Wandering Priest » fun

A Birthday to Remember

Doug — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 21:29:58 +0000

Here are some ways that might indicate that: 1) I have been working too hard; 2) my life is a tad out of balance; 3) I have to be one of the most boring individuals in the world.

1. I visited the Indianapolis Children’s Museum today. Our group of four were all in our 50s and 60s. People stared at us because we had no kids in tow. I have lived in Indianapolis for 16.5 years, and this was the first time I have ever been to the ICM. That is a travesty to this wonderful museum!

2. Last night I did something that I have sort of half-heartedly scratched my head at for years. In downtown Indianapolis it is possible to go on a horse-carriage for a half an hour tour around the center of town. You put the gloves and stocking caps on because it is cold outside, and you cover yourself with a blanket, provided by the Blue Ribbon Carriage Company. We were celebrating Robyn’s birthday, and this was SOMETHING SHE HAD WANTED TO DO FOR YEARS!! Duh, Doug.

3. So, we are sitting in the children’s museum — we were only there two hours — and I was reading something on my phone. Linda Brock and Robyn and Garry were standing there, ready to go to the next site, and Linda pipes, “We’re ready to go Doug, when you are done working.” Actually, I was, AND I SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN!

We have a wonderful city in Indianapolis; all sorts of workers were out getting the city ready for the Superbowl on February 5. It really was time to take it all in, because when the real Superbowl festivities for the public are ready to go, I’ll probably just be working away.

Thanks Garry and Linda, Aaron and Andrea, Nicole and Greg for making Robyn’s birthday so special.

Snowy Owl

Doug — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:32:21 +0000

Every few years, often when the lemming population is sparce, the Snowy Owl makes a foray southward from its home in the Arctic. It goes searching for food and has been spotted in places as far away as Alabama and Georgia. It’s journey is called irruptive, and birders often wait to see unusual visitors from the north.

The Snowy Owl is the heaviest of all the owls, weighing in at four pounds, compared with just over three pounds for the Great Horned owl. The wingspan of the Snowy Owl is five feet!

About ten days ago a Snowy Owl was spotted at the Indianapolis Metropolitan Airport, formerly known at the Mt. Comfort airport. I have birded at the airport before; in fact I got my first view of the Upland sandpiper at this airport. I learned of the bird at the airport on Sunday evening, so by Monday morning I was there, in the rain. Nobody else was, and I did not see the owl. But I went back in the afternoon and was able to see it. The next day I was there again, and the owl was sitting on a nearby building. Twice in the next several days I went again, and yesterday (Saturday) the owl was sitting in a field and I was able to get the other photograph.

Here is what John Stott wrote about the Snowy Owl when he finally got the opportunity to see one. “How can I capture in words the excitement of sitting in a hide, or blind, for hour after hour only a few yards from the bird of my dreams?! . . . It was a fantastic experience to eavesdrop on the domestic life of this majestic but elusive bird. She stared at me (although of course she could not see me), and I stared back. I could even watch mosquitos crawling on her feathered face until she blinked and shook her head vigorously to dislodge them. One of her eight white eggs had hatched, and another followed two days later.” (taken from The Birds Our Teachers: Biblical Lessons from a Lifelong Bird-watcher, page 32).

The Snowy owl—a great Christmas present to be sure.

The Only One in the World

Doug — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 20:45:08 +0000

Everybody wants to be unique, to have something about them that nobody else in the world can claim. I think I was the only one in the entire world to have had this experience. It was about ten or fifteen years ago. But let me back up. When we were missionaries in Kenya I read a book called The Lunatic Express, a book about the construction of the railroad from the port city of Mombasa, Kenya that eventually went into Uganda. A great chapter in the book talks about a pair of lions that attacked and killed those who were working on the railroad, and were eventually killed themselves by a hunter.

So years later when I heard that there was a movie made about this, I definitely wanted to see it. The movie is called The Ghost and the Darkness (referring to the names of the two lions), and it starred Michael Douglas and Val Kilmer. It is a great movie, but don’t let your young children see it.

The same week I saw the movie I was in Chicago and went to the Museum of Natural History. (I had gone there back in the mid-sixties when we lived in Aurora, IL and wanted to go back and visit again). In that museum are the two stuffed lions from the movie (I believe they are the actual two lions). And just after being in Chicago, I had a trip to Kenya in which we drove from Nairobi to Mombasa, right along the railroad where some of the killings took place.

