My Favorite Spa

I enjoyed this last weekend with good friends at the most unique vacation spot on earth. It's a 6 mile trek through the backcountry to a primetime destination smack dab on the border with Canada. My secret abandoned shack lies right on the river demarcating the northern extreme of our country, and I have literally tossed a rock out of the lower 48 from the front door. The peace and quiet is unsurpassed as are the stars, and the endless terrain to explore is rich in history and beauty. Don't worry, we're not breaking and entering. The powers that be are aware of this, and could you pass up an opportunity to burn wood in this woodstove? This year our supply of firewood reached halfway up the window. Plenty of heat for candlelight reading.

The canyon you see to the right is about a hundred feet deep. The pictures are a couple years old, and this year we were able to journey down onto the frozen river in the spot shown. There was an amazing turquoise frozen waterfall we walked behind believe it or not. The picture does it no justice as it was captured from a distance. On the left is Canada, and the right is the United States. The trees on the edge of the cliff are actually a pretty nice size.

Never stop adventuring into the many works of creation, of which only some are landscape, and into knowledge of the creator Himself.

An Interesting Gent

I am totally bummed, and am faced with further confirmation of one of my axioms: strike while the iron is hot. If something is worth doing, do it now. Why wait? For a couple years now I've wanted to talk to an elderly gentleman who walks the main street near me in rain, snow, sleet, shine, or even fire and brimstone! I mean the guy is a fixture here. You used to see this guy with his walker virtually any time of the day on his part of the street. The reason is he did the stretch 3 times a day, and at 91 years old it took him a while to complete it.

Last month I finally got the courage to ask if I could interview him for an article in this local newspaper I submit a once per month piece. He said ok, and I sat on it for a month because I wasn't in a rush. Now as background, the reason I thought he would be so interesting is because when I spoke with him about a year previously I noticed his accent. Judging his age I thought there was a good chance he came to America after WWII.

I spoke with his wife today, and turns out he was a German Jew, and had fought in the War with the Brits and came here in 1947. Unfortunately his health is failing now though, and he doesn't want to be put in print. I am certainly not a journalist, and just write a minor column. Journalism seems to have a bad rap though. I can't even imagine the stories this man could tell, or the wisdom that must bubble up to the surface like a geothermal feature at Yellowstone. I still hope to meet him as a friend and not write about it. If only I had called him right away last month he likely would have been more amenable to this. We really can't take this generation for granted. As they depart they take so many stories, knowledge, life experience and real wisdom with them. Unfortunately most of us just don't care.

Those crazy libs!

This weekend I went to a Living Green conference. Over these last few weeks I have suddenly had an insatiable desire to explore many issues that have typically been paramount in the world of liberals. As a conservative, and a Christian at that, it has always seemed like that was "their" thing. I've always respected my liberal friends, and found them to be interesting, but their issues hadn't gained any traction in my mind or soul.

I now realize that I have intentionally not educated myself on these issues beyond perhaps to argue against them. One case in point is global warming. The evidence is overwhelming that this phenomenon is occurring, accelerating, and is rapidly painting the backdrop of our young century. I'm still on the fence regarding the human role in this, but it does seem likely that we play a major role in this. This has nothing to do with our politics, but what is right and wrong. I urge you to explore this issue in depth in an unbiased fashion, and make up your own mind. Engage the issue as an informed citizen.

My wife and I are also members of the Whole Foods Co-op here. I just can't get enough of this stuff. These really radical liberals make a lot of good points especially with regard to food actually. I find that going green when it comes to food consumption by buying locally whenever possible, organically, and from small family farms, is deeply compatible with true conservatism. We believe in local control, and don't want to be controlled by government or big business. Check out the extremely entertaining short movies at themeatrix.com for a good introduction.

I've got much more to say on this, but I'm experiencing a real metamorphosis when it comes to my thinking on many of these issues. It's really a lot of fun, because we should never settle for the status quo. We should embrace being challenged and acknowledge when we've been wrong on various matters. There's still a lifetime ahead. Godspeed.