Bear Crossing, A Cosmic tattle-tale revisted and No more biting

I almost shat my pants today! I went for a walk a bit later then I usually do, it was about sunset. I usually stick to the paths around our 'neighbourhood' which is really just the rocky mountains with a few speratic log cabin homes which are mostly sitting empty this time of year. Im walking down this dirt path with a wooded area on either side when i pass a house with a 'bear crossing' sign in the front yard. As Im wondering why anyone would put that in their front yard I look down and see three huge bear prints in the dirt leading off int the woods... oh shit, their not kidding. So of course Im wishing I would've went on this walk alittle earlier when the light wasnt fading and making everything shadowy. I turn my ipod off to stay more alert. Still determined to enjoy my walk i keep going up the path. a little while later out of the corner of my eye I see a big dark figure in the trees being perfectly still, my heart imdiediatly jumps to my throat and I feel a rush of nervous adrenaline. "oh shit, oh shit" im saying in my head, all I can do is stare. its not moving, so I sqwint my eyes and begin to make out a few bolts and what looks to be wood... yes it was one of those giant wire spools just sitting in the trees, not a bear. "Whew!" that was fuckin scary. I speed walked the rest of the way home looking around and thinking about what exactly to do if i do see a bear. I cant wait to walk around Eugene where bears arent randomly wandering around.. hopefully.

In other news,

I have aquired a very differse group of freinds and aquiantences over the years, which im grateful for. Because of the fact that Ive lived in alot of different places and traveled around quite a bit, I've gotten to know and expiernce and even at times debate alot of different view points and beliefs, which I feel is important in becoming a more well rounded individual and discovering what your own true beliefs are while respecting those of others. Like alot of people, I was brought up in a small midwest town and spent alot of time going to church with my family. Thinking back on it, in alot of ways Im grateful for the environment of a well meaning christian community but have since moved away from much of the religious aspects of it. I remember being handed a stack of 'Tracks' to hand out at halloween with the candy, 'Tracks' are small little animated booklets with scriptures in them, they were aimed at prostalitizing non christians in hopes of converting them to christianity. Most of them were manufactured by on over-zealous, spiritually manipulative religous organization that liked to use scare-tactics and perpetuate the threat of 'hell' one in particular I remember reading was about your average 'non-christian' man who suddenly dies in a car crash and floats up to heaven to 'stand before God in judgement' It depicted him standing infront of a huge movie screen with all the people he ever knew in life looking on as every bad or decietful thing he ever did in life appeared on the screen to be judged by this booming voice above.... wow, that sucks. Whenever I think of memories like this now, I like to revist them in a more postive and corrective light. While that might be somewhat of an incentive to limit the amount of shady things you do in life, rather then painting God as a sort of cosmic tattle-tale I like to think of him as a human advocate and our own personal admirer. Im not certain what exactly the after life will look like, but wouldn't it be cool If we floated up to heaven and stood with everyone we knew in life while the big giant screen showed a divinely highlighted version of our life, a sort of intense sensory inventory of our proudest moments, our happiest moments, everything beautiful we've every seen or felt or heard, our pain and laughter, our trials and victories. Our Love. It would be like the most Epic movie ever made. And like a proud Father God would smile at our efforts and our spirit. That would inspire me to make the most of this beautiful gift of life and dive into its waters and soak it up. To make the most of my time here, banish fear and do my best to encourage and help others to do the same. Yeah, I like that
version ALOT better.

One more little thing I wanted to share is a herbal recipe for reppelling spiders and other insects that might be trying to invade your room at night. after waking up with a couple little bites on my cheeks I researched this because I didnt want to use any harsh chemicals around my beding. After washing all your bedding spray this around the diameter of room, bedframe and mattress. it seems to be working quite well :)

mix these ingrediants in a spray bottle
citronella oil
Lavender oil
cinnamin oil
peppermint oil
citrus oil
coconut oil
tea tree oil
a dash of white vinager
water