Where did the summer go?

I've been pretty busy with school for the kids, Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, and another venture I've been researching.

Found out the Arizona Hemophilia Association(AHA) joined the HFA. That move will definitely give our hemophilia community access to more programs in Arizona. I was asked what the difference between NHF and HFA was. Easy answer - NHF is industry driven and HFA is community driven. Can't wait to see some of HFA's programs in action.....

AHA is hiring a Transition Counselor for our teen population. They want to have the position filled by the end of January 2010 or before. This person will be the most important person for our hemophilia kids in Arizona and how this person starts the program will determine if the program will work (the kids are the jury on this one).

The boy scouts are currently spending all their time at a Christmas Tree Lot. Our troop sell Christmas tree so they can go on their summer adventure trip. If you live in the Phoenix Valley please consider getting you Christmas tree @ 14th St and Northern. Tree lot hours are 3-9 Mon - Friday and 10-9ish Sat and Sun. Tress are reasonably priced and they have Douglas Fir (5' to 8') and Noble Fir (5' to 9').

Poem

I was given a copy of this poem from my pastor. We had a group dicusion on what each line ment to us and what it says about our society.

What do you think? I'm ready for a dicussion if you are......

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THE INVITATION by Orian Mountain Dreamer

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

copyright © 1999 by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.

July - the Hottest on Record

Lucky for me I wasn't in town for most of the HEAT.

Spent for first week of the month in San Diego. Great 4th of July at the beach. Collected Pooka shells, played in the surf, watched many sunsets, watch the fireworks.

Spent the next week in town. Don't remember what I did.....

Spent the next two weeks in the Pacific Northwest with family. Did a lot of work at mom's house. Bottle some wine. Went to the Oregon Brewers Festival - they had 80 different breweries there. Only made it through 28 of the brews. They give 4 ounces per taste. So that's 28x4 oz = 112 ounces. Split that between 3 people still means I didn't drive home. Thank God for lightrail! Went Sport Clay Shooting with my dad and brother. Kind of like golf but with shotguns. A higher score is better. Out of a possible 100 I know I hit at least 25 clays. Picked Blueberries and made jam - bought Marrionberries and made jam. Watched Chicken TV every night I could. Took the family to Detroit Lake with a friend of my dad's and went wake boarding, surfing, and intertubing off their ski boat. New for my kids - they loved it. OH, I almost for got ....... It was darn HOT in Portland while we were there. Not as hot as Phoenix but Portland's humidity made up for it.

Next week the kids go back to school and life returns to "NORMAL"

Cub Scout Day Camp

Wow. Have I been busy......

Just got finished with Boy Scouts of America, Grand Canyon Council, Heard Scout Pueblo Cub Scout Day Camp. I was the Webelos Director for the camp and taught over 900 Webelos the Scientist pin.

Each year the camp has a theme - this year's theme was Pirates of the Pueblo. I was Captain No-Black Beard. Day camp started on May 28th and finished on June 27th. The sessions are 3 days long and each day starts at 3 pm and finished about 9:30 pm. Total number of cub scouts at camp is set at 300 boys per session.

Want to get more info about Cub Scout Day Camp, click here.

I had a blast!!!

It's a dry heat!!

Yea, Right! It's May and we hit 107 on Monday.

Very busy weekend.....

Kids were confirmed and baptized. It's Norway's Constitution Day (May 17th). The 138th NRA Annual Meeting was in town. We had 3 separate baseball games to watch. Took the family out to Spaghetti Factory after church. We were going to go to the Desert Botanical Gardens to see Chihuly.

Ooooo - We are going peach picking tomorrow at Schnepf's Farm.

It's going to be a busy summer............

Twinkie - Myth and what is it really made of?

I ran across an article in the Journal of Clinical Reasearch.

"Twinkie, deconstructed" a book by Steve Ettlinger. The review can be found here. The Author's website can be found here.

The wording under the title will either make you want to read it or put it on your never ever ready list.

Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated Into What America Eats

Well, will you read it?

Home prices

Home prices - are they still too high? take a look at the video. I like numbers. How correct are they? watch the 6 minute video

Let's get a show of hands..... Who thought the home prices were out of control in the first place? Now that we have so much invested in these over priced homes, do we need to make sure the air doesn't leave the bubble?

What did "we" do to inflate the housing prices as high as they were? Is it truly every man's right to own a home? Economics is a roller coaster - if you liked the ride up you'll definitely scream on the way down. Supply and demand - I still remember my economics classes (I'm a visual person so I can still see the charts when I close my eyes). Someone in America manipulated the demand curve by lowering the standard of who can get a loan. Who has the ability to tell the banks to make risky loans to people who don't qualify. It's not the banks - bankers are calculating people who don't take chances (I've met too many "Banker" personalities, I know the type).

Most people who work in the housing market their whole lives know this was going to happen. they just thought it was going to happen 5+ years ago. The fact that it didn't is what is going to make this fall so much fun. IMHO the housing market is going to over correct. Unlike what it did in the 80's, it's going to go bellow the 100K mark. Wait an see and be ready when the time come to jump back on the ride we call capitalism.

I'm sorry.

I told my youngest son just that last week.

I'm sorry our generation is not fixing the financial problem he and his kids will be dealing with.

I'm sorry health insurance is non-functional.

I'm sorry I don't have all the answers.

I'm sorry I can't always spend all the time I can with you.

I'm sorry you rights are being slowly taken from us.

What would you say to your child?

comments are welcome.

Government HELP

This entire article is taken word for word from the link at the bottom of the post. I didn't feel like add or changing one word - It's information I wanted to pass of for discussions sake. I am concerned that we are doing too much too fast and all I see is a TV show where the "boss" is signing a mountain of paper and not looking at what is being signed and someone slipped in their own agenda in the pile. I know it's a daunting task to know what we are going, but I can't give. I won't let myself give up on my rights to know what my government is doing to "HELP" me. If I want universal healthcare why does it have to be stuck in a stimulus plan? Seems fishy to me.....

Another health care note of concern is something buried deep into the House version of the stimulus bill (you can view that text here). On pages 445, 454 and 479 the economic stimulus package will create a National Coordinator of Health Information to look into your health care. Yes, the federal government will be taking over. And it’s attached to the stimulus bill. This has former Senator and one time front runner to head the Department of Health and Human Services Tom Daschle’s foot prints all over it. Wow. This is scary. Daschle wrote a book called Critical: What we Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis. The Senate is trying to sneak this through without the public knowledge. It doesn’t surprise me, but it is still amazing. Daschle wrote in his book, “the issue (of health care) is too important to be stalled by Senate protocol.” Thanks for the consideration Tom. Once again, it looks like the elected to serve “We The People” are screwing us.

In another part of Critical, Daschle admits his solution will create some pain. For instance, the health care system shouldn’t always pay for care for the elderly. No. I’m serious. Page 464 of the stimulus bill would change Medicare from paying for “treatments deemed safe and effective” to “apply a cost-effectiveness standard set by the Federal Code.” This means health care among seniors could be rationed. Are we sure we want to rush and pass this bill? For more read this story from Bloomberg.

Taken from: http://ktar.net/blogs/dankarlo/category/on-air-log/ February 10, 2009