 The Shaffer Journal
Volume 10 † Issue 3 † March 2004
[Internet Stuff] [Hockey Puck] [The Mountains of Ao]
[Poetry Corner] [The Dull Stuff] [Guest Articles] [In The Keys]
Kitty Talk
These journals are dedicated to Kitty GreyCat's spirit. She is at RainBow Bridge now along with her human friends, Leo and Doris. We all loved you, Kitty! Click the cat graphic to visit her Memorial page. Kitty born June 6, 1982. Died July 9, 1997. Please use our email form linked below to make suggestions or offer praise. >^..^<  Ebony: We have some very exciting stuff to meow about this very fine month of the cat. Of course, every month is a month of the cat. I was really excited, when that caged bird got out. It flew this way and that way. Then it flew very low, and I caught it. I had it in my mouth, when that nasty human bean of mine made me drop that bird. I was so close to tasting bird! >^..^<
Abby: I not nose what was going on. So I always hide just in case. I is a wise cat, you noses. I much prefer chase and meow with Ebony than all the bird chasing. Them human beans got big paws and not watch where they step. I got my tail stomped once and it was not a purrrrfect experience. >^..^<
Ebony: When your tail was stomped, I think you lost all your cat sense. You been meowing repeatedly for turkey, ham, chicken, and tonight even for BBQ. You is one strange cat. I nose that from the first I seed you. >^..^<
Abby: I don't get all tangled under the trailer. I not crawl into every nook and cranny uninvited, like the main bathroom amongst the stuff on the shelves, like the closets, like the sinks, and behind the mirror. >^..^<
Ebony: Well, ifing you didn't follow me everywhere nosing into my busy wax, then you would not nose all that there stuff. I not been outside much, because it so very cold for the Keys. Why it was 70 yesterday, meow! >^..^<
Abby: Meow, now you nose why I am mean to you, because you fat. I am lean, trim, and mean just like God made me. Little cats have to be mean, because black cats are fatter between the ears. I nose stuff like that. >^..^<
Ebony: I think you no better than me. I seed you chase bugs all over the place, even high into the air. I even seed you run a lizard up the big front door. You lost it in the blinds and paw tapped everywhere. You wouldn't even let me help you catch the tasty thing. You is so very stingy. That must be why you got them yucky spots on your neck what are healing now no thanks to all your scratching and human bean's ministrations. You now got sore ear I saw the other day, and human bean put stuffers on it with a q-tip. You not look like you like that like meow. >^..^<
Abby: Ice not liked it. But even with you catplaining all over the place, I clean you all the time. >^..^<
Ebony: Use do good cat cleaning job, but then you get mean and bite me. I get all relaxed and purring, and then you up and bite me and paw slap me. I get so mad after that. You is a pesky cat for sure, I meow. >^..^<
Abby: Yes, after I cleaned you up good, bite you too, then I go play in the grocery sacks. What fun! >^..^<
Ebony: I not have fun with that red, little dog, harness human bean making me wear. Just because I break all my other collars shouldn't mean I have to go through the indignity of wearing dog collar, harness stuff. >^..^<
Abby: I almost hang myself on the great big tree outside, and all you can think of is the old red harness thing. You were studying a bird and didn't even nose I was hanging there by the lead, but human bean came and rescued me no thanks to you. Well, we have complained about everything we can meow about. Come back for more next month. Us cats always have plenty of stuff to scratch and paw slap around right here in cyberspace, meow. >^..^<
Internet Stuff
The DVD films from http://www.NetFlix.com are packed with extras and full of good entertainment. Secondhand Lions is a heartwarming period movie about family and love with a little life mixed in. You've Got Mail was a great romance story and very enjoyable viewing. Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas was an animated adventure film and worthy a second look. Jane Doe fights for survival and her son with the help of her ex-husband. Runaway Jury was a different look at courtroom drama with a twist. Spy Kids: 3D: Game Over was viewed 2D, but that didn't detract from this adventure thriller with scads of special effects. I liked the movie from start to end. Several websites were useful this month. Jammy says: wow, check this cat site out: http://www.cbel.com/cat_behavior/ and talk about tons of info! I never got my real yellow pages phone book. I went to http://www.bellsouth.com to order the book. I found out another great site at http://therealyellowpages.com. I ordered new, updated pet identification tags for Ebony and Abby at http://www.luckypet.com. When I was struggling to get my wireless local area and wide area network up and running, there was a lot of websites that offered help. They are too numerous to mention them all here, but just enter in the right search keywords. In The Keys
