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Our Daily Thread 2-27-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from me.

On this day in 1801 the city of Washington, DC, was placed under congressional jurisdiction.

In 1827 New Orleans held its first Mardi Gras celebration.

In 1922 the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women the right to vote.

In 1951 the 22nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, limiting U.S. Presidents to two terms.

And in 1990 the Exxon Corporation and Exxon Shipping were indicted on five criminal counts in reference to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.

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Quote of the Day

“Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.”

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Today is Phil Gaudion’s birthday. He plays with the Paul Colman Trio.

And today is also Johnny Van Zant’s birthday.

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Anyone have a QoD?

61 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 2-27-14”

  1. I like the quote, I can relate to that.
    Good night all. Just about finished with the month’s transfers, a lot of giving goes on here. Now to finish up and get some sleep. Oh, my van appeared yesterday. They did some sort of a temporary fix and someone brought it home. I will try it out by going to market at 6:30 tomorrow morning. That time of day when I am not really awake. Blessings from PNG

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  7. Public Service Announcement:
    Since Tuesday everything I have put in my mouth has tasted bitter–even water! The only thing that doesn’t taste bitter is coffee, which is bitter anyway.
    Being the nerdy researcher that I am I went on line to fing out what could be causing this. After digging through acid reflux, periodontal disease and gingivitis, heavy metal poisoning and a host of other scary sounding things there was one little sentence buried in all the medical jargon—Oh, by the way PINE NUTS can sometimes cause this to happen.
    Well there you go. Publix Apron Meal this week was Mediterranean Steaks topped with a mixture of pine nuts, tomato-basil, spinach, and feta cheese. I ate a few pine nuts as I was cooking, then I had left over steak on top of a salad for lunch the next day.
    So if you ever experience this rule out the pine nuts before you panic.

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  9. Sure you have. You know the things that fall out of pine trees–not the cones or the needles but the light as air kind of things that kids used to eat on the playground? Well those I-talians got all fancy with them and decided to add them to basil and olive oil and make pesto to put over pasta.
    The bad thing is I have a nice size bag of them and you can bet I’m not eating them any time soon. Now that I know what caused it, every thing I eat does sort of taste like it is covered in pine sap, which you might remember is what they use to make turpentine.

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  10. AJ, you got a nice picture of two of the animals Beatrix Potter liked to draw and write stories about.

    Is that structure a storage shed or something else?

    Now if you can get a picture of those two animals along with Mouse and maybe a mouse you will have a book’s worth of characters. 🙂

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  15. I caught up a little on last night’s posts. I have a Master’s Degree—yippee skippee. I don’t really use it. There are lots of overly educated people that don’t have walking around sense.
    My dad had a high school diploma. He did an engineers job. He was well read and could discuss just about any subject, his favorite being History and Shakespeare.

    I was in my 3rd year of college before I even thought I was close to his level of education.
    Don’t let someone’s degree in something intimidate you. Everyone has intelligences PLURAL. My nephew has a learning disability and ADD, but he can read people like no one you have ever met. He is people smart. BG got a lot of it. Me? I have plenty of book learning, but people have bamboozled me in the past. I trust the wrong people and continue to be amazed when they hurt me.

    Again, I will tell you not to judge your inside by someone else’s outside.

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  16. Kare, seems like you need to move to North Carolina.
    We have bear here too. I haven’t seen one, but they are in our community. One tore up a drain pipe from my downspouts several years ago.
    They mostly roam at night around here.

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  17. It’s rather funny to consider the difference people can think a college degree can make. Back when I was a co-op student working every other quarter as a tax auditor (in the making) for IRS to earn money to pay my tuition, I felt there was a great gulf between me and the full fledged tax auditors who were freshly hired out of college. One day all the other auditors were out of the office and my boss called me in her office and told me some big wig IRS person needed to have their audit done. I was mortified that I had to do it because I did not yet have my degree. I was so close to tears at the dread. I did the audit and all was well. By the next quarter when I got my diploma I was wondering how on earth I had thought the college degree made THAT much difference.

    It is a requirement for certain types of employment, but many good and honorable people for various reasons don’t go that route. For many who can’t find work in their field it can be a costly weight hanging over their lives as they struggle to pay student loans.

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  18. My husband will complain of everything tasting bitter sometimes. It comes and goes. He hasn’t eaten pine nuts, however.

