LET US FILL OUR DAY WITH PEACE

Sitting here, in the moment, I can only see perfection on Planet Earth. It is one of those perfect Mornings. Cool but not cold, brilliant Sunshine, the recent high humidity has disappeared, I don't know if it could be more perfect.

Our old chickens are still laying well; eight eggs yesterday, pretty good for late August. I have twenty plus hens, but several are old, some very old for chickens; perhaps as much as ten years old. I have an old age home for old biddies. If we were completely dependent on the land, they would be chicken soup, but we are not and I don't mind them wiling out their days; they grace our life, they served us well.

Our chicks were two weeks old yesterday. They are twice as big already! They grow so fast. They could be 7 pounds by late November. They drink a gallon of water a day and have consumed fifty pounds of food so far. There should be 45; 35 broilers, 3 Americauna roosters, 6 pullets [to add to the flock] and one exotic that the hatchery threw in. I try to count them, just for the fun of it, did you ever try counting scurrying chickens? I haven't been successful.

A day like this reminds me, that if we want to help humankind and raise the consciousness of the world, the place to start is in ourselves. The world looks perfect to me this Morning. It is perfect. From here, all I can see is love. But as amazing as my environment is, I could see nothing but drudgery or even horror, if I was looking through a different filter. When we look with eyes, through a mind cluttered with fears, we see the fears out pictured; such is perception.

We all want to heal the world. And sometimes it cries out to us desperately. We often act as unhealed healers. The effort is never wasted. What we do, out of concern for others, will always be helpful. We could even be more powerful, if we acted out of peace.

No matter what task we do, helping and advising a neighbor or a mundane task around the house, we will be more effective when we act from a peaceful place. When we are harried by a myriad of regular responsibilities, or facing the awesome task of dealing with a painful relationship, we will always be better off if we can find peace in ourselves before commencing.

With peace comes the power to change. When we are peaceful, at our core, the universe opens up to us, we have help, the energy of the universe is ours.

The light we shine on humanity is much greater when we are in a peaceful place

Let us be peaceful today.

Love and Peace, Gregg

PREPARATION TWO

 

It is cool and drizzly. It rained hard for 15 minutes; thunder and lightening, the works, but it must have been a fast moving system. It is still cool but it supposed to get in to the eighties. This has been an interesting Summer, weather-wise, we have alternating periods, of a few days, of below normal temperatures, then days of normal or above normal temps. The warm periods are accompanied by high humidity. High humidity is not unusual, for our Summers, but it is unusual to have no hot dry days. I don't remember a single hot day that wasn't humid.

It was a good year for thistles and burdock. We should re-name our farm Thistle Acres or Thistle Heaven. Then, next year, we may have a shortage of thistles. The Goldfinches sure like it. They do an arial dance around the thistles, right outside my window, in the North pasture.

I said I would write about preparing for a world wide currency reset. If the dollar lost much of its value on the world stage, suddenly, there would be a period of confusion, even if it was handled well. All imported goods, [most of what we buy] would raise in price; they could double. It is probable that banks would take a holiday to adjust. Some big stores may close to re-evaluate there goods. Warehouses may delay delivery until they are guaranteed payment on their new schedules. Commerce could shut down for awhile. I don't know that it is possible to predict. Commerce, as usual, may be restored in a few days or months. Our macro-banking system, is on life support, now, trillions of dollars in bad debts and securities, left over from the last crash; can they handle a hit of this magnitude? Local banks, if they are truly local, should be in much better shape. Are there any, truly, local banks left?

We can see the problem. A sudden drop in the dollar from 1/3 to 1/2 depending on where we live, will have consequences. How much? Your guess is as good as mine.

It wouldn't hurt to be prepared. Where I live, many folks, are used to having some reserves. We get snowed in sometimes. Thunderstorms interrupt our electric power. We have never been snowed in, longer than three days, and we have never lost our power for more than a day. We have a few bottles of water, stored in the basement, just in case.

A fiscal crunch shouldn't cause a loss of basic services, e.g, water, electricity etc. There are scenarios where it could happen. I am not anticipating that here. The main concern is that commerce may shut down for awhile until prices are re-established. Warehouses may halt deliveries. It would be wise to have stores of food that will last, at least two or three months, on hand.

It is a good time to think in terms of self-sufficiency. Obtain your seeds for next year. Where might you plant a garden? How about canning and other ways to preserve food? Do you have a pressure cooker? How about a good canning book?

Think in terms of storing non-perishable foods. Besides canned foods, there is rice, dried beans, flour, sugar, salt, vinegar, dried fruits [raisins] etc.

Many cities have Chinese groceries where one may purchase high quality rice in large quantities. I think we have bought it in 40 pound bags. If you are familiar with ordering through Amazon, you know you can obtain almost anything.

Remember, spices. What do you use frequently? Jamie just ordered cumin and curry because we were running low. We try to keep a stock of our favorite spices.

We don't have a good larder because we prepare for disaster. We just do it for comfort. There is nothing nicer, than an array of home-canned foods on the pantry shelf. It is similar to having a nice woodpile, if you depend on wood for warmth. It is nice to know we don't have to run to the store because supper is coming up. Jamie has many, many prepared meals in the freezer. Just the other day, she bought some green peppers at the farmers market and she made several meals of stuffed peppers and put them in the freezer. Yes, we tried them; wow, were they delicious.

