Send Me Some Faith

Today I took my library table out to the curb – it lasted about eleven minutes before a passing motorist picked it up. Tomorrow I will put out my night end tables – they are a matching set so I expect they will also be picked off quickly. I need boxes to start packing but have not found any. I guess I may have to buy a few.

My sister, who is flying down to be my driving companion when I move up, may have to push the date back a week due to her work. The date change does not bother me though I had hoped to be home by my birthday. I’m so afraid the whole thing will fall through and I’ll be stuck here through the summer. I realize that leaving as early as I am might have financial repercussions but I hate the idea of waiting. That isn’t to say pushing the date back a week is what is causing my stress…that is a small thing and I would gladly change the date so she could come down. I don’t want to drive back to Iowa by myself.

I honestly don’t know how it will all come together. Friends tell me just to trust in God but it is getting harder to do that as the time draws close and I have yet to hear from him. I dare not try to guess what the silence means because I know I would be wrong. I go to extremes as I’m sure you have noticed in my writings. So as much as I feel confident in my soul that God helped change my desires when it comes to moving, I also feel just as uncertain about how He will pull it off…or, even, if He will assist in pulling it off at all. Maybe I’m rushing in when I should be trying to be patient? Maybe not moving till October is really his wish and I’m stepping outside his will by pushing it up to March. Doubt…not faith…often clouds my spirit.

I have been looking for ways to consolidate the household. Today I decided I would get a notebook to hold all my dvd’s so I don’t have to ship all the cases to Iowa. My son has done this with his movies and it seemed to be a nice feature when I was up visiting him. That will be three or four less boxes to chip which is a good thing.

As my sister mentioned, moving is such a big step and I suppose not having some stress over it wouldn’t be natural. I wonder if my eldest sister stresses over her move to MO or my brother over his move to Alaska? They are both doing the more serious move in that they are moving to places they don’t know whereas I am moving home. I tell myself the move home has got to be a lot less stressful then the move down here was.

Could really use some encouraging words here folks.

Library Books

It seems I have checked out 17 library books with only 3 weeks to read 16 of them (1 is due in 7 days).

Sometimes I get carried away in my quest for knowledge as twelve of these books are non-fiction books full of things that I want to know. The last one I read, I took six pages of notes from. How am I ever going to read them all? Guess I’ll have to employ the “skim” technique or read the chapters that interest me the most. Hmm…this is going to be tough.

I have to take the notes because my memory is like a colonder – full of holes. LOL.

Well, the precious library is closing so it is time to put my blog to bed. I so look forward to returning to Iowa so I can hang out at the IC Library where I have so many fond memories.

Be safe people, and remember it is a jungle out there!

Dreams and Nightmares

First day off has come and gone…where does the time go?? It is nearly 5:30 pm and I am not going to get done the things I had hoped to do today as far as errands are concerned. Plus I was going to take Baxter for a walk at the park this afternoon but it got too hot and now that I waited, I don’t feel like it.

I did have three more strange dreams since I wrote last about my dreams:

The first one I was one of four rescuers who had to rescue people in a boat that wass sinking in a very wide river. I was the second in command, though I’m not sure who was in first. The weather was treacherous and we had to take a boat out. I remember thinking I’d be sea sick if the weather continued.

I had to go in the water to get to the people on the boat who ended up not being in distress at all. Next thing I knew I was in a helicopter and we, the same group of rescuers, were trying to fly between these bridge supports. I remember thinking we weren’t going to make it – the rotors were too wide…and then I woke up.

The second nightmare was that I lived in this big house with a lot of children who were disabled. The disabilities were physical, not mental. Anyway, the house was on a huge ranch so I’d take the kids out for walks and rides on our horses. There was a small town nearby and none of the people living there wanted the disabled children around. They’d sic their dogs on them and I’d have to run out trying to get the child away from the jaws of the dogs. Now, I can see where this dream somehow relates to Cujo as I had watched it a couple of days ago.

The last dream was not a nightmare really. My house was haunted though I didn’t mind the ghosts. They would make messes sometimes but throwing books on the floor or whatever, but basically I felt honored that they wanted to spend their eternity with me.

News of the haunting got out and Hollywood decided they wanted to do a film in my house. Guess who was the main actor and also the director? Antonio Banderas…that is why I said it wasn’t really a nightmare cuz he was quite good looking in the dream. The ghosts got angry that Hollywood wanted to exploit them so they gave the film crew a run for their money. I woke up when I was galloping across the meadow on my trusty stead.

I don’t know why my dreams have been so vivid lately – most mornings I wake up and couldn’t begin to tell if you what I had dreamt or, actually, if I had dreamt at all. But, should one of them dreams come true – let it be the last one cuz I could be quite happy with Antonio in my house.

