Just because we moved out to the country a couple years back does NOT mean we want to run a farm. Tending to animals is just not how we want to spend our time. We don’t want cows or sheep or chickens. We don’t want hogs or ducks. We don’t even want a dog or a cat to train.

OK, so my wife says that she wants a cat, but that’s only because she knows I won’t have anything to do with it. I suspect that if I ever said, “OK, you win. Let’s get a cat”, she would run screaming down the stairs pulling at her hair and just keep on running…causing damage to the stairway carpet, not to mention the window at the bottom of the staircase.

We don’t want a parrot or a rabbit or a hamster or even a mouse.

But when you live in the country, you have pets, whether you like it or not.

The first summer, we were welcomed by Muffet the skunk. Although she never responded to that name, we let her keep it. She just loved our compost heap. In fact, she had a frequent-eater pass at the all-you-can-eat compost buffet.

The second summer we were skunk-free, but this summer we were blessed with a new traveling perfume salesman. We did not name him, but we have determined that he is on a diet. He stays away from the all-you-can-eat compost buffet.

He is also much less intelligent than Muffet. When we see him, we jump and shout and wave our hands to get his attention,. But we usually have to get his attention three or four times before something in his microbe-sized brain clicks in and says, “Wait a minute. That’s not the hot dog vendor beckoning me to clean up his leftovers. Maybe I should turn around.”

But he is smart enough provide a two-tier burglar deterent. First, he drives them away with his odor. “Peee-ew. Let’s go rob the Jensons down the road.” Second he digs thousands of tiny pits all over the lawn to trip any burglar foolish enough to try to escape.

And to answer your question, no I did not personally verify the gender of these skunks. But you are free to check if you doubt my word.

This summer, we discovered an exotic spider (See http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net/spider.html ). Painted on its inch-long black back are two bright yellow eyes. Spooky. We even watched it wrap its prey - a small, light brown flying thingy. With amazing speed, the spider scurried from the center of her web toward the helpless victim at least a foot away. Then in a matter of two seconds flat, the spider spun the fly around three or four times, weaving it into a web cocoon like rolling a corpse in a carpet behind Luigi’s Fine Finer and Smokes. No gangster could have operated with one tenth the speed.

Just a few hours ago, I was proud to show off a bees nest over a foot tall hanging from a low branch in our One Acre Woods.

“Wow. It’s just like in Winnie the Pooh!” That was Little Lady, now 3 years and 3 months old.

“Destroy it. There must be thousands of bees in there!” That was my wife.

The fact is that I have had to destroy four bees nests in the past three weeks, all between the stones in our foundation. I am not keen to drive the bees away from their forest nest and toward the house. In fact, I think I’ll post an arrow sign near the house pointing to the forest: “Cheap rent. Spacious hive. Vibrant community.”

So far, we’ve avoided the pets inside the house - we won’t discuss the “storm trooper ants incident” or the midnight mouse-trap peanut-butter visits - and we have kept the hogs and sheep at bay (although the chickens sheepishly crawl through the fence and the stray cats like to run hog wild around our land).

No pets, perhaps. But you still have to share your space with skunks and spiders and bees when you live in the country.

Coming soon to a humor column near you: How I adopted 14,673 cluster flies on a Tuesday afternoon….without even breaking into a sweat.

About the Author

David Leonhardt publishes The Happy Guy humor column:
http://www.thehappyguy.com/positive-thinking-free-ezine.html
Read his humor articles:
http://www.thehappyguy.com/humor-articles.html
Visit his home page:
http://www.thehappyguy.com
David is owner of The Liquid Vitamin Supplements Store:
http://www.vitamin-supplements-store.net

1. Soft diffuse light. Today it’s very overcast outside, and if there were any flowers in bloom today would be the perfect day for capturing some great images. Soft diffuse light enhances color saturation, so if you wondered how or why pro photographers flower images seem so deep in color this is one of the reasons why. (There are exceptions to this rule. I do some flower photography is bright or dappled sunlight but I’m usually trying to get an effect of light passing through the petals.)

2. Slow film speed. 200 speed or less. The slower speed films have greater detail and for flowers you’re going to need to get close anyway and you want the nice sharp detail of a slower speed of film. I use 100 speed for my flower photography.

3. Tripod. Use one for this type of photography. Set up your shot, get everything in sharp focus, and then shoot. A tripod will keep your camera from moving on you and allow you to get the sharp detail you will need.

4. Look for great colors, a flower in full bloom next to a bud, and don’t shoot on windy days. Keep contrast and color in mind at all times and try different compositions each time you take a shot.

