"And the tree was happy"

The Giving Tree?

If you have not done so, please watch and listen to the video presented at top-right side-bar of this blog. After finding this, I realized I read this story long ago; maybe in Playboy magazine. There are complicated lessons to be learned from this seemingly simple story. Shel Silverstein was a genius.

The above photo is of an old apple tree on the farm which once belonged to my family. I think it fits The Giving Tree story.
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The discomfort has moved from my fingers to my wrist, and two new bean-sized knots have appeared; one on the outside flank of my hand near the wrist and another atop the wrist over the joint. It could be worse; much worse.
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Carolyn is going through the change of life; she has begun buying ground coffee instead of beans we grind ourselves. She likes Folgers and I like Starbucks, even though I have drank only one cup of that brand and it was from a vending machine at the hospital. I have yet to visit a Starbucks outlet.
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We finally got some decent news; the hospital discounted 90 percent of Carolyn's bill. The bill wasn't as big as I thought it would be—only $23,000—so we now have to arrange payments on $2,300. The discount is through Medicaid funding supplements President Obama quietly put into place just after taking office. Thank you, Mr. President. The doctor bills are different story; together they are more than $10,000.
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Yesterday's title quote is from the the movie The Lion King.

Reading, writing, and DC arithimetic

Gulf Fritillary on Zinnia


It appears to me that the Obama mortgage rescue plan talks big and does little. Unlike the Wall Street giveaway, it has so many strings attached that most people who participate will probably wish they had not done so. Not all lenders are willing to use it, and many homeowners who need it most will not be eligible for it.
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I finished another paragraph of the short story I was writing and posted here a few weeks back. I know where I want to go with it, but I am still uncertain how far to go. I ask myself should I keep it as a short story or expand it into a book length story? Should I make it an event driven story where the plot supersedes the characters, or character driven where people control events. For me, it is much easier to write the former and then cause the characters to fit the events. I will have to decide before going much farther, and I am leaning toward keeping it short, mostly due to all the crap going on around me that keeps stealing my attention.

Characters are very hard for me. Some successful writers slowly develop the characters over many pages as it is the recommended way and allows the reader to grow into the plot along with the characters. Others do a character description in a paragraph or two and it is up to the reader to remember the important things. This works well with very good writing, because the reader tends to read more at one time and becomes familiar with the characters. Knowing when to quit describing and not become soap opera-ish is the key. Other good writers simply give the reader a name and a basic fact or two and go on with the story, but it needs to be a very good story.

I will decide in the next few days and go from there.
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Clark's Creek


Feeling better, but weaker than Coors Light and I tire easily. The two words "Coors Light" has to be redundant!
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One of the commodes is leaking at the floor seal, and the water heater has developed a leak. The seal that is leaking is new; replaced when the new floor was installed about two months ago. The water heater is six years old, and was the best model made in Johnson City by American Water Heaters and sold by Lowe's.
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We got another tinkle of rain overnight. The drought did not notice it.
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Britney Spears' mom is blaming the media for her Precious one's downfall. Her kid is probably a spoiled brat. As far as I know, I've never heard Precious sing a complete song. Listening to stuff like that gives me stomach cramps and diarrhea.
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If Barack Obama is elected president, he should hire Sarah Palin as White House intern with the same duties of Monica Lewinsky. She definitely owes him a big slurpy* one for the fame and glory she has received. And while she is at it, she should take into consideration that I was the one whom suggested McCain select a person such as her lovely self.
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The Allman Brothers Band isn't the same without Dickey Betts. Greg Allman isn't talented enough to carry the group, although he has done a decent job of keeping the band moving. The last album of theirs I purchased was Seven Turns.

*The Free Dictionary
slurpy

1. A loud sucking noise made in eating or drinking.

2. Slang A mouthful of a liquid.

Iraq! Love it or leave it

Yankeepez has me thinking again; he does that a lot. I am thinking of John McCain's extension of Bush's plan to keep troops in Iraq for a long, long time.

Should we leave? When should we leave?

The reason I was very anti-war to begin with—other than it is morally wrong to attack a sovereign nation just because our president doesn't like their president—has to do with the complicated political and economic realities of the region. Show me one person or any group of persons whom say they are Middle-East experts, and I will show you one liar or a group of liars. Sure, there are a few people whom know a lot about the region and its problems, but there is not a one that understands it well enough to say, "I know what is wrong and how to fix it".

The main fact is the people of the region, including Israel, don't want us there. We are seen as invaders and occupiers, and even worse, infidel invaders and occupiers. Do you understand Muslim religion and how it is interwoven into the lives of these people? Do you understand the history of the Gulf region? The Muslim religion is their lives! It is their history!

The only reason I can think of for still being in Iraq is to keep that nation's oil out of the hands of Muslim fundamentalists like those whom control Iran. Does Bush really want democracy in Iraq? No, but he does want the free flow of oil to keep coming to the big businesses that paid for his appointment and election.

If you don't like the price of gasoline now, you darned sure aren't going to like what comes when the US pulls out. Not only will the price skyrocket even compared to what it is doing now, but you will see the same supply situation we had during the oil embargo of 1973 when our good friends in Saudi Arabia cut us off. You remember the Saudis, don't you? The Muslim nation that gave us Osama Bin Laden and most of the 9/11 hijackers?

So we pay a price for the present administration's idiocy and greed. Either keep sacrificing our service people to the Holy Oil, or be prepared for this nation to grind to a near halt in its ability to do anything that is based on the use of imported oil.

No, I'm not for McCain's proposal to "win"; I know it can't happen unless we bomb the entire region back to the stone ages.* Nor am I for Obama's plan to pull most troops out in less than two years because I believe it will cause utter chaos and we will end up bombing the hell out of them anyway and have to return our service people to an even worse slaughter. Don't forget to look over your shoulder, because the biggest player of all in this situation isn't saying a lot right now. Instead, China is quietly buying and stockpiling all the oil that it can, using the money you spent for their cheap goods, a lot which were manufactured by an "impressed" prison labor force.

We have our selves in a lose-lose situation, and there is no 'lesser of two evils' here. I see no way out unless someone comes up with a miraculous and quick alternative to imported oil.

*To say the truth, I'm not entirely against bombing them into history, but it is unrealistic. I fear any kind of strong, religious uprising anywhere in the world. I fear that religion will eventually pull us all back to the stone ages. At the present, I am afraid of Christianity more than any other communal faith because it is so widespread and downright sneaky and hypocritical, but the thought of uncontrolled Muslim fundamentalism gives me chills in my spine.