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Our Daily Thread 4-24-14

Good Morning!

Today’s header photo is from Janice.

On this day in 1805 the U.S. Marines attacked and captured the town of Derna in Tripoli.  

In 1889 the Edison General Electric Company was organized. 

In 1961 Sandy Koufax of the Los Angeles Dodgers struck out 18 batters becoming the first major-league pitcher to do so on two different occasions. 

And in 1962 MIT sent a TV signal by satellite for the first time. 

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Quote of the Day

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.

Gilbert K. Chesterton

I plan on doing both. 🙂

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Today is Richard Sterban’s birthday.

And it’s Doug Clifford’s. From CCRVEVO

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Anyone have a QoD?

41 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 4-24-14”

  5. We’re traveling to PA., DE., MD., and Longwood Gardens. Then we’ll be tourists while there, then we’re traveling to see Linda for lunch on Saturday before traveling back home.

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  6. Good Morning…we got a dusting of snow overnight…it’s cold!! We were up at 4…Paul is taking a road trip to the Grand Canyon to run the rim to rim to rim….crazy fella
    Lovely shot of summery flowers 🙂

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  7. That is a picture of our Flame Azalea, in bloom right now. It is the native azalea that you might find blooming out in the woods. It blooms a little later than our other azaleas. It is our smallest azalea and is hiding under larger shubbery. It tried to grow to the front side out from under the bigger shrubs but then it gave up and got light from behind the shrubbery. That means it is the first plant noticed when we walk out our carport door. Of course this is the only time of year that we notice it is there.

    The bug is well camouflaged.

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  9. Good Morning everyone. It is good to have the type of friends who when you tell them that the doctor asked you if you had suicidal or homicidal thoughts and you were reconsidering your answer to the homicidal question immediately respond that they have duct tape and will stop by Home Depot for the visqueen and then other says he has a shovel—so they make you laugh and at the same time let you know they are there for you when you seriously need them—THAT”S a GOOD friend.
    Not to worry. I am not seriously considering either one. It is just that a man near and dear to me momentarily got himself put on the “Men what need killin’ ” list. He redeemed himself by late afternoon. Nor am I suicidal. It would just leave a big ol’ mess and people would be in and out of my house bringing funeral food and such and since I am not motivated to clean it—well it would just be scandalous, that’s what it would be. I can just hear ’em now. ” Kim never was much of a housekeeper, can you believe she didn’t even make the bed before she did it? ” Then they would be opening the drawers and seeing that the silver wasn’t polished. Nope, can’t be having none of that.
    These are only two of the reasons that Southern Women rarely take their own lives. So to make you all understand here is a little Miranda Lambert. You will have to forgive some of the scenes in the video but it makes me feel better.

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  12. That video has made me laugh, Kim. The song never meant much to me, one way or another, before I saw the video. That is one reason music has changed today. It is often the video that can make a song. The melody is catchy, of course.

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  13. Kim in crisis makes me laugh. 🙂

    I get to interview one of my favorite bloggers (who’s on the east coast) this morning by phone for a pet story I’ve been assigned to do for the weekend.

    Meanwhile, I got one of the nicest notes I’ve ever received from an editor at one of our sister papers that picked up my easter story:

    “I just wanted to say what a terrific read that Easter story was. That sort of story is a really hard assignment, and I can say I have never read a better Easter story (well, I suppose, the original one!). Your reporting found just the right people, and you let them tell the story through their quotes. And you have such a gentle, gracious and endearing way of writing. I would even say humble. You stay out of the story, but you treat me as the reader with such respect by doing the footwork and then weaving it together so beautifully. Clearly real thought and effort and care went into it. Thank you for a beautiful read on an important day for so many.”

    How nice is that? Editors will sometimes grunt a “that’ll work” so it’s very sweet to get a glowing email. 🙂 She’s new, I don’t know her, but I’m guessing she may be a believer.

    The projects editor (who gave me the assignment) also liked it, said it wasn’t “too preachy.” 🙂

    On to another packed day chasing elusive arsonists and writing about pampered pets.

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  14. Donna, do you have a link to that Easter story? I’d like to see it. That is sweet to get that kind of feedback. We editors often find it easier to say what doesn’t work than what does work. 😦 Of course, I’ve had plenty of books where I mostly tell an author, “I love it! It’s a really good book. I do have a few questions . . .” but too often it’s hard to think of much good to see when the project is weak or even when I’m just busy.

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  15. Does anyone ever use those pre-set buttons like “defrost” or “popcorn” on their microwave? Do you even know how they work? Or if they do? Will the manufacturers eventually get the message and stop including them? Then in thirty years, someone will post a picture of them on Facebook and ask, “Remember these?”

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  19. What’s a preset button. Our microwave is 14 years old and doesn’t have a preset. I looked and noticed that I can control the beeper volume. I’m glad to know that. It also has a reheat button. What do you do with that?

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  20. I have wondered about the bells and whistles and buttons on the microwaves. I revert back to using the power level to cook and defrost since that was what I originally learned to do. I have used the popcorn button and sometimes had success and sometimes burned the batch and othertimes had too many uncooked kernals. Probably the younger crowd benefits more than the old foggies from all those selections. I do really like the turntable. In the original model I kept having to manually rotate and that was a bit of a hassle.

