There is a different version of this song that I have not found on YouTube. But here are the lyrics, and if you happen upon this version, would you let me know where?

The water is wide
I cannot cross over
and neither have
I wings to fly
build me a boat
that will carry two
and both shall row
my love and I
There is a ship
and she sails the sea
she's loaded deep
as deep can be
but not so deep
as the love I'm in
I know not how
I sink or swim
deep river
my home is over jordan
deep river
lord
I want to cross over into campground
deep river
my home is over jordan
mmm, deep river, lord
I want to cross over into campground
oh don't you want to go
to that gospel feast
that promised land
where all is peace
for deep river, lord
I want to cross over into campground
the water is wide
I cannot cross over
and neither have
I wings to fly
build me aboat
that will carry two
and both shall row
and both shall row
and both shall row
my love and I

Labels: spiritual

...is prerequisite to receiving.

5 Then he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend, and he goes to him at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have nothing to set before him.'

7 "Then the one inside answers, 'Don't bother me. The door is already locked, and my children are with me in bed. I can't get up and give you anything.' 8 I tell you, though he will not get up and give him the bread because he is his friend, yet because of the man's boldness he will get up and give him as much as he needs.

9 "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

11 "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!" Luke 11:5-12

26 In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. 27 No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. John 16:26, 27

19 "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:19, 20

12 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it. John 14:12-14

14 This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. 15 And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him. I John 5:12-14

1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

4 You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. 5 Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? 6 But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:
"God opposes the proud
but gives grace to the humble."

7 Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:1-10

"I am helpless before you, o my God.
My plea is just a plea--it has no power of it's own.
For it is You who are powerful.
We are but dust."

The earnest, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. James 5:16

"My prayers are earnest, and fervent, but my righteousness is imputed unto me from you. You are righteous, and your righteousness is given unto me. And as I am in you, and you are in me, I pray in your righteousness, and avail myself of the power of heaven, to heal my kitten."

Final update: He did not make it.

I am sorry.

Peter Fox, age 5 months.

May God cup your tiny soul in his hands and hold you safely in his arms forever. I miss you my baby, my little angel.

There are not enough tears...

the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Job 1:21b

I will go to him, but he will not return to me. 2 Samuel 12:23b

Labels: cats, spiritual

Although I am too proud to beg,
and may appear to be a very independent creature,
I ask for your loving care and attention.
I rely on you for my well being much more than you may realize.
This I promise you, my benefactor, that I will not be a burden on you
nor will I demand more of you than you care to give.
I will be a quiet peaceful island of serenity for you to gaze upon;
a soft soothing body to caress,
and I shall purr with pleasure to rest your weary ears.
Since I am a gourmet who appreciates different taste sensations,
I pray you will give me a variety of nutritious foods and fresh water daily.
You know dear friend, how I love to go.
Allow me, I pray, a warm sheltered place
where I can rest peacefully and feel secure.
If I am wounded in battle or suffering from disease,
please tend me gently, and see that I am treated
by loving and competent hands.
Please protect me from the inhuman humans
who would hurt and torture me for their own amusement.
I am accustomed to your gentle touch and am not always suspicious
nor swift enough to avoid such malicious acts.
In my later years when my senses fail me
and my infirmities become too great to bear,
allow me the comfort and dignity that I desire for my closing days
and help me gently in my pain or passing.
Hear this prayer, my dear friend, my fate depends on you.

From here

And speaking of prayers, those of you with the inclination, would you consider a prayer for my little stinker (Peter, I've named him)? He is not out of the woods yet.

Thanks.

Labels: cats

More trenches?!

Unfortunately yes. The contractor whose job it is to hook up the mobile home said trenching wasn't included in what he was being paid to hook it up. So I spent most of this weekend digging Yet More trenches.

Some Saturday dusk pics:



Sunday afternoon thunderclouds building:



It's hard for me to express how peculiar this image looks. If you're from a damp climate, there may not seem to be anything unusual. But...this is southern Arizona, and that mountainside is normally RED!


Update:
Green is the color...


More colors:

I love this song! The tune was running in my head this weekend, but I had forgotten the lyrics, so it was a real bear to find it online.

Labels: San Pedro homestead

Yet another found it's way here, following the animal magnet that they all seem to sense.

