Miniature golf and simpler times
Sometimes I experience small flashes of realization about how complicated I make life.
It seems like we live in a society obsessed with being entertained.
Not only being entertained but going to the most hip and expensive place or having the most up-to-date technology that only stays current for a year and then we just have to get the new version.
I realized it more over the weekend. We took my dad out for his birthday and after dinner we played miniature golf and had a blast. It was so simple, a mother and father playing with their two 30-something-year-old children. Well, mom didn’t play, she just kept score. But she still got in on the fun.
We played at Cave City because my brother lives in nearby Glasgow. Being there made me think of simpler times.
Vacations when I was a kid didn’t have to be a big event each year.
Every so often we would venture to Florida or Gatlinburg but most of the time we went camping or took short trips to places in Kentucky.
Do kids even go camping anymore?
I remember going several summers with my grandparents and cousins. It wasn’t fancy. We just camped out in a camper and rode bikes all over the campground, occasionally getting picked on by my older cousin.
Sometimes there was a hayride or horseback riding but no amusement parks or high-tech entertainment.
Another time, my brother and I went to visit our cousins in Louisville. My greatest memory of that trip was making a fort in their basement with what I think were the screens that were supposed to go in their doors and windows in the summer. Maybe I shouldn’t have confessed that one — now remembering we probably shouldn’t have used those things for a fort — but the memory of something simple stands out.
The older I get, the more I miss those things. We make things too complicated these days trying to outdo others or sometimes even ourselves.
I know when I was younger I always wanted to go to the places that had the most things to do or were the coolest places to go. But now, I long for the days of camping, miniature golf and riding bikes.
Why don’t we appreciate those things when we have them? Now, as I run around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to get things done, my mind drifts back even more to those simpler times.
Even my vacation this summer, although at the beach, was kept simple. I lounged about and ate some fish. Nothing fancy. Restful.
I got a good feeling inside last Saturday night as we all played golf together. The air was cool, the atmosphere was fun and we had a great time. As this summer comes to an end, it will probably stand out as one of my greatest memories.
And, I should add, Dad won the game. He usually does. I’m not sure we’ve ever been able to beat him at that game and probably never will.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/miniature-golf-and-simpler-times
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Sunday, August 28, 2011
This week's column
Walking in another's skin
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
In the past several weeks, I had a chance to do a little walking around in another’s skin. A co-worker and I have been working on a series of stories about poverty in Hardin County.
I talked to homeless people, others living in low-income housing and just trying to keep their heads above water.
Miss one or two paychecks and most of us would find ourselves in the same situation. While many have good relationships with family who could help, everyone is not that fortunate. And it’s often hard to ask for help. It can be humiliating.
The most impactful reality: It’s not their need for money but their need for acceptance.
They feel looked down upon. It’s like a dart through the heart. The feeling of worthlessness overcomes them.
Everyone has worth. Everyone wants to contribute. Some people are never given the chance. Others need a second chance or perhaps a third.
How many times have we heard ourselves say, “it’s their own fault.”
Why do we automatically assume that? People cannot always help it if they lose their job. There isn’t always another one waiting for them. If a new job is available, it often pays significantly less these days.
And what about children, the innocent victims of family circumstances? They have done nothing to find themselves living without.
Another group struggling with poverty are simply the victims of longevity. Many seniors do not have family to take care for them. They live in anxious anticipation of the next Social Security payment. Rather than food, they often must spend most of it on a lengthy list of needed medications.
Some fight as hard as they can to get out of poverty and need a helping hand to pull them up.
It’s important to see things from another’s point of view.
For the past several weeks, I’ve caught myself thinking about it a lot. I open a refrigerator full of food and say “there’s nothing to eat” or stand in front of a closet full of clothes and say “I have nothing to wear.” As soon as those phrases leave my mouth, I am struck with the memory of people I have met who truly live without.
I can’t ignore it anymore. I’ve been in the middle of the pain and heartbreak for a few hours. For some of them, it seems like a lifetime.
