The Plains of Kansas

A few days back, my family traveled to the family farm, deep in the center of The-Middle-of-Nowhere Kansas.  Mom calls it her "Happy Place".  I call it epic.  Everyone else simply calls it the Farm.  

The scenery of Kansas never ceases to amaze me.  And I'm sure you're tired of my rantings, so I shall let the pictures speak for themselves.  All of these are our own pictures. :)  

Green wheat.  Wait 'til it turns golden—it's even more amazing then.

Some pasture land around ten minutes from the farm.

Some cows in one of the Farm's pastures.  They were really friendly folks. 

A snake we found when digging through an old, abandoned garden.  Anyone know if it's poisonous? ('Tis a little late now, though...)

My dad's old Datsun.  It's overgrown now, and there used to be a skunk living in the hood.  (He wasn't that happy about it.)

This one was taken just after a storm went through.  We got stuck on the Farm for a while because of a tornado watch and a severe thunderstorm warning with hail.

Another picture, this one from the window. (Taken by Yours Truly.)  Magnificent, no?

And the best was for last.  The storm clouds framed the sunset, and the view from Roxbury Hill (as we call it) was breathtaking.  The road races on from there, wet with the rain.  

All the pictures can be clicked for a bigger size.  

I love Kansas.  Not much more to say than that.  What did you all think of the pictures?

--

Jake

The Narnia Theme

Well, I haven't posted here in a while.  Things have been going crazy.  Today there was thirteen tornadoes sighted in Kansas.  And more in other states.

However, I came to post a video I've been listening to a lot lately.  I recently discovered it, and it never gets old. The epicness never dims.  It's the main Narnia theme from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Check it out. And turn the volume up.  This one is known as "The Battle", and it certainly fits.

I'm off again.  Farewell!

--

Jake

Randomness! 'Tis Thee Again!

*listens to 'They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard'*

*looks up* Oh, hello!  How are you?  How's the family?

Once again, I've been left with the revelation that I have absolutely nothing useful to blog about.  I had plugged the headphones in my ears earlier and blasted TATTHTI in my ears (such a catchy tune!) and I saw someone I recognized.

"Randomness!" I almost shouted.  "'Tis Thee again!"

Yes, my old friend Randomness had stopped by.  It had been a long time since I've seen his true, blazing self.  I find he pops up a lot, but he's usually a bit shady.

But this time, he had that old gleam in his eye.

"Remember the Randomness Post to king all randomness posts?" he said with a grin.

"Like yesterday," I replied, and linked his post.

He listened to TATTHTI with me for a moment.  "Quite a random song," he said to me.  "Quite a worthy song! And the tune, the tune!  I could listen to that all day."  That's quite a compliment from Randomness himself.

SO, tell me, where is Gandalf? for I much desire to speak to him.

And where ARE they taking the hobbits?

Now, readers, what is your favorite memory of Randomness?  Does it have to do with Ninjas? Pie?  Turkeys?  Hobbits?!

Also, I have *ahem* composed another random poem.  Another Flow'st.

And as you read these words...remember.

This is for Random.

--

The Flow'st


Flow'st, 'tis me name, oddly grame
Snayed in the oddly blacked frame
I say, me lad, I say, that flame
Doesn't it look a bit a-kame?

I, Random, am the one you seek
The one kibbergah, nice and sleek
I slew the one thousandth gleek
Who yodeled 'cross the pleak.

I am the thousandth night (or Knight?)
Either way, I'm a nightmare fright
I gobbled down the snordy kite
And whittled on the flitting wight.

Harhar, 'tis me, the Flow'st, beware!
I could be here, there, blappabare
And die like a star-crossed applepear
The Flow'st, so Random, so bloppy fair.

Luckily, I ain't yet dead,
I'm still a-standing, my enemies fled!
Harhar, 'tis me, the Flow'st, a phed!
I'm still a-standing, my enemies dead!

Enemies, you say? Why, the bliperbop,
The sniggergnat, the flipping flop!
The incorrigible, flaky, flatfacefop
And the rabbits, those flickypop!

Aye, the rabbits, but they are yet alive
Buzzing about, in their little hive
Ah! Here they come!  Now they arrive!
Flee, little plop, flee to survive!

I shall stand here yet, the Flow'st, beware!
I shall stand fast, with really cool hair,
Waving on the wind, halla, hafaire!
Beware, O Rabbits bad, beware!

--

^^He has really cool hair.

When this post is published, the fate of the poor Flow'st may be up to speculation.  But, at any rate, all will agree: something must be done.  The rabbits are multiplying.  Tensions are high.

What shall be done?  Who will stand against them and defend the Flow'st?

Who will do it?

