And the phone call came, as it always does....

Just got the phone call I have been expecting with the news that we have lost another client.  We had planned a farewell party for him for last Tuesday, but he wound up in the hospital, so we postponed it for a few days.  This is never easy, these parties, but it gives us all a chance to say goodbye.  Missed this one.

Why is it when that phone call comes, it is always a surprise?  We were expecting it, we knew it was coming, but just not today and not this early in the morning.  And why is it that when it comes the first response is to find someone to hold me when I cry?  I am a strong woman, and I know other strong women, and yet that is the first thing we want; someone to hold us. 

So, failing in that, because there is definitely a shortage of arms around here, I must do the next thing, and that is to rage.  Rage against the unfairness of life, rage against a young life cut short,  and rage that our government, our churches, the hierarchy of the world can do nothing about this damn disease that steals our people while the population in general thinks we have actually found a cure for this.  Rage while our young people have unprotected sex, because it can not happen to them!

Right now my mind is a dither, and I just wanted you to know some of my feelings at this moment.  You have all been there so I am sure you understand.  Just want you all to take the time to turn to someone and tell them you love them.  Tomorrow is another day and you may not get the chance.  And remember in spite of it all, God is good and his arms are always there for me.

Doug and Dorothy; a study in the human side of living.

I should be horse whipped for what I am about to attempt!  Those two little people there are complete and absolute Saints and I am going to attempt to tell you why without even knowing half of what this man and woman have done for the betterment of this fair city where I reside.
 
I first met Doug Gale  and his lovely wife Dorothy while I was attending Christ Congregational Church in Belmont.  Belmont is a subdivision of Pueblo, Colorado.  I think that was about 6 or 7 years ago.  As I recall he was pushing participation in the Crop Walk which is a fundraiser designed to restock food pantry's and such.  I did not pay very much attention to Doug and Dorothy other then to make a note that here was two old people that I should be nice to.
 
Then I began to notice that Doug and Dorothy were turning up at a lot of places that I frequented.  Peace rallies, Political rallies, various fundraisers, church functions and then I ran into them at SRDA delivering Meals on Wheels, Martin Luther King functions, the Ghandi Peace Garden.  Lord those people were every where!  I do not remember what I was working on that caused me to need to drop things off at Doug and Dorothy's house, but it was then that I began to see just what a force these two were in Pueblo. These people worked with any thing that had to do with old people, young people, civil rights, animal rights, gay or straight, military and they even turned up down in Peppersauce Bottoms when we were sandbagging to keep the torrential rains out of those homes.  My God the man is next in line to God as far as I am concerned!  And by his side is his lovely wife Dorothy.
 
Anyone who has ever met Doug and Dorothy will realize that while Dorothy is his beloved wife, he is in turn her caregiver.  Doug is on our Pastoral Relations Committee at the First Congregational Church and is quick to note to all that it is Doug and Dorothy.  Always Doug and Dorothy.  The only time Doug does not have Dorothy by the hand is when he has duties that take him aside and then he makes sure their daughter is there to hold her hand.  He thinks we should hold hands in church when we pray.  His reasoning is he always has Dorothy, but there might be some people who have no one and this would give human contact.
 
What can I say about this couple?  How can I make you understand that while I can not even tell you how many people these two have helped feed and clothe, given peace and respite , given hope and comfort, and never complained that it was an inconvenience to give any one a hand up.  No dog goes unpetted and there is always a smile on the face of this little fellow and a twinkle in his eye.  I must admit that as I have come to know Doug and Dorothy better, I find myself trying to immolate Doug. 
 
I think it finally dawned on me at the Peace Flotilla this year.  This man has organized schools, city fathers, churches, and I do not know what all to get the biggest crowd ever to launch the floats.  And the daughter held her mother's hand so Doug was free to mix with little kids, men in suits, women with flowers and a dog or two that ran past. 
 
I pray for these 2 people every day and I pray for this woman on this computer that she can be just a little like Doug and Dorothy. I pray that I can gain half their goodness, a fraction of their faith and just  tiny drop of the compassion that these two people are filled with for the whole human race.

John Clay, I gotta get up there and see you again in beautiful Beulah!

This is a carved statue that was in John Clay's wood carving shop when I was up in Beulah, Colorado in the Spring.  I actually met John at that time and I think I did a blog on him.  If I didn't I sure should have because he is a very talented man.  I think he told me this one is Father Christmas.  If it isn't it sure should be!

 Then here we have a little Indian Chief almost ready to go to war.  I did not measure this and I should have.  There is a big one in the Beulah Inn that I know I did a piece on earlier.

 Here are some tulips that you can stand in your yard and people will drive by and say, "Damn!  Those are the biggest Tulips I have ever seen."  These are, of course a work of art, as is everything John Clay does.

 Now what is this?  This is a necessary item in the shop.  John assures me he goes through a lot of band aids on any project he does, and I do believe the man!  If anyone should know it John!

