A good samaritan.

In the blog the other day we mentioned our car breaking down, and how a good Samaritan helped us out by going out of his way to drive the family home. In an E-mail from our friend Brushy Clump, he mentioned researching good Samaritans, and although we already knew of the reference in the bible (In which Christ tells the parable of the good Samaritan.) we did not know that Samaritans were a religious sect that coexisted with the early Jewish religion, and that they were reviled by the Jews (and early Christians as well.) It seems when Christ mentioned the Samaritan in the parable he way implying that even a hated Samaritan can get to heaven if they follow the tenets that he was teaching. The meaning of the parable, either that people other than Jewish people can commit good deeds, or that anyone can get into heaven. That being said, we could like to again thank our good Samaritan, who told us his name was Dick, he lived in Marquette and was on his way home, but he drove 14 miles out of his way to insure we got home. A very bright spot in an otherwise horrible evening. Ciao for now.

We would rather be bored.

In yesterdays blog entry we pointed out that boredom (due to anhedonia no doubt) was a becoming a problem, not an insurmountable problem, but a problem just the same. Since yesterday boredom has become the least of our worries. At 6:20 pm last night as we were in Marquette for meetings etc, our car died. (Transmission seized.) Connal and me walked down to the gas station (about 4 blocks) after checking the fluid levels, the transmission fluid looked low so we added a quart, but to no avail. A very kind gentlemen named Dick offered us a ride home as we waited for Lisa at the church. So at least we are home. But all in all when it comes to boredom or bad luck, we'll take the boredom thank you. Ciao for now

Some mornings there's not enough coffee in the world.

Why is it that you can do pretty much the same thing for two days in a row, get up at the same time, do chores and get outside for some excersize, go to bed at the same time. And yet, one morning you wake up feeling refreshed and ready to change the world, and the next day you are walking around with your eyes half closed, bumping into the furniture. It's as if your head is filled with cotton balls and your eyes are raisins with glue in the cracks. (The preceding was written about 7:20 AM, now however it is after noon.) Eventually the gluey eyeballs pass, the cotton balls are replaced with synaptic egg noodles (which are much better for thinking with than cotton balls) and the day is filled with gottadoo which is not some strange form of animal feces but the list of things you gotta do, before your day is done. So in a few brief minutes we shall be heading out the door to our next task/appointment/thingamabob and this moment of introspection will be gone forever.
Except of course for reading later on if we so desire. Gotta go, ciao for now.

Strangeness abounds, or at least dances.

We at the crazy enjoy mysteries, especially mysteries of a strange nature. For example we have all heard of one dance craze or another (The Macarena, the twist, the alligator, the displaced hip, Ok we made that last one up.) But in Strasbourg France, in July of 1518 a different sort of dance craze broke out. A woman named Frau Troffea stepped outside of her home and began to dance in the streets. She continued dancing for the rest of the day until she collapsed in exhaustion. When she awakened she stood and began dancing again. She simply could not stop. By the end of August over 400 people were caught up in the dance, most expressing fear and horror when it struck them. How many people died due to exhaustion is unknown. The dancer would dance for a period of four days for up to a week and them simply stop. City officials unsure of what to do to help the afflicted came up with the wonderful idea of opening two guildhalls and a grain market, and setting up musicians to accompany the dancers (which goes to show you that a politician is a politician even in 14th century Europe.) The dance "craze" sprang up seven more times in the villages surrounding Strasbourg over the next hundred years or so. And a major outbreak occurred in Madagascar in the 1840's. At that time medical reports described, "people dancing wildly, in a state of trance, convinced they were possessed by spirits." So what caused the people of Strasbourg and then Madagascar to dance uncontrollably until they dropped, the only explanation that seems to fit is "Mass psychogenic illness," which psychologists believe were a result of pressure due to social or cultural upheavals of the time. This is also the label they put on the 1962 laughter epidemic in Tanganyika which started as a joke told at a boarding school, which resulted in the school being closed down as the laughter spread to the surrounding village. The epidemic lasted for months but eventually died out. That's about all for now, pardon us as we have a strong desire to boogaloo.
Ciao for now.
Must have been one heck of a joke.

Awake at 5:00 AM with dandelions on the brain.

We are fast approaching the shortest day of the year, the winter solstice when the sun shines least on our hemisphere. So we at the Crazy thought it might be a good time to remind you of the dandelion, that nemesis of meticulous lawn lovers everywhere. They sneak onto even the best manicured lawns. Every golf course has at least a few. They grow between the cracks of the sidewalk (we once viewed one on the roof of a house, growing in a corner where rain and time had built a small mud spot for it to take root.) Dandelions are not native to North America, they were brought on the Mayflower in 1620 as a medicinal root, by 1671 Native Americans were making coffee out of the roots on the great plains. The greens of a dandelion have vitamins A, B Complex, C and D, as well as the minerals Iron, Potassium and Zinc. They have in recent studies been shown to help improve liver function and be useful as a diuretic with the added benefit that they have potassium which most diuretics leach out of our systems. They have been around at least 250 million years. (Probably longer, but the earliest fossils found so far are from that era.) Who as a child (or a childlike adult) has not taken the seed stalk and puffed on it to watch the seeds float away in the wind. (Ahh yes, we remember as a child, quietly blowing dandelion seeds across the plains as dinosaurs thundered by.) But still, there are a few things you might not know about the Dandelion (unless of course you have botanist leanings or know any closet botanists.) Every part of the dandelion is edible and useful, some cultures made a brown dye from it's roots. The Chinese people have been using it to treat breast cancer for almost a thousand years. Dandelions are high in antioxidants.
Tasty in salads, (if picked while the leaves are still young.) Good for the liver. And can brighten up an otherwise barren place in a yard where nothing else will grow. (Like our lawn.) So come spring we know we will be happy to see the cheerful dandelion. As will our iguana Saura (She loves the flowers too.) But we think the most interesting thing about the dandelion is what it does for the bees, and why. The dandelion is asexual, it requires no honeybees to pollinate it. It has been a self pollinating plant for millions of years, nature could have easily dispensed with the bright flower head by now. (It reflects yellow light which is a spectrum bees find irresistible.) So why does the dandelion grow a bright yellow head and plenty of nectar. For the bees of course. The Noble Dandelion.

You are not forgotten.

The family is whole again, (those of you in the know will understand.) And we have been extremely busy keeping our days full and our nights restful. We at the crazy will soon be updating the blog again, we have a few ideas for future rants. But at least for a short while family comes first so bear with us as we reboot and settle in to what is becoming an energetic and fulfilling lifestyle.

Soon to be seen in more than 3 homes.

Just a quick note to point out that up till now our crazy rantings have only been viewed by a select (and supremely intelligent) few. (A little ego stroking there.)
However our blog will be seen by a wider audience soon as Google has agreed to place it in some of it's search paradigms. We don't know what effect it will have, perhaps 5 people will see the blog now. We can only hope. Can't wait to get that first hate mail.
See you soon. Ciao for now.