would have ever thought of this?

Proud of you Grandpa!

Semptember Morning Blessings

It was a warm but wet day and the grass was coated with heavy wet silver rain. Since the grass hadn’t been mowed after the weather turned cooler, at the end of summer, it made my pantlegs heavy as I walked through it. The water was seeping through my leather shoes now and my socks went squish, squish, as I made my way through the overgrown part of the the garden. I was planning to pick the best apples off the tree below the garden, to put in the church baskets for distribution to the needy tomorrow. Even after giving away a basket full, there would be a bountiful amount for our family to use. Most of the baskets would be going to elderly friends and neighbors who were no longer well enough to leave their homes regularly. I spent the morning making harvest muffins with oatmeal, apple chips, dates, raisins, brown sugar, and other good things. They also go into the baskets along with many good things others will bring, such as zucchini cakes, gingerbread, other breads, loaves of wheat bread, lots and lots of cookies, and other fruits.
Squish, squish, my feet were soaked. However, it was so warm and pleasant outside, and the birds were singing anyway, even in the misty rain, that I felt completely easy and happy. I picked a few apples, some had worm holes or bird pecks in them. Those I put in a big basket to use at home. The “twick” noise the apples made as I picked them off the tree even seemed cheerful today. I looked out toward the garden fence and noticed the raspberries were bearing heavy this week again; I looked over the draw and saw the stand of trees Dad was thinning for firewood. Those trees would be cut down, sawn into chunks and put in a pile to heat the house later. Even now the purr of the woodsplitter was industrious and familiar, adding a comforting security to how my day was shaping up. I knew Dad was busy taking care of us while I was busy doing my own jobs.
Up in the yard I could hear, more than see, my kids playing happily on the tire swing. “Its my turn! My turn!” “Wait! It hasn’t stopped swinging yet!” “Watch me do THIS!” I smiled to myself thinking of my kid showing off some kind of new trick. I smiled again thinking back to when I was a kid, showing off tricks with my siblings, here in the same place, different time.
I glanced around one more time, thinking about how the world had been made for us to take care of and enjoy. I have decided that if this world is made for us to enjoy, I am going to look for God’s natural blessings within every day. My eyes took in with great pleasure my surroundings for another second before I picked more apples. I heard a rustle in the grass behind me. I thought it would be my puppy following me around. When I turned around, my daughter was there.
“Mom, the world is pretty today.”
I had to smile. “I know, honey, it sure is. God must be pretty wonderful to make a world like this.”
“Yeah.”
I handed her an apple. We shared a smile and finished picking the basket full.
footnote: The apple harvest is so plentiful this year, we didn’t even count how many bushels we harvested. Praise God!

Speech

Here is the acceptance speech from Sarah Palin, our first female candidate for major office, the Vice Presidency of the United States. I liked what she had to say. She writes all her own speeches.


