Peaceability-Part 2

In my last post I started a topic from Richard and Linda Eyre's column in the Deseret News supplement, Mormon Times. They define Peaceability further as 'Essentially the opposite of anger, losing one's temper, impatience and irritation.'

There are a lot of ways to be un-peacable, such as the things described in this quote. I would add also, sulking and holding a grudge, put-downs, criticism, and what I've heard called 'stirring the pot' where someone is doing things to get other folks upset about a third person, or to get someone else upset...'Mommy he's LOOKING at me!'

This doesn't mean we have to eliminate negative emotions and go around intoning a mantra with an invisible halo floating over our heads. We will still have negative emotions, but being peacable will mean that we will control those negative emotions and keep them from hurting another person.

How can we accomplish this? First we need to decide that a peaceful, calm atmosphere in our homes is something we value enough to make a priority. That atmosphere won't happen without our committment and effort.  Children feel more secure in a calm atmosphere. A calm home is one that is not puctuated with angry and irritated outbursts. Valuing peace and the control of temper helps us create a home atmosphere of calmness. The foundation of this is love. We love our family (yes, I know, there are times when we could cheerfully pitch those loved ones out the door and lock it, at least for awhile..but underneath we do still love the aggravating little critters-or big ones, if we include our spouse!)

If love is the foundation, understanding is the key (go ahead, unlock the door and let them back in..) You are less likely to lose your temper when you are trying to understand. It makes a difference if we stop to try to find out why someone is causing a problem before we break out into temper mode.

 For example, I once suspected one of my children had stolen some money from a sibling. The money even had a mark on it that his brother recognized. He steadfastly denied doing it and insisted a kid on the bus (whose name he couldn't remember) had given him the five dollar bill. Knowing how much he loved shopping for new toys, I suspected the temptation had been too much for him, so I started talking about how hard it is not to have enough money to buy things with and how we don't like to admit doing something wrong and the like. As I talked and questioned him gently, saying things like, "I can see how you might wish you had more money", he said, "Well, I 90% remember getting it from my friend and I 10% remember taking it from my brother..." He tested my reaction with these statements, and as I continued to express understanding of being tempted to take things and then lie about it, his percentages changed 10 percent at a time until he got to 90% remembering taking it. We then talked about ways he could get money for things he wanted to buy without taking it and what he needed to do to make things right-returning the money with an apology. One nice thing, his math skills were really solid!

This was so much more peacable than the inquisitions and punishments I used at other times when the children wouldn't admit to wrongdoing. A side note to that is that children who feel secure and understood are less likely to lie about wrongdoing.

This applies to all kinds of situations. Be curious before dealing with or reacting to a problem.
Like:
Why did she come home so cranky from school today? (Could something have happened today?)
Why does he always take his shoes off?  (Are they too small or uncomfortable in some way?)
Why is she cranky and not eating anything at dinner? (Could be she's sick)

Usually we will ask the person why, but many times children don't know why and we have to do detective work to figure out the causes and possible solutions for behaviors. One of my daugthers discovered her son was having difficulties with many things because of a sensory integration issue. She was able to be more patient when she knew why he was contrary about so many things. He was suffering discomforts that weren't obvious and that he didn't have the language to express.

The Eyres tell us that 'Calmness and Peacability are values because they help others as well as ourselves to feel better and to function better."  They add that they are also contagious qualities. The more we are able to be calm and peaceful, even under stress, the  more they are 'caught' by others around us, especially our children!

Teaching Children Values-Peaceability Part One

I want to do a series of posts discussing the column Linda and Richard Eyre write for the Deseret News Mormon Times section. They are doing a series on teaching values to children featuring a different value every month. I thought it would be worthwhile to share highlights of these articles with some commentary from my own thoughts and experience. I would love for any readers to add discussion and thoughts of their own.

They say, "These 12 values will be universal values that all parents everywhere accept and wish to teach to their children. They are values that unite us as families, yet they are anything but easy to teach to our children.

Those of us, (me included) who had the chance to participate in a year of the Eyre's Joy School program for parent run home preschool programs, know that their program is based on monthly themes teaching values, Joy being one of them. They have a lot of experience with this, including with their own large family.

The material they share is drawn from their number one New York Times best-selling book, "Teaching Your Children Values.  For online content from the Eyers on this series go to www.valuesparenting.com and click on 'Value of the month'.