Obviously, those living in the country, have advantage over those living in the city. Largely though, it is a matter of consciousness. We have met farmers wives who did not know how to can tomatoes. Many people, in the country, are as dependent on the day to day economic commerce, as city folk. Jamie and I became 'homesteaders' in the seventies. In our attempt to live off the land, we learned to value the rhythm of Nature. We loved gathering foods, both natural and planted, and storing them for a future time. If you have a bag of beans and some spices, perhaps a little meat for flavoring, you learn to cook differently, too.

I can't make a list of what folks should buy. Everybody is different. What do you like? What can you cook? Think of all the non-perishable foods; dried beans, peas, rice, dried fruits, etc., what do you like? What can you put in your freezer? We need to keep in mind, that if the disruption gets bad enough, and we lose electric power, we will need to can all that food in the freezer. I don't see why that would happen, but, depending on where we live, it may be a consideration.

We make sure we have enough canning jars, lids, rings etc. and salt and vinegar for pickling. We have flour and sugar in mouse proof containers.

Think of your community. What might your neighbors run out of? An extra supply of coffee or tea might be nice.

Think about it. Come up with some ideas for yourself. Think of it as an adventure! No fear. Let us love ourselves and take good care of ourselves and keep a loving eye on our neighbors.

The Sun has come out! It is shining brightly!

Love and Peace, Gregg

PREPARATION ONE

It was forecast to get down to 48F last night. I don't know if it got that cold. I didn't look at the thermometer when I got up. It was in the fifties when I noticed. I was impressed by the beauty of the world. The Sun was brilliant. Everything looked so bright. Yet, one can feel Autumn on the horizon. There is a change in the offing; despite the 80s forecast for next week, we know the seasons are achanging. I noticed Wednesday, as we were driving through the countryside, the Red Maples were beginning to show red. It was especially noticeable on the edge of boggy areas.

I am not sure what we need to prepare for concerning a financial crisis. It has been discussed for a long time that the present course must end. When I was growing up, we were told frequently that we had stores of gold in Fort Knox to protect our money. When I first looked at dollar bills they were labeled Silver certificates. Coins still had face value. Dimes, quarters, and half dollars were silver. Nickels were nickel and pennies were copper. I was in graduate school [1964 to 66] when silver coins disappeared from circulation. It was rumored that the metal was worth more than the face value of the coins. They disappeared so fast it is hard to believe that individuals did it. I suspect the government vacuumed them up, but there was no word about it.

Over the years paper money went from being silver and gold certificates, to promissory notes and now they are labeled Federal Reserve Notes. Take note that the Federal Reserve is not part of the government. The transition from precious metal backed money, to fiat money, was gradual. I believe the last remnant of the gold standard died in the Nixon administration. It had to do with his refusal to honor a request from France to pay a promised debt in gold. From there, the gold standard was left behind both internationally and nationally.

I was not one to object to the switch to fiat money. I argued, at the time, that it is artificial, whether it is gold or paper, and if we all agreed to accept that a piece of paper, had such and such value; what difference would it make. I trusted the government not to poop in its own nest. If people are honorable, there is no reason, fiat money can't work.

However, there is greed, there is corruption, there is stupidity and it is much easier to manipulate, the national and world economy, if you can print all the money you want. Banks always had control, now they had a new instrument to use for manipulation. It is a good point to remind ourselves, that the Federal Reserve is a private corporation. It is not part of the government and congress in not capable of overseeing it.

It would take too long a blog to spell out, with clarity, how this became a problem. The world financial markets became a gambling casino for the greedy. Money may have always been used, as a tool for punishing individuals and countries, but it became refined in the hands of the current banking cabal.

I don't know what was in the mind of these folks. They obviously wanted world domination and money was there most powerful weapon. They must have known their system would collapse. They couldn't print money based on nothing forever. They must have believed their war strategy was going to be successful and they would have complete control of the World before the collapse.

They didn't count on a successful rebellion against the World Reserve Currency and the Petro Dollar, both of course in U.S. dollars.

What happened? The Petro Dollar has been in danger ever since some countries decided they could sell oil for other than U.S. dollars. They could no longer be punished militarily. It was to risky, and the cabal counted on most countries, having large caches of dollars, so they didn't want to jeopardize the value of the dollar, either. The dollar has continued to hold sway as the World Reserve Currency. All other currencies are valued against it, and in many World trade transactions, it is the preferred, if not the required currency.

Several countries, with the leadership of Russia and China, have formed their own monetary system in opposition. They have created banks, that are lending money to third world countries, and undercutting the current regime. It has been rumored for several years, that they were amassing gold reserves, and they would be issuing a gold backed currency that would challenge and replace the dollar, as the World Reserve Currency.

It appears that there is a foundation for these rumors and chaos in the world financial system will happen soon. The dollar would no longer be acceptable in world trade, if there was an alternative, that had real value.

There will be a world wide re-set of currency values. The dollar will lose greatly on the world stage. Domestically it may retain a third of its value. I wouldn't know how to foretell this. This event will signal the beginning of the collapse of the world financial institutions. The rest of the systems will follow.

This is a long preamble to discuss what I had planned for today. "How do we prepare?"

