Bible Verse of the Day

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Blog Challenges #16 and # 17

Wow, I can't believe it's been two weeks since I posted anything. I'm going to start with Suzanne's blog challenges. If you aren't into reading long posts, now's the time to bail!

Blog Challenge #16
Do you have pets? If so, how did they come to be furry family? Write about them and their personalities. If not, write about a past pet that touched your heart. Please include photos!

We have two cats and a dog. Jericho and Jessica are ranch cats, no that' s not their breed, but where they came from. They were from a litter of semi-feral cats that keep the rodent population at bay at the family ranch. My uncle feeds those cats every few days when he's up there feeding the cows and goats. We had had a couple of ranch cats before Jericho and Jessica (Checkers and Pumpkin) that DS#2 was very attached to, but Pumpkin followed DS#1 to school one day and never came back. Checkers was poisoned by anti-freeze, probably by a neighbor. So we got Jericho and Jessica. They were supposed to be mostly outside cats, but they are mostly indoors now. Jericho must remain indoors at all times because he was infected with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus in a cat fight. He can infect other cats, so we keep him inside. He misses outside a lot and spends every waking moment trying to figure out how to get out. Jessica has been immunized so she gets to go in and out. They both sleep with DH and I at night which drove DH crazy when they first started. He just kicks them out of his way now. Jericho curls up next to me at bedtime and puts me to sleep.

The two of them are somewhat schizophrenic because they'll be all cozy and cuddly licking each other and a split second later hissing and wrestling with each other. They've been sprayed with a water bottle so many times to break up the fighting that they pretty much ignore it now. They have learned that if they start wrestling at night to do it silently. DH has observed this, but I sleep through it. Jericho likes to hang out in my scrap room when I'm in there. He used to lay on the end of my desk, but since it's so cluttered, he's taken to laying on the top of the piano and staring out the window into the back yard. He's been trapped in there so many times now, that when I tell him it's time to leave, he'll get up, stretch, and casually make his way to the door.

Snickers was a stray that DS#1's cello teacher's wife found in the middle of the freeway on a rainy day. She coaxed him into her car with a Snicker's candy bar, hence the name. They kept him for a while as they tried to find the owner, but no one ever claimed him. He's a sweet dog and just hangs around waiting to be petted. We dog-sat him over Christmas one year while they took their dalmatian with them for the holidays and he got along great with Tango, our Australian Cattle Dog. We decided that if they were still looking for a home for Snickers that we'd take him as a canine companion for Tango. They were both outside dogs until Tango lost her battle with kidney disease. Now he's an indoor dog that loves to go outside with his people and for rides in the car. Doesn't matter whose car it is, he'll jump in and wait for it to go. Dumb dog.

Blog Challenge # 17
Where were you when something incredibly important happened on a worldy level? (i.e. the assassination of Kennedy, the destruction of the World Trade Centers, The Challenger explosion, etc.) Write about it.

I remember two major world events in particular - the Challenger explosion and the attack on the World Trade Centers. What is interesting to me is that for both disasters I was working in the industry most affected by each of them. I was working in the Space Sciences department at a research company when Challenger when up. There had been talk of my director actually being a mission specialist someday on a Shuttle mission. I was a college student at the time and I remember my "supervisor" came running into the room where all of us students worked and with real tears in his eyes announced that the Shuttle had exploded. I don't think he was so much affected by the loss of the souls on board than by the loss of any dream he had of being an astronaut. Not that this loser would ever be an astronaut! He really thought he would get to go in the director's place since he didn't want to go. I do remember, however, rushing to the conference room where they had set up a television for us to view the coverage. It was a really sad day.

