{"id":789,"date":"2021-01-18T14:57:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-18T18:57:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/?page_id=789"},"modified":"2021-01-29T22:35:04","modified_gmt":"2021-01-30T02:35:04","slug":"latest-news-from-aerendel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/latest-news-from-aerendel\/","title":{"rendered":"“Latest News From Aerendel”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monday, January 18th, 2021 —> +0\u02daC \/ +32\u02daF & cloudy @ 1:53 pm in Atlantic Canada —<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Latest

– ‘Latest News From Aerendel’ – Blog header & top of front page –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

–<\/p>\n

\"First

– First Post –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\n

Thursday, July 25, 2013<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n

\u2014Today was on the cool side (No complaints here)<\/p>\n

It began with a dream. I was in bed with my spouse and heard somebody rifle the door and come into the bedroom. I kicked at this unknown, unseen person and woke up. I realized I\u2019d been asleep, and probably close to the hypnogogic state (or whatever the correct term might be for the state you\u2019re in while transiting from sleep to \u2018wakefulness\u2019).<\/p>\n

I could feel a presence beyond the bed, on our right (my right, I was sleeping on my back), in the southern corner of the room, beyond my spouseling, who was trying to get back to sleep after being disturbed by me kicking into the air above her. I shot a prayer off to my most reliable heavy duty Spiritual protectors.<\/p>\n

And heard bells ringing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho are you?\u201d I asked, silently.<\/p>\n

I heard the bells again. Very pleasant bells, like a lot of small bells were ringing at once. I had a very strong impression that this presence was positively Angelic.<\/p>\n

\u201cAre you an Angel?\u201d<\/p>\n

And the bells rang again.<\/p>\n

I felt pretty good about this. As if maybe something not so nice might have charged into the room, but as soon as I sent off the prayer a really strong Angel popped in and sent the intruder away, teleported off to someplace where it could do no harm.<\/p>\n

When my spouse woke up fully a short time later, I told her about the angelic bells I\u2019d just heard. She thought it was significant.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not as easily deceived as I might have been years ago, but I thought I should write this down and ask some of the people I know who may be able to intuitively know exactly what happened and how positive or not so positive the \u2018Angel\u2019 or entity might be.<\/p>\n

If this is an honest to goodness Angelic messenger I hope he or she comes again. It would be nice to know how to communicate with this Angel. Or, if the bells were ringing to acknowledge that he or she was there, but could not communicate in words, or should not communicate, I\u2019d like to know that, so I don\u2019t have to feel frustrated about not getting answers to questions and all that.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014And, in a related dream. A couple days ago I went to sleep thinking I wanted to meet any entirely positive space aliens, especially the human ones who look exactly like we do, that I\u2019ve been hearing a lot about lately. I dreamed I met an alien and he let me see what he looked like. He looked quite a bit like Gumby, only grey, and with a head that was much more square, not pointed up on one side. After I woke up I chuckled to myself, thinking that either my subconscious was messing with me in an upbeat, humourous manner, or a playful alien or spirit of some kind was sending me an odd image of himself\/itself. I felt it was good natured. I didn\u2019t feel at all threatened.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Um, So this is my first mostly positive message to the world here. (patting myself on the back\u2026.)<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Namaste-<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014Jim<\/p>\n

\n

Catching Up<\/a><\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n

\u2014Friday, July 26, 2013. 10\u00b0C \/ 50\u00b0F @ 6:10 am. (unusually cool for July here)<\/p>\n

\""House

– Our House With “For Sale” Sign. –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— We\u2019re Moving. Link<\/a>\u00a0(Click on \u201cLink\u201d to see an evolving web \u00a0page re: the move). I\u2019ve just cleaned the kitchen floor after Moe peed on it again. Maybe he missed the low sided training tray we got because old pudge was having trouble climbing over anything higher and was taking to peeing on the outside of the kitty litter boxes.<\/p>\n

\"Moe

– “Moe, behind bars in the Cat-Run” –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— The cats are peeing and poo-ing beyond their usual places to let us know they\u2019re not happy with the changes in their environment.<\/p>\n

— Their environment is changing here inside the house because we\u2019re getting ready to move. We can\u2019t move to a new province with mon amour foo\u2019s new job until we sell this house. The cats obviously don\u2019t want us to sell this house.<\/p>\n

— They figure if they stink the place up enough, nobody will want to buy it and they\u2019ll be safely stagnant in their beloved familiar environment.<\/p>\n

