Sinning and Miscalculation

Think that blog post title will attract some reading?

Last night I went to an Evening of Recollection (Opus Dei style) at Prince of Peace in Taylors, SC.

I love the meditations, the prayer time, and the opportunity for confession - that's the sinning part, or actually the redemption part. In my confession, Fr. Smith talked about the leper who called out to Jesus, "Lord you can make me clean if it is your will."  While I am not skeptical of the power of Jesus, I have made that call (probably with a lot less faith), and still need constant cleansing.

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This morning Thomas and I put down a hog. We didn't have any help. I figured it to be about 200-220 pounds .... After putting it down, Thomas and I couldn't lift it! I am no Captain American, but I am also no pre-1941 Steve Rogers either. (This was the miscalculation.) I think the hog was over 300 pounds. We ended up using brains rather than brawn.

 

We still we ready to put it on ice in under 2 hours. (Not cold enough to just hang in the shed.) Not bad for the home team.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

More Aftermath

Stealing this from TS -who got it from First Things. I wish I would have considered the last paragraph in the weeks leading up to the election. While I may seem at times to claim humility, I really had it in for those who didn't agree with me on how to vote - and sometimes I let them know it. Mea culpa!

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Harvested peanuts this weekend. Pretty small crop. Probably the smallest we've ever had. I can't really put my finger on the cause. We had rain, but it was sporadic. We used gypsum when they were flowering. We may not have kept up with the weeds at the end, but it has never effected us so much in the past.

Will be harvesting our small sorghum crop this week.

Then, back to clearing trees downed (in neighbor's yards) by Hurricane Matthew.

Oremus pro invicem!

In and out of the wilds

Thomas and I returned to Jones Gap last week. He resurrected my pup tent which I think I purchased in 1988 or 1989. I haven't used it in at least 17 or 18 years. It was missing a post, but Thomas figured something out for me, as you can see.

 

I think he just didn't want me squeezing into his one-man tent with him this time around.

 

We lit into the woods at Jones Gap around 2:25 PM on Monday. We arrived at the campsite (3.5 miles in) around 2 hours later. We did take a wrong turn (No Daniel Boone, I) and had some equipment problems.

 

Coupled with the fact I haven't really walked since our last endeavor into the wilderness in March, it was a bit slow going. We were heavily loaded for 2 nights in the wilderness.

 

At 4:30 it was already getting dark in the woods. We barely had time to find a good tree to hang food from, find firewood, set up tents, and start supper.

 

Our ultimate goal was to see Raven Cliff Falls. But through a series of mishaps and miscalculations, we walked 12 miles, but never got there. It just means we have to go back again.

 

 

We did go up to Caesar's Head. It used to be that you could go down into the formation, but apparently someone fell off the cliff a few years ago, so you have to view it from a distance. There is a great overlook with Tablerock in the distance.

 

We hiked up and down Tom Miller trail, which almost beat my behind. At the foot of the Tom Miller trail is a closed campsite by the Middle Saluda River where I camped with the boys back in 2002. It is a great site, but apparently all the dead Hemlocks drop branches on the site, and it is "dangerous".

 

No pictures this time because somehow my phone got turned on during the initial trek and it lost all charge searching for signal.

 

We came out of the woods Wednesday morning around 9:15 AM.

 

It was a great trip. Son Thomas is a great camping companion and pulls more than his share of the work.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

Just earlier today I was telling Mrs. Curley that the Republicans won't have the guts to repeal Obamacare. (After all, Obamacare is essentially the Republican response to the old Clinton universal plan from the 90's). And Trump's promise was that he had something "wonderful" to replace it.

 

So what is so wonderful. Well WSJ is reporting this afternoon that Trump says he plans to keep at least part of Obamacare.

Hmm! Here we go!

Aftermath

For the first time since college, I did not watch election results. I was in the mountains backpacking with Thomas for 2.5  days. (Backpack log to follow.) I didn't learn of the results til just outside a Waffle House outside of Greenville at 10:00AM Wednesday morning.

While I was thrilled that Hilary Clinton had lost, I was disappointed that Donald Trump won.

My daughter came back from the SAT's on Saturday with a quote from Thoreau (a passage on the SAT) which essentially said :

The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls -- the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning.

In other words, (my interpretation), if we as a people live our lives correctly, the country will be taken care of, including having good choices at the ballot box.

What we had this year is the two major candidates who reflect who we are and how we live as a people. Think on that for a bit. Angry, immoral (or amoral), bigoted, sexually immature, animalistic, liars, and cheaters.

