Flight of the Freedom Pilot

You Can't Go Home Again

2011-03-15T15:33:00.000-07:00

Last summer my wife and I took a trip to Portsmouth, New Hampshire where I had lived from ages 10 to 14. We arrived in the rain and, unfortunately, it didn't stop until the day we left.

Our first stop was to see the house I had lived in at 3 Pinecrest Terrace. Here I am standing the the driveway. The house was torn down a couple of years ago. Was it Thomas Wolfe who said "You can't go home again"? It was our second home in Portsmouth. The first home is shown below.

This was our first home in Portsmouth. It was fifty years old at the time we lived here and is now over one hundred years old. The current owners were kind enough to take us through the house. My bedroom certainly looked much smaller than I remember it. That seemed to be the motto of this trip -- "I don't remember this being so small."

The One True God

2011-03-15T15:12:00.000-07:00

I was watching an episode of Robin Hood in which Robin's gang was about to be destroyed. The Saracen girl decided that they should all confess their feelings and truths. Everyone did it except Robin. He just wanted a few minutes to himself and he promised that in the next life, he would tell them his secrets.

The Saracen girl indicated that in the next life, she would be in a different heaven that the rest of them because she was Moslem and they were Christians.

So, if there is a Moslem God and a Christian God, how did we come to be in the same place here on earth? Wouldn't it be more likely that the Moslem God would create one place and the Christian God another? Or did they hold a meeting to divide up who would do what? If so, what is the purpose of this shared earth if we are going to be separated later?

And if someone converts from Islam to Christianity or from Christianity to Islam, do they get a whole new God? And that leaves out all the other religions in the world. So, how big was this planning meeting, anyway?

When I was a missionary in Brazil a man told me that all religions are good and they all lead to the same place. Although I believe that most religions help people to be better, I do not believe they will all take us to the same heaven. To say that all religions (Gods) are true is to say that none of them are. This lends strength to the athiest argument that all gods are made up by man. Indeed, much of organized religion is made up by man.

The truth is that there is only one God. There is only one creation. It is our business to find out who He is. There are plenty of clues. And we will be held accountable for what we found out.

Update on the garden

2010-05-22T14:55:00.000-07:00

Here are the berry patches as of May 22nd, 2010. Quite a difference from last year.

The wedding.

2010-05-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

The happy couple and the parents.

Last year I mentioned our son's upcoming wedding. This will let you know that it happened. We were thoroughly exhausted after the reception, but very grateful and excited that he found such a wonderful young woman to share his life.

Here is the sign welcoming Olesya and her mother.

2009-05-13T10:08:00.000-07:00

OK! In order to get this right you have to start reading 2 posts down. This one is the conclusion.

#1 The current result. Dale, the 4 rhubarb plants are in the next-to-the-top row.
#2 The secret of my success. I hauled 8 of these loads of horse manure. 3 to me, 3 to Becky and 2 to the rentals. Compared to politics, I like this a lot better.

#3 The rocks I took out of the raspberry patch. I thought I had way too many until I started using them for pathways in the garden. See #1 by the fence. Now I may not have enough.
#4 The coolest little garden wagon dumper. Good for hauling rocks, manure, misc. garden debris and grandchildren.

Richards Memorial Strawberry Patch

2009-05-13T10:01:00.000-07:00

Wow, this is confusing! I have to put the pictures in backwards to make them come out frontwards.

Here is the Silas & Elizabeth Richards Memorial Strawberry Patch. 115 plants going gang-busters.

Garden Report - Star Date 13 May 2009

2009-05-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

OK. Dale-Oh-Mon called last night to say that he has been working in his garden (in anticipation of bringing home a new bride). I thought, "Working in your garden?! You don't have a clue what 'working in your garden' is!" (My dad can beat up your dad!)

So, here and in the following posts is a report of our garden as of this date.

#4 is the raspberry patch along the front of the garage.
#3 is a photo of the English Ivy that will provide the green in place of the boxwood bushes that were torn out.
#2 is the mystery plant. Trying to figure out if it is really a raspberry. Does it look like the plant in #1 to you? Take the poll.

The Church of Jesus Christ

2008-07-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Normally I like to stay as far under the radar as possible but with Christianity coming under increasing attack from all sides, it seemed good to post some of my views.

First, there is such a huge diversity of beliefs among Christians that it becomes easy for non-Christians, atheists, etc. to look at the Christian religion and conclude that it is concocted by people for their comfort (the opiate of the people), for profit or whatever. Obviously it cannot be given by God because there is so much confusion in it. It is true that God would not be the author of such confusion.

I was grateful, therefore, to have been placed in a position by my ancestors to come in contact with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also know as the Mormon Church. This church is based on the proposition that God has spoken in our time to a prophet named Joseph Smith, just as he spoke in "Biblical times" to Adam, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Elijah, Peter and other prophets. (Amos 3:7) He taught Joseph and caused him to be the prophet of the restoration of the true church of Jesus Christ on earth.

As a teen-ager I had my doubts and questions about whether this was true or not. Fortunately, as part of the restoration, Joseph was made instrumental in translating and publishing The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. A person who will openly and honestly read The Book of Mormon and pray about it can receive a witness that it is true. This I have done. I know that it is true that the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph and that they revealed to him truths that do away with the confusion experienced by the Christian world at large. They revealed God's great plan of happiness which makes sense of the experiences of this life and the things that are going on in the world.

I am grateful for the knowledge and the peace that comes from the Gospel of Jesus Christ. You can learn more about this by going to www.mormon.org.

OK, I'm tagged.

2007-10-25T20:59:00.000-07:00

Four jobs I've had:
Paper route in New Hampshire
Custodial at BYU (twice)
Research Analyst at Family History Services
Chief Deputy Assessor

Places I've lived:
Mill Valley, CA
Izmir, Turkey
Portsmouth, NH
Provo/Orem, UT

Movies I love:
Man for All Seasons
The Dickens set

Favorite Foods:
Barbecued ribs
Chinese
Italian

Favorite Music/Rock bands:
Beethoven symphonies
Brahms symphonies
Igneous and Sedimentary (the latter has the best bands)

One Superpower:
To be quiet and create

Four weird things about me:
The name "Claude"
I'm not into sports.
Can't keep my office uncluttered.
I know how to TimeSert a Northstar engine.

Favorite shows:
Nothing current. I told the Dish salesman that we are trying to keep as much TV out of our house as possible. Ended that call in a hurry.

Places I'd rather be: (actually, places I'd like to be and come back. I'd rather be at home.)
Portsmouth, NH
Anywhere in the Caribbean
Virginia/Maryland
Hawaii
England/Wales
Holy Land/Egypt
Australia/New Zealand
Brazil

People I'm tagging:
Cynthia V Richards
Cynthia C Richards
Amy Tolk
Weston Ricks

I love you all. You're the best!!!

2007-10-24T07:50:00.000-07:00

The airplane above is one of only about 15 surviving B-47's from the the Cold War Era. While there are still lots of B-52's in the boneyard in Tucson, the only B-47's are in museums and many are in very bad shape. Hill Air Force Base Aerospace Museum recently acquired one.
I grew up at Pease Air Force Base in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where there must have been nearly a hundred of these planes.

Welcome to the Blogosphere

2007-03-16T10:33:00.000-07:00