The Value they started with in September was Peaceability. They define Peaceability in one word: 'Calmness'. "It is peacefulness, serenity and the tendency to try to accommodate rather than argue. Peacability is the understanding that differences are seldom resolved through conflict and that meanness in others is an indication of their problem or insecurity and thus their need for your understanding. It is the ability to understand how others feel rather than simply reacting to them.'

I love this definition. If we can raise peaceable children into peaceable adults, that is a contribution to their happiness and a positive impact on those who associate with them in any way.

As just a personal disclaimer to this description I want to say that while it is worthwhile to be peaceable in our interactions at all times, when we are being mistreated being peaceable should not mean that we are obligated to allow ourselves to continue to be mistreated. There are peaceable ways to set and enforce boundaries with any kind of abuse. We might understand the abuser's feelings, but that does not mean we have to allow ourselves to be harmed in any way. In reality, those with a controlling, abusive nature act out of their thoughts and values, not their feelings. That is one reason that teaching Peaceability as a value is so important. Anyone who really values Peaceability will not be abusive towards others.

For the next post, Ways of being 'un-peaceable', and some benefits of teaching and modeling Peaceability

Hearst Castle

We had a great time visiting Hearst Castle on our quick spring break weekend trip to California. We went just to tour Hearst castle, which we've set out to do twice before on longer trips and then balked at the price or the lack of available tours that we wanted to take. Last summer we were there on Labor Day weekend and discovered that making reservations is the way to go to actually get to tour.

What made this time even better was that since we were going just for the castle, it didn't make sense to miss anything, so we took all three daytime tours. That ran up the cost higher than touring the Biltmore mansion, but we felt like we got our money's worth.

We started Friday morning, and after a few stops, (like to see Sara and the kids and drop some things off) we got down to some serious driving and made it to Red Bluff by 8:30pm. Besides reading and napping, I made some use of my time by downloading as many batches of indexing as they would let me and working offline on my little net book on indexing pages of the 1940 census. That doesn't use a lot of power, so the net book was good for as many hours as I could stand to do it. At night before sleeping I used the hotel Internet connection to submit my finished batches and download more in their places. By the time we got home I'd done over 700 names!

We got up early Saturday morning and south to the coast and San Simeon where the castle is. It is north of LA and south of Monterey on the rugged coastline that includes Big Sur. We got there around lunch time and ate and got into our motel, then headed over to the visitor's center. Along the way, shortly before reaching San Simeon I was amazed to see several zebras clustered together, grazing on a hillside. Harry thought I'd mistaken something else for zebras, but there isn't anything you can mistake for a zebra!  Later we heard on tour that there were still zebras grazing the ranch with the cattle, left over from when Hearst used to have all kinds of zoo animals there. So there!

We had reservations for the Grand Rooms Tour at four pm and got to the visitor's center in plenty of time to have a pastry before heading up on our designated bus. Rather than describing, I'll share a few photos:

Front door, embellished with European stonework.

Main Room where guests gathered to visit for Happy Hour



The dining room, the only place meals were served

Hearst called his estate "The ranch at San Simeon" He decided he was too old to keep camping in tents here as he had done since childhood and decided to 'build a little something' so he could visit more comfortably.







He still considered it a camp, even with the lavish surroundings and insisted on general informality. The dishes were his mother's pattern of willow ware stoneware and the ketchup and mustard were served in their jars on the table as they were when he used to camp there.

The billiards room, like every other room, was decorated with beautiful tapestries, art objects, and contained a hundreds of years old ceiling taken from a grand house in Europe. The walls and doorways featured middle eastern tiles.

After seeing the rooms where guests relaxed after dinner with their smokes, we finished up in the full sized theatre where Hearst showed first run movies to his guests, who were comfortable seated in overstuffed armchairs.  We watched a short film of home movies taken of guests enjoying the estate, 'back in the day'.   Next post, The Grounds and gardens.

So Yummy I just had to share

The other night I pulled out whatever veggies I had on hand to put together as a stir fry with some sliced barbecued beef leftover from one of Harry's efforts on his new pellet fed grill. The result was so colorful and fresh, and tasted so good, I just had to grab the camera and make a record of it. This is the start with the veggies, a package of Birdseye stir fry I got free with a coupon, mushrooms and fresh red bell pepper. I'm sauteeing in a little high oleic safflower oil.

