Hearing Aids

I got some new hearing aids yesterday. Kathryn had been on me to do it for some time, but whenever she would say something about it, I would just grin and say “hunh?”

I had worn hearing aids some years back, and was thoroughly unimpressed. First of all, they were uncomfortable. If I were just reading, or talking, they were fine, but the moment I ate, drank, swallowed, laughed, or yawned, or just about anything else, they HURT LIKE HELL. Plus, they never worked properly. I could never get the provider to adjust them so that I could hear well.  Once, a technician came out from the factory, and got them so that they worked properly. When I went back in a month or so later to have them cleaned, the local guy said. “Oh! These are all wrong, and adjusted them back to the “can’t hear worth a darn” mode.  I threw the (I was going to say sons-of-bitches but that’s not proper language for a man of the cloth) things away, and went back to being partially deaf. Kathryn called it something about a post, but I couldn’t understand what she was talking about.

So anyway, I went up to Billings and ordered some new ones from a place that had come well recommended by a friend who had similar problems as me, and was satisfied with the results.

Long story short. They seem to work fine. I can hear quite well, and they don’t hurt. I got the kind that fit over the top of the ear, and have a very small speaker that goes just barely inside the ear canal.

I am able to listen to the TV without having the sound turned up to what Kathryn seems to think is wall shaking volume, and still hear what’s going on in the room.  I can hear myself breathe for the first time since I started playing drums in the late 1940s. Kinda neat.

Of course, this is only the second day I’ve worn them, so, as Bill Wilson said in one of his Anonymously penned books, “More will be revealed. But for now, to paraphrase the scripture, “All I know is, I was deaf, but now I hear.”

Agape
Lee

Politics

I hate politics. I've been involved in politics since about 1964, when under the tutelage of the late Jimmie Thommason, I helped get a judge elected in a small town in California.  Outside of Jesus Christ, and of course, my wife, it has been one of the consuming passions of my life.

Is it me? or are the politicians getting stupider and stupider?  All I can see are closed minded, selfish idiots, whose only thought is destroying the country in the name of their political party.

If you confront them with the facts, they will shout you down, or deride you. The truth, and the true facts have no place in their lives. Only "The Party."

First of all, look what a one party system did to Russia, and China, and Argentina, and Germany, and Spain, Italy.  Now, some of those parties were right wing, some of them left wing, but all of them turned out to be dictatorships. The people of the nations suffered, and in some cases, still suffer.

This is not about a single political party system, or a multi party system, It's about a NO PARTY system.

If you read the Constitution of The United States of America, you will find no mention of, or reference to, political parties. Yet, political parties are controlling our nation. And it's unconstitutional!

Think about it. Do political parties have anything to do with "We The People"? The answer is a resounding NO! Yet political parties have perverted our laws so that in most states one is not allowed to vote if he is not registered in one of them. Or, if he belongs to one of the parties in which there is no candidate running, he is not allowed to vote.

I firmly believe this is wrong, and un-American. Is there anything I can do about it?  Well, for one thing, I have posted this for all the world to see.

I am no longer a member of any political party. I am not a Republican, I am not a Democrat, I am not a Libertarian. I am a "Free Independent American" with no party affiliation. 

Political parties have largely brought the USA to the low point that it is today, and I for one, hate it, and them.

God says I have to love people, but He never said that I can't hate bad ideas.  I can't kill people over those ideas with which I disagree, but I can still say so in this yet free America.

If those stupid people who are marching in lock step, blinded by their political party leaders, would first, read  the Constitution of The United States of America, then reread it, and reread it, and reread it, and study it, and take it for exactly what it is; the framework for government Of, For, and By, We-The-People, we might begin to have a better informed electorate.  Of course a well informed electorate is a dangerous thing to political parties.  Isn't it?  

Lee

A Wedding

I conducted the most beautiful wedding ceremonies I have ever done, yesterday.
I was privileged to marry my friends Joel and Kassie.  The love was so thick on that platform that you couldn't even see the gathered congregation.  The words were the same, but there was just something different about this.