    True about the university degrees. What a really good education should do, is teach you there is a whole lot you don’t know!

    I know a few people who never made it through high school, but knew how to survive and thrive. Things were different in their day and I would not recommend not graduating from high school or going on to some other method of education.

    Wisdom is a totally different thing, of course.

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  19. I am the first in my family to go to college.
    I convinced Chuck that it would be best for him.
    After that, it was assumed that the children would go to college.
    When a great-grand is born, elvera gives a present “for the college fund”.

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  20. It rained. All night long. 🙂 A whole lot more coming on Friday along with very high surf (the surfers are thrilled) and lots of snow in the mountains (the snowboarders are thrilled).

    That’ll probably be it for our so-called rainy season this year, unfortunately — but a meteorologist I interviewed yesterday from another part of the country said there “may be” a slight chance of more rain in mid-March. Maybe.

    Or not. …

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  21. Thinking back to my co-op job as a tax auditor, one of the funnier things that happened was that a very well known football player back in those days came in to be audited. Word got around the office that he was in there so the auditors, as they had opportunity, would go get a glimpde of him. He had fallen asleep during his audit! 🙂 It must have been the hum of the calculator that put him to sleep, or I guess he was more use to the eccitement of a game to keep him wakeful.

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  25. Ha! I should think at this point we’ve all learned that common sense beats out education any day! 🙂

    A delightful walk in the clean, moist air. My daughter-in-law dug up a lot of iris and brought them to me last week. I’m going to toss them into the yard today and see if tomorrow’s rain will give them the start they need. I’m amazed at how hardy iris are!

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  26. My father is like Kim’s father, except he only completed Grade 11. Yet, he has always been my academic hero. My desire to keep learning more is inspired by his example.
    Now, I’ll tell you all a secret, I went to college but… I don’t have a degree. That’s right, I have a diploma in nursing.

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  27. Okay here’s the deal. It’s common knowledge and a running joke among my friends and family that I know people everywhere.

    If, say, a daughter is off for the weekend to meet a guy in Austin, TX, whom she’s gotten to know on the Internet, my friends call me and ask if I know anyone in Austin, in case there’s a problem.

    Sure, Kathy. She was ready and willing to help if needed.

    Nothing, of course, happened but the mother was happier.

    The news for YOU ALL is you’re also part of my network of people–since I know the general area where you live.

    So, when a dear friend moved to the far northern corner of California, she called me up and said, “I don’t suppose you know anyone who lives near Crescent City?”

    She and her husband had a delightful meeting with Bob Buckles and his wife this last weekend–and they provided good advice about the area.. 🙂

    I’m laughing–I’m even introducing my friends to people I’ve never met before!

    Don’t be surprised if you get tapped.

    Oh, and feel free to tap me–I live on the outskirts of Sodom and Gomorrah. 🙂

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  28. I LOVE that story Michelle. I think it was a surprise to my new husband to take me “home” to Maryland where he grew up and I had a lunch date with a friend. Of course I had some “splainin” to do when I hopped on a plane with a man I had never met and went to Idaho with him. 😉

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  29. My father only had an 8th grade education. He lived in the agriculural part of southern Georgia so he did a lot of that kind of labor. He joined the Navy where he became a Chief Petty Officer and retired with twenty years service. Then he did carpentry as in building houses during tha Atlanta boom years and after that he went into barbering which was a sideline he did on the ship in the Navy. Then he purchased his own shop which he worked in until around seventy. He died at seventy-four.

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  30. I think my father was too busy doing all of his labors to do much reading. The only book I remember seeing him read was the Bible 🙂 and then sometimes I would hear him snoring over it. I guess he was tired and when he sat down to read he would nod off. I couldn’t understand how he could sleep while sitting up. Now I understand all too well. 🙂 Quite a contrast to think of my father’s background with “book learning” and how my son is at this point on track to get a PhD in English, with the massive amount of reading that requires. It can only be a God thing.

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  31. Either that’s a squirrely rabbit or a rabbity squirrel. I can never tell the difference.

    My dad dropped out of high school to go to the Navy in WWII. In 1951 he got his GED. Then, when he lost his job as a typesetter he went back to school on the GI Bill, getting his BSE at age 37 and his Masters at 42. He never used the education certificate, but got the Masters in vocational counseling. I followed in his steps in that I didn’t finish the BA until age 35 and the MA at 43. Got the teaching certificate in between. Now I think I want to do something else other than teach, what with Common Core making teachers do more work than we already do.

