Yoyos were popular when I was a kid. We were supposedly pretty good if we could 'walk the dog,' do an 'around the world,' and 'rock the cradle. YoYo tricks have come a long way since then. Watch the 2013 World Champion give his winning performance. As you watch, keep in mind that the YoYo is spinning all the time.
Enjoy.
Over the years I have made many choices that have affected my life - some for good and some not so good.
As I get older I realize that my choices are even more important as they will affect how I live the Autumn of my life (that's a poetic way of saying that how I'll live as an old man).
To make good choices it helps to have goals so that I can make choices that help me achieve my goals in this latter part of my life. Here are some of the goals that I have set.
Be a better follower of Christ. This is the most important goal for me and the choices I will make to achieve that goal. I hope to somehow shows God's love to others in small ways each and every day. If those choices I make help someone to come to Christ that will be wonderful.
Be a better husband to Betty. I choose every day what kind of husband I will be that day. God tells me to love Betty as Christ loves the church and gave his life for her. That's a tall order, but one I willingly accept.
Be a better father to Wade and Chris. Even though they are grown men with families of their own and I am no longer their parent, I'm still their father. I want to make choices that show them how much I love them, how I proud I am of them, to be a good example of how to live your life until the very end - which leads me to my last goal.
I do NOT want to be a grumpy, grouchy old man. I know that as I grow older, despite my best efforts at exercise and diet, my body and mind will some day let me down - disappoint me. That's the nature of the fallen life we live. As I 'lose' things, I pray that God will give me the grace and courage to accept those losses with grace and good humor.
I want to live my last days with joy, love and laughter.
The game of H.O.R.S.E. has been around a long time. I played it as a kid over 55 years ago. The game as I played it was with a basketball. Each player would attempt to make a difficult, sometimes even silly, shot. If he made it and the opponent did not then the opponent would get an 'H.' You kept making shots until the first person to get to H.O.R.S.E. Then game over.
It's still around, but now it's played on a scale far beyond anything we could imagine and with more articles than just a basketball.
Enjoy.
In Lord of the Rings, the wizard Gandalf, flies with eagles to rescue Frodo and Samwise from Mount Doom. I think it would be really cool to fly with an eagle.
This is about as close as I will ever get, but it's pretty neat. (Camera attached to the back of an eagle.)
This past Sunday I needed to get out after being inert for over a week recovering from my hernia surgery.
Betty and I went to church and I made it OK, but I was tired and a little sore afterwards. But, we wanted to do one thing before we went home (actually it turned out to be two things).
We have had a ton of rain in this area (at least by New Mexico standards) over the last week. Between Tuesday and Saturday last week, our rain gauge recorded about 3 to 4 inches which is a lot for us. When it rained, it came down in buckets. When I was growing up my father called these kind of rains 'frog stranglers.'
Normally, the Rio Grande is not that Grande, especially with the drought we've had. Before all this rain came people said they could actually walk across the river and it barely covered their shoes. There was more sand showing than water.
We knew this probably had changed with all the rain so after church we decided to drive down to the Alameda bridge to check it out. The Rio Grande was definitely in flood stage.
There has been even more rain to the North of us in the mountains which is good as it feeds the Rio Grande. All of this river water will help the farmers who depend on the river for their irrigation. Now if we can only get a good snow pack in the mountains this winter we'll be in great shape - at least until the next drought (it is the high desert, you know).
On the way home we decided to stop at the Corrales Growers Market that's held every Sunday morning during the growing season. We bought some great tasting cantaloupe and peaches, some greens, some Indian oven bread (made fresh that morning) and some potatoes.
Here's a short video of both our Rio Grande excursion and our shopping stop at the Growers Market.
Actually, most dogs love water, but these guys have a good time as well. Our favorite dog, a Golden Retriever, is in the last clip being very much a laid back Golden.
When you have to go through recovery from a surgery you have plenty of time to think. The doctor has told me that I have to take it easy for three weeks. That means me not doing very much and Betty doing far more than she usually has to do.
During this time I have been thinking a lot about patience and servanthood.
Patience - In 2003 I had shoulder surgery. I remember the therapist telling me how important it was to follow the instructions I was given to rest the shoulder during the recovery period. She recounted one of her previous clients who had similar surgery.
