all gone?

Well, Christmas has been packed up and put away for another year. At least the Christmas trappings are -- the Spirit of Christmas should be a year-round thing. Too bad for many folks it's not. I saw an idiot cut into the line at the landfill this morning, dump ALL his garbage into the recycle bins, and duck out again. Too good to wait in line and pay the toll like the rest of us.
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I see the Sierra Club is holding up environmental remedies for environmental reasons ... again? Now an endangered tortise is holding up a solar energy project that would power 142,000 homes, using solely renewable resources. What is the turtle going to do with all that land when we're all broiled -- or frozen, depending on your point of view -- off the planet?

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And our wannabe prez's cabinet picks are showing their brilliance again -- NOT! Janet, go back to Arizona, find a rock, and crawl under it! Watch out for the turtles, though.

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Is this the 2010 we've all been waiting for?

:-)

Breathless -- a twofer Monday

I know, I sound like a one-man Dean Koontz fan club -- deal with it!
:-)

His new book [u]Breathless[/u] left me exactly that! At first from following the various plot and character turns, then from hurrying to find out what was going to happen to the wonderful characters Koontz invited to this party.

My daughter bought this for me for Christmas, and I finished it Saturday night, started it again Sunday, and enjoyed it immensely.

Great book! And a great scene where two of the main characters discuss a subject that interests me immensely -- d ... nevermind -- you'll have to read it for yourself!

Enjoy!

Soon!

How many seed catalogs have you received so far? Getting anxious yet?
Isent my first order in to Fedco Seeds, they've already cleared the check, and I expect to see the package in the mail soon!
I got all the usual things -- tomatoes, onions, cukes, squash, several varieties of peppers, plus a couple of different things -- husk tomatoes, ground cherries, and some new types of lettuce and greens. Still need to order celery and squash, sunflowers, etc etc etc -- oh yes, and etc!

Jackie Clay ( http://www.backwoodshome.com/advice/advice.html ) praises her "wall-o-water" plant protectors for allowing her to set her tomato plants out earlier than would normally be possible in her Minnesota garden, so I thought I'd try them this year. But I can't really afford them at $3 apiece, so I'm going to improvose with a circle of 2 liter water-filled soda bottles around each plant. They'll absorb heat during the day, and keep the plants warmer at night. They're supposed to protect them down to 15-20 degrees -- we'll see. But I'm only going to try a half dozen or so at first, and see how they do. Maybe more next year.

That's the best thing about gardening -- there's always Next Year!

Merry Christmas!!!!

Inside the Revolution

Just finished reading Joel C Rosenberg's "Inside the Revolution -- the Followers of Jihad, Jefferson, and Jesus Battle for Change in the Middle East"

Excellent book! Rosenberg covers the Jihadists, their origins and goals, then the Reformers, who are attempting to instill Jeffersonian Democracy in many countries now under theocratic dictatorships, and finishes with those trying to bring true Christianity into the region.

A Jewish Christian, Rosenberg is also well qualified through his experiences in working within the State Department, and as an assistant to Binyamin Netanyahu. He is an excellent writer, with several books making the best-seller list.

I recommend him.

No, Joe, he didn't lie ...

In a well-publicised speech before congress, President Obama was interrupted by a congressman who took exception to his comment that "No illegal immigrant would be covered by any proposed health care leglislation."

Well, in an effort to bring truth to that outrageous statement, Congressman Luis Gutierrez is introducing the “Comprehensive Immigration Reform for America's Security and Prosperity Act (CIR ASAP),” a bill that would bring 12 million people out of the shadows and into the full protection of the law.

Can you imagine the impact of adding 12 million people to our already over-stressed economy?

What, pray tell, is wrong with sending them back to the full protection of MEXICAN law??? Let them pull Mexico up out of the mire, rather than pull the USA down INTO the mire! I know, it's easier to pull things down than up, and we're sliding already, but we don't need to be accelerated by those who want instant gratification courtesy of OUR taxes and resources!

Please understand -- I do not hate anyone, and I do not consider anyone of lesser value before God. But I, along with many others, spent years of my life defending the values of this country -- indeed, some gave their lives for it -- and it is galling to see it being given to those who think they can simply come in and take what they want without working for it as we did.

And I find it extremely ironic that the folks who are claiming it is our "Christian Duty" to accommodate all these illegals are the same folks who are striving to take Christ out of the public arena all over this country -- especially at this time of the year!

Anastasia Rizikov

English grammar provides a list of words called superlatives, to describe things outstanding. As a writer I am familiar with these words, and have used many of them. But I am proposing that a new word be added to that list, because none of the originals are adequate to describe what I saw on December 6th in Binghamton, NY.

That word is, simply, “Anastasia.”

This afternoon a young pianist held an audience spellbound, as she played for us selections from Bach, Liszt, Gershwin, and Bryl. Then, with a superb string quartet directed by Maestro John Covelli, she played Chopin’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor, Op. 21. The young lady’s name is Anastasia Rizikov, and she will be 11 years old this week.

I had an excellent seat, where I could see her hands, and her fascinating mastery over the keyboard. But I could also see her face, and there I saw her heart and soul, as she gave herself to the music she played. I saw the pain that comes with the long hours of practice – the hard work of bringing the masterworks of those composers to life again was displayed there, plain for all to witness. But overriding that work was her love for the music and what it represented. And she shared those precious things willingly, and in doing so, won the hearts of everyone in the audience. Anastasia, please accept my thanks for a wonderful performance, and please come back again soon!

To learn more about this treasure, do a Google search on her name, and prepare to be blown away!