By The Associated Press Wed Sep 3, 11:08 PM ET
Text of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention on Wednesday, as prepared for delivery:
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___
Mr. Chairman, delegates, and fellow citizens: I am honored to be considered for the nomination for vice president of the United States ...
I accept the call to help our nominee for president to serve and defend America.
I accept the challenge of a tough fight in this election ... against confident opponents ... at a crucial hour for our country.
And I accept the privilege of serving with a man who has come through much harder missions ... and met far graver challenges ... and knows how tough fights are won — the next president of the United States, John S. McCain.
It was just a year ago when all the experts in Washington counted out our nominee because he refused to hedge his commitment to the security of the country he loves.
With their usual certitude, they told us that all was lost — there was no hope for this candidate who said that he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war.
But the pollsters and pundits overlooked just one thing when they wrote him off.
They overlooked the caliber of the man himself — the determination, resolve, and sheer guts of Senator John McCain. The voters knew better.
And maybe that's because they realize there is a time for politics and a time for leadership ... a time to campaign and a time to put our country first.
Our nominee for president is a true profile in courage, and people like that are hard to come by.
He's a man who wore the uniform of this country for 22 years, and refused to break faith with those troops in Iraq who have now brought victory within sight.
And as the mother of one of those troops, that is exactly the kind of man I want as commander in chief. I'm just one of many moms who'll say an extra prayer each night for our sons and daughters going into harm's way.
Our son Track is 19.
And one week from tomorrow — September 11th — he'll deploy to Iraq with the Army infantry in the service of his country.
My nephew Kasey also enlisted, and serves on a carrier in the Persian Gulf.
My family is proud of both of them and of all the fine men and women serving the country in uniform. Track is the eldest of our five children.
In our family, it's two boys and three girls in between — my strong and kindhearted daughters Bristol, Willow, and Piper.
And in April, my husband Todd and I welcomed our littlest one into the world, a perfectly beautiful baby boy named Trig. From the inside, no family ever seems typical.
That's how it is with us.
Our family has the same ups and downs as any other ... the same challenges and the same joys.
Sometimes even the greatest joys bring challenge.
And children with special needs inspire a special love.
To the families of special-needs children all across this country, I have a message: For years, you sought to make America a more welcoming place for your sons and daughters.
I pledge to you that if we are elected, you will have a friend and advocate in the White House. Todd is a story all by himself.
He's a lifelong commercial fisherman ... a production operator in the oil fields of Alaska's North Slope ... a proud member of the United Steel Workers' Union ... and world champion snow machine racer.
Throw in his Yup'ik Eskimo ancestry, and it all makes for quite a package.
We met in high school, and two decades and five children later he's still my guy. My Mom and Dad both worked at the elementary school in our small town.
And among the many things I owe them is one simple lesson: that this is America, and every woman can walk through every door of opportunity.
My parents are here tonight, and I am so proud to be the daughter of Chuck and Sally Heath. Long ago, a young farmer and haberdasher from Missouri followed an unlikely path to the vice presidency.
A writer observed: "We grow good people in our small towns, with honesty, sincerity, and dignity." I know just the kind of people that writer had in mind when he praised Harry Truman.
I grew up with those people.
They are the ones who do some of the hardest work in America ... who grow our food, run our factories, and fight our wars.
They love their country, in good times and bad, and they're always proud of America. I had the privilege of living most of my life in a small town.
I was just your average hockey mom, and signed up for the PTA because I wanted to make my kids' public education better.
When I ran for city council, I didn't need focus groups and voter profiles because I knew those voters, and knew their families, too.
Before I became governor of the great state of Alaska, I was mayor of my hometown.
And since our opponents in this presidential election seem to look down on that experience, let me explain to them what the job involves.
I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a "community organizer," except that you have actual responsibilities. I might add that in small towns, we don't quite know what to make of a candidate who lavishes praise on working people when they are listening, and then talks about how bitterly they cling to their religion and guns when those people aren't listening.
We tend to prefer candidates who don't talk about us one way in Scranton and another way in San Francisco.
As for my running mate, you can be certain that wherever he goes, and whoever is listening, John McCain is the same man. I'm not a member of the permanent political establishment.