Poor sick thing, and weighing hardly anything. I so don't understand this. Yet I see it over and over. Give the kid a kitten, but don't give the kitten any regular food. Is it any wonder after a few weeks it begins to look like a concentration camp survivor and becomes vulnerable to infections?

I just came from cuddling it in my hands for the last half hour. Wrapped in my shirt, with his head in my hands, he was as content as can be. Obviously loved, but never fed. The vet is closed tomorrow, but Tuesday he gets a visit. In the meantime I'm giving him colloidal silver, as much food as he wants, and love and prayers.

Update: He was in very serious condition when he saw the vet, with a body temperature several degrees below normal. She wanted to hospitalize him, as it appeared to her his systems were shutting down. But that would be beaucoup bucks, and Daisycat made the call to take him home. We set him up in the greenhouse with a radiant heater running at night to help keep his temperature up, and I administer electrolytes orally via syringe. This morning he seems marginally improved. Pus is no longer coming from his eyes as severely as it was and the whites are no longer quite as red. His voice is marginally improved. But the two antibiotics really knock him back when I administer them. Quite lethargic for an hour or more afterward. I wish I could have him next to me at work in a heated enclosure to keep a sharp eye on him.

I'll post pictures once I'm sure he's out of the woods.

Labels: cats

I made little mention of this blog when I first linked to it a couple weeks ago. But I have no doubt now that the author, Jan, is a talented storyteller. Read this and see if you agree: Kool-Aid or Coffee?

Or Man?

When TSHTF, will you do what your pastor says? Or what you know is right?

Homeland Security Enlists Clergy to Quell Public Unrest if Martial Law Ever Declared

Another one for the list:
MPJA - Power Supply, Power Supplies, Security Cameras, LCD, Fans, Etc.

Labels: resources

"Got a girl
Named Daisy
She almost drive me crazy!"

Take Two, with better sound quality.

Labels: art appreciation

Terrorists may be planting pigeons in attempt to take down the nation's infrastructure: Pigeons Caused Minnesota Bridge Collapse?

More here on identifying this menace: Pigeon Watch.

Remember, if you see pigeons congregating under bridges or near large buildings, please be sure to contact your local law enforcement or the FBI. The children you save could be your own!


via Daisycat

Know what I finally figured out? Steve is quite the excitable sort.

(No sh!t Sherlock. What took so long?)

While he may be convulsing and breathing into paper bags to try to maintain his composure, I'm snickering under my breath at how little it took to set off this latest diatribe.

Love ya, Steve (you silly silly man, you.) :D

Update: "...no one I respect in the least has joined in..."

Does that sting? Yes, yes for about ten seconds. Then I stop and say "wait a minute. Who is it here who is not respecting me? None other than the number one internecine hatemonger of the blogosphere." And the precise reason he has no respect is because I have been willing to call him on his hatemongering, not just recently but stretching back a ways. So...what would it say about *me* if he *did* have respect for me?

Wow.

On second thought, I'm more than thrilled that he chooses to distance himself.

I think I'm going to create one of those sidebar thingys like the late Acidman had--"what other people think of me", listing quotes from other bloggers, since Steve has been gracious enough to donate the first quote: "...crackpot..."

Update 2: "It's a hoot. They're actually linking to me using anonymizing services. God forbid I should get a Sitemeter referral!"

Hmph. Does this mean I'm not the *sole source* of his paroxysms? I am offended. Is it not all about MEEE?! Someone else appears to be horning in on the fun. :(

Update 3: Pondering...how do you create a *link* that uses an anonymizing service anyway? Is there a way to force a link to a site to go through an anonymizer first? I'd love to learn who these mystery folks are and peruse their link code.

Labels: blogospheric navel-gazing

Rodger is always finding the cool stuff. Here's a site full of neat-o ideas: Funditor

Daisycat and I lived in Winona for a couple of years after we first married. Many of the place names in this story are familiar.

4 die in floods in southeastern Minnesota - News - MSNBC.com

More here, including a photo essay.

Replay video | Share video | Watch more videos

**cr-r-reeamm!!**

via Rodger

Labels: firearms

This weekend's hat: Equipment Operator

I've got a tracked skid-steer loader reserved for rental and pickup later this morning, and then I'm off to push dirt around.

Update: Progress Pics

No action photos however--there was no one around to take them.


