Jewish Pioneers

You think I'm kidding, right?

Last night I took my camera on my walk to take pictures of the 115 year old synagogue down the street. The front of the synagogue faces the sunset, so looking at the back of the building the sunset was glowing through the windows,




The last photo doesn't even capture how beautiful the warm glowing windows were last night.

"If you have no family or friends to aid you…turn your face to the Great West and there build your home and fortune"
-Horace Greeley, New York 1841.

"On to America. No relief has been brought to us…. Because servile hordes and sordid minded people have not understood and do not understand the spirit of liberty, we have to suffer… Let us go to America!"
-Leopold Kompert, Jewish Author, Vienna, 1848

"I lived among trappers and Indians, but always as a Jew. Did I need grander temples to worship in? In the murmurs of the pines I hear the psalms of David: the fragrance of the incense is as of old, the winds speak to me in 'His Voice."
-From The Sounding of the Shofar – sermon, Rachel Frank 1892.

An estimated 200 Jews fought for Texas freedom and at least three Jews died at the Alamo. Wyatt Earp's girlfriend/wife was Jewish. They worked on railroads, came with everyone else during the gold rush, and were frontier scouts. Levi Strauss came to California via Cape Horn in 1848 to invent Levis jeans. This is all from Jews and the American West,

http://www.jewishmag.com/84mag/usa7/usa7.htm

Last Friday I was sitting in a meeting and the topic someone brought up was one of those that can easily go really wrong, which was intuitively knowing the right thing to do. The story was someone knowing the right thing to do, not really doing it, and then it being clearly too late. My thought was that the topic should be regret, which is a resentment against yourself, but it turned out to be spirituality, which quickly turned into religion. I quickly slipped into my favorite character defect, judgement, and could hardly sit in my seat, I was so irritated.

So, Monday morning, I get some payback. I hate when someone brings up a topic that I decide to judge and then within a few days it applies to me. Joe had not told me to do much more than bring in packages, he gets lots of packages, and feed cats. He did not talk about the cat box, or if there was more than the one downstairs, but by Sunday I thought I should clean it out. They use that funny cat litter that looks like green pellets in a huge, tall box, but it looked hardly used, but I did not investigate too hard. I let their cats in early Sunday evening because it started to rain. I do not know if they had a party Sunday night, or if they had already done some damage, but Monday morning I guess they came home to a huge mess, cat pee everywhere. I know this because I thought they were to be home Sunday night, but they were not, and I tried to call Monday morning and left messages, but did not hear from them, so I went home on my lunch on Monday to feed the cats if they still were not home. They were both home cleaning.

Now I feel like a bad cat sitter. I did as they asked, but I knew I should do more, and it wasn't like I was too busy, I was a lazy ass all weekend. I got raspberries and a gift certificate and they got a wrecked house, although I think their cats are happy, Pierre was sitting on my porch to greet me when I came home for lunch Monday.

Anyway, the topic is still regret, the source of the knowing doesn't matter, and I know what to do with regret. My theory is that regret is a resentment against myself, something that I did not do that I know I should have. I can make an amends to my neighbors, but I also need to make one to myself. Everyone deserves a break for a while, but mine has gone on way too long, and it is past time to get busy doing the things I know I should be doing.

The only thing I have been faithfully doing is the Five Tibetan Rites, every day for almost three months, and they are really starting to pay off.

Can you eat too many raspberries?

For four days my life seemed about feeding cats. Thursday and Friday Cookster and Pierre had to stay inside and Saturday and Sunday they were just out during the day, which gave my cats some peace. I swear Cruiser and Spit enjoy prowling the yard so much on Saturdays that on Sunday they have to sleep it off. Sarah and Joe should be back tonight.

Saturday morning I went over to Sarah and Joe's to feed their cats and I brought my Tupperware, which I filled with raspberries. I do not think there is a better way to start your day than with picking raspberries on a sunny Saturday morning, at least if you are by yourself. I picked the last round tonight and you would think there would be nothing left, but the giant bush is still loaded. Sarah and Joe gave me a gift certificate to the Boise Co-op for feeding their cats, but I would have done it for the raspberries.