And I've learned quickly, these past few days, that if you're not a member in good standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a candidate unqualified for that reason alone.
But here's a little news flash for all those reporters and commentators: I'm not going to Washington to seek their good opinion — I'm going to Washington to serve the people of this country. Americans expect us to go to Washington for the right reasons, and not just to mingle with the right people.
Politics isn't just a game of clashing parties and competing interests.
The right reason is to challenge the status quo, to serve the common good, and to leave this nation better than we found it.
No one expects us to agree on everything.
But we are expected to govern with integrity, good will, clear convictions, and ... a servant's heart.
I pledge to all Americans that I will carry myself in this spirit as vice president of the United States. This was the spirit that brought me to the governor's office, when I took on the old politics as usual in Juneau ... when I stood up to the special interests, the lobbyists, big oil companies, and the good ol' boys network.
Sudden and relentless reform never sits well with entrenched interests and power brokers. That's why true reform is so hard to achieve.
But with the support of the citizens of Alaska, we shook things up.
And in short order we put the government of our state back on the side of the people.
I came to office promising major ethics reform, to end the culture of self-dealing. And today, that ethics reform is the law.
While I was at it, I got rid of a few things in the governor's office that I didn't believe our citizens should have to pay for.
That luxury jet was over the top. I put it on eBay.
I also drive myself to work.
And I thought we could muddle through without the governor's personal chef — although I've got to admit that sometimes my kids sure miss her. I came to office promising to control spending — by request if possible and by veto if necessary.
Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest — and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.
Our state budget is under control.
We have a surplus.
And I have protected the taxpayers by vetoing wasteful spending: nearly half a billion dollars in vetoes.
I suspended the state fuel tax, and championed reform to end the abuses of earmark spending by Congress.
I told the Congress "thanks, but no thanks," for that Bridge to Nowhere.
If our state wanted a bridge, we'd build it ourselves. When oil and gas prices went up dramatically, and filled up the state treasury, I sent a large share of that revenue back where it belonged — directly to the people of Alaska.
And despite fierce opposition from oil company lobbyists, who kind of liked things the way they were, we broke their monopoly on power and resources.
As governor, I insisted on competition and basic fairness to end their control of our state and return it to the people.
I fought to bring about the largest private-sector infrastructure project in North American history.
And when that deal was struck, we began a nearly forty billion dollar natural gas pipeline to help lead America to energy independence.
That pipeline, when the last section is laid and its valves are opened, will lead America one step farther away from dependence on dangerous foreign powers that do not have our interests at heart.
The stakes for our nation could not be higher.
When a hurricane strikes in the Gulf of Mexico, this country should not be so dependent on imported oil that we are forced to draw from our Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
And families cannot throw away more and more of their paychecks on gas and heating oil.
With Russia wanting to control a vital pipeline in the Caucasus, and to divide and intimidate our European allies by using energy as a weapon, we cannot leave ourselves at the mercy of foreign suppliers.
To confront the threat that Iran might seek to cut off nearly a fifth of world energy supplies ... or that terrorists might strike again at the Abqaiq facility in Saudi Arabia ... or that Venezuela might shut off its oil deliveries ... we Americans need to produce more of our own oil and gas.
And take it from a gal who knows the North Slope of Alaska: we've got lots of both.
Our opponents say, again and again, that drilling will not solve all of America's energy problems — as if we all didn't know that already.
But the fact that drilling won't solve every problem is no excuse to do nothing at all.
Starting in January, in a McCain-Palin administration, we're going to lay more pipelines ... build more new-clear plants ... create jobs with clean coal ... and move forward on solar, wind, geothermal and other alternative sources.
We need American energy resources, brought to you by American ingenuity, and produced by American workers. I've noticed a pattern with our opponent.
Maybe you have, too.
We've all heard his dramatic speeches before devoted followers.
And there is much to like and admire about our opponent.
But listening to him speak, it's easy to forget that this is a man who has authored two memoirs but not a single major law or reform — not even in the state Senate.
This is a man who can give an entire speech about the wars America is fighting, and never use the word "victory" except when he's talking about his own campaign. But when the cloud of rhetoric has passed ... when the roar of the crowd fades away ... when the stadium lights go out, and those Styrofoam Greek columns are hauled back to some studio lot - what exactly is our opponent's plan? What does he actually seek to accomplish, after he's done turning back the waters and healing the planet? The answer is to make government bigger ... take more of your money ... give you more orders from Washington ... and to reduce the strength of America in a dangerous world. America needs more energy ... our opponent is against producing it.
