Good Morning!
On this day in 1664 New Jersey, named after the Isle of Jersey, was founded.
In 1861 federal gunboats attacked Confederate batteries at Mathias Point, Virginia.
In 1896 Booker T. Washington became the first African American to receive an honorary MA degree from Howard University.
In 1922 the American Professional Football Association took the name of The National Football League.
In 1962 The New York Yankees beat the Detroit Tigers, 9-7, after 22 innings.
And in 1997 the U.S. Air Force released a report on the “Roswell Incident,” suggesting the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies.
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Quote of the Day
“To compel a man to furnish funds for the propagation of ideas he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”
Thomas Jefferson
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Today is Mick Fleetwood’s birthday.
And it’s Jeff Beck’s.
Today is also Jeff Cease’s birthday. He’s a member of this band, which I’ve always liked.
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Who has a QoD for us today?
Wandering Views 
Well, who watched Nic Wallenda walk across the Grand Canyon? It was kind of funny to me that we had discussed Joel Osteen yesterday and there he and his mule eating briars grin were right there praying with the family before Nic started the walk.
Nic “prayed” the whole walk across. I can’t fault him there. You can bet you last dollar that if I were on the high wire walking across the Grand Canyon I would have been praying the whole time and confessing, “Dear God, I was an idiot to do this and if You will get me safely to the other side, I promise not to ever do anything like this again!”
There were parts of it I couldn’t watch and the the helicopter flying around in circles with the camera on Nic made me dizzy.
You do have to admire the 200 years of family history in circus work. How many people today can say they are in the family business that have gone on for generations? I don’t do anything remotely like what either of my parents did. My mother was a whiz with numbers and understood the insurance industry inside and out. My father would take apart and rebuild any kind of machine, motor, engine, you name it. Me? All I can do is talk.
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Good morning! Becca and I have been up since 5:30. She came in to sleep with me about 3:00 b/c she threw-up from coughing. She was recently diagnosed with asthma and we’re still trying to get it under control. Then, I had a nightmare around 5:15 and screamed out (I talk in my sleep A LOT!) and scared her. So, we both tried to go back to sleep, but couldn’t. So, we got up and were treated to a beautiful moon and were able to watch the sun come up together.
Love, love, love the Thomas Jefferson quote!
I’ll check in later–soon it’s off to ride horses on the beach!!!
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Hello, Anonymous! Regarding your comment, my dad owned a small manufacturer’s representative company that sold pumps, valves, etc. I went to work for him after college for two years. I had absolutely no affinity for the business and my dad sold the company and semi-retired, while I went back to graduate school. My undergrad degree is in psychology and there is very little one can do with that degree. So, I returned to school and got a master’s in social work. I always felt sorry for my dad as he really wanted one of his kids to take over the business. He had five kids, but none of us had any interest in the oil & gas business. My oldest brother is a lawyer, second is a pilot, third is a doctor and my sister is a teacher by training, but has been a stay-at-home mom for almost 20 years (she does homeschool her children, so uses her degree in that capacity). I worked in the field of social work for a couple of years before marrying and having children, at which time Scott and I decided I would stay home with the kids. As I’ve previously stated, I feel so blessed to be able to do this, as I realize it’s a luxury few are afforded in today’s economy. I tried to be interested in my dad’s industry, but it’s still very much a “good-‘ol-boy’s” field and I never felt comfortable in that environment.
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A.J.: Hope you’re having fun with your guests. Love the Counting Crows! Haven’t heard them in a long time–thanks for the link!
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what a quiet morning/evening y’all are having
Where is Chas???
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Have you noticed how short the days are getting?
Me neither.
Now we know all about Anonumous, whoever he/she is.
😆
Jo, I’m just hanging around.
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I changed my gravatar. I’m the one on the left. The other woman in the photo is my best friend of 38 years, Monica. She is more like a sister than a friend. We’ve seen each other through all of life’s ups and downs. I feel so fortunate to have such a dear friend.
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Shoot! It didn’t work! I’m so technologically challenged, it’s pathetic. I’ll have to get Lindsey to help me after our ride!
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That anonymous was KimH.
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I wish someone in the NEA and other unions would take note of Jefferson’s quote and abide by it. For that matter, I wish the government would do so!
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We were in a children museum once and my son was playing with a display that showed the children how coal was transported by conveyor belt and I told him, “that’s enough it took us two generations to get out of the coal mines and you’re not going back.” My family is on the second generation in the garage door business. So far no one in the third generation is interested so I guess it will die with my brothers.
