It's the little things...

I never really realized how much I miss the little things of summer.
Yesterday it was 60 (15c) degrees here. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day for the second shortest day of the year.

I decided to take advantage of the warm December day and fired up the smoker for some burgers and good quarter pound Angus beef hot dogs. 
I sat in the sun with a bit of bourbon, a good cigar, and played an online game of Wordfeud with my son, Aaron while the burgers and dogs slowly cooked on the smoker.

That was it.
That's all I did yesterday.
And yet I felt like it was a really good day.
Sipping bourbon and smoking a cigar while sitting in the sun doesn't seem like it should be the highlight of any day, but when you live as simply as I do -- well, it sure felt good.

I know that the slow pace of our retired life in the Ozarks of SWMO isn't what most people would consider to be the good life, but it suits us quite nicely. 

     * * * * *

In just a few minutes the sun will reach its southern most point in the earth's annual orbit and we can turn this planet around and begin our journey back towards spring and summer. For those of us living in SWMO, yesterday had just 9 hours, 36 minutes, and 4 seconds of daylight. Today will have 9 hours, 36 minutes, and 3 seconds, while tomorrow will have 9 hours, 36 minutes, and 5 seconds of daylight.

I know.

I'm a nerd for knowing this shit, but I am also amazed by the order of our little corner of the cosmos.

Happy Solstice to anyone that observes the annual event.
Winter is here, but spring is on its way!

John

December Deck Time and Thursday Theology

There aren't many December mornings that I get to spend time on the deck. Today is peculiar in that this morning's temperature is the warmest of the day and the day will be getting colder as it progresses.

Speaking of progress...
I've been considering religion a lot lately and I am wondering if questioning ones beliefs is a mark of a strong faith or a weak one. I really don't expect everybody's faith journey to be like mine, but I wonder about people that have no faith journey -- only a faith that remains the same for year after year and decade after decade. 
Nothing is challenged.
Nothing is questioned.
We believe what we have been taught without examination.
Nothing changes.

Is that faith?
It sounds more like indoctrination.

I've said it before and I will say it again:
The farther I got from religion, the closer I got to God.

My path is not your path.
But maybe you would benefit from challenging what you have been taught.
Check sources. 
Check the origins of the stories that your faith is based on.
Question everything.

Or don't.
If you are happy in your current state, be happy.
If your happiness is dependent on you condemning others, then you have a weird faith and a strange god.

John

Post #200 for 2025 -- Gratitude

For only the fourth time in the nearly 20 years of posting at Out of My Hat I have reached 200 posts for the calendar year. I have tried to avoid long stretches of not posting this past year, and rarely go an entire week without a post of some kind.

This December has been weird. Going back to work at the shelter has disrupted my rhythm more than I expected it to. I think I'll re-adapt to the 12 hour overnight shifts okay, but for now they're more difficult to recover from than I remember. Or it could just be that another year older is making a difference.

There is a certain rhythm at the shelter. The energy can change from night to night depending on the severity of the weather and the individuals that stay with us on any given night. Personality conflicts between guests or disruptive animals can quickly change the energy of the night. I think that as the winter progresses people are finding their places and the shelter that works best for them. 
Ours is the only shelter that accepts pets, so that is a draw to the pet owners. We do have a cap on the number of animals we take, so there are also pet-less people there that choose our shelter for other reasons.

With both men and women, couples or singles, pets and pet less, and other differences, our place can be a bit more chaotic than other shelters. 
As you can imagine -- it's a lot of people-ing for a guy that enjoys solitude as much as I do.

I will say that I have noticed more gratitude and help from our overnight guests this year than was present in the past year or two. I don't know if it is just the luck of the draw with the people that have been coming to our shelter or if there is a trend of gratitude and appreciation returning to the homeless community.
Whatever the case, it does make serving them throughout the night much more enjoyable.

