The Why Man

My thoughts on Gingrich response to Open Marriage Debate question

2012-01-25T14:46:00.001-05:00

Newt Gingrich had a brilliant political moment in his exchange with John King during the recent South Carolina Republican debate. It may have been the turning point for Newt's come from behind dramatic win in the primary.

The audience gave him a standing ovation. John King offered little defense of his question as should be expected of a good moderator, whose job it is to allow the debaters to freely interact with the questions. Later they exchanged once again after the debate, and Gingrich was far less convincing than his moment during the debate.

His daughter is coming out and defending him, but the open marriage question is not answered even during these interviews, and of course in such a "he said, she said" private issue, how could we ever expect a deciding result?

When I first saw the debate response by Gingrich, I immediately felt that this was Gingrich at his fiery best. He may be the clearest communicator, and perhaps the most intelligent and visionary politician among anyone running for president in either party right now. But, my second (and almost immediate) sense about his response to the open marriage accusation by his second wife has stuck with me longer, and seems to be proving itself out. The exchange did not leave me with a good feeling, and these are the reasons why:

1) The response by Gingrich seemed philosophically dishonest. Even if it is a genuine response to how he feels about the question (which might not have been true if the question was asked of someone else, or of a Democrat) it does not accurately portray the general feelings of the Republican core. From a basic philosophical consideration of leadership in the Republican party, faithfulness matters, and manifests itself in sexual issues. Something so far outside the societal norms of marriage and sexuality as Open Marriage or polyamory are not things most Republicans would consider acceptable in a leader.

2) The debate point was sure to bring forward discussion in the public arena about Open Marriage and polyamory. Giving it a place in the discussion of everyday news affairs and offering its advocates a grand stage to share their views on the benefits of the lifestyle. Is this something a leader of the Republican Party wants to be known for - being a culture changer for radical liberal sexuality? Somehow I think not, but indeed, almost immediately articles and discussions popped up around the world. The questions on the validity and potential benefits of open marriage are still going, and its proponents have the grandest stage they have perhaps ever had.

I do not see Newt's brilliant political maneuver in the debate as a high point for the Republican Party, and I do not see it as a high point for American culture either. That's my thoughts on Newt's response. What are yours?

Your life is a poem

2012-01-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

I have read poetry, beautiful prose and deep philosophy birthed out of adventurous lives. I have also read poetry, beautiful prose and deep philosophy birthed out of what would appear to some to be mundane existence.

So I find myself considering the fact that all life is poetry - all life is beautiful prose - and all life is deep philosophy. We may not see it in every day, and every experience, but I assume it must be there.

What then makes our lives so mundane if all life is poetry? Our perspective I suppose. One of our great needs, then, is to be the poet - to be the mystery writer - to be the philosopher who finds the art in life.

God looks down upon the atheists (a parable)

2011-12-22T12:04:00.000-05:00

God looked down on the atheists of the world. He slumped over in His great throne, and shook His head. He said to Himself (because He really is the only one smart enough to get Himself and He tends to talk to Himself a lot because of it), "What the heck are they thinking? All that argumentation about things they don't understand, and things they can't possibly figure out is absurd. Their lying and gross immorality offends me."

Then God turned and looked to faithful Christian Pastors and Christian religious leaders like the Pope, and smiled. He listened a little closer, slumped in His great throne and shook His head. He said to Himself (because now it was really obvious that no one was smart enough get Him), "What the heck are they thinking? All that argumentation about things they don't understand, and things they can't possibly figure out is absurd. Their lying and gross immorality offends me."

Then God said to Himself again, "What the heck am I gonna do with this mess? I'm afraid that this freewill I've granted them is beginning to look like a catch 22. They can choose to believe in Me or choose to disbelieve in Me, and yet now I see that their damned if they do, and their damned if they don't - and damn it all, so am I!"

And so God responded to His frustration in the best way he could think of: He took up with a few medieval monks and started brewing beer.

This parable outlines my feelings about God. I feel bad for poor ol' God. What I mean is that He is in a tough position and has placed Himself there knowingly. The problems of sin, and the curse, brought on by the dynamics of freewill have made it almost impossible for a good deal of humanity to imagine a good God in the midst of all this tragedy.

Generation after generation continues to argue about His existence or the impossibility of His goodness, and He suffers that behavior for millenia. As a result he has chosen to take up working with us in many simple ways, and to express His love in those simple joys of life. If you look close enough you just might find God in the party.

The Cash Poem, (a purposely mediocre work) by Phil Wyman

2011-08-01T17:53:00.002-05:00

The Cash Poem, (a purposely mediocre work) by Phil Wyman

I received a letter in the mail
called a risk alert
Don't dash to read a poem it said
or with the law you'll flirt

Please note the date of copyright
and the name upon
a poem of inspiration about
loved ones come and gone

It will cost you lots of cash
helping those who hurt
about $250 bucks
for copyrighted works

For it is the cash that matters
and the things that we can buy
at least this is so for the poet
though not for you and I

So before you copy a poem
to comfort a forlorn friend
consider the risk of a lawyers' notice
of copyright infringement

Now, take it slow and consider
writing your own poem
it may take time but it is worth
not being sued for your home

So be less swift to copy
and show a little brains
in the face of people who will write
dear, sweet things for gains

If you don't then you will learn
respect for lawyers and courts
especially when you find your cash
goes flying out the doors

Avoid an edict being read
at the courts and dash
right back home and write your poem
and save yourself some cash

addendum to my work of Parody…

Now my little mediocre poem
is free for you to share
I wrote it in 25 minutes
no cash - cause I don't care

Book Report: Peter Rollins' "The Orthodox Heretic: amd other impossible tales"

2011-07-06T08:33:00.001-05:00

A couple weeks ago I finished Peter Rollins "The Orthodox Heretic: and other impossible tales." Phyllis Tickle called the book his "most engaging and accessible book to date." I think that was a way of saying that Pete probably hasn't written anything this easy to read since he was 3 years old. He does tend to write over most of our heads, and I have loved his previous books. So I was a touch skeptical coming into this one.

It is a collection of short stories followed by an interpretation of their meaning. As is the way of Pete, he turns the tables on what we expect and challenges us to rethink theology and life with God. There is a significant number of these stories which focus on social action, or as some will call it "the social gospel." This was to such a degree that about three quarters way through the book I thought perhaps the stories in the latter half would all turn that direction, but then Pete changed course again and created a number of interesting tales with deep personal challenge.

This may be Peter Rollins' easiest read, but it is by no means simple in its approach to dynamic transformation. I have been using some of these stories during our Lectio Divina scripture meditation evenings.

My opinion: Good book. Worth the read. It will change the way some of you think.

Next: I am now reading Tony Jones' book The Teaching of the Twelve. A book highlighting the Didache and applying it to Christianity today. Tony and Pete are friends who have been battling it out over facebook about whose stuff is better. I will give my opinion after I finish Tony's book.

The Do Lectures: My Favorite Lecture Venue

2011-06-24T10:11:00.000-05:00

Here's another lecture from that wonderful lecture series which happens once a year in West Wales - in a tent. This year, a second venue has cropped up in California. This presentation is from Paula Le Dieu. about Copyright law.

Left Behind: The Song!

2011-04-26T17:09:00.000-05:00

I am organizing a party for the day after the rapture. Well, the day after the supposed May 21st rapture. In the honor of a better end times theology, and the fact that God doesn't want to leave anybody behind we are throwing a party in Salem, Ma. There is also a Facebook page you can join to be a part of the Left Behind: The Party! There are already a few parties around the US now, so we needed a theme song. Well here it is. Words follow below.

Left Behind: The Song
by phil wyman

Uncle Elmer had a truck
and it was my sin
lusted for his F-150
and that sick lift kit
Uncle Elmer was a preacher
mean as could be
told me 'bout the rapture
and the plagues that I would see
But now he's in a box
six-feet deep
but his pickup in my name
is a sign that God loves me

Left Behind, Left Behind
Uncle Elmer is not with us
but now his truck is mine
Left Behind, Left Behind
he could't take it with him
so now his truck is mine

Voltaire told a story*
'bout a battle on the town
sounded like the last days
when few would be around
They surrounded the city
to starve them out
the soldiers were all dying
cause the food was running out
So, the doctor hatched a plan
to save the day
chopped of the ladies' right buttocks
and all had rump filet

Left Behind, Left Behind
she sacrificed her right cheek
now we call her Left Behind
Left Behind, Left Behind
not sure I'll like the menu
when it comes to the end times

I went to a church
where the preacher did tell us
of that day when we would fly away
to be with Jesus
He said it was comin'
any day
and the church secretary
prophesied as we all prayed
May twenty-first
God will take us all away
but the preacher and the secretary
disappeared that day

Left Behind, Left Behind
the church and the pastor's wife
they were left behind
Left Behind, Left Behind
now we know that God is not the one
who left us all behind

Left Behind, Left Behind
It's your judgments and not God's
that left us all behind
Left Behind, Left BehindI just might throw a party
if I get Left Behind!

* Found in Voltaire's Candide

and I am throwing a party. Yo can find it Facebook, or you can join the community and start your own party! Left Behind: The Party!

Palm Sunday Prayer

2011-04-15T17:41:00.003-05:00

Palm Sunday thoughts: identifying with the season of bright sadness

Today we come with Jesus
into the gates of Jerusalem
we hear the lifted praises
and the voices of the mob
but in the pattern of their praise
we hear their turning camouflaged
beneath the joyous cries
those who praise the loudest
will next week shout "crucify!"

i, among the frenzied crowd
take my place to find
that i have shouted both in praise
and in betraying jeers
and i as well have sat upon
the ass trudging into town
the bright sadness lies before us
as fandom becomes betrayal
and betrayal turns to love

Nor smiles upon these leeches' lips

2011-03-31T01:18:00.001-05:00

For we have dreamt about things that darken the days
We smile in our sickness and celebrate another's pain
Our strength is in their sacrifice
We eat their flesh
We drink their blood
Not in humbled thanks, but gorging pride

And when another day shall dawn, darkening our eyes
There shall be no sacrifice nor smiles upon these leeches' lips
Our weakness is the loss of strife and harm
No flesh to eat
No blood to drink
But in hungered cries, we'll surely starve

A•L•ONE

2011-03-30T12:41:00.003-05:00

ALONE
my thoughts are my own
at least, I think so
one moment they are controlled
The next unhinged and swinging wildly
   squeaking in the winds
from cursed tri-tones to harmonious hymns
I vacillate ALONE

LONE
independent soul?
or whited, blighted bone
now sanded down to whistling moans?
from barren desert dust staring blankly,
   blinkless to each gust
with eyes as holes and empty trust
I exemplify the LONE

ONE
looks down from stark sun
caught bare I can not run
knowing this, I am undone
and blistering heat becomes some comfort
   where our souls might meet
sorrow sucks from joy's warmed teat

multiplied by ONE

still working on the hope of bardic transference after sleeping on Cadair Idris

Hark Dark Night

2011-03-26T14:39:00.000-05:00

Hark Dark Night

Hark

Dark Night

Light Flies

Sighs Hiss

Kiss Fears

Years Pass

Ass Speaks

Freaks Bard

Scarred Mind

Kind Word

Heard Late

Fate Dodged

Lodged Dreams

Streams Free

Flee Dark

Hark

Light

First Saturday of October - yes, crowds are beginning

2010-10-02T15:04:00.000-05:00

It is hard to find parking in town, and people are milling the streets. We haven't begin the outreach officially, so I am still preparing things for action, but here are a few shots from the street this morning.

Pics from One Day Before Halloween

2010-09-30T20:44:00.001-05:00

It is 9:30 on Thursday Night in 2010. The night before Halloween. At least, the night before Halloween in Salem begins. It's September 30th, and October 1st marks the beginning of Halloween in Salem, MA. We are the Halloween capitol of the world for sure. So here are a few things going on today in Salem, MA - the day before Halloween.

Pics from Salem, MA - 2 days before October

2010-09-29T16:59:00.000-05:00

It's almost Halloween in Salem, MA. In fact, it really starts in 2 days. October 1st is the unofficial, but everybody knows it is, beginning of Halloween in our town. Here are a few shots on this Thursday afternoon in downtown Salem near our church.

Do Lectures - Maggie Doyne

2010-09-28T17:12:00.000-05:00

Maggie Doyne.

She's 23 and already has 30 children. Wow! What a story. Really you need to hear it. This is reason number two you should join the Do Lectures.

Craig Mod at The Do Lectures

2010-09-27T23:00:00.000-05:00

Okay, this is part of my list of 1,000 things to DO before I die. Well, I wasn't there last week, but it is now coming up on the web. So here is one of the lectures from The Do Lectures in West Wales. Worth listening to, especially for all my friends who blog, write, think, and act out important issues in life.

Phil Wyman by Tyler Junker

2010-07-31T16:46:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago I was at The Gulu-Gulu Cafe in Salem, MA with Josh. We met Caroline and Tyler Junker (mom and son), and they decided to hang with us as well. Tyler took me on as an art project over the evening, and now I have the drawing at home. Dang! is he good? or what?

Thanks Tyler.

Bury me here

2010-07-20T20:50:00.001-05:00

Blackout by Tracy Ann Williams

2010-05-07T10:47:00.002-05:00

Arriving by air from Wales I received my copy of Blackout on a Thursday, and was headed down to Washington DC for a 3 day retreat. I started the book on Friday night, but due to the pace of the conference I did not return to it until Monday, which was a day off for me. By Tuesday I finished reading the Blackout.

Blackout is a self-published book by Tracy Ann Williams, the self described Welsh Mountain Girl - exhibitionist - writer looking for a publisher to take notice. Sounds like me: well, not the Mountain Girl - exhibitionist part, but the rest of it. She calls herself the "Naked Blonde Writer," which I am sure gets significant attention on Twitter, and probably more than a few undesirable requests.

Since nothing Welsh on Twitter gets by me for too long, I happened upon Tracy some months back shortly before my trip to Wales. I tried to connect with her in Wales to pick up a book while I traversed the nation from South to North and back again, but I am sure that strange Americans asking Naked Blonde Writers for a personal delivery of their books are frequent and sketchy propositions. So it was a couple months later I received it via the volcano-dust delayed air routes.

