STAYING WARM

I have had a busy Morning. I had a plethora of small chore to do plus I had to go to the feed store. It is already 2:15PM and I need to go to town to pick up some stuff for a party tomorrow.

Gregory, Noah's Son, is visiting from California. Several of his Uncles, Aunts and cousins will be gathering here at Grandma and Grandpa's house for a party. This is great for us because we don't get to see everyone over Christmas. I notice that Gregory didn't bring any of that warm air from California.

It has been a little warmer today, even a couple degrees above zero F. It supposed to get colder again tonight and I have to haul up more wood for the stove. It has been quite a cold snap. We will rejoice when it is over.

I will be here Monday to wish everybody Happy New Year and perhaps I will have something more to say.

I hope everyone has a great New Year's Eve celebration.

Love and Peace, Gregg

AND IT IS COLD

A cold but beautifully Sunny Morning. It was -20.7 F at 8:AM, now two hours later, it is 11 below.

There is no wind so I felt quite comfortable when I was out doing the chores. I ran into a little problem with the chicken water. I water them inside the coop using a rubber container. I think they are rated at five gallons but they hold close to seven when brimful. I have been breaking the ice or adding hot water or both every Morning. This Morning I couldn't break the ice with a hammer. I had to haul out the bucket and slam it on the ground to break the ice. There was very little water left unfrozen. I haven't taken a head count of my chickens lately, but I don't have enough to make the water chores easier. In times past, the water would only get a skin of ice when it got down to zero. I never had trouble breaking it at any temperature. We usually carried 35 to forty chickens. They put out a lot of heat and that was enough to keep the water from freezing except in this kind of weather and then it was easy to break the ice. We need to get more chickens,

We were very grateful to discover the water pipes under the kitchen sink were not frozen. Yesterday morning one was and it took two hours of hair dryer action to thaw it out. We have lived here since 1975 and only had frozen pipes in recent years. The kitchen is over a crawl space. About thirty years ago we had some freezing pipes and Jamie stuffed some insulation down around them and that solved the problem. Then a couple years ago the problem returned. Last Winter we had a cold spell in December and we had a few nights where a pipe froze. It is always only one, for a couple years it was the hot and recently it is the cold. The years when we had no trouble were not particularly warmer. We decided that some mice or larger rodent was having a good time with the insulation.

Last year our daughter Laura gave us the tip to use a fan to blow air under the sink on these bitter nights. It worked and we had no more trouble last year. On Monday night I noticed it was already 12 below at Midnight so I set up a fan. I must not have had it positioned right and I had it at low speed. I didn't think we would need more than a gentle flow of air to keep the pipe from freezing. It is very warm in the kitchen. It was frozen on Tuesday Morning. Jamie set it up last night. We were very happy to find it worked. We are going to get someone to crawl under the house and fix it once and for all. Jamie has been threatening to, when I was younger I crawled under there a couple times to fix a plumbing problem, but now..... uh uh.

I suppose I am going to have to look at the new tax law. We haven't had to pay state or federal income tax for ten years. Our pension is taxable income but we don't make enough. If it was a higher it would trigger the inclusion of our Social Security. From what I have read I can't tell if we are going to need to pay. We live like royalty. We have no financial needs and we have a sumptuous and elegant life style. It is amazing how little money one needs when they don't owe anything. We have had times when we made four or five times more money and were poorer.

We have considered moving occasionally and we come up against the obstacle of paying for housing. We couldn't move w/o being able to come out even. All young people struggle when they first attempt to get established. I think my generation had a much easier time than the current one. I went to college, bought a house, had children on the G.I. Bill and a minimum wage part time job. That would be impossible today.

We need to start being nicer to our young people; all our people. I know this old world isn't going to last much longer. I look forward to the day when we can just love each other and care for each other and enjoy the marvelous benefits of living on this wonderful planet. It is time for our separation to end.

Love and Peace, Gregg

MERRY CHRISTMAS ONE AND ALL

It was 9.6 below zero F when we got up and it is still 5.8 below zero. I don't think it will be warming up much today. The Sunshine is marvelous.

When it gets below zero our geo-thermal heat pump works overtime to keep the house warm so I put a fire in one of our wood stoves, we have two, one in the dining room and one in the living room. Either one of them are capable of heating the house although the dining room one is more centrally located.

I started a fire in the living room stove last night. I love wood heat. We heated the house with only wood for over twenty years. Now we only have them fired up when it is bitterly cold or for their atmosphere, a nice contribution to the Christmas Season. That is not entirely true, in the Spring and Fall we often put a fire in the stove in the Morning when it is chilly as we won't need the furnace the rest of the time.

Thank You, to all the folks who send us Christmas Cards. We don't send them out. In the forty odd years Jamie and I have been married we have only sent them out a few times. Sometimes I have taken the initiative and Jamie other times. I think we use the excuse that we see everybody in person around the Holidays. That is less and less true. I love getting cards. Maybe next year?

We are going over to the Amish to get milk. I don't notice the Amish celebrate these holidays. I keep thinking I am going to research their traditions, perhaps I should just ask them. We have to get some eggs. We realize we need eggs for pecan pie and Yorkshire Pudding. Our elderly hens don't lay much this time of year. We got two eggs this Morning.

We need to get going so we can return here and get the dishes washed and create our Christmas feast.

A MERRY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Love and Peace, Gregg

AND THE SUN RETURNS

Well, I woke up after the longest night of the year about 7:20, it was still dark. I dressed in the dark because Jamie was still in bed and I didn't want to disturb her by turning on the light. I put my stockings on, then one shoe, it felt funny. Did my foot swell up in the night? Did I have the shoe on the right foot? It looked like it was on the right foot. I put on the other shoe that felt funny too. What did I do yesterday? Did I walk a lot? Did my feet swell up? It felt strange walking down stairs. I got down to the living room, turned on the light, examined my feet. I did have my shoes on the wrong feet! I didn't think these shoes were loose enough to go on the wrong feet. I know this happens to grade school kids. Is this a second childhood? Galloping senility?

The rest of the Morning has been okay, except that I was questioning and watchful. Instead of automatically turning on the correct faucet, I stared at them trying to remember which was the hot and which the cold. It lasted only a couple seconds, but unnerving. Things like this happened when I was thirty, forty and fifty, but one notices it more when your over eighty. Oh well, aging can be fun. I am going to write a blog on growing older, but not today.

We are going to a Christmas Party tonight many of our old friends will be there. The party starts at 6:PM and I have a dentist appointment at three this afternoon. I hope I am not still all numbed up.