One of the problems with the recovery period is after a week or two you start feeling much better. The surgery incision no longer hurts that much. You begin to feel like you can do some of the things you want or need to do - physically. One of my doctors has said that the outside heals quicker than the inside after a surgery.
She said this other patient started feeling better after a couple of weeks and started doing some of the things he was told not to do. And he paid for it. He re-injured his shoulder and had to have surgery again.
That made an impact on me. Patience is a virtue - not only in surgery recovery, but in most of our lives as well. I've found over the years that when I'm not patient in a situation I usually do something stupid and wind up paying for it.
Servanthood - I've had several surgeries over the years. Knee surgery, shoulder surgery, double hernia shoulder, prostate cancer surgery, and hernia surgery again - along with a few other minor surgeries. In every case, Betty has been a true servant to me as I went through the recovery period.
Her servanthood has been complicated over the last three surgeries because of us owning horses. In addition to taking care of me, cooking, cleaning up (which is usually my job), she also is taking care of the horses which is a big job in itself.
Betty truly has a servant's heart and you see this in so many ways. Her servant heart is fully revealed when she has to take care of me and the horses. She does all this with no complaints and still loves me deeply.
She loves Christ and she lives the servant's life as he did when he walked this earth. She's a good example for me. Well done, good and faithful servant.
It launched in 1977, the same year "Star Trek" premiered on TV.
It carries an 8-track recorder.
It's computer has 1/240,000 the power of a low-end iPhone.
It's still sending data back with a 23-watt transmitter - about the same power as a refrigerator light bulb.
A signal takes 17 hours, 22 minutes to reach Earth.
They expect the signals to continue until 2025.
And with all this 1977 technology, Voyager 1 is the first man-made item to leave the solar system and enter truly, deep space.
Well done, good and faithful traveler!
After quite a long period of drought, we have finally gotten some significant, steady rain. I know for some of you who read this blog, rain is a common occurrence. However, for us this is a sight and a sound which we don't get that often.
I've spent most of my waking time laying on the couch in our living area. Normally, this large couch that faces our front windows, is Betty's place. I have my non-surgery-recovery place on a smaller couch that is at a right-angle to the front windows.
So, with my new location I have had a more direct view of our mountain. Yesterday, Wednesday, I noticed the sunset beginning to glow on the clouds over and behind the mountain. There was a huge rain cell behind the mountain and the clouds collected the last remaining rays from the setting sun.
It was worth a picture.
Please remember. Whether we like it or not, we're still at war.
My hernia repair surgery on Friday went well. In fact it went very well. They told us that they always save the first general surgery appointment for ER admissions the night before that might require surgery. Well, there were no ER cases the night before that required surgery.
So they were moving all the appointments up. Originally, my surgery was scheduled for 2:30 PM which meant I was supposed to be there at 12:30 PM to allow two hours for the pre-op work. We got there a little after Noon and they took me back to pre-op right away. Betty was with me.
I had a sweet little Philipino nurse and we shared our experiences of the Philipines as I was there in the Navy. The anesthesiologist, Dr. Castillo, came in right away. I had previous experience with not having any kind of pre-med to ease my anxiety about the surgery and it makes the recovery so much easier. He agreed and that was the plan.
I had two surgical nurses come in, Craig and Michelle, and they both were a lot of fun. Instead of spending two hours in pre-op, they were wheeling me back to the operation room after only 30 minutes. The three of us joked around while they prepared me for the surgery and then I was off to sleepy land.
A short time later I woke right up. The pre-med sedative is an IV that stays in your body a long time and that can make recovery longer and more comfortable. The surgery anesthesia is a gas and that has little effect once you wake up.
So, I popped right awake and 15 minutes later they brought Betty back to be with me. The recovery room nurse was named Donelle and she was a sweet, mother of two and we all shared parenting stories. 15 minutes later I was released. We walked out of the hospital at 2:30 PM which was the original time for my surgery.
I'm still pretty sore, but the initial recovery is going as expected. I'm supposed to walk (with a cane) 5 minutes every hour that I'm awake. I can't do anything strenuous or lift anything for three weeks which means Betty gets to do the manure clean up all that time.
All in all, it was as good an experience as I could have hoped for. The surgery went quick and the recovery has been as expected. I got a chance to show God's love for the people taking care of me and showing an interest in them as real people. Plus it makes it a more enjoyable experience for me when I can do that.