Finally, I have time for some well deserved boating adventures, but first the bilge pump had to be fixed twice. After straightening out dock lines and doing an intense cleaning, we headed out for Molasses Keys. We then headed for Money Key and spent some quality time there, but the water was too cold even with my wetsuit on. There were many other things happening this month and none of them really related either. We had a great election in Marathon. The runoff between Miller and Worthington will be interesting, of course. We had great times at the Overseas Lounge and even better times at the American Legion. The VA Clinic canceled two of my doctor's appointments, but finally I am scheduled to go in the next couple of days. I always wanted to go experience Porky's. I was disappointed in the food, the place, and the service. Wild Bill's out on Grassy Key runs a super storage place, and that Wild Bill is a character too. Of course, the weekly poker games are always good for the soul. There are true blue friends who always stick with you through thick and thin. Miscellany: Did you know that Delaware's state bird is the Blue Hen Chicken? The flower is the Peach blossom. The tree is the American Holly. The capital is Dover. Statehood was granted December 7, 1787. Lastly, the Gingerbread Square Gallery features paintings, graphics, and sculptures. This Key West gallery is located at 1207 Duval Street. Their telephone number is 305-296-8900. Their Internet address is http://www.gingerbreadsquaregallery.com. Call the gallery for details. That's all there is for this month! Poetry Corner
“Enough” 02.29.04
by L. E. Shaffer © 2004 L. E. Shaffer Once on a great time
Comes a rare voice
Music to the mind
Enough to confound
When one goes away
Another comes
And balance arrives
Enough to preserve
Harmony and continue
That time when
All converges on
A star far away
The songs begin
Comprehension
Not delayed
Enough to live
A parade of prophets
Could not see
Nor comprehend
A path leading
To many places
But none to
Survive the death
That brings peace
Enough to live
Enough to cherish
The moment
Enough to become
What once was
Once that is
Once into the future
That cannot be © 2004 L. E. Shaffer Hockey Puck
The NHL Florida Panthers finally put together a winning streak. They have done that the last five games. Tiger won the World Golf Championship Accenture Match Play with the biggest PGA winning check amount ever of 1.2 million. Dale Jr. won both the NASCAR and Busch races at Daytona. Jeff Gordon placed well too. I miss Bill Elliot who retired. The NFL and NBA All-Star games were real yawners. The MLB is gearing up for spring. Guest Articles
We have various guests this journal. As always everything is copyright of the author. Karl Grant
Marathon High School
Mrs. Loggie’s American Gov’t Class
What can the students do for the city?
The students of Marathon can contribute to helping the city by volunteering to help build the affordable housing that the city has been talking about. The city says that they are progressing very slowly with building the houses and with the help of the students of the city we can help speed up the building process of these affordable housing. Once they start tearing down certain spots in the city were people are living and well need to start rebuilding as soon as possible and I fell that the students at the school can help make that happen .
Some of the benefits to having the students and the people of marathon help in this process is that everyone will have certain duties to do and everybody won’t be overworked too much and get exhausted very fast. It will also help get the affordable housing project under way and completed on schedule. The city council wants to build affordable housing so that everyone can afford to live in one of these units with their families. But not many people are opposed to this proposal because many of the people of Marathon cannot afford to pay the rent or bills in the homes they are living in now let alone these housing units. I want this project to be a big success but how can it be a big success when the people will not be able to afford to move into them because it will be out of their price range or even if they do have enough to move will they be able to keep up with the bills. But with the people of the community and here at the schools helping with the project then maybe they can save a lot of money with people volunteering.
