Medical Appointments

     In the last years of her life Joanne often remarked, "It seems all I do is go to medical appointments." That's also a common refrain of inmates in the OFH. That's not my situation. Because my clinics and doctors are in this vicinity, I do reschedule routine appointment for the times I'm resident in the OFH. So, there was one today and another tomorrow. Barring anything unforeseen the next ones will be in January when I've come north for the winter.

   Blessed with good health, and yes, I'm grateful.

Takk for alt,

Al

 A couple of days ago I posted about Tom helping remove Russian Olives. This is a picture of him at work.

Could have been worse!

     My driver's license expires next month, and because it's a Minnesota license, I went for a renewal today. There was a bit of a wait until I was summed by a very friendly, kind clerk. It's been years since I needed my CDL (Commercial Driver's License) so chose not to renew it. Honestly, I've only kept it for bragging rights. It costs more than an ordinary license, so it was expensive bragging.

   There were a few surprises. One surprise is that I have a year to change my mind about relinquishing the CDL. I was also surprised to be asked about my veterans' status. The VA issued me an ID card and that was sufficient, but why the question? Then, too, there was no vision lest and that surprised me.

   Here's a couple of CDL stories. Several years ago, driving in a Mpls. suburb I was stopped for speeding. The police officer said, "You have a class A license; I don't want to give you a ticket." He gave me a warning. Last year in the Sinai Grain Elevator there was sign. "Wanted, part-time help with a CDL." It occurred to me that I could do that. The deal breaker was that they'd expect me to show up." 😉

Takk for alt.

Al

Old Adage

    The old adage, "What goes around comes around" never resonated with me. Perhaps that changed today. When I left the condo downtown to move to the OFH Joanne's cedar chest when to L's house. Now L is preparing to sell the house so, today, the cedar chest came to the storage unit in the OFH.

   Leaving the downtown condo, I'd downsized enough so there wasn't much in my storage unit. The cedar chest and a huge box with large, framed pictures of ancestors, fit easily. Among the heirlooms in the chest is Joanne's Norwegian bunad. Her mother's friend, Inger Marie, sewed it in the Gubransdal pattern.

Takk for alt,

Al

OFH

       Odie and I motored to the OFH this afternoon. This morning Tom helped me cut Russian Olives that are invading the grass. Being deciduous it's necessary to treat the stumps to prevent their growing back. Back in the early forties when there was a massive tree planting effort to restore the land after the dust bowl Russian Olives were one variety planted.

    The decision to plant them was made a by a person who knew neither cattle nor trees. Planted on the edge of a multi-row of trees they were intended to fence cattle out of the planting. It takes much more than a row of trees to deter cattle. Planting them also assume that none would die thus making an uninterrupted barrier. There always some die off and even if there wasn't they wouldn't repel a determined cow. 

   Like Cedars they have berries eaten by birds. Again, like cedars, birds defecate the seeds far and wide, so the trees invade grasslands. 

Takk for alt,

Al

The Russian olive tree is a fast-growing, thorny, and silvery-leaved tree native to Asia and Eastern Europe, valued for its ornamental flowers and fruit but considered invasive in many regions.

Rooster Crowing!

       Now that I think about it, I haven't heard the rooster crowing across the street from the Little House for a few days. Hearing it brought back memories of Thailand. For ten or twelve years I lived with the same Thai family while I taught English in a local elementary school. For the first several years I slept on a floor mat. About the time I was thinking that I was getting too old to sleep on the floor they bought me a bed. It wasn't much softer than the floor mat but at least I was off the floor. It was in a tiny room upstairs that had just enough room for the bed and a fan. No air conditioning in that tropical climate but there were windows I could open.

   Possessing a good internal clock I've not used an alarm for many years. The house was toward the end of a quiet street so there was no vehicle noise. On occasion the Buddhist temple, a few blocks away, would broadcast a chanting monk. They had a metal gong, that when struck, sounded like a gunshot. Nighttime quiet was sometimes broken by dogs barking or dog fights. In the mornings I knew it was time to arise when roosters crowed and the Muslim call to prayer was broadcast from the local mosque at 6:00 am.

  The local rooster primed these memories.

Takk for alt,

Al

"My" house in Thailand.

This and that...

      Some welcome rain fell last night. The town fain gauge showed .85". Three miles away the rain gauge at the pasture recorded .6" Reports suggest that Brookings, 15 miles away received over 2", I'm jealous. It's very dry and crop yields will likely suffer.

    Beanfields are turning yellow before they drop their leaves. Some corn fields are showing brown while others are totally green. Pasture grass is short and some cattlemen are offering hay to cattle on pasture. Diesel fuel is over $5 a gallon so farmers fuel cost for harvest will be very high.

   Odie doesn't like thunder. He hears it long before I, which is no surprise given my hearing impairment. The sound of thunder interrupts his desire to play. When I go to the bathroom in the night, he grabs a toy hoping to play. He doesn't understand that he's eight. He almost caught a neighbor's Guinea Hen in our yard.

Takk for alt,

Al

 

"Inner Work"

       Working to prepare candidates for pastoral ministry I emphasized the importance of doing one's "inner work."  Without that preparation pastors are likely to be triggered to emotional reactions rather than wise responses. So, what is "inner work?"

" Core Concepts of Inner Work

Self-Exploration: Uncovering the root causes of intense emotional triggers rather than just reacting to external circumstances.
Shadow and Inner Child Work: Engaging with disowned or unconscious parts of the psyche to heal past hurts and recover lost vulnerabilities or strengths.
Mind-Body Integration: Moving from automatic, habitual reactions to thoughtful, conscious responses." Internet
Why is this important?  Perhaps a pastor has an emotional response to a member of the church council. If he/she has done inner work, he/she is perhaps able to trace the response to a difficult sibling. Then rational response rather than emotional reaction is possible.
So why do I bring this up now? It's triggered by a short video clip on the internet. Olivia Miles is a rookie (first year player) on the WNBA Lynx. She's having a phenomenal season. She'll almost certainly to selected "Rookie of the Year". There's also conversation that she may be chosen WNBA Most Valuable Player.
When she was asked in the video why she's so confident she replied. In college I had a significant knee injury. During rehabilitation I did my inner work. I let go of caring what others think, etc.
Never before have I heard of an athlete crediting inner work. To see the actual interview go to my Facebook page where I've reposted the video.
Takk for alt,
Al
PS The Monday edition of The Wall Street Journal had a third of a page article about Miles.