Aw The Prairie

We visited a few geocaches over the weekend and had some success. We first visited a local park but were unable to locate the cache. After that, we headed over to a local wildlife preserve and hit the trail. The walk was nice and the weather was perfect. It did turn out to be a little longer trek than first thought. While out on the hike Natalie rode most of the way aboard daddy’s shoulders. For the last 200 yards or so I had Hyrum and Natalie on my shoulders. Now I know what it would feel like to go for a walk if I were 80 lbs heavier.

We found the cache which brought insight into life on the Kansas prairie 180 years ago. The preserve was a prairie range preserved as it would have been 180 years ago except for the trees. When looking at it today it is easy to ask the question, “why did they build stone walls?” Answer: there were no trees in sight at the time the walls were built. It was hard to image that every tree in sight was the offspring of trees brought to the prairie. It reminded me of listening to Grandpa Dunnington talk about his Grandfather bringing a stake for his horse his first time to Drexel because there were no trees in sight to tie his horse to.

A Rant

While driving to work I had the radio dialed to a station I do not normally listen to as NPR was rather dull. While half listening I overheard the DJ welcome a guest who was going to review strange news. This appealed to me, so I began listening in. One of the strange stories that they discussed extensively was one of a man who found $149,000 on the side of the road. The strange part to them was that he returned the money to the bank it belonged to for which he received a $2,000 reward.

The guest expressed that the man was ignorant for doing so whereas the DJ advised he is a believer in karma and would have returned the money for the sake of karma. As they went on discussing the question, the guest referred to the money being unmarked and hence finders keepers. The DJ kept referring to karma and that he would have returned the money and been happy with $2000 more than he had before because he believed if he hadn’t it would come back to him.

The longer I listened the more it seemed to me neither of the men had a good philosophy. One was just a blatant liar and sold his integrity for the mere expression of his opinion and the other, while possibly well intentioned, is selfish. I am sick of karma being given as a suitable replacement for morality. Karma is a corporeal attempt to understand an eternal law. It is simply a theory created by men to control others in the absence of true principles and nothing more.

Karma is flawed in concept by expecting moral behavior that is motivated by fear.
Karma is fate, fortune, kismet, luck, coincidence, fluke, happenstance, quirk, and fear. It is anything but truth and wholly wrong. What is wrong with being honest and having integrity? Being caught or suffering punishment is not adequate motivation for a personal code of conduct.

Free at last!

Finally! You may not know it, but somehow my blog was mistaken as a spam blog and was frozen for 4 full days. Being innocent until proven guilt, I was not concerned. I was a little put off that it took 4 days to have reviewed and that I was not notified when my blog was accessible. Oh well!

A Bonding Moment!

On Saturday, April 5, 2008, my father in-law and I grew closer together. We learned that from time to time I like to play the part of a moron and that he takes it pretty well. We were brought together by a request for help; and ended up needing a little of our own. Grandma Westhoff, from Drexel, asked our help in moving some items from the Hotel Raymond as it is to be rented out. So, in getting the day off to a right fine start, I figured why not get the truck stuck in mud. It was just the thing needed to test our patience for the occasion.

I even remember thinking to myself, now be careful not to get too close to that drainage ditch, you’ve played that game before. But as if in a flash the deed was done. The bounds of traction governed by the laws of gravity were violated and it was everlastingly too late. A 2 foot deep muddy ditch and 1500 lbs stood between us and our objective. I have seen men completely lose it in similar circumstances. We stood proud, but the test had only begun.

Not a word of malice was spoken. It was simply communicated what was wrong and solutions and attempts at correction were made. Alas, none appeared adequate. It was then, as if the windows of heaven opened, that help arrived. An older gentlemen in a larger truck offered aid, but the trial was not over. I hate to speak negatively of someone giving aid, but I am not sure if it was his tow-chain or his sanctimonious attitude he looked forward to using. But this curve-ball did little to our resolve.

Pain often leads to knowledge or at least to remembrance of truth. Such was the pain in the side of my head from hitting it on the inside of the cab’s roof. It reminded me that just because a man has a tow-chain, this doesn’t mean that he knows how to use it. This also reaffirmed to me that chains are not elastic but rigid and should not be given slack; but this knowledge does little good when you’re the one stuck in the mud. None the less, having relieved some of the decent we were able to get some rocks and a board under one of the front tires allowing the truck to route out over the mud.

Having won the test, we were freed from the mud and then fought with grandma.