Victory in Iraq is finally in sight ... he wants to forfeit.
Terrorist states are seeking new-clear weapons without delay ... he wants to meet them without preconditions.
Al-Qaida terrorists still plot to inflict catastrophic harm on America ... he's worried that someone won't read them their rights? Government is too big ... he wants to grow it.
Congress spends too much ... he promises more.
Taxes are too high ... he wants to raise them. His tax increases are the fine print in his economic plan, and let me be specific.
The Democratic nominee for president supports plans to raise income taxes ... raise payroll taxes ... raise investment income taxes ... raise the death tax ... raise business taxes ... and increase the tax burden on the American people by hundreds of billions of dollars. My sister Heather and her husband have just built a service station that's now opened for business — like millions of others who run small businesses.
How are they going to be any better off if taxes go up? Or maybe you're trying to keep your job at a plant in Michigan or Ohio ... or create jobs with clean coal from Pennsylvania or West Virginia ... or keep a small farm in the family right here in Minnesota.
How are you going to be better off if our opponent adds a massive tax burden to the American economy? Here's how I look at the choice Americans face in this election.
In politics, there are some candidates who use change to promote their careers.
And then there are those, like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change.
They're the ones whose names appear on laws and landmark reforms, not just on buttons and banners, or on self-designed presidential seals.
Among politicians, there is the idealism of high-flown speechmaking, in which crowds are stirringly summoned to support great things.
And then there is the idealism of those leaders, like John McCain, who actually do great things. They're the ones who are good for more than talk ... the ones we have always been able to count on to serve and defend America. Senator McCain's record of actual achievement and reform helps explain why so many special interests, lobbyists, and comfortable committee chairmen in Congress have fought the prospect of a McCain presidency — from the primary election of 2000 to this very day.
Our nominee doesn't run with the Washington herd.
He's a man who's there to serve his country, and not just his party.
A leader who's not looking for a fight, but is not afraid of one either. Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the current do-nothing Senate, not long ago summed up his feelings about our nominee.
He said, quote, "I can't stand John McCain." Ladies and gentlemen, perhaps no accolade we hear this week is better proof that we've chosen the right man. Clearly what the Majority Leader was driving at is that he can't stand up to John McCain. That is only one more reason to take the maverick of the Senate and put him in the White House. My fellow citizens, the American presidency is not supposed to be a journey of "personal discovery." This world of threats and dangers is not just a community, and it doesn't just need an organizer.
And though both Senator Obama and Senator Biden have been going on lately about how they are always, quote, "fighting for you," let us face the matter squarely.
There is only one man in this election who has ever really fought for you ... in places where winning means survival and defeat means death ... and that man is John McCain. In our day, politicians have readily shared much lesser tales of adversity than the nightmare world in which this man, and others equally brave, served and suffered for their country.
It's a long way from the fear and pain and squalor of a six-by-four cell in Hanoi to the Oval Office.
But if Senator McCain is elected president, that is the journey he will have made.
It's the journey of an upright and honorable man — the kind of fellow whose name you will find on war memorials in small towns across this country, only he was among those who came home.
To the most powerful office on earth, he would bring the compassion that comes from having once been powerless ... the wisdom that comes even to the captives, by the grace of God ... the special confidence of those who have seen evil, and seen how evil is overcome. A fellow prisoner of war, a man named Tom Moe of Lancaster, Ohio, recalls looking through a pinhole in his cell door as Lieutenant Commander John McCain was led down the hallway, by the guards, day after day.
As the story is told, "When McCain shuffled back from torturous interrogations, he would turn toward Moe's door and flash a grin and thumbs up" — as if to say, "We're going to pull through this." My fellow Americans, that is the kind of man America needs to see us through these next four years.
For a season, a gifted speaker can inspire with his words.
For a lifetime, John McCain has inspired with his deeds.
If character is the measure in this election ... and hope the theme ... and change the goal we share, then I ask you to join our cause. Join our cause and help America elect a great man as the next president of the United States.
Thank you all, and may God bless America.

