Good Morning!
What should we talk about today?
Quote of the Day
“Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
Thomas Sowell
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How about some Marty Robbins for music today?
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Who has a QoD for us?
Wandering Views 
Am I first?
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Yep. 🙂
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New furniture and First! in the same week.
Talk about livin’ the dream….
🙂
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Yes you are. I am happy the time changed. I love having some sun left after work but I am slow on getting used to the mornings.
I don’t have much to say or report. Work is crazy busy which you should all take as a good thing.
Life is good.
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Kim’s livin’ the dream too! 🙂
And it may be just my imagination, but I think my lawn is getting greener. I love Spring.
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😦
I didn’t get to hear Marty Robbins. Something about embedding being disabled.
Where’s Tammy?
Been waiting all morning for Tammy and she didn’t show up.
(Remember, she fussed at us yesterday morning, then disappeared.)
I’m glad Kim is in good spirits, she seemed down a couple of days ago.
🙂
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I predicted this morning that by the end of the week, my new sofa will have a coffee stain, a cool aid stain, three colors of fur and smell like a dog. By saying that I have probably doomed myself to being the first to spill something on it.
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We are having a nice wet spring day. I heard the spring peepers out last night for the first time and I have some daffodils that will probably pop sometime this week. My tulips are about 4 inches out of the ground. Haven’t seen any forsythia in bloom yet.
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Chas,
A lot of YouTube users are doing that now. They want you to just link their page, so they disable the embed feature. I just wish they’d warn us so I don’t bother trying. I have another up now.
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THanks for the marty Robbins. One of our favorite albums is his “Gunfighter Ballads”. 🙂
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Thanks AJ, I went back and got the original , then went to read the paper.
😥
“If only he had listened.”
The lament of a mother of one of the five guys (and a girl) killed in the Ohio accident.
“If only………….”
So many times in life.
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The cry goes with the following statement, not Marty.
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So this morning on the radio (my truck was broken into over the weekend –I must have forgotten to lock it—and someone stole the Schizo iPod) Jeff Spiller, with Christ United Methodist Church was doing he radio sermonette called “Perceptions”. He did a series of quotes from different coaches such as: Motivation is easy. Just eliminate those who aren’t motivated. Then he had a quote from Bear Bryant, “My practices are always hard because if a player is going to quit I want him to quit in practice not in the game.” Then he quoted someone else as saying:
“Atheism in Alabama is not believing in Bear Bryant”
That struck me as funny on several levels and I had to share it with all of you.
Have a great day.
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Chas, when I hear stories like that crash, or a teenager shooting up his school, I think of how some atheists insist it was cruel and harsh for the Judaic law to have a provision where parents could bring their son to the leadership and tell them, “Our son is rebellious and hard-headed and he will not obey” and he would be stoned to death.
But I can’t imagine parents taking up such a possibility unless their child was really far gone. You hope for the best. Yet the very presence of that provision in the law would serve as a very strong warning to all but the most determinedly rebellious. And we see in our culture what happens when young adults have no one who can tell them “no.”
God saves some of them later in life. But how much better to have a cultural understanding that rebellion is not cool, that it is in fact suicide.
Because whether or not the law has the death penalty for rebellion, rebellion kills. And sometimes it kills someone who was innocent along with the guilty.
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Yes, the if onlys . . .
I am enjoying other talk about signs of spring. Here all our tripicals are blooming, bird of paradise, antheriums, proteas, etc. And our prime birding season is coming to and end. Since we are the south that many birds fly to, we will lose many speicies to the north this month. Carlsbad has three lagoons so we are a mecca for birders. And yes, I am one.
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Cheryl, there was a story recently where a mother had to call the police when her son confessed to a murder. What a horrible thing to have to do..
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It looks like I’m better from my fall last month. Last night at the Y I was able to run without pain – as a matter of fact, it felt so good to be able to run again that I took it a bit faster than usual without meaning to. I finished the distance I planned (a little over a mile) but by then I didn’t have anything held back to put on a burst of speed the last couple laps as I usually do (not that I’m very fast at any time, but I try to finish strong). I was also able to do the leg press – some discomfort, but no real pain, which had kept me from doing it for a few weeks.
And I finally walked the dog again this morning (she’s had to go out in the yard on the tether since I fell). No problems except it being so dark – due to the time change – that it was hard to find her poop on the ground (I try to get her to go under street lights but she doesn’t cooperate).
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I’m having fun picturing Pauline trying to get her dog to poop under the street light.
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Pauline,
Glad to hear you’re feeling better. 🙂
Take it easy though, you don’t want to overdo it.