NOTE: This post was written under the influence of the heady TATTHTI song.  Writing under such influence may cause random splots and random poems, as well as bad grammar and senselessness.  You have been warned.

--

Jake

Another Interesting Verse

I was reading in Acts again, today, and I found another interesting verse I thought I'd share.  Acts is an awesome book, and the last six chapters read like a condensed suspense novel.  Ever noticed that?  Conspiracies, attempted assassination or murder, court hearings, unfairly imprisoned characters...

Anyway, here's the verse. Acts 21:37-38.

"As the soldiers were about to take Paul into the barracks, he asked the commander, 'May I say something to you?'

'Do you speak Greek?' he replied. 'Aren’t you the Egyptian who started a revolt and led four thousand terrorists out into the desert some time ago?'"

Apparently the poor commander mistook Paul for an Egyptian terrorist.  Oops. ^_^

--
Jake

Teleportation?!

I found this verse the other day, and found it very interesting.  So, seeing as it was an...interesting verse, I thought I'd show it to you and see what you readers think. The passage is Acts 10:39-40.

"When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea."

Teleportation.

In the Bible.

Beam me up, Jesus.

(Note: I have very little idea what that Star Trek phrase means, as I've never seen Star Trek.  But it seems to fit.)

--
Jake

This Post is....Nameless

The breath of the cold wind breezed into the house, slithering to my toes and biting them with its chill.  My toes felt like they were freezing, and I realized why.

Someone had left the door open.

Again.

I wearily stood up, put my computer down, and closed the door, wishing my toes would warm back up.  But once they froze themselves, they didn't like to warm again.  Sometimes I wonder at things like this.  Why in the world would they not just warm up?

I had a couple pages pulled up on my computer.  The Underground.  Gmail.  Blogger.  I didn't really feel like clicking on any of them.  Nothing worthwhile was happening.  I had already checked all the blogs, read some threads, and read my email.

Chattering came in from the kitchen. There weren't any doors between there and the living room, so I could hear all the conversations.  We had guests over—Sunday house church. 

The blog post was published.  I stared blankly at the smudged computer screen.  Was I forgetting to do something?

Probably not.  I think.

The sun was hiding behind a couple of clouds, I noticed.  It had been rainy earlier, but I could see some stretches of bluer sky in between patchy grey clouds.  But I could only see some of the sky.  The neighbor's house and some of her trees were blocking the view.  The view out the window looked a little wavy though....The grill must be on, causing the heat.

I smelled the air appreciatively.  Food!  Chicken, I think.  Grilled chicken—that must be why the grill is on.  And tortilla chips in the kitchen.  I could hear Mom pouring them in a bowl.  There will probably be salsa to go with them—I hope Mom got out some homemade salsa.  It's hotter than the regular stuff.

I stared at the computer screen a moment more, absentmindedly wiping some dust off the screen.  Mom was calling me to come and eat.  Had I forgotten anything?

Oh, yeah.  I hadn't written a blog post for Pen in my Hand.  Oops.  I'll have to do it later.

I got up to eat. Dad brought the chicken in, so the smell was stronger.

A blast of cold air hit me.  Someone had left the door open.  


Again.

The Ultimate LOTR Spoof Collection

Well, these LOTR spoofs seem to be running rampant around the blogosphere, so I figured I ought to post some of the more popular ones to share with you all.  Check it out: it's in no particular order.  Enjoy!

They're Taking the Hobbits to Isengard!

One of the more popular ones.  And a catchy tune, eh?

Fellowship of the Vuvuzela

So funny that it has passed from "amusing" to "epic".  Same tune as the above video.

Lord of the Rings in Sixty Seconds

I just recently discovered this one, but it's one of my favorites.  Instant classic (which is a great oxymoron).

Gimli Destroys the Ring

Amusing.  It makes a very short movie, aye?

Lord of the Rings in 5 Seconds

Surprisingly accurate. ;)

Have you seen any not included in here? Share 'em! :)  This is the extent of my knowledge in LOTR spoofs, so I'd love to find some more.

--
Jake

I'm Alive!

Hey all, greetings and hallucinations!  Jake of the Sadaar here, zeroing in from the green state of Kansas!  The wheat fields here are looking fantastic!  Being transfixed with patriotic zeal for my glorious state, I stole my dad's iPhone and took a couple pictures.

A wee bit of a glare in this one. ^_^

Ah, yes, a field of green!

^^ That one's my favorite.  :)  Some of them were so long you could barely make out the trees on the far end (which always marks the end of a field, sorta like a divider). O_o

The weekend has been eventful.  The following bullet list briefly summarizes the past few days:

• A vandal
• A run-in with a skunk
• A visit to the Hesston MB church
• Various fields of wheat as well as a batch of puppies
• A clear sky
• A cloudy sky
• Cool weather
• Warm weather
• An egg-hunt
• Copious amounts of mashed potatoes, burgers, and ham. :D
• Allegebra Mathe
• Procrastination
• Several surprising events...
• ....and another holiday in which we come back home with a puppy.

