The Moon: January 30, 2010

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

The Moon and Mars

The Neighbor's A-Frame is Now For Rent:

This darling little A-frame is now for rent in our neighborhood.  It has an open floor plan, one small bedroom and a loft.  Conveniently located between Sunriver and La Pine, they are asking $800.00 per month rent.  It is perfect for a couple of nice people who will take good care of it and pay their rent.

I am not the owner, and this is not an ad.  That said: no mean people, no drugs, or those with large and/or vicious dogs need even apply.  Credit references, rental references and criminal backgrounds will all be checked out, according to the owner.  Or, so I am hoping.

Please leave a comment if you would like more information.


The Outside:

 

 

 

 

The Living Area:

 

  

  

  

The Kitchen:

  

  

  

  

The Bedroom:

  

The Bathroom:

  

  

The Loft (view):

  

 

This place it too cute!

This morning's snow pictures, live from La Pine.....

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

I just never get tired of opening up my door and taking pictures of the snowy trees.  A daily gift of joy; a present from God to Kathy that she then shares with you guys.

BMX'rs:

These guys are so cute!  Our nephews are all decked out and are ready to race.  Thanks to their Mom, Shelly, for use of these pictures:

 

 

Honoring My Best Friend Husband:

You Needed Me

by Anne Murray 

I cried a tear
You wiped it dry
I was confused
You cleared my mind
I sold my soul
You bought it back for me
And held me up and gave me dignity
Somehow you needed me


Chorus
You gave me strength
To stand alone again
To face the world
Out on my own again
You put me high upon a pedestal
So high that I could almost see eternity
You needed me
You needed me


And I can't believe it's you
I can't believe it's true
I needed you and you were there
And I'll never leave, why should I leave
I'd be a fool
'Cause I've finally found someone
who really cares


You held my hand
When it was cold
When I was lost
You took me home
You gave me hope
When I was at the end
And turned my lies
Back into truth again
You even called me friend


Chorus


You needed me
You needed me

Link to Anne Murray:  You Needed Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-tJBsOsboM

 

  

  

I love you, my Best Friend Husband.

Forever and for always.

"When You Say Nothing At All"
by Alison Krauss

It's amazing
How you can speak
Right to my heart
Without saying a word,
You can light up the dark
Try as I may
I could never explain
What I hear when
You don't say a thing

[CHORUS:]
The smile on your face
Lets me know
That you need me
There's a truth
In your eyes
Saying you'll never leave me
The touch of your hand says
You'll catch me
Whenever I fall
You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all

All day long
I can hear people
Talking out loud
But when you hold me near
You drown out the crowd
(The crowd)
Try as they may
They could never define
What's been said
Between your
Heart and mine

[Repeat chorus twice]

(You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all
You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all)

The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand
Let's me know
That you need me

[Repeat chorus]

(You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all
You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all)

The smile on your face
The truth in your eyes
The touch of your hand
Let's me know
That you need me

(You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all
You say it best
When you say
Nothing at all) 

Link to: You Say It Best When You Say Nothing at All
by Alison Krauss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjsjZWlRVvo

 

 Thanks for finding me in the woods,

Cary Matthews.  I'm crazy about you!

 

So, who are the homeless around here anyway?

Yesterday, the communities of Central Oregon held a 24-hour homeless count.  They were trying to figure out how many homeless people live in our region, and who exactly those people are.  The homeless include: families, the elderly (much to the horror of most of us), veterans, the mentally ill, drug and alcohol abusers, runaways, ex-cons, and otherwise displaced persons.  There are lots of people in our communities who meet the same criteria as homeless people, they just still live in their own homes.

In this post, I am thinking about our pre-conceived notions regarding the homeless.  To me, they are just people without houses that are trying to live and survive the best way they can.  Some are good, some are bad.  What do you think about when the term "homeless person" is brought up?   I usually think of the following two groups, the sign people and the homeless families.  By the way, this isn't a lecture here and there are no right or wrong answers.  I am just trying to figure something out, and would love to read your comments and thoughts. 

There are these guys, the sign people....

 

 

Lets talk about them for a minute.  Is it easy to turn away from the sign people as you pass by them in your car?  Is it easy to judge and blame them because they are adults?  Do you think, "If I give them money, they will just spend it on booze, drugs and cigarettes."?  A lot of the people we pass by on the street corner will probably spend their money in that very way.  But then, so will a lot of people who drive by them in cars.  

What kind of reaction do you usually feel as you drive by the sign people? Do you feel grateful that it isn't you on that street corner?  Do you feel proud that you will never be in that situation, because you run your life way better than they ever did?  Do you give them money and food, or do you call them losers and flip them off?  