To truly understand poverty in Hardin County today, spend time with those involved in it. Stop and talk to someone who is homeless. Volunteer or support programs that are knee-deep in helping. I will, too.
Atticus Finch was right. It’s time to walk around a bit in another’s skin. That might be the only way we truly understand one another. That might be the best way to know how to help
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/walking-anothers-skin
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
In the past several weeks, I had a chance to do a little walking around in another’s skin. A co-worker and I have been working on a series of stories about poverty in Hardin County.
I talked to homeless people, others living in low-income housing and just trying to keep their heads above water.
Miss one or two paychecks and most of us would find ourselves in the same situation. While many have good relationships with family who could help, everyone is not that fortunate. And it’s often hard to ask for help. It can be humiliating.
The most impactful reality: It’s not their need for money but their need for acceptance.
They feel looked down upon. It’s like a dart through the heart. The feeling of worthlessness overcomes them.
Everyone has worth. Everyone wants to contribute. Some people are never given the chance. Others need a second chance or perhaps a third.
How many times have we heard ourselves say, “it’s their own fault.”
Why do we automatically assume that? People cannot always help it if they lose their job. There isn’t always another one waiting for them. If a new job is available, it often pays significantly less these days.
And what about children, the innocent victims of family circumstances? They have done nothing to find themselves living without.
Another group struggling with poverty are simply the victims of longevity. Many seniors do not have family to take care for them. They live in anxious anticipation of the next Social Security payment. Rather than food, they often must spend most of it on a lengthy list of needed medications.
Some fight as hard as they can to get out of poverty and need a helping hand to pull them up.
It’s important to see things from another’s point of view.
For the past several weeks, I’ve caught myself thinking about it a lot. I open a refrigerator full of food and say “there’s nothing to eat” or stand in front of a closet full of clothes and say “I have nothing to wear.” As soon as those phrases leave my mouth, I am struck with the memory of people I have met who truly live without.
I can’t ignore it anymore. I’ve been in the middle of the pain and heartbreak for a few hours. For some of them, it seems like a lifetime.
To truly understand poverty in Hardin County today, spend time with those involved in it. Stop and talk to someone who is homeless. Volunteer or support programs that are knee-deep in helping. I will, too.
Atticus Finch was right. It’s time to walk around a bit in another’s skin. That might be the only way we truly understand one another. That might be the best way to know how to help
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/walking-anothers-skin
This week's column
Walking in another's skin
In the novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” Atticus Finch tells his daughter: “You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view, until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”
In the past several weeks, I had a chance to do a little walking around in another’s skin. A co-worker and I have been working on a series of stories about poverty in Hardin County.
I talked to homeless people, others living in low-income housing and just trying to keep their heads above water.
Miss one or two paychecks and most of us would find ourselves in the same situation. While many have good relationships with family who could help, everyone is not that fortunate. And it’s often hard to ask for help. It can be humiliating.
The most impactful reality: It’s not their need for money but their need for acceptance.
They feel looked down upon. It’s like a dart through the heart. The feeling of worthlessness overcomes them.
Everyone has worth. Everyone wants to contribute. Some people are never given the chance. Others need a second chance or perhaps a third.
How many times have we heard ourselves say, “it’s their own fault.”
Why do we automatically assume that? People cannot always help it if they lose their job. There isn’t always another one waiting for them. If a new job is available, it often pays significantly less these days.
And what about children, the innocent victims of family circumstances? They have done nothing to find themselves living without.
Another group struggling with poverty are simply the victims of longevity. Many seniors do not have family to take care for them. They live in anxious anticipation of the next Social Security payment. Rather than food, they often must spend most of it on a lengthy list of needed medications.
Some fight as hard as they can to get out of poverty and need a helping hand to pull them up.
It’s important to see things from another’s point of view.
For the past several weeks, I’ve caught myself thinking about it a lot. I open a refrigerator full of food and say “there’s nothing to eat” or stand in front of a closet full of clothes and say “I have nothing to wear.” As soon as those phrases leave my mouth, I am struck with the memory of people I have met who truly live without.
