Dust if you must...

It has been terribly difficult lately to avoid being overwhelmed.
Last Fall I was in a rush to try to get so much accomplished before winter hit.
I didn't get it all done in time.
Most of the things I didn't finish couldn't be finished until the weather was more cooperative.
It's starting to be more cooperative.
So now that it's Spring I have all the usual that comes with it, plus everything that should have been done before winter;
and as if that wasn't enough, the projects I know I'm going to be involved with this summer are already stacking up.
I've been trying to prioritize everything and plan how to proceed.
You've heard the phrase "The List Never Ends"?
Now I know why. No one wants to finish the list!
You work on making the list for ten minutes and realize you could be here all day just making the list!
If you think about that for too long, then depression knocks on the door singing "Yoo Hoo! Can I come in??"
At the same time I can hear my alien chair trying to tell me "if you can't get it all done then why even start?? Come, sit down, put the television remote in your hand and you will feel all better.."
The evil part is the truth in that statement.
If you look at the whole picture it just sucks the strength and air right out of you.
Truthfully, what would be nicer than a morning enjoying the comfort of an easy chair and the entertainment of the television?
and then maybe the afternoon, Of course the shows are best at night...

So I keep telling myself : accomplishment.
That is what would be nicer.
The reason I have so much to do is because I Want It Done.
I realize you can't always have what you want but the point is I can't blame anyone else either.
I can't say " If it wasn't for (whoever) I wouldn't have to do this!" or "If (whoever) wants it done then THEY can do it!"
Nope.
Nobody's fault but my own.
Ya know I really, really have to work on "wanting" less.
I really have learned to appreciate the phrase:
"Simplify, Simplify, Simplify!"

I've heard people tell me that I'm simple.
So why can't it all be more simple?

In that vein (or is it vain?) I offer a very old poem that I have been considering a lot lately.
If you come to my house you will recognize that I don't put a high priority on neatness; but hey, if that's what "floats your boat" than go ahead, Dust if you Must.
Will.

Dust if you must

Dust if you must, but wouldn't it be better
To paint a picture or write a letter,
Bake a cake or plant a seed.
Ponder the difference between want and need.

Dust if you must, but there's not much time,
With rivers to swim and mountains to climb,
Music to hear and books to read,
Friends to cherish and life to lead.

Dust if you must, but the world's out there
With the sun in your eyes, the wind in your hair,
A flutter of snow, a shower of rain.
This day will not come around again.

Dust if you must, but bear in mind,
Old age will come and it's not kind.
And when you go and go you must,
You, yourself, will make more dust.

Remember, a house becomes a home when you can write
 "I love you"
on the furniture.... 

The "Deanna cure for being sick"...

The cure that works for me every time.......drum roll please..WORK! Well actually, not just any work. Work outside in 50-60 degree SUNNY weather. When I'm outside in the fresh air and breeze, listening to the birds sing...I'm great (well as great as I can be with a killer cold/flu/ cough). I come in the house or go into any building and instantly I feel like road kill again. It has always been this way with me. I can be sick as a dog and go outside and sit and feel at least 50% better. If I am able to work in the yard or garden while I'm sick I'm suddenly 75% better. Let me get out and rake in the spring and I'm ready to take on the world! I don't know why, but it works for me and I'm not going to complain. During this week's illness, I have managed to rake most of the immediate yard and started getting ready for planting etc. I felt wonderful doing it though. Go figure.
Now both kids are home from church with something this morning. I'm going in as soon as the rhubarb cake and upside down pineapple cake in the oven are done. I'll take them in to fellowship after church. I hope they get done soon. Oh yeah, Jake either has what I had or pink eye. Either way he is one miserable kid and Jessalyn is not far behind him.
I went on a shopping spree at Amazon.com the other day.....you can really tell my age by what I bought. Indiana Jones trilogy box set, original Star Wars trilogy box set, Lord of the Rings trilogy (theatre and extended version) box set, Don Knotts 4 pack including my favorite "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" and a great Doris Day, James Garner movie "Move over Darling". Aside from the Lord of the Rings all of them are OLD movies. What a hoot.
As far as spring...here is your update. The Canadian Geese, Red-wingedBlackbirds, Sandhill cranes, Whooping cranes and Robins are all back. Tonight I'm going to start listening for frogs. The grass is starting to turn green and our usual spring severe storms are here. LIFE IS GOOD!!! The rains came and everything is now cleaner without the layer of scum. The pussywillows are out and everywhere you turn you can see little signs that things are coming back to life. I even saw three eagles the other day. For those of you that don't know "eagles" are my thing. I love those majestic birds and we are blessed to have many pairs around here every year. The only thing I am not enjoying about spring is that this is the time of year that farmers like to spread liquid manure over their fields before they plow. Yep, it's as nasty smelling as you imagine. Hopefully they plow soon.
I'll try to get you some pictures of my favorite parts of spring, but I'm still raking. YAHOO!
Have a blessed day.
dea

