The Five Legged Dog
“It’s like trying to buy a five-legged-dog,” my friend started out. When a friend starts a conversation with an opener like that, she has my full attention. “You look and you look, but you know at some point your going to have to give up one of the legs to find a dog to buy.”
We had been talking about house hunting. You know what you want. This house has most of it, but that house has all of it, at a price you can’t afford. Another house has everything, at a price you can afford, but you can see endless maintenance costs associated with ownership of that property. In short . . . there is no five legged dog. Somewhere along the way, you give up wanting it all and settle for good enough.
I think about that friend and her saying often. It’s become a family catch-phrase, they have heard me tell it so often. We’re all in search of that five legged dog.
(photo from public domain pictures)
Sleepless in Pensacola
It’s cold in Pensacola. The high tomorrow will be 47°F/8°C and the lows are around freezing. You think of Florida as being warm and sunny, but with the chill wind, it is COLD. Luckily, we brought some cold weather gear.
But when a Florida baby is born, they get lots and lots of clothes of lightweight cotton, and no heavy duty sleep-blankets. Heavy duty sleep blankets are for those babies up north – AdventureMan and I know, because we went looking for them tonight, for our little grandson. Even though they have turned up the heat, Florida houses can be chill in the cold weather, and we searched in vain for a good sleep blanket.
There are new ways of doing things, different from when we were raising our son thirty years ago. Now you have to be sure the baby is sleeping on his back (we were all told to be sure they slept on their stomachs) and there can be no blankets in the crib or bassinet, no soft toys, no pillows. They recommend sleep sacks because the baby stays warm and comfortable, while lowering any risk of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). They know so much more than when we were raising children.
I was able to spend a few hours with my grandson today, holding him while his parents napped or relaxed. AdventureMan made a big pot of nourishing and delicious Beef Vegetable Soup. He is spending time with his grandson now – when the grandson squawks, AdventureMan starts describing one of Napoleon’s campaigns and within minutes, the squalls diminish and baby is sound asleep. LLOOOLLLL! He is on duty now, while I have crawled into bed. This being a grandparent is great stuff – we get to sleep all night; Mommy is nursing, and so she has night duty. They both have big circles under their eyes and are talking about the effects of sleep deprivation – if you’ve ever been a parent, you will know exactly what they are talking about.
Think I had better order a sleep blanket!
Life Intrudes
Yes, I am sorry. I left you with no indication that I wouldn’t be able to blog for a while, but – as it does for you – life intrudes. AdventureMan and I are on a GREAT adventure, a baby was born, and thus we became Grandma and Grandpa! We didn’t intend to be here for the birth, but babies have their own schedules, and we got here in time to spend time with our son and his wife AND to be able to see our new grandson before he was even an hour old.
Who ever thinks the thrills in life are over once you hit ‘grown-up’ is SO wrong. Life just keeps getting better and better, and is full of thrills – if you have the eyes to see, and the ears to hear, and the heart to know a miracle when you see one.
Every new baby is a miracle. We can’t make them happen – or not happen – by wishing. Babies, each and every one, are a miracle.
Photos? This was a mixed up trip. We have been on the run ever since we hit the ground. I have photos, but I left my card-reader in Doha. As soon as I can hit a store, I will show you a photo of the newest prince. 😉
Thanks for your patience with me.
Generosity of Spirit
In our Womens Bible Study Class, the discussion turned to how living in these lands, the cradle of our religion, has illuminated the reading of the bible in new ways for us. As I read this morning’s readings, I thought of all the loving kindness we have been shown at your hands, at the unending generosity of spirit you have shown us, living here, in this dry and thirsty land . . .
Abraham's Departure, by József Molnár
The Hittites tell Abraham he is a mighty prince among them, and welcome to bury Sarah where he would wish. Ephrom refuses to take payment for the cave Abraham wants to buy, insisting that Abraham accept it as a gift. This, near Hebron . . .
