The Scotsman sure hit the nail square on the head with that line. He must have wrote it shortly after buying a house!
Plans have changed and changed, and changed again. They have changed so frequently, that I often find myself sitting there wondering, "Where do I start today?".
The Good
Picking Fruit from the Tree of Negotiation
The only appliance that came with the house was a dishwasher. We had planned on using our old refrigerator and buying a used gas stove. We figured that would get us through a year or two until renovations were complete.
While shopping at Lowe's for paint, we wandered into the Appliance Dept. We found a Whirlpool Side-by-Side 25 cu. ft. Stainless Steel Refrigerator, originally priced at $1,440, marked down to $896. It was a floor model with a couple of small scratches on one side. It's on the wall-side, so it's no big deal. This thing is HUGE! It didn't look that big sitting on the floor at Lowe's. It dispenses cubed or crushed ice, and has a cold water dispenser; something Miss Hallie has alwayswanted. The night-lite in the dispenser compartment is also a nice touch.
Then we found a Frigidaire Professional Stainless Steel Gas Range, originally priced at $1,260, marked down to $948. It was a discontinued model still in the crate. This is a commercial grade range that has 5 burners (17,000BTU, 15,000BTU, 10,000BTU, and two 6,500BTU) with heavy cast iron grates, with the center burner that converts to a griddle. The oven has convection capabilities and is self-cleaning. Since I do a lot of the cooking, I can't wait to crank this baby up and see what it will do. Gas service will be turned on next week.
We negotiated for an additional discount, using the argument that we were buying two major appliances at the same time. The salesman went to talk to his supervisor (haha), and came back saying they would give an extra 10% (we asked for 15%) and would give us free delivery. We couldn't pass it up. We ended up getting $2,700 worth of appliances for a mere $1,660 plus tax. They are both covered with full warranties.
More Good: Upgrades in electrical wiring, switches, receptacles, fixtures, and ceiling fans, are 98% complete. The 2 rooms we scheduled for painting (walls, ceiling, and trim) are 50% finished.
The Bad
The appliances were delivered the next day, and as I was installing them (leveling and hooking up the ice-maker, which is 23 linear feet from the water source), I discovered the floor is way out of plumb. Since leveling the floor will be a major undertaking, the tiling will have to wait a year or so. The linoleum is in good shape, so we can live with it, even though we HATE linoleum.
And The Ugly
For the past two weeks we have experienced torrential rains in the area, and to my dismay, found a few leaks in the basement.
I first planned (there goes those plans again) on waterproofing the entire basement. After calculating the cost, I decided on doing just the bottom four feet. After starting to scrape, and chip off, the old paint and waterproofing material (first photo), and seeing the time and effort that would be needed, I decided to just attack the problem areas. Fortunately, engineering-wise, there is little difference between basements and boat hulls; success depends on the ability to retain "negative hydrostatic pressure". Although this is a slightly(?) different application, with our marine experience, we forsee no problems. I'll post a few photos on this project as I get it underway.
We still intend on tiling the foyer/atrium room, reconfiguring one wall, and ripping out a couple of old door jambs and making them clean passageways; but the leaky basement has taken priority.
But doggone it........ it was funny! I have an old friend (going back to my college days) named Dave S. In the 40+ years I've known him, I can't even estimate the number of laughs I can associate with him. The man is a virtual magnet for humor. He has a quick and razor-sharp wit. The strange thing about him is, even dull humorless people, when in his presence, become suddenly funny.
He has lived here in St Louis County his entire 62 years, and is a walking Wikipedia of the area. Whenever I have a question about the area, he's the one I call.
Since I am in the process of doing some renovations on the new house, I called on him as my 'Yellowbook'. I was looking for tile, cabinets, electrical supplies, etc., and knew his help would be invaluable.
The story starts at Hood's, a discount building supplies company. As we were walking around the store, we came upon a big display of toilets on sale. Since he was planning a DIY bathroom renovation for his home, he had been pricing toilets and was shocked at the low price Hood's had on these. He said the price was less than half of the ones he'd been looking at. He was going to get one.
As we were loading it on the flat truck to go to the checkout, he noticed the words, 'hecho en Mexico' (made in Mexico) on the back of the water tank.