— They don\u2019t believe me when I tell them they\u2019ll like whatever new place we go even better. Domino\u2019s the best listener, he looks at me and almost rolls his eyes.<\/p>\n

— I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s the kitty equivalent of, \u201cHey listen stupid, You know I don\u2019t understand English, why do you bother?\u201d (But we all know they understand a whole lot more than most humans give them credit for. They\u2019re only playing ignorant to shut us up.)<\/p>\n

— We began knowing we were going to move a while ago. It took the love of my life\u2019s employer almost six months to get the actual gears in motion to bring her on board and relocated to another time zone east of here.<\/p>\n

((((( After Midnight, now July 27th, 2013. 11\u00b0C \/ 52\u00b0 F here in the land where they call their dollars \u201cLuneys\u201d and probably should think of their government in the same terms. )))))<\/p>\n

— I\u2019ve been resetting the Vonage VOIP telephone router at least once a day, often twice. I think I cleaned up after the cat who can\u2019t quite aim his pee stream at the kitty litter tray mentioned above\u2026 um, at least twice a day.<\/p>\n

— And this evening we demolished our poor worry wart cat\u2019s most secure refuge in the name of selling this place. I built an industrial strength bird sanctuary\/aviary\/bird cage to protect the kids\u2019 budgies (aka Parakeets) from our sixteen pound Bengal cat.<\/p>\n

— Domino is the Bengal. He took up residence on top of the six foot high, four feet wide, three feet deep aviary (with a plywood roof and back and Domino-proof acrylic panels covering the top eighteen inches of heavy duty \u2018wire cloth\u2019 fencing material that was stapled to two by three uprights and the staples were covered with what look like bed slats) (but made of softer wood) (We will find at least one of our photos of the aviary and edit it in here.) But anyway. The aviary is in pieces outside, ready to be loaded into the van for a trip to the land-fill.<\/p>\n

— And I just saw Domino up here in the real world slinking into his treat-munching station, so the poor puddy\u2019s world did not completely come to an end. (We did try to put familiar items like his scratching post\/big honking speaker cabinet [broken speakers] back in place so he wouldn\u2019t be totally lost transported out of his comfort zone\u2026 just maybe a couple hundred light years from where he wants to be\u2026.)<\/p>\n

— Of course, we may have to carefully inspect every inch of this house for signs of his disapproval of the way things are going these days.<\/p>\n

— But I am so close to \u2018brain fried\u2019 at the moment that I better end here and pack it in for a couple hours. We have to take the boof out and lock the cats up again today, more viewers are coming to take a look.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Saturday, July 27, 2013\/ 23\u00b0C \/ 73\u00b0F @ 8:22 pm ((Grey skies, threatening.))<\/p>\n

— So we stayed up pretty much all last night and dragged ourselves out of bed around 11:00 this morning and pretty much jumped right into getting junk to the landfill and steadily cleaning all the carpets, mopping up Moe\u2019s pee almost before he thought about missing the kitty litter tray again.<\/p>\n

— We febreezed a lot and left the windows open with the air conditioner on. No, we didn\u2019t cool the town off any. We got out of here with like thirty seconds to spare before today\u2019s viewers were here. And they were already here.<\/p>\n

— All the cats were in lock down or hiding securely and we brought the dog to the beach where nearly an hour of splashing and digging in six inches to a foot of water wasn\u2019t enough, we had to pretty much drag him all the way to the vehicle, him trying to drag us back to the water the whole time.<\/p>\n

\"Jassper

– Jassper’s Favourite beach past time – Digging in the sand. He keeps looking up to make sure Cathi’s okay { That’s her head in the background, 12 o’clock high. That’s a rock at 11 o’clock. } –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"Jassper

– Jassper takes his canal digging very seriously. –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— But when we got here and I went to let the cats out of the jails, the upstairs guy\u2019s room smelled like he\u2019d pooped and peed the whole time we were gone. I mean it smelled worse to me than ever.<\/p>\n

— I don\u2019t get it.<\/p>\n

— The girl\u2019s room, south east of the smelly cat room, smelled almost as bad.<\/p>\n

— Now this is with the windows open the whole day, and all last night.<\/p>\n

— How the bleep would keeping the windows open make the place smell worse than closing the windows and baking the smells in?<\/p>\n