First of all, despite how dreadful it seems, there are people awakening at all levels of society and government. Many people have seen this coming. It is even rumored that the U.S. is preparing to issue new currency.

I think we should imagine, how we would get along, if suddenly we had no money for a period of, at least, a few months. It could be longer.

It was common where I grew up for families to have stores of food. My grandparents had stores of canned meat and vegetables. When freezers were available, they acquired them, and they were stocked. Likewise, my parents, always had reserves of food. My Mother had a large garden and she canned enough vegetables to last for a year. My dad would buy a whole pig and that would be frozen or canned. There was venison and fish that were caught. Before we acquired a freezer, we had meat, in a crate, outside on a porch roof, accessible from an upstairs window; only in the Winter, of course.

We, Jamie and I, spent seven years, living off the land and existing with very little money. Jamie did a great deal of canning and preserving food. We had no electricity, no running water, it is much easier with freezers; we have three now.

It is not a big deal storing enough food to last a couple months and perhaps, specialty items, like coffee etc. we may contribute to the community.

I have a great deal more to write, and I need to get at some chores. I have a list of suggestions. I will supply them on Monday. I don't think we are in that much of a hurry.

Whenever a disaster happens folks rise up to the occasion. We will be okay. We love each other.

Have a Happy Friday! Celebrate! Sing and dance!

Love and Peace, Gregg

EVERYTHING WILL BE ALL RIGHT

It is 1:38PM. I am usually done blogging by now. I am getting a late start because our cleaning lady, who comes every other Thursday to shovel out the place, had to switch to Wednesday. I think she is having a yard sale tomorrow. We went out to breakfast in Isanti, then went to Cambridge, and did a little shopping.

I often mention the collapse of world, as we know it, many people agree, many don't see anything. Even those that agree see different things. Many historians are fascinated with political structures, and compare today with periods of other empire collapses. Some of these comparisons are very detailed. Some folks study the rise and crumbling of democracies. We have details of both modern and ancient. The deterioration of the ancient Greek and Roman democracies are well documented.

Most scholars would agree, that a full fledged functioning democracy, never happened in America. It was a struggle from the beginning. Folks, with power and wealth, always had much greater influence over government decisions, than ordinary folk. The vast majority of people were kept in servitude. But servitude, in itself, is not such a bad thing, if we feel free and are well fed. It doesn't take much, in the nature of material, to make one happy. If our body is well and comfortable and we have a good relationship with an opposite [or same] sex partner; what else do we want.

What else do we want? Well we want to make sense and order of our universe. We don't want the nature of our existence dictated by overlords. We don't want the feeling that we are toiling so others can be rich. We want to know what freedom really feels like. We are not interested in what passes off as freedom via propaganda and other indoctrination.

Yes. We see the corruption. We know the Earth, and our own bodies and minds, are being poisoned. We know that, those in love with power and money, are willing to kill as many people as they can, in so called terror attacks, in an effort to promote war. War is their method of staying in power and maintaining their wealth.

I could fill page after page of how horrible it is. I don't want to do that. What I want to maintain, is the collapse is a good thing, and a necessary thing. The inequality, the poisoning of the Earth, the poverty and other afflictions of Humankind will continue if the present banker/corporate structure remains.

As long as the love of money is more important than the love we have for each other; we are stuck.

But we are not stuck. The love we have for each other is our true nature. In the absence of the those, who have had their foot on our necks, for the last few thousand years, we would create true democracy from the village forward. I will not say 'up'. There is no unit of government higher or lower than the village.

We all see the symptoms of world collapse differently. I have been paying attention to economic factors. Put in any question about the economy into your search engine. There are endless articles predicting collapse. Some hysterical, some learned, some merely descriptive, some try to be prophetic. There is a lot of smoke, how much fire is there? If one just looks at the facts, the cold hard facts; it doesn't look good. We can't keep kicking the fiat money can down the road. We continue to create more money to pay off bad debt. This scenario has always ended. And not well.

I don't want you to believe me, because I say it, I am far, far from an expert in this field and I am a very bad prophet. From what I can see, and I feel it in my bones, a financial collapse is very close. That will lead the way.

This is nothing to be afraid of; it is to be celebrated. Preparation, however, is in order. What would we do, if we had the sudden absence of money, for a few months? What kind of stores should we have in our pantries? There would be many people in shock and disbelief, how can we best help them? How can we come together and provide for each other?

I will be thinking of this and will write more on it, Friday.

Everything will okay. We all have the answers in our heart. We do love each other. The natural order of life is love.

Love and Peace, Gregg

LET'S STOP WORRYING

 

I am getting a late start. I wasn't sure I was going to blog. I had to fix a hose this Morning. We were at a family reunion yesterday. [more about that later] When we got home, found the water pressure in the house was low. Jamie checked the hydrant; water was flowing through the hose, going out to the shed, where we have the chicks. We have a hydrant on our well, with a manifold, that has hoses attached going four different ways. Every Spring, after the danger of freezing is over, we leave the hydrant handle up in the 'on' position and shut the water off at the manifold. Some of the hoses are old, some may be leaky, so I always make sure the the water is turned off when I am done with it. I always check it before I go to bed at night and before we go somewhere.