They may also be able to lower the prices for living here if they save a lot of money on the building and cleaning after the building has been completed. We can also help the city council do other projects besides this affordable housing projects. We can also help build a swimming pool that everyone has been talking about. We can help with the constructing of the pool and getting everything set up. We can help construct everything and save the city some more money by helping with this project as well as the affordable project discussed earlier. We can also help keep our city park clean as well because I heard that it is being vandalized by some people of the city and they need some people to help clean up the vandalism that has been done to the public park. We can gather a big group of people once every couple of weeks to organize a clean up at the park to help make sure that the park stays in good shape for everyone and their families to go out and have a good time playing and having a good time at the park or even if they are going to the park just to relax we still want them to enjoy the scenery and not have to look at a dirty park.
There are many things that we the people and students of the community can do for the community to help keep the community and the Florida Keys clean and have everyone enjoying themselves when they come to visit us her, in the Florida Keys. © 2004 Karl Grant [last doc used: grantk.doc] Kevin Holder
Marathon High School
Mrs. Loggie’s American Gov’t Class
Volunteering
The school can do a lot for the community by getting involved more with the government. One way the students can do this is to start volunteering in more of the city events. They can have fund raisers for the school and donate all the profits to the school, and since the school is part of the city they (the students) would be actually donating the money to the city. They can also get involved with government events and so they can get their opinions heard, so they can have input on what the city is doing.
The way volunteering could help the city is that they could get major events done and save money in labor so that money can go to more important things like schools and construction and the city. And the city can also be improved by students joining and getting involved in city council because it will make the students more aware of what is going on in the city.
Some of the things the students could volunteer for are events like the boat races. They could start off by getting all the stands and trash cans and tables set up in the morning. Then when the customers get there the students can start selling the tickets. And at the end of the event, the students and other volunteers can clean up all the garbage. This alone would save the city a lot of money. And if they would be allowed to the students could also clean up the boats afterwards.
The students could also volunteer to help with the new affordable housing development. They can start by helping with the construction of the houses and then clean up afterwards. This would not only help the city but help the residents in the city. If the students volunteer for this the city could also get this project done faster. And it would also give the students experience in building and construction.
Another thing the students could volunteer for is for the new construction for the pool that they plain to build in the park. This would not only benefit the city but would benefit the students too as there is a high demand for a pool from the students. The students could help by helping with the building of the pool and also be the clean up crew afterwards. And when the pool is made you could have them volunteer to work positions as lifeguards. After the pool is built you could also have the students help build a food stand and the students could volunteer to work the food stand too.
The students could also volunteer for a city clean up. The students could start by cleaning up the streets and parking lots of stores. Then they could go to the beaches and clean up the trash around there. This would help keep the city clean.
The students could also help out by having carwashes to raise money for the new pool or the boat races or the new housing development.
The students would not be the only ones helping because the city could get others to volunteer to and the would greatly benefit the city because the more people they had volunteering the faster they would get stuff done.
In conclusion the students could greatly benefit the city by helping with volunteering with the boat races, the construction of the swimming pool, and the construction of the new housing development. And this would give the students a lot of experience in different field. They way the city could get the students interested in volunteering are if the city offers community service hours for all this and free food and drinks when they are finished volunteering.
© 2004 Kevin Holder [last doc used: discuss use of holder.doc] CeDara Matie
Marathon High School
Mrs. Loggie’s American Gov’t Class
What can the city do for the school and students?
What the city can do for the school and students is that maybe they can try to encourage the students to get involved with local government to voice their opinions and to get the word out. By telling people their opinions and telling them what may help our school out, then the word might get out and our school might actually get an Air conditioner installed in our gym and can possibly have some more water fountains in the gym, because one is not enough for all the students who have that class.
One way the students can get their opinions out is that they can have their teacher talk to someone who is a part of the city council or any kind of government and maybe have them come to the classroom and talk to the students. For example, Mr. Jeff Pinkus came in to talk to our American Government government class about our city of Marathon. If your teacher talks to the city councilmen about coming in to talk to the class, that may be a good way to voice your opinion on what may be good for our school. With your opinions being voiced to the city councilmen, they can try to help your opinions get out to the public easier and faster.
The city councilmen can talk to the staff members at the school to try to get some kind of after school program that has a city councilman running it at our school. It could be a program that tries to get the students involved with the government and everything that goes on in the city and school. By having an after school program, it can help the students get community service hours to help them to get into college.