Well, Dave is a 'made in the USA' type of guy, willing to pay a little extra for stuff made here in America. So he was quite uncomfortable finding himself in a Jewish Dilemma*. After listening to about 10 minutes of his ranting, I tried to lighten the situation by saying maybe he should try it out for size, to see if his flabby, white, American ass fit. He saw no humor in that. We went through the checkout and loaded it in the truck.
On the way home, we decided to stop at the local watering hole (no pun intended) to get a sandwich. The place was crowded with old regulars, and wouldn't you know it, the topic of conversation was: Offshoring of American jobs, and how most everything we buy is from China, Korea, Mexico, etc, etc. This only served to stoke Dave's ranting.
"Tell me about it", Dave pipes in, "I just bought a Mexican toilet at Hood's".
"What's that?", asks the straight-faced bartender, "A five gallon bucket?".
Well, I finally got the pictures uploaded from my camera to my computer. I'm not computer-illiterate......... I'm computer-stupid. I bought a new camera recently, and when I tried using my USB cable, like I did with my last two cameras, to transfer the pictures, it wouldn't work. I tried different ways with different programs, no luck! My Brother stopped by and said, "Why don't you just put your SD card in the card reader?" (I didn't even know I HAD a card reader). I popped it in and Voila!, instant transfer.
These are a few pictures of the outside of the property.
The Front Gate
Inside the Front Gate
Walkway from the Driveway
Prayer and Meditation Pond
The 1100 sq ft, 3 BR/2 Bath home sits nestled on just under a half acre. It was corporate owned (foreclosure) by Wells Fargo. The house is in need of some work, but at the price we paid, we can afford to spend a few thousand more.
The house was appraised at $124,000 in 2008. The bank foreclosed in December 2008 for a balance of $68,000. They listed it 'as is' in January for $40,000; then, in April lowered it to $33,000.
On April 28, we made them an offer of $28,000 cash with them paying closing costs. On May 1, Wells Fargo counter-offered, saying, they would accept the $28,000 but would not pay for closing. Our agent estimated closing for a cash sale would be about $530. We accepted the offer, adding an express closing clause (two weeks). On May 18, we closed with no hassles. As it turned out, closing was only $340.
Most of the work is cosmetic (paint, flooring, etc). The roof is in good shape, as is the central air and heat (gas). It has a new 50 gal water heater (gas).
Miss Hallie and I will be doing all the work (setting tile, painting, re-configuring one wall, etc), so there will be no hassles, or expenses, of dealing with contractors. We have our work cut out for us.
It is amazing what the banks will accept in cash to unload their 'paper'. It took a chunk out of our retirement nest-egg, but heck, this IS our retirement. A mortgage would have cost us 2 or 3 times what our money was earning, and we would have had to pay much more for the house. This way, the house is ours, free of rent or mortgage payments. We need only put back about $120/mo for taxes and insurance.
I am moved to quote the closing lines of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr's, 'I Have A Dream' speech.
Free at last! Free at last!
Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!
As we start the work, I will be posting more pictures on the progress.
This experience has made me somewhat psychic though, I can distinctly see a riding lawn mower in my future.
You don't have to be a millionaire to benefit from the economic downturn. We came to St Louis 6 months ago and have looked at hundreds of real estate listings. We narrowed it down to a couple dozen, and looked at about half of those. We settled on a Corporate-owned (a Wells Fargo foreclosure) piece of property in Calverton Park, in the suburbs of St. Louis. It is conveniently located to shopping and Interstates, yet kind of secluded. The 3 bedroom, two bath home sits on just under a half acre, with about a dozen mature trees (Pines, oaks, maples, and a beautiful red Japanese maple).
They had it listed for about 35 cents on the dollar, we made them an offer of just under 25 cents on the dollar and they accepted. It's amazing what the banks will accept on a cash sale, and the speed of the transaction. It took exactly 20 days from our initial offer, to closing, with most of that time spent on doing title searches and getting the warranty deed. I assume the previous mortgage was split up into derivatives and other financial instruments, as the paperwork had to be rounded up from California, South Carolina, and Missouri.