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Our family had no work legacy worth following.
I mentioned a couple of days ago that I used to operate radios on C-97’s and B-29’s.
In those days, we couldn’t transmit voice for long distances. So we had to use Morse Code. That was my job.
Today?
Middle GD and her mother are in the same city. They text each other.
Today, middle GD is vacationing in Austria.
They text each other just the same.
That change happened in just 60 years.
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Which is why opportunity is there for young people looking for careers. The Millionaire Next Door talks about how many people have made good livings in seemingly “unglamorous” jobs. We’ve insisted an entire generation of kids have to go to college, when plenty of service jobs are available for those willing to work hard.
We’ve been hearing stories of men and women reaching retirement age with perfectly good businesses and no one to pass them along to, Contractors, machinists, masons, welders can’t find young people willing to be trained and to do grunt work–paid– for several years to learn the business.
We’ve chosen, instead, to encourage kids to go into college debt–a form of slavery at these numbers–to get barista jobs at Starbucks. Travesty. 😦
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My parents had a greenhouse business, which was large, but not enough to make a living from solely. They tried to pass it on to my sister, but it didn’t work out for a variety of reasons. Handing down businesses is very difficult. Whole families can be torn apart.
Pride is celebrated today and is what keeps many from being ‘just a _____’ . Parents, school counselors etc. need to encourage young people to realize that all their identity should not be caught up in their job. We also need to teach that all work is valuable. Of course, we have to watch out for our own pride and that is something we really need help with from the Holy Spirit. It is very hard for parents, who naturally want their children to ‘succeed’ and can take the definition of that from the world, rather than from God’s word.
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My grandfather was a nurseryman and his daughter, my mom, had a wonderful green thumb. Not me, although I do love flowers.
My dad was an electrician. But I’m not really very handy at all.
Monday morning. And I’m still just trying to wake myself up.
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A few days ago I received a mailing from Compassion. (I sponsor a child–now 19 and about to turn 20 I believe, or maybe she’s just turning 19–we share a birthday–and so I’m wondering exactly how long sponsorship lasts!) Anyway, an outside company contacted Compassion about doing research and seeing just what difference child sponsorship makes in changing lives; they compared adults who had been sponsored as children with adults who had not been. This issue of the magazine looked at the results.
They found a significant difference in the level of education attained and in the jobs the adults had.
But what caught my attention was that it seemed to “work” by removing the child from the community! That is, rather than a child living a hand-to-mouth life on the farm, and then becoming a highly successful farmer, the child ended up getting a college degree and going on to teach. Those were the examples profiled–some became college professors and some became teachers.
So, yes, the child and his descendants were saved from poverty, but did the community benefit? Pulling the smartest children out of the community to live somewhere else and “succeed” isn’t exactly a long-term strategy.
My hunch is that some children stayed and benefitted the community, but that such stories weren’t as “glamorous” for the report. But someone needs to grow food and fix plumbing. We forget that at our peril. I have acres of corn behind me as I speak. But I understand it isn’t to feed people, except indirectly (it feeds animals); it may actually be converted to ethanol for all I know.
But you can’t take everyone who’s ambitious out of a community, send them to college and then to teach or succeed in business, without some harm to the community. We forget that for ourselves and we forget that for other nations. Food producers are “invisible,” but they’re crucial! And so are people who work with their hands in other ways. Yes, it’s necessary to have a community move beyond growing barely enough food for their own families with no surplus and no cushion for bad years, but I think that some should learn better farming techniques rather than being removed from all food production.
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Maybe it works now…
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Ann, sometimes gravatars don’t change on everyone’s computer at the same time. I have had a photo of two women (very hard to see, mostly red) on yours since before I posted my last post. Even if it doesn’t show up on yours yet, I’m guessing that is the photo you put up.
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I see the same thing Cheryl sees, Ann.
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Chas,
.. … _ .. ._.. ._.. ._.. .. _._ . _ _ _ _ _ ._. … . _._. _ _ _ _.. . . …_ . _. .. .._. .. _ .. … _. _ _. . . _.. . _.. ._ _. _._ _ _ _ _ _ _ ._. . _._
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Well, WordPress messed with my spacing so Chas will have a hard time deciphering that!
That first set of five dashes in a row is two dashes followed by three dashes. In the last set of seven, the first two are part of the preceding letter, then there are two together followed by three together.
My original version had wider spaces between words too.
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Kevin, I followed to “I still…..” but lost you. The problem is five dashes is a zero.
