I want to make a sort of a prophecy. But, don't start banking on it or start your own cult based on it.
Some of these may be no brainers.
Before long the Tax exempt status of Churches will be challenged and probably overthrown unless the Churches toe the line on the humanist, politically correct doctrines of the day: recognizing and allowing (and even being forced to perform) "homosexual marriages." This would include temple marriages. Churches will also come under fire for excommunicating members for infractions of its doctrine and not allowing anyone to hold the priesthood or marry. I expect the LDS Church, of course, will hold its line and will start paying taxes.
Churches will be barred from ever ever ever ever espousing anything that approaches a political idea even after losing their tax exempt status.
Public education will continue to worsen and liberalize. It may get to the point where "home schooling" or private schooling are outlawed. Against parents wishes, children will be required to submit to the presentation (indoctrination) of one-sided liberal points of view presented as fact without rebuttal or opposition. Oh wait, that's happening already.
The role of the Government as protector and provider of the Common Defense will wane and its assumed role as regulator and provider of everything else will continue to grow.
We know from the scriptures that Israel will stand alone. That even the U.S. will not come to its aid. It's kinda easy to see this happening already. But, I expect there will always be, possibly even very close to a majority (but maybe a powerless majority) a sector of Americans who will support Israel.
It will probably become nearly impossible to execute anyone for any crime. Life in prison will become most tolerable. The cost of warehousing and supporting prisoners will be a growing burden.
Regarding the prophecy of Joseph Smith about the Elders of the Church saving the Constitution:
"Even this nation will be on the very verge of crumbling to pieces and tumbling to the ground; and when the Constitution is upon the brink of ruin, this people will be the staff upon which the nation shall lean; and they shall bear the constitution away from the very verge of destruction. " [spelling and punctuation modernized] (Dean C. Jessee, "The Historian's Corner" BYU Studies Vol. 19, No. 3, Spring 1979, p. 392)
I've always thought that meant that the Nation would be brought back from the verge of division and destruction by re-embracing the tenets of the Constitution and that the members of the Church would lead the charge. I now think it is more likely that secession and possibly civil war will take place. When I first considered this idea I figured that right thinking people would feel the need to split from the rest of the country. I now think it is possible that the wrong thinking people may be inclined to secede or try to.
Lenore pointed out to me the other day that God brought the flood in Noah's day and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed when society reached a point where there was almost no possibility for the rising generation to choose good, because they would only be exposed to bad. I might add an additional condition: when we can no longer protect our children. The recent abduction and death of Destiny Norton highlights a growing frustration with this problem.
It's hard to say how close we are. We are definitely spiraling. I don't really want things to get much worse. But, I suppose I may have to witness it.
27 July 2006
21 July 2006
The total tonnage of what you don't know is enough to shatter...
Right after work Yesterday we drove down to see John and Natalie at John's parent's cabin near Sundance. I thought I should put my considerable intellectual ability to good use and decided that rather than drive all the way into Orem on I-15 going south in rush hour traffic, we should exit at the Thanksgiving Point exit and go the other way around through the alpine loop. I had driven out the northern way from Sundance back when I was in school. I figured we would save time.
Well, I was greatly mistaken. Time blurs our memories with unequalled savagery. This was indeed a very long and winding road. It didn't help that I took the right fork in road (right and correct) and then thought I was wrong and backtracked a couple of miles before finding someone who could tell me that in fact we had been on the right (and correct) road in the first place. More backtracking. We probably wasted 20-30 minutes with that move.
In defense of the route, Lenore was nice and said that it was very lovely and scenic. We saw deer and elk and we were treated to the sound of Laney wretching into a plastic bag. When she last vomited in the car on the way back from Big River we made a mental note to always be equipped with a couple of plastic shopping bags in the glove box. Fortunately, just before this drive we chose to act on that suggestion.
The Taylor's cabin is very nice and quaint/comfortable. A river almost runs through it. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and then chatted until about 10:15. I was anxious to get home at a civilized hour. We exited the Provo Canyon Road way. But, saw Dan standing on the side of the road at the entrance to the ski resort. He, Fielding, Les and Jay (in Jay's car) had a flat tire and pulled into the parking lot at Sundance. The spare was also low on air so they were quite stuck. It was a tender mercy that we saw him and didn't just drive by.