Although the house is currently habitable, we have decided it would be easier to do some renovations before we move in, rather than after. The first thing on the list is the flooring in the kitchen and the foyer/atrium. I will be setting tile in those two rooms (about 350 sq ft) and the stairway leading to the basement. The question now is: Ceramic, porcelain, stone, marble, or slate? And should we replace the kitchen cabinets?, as this will dictate how I lay the floor. The current cabinets are in good shape, and look OK, but they are budget cabs, and not of very high quality. Since the house has been added on to, I plan on taking out 3 old door jambs that haven't had doors in years, and finishing them to 'clean' passageways. I also plan to rip out and replace some old wiring that I'm not particularly happy with. There's also some painting to do, and we are considering adding some crown moulding in a few rooms.
On the plus side: Since I will be doing all the work myself, it will probably motivate me to get off my *ss and go out and get a job. Another plus: No more rent or mortgage payments. All I need to put back, is about $100/mo for taxes and insurance.
I wanted to take some pics after we closed and took possession, but (duh) the batteries in the digital were dead. I'll post a few in the next couple of days. I want to document the before, work in progress, and after photos, so I can look back and see exactly how crazy I really am.
Of our Nation's ills. I had originally planned on posting today about Obama's outright lying reversal on the Military Kangaroo Courts Commissions Tribunals. Since this has become 'old newz', I figured, "What's the sense?". His 'reversals', 'flip-flops', 'recalculations', or any other buzz-word you care to use, have become so commonplace, they have left me jaded.
As usual, the Right will praise him from one side of their mouths while vilifying him from the other side.
And the Left will apologize and make up far-fetched excuses for him, all the while, whining and complaining, yet refusing to hold his feet to the fire.
It's way past time for the populace to arise out of their slumber and face the fact, that we once again have been duped. We have elected a black Harold Hill, a snake oil salesman from Chicago. The consummate, silk-tongued con-man. What is it gonna take? Will his Health Care Reform be smoke, or will it be mirrors? Take this as prophecy: It will NOT be what he promised. And you can be sure that he, and his sycophantic idolaters, will have a litany of excuses of how the Nasty Republicans; or the Big Mean Corporatists; or the Complicit Congress; or any combination of them, derailed his well-intentioned plans. Will he ever stand up to the Bankers of Wall Street? Only if there's no room for him to lay down.
I am coming to the conclusion that the last mistake I made, before leaving Florida, was to cast my ballot for him. I left the State of Florida, moved to the State of Missouri, and still find myself living in the State of Melancholy.
What a difference 60 years can make. I was born in a Democratic Republic and will die in a Corporate-run Fascist Oligarchy. The most amazing thing, is that the vast majority are hoodwinked into living in a state of denial, singing songs like 'I'm Proud to be an American'. Exactly what the hell do we have to be proud of? That we torture people? That we lie to engage in illegal wars? That we let our government take away our privacy rights? That we starve and make homeless the less fortunate amongst us? That we have the highest incarceration rate in the world? That we claim to believe in the sanctity of life, while we kill millions world-wide? Somebody, anybody, please tell me what it is that should generate the pride in me to be 'an American'.
Those of us that can see what has, and currently is, happening, are all together in the same leaking boat, bailing with thimbles, because no one wants to go through the time or expense to repair the bilge pumps. Look over the gunwales people, the freeboard is quickly shrinking; this boat will go down if something drastic is not done, and soon.
Many of us can clearly see the answers and solutions to the problems, but are powerless to implement them. It is time for us to stand up and take back what our Founding Fathers bequeathed us. To refuse to accept flimsy and flaccid excuses; and demand, yes, DEMAND, that OUR Representatives do what WE want them to do; not what the corporate puppet masters desire.
I have been, for the greatest part of my life, a pacifist; but this government is broken from the bottom up. There is no fixing it. It will not change by legislation (lawmakers will not cut off their noses to spite their faces, or any other reason), nor will it magically and mysteriously cure itself. The corrupt system we are presently living under makes the Founding Fathers situation pale in comparison. It's a shame that today's American cannot muster the moral and intestinal fortitude of our ancestors to say, "STOP THIS SH*T Enough is enough!". We have fed them so many carrots they have become slothful and obese. It's time to bring out the stick. It is the only language they truly understand (Note the way they deal with other countries).
We are overwhelmed with archaic laws and procedures which will not change without violent force being applied.
Lifetime job appointments to the Supreme Court (Regardless of mental or physical capabilities).
