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Our Daily Thread 5-30-16

Good Morning!

“Memorial Day isn’t just about honoring veterans, its honoring those who lost their lives. Veterans had the fortune of coming home. For us, that’s a reminder of when we come home we still have a responsibility to serve. It’s a continuation of service that honors our country and those who fell defending it.”

Pete Hegseth

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Anyone have a QoD?

 

70 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-30-16”

  2. Great quote from Pete Hegseth, AJ.
    Lovely header, too!

    Good evening, Jo! Good day, here, in the warmth of yesterday’s leftover heat beginning to mingle with the sun’s output for today.

    Son arrived home in the wee hours last evening after his whirlwind trip home and to the wedding. Now he has been invited to a wedding on another continent. Will be a challenge for him to go to that one.

    We had car time, from and to the airport, and a meal at Outback Friday night, and a meal at Folks with him yesterday. My brother joined us yesterday for the Folks meal. Too little time, but enough to share the basics. I did tell son that he is welcome to have his grandmother’s rings in case he should ever need them. He could replace the engagement ring’s diamond with a bigger stone. He said, “That’s good to know.” I hope that did not make him feel pressured by me in anyway.

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  3. My son came and asked me for my rings. I had been confused and thought of giving them to daughters, but they needed to go to my son.
    just found out that the winner of the indy 500 is from my home town. small world and it is a small town.

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  4. My tour in the Air Force was so beneficial to me that I hardly ever considered that I should be honored as a veteran. I had an uncle who served in N. Africa and Italy in WW II. Elvera had a brother who was a Marine and was in the Pacific, including Iwo Jima. Another brother who was in France and Bro-in-law who was in the Battle of the Bulge with Patton.

    None of them talked about their experiences, but they went to the reunions their units had.
    Except or the Bro-in-law. Years after the war, he was sent a Bronze Star. They asked why he didn’t ask about it sooner. He said”

    “I didn’t care about no medals. I just wanted to get the war over and go home.”
    He had a girl waiting. He came home, married Argeree and lived in Greenwood all his life..
    The only comment I ever heard him make was.. “The German tank was unstoppable. You shoot it with a bazooka and it just keeps coming.”
    He must have had an experience he didn’t discuss.

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  7. Janice – You had written on the prayer thread that YF didn’t understand the point of the verse about it being harder for a rich man to get into Heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. That reminded me of another verse she doesn’t get the point of.

    She (& apparently others with similar views) uses the verse about how there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free, neither male nor female but we are all one in Christ to back up her views about the transgender issue. 😦

    Last night, I saw YF’s aunt (who has never – that I know of – commented on her posts) wrote a comment on one of YF’s harsh posts. She started out saying, “You are my niece, & I love you. . .” then went on to gently point out how judgmental & disrespectful she is to those she disagrees with. I prayed that YF’s heart would be pricked by the Holy Spirit as she reads that.

    Has anyone else had your heart pricked about anything lately? I have!

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  8. I don’t have many veterans in my family, but the two I’m closest to don’t talk about there wartime experiences much. My dad was in the South Pacific during WWII and my BIL was in Vietnam. My wife had several family members in the service, including a great uncle who died in WWII.

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  9. One of the prettiest places on earth is the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. It can best be viewed from the slopes of Massanutten Mountain which bisects the Valley. Not long after the end of The War, a Virginia girl walking along the lower slopes of Massanutten came across a lone grave. The wooden marker said only: A Georgia Volunteer. This incident inspired her to write this poem. I am partial to the eighth verse.

    http://www.civilwarheritagetrails.org/civil-war-music/georgia-volunteer.html

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  10. My heart is pricked by the guy who spends time in the library with me on Sunday mornings. He is a PK who seems angry with God for various reasons. I shared previously how God was reaching out to him. He has remained unreceptive and does not want to discuss God in a positive manner. I have not felt another prompting from God to deal with it. I have “watered” the planting and it is someone else’s project now. God gives me patience to just be pleasant and keep the peace.

