My "New" Church

A lot of people have been asking me: what is this "weird new-age church" you're going to? Warning me that it might be a cult, and not to give them all my money, or become brainwashed, etc..... so I thought I'd take a moment to explain.

First of all, it's a "spiritualist" church and this is not a "new-age weird" thing. Spiritualist churches have been around since the Victorian era and one of the books we sometimes use is actually an old book dated 1936 called "The Spiritualist Handbook". These books are the real deal, probably would go for a pretty penny at the Antiquarian Book Fair if they weren't so beat up. They also have an updated newer book with newer songs by The Beatles and Doobie Brothers and Tracy Chapman and The Eagles, etc...

They start each service with a recitation of The Spiritualist Declarations of Principles. Which explains the religion and it goes like this:

We believe in infinite intelligence.

We believe the phenomena of nature, both physical and spiritual, are an expression of infinite intelligence.

We affirm that a correct understanding of such expression and living accordance therewith constitute a true religion.

We affirm the the existence and personal identity of the individual continue after the change called death.

We affirm that communication with the so-called dead is a fact, scientifically proven by the phenomena of Spiritualism.

We believe the highest morality is contained in the Golden Rule: "Whatsoever ye would that others should do unto you, do ye also onto them.

We affirm that the moral responsibility of the individual, and that he makes his own happiness or unhappiness as he obeys or disobeys Nature's physical and spiritual laws.

We affirm that the doorway to reformation is never closed against any human soul hereafter.

We affirm that the precept of Prophecy contained in the Bible is a divine attribute proven through mediumship.

The church is small, maybe 10-20 in attendance and embraces every religion. Today we had a guest speaker, a truly southern Bible thumping reverend punctuating his statements with "GIVE ME AN AMEN, BROTHERS AND SISTERS!" and such. Not exactly my cup of tea, but I like the diversity of the members and the acceptance of every race, culture and religion.

Today, after service, I met a man who does "table tipping". Now that would be something to see!

Fun Weekend -- Went too fast!

So my friends are gone, heading back to Wisconsin. Took longer to clean house, than the time they spent here.... And today, I'm doing loads of laundry, closing the guest house, etc. not so fun!


The girls enjoyed the pool!

And it was Valentine's Day, so having company here made that day a bit easier for me without Bob. Practically forgot about it, until the pizza we ordered arrived "heart shaped".

Then I got this beautiful bouquet on my front door step signed from my dear friend Hillary (and her dogs)!

 She asked (when I thanked her) if it (the bouquet) looked like a dog. Because that's what she ordered. I thought huh?  I had to go look at it closer.... Took me awhile, then ah ha! I found him, there is a doggie in there  -- so cute!

Do you see it?

Thanks Hillary!

Phew!

Spent the last few weeks cleaning the house, yard etc. and boy did it need it! Can't believe how much I live like a bachelor.... And how much my back is killing me.

Then the toilet broke in the main house. Got a plumber over to fix that. Then the toilet in the guest broke! GA! So had to get the plumber back again. Hopefully everything is now in working order.

I have friends from The Great White North coming to stay the weekend. Looking forward to it. Pool was cleaned today and I'm sure the girls will be loving it!

Only problem is their doesn't get in until 11:35 p.m. So will be a late night waiting for their arrival......

Adventures with Kona

Last week, Kona and I were grocery shopping. I'm in the freezer section, cooler doors open, looking for something (I forget what) when I hear a man's voice say, "Hey! Your dog has a chicken bone in it's mouth!"

I immediately look at Kona and I see her chewing something.... crunchy.

So there I am, in the middle of the aisle in the grocery store, on my knees prying open Kona's mouth, get her mouth open, reach in and pull out the end of a chicken drumstick. Splintered. So I go back in and begin pulling shards of chicken bone out of her mouth, her throat, I mean my hand was down as far as I could reach, up to my wrist in her mouth, still pulling out shards of bone and tossing them on the floor all the while saying something like:

"What are you doing, this could kill you! You could choke too death! And I need you, girl! What would I do without you?"

And more splinters of chicken bones tossed on the floor and my hand and wrist are covered with chicken fat and dog saliva. And a crowd of people gathered around -- I don't know if just to watch or because we were blocking the aisle....

Anyway, finally I dislodged what I could. Thankfully, Kona is not the type of dog who would bite me even with my hand in her mouth.  My old dog, Boomer, would've probably bitten my hand off...  Kona is gentle... and

Thank God for the guy who told me about the bone.  Or I never would have known what she was eating.

When I got up off the floor, only one guy was left watching me. I thanked him. And fled, leaving the chicken bone and splinters where they landed on the floor because I didn't want Kona to go for them again. Checked out of the store quickly, drove home as fast as I could, called my vet (Hillary) left a message, googled "what to do if dog eats chicken bone" -- found a website that said feed the dog bread, and heck I just left the grocery store and didn't buy bread, but had some flour tortillas and so feed her a bunch of tortillas and her usual dog food and some water, she ate and drank everything and  thankfully Hillary called back --- and also thankfully, Kona wasn't throwing up and was eating but spent the next 72 hours on "poop watch". Fun! I mean I pick poop daily, twice a day actually, but not used to "examining it"... yikes

Thankfully, she's okay.

Ah, the life of a Service Dog and her handler!

BTW: what kind of idiot eats a chicken drumstick in the grocery store and just tosses the bone on the floor?

I'M BAAAACK!

After my internet being completely down, or off and on, for a couple of weeks and spending hours on the phone with tech support plus other hours uploading, downloading, waiting for things to upload/download, not to mention visiting "help" sites to to try to get this computer working right, and hours/days pulling out my hair... seems it is, finally working!

Fingers crossed...

Will try to blog something more relevant tomorrow....

Perhaps my computer needs some Reiki --

Sorry for the silence....

I'll be back!

Today is Bob's 61st Birthday....

Happy Birthday sweetheart! I love you, miss you and will always celebrate you this day. You are my husband, my one and only, in spirit and forever......