Kudos To Commodore November 29, 2009

You know you’re old when you can reminisce about your first computer, and it was over twenty years ago.

LOL!  Like any narcissist worth their salt, I was browsing the Sourdough’s archives and enjoying reading some of my old stuff, and discovered this old article, an ode to Commodore computers and the simple magnetism of geekery. 

I hope you enjoy reading this little offering, and realize that even though it is due for some serious updating, it still expresses my wonderment at the joys of life on the internet, and the fun of “getting” geekery.

I even wish I had my old 128 back. It was the only computer that could play Castles of Dr. Creep, the absolute best game ever designed for computers. I don’t know why it has never been released in PC format, but if it ever was, I’m sure it would be just as popular as the original, provided it kept story line, characters, and events as close to the original as possible. A smoother video/updated visuals wouldn’t be bad. But too much departure from the original would kill the spontaneous fun of the game.

I KNOW I’m getting old now. Imagine an old lady reminiscing about a video game…

Real Alaskan Women November 27, 2009

Real Alaskan women are different.

I don’t mean the alaskan-lite (small “A”) pieces of fluff that cluster in Anchorage (“They have a NORDSTROM!”) or Juneau (political groupies in the landlocked state capitol), but the real Alaskan women that helped carve this state out of the wilderness.

Alaskan men admire Alaskan women, not just because there are so few of them, but because the real Alaskan women are as tough as the men. They aren’t afraid to do what has to be done to accomplish what is needed. They will help with logging, hunting, butchering, and have babies, too, on top of all that. And, they don’t complain. They accept hardship and tough going with humor and optimism.

Real Alaskan women don’t whine about going to Hawaii for the winter (although they love it when they go), they just bundle up and put up with another Alaskan winter.  And they learn quickly how to depend on themselves for a lot of the necessities.

They don’t mind wearing sweatshirts, vests, and boots in public.  They have several down vests, hats for all occasions, earmuffs, sweatshirts, and stacks of pairs of gloves in their closets, and can ponder for 15 minutes at a time before purchasing this pair of wool socks instead of that pair. They often find their favorite fashions in the Sportsman’s Warehouse. For them, a new pair of Sorel boots is an important addition to a wardrobe, and even chest waders can be a welcome gift.

They can make a garden produce in spite of rocks the size of babies’ heads, cottonwood seedlings sprouting in the flowerpots, weeks of damp, dismal weather, and moose who simply won’t respect a fence.  They can store canned goods and groceries in places nobody ever thought of, and always manage to find enough stuff to make a meal, even if it’s only salmon-belly chowder. They have a huge walk-out freezer for most of the year (and a giant cooler for most of the rest of it), and they use it frequently. They keep a comprehensive cookbook for game meat and saltwater fish in their heads.  They can make homebrew, and they can drink it.

They are hardy. They are adventuresome and courageous. They are good-natured, philosophical, and patient. Most of them know how to shoot. Almost all of them love fishing and have their favorite poles for each kind of fish and their favorite fishing spots. They also know what to do with all that game and fish after they bag their quarry. They’ve all learned through experience the best ways to get through extended winter power outages (which almost always includes no water, since water pumps run on electricity), snowdrifts over the windows, shoveling snow from roofs of houses, driving on wet ice, and coping with minor medical emergencies in the face of all the above.  (As you can tell, winters in Alaska can be difficult and downright inconvenient, even dangerous.  We all count it a blessing if we make it through any winter without a complication.)

Alaskan women like Alaskan men because they share these attributes, and are hard-working, gruff, manly, and can even be handsome under their beards and muscular under their woolies.  Many Alaskan men have been known to carry their firewarms on their hips at all times. Others wear less obvious holsters, but many are armed, as are more than a few of the women.

Alaskans of both sexes are like forces of nature:  Quirky, patriotic, fiercely independent, boisterous, audacious, adaptable, hard-working, and courageous. The only things they fear are men in suits (usually politicians, around here), women in suits (ball-busters), running out of drinking material, trips to the doctor, and polar bears.