We need to pray that the president-elect gains some humility and will seek advice. As yet he hasn't demonstrated that he will.

But we will go a long way for the future of the country if we as citizens reform our own lives.

One other (final) point. I have gotten many emails throughout the election season saying I need to vote for Trump because this priest or that priest gave a homily or talk saying so. ("Hilary is evil, Trump is just bad"). The problem is that politics is mostly in the realm of the laity. We should follow guidelines on voting from the Church, but how to play the political game is the laity's. So many people hid behind the cassocks of clergy to justify a vote for Trump. I still don't believe there was any justification. I hope I am wrong.

Oremus pro invicem!

election

For some reason, I thought I was teaching classes all day on November 8th and therefore cast an absentee ballot. I realized yesterday that the college was closed for Election Day. What an embarrassment!

 

However, now I don't have wait in the long lines at the Bethune polling place. (The "long" being very sarcastic). I have waited to vote for more than 5-10 minutes only once since coming to Bethune. In 2008, I arrived at the polls before they opened and there was a line of at least 30-50 people. We only have 2 or 3 voting booths. But that wait was nothing like the lines I waited in when we lived in Columbia.

 

Really small town living (population 250) has distinct advantages. For example I have never been more than the second person in line at the post office - even on the busiest mailing day of the year.

 

I am tired of the election. I am tired of getting ready responses every time I hear or read that voting for a third party candidate is _______________ (you fill in the blank). In the past couple weeks I have restrained myself, but it has been difficult at times. I have been voting 3rd party since 1992 in the National presidential elections.

 

I have friends in SC who are appalled I would do this. But let's be real, if the Republican nominee (pick your year) can't win SC without my vote, then he is going to get hammered nationwide. This isn't why I vote the way I do, but it is reality.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

Peace of Mind

Although we need to always remember that we need spiritual peace of mind primarily, and shouldn't store up earthly treasures, at the same time, the following pictures give me some peace of mind for the coming cold season.

Most of this wood was cut and split ongoing since last February. However, since hurricane Matthew came through we have been cutting up friends and neighbors trees for the coming year(s). It is keeping us busy. Friday, Thomas and I worked on a big Hickory. This wood will be cook on.

Of course having food gives peace of mind too ....

Oremus pro invicem!

Another peaceful weekend

We went to Pointsett State Park this weekend. I think I have mentioned we have a few other children staying with us right now. Camping was a new experience for them - but something they now want to do again. It was hard to leave.

 

It was the first time all of us spent the night away from home in many years. The cow is dry, so we just made sure all the other animals had extra feed, hay and water. They seemed to make out okay.

 

We arrived at Pointsett on Friday afternoon. We got 2 campsites because we wanted a little privacy and had 3 tents and 9 of us. After setting up camp (tents mostly by Thomas) we went over to the field and had wheel barrow races, tug of war and a friendly game of kickball. (Sort of friendly, Mrs. Curley was rolling fastballs when my team was at bat!)

 

Friday night, Mama (Mrs. Curley) put a seafood medley in a cast iron Dutch oven on the fire. I grilled some flounder on the Coleman stove. I think we had some veggies too and put some potatoes in coals.

 

Saturday morning (after an interesting night in the tent for some) I cooked up some bacon and eggs while we broke up the camp (Thomas again doing most of the disassembly work).

 

 

We then rented a canoe and two peddle boats. I drove the canoe, and we switched off my front paddler until almost everyone had a turn. We saw some diving ducks. Supposedly there were a few small gaters in the pond, but despite claims of seeing them, I don't think we really did.

 

We had a picnic lunch by the lake and then headed home.

 

I think everyone had fun. Usually I don't say it is good to be away from home, but in this case, I think it was good to have fun at a neutral site.

 

Now Thomas and I have a backpacking trip to schedule. We might go back to Jones Gap and see Raven Cliff Falls, or maybe decide to pack along the Chattooga River. We'll see.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Over the weekend

I was trying to sell a couple of sows to make way (that is, raise the purchase price) for a new sow. The State Fair is in town, and I heard there were some Old Spot gilts and some Chester White gilts - both of which I wouldn't mind having.

 

All three of my sows were pregnant, so I put out a deal. Good price for two pregnant sows, just ready to give birth. (6 week old piglets will fetch $40-60 easily, so purchase price of the sow was contained several times over in her belly.)