There is a lot that can be done to our school and for the students. For example, the city can get more places to give community service hours for the students, because in this city, there are some places that give community service hours, but there isn’t enough for everyone that wants to go to college. To get the students involved with the local government may be not such a bad idea. Being involved will help them out a lot, especially with college, that’s one of the things that will catch their eyes the most.
If you’re really worried about the students not wanting to do some community service hours, then maybe you can try to spice it up a little to get their interest. To get their interest, the city can get more interesting places to serve some community services hours after school hours or during the weekend, because the hospitals and businesses isn’t much fun for younger kids that want to get some hours in, the veterinary would be a pretty good place, so would a day care, that’s if they like animals and children.
With the members of the city council trying to get the students to get involved with the local government to help the students voice their opinions about trying to get the school to install an air conditioner in Marathon High’s gym room wouldn’t probably be right away when they decide to install one, we have been trying for years to get one. With the city trying to get more interesting places to serve community service hours for the students would be easier for the government to do for the school and students. If I had to choose between getting an air conditioner in our gym or to get more places to serve more community service hours, I would choose community service hours, because it is more important for college.
© 2004 CeDara Matie [last doc used: Loggie's American gov't.doc] Hamlet's Cat's Soliloquy
By: Shakespaw
To go outside, and there perchance to stay
Or to remain within; that is the question: Whether 'tis better for a cat to suffer
The cuffs and buffets of inclement weather
That Nature rains on those who roam abroad,
Or take a nap upon a scrap of carpet,
And so by dozing melt the solid hours
That clog the clock's bright gears with sullen time
And stall the dinner bell. To sit, to stare outdoors,
And by a stare to seem to state
A wish to venture forth without delay,
Then when the portal's opened up,
To stand as if transfixed by doubt.
To prowl; to sleep;
To choose not knowing when we may once more
Our readmittance gain:
Aye, there's the hairball; For if a paw were shaped to turn a knob,
Or work a lock or slip a window-catch,
And going out and coming in were made
As simple as the breaking of a bowl,
What cat would bear the household's petty plagues,
The cook's well-practiced kicks, the butler's broom,
The infant's careless pokes, the tickled ears,
The trampled tail,
And all the daily shocks that fur is heir to,
When, of his own free will,
He might his exodus or entrance make
With a mere mitten? Who would spaniels fear,
Or strays trespassing from a neighbor's yard,
But that the dread of our unheeded cries
And scratches at a barricaded door
No claw can open up, dispels our nerve
And makes us rather bear our humans' faults
Than run away to unguessed miseries? Thus caution doth make house cats of us all;
And thus the bristling hair of resolution
Is softened up with the pale brush of thought,
And since our choices hinge on weighty things,
We pause upon the threshold of decision.
Claudia D. Dikinis http://starcats.com
Political & Personal Astrology for a New Millennium
We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark;
the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light." -Plato
If voting could really change things, it would be illegal. -- Revolution Books, New York, New York.
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into an abyss, the abyss also looks into you. -- Friedrich Nietzche © 2004 Claudia Dikinis The Mountains of Ao
Book One Tears from Ao and three poetry collections, Pages of Life, Visions of Life, and Moments of Life are available electronically at http://RunesofAo.com/aobp/. The Runes of Ao project, Book Two The Mountains of Ao novel currently in final edit, Book Three Twins of the Dark Star novel in early stages, and The Book of Kalian Mysticism poetry collection are works in progress. Also a collaboration with K. Young on a novella called Dragon Embers is now published on the fan site known as Runes of Ao.com. The Dull Stuff
All opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of this magazine, company, or its advertisers. Inputs, email, suggestions, and letters to this journal are subject to approval by Ebony and Abby. Submittals may be edited for content and length and become the creative property for the one-time nonexclusive publication of: Shaffer Novels/Poetry Company
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PO Box 501833
Marathon FL 33050-1833
(305) 743-9648 voice/fax Internet URLs: www.RunesofAo.com
www.RunesofAo.com/roa/
www.RunesofAo.com/aobp/
www.RunesofAo.com/ebony/
www.RunesofAo.com/abby/ Publication date: February 28, 2004
Author: L. E. Shaffer
Company: Shaffer Novels/Poetry Company &
Shaffer Internet Publishing Company
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