 Here we have some of the tools of the trade.  There are several different sized power/chain saws.  There you will see a hand and a foot.  Those belong to John and in my usual inept way, that is all you are going to get until I get back up there and catch the illusive little man.

 Here is a tangle of cords and more tools which are a bit smaller.  Looks like a mess to me, but the man turns out some very intricate work in this tiny shop.

But here is the part I want to tell you.  When I first went up there John showed me a tree root behind his shop.  He was working on it at the time and had called it "The Dragon's Nest."  This has a mother dragon, father and then lots of little babies.  I snuck by his shop when I did the Indian at the Beulah Inn and took more pictures.  It did not look like he had done much, so I need to get up there this week and find out what is going on. 

John is now working on stone carving and I hope this is not the end of the Dragon's Nest.  I don't think it will be cause that thing is going to be fabulous.  So John, you are on notice!  Lou Mercer is coming back to Beulah and you are going to get reported on again and this time I will get a picture of the whole John Clay!

John Clay does custom carving in and around Beulah, Colorado.  I am sure he ships orders elsewhere.  Call John for prices.  1-719-485-9605.  And be sure and tell him Lou sent you!  Won't get you any discounts, but makes me feel like I did something to help a Beulah Artisan!

I think I am a self centered ego maniac!

It has just come to my attention, through self induced introspection that I am indeed an ego maniac!  Introspection is defined as self examination of ones own emotional state and mental processes.  Ego is defined as ones own self.  And we all know what maniac means.  So by self definition I am just crazy about myself.  This is not to say I am egocentric.  The last guy I dated was a true egocentric, which is defined as one who is the center of everything.  That being said and all defined for the guy in Canada who keeps a dictionary handy to converse with me, I shall continue.  (And Hi to Fanty!)

A friend asked me what a blog was.   Now there is no dictionary entry for that, but if you go online you will see it is a combination of Web and Log.  It is defined as a  journal, or something that interests the author.  Now I envy the people who are actually showing their work, such as the one lady who can teach me to make a quilt in 8 easy steps, or the lady who makes the brownies, and especially the guy who does daily blogs and updates on Cuba.  Those pictures are to die for and I have gained a plethora (over abundance) of knowledge about the workings of the Cuban government as well as the people in the street. (Type in Malceon)

But then you come to my little blog which is not really a journal, nor a diary.  Some times I explain things that are dear to my heart, or cry over a love gone wrong, or show you something I made.  The point here is that there is no rhyme nor reason to what will so up on my site, and this is where I get the idea that I am perhaps a bit of an ego maniac.  I love to write my blogs, and I love to read them!  I even have a book printed every 3 months in case some body missed one!  This is a mark of someone who really likes themselves!  But I stop short of being and ego centric, because I am not the center of my universe.

I just want to share with you my thoughts while I have your attention and you can not get a word in edgewise.  So I shall keep hammering away and trying to tell you something new every day.  Like today you learned  two new words and some of you learned three.  I do not like to get too deep into anything, because then I actually have to think!  But right now, what I am thinking is this...I am doing something I love.  I am expressing myself and you are getting to know me better.  Sometimes that is all one of us needs!

Thanks for reading and tomorrow or Monday I will have a surprise for you!

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado!

 This is the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  These pictures were taken October 9, 2010 which was the date of the annual Southern Colorado  AIDS Walk in the Garden.  Bear in mind that as I was taking these pictures, I was also walking the 3 miles that were required to fulfil my committment.  So if the pictures are a little blurry, and not centered, please forgive me.

The first picture is the shot of where we are going.  There were a total of 200 walkers so this is going to take a little while to do.  If you look closely at this picture just off center is a tiny white dot.  That, my friend, is a human!  That dot is about 2 city blocks away on a twisty, turny trail.  My goal is to catch and pass that dot and all the other dots ahead of me!

 This is one of the many formations in this Garden of the Gods.  There is just no name that could have been given to this place that would fit any better.  I have driven through the Garden, but there is nothing to compare with walking these trails.  I wanted to do this for a long time and when I got the opportunity to be a fundraiser and get to walk, it was just more than I could have ever  asked for!

 As we got further into our walk we came a lot closer to some of the formations.  This particular shot is where we crossed a parking lot and we are now about half way back to where we started.  I did not think I would ever be able to walk 3 miles in this thin Colorado air, but I think I could have gone a lot further!  May do it some day for no reason!  

I want you to pay particular attention to the sky in all of these pictures.  Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?  It is like God picked the most spectacular day of the year for this walk, but that is not true.  Everyday in Colorado is a true miracle to behold.  When I came to this part of the country 34 years ago, it was just some where to go.  Just a place to be, but now it has truly become my home.  People say "Where are you from?" and I tell them proudly, "Colorado, via Kansas!"