No term limits for Congressional Pigs at the Trough (Embedded incumbents are next to impossible to dislodge).
No mandatory retirement for Politicians (Anyone else that is employed by the Federal Government has forced retirement).
Exorbitant salaries and benefits for all the above ($174,000.00/yr base, plus an equal or greater amount in 'perks', for a part-time job).
Congressional Retirement vested after 5 years (No one, I repeat, NO ONE else has that benefit). *And they talk about 'Golden Parachutes'.
Ad infinitum, ad nauseum.
All of the above will not be relinquished voluntarily, they will have to be forcefully taken. Channel the Founding Fathers and ask them what they would do.
......of Obama's back-pedaling. There has been much analyzing (myself included) of Backtrack Obama's 'recalculating his position' or as one blogger described it, "It is not a reversal, he is merely engaging brain" about not releasing the abuse photos. No, it IS a reversal, as just three weeks earlier, he promised to release them. But it stretches back way farther than that. Throughout the campaign, he promised honesty and transparency in Government. To date, we've seen precious little of either.
When President Obama announced this week that he would renege on his promise to release a set of detainee abuse photos at the end of this month, he said three factors drove his decision: that "these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals," that they would "further inflame anti-American opinion" and that they would "put our troops in greater danger." But those may not have been the real rationales. By appealing the court order authorizing the photos' release and thereby delaying publication of viscerally powerful evidence of detainee abuse, Obama may be attempting to reduce political pressure to investigate Bush administration officials who crafted arguably illegal policies on interrogation and detention. In choosing this tack, Obama makes clear how deeply potential prosecution is affecting every decision he faces about detention, interrogation and torture.
Coming on the heels of the newly released Justice Department memos on interrogation and a Senate Armed Services Committee report, these photos, allegedly numbering in the thousands, are expected to demonstrate that detainee abuse wasn't merely a case of a few bad apples but a systematic policy for which no policymakers have been held accountable. Shockingly, Obama said that guilt for these crimes has already been addressed. In his words, the Pentagon has "gone through the appropriate and regular processes" to investigate these abuses. Moreover, "the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken" against this "small number of individuals."
There are reportedly hundreds of American troops involved in the activities shown in these pictures, not just a few. Yet the architects of abusive treatment of detainees in American custody -- at the top levels of government -- have avoided public acknowledgment of their creation of a policy that, despite secret memos crafted to provide a patina of legality, violated U.S. law, not to mention the integrity of the American people. However many LynndieEnglands have been tried or penalized for crimes of abuse, mistreatment and torture, no one at the upper levels has been punished, reprimanded or even officially accused of the wrongdoing that is at the heart of creating a torture policy.
[...]
The facts need to come out. Keeping the public in the dark about government illegality is corrosively antidemocratic. We may not need the photographs to understand what was done in the people's name, but we do need to know who did what, when and to what effect. We need to know how many prisoners died in U.S. custody because of abuse, how many were harmed and who approved that abuse at the highest levels of government.
[...]
[If] Obama does nothing else as president, he needs to stand up for the integrity of factual truth and clear thinking rather than the convenience of government-led obfuscation. Not releasing the pictures to reduce public pressure for an investigation of Bush administration officials should not be confused with genuinely protecting the safety of our troops. If it is, Obama cedes the one power he was elected to exercise: the power of leadership in the name of candor, lawfulness and clarity rather than deceit, secrecy and spin.
**Karen J. Greenberg, executive director of the Center on Law and Security at the New York University School of Law, is the author of "The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days" and co-editor of "The Torture Papers: The Road to AbuGhraib."
Obama's words are very troubling to me. He is an eloquent speaker with a superb command of the English language. What I hear him saying, is a hybrid mix of political word-parsing, semantics, hyperbole, and bald-faced lies. Go back and re-read Obama's statements in the first two paragraphs of Ms Greenberg's article. Anyone who can't see the afore-mentioned linguistic tactics, let me know, I'll gladly point them out.
Tomorrow, I will post on another of his 'reversals': The Military Kangaroo Courts Commissions Tribunals. Each incident of his 'recalculating' and 'reversing' chips away at my trust in him.