— Cathi flipped the mattress in the girl\u2019s room and gagged, yeah, before we began locking the room up so cats could not get in, the guest cat thoroughly ruined the mattress.<\/p>\n

— In the guest cat\u2019s current room, Cathi went around and sniffed and came to the conclusion that somebody\u2019s been labeling the old dresser in there. Gaaaaaa-<\/p>\n

— So it looks like we will be dragging another mattress out to the garage until our next trip to the land fill, and maybe dragging a dresser along with it.<\/p>\n

— This is turning into \u201cEncounters With the Cats From Hell\u201d (play spooky music here\u2026.)<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Sunday, July 28, 2013. 24\u00b0C \/ 75\u00b0F @ 3 pm.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014We did drag the mattress out into the garage last night. And Cathi cleaned and sprayed the wall around the dresser. This morning most of the smell upstairs was gone. Only the litterbox smelled. (yay)<\/p>\n

— {{{ Monday, July 29, 2013. 19\u00b0C \/64\u00b0F @1:30 am. (Cousin Jaimie\u2019s & Kaylie S\u2019s Birfday.) }}}<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014We got a call mid morning to tell us that today\u2019s viewers were not feeling well and cancelled or postponed their viewing. We sighed with relief and went back into dreamland. I dreamed I was heading back to boot camp and was telling the younger (Much Younger) first time recruits or draftees that I\u2019d been through this before and I knew where we were going.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Cathi closed the windows upstairs and let the guest cat out of his nightly isolation. She said the only place that smelled in there was the litter box. (This is a good thing.)<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Later took the dog to the beach for more digging in shallow water. He seems to be making progress there. His spot is probably 6 to 8 inches deeper than the surrounding area. I was watching a cloud of silt spread out from where he was very busy with the serious task of digging his trench.<\/p>\n

— Again, he didn\u2019t want to leave the water, did not want to go home. After he gave up trying to drag me back to the water he plunked down and refused to move.<\/p>\n

— I snapped the short leash \u00a0(while he was hooked to the long leash) behind him and growled, but he did not want to move toward the jeep.<\/p>\n

— I was thinking about explaining to him that he would never eat another treat again when he suddenly got up and started dancing toward the road and the jeep.<\/p>\n

— My guess at this point is that he knows what I\u2019m thinking, maybe before I do\u2026. 😉<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Other than that, I spent an hour or so looking at lots of mls listings in and around our destination city.<\/p>\n

I might have gotten one good photo today that I can use at my day job.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014 21\u00b0C \/ 73\u00b0F @ 5:30 pm.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014 About half an hour ago we had a short but intense thunderstorm. A few minutes before the storm, Jassper acted like he really wanted to go outside and relieve his bladder or something like that. But when I opened the door (to grey skies and \u2018normal\u2019 breezes) he froze in his tracks and headed in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

— I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever heard as loud and long lasting a rumble of thunder as we had maybe ten minutes after Jassper decided he really didn\u2019t want to go outside. The animals looked at me like the wanted to know whether to panic or take it in stride. We had some nasty downpours that sounded like they could shred the aluminum siding and come in like \u201cShhh shhhh shhhh shhhhhhhh\u201d. But that didn\u2019t last long.<\/p>\n

— The real world outside is wet. But I don\u2019t see smoke clouds rising from anywhere. I don\u2019t have the teevee\u2019s audio turned on or a radio on, so who knows? A sink hole might have opened up and swallowed the next county, but it looks \u2018normal\u2019 out there.<\/p>\n

— Now I can get back to making ready for an evening viewing.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Tuesday, July 30, 2013. 21\u00b0C \/ 72\u00b0F @ 3 pm.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014About last night\u2019s viewing. The viewers circled our house for at least an hour before the scheduled viewing. I felt like I was getting dirty looks for being here and wanted to shout, \u201cWhat part of 8 o\u2019clock don\u2019t you understand?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014The cats didn\u2019t mess up as usual\u2026 although the guest cat did give us his stinkiest poop ever about 20 minutes before viewing time. Gaaaa-<\/p>\n

— The viewers opened every door, checked out the bathroom, left wet handprints on the towels.<\/p>\n

— I had a feeling, \u201cThe house is sold- They want to offer below the asking price. They want you out of here in five days.\u201d I told Cathi about the five days part and the \u2018sold\u2019 part.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014This morning Cathi and I got email. We had an offer. Cathi had to check with her relocation people. The offer was too low. Relocation would not reimburse the difference or anything. Also. Conditions like they wanted to close on August 30th were not possible.<\/p>\n