Back to the book:

Blackout is a raw, dark, and desperate picture of Rhondda Valley life among druggies, and factory workers. It is filled with F-bombs, anger, wild dreams, and hopelessly trapped people caught on the painful knife edge of poverty and addiction. It is not something which would typically make my list of of books, but then the picture with a stack of some of the other things I am reading right now might suggest that.

The mountain wandering protagonist, a 29 year old blonde meets the dreamer boy, wannabe rockstar from the moneyed English family and they stomp off angrily toward his dreams of success in a secluded house in the Brecon Beacons of South Wales. (I am sure I have driven by that house, even though this is a fictional tale.)

English privilege is juxtaposed against the struggling Welsh working class. A deadly paced party life stands against a healthy on the outside only well-to-do lifestyle. The hopelessness of the daily drudgery of the working class, and Valley addicts is contrasted with the laissez-faire attitude of the rich who do not have to work or scrape along for survival.

I have a pre-release copy, which still had corrections to make before final printing, so the beginning of the book was chopped up a bit with sections printed twice, misspellings, and incorrect chapter divisions. Despite that it read smoothly enough, generally transitioned well. The second half of the book moves at a frenetic pace like an action novel. It lifts you toward hope, and drops you toward despair, and captures a wild bi-polar movement in between the two extremes.

Don't read this if you are thinking of moving to the Rhondda, because it won't encourage you. Don't read it if you are troubled by nightmares after dark readings. Do read it if you like dark literature, don't mind F-bombs, and certainly read it if you like to support new writers, or artists coming out of Wales. It is a good read.

Tracy is a talented, Welsh mountain hermit actress who spent some years in Hollywood and now likes stay on top of the mountain only to pop out every now and then and show off.

You can get your copy of Blackout from Amazon. If you get it, blog about it, and pass the word on. You can find out more about Tracy on her website.

So Cymru am byth! and buy a book to support struggling artists and for the sake of easing your aching hiraeth.

Poem: The Woes of the Ornamental Sword

2010-04-09T17:01:00.001-05:00

The Woes of the Ornamental Sword

standing sword, in the corner

unsharpened, tarnished blade pointing downward

too dangerous for play

too benign for war

standing sword, in the corner

casts its thin shadow toward the coward

too alike are they

too hopeful for more

standing sword, in the corner

a naked, unsheathed blade facing forward

too violent to pray

too far from the door

Poem: embracing the hangman

2010-04-09T16:47:00.003-05:00

embracing the hangman

for aching joints, and scratchy skin

I know I am alive

for clutching chest, and labored breath

I know I am alive

for downcast eyes, and heavy heart

I know I am alive

for troubled mind, and wanting words

I know I am alive

in pain and not in pleasure, in sorrow not in jest

in loss and not in treasure, in tossings not in rest

these muted tones of struggle from graying days of rain

the lonely rooms of silence with clicking clocks as friends

send me to the hangman - a full embrace I give

that which is killing me is teaching me to live

Have you ever found it necessary to embrace your pain in order to keep your sanity?

Poetry belongs on paper (a poem)

2010-03-15T00:19:00.002-05:00

This poem was written rather quickly as I was waiting for a video of Mary the Goth Theologian to download onto Youtube. Rather than get up off the bed, and get my notebook, I typed it on my Mac. There is something rather sterile about writing poetry on a computer. So, as you can read that was the theme of the poem.

This is also the ongoing pursuit of the poetic skill I should have acquired by sleeping on Cadair Idris. The only real way for me to discover whether I have poetic prowess beyond song-writing is to offer this to people who actually read my stuff. So, here it is - offered as a screen capture from my Mac.

I will remember you (poem)

2010-03-10T23:04:00.001-05:00

I will remember you

friends from distant places
   whose words bend on the wind
      they somehow reach my longing ears
         now strained by hammered pains

he who remembers me
   will be remembered too
      like water to dried prophet's lips
         and rain upon parched land

sorrow is my prison
   and yet my freedom too
      betrayal is my enemy
         till friend's words salve the sores

I will remember you
   the kindness and the calls
      have now poured life into my soul
         through tears and sweated brow

Yes, my attempts at testing poetic prowess on the heels of sleeping upon Cadair Idris continue. Photos and video of the climb.

Furious! I was in a movie and didn't know it!

2010-03-09T12:47:00.000-05:00

I wasn't really furious. I was more surprised. I received a call from Drew, the pastor at the North Shore Bridge Church in Beverly, MA. He called to tell about a movie they were showing at their church last Friday night. It was 3pm and he apologized for not contacting me earlier. I wasn't sure why he apologized, until he asked me if I would like to come and say a few words before the film began at 7pm.

I wasn't sure what the film was about, but the name "Furious Love" sounded familiar to me.

Then Drew mentioned my part in the film. (Sound of the screeching needle across the vinyl record inserted here) What?! I'm in the film?

Then I remembered that about 18 months ago some guys came into to Salem filming events, and did an interview with me about stuff God is doing in Salem. I was nervous about the interview, because the things we do in Salem are definitely outside the box, and our stance to befriend and love Witches and the various Neo-Pagans living here has been misunderstood and/or demonized a few times too many. Even if it has not been demonized it has been re-communicated in typical, and often aggressive sounding warlike Evangelical/Pentecostal terminology.

I am not sure which is worse: to be demonized or defined by someone whose language offends our friends.

I went home and watched the trailer. Now I was really nervous. This was looking like a crazy, demon busting film. I was sure I was going to be typecast as an aggressive Witch Hunter. Oh boy, just what I need living in Salem, MA!

I arrived at The Bridge Church just before the movie began. Drew talked with John Harding (my good buddy in the crime of overtly and openly loving people in Salem) and I, and asked us to share for a few minutes before the film began.

John talked about the outreach which their church performs with us in Salem, and then I followed up and suggested that the title Furious Love challenged us to consider love as the weapon of our warfare, and turned our conceptions of treating people different than ourselves upside down. I was hoping the film might have that kind of theme attached to it, but I was really just grasping for straws, and was quite nervous about the way I would be cast.

Film began: Demon possessed people in Africa (I think it was Kenya) were flailing around and screaming. This set the stage of a documentary travel film, which went to the "darkest places of the world" trying to find out if God was working in these dark places.

Within two or three other visits to "dark places" the movie makers arrived in Salem, MA during October. Of course, they inaccurately identified Haunted Happenings (the month-long Halloween celebration) as a Witchcraft Festival. It really is a combination of children's events, street vendors, theatrical presentations, museums retelling history of the 1692-1693 witch trials, and witchcraft shops peddling their wares and holding events. Our church is more active than almost any other institution in town and so it can't exactly be called a Witchcraft Festival, but that's what most people seem to think it is.

Now in Salem the movie makers were trying to reach out to people by praying for them and healing their diseases. They spoke of coming into Salem looking for a fight with the devil. Oh boy, I was getting real nervous, because I knew this was the lead in to whatever interview cuts they took from me.

They showed an encounter praying for a lady with a knee problem. She did not get healed and openly said that it felt exactly the same as before the prayer. This was contrasted with another experience in another place in which a man on crutches was healed. They remarked that nothing was working, and that their approach to looking to fight the devil head on was going nowhere....

"until..."

The scene panned in to our church with me sitting on a stool in front of the old vault which graces the meeting room.

"...we met this man."

Uh-oh. My part came in. The cut they used had me sharing that it was far too frequent for people to be afraid of, and to demonize the Witches and Neo-Pagans in Salem. Once we do this we disqualify ourselves from speaking on behalf of God.

The movie then pivoted upon this interview, and they went back out into the streets of Salem, and found themselves being able to interact positively with the visitors and locals on the streets.

This was truly the first time I have felt that an interview was understood fully, and effected the kind of response we are known for. The theme of the movie moved from war to love - but love as the manner in which God fights for people.

It continued through other countries, and other events with some wonderful, and some sad stories. It was far more beautiful in its shaky, hard edged documentary style than I could have expected.

It touched me simply because I felt understood, and because it encompassed the message we live in Salem. Hundreds of people every year learn from us, and the movie captured something we have been teaching for 11 years now.

So it gets a biased two thumbs up from me. Watch it if you can.

Okay, here's the trailer that scared me, and made me wonder how I might be cast.

How You Process Pain

2010-03-09T10:48:00.000-05:00

The readers of The Why Man who responded to the poll about processing pain were broken down into these divisions:

45% I face it and try to either overcome it or learn from it
37% I pull myself together and move forward as though it didn't exist
9% I find a way to drown it
9% I go viral and blog about it!

So, the real question is "who is the the most healthy here?" Is the 45% who face the problem, the 37% who redirect themselves in new directions, or the the 10% who are honest enough to really tell the truth and say that they drown it? Certainly our viral bloggers have got to be sick - of course, I say that because that is my most likely response.

Poll on Processing Pain

2010-03-08T13:50:00.003-05:00

Please click the words below "View Survey" and answer the question on processing pain and struggle. Do you do it by evasion and ignoring, or by confrontation and publication?

Airplane Poetry - The Waning Gibbous Moon

2010-02-27T14:53:00.001-05:00

The following poem was written on the airplane from London to Boston last night. As you will notice from above I spelled Gibbous incorrectly, so it is corrected in type below. The out of focus section on the bottom of the page gives the date 2/26/2010 and says "On a plane "home" from Wales. Remembering a [gibeous] moon low in the sky in the early morning about a month before."

The Waning Gibbous Moon

by Phil Wyman

The waning gibbous moon slung low upon the sky
Winks, and bids the dawning day goodbye
It mocks me with its eloquence
It portends darker nights
And with the waning gibbous moon I sigh

The waning gibbous moon slides down to meet the line
Stops, where earth meets sky and dark meets light
Inerrant gibbous moon I sense
Prognosticates my life
and with the waning gibbous moon I cry

The waning gibbous moon slinks out beneath the sky
Flees, to squeeze the night time and the tide
O, soothe me omen gibbous moon
Reveal where I might fly
and with the waning gibbous moon I'll hide

Still in need of work, but basically there. This is the continued efforts of seeing if sleeping on Cadair Idris made a poet or a madman out of me.

Restaurant Napkin Poetry

2010-02-22T19:27:00.002-05:00

"Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips... (Isaiah 6:5)

When scripture and how we feel meet.

Am I the Consumate Doppleganger?

2010-02-04T01:10:00.002-05:00

Perhaps I am the perfect imitator, a doppleganger in every season of my life. Maybe there are aliens on this world like those who populated the planet before the coming of the V, and they have been trying to take my place since I was in Junior High School.

In 7th grade, a cute little middle school girl followed me at a distance ohing and ahing because she had a crush on Danny Bonaduce from the Partridge Family. I guess I looked a lot like Danny Partridge, freckled and curly headed, so she had a crush on me too. I never even found out her name - silly me.

In High School "Young Frankenstein" came out in the movie theaters. My wild curly hair, my thin mustache, and the fact that I looked significantly older than my 15 years made me a shoe in for Gene Wilder, and students I didn't even know would shout at me and tell me I looked like Young Frankenstein.

Shortly thereafter Peter Sellers' Pink Panther series was running through its remakes in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1982, and 1983. First I started hearing from High School mates, and then the following years at Palomar College that I looked like Inspector Clouseau. Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately I could imitate the crazy accent flawlessly, and girls at college would stop me to show their friends that I looked and sounded like Inspector Clouseau.

A few years later a Russian comedian made the big time in the US, and once again I was accused of looking like another TV personality. Standing in a room at the gym by myself one day a girl shouted from the door, "Yakov, Yakov is that you!?" At this first encounter with the name, I had to visit the bookstore and find a book with a picture of Yakov Smirnoff, famous for the "Vat a country!" line. Finding a picture of him standing in the middle of the street in New York City I coould easily have been fooled into thinking it was me.

Finally we come to today. I have now become a suit! Beginning about 15 years ago while I was still living in Oceanside, CA George Zimmer, owner of the Men's Wearhouse began to do his own commercials for his company. I was an instant George Zimmer doppleganger. At the time I ran an open mic at Joe's Garage, a coffeehouse on the corner El Camino Real and Oceanside Blvd. A group of young guys walked in one day and asked if I was the guy from the Men's Wearhouse. I said, in George Zimmer stunted and stiff fashion (he has since taken acting lessons and is pretty relaxed and cool today) "I guarantee it." For a couple months these kids would bring their friends to the coffeehouse to meet the guy from the Men's Wearhouse running the open mic. I never told them otherwise, I simply replied "I guarantee it." whenever they asked if it was true.

So during the current Facebook Doppleganger session, this is my confession - I am the ultimate doppleganger. If I am not then I have been doppleganged throughout my whole life. These are just the major dopplegang characters. There are a few more minor characters whose names I can never remember.

Of course, these guys all have two things in common: Wild hair and big noses. I guess wild haired, big nosed guys all look alike.

This could really lead to a personality disorder, or at the least a mild complex of insignificance.

Evaluating Encouragement as it Happens - can you tell the difference between those who talk and those who know?

2010-01-29T08:22:00.000-05:00

Not much to put down in the text of the post here, because the question is the post. During difficult seasons (I am experiencing my own right now) can you tell the difference between those who understand your struggle, and those who act as thought they understand? Does it make a difference in terms of how much it helps you make it through the tough times? Does a friend offering silence work better than a friend bringing many words when life is at it lowest?

Fortunately I have not had too much of this. My friends have been pretty amazing, and The Gathering is truly like family.

What do you think? What has your experience been?

New header here to join my Twitter change

2010-01-20T20:46:00.001-05:00

After changing my Twitter background, I decided it was time to change my header here as well. So there it is above. I decided to use the same sepia toned photo from Avebury on one side and add the steps going up to Castell Dolwyddelan in North Wales.

I had to reverse the photo of the steps going up to the Castle to make this work, but I guess that might fit the problem of being a serial deconstructionist anyway. Once again - photos by Mizumi Graham.

My New Twitter Page Look

2010-01-20T10:52:00.001-05:00

I changed the background of my twitter page yesterday. I am actually somewhat happy with it, despite the fact that I did all by my lonesome. Sometimes I can make things like this work, and sometimes it's a bomb. This one works, needs a little adjustment, but it definitely is not a bomb.

