November 05, 2007

The Turning Leaves

The turning of the leaves,Lake Avalon, Bella Vista AR.

Its seemed to be a overnight occurrence, but with a few near freezing nights this past week, the leaves seemed to "pop" into glorious colors.Our back yard and forest area is ablaze with glorious golds and reds. The air is chilly and the breeze kicks up sending leaves out in cascades off of the trees. The cats still hate this as stand at the window and hiss at the leaves... I took Annabelle out for a walk yesterday, and she flung herself into the piles of fallen leaves with great abandon.Taking a long walk is a treat of sorts as she gets plenty of exercise running about in the house. She is still under tight supervision, not just because of house breaking, she is pretty good about that business, in fact almost prissy about it. However the cats are both wanting to have their way with her, and the outcome is not likely to be good for little miss doggy. She is a fly weight at 4.25 lbs with Kanani at 14 and Makoa at 21 lbs...the big boy particularly has a bone to pick as Annabelle likes to steal his toys and actually snuck up on him and bit him on the back foot once. Cats have very long memories...

Our nights have been cold enough that we have broken out the space heaters and bought two new ones. We now have people and creatures sleeping in three rooms rather than one, so a heater is needed for both of our bedrooms and the large bathroom when Annabelle's crate is located. Her fur is long and still the fluffy "puppy" fur, so that helps to keep her warm. I have succumbed to thwarted motherhood-ness and bought 2 tiny sweaters and a pink quilted coat with a pink fur trimmed hood. She looks adorable in them.

With the turning leaves comes the end of the busy freight season. We have seen a huge slowdown on our account. This is somewhat normals and no reflection on the situation that the account is leaving. But it makes for a long day and an even longer night shift. We that work on this shift are doing out best to not get into any bad habits and to give 100 percent to the employer. There has been some goofing off at the expense of the things on my desk. I threw a fit and got a manager involved. I wanted not to get someone fired but to stop the horseplay, and messing with my chair. The goofball guys had been lowering my chair and loosening the back which I keep locked and stiff. I sat down a touch stiff and the chair nearly scooted out from under me. That was what prompted me to put a sign on my chair telling those clowns to lay off. It blew into a full on meeting with scoldings for all.

On our shift there is so little to do that I have been working on my business plan and the others do what ever. We all get out work done and that is cool with the bosses but I think I will be out of there sooner than the end of March... I wish they would lay me off then I would have more time to get the business set up before I go to Louisville. But the money will come in handy so I need to stay as long as I can.

I havent followed the elections that closely,not because I dont care...I do, but because I work at night I havent seen much of the debating. I dont trust any of the spin doctoring news outlets, conservative or liberal, as I dont feel they have my interests at heart. I am a conservative that feels that we need some type of intervention on the healthcare issue. I am a religious righter that believes that if civil unions will bring equality to our society which has used marriage as a means of delivering social benefits, then lets have them. I am a flat taxing, ship out criminal illegals, dont mess with my right to bear arms, but cant we spend some to fix out roads bridges schools and for heaven sake do something about the lax security at our ports...you get it, I dont fit the mold...

So I found this:
the Candidate Selector I plugged in all of my choices and was very surprised at what came out. Maybe you will be too.

The cooler weather didnt bring down the price of gas, in fact fuel is going up and up. Its 305 here. Last year I wrote a peice called "The White Line is the Lifeline for the Nation"where I tried to raise a bit of consciousness about what 5 dollar a gallon gas will mean to our consumer driven way of life. It will be chaos and no one is talking about it. But it needs to be addressed and soon.

My Catechetical studies are way behind. My Catechest and his wife who is also my sponsor, have been in and out of the country for the past two months. Add my travels to this and we have a failure to connect that might mean an end to my hope to be confirmed in the spring. With the trip to Louisville next year it may be well 2009 before Im officially a Catholic. I have continued my studies and have selected my Patron Saint. Theresia Benidicta a Cruse, or in English, Teresa Blessed by the Cross. She is better known as Dr. Edith Stein, whom I wrote about in this post two years ago as I was beginning to explore the concept of making the Catholic Church a part of my life. I loved her story and now as I am reading more about her and hopefully more of her work, I am truly amazed at her life an how God used this Jewish woman of extraordinary gifts in His Kingdom. She may have been the most important German Woman writer in the 20th century, she is by all accounts the most controversial of all of the late Great John Paul II cannonizations. I wonder what the reaction will be at my choice... I like the name Teresa, and like so many converts do may chose to use it as a part of my daily routine. My current given name is difficult for many to pronunce... I have "runners up" in the Patron Saint selection. Teresa of Avila, Elizabeth of the Trinity, John of the Cross...(as much as I lean towards Benedictine spirituality intellectually, and yet hang out with Francisicans ie John Michael Talbot and company, I seem to be attracted to Carmelites...hummmm) Still I am glad the process is continuing and that my reading has proven to be so enjoyable, and stimulating. It is my hope that Ed and I will be able to continue our studies soon

Woody and I leave for Panama City Beach Nov 10, our Anniversary week. Looking forward to this trip. We have a lot of things we want to do this time that we didnt do before By the time we get back it will be nearly Thanksgiving, the bright Autumn leaves will all be off the trees and the elegent spareness of the Ozark winter will be settling in. God Bless you and see you in a few weeks...

Labels: Bella Vista, Scenic Arkansas, Traveling