of drawing sufficient conclusions

from insufficient premises~

~Samuel Butler

The best condition in life

is to be

not so rich as to be envied

and not so poor as to be damned~

~Josh Billings

For everything you have missed,

you have gained something else,

for everything you gain,

you lose something else~

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

We must accept finite disappointment,

but we must never lose infinite hope~

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The pure, the beautiful, the bright

That stirred our hearts in youth

The impulse to a wordless prayer

The dreams of love and truth

The longings after something lost

The spirits’ yearning cry

The striving after better hopes~

These things can never die~

~Sarah Doudney

if you muse on it a bit; you’ll be surprised how relevant these little tidbits are to us humans as well.

(from “Pooh’s Little Instruction Book”)

1)if possible, try to find a way to come downstairs that doesn’t involve going BUMP, BUMP, BUMP on the back of your head.

2)rivers know this: There is no hurry. We shall get there someday.

3) A Little Consideration, a little Thought for Others, makes all the difference.

4)Always watch where you are going. Otherwise, you may step on a piece of the Forest that was left out by mistake.

5) Not everyone appreciates being HOOSHED to the bank of the river by having a large stone dropped on them.

6) A proper tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you forget about afterwards.

7) When late morning rolls around, and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry, you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish.

8) When you are a Bear of Very Little Brain, and you Think of Things, you find sometimes that the Thing which seemed very Thingish inside you, is quite different when it gets out into the open and has other people looking at it.

9) Being fine today doesn’t Mean Anything. It may hail a good deal tomorrow- blizzards and whatnot.

10)We can’t all, and some of us don’t. That’s all there is to it.

11)People who don’t Think, probably don’t have Brains: rather, they have grey fluff that’s blown into their heads by mistake.

12)When you’ve been walking in the wind for miles, and you suddenly go into somebody’s house, and he says, “you’re just in time for a little smackerel of something’, then its a friendly day.

13)When you are pretty sure an Adventure is going to happen, brush the honey off your nose and spruce yourself up as best you can, so as to look Ready For Anything.

14)When trying to ignore a knock at your door, don’t yell out, “No!” when someone asks, “is anybody home?”

15)It isn’t much good having anything exciting like floods, if you can’t share them with somebody.

16)If the person you’re talking to doesn’t appear to be listening- be patient- it may simply be that he has a small bit of fluff in his ear.

17)It’s hard to be brave, when you’re only A Very Small Animal.

18)You can’t stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes.

19)When you fall on somebody, its not enough to say you didn’t mean to; after all, he probably didn’t mean to be underneath you.

20) Sometimes a boat is a boat, and sometimes its more of an Accident. It depends on whether you’re on top of it, or underneath it.

21)Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.

22)In case of Sudden and Temporary Immersion, the Important Thing is to keep the Head Above Water.

23)Its so  much more friendly with two.

24)Don’t underestimate the value of Doing Nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things yo can’t hear, and not bothering.

Maybe one of these will speak to you; maybe you’ll carry one throughout your day; or maybe you’ll just laugh and shake your head…

Peace Out~

(kai)

copyright 2009/2010 kai h. all rights reserved.

“I Married An Ax Murderer”

“My Stepmother Is An Alien”

etc. But this date (a blind date btw) takes the cake!!

She’s evil. I seriously believe it. Barely into the date and I was wondering what would happen if I hosed her down with some holy water.

She had her clutches into me, literally! I still have the indents from those long, red talons of doom on my forearm.

She drank like a fish (such an attractive quality), she swore like a sailor, and I thank god she was wearing jeans, cuz the woman couldn’t put her legs together if she tried!

Mm-hmm. Starting to get the picture now? I could hardly wait to rush through this date, cart her home, and toss her from the moving vehicle onto her lawn/cemetery, whatever.  I thought of sneaking off while she was in the “ladies” (I use the word quite loosely) room, but had the eerie, unshakable feeling that by the time I made it out to the car, she would already be there, in the passenger seat.

Just when I thought it could get no worse…I mean, she was in the car, she wasn’t talking, we were almost to her house where I planned to make a swift and eager getaway…what else could possibly go wrong?? (btw-never ask yourself this question, because friends, there is ALWAYS something left to go wrong.

In this case, it came as she was exiting the vehicle. I had dodged and excused her every suggestion to “continue the evening” UGH! and just as I was in the free & clear, just as I could see the full moon, smell the fresh, clean air-SHE RAZORED MY HAIR!!