The pic is a section of a photo taken by Mizumi Graham at Avebury about 5 years ago. I sepia toned the image in Photoshop and added the text on the left hand side.

Let me know if you think it cool or bogus.

I am reading "Portrait of an Angry Decision Maker." You should too.

2010-01-12T20:46:00.001-05:00

I have been this on occasion, but more often have dealt with people who are the angry decision maker. This insightful study by Jennifer S. Lerner and Larissa Z. Tiedens should make you think about the way you make decisions, and about how you perceive those who make angry decisions. For now that is all I will say, because I want you to read it for yourself. The paper is a free pdf download. So that should make you happy.Here

It sure is a good thing pastors and Christian leaders are never angry decision makers. Oh - whoops, I guess we all fall prey to that weakness, don't we?

May we grow beyond it. Amen.

Atheists getting indecent over blasphemy law in Ireland

2010-01-02T13:01:00.000-05:00

Yesterday the new Irish blasphemy law went into effect. The Irish Atheist responded immediately with blasphemy on their website - 25 "blasphemous quotes" from people as diverse as Jesus Christ Himself, and George Carlin. Among the 25 quotes are a series of obscene comments about God, and the person of Jesus. (tto read the full article go here)

Surviving Christmas alone: how your faith can help you through it

2009-12-23T00:57:00.000-05:00

Many articles have been written about surviving Christmas alone. Most of these articles deal with finding a way to break free from being alone. Service in homeless shelter, finding a family or group of friends to join for the holidays, or throwing your own party are common suggestions. Yet, there are times when you are truly alone, and survival tactics for this wilderness of true aloneness are necessary for your emotional and mental health. This season of anticipated joy is filled with many people who find themselves far from home, have few to no friends, or are in the midst of a tragedy such as a death of a loved one or a divorce.

The following six steps might be just enough to help you survive being alone on Christmas...click for the rest of the article

I Am No Poet (a silly poem with lessons on rhyming built within)

2009-12-16T12:59:00.006-05:00

So, I thought I would write a poem for a humor poetry contest. Instead I ended up with this poem, which teaches rhyming styles by modeling them and mentioning them throughout the verses. Now the side notes on what styles are referred to in each stanza are not meant to be in the body of the poem. They are just there for this blog post. This is certainly one of the silliest things I have ever written.

I am No Poet (a dirge of commonness)

I am no poet (1) broken rhyme
and I know it
I am broken
I always blow it

my strange addiction (2) double rhyme
sad affliction
is oft doubled
within my diction

I have tried to hide (3) assonant Rhyme
my moral bind
but lessons lurk
within ass'nant lines

repeating within (4) inside repetition
my mortal sin
it lunges large
and it screams again

I have tried to end (5) simple, masculine
this single trend
be masculine!
but I always bend

now trying to quit (6) consonant rhyme
but never quite
cons'nant struggle
not ever quiet

I can not fake it (7) imperfect rhyme
please or placate
imperfectly
out falls my mistake

If given an or-ange (8) scarce rhyme
squeezed like syringe
scarce my options
still all will cah-ringe

this evil duress (9) light/unstressed
lightly unstressed
would fall away
If I weren't careless

with my dreams too high (10) wrenched rhyme
it cuts to my
soul so wrenched it
pains me but few cry

This, my rich idol (11) Rich Rhyme - homonyms
once thought idyll
now I find that
it leaves me idle

repeating my words (12) identical repetition
my type of words
identical
repetitious words

like macaroni (13) Macaronic Rhyme/multilingual
plain bolonga
it will be known
gwladwr ydw'i

so I am destined (The Final Mourning)
to be questioned
and ridiculed
whenever mentioned

wrong time to be born
now I must mourn
hanging my head
live up to my scorn

You see, in this time
metered sublime
free verse is loved
but poets can't rhyme

Galileo's Middle Finger

2009-11-20T16:08:00.006-05:00

After more than a hundred years missing Galileo's tooth and finger have been returned to the public. Here's a picture of his middle finger.

That's right after all these centuries Galileo is still giving us the middle finger. I want scientists to cut off my middle finger when I die.

Here's the story

Notes on Betrayal

2009-11-18T13:50:00.004-05:00

Over the course of the last couple years, I have experienced a high degree of betrayal from the hands of church leaders who have lied and/or gone along with the lies. Coming out on the other side has been both difficult, and liberating.

I am not sure that all levels of betrayal have that same redemptive dynamic. I have experienced a new level of betrayal from someone who is supposed to be a friend recently, and wonder, "Is it possible to come through these things, and find a silver lining in the dark cloud."

Beyond this life - I suppose. In this life, I am still convinced as I have been for quite some time, that not all things make sense. Betrayal does not make sense, and I am sure that is part of the dynamic of redemption - not to make sense out of the senseless, but to save us from it.

The Party's Final Note (song lyrics)

2009-11-13T07:21:00.003-05:00

my forensic studies tell me that
life is short, its troubles bad
but I don't want this to be
the party's final note when you look to me

my wit is sharp, but my jokes are bad
my mistimed cues tip the hat
but I don't want this to be
the party's final joke when you look to me

peace on earth, goodwill toward men
who is it who sees this end?
someone out there must live this dream
i'll pray it's you and me

i like songs that make people think
i try to resolve, but it's in the wrong key
i don't want this to be
the party's final note when you look to me

sarcasm is my best defense
but the closer you get the less it makes sense
I don't want this to be
the party's final joke when you look to me

if there's a god who loves to laugh
is He smiling now, or fighting tears back?
someone out there must live His dreams
I'll pray it's you and me

Duck Daddy Revisits the Month

2009-10-07T20:32:00.003-05:00

That's right it's been a month since I last posted. Originally I was going to write about the ducks until they were finally out of the brooder and into the yard with their own pen and duck house. Well they've accomplished that now, and they've grown up, but a few things have happened in the last month which make for good story about Pato (the female impersonator) and his harem.

1. Back on September 10th Paul Allen from The Centre for Alternative Technology in Mid-Wales was here in Salem to give a lecture at our church. I had arranged this event along with a couple other speaking engagements through my new business venture CeltiConnect, and so Paul was at my mercy since I was the driver, and schedule maker.

In the afternoon he came to our house with his partner Rebecca to lay down awhile. Paul fell in love with the ducks. Well, Rebecca said he would. He had wanted to get chickens, but she did not want chickens. While Paul and talked inside the house for a while, Rebecca stayed outside in the yard. When we looked outside we saw her enraptured with the ducks and taking pictures - lots of pictures.

They live in Machynlleth Wales - not too far from Welshpool. Welshpool is the address home of the Indian Runner Duck Society. I suggested they contact them. I still need to follow up and see if they have. Just think, our ducks could have influenced The Centre for Alternative Technology! maybe they deserve a Nobel prize or something.

2. They have started laying eggs. It has been a little over a week since they started, and it is starting slow. Just one a day. Sometimes a little one - slightly smaller than a large chicken egg, and sometimes a big one - about 25% larger than a large chicken egg. I am quite enjoying breakfast, which is really not my favorite meal, but duck eggs are just too good, and particularly on French Toast, which I do like.

3. Pato started to chase my feet when I would walk away. He would act a little aggressive and peck at my feet while I walk. Of course even barefooted it does not hurt, but he might get hurt, so I have been picking him up and carrying him around when he does this. he does not appreciate being held like that, so he stops his toe attacks. I am sure he is simply playing the big man and chasing me off his girls.

Those are the newest developments at Duck Daddy's house. Fall is here and Winter will come soon. We are wondering how life at with ducks will be in the harsh New England winter.

Duck Daddy and his 4 girls (and the imposter duck turned drake)

2009-09-04T07:44:00.005-05:00

So is this evidence that the ducks are too familiar with us? Do we need to set some boundaries?

Duck Daddy and Hmmmmm..Uh, Oh

2009-08-29T14:23:00.011-05:00

It has been almost a month since I last wrote about the ducks. I was going blog about these endeavors with the ducks until they were grown up and outside. Since day 1 back on May 20th, the duck stories have been followed, and they have been outside for quite some time now.

They changed rapidly. One of the original six girls died at a couple weeks old. They pooped like crazy. They loved the water like, well, like ducks. Bev got duck poop in her eye. The squeaked like crazy for lettuce. They eventually developed their quacks, and their feathers. We learned lessons about ducks, and then the girls made the cover of the Runner Duck Newsletter, and they also made the news in a local story on Urban Farming.

Well the last month has tow major duck developments:

1) they are in their new house. It has been built into the shed. Next to their shed is our duck pen. It is wire fence almost six feet high, and netting over the top to keep out predators. It is a fine black plastic mesh netting. So far it works just fine. The only visitor we've seen in the duck pen is a groundhog. He lives under the shed, and came out to say high to the ducks. It was in the middle of the day, and it looked like a standoff. The groundhog was staring at the ducks, and the five ducks were staring back at the groundhog quacking.

I was in the kitchen talking with Val. She saw a creature in the pen, and said, "There's a creature in the duck pen. I think it's a beaver."

I thought to myself, "There's no chance it's a beaver. We don't have beavers in Salem." But, I ran out to see what kind of predator it might be. The groundhog ran off when he saw me.

2) We discovered that one of our ducks is not. We have not named the ducks, because they all looked the same, and even the small differences were difficult to follow through the changes as they were growing up, and changing so quickly. That is all except one. One of the girls was bigger than the others. She was a little darker. She seemed like the duck in charge - always alert, and a little protective of the others. As she grew up her feathers came in a little later, and her down stayed a little longer. Her quack was whispery and hoarse compared to the honking of the other girls.

Okay, you duck oficianados and farmers already know what was going on.

Bev decided to name the one duck we could tell apart from the others. She named the duck "Pato." I though that the name was too masculine and did not like it. Well, I suppose that Pato is a fine and appropriate name, because one day over the last month, it dawned on Bev despite the little white band around the leg which came with the duckling as assurance that we had 6 girls, Pato was not a duck. Pato was a drake. After over 3 months of duck raising poor Pato was thought to be a girl the whole time.

Now instead of Duck Daddy and his 5 girls what we have is Pato and his Harem. Sheesh. He looks pretty proud in that photo, doesn't he? So much for my previous post titles - I can not call this Duck Daddy and His Five Girls anymore.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - 11 weeks

2009-08-03T22:54:00.004-05:00

So the girls are about 11 weeks old. Feathers are all over the yard. They are loosing, pulling out, and spilling feathers with some downy edge to them, and these feathers are everywhere in the lawn.

The ducks are also uneven in color. Will they stay this way, or will they get darker on their fawn colored parts as they loose their young ducky feathers and grow the next crop of them? This is our first duck adventure, so we are not sure, but here's how they look right now.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Duck Party!

2009-07-28T21:48:00.004-05:00

We had a duck party last week. About 50 people from the church, and the neighborhood showed up. Our yard became a combination petting zoo (with ducks that really didn't want to be petted), and amusement park (with kids swimming in the pools, and sliding on a slip and slide). After the kids were done swimming, we put the ducks in the large kiddie pool as the party wound down. Here's the video:

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls 8th week: a Duck is Like a Pickle

2009-07-19T23:33:00.003-05:00

I am convinced that the only reason the neighbors don't mind our quacking ducks is because a duck is like a pickle.

There are certain words, and their connected thoughts or actualities that bring a smile simply by mentioning them. The words sound light-hearted and funny, and almost bring a smile whether one says those words, or hears those words. The accompanying image of the meaning behind the words furthermore is humorous, because the object which the noun names is in itself a peculiar or clownish thing.

Pickle is one of those words. It feels funny in the mouth. It sounds funny to hear, and dances on the tongue like a nursery school rhyme. Say the words a few times and see if it does not make you smile.

Well, duck is another one of those words. Say the word a few times and see what it does to lighten your heart. Duck, duck, duck....

A duck is like a pickle. Don't you think?

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls 8th week: Urban Farming and Quacking Ducks

2009-07-17T15:44:00.011-05:00

Well, we purchased Indian Runner Ducks because they lay lots of eggs - maybe 300 a year, which is like a 6 day work week. We also liked them, because they were funny and seemed to be the clowns of the duck world. Furthermore they are highly sociable, and this is nice for someone who wants to pick their ducks up, and cuddle with them - okay "cuddle" is not quite the term for a duck, but you know what I mean. Last of all, we heard that they were quieter than other breeds - right.

First thing in the morning when we let them out they run around the yard quacking up a storm of noise. Now, this is not a tight urban neighborhood with no yard space. We have a quarter of an acre, but we have one of the largest yards in the neighborhood. So abutted to our yard is 6 to 7 other homes which all look down from their second and third story windows into our yard. Salem is really the northern edge of Boston urban, and we live just outside the downtown area.

So, the other day Bev was inviting neighbors with kids to our duck party. (Yes, we are having a duck party tomorrow.) One of the neighbors, whom we do not know well, said to Bev, "Oh yeah, everybody's talking about the ducks."

"Uh-oh," thought Bev.

In the last couple weeks this has been one of a few interactions with the neighbors which has caused us to wonder if the ducks might be disturbing our little sub-urban neighborhood.

The people across the street mentioned that they could hear the ducks, and that their girls run to the windows to see the ducks when they hear them quacking. Mark loves the sound of ducks. (+1 ducks)

The next door neighbor on our street came over to see the ducks, because she heard them. We apologized for their noise, and she said that she enjoyed hearing them. "Oh no, we love the sound of the ducks. I wanted to get my own chickens, but my husband won't have it." (+2 ducks)

A second person who abuts our property and can look down on our yard stood on her tip-toes to speak over the fence and said, "do you have ducks?"

"Yes," we replied, "are they too loud?"

"Oh no, they are so cute." She replied. (+3 ducks)

A third abutting neighbor, whose back fence is directly next to the duck pen was outside painting his house. I came home in the afternoon, and the ducks always start quacking loudly when I arrive, because they know I will let them out to free range the yard for grubs, and worms, and bugs and the like. I will also throw them some lettuce in a little kiddie wading pool we have in the yard for them, and of course this gets them quacking wildly until the lettuce hits the water. Even then they make quacking noises while eating, and dunking their heads.