Here I'm adding the meat.

Finishing off with a cup of brown rice and some teriyaki sauce, since the rice and meat were pre-cooked and the veggies were either frozen or quick cooking, this went together really fast. There were no leftovers.

Food can be soooo fun!

I saw this, and thought it looked like a lot of fun. I don't do this kind of thing ever, and I really admire those creative women out there that come up with stuff like this.

Hunger Games

We saw the hunger games tonight, and loved every minute. They did the best job on it, set it in Western North Carolina, which matched perfectly to what I visualized reading the book. I loved the choice of actress for Katniss. I recognized her from the picture in my mind from reading the book. The movie stayed really true to the book, and they did a good job of including what was needed and being careful with what they had to leave out, like condensing the relationships with her team down to one member of the team to really portray. I liked the music too, and might want the soundtrack.. Harry loved it too. It was one of those we talked about all through dinner afterward.
Here's a few more photos I found that I liked.

News Reporting-Fact or Fiction?

When you tune in to the evening news, do you usually pretty much assume that what you hear is the truth of the story? How would you know if you are hearing the truth? If you're like me, you tune in to your favorite station and feel comfortable quoting the 'facts' you hear there in the break room the next day. I mean, don't the reporters go to the source and get the facts? Don't they have to check the facts? Would they broadcast as facts things without checking, or even worse, the speculations of the reporter?

Granted, when news is breaking I'm not surprised to hear things reported by witnesses that later turn out to not be true, like the man who was interviewed on the scene of school shooting. His wife was the teacher in the classroom where it happened and he said that his wife had told him that the boy got out the gun, aimed deliberately at the girl and shot her in the stomach on. Later news reports clarified that the gun was in a backpack, cocked and went off when the boy bumped the backpack on a desk.

So, when my daughter found herself privy to some of the inside information of a tragedy that happened to close friends, I started switching from station to station to get as many of the stories as I could. I was surprised when I noticed how the details varied in the stories being reported by the different stations. The tragedy involved the drowning deaths of a father and his small son. One station reported the canoe had capsized and neither of the victims were wearing life jackets. Another station said that neither of them were wearing life jackets, but that two jackets were found in the canoe.  How could they be in the canoe if the canoe was capsized?

The child's body was found right away, but his father's wasn't found until a week later. Meanwhile, the news quickly turned to other, more violent happenings, but when the body was found, the story at the one station about the canoe capsizing still contained that detail when they reported the discovery of the body.

I was thinking about writing this post about the varied inaccuracies when my daughter called and said that there were so many inaccuracies in all the different news sources, that she found it really upsetting and wanted to let me know what they knew there on the scene as the friends of the victims. It was interesting that she was noticing the same thing I was.

What it seemed like was that it was considered a minor story and so whatever they got as 'facts' at the beginning was good enough. When the follow-up story was written, the earlier report was rehashed. I guess it doesn't matter to most viewers if the canoe capsized or not, any more than any of the other inaccuracies seemed to detract from the center of the story that a father and son had drowned and that it was an accident.  It is only disturbing to those who are closest to the story and would like to see the facts reported accurately, and maybe also to those of us once removed, as I am who would really like to know what actually happened.

So, the moral of the post is to remember when watching/listening to the news that while the major facts of the story may be mostly accurate, you are probably only hearing an approximation otherwise, particularly for something that is a breaking story, and even if it's an old story, there's a likelihood that old inaccuracies are being rehashed along with the new information that brings the story to the front of the news again.  My husband suggests checking to see which station reported it most accurately. That may be the station to watch for the closest approximation to the truth...

Missing that Bahama Sunshine

Gold Beach, Freeport, Bahamas

Well, it wasn't sunny the whole time, but even the cloudy parts were as warm as our normal summer days, so it was all good. Even the brief time we got caught in the pouring down rain the rain was so warm that sloshing through ankle deep puddles in my flip flops felt wonderful as the warm clear water flowed over my feet.  In Freeport we spent several hours at beautiful Gold Beach in our bathing suits and in and out of the water, with never a chill in spite of the storm clouds piling up across the water. (Same day we got rained on later)

 Gold Beach, Freeport, Bahamas

Yesterday I was looking at a photo of the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor State Park, Key West,

 Fort Zachary Taylor State Park Beach

and the memory was so vivid at that moment, I felt like I could step back into it. I was listening to the rain outside and then it seemed like that world was so far away, and i wished I could go back there. It seems so funny that when you're somewhere like that it is so intense and almost feels timeless while you're there, but then you move on and it's done, and you can't just step back into it, maybe ever with some places. I guess that's one reason I want to take so many photos and post and write about these experiences, so I can hang on to them in some way.