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  21. Bragging aunt moment. My nephew is doing very well as the Sporting KC goalkeeper–number one in the MLS for shut outs. The team posted this interview with him: http://www.sportingkc.com/video/2014/04/19/skctv-patience-pays-eric-kronberg

    What I liked about this, was Sporting KC put it up on their FB page and the comments were lovely. Apparently, after the last game, Eric walked along the sidelines and shook hands with everyone and signed every child’s autograph. He’s such a nice guy.

    Despite the fact his adorable two week old daughter is keeping him up all night long . . . !
    🙂

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  22. Glorious spring weather in California. Deer, however, are coming down out of the hillsides to hunt for water and food. I saw two dead ones on the road the last two days.

    Authorities have turned off water to one of the agriculture valleys north of here and are only releasing 5% of what is requested to the Imperial Valley–which is where all your winter lettuce and vegetables comes from.

    5% is enough, they’re hoping, to keep the almond trees alive through the drought. Plant your gardens–we’ll all need them. 😦

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  23. Glad to hear about an athlete that young people can look up to, Michelle. That seems rare these days. You have an awesome family.

    I will be considering planting a garden. Juice Plus now offers a tower garden that I might look into. I have a small area that could work for a few veggies.

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  25. That was a good article, Donna.

    I’m struggling with a bit of a cold or allergies. Which isn’t good because I’m in the middle of a major project, and my husband is in the middle of one that is more important than the one I’m working on and he really cannot afford to get sick. (Sickness hits him much harder than it does me.)

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  26. Praises, Donna. So nice to be recognized for your skills and for your hard work. I also enjoyed the article, very well written on a difficult topic. Rejoicing that you were so encouraged.

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  27. Donna, I live to crack you up. Your article was very good. I enjoyed reading it. You can’t live around here and not be subject to some sort of allergy. After I wrote the about quip I thought all day about coming up with the definitive list of why A Southern Woman Just Can’t Kill Her Own Self–Others Perhaps. If I come up with the list Donna and Michelle can write a book based on it and Cheryl can edit it. Everyone on the blog can contribute, we can set up a trust with the proceeds to help any of us who have a need.
    Thoughts?

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  28. I just had one of those Jimmy Black (my father) moments. I am sitting on the sofa and Amos is up on the arm next to me. He is obviously a tad too warm and is panting. I glanced over at him and asked, “What’s the matter Buddy?” Then I almost but stopped myself just in time from asking him why he was “hasslin”. That is what my dad always said when a dog was panting too much.

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  29. We always use the presets on our microwave. Love the settings for fresh vegetables, frozen vegetables, reheat, defrost 🙂 My life is simpler because of them. (Or maybe I’m simpler) When our microwave quit working we searched long and hard for another one that had all those special features.

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  31. I liked this quote: “There seem to be no shortcuts in the process of forgiveness.

    In fact, the real work often takes most people through long periods of anger, tears and sometimes even some fist-shaking at God.”

    How did you find these people, Donna?

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  32. Hi everyone!

    Just wanted to say hi. Early to bed tonight, and picture taking and a slow walk thru the gardens in the morning. 🙂

    They said the tulips just started blooming! I’m looking forward to it. 🙂

    Goodnight!

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  33. Ooooh! Can’t wait to see AJ’s flower photos!

    I will be out of town for the next two days. Not sure if I will have time to check in. A woman’s retreat should be a nice break from all the medical/health insurance hassles lately. Thankful hubby did not have to go to the hospital. He is optimistic that his health will be improving with the proper meds.

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  35. I use the popcorn preset at work. I stop it when the timer starts (after about 3 minutes) and shake the bag so the kernels aren’t resting on the hottest part. And I add 30 seconds to the end if kernels are still popping.

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  36. Thanks for the kind words about the article. I sent an email to Peacemaker Ministries (based in Montana) asking for help and they responded quickly with several people emailing me within 24 hours who said they’d be willing to talk (which was a lifesaver since I literally had to throw the thing together in 3 days — I would have had a week to work on it but someone decided to burn down the Elks Lodge).

    The family who’d lost their teen son to a shooting we’d covered last month, of course, and the reporter who interviewed them then said they stressed their Christian faith so she put them together with me for a phone interview which was rather difficult due to the freshness of their grief. 😦

    Kim’s book sounds good. 😉 Seriously, though, I hope you’re feeling better and more encouraged. But being able to laugh through those dark stretches really can make such a difference in being able to survive them and bounce back. It’s a gift.

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  38. Hi, y’all! Everyone’s finally asleep at my house and I thought I’d check in.

    Aj: I so hope you have a wonderful time on your trip!

    Donna: Loved the article! I’ve always wished I had more of a gift for writing, as you do.

    Kim: Hope your day got better and that you have some relaxation time planned soon!

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  40. nope don’t use the presets. Have too much fun thinking of my own combinations of numbers! I quite often use a lower power setting to defrost or reheat.
    So, everyone is asleep again, right?

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