— Cathi emailed the real estate guy.<\/p>\n

— He emailed her back.<\/p>\n

— \u2018We\u2019 made a counter offer and we\u2019re playing real estate ping pong.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014I still feel like this is going to work. This offer will rise to an acceptable level. They will be able to move in here in time for whatever they\u2019re worried about.<\/p>\n

—I think the cats and the people of the glen are happy with this.<\/p>\n

— I think Cathi and I will find a place we can get that will make the animals happy, make me happy and make Cathi happy. I went to my mls listings homework browsers and selected five of what I thought were our best choices and most likely candidates for a decent place to live for a reasonable price within reasonable commuting distance and all that.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014I am worn out and ready to collapse but I don\u2019t feel like I can relax about anything yet. Gaaaaaaaaaa-<\/p>\n

\u2014Mercury has been heading in the right direction for almost ten days now and, according to Astrologists, creative projects and short trips should be going more smoothly than they have been all month, without insane little complications, delays, misdirections and confusions. What do you think? Should we blame all that on the stars? On Fate?<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014So anyway, I was sitting in the washroom, half awake, when I \u2018heard\u2019 the insight\/thought: \u201cThis house is sold. The buyer put in an offer quite a bit lower than the asking price. She [the buyer?] wants you out of here in five days.\u201d \u00a0I\u2019m wondering if everybody on planet is caught up in a game of \u2018dog eat dog\u2019 or \u2018at least threaten to eat dog\u2019, or, \u201cYou have been divided and conquered, play by the rules or we will humiliate you in public.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014This evening \u2018our\u2019 Real Estate guy came over with a whole lot of papers to sign. I had to sign, as Cathi\u2019s spouse, saying I am okay with her selling this house. ((When we moved here, my legal status in this countries was \u2018visitor\u2019. Two and a half years \u00a0after we moved here I had jumped through enough hoops to be a \u201cPermanent Resident\u201d and I could legally work and get paid for it. (((where-as before that I could legally be treated as a slave by unscrupulous types and not paid?))) Three years & 4 months after we moved here I became a dual citizen and was sworn in by a judge who looks like he\u2019s related to Bruce Cockburn.))<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014 Anyway- After we\u2019d signed all the dotted lines (which are solid these days) and initialed inside all the rubber stamped circles (which were rubber stamped in red ink) the agent said the buyer would have an inspector come in and if the house passed inspection and the buyer\u2019s bank or mortgage company approved, we\u2019d know in about a week or so and we could then resume breathing and get on with our lives.<\/p>\n

— I felt blind-sided and stunned. This is the first time I\u2019ve been this \u2018intimately\u2019 involved in a process like this and it feels very much like it was not designed to be in the best interest of those who make life altering decisions and transitions, it\u2019s designed to have the largest number of evil, manipulating muther fuppers make as much money from you and steal enough power from you as they possibly can.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Wednesday, July 30th, 2013.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Yawn. I still do not feel relieved. We\u2019re still jumping through hoops. God did not design this universe (or any one of the other universes) to put us through this kind of bull chips. (creative euphemism is fun on my end).<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014My manager at work came down from his hour away office and we tied up some corporate audit \/ safety issues and finished my month end reports and all that. He also told me more about the process of how to remain human inside the inhuman process of doing things like submitting letters of resignation inside the corporate structure. So, while I\u2019m beginning to believe with all my heart that contracts are a construct of the devil, I\u2019m appreciating the fact that, in this job experience, sometimes angelic beings can disguise themselves as supervisors\/managers and actually help you get through life instead of devoting all their time and energy to making your life miserable. (Thank You, God; thank you Mike.)<\/p>\n