A thought provoking email

I received a nice email the other day. This is the kind of email that gets sent around to everyone. One of those "feel good" things. Some of those emails really annoy me because it's apparent that the only reason for their creation is to harvest email addresses for the purposes of sending spam and viruses.
This one didn't come with any threats that if you don't send this to everyone you know then you must be ashamed of Jesus (emotional blackmail). It didn't promise any "Blessings/miracles/etc will happen for every ten people you send it to.
It may have had those things originally but they were removed before it was sent on and a hooray to whoever did.
Anyway, I have been thinking about it a lot. Then I read Rachels latest Blog post "Agreeing with Lies" which reminded me of this email again. So instead of "emailing" everyone I decided to post it here. Enjoy:

Does evil exist?

The university professor challenged his students with this question. Did God create everything that exists? A student bravely replied, "Yes, he did!"

"God created everything? The professor asked.

"Yes sir", the student replied.

The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define who we are then God is evil". The student became quiet before such an answer. The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students that he had proven once more that the Christian faith was a myth.

Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question professor?"

"Of course", replied the professor.

The student stood up and asked, "Professor, does cold exist?"

"What kind of question is this? Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?" The students snickered at the young man's question.

The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat. Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat; all matter becomes inert and incapable of reaction at that temperature. Cold does not exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no heat."

The student continued, "Professor, does darkness exist?"

The professor responded, "Of course it does."

The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir, darkness does not exist either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light we can study, but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light into many colors and study the various wavelengths of each color. You cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is? You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."

Finally the young man asked the professor, "Sir, does evil exist?"

Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course as I have already said. We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil."

To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is not like faith, or love that exist just as does light and heat. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."

The professor sat down.

________________________

OK, the above has been sent around for ages. It was credited to be from Albert Einstein but I doubt it. If you check it with Snopes.com you will see just how atheist that web site's contributors are; but I believe them when they say there is no reason to believe Einstein said it.
What they can't negate is the reasoning in the email. The Snopes commentary is very belittling to people of Faith in general and yet again I point out they apparently found no fault with the reasoning. Only the use of Einsteins name and the fact that there are so many stories about nasty atheist professors.
The way I see it, when someone attacks the speaker instead of the words spoken; it is a sure sign that what was spoken has hit the mark.
Anyway, the point of all of this is only to give you something to think about on your own. Something to search the Scriptures for in an attempt to know God more fully.

I know what I think. The question is: What do you think, and more importantly: why?
Will (I'm no Einstein) Donaldson.

God Is Good. All The Time.

God is Good! All the Time!
First things first: Congratulations to my Brother Allen and his beautiful wife Virginia on the birth of their 2nd son Shane Alexander Donaldson!!!!!
Mother and Baby are fine or so I am told.
God bless you all.

