The value of never giving up

Sometimes you can turn things around.

Stomp the yard

One thing to do with a stump in your yard, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

Maintaining a positive attitude is hard.

We all face setbacks and it's important to manage those setbacks and more importantly our responses to those setbacks as best we can.

Did a plan fail? OK. Then what is the backup plan? If you don't have a backup plan, what can you do to implement a backup plan as quickly as possible?

You have to learn that it's OK to fall, as long as you get back up again.

Happy Birthday, Doc Holliday!

Doc Holliday, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

This is my favorite terminally ill serial killer.

Doc traveled the west, drinking, gambling and killing. Just goes to show you what happens when a certain type of person has nothing to lose. Doc was way more dangerous than his buddy Wyatt Earp, and most of us see him as a tragic, almost Shakesperean character.

If Andrew Cunanan had lived in the 1800s how would we see him today.

Some days everything conspires against you

, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

Imagine trying to write while a kitten is attacking your fingers on the keyboard!

Writing without a net

So one of the things that I have planned for the next few months is to complete a novel.

I've always been able to write to assignment, but completing something so large on my own has been beyond me so I'm trying the 30 day novel writing challenge. The main thing is to simply write every day and end up with a first draft of 50,000 words.

Most paperbacks weigh in at 80 - 100,000 words so the first draft is just the start, but at least it's a plan.

You need to read this

http://head-nurse.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-we-just-print-this-out-post-it-on.html

Read this blog post.

Read it now. Bookmark it. Read it again later when you or a loved one is very, very ill. Never forget that death is part of the natural progression of things. Never forget that there are times when maintaining life is crueler then allowing death to come when it is time.

Read this:
http://head-nurse.blogspot.com/2008/07/can-we-just-print-this-out-post-it-on.html

Props to blissful entropy who led me to this.

Melting Pot Exemplified

St Mary's Orthodox North of Calhan, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

A view from the south of St Mary's Holy Dormition Orthodox Church.

A large number of the early settlers in this area were immigrants from Slovakia and they brought the Eastern Orthodox faith with them. This church was completed in the 1930s after a schism in the Church when the Soviet Union created the Reformed Living Church and claimed ownership of the original Orthodox church in Calhan. The original Calhan church burned down and was replaced by what is called the Old Tower Church.

Old Hotel in Calhan

Old Hotel in Calhan, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

This old building used to be a hotel, at least according to what is painted on the building. It is very close to the old railroad depot.

Paint MInes

, originally uploaded by imjohnmoore.

Outside of the fair the best thing to do around Calhan.

Sunday Morning Coming Down

Take a drive through this small town and you'll see that there is nothing to do on a Sunday.

You could of course go to church. In this town of 900 people there are 9 churches.

Nine.

One church for every 100 people.

It's enough to turn this old heathen Christian.

Or not -- there's always the Paint Mines.