This is Brother Tim, Mr President, not John the Baptist. I am not 'the lone voice crying out in the wilderness', there are millions more just like me. Public trust and approval is a very fragile and fickle commodity, and once lost, is extremely hard to regain. Get real, be honest, and deliver the transparency you promised. You, Sir, are skating on mighty thin ice.
War Crimes are heinous, I'd say, worse than Bank Robberies. Would you, even for one minute, consider not investigating and prosecuting bank robbers? Oh, never mind, I forgot who the victims of bank robberies are. The victims of the war crimes are just sub-human, worthless Muslims and Arabs.
I picked this idea up from Betmo, over at Life's Journey, who picked it up from............. I don't remember who she picked it up from. It is a way to take a breather from all the political and corporate skullduggery that has permeated America today. Sometimes, even those at the top do the right thing; and those rare occassions should be reported on and applauded. The good news this week was reported by Israel's DEBKAfile.
According to DEBKAfile's Iranian sources, US journalist Roxana Saberi was released Tuesday, May 12, as part of an exchange deal under which Washington agreed to free four senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers captured in Irbil, northern Iraq in January 2007. Defined as "diplomats" by Tehran, they ran terror operations and covert arms supplies from Iran then to al Qaeda and Sunni insurgent networks.
[...]
Our intelligence sources stress that the Obama administration's willingness for this kind of swap goes partway toward admitting to Tehran's charge that Roxana Saberi performed services in Iran for the United States.
After the Tehran court commuted the eight-year sentence against her for spying to two years suspended, her lawyer revealed that part of the Iranian case against her was that she had a copy of a confidential Iranian report on the US war in Iraq which, he said, she had copied "out of curiosity."
Well, we all know what curiosity did to the cat. This a fair resolution, as the Iranians probably had more on Saberi than the Americans had on the four Iranians they have held without formal charges for two and a half years. The Iranians at least gave her a trial.
As usual, the Iranians had to extend the 'olive branch' and make the first 'goodwill gesture'.
I sincerely hope that THIS TIME, the Big O will be a man of his word; and not backtrack 'recalculate his position' as he is so wont to do to those who support him here at home.
UPDATE--- Checking my link at Betmo's, I found out where she got it. You can check it out and join in the fun at 'Only the Good' Fridays.
........Tell me again, that he's not owned by the Establishment. The Omniscient Obama, that Herald of Honesty, the Transfiguration of Transparency. Why does this not surprise me? This is just in from the WaPo.
President Obama will oppose the release of several dozen photos depicting abuse of detainees held in U.S. military custody abroad, reversing his previous position on the grounds that the pictures could inflame anti-American sentiment and endanger U.S. troops.
In announcing the shift today, the White House said in a statement that Obama "strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing US forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."
Justice Department officials told a federal judge late last month that the U.S. government did not intend to fight a court order to turn over a total of 44 photos, which were sought by the American Civil Liberties Union under a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
A U.S. attorney was unequivocal in a letter to the judge on April 23: "The parties have reached an agreement that the Defense Department will produce all the responsive images by May 28, 2009."
[...]
The administration said today that Obama met last week with White House lawyers and informed them that he did not "feel comfortable" releasing the photos because of the reaction they could cause against U.S. troops and because "he believes that the national security implications of such a release have not been fully presented to the court."
At the end of the meeting, Obama directed the lawyers to object to the release of the photos. He informed Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, of his decision during a meeting yesterday at the White House.
[...]
Sens. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) wrote Obama last week to urge him to fight the release of the photos.
"The release of these old photographs of past behavior that has now been clearly prohibited can serve no public good, but will empower al Qaeda propaganda operations, hurt our country's image, and endanger our men and women in uniform," wrote Graham and Lieberman.
No, Mr President and Sens LIEberman and Graham-cracker; these are assumptions, at best; bald-faced lies, at worst.
It serves the public, both domestic and international, by showing the actual depravity this country had stooped to. It proves acknowledgement, and paves the way for contrition. And your bloviation about 'hurting the countries image and endangering our men and women in uniform' is pure hyperbole; those things were accomplished over the last eight years.
From my viewpoint, NOT releasing them only exacerbates the problem, hurting and endangering even more. Do you guys actually, and honestly, think that releasing the photos will 'empower al-Qaeda propaganda operations'? Put yourselves in the terrorist's sandals for a minute.
Mohammad: "Now, the Big O has decided to not release the pics".