For the first time in many years we don't have a party scheduled for Christmas Day. We have been invited by family members but it would require travel. It is going to be cold on Christmas and traveling more than fifty miles seems too much. Another sign of age I suppose. We have a beautiful beef roast and Jamie will make Yorkshire Pudding. We will have a good time. Who knows, we may have visitors.

I didn't let my chickens out because I didn't think many would accept the invitation and I wanted to conserve the heat in the coop for the cold that is coming. However, it is 23 F I didn't expect it to get that warm. The below zero temperatures were originally forecast for tonight. I think they pushed the bitter cold about 24 hours into the future and Saturday Night it will get cold. This blog is really a ramble, isn't it.

My original intention was to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Merry Festivus or whatever we choose to celebrate. Every culture seems to have some celebration to mark the shortest day and the return of the Sun. Today is two seconds longer than yesterday. It won't be long before we start dreaming of Spring and planting our gardens.

Let us have glorious celebrations to welcome the return of the Sun.

Love and Peace, Gregg

RAISING THE LEVEL OF DISCOURSE

It is overcast and cool but I am having a great day. I had a good sleep and I have been having a nice Morning. I am getting a very late start on my blog and for no particular reason.

I have something on my mind I would like to discuss. I enjoy the political satire and the attacks on the folks I don't agree with, but I am troubled by the extent of the negativity. Can't we be nice to each other?

Because we have taken separation to the nth degree, there are many people in error and their errors are sometimes atrocious, but it is error. Folks don't see their own errors, at least not why they are in them, we tend to justify our opinions and decisions on some trumped up [not a pun] moral grounds; as distorted as it may appear to us, at the time, those in error cling to the belief.

We have become so divisive that we demonize those in the other camp as not redeemable. People who are attacked for their opinions are rarely edified. Folks tend to take a firmer grasp onto their ideas when attacked. If they are in error we drive them further into their error.

Can we attack the ideas and not the people holding them? Can we criticize their beliefs without demonizing them? If we really believe we are the ones who are right and they are in error, can we approach the situation as educators and not condemners?

I own up to the fact that I get a chuckle out of some pretty negative stuff aimed at the other camp, especially some of the cartoons. I have also been appalled at times.

In our division between those wanting connection and those wanting separation, which is the choice between love and fear, we will find people whose separation from most of humankind puts them in a very erroneous state. From our point of view they may be very wrong. They are not devils.

As we realize that love is the only energy we want to embrace, we must also learn to forgive those who are temporarily embracing fear. I say temporarily, because we will all sometime turn to the light. Some of those, deepest into the dark, may take a few more lifetimes.

We have all been in error. We know that an attack on our person rarely helps us see the light. We know that love and forgiveness will provide a better approach.

Hopefully we can raise the level of our political discourse. One more interesting observation; the people I meet in our local community, our family and friends do not express a fraction of the negativity I experience in both the alternative and main stream sources. I wonder if that is just my experience?

I have dishes to wash, which are now languishing in cold water. Hmmm can dishes languish?

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE WITHERING

It is a beautiful day! The temperature just bumped above freezing at 33.2. I noticed via a Facebook memory I shared that is was -27.4 F on this day last year. Wow, that is cold for this time of year! I don't remember it. My weather calender, that has the recorded temperatures 60 miles or so South of us, has the record being -24 on this date in 1983. Must have been a cold year because tomorrows record is -29 for that that year.

We forget that it can get really cold in December. One year in the 70s I planted an orchard of trees that included pears and apricots that were supposed to be hearty on the zone 3-4 boundary. It was a mild Fall and the trees did not get a chance to harden off before the temperature plummeted. It got down to 40 below zero F. one night and in the Spring I discovered I lost all my trees including some sturdy zone 3 ones. According to my weather calendar, all the record lows this time of the year are in the mid -20 range.

We don't like anticipating weather that cold but when it happens we live through it just fine.

You notice how everything seems turned upside down. Trump could be the worst president we have ever had, however, it seems like we attack him for the wrong reasons, or at least not for all the right reasons. We [liberals] longed for a better relationship with Russia for a generation and then when Trump seems to be willing to cooperate with Russia we attack him. Trump is guilty of so many destructive impulses, that isn't one of them. I doubt if any collusion in the election had anything to do with him winning any way. The information that is leaked seems to have more to do with collusion with oligarchs not the government. Shady business dealings and money laundering, not election swinging.

There are so many horrible things happening, like lifetime appointments to the judiciary with ultra-conservatives. Congress blocked most of Obama's appointments and now the benches are being filled with characters that could affect us for generations.

Our governments support of Saudi Arabia has always been criminal, but Trump's support is over the top. He just lets his Generals do whatever they want. We are destroying innocent Yemenis, for what reason, because the Saudis and Iran have a pissing contest to see who will control the Middle East. Of course the the empire, which is corporate and world wide and housed in the USA, is behind it. The United States supplies the planes, the reconnaissance and in-flight fueling for the American supplied planes so they can continuously attack.

We have unleashed drone warfare and are now using them in third world countries that we have no formal quarrel with. We have created terrorism and anti-terrorism and are using it in a desperate attempt to get control of the world. This has been going on since the first Bush administration and it has been cranked up under Trump. I am not exempting the democratic administrations from responsibility. Actually, I am not sure presidents have much power over foreign policy. It seems like we have a government within a government. Presidents can slow down the momentum though, and they can be honest with the people if they dare. We have not had a president who has dared to be honest.

All the agencies that exist to protect the consumers, the environment, education, health etc. are being destroyed. All regulation and power is being handed over to corporate control. We hear very little about this. Why?

How come the main stream media which has been the darling of the conservatives is suddenly pretending it is liberal? Do you remember the MSM ever fully backing a democrat? We have had fox news which is rabidly republican and we have the rest of the MSM which is traditional republican.

If we look at substance and forget the window dressing, i.e. identity politics, we see that the lines have become quite blurred between the two parties. The Cabal [or deep state] runs the media and they will back any who will do their bidding.

I don't know why I am bring this up. I guess it is because I am tired of seeing people I love and respect getting caught up in causes and issues that are created by the media to create conflict and division. Doesn't it cause you to cringe when Trump says, “Fake news.” We have been saying it all along. We know it is true. There are grounds for removing Trump from office but most of the stuff that is thrown at him in the media is nonsense.

The Empire, The Deep State, The Cabal, whatever you want to call it, is losing its grasp. They are desperate and in their final throws to maintain power, they are causing death, homelessness, and destruction all over the world. It is not just in Yemen. The news doesn't cover Yemen much but we hear a little, we don't know much about the horror our drones are causing in Africa and in the rest of the world. Our mini-wars in South America have been going on for over a hundred years, lately they have been disguised as drug wars, they are for control of the continent.