On 9-11, I was working for a giant insurance and financial services company and I had gone to the cafeteria to get breakfast. As I was leaving the cafeteria I saw a large group of people gathered in the television room in the cafeteria. I stopped to see what was going on and it appeared that a plane had crashed into the WTC. I remember reading about a plane that crashed into the Empire State Building in the 50's, but the building was repairable, so I figured this was just another accident. By the time I got back to my desk, the word was out that a second plane had crashed into the other tower and I knew that it was no accident. Shortly after that someone in the area announced that the Pentagon had been attacked, too. As the news kept rolling in, people were achieving greater levels of shock. Since the company's primary customers were military folks and we handled a lot of their money, this was devastating to us. We prided ourselves on customer service and we had to be especially ready to deal with this event. Because they closed the Stock Market that day and the whole country was pretty much shutdown and everyone was frightened, senior management sent all but essential personnel home. I was allowed to go home. I know that at the time I didn't understand the full impact that event would have on our world, but I know now that our world will never be the same as it was before 9-11. I know that I won't be the same as before 9-11.

If you've hung through this long post, thank you for reading. Please leave a comment about your own experiences, or if you're doing Suzanne's challenge, then post a link.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Blog Challenge #15

From Suzanne's blog:

Have you ever lost anything special? What was it? Did you ever find it?

I've lost a lot of things in my lifetime. Most things I've found eventually, but one thing I lost when I was a child was a special blanket that was probably a baby blanket. I used to carry it everywhere I went, slept with it, used it for a tent...all the things children do with a blanket. I even used it to cover the cage of a pet rodent I was carrying to school for show and tell. I remember it was very thick with a very special woven pattern. I've never seen anything like it, since. I don't remember it disappearing until one day I remembered that I hadn't seen it for awhile. I suspect my mother probably threw it away when I wasn't looking one day. It was pretty ratty looking, truth be told. Needless to say, I never found it.

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Got Your Mojo On?

Here's a place to use it:

Seven Random Facts

I've been tagged by Colleen. Thanks, Colleen, this is the first time I've been named in a tag! So without further ado, here is my response to the tag:

1. Link to the person that tagged you and leave a comment on their blog, so that their readers can visit yours.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Share 7 Random facts about yourself on your blog.
4. Tag 7 random people at the bottom of your post, linking to their blog. Let each person know by leaving a comment on their blog.

1. I'm a fifth generation Texan. The farthest north I've lived is Austin and the farthest south is San Antonio.
2. I play (in the order I learned) piano, clarinet, saxophone.
3. I sing in the choir and have about a 2-1/2 octave range. Not bragging, just a fact.
4. I have two cats and a dog.
5. Since high school I've driven 10 different cars, three of which were hand-me-downs (two from my mother).
6. I've been married for more than 26 years.
7. Both of my sons are over 6 feet tall (6'5" and 6'2).

I'm tagging Ginni, Amy, Pam, Lisa, Bonnie, Tams, and Rach.

Friday, April 4, 2008

What Kind of Theologan Are You?

Found this on Tams' blog and thought it was interesting.






Which theologian are you?
created with QuizFarm.com
You scored as Anselm

Anselm is the outstanding theologian of the medieval period.He sees man's primary problem as having failed to render unto God what we owe him, so God becomes man in Christ and gives God what he is due. You should read 'Cur Deus Homo?'


Anselm


93%

Karl Barth


87%

John Calvin


80%

Martin Luther


67%

Jonathan Edwards


67%

Friedrich Schleiermacher


60%

Augustine


60%

Charles Finney


33%

Jürgen Moltmann


33%

Paul Tillich


33%


Thursday, April 3, 2008

Suzanne's Blog Challenge #14

April Fools! What memory does the word 'prank' stir up for you? Write about a time someone played a prank on you or you played a prank on someone else.

I think the best/worst prank anyone ever played on me was in high school. I drove a '67 Volkswagon Beetle then and usually parked it in front of the band hall when I drove to school. One Saturday, a large group of us went to Solo and Ensemble Contest in a town that was about an hour and half's drive away. We rode a big yellow bus as that was all we had and could afford in 1980. (It was a really small school compared to today's schools!)

