The Shack -- not mine for a change!

Cover of the paperback best-seller, The Shack

If there is any "miracle" within the pages of a simple [sic] piece of fiction, it is the lifting of the depression I've felt for days over such unimportant matters as the likelihood of losing my job this Spring, the trash bin into which my own "shack" has evolved and numerous other little (truly LITTLE) matters relating to me, my family and my friends.

Essentially, The Shack tells a fictional story of a man who loses his youngest daughter to a deranged killer during a camping trip in eastern Oregon.

As it evolves, the kidnapper-murderer turns out to be an infamous serial killer known to have abducted at least a half dozen children. The horror of the abduction and murder causes the father to seriously question his faith, and it isn’t until a few years later when he receives a letter--presumably from God--that he travels back to the shack where his daughter's blood-stained dress was found.

It is when he arrives at the shack that he encounter "God" in a manner that will disturb those Fundamental Christians who believe that God can only be found in the pages of the King James Version of the Bible.

Nevertheless (and yes, I am "addicted" to reading one or another version of the same Bible that was read by Billy Graham, most televangelists and quite a few of my students--not exactly model Christians through their lives), I found myself deeply moved by a story that I can only believe was inspired by The Holy Spirit--in every way.

I'm somewhat amazed to learn that the book is a best-seller in that it has been largely ignored by both Fundamentalist Christians and Oprah's New Age groupies as well.

Maybe that's the miracle!

Read it!

Richard and I with God's Grace examine remote electrical outlet

Was a proper GFCI (Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter) installed on the floor outlet?

Our sister, Nancy, has insisted that Richard and I go about repairing and reorganizing the home's electrical outlets properly. The fire extinguishers are more Richard's idea than mine, but a little overkill never hurts, I suppose. The AA batteries in the hats were made in China, but Richard and I test them each evening before retiring for the night.

We are missing the third fire extinguisher though ...

Billy Rogers assures us that we'll be safe and organized (more or less) before Christmas. Prayers are requested.

Bowling for Obama

With all of the current emphasis on youth and Obama tossing three-pointers in Kuwait and elsewhere like they were one-foot putts on the Ninth Green, it occurred to me to step out and regain my youthful stature as a champion bowler. Our group of professors (a.k.a. "teachers" in a two-year college) enjoyed a "Team Building Day" of frolic and camaraderie ... and yes, I broke fifty and made a spare on the third frame.

New record for gutter balls, however.

Having watched Senator Obama win the election thanks to (1) having 99% of the media behind him from about September 2007 and (2) having a major market and economic crash occur nanoseconds after Sarah Palin and John McCain surged into the lead after the GOP convention ... I needed a night out with the guys to calm my anxieties.

Vote PALIN in 2016!!

Bush Rally Goes Unnoticed

DOW for today showing "Bush Bounce"

To hear the "experts" on CNN this evening, you might entirely have missed the fact that my prediction to my brother Richard from Connecticut that the DOW would break 8000 today ... materialized!

Twice!!

Once during the late morning and then, just before 1:00 p.m., it soared to almost 8200--one of the many "Bush Rallies" that no one bothers to mention.

Damned left-winged media!

Another day in Ocean Shores

Richard caught a picture of me on his new cell phone ... just contemplating the upcoming week while sitting among the debris at 863 falls of Clyde Loop SE in Ocean Shores

Things are progressing around the old homestead, but slowly. This week doesn't bode well with another tenure committee meeting at the college wherein I teach and other projected activities that are a little depressing for an aged gentleman [sic] to meditate upon prior to heading for bed.

Hopefully, no new fires nor any other life-threatening activities for a day or two.

Night scene at home in Ocean Shores

Sweetheart is watching for Richard at the window. Puzzle: How many live animals can you count in this photo?

As you can see, Richard and I are beginning to pull the place into shape. The shape of a ... well, let's just say "into shape."

We now have 60% of the electrical plugs working--now all Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (breakers)--but no heat and no lights up where Richard sleeps with Sweetheart and Rosie (one of my former cats).

No stove or oven yet, but cold beans aren't bad and I have peanut butter in reserve, not accounting for (no lie) more than twenty cans of Chicken in the Sea Tuna below the counter where I feed George (one of the two cats from the first Gulf war).

I think if Richard's wife even half knew how her poor husband was currently living with his deranged older brother, she'd take him back out of pity in a heartbeat.

But then, were he not here, I'd be ashes today.

Can you find Sweetheart in this home--recently featured in Better Homes and Gardens

Sweetheart seems hardly phased by the fire and commotion of the previous weekend

Indeed, the house is in a shape that defies explanation. My brother, upon arriving from Connecticut three or so weeks ago, could only say "Oh my God!!" over and over again as he took in the full magnitude of the state of the interior of my home. Well, after the fire and barely a start at installing Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (CFGI) outlets throughout my home--overkill, to be sure, we are slowly coming to. But without question I am truly shaken by the events of Saturday and the sobering comments made to me by the Ocean Shores Fire Department, Police Department and Grays Harbor PUD ... and well ... okay, it has gotten a bit worse in some ways.

And for absolute certain, my brother realizes now that what he truly believed to be the most cluttered home interior he had ever seen ... wasn't! The entire clutter that he encountered in mid-October has since been entirely buried by ... additional clutter, garbage, animal droppings and worse.

It reminds me of archeology ... as you dig deeper into the clutter, you are able to glimpse at past "ages" of me, my house and my beloved cats.

Dr. Joe has sunk (risen?) to new depths (heights?) in total chaos.

I seriously ask for your prayers in all of this ... it's finally getting to ME!

Thank God that my brother was visiting ...

What could and likely would have been the scene this evening

Who would have known? While I was lying in bed this early evening chatting happily with my eldest son, a "slight" fire broke out in my living room. It was an electrical fire caused by an overloaded surge protector--actually two six-pluggers plugged into the same circuit--twelve appliances and such in one plug!

Well, my brother happened to be walking by when he saw the "explosion" and fire break out. His quick thinking and our efforts in the next few minutes--plus those of the Ocean Shores Fire Department--saved us from what certainly would have been a scene like the one above.

Needless to say, we are all thanking Our Lord for His intervention and the fact that one old man living alone for the past five years was not alone on this particular Saturday in the early evening.

For the safety of both humans and all of the cats (seven sweethearts) plus the one shelter dog (whose name is actually "Sweetheart"), a number of changes will be made in what one of the firemen called a "typical fatality scene." Some of the circuits are already shut off and a licensed electrician will be working on the scene come Monday. It will cost a fortune, according to the firemen and Public Utilities District (PUD) representative who visited the scene, but our lives are worth the cost and effort.

My place looks like an unkempt thrift store, but will take on a bit of housekeeping and electrical upgrading in the weeks ahead.

Praise God that He chose for me to get a warning call, so to speak, while there was someone around to see the fire start. Had Richard not been here, this old forty year-old pile of dry wood would have been ashes--and so would the 74 year-old coot who occupies it!

What if the fire had occurred in the middle of the night? The smoke built so fast that had we not been awake, we would never have made it out.

Well, it's now two days after Election Day, and although all of Washington State's ballots haven't been counted, I'll venture a guess that ...

Senator Barack Obama is the likely winner!

I guess that there's no point in waiting for North Carolina to make up its mind.

But you will all have to agree that Sarah Palin would have made a supreme Vice President, right?