I don't spend my time looking at this crap, because I know it is over. The consciousness of humankind will no longer support it. Those who are dedicated to power and money will gradually be replaced. Of course there will be some upheaval, but not as much as we might think. All the time the dark has been grabbing for power, people have been waking up. We have been seeing we can have a different world. Somehow it has occurred to us that everything is energy. The people of the dark use fear. We use love. Fear is no match.

If the folks of the world could refrain from accepting the invitations to be afraid, that are dangled in front of them by The Cabal, the dark ones would wither away. The Dark, The Cabal, The Deep State, no matter how they are labeled can only exist with energy of fear.

So just love each other folks and watch this ugly horror movie wind down. Let us not react to it. It is not real. We will discover only love is real.

Love and Peace, Gregg

IT'S WINTER

The Sun has returned. It looks beautiful, looking out from my window in the North room. It is nice but cool 21.9 F. The chickens won't come out. I have had chickens that would brave almost any kind of weather, but this group is not very adventurous. If I threw some kitchen waste outside their door they may hop out, but without a good reason they choose not to explore the outside world. They enjoy their cozy coop.

The sheep are enjoying their large hay bales and it brings peace to me. Now when they baa at me, which they do whenever they see me, I can be sure it is just a greeting and not a distress call. It is sometimes more than a greeting however, I throw out the kitchen garbage for the chickens, the sheep have come to expect it. Why sheep would like egg shells, coffee grounds and scraps of this and that I don't know. They are so greedy the chickens don't get anything. Over the years I have noted much variation in the behavior of sheep i.e. kitchen garbage. In years past I have had sheep nose around to see if their was a bit of lettuce or carrot but they turned up their noses at the rest. These particular sheep like it all and think it is a spectacular smorgasbord. They know in the afternoon when I am going to bring it out and they are waiting.

The local tax people are weighing whether we are a farm or not and are threatening to raise our taxes. I think we will prevail. We have just twenty acres but we have always raised some kind of livestock. Their issue seems to be whether we are making money or not. If you are renting out your pasture for a farmer to use you are automatically included. If you just have a few animals, you may be a hobby farm and not eligible. It is neither a farm, in the commercial sense, or a hobby, it is our way of life. I am not sure they have a classification for that. It won't change anything if they do raise our taxes, but there is a principle involved.

The snow came in dribs and drabs and finally covered everything. It must be four or five inches deep. So Winter is here, indisputably. It kind of snuck up on us with that roller coaster of above average and then below average temperatures.

I can't believe Christmas is only ten days away. Time flies when your an old codger. I am going to devote a blog to the curiosity of aging. Not today. I just want to wish everybody a Happy Friday!

I hope we can all keep our minds away from the world's craziness and find pleasant companionship with each other. It is so nice to have loving kindness for yourself and envelope all others in it.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WE WILL BE FINE

 

It is a good day! The news out of Alabama is great sigh of relief. My hay man is coming this afternoon. It is cloudy out, but not too cold, 24.8 F.

I shouldn't say what I am going to blog about. I said Monday that I would talk about the economy today. I don't want to. I don't know anything. The people I rely on for economic news state logically why we are on the edge of a precipice. When and if we tip over is the question.

Economist are all over the map on that question and even more over the map on the best way to deal with it. They vary from the uber-logical to the hysterical. They generally tout there past success at prediction. One needs to have a good BS detector. Some say get out of cash. Some say invest in cash. Some say real estate is the best investment, others say to be shy of real estate. Some say gold is where it is at, others say its a no no. If you follow their reasoning, they are all right according to how they see the situation playing out. The problem is we have only the past to predict how the scenario will play out.

My best guess is we are going to experience crash of the current global monetary system and a re-issuance of a currency based on gold. To get a picture of our current fragile situation. I would recommend you read James Howard Kunstler's blog, “Clusterfuck Nation.” It will give you a good perspective of what is happening. Don't expect to agree with everything he thinks. He blogs on Mondays and Fridays. His last couple have been focused on the economy.

I would like to be able to give people a timely heads up. I can't. I don't think things will be the same a year from now, but I thought that before. Kunstler will help you see the bigger picture.

I think the consciousness of the common person has raised to the point where no calamity will bring us down. We know how to care for each other. I think there are forces at all levels of society who have felt something coming and are ready to step in as our current institutions crumble.

If we keep in mind that this is always a choice between love and fear, oneness or separation and always keep our faces turned to the light, we will be the benefactors of a crumbling world not the victims. All that is required is that we make all our decisions with love. Is that so hard?

We have explored separation to the nth degree. It is time for it to end. We see the collapse everywhere. We can help by not being seduced by ideas that cause division and promote judgement. Be careful of causes. They may sound right up our alley, but do they invite judgement? Do they cause us to look down on others? Beware of feeling righteous, that is a sure sign we are contributing to separation. In these uncertain times we are all wrong much of the time. Some of us are more in error than others. Error just points out that we haven't discovered how lovable and loving we can be.

Let's keep shining our light. We will get through this. We are remarkable beings.

Love and Peace, Gregg

FRED FLINTSTONE

I noticed that the weather prognosticators were predicting snow for last night. I checked a couple times during the day and they said there was a 90% chance of two to three inches. I was hoping we would miss it because they also predicted it would be over freezing and we could get rid of some we got. Well after midnight I looked outside, not a flake. Ah...... checked the forecast again and they raised the probability to 100% but lowered the expected amount to less than an inch.

When I got up this Morning we had over two inches. It was warm though, it is 35 F now. I like the snow but I was hoping the sheep could get more use out of the pasture. I called my hay man, he was on his way home from Texas where he bought some goats. He said it was 63 degrees there. He will put me first on his list. The sheep are okay, I got several bales of that poor quality hay. The hay is fresh and what they can eat is nutritious, but it is full of sticks and stalks they wouldn't eat. I bought it for another purpose.

We still didn't get our remote. I have difficulty watching TV without a mute. Two days ago we tried to escape into Netflix. Netflix was having some kind of promotion where we had to sign in. We couldn't figure it out. We tried to put our name in etc. got nowhere. We figured we would have to wait for one of our tech savvy children to visit.

The next night I tried again. Oh, in much smaller letters at the bottom of the screen, there were instructions to put in our pass word. We had no idea what our pass word was. Our daughter, Naomi, helped set it up. I thought she might know. Then I noticed a 'forget password' message and was able to click on it and set up a new password. Works fine.

Yes, neither Jamie or I are tech masters or anything close. On Thanksgiving I was trying to take some pictures with an iPhone. I was having some minor difficulty. My older daughter [Laura] looked over to my younger daughter [Naomi] and said, “Fred Flintstone.” Humph........ I felt the love in it so I didn't protest. And how could I protest. I was at a store not too long ago and I was having trouble with my car. I asked a clerk if I could use the phone. He handed me his cell phone. I looked at it. I had no idea how to use it. I had to hand it back to him so he could dial the number. Note that I wrote dial. That was automatic.

