103 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 3-11-16”

  2. Hello to all!

    We had rain in the evening so dropped Birthday Tree petals decorate our driveway this morning. They are lovely, too.

    I am trying to pull up and out of my tiredness. I can’t even think of anything to get for Art for his birthday today. Maybe I will wander/shop and find something in that manner.

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  4. It’s Friday!
    You know what that means?

    What’s a CNA. A CNA only gets a $500 signing bonus. A nurse gets $1000. You have to be able to work with old folks but you get a Chick-fil-A certificate for stopping by.

    Janice, tell Art you love him and make him some shrimp and grits for dinner.
    That’s all he wants.
    Believe me: There ain’t nothing in the store you can buy for him.

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  5. Chas, I think it’s a certified nursing assistant. My younger daughter just became one a couple months ago, because she’s working in a nursing home (and also doing in-home care for the elderly, though that didn’t require becoming a CNA within a few months of being hired, as the nursing home did).

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  7. Good Morning….Cheryl is correct…a CNA is a Certified Nursing Assistant…I was one for 8 years and then let my license lapse. It is not an easy job, but if one is called it is most rewarding…..
    Lovely little birdie up there…I wonder if they frequent the western states? I have never seen one.
    Janice are you just tired due to lack of coffee? I have been extremely tired lately…I am not normally like this….and I am sleeping long hours….10 hours last night….which is so odd. Maybe it’s growing pains….growing old….err

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  8. Once again God’s sense of humor in my life. I was once married to a man who sucked the fun out of every holiday or occasion by insisting on now gifts or card. This carried over to me as he didn’t see the point of wasting money on me either. It used to really hurt my feelings.
    Today I am married to a man to whom these things are important. I wrack my brain trying to come up with ideas of what to get him. At least this year for Valentine’s we bought each other a custom made book shelf for the living room. 😉
    Operation Covert Decorating is going into action this morning. He has a class and then has to go to the VA in P’cola. Aunt Leesee is coming over to arrange things on said bookcase, because I have done all I can do to it and still don’t like how I have it arranged. She went to school to be an interior decorator and I didn’t. I have lots for her to do.

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  9. Today is Stargazer’s birthday, too. He’s skiing in the Grand Tetons with his generous uncle.

    I gave him money for lift tickets; that may not work for Art . . .

    I wrote about Stargazer today on my blog; it was fun to remember raising that character!

    It rained like mad yesterday, but tapered off over night and we’re all hoping that was enough before another big storm blows in later today. Rivers are expected to crest tomorrow at 10 feet over flood–that’s a lot of water, thanks be to God, and hair-raising.

    The aforementioned uncle used to be in charge of emergency support services here in the county and was particularly concerned with flooding issues. He’s glad to be in Idaho today skiing instead!

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  12. I forget her name, Peter, but I think the WMB moderator was a woman who interacted with us. She got rich helping Sarah Palin write a book and forgot about us.
    Make it Man made a scepter for her to rule the roost.
    We had a guy named Joe, at one time. I think he was from Greensboro. Familiar with Friendly “Avenue BC.

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  13. Fourth daughter is also a CNA and certified to hand out meds. First daughter is an RN. First daughter got a bonus when fourth daughter signed with the hospital, as did fourth daughter.

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  15. Some of us see her as “friends” on FB, but I think michelle is actually a “real” friend of hers.

    We’re supposed to get rain here by this afternoon, too, then maybe again on Monday. It’s also supposed to be windy tonight so I’m thinking tomorrow would be a good day to get out to the special park where the views are so spectacular following rain/wind and snow in the mountains. But Carol wants me to come take her to the main LA city library in downtown tomorrow, too. And I was planning to make a drop off of old cleaning products at the hazmat center … We’ll see what gets done and what doesn’t.

    I was up too late finishing ‘the Third Target’ last night then, of course, had to immediately start the sequel, ‘the First Hostage.’ So I’m tired from that. But coffee is ready …

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  17. For those who like to scribble notes & prayers while studying Scripture, Crossway has come out with a new journaling Bible (two, styles actually) — one has a completely blank page next to every page of text; the other has a lot of space at the bottom of each page.