Yesyes, 'tis true!  The Sadaar Clan has come home with a brand new puppy by name of Beatrice.  She's a cross between a Border collie and a Great Pyrenees, I believe, which means she'll get massive.  Right now, she's lying like a good, sleepy puppy beneath a foot rest.  She looks like the Abominable Snowdog. O_o  See the pictures below! (Click for bigger size.)

^_^ Sleepy dog!

She's slowly getting used to us.  :)  She likes to nap under the foot rest, and chases people when she's outside.  To give some comparison, she's about the size of a large cat.  Playful, when she's not sleeping (though I suspect she's just sleeping off the effects of going away from her pen with all her siblings).

Well, that's about it for now.  Au revoir!

--
Jake

Here again!

Well, I haven't posted in a long time...and since I have nothing much meaningful to offer, watch this video.

And die laughing.

--

Jake

10 Things on My Mind

"'Cause there's something on my mind....de dum duh de de dum dum..."  *cough*  This tag makes me think of that song. ;)  A gold star to the one who guesses the song and the artist!

Anyway, Eldra  went and tagged me in the "10 Things on My Mind" tag.  So, without further procrastination, let us begin.

1.  Books!  Novels!  Bound Paper!  Printed Paper!  Works of literary art!  Currently reading The Wormling series by Jerry B. Jenkins and Chris Fabry.  VERY good books.

2.  Lord of the Rings.  I think about them a lot. ;)  Epic movies.  I'm listening to the soundtracks from the library right now.  I especially love Pippin's song...rather haunting, aye?

Home is behind

The world ahead

And there are many paths to tread

Through shadow

To the edge of night

Until the stars are all alight

Mist and shadow

Cloud and shade

All shall fade

All shall fade

Rather hard to sing, actually.  I tried once.  That last 'shall' likes to punch me.

3.  Writing.  Duh. ;)  Everyone who's done this tag has said writing.  Haha.  Right now I'm working on Revolution and about to rewrite some scenes into The Book of Shaldu.  It's going slowly, but hopefully I'll have some time this week to write some more.

4.  Spring. Kansas. 'Nuff said. (This isn't my image.)

5.  Evil haircutters.  Now the back of my neck itches and all character has faded from my hair.

6.  Birds. >_>

7.  Schoolwork.  It's on my mind, but not in a good way.

8.  Swords and swordfighting.  Rather sharp, aye?

9.  Guitar. >_>  Rather fun to play, aye?  I take lessons every week.  [Not my image]

10.  This.

I tag all the followers who have not yet done this tag.  You don't have to if you don't want to--but it's fun. :)

--

Jake

Aged Paper

Vrenith and I have embarked on an quest.

On a whim, yesterday, I searched 'how to age paper' on Google and found several sites.  After all, aged paper is pretty cool, aye?  It gives way to imagining treasure maps and burnt letters...

After experimenting for a while, Vren and I settled on a way to age and yellow paper, a combination of several other ideas we have found.

SUPPLIES:
-Paper
-Coffee
-Used coffee grounds (optional)
-Some sort of pan (with 'walls')

Take the paper and stick it in the pan.  If wanted, crumple the paper for a different effect.  Take some coffee and soak the paper in it (whether by pouring the coffee over it or otherwise).  Let it soak for a bit.  If wanted, take the coffee grounds and gently rub it into the paper in certain spots, AFTER the coffee has been drained. (Too much rubbing will tear the wet paper.) The amount of grounds you rub into the paper will determine how dark the paper is.  If you're looking for 'age' don't rub too much into the paper.  If you are looking for really old and worn paper, rub more into the paper.  Don't use too much of the grounds, or else the paper will not look realistic.

After this is done, turn the oven on a low temperature and dry the paper.  Another option would be to just let it sit out on a counter for a while, where it will dry naturally.  It also dries fairly fast if you put it out into the sun (a personal favorite of mine).  Once the paper is dry, brush off the coffee grounds.  Keep in mind that the other side of the paper will not be as dark as the front side, and there will be no 'age stains' from the coffee grounds.  I like to do it over again with the other side after the front is finished. (Doing it repeatedly to the same piece of paper will darken it more, so if you aren't satisfied with the color of the paper, try doing it again.)

Keep in mind that any print or writing that is on the paper should be done beforehand.  If you do have printing or writing on the paper, go easy on the coffee grounds.  I learned that the hard way. :P

You should try it sometime.  It really does look interesting.  I 'dyed' one of my maps (a copy, don't worry) and it turned out nicely.  It now adorns my dresser, with a white chunk of paper partially underneath it for contrast.

Have fun. :)  It really doesn't take that much work--just some leftover coffee and coffee grounds and paper.  Improvise if you are lacking in some of these materials.

--
Jake

Kansas

Hey all!  Loving the weather here. :)  It's crisp and cold still, but the sunlight is warm and Kansas is Kansas.  Speaking of my lovely state...I searched some Kansas photos to share with you all (since I have an absence of my own pictures, haha).

Below is a random picture of the "Welcome to the Flint Hills" sign.  I've driven past that. :)

Below is a picture of the Flint Hills.

Another picture of the Flint Hills.  This one looks like it did when I last passed through the Flint Hills.  Believe it or not, this picture is realistic and not a one-of-a-kind picture.

Green Kansas sometime in the spring or summer. :)

A wheat field! Mwahahaha!  This one is pretty golden. O_o

A normal-looking farm somewhere out in Western Kansas.

All these pictures were found on Google search.  *shrug*

I hope you enjoyed a peek into my homeland.

--
Jake

Neglect?

For lack of anything better to say, I believe the general consensus of the jury is that I neglect my blog.  Sentence of up to five hours in my room.  Schoolwork.  I'm a bad boy sometimes.

But in all seriousness, I have been seriously lacking in blogging material.  Or at least the time to find some.  So I've taken to taking what little I write (on my blog) and making it as clever as possible.

So...did I succeed?  Or did I fail?  Eh...my blogging is going stale.

Okay, all, what do you think I should blog about?  I am asking YOU: the reader.  The few and the mighty.  The simple and the squared.  The winters and the fully leaved. 

What do you think I should blog about?

"Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings?"

All of the above?

Tell me what you think.

--
Jake

[Poeticisms] Part II

Hey all! I have slowly collected a pile of poetry in the recent weeks...so I thought I'd share some. All of this is mentally copyrighted, and if you copy it without permission *glare* I shall hunt you down.

The Sky

The expanse of the heavens is ever veiled

By towers scraping 'neath its blue

But give me a hill, an vast, open field

And the majestic sky shall look anew.

Piano

Ivory keys to a polished gleam,

Enclosed in lacquered old wood,

Decorated by frames of cream,

On short, stubby legs it stood.

This next poem is rooted in inspiration I found in G. K. Chesterton.  He writes, "A maniac is someone who has lost everything but his reason."  because, "A poet is someone who wants to get his head in the heavens.  A philosopher is someone who wants to get the heavens in his head.  And it is his head that splits."

Madman

There was a poet, a strange man

Most call them crazy, you see;

He wrote with inky pen on paper tan

And lived on a street called Lee.

Contrary to belief, however, he was normal:

He went about his business every day

Dressed up in tie and suit, formal

And had a normal house in which to stay.

Across the street lived another man

A logician, a debater, philosopher too

He lived in a house of a normal tan,

And like to eat fish and rice stew.

This man, though, had lost all lucidity of thought:

His mind had long gone far out of season

His nerves were high, his system shot,

He had lost everything but his reason.

This example just goes to show

Those with imagination are not insane

But rather it is those who 'know'

Whose minds burst beneath mental strain.

So if you are imaginative, good job!

You'll probably last longer than most

But 'tis the logicians' minds that throb,

Not those who dance with the flow'st.

I sneaked (snuck?)  a flow'st in there. ;)  Mwahahaha!

--

Jake

Hope is Kindled

(Please disregard any posts you might see via your Blogger homepage--I assure you, they do not exist.)

Hope is an interesting concept.

When I think of hope, I think of the hope we have in Christ.

When I think of hope, I think of it on par with the word 'epic'.  It is an indescribable thing of great power, a stirring that you feel when Easter comes around, and you say "He is Risen!"  And the thundering reply of all creation: "He is Risen indeed!"

Hope is what kept Cal-raven going when despair overwhelmed him in Raven's Ladder (by Jeffrey Overstreet).  Hope fueled him.  Hope held him.

When I think of hope, I think of The Lighting of the Beacons scene in The Return of the King.  Do you remember it?  The crashing chords of music, sweeping you away in a river of stirring emotion?

And Gandalf's words hover over it all:  "Hope is Kindled."

Though I could not find a way to embed the original clip from the movie, I did make a poorly constructed Windows Movie Maker movie with the soundtrack.  Crank up the stereo system and be prepared for pure epicness.  And when it says Listen...listen.

In this movie, I gave you a short glimpse of the hope I see in the very word 'hope'.  Do you see it?

Ponder it.  

And remember the hope that we have.

--

Jake