Naomi gave us an iPhone as a gift. I think she might be worried about us having an emergency and being away from our land line. There was a tutorial available to teach one how to use the phone. It was quite long, perhaps an hour, it went on in detail about all the great attributes of this instrument. I don't remember it saying anything about how to use the phone. The assumption must be that every idiot knows how to use a cell phone. Well there are some old idiots out here that are just learning. I can do it but I haven't had much experience. I call Jamie once in a while and pretend I am a robocall.

There is growing older and there is the world leaving you behind, two different things. I am as tech savvy as I need to be and a little more knowledgeable than these writings probably indicate. I don't mind growing old. At least most of the time. There are advantages. I have been meaning to write a blog about growing old. I will soon.

Wednesday I want to write more about the economy and what may be on the horizon.

I need to wash dishes and go to town with Jamie.

Love and Peace, Gregg

PARADISE BECKONS

We have a break from the frigid weather. It has been windy and cold the last three days, today the breeze is moderate and it is warmer 30 F, which is even higher than the forecast.

The chickens came out for the first time since Monday. I saw them out a couple hours ago and then just a few minutes ago I was looking for them, I couldn't see them, I thought they went back inside. I walked around the house looking out all the windows and I spotted them on the edge of the shelter belt. Chickens don't like snow especially if it comes up to their shanks. Despite the blizzard conditions Monday Night, it was brief, and there wasn't much accumulation. It was probably the cold and wind as well as the snow that kept them in the last three days.

I just saw the sheep wending their way across the North pasture. They pause now and then where a clump of grass emerges from the snow and paw and eat a bit. I need to put a fire under my hay man, what I am feeding them isn't top grade. They would actually find enough digging through the snow in the pasture. They have made it clear, however, they prefer me to feed them.

We don't care very much for the newer television shows but we do like to listen to some oldies in the Evening. However, we hate the commercials! About a week ago, it seems longer, the remote that controls the sound [mute and volume] went on the fritz.

We are too old to jump up and down every time a commercial comes on, besides the buttons on the sound bar are recessed and we need a flashlight to see them. Gone are the days when we had a child that could be trained to be a mobile remote, besides those rascals need to be in bed too early and the older kids tend to get rebellious when it quits being fun.

So we have been have been learning much more than we wanted to about prescription drugs besides a whole lot more. Those drugs, wow, I can't believe people actually pester their doctors for them. They must somehow blank out the side effects. Some say, “sudden death may occur.” That would discourage me. Are there people that are not active mute pushers? I can't imagine people listening to these commercials. Some of the none drug commercials are funny and some very clever. Before my remote broke we listened to some we knew were well written and well acted.

Those drug commercials though, all that I can say is wow again, they appear to be the dark side of medicine.

We wait everyday for the new remote that will come by mail, UPS, Fedex or whatever.

I don't know how to talk about the world. Everything we see in the media seems to be a smokescreen hiding what is really happening. We discover that and then we discover what we thought might be some truth and it is more cover. The real scenario will come out bit by bit. I think it will be shocking.

What is happening in the financial world may be a little easier to access. There is no real financial news in the main stream media. The economy has not been improving. The real wealth of the working and middle class has steadily declined since the 70s and has taken a steeper decline since 2008. The stock market rise does not reflect the economy, even of the Corporate World. Corporate profits are way up, but that is all due to the free money available through the Fed. Quantitive Easing they call it, the Fed quit doing it a couple years ago, but other World Banks took over. This is money that is only a number on a computer. It creates giant IOUs that some miracle will take care of. The only thing that can save it is for real wealth to grow, real production. It isn't happening. The stock market going up is not healthy. The only thing that could save us is for all that extra Wall Street money to be divided up and given to the poorest 70% of the population. In our present consciousness that is not likely to happen. Historically the world looks a lot like 1929 only worse. Then too, the top 1% were hogging all the money.

We are just spectators watching the empire crumble. It is not a bad thing. It all has to go. We know what a sane world look like. We know how to help it emerge.

It all starts in our minds, “Are we choosing love or fear?”

The world that is passing was created out of fear, that is what separation is, fear and all its children.

We know how to Love. Paradise beckons!

Have a Great Friday! Celebrate!

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE NEWS FROM LAUGHING WATER FARM

I just heard my wall clock strike eleven, it is abut time I began hitting the keyboard. I haven't quite recovered from the dramatic change in the weather. It was fiftyish on Monday Morning and 15 F Tuesday Morning and Monday Night we had a blizzard.

I mentioned on Monday that we had a function to attend to that Evening and the forecast was not favorable. I wanted to keep an eye on the weather while we were there as not to get caught in the snow storm. Well we were having way too good a time to pay much attention. We were being reacquainted with some old friends and meeting new ones. When I noticed it snowing I decided to leave. We only had twenty-five miles to drive, but I am an old codger.

It was snowing briskly when we left Cambridge and it appeared to get more ferocious as we went North. The wind was driving the snow in a way that was blinding. We couldn't see much with the lights on dim, but on bright they were worse, as the snow reflected the light back in our face. Jamie serving as my guide and navigator warned me more than a couple times that I was turning into a driveway and not a roadway. Twice I turned into driveways by mistake far enough to back out. We had to drive so slow, that it seemed a long time from when I would see the sign for the road we wanted to turn on, to actually come to the turn. I didn't record the time, but I think it took us over an hour to drive the twenty plus miles. I was very happy to turn on the dirt road that led to home. By the time we got home the snow had abated and if we would have waited another half hour to leave we might have had an easier time.

It was all good. It was a remarkable adventure. It was good to discover the old guy could still do it.

On the domestic front, we caught our first mouse of the season. They usually invade the house earlier in the Fall. It has been a relatively mild Autumn. It is also possible that Jamie has been catching them all along and I am too out of it to know it.

My sheep are disappointed in me because I am not giving them the kind of hay they prefer. My hay man is late in delivering me the big bales they like. It didn't matter until yesterday as the pasture was still good, but now with the snow cover, they will need hay. I have some old hay that will get them by, but they know how to complain when they are not completely happy.

It was only 13 F when I got up, but the Sun has been shining off and on and it is now a balmy 22.1.

This is not a day to report on the big world. As one of my departed brothers would say, “Be good to yourself”. Love your neighbor.

And that is the news from Laughing Water Farm.

Love and Peace, Gregg

TO THE END OF OUR SEPARATION

 

We are on the high side of the weather roller coaster. It is over 50 F and it is supposed to begin raining this Evening, turn to snow, and drop down to 15 degrees. We have a function to attend to this Evening, I hope the worst happens after we are back home.