When we arrived back at the school at the end of the day, I got off the bus, went to the band hall to put away my stuff and when I came back out to go to the car, it was gone! I know I had locked it, I always did. I had the key in my hand, so I know no one drove off with it. All the kids that were around heard my commotion as I went back inside to use the phone to call my dad and the sherriff's office. While I was talking to my dad, someone came in and said, "Karen, they found your car!" When I found out where it was, the only thing I could think of was that some of the football players from my class had picked it up and moved it about 100 yards to the other side of a building behind a fence next to the band hall. It was not visible unless you went looking for it.

No one ever fessed up to it. Hmm...

"No Good Deed Goes Unpunished"

My choir director, Jeremiah, asked me to play clarinet with his Junior Varsity girls' choir at concert and sight reading contest on Monday. I actually didn't find out about it until Sunday evening after I got home from the Kairos Outside retreat. No problem, though because he said it was easy and it was only about 16 measures.

I left from work with just barely enough time to get there. I had every intention of going back to work to make up for the time. I was taking a late lunch. It turns out that I didn't have enough time to eat. I sped (yes, I said sped) over to the school, which was about 20 miles away from work. I found the other clarinet player, a 7th grader from our church who plays with us sometimes at church and we waited for Jeremiah and his choir to show up. Meanwhile we warmed up and read through the music. Simple enough.

They finally showed up and when it was our turn we went into the warm-up room where we heard the choir for the first time and they heard us for the first time. Then it was off to the stage to perform. We played the bit of the one piece and after it was over, we put our horns away while the choir went off to the sight reading room. For those who don't know, sight reading is a contest where the group is given a piece of music they've never seen before, get a few instructions from the conductor and then perform it without rehearsal. It can be quite nerve wracking for everyone involved, including spectators!

I went out to the car to head back to work and this is what I found.


Yes, that is radiator fluid running from under the car. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon when I found this and about 9:00 when I took the photo. My camera just happened to be in DS#1's truck when he and DH came with radiator fluid to see if just filling it would work. It didn't. Inspection of the car showed that all the fluid had spewed out from under the radiator fill cap. I guess I drove it too fast. It's not the first time I've munged the thermostat in a car from driving too fast. It probably didn't help that the radiator fluid in that car was more than five years and 80,000 miles old, either.

I had called roadside assistance to bring me fluid, but they called a couple of providers and they all wanted to tow it someplace. No one would just bring me radiator fluid. Since I was 25 miles from home and there is an 11 mile tow limit, and I didn't know any facilities in the area to fix it at 6:00 PM, I called my DH to help. They came, about an hour and a half later. In the mean time, Jeremiah had left with his choir after offering me a ride on the bus back to his car, but I chose to stay with mine. Something interesting I noted, though, was that as I sat in my car with the hood up and the driver's door open, not a single person stopped to ask if I needed help. And I was in a busy parking lot! At a high school!

After two trips to the parts store for a socket set, thermostat, and WD-40, we still couldn't get the water jacket off without rounding the bolts. Jeremiah called to see if I was okay and he spoke to DH. When he told him of the towing dilemma, Jeremiah suggested we have it towed to his house since it was only about 5 miles from the school. What a life saver! I called roadside assistance back and told them we had a place to tow the vehicle. They got there about 45 minutes later and towed it away.

I got home at 10:30 that night, starving, cranky, and tired. I told my husband that no good deed goes unpunished and he jokingly replied that the next time anyone asked me to help them that I should just say NO! At that time, I was ready to take his advice, but of course I won't. That's just not me.

The car is now home with a new thermostat. DH and one of his co-workers went across town with tools borrowed from a mechanic-friend to get it fixed. Thanks Neil!

Oh yeah, after we called for the tow truck, two different people stopped within about three minutes to see if we needed help. Go figure. I think I would have had a few more offers of help earlier had I been on my side of town!

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

How's Your Spelling?

I saw this quiz over on Pam's blog and being the stickler that I am about spelling, I just had to take it.




Your Spelling is Perfect



You got 10/10 correct.



Your spelling is excellent. You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

How's Your Spelling?

Okay, I'm proud of myself.