I can’t ignore it anymore. I’ve been in the middle of the pain and heartbreak for a few hours. For some of them, it seems like a lifetime.
To truly understand poverty in Hardin County today, spend time with those involved in it. Stop and talk to someone who is homeless. Volunteer or support programs that are knee-deep in helping. I will, too.
Atticus Finch was right. It’s time to walk around a bit in another’s skin. That might be the only way we truly understand one another. That might be the best way to know how to help.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/walking-anothers-skin
Thursday, August 18, 2011
It was nearly 10 years ago. I can remember standing in the middle of a yard with several Chocolate Labrador puppies scurrying around, except for one. One puppy shivered at my feet on that day in October. That was the one.
He was born on Sept. 2, a small fuzzy thing that looked like a little bear. He was a purebred dog so he had to have three names to register him. As I rode home with this brown fuzzy puppy curled up in my lap, the name just came to me, Baloo Bear (technically Boo Boo Bear Baloo for his registration papers).
By the second or third night, I realized I had been conned. This sweet, shy puppy that shivered at my feet turned out to be the Tasmanian devil. It was about five years before this crazy dog started to calm down. But the strange thing was his nutty antics grew on me. They began to be a part of his personality that became something I liked about him.
He ate most of my pillows and blankets, not to mention the vinyl flooring.
I once bought him a harness to use as a lead instead of his collar. It took him a grand total of ten minutes to destroy the thing. I’ve chased him across the countryside when he’s gotten loose and fished more valuables out of his mouth than I can count.
But as the years wore on he started to calm down a bit, at least for me. He still is way too anxious and hyper when people come over to stay in the guest room without having them leave covered in slobber.His pace has slowed but his mischievous nature remains. In his younger years he would steal the remote for a great chase to begin and I would run around the house to get it away from him. Now he takes it into the bedroom and sits at the end of the bed with it. If I don’t notice he walks through the room a few times so I see he has it. If I still don’t notice he usually lies down next to the remote and falls asleep.
He gets most of his exercise these days chasing Duke the Corgi around the house for a couple laps.
His routine now is to sit at my feet, no matter where I am. In the kitchen he sits on the floor and waits for me to drop something. When I’m at the computer he sits at my feet and huffs until I’m done. He even sits next to the bathtub when I take a shower, the great protector.
Most nights, he can be found curled up on the end of the couch, often one paw stretched across my foot. If he’s not there he’s on the floor next to the couch.
As he’s matured his demure has become sweet and careful. Giving that big dog a hug around the neck is the best therapy anyone can have. They truly do become your best friends. He doesn’t understand a word I’m saying but looks closely at me when I talk, as if he takes in every word.
He’s even a bit famous. When I attended this summer’s Cecilia Days festival at least 30 people asked me what he had been up to.I marvel sometimes about how well Boo fits into my life. About how I put up with his personality probably longer than other owner would have to find the sweet and caring pet inside. Isn’t it amazing how God creates pets to fit so well with their owners, like they were made to be together?
On Sept. 2, Boo turns 10, a great accomplishment for a Labrador. The average life expectancy of a Lab is 10-12 years so each year now is treasured. I’ll get him some presents, and yes he knows what they are and actually rips the paper off himself. He'll have some treats and maybe I'll even take him over to a friend’s house so he can run around in their fenced-in yard.
We’ll do the big 1-0 up right and give this crazy ham all the attention he deserves. He’s earned it. The gray has grown a bit more around his mouth and eyes but the giant puppy spirit remains inside him.I love that silly old dog.
To become a fan of Boo go to www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Boo-and-Duke/109510752432562.
He was born on Sept. 2, a small fuzzy thing that looked like a little bear. He was a purebred dog so he had to have three names to register him. As I rode home with this brown fuzzy puppy curled up in my lap, the name just came to me, Baloo Bear (technically Boo Boo Bear Baloo for his registration papers).