Then RSE, but I suspect that isn’t correct. With your explanation, I suspect you are saying “I still know morse …. but I couldn’t find the _._.
I could probably copy about five wpm now. I used to be faster. I could send faster.
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😦 My love and I are incompatable in a grocery store.
Another ten minutes in WalMart and she would likely have filed for divorce, or my insurance if she had the capability.
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Interesting opportunity to get Francis Schaeffer lectures for free: http://www.labri-ideas-library.org/lecture-list.asp?s=5
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Lol, Chas.
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I am a first-generation nurse. The only ancestor I know of who worked in the medical field was an eccentric great-grandfather who was a surgeon’s assistant in a railroad hospital. We have several photographs, including one of an actual surgery (Their sterile technique was a far cry from the modern Western standard). I might have considered doing something similar to my father, who was a repair technician, as I always enjoyed learning the inner workings of things, but I was more interested in fixing people than machines. So maybe I am following in his footsteps in an indirect way.
Sometimes the jobs your ancestors do are no longer available to you. My grandfather uncles was an automotive worker and his sons followed in his footsteps. Their sons might have followed in their footsteps, but the gradual disintegration and then collapse of the industry prevented that from happening.
However, the talents and interests your ancestors have do influence your life work. My grandmother wanted to become a nurse, but was unable to complete the course for health reasons. She spent the rest of her life unofficially nursing various family members and others who had no one else to care for them. She died before I started my schooling, but I always think that her ideals influenced my decision.
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Scratch that ‘uncles’ – I should proofread better.
Cheryl – you are right that educated people tend to exit poor communities. That is why the focus here is more on literacy (as being able to read benefits anyone, no matter what occupation they hold) and improving farming/living techniques.
I highly respect famers. I have worked for them in previous years and they are highly knowledgeable about their work. I had such interesting conversations with them about seed varieties, harvesting techniques, etc. and it was fascinating to watch them work. I felt honoured to be able to participate in the work for a little while.
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Michelle–wow! Where to begin?! I bookmarked it.
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I bet Jesus could have walked across the Grand Canyon without using a rope. While explaining the difference between “Old Earth Creationism” and “Young Earth Creationism.” (Perhaps my youngest sister, a “born again” at 12 years of age “Young Earther” would understand evolution if Jesus explained it to her.)
And in 1997 the U.S. Air Force released a report on the “Roswell Incident,” suggesting the alien bodies witnesses reported seeing in 1947 were actually life-sized dummies.
As a genuine life-size dummy born in 1944, I have to inform the USAF they got the date wrong. Well, as they used to say once upon a long long long time ago, “good enough” for government work. And I am waiting to see if Snowden makes it to Ecuador. I bet he will be bored. Do the have secrets to steal in Ecuador? Is there such a place as Ecuador? I bet someone reading this has been a missionary in Ecuador. It’s getting harder and harder to get anyone over the age of five or anyone born in a land corrupted by Darwinism to go for these stories.
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Michelle, Thanks for the link. Cheryl, thanks for reminding me about “bookmarking”.
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I believe the real has a no running in the house rule, and it appears people were racing over the weekend. Don’t come crying to me when you run into each other.
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If you like bird photography, check out this guy’s photos. I just went onto one country (Costa Rica) and one favorite bird (resplendent quetzal) and he must have three dozen gorgeous photos of that bird alone, and hundreds of other birds in that country, and several different countries. I link to the page where you choose a country. http://www.glennbartley.com/naturephotography/birds%20-%20NA%20CR.htm
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Random, you say, “It’s getting harder and harder to get anyone over the age of five or anyone born in a land corrupted by Darwinism to go for these stories.”
You’d be surprised! Here in New England, the people are known for being very cold – even hostile – to the gospel. Before my Texas-born-&-raised pastor came here to our small town in northern Connecticut, he was warned that New England is “the graveyard of ministers”, & not to come unless he knew for sure that God had called him here.
This little church in this little town, which he came to less than 5 years ago, has grown from a typical Sunday attendance of about 30 – 35 people to over 200 people in that time. And other churches in New England are also growing.
Do you remember a while back, maybe a few years ago (?), you said that the believers on the (then) WMB must have grown up in the faith, & it was because of our parents’ indoctrination that we believed? Then there was a flood of responses by many of us telling of how we did not grow up in believing homes, but came to faith as adults. At least a couple people were raised by atheists!
BTW, glad to see you back. I was wondering what happened to you.
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Hi Karen, I spent today planning for the big earthquake and arguing with my wife. I am living surprisingly long.