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  11. Maybe YF needs to understand that being a Christ follower means we transcend the fleshly inclinations to view fellow beings in a sexual manner, and we rise to the higher abundant life that excludes sex as a main motivating factor for relationships. She is currently operating purely in the Blind Spot Zone.

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  13. I had a great uncle in WWI on my mother’s side. Two great uncles on my father’s side who served in WWII. My grandfather was excused from service in WWII because he had some sort of vision problem. Years later doubt was cast on that. He never was much of a true man. My grandfather on my mother’s side was too old to serve in WWII but he did bring his family to Mobile and go to work in the shipyards making the ships. Two uncles served in Vietnam. Neither have talked about it much. I didn’t know until I was in my 20’s. My dad said that my Uncle CE served in the Coast Guard in Vietnam. I didn’t know that we sent any of our Coast Guard over, but somehow it happened. He and my dad graduated together, joined the Navy together, got out together. My dad went to work at the paper mill and my uncle decided to go back into the military and retired from the Coast Guard. I do know that when Uncle CE came home, the first meal his wife served him included rice. He wasn’t happy about that. My dad had been out of the Navy just over whatever period of time they can pull you back in to the military if they need you.
    My neighbor Bill served in France during WWII. We still laugh that Bill didn’t fight in the war so much as he ate and drank his way across France. All of his stories involved whatever food or drink they “liberated”. There is much more to his story than he really told. He was a field commissioned officer under Eisenhower and a German officer surrendered his weapon to Bill on a battlefield. The gun and commission were framed in Bill’s study. Bill has been gone for 12 or 13 years, but I still blame his for a lot of BG’s eating habits. She loved to go to cocktail hour with RosieBill (his wife’s name was Rosemarie). He taught her to put Bugles on her fingers and eat them one by one. Whenever I speak of my 30 year old neighbors stuck in 70 year old bodies, I am talking about Bill and Rosemarie. I was blessed to have them in my life.

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  14. My dad got to Korea the day they signed the Armistice. My uncle was already there, but they both were in the Navu serving on aircraft carriers.

    Father-in-law was a nerdy instructor at Great Lakes during the final year of WWII.

    Maternal grandfather earned his American citizenship through service in WWI.

    The men of the various branches of my family served in almost all the wars, but the only one killed was Capt. Henry Arthur Dial in the French and Indian War. He died in the North and South Carolina border-to-be.

    We’ve been fortunate.

    And the only people we know who died on active service during my husband’s 21 years were both chaplains. One went down with 15 Marines in a helicopter crash, the other had a heart attack delivering earthquake relief supplies while on an aircraft carrier.

    Blessed indeed. Submariners rarely die on active duty, in our experience.

    Unlike in WWII when 60% never returned. 😦

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  15. Those who have been in combat don’t talk about it to others because they’re sure they won’t
    ‘t understand.

    But when they get together, they talk about it among themselves.

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  16. We have an ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War. Maybe my brother can inform me of his story since he is the one who keeps up with such things in my family. This would be a good day for that discussion.

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  17. That has been my experience Chas. Some have told me things because I told them I was a History Major with an interest in WWII. Bill’s brother was among the first into the concentration camps. He told me that he had unscrewed a shower head and there wasn’t water behind it. He wanted to KNOW.
    Once when I worked in the shoe department I fitted an elderly man for new athletic shoes. He need a good fit. He took off his socks and showed me his toe nails where the Japanese had shoved bamboo under them.
    I am convinced there are things that happen in a war that the rest of us don’t need to know. I am not saying we need to be barbarians and slaughter and torture everyone in our path…I am saying that sometimes things happen that we aren’t equipped to understand because we haven’t been there.

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  18. Can’t even begin to imagine what all has been shared with my friend’s husband who is over the PTSD outpatient clinic here. It is difficult for them to go on vacation because he hates to leave the patients.

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  19. I wonder if any of my ancestors fought in the Spanish-American War in 1898. If they did, they might have fought against the US, since they were all in Puerto Rico at that time. Then again, they might have fought with the US in order to get out from under Spanish rule. I wonder who in my family I could ask?

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  20. I had ancestor in the Civil War (Union, but don’t tell Ricky); I have the rifle he carried.

