BarlowFarms

Update

Fri, 16 May 2008 09:49:25 EST

Update

Well, it's Friday. Seems like weeks go by fast this time of year.

We have been busy making plans for next year for the boys - I think everything is squared away for them.

The city is re-surfacing the street in front of our house. I hope that we end up with a smooth street so the boys can skateboard. We'll have to see. Sometimes they experiment with new emulsions that are much different.

Well, lots to do today; hope to post more over the weekend at some point. I'm glad to see Prince Caspian is receiving good reviews. Those of you who have seen it - let us know what you think.

I likes them fresh and wriggling, you nasty little Hobbitses

Sun, 11 May 2008 16:13:00 EST

I likes them fresh and wriggling, you nasty little Hobbitses

(Taken by my pastor, Jeff Meyers, at the Men and Boys campout...)

Glen and Marketa

Thu, 08 May 2008 11:05:30 EST

Glen and Marketa

Random Stuff

Sat, 03 May 2008 17:26:00 EST

Random Stuff

1. On Wednesday morning, Ann and I visited a "special school" to see what it was all about for our autistic son. It was a very hard thing to see. I was very impressed with our society in one respect though - that all children are entitled to an education and that this was being taken seriously even for kids who literally had IV bags hanging behind them. The school allowed kids to attend up to the age of 21, and allowed them to learn life skills and job skills. The wing with kids our son's age was more like a normal elementary school, but there were only about six or seven kids in each room with two teachers. It was a very depressing visit too. I was especially affected by the photos from their prom. Certainly the kids were enjoying themselves, but it is hard to explain what it is like to imagine one's own son in those photos. In one room were kids with autism, and they were all walking around the room, talking to themselves, shaking their hands, etc. They were being treated, of course - this was the milling around period before lunchtime, I would guess. Wow. Anyway, on the way out of the school after visiting, I turned to Ann and said two things: 1. "He's not going here," and 2. "Is there any beer in the fridge?" He's just kind of between being in a special classroom and being in a regular classroom. But after the IEP meeting on Thursday, I think we both feel better about how the public sixth grade will be for him next year. The school is set up in a very providential way for an autistic kid, and there are plenty of times during the day when they can pull him out for special help in various subjects, speech therapy, etc. So Ann feels much less anxiety about next school year.

2. You've probably read about my proudest moment over at Ann's blog. That was a real achievement. I told Ann that I was prouder at that moment than when I completed my M.Div. or my college degree. Probably because MacGyvering a dishwasher is much more of an immediate accomplishment while getting a degree is much more like a waiting game.

3. My Latin is rusty. Very rusty.

4. I haven't watched Battlestar Galactica from last night, so don't tell me anything that happened.

5. I loved the movie "North and South" - it is based on a novel by Elizabeth Gaskell. I could watch it over and over I think. Like all BBC movies, the acting was tremendous from both the men and the women, but they managed to find dudes that are very handsome while using ladies that are rather plain. This is not the Civil war miniseries from the eighties - this is a movie about a Parson who is non-conforming and when asked to publicly own the Book of Common Prayer leaves the ministry and moves his family to the North of England to an industrial town. Anyway, you'll love it.

I've Gotta Remember That Gracious Comeback

Thu, 01 May 2008 16:39:55 EST

I've Gotta Remember That Gracious Comeback

Vampire Weekend M79

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 21:15:42 EST

Vampire Weekend M79

(you can hear Conan bark somewhere in the middle)

She Disagrees with Donne

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 17:31:00 EST

She Disagrees with Donne

Weird Unexplained Boom

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:09:21 EST

Weird Unexplained Boom

This story is so fascinating. Gotta wonder what this thing is... Maybe there is a stargate in Maryland?

The Intelligent Design Movement

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 00:13:00 EST

The Intelligent Design Movement

Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a rudimentary computer program with pre-programmed answers. She's good at evading the question; I will definitely choose her for my press secretary someday in the White House. But I'll make her wear something besides that Ikea polo.