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  18. Yes, Lynn was our “Benevolent Dictator” (a name I gave her) for a while, but I’m pretty sure it was Joe or another male moderator after Lynn who started the “Friday Funnies”. A later moderator stopped posting them, and Chas missed them, so I started posting the link to them on WMB. And the rest, as they say, is history.

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  21. About the Acton Institute

    The Mission of the Acton Institute is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.

    The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is named after the great English historian, Lord John Acton (1834-1902). He is best known for his famous remark: “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Inspired by his work on the relation between liberty and morality, the Acton Institute seeks to articulate a vision of society that is both free and virtuous, the end of which is human flourishing. To clarify this relationship, the Institute holds seminars and publishes various books, monographs, periodicals, and articles.

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  22. Cesar Millan, Dog Whisperer, abuse charges because a dog bit a pig on the ear? Bizarre. How do people think the animal world works? The way dogs control pigs and steers is a nip on the nose or ear. They have been bred to do that. And this dog had killed two pigs so was up for remedial work. It did not kill the pig.

    So, every 4H child in America who works with pigs or steers is required to have a tag in the ear of the animal. How does it get there? Somebody pokes a hole in the ear, often several holes. Bizarre.

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  25. One of my “dog sources” tipped me off that the Millan thing was about to happen late yesterday (he’s somewhat local — to our sister paper in the Valley).

    As I understand it, he had an aggressive dog in a ring with a pig (the dog had killed pigs in the past, Millan was trying to dissuade said dog of doing that for a segment of his TV show) and things got out of hand, to the poor pig’s peril.

    So the charge really stems from the idea that he recklessly put this pig at risk for a television show, that the dog was obviously not on leash and that Cesar’s magical powers on him didn’t work quite as well as he thought they would.

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  27. That is how he teaches people to train their dogs. That is how people do train their dogs. They need real pigs, sheep, ducks, bulls to work.

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  29. Many think the charges are overblown — I think a lot of dog ‘activists’ have been gunning for him for a while, so some of that may have fueled the incident, I don’t know.

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  30. Every time I see one of these stories, I am dubious. Every child in foster care, I was dubious. Our country is so out of control on protecting to the point of ludicrous calls.

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  31. My niece the vet was furious while still at vet school–PETA and friends insisted they no longer should be able to work on animals at school. They were supposed to learn how to care for live animals by watching on a screen so no animals would be injured.

    Preposterous.

    How do they justify cadavers? Maybe because they’re already dead?

    Royal Palms or Point Fermin? Home, sigh.

    Yes on the gully washers, though not my gully (I don’t have one, though there is a little wading area in my backyard at present), but lots of washing is going outside in Sonoma County today.

    Indeed, I’m huddled up in my office NOT going to Zumba because I didn’t want to go outside. 40-60 mph winds; why go?

    I will have to drive five minutes to work in about an hour, but I’ll chance it. And wear my old trust rain gear from Washington State.

    Lynn remembers you all fondly and still has the sceptor.

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  35. Ha, Mumsee, I know what you mean about animal activists not understanding nature. We still snicker over the story of the farmer down the road who got a call from the humane society (which is a strange name for an organization who cares more about animals than humans). It turns out a cottager from the city looked out her window and saw the donkey in the field nipping at the cows and had called to report the farmer. The donkey was there to protect the cattle, since we have coywolves in the area and cougar sightings. Also, on more than one occasion, the local newspaper has stories of complaint from a dog owner who let their dog run off leash (on one occasion, the owners had gone for the weekend and left their dogs running loose) and had it get shot by a local farmer because it was chasing their animals. Farmers have the right to shoot any animal threatening their livestock.

    Donna, they should see how pigs really behave. They are no Babes. That scene in ‘Old Yeller’ where both boy and dog get ‘hog cut’ gives a pretty good idea of how vicious they can be. I don’t know how big the pig was in Caesar’s show, but if is was big enough, the dog could have been killed. I used to read a lot about how to train dogs (I dreamed about having a dog), and it is old accepted wisdom that in order to cure a dog of bad behaviour around a certain thing, they have to be confronted with that thing and retrained in its presence. The art of dog training is an ancient one, and it is ludicrous that dog activists should be threatening the very activity which has rendered dog as one of humanity’s most beloved pets.