Crazy female! WTF??? She had a small razor hidden in the palm of her hand, and as she reached in to (what I thought- pat my shoulder?) she sheared a huge chunk of my hair off and ran into her coven house with it!!

I barreled outta there like a crazy man. I couldn’t wait to put distance between that psycho and myself. Once I got home, I called the “friend” (I use this term very loosely) who set us up and told him I was deleting him from my cell. I double-checked all the doors and windows. And then lay awake most of the night wondering if she could extract my DNA from my hair and diabolically manufacture our genetically mutated love child.

Ah…gotta go take a nap.

Peace

(Kai)

copyright Kai H. 2009/2010 all rights reserved

It was about 11:00PM when my Mom and her friend decided to walk up to the store (2 blks) to get a soda from the local store in our little town.

As they walked up the long main drag, they saw, across the street, quite the commotion. 5 police vehicles, some teen-looking kids, and a bunch of cops. They couldn’t make out what was going on, so they continued walking towards the store. They had only walked a few feet when they stumbled on our neighbor kids. My Mom asked them if they had seen my brother yet. “Yeah…” one of them replied, “He’s right over there”.

Mom watched the direction of neighbor-boy’s finger, which was pointing straight to the scene of all the commotion with the cops. When my Mom turned to look again, all the other kids had cleared out, and there in the middle stood my brother with cuffs on.

My Mom took off running down the street. My friend said she never saw her move that fast. Afraid they would load him up before she got there, she crossed against the light across 4 lanes of traffic, and ran up to the first officer she saw.

She watched my brother standing there, 20 yrs old, never in trouble, and burst into tears herself, especially knowing that she didn’t have the money to bail him out. She watched them meticulously comb through his backpack, and other belongings.

They badgered him on everything…right down to the Centrum vitamin and the vitamin C he carries with him. They confiscated his bike riding gloves due to the metal studs that were on there (he didn’t know those were considered a weapon–hell, even I didn’t know that). He asked to keep the gloves with the studs taken out, to which the cop replied, “why? so you can just put in more?”  (No, ingrate–because it’s winter in a mountain community.Need gloves in the snow. Duh?) Those gloves cost $50. originally. They pulled an old chewing tobacco container from the backpack, which my brother keeps his “shake” in. You know–loose leaf tobacco to wrap in papers and smoke when he runs out of regular smokes. The cop said he smelled marijuana. Bullshit!

There was no marijuana anywhere on my brother’s person, nor belongings, and when the cop finally opened the tobacco container and smelled for himself, well…’nuff said.

Intermittently, my Mom was tearfully talking to the different cops that were there, asking if she could please say goodbye to her son before they take him away, as she won’t be able to bail him out, and they said he’ll be in there at least until Tues. when he’ll get a hearing.

She tried to ascertain the original reason that my brother/the group of kids he was with were stopped by the cops in the first place. No one could give her an answer. It finally came down to the fact that my brother had thrown a magazine down in the street. A cop saw it, all the kids cleared out, and only my brother was left to rough up.

They put him in the back of the vehicle. The officer came to talk to my Mom. The charge was carrying an illegal weapon (a knife he’s owned forever, and just always as carried around n his backpack). Apparently the knife is larger than the allowable measure of inches, therefore, illegal. So that was confiscated, along with the stud gloves, and some razor blades.

My Mom could barely stand she was crying so hard, watching her “baby” being cuffed and dragged off by the cops. Yes, one or two of the family have been in minor scrapes with the law over the years…but she never came upon them on the street, never watched them be handcuffed and led away.

After quite a bit of standing around, the cop in charge came over to my Mother. “here’s the deal…” he said. “He hasn’t been in trouble before, but the knife is a felony, the studs misdemeanors, as was throwing the magazine into the street (omg!), but we’ve decided to fill out a release form here. We’re not taking him in, but the knife we will hold onto, and if he gets into any trouble in the next year, we will prosecute him for the felony of the knife.”

My Mom was so grateful, and after he knew the news, my brother was too. A bit shaken up, but happy to be going home with my Mom.

Another interesting thing came out of it, which just reminds me of the saying that “God works in mysterious ways”, because my brother confided in me, that as he sat in the back of the cop car, cuffed,angry, upset, worried about my Mom, he did something, he said a prayer. He told me he hadn’t said a prayer in a very long time. But he said it then.

It’s All Good.

