The terribly sad part is that
there are so many other looming doomsdays well within our reach. The N.
Koreans, lead by KIM SO ILL (son of Kim Jong Il, don’tcha know), are shooting
off missiles and have even tossed a satellite into space (though not without
depositing tons of space debris in orbit in the process…Geeeeee. Thanks, guys!).
Because they hate us, they
are saber rattling as any good dictatorship would. It doesn’t help that their
leader has exactly the same qualifications as ours (i.e. absolutely none other
than being a professional oxygen thief) so I guess one or the other leader can
effectively get us killed. Their leader is throwing money at his country’s
military while ours is gutting ours so that he can take the money and spend it
on health care for 15 million illegal aliens. Reckon we’ll need a lot of health
care after the North Koreans, Russians, and/or Chinese lob a few nukes on our
turf. Nothing like being medically prepared, I always say.
Connie and I are expecting
some really tough times ahead. I’ve prayed that it not be for a few more years because
there are a lot of things to accomplish and a lot of things to prepare for yet.
We’ll see. At this point in history, and without some sort of miracle, it’s
going to be impossible to avoid some sort of catastrophe and that’s just the
man-made and engineered issues (i.e. the coming banking and financial collapse
of America
IF we can squeeze it in, part
of the Rancho planning is to get a couple of mopeds up and running and at least
two more engines that will convert a bicycle to a moped. It may take me as long
as two years get it all worked into the program.
In any case, we won’t starve
unless the government (by Mr. Soetoro’s executive orders now in place) raids my
small store of food and redistributes my “wealth”. That way I can be equally
starving with my neighbors who didn’t have sense enough to prepare for hard times.
Ain’t socialism grand?
I would like to have a bit of
time to dial in our above ground garden boxes too. These things need to be up
to max production this year. We did get some produce from the four boxes but we
all but had to beg for it. We did exactly what a friend of ours did and even
used the same composting but his crops flourished while ours didn’t. That needs
to change. The best we can tell our eggplants were about ten bucks each, the
tomatoes were all the way down to two dollars each, and the zucchini came in at
around twelve dollars per copy. The only thing that didn’t cost an arm and a
leg were the few potatoes that got planted on a whim. They grew but were rather
small in size and number.
We have more good news to
share about some of our latest blessings. As reported in the previous posting, I'm
now the pastor of our church. The other pastor retired (rather ungracefully, I
might add. More on that later) and is gone. In any event, I'm in the process of
getting the place glued back together with a proper board of trustees and such.
It will take some time to get through the transition period but everyone is
upbeat and looking forward to the future.
The other pastor
(unintentionally) left us with only a few thousand dollars in the bank. But, after
only a few weeks, we now have a healthy bank account and a budget that’s been
trimmed and tidied and ready to help move us forward with normal church
functions and business. Our membership is increasing regularly and people
actually want to come to church now because it's their home and they feel free
to worship (which just didn't happen with the other man).
We had to take care of a
situation where a woman was nominated as treasurer. But, come to find out, she really
wasn't elected to the position due to the confusion generated by a particular
board member who was pushing and shoving the process to his liking (prior to my
being elected). She is one of those
types who is not there to serve the brethren and sisteren (sic) but rather is ready to
rule with an iron tourniquet. The way it worked out was pretty cool. She pretty
much hung herself with her long tongue so is no longer around to menace the
church.
What is truly amazing is that
this is a “Freewill Baptist” church. Who woulda thunk that ol’ Brother Ran
would be a….a….Baptist preacher?! I figured I’d sooner be a Catholic nun! HAR!
Actually….I know beyond any doubt at all that the Lord is leading and that I’m
where I’m supposed to be. The two Rancho Relaxo ranch hands are truly thankful
for this opportunity and are deeply humbled to be allowed to serve our church
family with whom we have fellowshipped for about ten years.
Another blessing happened a
few days ago. A man called and asked if I took "old computers". I
advised that I did, indeed (there’s an e-waste pile out near the driveway that
is picked up from time to time). The next day he dropped off 1250 bucks worth
of computer equipment including two desktop computers, a flat screen monitor, wireless mouse and
keyboard, a nice large screen HP laptop, a thousand dollar server, and a bunch
of peripherals and adjunct equipment, and such.
One of the computers is a big
Dell XPS420 that is better and newer than my high performance Gateway!! Unreal!
Just the other day I was giving thought about replacing my faithful old back up
computer that I keep alongside my main work box. It's long in the tooth (about
8 years old) and still functional. But, it's running Windows XP and is getting
tired. Lo and behold, I now have the replacement box in place and it’s running
like a Swiss watch!! When I have the time, I’ll upgrade it to Win 7 from Vista .
Later, when I have all that time left over from the Win 7 upgrade, I'll sell
the server on Craig’s List and will likely get 500 to 750 bucks for it. I can
live with that!
Also, on my days off (ah,
yeah), I will now be the editor of our “Porterville Area Republican
Association's” new newsletter, "For the People". No, I am absolutely not
a Republican but neither are most of those in the association. These are mostly
truly conservative "old Republicans" and not "neo-cons"
(conning their way into our hearts) like most of our low-life lizard-hearted leaders who call
themselves "Republicans" nowadays. Editing a newsletter shouldn't be
a big deal since I've churned out a personal newsletter for ten years or so. There’s
really not enough time to even keep up with my personal blogs and the soon-
to-be-published church newsletter. But, I'll see if I can fit it in between
putting the church bulletins together and hunting down the dreaded California
In fact, we have a new Rancho
“camper”. He’s one of the neighbor’s gophers. I recently managed to flush out
and kill one gopher and his cousin moved in within a few days! *SIGH*. These
things are truly a menace. They are not just fuzzy little critters trying to
survive. They are varmints that need to be evicted by any means (and here I am
fresh out of dynamite). I’ve tried gassing this latest interloper but he must
have brought his mil-spec gas mask with him. Now, I’m in the process of trying
to flush him out. But, he seems to be too wise for that and has, so far,
managed to evade getting wet. He’s on a roll now piling dirt higher than ever.
I think I’ll place a call to the “Central Valley Red Tailed Hawk Association”
and see if they’ll send a few of their members over here. They can sit on the
power lines and watch for the little furry bugger to stick his heads up so they
can nab him for lunch.
This should really be an
interesting year. Lot ’s to do. So,
hang around the old watering hole and I’ll try to keep updates posted from time
to time.