The Painting neighbor said, "the ducks are excited about something." I apologized and mentioned that they are noisy in the morning and late afternoon.

He said, "I don't mind it at all. I like the sound of the ducks. I'd get my own if I could." (+4 ducks)

Then a fourth neighbor who lives a block away had been walking past, and heard the ducks. She returned later with her grown sons, and they all came in to check out the ducks. They had seen bills, and heard quacking. They came over because they were excited about the idea of ducks in the neighborhood. (+5 ducks, 0 grumpy neighbors - so far.)

The moral of the story is this: Ducks are like pickles. Know what I mean?

If you don't understand you will have to check in tomorrow.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 47-52

2009-07-13T20:55:00.010-05:00

So the ducks are a coming on 8 weeks old now. They are outside in their pen through the day, and free-ranging our yard when we are home to let them out. They really enjoy getting out in the yard, and honk up a storm of noise in the late afternoon when I get home. This photo is them standing at the door of the pen waiting to be released.

The old 6' by 10' foot family sized kiddie pool brooder has now been turned into a duckie pool, and they love swimming around in it. When they first jump in they go crazy, and start swimming around splashing, and diving, and one of the girls will do laps under water.

They are fully feathered except for the largest of the girls, who has a little tuft of fuzzy down sticking out on the back of her head. They run around the yard flapping their wings like they are trying to fly. Okay, now I was told that Runners don't fly - well, one of them was getting out of the extra large kiddie pool former brooder, and took a leap off the edge and flapped a good 3-4 feet through the air landing softly and then took off on a run. This looked suspiciously like pre-flight practice to me.

They are sleeping outdoor in their temporary night home - a doghouse with a hinged lid, and a screened door, and a latch to lock them in.

I sat outside late last night near their night hut, which is currently near our back door, and a skunk came walking around the corner toward us (me and the sleeping girls in their duck night hut). I gently said, "hey their little buddy." What does one say to the King of the Urban Jungle - the skunk? Fortunately skunks are not typically up for a fight for no reason. He took a funny little hop when I spoke to him, and then ran off across the yard. I was surprised how fast he ran. Skunks are not typically fast runners. Skunks waddle rather confidently, because they have such power they never need to run. Okay, sometimes they do get bested - Holly our greyhound killed a skunk once - dang, that was a mess! And Bev ended getting rabies shots for that event.

Well, she might not like me telling that story, so I will sign off on the duck update before I get in deep ducky doo-doo.

Peace and Duck Dreams to You.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 46

2009-07-06T22:36:00.004-05:00

"Like a duck to water." This saying makes more sense to us than it ever did. Ducks do love their water. In fact ducks need their water.

They forage through the mud in search of yummy bugs, and end up with a mouthful of mud. After foraging for awhile one of them decides it is time to clean their mouth out with water, and they all run to the pool to drink like madmen.

Now keeping their water clean is important, but impossible. Right now we have two small kiddie pools we use to let them swim and simply get wet. One in their pen, and one out in the yard.

This is what the one in their pen looks like after having been emptied and refilled with clean water just a few hours earlier. So much for being green. Ducks are as brown and muddy as it gets, and they seriously overuse water. Now we do have rain water barrels, but those barrels will not keep up with the ducks need for water.

Well, its late, and I think I need to move along, because even though I have a couple more things to do I would rather head for bed like a duck to the water.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 41-45

2009-07-05T22:22:00.010-05:00

The Girls are outside all day now. The pen is complete, but the house is not. Unfortunately, the week they needed to get moved out I was away, and so their pen could not be finished. Now it's close to done, but good enough for then to be outdoor all day long.

Their little house for night sleeping is not yet complete though, and that will hopefully be done tomorrow. The pen has a net over the top to keep predatory birds (like the hawk which has been seen in our trees) from killing the girls.

So this is what the scene at the Wymsn house looks like. The ducks are still in the 10' by 4' inflatable pool brooder in our back room at night. The weather had still be insanely wet and cold up until yesterday, and between the bad weather, and my being away they were not outdoors as much as they needed to be. Yet now each morning they go out into the pen. If we are at home, they free range around the yard finding bugs, and grubs, and worms, and eating grass.

We have two small kiddie pools outside. One in their pen, and another on the lawn. The ducks are spending more time in the water, and less time eating. They are not quite the eating machines they were a couple weeks ago.

They also appear to be acting a little more independently, but in a moments' notice they all get excited and start running after us, or if we are out of site they start quacking for us. Fortunately all our neighbors are pleasantly intrigued by the girls, and are glad that there are ducks in the neighborhood. This definitely helps the urban farming project.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 40

2009-06-30T21:46:00.012-05:00

Now Duck Daddy had been away in Washington DC for nearly a week, and returned to find his girls had grown up.

So here are the tales of the days I was away:

While in Washington the girls ended up in another public appearance. Last they posed for Runner Duck magazine, and now we find that they have once again appeared in print this time as teenage heartbreakers in Art Throb. Follow the link to read the story.

Now they also started doing things they had not done before. We were ready to put them outside permanently at about six weeks, which we are just coming to now. Well, at five weeks I was away, and they started giving Duck Mama heck - just like teenagers.

They got faster, they started showing a little more independence, and did not want to come back inside after being out for hours. But, of course that independence was not independence from one another - only from us. They did not want to be picked up, so our extra large family sized pool brooder became a difficult place to catch these now Olympic speed duckies.

They also started quacking loudly. Now that their voices were changing from cute little squeaks to larger than life honks, once Bev would take one duck outside all the rest would start making a fuss. Of course the fuss does not stop until they are together again. Duck Daddy laughs when this happens. Duck Mama does not, and becomes a little flustered hoping the ducks won't hurt themselves as they jump onto the back deck and try to run in the house to be reunited with their sisters who still haven't made the transport outside.

Upon my return I noticed that there were some significant changes in the girlies. They had some rather ugly feathers on their wings before I left for DC. As can be seen in the pictures their quills were showing making them look like they needed to join the Hair Club for Men. Upon my return their feathers had all filled in, and their wings looked significantly better.

Having returned from DC, I am now setting up their outside pen. The area is about 16' X 16' and I will eventually make part of the shed into their duck house. A hole will be cut into the side of the shed, and a duck house will be built inside the shed. For now we have a dog house which will do the job.

That's all for now. More observations tomorrow I am sure. The ducks amaze us more each day.

Did you get your own ducks yet? We are advocating for urban mini duck farms, and having your own eggs each morning.

Some Ducks Videos, and the return of Duck Daddy

2009-06-29T21:44:00.002-05:00

Duck Daddy has been away in Washington DC, and just returned. After all this time away, the girls grew so much, and are faster, and crazier than ever, and definitely ready to move outside.

The ongoing chronicles of Duck Daddy should return tomorrow. Until then here are few video shots of the girls from a couple weeks ago. Thanks to the inimitable and funny John Harding for these shots of the girlies.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 29-32

2009-06-22T19:21:00.006-05:00

These last four days have been quite busy, and I haven't had the time to post. So, here are the basic observations over the last four days:

1. These ducks are getting big, fast, and what they are going to look like when their feathers are fully in is more obvious.

2. These ducks love to forage in the yard. Bugs, grass, weeds, flowers - all these things are up for eating. Like people they are omnivorous. They especially love a muddy little hole to forage through. One of the girls caught her first worm yesterday - darn she was happy!

3. They love to duck (obvious to me now why we use this term for a quick submergence under the water) and dive in the little pool we have for them. One website suggested putting certain food at the bottom of about 4 inches of water so that they can "wash their eyes." These girls don't need any eye-washing encouragement.

4. They are pretending to be a little more independent. They will run off in some meaningless direction in the yard when we take them out, but after about 5 yards they will make a circle and come back to forage around my feet.

So what follows are a few of the eye-washing, feigned independence, and foraging pictures from the last few days:

This last picture shows what happens when I stand still. Please send shoelaces.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 28

2009-06-18T06:31:00.006-05:00

Well, the girls are getting famous now. They will be on the cover of the Indian Runner Duck Association Newsletter. Wow! They're Covergirls!

The newsletter is still upcoming, but the a photo of them is up and can be found on the front page of IRDA website.

With the the continuing saga of why our ducks are not white: Glyn writes to us after reading yesterday's blog post:

"I have just read your blog and wanted to let you know that your ducks aren't white ducks they are fawn and white. Far more attractive in my view. This is obvious from day one, white ducklings have pure yellow down with no other colours.

Good luck

Glyn"

Thanks Glyn

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 27

2009-06-17T19:26:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was the third day that we turned off the heat lamp in the evening. It has remained cold the last few days, but the girls are bigger now, and we figure they can handle 60º at night when they huddle together. We are now only using the light after they swim and go back into the brooder wet. Of course the 6' by 10' inflatable kiddie we have set up is not really a brooder anymore. It is more like an indoor duck pen.

The ducks are getting scraggly - some fuzz, some feathers, some stuff in between that looks like they haven't shaved in days. These are some li'l Bohemian ducks right now.

When we take them outside, which is a couple times a day, they run right for the pool, and want to swim. I have to trick them by moving the location of the pool to keep them from spending the whole time swimming. They are supposed to be Runner Ducks, so I figure they need a little running.

Well, even more than yesterday it looks like our little Indian Runners are not white Indian Runners. Their incoming feathers are getting darker each day.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 24-26

2009-06-16T07:28:00.017-05:00

Three whole days without writing about the girls. I've been busy, but then they are a part of the busy-ness.

Here are the highlights of these last three days in Duckyworld, and the Adventures of Duck Daddy:

It continues to be cold for this time of year in New England. In the mid 50s in mid June is really chilly. So, the ducks are not getting out as much as we would like, but they are getting big - and not just big, they are also getting quite fast.

About four days we began to notice something which we found quite humorous. Now we were told that these were going to be white Indian Runner ducks. In these last four days we have noticed that their chest feathers are coming in with a brownish tint, and getting darker each day. Never having raised ducks before I figure there are three options to this observation: 1) white feathers don't start out white, 2) our ducks are filthy and need to take a bath more often, or 3) these ain't white ducks. Noting that #1 seems silly, and that they look the same after swimming I am betting on #2. What do you think?

We have a temporary outdoor pen set up, so that we can take them outside, and work in the yard without them swarming around my feet the whole time. So far, when they are outside they follow me so closely I can't get anything done without fear of stepping on a duck.

This pen is in this location just for now, and will be replaced by a taller, more secure location next to our shed. We are thinking that cutting a duck entrance into the shed, and creating a duck house on the inside of the shed is our best deal - especially to deal with the brutal New England winters.

In the last few days duck paraphernalia has begun to arrive. We now have two Max the Duck stuffed animals. My mom sent the second one, and knowing that Bev shopped at Kohl's where they are selling for $5, she sent a note saying that she hoped we hadn't started a flock of Max the Ducks. With Max, and the book he comes from, Duck at the Door, came a note for Holly the greyhound saying that this was the only duck she could play with. Holly doesn't really play with stuffed animals, but sometimes she will sleep with them. Maybe it will help her make duck buddies instead.

I wrote to the Indian Runner Duck Association in Wales about a week ago and let them know that I was writing this blog. So, they checked up on me, and they responded with a few comments which were quite helpful. Of note was the fact that they do not recommend feeding ducks lettuce, because lettuce has been found to be high in nitrates, and this in turn is unhealthy for the ducks - well for people too - it might make your babies turn blue! Really, it's true, and in the UK they monitor the amount of nitrates in lettuce.

Side note on the Indian Runner Duck Association: The only negative thing I have to comment on them is that they don't siarad Cymreag (speak Welsh) - oh well, can't have everything going for you. ;-)

Okay, so I thought that I would look this up: Nitrates and Duck Health to see what we we might be inadvertently doing to these poor little ducky waifs. Here is some information I discovered. Quotes from government websites, and links below followed by other random info:

* Nitrate is a natural component of vegetables although the levels present are affected by growing conditions, fertiliser use and plant species / variety.
* The UK has carried out annual monitoring for nitrate in lettuce and spinach since 1996. Every Member State is required to monitor and report levels of nitrate in lettuce and spinach as part of a European Commission Regulation.
* The European Commission Regulation sets maximum levels for nitrate in lettuce and spinach, however UK growers are currently exempted from meeting these limits for a transitional period.
* The levels of nitrate detected in lettuce and spinach do not pose a risk to consumer's health; all dietary exposure estimates were below the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) set by the European Commission's Scientific Committee for Food (SCF).
from www.food.gov.uk.

Organic Lettuce Packs 25 Times Less Nitrate than Conventional Lettuce

Nitrate levels in organic lettuce are a fraction of levels found in conventional hothouse lettuces. Experts, however, say authorities are reluctant to showcase the benefits of organic farming.
from Persian Road. I am not sure of the validity of this statement, but it is a commonly found statement on many sites across the internet.

At Agroecology.org you can download a 64 page abstract with a 1999 study of nitrate levels in spinach, romaine, and iceberg lettuce grown in California. Organics generally did better, but some organic farming can also raise nitrate levels. Spinach generally should be avoided it appears because the nitrate levels were higher, and exceeded the UK levels of acceptability. Iceberg and romaine were acceptable regardless of the growing methods, although using guano as fertilizer was a set up for higher nitrate levels.

Now, here's the good news for our little Indian Runners. They are being fed mostly romaine, iceberg, and a spring mix without spinach. They are also being fed organics most of the time. I appears that they are not white ducks turning fawn colored because they are being feed too high a nitrate level. Whew - I was worried there for a moment that I was turning them into mutants.

Actually it turns out that they are merely going through an ugly stage with feathers coming out, and fuzz disappearing.

Well, here are my thoughts about nitrate levels:

Duck poo has piles of nitrates.
Poo is used to grow lettuce.
Ducks love lettuce.
Ducks must have a poo/nitrate addiction.
I need to take my ducks to NA meetings.

Actually, I will just stick with the organic lettuce for now, and hope it is good enough. I will also use cuttings from our yard (we don't use any nasty chemicals in our yard) like dandelions, and young grasses - I've been doing this all along as well.

