The Evening Rambler for 11-11-11 (Six digits...all ones!)

I don't really have a plan for this, and I don't know where I'll end up when I'm done writing. This will be an Evening Rambler in the truest sense of the words.

In fact, I fully expect I'll go away...and then come back and write more. It's like some kind of law of nature...

The sun rises in the east - then sets in the west.
What goes up - must come down.
Bob goes away - then he comes back.

Before I forget, thank you Mike for the last two posts while I was having writer's block. The color wheel for all the Crayola crayons was really nice to look at. I did notice a bit of history revisionism on their part, one of the colors (I think it was Peach), used to be called Flesh. Somewhere in the 80s I think it was, they had collected enough complaints that they decided to change the name. In fact, I think they released new colors at that time in other flesh tones, but none of them named Flesh.

Day to day family life here at the northern annex to The Porch has been in upheaval lately. My wife's dad has inoperable terminal cancer along with other medical conditions. He has been in a hospice house for a week or thereabouts, and he is receiving good care. So my wife is staying with her mom for a while, a truly good deed which I fully support.

Of course, that means someone else has to cook dinner here, as the budget won't allow fast food every night. Daughter number two cooked chicken alfredo two nights ago, and it was very tasty.

Tonight was my turn, so we activated a test of the Emergency Food Warning System..."Dad is cooking...should this become an actual emergency, you will be instructed to seek aid..."

That kind of thing. I followed the directions on the box of fish fillets. I also got a few potatoes out of the bag to bake in the microwave. They'd been in the bag for a while and had kind of an earthy smell to them, even after a good washing. So I went ahead and baked them, then peeled off the skin, cut them up and fried them. Surprisingly, everything turned out good. Along with some baby carrots and some apple slices, we did all right.

Back after Fringe...

...And I came back. Told ya.

That Fringe episode was easily the best so far of Season Four. I've got an idea of one thing they could do from here on, but I won't say; especially since I know most of my readers are not regular fans of the show. The writers will probably take it in some other direction anyway.

Why do I like Fringe so much? Well for starters, it has a mad scientist! And at least one alternate universe! Not to mention some great acting and characters you grow to care about. What more could you want in a strange TV show?

Before the day gets any older, I'll wish all veterans a Happy Veterans' Day! I'm not sure if I have any readers who are veterans, but I always like to thank those in uniform, and those who used to wear the uniform, for our freedoms. Really, any day is a good day to do that.

Six days ago there was an earthquake in Oklahome. I forget the magnitude - somewhere around 5 - but strong enough to be felt across several states, including Missouri. I talked to some people at church who said they felt it here in Independence. I didn't notice it, and neither did anyone in my family.

And something like a week before that, there was a large solar Coronal Mass Ejection and geomagnetic storm which gave rise to the best auroral display seen in the USA in years. The northern lights were seen as far south as Arkansas. I heard about it while they were visible, so I grabbed my wallet and keys, jumped in my car, and drove out beyond the city lights.

See, you should know something about me. I've wanted to see the northern lights ever since I learned about them in grade school...and I never have. It's still one of the top things on my "bucket list"...and I say still, because by the time I got beyond the light pollution and got out of my car, the northern lights had subsided. I stood in the dark for a good ten minutes anyway, long enough for my eyes to adjust. No joy.

Sometimes I just get the feeling that I miss out on things.

In various places

With all the coverage of January's earthquake tragedy in Haiti, I guess I'm sensitive to such news; so I took note of Friday's earthquake in Japan. Kind of a big one, but Japan has quakes fairly often and they are more prepared to deal with them.

Today's news of the massive earthquake in Chile - some say the fifth most powerful in recorded history - did get my attention. My guess is that the death toll will be much lower than in Haiti due to the better construction, even though it was a more powerful quake. That said, what a calamity. The destruction must be enormous, and we'll get a better idea of that as the days roll on.

And just try to imagine the colossal amount of energy released, to send waves across the world's largest ocean - one fourth of the Earth's surface! - to a height of six feet in Hawaii. Such things are measured, but I can't grasp it.

Earlier today I was reminded of a Bible verse...Jesus had just told his disciples that a time would come when the temple would be thrown down; not one stone would be left upon another. Three of the disciples asked,

"Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign that they are all about to be fulfilled" (Mark 13:4, NIV)

Jesus replies, speaking of false Christs, and wars and rumor of wars, then

"Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be earthquakes in various places, and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains." - Mark 13:8 (NIV)

A familiar verse, and I remember hearing it mentioned often in the 1970's, when Hal Lindsay's book "The Late Great Planet Earth" came out, and Biblical prophecies of the "end times" were discussed. This seemed quite a new thing to us young Christians. Nothing wrong with studying scripture, but looking back now it seems we were so focused on the end of the world that that study took on a life of it's own.

No one in my circle of friends was totally convinced - we didn't sell out and head for the hills to await the end - but most of us thought there was something to this talk. I recall one conversation when the question came up, would we make it out of the seventies? Good question...boy, I don't know.

But you can't worry about such things, and after all,

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that time will come." (Mark 13:32-33, NIV)

So the decades continued to roll, 1980 came, then 1990, 2000, and now 2010. Our lives continue, and even among those of the faithful, we've taken on a lot of cares. Speaking for myself, I now have the attitude of yes, Jesus spoke of the end times among many other things, but until He returns I have to walk in faith every day. I'm just not as focused on those exciting passages now, as I was in my college days.

That said, Jesus did tell his followers to be alert for such signs. And I do remember someone back then interpreted the "birth pains" in verse 8 meaning that earthquakes would occur closer together and be stronger.

I don't really expect another major earthquake in another place tomorrow (I'm not talking about aftershocks in Chile here). But just in case one does occur somewhere else, that will grab my attention.