We went to bed with a wet ground of green, reds and gold, and someone snuck into our valley overnight and dropped 5 inches of snow on us. No, we were not ready. My woodpile had to be swept off before I could begin cutting this afternoon, but the view was wonderful to behold. The clouds slowly parted, a bright afternoon sun shined and it was truly an inspiring sight to work outside under. My Sisters, the name I use for the three mountain peaks east of my home, appeared majestic, with eye-piercing sun rays bouncing off the fresh snow like a light beam off a diamond. Beautiful. Oh, yes there was some shovel time to put in also. Right now I only have those 4 foot snow shovel, all my larger ones appear to have flown the coop through damage and neighbors. But right now a broom does wonders with this soft snow. Then there's the chain saws, I have two in need of surgery and a new bar and the electric one is Barbie and Ken size. Whatever happened to Ken. I go through the toy section, always Christmas looking for all my grand-kids, even if just in thought and Ken seems to have taken a furlough. Vampire Barbie got him, drank his blood and turned him into a zombie. Now Ken wanders the world, the few-the proud- Zombie Marines. Hey, I knew a couple of Marines this would've fit. They'd except any order, carry it out without question... bayonet between teeth and taking on a hundred of the enemy. Now we of the Air Force, we questioned a lot of orders and this is why I'm still alive. There's a story there, but still classified. If I told you, I'd have to..... Don't get me wrong, the Marines are incredible fighters- loyal and faithful. You can always count on them and don't refer to them as ex-Marines, they dislike that. They're former Marines, always ready for the day they might be needed again. Yup, turn the Marines loose on the Islamic State and let the Marines do what they are trained to do and no political handicaps like we wrestled with in Vietnam. They would do a job.
Back to the snow- when we lived up on Red Fox, in Fairbanks back in 1990, our rented house had two driveways. That year was a good year for deep snow. The kids were young, but they helped and their comedy routines probably kept me from going crazy fighting the snow and getting cold doing it. When it was coming down hard, we'd be out there hitting the one driveway and then moving over to the other one on the other side of the house. By the time that was done, we had to return to the first driveway. I finally gave in and set up a contract with a gentleman operating his own snow plow business. When the snow got over 6 feet, he sometimes got stuck, but was pretty good about getting unstuck using handyman jacks. He taught me a couple lessons about those jacks I didn't know.
When we moved over to Ester, my older brother came to stay with us for several months before bringing his family up. I believe it was the first time he had ever shoveled snow and my driveway was 90 feet long. No snow plow contract there, the kids were older and we had other kids hanging around and I handed shovels out. Well, we were out there, Paul and I, as I showed him which end of the shovel to hold, when he asked me, " And you do this every winter?" He eventually learned to love it up here and stayed until he passed on to be with the Lord.
We had a large house on Ester, but it came with a flat roof. When the snow piled up we'd have to go out and shovel the roof off and it ended up being a cross between dangerous and a lot of fun. We had a hair over 6 feet on it one month and after I got the door opn that led out to the roof, I started digging a path. One of the boys stood on the ground to remind us of when we were getting too close to the edge. During the job I lost two boys, Tommy and one of my smaller sons, unable to remember who now, but the shoveled ahead, with the snow over their heads and got a bit turned around. They both nearly fell of the edge over the driveway, which had no cushion. OF course for awhile it turned into a game of war, with snowballs flying and the occasional snow shovel being launched like a catapult and a face smacked with 4lbs of snow. Somehow a game of tackle football got started, without the ball, but then I got them back to work as the family in the house wondered where the herd of cattle had come from. Grandma Lee loved it. Yes, 2 or 3 ended up going off the roof, but they landed to the sides or back of the house where piles of built up snow cushioned their falls.
My boys were always pulling stunts in the icy cold. One of their sneaky ones was to quietly climb out of their bedroom windows when it was 40-50 below zero to show how gutsy they were. Usually they were in boxer shorts and that was that. One night their older sister, she went in and locked the windows. She finally let them in when their color of blue worried her. Sibling rivalry was big in our house, but mostly friendly-like. We'd taken in a Foster-group of 7- kids at that home on Ester and this was a learning experience for the whole family. Each kid in the group attached themselves to a member in the family, I ended up with a three year old who was always at my side when I was at home. This was a African-American sibling group and the oldest was a 12-year old. I only mention this because my kids learned that skin color did not make the person and a lot of love was shared all around. We eventually had to say goodbye because their mother was in Anchorage and she filed court papers to have the kids brought down there so she could see them. I won't go into details around that, but I will say the entire family missed this bunch and we still think of them as you can see. They became family.