This weekend was the last of summer, the clouds rolled in this afternoon and we are getting some rain, which is causing the first leaves to fall. It was too hot most of the weekend to do my fall gardening chores, but I did get another coat of varnish on the patio chairs and table. I have to do this chore in Idaho where we have real weather, even though I store the chairs for winter.

I finished Elmore Leonard's Killshot, which was super. This is my first Elmore Leonard book, but I loved how he wrote all of the characters, especially the main woman character. I'm giving away the end, but the wife finally shoots the bad guy dead in her house and the husband comes home and she meets him on the porch and listens to him tell her about his day without insisting on telling him first all about how she killed this guy that chased them through most of the book. I loved that.

Then I started Karl Marlantes' Matterhorn, but I seem to be having some problems concentrating and I could not keep the characters straight, so I stopped and picked up something easier, Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. I figured it would be an easy read, and it is, but right off the bat he talks about Lynne McTaggert, who I saw talk a few months ago here in Boise. That was a bit weird.

The book talks about ancient texts and mysticism and protectors of the Ancient Mysteries, but why are they all men? One of the main characters is a woman scientist working in Noetic science (a multidisciplinary field that brings objective scientific tools and techniques together with subjective inner knowing to study the full range of human experiences). She's working in a lab sealed off from all outside energy interference and the bad guy is on his way. A woman studying subjective inner knowing, and a supposed expert in her field, would just know the bad guy was coming! She would be outta there in a flash, or if she was in an Elmore Leonard book, she would have shotgun ready!

It was not a productive weekend and all I feel I got done was varnishing those chairs. I am almost finished with the last batch of movies Dad sent, when I'm done I might give up TV and cable again, can I get through a Boise winter without TV? I'm tired of my TV taking up half of the living room.

I have almost seven drawings transferred to watercolor paper. Pretty soon I am going to have to get over that hurdle of putting brush to paper, but I guess not today.

Summer is Back

I guess this is Idaho's version of a blond joke,


Last week as I was trying to go to sleep, Spit was jumping around trying to catch a bug. It was a really big bug and I couldn't catch it, so I decided to let Spit do it, even though she kept me awake. Spit was sick all day Saturday, she apparently couldn't keep her food down, and it took me a while to figure she must have caught the bug and it did not agree with her. No more big bugs for Spit, the clean up job wasn't worth it.

I am feeding my neighbors cats through Sunday. Not only did they leave me a gift card for the Boise Co-op, but I get to pick raspberries to my heart's content for four days. I already have enough for tomorrow's breakfast, even though I think I ate as many tonight as I picked. I also have my choice of tomatoes, but I think I am almost sick of vegetables. The peppers are falling over with the last of the peppers and I still have two giant cucumbers on the vine and one in the fridge that I picked yesterday. Should I have a cucumber salad for dinner or ice cream? Hmm.

Autumn actually officially started some time this afternoon, but we are back to summer in Boise, at least through the weekend.

I'm going to do a plug for this Boise guy who is planning to ride his motorcycle around the world in the steps of his father, who did it 35 years ago,

http://backroadmag.com/
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/590785064/trans-world-tour-a-global-motorcycle-odyssey

I'm not so sure about the "how the world has changed" angle, but the guy includes some nice pics of Idaho, even though he likes to take pictures of his motorcycle.

Forget Buddha, now mostly at work I think about Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke. At least I'm not a prisoner. I had to do a bunch of writing on it, like I know how to do today. List the resentment, what does it affect? Self-esteem? Ego? Financial security? What is the fear? There is always fear of something in there. Then we get to my part, because problems always start with you, darn it. I am preoccupied with the crazy maker enough to let it keep me from doing the things that I want to do and I also have this recurring need to escape, to get away from the crazy maker, rather than just stand there and watch it pass.

I understand this, but that did not keep me from watching a documentary on James Dean when I got home from work and then going to bed early. I know it was the early 50's and I have not seen any James Dean movies in a long time, but James Dean was definitely gay. In his movies he has absolutely no chemistry with his female costars, none, it is really remarkable. I suppose chemistry would have been a problem in the early 50's anyway, since climbing in the window and talking to a girl wearing her pajamas was too racy for East of Eden.

