Sunday Kipling

I hope the young New Year is finding you hale, healthy and happy. I feel pretty good today. I think my last post was cathartic. I know it was invigorating. All is well here at Casa Six. The grandchildren are a handful, as all children are supposed to be. They've become the finest brass miners any range has ever seen (though at 2 bucks a bag full I may need to renegotiate our deal). DO, Lu and MIL are coping though the tears and anger bubble up at unexpected times. This too shall pass.

I have a a couple of matches coming up. Two this month and the Utah Peace Officers Association 3 Gun in February. They invited bald, old, fat, retired cops and for some reason my name was at the top of that list :) My brother in law (Lu's brother and hereinafter referred to as the Principal because he is one) is going to be shooting 3 Gun with me. I am so happy about having a shooting partner, especially him, He's been a friend from before Lu and I got married. Now if I could only convince Car Guy to move out here my life would be complete. Crap, I'm rambling today.

Have a fine Sunday my friends. Eat well, watch some playoff football (Go Niners!) and enjoy your life. Don't let the bad times get you down for This Too Shall Pass. As your comments have shown so clearly we are not alone and so long as we have each other and our faith we can conquer the whatever evil befalls the world.
Six

What the People Said

(June 21st, 1887)

By the well, where the bullocks go
Silent and blind and slow --
By the field where the young corn dies
In the face of the sultry skies,
They have heard, as the dull Earth hears
The voice of the wind of an hour,
The sound of the Great Queen's voice:
"My God hath given me years,
Hath granted dominion and power:
And I bid you, O Land, rejoice."

And the ploughman settles the share
More deep in the grudging clod;
For he saith: "The wheat is my care,
And the rest is the will of God.
He sent the Mahratta spear
As He sendeth the rain,
And the Mlech, in the fated year,
Broke the spear in twain.
And was broken in turn. Who knows
How our Lords make strife?
It is good that the young wheat grows,
For the bread is Life."

Then, far and near, as the twilight drew,
  Hissed up to the scornful dark
Great serpents, blazing, of red and blue,
That rose and faded, and rose anew.
  That the Land might wonder and mark
"To-day is a day of days," they said,
"Make merry, O People, all!"
And the Ploughman listened and bowed his head:
"To-day and to-morrow God's will," he said,
As he trimmed the lamps on the wall.

"He sendeth us years that are good,
As He sendeth the dearth,
He giveth to each man his food,
Or Her food to the Earth.
Our Kings and our Queens are afar --
On their peoples be peace --
God bringeth the rain to the Bar,
That our cattle increase."

And the Ploughman settled the share
More deep in the sun-dried clod:
"Mogul Mahratta, and Mlech from the North,
And White Queen over the Seas --
God raiseth them up and driveth them forth
As the dust of the ploughshare flies in the breeze;
But the wheat and the cattle are all my care,
And the rest is the will of God."