State Fair

The end of summer in Minnesota is heralded by the arrival of the State Fair.  For artists, it's an honor to be included in the Fine Arts exhibit.  I've been fortunate to be a part of that for the past 3 years.  My entry for this year reflects the political climate that we are in.  A not so subtle jab at our current fearful leader.....

Inaccuracies At Work

Charles mentioned the truck with the pictures of 'aborted fetuses' - actually the truth is much different.

This was from a post on lifeandlibertyforwomen.com:
Misrepresentation
A considerable number of anti-abortion visuals feature an almost fully developed fetus. Abortions preformed at this stage via hysterotomy or D&X abortions are rare. Only about 1.5% of abortions are performed at 21-weeks or older, according to according to a 2000 study conducted by the Nation Center for Chronic Disease (CDC). A July 1992 LIFE magazine article, The Great Divide, reported that Reverend Robert Schenk, member of anti-choice coalition Operation rescue, attended a demonstration outside an abortion clinic in Buffalo, NY, with "Baby Tia", a 7-inch, gray-tinted and formaldehyde-soaked dead fetus. In the escalating madness of the crowd, the fetus was dropped onto the sneaker-trodden street. Authorities arrested Schenk and confiscated the fetus, which was taken to a coroner, only to be identified as an approximately 20-week-old stillborn. The article reads, "Many pro-choice supporters in Buffalo are angry about the distance between their reality-what they see in the clinics-and the images the anti-abortionists present as fact. 'What they are showing to the public is a lie,' says Joni Ladowski, a nurse at a nearby clinic, as she unfolds a length of gauze. In the center lies what appears to be a clot the size of a peanut. It is a fetus, nine weeks old. 'This is an abortion,' she says."

These anti-choice people will use lies and language ("infanticide") to get their point across. Republicans seem to enjoy scaring people into action as opposed to informing them. IMHO.

A day

Well, we are done posting those excruciating posts about remodeling frustration.  Now it's time to enjoy life and deal with the nagging anxiety of finding The Buyers.   So Cindy and I have been taking the time to enjoy life's little pleasures:  washing the cars on a Saturday afternoon, working our way through the Beatles anthology DVD's (again), taking a bike ride and enjoying the NY Times on the weekends.  

We had another treat today, as we (Cindy, her friend Amy and I) drove to St. Paul to witness some of the craziness that is the Republican National Convention and to see a Live! taping of the Daily Show with your host, John Stewart.  The show is taped in the heart of St. Paul, just about a mile away from the convention.  The deal with getting into the show is that you have to wait in line for 2 - 3 hours before they start letting people in.  So while we waited in line we listened to a few bands playing on the lawn behind us and watched the parade of Police vehicles of all types, big shiny cars with mysterious occupants and upright citizen republicans mixing with the outside edges of society.  The most unfortunate part, though, was watching a couple trucks making the circles around downtown plastered with their dogma.  One was a large delivery van that had one giant picture on each side and the back of aborted fetuses.  The pictures had to be 4 feet by 6 feet.  The other was much more creative in a folk art kind of way.  It appeared to be an old Datsun pickup retrofitted with a camper like back end that was hand lettered with biblical verse, something about Truth, Not Tolerance, two large flags on top (one of which seemed to be either a christian or a KKK flag) and of course, the requisite abortion photo on the back.  The crowd was having fun with it, tho.  Every time they would drive by, they would receive a mocking applause.  Quite the scene.

Seeing the trucks going round and round with their in your face messages got me to thinking about some messaging that wasn't allowed to happen in this town while the convention is in progress.  A photographer named Suzanne Opton has been taking a series of portraits of returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who have returned from war.  She has been displaying them on billboards in cities like Syracuse and Buffalo.  She had a contract to put some up in St. Paul but the powers that be decided at the last minute that they would be "too disturbing". A picture of one of them is at the top of this post.  So I'm just thinking about who decides what information and imagery is proper for us fools to be privy to and what free speech actually means.  Thank you Republicans!

But, then we got into the Daily Show (locked into it, actually) and all was in balance again.  I gotta say, John Stewart is not only smart and hilarious, but he is sharp as a tack.  As a double bonus, we were sitting next to his honor, the Mayor of St. Paul and his wife and her giddy girlfriend.  We had the row all to ourselves!  I didn't have the heart to ask Mayor Coleman how the Security Zone was doing in the face of the unrelenting assault by the Anarkists.  Next time.

No bites, just nibbles

So far, mediocre response to, in my opinion, two of the most lovely residences ever! Oh well. It's frustrating to have outside forces dictate our wedding schedule.

Summah vacation!

Hi folks,
A few scattered pics from the vacation. Unfortunately, I don't have any pics of Mike and Donna together, and no pics of C2, both kids and me together. I should have been more aware of these oversights, but my brain, along with the rest of me, was on vacation.

ON SALE! BUY THE CUTE HOUSE!

That's it. It's on the market.
Phew. Now I just have to keep the house clean.

Back on Track!

Hello All-
We're about 2-3 weeks from being ready to put the houses up on the market. I've taken a couple days off work to hit the painting and packing hard. I'm so excited!
New News-I just found out why I've been so ill the last few months. It seems my thyroid decided to quit working. Now I'm starting medication and maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to handle all this excitement without feeling like I'm falling apart.
Yippee.

More progress

I will try to remember to bring in my photos to show the kitchen progress. New ceiling, walls, countertop. No floor right now, but there is a new ceiling in the foyer. And, the basement bathroom is painted!
Progress.

That's what he said

I never thought of c2 as an 'over the hill bachelor'-that's pretty funny! But I do understand the idea of each of us changing from single beings to part of a couple.
Whatever lies ahead seems more like an adventure than something to be worried or stressed or scared about. I feel calm and happy and know that all things will happen in their time. I refuse to get stressed out about this because it will be what it will be. I get the feeling that what I like about the realtor we're using, will also be what I won't like about her. She's aggressive and tenacious-which is fine if you're selling our house or bargaining for the new one. But we'll get the house ready as soon as we can and that just can't be done in a week!
Anyway, like c2 said, this couldn't happen soon enough for either of us. We belong together.

Labor pains

  We're in full court press getting our properties ready to sell.  All the plaster is off of the walls and ceiling in Cindy's kitchen.  Next we'll be putting up sheetrock and zipping it all up.  

We secured a storage facility on Saturday to move all of our excess furniture and clutter to in order to make our places more presentable for prospective buyers.  With that, of course, has been a lot of packing and furniture moving.  This is when the reality of our journey has hit home for me.

  Packing up my dinosaur stereo and piles of LP's got me to ruminating about the changes that are underway.  My current existence as an over the hill bachelor in a cheesy condo is fading away right before my brain as my environment is changed to make way for the new.  I know that the next time I see this stuff, we will be married  and in our new home, together at last.  Our upcoming union is no longer a concept but a very real goal that we are putting a lot of physical labor into making happen.  And it can't happen too soon for either of us.