*derry*

*copyright Derry 2009/2010 all rights reserved

One of the first pieces of advice I give to people when they ask about paranormal happenings in their own home or lives,is this~~

#1 top priority~~NEVER, NEVER use a Ouija Board. Many people don’t know this, and believe is is just a harmless board game, especially due to the fact that Parker Brothers markets their Ouija Board to look fun and friendly, where it is easily accessible, on the toy/game aisle of any local WalMart, Target, Kmart, etc.

Top paranormal investigators, parapsychologists, lay religious, clergy, and even demonologists themselves have again and again come forward to warn people of the dangers of this seemingly innocuous  “game”.  Through many years of study, and experience, these experts have come to find that using a Ouija Board is akin to opening a door, a portal, if you will,to the spirit world.

You have “invited” spirits, ghosts, demons…whatever, into your home and life. There have been countless examples of people who thought they were harmlessly playing around, and ended up with their lives being spun into a horrific nightmare of events, which they cannot comprehend, nor put an end to. This is when the professionals are called in.

If you have a Ouija Board, whether manufactured or homemade, and you wish to be rid of it, I would suggest calling your clergyperson, or a qualified paranormal investigator in your area for the best suggestions on how to dispose of it. NEVER, NEVER burn it! Rather than rid you of anything, it simply releases whatever was called forward into your atmosphere, giving it greater power. Also, NOT a good idea to bury it on your property. This would give it a “resting place”, a place within to put down “roots” (not in the literal sense, of course) and still be wreaking havoc on yourself and your loved ones.

Once the Ouija Board has been gotten rid of per the experts advice, it is a good idea to walk the four corners of your property,bringing with you 4 blessed St. Michael the Archangel medals (it doesn’t matter your religion~St. Michael is the warrior who battled Satan~this is his purpose~to protect). In each of the 4 corners of your property, bury one St. Michael medal, say the novena to St. Michael, cross yourself and move on until you have covered all 4 corners. This is a rite of protection, keeping evil spirits from crossing into your property again.

#2 Topic~~Do not EVER “call out” what you may believe is a spirit amongst you. Do not dare it. Do not challenge it. If you are unaware of paranormal procedure, and unaware of exactly what you are dealing with, to challenge or dare a spirit, or other entity could have disasterously dangerous results.

#3 Topic~~When moving into a new house, I have advised people to procure both Indian sage, and blessed Holy Water. You may do a blessing on your own home, with prayer, or meaningful words to keep safe, to keep well, to keep from harm, danger, and evil, the members of your household. As you are walking throughout the house, saying your blessing you will sweep the burning sage through out each room, making sure to get the corners and closets, afterword making the sign of the cross with the holy water over all doors and windows, and sprinkling it liberally through out the rest of the house.

#4 Topic~~”Shadow people” are nearly ALWAYS a manifestation of something bad. Something evil. This is definitely one type of case you should arrange for help from a qualified paranormal investigator. “Shadow people”, and/or any black form should be always taken as a warning. This is not a friendly spirit. Find help ASAP!

Well, that’s all for tonight. Maybe I helped just one person out there.That would be fantastic!

~Raine~

*copyright Raine S. 2009/2010 all rights reserved

These days, its up to us to use our own discretion more than anything to weed out from all the reports we receive, what is truth, and what is fiction, and/or a portion of fiction?

Keeping tabs on the following stories, I wonder what the majority of readers thinks?? I want your opinion!! Tell me what you’ve decided about these following stories~~

BALLOON BOY~~heard this one?? Richard and Mayumi Heenan are most likely facing charges from Colorado authorities after their homemade air balloon was sent up in an experiment, and the Heenans then supposedly were unable to find their youngest son. Apparently one of the other children suggested he may have gone up in the balloon. The police and media wasted no time, and before long, the entire thing was being played out on live TV for literally hours. The little boy was apparently hiding in the attic, and then the garage (for 4 hours???) until he came out. The family was giving live interviews on many programs…Richard Heenan especially tripping all over himself trying to find the words to answer some of the questions.

It was when one of the boys piped up with the whole thing being a “game” that police and others became suspicious. They believe it may have been a publicity stunt to capture attention for a potential reality show idea.

Besides being looked at for the hoax itself, the parents may face contributing to the delinquency of a minor charges.

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

ROMAN POLANSKI~~What’s up with this guy? I never did understand why they never went (before now) and got this guy, and made him face up to what he did.

All of Hollywood is up in arms (typically), with even Polanski’s former sister-in-law claiming he did no wrong, with even the victim (a grown woman now of course) saying she wasn’t interested in pursuing further charges against him (let’s not forget she took a pay-off back in the 70′s from Polanski himself.

