Back Where It Belongs

So...there's been something of a blog hiatus since about Christmas over here. Part of which is that there hasn't been much going on over these parts. I could have posted about all of our families exploits sledding, skating, making snow forts, braving the Winter Weather except that....there hasn't been any. This is, by far, the mildest Winter that I can recall. Our pond is completely clear of ice...in fact, we even fed bread to fish off our dock yesterday. It's almost time to string up the fishing poles and till the garden...VERY uncharacteristic for this time of year in New England.
That sounds good and all but, the main reason that I haven't been posting anything is....well....The Patriots. Yeah...I'll blame the Patriots. Specifically, what the Patriots Playoff run brought me to do. **cue Sinister Music**...Dun Dun DUUUNNNN!!!!

We plugged in the TV.

Yup. The ole' "Time Sucker" herself.

It started with a few weeks to go in the Pats season (and right around New Years...what to watch a half-dead Dick Clark desperatly cue the ball to drop and all)
At any rate...The original plan was to only bring up the TV for game days but, after a long Monday at work...what would I rather do? Haul the ole' girl down to the basement again, or check to see if there's a new episode of "American Pickers" on?

Hours led to days, days led to weeks, weeks to a month or so. There it sat in our Sunroom. The 32' behemouth. The Monolith. Staring at me like the Eye of Sauron....beckoning...."turn me on....turn me on....turn me ON". You may think that i'm being overly dramatic but, for a family that routinely watched VERY little tv....with this thing plugged and waiting to be watched...it was like staring down Clint freaking Eastwood....the thing just kept daring me...."Do you feel lucky, punk?"...and often I did.

For the past 5 weeks or so....the tube was the central figure in our sunroom. We kept it off, for the most part, while the kids were awake but, after snack, stories, prayers, and bed....you better believe that baby came on in record time. American Pickers, Pawn Stars, Planet Earth, That show with the British lady who tells parents about the trolls their kids have become, that show with the dude with the spikey blonde hair who goes to diners and stains his shirt telling us how unreal their corned beef is...I watched it all.

Well...This past Sunday, The Patriots laid an egg (again) and....enough was enough. It was time to relegate the 32' weapon of mass distraction back to it's rightful place:



Crammed between some totes and the wall in our basement. I gotta tell ya....I love T.V. LOVE T.V. i grew up in a home where the TV was on pretty much all waking hours (with loving parents, mind you....just lots of M*A*S*H* and The People's Court as well). it certainly is a sacrifice to go without it but....after a month or so...the time that is redeemed is wonderful, especially in a home with young children.
I know that I've posted this verse here before but...one of my favorite verses in the entire Bible is Ephesians 5: 15-16:

" See that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil."

It was a fun distraction, having the TV upstairs this past season...It was also stifling. In the few short days that "The Beast" has been put away, I've spent so much time growing...spending more time talking with Chrissy, reading just about everything there is to know about hunting/harvesting/field dressing deer, planning out this years garden, learning some cool Bluegrass scales and runs...it's amazing, the time that you find, when you are not tied to That Box.

i walked around my home tonight, thankful for the conviction of The Lord in putting that thing away...I was blessed with scenes like these:


My boy, sitting quietly in his room, poring over books (what you can't see is that He was also listening to The Bible on CD).


My girls making Pizza crusts.

That's the soundtrack to our home.....not some Platinum-Haired Doofus telling me how great the Shepherd's Pie is.

I gotta keep this in prayer, though...cuz...the Olympics are coming up in the Summer...and I love me some High Dive.

"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under he heaven."
- Ecclesiastes 3:1

Not So Quiet Riot

"Well I'm an Axe Grinder...Piledriver,
Mother says that I never, never mind her."
-Kevin DuBrow, Quiet Riot (and yes, I had to look up his name.)

I usually keep this blog reserved for the simpler things...the goings on of the Leo family and what The Lord is teaching us. I usually keep it light and airy. Tonight, I feel like adding my 2 cents to some socio-political issues happening in our world right now.
Specifically: Rioting.
Riots are nothing new. if you Wikipedia "list of riots", you'll get info on hundreds of riots that have occurred both home and abroad, ranging from a hundred or so people to several thousand. Most are usually fueled by a quick political decision or as an immediate protest to an action performed by a governing body. And don't forget the nonsensical chaos ignited in a given region by the loss (or win) of a local sports team, most recently in Vancouver, after their Stanley Cup loss, although New England/Boston is certainly guilty in this vain as well.

Like I said, it's nothing new....and maybe it's just the increased media coverage and outlets available in our culture but, doesn't it seem like these things are popping up all over the place? And I'm not just talking about in countries tired of living under decades of political oppression and tyranny, but in self-proclaimed "modern" democratic cultures. All you need to do is look to Vancouver and London.
I feel like this world has a hair-trigger. I feel that, at any moment, something unpredictable could happen that would quickly incite chaos into a currently calm culture. I don't live in fear. At the same time, I don't have a great confidence in the restraint of the masses in the wake of a quick change to the status-quo.
Look at Katrina. It took only hours before chaos ensued and property/family protection was left in the hands of the individual home/business owner. In less than a 12 hour period, the main means of protection was not a 911 call but a shotgun in the hands of a landowner pointed at the temples of a would-be looter. When a culture deteriorates and chaos reigns, there are usually only a few who are motivated by the actual issue...the masses just want to break shit. Vancouver was no exception. Not that the die-hard Canucks fans were justified, but let's face it. Most of those out there were not pissed that their team lost a hockey game...they were out there because there was a free pass on chaos and they were going to take full advantage of that opportunity to create mayhem for mayhem's sake.
Imagine if President Obama was shot tonight. What would Boston or Worcester or Hartford look like tomorrow? I work 2 blocks off main St. and 2 blocks out of the Piedmont District in Worcester. I'd be killed on my way in to work tomorrow. It would be reminiscent of those white guys getting pulled out of cars and stomped during the L.A. riots....not because of who they were or what they stood for but because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It would be wonton chaos throughout most (if not all) urban/suburban areas tomorrow if Obama was shot tonight.

So what about it? What do we do? I'm all for raising awareness to the issues at hand. I'm all for educating the current culture to lift them beyond their animal instincts in the wake of a quick travesty or unjust ruling. I'm also all for being armed. Armed to the teeth. I'm in no way a doomsday survivalist nutcase but I do believe in protecting that what is important and irreplaceable....family.
The thought of a family member falling victim to the foolish aggression of an assailant...break in....robbery....riot, or otherwise makes me crazy. I believe fully in prayer and The Divine's hand hovering over all, and protecting us. I also feel as though a degree of that protection has been instilled and handed over to us as people. To stand educated, against the social upheaval of the idiotic. The bottom line is that...if push ever came to shove...I'm ready. My family is ready. Trained, armed, and ready. Most Americans sit and read of this stuff and always imagine it happening somewhere else to someone else. Those are exactly the people in New Orleans who watched their homes and businesses get ransacked while those who were educated and prepared stood their ground, drew a bead on the foreheads of their oppressors, fended off the stupidity of the masses, and are safe, healthy, and open for business today.

"When a strong man, fully armed, guards his house, his possessions are safe."
-Luke 11:21 (NKJV)