BSU beat Toledo last week 40-15 at Toledo and their fist home game is this Saturday. Saturday will be no time to be near downtown, not only is there the the first BSU home game of the season, but there is the St. Luke’s Women’s Fitness Celebration. I can't wear my one BSU sweatshirt again to work tomorrow, I just wore it last week, how many BSU shirts do you need? You need at least four. They call blue days and orange days, where you are supposed to go to the game in one of the colors, then you need one in each color for when it is still warm, one each for when it gets cold. Last Friday at work there were also hats, socks, and flags, you know those ones that you put on your car?

If a piece of the satellite that NASA expects to crash to earth tomorrow lands near you, NASA warns us not to touch it. I suppose they should warn people not to try to catch it, either!

Autumn is Here

An Ada County Sheriff's deputy shot and killed this 60-pound male juvenile mountain lion in a parking lot by Curtis Road and the 184 Connector early Thursday morning, September 8,


Idaho Fish and Game District Conservation Officer Bill London with the juvenile mountain lion shot and killed by an Ada County Sheriff's deputy early Tuesday morning. The deputy did the right thing because it appears the mountain lion was becoming "habituated" to an urban area, London said.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/09/08/1790418/juvenile-mountain-lion-shot-and.html#ixzz1YM8SHhC0

This is not too far from my house. Idaho doesn't mess around, unlike those dopes in Glendale that want to keep that coyote family living in an abandoned house because it makes them feel like they are back in nature. Back in nature in Glendale, California, really?

I found this terrifying,

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/join-attack-wire-today

Stop those attacks before they start! If it hasn't started, is it an attack? Guess I better not say anything bad about the sociopath. I understand that there is evil in the world and sociopaths like Hitler. What I do not understand is how they get so many people to go along with them.

Dad sent this about being tracked from your smartphone,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2vARzvWxwY

I do not have a smartphone, but there is some useful information at the end of the clip about how to turn GPS tracking off.

Things are getting really scarey out there, if I disappear off of Facebook, do not be surprised. I'm not sure I should keep up this blog. I did not write back to the Idaho Power guy, but if I did I would ask him where is my $47 million cost savings? The Feds matched Idaho Power's $47 million investment with a $47 million grant. That is you the taxpayer's $47 million. What does the taxpayer get for his $47 million? Not jobs, the grant eliminated the meter reader job. Efficiency? Ok, but efficiency leading to lower prices? I have not heard that Idaho Power applied to charge lower rates.

And my last rant, The Heritage Foundation agrees with me that there is no poverty in the US,

http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/09/Understanding-Poverty-in-the-United-States-Surprising-Facts-About-Americas-Poor

The Feds decide what the poverty level is with a dollars per year amount. Where does that dollar amount come from? I'm sure it is very sophisticated, but just like they manipulate all the other data they publish, they can change the criteria to suit their purpose. How about a global poverty level? Then there definitely is no poverty in the US. There is a new panhandling woman at the intersection around the corner from me, she is fat with clean clothes and the first time I saw her she was smoking a cigarette, but then maybe she is doing a good business.

Next Friday is the first day of autumn, but it turned autumn here last Friday. Living in a place that has a real autumn means that it starts pretty much on time and it is funny to me that So Cal probably has another month of summer. I went out in a long sleeve t-shirt on Saturday morning and I was cold. There was the usual commotion at the park, a Frisbee contest this time and I missed the Celtic Festival and Highland Games, which was at Expo Idaho, which reminds me that I miss the sound of bagpipes that used to play across the street.

I am pleased that it is autumn, but my work situation must be really getting to me and I am feeling weary again. I did some drawings, transferred the drawing for Mary Kay's painting onto paper, cleaned the bathtub and set some watercolor paper to soak, but I could not get myself to paint.

I did walk over to the synagog that is just past the Morris Hill Cemetery down the street and got a phone number for the rabbi, so I could ask him some questions about my dream. The synagog is in a small historical building built in 1896. I do not think of Idaho as having many Jewish people, let alone enough to build a temple 115 years ago. Their website says,

"In the 1860's the beginnings of Boise's Jewish Community existed in the early mining camps. As Boise became settled, Jewish people met in private homes to celebrate the Holidays. In 1895, a group of 25 Jewish residents of Boise joined together to form Congregation Beth Israel.