The last thing I did yesterday, before leaving for the reunion, was to water the chicks. I forgot to turn it off and I didn't check it before getting into the car. The connection on the end of the hose is, an after factory replacement, that I made over ten years ago. It popped off under the water pressure. I don't know how long the water was running, but I suspect several hours. No harm done, that I can tell, but I was pretty bummed out. Not so much for the error, we make those; but, for the fact that I was fussing in my mind in a worrying sort of way about the security of things. I felt like I created the experience with my worrying mind. Whether, I did or not, there are no accidents and I need to practice what I preach; worrying is a useless activity. It never does anything but rob us of our peace. Thoughts are powerful and we don't want to contribute to creating what we don't want.

Fortunately, most of those busy mind type thoughts are cancelled out by opposing busy mind type thoughts. However, it is time, we [me] paid more attention to not having thoughts, we do not want to see manifested. A good place to start is to see the silliness of worrying.

Well the necessity to fix the hose got me outside to discover what an absolutely gorgeous day it is! It was cool early on; the day started with temperatures in the fifties F. The Sun was bright and unimpeded, by not even the wisp, of a cloud. And.........the big and.......there were no mosquitoes.

Come to think of it, there were no mosquitoes at the reunion yesterday. The family reunion was comprised of, the descendants and their mates, of my Grandparents, George and Odila Warren. There was quite a large turn out and it was fun to see all those cousins, nieces, nephews etc. I rarely get to see. Some I hardly recognized, others have the family resemblance firmly stamped on their features. All are a little older. Funny how others get older while we stay the same. I was the oldest one there. I do have an Aunt who is three years older, she lives in Ohio, it is too far for her to drive. I am the oldest male on both sides of the family.

My younger brother was commenting on the changing weather patterns and saying we are now into Autumn. I was seeing that this Morning and feeling a little melancholy. It wasn't a bad feeling. It made me appreciate more what was going on around me. Time is moving rapidly and that is okay.

I think that is enough stuff for a person who wasn't sure he was going to blog.

Have a wonderful day and let us make an end to worry. All we need to do is love each other.

Love and Peace, Gregg

HAPPY FRIDAY

I awoke to a thunderstorm about an hour before dawn. Wind driven rain was slamming against the house and thunder rumbled majestically overhead. I stayed awake for awhile. It seemed like an hour, but I bet it was only 15 minutes or so. We got an inch of rain.

First thing I did when I got up was to check to see if the baby chicks were okay. I have 125 feet of extension cord, strung through the trees, powering their broody lamp. The trees are soft maple and they like to lose branches in a wind storm. A falling branch would unplug the cord. They were okay. They are doing very well and they are showing growth already.

The night before last, the oven quit heating before the food was completely cooked. Actually, I thought it was fine, perhaps slightly el dente, but done enough. Jamie was a little more unhappy about it. I called our gas stove fixit man and he said he would not be able to come out until Monday. He suggested the pilot light may have gone out. I didn't see how that could happen while the stove was in operation.

Anyway, I just got off my knees, peering into the bottom of the stove, seeing if the pilot light was out, it was, and then attempting to light it. For me, one of the things about being old, is the difficulty getting up and down. It is no picnic. I was happy, to pay, to get that pilot light lit. But, I got it lit and I called Dave [stove man] back and told him he didn't have to make the trip. In answer to my query, he said that some ovens go completely off when the thermostat reaches the desirable temperature, and once in a while, propane will make a little puff and blow out the pilot light. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.

What do we do, as the world crumbles around us? I think it is clear by now, that I think mankind has been in various levels of slavery for thousands of years. Those seeking wealth and power have used varying forms of fear to keep us in endless war. They control the media, the banks, and much of the corporate structure. I talked before about when folks find themselves up to their eyebrows in poop, they may focus on how to get out, or study how they got into it, and what may comprise the poop.

Both approaches have their advantages and their champions. For me, I want to learn to get out of it. I see that free people cannot be manipulated. For some people, being free means we understand, chapter and verse, how we were enslaved. I think there is truth in that. However, I think some folks will get bogged down in the horror of our history and they may find discouragement rather than see the way out.

We need to understand, yet we need to raise our consciousness. At its most basic level, it is a war between love and fear. Most of us are convinced that fear cannot win, but the horror can be dragged out. We don't want to drag it out. We can use, the love and light from everyone, if we are going to overcome the darkness.

I think it is a very individual thing. Some of us are lifted up and made lighter by understanding, the nitty-gritty, of how we have been controlled, and other of us, want to just head for the light.

No matter, which type we are, we need to find the light in ourselves. We need to fall in love with who we are. So we can love all we perceive.

Have an excellent Friday! Celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg

CHICKENS

It was hot and muggy yesterday afternoon but cool this Morning. I had to put on a long sleeved, heavy shirt and I am still chilly. It is supposed to be hot and humid again today.

I did get my glasses Monday and it turned out to be a fizzle. They were too strong. I have to hold a paper three inches from my nose, to read it through the bifocals. I checked the new prescription against the old and found they were stronger. The optometrist said that he changed the prescription slightly. This was more than slightly. Perhaps, it got written down wrong. Jamie is going to order me some on my old prescription.