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  36. I have always found the palm tree faintly disappointing. One would read about people slumbering in the shade of a palm. When I actually saw real ones in their natural habitat, I discovered their trunks are far too high and their foliage far too thin to give any shade. It is the cashew and mango and jackfruit trees which are the ones which give cooling shade.

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  37. Well, Roscuro, presumed animal lovers think that all dogs and cats should be neutered and people should get all their pets from shelters.

    In other words, no one should ever breed a dog responsibly. Generations, hundreds and thousands of years of developing breeds for certain traits, all out the window. The only dog you can own is a mongrel bred at random with unknown genetics. If you need known quantities for police work, pets to have around children, etc., tough luck.

    That’s not to say that mongrels or shelter dogs are bad pets. They may be, or they may not be.

    I’m not a particular fan of the AKC–I think dog shows are entertainment for rich people, and the idea of dog shows showing the best of the best, and thus the dogs good enough to breed, doesn’t work in real life. (In real life, dog-show champions are bred for other dog shows, and breeders only sell those they don’t plan to breed themselves. And champion-line dogs are outside the financial reach of most people. In addition, they’re often overly inbred, and may end up with resultant stock problems, and not be as fit as they should be. I understand why border collie owners fought not to have their dogs recognized by the AKC–dogs bred for stamina, intelligence, etc. make better working dogs than do dogs bred for a certain length of hock that “looks” like it comes on a dog with stamina. And people who breed dogs to show them often have more of them than can be affectionately cared for, and they break the advice they give to those who buy their pups, that you should consider it a lifetime bond. Once a dog is finished showing and breeding, they’re likely to sell it off. So AKC is pretty on the outside, but it’s not really for the benefit of pet owners; it’s for the benefit of people who have enough money to invest in dogs as a sport.

    But responsible breeding of dogs to be pets, helpers, and companions is a good thing. But some segment of animal lovers won’t be happy while there is a single animal under the care of a human, and I think that demanding the non-reproduction of all dogs and cats (as is already law in some communities) is a step in that direction.

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  39. Roscuro, it depends on the kind of palm tree. Royal palms are tall and thin. Date palms, on the other hand, are short and squat. (And dates are very tasty fruits!)

    We had a lot of palm trees in Phoenix, those two varieties and possibly more as well. (I don’t know how many species there are.) But it was rumored that black widow spiders loved palm trees, and I hated black widows, so I don’t have the romantic feeling toward palm trees that others (including my husband) have.

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  43. ‘Tis moi. I am standing in the foyer of our house with the dining room behind me and the doorway to the kitchen. You can see the shell prints we bought a while back hanging in the dining room. I was getting ready to go to a commercial function and thought I didn’t look horrible.

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  44. Indeed, Cheryl. Some of the inbred quality that are seen in those show dogs comes from the fact that they are no longer used for the purpose for which the breed was originally created. The Irish wolfhound, for example, does not live very long because it was terribly inbred due to the fact it had almost been lost when its original purpose was no longer there. All of the strange animal activism which has arisen lately reminds me of the Proverb, “A righteous man regards the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.” (12:10)

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  45. Chas, if I served Art grits for anything he would think I hate him because I know he hates grits, LOL! That would be a surprise birthday party: invite shrimps and serve grits.

    I have thought of a possibility for a gift. Maybe.

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  47. I was turned down to “adopt” a dog from our local no kill shelter because I had a little human living with me. Their loss. Amos and Lulabelle found terrific homes.