And here we are on the final leg of the walk.  Well, not us, those are the people in front of us.  We are back here with the camera.  We started out behind 200 people and we ended up with 15 ahead of us.  Pretty good for an old lady, but this old lady is just now hitting her stride, so watch out world, Here I come!!

Remember when I raised these baby birds?

I know it is difficult to tell what these are, so I am going to tell you.  This is a picture of 5 baby cockatiels.  This little fellow in the lower left corner is probably the oldest of this clutch.  The little pink one behind the white one is probably 1 day old.  I do not remember what year this was but there were several years that I was in the bird nursing business.  Like everything in my life this started out so innocently.

Kenneth, my late husband had always wanted a parrot.  Well parrots cost a lot of money, so the compromise was made to give him a gray Cockatiel, so that is what he got.  That was one mean bird, so we thought he would be better humored if he had a wife.  So we purchased a White Cockatiel to be his bride.  As luck would have it, this was a match made in heaven.  Or seemed made in heaven until she laid her eggs and decided that was not for her.  So she ripped the eggs out of the nest, but Big Bird put them back.  It was soon clear that Baby was not going to be a good mother so she was removed to another cage and Big Bird hatched the eggs.  He tried to feed them when they hatched, but it was too much for him.  We put Baby back in, and she attacked the babies.  So it was clear what must happen.  I must be the surrogate mother to these little feathered creatures.

This entailed mixing food and feeding them with an eye dropper several times a day for a couple weeks until they could fend for themselves.  All the time Big Bird hovered near and spread his wings for them to sleep under.  Big Bird had a bad wing and could not fly, but he taught the babies to fly,  They were in a big flight cage with a limb in it.  He would line them up on the limb and then push

 the line of babies up the limb and as room ran out the first bird would fall off the limb and flutter.  It was at this point that I learned just how much Mother Nature had instilled in her wildlife.  Big Bird had never laid an egg and he had never seen a baby, but he knew what had to be done and did it.

Meantime down in the cage in the basement, Baby was as happy as she could be.  I would set her on my shoulder while I sewed.  She would rub her head against my neck and chew on my glasses.  No sign of the aggressive bird that tried to kill her babies. 

We hand raised all the babies until they were ready to go to new homes.  We named all the gray ones "Snapper" and all the white ones "Baby".  One "Snapper" went to Alamosa, one to Syracuse, Kansas, and I do not remember where else.  We raised several little batches of baby birds and it always went the same way with Baby.  Well, and with Big Bird and with us.  Baby just never was the mothering type.  Sort of like some women I have met.

When they reached a certain age, birds die and it was that way with our two little  friends.  Baby died first and it was very soon after that Big Bird also died.  I like to think they were flying around the Rainbow Bridge when Kenny walked over in 2003.  I know he would have smiled to see them, cause one thing is for sure, that man loved his animals and they loved him!

AIDS Walk 2010 Garden of Gods C/S

Well, today is October 9, 2010.  If my sister-in-law were still alive it would be her birthday, but she is not.  So it is the day we went to Colorado Springs to Garden of the Gods for AIDS Walk 2010.  What a beautiful day it was!  First I thought it was just right, then I thought it was cold, and then about halfway into our 3 mile walk, it got downright warm.

These are my two partners on the Loosey Goosey Team.  The one on the left is John Tenorio and Erik Gibson.  We have vowed to do a much better job next year, because all our money we raised stays right here in Pueblo.  Our team raised $1430.60 which made our team #3 on the fundraising docket.  I raised $1100.60 which made me #4 on the individual division of raising money.  Pretty impressive since there were 145 people raising money. 

 I am wearing my hat that I wore to the 10th Annual AIDS walk.  Do not remember what year that was. But it has lots of pins on it.

 Now look at this!  Who would not enjoy a walk through this scenery.  We actually went between these.  If you look real close you can see the line of people ahead of us.

 Here comes cousins Steven, Mark and Daryle Smalley.  Steven and Daryle live in Hutchinson.  Mark is currently in Denver. It was just great having them go on this walk with me.  I see them so seldom and they are all dear boys!  I used to change Mark's diaper.  Don't know about Steven.  Not Daryle, he was all potty trained when I worked for Aunt Alice.

 See we all got a red ribbon to wear and then we we got back we had to write our name on it and it then went into what is called the "Commitment Ball".  I knew when I headed up there this morning that some sort of commitment was in order!

 These are the shoes that carried this body on the route.  I am going to publicise them and then put them on eBay for sale to the highest bidder.  All proceeds will go to Southern Colorado AIDS Project and be earmarked for Pueblo.

This is the grand daughter that walked with me.  We had a great time.  Since she is a minor I shall just call her Dear Girl.  Next year she will help raise money and we will do really well.  Just got a late start this year or we could have really kicked butt!

And there you have it!  I have not put a lot of scenery pictures in and that is because I wanted to present the human face of this walk.  Scenery will be along in a day or two.  So, now I am going to have a nap and bask in the joy of the day!  A job well done, my good and faithful servant!