I carry bags of stuff in my car to give away to the sign people.  The bags contain food, toiletries, toilet paper, a scarf I made, a book, coffee, sterno and other useful things.  

On Tuesday, in Bend, I got out of my car and gave one of those bags to a woman with a sign.  As I got up closer, I was confused about if she was a man or a woman (she had a very strong 5 o'clock shadow) but was dressed like a woman.  Very odd looking up close, and she seemed mentally challenged or something.  Her head was egg shaped she wore mascara on her eyebrows.  She was happy to get her bag, and gave me a big smile and said thank you a couple of times.  I had the urge to hug her, but at the same time, I felt that if I got too close she might grab me around the neck and choke me out.  (Not my usual reaction to homeless women, so I withheld my hug.)  I don't know what is up with her, but I felt compassion about that on top of everything else, she had to be standing there with a sign.  The guys she was with were not asking for money, but for cans.  They were getting them too.  I thought that was a pretty smart idea, since they were located next to a store.  They were working.  I don't even know if these people were actually homeless.  Maybe they are just beggars.  God sees my heart, and if I feel like helping or being nice there is no need for me to be judge and jury for a sign person.  That alone gives me so much freedom to be kind.

There are the homeless families...

 

What about the homeless families?  How hard this must be.  Back in the 90's when I was working with homeless families in Eugene, these little kids touched my heart.  Some of them had parents who were into drugs and alcohol.  Some of them were with their mom who had to leave their abusive dad.   Most were living in their cars, tents and homeless shelters.  The kids are trying to go to school.  The parents were trying to work, find a home, take care of the kids, do laundry, etc.  It was a really hard life.  As long as the parents were good parents, I noticed that the kids were pretty resilient.  I felt really sorry for the kids with bad parents though.

Some kids traveled a long way with their parents to move to Eugene. The word was out that Eugene was a good place to go if you were homeless. That is true.  St. Vincent de Paul had done a great job of setting up a great system to help those without homes.  You could start out in church emergency night shelter; go into transitional housing; get help getting into a rental; and if you played your cards right, eventually buy a house.  This system was a model for the country, come to find out.  During the past 10 years, Bend has done a great job of getting homeless families organized. 

The news said it will take about a month to go through the results of yesterday's survey.  Then they will begin work on how to best serve the homeless in our communities.  I can see one glaring need already:  South County needs to set up a homeless shelter.  There are so many unemployed families here now who have recently lost their homes or will be losing them soon.  Responsible families, where the parents were working and now who cannot due to the lack of jobs.  These are our "new" homeless.  Let these families stay here, in their own communities, in their own schools, instead of having to move to Bend to get help.  

I will help.  How about you?

Link to: 
"Another Day in Paradise" 
by Phil Collins:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DfZqXLnBYb4

Dehydrating Experiments:

Our house smells like oranges.  It is a very pleasant smell, in my opinion.  For some reason, I have been getting some good deals on food lately.  I keep expecting prices to be higher than they are.  Bags of oranges, 2 for $5.00.  Bags of onions, 2 for $4.00.  Bags of potatoes, 2 for $4.00.  Not wanting to pass up on a good deal, I went ahead and bought those bags of oranges, onions and potatoes. Then I had to figure out what to do with all that fresh food.  It does not last forever, as we all know, and there are only two of us here.  I get tired of finding rotten potatoes in the cupboard.  So, I decided to start using that food dehydrator that I bought last year at Bi-Mart.  

I started with the oranges.  I cut them in half, cut the ends off and then sliced them at about 1/4" thick.  The first bag of oranges were not very sweet, so I have decided to use them for crafts.  They were still a little moist and sticky when I took them out of the dehydrator, so I let them dry overnight on cookie racks.  That didn't help dry them out very much, so I got to thinking about how well the rice worked on the orange spice balls that I made before Christmas.  I used a medium sized bag of rice and a cake pan; layering the orange slices with the rice.  In a few days, those oranges should be very dry and ready for use in making a garland.

The second batch of oranges were sweeter, so I plan on keeping them around for snacks.  I dried the ends too, and I am going to put them in my blender and grind them up to use as a spice.  I bought some banana's also.  I have dried bananas before, and they turned out pretty good.  I put them in little jars in my refrigerator so they will last longer. 

These were from the second batch. 

I tasted one, it was good but a bit tart.

We'll see how the other things turn out.  Dried onions should be easy, and will be so much cheaper than those in the little spice bottles that we get at the store.  The potatoes will be a little trickier and more time consuming, since they need to be peeled and blanched (in the microwave) before placing in the food dehydrator.  

It sounds like fun to me!