Trenches no more!




And a driveway that goes all the way around the loop.

As you can see, it rained again after I was done with my work, despite the forecasts to the contrary. I'm not complaining, just marveling. We've now gotten more than a normal year's worth of rain in the last two months. At least out at my farm.

You wouldn't necessarily know this photo was taken in Arizona...

...except for the saguaro in the foreground.


Driving back into town this morning (Monday) I was looking at the intense green that coats the hillsides and the low clouds hanging across Pusch Ridge, and I thought that if it were to rain year-round like it has lately, this would be "Tropical Tucson, Jungle Resort Destination" in a very short time.

Labels: San Pedro homestead

I never thought that I would be recommending a movie of this nature. For the record, I believe that Part I is bullshit, but Part II has become far more plausible to me than I ever thought possible. Which is disturbing enough.

But Part III is the reason. I have come to believe that the truths expounded therein are the full, unvarnished truth.

Set aside a couple of hours, and go be disturbed:
Zeitgeist - The Movie, 2007

Can you see how very useful a system such as this would be to the "war on terror" in this country?

'HIIDE' and Seek | Redstate

What would it take to get most citizens to submit to this kind of data collection?

Not much, I submit. Just a terror attack or two, and retinal scans and fingerprints during driver's license renewals will be accepted as routine.

Combine that with street cameras now being added by the thousands in American cities, and you have the necessary ingredients for total control.

Is anyone asking whether this is really necessary in a free and democratic country?

I like to stand in front of the open refrigerator door and drink half and half straight from the carton.

3 out of 4 (passed) ain't bad.

Best news is I can bury those damn trenches. Whoot! Let it rain rain RAIN!

POUR! GUSH! FLOOD! TSUNAMI! LET 'ER RIP, BABY!!!!!


**pant**pant**

I just gotta bond the well casing to the ground bus in the well subpanel. Then...BULLDOZER TIME!!

Labels: San Pedro homestead

"Today Americans would be outraged if U.N. troops entered Los Angeles to restore order; tomorrow they will be grateful! This is especially true if they were told there was an outside threat from beyond whether real or promulgated, that threatened our very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will pledge with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their well being granted to them by their world government."

Henry Kissinger in an address to the Bilderberger meeting at Evian, France on May 21, 1992. (emphasis mine)

You wonder why I've fallen out with the Neocons? Can anyone name what I am questioning by posting this quote?

Labels: conspiracies, liberty, politics, statism

As Spacebunny wisely informed me early on in our relationship, you can't "make" a woman happy. Like men, women either "are" happy or "are not" happy on their own; it's basically a lifestyle choice which doesn't necessarily have very much to do with either the circumstances or your actions.

Vox is a very wise man. I wish I'd made his acquaintance decades ago.

(clicka)

via Hog Whitman @ KISP

Labels: felicity and jocularity, politics

Can anyone tell me how having a Northeastern Liberal on the (D) ticket and a Northeastern Liberal on the (R) ticket is giving me a real choice?

The word "conservative" has lost its meaning if it is being applied to any of the current front-runners for the Republican nomination.

In the mean time, the real conservatives are being marginalized by the statist establishment. There are three in the race. Can you identify them?

Labels: politics

An old KGB operative demostrates how Bush Derangement Syndrome (BDS) has its roots in time-tested Soviet-bloc propaganda techniques: Propaganda Redux

You Are 58% Feminist

You aren't a total traditionalist when it comes to gender roles. But you're no feminist either. You generally think that women should be treated as equals, but you're not convinced the world should be gender neutral.

But I think the questions bear examination, because they are not exactly cut and dried enough for simple agree/disagree answers:

1. Women should be economically and socially independent. They shouldn't rely on men to take care of them.

What trips me up on this question is the word "should". "Should" in this context sounds like a mandatory requirement. That women who are *not* economically and/or socially independent have failed a basic test. I disagree with this. I believe that should be an option for a woman who feels it necessary, but not a requirement for a woman who chooses a more traditional role.

2. There is no such thing as a "man's job." It is wrong for men to be given preference for any job position, even if women traditionally aren't in that field.

I agree, with one strong caveat. I don't believe there should be any form of "gender norming" for qualification tests for any specific job. In actual practice this means there are certain jobs that very few women may qualify for. Navy Seal comes to mind. Firefighter comes to mind. Attempts to correct for this in order to achieve some sort of false gender equality is wrong in my opinion. Given the gist of the question then, I had to answer "disagree".