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Reading Pauline’s post makes me miss running. I miss trying that final “kick”, the burst of speed at the end that makes me feel so good.
I’ve never had a Y membership, but would jog on the road when I was unmarried and still living at home, and after marrying and moving to where I am now. At both of those residences, there is a slight uphill grade to get back home, so the challenge to pour on the speed at the end was a good one.
I’ve had the itch to take up running again, as I stopped many years ago (probably when 1st Arrow was a toddler — he turns 23 next month) because running was hard on my knees. Now I have plantar fasciitis. 😦 If I take it slow, maybe it won’t affect me too much. I don’t know. I think I’d feel a lot better if I had some regular vigorous exercise, and I sure have been wanting to run lately, especially now since it’s getting toward spring.
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Pauline, I walk my dogs typically at night and I take along a small LED flashlight — I keep it hanging right next to the leashes on the pegboard near the front door. Dog poop seriously does vanish at night.
Ah, yes, spring, it is rather nice seeing all the flowers coming out. I need to get out and do some weeding, replant the side garden in front of my house. It’s become pretty scraggly.
Kim, cops recently put the word out in our town that car break-ins are up (again), as are home burglaries. We have the “knock-knock” thieves, usually kids, who knock on the door, then if no one answers, they proceed to start poking around the back for an entry way.
The other scheme involves thieves posing as gas company or city crews as a way of getting access to people’s house — one person keeps the owner occupied talking outside (they look for people watering their yard or doing yard work) while the other one ducks inside in search of a quick grab — money, jewelry, wallet, etc.
And on kids gone bad: Police often share surveillance tapes with us at the paper so we’ll post them from time to time. We recently posted a video of a few teens wandering through the neighborhoods — they’re suspected of burglars — and the same kids then breaking into a fast-food restaurant when it was closed in the middle of the night.
A couple years ago there was a video we posted of a kid who was stealing cash registers — he would just crash store windows, grab the register and run.
His dad wound up seeing the video and turned him in. Caused quite a debate in the community, but most people thought the dad did the right thing. 😦
I’m off to cover a meeting this morning where they’re talking about the waterfront development. And yes, these (earlier) mornings with the time change are kind of hard — but, like Kim, I love the daylight at the end of the day. 🙂 🙂
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I don’t think we have a QoD yet…how about this one?
I mentioned that I used to run and want to get back to it. Is there anything you did in the past that you’d like to resume doing?
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Are you allowed to say touch your toes? 🙂 Nah, I can still touch my toes, easily.
Because of my hands, I can’t sew anymore, thread a needle, weed, garden and sometimes even turn doorknobs. It’s even tricky sometimes to make the bed and fold the laundry. I NEVER thought I’d say I missed those chores, but, really, they gave me tranquility for years. It’s the yard work I miss the most. I can weed maybe 15 minutes, and then it hurts too much. And I adore using lopers, but they really are too hard on the base of my thumbs. 😦
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I would like to be able to read a newspaper without interruption. Naw, I like the interruptions. I would like to be able to work in my garden without interruption. Nope. I enjoy the summertime laughter. I would like to read my Bible in peace. Nope, I get up in time for just that purpose, I just need to keep my mind on the reading. Guess not….Life is good.
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Mumsee – You were just talking to me, whether you realize it or not. Thank you. 🙂
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Playing ball. I miss it. Since the accident and 2 shoulder surgeries on my throwing arm, I now throw as the expression goes “like a girl”. No offense intended ladies. With the bad knees, I don’t run well anymore either. I wanna play softball in the church league, but I can’t. 😦
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AJ.
Well. If that’s the way you feel . . .
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I have not been back on my exercise bike since my knee/leg has been affected by arthritis. I miss that.
Within an hour this morning I was informed of two unrelated people who died. I have never had that happen before. Seems like there could be at least a day between hearing about the deaths of people. It kinda reminded me of how Job must have felt with all those reports of death flowing one after the other.
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Spring? You have Spring?!! Our foot of snow is melting slowing into the soil and we are ever so thankful…but, my heart longs for new sprouts of life to emerge from the soil…it is foggy and cold this morning….the pines are flocked with frost.
Qod….I,too, have the urge to run again…I do so detest the treadmill and it taunts me as I make my way past it to the laundry room…I don’t like to run on snow and ice either….perhaps when our Spring arrives, I’ll get back on the running trail 🙂
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Cheryl: Chas, when I hear stories like that crash, or a teenager shooting up his school, I think of how some atheists insist it was cruel and harsh for the Judaic law to have a provision where parents could bring their son to the leadership and tell them, “Our son is rebellious and hard-headed and he will not obey” and he would be stoned to death.
