swimming Gulf of Mexico
Celebrating 4th of July in the Gulf of Mexico with family
Sunday, May 16, 2021
Chips and Cola anyone???
Friday, May 14, 2021
Birthday swim... August 2020
It gets more and more difficult to blog on....
Here is it though. Photographic evidence to wit. I swam the disgusting muddy waters of Tuttle creek reservoir for my birthday. I was so tired I couldn't believe I accomplished it. As always it renews my spirit to swim. Tuttle creek reservoir is an Ugly Ugly lake built out of damn Foolishness. The Corp of Engineers thinks they can control Mother Nature.... What folly. Many communities were sacrificed and it was hoped that Tuttle would become like the Ozarks. Thank God for one thing it hasn't. We have enough arses driving around our neighborhood doing despicable things. I am always proud about this accomplishment and it is a nice way to celebrate getting another year old.
Monday, May 14, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Three Kinds of Laziness
Three Kinds of Laziness
by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don’t want to do anything, and we’d rather stay in bed half an hour later than get up and meditate. Second, there is the laziness of feeling ourselves unworthy, the laziness of thinking, “I can’t do this. Other people can meditate, other people can be mindful, other people can be kind and generous in difficult situations, but I c’t, because I’m too stupid.” Or, alternatively, “I’m always an angry person;” “I’ve never been able to do anything in my life;” “I’ve always failed, and I’m bound to fail.” This is laziness. The third kind of laziness is being busy with worldly things. We can always fill up the vacuum of our time by keeping ever so busy. Being occupied may even make us feel virtuous. But usually it’s just a way of escape. When I came out of the cave, some people said, “Don’t you think that solitude was an escape?” And I said, “An escape from what?” There I was — no radio, no newspapers, no one to talk to. Where was I going to escape to? When things came up, I couldn’t even telephone a friend. I was face-to-face with who I was and with who I was not. There was no escape.
Our ordinary lives are so busy, our days are so full, but we never have any space even to sit for a minute and just be. That’s escape. One of my aunts always kept the radio on, or the television. She didn’t like silence. Silence worried her. Background noise rang out at all times. And we’re all like that. We’re afraid of silence — outer silence, inner silence. When there’s no noise going on outside we talk to ourselves — opinions and ideas and judgments and rehashes of what happened yesterday or during our childhood; what he said to me; what I said to him. Our fantasies, our daydreams, our hopes, our worries, our fears. There is no silence. Our noisy outer world is but a reflection of the noise inside: our incessant need to be occupied, to be doing something.
Recently I was talking with a very nice Australian monk who was once occupied with doing so many wonderful dharma activities that he became a workaholic. He would be up until two or three in the morning. Eventually he collapsed totally. His whole system fell apart and now he can’t do anything. His mind is also slightly impaired in that he doesn’t have very good concentration.
His problem was that his identity was connected with doing. As his work was for the Dharma it looked very virtuous. It looked like he was doing really good things. He was benefiting many people and carrying out the instructions of his teacher, but now that he can’t do anything, who is he? And so he is going through a tremendous crisis because he always identified himself with what he did and with being able to succeed. Now he is not able to do anything and is dependent on others. So I said to him, “But this is a wonderful opportunity. Now, you don’t have to do anything, you can just be.” He said he was trying to come to that, but he found it threatening not to do anything, to just sit there and be with who he is, not what he does.
This is the point — we will our lives with activities. Many of them are really very good activities but if we are not careful, they can just be an escape. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do good and necessary things, but there has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative. We need time to just be with ourselves, and to become genuinely centered, when the mind can just be quiet.- Paññāsobhana
by Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo
The Buddha described three kinds of laziness. First there is the kind of laziness we all know: we don’t want to do anything, and we’d rather stay in bed half an hour later than get up and meditate. Second, there is the laziness of feeling ourselves unworthy, the laziness of thinking, “I can’t do this. Other people can meditate, other people can be mindful, other people can be kind and generous in difficult situations, but I c’t, because I’m too stupid.” Or, alternatively, “I’m always an angry person;” “I’ve never been able to do anything in my life;” “I’ve always failed, and I’m bound to fail.” This is laziness. The third kind of laziness is being busy with worldly things. We can always fill up the vacuum of our time by keeping ever so busy. Being occupied may even make us feel virtuous. But usually it’s just a way of escape. When I came out of the cave, some people said, “Don’t you think that solitude was an escape?” And I said, “An escape from what?” There I was — no radio, no newspapers, no one to talk to. Where was I going to escape to? When things came up, I couldn’t even telephone a friend. I was face-to-face with who I was and with who I was not. There was no escape.