((Now I have to sit back and closely examine whether my latest insights are leading to the belief that God is a single Entity, with an entirely Loving plan for us all; or a collective Force mostly motivated by Love and Nurturing and \u2018Stand back and let these evolving life forces grow or devolve, according to their own predilections or nature.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014My head us spinning, my back itches and my stomach isn\u2019t taking any of this in stride. But I did not charge straight through dinner so fast that I gave it all back in explosive fashion. I felt the waves of warning coming and slowed down. I am not a good little lab rat or guinea pig caught in the games and self aggrandizements of nasty little experiments conducted by loveless little ego driven monsters who see the human race as ants to be studied as we find our ways through their godless mazes.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Yawn, I should be forcing myself to get more rest.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Thursday, August 1st, 2013. (Cousin Leley\u2019s Birfday, Yay!) 18\u00b0C \/ 64\u00b0F & raining @ 11:45 am.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Got off to a slow start this morning. Maybe it\u2019s the weather. When I let the \u2018puppy\u2019 out of his crate he charged out enthusiastically and stepped right on my sore toe. I hopped around shouting, \u201cOuch! OU ou ou ou OU!\u201d & I just realized the English language doesn\u2019t have a good and acceptable abbreviation for that. Ou looks like something that is pronounced \u201coo\u201d in French, like Ewe or \u2018you\u2019 with no leading consonant Y sound.<\/p>\n

— I keep joking that Jassper wants to be this town\u2019s first 500 pound Labrador Retriever. And the perennial puppy stepped right on my sore toe. Waaaaa-<\/p>\n

— And it\u2019s grey and could be dreary outside and I can\u2019t find the puppy\u2019s favourite orange rubber bone. He almost can\u2019t go outside without the bone in his mouth. ((Should I feel like mumbling, \u2018ack- I\u2019m such a failure-\u2018 \u00a0(((sigh-))) ? ))<\/p>\n

\u2014Gaaa! I\u2019m realizing how much of daily life is aimed at distracting us these days. I\u2019m not happy with that at all.<\/p>\n

\u2014I just tried to add \u201cPersonal Insight\u201d to my list of Categories here and the software tried to tell me I don\u2019t have permission to do that.<\/p>\n

— Imagine being told you don\u2019t have permission to say or think something that isn\u2019t pre-approved by the powers that be? Is big brother that pervasive? Is that where we are heading as a civilization? Are the conspiracy theorists right?<\/p>\n

\u2014My eyes are burning fiercely and I\u2019m looking at the world expecting to see at least glimpses of a world I\u2019ll be waking up to in a little more than a month.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Monday, August 5th, 2013. 16\u00b0C \/ 59\u00b0F @ 11:59 pm<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014 Today we got kicked out of house and home while the prospective buyers brought in a home inspector and inspected for almost two hours.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Jassper continued his beach engineering, trying to extend his trench from McLean Beach to Quebec.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014When we got back the invisible little people upstairs here sent me the message: \u201cSold, sold, sold.\u201d & they felt happy about it.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Tonight, we had a slight scare, wondering if Moe escaped and ran away or something. No\u2026 he was hanging out inside the cat carrier (travel prison), smiling happily at me and after I ran outside and told Cathi that Moe was safe and smiling in a very strange place. Cathi followed me back inside the house and upstairs to sit on our haunches and smile back at the weird orange cat in the \u2018guest cat\u2019s prison\/carrier.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Slightly later, Moe the Orange Cat and Jassper the Puppy Horse (dog) were almost face to face, dog wagging tail, Moe looking like it was never unusual for a dog and a cat to be almost kissing for crying out loud\u2026.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014I think the animals are trying to tell me that they now know what\u2019s going on and they are pretty happy with the place they know we will end up living in.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Weird?<\/p>\n

— Can I scream now?<\/p>\n

(to be continued)<\/p>\n

\n

Monday \u2013 Monday\u2026..<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n

— July 29, 2013. \u00a021\u00b0C \/ 64\u00b0F @ 6:30 pm (depends on which applet I\u2019m looking at\u2026) Cousin Jamie\u2019s and Kaylie S.\u2019s Birfday.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014-We had a brief but intense thunder storm a while back. One rumbling bit of thunder lasted so long I almost thought it was more earthquake than thunderstorm. We survived\u2026 I think\u2026<\/p>\n

\"Apres

– “After The Storm” –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— This is what the parking lot next door looked like (Our smiling house overly white in bright sunlight) after the storm today.<\/p>\n