Every time I look around, I can’t help thanking God for giving me the gift of homecoming. I wasn’t born here, but that doesn’t matter, because some people are born Alaskans, no matter where they happen to first see the light of day. It’s a state of being, not a statistical detail. Most Alaskan women wouldn’t be happy anywhere else, even if they left. (I know, because it happened to me. I could only stand it Outside for about 18 years.) 

Alaskan women consider Alaska HOME.  Yeah. Works for me.

Things I’m Thankful For Today November 26, 2009

I’m thankful that God gave me a good opportunity and the means to return home to Alaska. Every day, I look around outside and find another reason to say, “Wow! It is SO good to be home!”

I’m thankful for the way my parents raised me. I was taught to respect them above every other thing I learned as a child. I learned honesty, determination, persistence, good manners, patriotism, faith, patience, willingness to serve and work, and how good it was to laugh a lot. I learned how to pass on what my parents taught me, and also how to live on my own. I learned how to take responsibility for the lives entrusted to me.

I’m thankful that I was born an American. I plan to do everything I can to make sure my grandchildren can say the same thing when they are my age. And I thank God every day for the dedication, honor, bravery, and sacrifice of every person in uniform, wherever they are stationed. Lately, they have had the most thankless task in the world. Pray for them.

I am thankful that I had thirty years with a real man’s man, one who was kind, loving, faithful, hard-working and pious. He taught me a lot of things about life. He was a superior blessing in my life.

I’m thankful for my children and my grandchildren. If it’s true that children keep one young, they are going to be keeping me frisky for a long time. I learned to be patient with their mischief, and to laugh at it later. They have been extraordinary gifts to me.

I am thankful for my faith, and the things the Catholic Church has taught me. I am grateful for the peace and stability it has brought to my sometimes crazy life. I am thankful that I have had the opportunity to experience life in many different parishes and to realize that although the Church is composed of sinners, it is in the business of making saints.

I’m even thankful for the internet, because it has shown me the way to find my own information, and has become my big “free university of the web.” I’m grateful for all the friends I’ve made online, and for the chance to share my ideas and questions with many people around the country without ever having to leave my chair.

I’m thankful for my life. I’ve been close enough to death’s door a couple of times to know I need to cherish every moment given to me. I know it is not MY life, but HIS, and I thank Him for every moment. God is good, and I am blessed.

Giving Thanks, Pt. 2 November 25, 2009

We have a lot to be thankful for this year. First there was THIS,and, then, there was THIS!

THIS IS THE PUMPKIN PIE and here’s the whipped cream…!

Oh, My! Is it Christmas already??

George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation November 25, 2009

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to “recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

About “Global Warming” November 24, 2009

GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE A HOAX FROM THE GET-GO.
GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE A HOAX FROM THE GET-GO.
GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE A HOAX FROM THE GET-GO.
GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE A HOAX FROM THE GET-GO.
GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN PROVEN TO BE A HOAX FROM THE GET-GO.

Now. Can we get back to being rational about drilling for oil?

It’s Getting To Be That Time Of Year November 23, 2009

Here’s a link to an article I wrote a few years ago, regarding the muslim festival of Eid. The links are no longer active, but it’s still a good read.

This is the quaint little time of the year when the muslim men go about hitting themselves and their sons on their heads with machetes to bring as much blood as they can produce. This is also a time for butchering sacrificial animals in the streets, usually with the kids standing by to see how it gets done in a blood-worshipping death-cult.

A True Knight November 22, 2009

Joe was a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus. He loved everything about it, and was always happy to particiapte in honor guards and ceremonies, as well as watching/standing in honor at the caskets of fallen Knights. I can’t see pictures of Knights in their regalia, performing their ceremonial duties to honor Christ in the Eucharist without feeling a deep pang of loss. It was one of the things he really loved.

One event I recall in particular was on an incredibly hot July evening in southcentral Minnesota. It had been 100F for the entire afternoon, and the sun had been shining mercilessly on the little church for hours. The building was old and had no air conditioning. All the Knights who were there for the honor guard were dressed in full regalia: Tuxedo, baldric and sword, chapeau, and gloves, as well as a long, lined cape. They stood in that hot little church for two hours with only the skin of their faces exposed to the air.