Our ordinary lives are so busy, our days are so full, but we never have any space even to sit for a minute and just be. That’s escape. One of my aunts always kept the radio on, or the television. She didn’t like silence. Silence worried her. Background noise rang out at all times. And we’re all like that. We’re afraid of silence — outer silence, inner silence. When there’s no noise going on outside we talk to ourselves — opinions and ideas and judgments and rehashes of what happened yesterday or during our childhood; what he said to me; what I said to him. Our fantasies, our daydreams, our hopes, our worries, our fears. There is no silence. Our noisy outer world is but a reflection of the noise inside: our incessant need to be occupied, to be doing something.
Recently I was talking with a very nice Australian monk who was once occupied with doing so many wonderful dharma activities that he became a workaholic. He would be up until two or three in the morning. Eventually he collapsed totally. His whole system fell apart and now he can’t do anything. His mind is also slightly impaired in that he doesn’t have very good concentration.
His problem was that his identity was connected with doing. As his work was for the Dharma it looked very virtuous. It looked like he was doing really good things. He was benefiting many people and carrying out the instructions of his teacher, but now that he can’t do anything, who is he? And so he is going through a tremendous crisis because he always identified himself with what he did and with being able to succeed. Now he is not able to do anything and is dependent on others. So I said to him, “But this is a wonderful opportunity. Now, you don’t have to do anything, you can just be.” He said he was trying to come to that, but he found it threatening not to do anything, to just sit there and be with who he is, not what he does.
This is the point — we will our lives with activities. Many of them are really very good activities but if we are not careful, they can just be an escape. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t do good and necessary things, but there has to be breathing in as well as breathing out. We need to have both the active and the contemplative. We need time to just be with ourselves, and to become genuinely centered, when the mind can just be quiet.- Paññāsobhana
Saturday, February 17, 2018
Panda is wasted
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| Mr. Panda sitting in the waste basket
Panda is surveying his outdoor kingdom from the trash can. He is getting a bit of cabin fever just like all of us. We will welcome spring for certain!
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Thursday, December 28, 2017
El Gato Coyote
Feral cats
Spay and neuter
Alley cats
Trap, neuter, release
Spay and neuter
Alley cats
Trap, neuter, release
Update February 8th 2018 This handsome kitty showed up in the fall. He confused us because he looks identical to our resident cat Willie who has been with us since 2012. Willie disappeared and reappeared and we thought was behaving rather strange. In mid December we figured it out....we had a new cat with a slightly different pattern than Willie, it appeared he was here to stay, bumping us up to a total of 10 cats. If I could have my way they would all be pampered indoor friends....but these former roaming Tom cats can be miserable living indoors. They are well fed and pampered barn cats...unlike any barn cats in my neighborhood. It as if there is signage indicating this is a stop on the wild highway and an excellent place to land. My experience after working with these guys is as they mature they can spend some of their elder years being pampered and integrated into life as a house cat. Our beloved Sonic (RIP) passed in August, one would not ever guessed him to become as loving and docile. So people are wrong to say a feral cat is feral forever.
Back to this Coyote cat, after several blood curdling screams with the residents I increased my effort to get this guy vetted and neutered. I thought I needed to set a trap to catch him but as the temperatures dropped he started allowing me to pet him at feeding time. Then I picked him up and petted him without any distress. Voila, on the coldest day of the year right before Christmas I delivered him to our vet for his surgery. I contemplated leaving him overnight but realized he "might" be more comfortable in a more familiar place. Our old farm house basement is little more than a bare floor dug out where snakes and toads live along with our furnace. It stays above freezing in the coldest weather. So he spent the night there for recovery and did just fine.
I wish I knew the number of spays and neuters we have facilitated over the past 30 years. Our vet lost our records but I would venture to guess close to 100 cats. Some have lived to ripe old age and there have been some tragic loss way too early. I can rest assured I have given these cats a better existence for having found us. Their passing is never easy for me, but I am grateful for the mutual love and adoration shared. I thought about offering Coyote to a friend who had asked about a cat. I decided after much cogitation they were not prepared to put the work into integrating him to my satisfaction so it looks like he is here to stay. Such as life I now have another cat that I did not intend to get. Tonight at dusk I noticed him running toward me in delight with his tail at full mast. He is a happy boy now. The hormones are beginning to settle down.
'['
Tuesday, December 26, 2017
Delightful Art Studio in the Flint Hills of Kansas
I had real blast this year at the Oztoberfest in Wamego, KS. The town is the host of the official Wizard of Oz Museum hosting much of the remaining memorabilia for the original movie the Wizard of Oz. It's a delightful little and a tad quirky town with the museum sitting next door to the lovely Columbian Theatre http://columbiantheatre.com While visiting the art gallery there was a most creative and unusual exhibit by Randy Hoover. His website is; https://rhooverstudios.weebly.com/ To the right is Randy and left is my dear husband Charlie.
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| Standing in front of a chair Randy had made Called the Wizards Chair |
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