Wood stoves

We have a wood stove in our house, and it is a very nice thing to have around. First of all, it gives off a lot of heat even on the coldest of nights. Once it was like 20 below zero, but our woodstove kept our house at about 85 degrees, and I was sweating. Second it is environmental friendly. We never have to use any propane to heat our house. We only use natural resources; wood. Third, it is cost efficent. As the price of fuel goes up (down a little right now) it is harder to afford all that fuel. We get all our wood for free, all we have to do, is go out into the woods and cut down a dead tree (a lot more than one tree though) and stack the wood for the winter. Alos it is great exersice chooping wood and hauling it. I'm glad we have a wood stove rather than a heater.

Christmas Programs

Today was our church christmas program. It was better than i expected, because every year in the past, our choir has sounded like a whisper in the dark. Nobody ever sang. This year was different, we were louder, the people in the front pews could actually hear what we were singing. Apart from the fact that most of the kids forgot their lines, and even when they did remember their lines they spoke so softly you could have confused them with a mouse, the choir sounded pretty good. Every year it seems like the same program. The little kids put on the old costumes that are faded and moldy from many years of use, they are always excited and seem to have a good time. The older kids however always look like zombies, they trudge around, unhappy to be there and muffle their lines into the microphone. Well anyways I know what it will be like next year.

Different ideas on how to get a tree home

Today, my dad and I went to get a christmas tree for our house. Despite the fact it was an extremely cold day, we went unprepared. We picked out a tree at Bud's Tree Farm, a fairly nice non charliebrown looking one that satisfied our wanting, and brought it to the shed to buy it. well a couple of my colleageus (actually fellow classmates) were there to shake the needles out of it. They brought it to our car and watched as my dad and I realized we didn't have anything to tie it down with. We drove a car there. They stood watching us as my dad pulled out some jumper cables and an old cow halter. My dad put the positive and negative charge to one end and the halter at the other. When finished, my dad was quite satisfied with the makeshift device, he said that people in Florida could not have done it (never gets cold there so not really a need for jumper cables). So we drove home with our makeshift securing device holding the tree horizantally in our trunk. So remember, jumper cables can be used for many different reasons, so always have them in your trunk. Oh, and a halter wouldn't hurt.

Weird

I think it would be very weird to watch yourself on national television, knowing that almost the entire country and many other countries can watch you on tv. I was watching the extreme makeover home edition, and watching someone i know, made me think of how weird it would be. And then on top of it, it would be even more weird to have people watch you watch yourself. it would be extremely unconfortable. I hope I never get on national tv, at least not now anyways.

Running

I wish I lived by the ocean or one of the great lakes, so I could go running along a beach. This thanksgiving weekend I spent in Wisconsin, by lake Michigan. My dad loves running and asked if my brother and I wanted to go running along the lake, so we decided it would be a good idea to run off a little of the thanksgiving fat. we drove out to the lake, and got out and stretched. We started our run, and little by little it grew warmer, and we settled into the mindset of running. we ran along the beach, and then into the woods, for a little naturalistic run. It ended up being 5 miles, and it felt absolutely great. If you ever get the chance to run on a beach you should take it, it is a totally different feel, and is great. I wish I could do it every day.

Crazy Krista

I just got back from a thanksgiving trip to my relatives in Wisconsin. For once in the past four days, there has been peace and quiet. My cousin Krista is one of the craziest little hooligans I have ever seen! She just won't stop! She is probably only 70 pounds,8 years old, almost skin and bone, but she has energy from the moment she wakes up untill the moment her head hits the pillow, and thats an understatement. I don't know where she gets all her energy but its there. She probably talks more in one day than most peolpe do in a week! If you could take the most restless person you know and times it by 3 you probably still wouldn't reach Krista's energy level. sometimes it is fun, and funny, but after 10 hours of non-stop action, you get plain wore out. I probably get wore out more hanging around Kritta then I do at wrestling practice. But all in all, she is fun, and it was fun hanging out with all my cousins from wisconsin.

Snow fences

i just got back from helping my dad put up a snow fence at my "neighbor's" house, who lives just across a couple fields. It was a very painstaking task, as the old wooden fence was jumbled up into a menagerie of twisted wire and broken wood. it took a couple hours of what should have only taken one hour if the fence had been in better shape. My dad and I put up his fence every year, and every year the fence gets worse and worse. Before longe, we will be putting up plain old wire. In any case, it had to be done, and so my dad and I, as we do every year, volunteered ourselfves to help out the old man. In the end we felt good that we were finally done, so it wasn't so bad, but i'm not looking forward to next year.