Anyway, dreaming of the beaches from a few weeks ago are such a contrast to the nasty weather we're currently enduring, it's a good mental escape while we move closer to summer again.

 Fort Taylor State Park beach

 Nassau- Junkanoo Beach

Junkanoo beach

Indian Summer View of Harbor and Mountain

After a long siege through spring and summer of too much cool and rain, we are getting a little back of some lovely days. We thought it was all gone this week when the rain gauge almost filled with 4 1/2 inches of rain, but now today, sun and 70 degrees the day before the last day of September. I love having a few more balmy days to walk in short sleeves unencumbered by weather gear. I walked around part of the Harbor today, choosing to traverse the far end to get some shots of the view that so often makes it into books and onto calendars. When Ranier is in view (or as we say here, 'The mountain is out!') the view from the far end of the harbor is total gold.

Good Day, Sunshine, Good Day, Sunshine...

We've been having some summer weather finally, as if to make up for the late spring/early fall weather that dogged our summer days, but that streak ended with a nasty weekend of cooler than normal temperatures and off and on rains including a night-long stretch that put an inch into our rain gauge. Now, in a little tender mercy we have some sun and warmer weather again, though not summer-hot as it was before the cold and rainy spell.  It felt perfect to me. In fact, the whole day pretty much flowed with all good things.

The usual schedule difficulties had combined to leave me pretty short on sleep by the time the alarm got me up at 4:30 am this morning-two nights of 5.5 hours sleep each, with no kind of nap. I worked hard all day yesterday cleaning house and getting my jewelry making supplies back in order after months of creating bookmarks and necklaces. I need to do more, but couldn't work in the disorganization any longer. Clogging was great last night, but I didn't get my shower done and get to bed until 11 pm.  So I was grateful to be able to come home this morning after seminary and go to bed for a serious catch-up nap. I figured 2 hours would do it, and got to sleep by 8am, then sure enough woke at 10:20, but I couldn't seem to wake all the way up, I kept drifting off again. Finally I decided that my body and brain were trying to tell me something and made up my mind to quit trying to wake up and settled in to sleep again. This time when I woke up I was rested and ready to get up but it was 12:30 pm! I should feel bad for being such a slug I suppose, but really, I don't. Meeting my bodies' need for sleep just felt wonderful.  I got so used to having enough sleep this summer that I don't want to go back to being sleepy all the time.

I got another couple of bonuses out of it. First of all, I weighed myself and I've dropped the couple of pounds that I picked up on vacation and starting seminary with the days I didn't exercise. Sleep does wonderful things for burning calories, speeding metabolism and reducing appetite, so when I sat down to the first meal of my day, I could only eat about half of what I usually want, so the sleep seems to have affected that for the better. When I woke up, the sun was out and the air was fresh, balmy with a little moisture, and cool without being cold. The sun was warming the day just right.  I was brimming with energy to go and exercise, so after a scheduled haircut, I headed off to the woods planning to walk for 40 minutes, but instead walked and jogged the trails for an hour and came out dripping sweat but feeling wonderful. Peninsula High School's cross country team was practicing for a meet taking place on the trails tomorrow, so the woods were busy and happy with running teens. No worries about bears today.

A good dinner of almond crusted chicken breast and beans with roasted red potatoes in rosemary butter sauce (Green Giant, I'm not that ambitious!), with a brownie for dessert, and I went into the evening feeling rested, exercised and fed. Really a nice all around day. Tomorrow promises similar weather, 66 by noon, and 78 by dinner time. Bliss. It's almost officially fall, but I won't mind if we pretend a little longer that summer is lingering around.  And the best last thing-I get to sleep in tomorrow!  Then, I'm looking for my new computer to arrive!

Walking on the Predator Path...