\"Max

– “Guest Cat Living Dangerously” –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— This is \u201cGuest Cat\u201d \/ Max. He came to visit when his girl\u2019s new roommate admitted to being extremely allergic to cats. Max let us know he was pretty much allergic to being abandoned without first being consulted. He\u2019s been hiding out upstairs most of the time and only recently took the chance to come down and slip past the big black dog and chance encounters with Domino, the big stripey-spotty Bengal cat. Here is Max after knocking the cat treat bag on the floor and eating everything that spilled out, and after he found a bag full of plastic bags we keep for trash (etc) and spreading bags all over the living room floor. (Schnarr\u2026.)— Oh well, back to work, gotta clean up here and there and get outta here so somebody else can come look at the house. (The cats must like this unknown person\u2014 they haven\u2019t left us any major messes anywhere.<\/p>\n

~~~~~Jim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

If it\u2019s Thursday, this must be\u2026 Planet Earth in the Rain?<\/h2>\n<\/header>\n
\n

— Thursday, August 1st, 2013. I think today is my cousin, Lesley\u2019s, birfday. 18\u00b0C \/ 64\u00b0F and raining here in what they tell me is \u201cThe Real World\u201d.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

((( Ignore the intrusive phone calls, ignore the evil people who want to control your life, ignore all the b.s. \u201cfacts\u201d they try to whip you with\u2014 and you just might get through a few more minutes; -intact? )))<\/p>\n

— Hey wait a minute, this is supposed to be \u201cMostly Positive\u201d. I chose that idea, I chose that sub-title.<\/p>\n

— So why am I singing \u201cEverything\u2014\u2014\u2014 Gives you cancer\u2026.\u201d?-While observing out loud, \u201cWe have a very wet dog.\u201d ((The dog found his much loved nub of what used to by a red nyla (sp?) bone and threw it on the floor to let me know he wanted to go out. I asked him, \u201cAre you sure you want to go out there in this\u2026 steady rain? Don\u2019t get wet\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

— He looked up at me with a swindler\u2019s smile and nodded okay, I\u2019ll be good, just open the danged door already.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014 Which brings me to something I\u2019ve wanted to say about the connection between computer games and real life, these days. I went into a really intense study of a \u2018social game\u2019 on facebook, and traced that game to its home servers on disruptorbeam dot com. This game is based on teevee\u2019s “Game of Thrones”, which is based on a book cycle \u201cSong of Fire and Ice\u201d or \u201cIce and Fire\u201d or \u201cSong of-\u201c.<\/p>\n

— The point is, the game has divided life skills needed to live in this game world into three categories: Battle, Trade, and Intrigue.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Each skill heading is divided into three sub headings. Battle skills are divided into \u201cAid\u201d, \u201cFight\u201d and \u201cHarass\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2014The Fight skill involves killing everybody and everything that stands between you and winning your game of life. The Harass skill involves capturing and threatening your opponents\u2019 captains or leaders with death and humiliation. The Aid skill involves showing strength and maybe hacking through the underbrush instead of killing anything that just might be an enemy or hapless animal that gets in your way.<\/p>\n

\u2014The Intrigue skill is divided into \u201cSpy\u201d, \u201cSabotage\u201d and \u201cSteal\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2014But the Trade skill has divisions that I found \u2018intriguing\u2019: \u201cBarter\u201d, \u201cSwindle\u201d, & \u201cBribe\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014The point I think I had in mind when I started to explain this is:<\/p>\n

— The trade skills \u2014 Is trading a completely amoral behavior? If you\u2019re a tradesman and you want your family to thrive, do you have to swindle and bribe? Or is this the way \u201cThey\u201d want you to believe this world actually functions. If you play nice \u2014 Are you fair game to be tortured, dismembered, humiliated, raped, murdered, and then hung out to dry as en example of what happens to people who want to be Angels in a world where the devil believes he\u2019s in charge?<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014Remember, the sub-title of this journal is \u201cMostly Positive\u201d.<\/p>\n

— Insight into the way this world works is one thing. Knowing that your \u2018rivals\u2019 for this earth\u2019s resources do not believe in playing by the rules might brace you for the fight of your life. But dangit, are we supposed to believe that we have to fight every day for everything we want, need, cherish or crave? Is that what this world is all about? Hack and slash your way to power and wealth? Damn the torpedoes, lay waste to anything that gets in your way?<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014How did we allow ourselves to be manipulated into this position?<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014And speaking of manipulation, I have an orange cat attacking my leg, complaining vociferously about something. I better go see what he wants.<\/p>\n

\u2014I\u2019m back. He wants to experience \u201cOutside\u201d but when it\u2019s raining I get a dirty look, and the feeling that he\u2019s telling me, \u201cThis isn\u2019t outside- this is rain!\u201d and he stares at me like I\u2019m supposed to be able to snap my fingers and make the world more appealing to orange cats who just want to run out there and roll happily in the grass.<\/p>\n

