My anniversary is coming up soon....and this is the beautiful girl I married those years ago. The most amazing thing about it all, is that we are closer and better friends today than we were then.

All my love to Debbie !

AAAAArrrrrrgggggggggg !

TAXES ! TAXES ! Arrrrrrggggg!
Every year we have an obligation as citizens to pay our legitimate taxes. Most of us in this country try to pay our fair share, but also want to take advantage of every possible legal deduction. Some of the more subtle parts of the tax code are lost on me, but, Hey! that is what tax software is for, right?

I've used tax software for more years than I can count...but my experience this year has left me a broken shell of my former self :). Intuit's, Turbo Tax Deluxe, recommended for those of us playing with capital gains and capital losses, is a software pile of junk. I've used Intuit for years and years and marvelled at how intuitive (pun intended) it seemed to be. This years distribution is a throwback to the worst software I've used in 10-15 years.

It is not intuitive, it is bull headed! It is not slick, it is gooey. It is not software, it is a headache. :)

Ok, I feel better now. After about 8 hours of tax work I completed my taxes. Last year it took between 3-4 hours. Over half of my time was spent in rebooting the PC due to frozen software, deleting files and re creating files, de-installing the entire application and reinstalling it. Then it took 9 separate attempts to transmit the returns.

Yep, feeling better and better now....the refund will be on its way in a week or two, and when the little bump happens in the account, I'll feel that it was almost worth it.

However, this blog will help me remember to never forget------------>> I'll not buy TURDO TAX again :)

Happy 80th Birthday, Dad !

Yesterday our family and Dad's friends celebrated his 80th birthday. The family gathered for a lunch around noon. The food was as fantastic as the fellowship. Then after lunch, plan B went into effect. This is where we kept Dad busy downstairs while his friends secretly arrived upstairs. When Dad was "allowed" back upstairs we had the huge surprise crowd singing "Happy Birthday!" Thanks to everyone who participated and assisted, and special thanks to my sister-in-law Donna who did the cake.

Morning storm genesis.

Another Poem

GARDEN STORM
By Rod Scott

The garden's disheveled appearance belies the
meticulous care exerted last evening.

Testifies now to the fury of the nocturnal visitor
who,
armed with the powers of the four winds,
arsenal of fork'ed lightening,
reservoirs of cold liquid
flood waters,
threatened
tomato serenity and
prevented
frightened robins from
reproduction.

-------------------

Birmingham, AL
May 13, 1992

Meet Rose! She is the mother of the cria that I spoke about in an earlier post on this blog. Rose is a very friendly llama who allows anyone (even me) to hand feed her. Rose has a male llama companion, Paco. These beautiful animals live on a farm where they are loved and cared for by two wonderful people, our good friends David & Becky.

If you have never hand fed a llama, then you may be in for a shock. A llama's upper lip is split, and they gobble the food with a dry mouthed suction that is a cross between a hoover vacuum cleaner, and an elephant's nose.

Rose would only let me stroke her neck when she was allowed to put her entire mouth in the bowl to gain the last scraps of food. Now I know why llama fleece is so prized, she was as warm as toast as we shivered in the 40 degree wind chill.

Merry Christmas !

In looking back at all of 2005, one of the truly bright stars in our lives was this gift, Arwen. She's been in our lives for 10 months now and brings an exuberant perspective to each day.

Now, if we can just convince her to stay under the tree rather than high in the evergreen branches :)

Lookout Mtn. Tennessee

Aerial Survey

AERIAL SURVEY
by Rod Scott

City tough and town wise
they plotted their course
with seeming abandon,
A veer here, and
A jibe there, black
lightning in the
cloudless sky.

Unkempt buildings have
poor roof drainage;
But, behold!
The pools on top
mirror the missing sun
the pools
mirror azure skies.

Flocks of city tough
and town wise sparrows
arrow down to drink
deeply from the
gravelly pond,
and ponder gravely
apathetic men.


Birmingham, AL January 24, 1996
(from the 13th floor window)

Falling Sky

The crisp dry winter sky
ahh....humidity is dead.

It is great to live in Fall and Winter again, such as it is in the Deep South. The daymares of 80 degree dewpoints, burning sun soaked asphalt, and parched throats are gone for yet a little while. We fling our doors and windows open when it is 50 degrees outside just for the pure pleasure of drinking in the dry champagne of winter.

This photo was taken at sunset from Bluff Park, Alabama. It was 16 October, the genesis of a new Fall.

The Crias of the World

This week I learned a new word; Cria, a baby llama. My esteemed and learned Mississippi friend (recently turned farmer) had to assist in the post birth caring of a cute cuddly cria. What a surprise to everyone! No one was sure that the mother was "that" pregnant. The cria lived for only a short while, but it was not for a lack of loving concern by everyone involved. David described the trip to University where a team of vets and students performed an heroic attempt to save the life of the cria.

Pull back from that scene a bit...withdraw from the surging emotions that existed in medias res.

We humans are touched by life, and by lives around us. The sheer wonder of it all! David described being awakened out of a sound sleep by a certainty that there was trouble in the farm yard. It was then that the discovery was made that the cria was in trouble.

What was that vibe that awakened him? What connection, that cannot be detected by any electronic instrumentation exists between living creatures inhabiting this planet? WOW!
Who knows?

I'm Grateful

I was listening to some music today and heard this
tune by The Grateful Dead; Ripple, one of my all time favorites.
A lovely lyric set to gentle music.






"Ripple"

Words by Robert Hunter; music by Jerry Garcia.
("Ripple" composed and written by Jerry Garcia and Robert Hunter.
Reproduced by arrangement with Ice Nine Publishing Co., Inc. (ASCAP))

If my words did glow with the gold of sunshine
And my tunes were played on the harp unstrung
Would you hear my voice come through the music
Would you hold it near as it were your own?
It's a hand-me-down, the thoughts are broken
Perhaps they're better left unsung
I don't know, don't really care
Let there be songs to fill the air
(Chorus)
Ripple in still water
When there is no pebble tossed
Nor wind to blow
Reach out your hand if your cup be empty
If your cup is full may it be again
Let it be known there is a fountain
That was not made by the hands of men
There is a road, no simple highway
Between the dawn and the dark of night
And if you go no one may follow
That path is for your steps alone
(Chorus)
You who choose to lead must follow
But if you fall you fall alone
If you should stand then who's to guide you?
If I knew the way I would take you home


Copied from
http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/ripple.html

The newest member of our family - Arwen

Arwen was rescued by good friends from an uncertain and possibly terminal future. She appeared in our house hold as a gift and we willingly have submitted to her leadership :)

We think she may be part Maine Coon, or Norwegian Forest Cat. At any rate she is as intelligent and sweet as she is beautiful.

Thoughts on the title of this blog

Laughing Elf is a "trade mark" I've used for well over 15 years to signify a printer, a publisher, an editorial service, and web page design company.
The image must have some from somewhere in Tolkien's vast writings, but has been as close to me as an altar-ego (pun intended).

The weatherglass is an ancient barometric pressure measuring instrument who's usage goes back into time. As a lover of weather and all of its facets, this instrument is a key to unlocking another aspect of who I am.

The notion of Karma, a cause and effect relationship is almost universal in human religion. Galatians 6.7 says in part "...for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap." In both Hinduism and Buddhism the concept of Karma play their part . Generally they describe karma as actions of the will that create effects. Every intentional action that you make creates real effects. These are spiritual concepts, but they sound rather similiar to Newton's 3rd Law of Motion : "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Hmmm... food for thought.

Was Mark Twain right?

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime."--Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (1869)