The ceremony was in the recently remodeled Living Way Fellowship, a Foursquare Church, in Miles City. They have blocked off all the windows, done away with the auditorium lights, painted it black, with a little beige  on the walls, and turned it into a TV production studio/concert hall.  The pews have been removed and replaced with meeting room chairs that can be quickly moved to provide space for productions or the more physical forms of worship.  It is an exciting place to go to watch the show.  The lighting is professional , the television equipment is very modern, and the sound system is excellent.  I was wired with a small microphone, and was able to speak in a quiet voice. Very intimate, yet everyone in the room could hear.

I have seldom seen a couple so much in love. It just poured out of them. I wish you could have been there.

Agape
Lee

A Funny Story

It's sunny today. The sunlight reflecting off of the snow is blinding. The sky is Montana Blue. Look in your box of Crayolas, and pick out the one marked "Azure", That's Montana Blue.

There are a lot of little animal tracks in the snow. One is, I think, a Fox. You can see where it has been sniffing around for little mousies.

"Love to eat them mousies . . .
Mousies what I love to eat!
Bite they little heads off,
Nibble on they tiny feet!"
                         B. Kliban


I have been, as usual, sitting at the confuser all morning, reading my mail, and webcomics.  From time to time, I wander into the kitchen, get a cup of coffee, then head back into my lair. You could call it a den, but Bears have dens, and us cats don't like bears, so we have lairs.  Officially, I guess you could call it an Office, or a Study, but if you could see the state of disarray in which it is in, you would agree with my previous assessment. 

I have to go in to town a little early today. Have a business meeting, and need to stop by the pharmacy. The Drug Store operates out of the back of some guy's van. 


Thinking of that, here's a true story from the bad-old-days.


We were living in a little house on the beach in Oxnard. One of the young men in the neighborhood had a dope route. Now, I don't know if that goes on today, because I have been out of that lifestyle for many years, but at the time, it was fairly common.


He started out on foot, carrying a paper shopping bag with pot in it. He was evidently fairly well connected, because he usually had several variaties from which to choose.


His business gres, and he was able to buy a bicycle with a basket on it. Bigger bags, larger selection of merchandise.


The guy was a good salesman, and his prices were reasonable. He kept tract of his customer's needs. How much, how often, etc. He almost always had "a little something special" of which he would share a sample, and we would end up buying what ever it was. I must say that whatever it happened to be, it was always mind blowingly special. Remind me, and I will tell you the story about the Penguin, one day.


Well. Business got better, and his increased mobility created a larger client base, and better income. This allowed him to buy a motorcycle. It had nice saddle bags in which he carried an ever increasing supply.


Now, mind you, this was all done in broad daylight. We were all a bunch of young hippies living colorfully at the beach. No one thought it odd that young folk wandered around visiting one another, drinking coffee, and visiting. He said it was safer to just blend in with the community.


In a month or two, he showed up with a car. I don't know where he came up with it, but it was what I think they called a "Salesman's coupe".  It had a large trunk with shelves in it. We used to see the Fuller Brush man, and the Watkins man driving them. He would pop open that trunk lid, and, even after all these years, it makes my eyes red just thinking about it.


Then one day he took a bunch of acid, got paranoid, and turned himself in to the police. Within three days about 150 people moved out of the neighborhood, leaving no forwarding address. 


Enough of that.mI have to go to work.


Agape
Lee

Program Stuff

I was thinking about a thing I sent out to some friends about an old eagle who in the process of renewal, tears out his talons, knocks off his beak, and pulls out most of his feathers. After doing so, he is fit for many more years of living. 

I alluded that it was kind of like working the steps. One has to remove all the damaged stuff, and replace it with new stuff.... Like thoughts, ideas, ways of conducting ones self in public etc.

I am going to tell you the truth. Working the steps is painful. Especially the Fourth Step, the first time through.  You will dredge up forgotten things that will bring you to tears. You will bring up happy times. A searching and thorough moral inventory must be just that; searching and thorough.  We often hear it said after the prayer at the end of meetings , “It works if you work it.” Friends, I doesn’t work if you don’t work it. 