The building which houses Congregation Ahavath Beth Israel today has a long and illustrious history in Boise and the State of Idaho. It is considered the oldest synagogue west of the Mississippi River in continuous use since 1896, the year that it was built. The building, which is a Moorish design was restored and rededicated in 1982."

Go figure.

Eat Your Vegetables

I sit at work and think about that story in the book of Buddha, the one where a guy decides to test Buddha's reputation for peace and nonviolence and abuses him for three days and then gives up. Only three days? Three days is nothing! I've been being harassed for almost four months now and every day I walk a fine line. I'm sorry, even though I'm a woman, I think the story should include Buddha being harassed by a woman, she would have gone on for much longer than three days, I'm sure even he would have cracked.

"If someone offers you a gift, and you do not accept that gift, to whom does the gift belong?"

I got a comment from Idaho Power about my post about smart meters. It is very nice, but the idea that someone from Idaho Power is trolling the internet defending smart meters gives me the creeps. I suppose it is some new angle on internet marketing, good PR.

To reward myself for successfully walking the line through another tough day, I stopped at Home Depot and bought a Christmas tree. A Christmas tree, Shelly? Isn't it a bit early? Last year I noticed Blue Spruce in the nursery when I got here and a few weeks later everything was gone, the nursery closed up and bare, and by Christmas I could not find a living tree anywhere. This year I am ready and I get a tree on my porch in the meantime. I can't plant it, it will take up my entire back yard, but they grow really slow and it will be a fine Christmas tree for several years.

When I got out of work it just started raining, but it was still hot, and there was that great smell of just wet blacktop. Now it is really raining and we just had the loudest thunder I've heard here yet, which sounded like it would shake the roof off. I told the spinning top at work today that those days when it is hot and clear all day just do not feel like Idaho to me.

The top told me yesterday that when she grows up she wants to be like me. Hey, that has to soften anyone up. It was sincere and helped my day immensely.

This weekend is another BSU game, so I stopped after buying the tree and looked for a BSU shirt. I bought an orange sweatshirt, boy is it orange, but now it feels like money I should not have spent. I am so tired of worrying about every dollar and the price of everything. Funny that I feel like that about the sweatshirt and not the tree.

Cruiser has been much less whiny and spends most of his time sitting in the shade on the grass and looking around as if he knows his grass-laying days are numbered. He is still working on his holes, although he is not making any new progress. He is back to hugging me from the back of the chair most evenings and I have to say it is hard to move away from the TV when he does.

In my entire life I do not think I have eaten as much vegetables as I am eating today. The last tomato Sarah gave me is enough for an entire meal and I am stretching to find recipes that include green peppers. I think the most fun I had this summer was with my vegetable garden. I had a garden as a kid with failed tomatoes and a successful grapevine, but otherwise this is the first time I tried growing food and I really enjoyed it.

One problem with enlightenment is that nothing seems very important, and most things are not, but I have some feeling that I need to be ready for something that I do not know what is. It is difficult to practice awareness while you are somewhat bored and nothing seems very important, but then I guess you never know what you do that might end up being important. One of my friends thanked me yesterday for helping her get through unemployment, which included a conversation and a phone call. Monday I sent my friend a text because I was thinking about her and she sent me a weird text back, so I called her and her mother just died. Those are the things that matter. In the meantime, I guess I just eat my vegetables and bake bread, and now that the weather is cooling off I can get back to more painting.

My friend's grandson was born last week and that night I had a dream that I saw the Hebrew God. I do not want to describe the dream here, but I wanted to record it so I will remember. I am still feeling weird about it and I am sure it shows some kind of spiritual beginning, but what does that mean?

Where Baby Cucumbers Come From

Last week I thought I picked the last cucumber, a giant behind the planter, but this week there were four growing on the end of the vine,


These are small and are staying small, or growing slowly, and must be where the baby cucumbers grow. There were also a few more flowers, so there may be a few more on the way. I'm still picking an occasional strawberry and my blueberries are supposed to grow in June, but now I have a few growing in September,


Sarah's raspberry is growing right on the other side of one of the blueberries and must be crowding it, because it is not doing well. I might let the raspberry win and give up one of the blueberries, but then I might have to give up the rest of the yard for the raspberry, Sarah's is spreading like mad.

