Last Hunt with the Yellow Dog for the Year

After months of bitter cold and deep snow it finally warmed up enough to get back to the hunt club and work the Yellow Dog.  And it was a good thing, too - my hunt club was only open for two more days.

Out hunt started out great, with the Yellow Dog showing her usual style:



As for me, my shooting was pretty darn good:



But then we both started getting sloppy.  It started with this hen:



And from there we went to just plain terrible.  Like only having two shells in the gun:


Not exactly how I wanted to end the season.  However, given the length and depth of this past winter, anytime you can get out and get some work in with a Yellow Dog is a good thing.

My Holiness Project Homework

My brother-in-law is engaged in project which is researching holiness, and who we know in our everyday lives that might be holy. 

 According to the defined purpose, "The goal of the Holiness Project is to discover holiness among us by promoting greater awareness of the spiritualities sustaining the lives of  ordinary individuals."  

Based on that, there are some criteria by which holiness is defined.  They are:

• A confident sense of God or a transcendent Being in their life
• A sense of faith that helps them live through the doubts and sufferings of this life
• A manifestation of the transcendent as generative, moving them to compassion and service
• An acceptance of the limitations of this life
• A sense of delight in the mystery and unknowing of this life
• A sustainable, enduring quality of the individual’s spirituality

With that as the backdrop, I'm fortunate to say that I have a couple of holy people in my life.  But I'd like to call out one in particular for my personal nomination.

I'd like to nominate my mother-in-law, Marion.

There are a few people that one encounters in life in which one can feel God when in their presence.  Marion is one of those people.  

She's quick to smile, and keeps a positive outlook.  Even very late in life, with aches and pains (both physical and mental) sapping wherewithal, her peaceful and pleasant demeanor belie one whose focus is on the spiritual much more than the tangible.  

Her life has been a hard one.  She grew up in the depression.  She endured painful relationships while trying to raise a daughter on her own while her husband was at war.  She raised seven children, and lost one.  She scrimped by on very little money her whole life.  Now in her 90's, she's seen most of her siblings die.

But despite all of that, if you asked her, she'd tell you all about her wonderful life.  She'd mostly tell you about her family, and the fact that she's now a great-great grandma.  She'd give you a cup of coffee, and would quickly turn the conversation to you.  She'd do so because she cared about you.  Really.

And that is Marion.  An impeccable cook for nearly all of her life, she took great joy of lavishing love on her friends and family by what came out of her kitchen.  Meal time, and what it meant - prayer, sharing, conversation, laughter, communion - was incredibly important for her.  While the food - that incredible food! - could easily be called the centerpiece, Marion would describe it much deeper than that.

Marion maintained her deep Catholic faith for her whole life.  She faithfully attended mass and the sacraments,  prayed often, and if you asked my wife, had a private line to God.  While Catholicism is important for Marion (upon my second-ever time meeting her, we were washing dishes together in the kitchen after one of those incredible meals, and Marion stared our conversation with "So, Vera tells me you're Catholic!"), she holds out love for all faiths (of lack thereof) and races.  

To me, ultimately, God is love: 100% pure, overwhelming, unimaginable, eternal, and unquestionable love.  And if that is true, those that love - that truly love - those are the people of God.  And Marion loves just about everyone she's encountered.  A testament to this is Marion's relationships with her children's ex-spouses.  Despite bitter separations, all of the exes love Marion (and she them), and nearly all have very close relationships with her.  

Marion has worked a hard life.  She's lived simply.  But she has loved so very deeply and profoundly.  And the ripple effect of that joy, peace, and love will continue to reverberate around her family and friends, and those with whom they encounter, for years to come.  

It doesn't get much holier than that.

University of Minnesota Hates Free Speech

Per a recent StarTribune article, faculty and student groups are teaming up to get a speaking invitation to Condoleezza Rice rescinded.  She is scheduled to deliver a speech on April 17 at Northrup Auditorium.

Let's take an examination of a list of Ms. Rice's accomplishments, shall we?

• Masters from Notre Dame, PhD from Denver, and Provost at Stanford
• National Security Adviser
• Secretary of State
• First female member of Augusta National
• Published author
• Pianist

Wow.  Hell of a resume.  You'd think the U could gain some insight from a woman like that.  But they don't want insight.

They want silence.

Condi Rice is what the far left fears the most.  She is a thoughtful, learned, independent, and successful black woman who has done the research, made a choice, and has selected conservatism.  While they can claim "war crimes" for wanting to silence her all they want, let's all be adults here and call their boycott out for what it really is: they're pissed this black woman stepped outside of their boundaries and doesn't know her place.  