We took Jay and the spare to the Texaco station at the entrance to the canyon to put air in that tire. On the way down the mountain we almost ran into a ?weasel? (That's what Lenore says it was.) On the way up the mountain we almost ran into a dog. Now let me say something here about poor stray animals crossing major highways. When you see something to be avoided up ahead in the roadway and want to inform the driver of this hazard, it is best not to shriek and yell "LOOK OUT!" It is probably best to give the driver some instruction as to what to do.
In each case I couldn't see what Lenore was screaming about until we were right on top of the potential victim. It would have been best to say, "move into the right lane!" I almost hit the dog because I automatically changed lanes when Lenore went into her fit. Both times, in trying to avoid something I couldn't even see, I got the car a little sideways with the tires squealing. This is not a circumstance in which the Ford Explorer is known to excel. Fortunately, we got rid of our Wilderness AT Firestone tires some time ago.
So if your pet weasel sauntered in late last night a little shaken but not stirred, be grateful he didn't end up as roadkill.
Well, I was greatly mistaken. Time blurs our memories with unequalled savagery. This was indeed a very long and winding road. It didn't help that I took the right fork in road (right and correct) and then thought I was wrong and backtracked a couple of miles before finding someone who could tell me that in fact we had been on the right (and correct) road in the first place. More backtracking. We probably wasted 20-30 minutes with that move.
In defense of the route, Lenore was nice and said that it was very lovely and scenic. We saw deer and elk and we were treated to the sound of Laney wretching into a plastic bag. When she last vomited in the car on the way back from Big River we made a mental note to always be equipped with a couple of plastic shopping bags in the glove box. Fortunately, just before this drive we chose to act on that suggestion.
The Taylor's cabin is very nice and quaint/comfortable. A river almost runs through it. We had a nice spaghetti dinner and then chatted until about 10:15. I was anxious to get home at a civilized hour. We exited the Provo Canyon Road way. But, saw Dan standing on the side of the road at the entrance to the ski resort. He, Fielding, Les and Jay (in Jay's car) had a flat tire and pulled into the parking lot at Sundance. The spare was also low on air so they were quite stuck. It was a tender mercy that we saw him and didn't just drive by.
We took Jay and the spare to the Texaco station at the entrance to the canyon to put air in that tire. On the way down the mountain we almost ran into a ?weasel? (That's what Lenore says it was.) On the way up the mountain we almost ran into a dog. Now let me say something here about poor stray animals crossing major highways. When you see something to be avoided up ahead in the roadway and want to inform the driver of this hazard, it is best not to shriek and yell "LOOK OUT!" It is probably best to give the driver some instruction as to what to do.
In each case I couldn't see what Lenore was screaming about until we were right on top of the potential victim. It would have been best to say, "move into the right lane!" I almost hit the dog because I automatically changed lanes when Lenore went into her fit. Both times, in trying to avoid something I couldn't even see, I got the car a little sideways with the tires squealing. This is not a circumstance in which the Ford Explorer is known to excel. Fortunately, we got rid of our Wilderness AT Firestone tires some time ago.
So if your pet weasel sauntered in late last night a little shaken but not stirred, be grateful he didn't end up as roadkill.
17 July 2006
Designated Coach
Jensen is in driver training. She does just fine. In fact, it is less stressful driving with her than it is (or at least, was) with Ailsa. While at the Colorado River at the beginning of the month, I tried again to teach Ailsa how to drive a manual transmission. We were off road and I put the car into 4wheel drive low. It's almost impossible to stall the engine in those low gears. Still, it was very frustrating and after about 5 minutes I gave up. I think Ailsa's husband will have more patience than I do. Or, maybe he will just be smarter and not try to teach her this unique and almost obsolete skill.
Anyway, back to Jensen. We should make it a family rule that we never all go with her when she is driving. We try to have just one person telling her what to do and keep from killing us all. I usually hold that designation. However, we Lillywhites are such know-it-alls that it is impossible for us (meaning Ailsa and Lenore) to allow me (the Father, the most skilled in all things mechanical and involving dexterity, hand/eye coordination and the only one capable of the computation of advanced trigonomical formulations in mere nano-seconds) the latitude to instruct and guide our poor fledgling driver, Jensen, safely and happily into the leagues of functioning drivers.