Flower photography can be a lot of fun especially if the flowers are your own.

If you have some specific questions please visit my Photography and Design Forum at: http://kellypaalphotography.com/v-web/bulletin/bb/index.php and post your question there.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Copyright 2005 Kelly Paal
Kelly Paal is a Freelance Nature and Landscape Photographer, exhibiting nationally and internationally. She owns her own business Kelly Paal Photography (www.kellypaalphotography.com). She has an educational background in photography, business, and commercial art. She enjoys applying graphic design and photography principles to her web design.

Admit it. When the sun is out and you are at your favorite campsite or cottage on the lake the last thing you want to do is spend a lot of time cooking a meal. Often, when vacationing, the lure to purchase instant foods is strong. Unfortunately, these convenience foods often come over packaged usually including some type of plastic. As we can see when we come across trash in the wilderness, the plastics tend to linger the longest - other than maybe glass and metal. Nothing ruins the feel of a pristine, natural area more than a bunch of garbage. Numerous studies prove that tourists return to an area primarily for its cleanliness and greenery. In this era where the economy has come to rely more on tourism, cleaning up is truly a benefit for the community.

We soon realized that walking by these messes and complaining over such disrespect, we were behaving not much better than the polluters who left it. Now when we hike we pack a supply of plastic bags (grocery bags work well) to clean up as we go. Often we earn up to $10 in returnable bottles and cans in the process. When you take a bit of time to clean up some trash not only do you have a better trail or beach to come back to, you have helped to make it safer and nicer for the next user. This simple measure just might influence others to keep it clean, as well.

When on the water with the canoe we also clean as we go by diving for garbage below the surface using a mask and snorkel. It is amazing the finds we have from these excursions under water. One of the first times we did this, we found an expensive diving mask in about 30 feet of water - enough incentive to continue this practice! We have found antique bottles, jewelry, fishing lures and reels.

It feels very good to clear up a beach of shards of broken glass hiding just below the surface before an unwary swimmer splashes into it. It does not, however, feel as good to find a large fish hook by imbedding it in the bottom of your foot. Take heart in knowing you have done a good thing as your expletive echoes off the far mountainside. Imagine an innocent child stepping on that hook instead of you and decide if it is worth taking the time…

About the Author

– Written by Dave and Lillian Brummet based on the concept of their new book Trash Talk. The book offers useful solutions for the individual to reduce waste and better manage resources. A guide for anyone concerned about his or her impact on the environment. (http://www.sunshinecable.com/~drumit)

Why hold back? Play today’s top bet predicts sports system that win game now!

To place that bet, you’d be well advised to check out a sportsbook bets web property, i.e. a place which takes in sportsbook bets web property. In the USA, there’s a total of four states where everybody can do sportsbook gambling in a legit manner, but if legality is no concern, you can go for it essentially anywhere as long as you determine a bookie AND happen to be of age. On the list of sporting contests you can choose to wager on are pro next to college basketball plus football, professional baseball, professional hockey, next to horse and dog racing. Visitors will be able to wager on the general combined score of a competition, at which point any given competitor will go under, and even if a tossed coin in a competition comes out heads or tails.

The odds maker establishment will rely on the maths to help you judge which club you feel is most likely to win. To start with, we have the spread, in other words specific points lead pertaining to the inferior side that is anticipated to be beaten by a defined number points. This constitutes the bookie’s procedure of organizing unprejudiced antes for a sportsbook. E.g. we may choose to risk money on a side that is anticipated to be beaten and and all the same profit from that bet as long as the side is actually defeated by a defined number of points.

There’s sundry breeds of wagers: parlay antes, straight bets, over-unders, teaser wagers, etc., the straight bets, where you’ll simply specify the contestor you feel will prevail or lose being the dominating one in sportsbook gambling.

Why don’t you experiment with it and enjoy the recreation in the process? Just take care that you won’t get gripped and drain your total income on a crotchet! After all, chances are you’ll catch yourself bewailing it for the rest of your life!

Just take your mind back to when you started to learn to drive. That very first time, you pressed your foot down on the throttle. The engine screamed. You lifted your left foot off the clutch with such panache, and you hurled forward with such velocity, you would have beaten any kangaroo.

Can you drive now? Then we rest our case:

Anything that’s worth doing, is worth doing poorly.

Do you remember the first time you played tennis? Did you really get the serve right first time? Or did you carefully throw the ball in the air throw the racket and miss!!! What about now? Was it worth doing it poorly the first time around?