So, I am certain that I am the only person in the world who, in the same week, 1) saw the movie; 2) saw the stuffed lions; and 3) drove by the spot where some of the actual killings took place.

Congratulations Allison!

Doug — Mon, 09 May 2011 18:25:53 +0000

This past week-end Robyn and I drove to Kentucky Christian University for the graduation of Allison Thwing. She is the daughter of my cousin Patty, so I think this makes Allison my first cousin once removed or something like that. It was a great family gathering with my aunt Louise and uncle Jerry, cousin LuAnn and her husband Al and son Jacob, the Allison’s family (Don, Patty, Jaime and Peter).

Allison graduated with a degree in nursing. She received the Service award in her nursing school. Besides being Magna Cum Laude, she presented the class response at the graduation, which was quite an honor. We are all proud of her.

Allison was a REACH intern with CMF last summer in Kenya. She wants to get some experience in nursing and then to pursue a Master’s degree in Public Health with an emphasis on world health issues. We hope that turns out to be with CMF!

While at the school I saw my friend David Empson, Director of the National Missionary Convention. David’s daughter was graduating. Good times all around.

Back in Indianapolis, Allison, Patti, LuAnn and Louise stopped in for dinner. They are embarking on a two week driving trip headed back to Oregon. Before dinner we went for a walk in the Ft. Harrison State Park. I saw a prothonotary warbler, first time for me in Indiana. I know right where it is nesting and I am going back later today to try and get a photo. I’d seen this bird several times in Texas and Oklahoma.

Good times all around.

The Next Letter — ‘I’

Doug — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:13:21 +0000

The number two letter in my alphabetized subject quotes is the letter ‘I’. (See my earlier post using the letter ‘T’).

Identity: Have you heard about the man who said he not only had an identity crisis, but also an energy crisis. He didn’t know who he was, and he was just too tired to find out.

Injustice: Injustice is not being there for others when we are there for ourselves.

Insecurity: Sometimes I get the feeling the whole world is against me, but deep down I know that’s not true. Some of the smaller countries are neutral.

Involvement: Martin Luther King Jr. made this observation about the Good Samaritan — “The first question which the priest and the Levite asked was, ‘If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?’ But the Good Samaritan reversed the question: ‘If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?’”

Go Ducks!

Doug — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 19:54:19 +0000

I graduated with a degree in anthropology from the University of Oregon back in 1974. As a college student, I enjoyed going to the various sporting events at the university. I saw such luminaries as Dan Fouts, Ahmad Rashad (Bobby Moore at the time), Russ Francis, George Martin (football), Ron Lee, Greg Ballard (basketball), Dave Roberts (baseball) and Olympians Mac Wilkins and Steve Prefontaine (track). Those were good days!

In the last fifteen years of living in the States, I have followed the University of Oregon Ducks, much more so than the local universities in the midwest. The Oregon football program the last couple of decades has been pretty good. But this year is special as the Ducks are 10-0 and have now been rated as the number one team in the country for about four weeks, and that includes the BCS poll for the past several weeks.

Since I left Eugene in 1974 I have only seen a couple of Oregon football games in person. One was in 1975 or 1976 when Oregon played UCLA in Los Angeles, and the other was in Eugene with my brother-in-law Duane, about ten years ago. I have seen a couple of Oregon basketball games, the most recent an NIT game that Oregon won up at Notre Dame about five years ago.

You can imagine my excitement for the final two conference games, Arizona and Oregon State. Oregon is predicted to win both of those games, and if they do so, will be playing for the BCS championship. It is enough to make anyone green with envy.

Go Ducks!

P.S. And if that wasn’t enough, the high school our girls went to in Indianapolis, Lawrence Central, is playing for the Indiana state championship (larger schools) Saturday evening at Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Colts (who went to the Superbowl last year).

If you are not a football fan, then enjoy some left-over turkey.

The Smell is To Die For

Doug — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 22:41:33 +0000

There was a surprise waiting for me at the office this morning. On my desk was a wrapped paper package with an Ethiopian postcard. I assumed it was Ethiopian coffee as it was about the right size. Imagine my joy when I realized it was beri-beri (a blend of spicies). The smell was enough to make me think of Ethiopian food all day long. Judy, you are a great lady to think of us with this, oh-so-timely gift! Thank you.

