Two July posts

July 6, 2018

Today's quote:

When have you really just had enough of a problem that you're ready to do whatever it takes, no matter how radical, to get rid of it? I live with several chronic medical conditions, and wish that I could just change one (or more) thing in my life to have them diminish, or go away completely.  But I also find that my comfortable routines keep me a long ways away from actually confronting some of the things that make these conditions worse.  I think, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results." (ME)

July 4, 2018

I love what this country was founded on...not the way it's being run these days.

So to remember why we started a republic!

The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776. The Declaration announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain would regard themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states no longer under British rule. With the Declaration, these new states took a collective first step toward forming the United States of America. The declaration was signed by representatives from New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.

The Declaration was passed on July 2 with no opposing votes. A committee of five had drafted it to be ready when Congress voted on independence. John Adams, a leader in pushing for independence, had persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document,^[2]which Congress edited to produce the final version. The Declaration was a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. Adams wrote to his wife Abigail, "The Second Day of July 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America"^[3] – although Independence Day is actually celebrated on July 4, the date that the wording of the Declaration of Independence was approved.

After ratifying the text on July 4, Congress issued the Declaration of Independence in several forms. It was initially published as the printed Dunlap broadside that was widely distributed and read to the public. The source copy used for this printing has been lost and may have been a copy in Thomas Jefferson's hand.^[4]Jefferson's original draft is preserved at the Library of Congress, complete with changes made by John Adams and Benjamin Franklin, as well as Jefferson's notes of changes made by Congress. The best-known version of the Declaration is a signed copy that is displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C., and which is popularly regarded as the official document. This engrossed copy was ordered by Congress on July 19 and signed primarily on August 2.^[5][6]

The sources and interpretation of the Declaration have been the subject of much scholarly inquiry. The Declaration justified the independence of the United States by listing colonial grievances against King George III and by asserting certain natural and legal rights, including a right of revolution. Having served its original purpose in announcing independence, references to the text of the Declaration were few in the following years. Abraham Lincoln made it the centerpiece of his policies and his rhetoric, as in the Gettysburg Address of 1863. Since then, it has become a well-known statement on human rights, particularly its second sentence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

This has been called "one of the best-known sentences in the English language",^[7] containing "the most potent and consequential words in American history".^[8] The passage came to represent a moral standard to which the United States should strive. This view was notably promoted by Lincoln, who considered the Declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy and argued that it is a statement of principles through which the United States Constitution should be interpreted.^[9]

The U.S. Declaration of Independence inspired many similar documents in other countries, the first being the 1789 Declaration of Flanders issued during the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). It also served as the primary model for numerous declarations of independence in Europe and Latin America, as well as Africa (Liberia) and Oceania (New Zealand) during the first half of the 19th century.^[10]

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence

That is an extensive article about the Declaration over on Wikipedia.

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Notes:

1.  Becker, Declaration of Independence, 5.
2. ^ Jump up to: ^a b "Declaring Independence", Revolutionary War, Digital History, University of Houston. From Adams' notes: "Why will you not? You ought to do it." "I will not." "Why?" "Reasons enough." "What can be your reasons?" "Reason first, you are a Virginian, and a Virginian ought to appear at the head of this business. Reason second, I am obnoxious, suspected, and unpopular. You are very much otherwise. Reason third, you can write ten times better than I can." "Well," said Jefferson, "if you are decided, I will do as well as I can." "Very well. When you have drawn it up, we will have a meeting."
3. Jump up ^ Letter from John Adams to Abigail Adams, 3 July 1776
4. Jump up ^ Boyd (1976), The Declaration of Independence: The Mystery of the Lost Original, p. 438.
5. Jump up ^ "Did You Know...Independence Day Should Actually Be July 2?"(Press release). National Archives and Records Administration. June 1, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
6. Jump up ^ The Declaration of Independence: A History, The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration.
7. Jump up ^ Stephen E. Lucas, "Justifying America: The Declaration of Independence as a Rhetorical Document", in Thomas W. Benson, ed., American Rhetoric: Context and Criticism, Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press, 1989, p. 85.
8. Jump up ^ Ellis, American Creation, 55–56.
9. ^ Jump up to: ^a b McPherson, Second American Revolution, 126.
10. Jump up ^ Armitage, David (2007). The Declaration of Independence: A Global History. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. pp. 113–126. ISBN 0-674-02282-3.

Good day to you!
I am adjusting some things in my life.

First this blog has been sitting idle for 3 years.  So I'm going to revamp it a bit.

I'll be adding personal notes (I know, you don't have to groan, just skip them.)

And I'll try to give new visitors some information that I've gleaned in my 11 years living here.  So I'm certainly no expert.

First I need to bring some older notes over to share, which are part of my life that I blogged about in the last month or so.  So if they talk about something that happened in July or August 2018, that's why.

June 28, 2018
Starting with an ending...my loss of my 6 year companion, Panther.

Sorry friends, this is a sharing that is beyond my usual journalling, because I do want to touch base with someone that might have a similar experience of loss.

Yes, grieving as I get used to living without my cat.  I find all this time that is now available, where I would have been thinking about how to help her, or would have been helping her in her critical last days, or would have been looking to see what would next be happening in her decline.  Now this time is mine to do with, and mine to have all these emotions with, and mainly mine to be so utterly alone with.