What happened the first time you strode up with your bucket of balls on the driving range? You put the ball down and swung perfectly and hit it for what 500 yards?????? Or, did you:

1. miss it completely,

2. follow through and fall over

3. take out a good portion of the matting or grass with the shot

4. hit it with such force it managed a few yards and stopped.

What is all this about?

Reminding yourself that;

Whenever you do something you haven’t done before.

Whenever, you make effort to break an old habit.

Whenever you are going to do something that is worth doing.

The odds are you are going to make a hash of it. Don’t give in. You are normal. Don’t listen to that critical voice inside your head that says, “It’s no good. I can’t do it. I will never, ever try again”.

Listen instead to the powerful, self confirming voice that says,
“It’s OK. Remember. Anything that’s worth doing, is worth doing poorly”
And laugh and keep going.

So, whether your aim is to give up smoking… diet….. stop drinking……..change your job, learn a language, build a business, whatever it is, accept that you are going to do it poorly at first. Then gradually with practice you will get better and better.

It takes effort to improve yourself. It takes effort to become the best sales person in town. It takes effort to build a successful business. It takes effort to lose weight. It takes effort to follow your dream.

But. If you want to improve yourself! ……..If you want to learn a new skill…….. There is only one way to start………..Overcome your need to be right first time and keep practicing.

So whatever you want to do. Whatever you dream of being! Whatever you see yourself doing in five years time. It all starts with making a fool of yourself now. So you might as well get on with it. Go on, go for your dream!

Remember:
Anything that’s worth doing, is worth doing poorly.

Good luck

Graham and Julie
www.desktop-meditation.com

To improve your intuition, initiative and energy levels. Please go to:
http://www.desktop-meditation.com It’s free.

Back Chenille Patches

For awarding your team players for a job well done and excellence in performance on the field or academically, you cannot beat the back chenille patches! We have many stock patches for you to choose from assorted sizes. Embroidered patches are made to last! We only use the finest materials available for your symbols of excellence for your school or team.

Long Lasting

The chenille patches are made from the same silk-fringed thread and felt that the rest of our chenille-embroidered patches are made with. Provided properly cared for, you will have then to pass on to your kids! Custom chenille patches given to players are the awards for excellence that are given out during the award ceremonies at school. The chenille patches are an excellent award for valued participation.

No Matter Which You Decide

The custom chenille patches you choose, your intended recipients will be most pleased with whichever you choose for your awards will be greeted with excitement as you hand them out for jobs well done on awards day. Your team has worked hard all year and this is the time to show them some recognition for excellent performances. You have carefully picked out and ordered the back chenille patches for the team and the custom chenille patches for the outstanding players and you are handing them out in front of family and friends to see.

A Redondo Beach sunset has four major components:

The sun

The ocean

Clouds (or lack of clouds)

Weather

With this combination we have the ability to put together a different sunset every evening, never repeating the same sunset. Each sunset is very different, leaving a completely different emotion to the sunset participant. In Redondo Beach, the entire waterfront area appears to pause for about 10 minutes each day to watch the sun go down, indulging in explosions of color and emotion that accompany the event. Our business lives show some interesting parallels to sunsets. In my industry, telecommunications, we also have very few basic ingredients supporting business:

Cable and air (wireless)
Electricity
Computers
Software
Packet handlers (routers, switches, modems, etc)

When you think about it, each new company developing and deploying a new telecom-related product is using a combination of the above items - they are just connected and marketed in unique models needed to fulfill requirements a market or industry. Thus, whether you are an Internet Service Provider, a web hosting company, a Voice over Internet provider, or a traditional telephone company, at some point in your business case your product will include all the above components.

Thus it is not magic to understand the technical portions of a telecom business. All telecom and Internet-related companies use the above components - they are just put together and marketed in a different manner.

This also leads me to believe technology is not the discriminating factor in the success or failure of any business. That factor is more a product of understanding your market, developing a product with a well-prepared business plan, And then aggressively executing against your business plan. Technology can never stand alone, and very few successful businesses have ever been built solely around an emerging technology. The technology must be designed to solve a business challenge, or enable a new business model.

We have all gone through the exercise of taking an object, and determining what the purpose of that object may be. A sheet of paper may be a tool for recording written or printed information, it may be the raw material for a paper airplane or origami, just as it might be a tool for cleaning your teeth when you cannot find a pick or floss. The sheet of paper works well for all.

Computers and networks are similar. You ask what a computer is, and the response may be a word processor, or a communications terminal, or an emergency disk backup platform, or even a platform for playing games and entertainment. One computer may accomplish all the above, although the owner of each individual computer may give you a very different answer on how a computer should be used.