By the second or third night, I realized I had been conned. This sweet, shy puppy that shivered at my feet turned out to be the Tasmanian devil. It was about five years before this crazy dog started to calm down. But the strange thing was his nutty antics grew on me. They began to be a part of his personality that became something I liked about him.
He ate most of my pillows and blankets, not to mention the vinyl flooring.
I once bought him a harness to use as a lead instead of his collar. It took him a grand total of ten minutes to destroy the thing. I’ve chased him across the countryside when he’s gotten loose and fished more valuables out of his mouth than I can count.
But as the years wore on he started to calm down a bit, at least for me. He still is way too anxious and hyper when people come over to stay in the guest room without having them leave covered in slobber.His pace has slowed but his mischievous nature remains. In his younger years he would steal the remote for a great chase to begin and I would run around the house to get it away from him. Now he takes it into the bedroom and sits at the end of the bed with it. If I don’t notice he walks through the room a few times so I see he has it. If I still don’t notice he usually lies down next to the remote and falls asleep.
He gets most of his exercise these days chasing Duke the Corgi around the house for a couple laps.
His routine now is to sit at my feet, no matter where I am. In the kitchen he sits on the floor and waits for me to drop something. When I’m at the computer he sits at my feet and huffs until I’m done. He even sits next to the bathtub when I take a shower, the great protector.
Most nights, he can be found curled up on the end of the couch, often one paw stretched across my foot. If he’s not there he’s on the floor next to the couch.
As he’s matured his demure has become sweet and careful. Giving that big dog a hug around the neck is the best therapy anyone can have. They truly do become your best friends. He doesn’t understand a word I’m saying but looks closely at me when I talk, as if he takes in every word.
He’s even a bit famous. When I attended this summer’s Cecilia Days festival at least 30 people asked me what he had been up to.I marvel sometimes about how well Boo fits into my life. About how I put up with his personality probably longer than other owner would have to find the sweet and caring pet inside. Isn’t it amazing how God creates pets to fit so well with their owners, like they were made to be together?
On Sept. 2, Boo turns 10, a great accomplishment for a Labrador. The average life expectancy of a Lab is 10-12 years so each year now is treasured. I’ll get him some presents, and yes he knows what they are and actually rips the paper off himself. He'll have some treats and maybe I'll even take him over to a friend’s house so he can run around in their fenced-in yard.
We’ll do the big 1-0 up right and give this crazy ham all the attention he deserves. He’s earned it. The gray has grown a bit more around his mouth and eyes but the giant puppy spirit remains inside him.I love that silly old dog.
To become a fan of Boo go to www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Boo-and-Duke/109510752432562.
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Just a Few of My Thoughts
Since 1981, America has been sending shuttles into space. Sadly, that era ended July 21 when space shuttle Atlantis touched down for the very last time.
Growing up, I wanted to be several things: an archeologist, jet fighter pilot, movie director and astronaut. For me, space is fascinating. Granted, much of what I enjoy about space is probably derived from fiction, namely “Star Wars.” But the actual true and legitimate outer space always has engaged my brain.
One thing that captivates my thoughts is the sure vastness of space. Solar system after solar system, it goes on forever. What an amazing and imaginative creator we have to have come up with the concept of space and all its complexities.
I’ve also always enjoyed reading and studying about the initial “space race” and the astronauts who had the “right stuff” to take those first missions. I think about what it must have been like to be glued to the television set, witnessing the first steps taken on the moon.
When the shuttles first started launching into space I wanted to go with them. After seeing the film “Space Camp” (and yes, many of my childhood dreams were a result of a movie I saw) I wanted to attend a camp. I even went as far as getting information about going to space camp but never went.
But there also was tragedy. I remember the day in 1986 when I was huddled with many in the library at Lynnvalle Elementary School to watch the launch and tragic explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. It’s one of those moments you always will remember where you were and what you saw.
With the grounding of the space shuttle program there will be a large gap of American space exploration. NASA has another project in the works called the Orion MPCV that is supposed to take us further into space than previous methods. It still is in testing phases so it could be years before it is operational.