On the way home I had decided I was going to cook Ethiopian food for dinner. I made lentil stew (kuk wut) as well as chicken in sauce (doro wut). Unfortunately there was no injera (flat bread) so we had to settle for an Indian naan (another type of bread). When Robyn walked in from work she was besotted with smells wafting from the kitchen that are to die for. I used the CMF cookbook for the recipes. I had tried both before, and the lentil had turned out OK but the chicken wasn’t that good. So I made some changes (besides, we only had frozen skinless chicken breasts rather than a whole chicken, and I did not want to take the time to boil the eggs that the recipe calls for). I was a little more generous with the spices than the recipe called for (!), and both dishes turned out well, especially with some freshly sliced tomatoes as a side dish.

I usually take a packed lunch to work, and you have two guesses to know what I will be taking tomorrow. Maybe I can persuade my Ethiopia buddies (Garry and Linda) to have some with me. David, (my other Ethiopian office buddy) happens to be in Ethiopia at this time, so he is getting the real thing.

Do you have an Ethiopian restaurant where you live? When was the last time you had Ethiopian food?

Some Select Quotes

Doug — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 23:11:32 +0000

In 1990 we went to Singapore where we stayed for the next five years. My work permit was obtained by the church that invited me to serve as part time missions pastor. The job also included some preaching, so I began taking down short quotes that I thought I would use in sermons. My quotes were taken on 3 x 5 cards and arranged alphabetically by topic.

Here it is, twenty- five years later, and I still have those cards. I have never used them (well maybe once or twice). I still read and highlight, but I am not so disciplined in copying quotes. I suppose if I preached on other than missions topics, I might have occasion to use some of the quotes.

So I thought it would be interesting if I just went to a letter (T, in this case) and pulled out the cards I have and share some quotes with you. At least then I will feel like I have used them!

Teams: Intelligent people, when assembled into an organization, can sometimes do dumb things collectively.

Technology: The sound of the second industrial revolution is clicking keyboards.

Temper: You certainly are an even-tempered person. You are always mad.

Theology: The task of theology is to maintain the integrity of the faith.

Truth: If there is no truth, then there are no lies.

Please comment and tell me if you want me to do this again; there are 25 more letters. I promise to only pick out the shortest and most interesting quotes.

Feed the Birds

Doug — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 20:42:07 +0000

For the last fifteen years we have lived in a condominium. That means we have no yard to speak of. We grow a few things–tomatoes, hot peppers, basil–in containers that sit on a slab of cement. A few years ago we added a pergola, though it is probably not spelled that way, from which we hang a container of bird seed and sugared water for hummingbirds. We have another bird feed for goldfinches.

We’ve not had much luck in attracting the birds. We forget to freshen the hummingbird feed, run out of bird seed, and so on. But this year we decided to do better. Lo and behold, the little guys are visiting us regularly. Last night we saw four hummingbirds (ruby-throated) around the feeder. We had a flock of (pesky) house sparrows that steal the sunflower seeds from the cardinals and mourning doves. We have had goldfinches hourly is seems, and a white-breasted nuthatch has been a regular visitor.

For those of you with a backyard and lots of feeders, I know this isn’t much. But for us, it has been a record year and we have enjoyed our feathered friends. To date, I’ve not seen a Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned hawk fly in and make an escape with a meal, but I expect that time will be coming.

Listen to the Birds

Doug — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 21:34:39 +0000

Last month in Oregon I met some folks who graciously took me birding. I was looking for several birds to add to my lifelist, and Arden and Sherry were able to help me find those birds. Sherry used an ipod nano with a speaker to play the bird calls which helps to attune the ear to the birdsong you want to hear. In addition, if the bird is in the area, it will often show itself to check out the ‘interloper’ in the territory. I was surprised to see how quickly we were able to spot the desired species.

So I have taken the plunge myself. I ordered the Gold Edition of Thayer’s Birds of North America which contains birdsongs for over 700 North American species, as well as photos, videos, range maps, information, articles, and a host of other good things.

Then I ordered a used (let it please be as advertised!) ipod nano, third generation. I’ll download the songs onto the ipod for use in the field. Finally, I ordered a portable speaker (Creative Sound i80) that the ipod fits into so that the birdsong can be played in the field.

Stay tuned to see how this goes.

And, if you are tracking with me, I added the Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow and the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow to my lifelist.

Sherry tells me that the winter wren has been split into two species, so I added the Pacific wren to my list since I had seen it in Oregon some years back as well as locally here in the midwest.