Friday was the first ugly day in Boise that I've seen since I've been here. Thursday night there was the smell of smoke from a fire, and Friday morning there was a red orange sun in a grey sky. They say, red sky in morning, sailor take warning, I figure red sun means the same thing. The day was hot, dry, and orange grey all day, but now it is raining. Raining?

The day started clear and warm and I was motivated enough to start another drawing, then I went out to try to go to the Art in the Park, but it was already too crowded at 10 am and I couldn't find free parking. Remember when I went last year? I paid to park last year on Saturday, but I found free parking on the street early on Sunday morning. Just as well, I would have felt like spending money I don't have anyway. So I went to the fruit stand instead and then went home to paint.

Just after I got home, a connector exploded, that's what my neighbor said it was called as he looked at me like I was stupid because I didn't know, and the power went out. One thing about Idaho, when the power goes out there is usually an explosion first. The squirrels have been loud and busy around here over the last few days, one of them probably stepped in the wrong spot, boom! By the time I called Idaho Power they already knew and had a recording about it, they better, that was the reason for the Smart Meters, right?

Amazing how much you realize you cannot do without power. Can't cook, electric stove, can't sharpen a pencil, electric sharpener, can't paint, not enough light. By the time I got ready to pull weeds in the front yard, the power went on again, but I pulled weeds anyway.

The sunny half of the front lawn is not doing well, at least the grass is not doing well, the weeds are doing fine. It is covered with a low spreading weed that makes those round stickers, the round stickers start out green and then turn golden, which is when they get really nasty. They are easy to pull up, since they spread far and wide from one root, but you have to pull them up before they get the green stickers and you have to use gloves. My street tree, which again is a Catalpa, also dropped a ton of seeds on the lawn after it bloomed in June and I would have a regular forest if I did not pull up the seedlings, or at least mow them down.

So I had the usual Idaho weather day today, pulling weeds in the baking sun, wait to mow the lawn until it's cooler but by then it looks like it will rain and is getting blustery, the sky clears as I mow the lawn, not too long after I finish it is suddenly raining.

Sarah was also working on her yard this afternoon and I asked her what vet she uses. Spit is recovered from her stabbing, but the event made me realize I should know a good, and reasonably priced, local vet. Dad's dog had major surgery over an abscess caused by a foxtail of all things.

I was feeling better by Wednesday last week, but it is a good thing, since it was a day of constant vigilance. Someday I will just intuitively know the right thing to do, but today it still takes work, it takes constant attention, and it is exhausting. Try looking evil in the eye, or at least someone telling a complete lie, and not looking away, but not taking it on either. I was so tired by the end of the day on Wednesday that I thought I was going to cry and had to call Mom, since she understands the limitations of public employment.

I'm not sure the weekend was enough recovery time to face that again tomorrow, but hey, I have Columbus Day off, and Veteran's Day. I love it that Idaho gives Columbus Day as a work holiday, it is so politically incorrect, one of the IT guys at work said well, he discovered something, didn't he? And everyone should have Veteran's Day off, just out of respect.

Pita Bread

Here's a better shot of Cruiser drinking from the hose,


Now that's funny. I blocked the third hole, where Cruiser is trying to get into the neighbor's yard and get those teasing cats, although that one seems to have harder dirt and he didn't make much progress. I am surprised that he has not worn down his nails enough with all of this digging to not be able to stab Spit. Cruiser already howls sometimes, I'm getting ready for him to start barking.

If you are going to procrastinate, you might as well be constructive about it. Yesterday, I decided to try making pita bread. I was a bit intimidated, since I do not understand what makes it hollow in in middle and I figure if it is not hollow in the middle so you can open it up and fill it, then it does not count as a pita.



It must be the very hot temperature and the high percentage of yeast that makes them puff up so they are hollow. They do not cook for very long, but the process took a long time, set out four to rest for half an hour, cook two on a sheet, then cook another two, then set four to rise for half an hour, cook two on a sheet, then cook another two. Half did not puff into as big of balloons as they should, but they did puff enough to create a hollow inside and they came out great. The next round should be even better. I ate one filled with chicken salad with my home grown green pepper and was impressed with myself.