PARACHINAR, Pakistan — A security source in Pakistan’s Kurram tribal district says a man who tried to elope with a woman has been stoned to death.
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Does this blog use html
Okay, so If you don’t mess up the code,
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So, Stephen conducts his atheist services, and poet, Steve Turner wrote the perfect addition to their liturgy.
And perhaps this postscript could be added to their hymnal.
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AJ, soft ball is also on my list of things I wish I could do again. I have had an accident. I am just out of shape. Since I was a catcher I know couldn’t do it again.
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QoD. I’d like to get licensed and involved in amateur radio again, which I was intensely involved in as a teenager. And I’d like to play the guitar again.
I notice that most answers are about things people probably won’t be able to again, but the question didn’t rule out things that are set aside for a time and might be picked up again.
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My children are working toward amateur radio licenses. And a couple want to learn the guitar. Hmmmm, time repeats.
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Kevin,
One of the things I thought of mentioning was wishing I still played violin well enough to join a local symphony group that is starting up, specifically for young people or for those who have been away from the instrument and want to get back into playing. I got out my violin one evening when no one else was home and tried playing. It wasn’t as horrible as I had been afraid it would be, but it would obviously take a lot of time just to get back to being mediocre.
I tell myself that I would practice more now, because I would be less concerned about what people hearing me practice would think. But I’m not keen on going through the sounding awful stage first – especially as I don’t know if my ear is as good as it was when I was young, which is essential for a string player to be able to tell whether a note is right or not.
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I am hopeful of getting back on the exercise bike at a future time as I learn better what to do for improvement in my knee/leg. I also would like to be able to do some hiking and water aerobics if ever our situation allows for time and money to do so.
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Kathi Lipp wrote an interesting blog post about being fat: http://www.kathilipp.com/2013/03/thoughts-on-being-fat-and-loved-by-god/#comments
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Interesting poem, Ree. Are you into stoning? Or do you throw stones like a girl?
John 7:53-8:11
When I was young, I was very impressed by Shirley Jackson’s poem “The Lottery.” Have you ever read it? It used to be available for free on the Internet, but it seems to have been removed. Well, if you read the Bible Verse I listed above, that’s all you need to know. Maybe Cheryl will refresh herself?
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Chuck is 54. He played the guitar in a band when he was a teen in high school. But he got married, went to college, got a job and put the guitar away.
Some of his buddies still played gigs on Saturday nights.
A year or so ago, they invited Chuck to come up for a musical get-together.
He got his guitar out and started practicing.
He said he was amazed at how quickly it came back.
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One stays married by saying, “Yes, dear.” Yesterday, my wife said, “The chickens keep pecking the bark on the little tree in their yard.”
“Are they missing some essential nutrient in their diet?” I asked.
With some indignation she said, “Their chicken food is organically grown and contains every essential ingredient known to poultry science. Let’s put a fence around the tree.” We wrapped a tiny fence around the tiny tree, while the chickens watched with interest and made helpful comments.
I could see they were scheming to crawl under the fence and peck the tree. I think they contain some woody woodpecker genes in their heritage. I just watched a YouTube video about Woody pretending to be a chicken to get on easy street.
My wife is too clever for the chickens. She put stones around the bottom of the tree fence.
Then we pruned the prune plum tree. (Not a pun.) The prunes help keep me regular in a natural way.
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Here’s a QOD: Do countries lose religion as they gain wealth?
The study in the linked article is supposed to say yes but Im not too sure. The data they present seems rather ambiguous. There is some obvious comparisons between Sweden and Malawi but southern/eastern Europe and the US have similar religiosity. I don’t think the US is as big an outlier as its traditional made to be. There can be other reasons; education systems, established church, welfare state, etc. Wealth can be an indicator, correlation or cause but not the only one.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/05/f-religion-economic-growth.html
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Today, I get to do what I want. I will go to my atheist group, if anyone shows up — atheist [unfaith] groups are never going to have congregations measuring in the hundreds or thousands — unless they are marched into concentration camps as in North Korea — and talk about death. As everyone knows, my theory is that religion is a human creation, mostly based on dismay about death in a cold, arbitrary, random, meaningless universe. As I am getting old, one of my last projects is to show that atheists can die more responsibly than religious believers
How can that possibly be evaluated? Does the phrase “Die Responsibly” have the slightest meaning? Does it mean anything besides, “Pray before you die?”