And, we did get the chicks yesterday. That was a success. There is nothing more life reaffirming than baby chicks. {We have that experience with all babies, don't we} I was pleased to discover, that I had ordered, 2 Speckled Sussex, 2 Barred Rocks and 2 Buff Orpingtons for replacement hens. I was thinking that I ordered ten straight run Americaunas, hoping to get at least five hens. I had forgotten that I had changed my mind at the last minute. I wanted the Americaunas because I wanted another rooster, or two, and I wanted Americaunas because the colored egg trait is dominate and I may raise my own hens next year. I like those colored eggs.

I chose the Speckled Sussex because I they are so spectacular looking and I we don't have any right now; at least not pure bred. Many of our chickens are mixed breeds by now. I ordered the Barred Rocks, again, because we don't have any right now and they, also, provide some nostalgia as they were the chickens we had when I was a child. And the Buff Orpingtons; I love those big fluffy beings. They are the epitome of chicken Motherhood and femininity. They probably are not better setters, than several other breeds, but they sure look the part.

We ordered our chickens from Murray McMurray. They are from Iowa. Over the years we have purchased chickens from other hatcheries but Murray McMurray has become our favorite. They included three free chickens. One male Americauna, one red ranger and one exotic chick. It is always fun to see what the exotic chick will turn out to be.

Thirty-six of the chickens are Red Ranger broilers. We prefer them to the usual Rock/Cornish. The Red Rangers are real chickens. They range freely and search for bugs and scratch around. They are a little slower to put on weight; but they do and they make excellent roasters and they are delicious.

The Rock/Cornish have been over bred, to become little machines to convert feed to meat. They don't act like real chickens and spend most of their time waddling from the feed trough to the water. They are prone to having trouble with their legs, because they gain weight faster than their legs, can develop, to hold them up. It is the typical Super Market chicken. I don't feel right eating an animal that has been so exploited, for our use, that it cannot even behave like a chicken.

The Farmers Almanac is predicting an early Winter with lots of snow. I hope their wrong. These broilers won't be ready for the freezer until Thanksgiving time.

This is my Chicken Blog and I don't have much more to say.

I will leave you with a mathematical/psychological puzzle. How can a dog that weighs about five pounds ringing wet, hold down the bed covers, so successfully, that they can hardly be moved, then when they are pulled, she can communicate the message, that she is profoundly disturbed? She manages to send this message, although it is pitch black, and she makes no noise. But it is clear, you are a disturbing force in her life.

Have a Great Wednesday. Love your life. Hug the person next to you.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

ITS EXCITING TO BE ALIVE

 

It is eleven already. It has been a slow leisurely Morning. I almost finished the Sunday crossword before I had to let the chickens out. This could be an eventful day. Our chicks may come and I may get my new glasses.

Let me tell you the saga about my glasses. I have metal rimmed glasses with bifocals. Sure I can get along without them. I passed my drivers test [barely] without them. I read a lot and I don't like, taking on and off, reading glasses. Anyway, a couple years ago, I finally got real prescription glasses, to the tune of about $400. Before I had them a few months, a lens kept popping out. I got the appropriate screw driver to keep them tightened up, but I couldn't keep up with the task and I lost a lens in the snow when I was out doing the chores. It cost me an arm and a leg to buy a new lens and it still loosened on a weekly basis. I did find the lens when the snow melted.

The Summer following, I was mowing the grass; I was going under a low branched pear tree, when a branch pulled my glasses off my face and broke the frame where it is attached to the bridge. Well, superglue was the answer to that problem. It worked fine, but every few months I would re-break them, doing something as simple as cleaning them. I last broke them a couple weeks ago. In the process of gluing them, I got more glue, stuck to my fingers, as I did on the break. Then I got it all over the lens. Well that is not the first time it happened, so I knew the answer to that too; acetone, it cleaned those lenses beautifully.

However, this time I cleaned them in the bathroom and rinsed the lenses in hot water. The glue turned snow white. So I have a white jagged line around ¼ of the right lens. It is not pretty.

Several months ago, Naomi told me I could get glasses online for much less than what I paid for these. However, I needed a more recent prescription. I finally accomplished that this Spring and this final debacle, with the glue, propelled us to order a new pair.

Life on this planet in unpredictable and it continues to bring us the unexpected. Mostly that is good. However, we are living in chaos right now, at least at a global level. There are many signs of the people emerging from the darkness, but that is difficult to see if we pay attention to the main stream media. I wrote a blog on equanimity awhile ago. I don't know what I had to say, but I know, it is more important than ever, to keep tuned to the peace that is our essential being.

Believe me, it is possible to remain peaceful when chaos surrounds us. The further the chaos is away from us the easier it is to stay out of it. Global chaos can be far away. Even national chaos can be ignored. Family and personal chaos is a different story. It is more difficult to deal with, when we feel impinged upon. However, we have all known people who have kept their equanimity through the most dreadful events. We have examples.

To repeat: it all has to with loving ourselves. When we really care for ourselves, we choose not to receive threatening or hurtful remarks or behavior. We know we are more than OKAY! We know that we are beloved beings of a Loving Universe. Another person in pain, no matter how great the pain or how close they are to us, need not throw us off our center. They attack out of their pain. We cannot help them by reacting to them. They need understanding, compassion, listening to; it rarely helps to try to interfere or help them during a painful outburst.

We can help them, however, by maintaining our own equanimity and, regardless of what we are experiencing at the time, we can see our fellow beings as perfect loving beings. The ability to see through a person's disguise, to the loving being they actually are, is a very healing activity.