 

I had some serious bites, but Friday at the noon watering, Thomas comes running in saying that Sam (Samantha) was farrowing at that moment. We hadn't even moved her to a farrowing pen. She didn't finish having pigs until after midnight, but we moved her in the process. (Two myths broken here: 1. sows are in some kind of trance during labor (I have never seen it), and 2. Sow labor is 2-3 hours - mostly true, but Sam holds marathons.)

As a precaution, we moved Polly to her farrowing pen also. We have a few extra souls living with us now. It was their first time moving big pigs. I think they enjoyed it and observed some interactions they hadn't seen before!

I figured I still had a chance to sell Polly....

Sunday morning, Thomas comes in and announces Polly farrowed overnight. She pulled all the hay from her house and built a nest over by the fence, piling hey and dirt so high, the piglets fell through the higher openings. But Thomas recaptured them and all is well (except I don't have a new sow!).

But I thank God for the many blessings he has bestowed.

Oremus pro invicem!

Sex (as in male or female)

I never thought of this before:

Now, sex is the first thing we notice about someone, and the last thing we forget.

It is true. When describing someone we've met for the first time, we never struggle to remember whether the person was a man or a woman (although people are trying to make it difficult these days.) We might struggle over the name, eye color, height, weight (except in a general sense), but we don't forget whether they are male or female. It's hard to hide.

Yet the confusion people are having describing their own sex these days! Read Anthony Esolen's take.

Oremus pro invicem!

Recommended:

On debate and discourse:

Yet it is striking how appearance can overwhelm reality. We are being trained that all that really matters is whether it looks like you’re right—not whether you actually are. Or more, it’s not even about seeming to be right, but seeming to be in control, suave, and strong. Words become bludgeons, tools to manipulate. Speakers are reduced to actors, playing a part in a charade.

 

There is of course a place for the art of rhetoric in discourse, especially public discourse. But at the end of the day, discourse is not combat; it should not be about winning but about communication, and coming to some truth

 

It seems that email, comment boxes, and the like have exacerbated the problem.

 

And The End of the Utilitarian Argument for Trump:

 

 

Many conservatives, then, have been making what we can call the utilitarian argument for Trump. They argue that those who appreciate how bad a liberal majority on the Supreme Court would be should recognize that Trump, for all his faults, would be less bad than Clinton, so they ought to vote for Trump

Stated in these terms, this argument has always been too simple and too fast. A vote has lots of effects, only one of which is increasing the probability of a particular candidate’s victory. In particular, all else being equal, the more votes Trump receives, the more people will think that his platform is one that deserves a place in American politics and that his style of politics is worth emulating; it encourages the Republican Party to adopt his views and manner. A Republican vote for Trump will, generally, be taken as a Republican condoning of Trump

.

 

And is that what we want?

Finally, here is the future: The a third party based on solidarity, subsidiarity and distributism.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

If I were a rich man ....

You all understand, of course, that a vote for Trump is a vote against that the most pro-life candidate running for president. (really?)

 

You all understand, of course, that it is only moral to vote for the lesser of two evils when there are NO other choices?

 

The wars are heating up, and even as prominent "conservatives" are abandoning Trump, others are surprisingly clinging even tighter.

 

I was in an email exchange this week which was prompted by a friend forwarding an article to me and a bunch of other Catholics on why Catholics should vote for Trump. (Interestingly, the organization sending out the article abandoned Trump themselves in midst of our "discussions".)

 

It is interesting that not a single one of my arguments against voting for Trump and voting 3rd party (practical or philosophical) was ever addressed by those opposing me in the exchange. Their total arguments consisted of attacking me-often personally, "the Supreme Court", and the tired, old, philosophically flawed, and bullying technique of "If you vote 3rd party, you are voting for Clinton."

 

I can understand, but do not agree with, the "stop Clinton" reasons. In fact, I refer readers to the first two sentences above just for starters.

 

This whole thing reminds of a line from Fiddler On the Roof (watched this weekend):

 

And it won't make one bit of difference
If I answer right or wrong
When you're rich they think you really know.

Apparently I am not rich enough to have my arguments even considered by many others. I guess Trump is!

 

Funny how worldly success attracts the respect and admiration of even those who say that worldly success is not important and secondary to relationship with God!

 

Years ago I never understood in Alphonsus Liguori's Stations of the Cross, the big deal about eschewing all human respect.

My outraged Jesus, / by the weakness You suffered in going to Calvary, / give me enough strength to overcome all human respect ....

