Goober Cheese

Kansas City's first snow of the year!

2009-11-17T06:49:00.000-06:00

How to Describe Good Eggs

2009-10-07T06:46:00.000-05:00

When you eat tasty eggs, you...

...are eggstatic
...are in eggstacy
...eggsclaim, "These eggs are eggcellent!"
...have them eggain.

Don't egg me on!

Mom taught Bill how to make blueberry pie.

2009-09-15T19:54:00.001-05:00

Here she is handing off the spattula.

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

2009-09-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

—Robert Frost

Dad and I jogged down a canyon in Edmonton today. We came to a fork in the road, started down the worn path, and then I remembered this poem.

After embarking down the rough trail, we discovered two beaver dams and many slain trees. Indeed it made a difference.

Monday in Edmonton

2009-09-14T23:24:00.000-05:00

Bummed around Edmonton on bikes today. We went to the parliament
building, art district and ended the night with Tony Roma's ribs in
the West Edmonton Mall, the mall with the largest area in North America.

Takakkaw Falls, Yoho National Park, BC, CAN

2009-09-14T12:52:00.000-05:00

This awesome waterfall lies amidst the continental divide. New bolders
fall daily. None hit us.

Bikeride #1

2009-09-12T21:27:00.000-05:00

Saturday Morning

2009-09-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

On the way to Banff

2009-09-12T12:33:00.001-05:00

Bill's House

2009-09-12T12:31:00.000-05:00

Flying to Edmonton

2009-09-12T12:30:00.000-05:00

KCIA

2009-09-12T09:36:00.000-05:00

We got on the plane in Kansas City.

Up in the Air

2009-09-11T10:22:00.000-05:00

Find the Heron

2009-08-25T21:40:00.013-05:00

The great blue heron has been revealing himself to me of late when I traverse the Indian Creek Trail. This magnificent messenger represents peace, independence and individuality as a Native American totem, which is a spirit guide, a guardian angel of sorts.

As I seek out the blue heron when I take time to commune with nature I also search everyday for peace in my life. The Bible says to seek peace and pursue it, that there is a future for the man of peace, that peace is a fruit of the Spirit and God himself. Peace means healing, hope and harmony with yourself, other people, nature, God and everything and everyone in our world. Peace is the restorative and rejuvenating power given to us and wielded through us. The choices we make give or wrench away the peace we have to offer. And we must first make peace with ourselves before it is possible to make peace with others. How can a country in civil war comprehend how to bring peace to another people? The answer is to cultivate peace within in order to manifest peace without.

As I walk at dawn and look for my sign of peace I hope that my thoughts will be healing to myself and that my actions will leave a trail of peace in my wake. I hope the same for you.

I look first within

To comprehend

My gray Spirit guide

Through which I thrive

e:)
Sent from my iPhone

My First iPhone Post

2009-08-22T09:39:00.001-05:00

Now I can post from my iPhone via my email or SMS! Now you are linked
to my mind anytime. The only setback is the lack of spellcheck, but
perhaps that will be an amicablly human quality.

I can post pictures like this one of the Walsworh parking lot.

Excercise

2009-08-13T07:13:00.002-05:00

Endorphins are my friends
The Inner works they mend
When I elect to spend
Exertion for its end

More Fun with Alliteration

2009-04-17T09:33:00.001-05:00

Dairy cows dart consistently down common dirt causeways doing cartwheels .

Poem of the Day - or - Looking forward to Friday

2009-04-16T13:53:00.001-05:00

Fickle fairies flattered fraternizing friends for forlorn, forgotten Friday.

My First Real Ash Wednesday

2009-02-25T22:00:00.007-06:00

It didn't occur to me until partway through the service tonight that I hadn't been to an Ash Wednesday gathering for about fifteen years, and this turned out to be a spectacular return. As I approached Jacob's Well in the warm dusk of a false spring night, a blazing fire was being stoked by a girl just before the entrance in a large, metal basin. Inside, the candlelit foyer was brimming with an installation of windowpanes pasted with photos and contemplative, grounding thoughts. Wending through to my pew was a solemn and beautiful segue into the season of Lent.

So, being a non-Catholic, I had never before had ashes dotted on my forehead until tonight. I caught myself consciously worrying about what I'd look like when I went to Westlake's after the service, but muffled my inner squelch by noting that ashes are common and discreet among Christians on Ash Wednesday. However, as you can see from my photo, for me that was not the case.

After the service, outside the church were the remains of the fire pit freshly quenched and distributed in small basins to a select few. I approached an available woman with a bowl, knelt upon a pew pillow cushioning the concrete and received the reminder of my earthy inception and conclusion, dust.

Rising I paused to contemplate and gaze at the crowd. A girl I recently met and her husband came up, said, "Hello," and informed me that I had a rather large cross on my cranium. I thought nothing of it until in the rear view mirror of my truck and, soon there after, the mirror of the Westlake's bathroom shed some light on the rather large compost pile on my face.