Ahmed: "Alright!!!!!".
Mohammad: "Whadda mean, 'Alright!!!!!'? Is your tin-foil turban wrapped too tight? They've already admitted to torture and they acknowledge the pics exist".
Ahmed: "Holy Crap, Mo, that must mean that they're worse than we thought".
Mohammad: "Now you're smokin', Ahmed, pass me the hooka, we got us some recruitin' to do".
With all this 'Sunshine' Obama's been promising, even 'Junket John' Boener is in danger of losing his tan.
Who imagined that in 2009, the world's governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as "one of the great menace of our times" have an extraordinary story to tell -- and some justice on their side. Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the "golden age of piracy" - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can't? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London's East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O' Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.
Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls "one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century." They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed "quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy." This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.
The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: "What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live." In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country's food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.
Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. AhmedouOuld-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: "Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it." Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to "dispose" of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: "Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention."
At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia's seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia's unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: "If nothing is done, there soon won't be much fish left in our coastal waters."
This is the context in which the men we are calling "pirates" have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a 'tax' on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it's not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was "to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters... We don't consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas." William Scott would understand those words.
No, this doesn't make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But the "pirates" have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent "strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country's territorial waters." During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America's founding fathers paid pirates to protect America's territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?
Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn't act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world's oil supply, we begin to shriek about "evil." If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia's criminals.
The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know "what he meant by keeping possession of the sea." The pirate smiled, and responded: "What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor." Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber?
Although I am in no way advocating piracy, looking at it from this angle, does make it more understandable .............and palatable. Just as with any problem, resolution requires it to be addressed at it's roots.
It was a Blessed Easter for sure! I would first like to apologize to all who come here. I just haven't felt up to posting, or doing much visiting since Wally's passing. Wally was not 'just a pet', he was a full-fledged member of the family and my side-kick. We miss him soooooo much. He will never be forgotten. I would also like to thank everyone who left condolences in the comments, e-mails, and phone calls. They were a balm to our spirit.
In my quest for succor and solace, I did what any blogger would do (in addition to industrial-strength prayer) ---- I turned to the Web. I posted Wally's story along with a link to The Final Soapbox on a couple of sites. What followed was a bulwark to my faith in God.
Miss Hallie and I had talked several times about filling the void Wally left in our lives, and decided that since Wally was irreplaceable, it was not a good idea. Apparently, God thought differently.
The word 'angel' in the New Testament, is translated from the Koine Greek word 'aggelos', meaning literally, 'messenger'. Angels are not just supernatural beings in heaven; many are walking around the earth in human form. I met one on Saturday night.
When I checked my in-box Saturday around lunchtime, I found an e-mail from a wonderful woman named Miss Teresa. It was a rather lengthy letter that really touched my heart. Miss Teresa, and her husband Mr Pat (along with their six children), do volunteer work in Animal Rescue, and foster several small animals (mostly dogs). She said she had three ferrets of her own, a male and two females. She offered us the male, an approximately 9 month old chubby lil fella named, Moose.
I checked her IP address, and lo and behold, she lives right here in Florissant (North St Louis County), Mo. about 12 minutes from our house. How strange is that? Well, Miss Hallie said, "I thought we talked about this". I told her that since the lady took the time to write such a lengthy touching letter and make such an unselfish offer, the least we could do, is at least go look at him. She agreed.
We arrived about 7:30 PM, and when we saw him, it was love at first sight. Now, the O'Donnell Clan has a new member, Moose. And the O'Donnells have some new friends, Teresa and Pat.
On the short drive back home, I had tears in my eyes. No longer were they tears of pain, but tears of joy. Miss Hallie was sitting next to me playing, and getting acquainted, with Moose; laughing and giggling, sounds I hadn't heard from her in over a week. When we got home, Pushkin da Pug took an immediate liking to him. They took turns chasing each other around the house, but me and my camera weren't fast enough to catch the action.
After about six hours of checking out everything in the house (a long time for a weasel to stay awake) he headed to our bedroom, to one of Wally's old nests, a bushel basket turned on it's side. After rearranging the bedding some, he crashed; probably from sensory overload. As he laid there, drifting off to sleep, he was looking at me; and I could sense him saying, "I'm gonna help you through this, Bro". I thank God for the blessing; Miss Teresa for answering His call and stepping up to the plate; and to Moose for being our segue from grief to healing.