Invariably, we will all pipe in at the same time with some toughtful comment or evaluation of an obstacle/passage/ episode/family near death experience from which we just barely escaped while benefiting from Jensen's superior chauffeuring skills. We often end up shushing eachother and evaluating eachother's driver training prowess. The noise level will escalate until we drive Laney crazy. Next time we will bring duct tape to cover our mouths and let Laney be the driver trainer.
It's not unlike the depiction of the Judean People's Front and all its splinter groups in the Monty Python movie Life of Brian. "We mustn't fight each other! Surely we should be united against the common enemy!"
Actually, at this point Jensen's driving skill isn't any different than 95% of the drivers on Utah roads. Unfortunately, that isn't saying an awful lot.
Anyway, back to Jensen. We should make it a family rule that we never all go with her when she is driving. We try to have just one person telling her what to do and keep from killing us all. I usually hold that designation. However, we Lillywhites are such know-it-alls that it is impossible for us (meaning Ailsa and Lenore) to allow me (the Father, the most skilled in all things mechanical and involving dexterity, hand/eye coordination and the only one capable of the computation of advanced trigonomical formulations in mere nano-seconds) the latitude to instruct and guide our poor fledgling driver, Jensen, safely and happily into the leagues of functioning drivers.
Invariably, we will all pipe in at the same time with some toughtful comment or evaluation of an obstacle/passage/ episode/family near death experience from which we just barely escaped while benefiting from Jensen's superior chauffeuring skills. We often end up shushing eachother and evaluating eachother's driver training prowess. The noise level will escalate until we drive Laney crazy. Next time we will bring duct tape to cover our mouths and let Laney be the driver trainer.
It's not unlike the depiction of the Judean People's Front and all its splinter groups in the Monty Python movie Life of Brian. "We mustn't fight each other! Surely we should be united against the common enemy!"
Actually, at this point Jensen's driving skill isn't any different than 95% of the drivers on Utah roads. Unfortunately, that isn't saying an awful lot.
08 July 2006
07 July 2006
Happy 4th
While at the River this last weekend we attended the Parker Ward on Sunday. Parker is not a thriving metropolis. I'm not sure what the local economy is outside of some occasional tourists. The ward is a little pathetic. But, I mean that in the nicest way. We truly enjoyed ourselves. Proof once again that you don't have to have a mainstream ward to feel the Spirit. Our little party of visitors nearly doubled their attendance. They were very grateful that most of us stayed for all three meetings. I was especially touched by the testimony of a young, tall, slender, extremely dark, latino boy who was most humble in the Spirit.
This is stark, rugged country. It takes a hearty person to live here, both physically and spiritually. The highest temperatures ever recorded in Arizona in the months of April, July, and August were in Parker. The highest for June was in Lake Havasu City which is about 25 miles away. The only place in the country worse for heat is just across the border into San Bernardino County.
I woke up Sunday morning with a Bass voice. I enjoyed singing in church and the members there seemed to enjoy having a large contingent of visitors with good strong singing voices. Unfortunately, in a stupor of thought I had taken our Sunday clothes into the Puggas house in Saint George and we left them there. So Lenore, Laney and I had to scramble for appropriate Church clothes. Aaron Hoke has several shirts and pants and ties that he left at the River house. I was able to make one of these outfits work without too much trouble. However, after I returned home from Church I found that the pants were kinda split in the back. There were four young boys visiting the ward from BYU. One of them was in a t-shirt and swim trunks. I'm guessing he was in the same predicament as us. Lenore scared up a very respectable outfit. But, Laney got stuck wearing a night gown that looked like a Mu-Mu.
I think the ward must be used to people showing up without Church clothes. They must also be used to people ditching after the Sacrament meeting because they thanked us profusely and the Bishop blessed our waverunners to run well for the rest of the week because of our faithfulness in staying for the whole three hours. He should have blessed Ed's boat too because it broke down Tuesday night.
This is how I had fun on the waverunners: I only let Ailsa and Jensen take the slowest one (about 37mph) while I took the fastest one (55mph) then I would chase them down and pass in front of them and then turn and spray them with my wake. I had much fun cackling. They didn't mind too much. But, several times I saw the look of shock on their faces when they got hit with the cold water. Tuesday night when I went with Clay Starnes looking for Ed's boat it was very windy and at times very dusty. I got more than my fair share of gunk in my eyes. It is fun going fast on the water.
