another one of those songs I FEEL

Let my inspiration flow
in token lines suggesting rhythm
that will not forsake me
till my tale is told and done

While the firelight's aglow
strange shadows in the flames will grow
till things we've never seen
will seem familiar

Shadows of a sailor forming
winds both foul and fair all swarm
down in Carlisle he loved a lady
many years ago

Here beside him stands a man
a soldier by the looks of him
who came through many fights
but lost at love

While the storyteller speaks
a door within the fire creaks
suddenly flies open
and a girl is standing there

Eyes alight with glowing hair
all that fancy paints as fair
she takes her fan and throws it
in the lion's den

"Which of you to gain me, tell
will risk uncertain pains of Hell?
I will not forgive you
if you will not take the chance

"The sailor gave at least a try
the soldier being much too wise
strategy was his strength
and not disaster

The sailor coming out again
the lady fairly lept at him
that's how it stands today
you decide if he was wise

The storyteller makes no choice
soon you will not hear his voice
his job is to shed light
and not to master

Since the end is never told
we pay the teller off in gold
in hopes he will come back
but he cannot be bought or sold

GRATEFUL DEAD - "Terrapin Station: Lady With A Fan" lyrics

Volunteering for the animals

Well, I have decided to get involved in volunteering at the Kokomo Humane Society. I know what you're all thinking...I'm going to end up with 5,000 pets at home after it's all said and done. Maybe you're right, but I'm going to try to control myself.

My inspiration behind this decision has been a book called "The Man Who Talks to Dogs." A friend of mine from St Louis gave it to me for Christmas, and I can't get it out of my mind.

The book is about a man who has taken the strays of St Loius and given them some hope. He has set up several programs for adoption, shelters that didn't exist, broken up large dog fighting rings, and has helped with the huge puppy mill problems in the big cities. His personal story of how a dog basically saved his life is very moving, but much too detailed to get into here.

I know we all have our own problems and families to take care of, but there are so many little things we can do to help the homeless and hopeless animals in our community.

Here are a few pictures of some of the sweeties in Kokomo waiting for homes right now. (I had to do that to tug your heart strings a little)


The program I'm mainly trying to get involved in is where you take a pet from the shelter to nursing homes or assisted living homes to visit patients and people who live in these places. (Ryan said "great, you'll bring home a ton of pets AND old people. You know you'll fall in love with everyone!") I have already gotten my dog Jerry involved in this type of thing here at work. He is a huge inspiration in his little wheelchair to so many patients at the hospital.

There are so many things that can be donated to help the shelter care for their animals. I posted a list of some of the things that are easy to get...just incase anyone is interested.



~ Blankets
~ Small Rugs
~ Collars (multiple sizes)
~ Leashes (this could also include harnesses, 'gentle-leaders', snap-off cat collars)
~ Towels and washcloths
~ Carpet pieces or small rugs
~ Non-clumpable cat litter
~ Dog and cat food
~ Purina Puppy Chow (because of their sensitive digestion system, we keep them on a consistant diet)
~ Grooming supplies (shampoos, brushes, combs, fingernail clippers,etc.)
~ Small animal pet food (rodent food, rabbit pellets, guinea pig pellets, bird seed, alfalfa or Timothy hay)
~ Aspen or Pine litter for bedding (NO CEDAR SHAVINGS, please)
~ Small animal cages (bird cages, small pet cages, aquariums)
~ Pet toys for cats
~ Larger pet toys for dogs (small toys and balls get down in drains)
~ Laundry detergent
~ Any other miscellaneous pet supplies YOU can think of !

Anyway, just keeping you up to date on my latest obsession. If anyone is interested in donating anything at all, or donating any time, let me know, and I will take care of dropping off any items, or getting any info you may need for any other interests about the strays and the shelter.

Good advice!!!

Dance like nobody is watching... live like there may be no tomorrow....

Tell everyone important to you that they ARE important to you...that you love them

Smile at the people we have lost and loved every day

Just some food for thought

"If people let the government decide what foods they eat and what medicines they take, their bodies will soon be in as sorry a state as the souls who live under tyranny." - Thomas Jefferson


"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors." - Plato


"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty." - Ben Franklin


"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win." - Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

"Wisest is he who knows what he does not know" -Plato

"If a man who cannot count finds a four leaf clover, is he lucky?"-Stanisalw J Lec

"when the student is ready, the master appears"-Buddhist Proverb

"If you think you're free-there's no escape possible"-Ram Dass

"To learn something new, take the path you took yesterday"-John Burroughs

"By all means marry. If you get a good wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad one, you'll become a philosopher, that's a good thing for any man."-Socrates



YOUR THOUGHTS?????

A New Year!!!

Hello All!!!!