    My dad served in the Pacific in WWII and an uncle was on the USS Nevada when Pearl Harbor was bombed (he survived and learned how to swim that day). He as initially reported dead because his buddy had borrowed a pair of his shorts from the laundry room and was wearing them when he was killed.

    Some older cousins were in the service probably during Korea/Vietnam era, if I remember right, but not sure they ever saw combat. Cousin my age wound up having to go into that lottery they established for the Vietnam draft but by that time (1970) not nearly so many troops were being sent over so he was pretty safe.

    I worked in the high school office the summer between my junior and senior years and I still remember having to pull a file when a government notice came through that a former student had been killed in Vietnam. 😦

    I noticed a story on our website about a 95-year-old veteran and thought, Oh look, we have a story on a WWII vet — completely forgetting I’d written it, but it had been held for more than a week to run on Memorial Day. It’s been crazy lately, so many stories they all become so jumbled (and they usually run immediately so I’d actually forgotten this one was still holding).

    Interesting about YF’s aunt’s post, Karen, praying she begins to have her eyes opened to her own attitudes and behavior.

    I often am discouraged by my own slowness in spiritual growth and tendency for my heart to wander. The only thing that encourages me about that is the knowledge that, as we grow, we come to see our own sin and need for God’s grace more and more. Every day. Funny, I thought it would be the opposite, that I’d become so strong and sure and accomplished in my understanding and walk through the years, that … Ha. Well, never mind. 🙂 I seem to need God’s grace & mercy more than ever, the older I get.

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  21. I don’t know if I have any ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War or in WWI. Someday I’ll get back to that family tree on Ancestry.

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  24. Donna J, This verse should no doubt be of some comfort to you:

    Jeremiah 31:29English Standard Version (ESV)

    29 In those days they shall no longer say:

    “‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
    and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

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  26. Good Morning! The air is fresh and the grandkids are at the park with their Aunt Hannah giving us “old folk” a break!
    My paternal grandfather fought during WWI….the story goes that he was a terrific fellow before he left….when he came back he was harsh, abusive and mean….and an alcoholic. I’m sad I never knew the nice man….I only recall him as mean, loud, and drunk….and that is how my Dad, uncles and aunt remember his as well….

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  28. This morning Peggy Noonan retweeted my post of Don Troiani’s “Lone Star”. It is my favorite painting, and I hope she does not get in trouble. The painting is shown at 1:34 of this video and displays the 1st Texas in The Cornfield at Antietam. I have had the pleasure of viewing the Texas flag which was made from Senator Wigfall’s wife’s wedding dress as well as the Army of Northern Virginia Battleflag issued to the regiment upon the order of Robert E. Lee.

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  29. It’s difficult for me to keep the facts straight. Brother told me our relative, Joab Kirkland, fought in the War of 1812. He said there was East Coast activity and a pincer type movement from the British that involved New Orleans with hoped for invasion of AL and TN. Andrew Jackson, on the ten dollar bill, asked for volunteers from TN. They went down Natchaz Trace (spelling?), and Brother thinks that is how Joab was involved. The U.S. won and land was allocated to the volunteers as a reward for them saving the U.S., and Brother mentioned something about the land lottery. I hope I correctly related that bit of family history.

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  30. Overnight in our town there was another cliff rescue and another coyote attack on a dog (now at vet’s).

    Bunch of fireworks last night, too, I guess the Iowa had a free concert “under the guns” with a Rolling Stones tribute band. The fireworks went on forever.

    This morning I can hear the flyovers for the big memorial day ceremony at the cemetery. I’ve covered that for the paper many years in the past, but I really needed a long weekend — and another reporter needed the OT and volunteered. Whew.

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  31. Oh no, and another coyote cat mauling this morning about 10 blocks away from me.

    These social media community pages (this one specifically is on the coyote issue) are good sources of tracking information for ongoing problems and concerns. Another page that’s been helpful to us locally is lost-and-found pets, several animals have been reunited with owners through that.

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  32. I just consumed son’s leftover sirloin from Outback, now it is on to my fried catfish leftover from Folks. It’s a lazy grazing kind of day here. Any votes as to whether or not I should share catfish with Miss Bosley?

