Springing Forward

Greetings, ranger fans. The RRR must confess you missed a good blog. Last night he provided the angry, definitive response to the death in Florida, and by an accidental mouse click lost it all. Now the rage has cooled, the pope has died also and life will go on. Let me summarize by saying I have a prediction that when the dust has cleared on all this, the culture of death will prevail, the Enemy and his servants will stop denying Terry suffered and the focus will turn to "humanely" putting such people to sleep with lethal injection. But that will come after at least two books and a made-for-TV movie.

Tonight, as last night, the RRR left for work with the universe in order. The Great Bear (big dipper to non-rangers) was straight overhead in the sky at 12 0'clock from Polaris (again for non-rangers, the North Star) with it's tail (handle) pointed due East. Orion rested just South of West down on the horizon. Tonight we jump our clocks an hour ahead. Which can mean squeezing 8 hours of work into 7 hours of pay for the nurses downstairs in ICU and the ED, but obviously not for the ones who have time to blog. Working in psych is much like an airplane pilot whose plane is on autopilot, but must remain behind the controls ready to grab them when something goes wrong. He or she isn't paid for the tasks they accomplish, but for what they don't let happen.

Today (Saturday) Mrs. RRR and I took Bay-Toe-Ven and drove to the Big Lake and hiked, trying out the new, almost pain free left heel, provided by loyal ranger-reader Glen who sent me a brand new pair of New Balance size 14's with special insoles. Thanks Glen, they've made a fantastic difference.

We went to a large Corps of Engineers park and walked first around several campgrounds. The place is almost deserted this early in the season. We saw deer in abundance. The females and yearlings grouping to provide distraction for the bucks who eased through the darker woods at a safe distance. We walked down to our favorite secret cove where nature and the action of the waves have conspired to make a beach scattered with odd shaped stones. Since he was a child the RRR has been intrigued with stones that have holes naturally worn through them. It is perhaps a legacy from his grandfather, the rock hound. None the less, they are unique, rare enough to be interesting, easy enough to find that they have no real financial value. Though who is to say what be done with creative narration on eBay? I found one of the usual small size and unusual shape that will make a nice medallion or "friendship" stone. There were three others, the largest 4'' across, which stacked nicely on each other and will disappear at once when left on the desk at work with a note, "free to a good home". But there was a very special one about an inch and a half across which had two holes through it, side by side. Very rare. That one went to Mrs. RRR as a keepsake. Two people who love each other and find a gift in nature that proclaims it are most fortunate.

We drove back to the cabin as the sun set behind us. Bay got to be "chased" the last quarter mile down the lane by the Scarlet Pimpernel (Mrs. RRR's Geo Metro). We each had a big bowl of organic oatmeal from the shop in Dallas, cooked with raisins and sweetened with stevia and real maple syrup and given a generous dollop of real cream. No one eats as well as the RRR. And to bed to dream of the alarm clock going off an hour later and here I am.

Hope you all remembered to set your clocks ahead or you'll stumble into church late, rubbing your eyes in the morning.

A late note. The three stacked stones have found a home with my co-worker who has at home 2 statuettes of Native Americans for which they will provide atmosphere.