3. Men and women should be held to the same sexual standards. If men can sleep around without judgment, women should be able to as well.

Agree. What more is there to say? My general rule is: "Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander", even when the goose may not like it sometimes. And vice versa. OTOH if a man chooses not to get hitched to a woman with a list of ex-lovers longer than her sleeve, well that's his perogative.

4. Women should take an equal role in dating. Women should ask out people they are interested in and take their turn in paying.

Again, that "should" creeps in and makes a mandate out of something that should be an option. If a woman wants to play by the traditional rules, why force a different paradigm? Still I answered agree in this case, only because I have no objection to the *option*.

5. Women should accept their bodies as they are. Women should not have to conform to wacky beauty ideals.

There's that "should" again. However. The gist of this question really doesn't seem to be about women, but about men. Isn't the implication here that men ought to accept the fact that a woman accepts her body how it is? Sorry gals, but this is where reality intrudes upon your fantasy. You go right ahead and accept it, lumps and all. Maybe someday your perfect prince will see his princess somewhere deep beneath all those layers of...er, blubber. My answer: "Not Sure". It's up to you, babe.

6. A woman should be able to marry and have kids with anyone she wants - including another woman.

Strongly disagree. Sorry. This is where the traditionalist comes in. Live together. Sleep together. Call it what you will. But drag kids into the equation? Nuh uh.

7. Women should have the right to choose any path in life - from being a stay at home mom to a Fortune 500 CEO.

Agree. But with a caveat. That "right" is limited to the degree that it impacts the people you have been given charge over. "Supermom" is a myth. You can't have it all, and you can't expect the world to warp around you and your unrealistic expectations. You need to make choices in life, and if your choices lead to you shortchanging your kids and shuffling them off to be raised by strangers while you pursue your dream of creating PowerPoint slides at your middle-management rat-race job, well...that's where your "right" is stomping all over the rights of your children to be raised in a stable, loving environment. Choose wisely.

8. Women should be encouraged to pursue education as much as men are.

Agree. But one point to note is that men are not generally that impressed by a woman's education and job status. It's amazing how many women don't realize this.

But what's with the premise of the question in the first place? Last time I heard, there are now more women graduating from college than men. Is this question a generation too stale, perhaps?

9. Women should have legal, easy access to all types of birth control - including the morning after pill.

I had to answer "not sure" because abortion could be lumped in with "all types of birth control", in which case my answer would be strongly disagree. However, remove that one and I agree.

10. You would support a woman for president (if you agreed with her politics).

*If* I agreed with her politics--that is to say, if she was a true limited government conservative with a healthy respect for the Constitution's proscriptions on the scope of the federal government, and most especially if she could be rightly accused of being a small "l" libertarian, you're darn tootin'!

Warrantless wiretaps expanded | csmonitor.comThe US government now has greater authority to eavesdrop without warrants on American citizens' telephone calls and e-mails after President Bush signed new surveillance legislation into law on Sunday. Authored largely by the White House, the new law, officials say, provides a legal framework for warrantless monitoring that was already being conducted by the National Security Agency outside of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Many Democrats and civil rights activists argue that this new law erodes fundamental American liberties and privacy rights. Supporters contend that it's vital to fend off potential terrorist attacks.

Democrats: Explain This!

You've been making hay about this and related issues since 9/11. Now you are in power in the House and the Senate. You have the power to *craft* legislation, *amend* legislation and *kill* legislation. Yet all you could see fit to do is *carp* about this legislation and then VOTE FOR IT'S PASSAGE?!

Craven f**king cowards. Where are your vaunted principles? You're not governing in accordance with the message that got you elected. I hope your moonbat wacko supporters are THRILLED with you.

This supports what I've always said: the anti-war, anti-war-on-terror message is just bullshit political rhetoric designed to undercut the mission of US troops for PURE PARTISAN POLITICAL ADVANTAGE! Where the rubber actually meets the road, you're on the same page as the President.

But you're far more interested in power than truth.

Hypocrites.

Labels: politics, statism

Update--More today:

Oh boy. Now Heidi's gone on hiatus. Geez. I'm really going to need to set up that Blog Hospice again if this keeps up. That and find new interesting bloggers.