Abraham insists on paying for the land, and hands over, piece by piece, 400 pieces of silver.
Would that God would bless the land with a similar spirit, that the Jews and the Palestinians might find a way to share the land and to live together in peace, as a blessing to one another.
Genesis 23:1-20
23Sarah lived for one hundred and twenty-seven years; this was the length of Sarah’s life. 2And Sarah died at Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan; and Abraham went in to mourn for Sarah and to weep for her. 3Abraham rose up from beside his dead, and said to the Hittites, 4‘I am a stranger and an alien residing among you; give me property among you for a burying-place, so that I may bury my dead out of my sight.’
5The Hittites answered Abraham, 6‘Hear us, my lord; you are a mighty prince among us. Bury your dead in the choicest of our burial places; none of us will withhold from you any burial ground for burying your dead.’ 7Abraham rose and bowed to the Hittites, the people of the land. 8He said to them, ‘If you are willing that I should bury my dead out of my sight, hear me, and entreat for me Ephron son of Zohar, 9so that he may give me the cave of Machpelah, which he owns; it is at the end of his field. For the full price let him give it to me in your presence as a possession for a burying-place.’ 10Now Ephron was sitting among the Hittites; and Ephron the Hittite answered Abraham in the hearing of the Hittites, of all who went in at the gate of his city, 11‘No, my lord, hear me; I give you the field, and I give you the cave that is in it; in the presence of my people I give it to you; bury your dead.’ 12Then Abraham bowed down before the people of the land. 13He said to Ephron in the hearing of the people of the land, ‘If you only will listen to me! I will give the price of the field; accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.’ 14Ephron answered Abraham, 15‘My lord, listen to me; a piece of land worth four hundred shekels of silver—what is that between you and me? Bury your dead.’ 16Abraham agreed with Ephron; and Abraham weighed out for Ephron the silver that he had named in the hearing of the Hittites, four hundred shekels of silver, according to the weights current among the merchants.
17 So the field of Ephron in Machpelah, which was to the east of Mamre, the field with the cave that was in it and all the trees that were in the field, throughout its whole area, passed 18to Abraham as a possession in the presence of the Hittites, in the presence of all who went in at the gate of his city. 19After this, Abraham buried Sarah his wife in the cave of the field of Machpelah facing Mamre (that is, Hebron) in the land of Canaan. 20The field and the cave that is in it passed from the Hittites into Abraham’s possession as a burying-place.
First Things First
“I have some WONDERFUL news for you!” I gushed to AdventureMan when he picked up the call, “I found a third of the last fruitcake in the refrigerator!” I knew he thought he has finished off the fruit cake and that we didn’t have any more.
Pause. Pause. Pause.
“Hello? Hello? Are you there, AdventureMan.”
AdventureMan comes on, his work-a-day brisk, official self.
“When you start a conversation with ‘I have some wonderful news for you'” he says, “the next words out of your mouth really need to be that I am a grandfather.”
LLLLLLOOOOOLLLLLL.
I can’t make that happen any faster than it is going to happen. Baby grandson is now almost a week overdue, and we are waiting, waiting, waiting for him to show up. This is an eagerly awaited arrival.
I guess he is also happy about the fruitcake, but he really wants a grandson! 🙂
FHA Numbers Indicate Foreclosures Will Rise
From AOL Daily Finance: Real Estate News
The percentage of mortgages backed by the FHA that are in default has risen by a third over the last year. According to a report in The Washington Post, “About 9.1 percent of FHA borrowers had missed at least three payments as of December, up from 6.5 percent a year ago, the agency’s figures show.”
Many of the troubled mortgages were granted in 2007 and 2008. Mortgages that are two to three years old apparently carry especially high risks of default because of the high number of loans made during those years to people with extremely low credit scores.