It's Saturday morning and I am playing tyrant with my two kids.
Clean up the house time!
I have sort of a "General and his troops" thing going.
I sit here barking orders while they do the work.
I don't feel too bad about doing it either.
I know they will have the rest of the afternoon to themselves to do whatever they want.
My afternoon? IT's Meter Reading Time!
Dea and I went out all day yesterday and got most of the meters read already.
It is quite possible we could actually finish today if the Lord is willing; If not, then prayerfully tomorrow.

We would have had a lot more done but for a couple of situations.
Last month I was prepared.
I had a "come-a-long" winch, a tow strap and a shovel for just in case we got stuck, but Dave and Dottie's little Geo Tracker did an awesome job pushing it's way through the snow so we didn't need any of it.
Last week I was cleaning out the car and with the weather being so nice, I put all those things away.
We left yesterday morning without any of it.
I actually was thinking we would get through the day without even using the 4 Wheel Drive.
Silly me.
The pavement was nice and dry everywhere but there is still some snow in the places that have heavy trees and shadow.
Well, to make a longer story not so short,
the Tracker is light enough to ride up on top of the crusty snow instead of through it.
For a very short time.
Then the elevator dropped.
If you slip off a road then usually you only have one part of the car to "dig out".
This was more of a tiger trap we dropped into.
Using a four inch wide plastic ice scraper as a shovel we had to unbury the whole car.
Thankfully a nearby homeowner (who wasn't supposed to be home by his account) just happened by to loan us a shovel.
The poor guy even wound up face first in the snow when he tripped trying to push us out.
It worked out well for us both.
He canceled a trip just to come check on his property which helped us out a lot!
If we had just walked in (instead of chancing the snow), then he would have driven in and been stuck all alone.
In the end, we were on our way within the hour, and he was parked on the side of the road instead of stuck in the snow.
God is Good. All the Time.

I might have mentioned before that we consider this the "ugly time of the year".
While the temperatures are nice and the sun shines more; The snow is on full melt and what isn't paved is either frozen, crusty, or turned to mud.
Some of that mud is really, really bad.
We were trying to drive up to this house on a cranberry marsh thinking to ourselves that it must be "drive-able" because the owners have to get there right?
Well, still in two wheel drive, we made it up this mud driveway with my knuckles white on the steering wheel.
As we get to the house there is no car, only a very large tractor.
Now we know how the owner gets home.
Still we made it to the house in two wheel drive, certainly we should be able to get back 0ut in four wheel drive right?
Again, silly me.
Only because of the angels pushing the car.
First after we locked the hubs into four wheel I started back out and forgot to engage the differential (shifter) into four wheel drive.
Thankfully Dea noticed and I made the shift before too far.
That helped.
For a while.
The car was sliding back and forth and unfortunately slid us to the opposite side of the driveway from where we drove in on.
I couldn't go back in the tracks I had made coming in.
Still it all looked level.
My mistake. Again.
I was trying to keep the momentum up but we hit a hole.
There is no better word for it.
Hole.
The car was slowing down and I was trying to get it to go faster.
Then we sort of "listed" like a boat about to sink.
The car leaned over on it's side and we almost came to a stop as the water and mud was rising up higher and higher.
I remember thinking if we get stuck here this will finish the day.
We are SO going to be a MESS when we are done digging here.
This was the kind of mud you stick your foot in and when you pull it out you find that you left your shoe behind.
A kind of tax for having stepped there.
You pay with your shoe.

I did mention that God is Good. All the time. Right?
We should have been stuck.
We should have lost our shoes and had to burn our clothes (because I doubt that stuff would ever come out).
Instead, we -by God's Grace- kept moving.
Maybe a mile an hour or so but we were moving.
Eventually the car tilted back up right and we drove out laughing and praising God.
Yes God is Good.
All the Time.

I pray the rest of this day is also filled with laughter but perhaps without the trials and tense moments...
Will.

Shuttle launch as seen from the Space Station 2006

Spring Fever!