For me, this gap is sad. With most of the planet earth explored our pioneer spirit only has one other place to search — space. The exploration is limitless. I know the program is expensive and might not have a lot of impact on the human condition. But for me, going into space is exciting, adventurous and down right cool.
And personally, this little hiccup in the program is going to make me have to completely rethink a fiction story I have in my head about a scientific colony on the moon. But that really has no impact in the world in general. It will just make me have to be a bit more creative in thinking about the character’s transportation to the moon.
Overall, I am sad the space shuttle program is over. It was something that began when I was a child and is a part of my own timeline in history.
I hope NASA still is able to send people into space and that we do get to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations. Maybe, just maybe, if the new program is developed we truly will be able to boldly go where no man has gone before.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/30-years-space-exploration-ends
Growing up, I wanted to be several things: an archeologist, jet fighter pilot, movie director and astronaut. For me, space is fascinating. Granted, much of what I enjoy about space is probably derived from fiction, namely “Star Wars.” But the actual true and legitimate outer space always has engaged my brain.
One thing that captivates my thoughts is the sure vastness of space. Solar system after solar system, it goes on forever. What an amazing and imaginative creator we have to have come up with the concept of space and all its complexities.
I’ve also always enjoyed reading and studying about the initial “space race” and the astronauts who had the “right stuff” to take those first missions. I think about what it must have been like to be glued to the television set, witnessing the first steps taken on the moon.
When the shuttles first started launching into space I wanted to go with them. After seeing the film “Space Camp” (and yes, many of my childhood dreams were a result of a movie I saw) I wanted to attend a camp. I even went as far as getting information about going to space camp but never went.
But there also was tragedy. I remember the day in 1986 when I was huddled with many in the library at Lynnvalle Elementary School to watch the launch and tragic explosion of the space shuttle Challenger. It’s one of those moments you always will remember where you were and what you saw.
With the grounding of the space shuttle program there will be a large gap of American space exploration. NASA has another project in the works called the Orion MPCV that is supposed to take us further into space than previous methods. It still is in testing phases so it could be years before it is operational.
For me, this gap is sad. With most of the planet earth explored our pioneer spirit only has one other place to search — space. The exploration is limitless. I know the program is expensive and might not have a lot of impact on the human condition. But for me, going into space is exciting, adventurous and down right cool.
And personally, this little hiccup in the program is going to make me have to completely rethink a fiction story I have in my head about a scientific colony on the moon. But that really has no impact in the world in general. It will just make me have to be a bit more creative in thinking about the character’s transportation to the moon.
Overall, I am sad the space shuttle program is over. It was something that began when I was a child and is a part of my own timeline in history.
I hope NASA still is able to send people into space and that we do get to explore strange new worlds and seek out new life and new civilizations. Maybe, just maybe, if the new program is developed we truly will be able to boldly go where no man has gone before.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/30-years-space-exploration-ends
Thursday, July 21, 2011
This week's column
A Week at Camp
Last week I and other adult counselors, went to church camp at Jonathan Creek Camp in Western Kentucky with about 50 middle school kids.
No, I’m not crazy. Well, maybe a little.
The kids learned a few things, we learned a few things and sleep was not had by all.
One thing I learned is that grown men can revert to a middle-school-age boy in an instant.
All the boys had to do is give them a look and then it was all-out WWE wrestling into a large pile-up. The male counselors dropped their backpacks and piled on in.
Another thing I learned is that the kids hear more than we think.
There was a session each night where the kids talked about what they learned from the day and if they needed to talk about anything in the nightly sermon. The kids sometimes had a lot of questions, which is good because if you don’t ask questions you might never figure out the answers.
One night the sermon was about harboring bitterness and the need to forgive. For middle school girls, this is a big concept and it really sunk in for them. I look forward to seeing how God continues to work in their lives and seeing the people they grow up to be.
I also learned middle school kids are goofy.
