Last week it was a bit windy, and we had one of those “Oh, crap!” adrenaline moments here on the ranch. A neighbor called to ask us about the column of smoke streaming out from behind our property. We have about 1400 acres of timber, and it is VERY dry this time of year. We haven’t had our normal amount of Fall rain, and everything outdoors is tinder-dry. So we climbed into the car, took the cell phone with us, and went on back roads into the back of beyond at the end of one of the forks of our …

I’d like to commend Ruth Gledhill of the Times of London Articles of Faith for publishing a fair and full summary of her tour of the new Church of Scientology which opened in London last week. It was a gala affair, and her tour on the eve of the opening could have been full of gossip and innuendo and could have quoted the crackpots with an axe to grind — but she resisted all temptation and actually reported the facts. She even reported the good news that Canon Peter Delaney, Archdeacon of London and a Canon of St. …

We have a new horse — she’s a 17-year old Belgian mare, a draft horse. We got this horse so that we can both ride at the same time as one of our other two horses is usually somewhat lame. It’s more fun to go riding with both of us on horseback. We have some great trails here on the ranch we have worked hard on clearing so that we can get down to the creek (about 800 feet lower than our house ) and back up again.

. Her …

Beck’’s music reviewed by Megan Giddings of BlogCritics.org. Megan seems disturbed that Beck is a low-key Scientologist celebrity. He hasn’t gone jumping on Oprah’s couch, but you know, he probably would if given the chance. And he’d do it with bunch of bears, and many guys dressed up as women. Beck’s a hoot, and not the only famous musician celebrity Scientologist. Can you say “Chick Corea” or “Isaac Hayes”,”David Pomerantz” or “Mark Isham”?

Why do celebrities turn to Scientology to help them succeed? Well, for one thing, it can help get them off drugs, help them to communicate, help make …

According to ContactMusic.com:

Tom Cruise has had a day awarded in his honor by the Japanese Memorial Day Association. The Japanese awarded this to him because of his love for and close association with Japan. His film “The Last Samurai” grossed $117 million more in Japan than it did in the US. Tom has apparently paid more visits to the country than any other major Hollywood star, and spends time with the fans there. His public relations tour of Japan in the spring of 2006 to promote Mission: Impossible III included a trip on the bullet train from Osaka to …