An Internet connection may be used primarily by one company for research and business intelligence, while another company may consider the Internet as a delivery system for disaster recovery backup and storage. Again, suitable for both, but very different in application.

Just as a sunset changes every day based on the presentation or conditions of its contributing components, the business must also consider technology as a tool to execute a successful business plan. It is important to first understand the business requirements, and then reach into the technology “tool bag” for the components needed to deliver.

(About the Author - John Savageau is a managing director at CRG-West, responsible for managing operations and architecture for several of the largest telecommunications interconnect facilities in the US, including One Wilshire in Los Angeles)

There is a topical treatment for loss of hair called Minoxidil that may be taken in tablet or topical lotion form and will often help boys regrow their hair and minimise further hair loss. The topical lotion comes in a variety of strengths with 3 percent being the most used. The baldness treatment is used under the supervision of a trained professional and should be made aware that it is not a great miracle cure. However, the excellent success of this hair loss treatment is approx 66 percent. The hair loss treatment medication course is a minimum of 2 months before fabulous results will often show and all girls are recommended to stay on the hair loss treatment for at least 6 months.

For blokes that do not find any hair growth with Minoxidil they will often try baldness surgery. This is a permanent solution and involves moving the hair follicles on the head to prevent bald areas. Hair surgery can be expensive and involves a surgical procedure so may not be for every lad.

This is the journey of all true Christians who have been
dragged into the wood shed by God Himself to deal with
them on their human condition. It’s here that we can get on
our knees and cry out for God’s help, or we can be stubborn
and keep getting our butts kicked. After all, it was this kind of
pride that kept the Israelites from reaching their destiny in
what would’ve been an 11 day journey and turned it into a
40
year wilderness journey. They just never wanted to remain
humble to the Lord. Their pride kept messing them up and
going around and around in the desert without ever
reaching the Promised Land. Was this God’s fault? No, He
gave them explicit instructions but they just didn’t heed His
call to remain humble. As a result, only 2 of the original
people ever made it, that was Joshua and Caleb. What are
your odds of making it to the “Promised Land”?

“A false balance and unrighteous dealings are extremely
offensive and shamefully sinful to the Lord, but a just weight
is His delight. When swelling and pride come, then
emptiness and shame come also, but with the humble
(those who are lowly, who have been pruned or chiseled by
trial, and renounce self) are skillful and godly Wisdom and
soundness. The integrity of the upright shall guide them, but
the willful contrariness and crookedness of the treacherous
shall destroy them.” Prov. 11:1-3 (Amplified)

It doesn’t get much plainer than this. Anyone who refuses to
humble themselves in the sight of the Lord will eventually be
destroyed by his own stubborn actions and prideful self.
God regards this as offensive and shamefully sinful. But the
man who humbles himself will gain godly Wisdom and
soundness. This is integrity of a righteous person and God
will guide this man or woman all the days of their life. Their
journey will not be in vain. Ask yourself this, do you have any
idea where you’re headed in this life’s journey? Is God
leading you or do you feel you’re on your own?

Jesus used parables to explain these lessons for us today.
A parable means an earthly story with a heavenly message.
All stories have a moral behind them. Morals are meant to
speak to our morales of life. We all have morales, but every
once in awhile, we need to check them and see if they are
lined up with God’s will for us.

In Luke 15, Jesus spoke about the parable of the
disobedient young son. We know it better as the Prodigal
Son. This gives the perfect example of how we all start out
our journey. Being a young man, he thought he deserved
what he had coming to him and was going to go out in the
world and “do his own thing”. No one was going to tell him
any differently. I know I’ve been there a few times myself.
We all feel like we’re entitled to the good things in life
without working for them because we deserve them.

Notice in Luke 15:11, the young son goes to his father and
says, “Give me”. Those two words are spoken so often even
today among children who haven’t yet been chastised by the
Lord. I use to kid that Mr. Roger’s was to blame for our
children’s behaviors. He always told them “you are
special”. Children are and should be special but not to the
point of being disobedient. No one is that special! We have
given in and spoiled our children with love and not enough
discipline that they get to a certain age can’t be told what to
do. Instead they expect things just to be given to them.
We are not doing them any favors by trying to be their
friends. We need to be responsible adults in teaching them
that the world is not fair and they will have to do something
in return. But, like the saying goes, “learn the hard way.” And
hard it is.

So in this parable, this younger son demands that his father
give him his portion because he had merely inherited it. He
never worked for it. But, he was a man now and wanted to
see the world on his own. Like any young irresponsible
person, he didn’t regard this money with careful thought. It
didn’t mean that much to him. So, he acted like the big man
on campus and impressed people he didn’t even know. He
loved the feeling it gave him. He was popular, everyone
regarded him as their friend, until all his money was gone.
As long as he didn’t want for anything he was very prideful.