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  33. The military is a really great place for folks who aren’t sure what they want to do. A Chief Petty Officer is an important position that shows leadership. The GI Bill has been helpful for several generations. It’s unfortunate the military has fallen out of favor with so many–you really can get marketable skills there in the trades.

    Both my uncles learned all their electronics in the Navy and Air Force respectively. They supported themselves and their families for the rest of their lives with what they learned (and continued to learn over the years in their jobs). My own husband has parlayed skills he learned in the Navy to great advantage in private industry. Of course, he’s also done well with the communication skills he picked up while training to be a volunteer at our local pregnancy counseling center, too!

    It’s all about attitude and a love of learning. Which is why I trained my kids to love the library . . . (which is where my grandfather learned about radio repair and supported HIS family that way).

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  34. I just finished reading Samuel Whiskers or the Roly Poly Pudding by Beatrix Potter. It was a favorite I read to my son. It concerns a kitten who gets in trouble.

    AJ, you and your family need to read the story. The ending is especially relevant considering your new family member. 🙂

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  35. LOL, Janice. You’ll notice AJ is missing, undoubtedly looking after his kitten!

    Given the story I told above, you all want to advise me on another matter?

    A 20 year old friend (on FB and in real life), signed up for eHarmony on their free Valentine Day special and met a 24 year old. He’s a youth pastor at a church some three or so hours from here.

    He drove up a week ago after numerous phone calls (how many would it have been after 3 days?) to meet her and asked if she’d be his girlfriend. She said yes.

    My eyebrows went up.

    We’re now following this 10-day old romance on FB and I’m hearing stories from interested family members. I asked one if they had considered having our pastor call the pastor of this guy’s church to check on him.

    Long pause. No.

    Relative is now thinking. What do you think?

    Or, what would you do if I asked you? 🙂

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  36. Hubbykins is taking Amos to the vet today. Their appointment is in about 30 minutes. Amos would crawl inside my clothes if he could when we are at the vet. Hubbykins is not understanding what a scary place this is for my Boy. His latest response to an instructive text message was “Oh, please”.

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  37. Definitely try to get some kind of feedback from trusted sources. As was just recently discussed, even those guys in ministry, like Gothard, can be on the prowl for less than desirable activity. I think most people move more slowly so that raises flags, like maybe he is rebounding from something and needs a gal on his arm quickly for some kind of a show. IMHO

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  38. Quite frankly I have heard some SCARY stories from Christian Mingle. Abusive type men looking there because the Bible teaches women to” submit to their husbands “. In my own experience was the guy I met who drove down from Birmingham to take me to dinner, spouted Bible verses all through dinner and told me just how I would raise my daughter if we were to marry and how my ex husband could not and would not be involved. My gay guy friend heard me describe him and told me to run far away he was an abuser and a pedophile.
    I know a woman in South Florida who tangled up with an abuser on Christian Mingle.

    If the guy is all he says he is he should welcome someone calling the pastor where he claims to work and checking him out. Look at Cheryl’s experience going through a church sponsored website where I believe her pastor spoke with her future husband’s pastor (details are sketchy for me so Cheryl would have to tell her story)

    I would at least be googling him and researching him. Being on the Vestry at my church has taught me a lot about what you want in a Youth Minister and how careful you have to be in screening one.

    10 days is too soon to be exclusive–especially at a distance.

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  39. Oh and the guy on eHarmony–the guy that started it? CREEPY. I filled out one of the free profiles and they match you only with people THEY think match. You can’t shop like on other sites…..and let me tell you. I can’t flirt worth anything in real life, but I was GOOD at the online stuff. If they had had that when I was a teenager I would have had a different date every night and twice on Saturday.

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  40. Michelle, my own experience (me and others I’ve heard about) with internet dating is it seems to be either the best or the worst way to meet people. If you’re diligent, it’s excellent. But there are a lot of horror stories.

    Just within the past week, a young lady my sister knows ran off with a boyfriend no one knew she had. (They’d been communicating four months.) Her parents did a background check and found an assault arrest (expunged from his record, but they found out about it) and also that the very night before he came to get the girl he was online advertising for a girl, apparently to get sex. Unfortunately, someone cued the young lady in that her parents were coming down to try to talk her into leaving this sinful and dangerous situation, and she and her boyfriend put in a restraining order against her dad. Show up on the property and you get arrested. The girl is of age, so it’s her legal right . . . but the parents are understandably spooked out.