The report adds to the confusion about the direction that the housing market is heading in 2010. RealtyTrac recently reported that forecloses this year may hit 3 million, up from 2.8 million last year. When the company released December 2009 data on January 13th, James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac said, “In the long term a massive supply of delinquent loans continues to loom over the housing market, and many of those delinquencies will end up in the foreclosure process in 2010 and beyond as lenders gradually work their way through the backlog.”
Government data showed that home starts fell 4% in December, but building permits rose. The choppy federal data, which can change direction month by month, has been a hard set of indicators to use to forecast the real estate market in terms of sales and home prices.
The housing market’s future will continue to be plagued by unemployment and over-leveraged consumers, and pressure will also be put on home prices by owners who have underwater mortgages. Some of these mortgage holders may believe that there will never be any equity value in their homes and that they are better off turning their house keys over to the bank. In addition, a wave of $47 billion in interest only loans will reset to full payments this year, according to credit agency Fitch. A portion of these home buyers will not be able to make their new, higher monthly payments.
The FHA news only adds to the probability that 2010 will not be any better for the housing market than 2009 was.
Qatar’s ‘Manly Women’
Thank you, Little Diamond, who sent this article from The Economist as an update to blog entry on cross dressing based on a tiny article in the Gulf Times
CROSS-DRESSING is on the rise among young Qataris. The local press says that more tradition-minded locals are upset by the growing number of young women affecting a masculine style of dress, baggy trousers, short hair and deep voices. These women, who call themselves boyat, which translates as both tomboy and transsexual (and is derived from the English word boy), are being seen in schools and on university campuses where some are said to harass their straiter-laced sisters.
In an episode of a talk show on Qatari television, called Lakom al Karar (The Decision is Yours), a leading academic said that the “manly women” phenomenon was part of a “foreign trend” brought into Qatar and the Gulf by globalisation. Foreign teachers, the internet and satellite television have been blamed. So have foreign housemaids, for badly influencing children in their care.
The studio audience was divided over how to respond. Some called for the death penalty for cross-dressers, while others favoured medical treatment. A rehabilitation centre for Qatari boyat has been set up, but a local report says that as many as 70% of them refuse to give up their “abnormal behaviour”.
It is not just Qataris who are rattled. A year ago the ministry of social affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) launched a campaign against “masculine women”. The project, entitled “Excuse me, I’m a girl”, involved workshops, lectures and television programmes, stressing the virtues of femininity and raising awareness of the presumed dangers of women looking like men. An emirates’ foundation is helping to fund a research project on “gender identity disorder among Emirati youth”.
One official describes the “deviant behaviour” of the boyat as a “menace” to society. But others sound less fazed. An American university lecturer in the region says the short hair and gym shoes worn by these young women would look perfectly normal on an American campus. That is just what unnerves the traditionalists.
Why do you think these girls dress and act like men? Why would a girl do that?
I think girls do that – in any country – for a reason. If privileges and freedoms are heavily weighted in favor of males, perhaps there is no great mystery as to why some females would prefer to be males. It makes sense to me. Girls aren’t stupid. They can see who is getting all the goodies. My guess it is less a gender issue than a values issue.
On the other hand, when – and if – things are more equal, there is less motivation to be other than what we were created to be.
I had some young local friends who told me that they were taking Tai Kwan Do, but quit when a neighbor told their mother that it might threaten their virginity. It broke my heart. The martial arts give grace and confidence to young women. There are a lot of ways a hymen can be broken; I have never heard of it happening while training in Tai Kwan Do. These young, vibrant girls have fewer and fewer activities that they are encouraged to do, and end up staying home or strolling endlessly at the local malls. Aaarrgh!
Dads – teach your daughters to hunt! Teach them to fish! Teach them to swim, to throw a softball, to kick a football. Take them camping in the desert, and let them run freely. Teach them chess, and how to win. Give them the gift of physical and intellectual activity, give them the understanding that sports, employment and power are equally accessible for all sexes, and you won’t be having problems with girls who yearn for the freedoms and privileges of being male.