I wish I was still in that state of oblivion, because sometimes (especially this week) how I crave it. I want others to say I am right. (It should be good enough for me that Mrs. Curley does - but I am a greedy man.)

 

BTW, I am not fishing here-if my craving were satisfied, this would be a bad thing spiritually for me. If you think I am right about anything, keep it to yourself!

Oremus pro invicem!

The Lesser of Two Evils

Someone must have said this before me. I can't imagine this is original thinking on my part, but it makes SO much sense:

 

As long as we vote for the lesser of two evils, the only possible outcome is evil!

Oremus pro invicem!

Random takes

Maybe the hurricane Matthew cometh! Good thing we canceled the family campout we planned for this weekend. While a get away to the upstate may have been dry, it is best we are here during the storm with all the livestock we have around.

 

Our laying hens must have good hearing. After two weeks of only getting 2 eggs a day from a flock of almost 20 hens, I started talking about lots of chicken pot pie. Suddenly we are getting 10 eggs a day.

 

When to Mass this morning and then breakfast at Huddle House to celebrate: Number two daughter turns 18 today! 

 

Reading from Galatians today. St. Paul corrects St. Peter "to his face" in public  for his hypocrisy and poor judgement. Do we still have courageous Bishops?

 

Couldn't help but smile at the pieces on Bishop Etienne (Cheyenne) now that he is getting Anchorage: carries around a fishing rod-just in case, brothers buy each other rifles for Christmas, 3 priests and a nun in his family, spends free time chopping wood.  

 

I keep checking the peanuts and the sorghum, but both are not quite ready.

 

Speaking of not ready, I am not sure I have enough wood cut for winter yet. I have it here, but much still needs to be cut and split. In addition, we still need to clean out the chimney. People are telling me its my turn.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Homer

A few years ago I was at dinner with two of my sons at a college president's house. The college president and I were discussing our educational journey. I made the comment that my sons in their homeschool curriculum were reading all these books (giving examples of the entire Bible, Homer's Odyssey, etc) which I wanted to read but never had-my education was lacking.

 

One son looked at me incredulously - "You haven't read everything you make us read?"

 

Well as time goes on, I am trying to catch up.

 

This week I have started Homer's Odyssey. I read something today from Anthony Esolen:

 

"Homer is relevant to me because Homer is relevant to man."



So I read what is relevant to man. So far, good!

Oremus pro invicem!

A Bit of Sanity in an Insane World

Ah, but isn't it so true:

No, we do not need the state to compel us to do what comes naturally. But the state can compel us to do, under sufferance, what does not come naturally, or what is downright unnatural. (Anthony Esolen - complete article here.)

Of course this is what is happening.

Unfortunately not all of our pastors are supporting, guiding, and shepherding the lay faithful in what is natural and what is divinely commanded (such as the sanctity and nature - i.e. indissolvability- of marriage.)

 

I have not been paying to much attention to what is going on in the world. For example I didn't see about the bombings in NY and NJ til this morning.

 

And, I have suddenly realized I need to get an absentee ballot for the November election - no time to vote on Tuesdays with my teaching schedule. Oh yeah, who's running again? That's right, it is Darrell Castle (Constitution Party) vs. Michael Maturen (American Solidarity Party )

.

And the letter to the Argentinian bishops? Well I discuss that briefly above.

 

I catch snippets of all these things (terrorism, elections, Church doings) but my life is filled with wife, children and family right now - when I am not working.

 

I went to a Opus Dei-style evening of recollection last week and was again reminded how much MORE time I need to spend in prayer.

 

That being said....

 

Oremus pro invicem!

The surprising fate of Kershaw, SC

Kershaw is a small town (although with a population 6.58x greater than Bethune) about 19 miles up the road from us. It is a non-assuming town. We sometimes get pizza from Gus' (which is closed on Sunday - Greek).

 

So the other day I was driving some young and basically uncatechized children. After breaking up a fight between K- and G-, I mentioned that the reward for being good when we die is Heaven, living with God.

 

And young K- responded with the question: "Where do you go if you are not good?"

 

Before I had a chance to respond, young G-, chimed in: "To Kershaw, K-, to Kershaw!"

It was all I could do, to stay on the road!

Oremus pro invicem!

The nature of parenthood

Two articles on parenthood worth reading appear on Public Discourse this week. These are not “how to” articles, but discussions about the nature of biological and adoptive parenthood by Christopher O. Tollefsen. 