what I really believe

Things I know

I do know some little things about life, here at the ripe old age of 29. And, as far as I can know, they are fundamental as to how life works. I have religious beliefs, and then there are the beliefs I have despite what others preach as “right” or whatever. Here are some:

Things we humans get hung up on simple do not matter; for example, the bad things the neighbor did years ago, the cuss word your teacher punished you for, but she says at home when she gets mad.

Profanity is only profane because we assign it as so. How a thing is said of course matters. Sometimes spoken profanity makes the communication more accurate. Such as, instead of saying “I really disagree with you, sir” you may be thinking in your mind “what a bunch of bullshit.”

If you feel bad about a thing you have done, well, there is a reason for that. Probably you did it with the wrong intention, motivation or something. Your concience helps you know where your really at. You can know in yourself you did a wrong thing even when it looked exactly like the right thing to everyone else, and vise-versa.

All people feel. Your background, ethnic culture, doesn’t really divide you from others unless you let it. Basic humanity overcomes basic culture. Don’t we all have fingerprints and beating hearts?

Life is not, contrary to the american way, a pursuit of happiness. In my way of thinking, it is a pursuit of right ways vs. wrong ways and hopefully making the choices rightly, thereby finding ones self happy with it, and content. Its not a contest.

Most things in life, to my best guess, just are. They were planned to be just that way, beyond explanation.

What seems like a conincidence may really have been providence. If you bother to believe in providence; meaning, many people claim God did a thing, but actually, he didn’t, he just let the thing happen. But sometimes, God really does, really does make a thing happen. Usually not.

If I came into some money, it would make me happy for a little while. It is like this: money or a good sex life can make you a little happy for a little while. Then that feeling wears off. Feelings waver too much to last very long about anything.

Music is a basic human need. It can make you feel what you didn’t want to feel, or what you wanted to feel. It can have you wishing to sing and cry at the same time. Or make a liar out of you. Music is a basic essential element of every known culture that ever existed so far on earth.

We humans are connected forever to the earth and the animals. When I was not in contact with these, I began to feel myself die. When I came home, and got to touch the dirt again, and be with the animals again, I felt life come back to me. I don’t know why God made us like this, but you read the first few chapters of genesis and see that I am right. I need the dirt and the animals and they need me. After all, we are all made of dirt according to the scriptures anyhow.

We are all self preservationists. Don't tell me you are thinking of charity when you have missed a meal yourself. You are thinking about filling your own stomach first, am I right?

Superstitions

We all have some. Its not that I really believe them anymore, but at some point, they did help me make sense of the world.
Ones I have been (secretly!) harboring, since childhood:

You can’t watch the toilet flush or it won’t go down.

If you stare long enough at the sky you might see God.

Don’t say the bad thing you think is going to happen next; it sure will happen if you do.

The odds are secretly stacked against all of us. (is that the definition of pessimism?)

If you kick a dog, God will send someone to be mean to you that day for sure.

If you are telling the truth, and you really need the person to hear it, you can look at them with your left eye and they will understand you are telling the truth.

I have always believed that if I really had the guts to try walking on water, and really was sure I would WALK on the water, that it would happen.

Do you have a strange belief that you can’t explain but you know its so?

Huh?

This evening my mother and I had a little moment. My mother was trying to instruct me on how to make chinese stir-fried vegetables. HAHA! I found this VERY FUNNY! Between she and I, which one of us is more likely to know? ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Yes Auntie, Thank You

I went to the farmer's market tuesday afternoon, which is just like any market you would see in Seremban: some farmers, some veggies, some flowers, some meats. Only, because of regulations all the meat is slaughtered at the shop and brought out already wrapped in paper. Really very neat and clean. It is always in the parking lot somewhere and very quiet and friendly, no matter how large the crowd, and never smelly.

Well, there were several local farmers there I wanted to buy from. Oh yes, another difference, you don't haggle the price. It is considered rude. You just find who is selling for less by trial and error.

Guess what? You will laugh....

The lady selling vegetables was an asian lady, which is a little surprising, considering the area, but probably she was from LaCrosse, which is more diverse. My instincts kicked in. My manners would not allow me to address her as anything but "auntie" (as you know, is the standard polite address in Seremban, correct or not?)

She looked up and smiled at me a little surprised. She was from Thailand. We chatted a little.

I paid her four dollars for 10 carrots and two eggplants.

I said "Thank you Auntie" when I left and she looked so pleased. :)

Ruth Is....

I sometimes like those books or quizzes on "personality types" and all that mumbo jumbo. Of course it all depends on how you feel that day, and how you think of yourself. Along that vein, here I will describe myself as...

Tall. Or maybe just average.
Blonde. Or maybe not. My sis calls it dishwater hair!
Friendly. Do you think so? It all depends...
Smart. This is certainly debateable.
Professional. But only at work.
Silly. My kids would agree for sure.
Polite. Or maybe her manners need a little refining.
Redneck. Well, I started out that way. I can drop it if I have to.
Flexible. wellll.......not so much.....more like,
Stubborn. But I can make compromises when it is best.
Hardworking. But not as hardworking as the men around here.
Motherly. It happened in a second when my eldest was born.
Inquisitive. Now WHY would one say that?
Quiet. But I sure write a heap!
HAHA-what do you think??!