Wow! Could the polarization in the world be greater? The division and the retreat to various camps is phenomenal.

At the same time and quietly, folks are seeing this is all nuts. We don't want any part of it. Many of the folks who can't take the nuttiness are people, who all along felt that we were all one, and separation from each other was the source of all the craziness.

Can we imagine a world of separation that has become so extreme that folks on one side of this beautiful Earth plot the annihilation of folks on the other side? How about separation so extreme that one group decides that another group should not be cared for in terms of health, education and welfare? What if that same group decides to raise the taxes on all but the wealthiest? How could we believe that? Wow! That is way too extreme!

Those of us who realize that separation is an illusion will be able to find peace, love and joy in the comfortable presence of each other. No we don't need to be part of that illusion. We are realizing that only love is real, and all made from the idea of separation, will pass.

Humankind has been on a great journey to discover if separation is possible. We have carried out separation to the nth degree. Most of us are ready to give up the idea and some of us have awakened to the point where we see only love is real and are beginning to see a new world emerge.

Many of us who are seeing this truth are too shy to have this conversation with their neighbors or even family members. They don't want to be seen as kooks. By opening the conversation they will discover that many are kindred souls. The awakening has proceeded at a much greater pace than they thought. We have a lot of company. In fact most people realize we are 'One'. They may not know how to express it, but they know in their heart it is true.

We know we cannot judge those who still embrace separation. Judgement is what causes the problem in the first place. We will develop compassion for them regardless of the destruction they have caused. They are the ones in the most pain because they have been pursuing substitutes for love. Those substitutes, usually power and money, will always leave one empty and the demand for more, insatiable.

As we learn to give up all our substitutes for love, a new world will open up to us.

Love melts all illusion. Love knows no separation.

Let's have a toast: To the end of this illusion; to the end of our separation; to our awakening to our Oneness; to our awakening to who we are; to our awakening to Unconditional Love; to the realization we are in Paradise.

Skoal!

Love and Peace, Gregg

WELL.......

 

I have the worse case of writers block I have ever had. I don't know if I am really a writer. I record my musings in a blog. I really don't want to write about the craziness in the world and I have made my recommendations for how we should deal with it many times.

I awoke this Morning happy to greet the day, I was at peace with myself and with the world. I did the crossword puzzle. I let my chickens out and gave the sheep some water. Filled my sink up with hot water to let my dishes soak, I am sure the water is getting cold by now.

I have three things I read on the internet every Friday Morning. I have been sitting here dozing off and occasionally getting up to do this or that.

Any inspiration..................no, the only thing that comes into my mind is, why are dogs so heavy when they are laying on your blankets? Our dog Xena, a Yorkie-poo, sleeps with me. I usually can get up and back in bed without incident. This Morning I got up about 5:00 and when I came back to bed I couldn't get the sheet back on me. I pulled on it and pulled on it. She can't weigh more than 7 pounds. How is she able to defy the law of physics and pin down the sheet? I suppose I could have really yanked it from under her. Instead I slept with only a quilt covering the rest of the Night.

I don't have any more fascinating stories. There is so much I could comment on but I would like to see things play out a little more. The proposed tax bill appears to be national suicide, undercutting the working and middle class, who are the very people who need to purchase things to survive. Without there participation the economy doesn't have a chance. Well, it looks like it [the economy] is in the dumper anyway. It is teetering and a crash is coming soon. We are losing control of the petrodollar and our dominance as the World Reserve Currency. It is almost as if the top 1% is trying to suck up as much as they can before the excrement hits the fan.

Let's keep our noses out of the idiot box and celebrate this marvelous Friday. There is life outside of the main stream media and the alternative media too; they are both just different thermometers measuring a very sick, fevered world.

Let's dream of our new world. A world where people actually love and take care of each other.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WE DON'T HAVE TO WAIT

Cooler weather has returned. Not cold, but normal, it was 20 F when I got up and now, at Noon, it is 35.9. Yesterday the last patch of snow and ice finally disappeared. A new batch is probably on the way.

Yes it is Noontime and I am just getting started. I was reading and listening to videos from the alternative news media. Although they emphasized the corruption of the world. They were largely hopeful about the outcome.

One thing I come away with is the value of suspending belief in anything and just accept the fact that almost nothing on the main stream media is really the truth. Partial truth perhaps, but horribly slanted.

We like to have beliefs, we can settle things in our minds and then we don't have to think about them. We don't realize it is like a snake swallowing a porcupine, we don't know when one of those quills might get us. All beliefs carry a myriad of suppositions, swallowing them whole is dangerous to the reasoning process.

Although, it is comforting to make up our minds about things, we don't have to and we should never take sides just to resolve a conflict in our mind. We don't have to resolve every conflict. We can suspend belief and see how things are shaping up. Becoming more aware is not taking sides, it is seeing the motivation on both sides. It is understanding where everybody is coming from. Then perhaps we can discern the most loving solution.

Lately I have been feeling some heaviness now and then. It could best be described as a sense of futility a blahness. I can get out of it fairly easily, but it has visited me almost every day for at least a few minutes. It could be coming in part from my personal life, but it feels more like a visitation from the larger world. It is like the darkness of the world encroaches on our consciousness. We can't fight darkness per se we can only dissolve it with love.

It may seem like we are just waiting for the cabal to collapse and the darkness to be dispelled. We don't have to sit and wait. We don't personally have to expose corruption and jail the miscreants. We can give energy to the clean-up forces with the love in our hearts and the thoughts in our minds.

Every time we connect with the love inside us we are giving energy to the love that is eclipsing the darkness. No, we don't need to wait for anything. This very moment we can connect with the love inside us and all around us. We can take a moment, quiet our minds, sink down inside, kind of a mini-meditation and feel the love that we are. Then we can bless the person next to us. The world's problems will be solved.

It is now 37 F and it is a gorgeous day. The chickens are loving it, the sheep are laying down basking in the Sun. I have dishes to wash, some bills to pay and then I am going to town.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WAKING UP IS HARD TO DO

We are on a weather roller coaster. The normal high for this day is 34 F and it is already 44.4 F. It has typically been ten to twenty degrees below normal for a few days and then goes above normal. Averages don't tell us how unusual the ups and downs are. We have to rely on our memories. I have been noticing it for the last several years, but it may have been happening for my whole life. I remember long periods of stable temperatures in mid-summer and in mid-winter, by long I mean a week or so. Well that is part of the fun of living in Minnesota.

So much for the weather, what else is new? We had a great Thanksgiving! I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend. I look at the world and it is such a mishmash. I can have three different visions: I can look at how the love is growing; I can look at the machinations of the dark; or I can look as an assessor with objectivity.