Yesterday, as I randomly opened my Bible, it was at Psalm 30. This verse stood out like a neon sign.
For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. ~Psalm 30:5
* Moose is as smart as a whip. He seems to be a Progressive Independent. However, I'm not giving him computer access until I figure out exactly what his political views are.
The popular feature, Wally's Soapbox, sadly comes to an end.
These are dark times for the Blog of Revelation and the entire O'Donnell clan. On Monday night, April 6, 2009, at 10:30 PM CST, Wally da Weasel went to be with the Lord.
Around Christmas 2008, we took Wally in for a check-up, as he was starting to show some signs of hair loss. The diagnosis was tumors on his adrenal glands, with one of them being inoperable. The tumors were found to be benign, and we were told he should have a life-expectancy of two years or so left.
On January 30, 2009, Wally awoke crying and in distress. We rushed him to the Emergency Room. He had a urinary tract blockage caused by a growth. After surgery to remove the growth, he had been steadily recovering. Although not 100%, He was quite active and playful.
Then, on Thursday, April 2nd, he once again awoke in distress. We rushed him to the Emergency Room again, and heard the words that we had been dreading. The adrenal tumors had grown at a tremendous rate, putting much pressure on his prostrate, which wreaked havoc with his hormonal production, including his lack of marrow producing abilities. He was given a pain injection and an injection for the adrenal disease to shrink the tumors. We were told he had from two days, at worse, to about a month at best, left to live. We got a good supply of pain meds and took him home. Miss Hallie and I supplied 24 hr hospice care, tending to his every need. Friday and Saturday he showed some improvement, which gave us hope; but by Sunday, he started declining. Monday found him too weak to leave his nest. His heartbeat and breathing remained normal and was not labored. He was not in pain and seemed quite content with the pain medication. At 10:15 PM he licked my hand for the last time. I realize now, he was telling me good-bye. At 10:30, he closed his eyes and headed home.
In Memory Of
Wally da Weasel 2004 - 2009
We spent the day Tuesday making arrangements and reminiscing the good times we had with him. The above photo is a couple of years old, but it is how we like to remember him. This picture is the wallpaper on my monitor. To the world, he was known as Wally da Weasel; but to Miss Hallie and I, he was Wally-Doo.
He was inquisitive and energetic, with a heart full of love. He was a wonderful traveler, and went on many long road-trips with us. He loved hotels/motels with a gusto; 'popping' and dancing while checking out every nook and cranny in the place.
He liked crisp, sugar-cured bacon, and bakery goods (particularly raspberry tarts) and Rice Krispie treats. He also enjoyed playing with Pushkin.
He was vibrant, happy, and full of life. From the time he left his mother, as a kit, and came to live with us, he was never caged. He was considered a member of the family and had free roam of the house, just like all other family members.
"The Spirit of God dwells in all of creation, and the sooner humans come to this revelation, the better off they will be. Many will be surprised indeed, when come Judgement Day, they see me curled up on the lap of He who sits on the throne."
Well, I won't be surprised. Maybe that's why, like Jesus, he had a short life. He heard the message and was committed to following it: Love God, and Love thy neighbor as thyself. Wally's commission in this life, was to spread joy and happiness to everyone he met, and be a burden on no one. He fulfilled those tasks admirably. His reward was to be freed from this earthly prison known as our bodies. He will be sorely missed around here.
To Wally
Rest in Peace, my furry friend -- For this is not Good-bye. Our Spirits will unite again, For Spirits never die. Love, Bro
As I was listening to this video and putting it up on the page; I could feel his presence on my lap where he frequently sat while I did my posting. I could sense his spirit looking at me with those bright shiny eyes and saying, "That's good, Bro, really good!".
I love you, Wally-Doo, and will miss you more than mere words can ever convey.
........the more they remain the same. I may have mellowed somewhat over the years, but the old hippie that resides within me is still alive and well. This song is more apropos and applicable today than it was 45 years ago when it was penned.
Following Betmo's lead, posting 'Only the Good' Fridays, we at the Blog of Revelation (Brother Tim, Wally da Weasel, and Pushkin da Pug) decided to take a break (dancing, that is).