Qattari Cat Goes Wild
It was like the ninth circle in Hell. We had been told this was the best clinic in town, so when we thought the Qatteri Cat was having a problem, we made an appointment, and braved the Doha drive-time traffic to get there, only to discover that there were like 25 people milling around the waiting room, most holding animals loose in their arms, and a feeling of desperation in the air.
The customer service was shocking. I watched one man, big guy, football-player type, sway and his knees nearly buckle as the curt woman behind the desk said in her loud voice “Oh! Your cat didn’t make it! Your’s was the little grey cat, right?” He was devastated. I was horrified that the news could be delivered so callously, and so loudly.
Many of the people without appointments had kittens bought at the Souq al Waqif. You know I love the Souk al Waqif, but if you buy an animal there, you are buying an animal who already has strikes against it, and people who breed them just for sale, with no regard for ethical treatment of another living creature. You are buying trouble, and big veterinarian bills. It’s gotten so bad for me, I can’t even walk through the bird/animal area anymore. I can’t bear to see the way the animals are treated.
We got to see the vet over an hour later. He was nice, very professional, very knowledgeable, and I cannot imagine what it is like having to run a veterinary service under these hellish conditions.
One of his handlers walked in, looked at me coldly and said “Is this your cat?” I said yes, and she continued on “this is the worst cat I have ever handled. He is EVIL! He is VICIOUS! He is the cat from hell. Is he like this at home?”
Imagine saying something like that to a customer!
I felt like I had been punched in the stomach. The Qatteri Cat had a rough beginning in life. I met his first owners, and the women in the family didn’t like him. When he came to live with us, he loved – and trusted – AdventureMan from the beginning, but it took me a long while to win his trust. He was skinny and always watching my feet and hands; he would flinch if I moved too quickly. He had been mistreated.
He has bitten me twice, in his seven years living with us, both times when other cats were around and he was scared. When he is scared, or when he is in pain, all his natural instincts kick in. I give him a short time-out in a confined environment (the bathroom!), and everything is fine. He’s a cat. No, he is not vicious at home. He is a SWEET cat!
He has never misbehaved at a vet clinic, never. At the clinic in Kuwait, he couldn’t wait to get out of the cage; the female Italian vet told him what a handsome big boy he was and he was putty in her hands. I have to admit it, I felt a twinge of jealousy. He had eyes only for her!
The Qattari Cat is a cat who wants to co-operate. It doesn’t matter how good the vet is, if the staff is unprofessional, discourteous to the point of rudeness, and ignorant about handling animals, we won’t go back. We won’t risk him being handled cruelly. I cannot imagine why they keep this woman on their staff.
But I couldn’t resist taking a flash photo of QC to illustrate this post, with demonic, gleaming eyes, LLOOOLLLL!
US Housing Market Takes Another Hit in December
US home sales see steep drop in December
From BBC News
Sales of previously-owned US homes fell 16.7% in December, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) has said.
Sales had risen from September to November as first-time buyers took advantage of tax credits.
The decline in December was expected as buyers rushed to complete deals before the original 30 November deadline.
The first-time buyer tax credit has since been extended until 30 April, and the NAR said there was likely to be another surge in sales in the spring.
December sales fell to a seasonally-adjusted annual rate of 5.45 million from 6.54 million in November, but are 15% higher than the level seen in December 2008.
The average sale price of a previously-owned home was $178,300 (£110,200) in December, up 1.5% on a year ago.
Total sales in 2009 were almost 5% higher than in 2008 – the first annual gain since 2005.
“It’s significant that home sales remain above year-ago levels, but the market is going through a period of swings driven by the tax credit,” Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist said.
“By early summer the overall market should benefit from more balanced inventory, and sales are on track to rise again in 2010.
“However, the job market remains a concern and could dampen the housing recovery – job creation is key to a continued recovery in the second half of the year.”
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