    Yes, call the pastor. Also google the man. My husband stayed with my shepherding elder and his wife for each of his visits to Nashville (they’d talked by phone before the first visit, and I’d sent him a link to my man’s online profile), and I myself called his pastor with a list of several questions. I’d recommend online dating, but with caveats: you don’t know the young man’s community and you don’t know if he is telling the truth about himself. So take Reagan’s advice: trust but verify. Don’t trust him with vital information about yourself initially, don’t meet in person (if it’s a long-distance relationship) until you’ve done some digging, and be careful. Be sure you meet others in his circle; if his family and friends aren’t the kind of people you want to hang out with, that tells you some things about him and also about your own potential future, so run. Online dating works well for level-headed people; I’m not sure it works that well for girls who are desperately looking for a prince and they want him yesterday.

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  41. Sounds like a wise idea, Michelle.
    On going to college, I agree that it is not necessary. However I think every young person should be encouraged to take at least one class at their local junior college. I don’t care if the course is a PE course or clay, which my daughter took. I think just finding out what is offered and what it is like, lets them know that they can go there when something interests them. I am not saying that they need a degree, just take one course to find out that that is a place they can go for whatever they like.

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  42. That is a wonderful suggestion, Jo. I have never heard anyone say that before, but it is an empowering way to consider college. Some young folks mighg be overwhelmed thinking of being there four years and having to do it all at once. Brilliant idea!

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  44. The Wounded Warrior effort myst pull in a lot of money. Or Fox is giving them lots of time.
    Their commercial shows up often and last a minute & 45 seconds. That’s a long time for a TV commercial.

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  45. This is an interesting coincidence or as some may think, a God thing. I have a book to review for bookfun.org, A Rooster Once Crowed, A Commentary on the Greatest Story Ever Told. I started into chapter two today and it is all about Heaven! I was not expecting that blessing to be so timely to go along with my other Bible study. Sweet!

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  46. Kim, I hope Amos did okay. You can give some extra love and attention to help ease the trauma of the vet visit. The day Bosley got herself up in the ceiling she was pretty subdued for the rest of the day. A little trauma seems to bring out the sweetness in a pet because they know where their safety go to person is.

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  47. He is fine. He greeted me at the door for a little extra Mommy-love. Lulabelle kept jumping up. We are working on that. He got three shots today so he is resting. The vet said that he will need to have his teeth cleaned in about a year. He has a new “charm” for his collar. If you can find me on facebook you can see how handsome he was yesterday when he got home from the groomer. He is a Mama’s Boy.

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  48. Kim, I have read that the worst thing you can do with a frightened dog is offer it comfort–because then he thinks you are praising the fear response and agreeing he should be frightened. Mr. P may actually get a better reaction at the vet. Having seen that advice before I got Misten, and knowing that collies often react poorly to thunderstorms (a friend’s collie once got up onto my bed, tail between her legs, and wet herself—her tail was wet and so was my bed!), I have always responded to Misten firmly and matter of factly. If she gets all upset with a thunderstorm, I tell her to lie down. I then ignore her unless she tries to get up. I may tell her “That’s a good dog” occasionally, but I don’t pet her and offer her any comfort at all, because I need her to see it isn’t scary.

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  50. Jo, I took night courses and correspondence courses for three years before I finally decided to take nursing. None of the subjects were related to the medical field, but the knowledge I gained from those courses has all been used somewhere in my journey. I would definitely recommend enrolling in one or two courses as an introduction to post-secondary education.

    On internet dating: I can’t bring myself to try it. Which is ironic, as I have met many people and done many things as a result of the internet. Part of what deters me is that the dating sites are set up for one specific purpose, and, as Cheryl and Kim pointed out, predators do exploit that purpose for their own ends.

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  51. Roscuro internet dating can be a great way to weed out people you would have nothing in common with BEFORE you spend any time with them. I think with the good head I perceive to be on your shoulders you would be fine. I wouldn’t recommend it to just anyone.