Despite her gender, she's an Uncle Tom - a term which has now lost all of its meaning, and now solely describes any person of color that doesn't look/act like a black stereotype and/or is conservative.

So the liberal bigots at the University of Minnesota can have their day, and while they may or may not be successful in killing free speech on their campus, they certainly are successful in keeping me from writing any kind of alumni check to them, now or in the future.  I refuse to support bigotry, hate, close-mindedness, ignorance, and intolerance.  And that is what is on display at the University of Minnesota right now.  

Obama The Weak

In his nearly six year run as president, Barack Obama has left the US - nearly every  part of the US - in a weaker state than when he first took on the job.  What's weaker?  Let me count the ways:

• Our foreign policy (especially given the situation with Russia)
• Our economy
• Our educational system
• Our employment rates and prospects for work
• Our citizens' dependence on government subsidy
• Our world respect (Syria, Benghazi)
• Our citizens' privacy (Hi, NSA!)
• Our race relations
• Our gender relations
• Our political operations
• Our healthcare system
• Our religious freedoms

I could go on - seriously.

I can't think of one thing about the United States that is now stronger due to President Obama's leadership.  And please save the Bin Laden argument - that fell into his lap, and even an abject failure like the current occupant couldn't screw that up.

President Obama is a poor leader and a weak man, and as a result has made our country poorer and weaker.

This is the Day - The The

A little ditty for some much needed reflection and perspective for a cold, snowy late March day here in God-forsaken Green Bay.  Performed via original video by the underrated The The.

Soak in the accordion, maybe do a two-step while nobody is watching, and enjoy:

Haunted

If you're a regular reader of this blog, then you know that your humble author is a big fan of music.  Most of the time I have music playing, and especially when I'm working.  It seems to help me keep my energy up, and sometimes feels like it aids my creativity and perspective as well.

Unfortunately, there are some down sides to this constant soundtrack playing, especially when an emotionally charged song comes up and I don't take the time to skip past it.  That was especially the case when Poe's "Haunted" came up on the old iPhone yesterday.

Poe wrote the concept album of the same name due to interactions she had as an adult to finding a number of audio tapes that her now deceased father had left behind.  It is a dark and emotional body of work that deals with an adult still trying to process the loss of a parent.  From that emotional perspective, her album has been compared to Pink Floyd's The Wall.

Over the years, when things ever got too stressful for me, I'd call my dad.  He always seemed to know what to say when I needed a kick in the tail, or an encouraging word to let me know that I didn't suck, or offer a new perspective when I was too emotionally charged to see what was truly happening, or just say something funny to make me laugh and get me pulled out of my funk.  
Then I lost him.

Time and again, starting with his illness and later with his death, I'd long to be able to pick up the phone and just talk.  Because I knew at the end of the conversation, regardless of how it'd go, I'd feel better.  Unfortunately, those days ended.

Thus, Poe's Haunted has always been an important song to me.  

Here it is:



The part that always gets me is at the 2:40 mark:

I'll always want you 
I'll always need you
I'll always love you
AND I WILL ALWAYS MISS YOU

I pretty much never make it thorough that stretch without crying.  It just makes tangible for me how damn much I miss my dad.  And it seems now, with life so crazy, that I miss him even more than ever.

Hence, when it came on yesterday, I made a mistake by letting it play.  Luckily I caught myself, as by the 2:00 mark I know what was happening and went and shut my office door.

And then I went back to my desk, sat down, listened, and cried.

And I missed my dad.

Wild Lock Up Playoffs

With a two-point result for a home and home series with the Detroit Red wings, the Wild just about have a playoff position all but locked up.  As you can see by the attached standings, they have a sizable lead with only ten more games left in the schedule.

The series against Detroit was a tough one.  After losing at home Saturday afternoon, it would have been easy to pack it in at Detroit and just go through the motions.  And that was especially true after playing well, but being down 2-0 after the first period.

But this team did not pack it in.  The big names produced, with Pominville, Coyle, and Parise scoring in regulation, and new acquisition Moulson making a beautiful re-direction to win it in overtime.

Despite giving up three goals, the Wild's defense was actually pretty good.  If they can keep up their offensive and defensive play, and get a little better goalie work, they could be a team to be reckoned with in the playoffs. 

Christopher Walken Dancing

I know what you're thinking - Christopher Walken is not a guy you'd expect to be able to dance.  Prepare to be proven wrong:



And in the event you feel that that snippets above mean that the man can't pull it off in long form, I present to you Fatboy Slim's official video for Weapon of Choice:


The dude can flat cut a rug.