I have no trouble seeing how the love is growing in the world and I recommend that way of 'seeing' because the world needs our energy.

Those of us who are not convinced at how crazy the world is may need to look at the machinations of the dark to free ourselves from our self created prisons that were orchestrated by the same dark forces. “Waking up is hard to do.” Is that a song, probably not. There is a song with a similar title isn't there? Oh ya, “Breaking up is hard to do.” Well enough of my blathering. We need to wake up! We need to break up with our controllers. That may mean immersing in a search about the plotting and divisive tactics of the dark. Our media, our political system, everything has been controlled or heavily influenced by a very few folks dedicated to power and money. However, once we begin to see, it doesn't help to keep our focus on it.

We can look at the world as an assessor. We can see how crazy it is, without despair. We can see how the empire is crumbling. We can see how the forces of darkness are being eclipsed by the light. We can grow in confidence that the darkness is on the wane and the emergence of the light cannot be stopped.

How much each individual has to see before they are convinced that the light cannot be stopped varies greatly. I think everyday more and more people are turning toward the light.

When we are convinced that love is the only force, we can take a deep breath and a sigh of relief and start building the kind of world we want. As we have discussed many times before, we must begin with ourselves. We must free ourselves from the prison of worshiping authority and allegiance to group think. We must have enough regard for ourselves to know we can think for ourselves. We must love ourselves. As we love ourselves and radiate that love, our families, our communities and all our institutions will benefit.

Happy Monday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE CLEAN UP

 

I am getting a very late start and it is not because yesterday was a big holiday and I had a huge mess to clean up. Yes there was a huge mess. We had 20 people for dinner. Jamie had made quite a dent in the work by doing some of the dishes after dinner.

I was out of bed by 7:30 and I started in on cleaning up immediately. Without even pausing for a cup of coffee, I cleaned up the kitchen and did my outside chores. Cleaning up after a party is a great experience. We remember the night before, the funny things, the sweet things, conversations dangled, others connected and completed. We remember the closeness, the teasing, the general hilarity; it was a joy to be together. We thought last year's was one of the best Thanksgivings ever, this year's may have been better. Matt was the only one who couldn't make it. He works at the Air Port, a busy time for TSA workers. I hope you could feel our warmth Matt, you were in our hearts.

I had such energy that I had the clean up completed by 9:45. Then I sat down with my first cup of coffee and then all that energy seemed to leak out. I have been like a collapsed balloon for a couple hours. After a little time catching up on some internet reading I am ready to blog. Oh, who is kidding who, I am only good for recharging my batteries the rest of the afternoon.

I will say we have had an amazing turn around in the weather. We had snow on the ground yesterday Morning and now it is 51 degrees F. I think it was 53 about an hour ago. It was bright Sun when I got up, but the Sun has been playing peek-a-boo the last couple hours. I think it might rain.

I plan on being here Monday. Have a Great Holiday Weekend!

Love and Peace, Gregg

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

It was cold this morning around ten degrees F. It was bright and shiny for awhile, now it is cloudy. We are predicted to get snow, less than an inch though, I was hoping the last vestiges of snow from two weeks ago would be gone; nope, if one searches they will find some.

We are on the last legs of preparation for the Thanksgiving Feast. I shouldn't say we, I haven't done much, the worker bee has been Jamie. Naomi and Elijah are coming over later today to help out.

When we were driving around yesterday we passed the former home of some good friends. The house and yard have been greatly changed. He was from Germany and she was a Minnesotan. I thought of him as the man with two PhDs, one in theology and one in psychology, however his erudition was not what greeted you when you met him. His most prominent features were his gentleness, he radiated a loving sweetness. Chris was his name, his wife Carolyn [sp?] was equally loving and accepting.

They moved to Germany. The last year we knew them Chris suffered from a degenerative disease {I don't know the final diagnosis}. He died in Germany. I think it has been over a year now. We reminisced about how much we enjoyed them and still missed them.

I am telling this story because when we got home, Jamie remarked on how nice it was to talk about these old friends. She said it really helped her memory. Jamie has been suffering some memory loss, perhaps associated with her sleep disorder. She has been visiting a neurologist, they haven't come up with anything yet. She will experience a block in her memory but if she gets the right clue everything comes flooding back. We are all familiar with this, but for most of us it is not general. We have every hope her situation is improving.

So these old friends gave us another gift by helping Jamie recall many pleasant moments in their company.

We can't help but be thankful for all our present and former friends in this Holiday Season!

Thanksgiving has traditionally been a family affair. I am fortunate to know my family are among my best friends.

I am sitting here with thoughts of what needs to get done before the snow flies. I don't think it is on the verge or anything, it is heavily overcast though. So I will just wish everyone a very HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Love and Peace, Gregg

A NOVEMBER DAY

The Sun was shining bright when I got up and shone for a couple hours but now it is hidden away behind a leaden sky. I hope it emerges this afternoon. It is typical for November to be cloudy. I doubt if this year is unusual. It was a very bright Sunny day yesterday. Perhaps I am more sensitive this year.

I am looking forward to the lighting up of the world. It seems like there are more people  looking forward to Thanksgiving this year. I wonder if my observation is correct? I know I am. I love family gatherings. We live a little too far away from some of my children to see each other on a more casual basis. The nearest one lives forty miles away and four live around eighty miles away. Thanksgiving is the holiday where we all gather here.

Jamie has been working overtime preparing what can be done ahead of time. Our porch is full of pies; mince, pumpkin and pecan for sure and I think a key lime. There are also sweet potatoes and other dishes. If a wayward bear would rip out the screen on our porch he/she could feast. I think about that, both our near neighbors have been pestered by bears. One of them did have their screen porch ripped. We have never been troubled and we have used our porch as a refrigerator/freezer for many years. By the time it is cool enough to use it that way the bears are hopefully sleeping for the Winter.

My chickens are in their egg laying slump. I am only getting two or three a day. My hens are getting elderly and many are on permanent vacation. We don't mind. They served us well in their youth now we will care for them. I did have to buy eggs though. Fortunately I have a good source of eggs from happy chickens raised organically.

I am ready for Winter although my hay man has yet to deliver me a couple big bales for my sheep.

Around this time of year, I am reminded how powerful a tool thankfulness is. I learned it quite awhile ago, but sometimes I forget it. Whenever I am feeling glum or a little gray around the edges, all I need to do is start reciting to myself what I am thankful for and there is an immediate lightening of my mood. If I am in a really dark place I may have to repeat things I am not really in agreement with at the time, but with repetition it becomes true. We can direct our thankfulness to Source, the Great Spirit, Allah, the Void, the One, Our Higher Self, God, whatever feels comfortable. All is One.