    That being said…hubbykins made crab cakes for dinner. I am one happy woman AND while they still tasted a little bitter they were very good

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  52. I have also heard to act nonchalant when a dog is afraid or aggressive (not rewarding the behavior in other words) — but once they’re home and away from the situation, I don’t think a little extra love gets associated with it. 🙂

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  53. I didn’t take him to the vet today. I got home two hours later. He met me at the door and just needed a little extra love. I was worried about his teeth and am relieved there is nothing wrong with them. I think he has a new relationship with Mr. P. He has looked to him tonight for “protection” when Lulabelle was getting on his last nerve. Right now he is napping and is a happy pup.

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  55. After reading, on the WMB a while back, the advice about not comforting a frightened dog, I ran across an article from some dog expert claiming that that is not a good idea after all, but I don’t remember her reasons why not. That’s helpful, huh?

    If I’m at my desk, Heidi tends to come under it & cuddle by my feet/legs when she is scared. I just give her a little “hug” with my legs & tell her “it’s okay”. When the scary thing has passed, she comes out from under the desk.

    It usually takes very loud fireworks or very loud thunder to make her do that. Except for the time she got scared of the dishwasher for some reason. (She’s still a bit wary of it.)

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  56. Have y’all seen my update on the prayer thread? In case you missed it, the “headline” is Mama Bear has retrieved Baby Bear !, & then there are some details.

    Here’s another little thing…Lee goes to bed around 6:00 (sometimes a bit later), to get up around 12 midnight. We keep our bedroom door closed after he goes to bed. (I read on the computer in our room while he sleeps.)

    This evening, he told me to leave the door open, so he could clearly hear Forrest’s chirpy voice as he (Lee) goes to sleep. 🙂

    Well, I need to get to bed very soon. The stress of the past few days kept me from sleeping well, & now with the relief of having our Little Guy home, I am so tired.

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  57. Karen I didn’t see that yet….so thankful for answered prayer and continuing to pray for wisdom and direction for Emily as she faces these trials…mostly praying she will lean in on the Mighty strength of our Lord…sweet dreams….

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  59. Karen, I think it depends on how you comfort the dog. Petting it and sweet talking it in a syrupy voice can reinforce that things are scary right now, and he’s such a good doggie for trembling in a scary situation. In fact, based on other things I’ve read, I’d think that the dog might even get the idea that you are looking to him to be the “leader” because you are scared too.

    But going back to my example of when Misten reacts to thunderstorms, I tell her to lie down, and (if necessary) I also tell her to be quiet. (Usually she “gets” that “Lie down” also includes “Be quiet,” but sometimes she doesn’t.) I learned long ago that for Misten at least, telling her to lie down is actually comforting. It puts her into a “relaxed” and submissive posture, even if she doesn’t feel like it, but still it puts her in that posture action wise. And it reminds her that I am in charge, I’m the boss, and she can be safe in my leadership. I’ve seen it help her. I’ve seen times that she barks and gets frantic through two or three loud claps of thunder, but each time I calmly but firmly tell her to lie down and stay. And then maybe ten minutes later we’ll get a really huge thunderclap that I wasn’t expecting–and she doesn’t even flinch, because by that time she has it in her head, “There’s nothing to be afraid of, and Miss Cheryl is in charge.” It’s a bit like the difference between a parent who bribes her child to be good, pretty please, and a parent who confidently tells her child what to do and expects obedience. (Obviously some children and some dogs might not do what they are expected to do without a good deal more training than that, but the adult’s authority is the starting point. And the child or dog will feel unsettled if the adult / owner isn’t confident in his leadership.)

    But when she is lying down obediently, I do sometimes tell her “Good dog” or pet her. I just make sure I seem “strong” when I do so, since she needs to be completely the alpha at such a time.

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  60. Just woke up and was happy to visit here and read Karen O’s good news.

    Also, saw Cheryl mention the final unexpected big clap of thunder. I use to call that,”the Goodbye Boom,” when my son was young. We would listdn out for it. It can be quite startling.

    Hey, Jo! Just thought you may be chscking in soon. Hope you had a blessed day and will have a restful evening. Hope everything is working with your van.

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  61. Thanks Janice. I am just catching up and reading the posts. Not many are ready to talk right now! Yes, a good day at school and then the weight room. Parents come for lunch on Friday and the playground is full of families visiting and eating together. I took the opportunity to talk to one family about their son. Of course it is a little sad for some when no one comes.

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