Monday, February 29, 2016

Tech Wrecks

I wouldn’t trade my computer for a typewriter but there are times I’d like to throw it in the trash can and get something more forgiving. Security is all well and good but when it locks me out from my e-mails because of my not remembering the password I’d gladly give up the security. I know; I should have kept a copy of my passwords but after not needing them for a good length of time I just presumed I won’t ever need them again. Right now I’ll wait for someone else to help. Before long maybe Julian will be the one to unravel my dilemmas but I’ll need to wait a while for that. He’s only six months old. 

Today, this week, I’ve been mostly alone since Robin has been up in Oakland with the baby visiting Erin and Rachel, the ones who will eventually adopt him. There’s a lot to do around here since my move to a bigger villa. Boxes left to unpack. Pictures to be hung, but all I seem to be able to do safely is wash dishes, sweep the floor and so forth. I’ve gotten used to letting Robin do things and she’s been so busy with the baby I don’t push her. 

At least I can blog so here I am doing that again. The e-mails will have to wait. I remember the days when I’d need to stop and erase every typo and if I wanted to make a more excessive change, like moving a paragraph around I’d need to start over. Now all I need to do is erase the paragraph or edit it to be moved. So I don't want to do without technology, I just want it to be easier.

It’s election time and I’m stuck on watching the TV for the latest news about that. If I were a Democrat (which I’m not), I’d be for Bernie Sanders just to help him beat Hilary Clinton. I could even overlook his Socialistic ideas to do that. In fact I could subscribe to many of them, like free college tuitions and fairer tax rates. 

Life has become a waiting game for me, especially when I need to wait for technical help on my computer. I can read magazines, books, and catalogues. But it’s quiet as can be without anyone else in the house. I haven’t made any close friends here but everyone seems cordial to me. And Jenny and Jack, my granddaughter and great grandson, have been here a lot of the time to keep me company.


Tomorrow Robin is due to come home with Julian. It will be fun having them both back. I love the baby and could watch him all day. Tech problems can wait I don’t get many e-mails anymore anyway. For the time being I’ll neglect technology. It’s a wreck that can wait. 

Friday, February 19, 2016

Make Mole Hills Out Of Mountains

What are the mountains in my life? In yours? And what are the mole hills? Even these are pesky. I remember how my son, Wally, when he was a young boy went to visit his grandparents in southern Minnesota one summer and Grandpa gave him a gun to shoot gophers with. He told me later how he found a gopher hole and situated himself to wait until he saw the gopher. It didn’t take long. Little gopher’s head appeared above his hole and Wally’s gun went off. He'd hit and killed the little gopher.

Wally went back to the house and cut off the feet to take to the county office where he got money for the gopher’s feet. But he couldn’t spend that money. He had caught just a fraction of a minute’s glimpse of the little gopher’s eyes looking into his before he’d pulled the trigger and they were so innocent and pure that he wished all his life he hadn’t pulled that trigger of the gun.

I found a little sign with the words of the title of this blog on it somewhere and pasted it to my computer. It always reminds me of that incident in Wally’s life. 

Farm life is full of hard moments. We lived on a ranch in southern Oregon for eight years  and I found out this. We had inherited a flock of hens from the previous owners and I never killed one of them except, and here’s my own true confession. There was one little black hen that started eating the eggs in the nests of the chicken coop. She wouldn’t quit and  one day I grabbed her by the feet and took her squawking to the wood shed where I chopped off her head. I’ve never forgotten that. I’m sorry about it whenever I think of it. I can still hear her cries. It's the only time I’ve ever killed anything but an insect. 

There is no way to make a mole hill out of a mountain. It would be absurd to even try. But a mountain can become a mole hill And in time it can even be reduced to nothing. How? By seeing it properly through the lens of intelligence. Get off the mountain. Climb down and walk away. The farther away we get from the mountain the smaller it becomes Troubles are often reduced when we cease giving them our attention. We can walk away, we can walk around, we can make nothing of them in our own minds by replacing them with thoughts of truth and goodness. Mountains of troubles can be cast out altogether so they no longer appear even as mole hills. 


As I write this blog I am plagued with another mountain. It is a screaming baby who wouldn’t quit. Robin has complete charge of the little guy since I am not able to lift him and she is going crazy. It’s been going on all afternoon. Until now. This moment the air is quiet. The baby has quit his crying and is going to sleep, I think. Sometimes the mountain falls into the sea of tranquility. Let’s hope this has happened now.  

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

There's A Baby In The House



He’s five months old and his name is Julian Daniel Altman, Katie Altman’s child, but soon to be adopted by her sister, Erin and Erin’s partner Rachel. He will then call Erin “Mama” and Rachel, “Mommy.” From the time he was born until he goes to Oakland to be with Erin and Rachel he’s been in his Grandma Robin’s charge. Katie loves him dearly but can’t take care of him. The father is not able to take care of him either. 

If you knew little Julian you’d be so happy to know that Katie did not listen to the many people that thought he should be aborted. He is a darling! He belongs now to his mother’s family. All of us. And he’s such a joy! He smiles at anyone who smiles at him. Not just an obligatory smile, but a real loving smile that tugs at your heart.

Katie will be able to see him whenever she can get up to Oakland where Erin and Rachel live. She’ll be known to him as her “Tummy Mom.”  

He has another auntie who is Auntie Jenny. She has a boy of her own named Jack who is between three and four years old. The other day some children were telling about their brothers and sisters and Jack, after looking rather sad, soon brightened up and said proudly, “I have a cousin, and his name is Julian!”

In my house Julian has his own bedroom next to Grandma Robin’s bedroom. When he wakes up in the morning, Robin brings him in to my bedroom where I give him his morning bottle. From then on he’s in Robin’s care. She is so good to him and for him. She bathes him every day and he loves it. She knows just what he needs when he cries and what he doesn’t need, like being picked up constantly. But he doesn’t cry a lot. He’s a happy little guy most of the time.

For me Julian has been a lovely addition to my home. He has brought my daughter here too and she is a lovely addition to my home. We’ll miss him when he’d gone to Oakland but we’re happy he will be in the loving care of his auntie mother and her lovely partner, Rachel. They’ve been wanting to have a child but didn’t know just how best to bring that about. Julian is a godsend to them. 

No one can predict the future but I’m betting on little Julian to be a kind, loving, and successful addition to the world. I may not live long enough to see this but I’m sure it will be so. Maybe if I’m good enough I’ll get to be appointed one of his guardian angels. What a joy that will be to his Great Grandma Joy!