Ok, I already knew that, but I’m trying to keep with a theme here.
I say goofy in the most endearing way because many times goofy is fun to be around. I laughed more around these kids than I’ve laughed in months.
Two girls spent a couple days trying to convince me they should be the featured story in Wednesday’s Woman. Their final argument was that they were full of awesomeness.
Their argument didn’t exactly sway me but it did make me laugh. Sorry, Laruen and Kate, you will not make the cover of Wednesday’s Woman yet, but maybe this tiny mention in a column will do.
On the same note, I don’t want to hear the phrase “hey, Becca” again for a really long time.
“Hey, Becca, what do you think of the color blue?”
“Hey, Becca, where are we supposed to be next?”
“Hey, Becca, do you like pillow pets?”
“Hey, Becca … hey, Becca … hey, Becca.” I can even hear it now in my sleep.
And then there were the pranks. From what I understand the boys did this on a daily basis. The girls only tried it once.
Their goal was to prank the girls in my room. It didn’t exactly work the way they planned. They had somehow gotten a hold of about five cell phones that belonged to the girls in my room and set their alarms to go off in 15-minute increments beginning at about 3 a.m.
They failed because none of the girls in the room actually wake up when an alarm goes off. So guess who had to get up five times before the crack of dawn to turn the alarms off? That’s right, yours truly.
This made me and the other adults teach the two girls a lesson in pranking.
The person over the camp helped us out on our prank. Here’s how it went down. First, our youth leader told the two girls security was not happy because of all the noise and disturbance they made with their prank.
Then the head of the camp pulled them aside and told them he needed to speak with them, making them sit at a table to wait for him. The girls couldn’t see but he went to another table with a group of leaders to make a strategy for what he would tell them.
After making them wait he sat down and told them they were really cracking down on pranking and they kicked two kids out of camp for it the day before. The girls had a look of fear in their eyes. He told them since it was the last day he would just make them go wash dishes for an hour and a half for punishment.
He waited until they were in the kitchen to tell them that they weren’t in trouble but this is what they got for pranking a room with an adult leader in it. The lesson dear Anne Alyse and Mallory should have learned is don't mess with the adults — we kick it up a notch for the return prank.
Despite the pranking, wrestling, smelly middle school boys, 100-degree heat index, discussions about Justin Bieber and lack of sleep, I had a great time. And the kids not only had fun but learned some spiritual truths along the way.
Now, if I could only catch up on some sleep.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/column-week-camp
Last week I and other adult counselors, went to church camp at Jonathan Creek Camp in Western Kentucky with about 50 middle school kids.
No, I’m not crazy. Well, maybe a little.
The kids learned a few things, we learned a few things and sleep was not had by all.
One thing I learned is that grown men can revert to a middle-school-age boy in an instant.
All the boys had to do is give them a look and then it was all-out WWE wrestling into a large pile-up. The male counselors dropped their backpacks and piled on in.
Another thing I learned is that the kids hear more than we think.
There was a session each night where the kids talked about what they learned from the day and if they needed to talk about anything in the nightly sermon. The kids sometimes had a lot of questions, which is good because if you don’t ask questions you might never figure out the answers.
One night the sermon was about harboring bitterness and the need to forgive. For middle school girls, this is a big concept and it really sunk in for them. I look forward to seeing how God continues to work in their lives and seeing the people they grow up to be.
I also learned middle school kids are goofy.
Ok, I already knew that, but I’m trying to keep with a theme here.
I say goofy in the most endearing way because many times goofy is fun to be around. I laughed more around these kids than I’ve laughed in months.
Two girls spent a couple days trying to convince me they should be the featured story in Wednesday’s Woman. Their final argument was that they were full of awesomeness.
Their argument didn’t exactly sway me but it did make me laugh. Sorry, Laruen and Kate, you will not make the cover of Wednesday’s Woman yet, but maybe this tiny mention in a column will do.
On the same note, I don’t want to hear the phrase “hey, Becca” again for a really long time.