And, as always --
We have some wonderful volunteers that give of their time to help make the shelter successful. 
We have faced some challenges getting volunteers in this beginning part of the season, but as more continue to step forward it does reduce the stress on the ones that have been serving so often. 
There are people or organizations that provide food for evening meals and for breakfast every day and there are volunteers that come in to serve the meals and clean up the kitchen. 
Every day there are people that show up to clean the facility, to haul laundry, and to transport pets.
And there are our coordinators that recruit and schedule everyone from the sign-up people at the beginning of the night to the clean up people after everyone leaves.

I am truly grateful to everyone that contributes to making our little shelter successful.
Thank you
Thank you 
Thank you!

John

Bah-humbug, and all that stuff!

Note to readers: After proofreading this I realize that it is more negative than I generally post and considered deleting it. But then I decided it's my rant and posted it anyway. Feel free to skip today's (or any day's) post.
JH

Christmas is an interesting time of year for a deconstructed evangelical Christian. While I still consider myself to be a follower of Jesus, I tend to view most religious things with the skepticism of a non-believer. Christmas as the celebration of the birth of the Christ-child just doesn't get it for me anymore. If I am being totally honest with myself, the whole "reason for the season" shite is just a saying to cover for the real reason of buying gifts and getting together with family and friends. 
And those are grand reasons to celebrate, I'm just having a difficult time transitioning to the secular Christmas that I struggled with in my Catholic childhood and evangelical adult life.

In my warped head I am thinking that Jesus is probably thinking WTF? as he looks down on a world that doesn't seem to care about glad tidings and has little (if any) goodwill among men.
For quite some time I have wondered what Jesus would say about a religion that celebrates his birth, but does little to actually follow his teachings. Something tells me that he never really wanted people to worship him the way religion has conditioned us to do, but just wants us to be kind and love one another.

Admittedly, there is a lot of good being done by a few churches and faith families. It is kind of sad that it isn't enough to really overcome my anti-church/anti-religion bias. It's probably accurate to say the good is being done by a few people in a few churches, but that may just be my negatively biased observation. 

I am going to go along to get along throughout the season. I am going to enjoy exchanging gifts with family and going to enjoy our time with the kids. I'll (semi) embrace the secular celebration and even give a religious head nod to Jesus, but I'd be lying to say my heart is really in it.
There is an abundance of good energy during the Christmas season. The world needs some good vibes. That's something I can celebrate.

However you choose to observe the season, do it well!
Merry Christmas
Happy Holidays
Whatever

John

Life Forces and Energy

Recently, I have been actively aware of the energy that surrounds us. I don't know if the energy from the earth is related to the Spirit of God or if it exists merely as a part of creation. I have often attempted to connect with this energy or life force through sitting outdoors, contacting the ground directly through bare feet or digging in the dirt, and through meditation. 
On my recent trip to Puerto Vallarta I was able to actively experience the meditation and connection while floating in the ocean.

Honestly, while it does feel like I am making a type of energy connection to the world around me, I have not yet been able to confirm that in any way other than to say it feels right.
In that sense, it is very much a kind of spiritual experience and I'm not sure of how that reconciles with my learned thoughts on God. I have become much more open to allowing my thoughts on God to grow beyond what I have been taught by various religions, especially as I note the controlling motivations of most religious organizations.

With the recent southern exposures to the northern lights, I have started to wonder about the color of different energy signatures and if they exist beyond or beneath our vision.
Is there a color difference that we might sense (even if we don't see it) between energy from the sun and energy from the earth? 
Do plants give off a different color of life energy than animals (or people)?
Are there different energy colors for the earth, the air, and water?
Is love energy a different color than hate energy?
Is selfishness a different color than generosity?

I know there isn't really any sound theology to wondering about how a Creator might manifest its energy in the world that has been created, but questions are all I've got for today.

John

Extra Words for Wednesday

It is rare that I would post twice in a day, but it is almost noon and I find myself sitting on the deck enjoying a second pot of coffee (decaf this time), listening to some easy listening classic rock, and writing seems like a fine thing to do.