Boise State beat Georgia 35 to 21. Unfortunately, Georgia may be the highest ranked team Boise plays this season, but no one here really cares. Next game is Friday, September 16 against Toledo at Toledo, ten more days to buy a BSU shirt.

I don't feel well and I did not feel well all weekend. I'm thinking it is the change of life and I'm thinking that it better be over soon.

Happy birthday tomorrow to my nephew, Jack, who will be 16, although on his Facebook page his birth date is wrong, so he can be older. I told him those days end so fast, when you want people to think that you are older, enjoy them while they last.

Hot Air Balloons and Karma

Sunday morning I finished The Source and felt sad like I do at the end of a great book, like a good friend had just moved away. The feeling was even worse because the book cannot have a satisfying ending. I understand the appearance of the Jewish religion that ended the practices of human sacrifice and introduced ideas about a moral society, and I understand the idea of Christianity making access to a relationship with God available to everyone, but I do not understand the Muslim difference. It seems to me that all three religions have the same message, but are just associated with a different book and two with different men.

Saturday morning I went out and looked for the hot air balloons, but at 10 am I was too late, so Sunday morning I got up early and was at the park by 7:30,








The park and the rim overlooking the park were both packed with cars and people, at least Boise's version of packed, and there was a photographer on top of a ladder on the Rim with his camera, ruining most of everyone else's opportunity for a picture without him in it. I have no desire to go up in a hot air balloon, but I am amazed at how they move around, some fast, some slow, and how beautiful they are against that blue sky.

Later I went out on more of my futile search for a cat scratcher/tree and saw that Borders was having a going out of business sale. I was too late for anything I already wanted, but still bought 3 books. The almost empty store seemed really sad to me. One of my favorite things to do is spend several hours browsing in a bookstore and I wondered if that will soon be something I would tell my grandchildren about and they would have no idea what that is.

It feels like Indian summer here. Ever wonder about the source of the expression "Indian summer"? It is not complimentary to Indians. It is warm, clear, and really dry. There are still some fires going on, but not as many as there were during the summer storms. I guess lightning is hazardous here during the summer and lightning likes haystacks. I am looking forward to no Santa Anna winds and fall that only smells like smoke because people are burning leaves.

Because I could not identify what is inside the Idaho Spud candy bars that Mary Kay gave me, I asked a few of my friends. They all looked at me as if I just let off a loud fart. Hey Idahoans, this is part of your heritage! My guess it is some cross between marshmallow and nougat.

Spit has recovered from Cruiser's scratch and is back to pestering me during the Rites. Someone told me that animals do not bother you while you are meditating, but he must have meant wild animals. Spit always bothers me while I'm meditating, she sees it as an opportunity for attention while I am still. I have trouble with the back bend Rite, because I am anatomically incorrect for it, arms too short and bubble butt in the way, but Spit likes to run around underneath me during the bend, so when I come down she gets squished. After a few squishes she gets up on the bed and watches me and purrs like a muscle car.

I am very disappointed that Idaho Power installed a smart meter on my house without asking me. There was nothing wrong with the old meter. Not only are there health risks associated with smart meters, but there is a privacy issue. Smart meters collect a whole lot of data, where is it going and how is it being used? A smart meter can tell someone when I'm home and when I'm not. Sounds like big brother. Idaho Power claims their smart meters are different,

We are aware some smart meter deployments in other states have raised questions about potential hazards related to wireless transmissions from AMI meters. The technology we are deploying in Idaho is fundamentally different from the technologies in question. The smart meters being deployed in Idaho Power’s service territory do not transmit wirelessly; they use the 60 Hz power line to communicate.

Not sure I believe them.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Energy solicited applications for Smart Grid stimulus funding. Idaho Power responded and proposed to complete 12 projects within three years. In March 2010 company representatives signed a contract for a $47 million federal grant, which matched Idaho Power’s $47 million investment in smart meters. All projects must be completed by the April 1, 2013 deadline.

So, $47 million to replace something that doesn't need replacing for minimal benefits and that will replace the job of every meter reader? I will give Idaho a break on trying to address safety concerns, but not for accepting Federal money. With Federal money comes Federal control and Idaho becomes less of what I wanted when I moved here.