I persuaded grandpa to bring his firearms (except for the .32.) I took the two older girls Wednesday morning to kill some rocks. We found an old LDS meetinghouse folding chair (7th and 8th Wards) and used it for a target as well as a discarded water heater and a couple of bottles and cans. We might have to get our own guns and ammo for next time.
This is stark, rugged country. It takes a hearty person to live here, both physically and spiritually. The highest temperatures ever recorded in Arizona in the months of April, July, and August were in Parker. The highest for June was in Lake Havasu City which is about 25 miles away. The only place in the country worse for heat is just across the border into San Bernardino County.
I woke up Sunday morning with a Bass voice. I enjoyed singing in church and the members there seemed to enjoy having a large contingent of visitors with good strong singing voices. Unfortunately, in a stupor of thought I had taken our Sunday clothes into the Puggas house in Saint George and we left them there. So Lenore, Laney and I had to scramble for appropriate Church clothes. Aaron Hoke has several shirts and pants and ties that he left at the River house. I was able to make one of these outfits work without too much trouble. However, after I returned home from Church I found that the pants were kinda split in the back. There were four young boys visiting the ward from BYU. One of them was in a t-shirt and swim trunks. I'm guessing he was in the same predicament as us. Lenore scared up a very respectable outfit. But, Laney got stuck wearing a night gown that looked like a Mu-Mu.
I think the ward must be used to people showing up without Church clothes. They must also be used to people ditching after the Sacrament meeting because they thanked us profusely and the Bishop blessed our waverunners to run well for the rest of the week because of our faithfulness in staying for the whole three hours. He should have blessed Ed's boat too because it broke down Tuesday night.
This is how I had fun on the waverunners: I only let Ailsa and Jensen take the slowest one (about 37mph) while I took the fastest one (55mph) then I would chase them down and pass in front of them and then turn and spray them with my wake. I had much fun cackling. They didn't mind too much. But, several times I saw the look of shock on their faces when they got hit with the cold water. Tuesday night when I went with Clay Starnes looking for Ed's boat it was very windy and at times very dusty. I got more than my fair share of gunk in my eyes. It is fun going fast on the water.
I persuaded grandpa to bring his firearms (except for the .32.) I took the two older girls Wednesday morning to kill some rocks. We found an old LDS meetinghouse folding chair (7th and 8th Wards) and used it for a target as well as a discarded water heater and a couple of bottles and cans. We might have to get our own guns and ammo for next time.
Watch Out for these Outlaws
Yes, Jensen does have her finger on the trigger. And, no, at this point the guns were not loaded.
Big Ride
We had a lovely 4th of July vacation at Kim and Ed's river house. I have been planning for some time to try for a sort of time trial personal best on the bike during this vacation. It was almost thwarted because I forgot to bring my heart rate monitor chest strap. For most of the Sunday before I was expecting that the cyclocomputer wouldn't work unless I was wearing the chest strap. As I drove out to my starting point I even went by the only bike shop listed in lowly Parker, AZ to see if they looked serious enough to have a chest strap I could buy. They didn't look very serious. There was a sign in the window that stated they were closed for the Summer.
When I was setting up for the ride I could tell that the cyclocomputer does work without the chest strap. I started at about 5:30am so as to avoid as much hot weather as possible. Wade drove up and said goodbye as I was getting ready. It seems to me this happened once before, or he has passed me once or twice before on the Ehrenberg road.
My goal was to go 60 miles at a minimum 20mph pace. I was pretty sure that I should avoid going out hard, maybe take it a little easy for the first 30-40 minutes. But, as it was I didn't feel like I was pushing. and I still went at a pretty good clip from early on. It was fairly easy for me to maintain 22-23 mph for long stretches. I took my camel back with about 2/3rds of it frozen and then the rest filled up with water before the ride. I also had two bottles of Cytomax and two Clif bars. I started eating one of the Clif bars 30 minutes into the ride. But, I don't think I am going to buy things like that anymore. In between hard breathing, it took me 40 minutes to eat the silly thing. I could just see someone aspirating a big chunk of the stuff and being found in a putrifying heap on the side of the road two weeks later.