Why is everyone so eager to “let this slide”?? Is a crime in 1977 less of a crime now?? Is rape and sodomy and intoxication of a minor child any less serious?

The man fed alcohol and drugs to a 13 year old little girl, then proceeded to rape and sodomize her. When sentenced, he ran off to France to avoid doing the time.

Does anyone else see anything WRONG with this picture??

WHAT DO YOU THINK??

~Raine~

These are in no particular order–just all the best ones I could muster up for a creepy night in front of the DVD player.

*Exorcist (1973) surely you’ve heard of it?

*Psycho psychotic Norman Bates and fugitive from justice, Janet Leigh caught up in the horror that IS the Bates Motel.

*Eraserhead (1977) considered the greatest cult film of all time

*Pet Semetary (1989) Stephen King wrote it man, what else is there left to say?

*The Shining(1980) “red rum, red rum”, Jack Nicholson at his best!

*Halloween (1978) severely disturbed Michael Myers is loose from the insane asylum and on his way to kill his sister (and anyone else who gets in the way)

*Night of the Living Dead (1968) George Romero’s 1st in what would become a series. This one especially excellent considering it was a bunch of friends who put it together on a shoestring budget, and actually got it out there. An awesome cult classic!

*Nightmare on Elm St.(1984) The idea of someone so terrifying being able to enter your dreams (such a sacred place) is terrifying enough, and then you lay your eyes on Freddie.

*Texas Chainsaw Massacre(1974) Leatherface at his best.

*Poltereist Still a staple in many people’s horror movie collections.

*Ju-On (2000) from Japan (not to be confused with the U.S. production “The Grudge”, which is not nearly are horrific). Jealous husband brutally slaughters his wife & child. They just won’t go away.

*The Ring (2002)A whole new dimension cinematically.Premise and photography both contribute to a chilling tale.

*Jacob’s Ladder (1990) Hallucinations? Or are they?

*Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Pod people taking over towns, taking over everything !

*28 Days Later (2002) An up-to-the-times film. Biological warfare and zombies. Excellent.

*Saw (2004) Jigsaw’s debut. Horrific torture, and more.

*War of the Worlds (1953) the best, the scariest sci-fi flick of the 50′s.

yeah, I know I probably left out lots of other’s faves–so open a comment box and add them right in there would ya?

peace

(Kai)

copyright 2009/2010 by Kai H.

I’m posting about my day so far…which I admit is not any more entertaining then the above, but will fulfill my sense of accomplishment of something (semi-) worthwhile today, and ya know…its something…

9AM awaken to sunshine and seriously high winds. roommate never made it home. either lying dead in the road somewhere, or snoring peacefully under some hottie’s powder-pink comforter somewhere, smelling of beer and needing a shave.

9:15 downstairs to make coffee…damn coffee maker has decided to quit today. damn!  substitute instant coffee instead,. that plus a marlboro cigarette constitutes breakfast.

9:45 annual sunday call from mother, cajoling, reasoning, and finally shouting, (occasional fake cry thrown in for good measure) about how she raised a good catholic boy, who should be on his way to church today, not hanging around in his boxers watching cable (how does she know these things?). finally i cut her off and hang up by telling her that the jehova’s witnesses are at the door.

10:30 on the couch, (in my boxers) eating cold pizza and watching the original, first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s movie. I think an actual jehova’s witness did come to the door…but I wasn’t answering, too enthralled by Casey Jones’s sweet moves on the “gang”.

12:00 NOON ate some Doritos and a coke, then took a shower, got myself cleaned up. found ants in the kitchen…sprayed them all with Lysol, which seems to work well.

*I know, I know…if only I had picked some toe jam or something…this would be soooo much better…(sigh)

going to take a nap

peace out

*derry*

copyright 2009/2010 by Derry

An eve of legendary historical fact. Beliefs from back in the day include the 31st being the one night a year that the living can see, and communicate with, the dead. The one night the dead can walk the earth to seek revenge for a violent death. Celebration of the harvest. Celebration of the end of summer.

Many people like to see if they can raise the dead on that specific night. Many enjoy spooking others, and spooking themselves.

But has anyone actually experienced CREDIBLE paranormal activity, either on All Hallow’s Eve, or any other time of the year?

I am what is known as a “sensitive”. I am NOT a medium or a PSYCHIC. However, have always felt, premonitioned, and been hyper-sensitive to atmospheres, possible spirits, etc. I have many, many examples of “paranormal” phenomena running throughout my life.