I will close with my favorite internet question from someone raising ducks:

"Ok, so I’m new to the whole duck thing, forgive me if I’m a little behind. I just hatched 8 ducklings, and today they are 9, 8, and 7 days old. I've come to realize they are massive pooping machines! I read they poop a lot, but I had no clue this much. They eat and drink constantly...and did I mention grow constantly too?

Anyway, I was cleaning out their cage yesterday and realized I just can’t keep it poopless! I had JUST cleaned it out and within 5 minutes there were dozens of landmines! Finally I counted the poop, and lost count at 26. Do they poop every minute, and a half or something? There is only 8 of them, so that’s 3.3 poops each? Are my ducks normal, or do they have ducky irritable bowel syndrome? Luckily it doesnt stink...yet!" from Backyard Chickens forum.

Now doesn't that make you want some duckies of your own?!

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 22-23

2009-06-11T22:38:00.007-05:00

Cool weather here in New England has made the last two days tough on the 5 girlies. They have not been outside in the yard, because it is so cold, and mildly raining as well.

Yet a few big things happened in the last two days: 1) they got new living arrangements. These girl are getting so big that the old plastic kiddie pool brooder was replaced by a 6' X 10' inflatable kiddie pool. On the last post, you saw me blowing it up. Yesterday I squeezed it into the end of the room they are brooding in - and I do mean barely. I am not sure the picture does it justice. 2) The girls went swimming in the kitchen sink yesterday as well. The sink is deep, and does not have separated sides. It is simply one big sink, and yesterday it was filled with little quackers. I did not have my camera, and my hands were full once they were in the sink - even though I swam only two at a time. 3) Today more swimming. This time we filled their old brooder after cleaning it out from it poo-brooder days. They were all able to swim together. 4) One of the ducks is going through a voice change. One moment super high squeak, the next a little low voiced quack.

Now, as far as the new brooder: This is evidence that we are being influenced by some secret mind-controlling power of the ducks. Why else would be stacking our furniture on top off itself to make space for a kiddie pool in the room?

When we swim the ducks we are putting lettuce in the water. They are simply in ducky heaven. A pool and their favorite meal - well, other than the occasional bug they catch. - this is the closest thing to duck heaven on earth.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 20-21

2009-06-09T23:27:00.009-05:00

Day 19 was a day of dirty ducks. Day 20 and 21 were the days of clean ducks. The girlies went swimming on days 20 and 21. We had not yet taken them to swim. Bev has been nervous about this because they can drown when they are young, but I was concerned about how dirty they got, and Bev read a website which mentioned taking the Indian Runners for a swim. So two at a time we put them in the original brooder - the old washbasin. The old washbasin was filled with warm water in our shower, and the ducks were placed in staggered rotation so that there were two at time in the basin.

After the swim each duck would get dried off and put back in the brooder. They dried off so quickly that when getting the last duck, we weren't sure which one had not gone, and somebody got two swims.

These were happy, happy ducks, and afterward they were given their greens, they love a good chopped salad! This was ducky heaven today. So now we have clean happy girls!

Today, I was out for a good part of the day working, and the unseasonably cool weather for June in Salem made it so that the girls did not get out in the yard. Today I took them for a swim in the Kitchen sink. Our Kitchen sink is quite deep, and it is a large single basin sink. I did not have the camera with me for the sink swim, and once I started them swimming I had my hands full. These crazy girls got me quite wet.

Tonight we bought a brand new inflatable kiddie pool - 10' by 6'. Of all the stupid things we did not have a decent pump with us. Can you say dizzy? This pool will become their next brooder. They are outgrowing their second brooder, and the days are still chilly enough we don't want to pu them outside - besides we are still concerned about predators, and want to be sure they are older, stronger, faster when they go out. By tomorrow we should have them in a brooder with much more square footage.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 19

2009-06-08T11:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a day of dirty ducks! They like to play in their water, and when we take them outside they will get the water in the grass, and dirt, and then make a bigger mess. They still follow us around,and stay quite close to us, and they always travel in pack. They also like to sit underneath us if possible. We do hope that the hammock doesn't break!

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Days 17 & 18

2009-06-06T22:11:00.008-05:00

Yesterday was an uneventful day. Uneventful days are good. That means nobody looks sick, or does something strange which makes the amateur duck parents that we are feel like we are doing something wrong, or that a duck plague has arrived at our brooder door.

It was too cold (unseasonably so for June in Salem, MA), and the 5 girls only went out for a few minutes during a small break in the clouds in the afternoon. Funny thing - over the last few days, when I take them out, they want to stay right next to me most of the time. When they have the whole yard to roam, they stay together as a little troupe, and stay close to me. If I walk to a new location, they typically follow me - running as fast as their little ducky feet will take them. These little duckies are somewat high strung, full of energy, and make up for the fact that they can not fly (will not ever fly - Indian Runners don't fly - their name is self descriptive) by running like heck.

Now today was a bit warmer, and we were able to take the girls out twice for quite a bit of time. Today they seemed to have grown the most I've seen, and they now are really looking like ducks, and not ducklings. Yet, they still have mostly peach fuzz, and the feathers are only beginning to come out. Bev thinks this is the ugly duckling stage. Some years ago I kayaked out to an island in Salem harbor where all the seagulls and cormorants were breeding. The island was filled with nests, and baby birds about the size of our ducks now. They were almost as large as the parents, but they could not fly, and their feathers were not in. The babies all wanted our attention, but the seagull parents were dive bombing us, and the cormorant parents sat irresponsibly about 15 yards offshore from the island.

Look how much they look like regular big ducks right now!

We still need to keep the temperature warm in the brooder, and the nights have been cold. I want to turn the heat lamp off, but it is not warm enough to do so. I am worried they will start feather pulling, which they are prone to do under heat lamps which run all night. So we may make a change in the heating system in the next few days.

Today I told one of our next door neighbors about the ducks. He did not know yet. He had a real severe look on his face (but then he always does) and asked, "Do they eat bugs?"

"Oh yeah, they love eating bugs."

"You know they sh*t alot!"

Uhmmm...yeah they sure do."

That sh*t is good for your yard. You should spread it all over the place and your plants will grow like crazy." He has a big yrd for the city like we do.

Then I got a short dissertation on sh*t. Well, I am happy that my neighbor is excited about sh*t, and the fact that our ducks eat bugs.

As a parting thought: Here's what a greyhound looks like from duck perspective.

It would be nice to hear from you if you are following this blog, and especially if you have duck envy, and want your own ducks now. Leave a comment below.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 16

2009-06-04T20:47:00.011-05:00

A few of those reading the ongoing chronicles of Duck Daddy and his girls have wished out loud to have your own Indian Runner Ducks, because they are so cute. So, here are just a couple of the resources we have used to help us on our journey through Duckville. Now, I am sure that we are doing all kinds of things wrong, so please do not blame the skilled Duckmeisters of these venerable Duck Academies.

If you want to get yourself some Indian Runners please visit Wales. Really, visit Wales. Besides being "fy hoff gwlad yn y byd," it is also the home of the Indian Runner Duck Association. The Indian Runner Duck Association is in Welshpool, north east Powys, Wales. So you do not really have to visit them in person (although any trip to Wales is really equal to about 13 pilgrimages to Rome, or 6 pilgrimages to the the Holy Land), but you can go to the Indian Runner Duck Association website.

The next resource is a book by Dave Holderread, Storey's Guide to Raising Ducks. This is such a fabulous book, that not only my wife and I use it as a resource, but even the girls love it. I took it out on the lawn today with me, and as soon as I put it down they swarmed the book for a good Storey-time. ta-dum. Sorry.

After perusing some duck websites last night I was drawn to a particular spot on two of our ducks. Just above the eye, they always look like they are wet, and the down is a little thin. Now I do know that they scratch their necks and faces with those cute little webbed feet like a dog scratches behind his ears, but I had not connected the thinning of the fuzz above the eye to the scratching until today. One little girl has a somewhat pronounced case, a second has this noticeably but not as much, and the others don't have the "scarring." as the website described it.

Here is the scarring above the eye on our little duckie with the more noticeable thin wearing of the baby fuzz, and another pic of their cute little webbed feet with those sharp claws on the ends of their toes. I'm surprised they haven't poked their little eyes out with those serious claws on the end of their cute little paddles. Click on the picture to see the full size version of those little demon feet.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 15

2009-06-03T20:57:00.016-05:00

Slowly we are bringing the temperature in the brooder down: 90º the first week, 85º the second, and now between 80º and 85º. That at least has been suggested, by the books and websites we read.

The duckies are happy, and squeaky, and are getting more and more excited about the greens we chop up for them each day.We are thinking through issues like where and how we will deal with them living outside in the harsh New England winters. Today Bev went to Agway and bought 50lbs. of 15% protein layer mash (their food), and another bale of pine chips for the girls.

I have to share a few reasons why we decided to raise these little Indian Runner ducks. I have nine specific reasons. These are not Bev's reasons, they are mine. Bev will probably share her reasons another time. So I will present these nine reasons in a picture story below.

If you had all these fake chickens and flamingos in your yard wouldn't you get the real thing to stave off a potential invasion of thousands of fake birds? I am hoping some real ducks will fulfill Bev's passion for winged animals, and keep the garage sale versions out of the garden.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 14

2009-06-02T22:18:00.011-05:00

The girls are 2 weeks old now. They have grown rapidly, they drink like fish, and eat like sumo wrestlers. Here is a comparison of day 1 and day 14:

Tonight Kristen came over to interview the ducks. She brought her camera, and her little recorder to record the interview. It was an interview about urban farming. We'll see if the ducks make the cut to be in the article. They certainly are cute enough, and have enough attitude for becoming the next big super models. Their parents on the other hand are rank amateurs. If they make the cut we'll post it on Duck Daddy's blog here.

Of course, not all our neighbors know we have ducks yet. We told all the neighbors with kids, and naturally they are excited. The others could find out in the news - hm mmmm.

Kristen asked if we got the ducks as pets or as egg layers. Bev said as pets, but the eggs were a good benefit. I said for the eggs. Heck who would want ducks for pets!?

Oh.

Seriously, as cute and fun as they are these girls could end up being real workers. 300 eggs a year from each duck - that is what Indian Runners produce. I was thinking about that and realized that this is roughly equal to working a six day week throughout the year, and taking off for the sabbath. I'll be looking to see if they rest on Saturday or Sunday, that will determine of they are Jewish or Christian.

Okay that's all the silliness for now. Here's one last picture of Bev acting like these ducks are pets.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 13

2009-06-01T22:20:00.004-05:00

Today was fairly uneventful in the life of the girls and Duck Daddy and Bev the Duck Mom, but that's a good thing. No developments in the brooder. It is working fine, and is easier to clean than the first week of poop filled towels, and changing water every couple hours.

After being away at a business workshop in the afternoon I returned home about 3pm. Congressman John Tierney was upstaged by 10-11 inches of fuzzy yellow waterfowls. After walking Holly (our retired Greyhound whom we hope will like the ducks - or maybe I should say not like the ducks, because she may like them as crunchy little morsels), I took the ducks outside for awhile. I have to be quite careful when I take them out. They are getting to be faster runners, and if I walk at a medium pace they can almost keep up with me, and run right under my feet.

Apart from getting out of the kiddie pool brooder to run in the sun their favorite part of the day is when we chop up greens and put them in their waterer. A large handful of finely chopped greens will be gone in not much longer than a minute.

We still have the brooder at about 85º, and they seem comfortable, but one of the girls is sneezing a little tonight. It might that she is just clearing her little nostrils, but of course we are watching closely to see how she does.

Oh - you will want to check back tomorrow. Kirstin is coming over, She is a reporter who goes to The Gathering. She is doing a story on urban farming, and wants to check up on the girls and talk to myself, and Bev. Bev grew up on a dairy farm, so Kirstin is really interested in talking to Bev.

I have just one picture I wanted to show tonight. This is my favorite picture so far. I hope that Holly and the ducks get along when it is time for the ducks to go to the outside pen we are making. What do you think of Holly and the ducks getting along? Leave a comment and let me know if this picture gives us any hints.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 12

2009-05-31T22:24:00.006-05:00

Almost two weeks old, and these little girls have grown from tiny little ducklings to being about 9" tall when they stand erect.

A few new things in the last two days:

1) The wood shavings on the bottom of the pool-brooder. We were using towels and doing the laundry a couple times a day. Of course, we also felt like duck poop was everywhere. Fortunately duck poop is not as nasty as chicken poop, but it still is not an odor du jour. Of course, the french use the term "eau de toilette" for perfume. Maybe we should bottle this stuff and send it to people who like "eau de toilette." We did not use wood shavings, which we can buy at $6.10 for a huge bale, until we were sure that the little duckies would not eat the stuff, or simply be covered in it all day long. It has made the process of cleaning easier, but the real improvement was the waterer.

2) I set the one gallon waterer in a larger shallow bowl. It acts as a moat system. When the ducks drink, and make a mess by spilling the water all over (which they always do!) the larger bowl catches the overflow. The water stays in the large shallow bowl, and then they drink from the overflow as well. Two problems solved: a) they do not waste as much water, and b) not nearly as much water ends up in the brooder floor - so the girls stay drier, and this is extremely important for their health. It has been a good deal of work to keep them dry until now. In most professional brooders there is a screen system which allows the water to flow through the screen. We did not use a screen, because a screen is not good for the little duckies tender young, big, floppy feet. This moat watering system actually has worked as well as a screen system - at least for now, and is far simpler to create with no work, and what you can find in the kitchen.

Here's today's thoughts on how ducks change your life:

I was cutting up some lettuce for the girls. I took the lettuce out of the fridge. It was the end of a romaine head. When I took it out of the fridge, I saw a dead bug - something like a fruit fly on a lettuce leaf. Now I remember finding a bug on food many a time, and someone responding with the line, "Oh, that's just extra protein." Today I saw the bug, and was happy, "Oh look, some extra protein for the duckies!" I thought. Wow, haaving ducks really changes your perspective on life - and bugs in the lettuce.

Duck Daddy and His Five Girls - Day 11 :-(

2009-05-30T17:11:00.016-05:00

This morning our little weak ducking was weaker than the day before. Bev and I took her out of the brooder and held her, and hand fed her. She was so cute. She would make her way up my chest, and snuggle under my chin, and pick at my neck, and beard hairs. We separated her from her sisters in case she had a communicable disease. By noon she had had a couple bouts which looked like grand mal seizures, and I held her through these, but after one of those seizures I went back to some of my preparations for Sunday morning, and came back to find her dead. So, as you can see by the title, Duck Daddy has juts five girls now.

Because she had these little seizures, we were concerned that maybe she had something, and it could pass on to the other girls. So, we are on watch to see if any of the others show signs of lethargy and sleepiness, or loss of appetite. She was weaker than the others right from the beginning, so that is a hopeful sign in terms of potential disease.

The rest of the girls have grown so much,and today they spent a good deal of time outside on the lawn with us. I have to be careful where I walk when we take them outside, because they follow me everywhere, and they are beginning to take on characteristics of their breed - they can really run! These two pictures they are running after me, and catch me finally. Don't they look like a poorly organized troupe?

Once they catch me they stand around my feet, pull on my shoelaces, or if I am sitting they try to sit under me, and of course they will do the same with Bev, but Duck Daddy seems to be the one they really follow.

Bev made the comment this afternoon that 5 ducks seemed like so many less than 6. It does seem that way. Why is that?

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 10

2009-05-29T22:59:00.005-05:00

In the last two days one of the girls has been looking slower, a little weaker, and now that they are all growing at such a crazy pace, it is easy to see that she is almost 30% smaller than the others.

She always slept more than the other ducks, and did not push her way to the food like the others, but today she took a turn for the worse. She was getting tired easily, and on two occasions become clumsy and started falling down. Whether she is weak - perhaps genetically, or because of niacin deficiency, or she is sick we are not sure, but all the others are alright.

Each of the duckies still had little bands on their legs, and today I cut them off, and unfortunately, the band on the the weak duck was the most difficult to remove. So, she had to put up with being handled, and prodded a bit more than the others.

For a while this evening Duck Daddy just held the little girl, and kept her warm. She was quite comfy, and squeaked ever so gently for about 20 minutes. Tomorrow we will see if we can add niacin to her diet, and perhaps that will help. We may need to quarantine her from the others, but it does not appear to be sickness. It appears to be a more general weakness. It is so sad to see a little duckling falling down, and having troubles.

Ducks on Video (care of John Harding)

2009-05-29T18:17:00.003-05:00

Here they girls are on video. As you can see they are messy, and it is time to clean up their brooder! They are dang cute though. More duckie flicks to come.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 9

2009-05-28T22:52:00.010-05:00

I am going to write a book about cooking for ducks. Well, it's not really cooking, but it is work. These six girls love their greens. Sometimes they squeak incessantly until I bring some chopped up greens. I have gone out in to the yard to pick the dandelion leaves. (I suppose it's a good thing there are dandelions in our lawn.) Other times I chop lettuce from the fridge. It is almost midnight, a few minutes ago one of the noisiest girls was squeaking away, and now they are quiet. I chopped a big Romaine leaf up finely, and fed it to them. You should see how happy they get! I think they ate 6 large romaine leaves today. They'll be working on a whole head of lettuce in a week or so.

Since the new brooder design we have to pick the girls up and put them in the original small galvanized steel washbasin (with a towel on the bottom to protect their young duckie feet, because this is the time they can injure their little feet.) Then we remove the poopy wet towels, and clean out the double-decker kiddie pool brooder. Then we transfer them back with fresh water and food. The ducks poop so much, and get things so wet, that this has to happen at least three times a day.

Yesterday, Bev called the doctor, because her eye was itchy and red. She thought that maybe she got duck poop in her eye, and that she had some disease as a result of that. The doctor gave her something for it. She feels better now. I guess she had duckpoopeyetis. ta-dum.

Well, that's all for now. The ducks are quiet again, and it's late. Here is one more photo. They are so cute, and I am sure they know it. Bev's co-workers at BU Dental School wanted to see photos of the ducks. Here she is taking some photos with her cell phone. Check out these little posers!

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 8

2009-05-27T22:00:00.008-05:00

Day 8 was another day of quacking crazy girls wanting Duck Daddy's attention. The one change was that I had to figure out how to make their brooder something they could not jump out of without putting a net over the top. They were simply getting too tall for the netting.

Indian Runners stand tall when excited, and need headroom. I have read that they will have a crooked neck look if they are penned in places too short. So here was the solution as suggested by Jeff Menasco when he came to see the girls yesterday.
I had a second plastic kiddie pool. I cut the bottom out of it leaving just the sides, and clamped that upside down on the top of the first kiddie pool brooder. Now the sides are twice as high, and the girls don't even think about trying to get out now.

No Video yet of the ducks. Look for that in the next two days.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 7

2009-05-27T09:02:00.006-05:00

Baby ducks grow amazingly fast. Their little heads are now beginning to stick out over the edge of our makeshift plastic kiddie pool brooder, and the net we put over the top of it is getting too close to their heads. Of course, they eat amazing amounts of food, and drink more water than we do.

In the last seven days, we have changed their brooder to a larger one, and changed their waterer to a gallon version from the quart version which we were refilling every couple hours. I guess today's change will be to adapt the brooder to their height. Not sure how I will do that yet.

The little girls are becoming more and more familiar with us, and squeak for my attention when I leave the room. Yesterday was day 7. It was also Memorial Day.

I had to pick up a second bag of mash (this is the duck food which has been ground into fine grit). It is necessary for them to eat it as mash until they are about a month old. Note: If you are going to get your own cute little Indian Runner ducks, because they are so cute in the pictures here don't give them chicken feed starter mash!

Chickens are prone to disease, and typically are fed medicated starter mash. Ducks are typically disease resistant, and the medicated starter mash given to chickens is not good for them. It will compromise their immune systems,and make them more susceptible to disease. Remember that when you decide whether you should get chickens - maybe you ought to think about ducks instead. :-) Besides look how cute they are!

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 6

2009-05-26T06:53:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, Memorial Day, was day six with Duck Daddy and his six girls. The weather is typical New England spring weather. At one moment a bit chilly with the clouds passing, and the breeze blowing, and at another moment warm with the sun shining, and the wind still. We brought the girls outside on one of those warm moments, and they puttered about the lawn attacking dandelion heads, and chasing little gnats.

The weather has swung from the 90ºF days from a couple days ago to cold evenings. It is forecasted to be in the high 30s tonight. Even though we have the girls inside, we need to carefully monitor their kiddie pool brooder, and make sure that we keep the temperatures up around 90º. Last night the temperature dropped lower than it has been in weeks, and this morning at 5am I checked the brooder to see the little duckies all huddled together. The temperature was closer to 80º than 90º, and I had to adjust the heat lamp accordingly.

Yesterday, we spent a little more time allowing Holly the greyhound to spend time near the ducks. Of course it is always on a leash, and out of snapping distance. The ducks are not only cute, but the are crunchy too. Holly spent the first years of her life chasing small simulated crunchy things around the rail of a racetrack. She still gets excited about such things. Her favorite word is "squirrel."

We are beginning to see the personality of these little girls begin to emerge more and more from day to day. One girl tries to leap out of the brooder regularly. Another girl squeaks loudly for my attention when I am not in the room. One girl loves to sit in my cupped hands and nibble at my wedding ring. One girl loves to stand by my hands and nibble at the hair on my arm. Another is the first to go back to sleep after a feeding, and when she rests she sticks her legs behind her, and in the air a bit. One drinks by submerging her head completely, and she always looks like she is trying to get that BrylCream part your hair in the middle 50's hair do.

Okay. A few last photos for the day:

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 5

2009-05-25T08:56:00.007-05:00

Yesterday, being Sunday was our 5th day with our six little Indian Runner girlie ducks. I went off to prepare for church services early in the morning, and Bev stayed behind to care for the girls, and then join me at the morning service later.

About 9:30am Bev called me.

"Do you have any ideas how make a wall around the tub for the ducks?"

"Why? Did one of them jump out?" I knew this was on the verge of occurring, because I saw one of the little girls leap high enough to almost clear the top of the plastic pool we are using as brooder #2.

"Yes! I was sitting right there in front of the ducks, and one of them jumped out in front of me." They do always appear to want to get as close to you as possible.

So Bev pulled out the netting we have to put over the duck pen when they finally make it outside, and stretched over the top, and clipped it with clothes pins.

Here the girls are trying to look over the edge of the plastic pool brooder. I suppose we ought to figure that ducks called "runners" might also turn out to be jumpers.

Bev's netting solution works fine, but these little girls always want attention, and so we have to sit down and unclip it to get our hands inside to hand-feed them or just hold them.

Holly our greyhound had her first encounter face to face with the ducks today, We put Holly on a leash. We let the ducks run around the lawn, and Holly looked on. We Holly gets excited about chasing squirrels her ears go straight up. When she first saw the ducks her ears went up. She exhibited the shaky jaw syndrome which also comes with chase nostalgia, bua few gentle reminders, and she calmed down. Here is Holly with the ducks back in the house with the brooder for the first time.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 4

2009-05-23T22:41:00.009-05:00

Today was colder than yesterday here in Salem, MA. Because the temps were in the 60's we did not have another outdoor excursion for the girls. Their new brooder - the plastic pool with the heat lamp hanging about 18" over it was larger than the previous wash basin so the girls started running around a bit more.

This evening they started doing a quick lap when they got excited. Okay, I think maybe I am getting the idea why they are called Indian Runner Ducks.

Two of the little girls started snuggling up in my hands when I kneel down and hold them cupped together. Here's one of them in this photo. She likes ot simply sit in my hand and nibble at my fingers lightly.

If they are awake, but not feeding one of the girls starts squeaking for attention, and then sometimes they all join in, and once one of us (especially me - the Duck Daddy) shows up, they all stand at attention excited, or maybe even run a lap for us.

Bev went to Agway, and bought a new waterer. This one is a gallon size, and we don't have to change it every hour on the hour anymore.

The girls met a few new friends today. Bev's dad come over in the morning. Now I know where Bev gets her farm girl ways. She grew up on a dairy farm. It is no longer a working farm, but her dad still lives there, and wishes it was a working farm. They don't have animals anymore, but at the end of breakfast her dad said, "I was thinkin'...maybe I should get some ducks and keep them in the barn." Bev's step-mom replied, "Oh no you don't!" He kind of had a slightly sad far away look in his eyes - poor dad.

Bev decided to read the Duck Daddy chronicles today, and she was laughing. Jeepers, she is living it and she's laughing.

Carlos came over to see the ducks while I went down to the church to prepare for tomorrow morning's service. Carlos is a sociologist. I guess that helps him understand ducks. Carlos started quacking like a duck, and they all stood perfectly still, and at attention - straight and tall as he quacked. I wish I was here to take a picture of that.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 3.5

2009-05-22T22:10:00.007-05:00

End of a long duck day. I have been able to work from home. Today was mostly prep for the new company I am starting with my buddy Gareth Jones. As you can see, I was a little more relaxed with the girls - sipping on my icy IBC Rootbeer on a 90º day.

Since my morning post, and that sick pic of the poopy brooder the girls have had a busy day. It was a day of firsts. Of course, when you are 4 days old most experiences are firsts.

They ate out of our hands for the first time.

They went outside for the first time, and meandered through the grass.
Now their grass excursion was fun. I let them out once during the afternoon for a few minutes, and they looked a little nervous, and had to warm up to the idea of walking through grass almost as tall as they are. The second time is pictured here, and they were quite comfortable, and started wandering around. The nibbled at grass they could not eat, they caught tiny flying bugs just above the grass line, and ate them. Unbelievable! Four days old and they are already catching tiny bugs.

They graduated to a larger brooder. The washbasin was having to be changed five times a day, and it was small for them now that they are running around. We bought a plastic kiddie pool, and this will become their pond in the duck pen once they go outside.

Well, that's day 3 with Duck Daddy and his Girls. Bev is quite happy with our new family members. Although she had a discussion with a co-worker about the ducks.

Bev: "We have six Indian Runner Ducks, and my dad is coming over tomorrow for breakfast."

Co-worker: "How are you going to cook them?"

Well, here they are at the end of day three.
Aren't they cute?

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 3

2009-05-22T07:13:00.008-05:00

So, I thought I might share a few links to let you know why Bev and I decided to go about the ridiculous task of raising Indian Runner Ducks from day old babies.

Here's our story:

Bev was raised on a farm. Bev does not feel complete without animals around her. From time to time over the 26 years of marriage Bev would call me at work and say, "I have a surprise for you." By the tone of her voice I would realize that she would actually have a surprise for herself, and that it would be a living, breathing, eating, pooping kind of surprise.

"When are you getting off work"

"Soon. I should be home in about an hour."

"Well...I have a surprise for you when you get home."

(pause)

"You got a Greyhound, didn't you?"

(pause)

"No. What makes you think that I would do that?"

Well, guess what was at the front door when I got home. Yep, a greyhound - only a few weeks off the track.

So, Bev has been threatening (she does not see it that way) to get some kind of farm-like animal for awhile.

First she wanted chickens. I reminded her of the stinkiness, and the potential for disease, and since she has bird flu phobia, that idea was nixed easily.

Then it was a desire for a miniature horse. I suggested that with a mere quarter of an acre in urban Salem, MA, and city rules which would make a complaint by a neighbor force you to get rid of your horse that this might not be a good idea. Whew, dodged that one!

Next it was pygmy goats. Dang they are cute! as the below You Tube video link will attest, but I thought that 5 or 6 pygmy goats might be problematic for neighborliness as well. Besides Bev was thinking of something practical, like getting milk from goats. I began to make fun of the idea of milking pygmy goats. I mean, heck what are they gonna do? Stand over your coffee cup in the morning? Do you have milk them with tweezers? Pygmy Goats Stand on Big Dog

Then Bev came up with the idea of getting ducks. She looked at You Tube videos of ducks, read about ducks, and became obsessed with ducks. The prolific Indian Runner Ducks came to the top of her list.

Well, I had a roommate in college who had a couple ducks. The girlie duck laid eggs around the yard, and they were better eggs than one buys at the store. The ducks were easy care, disease resistant (compared to chickens), and not a bother to neighbors who loved them. So realizing that a surprise might eventually be in store, I agreed that ducks would be an acceptable offering for our little urban farm to be. Heck, Mark and Kelly across the street have bees, and they don't even have a quarter of the yard we do.

So, here is my morning offering of our six girls, now on their third day at home with us. I need to show you what their washbasin brooder looks like just before we change it. They play in their water as much as they drink it, and at this age they should not be getting too wet, but everything gets wet, and then they poop like crazy. In fact they will poop in the newly changed washbasin as soon as we put them in it. (We have two basins, and simply rotate them) So, here's the mess they make:

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 2.5

2009-05-21T22:55:00.011-05:00

It's midnight, and I am up having just changed the towels in the washbasin brooder. I will check on them once again before I go to bed.

This is day two of the adventures of Duck Daddy, and oh boy were these six little girls busy today.

When it comes to drinking water these girls have put a full grown man to shame. Did you get your eight full glasses of water today? Well they did! and more! Now it may have taken all six girls to do it, but when you consider that together they might weigh two pounds - maybe, it is amazing that the quart water feeder had to be filled six times today.

We have been using towels on the bottom of our washbasin brooder, and today we must have changed it five times, and I had to do a load of wash to handle all the wet, dirty ones. It is important that these little girls don't get too wet in their first days, so we have to keep their area dry. Keeping ducks dry? and giving them lots of water? Okay someone tell me - what's wrong with this scenario? This sounds like a near impossible task.

Now Bev had the great idea of using Walgreen's super absorbant "Certainty™" underpads instead of the towels we have been using. Whoops bad idea. She cut them to fit the washbasin, and those little duckies started picking out all the stuffing they could pull on. Then the underpads seeped some kind of absorbency goo, and she was afraid the little ducks might eat that nasty, hyper-exotic, neo-chemical stuff. So much for "certainty."

The little ducks sleep. The little ducks rise. The little ducks get excited, and run around the brooder like crazy. The little ducks eat at a frenetic pace. The little ducks do their best to drink a million times their body weight in water.

When they eat they peck at the starter mash
in the little round trough, and then they shake their heads forward and back really fast as though they are trying to get the stuff down their throats. Then after a few seconds of wild head shaking they go to the water trough. Now if it wasn't for the narrow drinking space of the water trough, they would probably go submarine. You have never seen someone as excited about water as these little girls! Sometimes all six of them are crowded around the water trough at the same time pushing and diving in for water. A bite of mash - heads shake - a drink of water - repeat - repeat again - repeat again....

Then they all fade about the same time and huddle up in a little pile together.

Well, I decided to check on them since they last huddled up together for the evening. That was half an hour ago now.Yikes! Don't they ever settle down for more than a few minutes?

Well, our retired racing greyhound, Holly, doesn't really know they exist yet. The girls are in a back room, and Holly doesn't go there. She must hear them squeaking, but we have finches too, so Holly probably thinks the finches are just being noisy the last two days. Here's Holly with a yogurt cup stuck on her snout. Maybe we need to permanently attach it before she meets the ducks.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls - Day 2

2009-05-21T08:44:00.008-05:00

The brooder galvanized washbasin has been kept at 90ºF to keep these little girls warm. Last night while we slept the temperature dropped to about 85º, and they were all huddled together in the morning. So I moved the heat lamp a little closer to raise the temperature back up to 90º.

They sleep in short spurts, and anytime they hear someone in the room they all get up, and get excited. Often they move together like a little troop of clumsy, fuzzy soldiers. I guess this is why Indian Runners are used to train herding dogs in their herding skills.

Last night a mosquito hawk flew into the washbasin. I would not want to be a bug in a duck brooder. I wish I had a picture of that moment. These little girls went to town on that bug. First one saw it, and snagged it with her little bill. She tried to munch on it, but it was a bit too big to swallow. Then another saw what was going on and tried to steal the bug from the first duck. Pretty soon the poor bug was being picked up, dropped, and passed around from duck to duck. They were not quite big or strong enough to kill it, and eat it, but they gave it a solid thrashing until it eventually gave up the bug-ghost. Meanwhile they were all happily squeaking at the adventure.

They are now three days old, and quite active. Indian Runners are funny ducks. They are like the clowns of the duck world. They are very sociable, they stand erect like penguins, and they travel together. I am amazed how erect they stand when excited - even now at only three days old.

Duck Daddy and His Six Girls

2009-05-20T11:37:00.020-05:00

Philip the Evangelist had seven daughters who were prophets. Philip of Salem has six daughters. We'll see how prophetic they will be.

Today our six Indian Runner Ducks arrived. They are one day old. They traveled by freight from Pennsylvania to Agway Feed Store in Danvers, MA. I picked them up at Agway and drove them the 4 or 5 miles home in a boot box. Here they are on the ride home. They were chirping all the way, and jumping against the side of the shoebox hotel wanting to get out.

They are all girls (supposedly), and have little white bands around their legs to mark that they were sexed at the duck farm before they were shipped. We don.'t really want to raise ducks in our not too large yard, and we don't want to eat them, but we do want eggs. Indian Runners are supposed to lay as many as 300 eggs a year - that's 300 per duck - that's potentially 1,800 eggs a year.

Once we arrived home, I let Holly (our greyhound) out, and said the famous word she is so fond of - "squirrel!" She ran around the yard, and I carried the girls in past her unobservant nose.

Once inside I took them out of their temporary shoebox home, and placed them in the galvanized washbasin we are using as a brooder.

It took them a little time to figure out how to drink. I placed some water we had prepared with honey (one tablespoon for a quart) in a shallow dish, and they took a bit of time to figure out that they were supposed to drink.

They pecked at the dish from underneath. They tried to climb over it. They tried to climb in it. I guess that makes sense. They are ducks after all.

I had sprinkled finely chopped grass clippings on the water. Apparently this helps them drink. It seemed to work. After the initial drink, they return to their water trough excitedly whenever I add grass clippings.
In a similar manner it took them sometime to figure out the feeder, and begin to eat the starter mash we have in the small feed trough. Once they did eat some mash they would shake their heads trying to get the mash down. I made sure to be there to give them some water at first, but they eventually discovered that it is good to drink after a mouthful of dry mash.

The girls all seem happy and healthy. This is the first hour home, and I am Duck Daddy.
For now, this is the beginning of the adventure of Duck Daddy and his Six girls. I'll be on this duty for at least a month I imagine. So, stay tuned.

Miss USA, Perez Hilton and Prejudice

2009-04-21T07:39:00.004-05:00

Prejudice was the news of the day yesterday. The UN racism conference in Geneva had a walkout when Iran's President Ahmadinejad called Israel a racist state. Then Perez Hilton tells us that Miss California lost the title because she made the comment that she does not favor gay marriage.

These are two examples of reverse discrimination in action. Irrespective of one's beliefs about these issues, the fact that reverse discrimination rears its ugly head on the public scene should be noted, and called for what it is - prejudice, racism, and unacceptable public behavior.

Walkout - good. See video here. This speaks for itself. The clowns at the beginning add a little craziness to the spectacle which this already is.

Miss California loosing for graciously disagreeing with same sex marriage - bad. See video here. This is reverse discrimination from the judges of Miss USA. Is it no longer acceptable to be conservative on social issues, and therefore something which disqualifies a person from beauty winning contests? I hope the pageant gets sued for millions, and sponsors back out from supporting them. Perez Hilton's response to someone who disagrees with his personal agenda for living is a prejudiced disgrace. See Perez' response on Larry King here.

Change We Can Believe In? (Part 1)

2009-01-23T23:48:00.003-05:00

Guantanamo is to close - within a year. The detainees may end up in Levinworth, or Ireland. Ireland wants them. Levinworth does not. See story from down under.

In day two of action America quietly becomes the world's largest exporter of abortion. See story from over the eastern pond.

Seeing the Middle East from a Jewish Perspective

2009-01-11T21:24:00.006-05:00

I know it is popular among many Christians today to openly decry the acts of Israel toward the Gaza, but I can't help but wonder if we have forgotten something about the past in being too quick to pick a side. This evening a couple visited church, and we discussed a afternoon they spent with Iraqi friends who told them they needed to pick a side to understand the issue of the Middle East's struggles. Is the Iraqi friend correct? I don't know.

This I do know, or I should say feel. I am of three main ancestral backgrounds: Primarily Welsh, then somewhere following Norwegian and Jewish. (Yet, I was never raised religiously Jewish, and do not have that background to attach to.) In the my Welsh ancestry I see similar yet less dramatic and tragic similarities to my Jewish heritage.

So tonight I heard this wonderful program on WBUR, an NPR station. It was a program presented at Boston University a week or so ago. I was driving home from church, and heard Elie Wiesel being introduced. I had to run in the house and listen to the program. To understand one perspective of the Middle East struggles, I recommend hearing this program which asks, "Can an Act of Revenge Be Just?"

Listen and go back to "Kristallnacht" The Night of Broken Glass.

More SynchroBlogs on Faith and Ethnicity:

Phil Wyman (That's me) on Seeing the Middle East from a Jewish Perspective
Joshua Jinno the Antechurch
Raffi Shahinian on Faith and Ethnicity: A True Story
Susan Barnes on Just a God of the West
K.W. Leslie on Why I went to an all-white church
Adam Gonnerman on Multicultural experience (and inexperience)
Matt Stone on Is the church ready for a multiethnic future?
Beth Patterson on Viva la particularities
Steve Hayes on Christianity and ethnicity"
Matthew Snyder asks What's Your Nation?
Jeff Goins on Gypsies in Spain

Scenes from Snow Storm in the Northeast (Salem, MA)

2008-12-21T21:30:00.002-05:00

Done with that Thick Book on Shamanism!

2008-12-02T20:52:00.003-05:00

Okay, I've finally completed something that has been a long time coming. It seems like I've been reading Mircea Eliade's book Shamanism" since I was a little kid. Now I know it has been only a a couple months of start and go reading with lots of underlining and thought as I read, but it still seems like longer.

Yea, I am done, and now I am starting to write my thoughts out about the book at Square No More.

This book is over 50 years old, but still is a great read from a religious historian who writes about shamanism. I will be writing about Jesus, and how He quintessentially answers the search for those looking for hope in the shaman.

The book is a great read. Interested? You can order it below.

Catching up with Iolo Morganwg

2008-11-23T22:34:00.003-05:00

Yep, I've been caught reading and eating, reading and walking, and just plain reading too much this week. I feel better, and less guilty about not getting enough reading in. I had better not start reading about someone who prays untold hours each day - then I will develop another guilt complex.

Iolo Morganwg and Feeling Bad About Not Being Able to read Enough

2008-11-17T22:52:00.004-05:00

I can not find a copy of the old drawing of the Iolo Marganwg, which I saw yesterday in a book by Ronald Hutton entitled "The Druids," so this is the best I could recapture for now.

Iolo is the founder of modern bardic philosophy and culture as we know it, especially in the nation of Wales. His name is actually Edward, and of course, as a Bard it goes without saying that he must have another name - a real name that is.

My point is this: Iolo was walking and reading at the same time. I remember I used to do that often. I have not done it in some time, but I have so much reading to catch up on, that I thought that I must return to reading and walking.

Of course, doing that kind of thing is what made my mother call me the absent-minded professor when I was a little kid. The absent-mindedness has never left me, so I might as well return to the professorial quirkiness of reading and walking, and other such oddities.

This actually was the kind of moment we evangelicals call a moment of "conviction." I think.

Writer's Block and Tiredness

2008-11-17T22:44:00.002-05:00

So, do I have writer's block, because I am so busy, and often tired, or do I have writer's block, because I am now over 50, and getting dumber?

Disgrace of an Election Cycle? I think so.

2008-11-05T09:06:00.002-05:00

Today's Wall Street Journal Article by Jeffery Scott Shapiro marks my own feelings better than I can describe. From both the left and the right this has been the worst electoral campaign I have seen in my life. With the exception of McCain's acceptance and concession speeches everything has smacked of partisan bickering, and exaggerated fear tactics. Unfortunately most of it has been leveled at Bush. I have been ashamed at times of my own Christian brethren who have joined the rancerous banter of Bush bashing. Should we all be ashamed of ourselves? Read the article here. Could it be that those who behave in this manner are part of the problem in American politics - not part of the answer?

Why I Voted for McCain

2008-11-05T07:10:00.003-05:00

I really leaned toward writing in Ben Stein, but decided that I would vote McCain at the end. What I saw in his acceptance speech at the Republican Convention, and what I saw last night in the concession speech make me realize that I made the right vote. These are the things I expect in politics:

Boston Legal, Calling People Stupid and The Sickness of Politics in America

2008-11-03T23:00:00.002-05:00

I just finished watching Boston Legal. It was not simply television entertainment, but a horrendously biased commercial for Barrack Obama. This is the second experience in the last few days, which has disgusted me about politics, and the human heart.

A couple days ago, I had a discussion with a man who is intelligent, works with people in government positions, and was born in the Netherlands. He said that he can not believe how stupid Americans are. This was based upon Americans choosing Republicans in their electoral choices.

Should Boston Legal be forced to charge Barrack Obama tens of millions of dollars for the commercial time they gave to him?

Should every person who continues to use the tired old argumentum ad hominem of stupidity as the only reason one would vote Republican be called on the carpet for being stupid enough to use that argument? (Republicans occasionally use that argument, but it is normally the Democrats who use it, and it is unfortunately all too common to hear in the Boston area.)

I am sure that politics are sick in every country, but it has reached unbelievable proportions, and this has been the worst Presidential election for people being divided and cruel I have seen in my voting days, which began in 1976.

Both parties declare themselves to be the agents of change. They have both proven that they do not have what it takes to change the politics of the age, because neither of them have run a different kind of campaign. Positive change still seems a long ways off to me.

My Favorite Article about Bailout Plan

2008-09-30T21:32:00.002-05:00

Just had to link to this. Now this is thinking that I can identify with. It is kind of harsh sounding, but it makes sense to me. Maybe the first thing that has made sense in all this economic talk yet.