There are many things that work. None of them are easy. Like, not being able to speak other than saying “My name is ___, and I’m and Addict.” for the first thirty days. There is a reason. It may seriously urinate you off, but there is a reason. My first sponsor, Bud D., told me “Your best thinking got you here, and you don’t have any good ideas. Shut up and listen!”

Bud, in the early days of my recovery, forbad me using the personal pronoun “I”. He said “You have been so enamored with yourself for so long, that you think the world revolves around you. It doesn’t.”

That REALLY urinated me off.  But in the end, was incredibly good for me, because indeed, I had been enamored with myself for so long, that I did think the world revolved around me. It doesn’t.

Life is not easy for the addict. Not while we are using, nor after we clean up.  W are different, but we have to learn how to live in society. Otherwise, it’s jails and institutions. We only hope for death.

I thought about death, but Bud told me “Not with out permission from your sponsor, and I ain’t givin’ it until after you’ve worked the steps.”

Bud and I had a falling out, and I changed sponsors. I DO NOT recommend that!  Work your problems out before you make any major changes. Remember - You don’t have any good ideas. Shut up and listen. Especially during the first two or three years. Sometimes, after many, many years... And ain’t I living proof.

My next sponsor, Bob C. told me basically the same thing. So there you go. I’m stuck here. I continue to work the steps, and have not found it necessary to put any harmful substance into any natural or man-made bodily orifice for over 26 years. (Including small lead pellets.)

Remember what they told you at your first meeting?  “Come to meetings, get a sponsor, read the literature, and work the steps.”  That’s so simple that even a Caveman can do it.  (Sorry Cavemen.)  Maybe they didn’t do it. You don’t see any cavemen around anymore.
Here is something from a sponsor. -Me.- When you come to a meeting, it’s about recovery, not about your miserable life. If you talk about your miserable life, it should be how you are using the program to overcome it.  And when you overcome it, your life will no longer be miserable.

We were all pretty good actors. We had to be. Our whole life was an act. A good actor learns that one of the most important things is; to listen.  Listen to the newcomers. Listen to the old timers. Listen to yourself. Pretty soon, after working the steps, you are able to discern between the bulls–t, and the real.

There are so many other things that I would like to share, but I carry on too long anyway.  Why? Because I love you, and care about your recovery.  Why? Because at the root of things, we are really just alike. And these days, I like myself, and have more or less learned to live in society, and I wish the same for you.

Lee waxes political

Being in agriculture, I am vitally interested in what the government is doing to the farmers and ranchers.

Received this from Max's people this morning.


February 2, 2010
    
    Baucus Statement on Direct Payment Cuts to Farmers and Ranchers in President’s Budget
    
    Montana’s senior U.S. Senator Max Baucus issued the following statement in response to the White House Budget, which would cut Direct Payments to farmers:
    
    “In Montana, agriculture is the backbone of our economy- and it has been for generations.  I cannot stand by as the President moves to cut direct payments to farmers and ranchers. We're only two years into the 2008 Farm Bill and Montana producers have made long term plans based on what they thought was a solid agreement with the government for the life of that bill.  The fact is, many family farmers and ranchers in our state need these payments to help them weather these difficult economic times. Wheat prices have fallen steadily over the last year while input costs such as fuel and fertilizer have gone up.  It’s not fair to place the weight of our economic troubles on the backs of the folks who put food on tables all across America.”
    
    As a senior member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, Baucus played a key role in writing and passing the 2008 Farm Bill. In addition to protecting payments to help Montana family farms and ranches, Baucus created a permanent disaster assistance package, created a stronger safety net for the wheat and barley industry, kept Montana’s Farm Service Agencies open, and boosted funding for nutrition programs.


Made me kinda wonder... Stopping payments to farmers.  Is this guy Obama a Socialist? or not?  If he's going tax us and give our money away, why not support those who pay a disproportionately large amount of taxes, but really need the help... (We in agriculture do have to pay disproportionate taxes you know,)  Also, as a Socialist, The president  should remember what happened when his brother Socialist, Stalin, interfered with the farmers in Russia.  Cay you say "famine," boys and girls?

Agape
Lee