“Hey, Becca, what do you think of the color blue?”
“Hey, Becca, where are we supposed to be next?”
“Hey, Becca, do you like pillow pets?”
“Hey, Becca … hey, Becca … hey, Becca.” I can even hear it now in my sleep.
And then there were the pranks. From what I understand the boys did this on a daily basis. The girls only tried it once.
Their goal was to prank the girls in my room. It didn’t exactly work the way they planned. They had somehow gotten a hold of about five cell phones that belonged to the girls in my room and set their alarms to go off in 15-minute increments beginning at about 3 a.m.
They failed because none of the girls in the room actually wake up when an alarm goes off. So guess who had to get up five times before the crack of dawn to turn the alarms off? That’s right, yours truly.
This made me and the other adults teach the two girls a lesson in pranking.
The person over the camp helped us out on our prank. Here’s how it went down. First, our youth leader told the two girls security was not happy because of all the noise and disturbance they made with their prank.
Then the head of the camp pulled them aside and told them he needed to speak with them, making them sit at a table to wait for him. The girls couldn’t see but he went to another table with a group of leaders to make a strategy for what he would tell them.
After making them wait he sat down and told them they were really cracking down on pranking and they kicked two kids out of camp for it the day before. The girls had a look of fear in their eyes. He told them since it was the last day he would just make them go wash dishes for an hour and a half for punishment.
He waited until they were in the kitchen to tell them that they weren’t in trouble but this is what they got for pranking a room with an adult leader in it. The lesson dear Anne Alyse and Mallory should have learned is don't mess with the adults — we kick it up a notch for the return prank.
Despite the pranking, wrestling, smelly middle school boys, 100-degree heat index, discussions about Justin Bieber and lack of sleep, I had a great time. And the kids not only had fun but learned some spiritual truths along the way.
Now, if I could only catch up on some sleep.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/column-week-camp
Monday, July 11, 2011
This week's column
Rescue a dog and watch them crawl right into your heart
I am by no means an animal activist. I enjoy eating a big old chunk of cow in burger or steak form. I set out traps for mice for their destruction, not the catch and release method.
I try to teach my dogs they are not humans and I am in charge, a lesson they have yet to learn.
But I do have a soft spot for some animals; especially those four-legged critters that pitifully watch me leave each day and pop their heads up at the window to happily see me return. If only they could keep more of their hair on their bodies and less on my carpet, clothes and furniture — that would make me happy.
So, yeah, I like dogs.
Recently, I have been following some stories of people who have adopted, or should I say rescued, dogs that have completely warmed their hearts. It has made me even more aware of the importance of taking in a dog from a shelter and the love they give.
Here are a few of their stories. (Why did I hear the “Law & Order tone in my head as I typed that?)
By chance, I ran across Prospect the Dog on Facebook. Prospect was abandoned near a trucking company in the Midwest. Ed the Chauffeur, as his owner is now known, had never thought about having a pet but when he visited the business and Prospect ran out from behind a desk he was hooked.
They now travel around the country posting photos and blogging at www.k9roadtrip.com. Prospect travels the country to help other rescue dog and shelter organizations. As of February he has logged 45,000 miles and visited more than 10 states.
That dog gets around.
When researching a bit about Ryan Reynolds to write a review on “Green Lantern” I discovered his chance encounter with a rescue dog.
People magazine reported that he told ABC News he was looking for a dog for a friend when another dog caught his eye. The dog was staring at Reynolds. He leaned down to whisper “Hey, let’s get the [heck] out of here.”
Baxter jumped up as if he understood Reynolds and has been with the “Sexiest Man Alive” ever since.
Locally the plight of Franklin the Pug got some attention when he was featured in The News-Enterprise. Paralysis in his back legs doesn’t slow him down and his owner is on a quest to get him walking again. After Franklin was hit by three cars, the source of his paralysis, his owner abandoned him.
I recently interviewed another person with a dog named Sadie. Sadie’s back legs are paralyzed but she still tries to protect her family by barking from behind a counter to make sure people know she’s there to protect them. Sadie was adopted from an animal shelter.