Sorry it's been awhile since I've been online...I actually took some time off work...Yeah for me!!!

Anyway, not much exciting, except for the fact that another year has passed, and I'm STILL scraping wallpaper ( I mean LAYERS of wall paper) from the wall in my old bedroom.

So, does anyone have any big plans for the new year ahead? Nothing exciting to speak of from my end....no new dogs, no new roommates, no new husbands etc....

I did make a New Year's resolution which has gone pretty well so far. It's very simple...all I want to do is get my lazy butt out of my soft, cozy, warm, snuggly bed early enough to make it to work on time.....so far, so good....but don't hold your breath :-)

So, the Colts lost today....I think I better go home and have some wine to consol myself!! What a bummer after such a great season....and don't you all feel awful for Tony Dungy. He's going to have a lot more time on his hands and on his mind. What an awful thing for any parent to ever have to face.

On the up-side of things, we celebrated Grammy's 88th birthday this week!!! WOW!! Can you imagine everything you could see in that amount of time? I'm so thankful for Grammy and the whole family for that matter!! If it weren't for her, none of us would have eachother...she has built a beautiful family for us. It sounded as if Grammy really enjoyed herself this year. She partied hard until at least 10:30, because that's about when I left....what a woman!! Sorry I missed the rest of the family. But you all know me...I'm always the last one to arrive:-)

I guess that's it for now. I appologize for the lack of interesting content....just wanted to let you all know I'm still out here!!!

I found this picture on a website of strange pictures. I found both the picture and the story behind it pretty interesting.

Back in the 1800's, there was a convivted forger named A. Schiller who was a great artist. He was found dead in his cell with seven straight pins laying on his body. They all had a part of the Lord's Prayer etched into them. It was carved into the pins with a tool too small to be seen by the naked eye. There were six silver pins and one gold one, which was flawless according to the article I read. The Lord's prayer has 65 words and is 254 letters long. It took this man 25 years to finish his masterpiece, and he went blind due to his artwork. (The picture was taken at 500x zoom)

Bottom's up!!!

The School of Textiles and Design at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh have begun what is believed to be the world's first-ever study on how women's clothing affects the bottom(AFP/Illustration)

OK, so this is a photo that caught my attention. Wish my cheeks were that smooth!!!

Happy 2006!!!!

Well, 2006 is officially under way. It's pretty hard to believe another year has passed. Time seems to go so fast anymore...now I know what all the "old folks" meant when they used to tell me that time goes faster and faster every year. Doesn't it seem like it was just yesterday that everyone was freaking aut about the new millenium???? Now, here we are, six years later......

Anyway, I hope everyone had a great New Year celebartion. Our trip to Kentucky was a blast!! When I figure out how to work my nice new camera, I'll post some pictures from the show.

The concert Friday night was enough to bring in my new year, but we still made the trip to St. Louis as well to visit some friends. Three days later, I'm still recuperating from a crazy weekend.

Before the show Friday night, we met up with Dave and Kelly ( a couple friends we met at Hookah shows) in Newport and had dinner and just hung out at the hotel. Eric Lanese (the drummer & my guilty pleasure) came and hung out with us before the show!!! It was so nice to actually have him in our room where we could have a decent conversation rather than a quick "hello, how've you been...e-mail me" type thing. We tried to get him drunk, but he was being a "good boy." (Those are his words) I would never call Eric a good boy :-) Nevertheless, we got some good quality time in before the booty shakin' began. That made my day...if not my year!!!

The show was very bitter sweet. It was great to be up in front of the boys one last time. The energy from both the stage and the crowd was out of this world!! I ran into several friends I have met through our travels following the Hookah boys, so that was nice. They played for about three hours, and closed with an encore covering "Don't Fear the Reeper." Who would've ever seen that one coming?!?!? Not this girl!!! There were tons of people in the audience screaming "more cowbell!!!" It was hilarious. I wish I could figure out how to put all my feelings into words, but the situation is still so fresh in my mind...I need more time to think...It's hard work, you know!!

Our trip to St. Louis was fun also. The drive was rough after only about three hours of sleep, but Ryan is a champ. He drove the whole trip and I slept quite a bit.

We arrived in St. Louis at about 2:30 Saturday afternoon. So, we were there for just over 24 hours...but it was worth it. We stayed with our friends Jeff and Karen...both wonderful people. We went to Jeff's parents' house on New Year's Eve for the annual family get-together. It's only the second year I have gone with Ryan, yet I feel right at home with all these new faces. Jeff's family considers Ryan one of their own, so I have come to accept them as part of our extended family. We had a lot of fun playing shuffel board, ping pong, drinking, eating, and well, lots of other stuff...maybe I'll remember more details later...who knows!!!

Hope everyone had as much fun as I did bringing in the new year!!