Winter sports

Its almost that time again for the start of a new sport. Actually it is that time when tomorrow rolls up. No more going home after school and relaxing or taking it easy. Now it's off to the gym or practice room, to practice hard to be the best you can be. now i'm not saying I don't enjoy winter sports, but i certainly enjoy having the extra time at home and time to work that i have to give up for the sport. it is always hard to dedicate so much time and effort into something, so you just have to look at your incentive. the hard work you put in pays, you have fun and you get in good shape.

Time

Just a brief outlook on time, maybe ill write a longer outlook on this topic later. I was at a 4-h banquet tonight. It's an annual banquet in which we celebrate, and recognize the past year that we experienced. I was the president this past year and I sat at the head table at the banquet. as our adult leader gave out awards for the 4-her's in our club, I watched as they came up to recieve their award and recognition. I saw the many smiling faces of the younger kids (2nd and 3rd graders), as they were eager to run up and get their pencil, and their 2 seconds in the spotlight. I can remeber when I was that age, It was the best feeling to go up and get that pencil, and know that the next year I would recieve a bigger and better award than a little pencil. Well when I saw the little kids coming up, all smiles and everything, I went back to when I was that age. I realized that when I was their age I couldn't fathom how long it would take to become as old as the kids at our table were. They were so big, they knew longer words, they could eat more than we could, they were mature at least thats what we thought. So when I that age I thought it would take forever to become that old, I thought it would never happen, but when I was sitting at that head table tonight, I realized, it has seemed like such a short time ago that I recieved my pencil, like it was just yesterday. So it made me think, there is so much time in the future, but not in the past, you can only look back at the past, you cant look into the future. Only hind sight is 20-20.

Capturing Memories

I think everyone should have a quote book. You know, a book that you record all the funny or meaningful things people you know say. It gives you some place to look back to and remember the "good old days". We have a quote book, and it is always a fun time to look back and read them, and get a few laughs. Sometimes when people say things, they don't really think, and it comes out funny, so it's a good idea to write them down. Here are a couple of my favorites from our book:

"No one is good enough to play with me"- My dad refering to his non participation in Gus Macker.

"All I got was a sore arm and a lousy award"- My dad- result of carrying too many heavy books to attract the ladies, the award- class bookworm.

"Don't ducks have four legs?"- My cousin Tracey

"There's blind people, that's why they are doing sign language"- my sister's friend.

There are a lot more, these are just a few, but its always fun to go back and read them. Remember, laughter is the best medicine.

Writing

For some people, writing comes pretty easily. For others, not so easily. I represent the latter.

Ever since I was a child, I have despised writing over any other subject that has ever existed. Don't get me wrong, I love to write but it's the getting started part that I have never possessed. No matter what the circumstances, I will never be happy to write until I get started, and that's the real kicker. I just can't force myself to start writing. I don't know why it has just always been that way. I wish it were otherwise.

I can remember, back when I was home schooled, when I would sit for hours crying over my clean piece of notebook paper. I just couldn't force myself to start writing. My mom once gave me 3 weeks to do a research paper on any topic of my choice. Yeah, I didn't start work on it until the last week. Something inside me would just fight the urge to get something down on paper, until I was forced to get it done.

Don't even get me started on outlines. I believe they save a lot of time too, unless your like me. A couple hours thinking of what to write for just an outline doesn't save much time. As my mom used to say, "The time it takes you to write your outline, it will save you all kinds of time in the long run". Yeah mom, I'm pretty sure it takes me just as long to write an outline as it does to just write the paper. It isn't going to save much time.

You could call me a procrastinator, but the way I see it, the only things I put off until the "last minute" all incorporate writing in it somehow, so I call myself a last minute writer. I'm not sure exactly why it is so hard for me to start writing. Other people have natural likings to write, why isn't it that way for me? Someday I hope this all changes, and then I will be a happy writer:)

Abortion

Abortion-Induced termination of pregnancy, involving destruction of the embryo or fetus.

In other words abortion means eliminating the life of an innocent developing human that would have eventually developed just like you and me.