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hwesseli, that is an interesting link about wealth and religion. Let’s see, late President [dictator?] Hugo Chavez tried to bribe the poor people in Venezuela with oil money. Supposedly he was Catholic and a socialist. Was a a Communist Catholic in peasant’s clothing? Was he a Catholic Christian who really tried to practice Christian charity? Was he just a very charismatic and confused fellow who is now being taken to task by God for not being a “true” Christian (whatever that is)? I read the following story on Religion News Service but it just left me more confused.
Anybody here know what to think about late Chavez?
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http://marksilk.religionnews.com/2013/03/08/getgetreligion-the-ghost-of-hugo-chavez/
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Interesting note on Chavez. Catholicism has a long tradition of social activism, especially in South America but even in Europe they organized unions and other worker’s associations (partially to counter socialist/communist atheism)
My quote of the day from one my favourite authors: The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance …The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia, but to keep the very structure of society intact. George Orwell 1984
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I wonder if Marty Robbins really liked that outfit?
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Good game, RW! (handshake)
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Hot off the cyberpresses: the story of my book launch with some photos.
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I suspect Marty wore whatever he wanted to wear.
Congratulations Michelle. I clicked on “like”, but then it wanted me to register, so I backed out.
I don’t know if it took anyhow.
Does “Like” take if you don’t fill out the forms?
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Stoning, Stephen? Why would you ask? Are you offended by that poem? Where does it differ from your beliefs?
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I don’t know that I’m going to be able to stomach finishing this article, but here it is: Monogamish relationships, and sexuality: http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/03/07/what-you-should-know-about-monogamish-relationships/
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Softball for me, too. And I never threw like a girl. 🙂 I used to play catch up until just a few years ago, but now with neck issues I realize it would just be a pretty bad idea.
Bike riding is still doable for me, though, and probably easier on knees that running (which I never liked to do very much!).
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QoD: Take long hikes in the mountains. It’s not that I cannot still take long hikes, I just don’t live close to any mountains!
I’d like to play the guitar again.
I’d like to play it, period! I tried to learn once, but didn’t have the perseverance. Now my fingers can’t hold the strings down well enough.
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Mountain climb!
Oh wait. I never did climb mountains. Well, not well anyway, I recall sliding down one on my rear end after I realized how steep it was on the way down (and I had on entirely the wrong kind of shoes!).
Interesting week at work so far. I haven’t heard so many 4-letter words (strung together in a steady stream) in a long time — sitting close to my editor as we switch over to a new computer operating system.
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QoD: Skateboarding! And running. I still surf, still play ball, still climb mountains and snow ski.
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Good evening – it is late here, but I have been thinking about the day. This evening, as the sun began to set, I was watching the IV drip of a young patient who was dangerously dehydrated. As I sat in the cooling breeze, I heard the death wail go up from the village. It was for someone only a few years older than the patient beside me. Life and death run so close here.
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*Tears*, Roscuro. That puts so much into perspective.
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Agreed. 😦
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So thankful to know you are there to help some of the suffering, Roscuro (Phos).
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I enjoyed reading about your launch party on your blog, Michelle. It looked like a great time. Those are some big flippers! I really like what I have read so far in your book. I took it with us when we went out to Baylor, and I have not found it since my return. 😦 I need to check under the car seat. I will be 🙂 to find it!
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The flippers were hilarious. 🙂 Looks like a good time was had by all.
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I’d seen something about this before … :
http://miami.cbslocal.com/2013/03/11/obamacare-may-bite-you-at-the-vets-office/
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Yesterday, two new workers were scheduled to begin at hubby’s workplace for the shift he’s in now. Guess what…?
They started!!! And I’m starting the countdown to the end of hubby’s overnight hours. 🙂 Four days this week, plus Friday until about midnight. Repeat same next week. And then (if the one scheduled to start next week does, and the other guy comes back from military training a week later)…
DAY SHIFTS ONLY!!! 🙂 🙂
I. Can’t. Wait. 😉
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6 arrows, great news! 😀
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A man in North Carolina had a flat tire, pulled off on the side of the road, and proceeded to put a bouquet of flowers in front of the car and one behind it.
Then he got back in the car to wait.
A passerby studied the scene as he drove by, and was so curious
he turned around and went back.
He asked the fellow what the problem was.
The man replied, “I got a flat tahr.”
The passerby asked, “But what’s with the flowers?”
The man responded, “When you break down they tell you to put flares
in the front and flares in the back. I never did understand it neither.”
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I would have posted that on today’s thread. But I’m waiting for Tammy.
😆
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Michelle, you don’t look fat to me. I hope your book does well.
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