I need to go to the Amish with Jamie to get milk and then we need to do a little shopping in town. I love going to town, it is like gathering smiles as we go place to place. People really do radiate love!

I will at least post a Thanksgiving Greeting on Wednesday. I may not have the time to write a whole blog- but then- who knows.

Love and Peace, Gregg

LOVE THY NEIGHBOR

The threat of Winter has receded for now, but the days have been dull and dreary. There are only tiny patches of snow left. There is the promise that the Sun will return tomorrow. We hope so.

The world seems dreary too. We need some singing and dancing, especially at the local level. When I was growing up almost every community had a dance hall that was really jumping on the weekends. People of all ages would get together to dance or just listen to the music. That world gradually faded away.

I know we can't go backward, but could we create more entertainment opportunities in our local communities? I have discovered through the years that seemingly ordinary people are amazingly talented. I bet if you take any hundred people several will be accomplished musicians. That would be true for acting talent too. People love to entertain and be entertained. It shouldn't be difficult organizing plays, dances, musical recitals etc. There are plenty of idle buildings churches, school etc. wouldn't it be great to get our faces out of the boob tube for an evening or two a week and get to know our neighbors?

Despite our separation, people really do love each other. Whether it was by accident or design our modern culture has enhanced separation. Oneness in a positive sense, we are bound to each other by love, is only an intellectual concept. {It will always be true, even if unconscious} Oneness in a negative sense, people bound by fear is obvious. Those seeking power and control have always been able to sway whole populations with fear; whether it be war or buying into the latest medical fad.

People have been herded into groups according to their beliefs which are largely based on fear. We need to wake up and break out of our fear based prisons. Fear demands that we accept certain ideas to belong. There are always rules and concepts that form bars to our intellectual cages.

Love always frees. It communicates but never makes rules. Love doesn't need rules because it always attracts. When we shed our outer shell created by assumed judgement we radiate only love, we attract.

We are all capable of walking out of our prison. We are locked in by a myriad number of little fears that have to do with judgement; self judgement and assumed judgement from others.

We can shed those judgements. We can get to know ourselves as loving and lovable beings. Let us remind ourselves everyday that we are lovable. Not once a day- many times a day! Let's remind ourselves that we are love throughout the day. We have been insulated and locked in to our little prisons, the best way to learn love for self is to love what we experience. Say to yourself. I love that tree, I love the Sun, I love that person; if you say it enough to yourself you will begin to feel it. The love is there in all of us. Many of us are aware of it and radiate it much of the time. Some folks love unconsciously all the time. Some of us have hidden our love from ourselves and need to discover it.

People are waking up and giving up their negative group consciousness. We are realizing we are One and bound together by Love.

Let's express it in our communities.

Love and Peace, Gregg

SURVIVING THE CRAZINESS

Well the snow is mostly gone a few patches here and there. It would be nice to get past Thanksgiving before we get more snow. We will greet whatever happens.

I don't know what to write about. What is there to say about the collapsing world. Nothing is believable. Neither political party represents the people. I have been a Democrat all my life [the radical wing]. I have watched it get more and more a party of the wealthy and power hungry. Now there is only window dressing [identity politics] between the two parties. They both do the bidding of the empire. Nobody, of any stature, in either party speaks out about the slaughter in Yemen, the secret wars in Africa, the oil wars all over the world, the use of drone warfare on civilian populations; maybe they feel helpless to do something, but they still should be shouting from the roof tops. Are they afraid they will lose campaign funding?

And what is happening to science? Especially in medicine! What is going on with the lowering of the high blood pressure guidelines? On the national news!? Reported without any real background? Looks like the science[?] and the media are kissing the ass of the drug companies. There won't be one life saved but the sale of statins will go up. I know I shouldn't be looking at the idiot box.

I could give endless examples of how corrupt our world has become. I know. I know. I have to stop looking at it. I have to take my own advice and focus on the love that I see growing everywhere. Actually, I can generally look at the news and see it only as an amusement, as if I was seeing a film about a dying empire that happened a thousand years ago. However, it is dangerous to be smug as little fears and thoughts get planted in our minds whether we like it or not.

The forces of divisiveness have really cranked up lately and this is coming from all sides of the political spectrum. Decisiveness has only one purpose, to keep those in power who already have it.

The good news is that the very cranking up of divisive tactics is an indication that the forces of power and money are losing. They are desperate. They need conflict and war to keep them in power. They can't maintain their positions without our energy. We have to quit paying attention to their craziness.

As we have discussed many time before, we must start with ourselves. We must end our own internal conflicts. Find our peace and extend it. We are the creators. We will have the world we want.

It is so simple. We need only to love ourselves and each other. I know it seems hard sometimes. Look for the progress. It is there in us and around us.

Love and Peace, Gregg

ONENESS

We still have a lot of snow on the ground. It is almost 40 F now and I am hoping it melts so we have a little break from Winter-like weather before Winter actually begins in earnest.

I am getting a late start. I was sitting here at the computer trying to think about what I should write about. I closed my eyes seeking inspiration and I fell asleep. I must have slept for almost an hour.

I know the problems with humanity would be solved if we knew our Oneness. I know the solution to knowing our Oneness is knowing our source. Source, meaning we all come from One, or God if you prefer. That follows that we are all part of Source and whatever Source is. So, what is Source [God]?

This is where the search comes in. Some folks just leap to some idea as a matter of belief. Belief is tricky. What is believed can be unbelieved. What if we seek for truth? We can read. We can meditate. We can listen to stories from others. We can study the works of the wise ones. We can look for what seems to work the best. Some of us come to our own conclusion that Source is Love and therefore so are we.

We took a trip into separateness and explored every avenue. We are now on our way back to knowing Oneness. Oh, that is easy to say!

We sit or stand or whatever in these individual bodies that are always pestering us with something or other. They are too cold, too hot, they have an itch, they are hungry, they ache, they want to have sex, they don't want to have sex, we all know the drill. Yet remarkably, we forget our bodies sometimes and realize we are not just bodies. We are much more! We have minds that can take us anywhere! Through imagination we can travel wherever we want. We can travel up the Amazon or cross the Sahara on a camel. We can do anything.

Can we imagine we are energy and at the level of energy [spirit] we are One? Can we imagine we are One Spirit that scattered itself in separate bodies to explore just how far the idea of separateness could take us?

Okay, that is an interesting intellectual construct. We might say, “I am still stuck here in this individual body, I don't feel any Oneness.” If it is true we are One, how do we get there? Ahhh that is the question isn't it.

We have to go back to that original seeking and discovery. We decided that Source was Love. Love is the solution then and the vehicle for solving our separation problem.

