growing older

Well - its official, I'm on the wrong side of 40.....It was my birthday yesterday and it was boring. I read a book, did laundry, cut arrows, took a long hot shower , a straight razor shave, ate hot wings and the kids gave me cupcakes. It was nice but it just seemed like it was missing something. I remember 18,19 ,20 and 21....So many years ago. Now the years just seem to blur together and not have any real defining moments in between. I believe the more you've seen the more you don't notice life  any more.

    5pm I took several arrows that I had as a kid and I cut them down to fit my son. I had them when I was older than he was and now they'll fit him. It's funny these arrows are near 5o years old. The lady I bought them from was a shooter in 1961. If I can get 4 year out of them' I'll be happy. I let my oldest help me in using a pipe cutter and a torch. I think he had a good time in cutting them with me. My next project for him is to modify his quiver in to a back quiver.

   At about 6 pm I took off everything. Rings, necklace and crucifix and took a long hot shower. 30-40 minutes of relaxing water. I then lathered up with my new boar bristle brush and shaved with my straight razor. That took me about 20 minutes. The prep time took me longer; 20 minutes of sanding old rust spots off the blade, 10 minuted of sharpening on a whetstone and 5 minutes of honing. I could have cleaved an electron off an atom if I wanted to. My oldest watched me shave with it. I showed him how to lather and how to hold it. It will be years until he does but at least he's got a good base of knowledge for it.

 

Pax Humana

Lessons Learned

This weekend we had a kids birthday party for my 2 boys. Their birthdays are close together so we have a combined party for school friends and family. This year we were racing against the rain so we set up the piñata a bit early. My Dad brought in a nice hand made piñata of a donkey. I say hand made because most are just pre punched boxes with paper wrapped outside. This was an old school one made from news paper and glue... So the kids knock the bejesus out of it and there is candy and a couple bucks of change all over the yard... My dad gets the idea for my oldest son  to get  the head of the donkey and give it to him. He cleans it out and my son puts it on his head. I found out later that the kids were hitting my boy or as they called him the piñata. I cant fault them , its what you do to a piñata.  He was smacked around a bit but hes OK. So lesson learned kids , the Piñata is in the top 10 worse ideas for a Halloween costume. Or a really good one if you want your ass kicked.

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9/11 + 8

Wow, its been 8 years since that horrible day. Now its a holiday. Not a happy holiday , but a true holy day.  3000+ people died in those 2 towers, Flight 19 took more lives and the pentagon hot took even more.  It was a very sad day for all of us.

     I remember sitting on the floor in my house and feeling sick to my stomach. I watched tv for close to 13 hours that day, watching the towers fall again and again. I knew it was that start of something bad and I expected a war. I expected a war in the traditional sense. With clear cut bad guys and the American as good guys. This enemy was much worse. They hide among the regular people - they are the regular people. This made me very sour with all mid eastern people.  I clearly remember children cheering and that damn lady in black giving them candy to celebrate.  Eight years later I still carry hate in my heart and if I express it I am considered a racist. 

   Where is the condemnation from the imans? We still have not seen any thing like that from any mid eastern country. We still are in bed with Saudi Arabia. A country who's people still hate us.  Some where in the back of my head I still want to burn that entire part of the country to the ground and remove a generation from the earth. 

   What was the impact of "shock and awe?" What did we do there? Why are we still there? ......

 

Anyways with this hate in my heart it makes it hard to have a cohesive though this morning.