Update: Ok, they don't post very often, but I put the Achewood crew on the blogroll.

Hmm...I scored 28 on a scale where "Scores over 32 are generally taken to indicate Asperger's Syndrome or high-functioning autism, with more than 34 an "extreme" score."

Pretty much what I expected. Higher than the average person, but not quite in range. Had I taken this test 20 years ago, the results may have been higher.

Take the test: Asperger Test (AQ Test)

This stuff right here is the heart of the "issues" I have with certain bloggers.

Ooh! Roll in the mud little piggies! Oink it up with your little internecine hate-fest!

Assholes.

Update: A response of sorts.
And it's tough for them to get even, because I really don't care what people say about me on their blogs.

But of course! That's why he just devoted ELEVEN PARAGRAPHS to a response to people who take issue with his little hatefest.

I guess I should be proud, because virtually all of the people who hate me are bigoted extremist loonies.

Yeah, that's me all right.

Point of fact though, is that I don't hate Steve. Hardly. I think he's a tremendously arrogant egotistical windbag, but he's nevertheless entertaining. Sharp criticism is not the same as hatred.

On the other hand, scheming to find a way to silence people you disagree with? Creating McCarthyist *lists* of people to be suppressed? That smells more like hatred to THIS cat.

Labels: blogospheric navel-gazing

Ok, I'm just JAZZED! I discovered today the Achewood characters each have their own blogs. Cool and funny! Check the right sidebar at the link.

I mean, you've got to have read the archives first to become familiar with the characters, but now having done so, the blogs are almost better than the strips.

*Almost* (in case you're doing Technorati searches, Chris.)

Hey! Where's my Q?

The Q on my laptop went missing after the cats staged a drag race across the keyboard sometime last week. (I really wish there was a good way to keep these kids out of my stuff.)


I found the itty bitty plastic cross pieces that support the key several days ago--scattered beneath my desk--but the key itself was MIA until just tonight, when I fished it out of a dusty corner far beneath a set of drawers.


I am convinced that somewhere in Red China there is a factory that employs mice to assemble these things. Look at those salamis holding this tiny plastic assembly! Somehow I managed to snap these teensy pieces together.

But the real challenge was getting the whole assembly snapped back into the slots on the keyboard, where the slots are hidden by the key assembly that goes into them.


It does not help one bit that I have reached that, *ahem* AGE (!) where I could really benefit from bifocals.

But it's on, albeit sitting a bit crookedly now.


It works!

I drove over that bridge probably hundreds of times when I lived up there.

At least 3 die when bridge over Mississippi River collapses



Hair-raising!

One of my recurring nightmares as a child was driving on a bridge high above water as and the bridge collapses...

Photos Here

Update: SixSeven dead* at this point, and one construction worker confirmed missing. With an estimated 50 to 100 cars on the bridge (plus a constrution crew) at the time of the collapse, that number is likely to be higher shortly. As a Civil Engineer, this is...interesting. Supposedly the regular inspections did not reveal any concern with the structural integrity of this bridge.

*Officially four "confirmed dead" at this point, but they're dicking with us because they know there are many more--perhaps up to a couple dozen--dead in crushed or submerged vehicles that they haven't extracted yet.

I mentioned to Daisycat the other day that the breeze from my CPAP mask sometimes tickles my nostril hairs and drives me buggy in the middle of the night. I mentioned those nose hair trimmers that you see in the "old fart health stuff "catalogs (Dr Leonard's, for example) that we sometimes receive. You know the ones--they have a section on special pads and cushions for bunions, another section on hernia support devices, the "miracle ear", etc. (We get these because she is an Occupational Therapist).

Well, Daisycat being the thoughtful, loving wife that she is, gifted me with the following present this afternoon--a Titanium Nose Hair Trimmer:

My hands tremble to receive this gift. What is this I'm feeling?

I'm 24, aren't I? I don't feel any older. I can't be more than 30?

But no, the evidence of nostril hair (and a fresh crop of long weeds in my eyebrows) seems to suggest a much later chronological age. Next up, my AARP discount card ought to be arriving in the mail any time now, and I suppose I should start taking Geritol and drinking Ensure...

UPDATE: More Here via Daisycat.

Labels: health and lifestyle