Thanks to everyone who threw up a prayer for me.
I'm going to be out of pocket for several days beginning this Friday afternoon. At 2:30 PM Mountain Time I'll be going into surgery for a hernia repair.
This is my fourth surgery within three years so I'm getting pretty used to the process.
One of the things a lot of people complain about in surgery is being totally out of control. It starts with the IV and lasts for several hours through the surgery and then the recovery room for an hour or two more. I can understand that feeling, or even fear, as I have experienced it too.
One thing that has helped me and even changed my perspective about the process is a prayer Betty says before anyone goes into surgery and it has become very important for me.
She prays that my last thought before going under will be of Jesus and my first thought when I begin to recover will be of Jesus.
A surgery or two ago I realized that I wasn't giving up control to the nurses and doctors, but to God. Even though I was in the worldly hands of those who attend me, I really am putting my trust into the hands of God.
Now I look forward to it as an act of faith. Although I will admit it's not one I willingly choose. :)
One of our favorite characters in our courtyard zoo is our resident roadrunner.
When we came home yesterday, Tuesday, we heard this unusual sound. We realized it was our roadrunner.
You've all seen videos of kittens and puppies seeing their reflection in a mirror or window and wanting to play or fight with it?
Well, roadrunners evidently will do the same thing.
This past Saturday, Betty and I went to one of the Indian pueblos North of us, Santo Domingo. They have a craft fair every Labor Day weekend. We have seen the signs for the craft fair for years and always said we ought to go.
Well we went this past Saturday.
It turned out to be a larger event than we expected. There were Indian crafts people from all over including Navajo and Hopi as well as pueblo folks. The work was high quality and the prices were as expected, but affordable.
Besides the crafts there was lots of food - Indian fry bread, Indian tacos, etc. - and dance teams. The two dance teams we watched while we were there were great. The first had a darling little girl and the second was made up of four small children - two boy and two girls (see the video below).
If the weather had been about 10 degrees cooler or if it had been cloudy it would have been a perfect day.
Here's a short video.
I ran across this 'essay' by G. D. Watson, a preacher from the mid-19th century. I found it thought provoking...
If God has called you to be really like Jesus he will draw you into a life of such crucifixion and humility, and put upon you such demands of obedience, that you will not be able to follow other people, or measure yourself by other Christians, and in many ways he will seem to let other people do things which he will not let you do.
Other Christians and ministers who seem very religious and useful, may push themselves, pull wires, and work schemes to carry out their plans, but you cannot do it, and if you attempt it, you will meet with such failure and rebuke from the Lord as to make you sorely penitent.
Others may boast of themselves, of their work, of their successes, of their writings, but the Holy Spirit will not allow you to do any such thing, and if you begin it, he will lead you into some deep mortification that will make you despise yourself and all your good works.
Others may be allowed to succeed in making money, or may have a legacy left to them, but it is likely God will keep you poor, because he wants you to have something far better than gold, namely, a helpless dependence upon him, that he may have the privilege of supplying your needs day be day out of an unseen treasury.
The Lord may let others be honored and put forward, and keep you hidden in obscurity, because he wants to produce some choice fragrant fruit for his coming glory, which can only be produced in the shade. He may let others be great, but keep you small. He may let others do a work for him and get the credit for it, but he will make you work and toil on without knowing how much you are doing; and then to make your work still more precious he may let others get credit for the work which you have done, and thus make your reward ten times greater when Jesus comes.
The Holy Spirit will put a strict watch over you, with a jealous love, and will rebuke you for little words and feelings or for wasting your time, which other Christians never feel distressed over. So make up your mind that God is an infinite Sovereign, and has a right to do as he pleases with his own. He may not explain to you a thousand things which puzzle your reason in his dealings with you, but if you absolutely sell yourself to be his love slave, he will wrap you up in a jealous love, and bestow upon you many blessings which come only to those who are in the inner circle.
Settle it forever, then, that you are to deal directly with the Holy Spirit, and that he is to have the privilege of trying your tone, or chaining your hand, or closing your eyes, in ways that he does not seem to use with others. Now, when you are so possessed with the living God that you are, in your secret heart, pleased and delighted over this peculiar, personal, private, jealous guardianship and management of the Holy Spirit over your life, you will have found the vestibule of Heaven.
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