Beautiful New Hampshire

I have heard statistics that say there are more motorcycles per capita in New Hampshire than any other state in the US. I think I saw most of those on Sunday, out for a ride on a lovely autumn day.

I have also heard people in New Hampshire eat more ice cream per capita than anywhere else in the US. I had a small pumpkin ice cream the size of my head that was to die for on Saturday. (Texas has nothing on New Hampshire’s version of a “small” ice cream!)

New Hampshire also has more vanity plates per capita than anywhere else in the US. My favorite: IT-3OVM. (You’ll need your rearview or side mirror for this one…)

I would also dare to say that New Hampshire has more political signs per capita in than anywhere else in the nation. I had forgotten that every major intersection has the grass covered with the them!

The WONDERFULNESS of New Hampshire. I can’t begin to say how glorious it was to be back there. To see the leaves changing into their fiery colors:

  

To walk under stunningly blue skies, around lumbering mountains and beside glittering ponds:

To saunter through old graveyards, imagining history and another time:

And, best of all, to spend time with my dearest friend and her six energized, fun, laughing children. Aren’t they adorable?

For the first time in many, many months I feel I have rested: spirit, soul and body. And, seriously, I want to go back for good.

A Little Respect

Whenever I travel, I get caught up on things going on in the world I didn't know anything about. I'm never sure if that's good or not. I mean "happiness is bliss". On the other hand, I don't like to consider myself as being uniformed. On this trip, I am learning about what is going on the world of American's greatest idol: football.

Brief recap: the NFL's refs are on strike. And as no bargain has been reached but the season has begun, replacements are necessary. As I understand it, they have decided not to use refs from Division 1 college ball because they don't want a conflict of interests, headaches with those refs or to interfere with their football season. So, they are using refs from lower college divisions and even high schools.

In our household as we played sports we were always taught to obey the refs. Yes, they make bad calls. Yes, you get upset at them. But on the court or field, their word is final. You don't argue and you don't take on a bad attitude in the middle of the game. If a coach wants to protest a call, that's his business and the proper way to do that is with respect. Apparently, though, once you reach the pros everything your parents taught you goes out the window. Not to mention just honest respect. At least that's what I have witnessed in the NFL games this weekend. Coaches haranguing the refs for bad calls (even if the guys watching the replays uphold them) and players trying to get away with murder on the field.

Now I'm not saying the replacements refs are making brilliant calls on the field. I witnessed a couple of bad ones this weekend. But I also witnessed them loosing control of the game because the coaches and players took an "anything goes" approach. And to be honest, it doesn't reflect well on the coaches and players. I'm not one of those people who thinks NFL players are the greatest heroes in America, but at least be decent. Do you honestly want all the kids who idolize you to act as disrespectful as you do?

These players and coaches ought to consider this: without refs there is no NFL season. So, take your pick: refs who have a learning curve and are going to make some honest bad calls or bench it. And since I'm sure none of you million-dollar-a-season men want to loose all that money, stop acting like your five years old and have just been told you can't have a candy bar. Grow up. And show a little respect.

Leaving!!!

Tomorrow I leave for the beautiful northeast!!!! 

And it can't come too soon. Yesterday is seemed liked everyone and their cousin wanted hospice. I had four admissions and only three nurses to cover them...not to mention all the visits they needed to do with their own patients (and the patients of our two absent nurses). Needless to say, it was hectic. But except for some doctor signatures and stuff, all four are done and safely charted. My desk is clean, and I can leave about one o'clock tomorrow afternoon.

The only problem will be coming back in twelve days...do I really have to?

A Lesson Learned

I got complimented today on good record keeping. Saved my boss some money. In truth, the actual record I thought I brought back to the office is...somewhere? I just didn't delete my e-mails. Not my sent ones, anyway. I forget to clean out that box. Good thing, too.

Last week someone asked me if I like to keep things. NO. After sixteen moves, you learn to just get rid of stuff. I'm a bane in my family: none of my siblings ever wanted me to help them clean out their rooms. (Yes, I got rid of the circle puzzle!!!) Despite that fact, I can still live with less than I own. Which is why half of what I own is here - and half in Indiana.