I've got plastic covered panels up to enclose the deck for the winter. It isn't an air tight enclosure as there are some gaps at the ends of the panels (I might work on those) and the decking has normal board spacing. But it does stop the wind and trap the sun's warmth a bit. My phone app tells me the current Highlandville temperature is 46f (8c) while the deck thermometer shows it nearly 10 (5c) degrees warmer. That works for sweat pants and a flannel shirt. Even when it is colder, the deck is still a good place to be and I am a happy boy.

Do you have a safe place; a happy place?
The deck is a place I go for quiet. I can meditate, read, enjoy a cigar and drink, listen to music, or just sit and relax. I can watch TV if I want to and I can sleep for an afternoon nap or for the night. Most of the year I have deck plants to care for and a hummingbird feeder to tend to and observe. Through the spring, summer and early fall I can look out at some of the flowers that I've planted for the birds, bees, and butterflies.

It is definitely a place of refuge and I have missed it for the past six weeks.
It is good to be home.

John
 

Wednesday Wisdom

John
 

One week later...

It was just a week ago that I arrived back home after 4 weeks in Puerto Vallarta. 
In some ways it seems like the week has gone by very quickly. In other ways it feels like a long time since I was enjoying the sunshine and warmer temperatures of the tropical beach community of PV.

The cold weather and schedule has had me working extra nights at the shelter so this week was mostly divided into working and sleeping times. Yesterday and today seem more normal and I'll just have to get used to the couple of days per week that I'll be overnighting at the shelter for the winter. 

Last season I wasn't on staff and didn't volunteer as much as I had planned to, so I am kind of getting reacquainted with the people and the process.  The thing that strikes me most as I re-enter the shelter system is that there are fewer volunteers than there have been in the past. I am curious as to the reason for the significant decline in people that are available and willing to help, and I am wondering if it spreads across volunteering for other services or is centralized with the unsheltered community.
Whatever the reasons are -- we have a great need for help. I have a feeling that is true wherever crisis cold weather shelters exist, so please contact someone in your area if you have time to give.

In other news -- It's cold!
Okay, so that's not really newsworthy for SWMO in December and it isn't going to change much for a few months, but I try not to complain too much and this is my primary outlet for venting. For the sake of my few remaining followers, I will try to keep the cold weather comments to a minimum.
As always, I am #readyforspring !

John

New Routine

I'll be re-establishing my home routine in a new way for a few days. It is almost 5:30 in the afternoon and I am just getting up after spending last night at the shelter. Due to an unusual situation I will be working four consecutive nights so sleeping all day and getting up in the evening to go to work will be how I spend my week.
I guess I'll get back to my regular routine later.

There were light flurries when I left the shelter to come home this morning and the temperature was somewhere around 20f (-7c). That's a pretty big change from the mornings of walking in shorts and sandals to sit at a sidewalk cafe for my coffee. 
We will have several days of below freezing weather.
Life in the Ozarks.

We brought all of the deck plants into the house before we left for Mexico. Now they are just sort of spread throughout the house. I'll need to move them to the basement so they can get some natural light. We really don't get much direct sunlight in the main living areas of the house due to the large front and back porches. It works well at keeping the house much cooler during the hot days of summer, but isn't great for indoor plants.

While I may struggle to find my winter routine, at least that struggle won't include having to find a place to stay warm at night or looking for food. Our un-sheltered neighbors are very grateful for the people that volunteer at the shelters and provide food. I fear that the high cost of housing is driving more people from their homes and we are going to see an increase in numbers this year.

If you are in the area here, we could really use your help. There are plenty of volunteer positions available.
If you are not in this area, please check local shelters or food pantries where you live.
Homelessness is not a uniquely American problem, but it is unique in how we tend to ignore or criminalize it.
Have some compassion.
Be kind.

John