The World needs our love. Let us not block it. We can let the love flow through. Everybody will be blessed.

We just got a couple packages from UPS. One looked like it could be glasses. Excitedly tore it open. It wasn't. I think they are coming by US mail, anyway. Even when we are 81 we can get excited by small things.

It is a beautiful day on planet Earth. My finger is getting better. It is time I commenced doing the dishes. I look forward to it.

Happy Monday! Have a marvelous week.

Love and Peace, Gregg

BATS IN THE BELFRY

We had a bat in the house last night. It was the first bat invasion in several years. Before we had a new roof put on and had some holes repaired around our chimney, we had frequent winged visitors; but that was over twenty years ago. I don't know how this little creature got in. However, it was causing consternation among some members of the family, so I set out to hunt it down. I used to use a tennis racket, I would just stun them and release them outside. I haven't used a tennis racket for what it was intended, in over forty years, and I don't know where it is. I tried a broom and an old hat [the soft one I gather eggs in]. I trapped the creature in the downstairs bathroom. I tried several times to whack it with the broom. Nothing. Finally he/she started landing on things and I tried to catch it in my hat. Twice, it landed on the window screen and I was able to cover it with my hat. If I had something stiff, like cardboard to slide between the hat and the screen it would have worked. As it was, I tried to squeeze the hat brim together trapping the bat inside. Twice it escaped just when I thought I had it.

Suddenly the bat was gone! I searched every inch of the bathroom. No bat. Then I became aware of an aperture between the bathroom and the laundry room; it is covered with a decorative grate, sawed out of wood by Jamie. It is at the ceiling level and has openings big enough to let a bat pass through. Its purpose is to help level temperatures between the two rooms, especially in Winter; however, it became the great bat escape.

We couldn't see the bat anywhere. Hours later, it emerged from the laundry room flying in that dipping, dodging pattern that bats have perfected. Three, four times it raced through the living room, then, it vanished again. Waited, with broom at the ready, no bat. Jamie went to bed, after a careful inspection of the room; she doesn't like the idea of a bat flying over head as she sleeps. I stayed up hoping to trap it on the screen porch. I thought, but I am not a bat, it would fly where it would be closest to the outside. Once it was on the screen porch I could close the inside doors, open the outside door and merely shoo it out. Good plan, but the creature did not appear again. I went to bed about 12:30. This Morning we searched the premises. No bat.

I hope we don't have to go through this again tonight!

Speaking about bats; how many times, when we get into an argument, do things quickly deteriorate into some version of who is the craziest? If we take notice, the argument is rarely focused on the thing or infraction that caused the initial concern. Someone feels impinged upon and then, suddenly somebody's feelings are hurt, and then it can become a competition over who can best insult the other person.

We are always convinced we are right, or we wouldn't be arguing. Who started it? Who won't quit? Who is the most despicable? Who is the most dishonorable? We can be coolly logical or passionately emotional, but the nut of the argument is, who is more wrong. In our conviction of our riotousness we can do much temporary damage to the relationship. Ego smashing, of this kind, can actually enrich a relationship, but there are much less painful ways to do it.

How, why, do we get caught up in these things? When we get to the place, where we know we are absolutely lovable, we won't react to someone else's comment, no matter how inflammatory or despicable. We will know they are in some pain. We will step away, knowing that at this moment, we can only have compassion for them.

Well, were not there yet, but we are getting there. We can imagine being that secure in ourselves. In the meantime, when we find ourselves, angrily arguing our riotousness, remember there is always a way to stop the escalation. We can always just quit. We don't have to have the last word. We can't end on a winning note. When we are arguing about whose the craziest- we are both nuts.

As we grow in appreciation of how loving and loved we are, these confrontations will become fewer and fewer and much attenuated. The solution, as always, is love. All the problems in the world originate from our lack of love of ourselves.

When we are loving ourselves, we don't attack. When we are loving ourselves, we don't take offense.

I repeat; it would be very benefiting to spend some time, every day, emerged in a vast, quiet place of loving energy. Try it. Sit back. Close your eyes. Imagine being embraced by a Universe of Love. Imagine love penetrating to the core of your being. Imagine the love from your core pouring out to greet the Love of the Universe. Yes, we are One with the Universe.

Love and Peace, Gregg

AND LIFE GOES ON

I awoke to wind driven rain slashing the side of the house. By the time I got out of bed, dressed and downstairs, the rain had slowed to a drizzle. We just got the forefront and the main part of the storm went North. This has been the pattern this year. Storms have gone a few miles North and a few miles South and we remain in a relatively dry pocket. Fortunately we have received enough rain to keep the crops in good shape. A couple weeks ago the corn and soy beans were looking bad and we got rain in the nick of time. The crops are just beginning to show the symptoms of dryness again; we are supposed to get more rain tonight and tomorrow.

For the first time, I was ready for the chicks. I cleaned out the shed. Got the extension cord hung up and the heat lamp in place. Cleaned and filled a waterer and went to town to purchase feed [chick-starter]. When we returned home Noah said, “The hatchery called and said they had a poor hatch and we won't get our chicks until next week.” Such is life! We ordered our chicks late this year because of the wedding. We just had too much to do. There are advantages to getting them late. There is less artificial heat required and they mature when the weather is cool which makes butchering more pleasant. However, everyday counts and we don't want to be butchering in a snow storm either. This is Minnesota, after all, Winter can arrive with November.