But as far as backing up stuff and keeping records, I'm pretty good at that. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been putting all my pictures (which are sorted on two CDs a piece in case one decides not to work later...) on flash drives. Call it preparation for when CDs join floppy disks. I do the same with almost everything on my laptop. After all, I can never recreate what I write. I don't want to loose it, even if one day I edit it to the point of tossing out the original story. But even I fail on some points.

I learned in December I need all my e-mail addresses in another location. In case someone hacks your e-mail. Okay, did that. (Sort of...still need to work on being more thorough with that scribbled list.) Yesterday it was my cell phone. It went off and couldn't get itself to completely come back on. I lost all my numbers. And who in 2012 write down or memorizes numbers? I could remember all of two. Between those and talking to people in person, I have recreated most of my list. And written them down. And will put them in my laptop. And print that off. And, perhaps, put them in Fort Knox  - just in case.

I once heard the difference between knowledge and wisdom is this: knowledge is learning from your own stupid mistakes; wisdom is learning from someone else's stupid mistakes and not making them your own. So, be wise and learn from my stupid mistake:

WRITE DOWN YOUR PHONE NUMBERS!!!!

There, I think that about covers it.

Heroes

It is true that today, the word "hero" is loosing it's significance.

"...our ideas of heroism are even more tarnished by our culture's ridiculous obsession with imaginary superheroes, whose fantasy exploits fill everything..." John MacArthur writes.

Think Captain America, Iron Man and Spider Man - all of which are exciting but beyond the grasp of mortal man.

On the other hand, "Real heroes are people whose efforts and sacrifices...change history, or shift the course of history for the better...The world changes for the better because of them."

For me that means Stonewall Jackson, Teddy Roosevelt or John Quincy Adams - all of whom were imperfect but used in amazing ways.

Twelve Unlikely Heroes by John MacArthur is all about real heroes. People who may be small in the vast scheme of things, are full of faults and weaknesses, or seemed by their neighbors to be anything but heroic. But as 1 Corinthians 1:27 says, "But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty."

So, delve into the heroes of Scripture: Samson, Esther, John the Baptist, John Mark, Jonah and (my personal favorite) Jonathan. Strengths, weaknesses, fear, courage. Everything that makes heroism what it truly is.

http://www.thomasnelson.com/twelve-unlikely-heroes.html

This book was provided by Thomas Nelson Publishers for review purposes only.

The Most Terrifying Plague in all of Texas

Okay, I get it. In Texas everything has to be bigger, and better, and more, and collosal, and...well, you get the point. Apparently that includes illness, and disasters, and all that. I mean, really, how dare another state in the Union have more cases of pneumonia than Texas!

The latest has been West Nile Virus. The way they go on about it, and spray for it, and plaster billboards with warnings about it; one would think the moment you step outside, mosquitoes eat you alive. (Something akin Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.) They talk about nothing else, they warn us they are spraying at such and such a time, and I kid you not that billboards and traffic signs have it flashing in red. It's got to be the worst epidemic of the decade.

Granted, I do not keep up with the news that much. But I have heard of a few of the cases where West Nile Virus was counted as the cause of death. Every one I heard was someone very old whose aged body was battling with much more than West Nile. And if someone did up the percentages of West Nile deaths compared to the population of the "Metroplex", I'm guessing it might reach 1%. Quite the epidemic...

For the record, I've had one mosquito bite this year. And that's about average for Texas. I don't see them, I don't hear them, and I don't feel them. It's nothing like New Hampshire. In New Hampshire, you do stay inside at dusk or light a million candles to keep them away - and that doesn't work all that well. So put on some long sleeves and spray yourself. You still get bit, of course. But no one runs around screaming, "Epidemic!" Good, old Yankee stock, I guess.

But we won't tell the Texans that. I mean, they've got to have something to brag about...and this will do until flu season comes around...or maybe there will be a chicken pox rampage first. You never know.