The two things (which are probably obvious to those not so dull-headed as I) that I pulled away as intriguing points to ponder further can be summed up, or at least introduced, in these short excerpts.

On biological parenthood:

The nontrivial sense of irreplaceable love is the sort we associate with personal relationships: if Smith is my friend, then Smith’s love and friendship are irreplaceable to me. There are goods for me that Smith’s friendship provides that no other friendship can provide, and there are times when it is specifically Smith’s friendship that I need and desire.

Moschella (This is a discussion of her new book: To Whom Do Children Belong? Parental Rights, Civic Education, and Children's Autonomy - JC) grounds the obligations of biological parents to their children in the special personal relationship that being a biological parent generates. Specifically, biological parenting inevitably brings with it the relationship of being biologically responsible for another’s existence, and being biologically implicated in another’s identity. And these in turn make it the case that there are goods that only biological parents can provide: the good of being loved by one who is biologically responsible for one’s existence, and the good of being loved and raised by one who is uniquely and closely related to one’s identity. Children raised by their biological parents, for example, can see in their parents’ lives examples both good and bad of how traits to which they may be disposed can, should, or should not be allowed to grow and develop.

On adoptive parenthood: 

It can be tempting to extend this description (i.e. a fertility problem –JC) of what is happening to the absence of children itself: that is seen as a problem, indeed, the problem, to be rectified by taking appropriate steps. That attitude can lead to the use of various assisted reproductive technologies that seek to make a child, thereby fixing what is wrong.

And it could equally lead to adoption of a child. Let’s call that adoption out of need. The couple has a problem: they need a child, and adoption is one way to fix the problem at hand. But spouses should not adopt from what they do not have, but from what they do: an abundance of spousal love that seeks to be creative and life-giving. We could call that adoption-out-of-abundance. (my emphasis – JC)

Read both articles for a more complete fleshing-out of these and some other ideas.

Oremus pro invicem! (on the nativity of our Lady)

Farenheit 451

Just finished reading it upon the recommendation of one of my children.

 

Never too much a fan of science fiction (although I did try. In graduate school I lived in a family's attic. There was a bookcase full of science fiction. Over two years I read most, maybe 75-100 books, most of it science fiction. I confirmed without a doubt-not much of a fan.)

 

F-451 is not so much science fiction as a cautionary tale, like 1984 and Brave New World. (I read one of the latter, maybe both. I just can't remember which one.)

 

I had never read Ray Bradbury before (I don't think). I wouldn't say it great literature, but an engaging story. I wasn't crazy about F-451 as I thought the ending was pretty vague and not too satisfying in any particular way (endings are important to me). However, I did enjoy reading it, and was glad it did.

 

It is funny how today in some sense mindless social media curbs ones time and appetite from literature. The schools (we are having some experience with public schools now - but that is a different story) have joined the electronic revolution and even when books are read and assigned, the selections are not classic, but tend to be depressing studies of teenage tragedy. (And we wonder why teenagers are in crisis? This is all we give them to read.)

So in many senses, the first stage of F-451 is actually taking place. Colleges and Universities no longer want to educate the mind and create creative independent thinkers. Great literature almost seems banned from most levels of our education system.

 

Schools and Colleges are at the service of both social, politically correct agenda, and big business. Turn us out politically correct (and amoral) but submissive workers-no independent thinkers, please.

The great works are not read and explored except for at a few colleges.

Oremus pro invicem!

 

Missing in action - the holiday/Holy Day

The irony of Labor Day just past has been gnawing at me. As I understand it, Labor Day was achieved by the labor movement to celebrate the achievements of the American worker. Part of the motivation was to make the American worker appreciated in order to push for higher wages and better working conditions.

However, we recall that at that time, (early 20^th century) the target for this holiday were some of the lowest paid workers who were pushing the industrial machine.

Now many of our manufacturing jobs have been shipped overseas.

Today the lowest paid American workers are in service and retail jobs … and they don’t get a holiday on Labor Day.

In the drive to make more and more money, we have lost the meaning of holidays.

Holidays have become opportunities for business to make more money, not to relax and enjoy our family, not to appreciate our country and our heritage, and most definitely not to worship our God.

Especially as Catholics, how many of our Holy Days have been moved to Sundays so we can celebrate with the Holy Sacrifice?

I listened to a talk the other day about how St. John Paul II viewed keeping Sunday holy as a key component of "the new evangelization" - a sign to the culture. But to be a sign, we need to actually practice this gift from God.

Oremus pro invicem!