~~~~~ Jim<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

The House Is Sold.<\/span><\/em><\/h1>\n

— {{{ August 7, 2017 —> 12:10 pm }}} —<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\""Sold"\"

– “Sold” –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"Cathi

– Cathi and Jassper at the beach. –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n

\n

— I\u2019ve been working all night on stuff at the computer with an orange cat trying to get and hold my attention by scratching at my leg.<\/p>\n

— Cathi was pretty much giddy all evening after we got word that everything has been signed and the closing will take place on September 6th. I talked to Mom and my sister in Alaska and then tried to edit stuff and send email to a few of the most important people I could find in my email address book.<\/p>\n

\"Duck

– Cathi thinks I look like I should be on ‘Ducky Dynasty” – \ud83d\ude42 –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— The two beach photos above were taken on Monday, during our 2 hour ordeal while the inspector and the buyers were going through the house. There are a couple of cable television cables they pulled out of place upstairs that catch on the bathroom door every time I open or close it, and I\u2019ve stuffed the cables back in place\u2026 or at least tried to.<\/p>\n

\"Cameras

– New Configuration at the Town’s council Chambers. –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— Yesterday, I got a call early to go into the studio where I work and help the electricians figure out what they need to do to feed cables from the town hall\u2019s new sound system and new computer-linked projector down through the floor to our studio down below. The new CAO and building engineer rearranged the council chambers room to emphasize the mayor\u2019s presence and make it much more difficult for camera operators to look and act professional without stepping in front of, around, or into the picture with members of the town council during official meetings.<\/p>\n

\"Camera

– Where Camera Two would have to be to ‘shoot’ Staff members and people giving reports. –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— But anyway- hey- The house was sold a lot quicker than most houses in this area and we are several giant steps closer to achieving our dream of living in a nicer world with nicer people, less pressure, more positive spirituality, and a brighter future than we can see in this town. (This town has some really really great people. But the nasty ones are stating their nastiness louder and louder. I mean they freaking extorted thousands of dollars from their taxpayers here in a scam over water bills that I\u2019m pretty sure will turn out to be a major accounting error that no one will admit to, and no one will attempt to refund.) (It\u2019s similar to the way \u201cthey\u201d charge a thousand times more for gasoline in this country than they should be able to get away with ((they believe that nobody knows enough about what they\u2019re doing to hold them accountable)) (((& whether it\u2019s in the name of free enterprise or naked greed, it will explode in their faces and soon.))) ((((And believe me, you don\u2019t want to be standing too close to them when the fit hits the shan\u2026)))) The town we\u2019re moving to (and the Province we\u2019re moving to) is reputed to be populated by much nicer people. Too many of Ontario\u2019s citizens are turning into a bunch of wanna-be New York City types.)<\/p>\n

— Yum? Even if it was a wonderful Ontarian who introduced us to the cosmic forgiveness principle and practice of asking God and the Universe to transmute the negative energy that nasty people slap us in the face with into something much more positive\u2014 rather than focusing our own energy on hoping and praying for revenge, or that the bad people get what they deserve when we could be hoping and praying that they come to their senses, realize their shortcomings, learn to love and accept themselves and others, or absorb enough Cosmic Love and Compassion to be transformed and learn from their mistakes. ((If we spend our time seething with anger, soaking in negativity- we sink to the level of the evil that wants to pull us all down. If we attempt to forgive, and finally achieve the ability to \u201cforgive and forget\u201d we can move on to higher and better things\u2026)) Am I waxing or waning philosophical here?<\/p>\n

Okay, tell me to shut up before you all realize that I am so utterly exhausted that I can\u2019t even make sense to myself at the moment.<\/p>\n

(insert happy smile with halo here?)<\/p>\n

\"Cathi's

– “Cathi’s Front Garden – August 2013” –<\/span><\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

— {{{ We missed the ‘Smoke Tree’ until we found a Garden Centre in the Fredericton, New Brunswick area where they didn’t think we were from another planet when we asked if they carried those. }}}<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014Yay\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Monday, January 18th, 2021 —> +0\u02daC \/ +32\u02daF & cloudy @ 1:53 pm in Atlantic Canada — – Thursday, July 25, 2013 \u2014Today was on the cool side (No complaints here) It began with a dream. I was in bed with my spouse and heard somebody rifle the door and \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-789","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P559rH-cJ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=789"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":931,"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/789\/revisions\/931"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aerendel.ca\/aarchives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}