For those who are new readers, Noah is my number four Son. He has been living in California pursuing an acting career. He moved back to Minnesota several months ago and he is staying with us until he gets his acting career on track here. His Son Gregory, twelve, has been visiting us these last two weeks. He is going back to California on Friday. His cousin, Elijah, eight, [Naomi's Son] is staying here to take advantage of Gregory's visit. It has been a delightful having this youthful energy in our midst. Noah has been the main caregiver. Good thing. Grandparents are getting long of tooth.

These are difficult, horrible times to live through; or exciting and promising, depending on your perception. Most of us experience a little of each. The carnival show, of the main stream media, is seductive; but it should be avoided unless we can see it as a bad movie, that we can exit any time. Even then we must guard against being programmed and manipulated. Rarely are we seeing truth presented.

We need to keep our minds focused on the World Created by Love that is emerging through the haze of this illusion. We have been living in a world created by separation, an ego driven experience, we have had enough, we are ready to give up the illusion.

The old world has been maintained by our feelings of unworthiness. We have not believed we deserved any better. We were encouraged to believe we were unworthy, helpless and incompetent; therefore, we created a world to fit those attitudes. We are creators! We will make the world we perceive. We must accept who we are. We are Love. We are part of Source.

It is time, each one of us, were completely honest with ourselves and begin to give up all ideas of ourselves that are not loving. I know, it is easy to say, difficult to do. I find myself mucking around, on a daily basis, with negative thoughts. I deserve better! You deserve better! We deserve better! All these negative ideas came from programming designed to keep us from realizing who we are. It is impossible to rule over those who know they are Free; those who know they are part of Source, God, the Creative Force.

We need to experience, how much we are loved and cherished, by a perfectly loving universe, everyday. Several times a day we should remind ourselves that we are loved and loving beings. Pause-find your center- it is there. It is Love.

Love and Peace, Gregg

BABY CHICKS

We are getting 45 baby chicks sometime this week. 35 broilers and 10 straight run Americauna [they lay green, pink and blue eggs]. I hope to get at least five replacement hens plus another rooster. I need, at least, two roosters if I am going to have fertile eggs. I would have let some hens set this year if I could be sure most of the eggs would be fertile. I only had one rooster for about twenty hens. That ratio works out in some light breeds but not the ones I have. A ratio of one to twelve works out for us, with our odd assortment of heavy breeds.

No matter how many times one experiences it, it is very exciting to have the mail lady drive up with that box of chirping fuzz balls. We are never quite ready and we have to find an appropriate extension cord and suspend a light in the shed they will grow up in. Then we set up water and feed. As we take each one out of the box we dip their beak in the water, to familiarize them, and they are thirsty after their long trip. They may come today! I need to get things set up as soon as I am done with this blog.

I don't have any nuggets of wisdom today. The rest of this Summer is going to be nuts. If we can see everything without fear, we may find it amusing. It is already a carnival show and it will get more intense. None of the office seekers, seem to be aware, that the world economy is extremely fragile. There are rumors, that countries, including the United States, are preparing to issue new currencies based on precious metals. The age of fiat money is over. The banks have huge debts that cannot be repaid. The overall indebtedness has reached a point that is unmanageable and has been for at least a decade. The indebtedness is not due to normal operations; it was created by fraud and swindle, at the highest levels, in the government and banking community. The chickens are coming home to roost!

Speaking of chickens, I need to get the place ready for our new little peepers.

Keep centered. Keep loving. Know you are a cherished member of a loving universe.

It is all a bad movie. It will be over soon.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WE NEED TO BEGIN WITH OURSELVES

 

Good Morning! I am back to my Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. I don't see anything, looming in the future, to change that. We just got over a hot spell and it is now cool and beautiful. It is only 69F and it is already 10AM. Great! A very pleasant relief.

It was Jamie's birthday Wednesday. I forgot to mention it in my blog. I was preoccupied with relating the story of how I injured my finger. Jamie didn't want to go out to eat nor did she want to cook an elaborate birthday dinner. So I elected myself to be cook. I found some wild caught, coho salmon at Coborns in Mora. We had a delightful meal of pan fried salmon, rice, and cauliflower in a sauce [Jamie made]. It was a low key celebration, but it was great.

Since my injured finger, I haven't been doing the dishes. I told Jamie to get me a rubber glove and I will do them. She thinks I should wait until the healing takes a firm hold. We will see. It still looks awful, but it doesn't bother me much. I can type much better.

My lawn was mowed neatly for the wedding but it is already looking shaggy. It usually doesn't grow that fast this time of year. However, we were coming off a dry spell and the grass re-awoke from its dormancy. It is acting like Spring.

I had lots of things I wanted to talk about, none of them had to do with the state of the world. I don't want to put my energy into the craziness and divisiveness of the world. The old world is not going to collapse with a whimper. We are in for a wild ride. There will be much chaos. I doubt if either presidential candidate will make it to the White House. In the next week or so I will explain why I think that.