I am supposed to be working on a painting that Mary Kay asked for this weekend, but I am stalling. Yesterday I gathered reference, but today I really need to put brush to paper, just a few strokes would be enough to get me over the procrastination hurdle. It is simple and should not take long, but no one understands how difficult it can be to paint simple. It takes planning, precise editing, one wrong stroke and you are out, start over.

From The Source,

Akiba said, "Everything in life is given against a pledge, and a net is cast over all the living; the shop is open, the shopkeeper extends credit, the ledger is open before you, the hand writes, and whoever wishes to borrow may come and borrow; but the collectors make their rounds continually and exact payment from every man, with his consent or without."

Tomatoes and Raspberrries

Tonight I got home and right away Cruiser is fired up by the neighbor cat, so he takes a swipe at Spit, who races into the house. Then Spit looks over at me with one eye closed. Are you alright Spit? What is wrong with your eye? I say. Why do I do this, talk to the cat like she can tell me what is wrong? She's still looking at me with one eye closed and I pin her down and put on my glasses, and the outside sheath of one of Cruiser's nails is sticking out of Spit's skin right below her eye. Cruiser is shedding his nails more and sometimes he just chomps away at them and tries to pull the sheath off with his teeth, which I did not see him do before we lived here.

I pulled out the nail and Spit's skin bled a little, but I can't tell if it is worth a trip to the vet. I would be less concerned if it wasn't right next to her eye. Are you alright Spit? There I go again. It has been a few hours and Spit is now milking the experience for attention.

Wednesday was better. Wednesday I got home and Sarah was giving away tomatoes and raspberries. Sarah's raspberry disappeared from view over the edge of the fence and I was really disappointed. Turns out the bush got so heavy that it half fell over, so we went in her backyard and lifted up branches and harvested berries from the undersides. I think this is actually really late for raspberries. I have yellow tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, and had two mornings of raspberries in my granola for breakfast. I had cucumber and tomatoes for lunch for two days, but honestly I had to stop for a Sonic hamburger on my way home from work today. You can only be so healthy.

Someone brought in peaches from their tree a week ago and it was so good that I will not be able to eat a store bought peach again. What happened to food?

It is suddenly much cooler and I figure that this is the cooler spell when school starts that must happen world-wide. It cools off and kids get excited to wear their new school clothes for a week and then it gets burning hot again. It has been nice for a few days, but has already ruined my summer close the windows and blinds routine. Turns out August 2011 was the fourth hottest August in Boise in 150 years. There was only one day that reached over 100 degrees, but the average temperature was just over 78 degrees, 6 degrees above normal.

The Spirit of Boise Balloon Classic ends Sunday. Remember when I first got here and heard that hot air blowing noise and then saw three hot air balloons flying over my house? I may have to go down to the park this weekend and see them close up.

Boise State and Georgia meet Saturday at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta and I caught a bit of grief today at work for not wearing a BSU shirt. I gave my Dad one, but I did not buy one for myself. The administrator was wearing a long sleeved BSU t-shirt with matching BSU polartec vest. Guess I need a BSU shirt for gamedays.

Turns out Idaho has the second worst rural roads and Boise has the second best safe drivers,

What’s wrong with our roads? Idaho has the second-highest percentage of major rural pavement in poor condition, behind Vermont, says TRIP, a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that supports road and bridge construction.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/09/02/1782829/national-reports-pan-our-roads.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1Wr3E3mOL

Allstate Insurance Co. rated Boise second in the nation for safest drivers, behind only Fort Collins, Colo. The average Boise driver will have a collision once every 13.4 years, compared to the national average of every 10 years. Freeautoinsurancequotes.org showed Boise third-safest, with drivers 22.3 percent less likely to get into an accident.

Read more: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2011/09/02/1782829/national-reports-pan-our-roads.html#storylink=misearch#ixzz1Wr3Bjm4i

My prediction did not come true today, as far as I know, but maybe next week. It was a tough week and I distracted myself with a storage project that included moving boxes. I made labels and entered information on spreadsheets according to specific rules for 83 boxes and it took all week. I don't know what I will do next week, but at least it is only four days.

A week ago I was in Hyde Park and when I got into my car it was covered with small yellow flower or seed dust and I figured allergy season is upon us, but I did not start feeling it until today.