After the ceremonies, when they retired to the social hall to remove their regalia, they discovered that even their capes were soaked with perspiration. Jackets were sodden with sweat, their shirts clung to them like they had been hosed down. Anything that didn’t get dry cleaned the next day showed white salt stains. He considered it a cheap price to pay for the honor of being part of the ceremony.

God bless the “Patriotic Degree” of the Knights of Columbus. If you are a member, you have my very deep respect. If you are Fourth Degree, you have my great gratitude.

The TRUTH Will Out November 20, 2009

I wish I had a video clip of me doing the happy-dance around my living room when I saw this, just after I saw THIS. Prayerful patience has triumphed again. Life is truly GOOD!

Tell Me Again November 19, 2009

My Back Yard Last Winter

It’s been COLD here this last couple of weeks. The thermometers are regularly going below zero, and depending on where they are located, they are going down into the -20F range. We even set a record low temperature for the date yesterday. This means lots of heat usage. Where people in the south rely for months on their air conditioners to get them through steamy summers, the opposite holds true here. For instance, my high-efficiency furnace starts a new cycle approximately every hour. Between the gas and the electricity, my winter expenses are quite high. And we have been promised by Washington that our utilities are going to double this winter. I haven’t seen a $200 natural gas bill yet, but this will probably be the year it turns up in my mail box. Electricity is a little cheaper, but not because the politicians want it that way. Do the words, “Drill, Baby, Drill!” sound familiar to you?

When I first moved back to Alaska, my friends were astonished. Somehow, to them, moving from Minne-so-cold to Alaska didn’t make sense. Of course, their -40 plus winter temperatures and continual wind doesn’t cross their minds. I’ve heard it said before, and I will only repeat it because I’ve heard it from others, but there is something about Minnesota’s cold that makes it much harder to take than Alaska’s. Humidity? Wind? I don’t know, but I’ll take my chances in the Last Frontier, thank you. I was never so cold as I was in the years I spend in Minnesota — short of falling through the ice, and all that.

Temperatures here are expected to be low in the winter. Depending on the distance from open liquid water, it can range from Fairbanks’ dips down into the -60F range to the 40′s above in Wrangell and Ketchikan this time of year. I’ve been to Fairbanks in January when the thermometers read -63 F, and people went about their business as if it was 50 above. (the picture above is taken in Fairbanks, year unknown) They left their cars running all night, and they bundled up until they looked like bears, but they did it. The frost buildup around doors and on windows is something to see.

Here, we don’t get a lot of snow. We do get a lot of sunshine, though, believe it or not. It’s low, and not very warm, but it’s bright and cheerful, and helps make the winters feel like less of a burden. My little house has big windows that face south, so this time of year means lots of sun shining in. This is a good thing.

Seeing the sun for a few hours every day helps hold off the depression-state known as “Seasonal Affective Disorder.” We knew about this up here for years. We call it “Cabin Fever.” It means that light-deprived life forms become morose, irritable, suicidal, aggressive, and just generally not fun to be around. Unfortunately, one of the signs of depression is a desire to just stay in bed, which only makes matters worse. Being shut indoors for hours on end day after day leaves people frustrated and grouchy. Sitting by a bright window is a big help. One of our biggest guns is Vitamin D supplements. This can be a regular tablet, pill, or capsule, or it can be cod liver oil, but those of us who know about these things take it religiously, and escape the worst of the depression.

The Solstice is right around the corner. We learn to love December 21 up here. This is the low point in the sun’s position, and from this date forward, the days will lengthen. Having an increase in daylight hours is a cheering, encouraging thing for those of us whose Cabin Fever is getting the best of us. Our coldest days are usually in January and February, but we will experience them in the sunshine.

I have friends Outside who are shoveling out of early global warming drifts and chipping climate change off their windshileds every morning. Here, we don’t get enough moisture in the winter to cause much of that. What we do get takes the form of fog, which turns to hoarfrost on everything and turns it into a sugar-coated fairyland. It’s hard to be depressed by that. Another plus for living up here in the winter is that it keeps the rifraff out. It also keeps the bugs down. Tell me again that I’m nuts for moving back up here.