I'm not going into new briefs tonight, except to share with you a story happening in Idaho.
Two Christian ministers who own an Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Wedding Chapel were told by the City they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 fine. The ordained ministers, Donald and Evelyn Knapp, who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel and have for over 25-years, have filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against this action.
Conflict rises in that the couple registered there place as a religious corporation, limited to perform weddings under Biblical laws. But, they also registered for-profit business, not a church and that means they must comply under the new nondiscrimination ordinance. Ordinance passed last year, but only went into effect this October. It prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Alliance Defending Freedom, a law agency who handles pressures being brought against Christians, has taken the case for the Knapp couple. Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council , said-" Why should evangelical Christian ministers be forced to perform and celebrate any marriage that conflicts with their faith beliefs." He then added, "Open season on Americans who refuse to bow to the governments redefinition of marriage." ( Used to be signs in in private businesses that the owner has a right to refuse service. Some saw this as an excuse to refuse another race or ethnic background. But most business owners who were interview back in the 1980's felt this was their business, their right, not to sell anything to someone and it was used for people they knew who would order something and not have the funds, or they were filthy and the owner didn't want them in their restaurant as others customers were leaving. Drunks, wanting coffee and fights developing between rival gangs. All these things led owners to putting signs up. Even up here in Alaska. But now its the beginnings of a war on Christians, both protestants and Catholics. Atheists ordering our own government to have memorials, flags, statues and crosses removed from public lands. I am waiting for them to go after the Lincoln Memorial, to have some of his words removed and we'll probably see him get up off his seat and walk out...not really, unless the Lord wanted to perform one of his Signs and Wonders.
What about all the federal graveyards that have crosses on them, how long before they go after those. No, it's only begun and China is an example of where it can go. Christianity was a growing faith in China, then came WWII and the Communist Party to stomp it out. Well it still lives there, mostly hidden unless state recognized but I am not sure how that works. Do the sermons have to be okay first. We are allowing them, the atheists and especially the Muslims a large foothold. Today was one of the first obvious attacks in the US, when an American Muslim Militant slammed his car into vehicle with 2 Marines in it. The Muslim had to be shot in order to get him to stop, from what was reported. More are coming.
The war began in the Middle East, but pockets of Islam Militants are spring up all over the globe. That doesn't mean all Muslims are militant, only the fanatical ones. Sadly all too many of them hold power. The religious leader in Iran is a fanatic, wants all of us and Israel destroyed. But our Present wants to cut deals with the likes of him. No, he's not the president of Iran, but he does pull all the strings.
I'll get off my shoe box and say good night, even my dogs have gone to bed. God Bless, BILL
Back to the snow- when we lived up on Red Fox, in Fairbanks back in 1990, our rented house had two driveways. That year was a good year for deep snow. The kids were young, but they helped and their comedy routines probably kept me from going crazy fighting the snow and getting cold doing it. When it was coming down hard, we'd be out there hitting the one driveway and then moving over to the other one on the other side of the house. By the time that was done, we had to return to the first driveway. I finally gave in and set up a contract with a gentleman operating his own snow plow business. When the snow got over 6 feet, he sometimes got stuck, but was pretty good about getting unstuck using handyman jacks. He taught me a couple lessons about those jacks I didn't know.
When we moved over to Ester, my older brother came to stay with us for several months before bringing his family up. I believe it was the first time he had ever shoveled snow and my driveway was 90 feet long. No snow plow contract there, the kids were older and we had other kids hanging around and I handed shovels out. Well, we were out there, Paul and I, as I showed him which end of the shovel to hold, when he asked me, " And you do this every winter?" He eventually learned to love it up here and stayed until he passed on to be with the Lord.