When we love ourselves, the World looks different. We can actually see that other people are Love too. With a little practice we can see what kind of separation folks are experiencing when they are not radiating love.

We have been practicing separation for a long time. We see how crazy the world has become. What would happen if we practiced Oneness?

What if every time we felt captive in our bodies, we decided there must be love somewhere in the center of our being and looked for it? What if we could feel love for ourselves and stretch that feeling to the person next to us? What if we could accept the idea that everyone is looking to love themselves and are just caught up in their own peculiar idea of separation?

What if we came to the conclusion that separateness is an error of our thinking and not reality? What if the reality is that we are really One?

We can take the first step by loving ourselves, the rest will follow.

I don't want to live in a World of Separation anymore. Do you?

Happy Monday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

HEALING

 

If the forecast is correct we are through with this cold snap. It was 6 F when I went to bed and warmed a little over night. It is 18.5 now. It is supposed to get up to the forties next week.

Humans are generally very good at reacting to catastrophes, we are not that good at anticipating them and why should we. It is not a good idea to look into the future with dread. However, we can keep our minds in the present and see what we see. Many of us see a world falling apart. We see a need to question how we have been living on Planet Earth and how we can do better.

I have been contemplating the idea of Healing/Learning Centers for a long time. I expected them to evolve into a re-learning center dealing with our whole relationship with each other and the Earth. We need to give up everything we think we know and start fresh. We need to relook at education, medicine, anthropology, nutrition, farming, science in general, everything.

Where do we start? What can we do? What seems to be an unmeet need? I think we could start with healing of the mind and body. The majority of people do not have adequate medical care. Even those who could afford it rarely get the care that they really need. How many people have had the experience of sitting down with a doctor for at least one hour and end up with the feeling that their situation is fully understood? Did you discover how your diet, your relationships, your feelings, etc. may interact with your condition?

I can imagine a collection of healers gathering together to create a center for healing. The healers would come from all disciplines and there would be no hierarchy. Patients would be offered a smorgasbord of options and although they may request guidance they cannot give up their autonomy to choose their treatment. The patients expertness on their own body and mind will be honored. That is not to say the healers are not expected to make it clear how they may disagree with the patients perspective. We are all in this together. Healing is always learning in progress.

Healing will never be offered for a price. Those who can afford to make a payment can pay what they are comfortable with. Those who cannot pay may offer their services in the organic gardens that will surround the place.

It is anticipated that most of the food will be provided by adjacent gardens.

Perhaps some of the healers, who come together, will be experts in herbal medicine. It is expected, nature being perfect, that there is a cure for what ails us growing a few miles from our location.

We know that the mind and body are one and we can't treat one without affecting the other.

We need to rediscover [remember] who we are in relationship to the Earth. We need to rediscover that Nature is our loving friend and caretaker; truly a Mother.

When the conditions are right I expect folks will come together to provide these needs for a broken world.

I will write more about this soon. I need to take our dog to the groomer and go to the feed store.

Have a Great Friday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

FOCUS ON LOVE

 

We are still locked into a cold snap. We still have snow on the ground. I drive around the area and notice that most of the snow has melted. We either got more in our immediate neighborhood or we are more shaded. It is above freezing now but will get cold again tonight. The forecast is for 6 F Thursday night brrrrrrr.... way to cold for this time of year- not a record though.

I found a new way to go ker-plunk about an hour ago. I was engrossed in some thought and I went to sit in my desk chair and didn't quite have a purchase on the chair with my butt, of course the chair is on rollers so it scooted away from me, dumping me on the floor. Jamie says, “You should have your hands on the chair arms before you sit down.” Humph......... and miss all the excitement!

We are ready for Winter or mostly, we still need to have hay delivered, it has been ordered. I have enough bedding until Spring, then we are going to need a major barn cleaning. We have way more manure than we need, hopefully there will be gardeners around who can use it.

There are many hopeful signs that the old world is passing away and much evidence of the emerging of the new one. Let us help the New World created by love emerge by focusing on love. It is a difficult lesson to learn. But we do increase what we focus on. It is the nature of creators.

There is going to be a time when some of us will want to gather in groups to create re-education centers for the populous of our respective regions. We need to learn how to farm/garden, educate our children, heal our bodies and reconnect with Nature.

On Friday I plan to share my ideas for a Healing/Learning Center. I know I have done it before but I am feeling we are ready to make a shift in the way we see things.

This will be a short blog. I have a few things on my plate.

Love and Peace, Gregg

WE ARE NOT ALONE

 

We are going through a cold snap. The normal high for today is 47 F and the normal low is 31 F. It was 16 this morning and it is 27.8 now. The Sun is shining and we should get above freezing for a little while. We still have snow on the ground despite temps above freezing for over forty eight hours. It was about six or seven inches of very wet snow that greeted us Saturday Morning.

I had a strange day yesterday. It started out fine but about midday through I got a very heavy feeling. I couldn't determine the reason. After awhile I determined the feeling to be angry disappointment. I flipped on the TV to watch a figure skating show when the tragedy in Texas was flashed across the screen. I was filled with numbness and dread. I did my best to ignore it and I didn't seek any details.

I was already feeling some negativity because Jamie was informing me of some of the World's most bizarre craziness. I was able to sink into my feelings and realize that underneath the angry disappointment lay a profound sadness for the World. Once I realized my sadness my negativity dissipated. I actually had a pretty good Evening. I was able to access that quiet place and find peace. I am getting ahead of myself though, because the pretty good evening didn't really happen until later.

Before that, I had two [spiritual?] experiences. I hesitate to mention them because I don't want to be hauled off to the nut farm. I glanced out the dining room window and I thought I saw a bright star in the sky, I bent down and looked up for a better view and saw the air full of sparkles, then I immediately realized the sparkles were in the room with me. The sparkles were teeny like glowing dust. It only lasted a second and I couldn't bring the experience back. All that I can say is that it was very comforting, as if the Universe was telling me everything is okay.

The second experience happened immediately afterword. I was reading a spiritual message on the computer when I could see above me [without looking up] an energy undulating and moving above my head. It was smoothing me out as if it was drawing the negativity from my body.

It was after these two experiences my pretty good Evening started. I could again look upon a 'forgiven world'. Perhaps these experiences teach us we are not alone.

We can't help ourselves, our families or the world when we are all tied up with negative feelings. The World needs our love and forgiveness. We can hold our light high.

The spiritual messages I read inform us that we have to go through some of this crazy violence for some of us to wake up to what we have been creating as a group. They state that the souls involved volunteered for the missions. It does make it easier to accept. But I think we should have had enough!

I know, if I am going to be helpful to the World, I need to make sure my default state is happiness. At this moment I am happy. I am at peace. I bless the World.

Love and Peace, Gregg