This time of year is wonderful yet so hard! The temperatures are in the 50's during the day (almost 60 yesterday). I enjoy the warmer air and the sunshine, but it gives me spring fever. I want to get out and work in the yard, let the dirt slip through my fingers as I work in the flower bed or rake up last year's leftovers so that we can start fresh this year. I also love to plant my garden so that I can grow a new crop of weeds. Warm air means the lilacs will be out and the pussy willows too. Spring and fall are my favorite times of the year. The weather is perfect and the season's changes are so dramatic here in Wisconsin.
In spring we go from all whites and grays to as many colors of green that you can imagine. Then the flowers start blooming and the birds start singing louder. My hummingbirds will be back soon. The Canadian geese will arrive very soon and then there will be the little baby "honkers" running around. They are so cute, but sooooo noisy.
We'll soon have baby fawns running all gangly legged through the field. The crocus blossoms will peak up through the snow and then my bright red tulips will start blooming and waving in the breeze. The weather will be warmer at night and on our first night in the 50's when the sky is clear and it seems that you can see forever and forever is all covered in stars, Will and I will go out and stand together and just look for a long time and contemplate God's gifts and the wonder of his creation. We have done it every year since we moved up here and I know we will continue the tradition as long as we can. It is one of my favorite nights of the year. Just standing with my hubby staring into space with wonder, while the warm breeze blows and the whipporwills sing, crickets chirp and frogs sing.
I will soon start driving with my window open in the evening listening for frogs along the creek side. I am watching for my Dad's favorite the redwing black birds to come back. We cannot really count on the robins being our sign of spring, since some of them never left. The redwing black birds are a real sign of spring though. They come and perch on the cattail reeds and sway in the wind. I don't know why that is their favorite perch but it is.
The snow now is all compacted into a large block of ice due to the warmer temps. I long for the day it goes away and we can have that first good rain. Believe it or not when the snow leaves at first the ground and everything looks so "dirty". Everything is covered in this grimy build up that comes from all the stuff in the snow (salt, dirt, garbage etc). After the first good rain things look and smell so clean. It is just like a whole new world. I just love it!
Well, now that I have told you all about my "spring fever", I can go back to my laundry. I don't think that "spring fresh" smelling detergent is the same thing, but it seems to be my lot in life. Have a wonderful and blessed day!

Exhausted but exhilerated !!

I came home from my conference yesterday late morning. I had a great time! What a busy 3 days. I was up at 5:00 am, way before anyone else in my room and the adjoining room. I got ready and snuck out of the room to the concierge lounge on our floor for coffee and reading. I had some very interesting conversations with some very important people in our area. The first day I chatted with one of the lead people in the Oneida Nation (one of our Native American tribes). The second day it was with a leader in the Potawatamee Nation (another large tribe in the area). The third morning I ate with the Deputy Secretary of Tourism. We talked for a long time. She's pretty neat. What a wierd thing if you think about it.....me chatting about ideas with the second most powerful person in Wisconsin Tourism.
Did lots of great things, saw lots of spectacular things and ate great food. An exciting three days, but now I'm back to the real world. Laundry, dishes, cat litter, paperwork and cooking. What a life! I'm still exhausted, but I will get things caught up eventually......maybe 2009.
Now I have to touch base with all of the people I met via email and start cementing some of these new working relationships that I started.
After all, we are only 6 months away from Cranfest!
Have a great day!
dea

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

This is the snowmobile trail across the street from
my house. I've only ridden it a couple of times but
I love looking at it!
There are more pics below but sadly none of the kids.
At their ages (and mine) it's difficult
to get us all outside for pics at the same time;

funny, that fence doesn't look 4 foot tall...

Really, not a bad view from my front door...
Can you find the patio table?

Sam is kind of like a boat if I built it. Sometimes he floats
on top and sometimes he sinks!

He's not a dalmation!

Deanna scraping off her car...

Notice that I'm just standing here holding the camera...

She wouldn't pose in her new outfits and hairdo. So...