“And when he had spent all he had, a mighty famine came
upon that country, and he began to fall behind and be in
want.” Luke 11:14 (Amplified)

Maybe he never even considered that it takes money
constantly coming in in order to live. This takes hard work to
make the money. People are alot like this today. Life should
be all fun and games, not hard work. Trying to impress
people might get you further in this world without working for
it. In reality this is not the case and this lesson is often
learned too late. This younger son found that out for himself.
He was down to nothing and left wanting for everything.

“So he went and forced (glued) himself upon one of the
citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed
hogs.” Luke 11:15 (Amplified)

When you are down to bare bones you have to start begging
and humbling yourself. People just aren’t going to welcome
you in with open arms. He was given a job, but a
menial job and he had no choice but to take it. Now all of a
sudden he wasn’t so important. He soon found out that this
wasn’t going to cut it. He had to do something extreme. His
back was against the wall. Do you know the feeling of being
this deperate? I certainly do.

“Then when he came to himself, he said, How many hired
servants of my father have enough food, and (even food) to
spare, but I am perishing (dying) here of hunger?” Luke
15:17 (Amplified)

He came to his senses and realized that he was not “all that
and a bag of chips”. He also realized that he had sinned
against God by his disobedience of thinking himself more
than what he really was. (Luke 15:18)

It was at this point he came to see his frailty. This is
the same point that we come tosee ourselves for who we
really are. Face it, we just aren’t worthy on our own. Time to
get over it! There is only one way to be worthy, His name is
Jesus.

“I am no longer worthy to be called your son; (just) make me
like one of your hired servants.” Luke 15:19 (Amplified)

This is where God gets our attention and we fall on our
knees and say, “Lord, just make me…”. We humble
ourselves and ask God to make us in the image of Christ.
We long to be His servant and obey Him. Christ said in John
15:5 that He was the vine and we are the branches and with
out Him, we can do nothing! That’s pretty simple. Does this
mean we are nothing in God’s sight? No, we are precious in
His sight when we learn to humble ourselves. Remember
He regards pride as sinful. God can’t look upon sin and
pride is the number one reason we are destroyed.

This parable has a happy ending just as it does with our
Heavenly Father. When the son admitted his sins, his father
was quick to forgive him and welcomed him into his home.
He saw it as a reason to celebrate and he prepared a
banquet for him.

God tells us the same thing today. When we get our knees
and humble ourselves and confess our sins to Him He will
then open up His arms and welcome us home. God is
quick to forgive our sins when we confess them. He says
He is going to celebrate our arrival with a big wedding feast.
He also said He will reward us with crowns of Life and Glory
if we just humble ourselves and make ourselves servants to
Him. He promises that He will give us an inheritance in His
kingdom one day. For those who remain in the world and
prideful, He says He will make them His footstool.
Remember that God promises to exalt those who are
humble. It’s not being made lowly as being impoverished.
It’s being made lowly to be lifted up and highly favored by
God.

Where do you want to end up in the end of your journey?
Being a humble servant to Jesus Christ will reserve your
place at the banquet table with Him and such a party we
have never seen the likes of here on this earth.

I don’t know about you but I’m doing everything I can to
secure my name in that Book of Life so I will be invited to
that gala. My human pride is nothing compared to being
humble and considered upright and righteous in the sight of
the Lord God Almighty.

If you have teenagers at home or know of any who are
saying, “give me” right now, please tell them this parable
and make them see how important it is that they go to God
and ask Him to “make me” instead.

On this road through life, it’s important to remember that
when we humble ourselves, we will find God’s blessings as
we obey Him.

Vivian Gordon writes inspirational and spiritual articles
in which to help strengthen the Believer’s walk in Christ.
They are often taken from today’s point of view and
used in conjunction with what God says about certain
situations and how we are to handle them. There is
always an answer for every problem. These articles are
not all about asking God “why?” but in finding the
answers.

The translation says: Leef jij in Beuningen of Terneuzen en wilt u graag iets winnen’ Winnen met Windeprijsvraag is nergens zo eenvoudig. Geweldige prijzen winnen met de website windeprijsvraag.nl‘ Minstens 220 prijzen om het uur. Van Aa en Hunze tot Dordrecht, met Win de prijsvraag.nl winnen gaat hier altijd. Een mevrouw van 63 heeft een maand geleden nog een fiets in de wacht gesleept.