Currently, I have random bits of ash on my hands, face and, fortunately and probably, my charcoal gray sweater, and will probably change clothes, soil some new ones and completely forget the my countenance of soil.

While waiting for an outstanding scrub of my body and the inner scrubbing of my spirit on Good Friday, I can comfortably say that I have made up for twenty-seven ash-less Wednesdays and will look forward to my next dusting.

Tuttle Creek Lake

2009-02-15T13:50:00.004-06:00

Car Talk: the Modern Nero Wolfe

2009-02-11T20:26:00.005-06:00

Click and Clack, the Tappert brother, of the NPR show Car Talk are just like Nero Wolfe, except ambulating and comedic. People call in about their car problems providing only a mysterious situation with little information. Click and Clack go to town with probing, seemingly unrelated queries. Their intuition, experience and brilliance guide them to a certain solution.

Clients hire Nero Wolfe, the detective extraordinaire of Rex Stout, to solve their impossible quandaries. Wolfe is an unamicable, obese, agoraphobic, alcoholic genius that haughtily and smoothly uncovers the mysteries of his clients by direct questioning, precise observation and the errands of his employee and the narrator, Archie Goodwin.

The same observant genius permeates both Click and Clack and Nero, which differs significantly from Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson. Archie is the humorous narrator and lacky, who admits Wolfe's genius in a somewhat flippant and disrespectful way. Watson worships the feet of Holmes, never questioning him and always in awe of his reason. Wolfe's utilizes observation of humans, while Holmes is focused more on his genius knowlege of minute details that would challenge any Wikipedia buff. Wolfe's addition is beer and food, while Holmes' are cocaine and opium. The mysterious violin playing of Holmes and the orchidae obession of Wolfe's are similar in their ability to recharge the detective and probably incubate theories.

So, in short, Car Talk, Nero Wolfe and Sherlock Holmes are three intriguing deliveries of detection with completely different format and presentation, yet with underlying similarities, which make them all a good read or listen.

Fossels and Avians

2009-02-11T17:14:00.005-06:00

I just had the most amazing experience on the Indian Creek Trail behind my apartment. The trail is continually amazing; the sunsets, the wildlife, and today the high water from a recent rain shower. My walk with Shadow today was ultra-slow due to my ultra-sore everything from my ultra-muddy bike wipe-out on Monday.

As our journey embarked, I first spotted a red-tailed hawk hanging out on a telephone pole near the tree that houses two of their nests. After walking until my limp was obvious and we encountered too much mud, we turned around.

On the way back, Shadow and I observed a kingfisher just east of the Watt's Mill and heard its telltale trill swooping over the rustling water. Around the next bend I heard a bird that had the timbre of a cardinal but not the colloquial call. I had just sighted the red bird when I heard an approaching party wondering what species was sounding, a gray-haired man and his six year-old son,who with I had previously crossed paths. He is a college professor and his son is a nature lover. I showed them the red-tailed hawk, which the son was enamored by, and they revealed the most amazing thing about the trail. The exploratory son had found a 10,000 year-old jawbone of a horse and three arrowheads in the creek! I was enamored by this information, since I have always wanted to find a fossil more significant than a crinoid, Missouri's state fossil, and I don't think I've ever actually found an arrowhead. The man had consulted a paleontologist at his college regarding the jawbone. It turns out that Native the indigenous people had hunted out horses long ago, but they were able to cross over to Asia over a land-bridge. In addition a mastodon was unearthed in the creek, so all sorts of ice age fossils are unearthed in high water.

At that time my phone rang, and we parted ways, but only shortly. My gaze floated to the sky and turned around to yell, "There's a bald eagle!" Soaring high above my apartment complex shined the brilliantly white head and shaded body of the majestic bird. I was absolutely enamored, as I have only seen bald eagles a handful of times and absolutely never in an urban area.

My unfortunate cohorts could not reach the vantage point in time to see the sight, and we soon parted ways. I walked across the short yard to my door mesmerized by my forty minutes of wonder in my big backyard. An unexpected and truly personal gift was given to me. Surely I become glazed to the usual wonders encompassing me every day. I appreciated the divine nudge and blessed stimulation of my senses to the everyday awes of Abba.

Enjoying the Clean Patio, Not Enjoying the Back Pain

2009-02-10T15:34:00.003-06:00

More Uses for Laundry Baskets or Can't Find the Wheelbarrow

2009-02-10T15:11:00.007-06:00

Found it the second I finished, of course.

The Apple Store

2009-01-31T20:11:00.003-06:00

I was finally able to sojourn to the newest Apple Store in town located at Town Center in Leawood, Kansas. The facade and interior are both extremely representational of Apple computers. The storefront has a monolithic, glowing Apple logo, while the inside has seamless, gray floors and aluminum walls. Here I am goggling over a MacBook and pining for an iPhone. Meanwhile, my pitiful PC is too aged for the DVDs I want to play. Fortunately, I may resort to using my work laptop, a Mac past her prime whose cover refuses to shut properly. Soon Walsworth will be buying Tracey and me new 13 inch MacBooks. I am looking forward to biking with a 4.5 pound computer raher than a 6.6 pound one.