One I would like to share here is particularly creepy as it was happening to me: I lived in a haunted house for eight years. At first, it was simply haunted, as in, inhabited by spirits. They did not harm nor bother us, they were simply unable to leave as they were trapped by their horrific, violent deaths. When we first moved in, we all felt a “presence”, though we couldn’t quite identify it.

One thing that particularly stood out for all of us, and this was not something we had discussed amongst each other, it was just something that all of us felt. We all got an extremely uncomfortable and ominous feeling about the back bathroom. It was so strong that none of us wanted to venture back there. It was unexplainable,and extremely foreboding.

With all the other strange little things going on in the house, our neighbor finally put 2 and 2 together for us by letting us in on what the landlord SHOULD HAVE. Apparently the former tenants had committed a murder/suicide in our place. IN THE BATHROOM.  Yikes!

Later, due to certain situational things happening within the family, we acquired a poltergeist. Many people write that poltergeists are simply “playful” and “mischevious”.I couldn’t DISAGREE more!!

This thing was downright destructive, downright scary, and the furthest thing from playful that i ever saw! We would be awakened nightly with the largest crashing, banging sounds coming from the laundry room (i can only describe them as if someone had taken all the pots and pans from the cupboard, held them about 6 ft. above the washer/dryer, and then let them crash down. It frightened a couple of us out of our sleeps every time. Going to investigate- there was never ANYTHING there, or in any part of the house that would account for that awful noise. It sent a kitchen shelf crashing down once, breaking the coffee cups, it tipped over a 5′ standing wall shelf in the middle of the room, breaking all the little collectibles on it. It locked people in and out of rooms that had NO LOCKS on them. And too many other things to go on.

I don’t know if the apparitions were from the people that died, or manifested somehow by the poltergeist (unlikely from what i know about poltergeist activity), but during this time, there was a woman who would sit at the end of the bed, at times i wondered if it was my dead sister, but i did not sense her at all, i sensed something unfamiliar. she would come nearly every night, and could be felt actually sitting down. at one point there was a shadow figure, which is never good that came to this room as well. the interesting thing about this room is, it was always FREEZING! this town we lived in got into triple digit temps during the summer-but this room was always cold, even the carpet.

eventually we moved, and luckily nothing followed us. for awhile we had peace. although i still sense a foreboding at certain places, or certain people i’ve met. although i still receive premonitions that come true (over the summer i woke one day to the image of my great-uncle and the words with his name and “dead”. i hadn’t seen him in 20-some years, but was very close to him as a little child. why was he popping up now suddenly? for a week i received these messages, finally called a family member as i was so concerned. the family member informed me that he had died that day.) at least i am poltergeist-free (knock wood).

i invite any of you who have a true encounter/experience with the paranormal to share your spooky story here! i’m fascinated by them all and would love to hear some of yours!!  ~thanks~

~Raine~

copyright 2009-2010 by Raine s. unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

~Raine’s Delicious Pumpkin Bread~

Ingredients~
3 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

3 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

2/3 cups water

2 cups canned (unseasoned) pumpkin

**my secret ingredient~ VANILLA EXTRACT (add 1-2 Tbsp)
1) preheat oven to 350 degrees

2) sift dry ingredients together in bowl

3) mix pumpkin, water, oil, eggs (& vanilla if you choose) together in a separate bowl until well mixed

4) pour dry mixture into wet mixture and mix well

5) pour into 2 greased 9x5x3″ loaf pans. bake 1 hour & 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean.

cool before removing from pans.

~Raine’s Special Holiday Chocolate/Butterscotch Cookies~
(the secret to this fantastic cookie recipe is that it starts with a cake mix! trust me…no one will ever guess!)

~ALSO~these are really fun for kids who want to “help” with baking~not too many ingredients, no way to “mess” these up, and instant gratification!!  LOL

Ingredients~

1 box Duncan Hines chocolate cake mix (do not use package directions)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 ~ 12 oz package of Nestle’ butterscotch morsels

(1-2 Tbsp vanilla extract if desired)

1) in a small bowl,add eggs, beat well with a fork

2) in a large bowl, add cake mix, vegetable oil, and beaten eggs (add vanilla here if using)

3) stir well with a spoon

4) add butterscotch chips and stir until dough stiffens like cookie dough

5) drop by Tbsp-fuls onto greased cookie sheets

6) bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

7) let set for approximately 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets