The Old Clock on the Mantle

Yesterday I brought home something from my dad's house it took me a long time to remove from its 'spot' in the house. It wasn't bolted down or anything - my heart kept stopping me from taking it down from the mantle over the fireplace in the kitchen. It's a marble clock that's been in the family for over 100 years; it hasn't worked in decades. My dad spent time over the years trying to fix it, finally giving up at some point in the late 1990s. He spoke of it often; maybe it couldn't be fixed because it was so old.

Not one to ever give up on anything, when my dad told me he couldn't fix the clock, I figured nobody could. After all, with his mind, if he couldn't get it to work, odds were pretty good that this clock was never again going to run as a timekeeper. Unless the old parts were removed and new ones put in... but my dad wasn't into transplants.




So on the drive home, my son and I hear the chimes going off. "That's weird, that clock doesn't work." I'd said. KC and I laughed that my dad must be just letting us know he was there with us.

Once home, I set the clock up on the kitchen island, nestled inside the protective canvas bag I had put it into for the car drive. The chiming continued, but with more zeal - so we took the clock outta the bag.

It was actually ticking, but it was ticking at a pace that once the timer was put to the right time it went way too fast... double speed. Perhaps the ride over had jiggled a piece into the right place, I wondered? But still not the exact 'right' place, as the time was so far off.

As the hours went by, and the time sped up, and the chimes went off at all odd sorts of wrong hours, like 8:33 and 9:40 and 11:02 and then three minutes later at 11:05 just to be funny it seemed, I figured the old clock was just happy to be around people again and I went to bed.

I woke up very early this morning (3:30 a.m. *groan*) and as I came out into the kitchen, the clock said it was 9:00, but I knew it was just being silly.

With no idea what I was doing, I opened the back of the clock and took one of my dad's small flashlights and looked around at the mechanical pieces. I saw dust, so I got a few q-tips and cleaned the pieces off... I kinda figured this would be the extent that I actually tried something to perhaps get the clock working. After all, my dad couldn't fix it, so I'd have to be nuts to think I could.



I came back to my computer, but got this feeling like I wasn't done trying, like I had something to do with that clock.

It felt like my dad was guiding me - sorta like his spirit, in death, figured out the simple, tiny thing he hadn't done in his attempts to fix the clock. Cuz I sure as heck don't know anything about fixing clocks! So, kinda baffled as to why I would even be trying, I went back to the clock and put the flashlight on again and held a q-tip in my hand and sorta sighed, because I felt so clueless. "I can't fix this, dad." I thought to myself. "It's ok if this clock is broken, I still love it and will keep it clean."

I looked inside at the parts - some I recognized, like the magnetic coil. I knew what that was, and how it functioned. My dad had explained some of the other pieces over the years and how they made a clock keep time... but a lot of the things he taught us kids, at the time and age he taught us, just seemed to be goofy pieces of fluff info that wouldn't much matter in life.

Boy, was I wrong about that. Even the smallest things my dad taught us played a gigantic role in how I think.

So I'm gazing at the internal structure for a bit when I notice something small that seems outta place. I even say out loud "what is that and why isn't it pushed in a little further so that the piece is flush?" Nervously, because I wasn't sure if I was about to break the clock even more than it was, I took the q-tip and pushed the piece in. This is where it gets kinda incredible... first I hear my dad's voice (not out loud, just sorta inside my head) say 'ok, there, good.' I go to the front of the clock and look at my dad's grandfather's clock near the door to set the time. I give the open backside one more look and the swingy thing is swinging and the magnetic coil is vibrating. I gently nudge the magnetic coil down a little bit to be more aligned with the bottom circle thing of the swingy thing. All looks good, but I've no clue still, and figure at some point the clock is going to get all whacky and off time again.

I come to the computer and do my morning games of cribbage, spades and scrabble. No chimes emit from the clock, so I figure I didn't actually fix anything.

Well, after my games I walk over to check the time - it's perfect. I'm kinda stunned. My eyes get kinda watery in disbelief, but I'm smiling so big it feels like sunshine is in my mouth. I run to everyone's bedrooms, where sleepy Sunday males are still laying around, and I let them know I fixed the clock. Then I call my grandpa to let him know.

I still haven't figured out the chimer stuff, but there's two keys, one big, one little, and one is for the two bigger turny things and the little one is for a tiny turny thing above the number 12 and I think my grandpa might be right that it is for the chimes. So I just wound it up because the chimes were going off like crazy all yesterday and it mighta needed a winding.

No matter how crazy this makes me sound, I'm gonna type it: my dad fixed that clock, through me. That thought makes me happy, so that is always what I'm going to think. My dad is with me. He's with a lot of people. Helping fix stuff, still.

Will the clock keep working? Time will tell... :D

The best part of this video is when Amylee gets on the table and kicks shit over to walk up real close to this guy, look him in the eye, and tell him straight to his face 'Fuck it and fuck you.' Ok, so she doesn't say that exactly, but still, it's implied :D I dig her walk on the table - that kinda confidence is powerful.


ever feel that way? There's so many areas in life where occasionally I want to kick down doors and tell somebody off... I usually get my 'calm, cool and collected' mode back, but oh man... just thinking about doing that (which I actually have done it a few times in my lifetime), makes me smile.

The reason doing that is so rare for most people is most situations don't need that kinda dramatic, intense response... and sometimes a quieter, fluffier response is even better and more productive (like in a court room or in areas of life where a 'fuck you' response could do more damage than good.)

But somebody I recently met did something like this recently, and it was perfectly timed and executed, and justified - and funny as all hell. I'll talk about it in April of 2008.

How doing that feels is actually shown pretty well in the video, in the part where Amylee floats after exclaiming "It's over." That kinda finalization, where you've stated your piece and you know it's done and that you're not going to have to deal with any of it anymore - it does feel like a huge burden off ya, and you do fly, in a way - your heart soars and your burdens are replaced with a helium-like feeling. A real 'letting shit go' kinda feeling & thinking.

I've gotta retract something I said in an earlier post to my blog... it has not been a long, long time since we were offered the option of a great candidate for President of the USA - in the last election, I voted for Michael Badnarik. He's just as great as Ron Paul.

As both of them point out, consistently, the vital thing to recognize as a citizen is your state rights, your state responsibilities and duties as citizens to make sure your elected officials in government, who swear an oath to uphold the constitution OF THAT STATE, are following the constitution in each decision made, and that's where we, as a society, have been slacking.

We trusted and had faith instead of keeping an eye on things... we left that to other government officials... so now we're where we're at, and we've got a duty to vote for those who will begin the process of actually following the rules, the 'law of the land.' It's the only way to get things back on track, for ourselves, for our children, for our country, and even the world as can be seen by the amount of people from other countries shouting out "Ron Paul." They want us to be the beacon of hope again... because if we can't maintain that hope for them, what hope will they have?

They don't want to see our freedoms disappear anymore than we do - they mourn the loss of a once honest, fair, logical, honorable and glorious government run by the people. A republic, which upheld strict, outlined individual rights above the majority rule - we are not supposed to be a 'democracy', we aren't a democracy in the pledge of allegiance - "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America, and to THE REPUBLIC, FOR WHICH IT STANDS..." The importance of this is so vital, yet they don't even have stand-alone copies of the State Constitutions in most public libraries, not even in the reference section. And were you given a copy of your State Constitution in school, or just textbooks with short 'key' parts? Do you own a copy of your State's Constitution? In book format? It's available... but try to get one. You can't buy it at a bookstore...

I've been on quite a journey with trying to get book copies of the State Constitution for all Cape Cod libraries, as well as local homeschoolers, and at some point I'm going to blog about the journey I've been on for months (once I actually obtain what I am seeking). I'm amazed and astounded... so far it's been the most educational journey of my life, and my dad actually set me forth on this whole journey, in discussions had last year during a campaign he and I worked on, and then during the last six weeks of his life, where he brought up Ron Paul (this was before Ron Paul's official announcement... my dad knew he would run for president.)

My father's subscription to Ron Paul's Freedom Report, which kept coming in my dad's mail after my dad died, is what led me to a group of people wherein I met a very interesting, intelligent individual who had asked me a lot of questions I had no answers to... and I'm in the process of learning the answers first hand, and with amusement, calm determination, and a sense of honor to my father that has every moment spent learning more a profound way to remain, always, connected to my father's own legacy and political spirit, as well as my own (as we differed on a few political/social stances... though not many, and none at the end.)

It's now September and I can say this has been both the hardest, yet the most incredible, year of my life. I wish my father could be here to witness what's happening, but in so many ways... he is. I still cry sometimes when I think about how much he would have loved to be a part of this whole Ron Paul Revolution, but I carry him with me to every political event (in a necklace, ironically in the shape of a number 8, bought to hold some of my father's ashes, months before I decided to join the revolution) which I guess makes me a 'nut', to find sweet coincidence beautiful and inspiring, but I'm ok with that - I am a bit nutty sometimes. :)

Even if Ron Paul doesn't win the nomination - I won't be disheartened or negatively impacted, as this has been the most positive experience not only of this year, but of any other year, politically speaking. What Ron Paul did for so many is to wake them up outta a sleepy nap of political complacency and shook out their passion and sense of responsibility, and empowered them with the knowledge to move forward, no matter what, as this is not about Ron Paul himself, but about our country's ability to save itself - through simply following the Constitution(s).

Our founding fathers were geniuses... they even knew we'd get sleepy and nap our way through a bit. Wiping our eyes, looking around, it's a great day ahead. A great time to be alive. Because we're in that part of history where we actually get a chance to turn things around... the turning around happens no matter if Ron Paul gets the nomination or not, you can't unlearn what you already know, and we're incredibly lucky. Future generations will look back on this moment in time in cheerful smiles that we actually did stand up and think of them long before they were even here...

just as our founding fathers did for us!

I suspect, as people seek out the actual facts about Ron Paul's stance on various issues, and why he has the stances he does, that the numbers of supporters are going to continue to grow and I won't be shocked if he does get the nomination, because the internet has changed the ability of each person to read the facts for themselves and not to rely on past resources that have proven to be outright wrong an increasing portion of the time... this is why I think we're so lucky, as a society. To have individual access to truth and facts - that just makes the pre-internet 'impossible' now very, very POSSIBLE. :)

and... growin'... :) :) :)

One thing I don't get about Main-Stream-Media, in regards to Ron Paul's run for presidency... MSM being the huge newspapers who have responded to dwindling paper-subscription bases by trying to make the news more 'interactive' by asking people to email their leads/comments and/or pictures of rogue 'on the spot' reporting of major events, and the TV stations like MSNBC, CNN and FOX news, CBS, ABC, NBC, the 'big players' in this national arena of "news", if the people of the internet are so inconsequential to MSM and if the users of the internet don't reflect 'the voice of the people', why has the MSM gone out of its way over the years to embrace and entice them... to include blog posts and viewer comments/emails posted to these news websites, why over the years the increase in showings of youtube videos, online polls, and an overall interest in the 'internet users' when it comes to any other national event and even a 'fair and balanced' acknowledgement that the internet has changed the way we think, feel, discuss, debate and respond to the "news" in general... why with Ron Paul is it considered 'invalid'?

Why try to connect to this facet of humankind if you don't consider it a real, tangible, honest reflection of our times? Why mock it? Why lie to it and about it?

This is why your viewerships will continue to falter, today's (and yesterday's) generation won't put up with this kind of blatant manipulation of the facts... because the internet has changed everything, including your ability to lie to the 'masses'.

Pictures from Oklahoma & Texas, Labor Day weekend, 2007