We had a large house on Ester, but it came with a flat roof. When the snow piled up we'd have to go out and shovel the roof off and it ended up being a cross between dangerous and a lot of fun. We had a hair over 6 feet on it one month and after I got the door opn that led out to the roof, I started digging a path. One of the boys stood on the ground to remind us of when we were getting too close to the edge. During the job I lost two boys, Tommy and one of my smaller sons, unable to remember who now, but the shoveled ahead, with the snow over their heads and got a bit turned around. They both nearly fell of the edge over the driveway, which had no cushion. OF course for awhile it turned into a game of war, with snowballs flying and the occasional snow shovel being launched like a catapult and a face smacked with 4lbs of snow. Somehow a game of tackle football got started, without the ball, but then I got them back to work as the family in the house wondered where the herd of cattle had come from. Grandma Lee loved it. Yes, 2 or 3 ended up going off the roof, but they landed to the sides or back of the house where piles of built up snow cushioned their falls.
My boys were always pulling stunts in the icy cold. One of their sneaky ones was to quietly climb out of their bedroom windows when it was 40-50 below zero to show how gutsy they were. Usually they were in boxer shorts and that was that. One night their older sister, she went in and locked the windows. She finally let them in when their color of blue worried her. Sibling rivalry was big in our house, but mostly friendly-like. We'd taken in a Foster-group of 7- kids at that home on Ester and this was a learning experience for the whole family. Each kid in the group attached themselves to a member in the family, I ended up with a three year old who was always at my side when I was at home. This was a African-American sibling group and the oldest was a 12-year old. I only mention this because my kids learned that skin color did not make the person and a lot of love was shared all around. We eventually had to say goodbye because their mother was in Anchorage and she filed court papers to have the kids brought down there so she could see them. I won't go into details around that, but I will say the entire family missed this bunch and we still think of them as you can see. They became family.
I'm not going into new briefs tonight, except to share with you a story happening in Idaho.
Two Christian ministers who own an Coeur d'Alene, Idaho Wedding Chapel were told by the City they had to either perform same-sex weddings or face jail time and up to $1,000 fine. The ordained ministers, Donald and Evelyn Knapp, who own the Hitching Post Wedding Chapel and have for over 25-years, have filed a lawsuit in Federal Court against this action.
Conflict rises in that the couple registered there place as a religious corporation, limited to perform weddings under Biblical laws. But, they also registered for-profit business, not a church and that means they must comply under the new nondiscrimination ordinance. Ordinance passed last year, but only went into effect this October. It prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation. Alliance Defending Freedom, a law agency who handles pressures being brought against Christians, has taken the case for the Knapp couple. Tony Perkins, President of Family Research Council , said-" Why should evangelical Christian ministers be forced to perform and celebrate any marriage that conflicts with their faith beliefs." He then added, "Open season on Americans who refuse to bow to the governments redefinition of marriage." ( Used to be signs in in private businesses that the owner has a right to refuse service. Some saw this as an excuse to refuse another race or ethnic background. But most business owners who were interview back in the 1980's felt this was their business, their right, not to sell anything to someone and it was used for people they knew who would order something and not have the funds, or they were filthy and the owner didn't want them in their restaurant as others customers were leaving. Drunks, wanting coffee and fights developing between rival gangs. All these things led owners to putting signs up. Even up here in Alaska. But now its the beginnings of a war on Christians, both protestants and Catholics. Atheists ordering our own government to have memorials, flags, statues and crosses removed from public lands. I am waiting for them to go after the Lincoln Memorial, to have some of his words removed and we'll probably see him get up off his seat and walk out...not really, unless the Lord wanted to perform one of his Signs and Wonders.
What about all the federal graveyards that have crosses on them, how long before they go after those. No, it's only begun and China is an example of where it can go. Christianity was a growing faith in China, then came WWII and the Communist Party to stomp it out. Well it still lives there, mostly hidden unless state recognized but I am not sure how that works. Do the sermons have to be okay first. We are allowing them, the atheists and especially the Muslims a large foothold. Today was one of the first obvious attacks in the US, when an American Muslim Militant slammed his car into vehicle with 2 Marines in it. The Muslim had to be shot in order to get him to stop, from what was reported. More are coming.
The war began in the Middle East, but pockets of Islam Militants are spring up all over the globe. That doesn't mean all Muslims are militant, only the fanatical ones. Sadly all too many of them hold power. The religious leader in Iran is a fanatic, wants all of us and Israel destroyed. But our Present wants to cut deals with the likes of him. No, he's not the president of Iran, but he does pull all the strings.
I'll get off my shoe box and say good night, even my dogs have gone to bed. God Bless, BILL
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