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In Memoriam: Madame Elizabeth "Pookie" McLain
"Pookie" died today, March 21, 2007. She had been a devoted friend for 17 years. Pookie was a gift
to my bride on our wedding day back in 1990.
Pookie was always there for us, whenever we needed
comfort. She was one of those silent cats, never making much fuss over anything, but patiently
waiting there, always in the background, stepping up to comfort whenever she sensed a troubled soul,
and she had an uncanny ability in that regard.
Pookie was there first, long before the introduction of 2 other cats, 2 dogs, 2 birds, a hamster,
chickens, assorted fish, etc...and she always managed to adapt to the constant changes we would
throw at her without fuss. She has lived in 3 different houses, being an integral part of making
each one a "home".
Pookie was an indoor cat, by choice. Although she did like to venture on the front porch every
now and then, usually in the spring time to enjoy the breeze, the floral smells, and even an
occasional saunter through the front garden. We gave her free reign to go anywhere she wanted, yet
she never strayed far.
A long haired Persian "seal point", she suffered over the past year with a growing tumor in her throat
making it difficult for her to eat and causing her to be perpetually hungry but never able to satisfy.
Pookie was as perfect pet as could be considered. There were only positives with Pookie, no annoying
or bothersome behaviors that you overlook in other pets. Contented and comforting were her trademarks.
Her absence will long be grieved in the McLain household.
Like God, she's comforting
"Relax," she purrs, (she can tell I'm down),
"Let's both take a nap."
then she brushes grace up against my arm
and crawls in to my lap
Purring is her secret prayer
'cause she's most concerned for me
(from Molly Is A Metaphor by Terry Scott Taylor)
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| (1592 Reads) |
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Check out our latest science experiment!
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If you haven't noticed, I'm in the middle of an upgrade to the software that runs MyFrontier. In the past few months the site was subject to several robot attacks that would post messages with hundreds of links in them. The version of Post-Nuke I was using was a bit old, so I took the plunge and upgraded. In the process, I lost some of the formatting in my custom theme. So if things look slightly different, that is why. Hopefully I'll get that all fixed in the next week or so.
On another front, If you noticed, my slideshows for the cross country trip only made it to day 12. That is because I stupidly deleted my nearly complete draft versions of days 13-17. Sigh..it was unintentional, I had attempted to resize my Parallels virtual machine on my new MAC, but accidentally delete the entire virtual machine. I didn't have a backup.
Fortunately, I didn't lose any photos or movies, but only the slideshows. I'll be working on those and posting the last few days of our trip, as well as one final "Summary" slideshow summarizing the whole trip.
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| (1379 Reads) |
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Bozeman, Museum of the Rockies, Great Falls MT
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Yellowstone, Gardiner, MT
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Black Hills, Devil Tower, Big Horn Mountains, Cody WY
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Black Hills, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse, Badlands, Fairfield WaterPark
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Horseback Riding, North Dakota Badlands, T. Roosevelt National Park, North Dakota plains.
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Sunrise to the sounds of Coyote howls over the North Dakota Badlands in Little Missouri State Park.
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North Dakota. Fargo, Bismark, Lewis & Clark Interpretive Center, Fort Manden, Knife River Indian Village, North Dakota Badlands/Little Missouri State Park
Click "Read More" for info and slideshow
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Barbet (in pink) & Friends at Swallow Falls Maryland this summer
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Day 3 of 3 in Minnesota. Ely, Bemidji, Paul Bunyan Statue, Source of Mississippi, Moorhead/Fargo
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Day 2 of 3 in Minnesota. International Wolf Center & Lake Lodge in Ely, MN
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Click to article for a clearer map
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Day 1 of 3 in Minnesota. Everyone agreed that Minnesota was our favorite state of the whole vacation.
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A Chronicle of a day visit to the state of Wisconsin. |
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The prior day being a travel day, we begin our journey by spending a day touring Chicago. We were impressed with the public art, architecture and museums in this city.
Click "Read More.." to read more and view the slideshow |
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OK, the long awaited photos are rolling in. I'll try to post one of these slideshows per day for each day of our vacation.
Click to read more and view the slideshow.
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Self Portrait at Cloud Gate, Photo by Lance McLain
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...that whenever a government officials claims something is "government at its best" (such as Treasury Secretary John Snow said regarding his warrantless surveillance of the financial transactions of Americans) that it is usually not.
...that Gumbo is probably my favorite type of soup
...that I have to send my Palm Treo back to the shop to replace the earpiece speaker
...that we've postponed our river rafting trip until Monday
...that Mythbusters is a fabulous TV show
...that Ray Charles' music is remarkably simple and plain, yet it evokes deep and rich complex emotions
...that my wife and I took 340 digital photographs this June, a record number for us.
...that the political state of affairs in America is now such that government can invoke the terrorist threat just about anytime it wants public support to exempt itself from statutory restraints.
...that for the past several years I've acquired all my desktop wallpapers from here http://lava.nationalgeographic.com/pod/
Regards,
-Lance
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| (1497 Reads) |
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...that McDonald's uses way too much tartar sauce on their fish sandwiches.
...that Solzhenitsyn's observation that to be arrested by the Soviets you didn't have to be an "actual threat" to the state but only a "possible threat" sounded eerily similar to some language coming from the statesmen of the right in America.