There were four houses with dogs on the loose that I had to make sure I stayed ahead of. I tried to make a mental note of where they were and on the way back I crossed over to the opposite side of the road to avoid them. They must have been inside with the growing heat of the day. Whenever a car or truck passed me, I tried to catch as much of their windstream as possible. It sometimes helped a lot. But, many of the cars would swing clear over into the opposing lanes to avoid scaring me, I guess.
At the halfway point I was about 6 minutes ahead of pace. I stopped my bike to make a nature call. When I got back on I was hurting real badly. I had a very sore spot of cramping/pulled muscle/bruising high on my left hamstring where it connects to the pelvis. Unfortunately, this spot also bears a lot of bodyweight on the saddle. I had to take it real easy for a couple of minutes and move around until I got comfortable and I must have worked some of the tightness out because I was able to continue without it bothering me. But, I was sore for the next two days, weird.
By now there was only a little ice in my camel back. I wanted to douse myself good with water but wasn't able to. There were a couple of good long spells where my speed was down in the 17-19 mph range. But, I kept gauging and computing and it seemed like I was going to make my goal. After a while, it is really just a mental thing. If I had needed to ride farther I would have needed more nutrition and more water/drink. As it was I barely had enough. But, I don't think I suffered for lacking. The road doglegs from due north to NE for the last 5 miles. I was fighting a bit of a headwind from about mile 45-55 and was so hoping that would ease when I turned NE. It did, and I made it back to my car with almost 4 minutes to spare.
I'm not sure I'm going to do this again. Perhaps the next big goal (besides going 22 miles solo in 1 hour) will be more team time trial type rides. (Fast 100 miles or fast 1 hour)
When I was setting up for the ride I could tell that the cyclocomputer does work without the chest strap. I started at about 5:30am so as to avoid as much hot weather as possible. Wade drove up and said goodbye as I was getting ready. It seems to me this happened once before, or he has passed me once or twice before on the Ehrenberg road.
My goal was to go 60 miles at a minimum 20mph pace. I was pretty sure that I should avoid going out hard, maybe take it a little easy for the first 30-40 minutes. But, as it was I didn't feel like I was pushing. and I still went at a pretty good clip from early on. It was fairly easy for me to maintain 22-23 mph for long stretches. I took my camel back with about 2/3rds of it frozen and then the rest filled up with water before the ride. I also had two bottles of Cytomax and two Clif bars. I started eating one of the Clif bars 30 minutes into the ride. But, I don't think I am going to buy things like that anymore. In between hard breathing, it took me 40 minutes to eat the silly thing. I could just see someone aspirating a big chunk of the stuff and being found in a putrifying heap on the side of the road two weeks later.
There were four houses with dogs on the loose that I had to make sure I stayed ahead of. I tried to make a mental note of where they were and on the way back I crossed over to the opposite side of the road to avoid them. They must have been inside with the growing heat of the day. Whenever a car or truck passed me, I tried to catch as much of their windstream as possible. It sometimes helped a lot. But, many of the cars would swing clear over into the opposing lanes to avoid scaring me, I guess.
At the halfway point I was about 6 minutes ahead of pace. I stopped my bike to make a nature call. When I got back on I was hurting real badly. I had a very sore spot of cramping/pulled muscle/bruising high on my left hamstring where it connects to the pelvis. Unfortunately, this spot also bears a lot of bodyweight on the saddle. I had to take it real easy for a couple of minutes and move around until I got comfortable and I must have worked some of the tightness out because I was able to continue without it bothering me. But, I was sore for the next two days, weird.
By now there was only a little ice in my camel back. I wanted to douse myself good with water but wasn't able to. There were a couple of good long spells where my speed was down in the 17-19 mph range. But, I kept gauging and computing and it seemed like I was going to make my goal. After a while, it is really just a mental thing. If I had needed to ride farther I would have needed more nutrition and more water/drink. As it was I barely had enough. But, I don't think I suffered for lacking. The road doglegs from due north to NE for the last 5 miles. I was fighting a bit of a headwind from about mile 45-55 and was so hoping that would ease when I turned NE. It did, and I made it back to my car with almost 4 minutes to spare.
I'm not sure I'm going to do this again. Perhaps the next big goal (besides going 22 miles solo in 1 hour) will be more team time trial type rides. (Fast 100 miles or fast 1 hour)
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