Rescue dogs sometimes have a heartbreaking story from their past, sometimes are unwanted and sometimes just fell into bad luck when their owners could no longer keep them. Because of this they make amazing pets that have an enduring way of responding to the people who have rescued them.
Of my two dogs, Duke, is a rescue of sorts. He was left at my brother’s vet clinic and after being there a while found his way to my house. He loves people and thinks everyone’s purpose in life is to adore him.
I purchased Boo but I’m pretty sure if I had not bought him he would have wound up a rescue dog as well because there is no one else on this planet who would have put up with some of his shenanigans. So, if I hadn’t got him as a puppy he would have probably wound up at my house anyway.
I guess the moral to this story is adopt a shelter dog and enjoy the ride. And you might want to get a lint roller while you’re at it for all the pet hair.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/rescue-dog-and-watch-them-crawl-right-your-heart
I am by no means an animal activist. I enjoy eating a big old chunk of cow in burger or steak form. I set out traps for mice for their destruction, not the catch and release method.
I try to teach my dogs they are not humans and I am in charge, a lesson they have yet to learn.
But I do have a soft spot for some animals; especially those four-legged critters that pitifully watch me leave each day and pop their heads up at the window to happily see me return. If only they could keep more of their hair on their bodies and less on my carpet, clothes and furniture — that would make me happy.
So, yeah, I like dogs.
Recently, I have been following some stories of people who have adopted, or should I say rescued, dogs that have completely warmed their hearts. It has made me even more aware of the importance of taking in a dog from a shelter and the love they give.
Here are a few of their stories. (Why did I hear the “Law & Order tone in my head as I typed that?)
By chance, I ran across Prospect the Dog on Facebook. Prospect was abandoned near a trucking company in the Midwest. Ed the Chauffeur, as his owner is now known, had never thought about having a pet but when he visited the business and Prospect ran out from behind a desk he was hooked.
They now travel around the country posting photos and blogging at www.k9roadtrip.com. Prospect travels the country to help other rescue dog and shelter organizations. As of February he has logged 45,000 miles and visited more than 10 states.
That dog gets around.
When researching a bit about Ryan Reynolds to write a review on “Green Lantern” I discovered his chance encounter with a rescue dog.
People magazine reported that he told ABC News he was looking for a dog for a friend when another dog caught his eye. The dog was staring at Reynolds. He leaned down to whisper “Hey, let’s get the [heck] out of here.”
Baxter jumped up as if he understood Reynolds and has been with the “Sexiest Man Alive” ever since.
Locally the plight of Franklin the Pug got some attention when he was featured in The News-Enterprise. Paralysis in his back legs doesn’t slow him down and his owner is on a quest to get him walking again. After Franklin was hit by three cars, the source of his paralysis, his owner abandoned him.
I recently interviewed another person with a dog named Sadie. Sadie’s back legs are paralyzed but she still tries to protect her family by barking from behind a counter to make sure people know she’s there to protect them. Sadie was adopted from an animal shelter.
Rescue dogs sometimes have a heartbreaking story from their past, sometimes are unwanted and sometimes just fell into bad luck when their owners could no longer keep them. Because of this they make amazing pets that have an enduring way of responding to the people who have rescued them.
Of my two dogs, Duke, is a rescue of sorts. He was left at my brother’s vet clinic and after being there a while found his way to my house. He loves people and thinks everyone’s purpose in life is to adore him.
I purchased Boo but I’m pretty sure if I had not bought him he would have wound up a rescue dog as well because there is no one else on this planet who would have put up with some of his shenanigans. So, if I hadn’t got him as a puppy he would have probably wound up at my house anyway.
I guess the moral to this story is adopt a shelter dog and enjoy the ride. And you might want to get a lint roller while you’re at it for all the pet hair.
http://www.thenewsenterprise.com/content/rescue-dog-and-watch-them-crawl-right-your-heart
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