I got out to walk yesterday in the neighborhood by where the bear attack took place last year-50 yards from our driveway.  There aren't any houses in there yet so it is a nice peaceful place with no cars and sidewalks all the way around.  It's a mile total loop and goes uphill all the way to the far end of the loop, so I get a good uphill workout, and then I usually jog on the downhill, so it's a good balance.

For the first time on my walks around the loop I saw a lot of doggie doo on the sidewalks. There are some dog walkers that walk that loop, but usually they are good about either curbing their dogs to the grass or picking up the dog's waste.  Then I saw what was unmistakably bear scat (poop). Bear plops are kind of round and looser, especially when they're eating a lot of fruit as they are in the fall. A big giveaway also is the seeds, pits, and the blackberry color staining the area around it.  It wasn't as large as what I used to see up on our property in the fall, when they're eating the Gravenstein apples but definitely came from a bear.  I mused as I walked around, noting other instances as I walked. There were a lot of what looked like cherry pits, so there must be wild cherries around nearby.

Bear scat with wild cherries

Coyote scat, aged, showing fur of ingested animals

Then I got thinking about the doggie piles and realized they looked like the picture I have on a scat chart of coyote scat. We definitely have a pack in the area, we hear them at night frequently.  I looked closer at some that was more weathered and saw that it was mostly all animal fur, so coyote for sure.  The fresher ones also had that dark black look that you get with meat eaters as opposed to the grain and soy chow that domestic dogs eat that makes a different color and texture. (I know this sounds really gross, but I was finding it really interesting. It kicks in the amateur biologist in me.)

On my second time around the loop I decided to count, and came up with 14 instances of coyote scat, and 8 of bear.  What I found especially interesting was how both kinds of animal had done so much pooping on the sidewalk. Either there's a ton more in the grass and bushes, (which is kind of a scary thought) or they use the sidewalk by preference, (which is just weird).  I have this picture in my mind of the neighborhood at night with the coyotes and bears walking sedately around the neighborhood on the sidewalks, nodding at each other and growling 'good evening' as they pass, at least when they're not stopping to relieve themselves...  I do wonder if there is some connection to the smell of human feet on the sidewalks that triggers them to mark territory this way, but who knows?

I didn't see any other sign of wildlife, not even the bunnies I was seeing earlier in the summer-guess that's not surprising-but I do wonder if I ought to be more worried about walking where there is obviously high bear activity, especially considering the woman that was mauled down at the entrance to the development last fall.  But she had a dog off leash that was threatening the bear, so I don't think it's the same risk.

The walk felt really good though, I missed exercising for four days in a row, choosing best instead of good or better on several of those days. (Sleep!) I had no valid reason on Tuesday though, so yesterday was in the spirit of breaking the inertia of several days of skipping exercise and renewing my commitment to six days a week.

Today I walked in McCormick woods for over an hour, using my Nordic sticks, which were really nice for the woodsy trails in there.  I only saw bear scat once, but I bet they are a lot more active in there. The whole woods right now are full of Oregon grape higher than my head, huckleberries, and I'm sure many other kinds.  I love getting on the deep trails and being in the middle of what feels like primeval forest, even though I can hear nearby traffic and some business that is sawing wood (very loudly) at times as I move through different parts. The Doug firs reach high around me like the columns of an ancient temple, and clumps of sword fern as big around as fountains line the sides of gorges. There is a kind of plant that looks so Jurassic that I almost expect to stumble onto a herd of  browsing triceratops. They rise up over my head on single stalks furred with thorns, supporting leaves shaped like maple leaves, only they are the size of turkey platters. I'll have to add a photo..which means another walk there.. which isn't a bad thing...

Tuesday, September 20th...I went back to the woods to walk and get photos...I took some of the Jurassic looking plants..

So here is one of the leaves with my hand for scale:

 I stood under the plant to show how it towers over my head, and then stepped back and took a shot of the whole thing. I think it's really attractive. There is one spot that I didn't get to this time that is a kind of clearing that is full of these plants. That is where it feels like I will see the triceratops herd munching away.

Here's a shot of the trail I was on. Is this heaven or what?

 The temple of trees..I was bending way back to get this shot of the tree that went up, and up, and up..

 Here's a spot where a tree hangs over the trail.