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  48. Janice, that movie actually was shot in that very area. 🙂

    I interviewed the woman who grew up on that beach many years ago when her father, a professional beachcomber, set up shacks there for the whole family. The beach was all theirs back in those days, it lies at the bottom of a rocky cliff and so isn’t easy to access. Her life sounded idyllic growing up there back then, scavenging the shoreline, sailing every day. And she did write a book about it. 🙂

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  51. From the description of her first book:

    View From the Top of the Mast is a true story of the adventures of a young gal who broke the stereotyped mold of the all male world in the late 1940s and 50s by crewing on sailboats from California to Hawaii, Tahiti, and points beyond. She bought her first sailboat by weaving coconut palm hats at luaus. Lady Weldon Hedley, aka Bungy (as in bungee jumping) was raised in California right by the sea, where the sparkling blue Pacific was her private swimming pool. With her famous beachcombing dad, the family combed beaches from Mexico to Oregon. Many celebrities visited their home, which was constructed from driftwood. She met Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart, waltzed with Rudy Vallee, and was escorted to her senior prom by Raymond Burr. She even played a joke on Humphrey Bogart. View From the Top of the Mast is a humorous tale of Bungy’s first twenty-two years of over seven decades of a life filled with the joy of living. Bungy says this book is dedicated to the reader who has a certain sense of adventure that is crying to get out.

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  60. cheryl, she’s a kick — I think she and her husband have now relocated back to Texas, though. She was one of the most upbeat people I’ve ever met (Christian Science, though, btw, I think she was an organist for one of the LA churches for years).

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  61. I know that Obama says that he is a Christian and that he was converted under the ministry of Rev. Dr. Jeremiah Wright. However, I have never heard Wright preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, crucified, buried and risen.
    It may not be fair because that is not what is posted about his sermons.
    But, I have often wondered if Obama deliberately avoids situations where that message might occur. As in funerals of devout Christians. .

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  62. Muslims can tolerate messages about Jesus. They revere Jesus.
    I’ve said before, Muslims believe everything we believe about Jesus, except two things.
    .1. That Jesus was the Son of God. (Allah isn’t married and has no son.)
    2. That Jesus was crucified. (Jesus was rescued by God and will return with Mohammed and take all the crosses from atop church houses.)

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  63. Kim, you inspired me. I decided it was time to put up a new photo of myself for my own gravatar.

    You know, the idea that households with children should not have dogs is simply foolishness. How does a person grow up knowing and loving dogs if not by owning one or more? Now, funny thing is that my family grew up with dogs, and four of us adore them, two of them think they stink (literally) and should only ever be outside if you have to own one at all, and one I’m not sure.

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  70. Kim, I would have liked to have watched it, but when someone who works nights sleeps in the room next to the living room, it makes television hours iffy . . .

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  71. I TiVo’ed it also. The Gospel was told. I just finished watching it because I had to work in between. The scriptures that were read (that she chose) and the relationship between her and her priest leave no doubt as to where she will be spending eternity. The homily drove that home.

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  74. Those look like wonderful books and I can picture a lot of it. I used to babysit at a house where Paseo del Mar turned up towards Western–you drove through that weird canyon to get there. It was a clever house, might have been a hotel at one point with a witches’ hat red roof, right on the cliffs.

    The owner told me once it used to help the rum runners during Prohibition. When I drove down there a couple years ago after having coffee with Donna, I looked for the house, but it’s gone. A mega mansion in its place.

    It felt very lonely at night when I babysat and you could hear the waves hitting the shore. I would have loved to actually live there, but, I married a Navy guy and he took me other places, other beaches, other great sights. Curious to not live near water now.

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  75. Michelle, I’ve never lived really near water. (A mile away for a couple years is as close as I’ve been.) My husband has, several times, and it draws him. Me, I love creeks and waterfalls, and I love the waterbirds that might come to water, but I feel no particular draw to the ocean or to lakes and rivers.

    Donna, I like the header photo, and my husband did too.

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  78. Cheryl, in seeing your new avatar, I can’t help noticing that it appears you got your nose fixed! That’s quite a nice beak you’ve got, the better to smell with and catch flies and guppies?

    My brother has needed lots of phone time today. For months he has been harassed by the IRS. I guess he needs to pull some turnip roots from the garden to send them so they can try for the proverbial blood.

    I got a Boston cream pie for Art’s birthday treat. And I found a cute card. I saw a nice little desk at office depot that I might get (after talking to him about it) to use with his home computer. Only problem is that I will have to put it together or maybe my brother could help me.