Although, there are enlightened leaders in the world, they are not powerful enough, or in the position, to cause a top-down change. Change is going to come from us. The waking up process is beginning at the bottom and rising. Leaders and politicians who are not awake to the rising tide will not make it. {Maybe, this cycle, definitely not the next} Us, you and me, must commit ourselves to look for the love in the world and refuse to give energy to what isn't. This is not to deny that the world is stark raving mad! The criminality and corruption of some of our leaders defies description. Yet, except for helping the blind to see, it doesn't help to focus on it.

We need to join, with the loving energy of the universe, in our everyday lives. Bring peace to our own selves. Let our bodies be used as communication devices for all that is love. Our power to spark hope and joy in another being is infinite. When we smile at someone in the grocery store, with genuine radiance, we may be kindling a flame of love in their heart that has been missing.

Every time we smile, every time we laugh, every time we sing, dance or play music with abandon, we raise the level of Love Energy in the World. It is that energy, that comes from us, you and me, that will change the world.

Anger, fear, war, violence etc. cannot exist in an atmosphere of love; and it won't. We the people, are waking up! We, by nurturing paradise in our own lives, are creating the energy to make the change that will affect the whole world. We are expanding the energy of love- it won't be stopped.

Don't look for higher-ups to bring change. They are to locked in to the crazy drama. Let us look to ourselves. We want peace- create it in our own lives.

Love, joy and peace, is our right, as members of this loving universe. Let us remember it throughout the day; everyday.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WHAT IS?

I didn't realize how blessed we were during the first half of the Summer. The mosquito population was negligible; and now, they are horrible. They appeared en masse about ten days ago. They abated the day of the wedding; I don't know if that was because of the pleas to Gaia or the herbal repellants that were, surreptitiously, sprayed around. The mosquitoes came back with a vengeance on Sunday.

We are going through another hot spell. It cooled off last night. It supposed to stay warm tonight, but the nights following it will be down in the fifties F.

I said I would tell the story about how I hurt my finger; well............... I am having second thoughts, but since I said I would, I will.

There was a lot of energy in the wedding preparation. It was a high energy event! I had a great deal of anticipation concerning the ceremony and my contribution [I always do]. The last words of the ceremony are, “Let the celebration begin.”

I, occasionally, like to relax in the evening with a small glass of gin. A very dry martini, one might say. I have a small glass that I fill solidly with ice. It doesn't hold more than an ounce of liquor. Over a few hours I can drink two maybe three.

I did the same thing after the wedding, only with the plastic glasses that were in use. I don't know how many I drank. Was it the energy? Did the glasses hold much more? I don't know. I was in engaged in very animated conversations and my mind was clear and sharp. Yet, when I got up, I found my body did not agree with my mind. My body was definitely in trouble. I fell, and as I fell, my finger went through the lace work of a metal chair [cast aluminum]. It apparently had sharp edges. It caused a quite deep, triangular, skin tear on the inside of my middle finger. If it wasn't Saturday night, near midnight, I would have obtained stitches. It doesn't hurt, but it looks awful. I may, yet, make a trip to the doctor.

Somebody asked me, “What do you believe, Gregg?” Just kidding; nobody asked me. I just want to talk about it. I think we should give up all the beliefs we borrowed from our upbringing and those we absorb from our culture. I think we need to see the world afresh. Our perception has been so distorted that we don't know what is.

We are collectively and individually creating our experience. What do we want to see? What beliefs are useful? We can sort through, and contemplate, all the teachings of the Great Ones. Which ideas seem right? What ideas seem to be true when contemplated in our hearts?

My starting points are: the Universe is benevolent; the energy of the Universe is Love; All is One; as parts [members] of the Universe, we are absolutely and unconditionally loved and we are absolutely free.

We are free to do anything, but when we act without consideration of our Oneness, we err and we draw some corrective experience to us. This is our doing, nobody or no entity, is doing it to us. Thus, we learn Love and Oneness.

God, Allah, Krishna, the Creative Force, The Great Spirit, Source, et al, are different names for the energy of the Universe. It is Unconditional Love. Our experience is our creation. Our choice.

Love and Peace, Gregg

AT OUR CENTER WE ARE PEACE

 

Wow! That was one great wedding! Yesterday, I was in full recovery mode. 99% of the cleanup was done yesterday; much by the bride and groom. We will gently get things back to normal, though we have two grand kids with us, that tend to keep things stirred up.

This is just a note to let people know I am still alive and will be back to my MWF schedule soon. I injured my finger in a silly accident, that I will discuss more fully, when it heals more and I can type easier. {Interestingly enough, I am making all kinds of mistakes with the hand that is not injured.}

This is really a time for us to a avoid the main stream media as much as possible. We are not sticking our heads in the sand by ignoring it. Much of it is outright prevarication and the rest is misleading. Continue to carry the light for those around you. Create paradise in your heart and spread the love to those next to you.

Peace, Love and Joy are our right. They exist inside us, even when we obscure them with our egoic struggles. Despite the war cries, violence, and chaos displayed in the MSM, humanity is on track towards awakening.

We all have some form of meditation, even if it is just closing the eyes for a couple minutes and seeking peace. We can help ourselves if we remember to do this several times a day. Think of it as keeping yourself centered in a peaceful place. The manipulative forces of the dark use fear, in all its forms, to stay in power. Without our cooperation they can do nothing.

Love is the only energy of the universe. It reigns on the Earth NOW.

We will get through these times that seem troubling. Hug the person next to you; tell them everything is OKAY!

Love and Peace, Gregg