The Night

Outside darkness begins to claim the hours remaining in today’s hourglass. Not even a hint of a breeze stirs, everything is still. Soon the crickets and mockingbirds will commence their symphony, breaking through the silence that now haunts me. Flowering bushes lace the night with a sweetness you can almost taste and while my spirit is restless, my soul calmly appreciates my surroundings.

Bone Garden

I know I usually write good reviews of Tess Gerritsens books – she writes every well. Today I started and finished “Bone Garden” – her latest.

The book alternates between present day and life in the early 1800’s. More often then not, these types of books don’t hold my interest. I hate when they jump back and forth between the past and the present. Reading on the flap that this book did almost gave me cause to pause about reading it. If it weren’t a “Tess” book, I probably wouldn’t have.

As usual, Tess’s storyline flows like the Mississippi – strong and consistent. She seamlessly transitions from the 1800’s to present day, making both “Rose” from the past and “Julia” from the present, both intriguing characters. Rose is more the focus of the story so there it is predominantly past.

The present day story is about a woman “Julia” who buys a house over 130 years old that is badly in need of repairs. She decides to try and restore the garden to it’s former glory and in doing so, digs up bones that date back to the early 1800’s. Intrigued and desperate for something to focus on other then her recent divorce to an asshole – she teams up with the previous owner’s family to try to identify and find the story behind the murder of the young woman she had dug up.

In the 1800’s the story is written at a time when medicine was still in the dark ages and women still often died during childbirth. Rose’s sister is one of these women, dying shortly after giving birth to her daughter “Meggie”.

Rose had stepped out of the room so she didn’t hear her sister’s death bed confession regarding the child’s father. However, the people who did hear it start dying off and Rose finds herself running for her and the child’s life. Who to trust becomes a big issue. Rose teams up with medical students to try to figure out what happened to her sister and what the confession entailed.

The book was one of the best I’ve read lately and I highly recommend it. Yes, there are some gruesome parts but you get an idea when they are coming so can easily skip them if you wish. Really, nothing overly exciting is revealed in the autopsy’s anyway so why read about the dissection of a human?

I dare you to read the book and try to unravel the mystery well before the last few chapters – I doubt it can be done. The book had me stumped and the killer ended up being someone I hadn’t even thought to consider.

There are many twists and turns in this book and Tess’s description of Boston in the 1800’s was flawless – I felt like I was right there walking those streets with Rose. Actually, I was sad when I reached the end of the book – I could easily have read more about Rose’s life and how her past ended up entwining with Julia’s present.

Really folks, you can’t go wrong with the “Bone Garden” – well done Tess!

Earth Stewards

Over the work week, I spent time reading a few short books on how to be better stewards of the environment. It truly is amazing how one person can make a difference in the environment! I’m not going to give statistics but I will share here a few things I was surprised to find out about:

Use steel belted radial tires – they are the longest last tire that is also the most fuel efficient.

25% of a home’s energy costs are from the refrigerators

Toaster ovens are more energy efficient then microwaves or ovens – microwaves are more efficient then ovens.

Don’t use permanent press clothes or no-iron bed linens – they are treated with formaldehyde (yuck!)

If you add brewer’s yeast or garlic to your pets food, they aren’t as likely to be bothered with fleas.

Avoid “squeezable” plastic containers (such as soda bottles) – they are the worst type of plastic when it comes to biodegrading.

Buy faucet aerators for your faucets – you get the same water pressure but use less water. Aerators are cheap and screw in to the end of the faucet.

Turn off your water heater if you are leaving for more then a few hours – it takes less energy to reheat it then it does to keep it heating. Also, you can buy a “hot water on demand” system that heats water as you need it from the faucet so you never run out of hot water and never have to heat a tank. If you live in northern states, you should also insulate your water heater with a water heater blanket to help the tank keep hot. I have seen these demand systems and am impressed with them! If my water heater ever needs replaced, I will change to that system.

Places you can get more information about being a better steward of the planet are:

Center for Marine Conservation – 1725 DeSales St NW, Washington, D.C. 20036

Earth Island Institute – 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133

National Audubon Society – 645 Pennsylvania Ave SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

Oceanic Society – 218 D Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20036

Rainforest Action Network – 300 Broadway, Suite 28, San Francisco, CA 94133

Rocky Mountain Institute – 1739 Snowmass Creek Rd, Snowmass, CO 81654

Wilderness Society – 1400 I St NW, Washington, D.C. 20005

World Wildlife Fund – 1250 24th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20037

Books you can read are:

“Making the Switch: Alternatives to using Toxic Chemicals in the Home” – cost is $6 – order from: Publications Dept., Local Government Commission; 909 12th St. Suite 205; Sacramento, CA 95814

“The Nontoxic Home” by Debra Lynn Dadd – cost is $11.95 – can order from any bookstore or get straight from author at: P.O. Box 1506, Mill Valley, CA 94942

“Household Hazardous Waste Project” – order from: 901 South National Ave, Box 87; Springfield, MO 65804