Random Things

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:00:00 EST

Random Things

1. WTS fallout - documents released, Joel Garver gives his thoughts.

2. Jeremiah Wright speaks to the National Press Club this morning. He basically offered an apologia for his life and ministry. He is very epistemologically self-conscious... His section at about 28 minutes where he talks about the relationship between theology and anthropology contains good insights, but also some errors that tend towards a real subjectivism. Sometimes two people cry out to the same God, ignorant of their respective sins towards each other. But, there is a good kind of divisiveness that Wright brings to the table; Jesus came to bring a sword. Don't miss the Q&A - it is easy to see why this guy, whatever you think of him, is a leader of men.

3. This no-till farming stuff seems very interesting to me - in the photo that Wikipedia uses, I wonder how they prepared that ground where they are planting the corn. It doesn't look tilled, but it looks pressed down and chopped up... Maybe they just mowed it? Any farmers able to comment?

4. Daniel Deronda is a fascinating story. It is all at once very "multicultural" while also being, for lack of a better word "kinist". The thing I like about it, though, is that love conquers the ethnic differences between some of the main characters, but in other characters, gaining an ethnic identity kindles a sense of purpose and obligation to "one's people" in another character. It shows at least a few ways how one can be open towards other cultures while also having a particular cultural identity. It is that latter thing that is so hard, especially given the insights of "whiteness philosophy" that demonstrates how the dominant members of a society will see their own culture as normative rather than realize they have a culture too. Anyway, fascinating story - I had no idea that it was such a stimulating story, really only expecting to see a good period romance. Note, I didn't read the book, just saw the BBC version.

5. Our yard is full of bunnies. I watched a mother bunny run back and forth today with several bundles of grass, lovingly crafting a nest for her yet to be born babies. I also saw a few bunnies chase each other amorously, I assume. And the cardinals are all paired up and taking turns eating at our suet feeder. Maybe the starlings are not gentlemen and ladies, but the cardinals seem so. And so do the woodpeckers.

The Sign Said 'No Pets'

Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:04:53 EST

The Sign Said 'No Pets'

To A Louse

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:26:00 EST

To A Louse
On seeing one on a lady's bonnet at church.
by Robert Burns

Ha! whaur ye gaun, ye crowlin ferlie?
Your impudence protects you sairly;
I canna say but ye strunt rarely,
Owre gauze and lace;
Tho', faith! I fear ye dine but sparely
On sic a place.

Ye ugly, creepin, blastit wonner,
Detested, shunn'd by saunt an' sinner,
How daur ye set your fit upon her-
Sae fine a lady?
Gae somewhere else and seek your dinner
On some poor body.

Swith! in some beggar's haffet squattle;
There ye may creep, and sprawl, and sprattle,
Wi' ither kindred, jumping cattle,
In shoals and nations;
Whaur horn nor bane ne'er daur unsettle
Your thick plantations.

Now haud you there, ye're out o' sight,
Below the fatt'rels, snug and tight;
Na, faith ye yet! ye'll no be right,
Till ye've got on it-
The verra tapmost, tow'rin height
O' Miss' bonnet.

My sooth! right bauld ye set your nose out,
As plump an' grey as ony groset:
O for some rank, mercurial rozet,
Or fell, red smeddum,
I'd gie you sic a hearty dose o't,
Wad dress your droddum.

I wad na been surpris'd to spy
You on an auld wife's flainen toy;
Or aiblins some bit dubbie boy,
On's wyliecoat;
But Miss' fine Lunardi! fye!
How daur ye do't?

O Jeany, dinna toss your head,
An' set your beauties a' abread!
Ye little ken what cursed speed
The blastie's makin:
Thae winks an' finger-ends, I dread,
Are notice takin.

O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
It wad frae mony a blunder free us,
An' foolish notion:
What airs in dress an' gait wad lea'e us,
An' ev'n devotion!