 This is a shot pointing uphill through and towards trees that fell across the trail and had to be cut to keep it open.

 Ferns, ferns, ferns, sword ferns everywhere...

Baby Blessing-Welcome Dexter Scott Richins

Baby blessings are one of life's sweet moments, followed by more sweet  moments celebrating with gathered family. The first Saturday in August we had the opportunity to go down to Beaverton Oregon for the blessing of Dexter Scott Richins,, the newest addition to the Steve and Sara Richins family. We were a little concerned that we wouldn't make it in time, since we needed to be there by 9 am coming from Gig Harbor.  Not to worry, mom got to our house right on time at six am, and we made it with plenty of time to spare even with a bridge closure and detour on the way. All went well and the blessing was really sweet.
Besides Harry, mom and I, Kevin, Jessica and their three children were able to come, so we had eight of the grand kids to enjoy.  After church we all met at the spray and play park near Steve and Sara's home for a pot luck picnic. Steve and Sara put up a big canopy over a picnic table near the waterworks and we turned the kids loose to get wet while we got dinner organized.  We had lots of great food, fried chicken, chips, watermelon, fruit and potato salads and Grandma's gooey fudge brownies and 'dino poop'cookies- a favorite for the grandkids.

Dinosaur Poop is the nickname my kids gave my mom's recipe for Saucepan Fudge Cookies.  I loved them as a child, my kids loved them, and now the grandkids love them too. They're  a great go-to for busy moms when a last minute or an easy treat is needed.  They are fast and easy to make and the ingredients are usually on hand. Almost more candy than cookie, they are really yummy.  The recipe follows:

Saucepan Fudge Cookies/Dinosaur Poop

Use a two quart saucepan. Prepare the counter with about 2 feet of waxed paper, or non-stick foil, or parchment paper.  Heat the following on medium heat, stirring frequently until the mixture comes to to a boil.        

1 stick of butter

2 cups of sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup evaporated milk, or yogurt, or sour cream

1/2 cup sifted unsweetened baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon of salt

When it comes to a full boil stir constantly for one minute (the time is important, don't overcook), then take it off the heat and stir in:

4 cups quick rolled oats

1 teaspoon vanilla

Using two spoons, quickly spoon out dollops of the mixture onto the prepared non-stick surface. The mixture sets up quickly, so this is essential.  Allow the cookies to cool. They will harden some and over a little time they will become even firmer and sugary in texture.

Anyway, back to the party. I was really tired from being up late cooking the night before and getting up early, so I zoned and didn't take my usual hundreds of photos of the kids in the spray and play and on the playground.  The kids cruised by every little while all dripping and grabbed some food and took off again. The grownups vegged in camp chairs and talked and read books/Kindle. The sun was warm, with occasional clouds to give a little relief from the heat.  When it came time to pack up and go, Kevin and family to Astoria to continue their vacation, and us back home, it was hard to say goodbye, but very sweet to have had the time together.  And baby Dexter? He was just cute as he could be, and huge for two months old. He slept and got held by various doting family.  I got some baby time in, and it was really sweet.  So, no more blessings for awhile, we have no babies announced at the moment, and probably not any for awhile now.  I feel very blessed for all the sweet grandchildren we have here now...

I'm Buying Dog Treats-Nope, we still don't have a dog..

I got familiar with the dog treats in the pet aisle today.  I ended up bringing home a box of traditional bone shaped dog biscuits. Home to a house with a cat and no dogs. And why? I have problem to solve.

So here is the back story.  Saturday I challenged myself to walk a loop from my house to the water and around to the other end of our street and home, with a side trip to bring it up to a four mile walk. I did that, and it went fine, very little discomfort, and my feet were doing well in my Merrill barefoot shoes.  When I got back onto our street I was half a mile from home, and I started estimating the quarter mile point, which is the home stretch, a mild but relentless uphill stretch.  Just as I got to that spot, which coincidentally is the spot where a bear mauled a woman walker last fall, a medium sized yellow dog rushed out of the driveway across the street, barking aggressively.  I slowed down but kept moving, though the dog's intensity made me more than usually nervous.  Normally I feel cautious about barking dogs but not frightened.  They usually hold a stance by their property and make a big barking show. Sometimes their tails are even wagging, belying their pretended fierceness.  I usually keep moving and get out of their territory as quickly as I can without seeming like I'm running away.