Do you think that bankruptcy may indeed be the answer to the problem instead of being the big fearful monster to avoid?

My Thoughts on Bailout Plan Failure

2008-09-30T11:06:00.003-05:00

Barney Frank says that Republicans were offended by Nancy Pelosi's partisan speech about the bailout plan, and so decided to punish the American people. I say, muzzle Barney, please.

In the final tally, 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans voted in support, while 95 Democrats and 133 Republicans voted against it. That is bipartisan rejection! Were 95 Democrats offended by Nancy? No. These are people who really had a problem with the bill.

I love this reporter's notebook view of the moments before the vote. Don't get uppity you anti-Fox News People. This is a great article of those few moments.

The Democratic Congressman from our region, John Tierney voted against the plan. Yeah John! One Democratic Congressman who voted against it, whose name I can not remember said that something this large should take more than 9 days to consider, because the best we could get is a bad plan. I'm with him.

Who's Grandstanding Now?

2008-09-27T10:13:00.003-05:00

"Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made their case for the bailout plan Wednesday in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans. Those who were there said lawmakers voiced new doubts, and said their constituents are overwhelmingly opposed.

House GOP leader John Boehner said Americans are "furious" that they're being asked to put up $700 billion. But he added that Congress "has a responsibility to act," and that he hopes a bipartisan deal can be reached.

A Republican said only four of his GOP colleagues raised their hands during the meeting when asked how many of them supported the plan. Tom Davis of Virginia said it's a "terrible plan," but that he hasn't "heard anything better.""

Above quote comes from this article on the 24 of September - three days ago.

Now, there has been talk from Democrats like Barney Frank (from my state) who have been saying that McCain's short reprise from his campaign was grandstanding. Yet Barney, and Chris Dodd and others have been saying that the Republicans who disagreed with the bailout plan should have stated something before everyone sat down at the table.

Okay, if their disagreement was public knowledge before they sat down together, who's grandstanding now?

I had mentioned on my other blog that this political season was having me wanting to move to Wales, and and join a peaceful Free Wales movement (simply to have something to really care about). Things haven't changed - except this, I will post my political thoughts on this blog from now on, and I think I'm leaning right on the bailout plan.

Life with Forrest

2008-08-15T08:02:00.007-05:00

A few weeks back our ol' buddy Forrest the three legged Greyhound contracted an infection in his remaining back leg. Within a couple short days the infection spread throughout his entire back leg. The leg was compromised having had surgery when he lost his other leg in the surgery back on Halloween '06. We miss him desperately, but after a few days watching the progress of the infection knew we would have to say goodbye to him. That's him smiling big above.

Holly is pictured with him, and she is adapting to life without Forrest. She howls when we leave her at home alone, and snuggles up real close to us in the bed. We adopted Forrest and Holly together, and they had been ever together since they both retired from the racetracks about 8 years ago.

Forrest had really become my buddy. The last two years were filled with caring for him as he recovered from his accident, and the lessons I learned about life while caring for him are far more valuable to me than they were to him I am sure.

If animals end up in heaven, of which I do not have a theological consideration one way or the other, I will want to sit down with Forrest and spend some time hanging out with him long before I will want to visit the typical heroes of my faith like Paul the Apostle, Petr Chelcicky, John Huss, or Harald Bredesen.

Loving Living in Salem

2008-06-26T22:12:00.005-05:00

Many of my friends are Witches and Pagans of various types. Tonight some of them gathered for a Pagan Pub Crawl here in Salem.

There were a few new faces, and a few people I have met before but have not gotten to know well. I spent time talking with a Witch who for years practiced being both a Witch and a Christian (first Fundamentalist Baptist, then Greek Orthodox), but gave up trying to be Christian, because "it didn't work." Another woman told of receiving a letter from her sister in law filled with clippings from Chick Tracts. Then I met the owner of the new tattoo parlor here in Salem. The parlor owner was not a Pagan, but perhaps a Buddhist, or maybe a Thelemite. There were discussions of life and death rituals in ancient religious cultures, and discussions about the variety of experiences which Pagans have had with other Christians.

All in all it was a good night with friends who are far different than myself, and who walk in a world not my own. At one point someone mentioned Amsterdam, and suggested that although he loved the city, it probably would not be a city I would feel comfortable living in. I suggested that might be the very reason I would like it all the more. I do believe it is true that I would be quite bored in an environment in which everyone was just like me. After all - I do live in Salem, and I love it.

Glossalalia (Tongues) My Tiny Miracle in Spanish

2008-06-22T22:02:00.004-05:00

Tonight I had a weird, but wonderful experience. I spoke Spanish. Okay, I know that millions of people speak Spanish, but I do not. Well, I know a few words like "Mas leche por favor," "taco," and "via con Dios." Perhaps a hundred words of Spanish might be found in my vocabulary if I thought about it hard and long, but that's what happens when you've been to Mexico, and lived near the Mexican border most of your life.

Yet my experience speaking Spanish was unknown to me until after it happened, and it occurred in a spontaneous moment of worship during our Sunday evening service. As a group we spent sometime singing improvisationally to a worship song, simply creating words of praise from our hearts. I sang in tongues during this time, and when the song ended Carlos asked if I knew that I was worshiping in Spanish.

Cool. I have been praying each morning this week about receiving the gift of interpretation of tongues, and then added that I would also like to speak in languages of this earth which I have never learned. Is this the beginning to answering that prayer? I dunno.

Skepticism can be had on this issue, but all I know is that it was weird and cool, all at once, and I am thinking that God was doing something unique among the small group at church tonight.

For more on the experience see the post at our church blog.

Lakeland 2.0 - Testimonials and Comments from Salem Outpouring

2008-06-16T18:23:00.004-05:00

The Salem Outpouring is a small version of Lakeland. I guess that would be Lakeland 2.0 in mini version at the moment.

People responded to my last post about the Salem Outpouring, and I thought it might be nice to post their experiences here. So here it goes, unedited, but perhaps with a comment or two from the peanut gallery (me).

"I was there from 7 to about 9:45, when the message was underway, so I didn't see any of what you describe. However, I do think I ought to say that the previous 2+ hours of worship, in particular a very tender and powerful sharing of the Eucharist early on, were amazing. I more or less see the narrative motivating events like these, and the "This Is It" hype, as a discardable part of that religious culture.... but I'm sure that would be harder to do for people who've been inside it." (the commenter is an episcopal priest and comfortable all types of religious settings)

This next person visited on the same night as well.

"Thank you, Pastor Phil, for your thoughtful story -- and, wow, what an incredible photo of the surfer and the wave.

Most of the people at revivals and outpourings are not there to receive physical healings or to witness them. They are there because they are radically in love with Jesus Christ, their Lord and Savior, the God who became a human being and walked among us, took the hit for us by dying on the Crsss. Why? He is radically in love with us. We want more of Him. We love because He loved us first.

Pastor Phil, you are an observant and articulate person. You must have noticed, for example, how much the ushers extend themselves to help with the needs of any visitors. I attended on Friday night, too, the same as you. I asked my companion, "Are you thirsty? I'll go get us some water."

An usher overheard us and came back with two bottles of water. No charge.

Jesus bless you."

This next post came from someone from our church who visited two nights after my own visit.

"I went to this event tonight because a friend of mine called me, someone I used to sit side by side in church and haven't now for a year and a half, I've missed her and others that I love. It was wonderful to be there again and see a few familiar faces enjoying the vibrant crowd praising God. For me, worshiping God among those I have relationship with is powerful. Praying for healing for those I know, or recieiving prayer from those that know me personally make it real.

There are things that make it hard for me to worship in the setting tonight...but I just kept praying that God would increase his truth, his word, and his glory, and decrease anything else in the way. I don't want to cut into the worship or what God might do with my critical judgmental thoughts.

Seeing people seeking out healing from God so passionately is great. My prayer is that the Lord will not only bring healing tonight (as a lot of the emphasis was on the event and the timing of receiving blessing right then and there) but also that people will walk away and carry with them the knowledge that the living spirit of God restored them and will continue to do so if only they look to him.

We sometimes need to appeal to our emotions to get carried to a place where our hearts are freer, but it's important that we know the limitations and the distractions of our emotions as well.

God also brought to my heart, when I was feeling awkward or uncomfortable given the different style of expression of faith and when my heart was full of doubt or skeptism, that I need to pray for other churches communities in addition to my own. May Jesus continue to be the focus. May Jesus bring healing to broken hearts, bodies and relationships in all of God's churches, and between them as well.

It's also nice to go to this kind of event and be able to see the good, and have grace for the weird instead of only seeing the weird so I can't even see what God might show me.

It was a BEAUTIFUL thing to see diversity represented as well. How awesome was that!"

Here is another post from someone who was there on the night I visited, and recalled the exact story I told:

"Pastor Phil: I was there too. I feel that you misread the healing time that you mentioned. The woman they were praying for was hispanic and even though they had an interpreter, there was some miscommunication because of the language barrier. The important thing is that she was healed.
I was there Saturday night and they mentioned that GOD was healing many different things. I was healed for a shoulder ailment that I have had for several years. I know that I was healed.

God is the same today as he was 2000 years ago. He still heals. He still seeks unity amoung his churches. What is happening is Salem, aside from the healings, is a great deal of unity among the churches. This is a great testament to GOD. It is a great testament to the memory of Rev. Arthur Robinson and Rev. Rocco Rezza (who recently passed away). Unity among the churches and nationalities is paramount for the advancement of the Kingdom.

Come back this week, give us a chance. Let go of your hurts and let GOD heal you!"

This particular post warranted a response so here is what I said:

"I did not misread that situation. You will notice that I mention that she is Spanish speaking, and that there was an interpreter.

The fact is that she was asked to touch her toes before she was asked what was wrong with her. Herniated discs and touching toes are not a great combination. Now if she is still healed today, and a week from now that is good. If she still has pain, I am concerned that someone was asked to do something potentially harmful in the context of faith healing.

As far as your healing. May the Lord continue to keep you in health, and may the Lord be blessed for what He has done.

It seems that you are making an assumption that I must be harboring hurts and therefore have disagreement with the revival. I do not disagree with these meetings, but I do think that "the little foxes spoil the vine" as they used to say in Pentecostal circles years ago, and it is still true that small things can create big problems. These concerns have been consistent for 25 years - long prior experiencing deceit and false judgments at the hands of Pentecostal leaders. So "healing" doesn't change my concerns.

If the outpouring meetings continue I will visit as I am able.

Rev. Robinson I met years ago, before we moved here. He laid hands upon me when we came to visit him at home in his last few years, and he laid hands upon me and prophesied that I would wear his mantle. What that means I am not sure. That is just what happened in his kitchen on Franklin Street back in the early 90's." (my response)

That's all or now

Not Sure How to Think about Revival - Still

2008-06-13T22:43:00.004-05:00

I admit readily that I have been jaundiced by my experiences with Pentecostal revivalist Christians who have been my bane in the last few years. They have proven themselves to be hypocritical, and judgmental, and I have been on the receiving end of this judgment.

Yet, I have been leery of revivalism even before the season of my struggle with my former fellow journeymen in the faith began.

Tonight I visited a meeting happening here in Salem for a half hour or so, and here is what I experienced:

"This woman says she has back back pain. We are going to pray for you. Is that okay?"

The Spanish speaking woman nods her head. The large screen projecting the service to the back of the room shows her face.

"Now as I pray touch your toes. Have you been able to touch your toes since you've had this problem? No?"

The woman shakes her head signifying no.

"Can you touch your toes now?"

Again she shakes her head negatively.

"Go ahead try to touch your toes as we pray."

The woman on the screen reaches down to touch her toes. She is a mother in her late twenties or early thirties.

"Did that hurt?"

She nods affirmatively, and mouths some words I can not hear.

"It hurts a little bit? Let's do it again. Reach down and touch your toes as we pray for you."

She does this again.

"Did it hurt this time?"

She shakes her head, and says, "No."

A brief conversation between the man praying, the young mother, and the interpreter ensues.

"A hernia? Oh a herniated disk. Folks, she has had 2 herniated disks for the last 2 years. No, 2 herniated disks for 6 years! She has had 2 herniated disks for 6 years and tonight she has no pain."

The crowd cheers.

"Oh excuse me. She has had 2 herniated disks for 6 months, and tonight the she has no pain."

The crowd cheers again. Less fervently this time.

I was standing in the back, and put my face in my hands. I thought to myself. Why didn't you ask about the specifics of her condition before you asked her to bend over?"

I am still not fond of the word revival. This particular revival meeting has a connection to the Lakeland, FL event, and I think that there were about 200 people in attendance when I popped in very late for a few minutes tonight.

Late Night with Jamiacan Special and Thinking About Stuff

2008-06-01T23:03:00.003-05:00

So tonight was a generally good night at The Vault. I came home following our 6pm service, and decided I wanted to smoke a big ol' fatty Jamaican Special cigar. Not really being a smoker I have them for our guys cigar smoking group, which I jokingly refer to as "Padron Me." Stupid Christian humor I suppose, and maybe a pun most people won't get.

So I laid under the stars on this first 70º night in Salem this year. I contemplated the peacefulness of God as I gazed on the stars through the branches of the silver maple tree in our yard, and periodically had to get up to take care of Forrest our three legged greyhound.

Tomorrow at 5am (only 5 hours from now) I will rise to go work at Starhouse. Within the next couple weeks I will transition from this morning job to a position as a liaison to DSS - I think.

I am hoping to get back to writing regularly again.

Support - what does it mean to you?

2008-04-30T21:39:00.002-05:00

What is "support" I have been wondering. Is it making money? Is it emotionally being concerned? Is it being encouraging? Is it all of the above? Is it a combination, which is less quantifiable, and has to do with issues of the heart?

Could it be that there are times someone appears to be supportive, because they carry out all the right actions, but in reality they are unsupportive, because they do not believe in or care for those things which concern us.

What is it to you? and how does this determine how you support others?

Will the Pope Click His Heels?

2008-04-18T15:53:00.004-05:00

So this is my favorite story of the Pope's visit. He wears ruby red shoes. It was an NPR listener who made this even more fun. "Does he click his heels and say, 'There's no place like Rome?'" she asked.