    Well, I need to catch up on my reading books for review, and I am trying to do more writing classes online so I might not be here quite as frequently. I don’t know that for sure. This is my favorite place to take a break!

    My friend Karen needs me to help with one of her cats that needs a cardiogram done. She can’t use Uber to transport the cat. The three kitten\cats they got were older rescues, not young like Miss Bosley, so they are having more health problems due to their adverse early living conditions.

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  79. I cannot imagine not living near water. After too long inland I feel claustrophobic. I love the peace that the sound of water in a river or creek makes or the sound of the waves in the Gulf or the Bay. It soothes my soul.

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  80. Kim, I grew up in the desert. We had a nice public swimming pool down the street and a park where our family sometimes picnicked that had a lagoon and weeping willow trees, and we’d feed the ducks. And we’d camp places that had creeks, and one of my brothers attended a college that had a creek, and he’d make tapes to send home to us, and at some point he’d say, “I’m down by the creek. Can you hear it?” and he’d stop talking and we could hear it babble. He is my favorite brother, and whether because of those tapes or the vacations at locations with a creek, I don’t know, by creeks move me in a way the Pacific Ocean never did.

    The Atlantic? On one family vacation Mom saw on the map that we were driving close enough that we should be able to see it if we drove just a little bit out of the way. So she directed Dad, and when we drove by it, she pointed it out–that bit of blue over there between those buildings. That’s my only experience with the Atlantic Ocean, or any ocean other than the Pacific. (We did visit the Pacific several times when I was a child. My biggest memories were how cold it was, and the fun of picking up shells and building sand castles. But I haven’t seen it for more than a quarter century now.)

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  86. Where along the coast did you go Jo? I am on the Central Gulf Coast. We have 30 miles of white sand beaches. Yes, it is hot and humid but that is why we take cold beverages with us. 😉

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  87. The Pacific hasn’t changed much. 😉

    Michelle, are you familiar with the so-called Rock House (1924) above Royal Palms?

    1481 Paseo del Mar near Weymouth Avenue — built with the rocks from the shoreline below. It also (so the legend goes) figured in prohibition as boats delivered tequila and rum that was then stored in the home’s basement.

    It also was said to be haunted.

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  92. THIS is the flight I would love to take, but they won’t let me. I did go up one with some sky divers and a Navy pilot flew the plane. After everyone jumped he asked me if I wanted to have some fun. I said yes and we did loop de loops and went up high just to dive back down. It was great, but not like this would be

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  94. The rock house still stands, right on the edge of the cliff — it narrowly escaped the landslide of a few years ago.

    An actor lives there now but I wasn’t familiar with him because I’m kind of out of it at my age 🙂

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  95. Lots of good news at our house:

    1. Mumsee, thank you for asking – the colds are almost completely gone but husband is still quite tired (he takes is last a/b today)
    2. Daughter is now a provincially certified paramedic, meaning that she can work anywhere in the province as a paramedic!
    3. Daughter-in-love-to-be asked me to go wedding dress shopping with her
    4. Looks like the wedding will be in Mexico somewhere – I’m not sure how that will all work but…

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  96. Not familiar with it, Donna. The house I meant was right at the bend above Royal Palms before you went through the canyon to Western. I’m hunting on google, but don’t see what you’re describing or what I remember. It was several cottages linked together–the master bedroom, for example, had to be reached across a courtyard and the living area–which had a large stone fireplace–was in a different cottage from the kids bedrooms. Odd.

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  97. It’s the last house as your heading west on Paseo, kind of sits out there on its own (on the cliff side of the street, literally teetering on the edge — amazing views).

    Meanwhile, this is just to the south of us:

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  102. Looooong day….and our last customer felt we should stay open an extra half hour just because she lives a half hour away….and she was in town…hmmm…I live a half hour away and I am hungry….and tired from standing on a concrete floor for 9 hours…yep….
    Kim I lived in Myrtle Beach SC and Palm Bay FL….I am not a beach person….give me a mountain, a cup of hot coffee, tea or cocoa, hiking trails, no humidity, very few bugs….I’m a happy camper 🙂

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