This dog's fierceness had me more worried than usual, and my worry increased when a few steps later a large black dog rushed out of the driveway to join the smaller one.  This dog's barking was just as intense and fierce, and it galloped towards me, crossing the street.  I immediately froze and avoided making eye contact.  I hoped that by being still and quiet the dogs would stop seeing me as a threat, lose interest and go back to their driveway so I could move quietly on my way.  Instead, they came closer and started growling deep in their throats.  No one from the house they belong to heard and called them back, and I started to feel more than worried.

Years ago when I used to bicycle through a neighborhood infested with roaming dogs and dog packs I would use a deep commanding voice and command them to 'go home'.  This often defused their aggression. One time, however, a woman was walking a really big black dog off leash and it came after me. My 'go home!' seemed to incite more aggression in the dog and it circled around the bike as I kept peddling and lunged up, biting me on the thigh, (which I found later broke the skin in one spot). I stopped and froze and it kept leaping up and trying to bite me until the owner got there to control it. 

What was worrying me was that these dogs were sounding and acting like the dog that bit me.  There was a level of aggression that seemed likely to escalate into an attack if I did anything to excite them further.  I didn't dare move because when I did initially they were more aggressive.  The only thing I could think to do was pray, and I did that with real intensity, asking for someone to come along and help me. As I did the smaller dog started moving behind me, a typical pack hunting behavior. That worried me even more.  Within less than half a minute I could hear a car coming from behind me in the far lane to where I was walking.  I immediately visualized that the dogs would be distracted from me by the car coming through and that I might be able to move away while they dealt with that.  Sure enough, even though the car had to stop for the dogs in the road, they started moving away from me and to the other side of the road. As the car moved up beside me, I started walking as quickly as I could to take advantage of it while it was there.

Then the young man driving asked, "Are you OK?"  I answered, "Well, they ARE very aggressive!".  He said, "I'll stay between you and them until you can get farther down the road." I thanked him and told him I'd been praying someone would come along and help me and started walking quickly away, getting up on the sidewalk that starts right there by the housing development entrance that has no houses in it yet. The car moved further along then, and I looked back and saw the dogs were staying in the road by their driveway, sniffing the ground where I had been standing.  I indicated that I was fine, and the car went on its way. 

I've given it some thought since then. Those dogs have often barked at me from behind their fence but they've never been loose before.  They might never be again, but since they might be and since I'm not going to stop walking on my road. Mace was suggested to me, and I considered how I might have used my walking poles to defend myself, but I realized that doing anything aggressive or hurtful to the dogs would likely increase their view of me as a threat to be attacked more aggressively. Since I still want to be able to walk on my road, I don't want to become more of an enemy to the dogs. So, I decided to get some dog treats and carry a few with me when I walk.  Then if the dogs threaten I can distract them with treats and even perhaps become known as a source of good things and less likely to be attacked.  Then again, maybe they will never be loose again, and I'll be out my three and a half bucks and have an un-needed box of dog biscuits gathering dust in my pantry, but hey, it feels better to be prepared...

Flash Mob Choir

Our ward is suffering from a lack of enthusiasm and participation in our ward choir. Our very experienced, talented and creative ward choir director has come up with a great way to have a monthly choir performance in spite of the lack of attendance at weekly choir practice.

Twice in the last two months various ward members have been greeted by the opportunity to take a card from our choir director and participate in a flash mob choir number. The index cards she hands out contain directions for singing one of the hymns in the hymn book as a choir number.  Certain verses are to be sung just by men or just by women.  Places to sing softer or louder are outlined.  The index card is small enough to tuck inside a hymn book for reference while singing.

At the appointed time in the program the director and pianist get up and so does pretty much half the ward!  The 'mob' consists of folks from senior primary age on up.  The size of the group and the familiarity of the music make up for the lack of practice. Our ward is blessed with quite a few people who have good voices and the ability to read music, but most of them are currently not  too excited about weekly choir practice when there isn't a Christmas or Easter program to prepare for.  The flash choir gives them a way to bless the ward and gives many others who may never have considered choir a chance to experience the joy of singing.

So far I haven't yet arrived in time to receive a card inviting me to participate, so I've had the pleasure of enjoying listening to the flash mob choir sing.