I don’t understand why the Gospel is so popular, as it’s so obviously not based on truth. It’s just a story that vibrates in a lot of human nervous systems, but not mine. I am most loath to pretend to believe in something not true. No matter how good the story. And my nervous system does not respond to that story. I am probably not from earth.
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Mumsee – Speaking of crying…As I was getting onto the blog this evening, clicking on the Prayer Requests first, I was thinking of how I would write my comment here on this thread. It was going to have something about how I came here to cry on “y’all’s” shoulders, & then I was going to mention something that happened today that upset me a bit.
What do I see as the Prayer Request thread comes up?
“Then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses.”
My mouth literally dropped open, then I smiled (well, my little crooked half-smile) & chuckled a bit.
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VROOOM
VROOOM
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This cracked me up:
Walmart announced that sometime in 2013 it will begin offering customers a new discount item: Walmart’s own brand of wine. The world’s largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the wines at affordable prices in the $2 to $5 range. Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of the Walmart brand into their shopping carts but, ‘There is a market for inexpensive wine,’ said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas, Bentonville.
‘However, branding will be very important.’
Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Walmart wine brands and varieties. The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:
10. Chateau Traileur Parc
9. White Trashfindel
8. Big Red Gulp
7. World Championship Riesling
6. NASCARbernet
5. Chef Boyardeaux
4. Peanut Noir
3. I Can’t Believe it’s not Vinegar
2. Grape Expectations
1. Nasti Spumante
The beauty of Walmart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).
P.S. Don’t bother writing back to tell me that this is a hoax. I know squirrel is not a red meat.
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Walmart announced that sometime in 2013 it will begin offering customers a new discount item: Walmart’s own brand of wine. The world’s largest retail chain is teaming up with Ernest & Julio Gallo Winery of California to produce the wines at affordable prices in the $2 to $5 range. Wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to put a bottle of the Walmart brand into their shopping carts but, ‘There is a market for inexpensive wine,’ said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at University of Arkansas, Bentonville.
‘However, branding will be very important.’
Customer surveys were conducted to determine the most attractive name for the Walmart wine brands and varieties. The top surveyed names in order of popularity were:
10. Chateau Traileur Parc
9. White Trashfindel
8. Big Red Gulp
7. World Championship Riesling
6. NASCARbernet
5. Chef Boyardeaux
4. Peanut Noir
3. I Can’t Believe it’s not Vinegar
2. Grape Expectations
1. Nasti Spumante
The beauty of Walmart wine is that it can be served with either white meat (Possum) or red meat (Squirrel).
P.S. Don’t bother writing back to tell me that this is a hoax. I know squirrel is not a red meat.
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Donna just keeps racing around this thread in her motorcycle. She’s a gonna hit someone.
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Had the best time on the horse ride this morning and I’m not even that into horses! Lindsey loved it, of course! We went around 9:00 in the morning and had the beach all to ourselves. The scenery was gorgeous and Lindsey was able to canter on the beach, a dream of hers. We actually swam with the horses–it was so cool! Tomorrow, we’re going to a turtle farm in the morning.
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If you want some summer refreshing, how about photos of a hummingbird bathing (including an upside-down bird underwater)? These are spectacular; some are in water and some are not, but keep scrolling down, since there are several “batches” of the bird in water: http://www.glennbartley.com/naturephotography/Costa%20Rica/Birds/CROWNED%20WOODNYMPH.html
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I think I’ll trade in my wheels for a horse that can canter and swim. 🙂 Then I can just clip-clop clip-clop clip-clop around here, all day long.
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Cheryl, those photos are spectacular, such gorgeous detail.
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Quote shared on fb the other day:
“A little knowledge of science makes man an atheist, but an in-depth study of science makes him a believer in God.”
– Francis Bacon.
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Donna, there is a horse with your name on it in Idaho.
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Annms, sounds like you and family are having a delightful time. Keep us apprised!
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😀
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Chas,
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I still like Morse Code even if it isnt needed any more K
(I put in more spaces when I typed it, but WordPress took out a lot of them.)
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Donna, that is a great quote.
I suppose all of you are going to sleep now, but it is only 2pm on Tuesday here
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the top said there were 49 comments, so I just had to post and get number 50!!!!
I suppose that the rest of you are asleep! oh, well
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Jo, that is SO not fair.
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Kim posted twice, so which one of you won. Hers should only count as one, right? 😉 I think she may have had some Walmart wine, but don’t tell her I said so.
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😀 😀 😀
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😀
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