...that clouds are far more beautiful when viewed from above them than when viewed from below them.
...that I take more than I give :(
...that it's time to start thinking about my Fantasy Football team again.
...that gambling in a casino is not very fun
...that my Avalanche is my favorite automobile that I've ever owned.
...that Republicans and Democrats are 2 sides of the same coin
...that I'm about to thrown my Palm Treo 700W off of the top of the Sears Tower Building.
...that of all the places I've been in this country, the only places that would make me consider moving out of Maryland are either Northern California or the Foothills of the Colorado Rockies.
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...that the walk down Wacker Drive in Chicago is the most beautiful urban walk of any city I've been in, and I've been in a lot of them.
...that Bono was right, the heart *is* a bloom that shoots up through the stony ground.
...that I locked my hotel key in my room
...that music is a drug...enhances the senses, and better yet, you can't O.D. on it.
...that TV is a strong drink...dulls the senses, and you CAN O.D. on it.
...that Chess is a brilliant (and humbling) game.
...that man has the power to reject God.
...that U2 sometimes sounds remarkably similar to Sting from the 80's
...that this is the just plain wrong
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x20v9F-sWHQ&feature=MostReferred&page=1&t=t&f=b
...that government is more concerned with its own privacy than with ours.
...that Superman is not so super.
...that the designers of power cords w/transformers could use a lesson in how to design them so they don't cover up 2 additional outlets in a power strip.
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| (1757 Reads) |
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...that cellphone users have replaced smokers outside office doors everywhere
(will cellphones ever work inside buildings?)
...that most microbrews at *chic* restaurants taste like Sam Adams
...that even the driest and most sealed basement has problems with 13" of rain
in 5 days.
...that melting glaciers are what convinced me Global Warming is real
...that the Sears Tower doesn't look all that big from up close
...that the best Disney Villian is without question Frollo
...that our Family Lewis and Clark Trip is set for 9/8 - 9/24
...that bluetooth earpieces are the coolest invention and as close to StarTrek
communicators as we've seen.
...that Southwest Airlines Rocks!
...that I've got to get myself to one of these: http://www.moosefest.org/index.html
...that you don't potty train puppies...they potty train you.
...that I'm going river rafting this weekend and I fear with all the rain I'll
be facing Cat 5 rapids!
...that Chicago has the noisiest trains of any city anywhere.
...that iTunes should allow you to associate a song to more than one album
...that I can hardly believe it but Johnny Depp and Leonardo Decaprio really are two of my favorite actors?
regards,
-Lance
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| Lysander Spooner was a 19th century American writer, abolitionist, lawyer, author, etc. (click here www.lysanderspooner.org for more info on Lysander Spooner)
Below is one of my favorite passages from Lysander Spooner. It comes from his essay entitled "Natural Law" (http://www.mind-trek.com/treatise/ls-nl.htm).
If you get some bathroom reading time, I recommend it! ;) Spooner was fundamental in shaping my political belief system.
This essay really gives a good
overview of just what government is, and where it originated. This is what I have affectionately termed the "robber-baron theory of Government"
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OK, I'm the biggest Daniel Amos fan there is. I own at least one copy of practically everything penned from the hand of Terry Taylor (the lead singer), which is no small thing as he's been a prolific artist since the 70's. I believe there are around 1000 published, recorded songs to his name. He is really an obsessive pastime for me. I think the guy is one of the best modern poets in Christendom....
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| I was recently asked about any connections between vegetarianism and Christianity and so I dug up an old email I composed on the subject a while back:
Abstaining from meat has historically always been considered a form of fasting. Some of the early 1st and 2nd century Christian texts (for ex The Didache) show that fasting from meat was done every wednesday and friday by the earliest Christian churches. (Incidentally, the Didache of the Apostles, an early (1st century?) Christian manual on morals and Christian practices - also forbids abortion and infanticide)
Generally, full vegetarianism was not practiced in the church except by monastics, however periods of fasting from meat were not only required, but one could even suffer excommunication in some instances from not following the fasting rules.
I might add that the original commandment that God gave to our ancestors Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden was a fasting commandment: eat of the fruit of all the trees but this one. This may point to the origins of fasting in the Christian church. I know this doesn't fully address the idea of Christians being vegetarian, however it might go a long way toward understanding the history of meat eating in the Christian church.
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I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself,
than be crowded on a velvet cushion.
-- H.D. Thoreau (Walden)
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| Other Public Journal Entries | |
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| | - Discontinuing - New Blog Here: http://web.mac.com/lance.mclain
(Jun 26, 2007)
- In Memoriam: Madame Elizabeth "Pookie" McLain
(Mar 21, 2007)
- Don't Count Your Chickens
(Mar 19, 2007)
- Women with Icons
(Mar 16, 2007)
- Technical Difficulties
(Mar 13, 2007)
- Cross Country Trip - Day 12 - Dinosaur Montana
(Feb 14, 2007)
- Cross Country Trip - Day 11 - Yellowstone
(Feb 14, 2007)
- Cross Country Trip - Day 10 - Wyoming
(Feb 14, 2007)
- Cross Country Trip - Day 9 - South Dakota
(Nov 19, 2006)
- Cross Country Trip - Day 8 - North Dakota Day 2
(Nov 17, 2006)
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