Abortion rights in our society today is seen as a gray issue, but I see it as black and white because of my belief in the Bible. Exodus 20: 13 "Thou shalt not kill". Can it possibly be stated any clearer than that? Despite this statement, the Bible also recounts times when God allowed and even commanded killing of people for His purposes. (i.e. Old Testament recounting of claiming the Holy Land.) The point is that you have to look at scripture as a whole and take in context. I think there is no allowance for the killing of unborn innocent children.

I can't belive it. Is it okay for me, to one day go out and shoot my neighbor, just based on the fact that he is a hinderance in my life? Who ever said that life is going to be easy? We face struggles in life, and how we deal with them, defines who we are as human beings. Nothing is ever going to be perfect. It's not going to be fun and games all the time. When you come to an obstacle in life, you don't just go smash it down, you find a way around it, and deal with the issue.

Some things just can not be overlooked. Worldwide, there is aproximately 47 million abortions per YEAR. In the United States- 1.37 million per year. Only 1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest. 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient). An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html

The elections

A barrier was broken this past Tuesday with the election of Senator Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America. This is a huge accomplishment for the black community in the U.S.

Although I do not agree with Obama's ideology, I believe that our nation needs a drastic change. Senator John McCain, I believe, had the better plan of turning our country around, but we needed something new, and either candidate possesed that promise.

I just hope that Barack Obama is able to carry out what our nation needs. Change.

Extreme Makeover

I always thought it would be cool if something like this ever happened to somebody so close to where we live. And now it has! And to somebody I know, so it is really sweet. I can't wait until Tuesday when the house is revealed.

Theatre Physics

I went to a theatre physics program that my brother and his cast put on for some extracurricular thing at his college. It was amazing, and very creative. I think it would be cool if some high schools also had this program. It would provide great theatre/performing skills for students, great entertainment for the public, and give something productive for young students to do.

Rendezvous

I always loved the word rendezvous, because it never made any sense. Why not just say lets meet, instead of go to the rendezvous point. Besides, it sounds cool, and reminds me of the Big Island Rendezvous. The Big Island Rendezvous is coming up, and i am excited, because of the commercial on the radio, "we look forward to seeing you at the Big Island Rendezvous".

Dirt

What would we do without dirt? What would we walk on? What could we grow? Dirt is something we take for granted everyday. Without dirt we would have very little food, without dirt we would have no mud. With out the simple matter of dirt our lives would be very hard. We should be thankful for dirt, and every time we eat food that was grown from soil just think of what we would do without it.

Um, Yeah

Well I will blog about apples, because i have no other great ideas running about in my brain. Today I was told to pick up the fallen apples from the trees and throw them in the compost. I realized while dumping bucket after bucket of bad apples, " How can there be this many apples on a tree". After dumping twenty pailfulls of apples, and after the fifth time doing this job, the tree still looks full of apples! Where do they come from?! I don't know, all i know is that i will never be hungry for apples, because there will always be a fresh supply outside.

Aliens

As a kid I loved imagining the little green dudes from outer space and loved drawing little cartoons of them in my spare time. A week ago I had a serious discussion with a friend of mine, about the idea of extra terrestrial life. He told me that he had seen an episode on the history channel about UFOs, and that the "experts" found markings on the inside walls of pyramids, from 4,000 years ago, channeling information directly towards the idea of UFOs and space life. I asked him if he actually believed what the "experts" were saying, and he told me "they know what they are talking about", " it was on the history channel". Just because it is on the history channel, does it make it true? No no no. Were they there 4,000 years ago? Do they know exactly what the markings mean? How can they be positive? Tell me this, where in the Bible does it talk about any living matter other than the planet Earth? God created life on Earth. As for me, I don't believe on life anywhere other than Earth, but I still like to draw the little green guys.

mass-transit

Wouldn't it be great if some of our tax payer money went towards mass-transit? If I wanted to go to a Vikings game, a Twins game, or even shop at the mall, all I would have to do is jump on the train headed for the cities, then catch the light rail or bus to my destination. Lets take a closer look at the benifits of mass-transit. Having less vehicles on the road, would cut way down on dangerous fuel emitions, reduce our dependency on foreign oil, and make people more independent. I believe that mass-transit would be better for the environment, better for the economy, and better for the people.