Poem per Diem

2009-01-29T23:51:00.005-06:00

She's a peein'
He's a peein'
I'm a peein'
Yer a peein'

Wild Deer Chase

2009-01-29T23:25:00.000-06:00

A few Saturdays ago, my canine, Shadow, truly showed me what Ceasar Millan meant when he said that dogs are first Animal, then canine, dog, and individual, an abridged version of Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species.

Clearly demonstrating my lack of off-leash training, a mere moment after unleashing her Shadow plunged through the zoysia grass behind my apartment to tree a frenetic squirrel in the Silver Maple. Completely immersed in the hunt, and ignoring my pitiful recall, she sharply turned her head and bulleted through the apartment complex towards the west end of the Indian Creek Trail.

At this point I tore after her demonstrating my panic more than experiencing it.

After driving and running around like a chicken with its head cut off, and coercing Tracey to do likewise, I ran under Wornall down the trail to the West, while Tracey drove to the trail head on Holmes.

Fearing her her contact with a car, I realized what a braying cow feels like looking for the lost calf. As I sprinted and called her, I began to encounter pedestrians who had seen a furry, black collie walking with a woman and her white dog. After a few conversations I discovered that she was going to take Shadow home and call the number on the tag, which I feared may not have my correct contact information.

Running at a much greater clip than my morning jog, I sent two cyclists ahead to track down my quarry. Arriving at the empty trail head, the clarion beacon of my cell phone revealed that the dog tag was correct and Shadow would soon be back at the trail head.

The most intriguing part of the story is that Shadow's new friends discovered her terrorizing three deer high high-tailing it away from herl. Shadow then, of course, abandoned the chase for some canine social interaction with the white dog. Shadow had spooked the deer so much that they saw one still running from 99th street up past their house on 93rd.

In summation, I have a more profound respect for Shadow's herding, social and pedestrian abilities, while a rightfully diminished understanding that off-leash training is much more profound than walking fifty feet from the trail to my back door in the moring. Cheers, Shadow!

The Farm

2009-01-24T22:28:00.013-06:00

Finally got to spend a day at the farm for Grandpa's birthday, and, of course, for a frolic in the lespedeza capitata and big bluestem.

A Greater Crater

2009-01-16T09:13:00.004-06:00

A greater crater grates my brain
reverberating bends and breaks

lithosphere shudders
shock wave obeys
circumambulating gray

a rift in time
in mind

The Meatier Meteor

2009-01-16T09:03:00.002-06:00

The meatier meteor measured my minced mink milk in milliliters.

Minus-One-Run

2009-01-15T07:28:00.003-06:00

Lots of cool fun
With icicle buns
Hope you can come!

Procrastinating Regeneration

2009-01-10T00:23:00.003-06:00

Well, I'm tired but up--it is Friday, you know. I think tomorrow will be a late sleeping day for me with the medication cocktail I chose this evening. All I can say is that I love hickory nuts. After fifteen minutes of pulverizing an almost indestructible shell sending shock waves through neighboring apartments, wearing a leather glove with Ace Wrap mummifying my still aching thumb, and after scavenging through shrapnel scattered across my basement floor, which was sometimes flavored with kitty liter, I think I know what it means to be a squirrel.

Things to Buy with Christmas Money

2009-01-08T13:54:00.000-06:00

adult-sized silly putty
pantyhose that comes in an egg for the silly putty
telescope
ergonomic shoes that my orthodics fit into
They Might Be Giants album(s)
cowgirl boots
wood and inside-out carpet to prevent the feline from demolishing everything I hold dear
another cat
a giant laser
new underwear that is not baggy
anti-mud paraphernalia
a url

In the beginning, Erin made infinity...

2009-01-08T11:25:00.000-06:00

Welcome to my blog! I'm glad you've dropped in to revel in my haughtily absorbent banter.

Today I go to the counselor and will change from work shoes to tennis shoes. I have orthodics that unfortunately don't fit into any dress shoes (omitting the boots with the epidermal felt shedding), which super-sucks, because I just paid $36 to get my two remaining pairs repaired. Prehaps their destiny is to, in their repaired state, grace another set of large podocytes, since my feet totally hurt without my cushy comfort. My attempts to dress up for work are again thwarted by my eccentricities. I hope that the purpose of this blog will be someday fulfilled, which is to learn CSS. My attempts last year were demolished by the peak of my undiagnosed bipolar and abusive relationship. A new year dawns amidst newly formed, overly ambitious expectations for me. Perhaps this counseling session will drift in this direction, God only knows (or is it I for which that knowledge is concealed). Perhaps a time turner would tell. Next blog: What I would do with a Time Turner. You have the COM, e:)