There's the standard stuff, suddenly being shocked as I walk into the next room, and it doesn't have her in her regular places.  I have gotten so I tell myself before I go into another location at home, "she won't be there."

There's the jolt of energy when I see something in the kitchen which was associated with her, all those bowls and plates to try to get her to eat something, anything.  I took out trash yesterday with the last of the little tidbits I'd been enticing her with.

Yes I have to gird my loins (whatever the heck that means) but mainly clinch my jaw and be strong enough to write a letter requesting the management to return my pet deposit, and include a copy of the invoice I paid the vet for her euthanasia.

I no longer have anyone to talk with.  I know, you would think I could just continue saying strange little things, like calling something (rather than her) a cute little poo-poo and asking her if she is ready to take her medicine, which I've hidden in yet another kind of nibble...instead of just being the strange old lady I often think I am.  But that isn't happening. I am quiet.

Nobody is mewing at me when I wake up. Nobody is cuddling next to me when I lie down in bed in the very particular way a formerly-feral cat would do...never a lap cat, but she would walk up and down beside me, using my hand to sort of pet herself, then settle in just that way that felt right.

I sing mental songs - little tidbits like "we're only here for a short while."  I pray, I meditate, I do all the things I'm remembering to do to honor the life that was shared with me.  I cry.

I remember she's the third death (in that series that old wives tales give us) and there were those really important humans that I've also lost in as many months.  But I wasn't living with them.  I do miss my daily talks via emails with Rosie, especially at the times I would most want to share and hear (read emails) how she was doing.

My dear friend had what would have been her 76th birthday last week, and I wrote her husband to share it...and he said their anniversary was also that week.  I'm sure he's living in a home which is soaked in her life still.

My cat, my friend and my sister are all honored on a little altar that has new photos of the cat centered on it.  When her ashes come home, they will join my other deceased cat that I lost 2 years ago.  I miss them both.

I'm working some clay therapy at the studio, sculpting some cats.  Not so much to look like Panther, but to give me some time to concentrate on catness.

Panther's spirit, wherever you may be, you made a big impact on my life for the 6 years we shared.  I hope I didn't let you down.  I fear I did. I will try to fill the gaps that you've left with joy and sharing with others the beauty that you shared with me.

She used to love sitting in front of the TV when Nature was showing. (See this old post about it.)

She had been feral and a friend had gradually invited her to come into breakfast, though she still lived out in the woods.  But by the time my friend died in 2012, Panther was used to being fed by her daily...and was even using a litter box.  So I asked if I could have her, though she would become an indoor cat.  She was the second "queen calico" in the house until Muffin died 2 years ago.

Panther used to love when people would come over to visit.  She would shyly watch, then lie in the middle of the floor, not to be petted.  She would start chasing her tail to amuse my guests.  It happened most of the times anyone visited.

The water bowl in the bathroom was her favorite place to drink.  A bowl of water by food in the kitchen just didn't taste the same somehow.

She started losing weight, and being very weak, but we found thyroid problems and started giving her pills for that.  Then the vet thought her mouth had problems, so we were looking to relieve pain by giving her transdermal pain relief on her ears twice a day.  It may have helped, but the last couple of months were spent mainly asleep.

There were many times I would throw treats across the floor, and Panther would chase them, and gobble them up.  I kind of limited it to 10 treats at a time.  Later she couldn't chew them, so we stopped doing that.  There are probably some (as well as other toys) under furniture which I haven't found yet.

I've donated all her paraphernelia to various sites and people who care for cats...but the scratching post is still here (where she never used it.)

Working on the dam

I was glad to see Lake Tomahawk dam was being given more work this week.  Taking out the tree stumps.

Earth movers and workers all over the dam, and some of the tree stumps are already gone.

The man with his back to us, right near the earth mover, has a vibrating machine that tamps down the earth that's put back into the hole.  And right next to him is a bench, still intact sitting where it's always been in the shade.  It will no longer be a shady spot however, since all the plants will be low and no more trees will be planted on the dam.

Quote for today:

The same stream of life that runs through my veins night and day runs through the world and dances in rhythmic measures.

Rabindranath Tagore
Gitanjali LXIX

Happy St. Patrick's Day

My iota of blood from my Irish ancestors must be why I love Irish Step Dancing.

And I was amazed to see a flash mob in a station in Australia doing Step Dancing.

EnjoY!

Mudflats of Lake Tomahawk

Lake Tomahawk is being drained...

The island is  surrounded by mud flats

Even the little creek from Walker Cove is low

The dam is so bare with just tree stumps, waiting to be taken out.

People are even playing within the dried out mud of the lake bottom

The sign says the roots of the trees in the dam will be removed, and new landscaping will be completed by the spring.  Guess what next week is, folks?

At least it's nice that there's no smell from the lake bottom, and lots of folks still come out on sunny days to play around this hole.  After a week of rainy days, it was welcome!

Enjoying blooms

A huge Staghorn Fern

we're back

More hot house flowers

Quote for today: (Yes, I remembered to add it this time...I've been forgetful lately!)

Let yourself be silently drawn by the strange pull of what you really love. It will not lead you astray.

Jalaluddin Rumi
Essential Rumi, versions by Coleman Barks