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  33. Mumsee, supplement sparse pay with pizza, colas, chips and dip, and perhaps add a gift card to local ice cream parlor. That way they will feel nicely treated and will not have too much money to use for bad choices.

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  37. I was flustered yesterday, looking at the calendar which is crowded with events. I started feeling a bit panicky and had thought I’d forget it was the Sabbath and work.

    But then, I thought, why not sit and listen to God for awhile and see what he says?

    Instead, I decided God and I needed to take a walk. So we did.

    And then I remembered prayer time at church.

    Anyway, God pointed out that my stressors right now are this chapter on the writing of My Utmost for His HIghest, which is all about what a devotional is, how to write one and how Biddy did it.

    I kept thinking, “am I going to need to do an entire literary analysis on all of Utmost?”

    I can do that later–the project isn’t due until December, but something is driving me and I’m heeding it. Right now, I need to get the basic story down.

    So, I felt better.

    Then I remembered the other two stresors are: I’m giving a 40 minute talk on June 18 about “what are devotions and why are they important?” and my essay for Discovery House’s Our Utmost for His Highest, which is only 1500 words, is on my personal reaction to a devotional–specifically the August 28 Utmost.

    So,. for me, the entire focus on my professional life in June is on devotionals.

    How curious that one. more. time, God has provided me with the personal experience needed/ to go through at the same time I’m writing about it in this biography.

    I tell you, I’m wasted for writing another book. Truly, this is extraordinary, this whole experience.

    Oh, and meanwhile, the final novella collection comes out on Wednesday, the entire 12 Brides of Summer Collection.

    So, I’ve been adapting blog posts I’ve written–adding material and shifting the focus–and I have a few more to write in conjunction with that book. I have a list.

    God is good.

    Time to make a fruit salad and continue cleaning–the women from the South are coming!

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  39. Miss Bosley reluctantly tasted catfish. She feared being labeled a cannibal by the PC segment. She would prefer to change the name to birdfish. She will try to be friendly with those who changed the meaning of marriage and other important words so they might consider her recommendation to change catfish to birdfish. You know, she’s on to something. If it looks like a cat, then surely it must be a bird.

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  40. That’s special, Michelle. God is like that so often for me. He keeps putting the same theme before me in different versions to stress the importance of it to Him and how He wants me to remain active in a particular area. He does not let up!

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  42. My great uncle was killed while on patrol on the Anzio beachhead during WWII. He was a member of the 1st Special Service Force, the ‘Devil’s Brigade’, which was a joint American-Canadian elite commando unit with the United States Fifth Army.

    On not talking about wartime experiences: My grandfather (brother-in-law of the above) was part of the second part of the Liberation of Holland and then the final advance into Germany. His task was a driver for an officer in charge of rounding up soldiers who left the column and started looting. He never spoke of his experiences afterwards, and his wartime letters to my grandmother were gentle; but apparently his letters to his sister were much darker in tone. Only once did I ever hear him speak of that time, while watching a documentary of that final advance, and he couldn’t bring himself to say more than that he had been there. I have heard from former missionaries to Germany that the Germans were still grateful for the restraint that the advancing Canadians showed at the end of WWII, so I know my grandfather’s part was important.

    On PTSD and personality changes: My great grandfather was wounded and captured in WWI. When he came home after the war and married, he was a decent man. However, he later revisited his trauma on the head of one of his sons. That son, another great uncle and brother to the above, has since said that he didn’t think his father fully realized what he was doing, because the beatings stopped abruptly when he begged his father to send him away rather than treat him so terribly.

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  43. Grandkids are writing “Welcome Back” with sidewalk chalk on the driveway….they like to make their parents smile ❤ Aunt Hannah had to go to work…she looked exhausted after the jaunt to the park…
    I don't know if I would pay more than I make….and I don't make 10 an hour…so I would assess the job and what it takes to accomplish the task…we pay the grands 5.00 to pick up pine cones and carry slash back to the pile (about a half hour's work)…they also get toys, treats, lunch, dessert, generally spoiled rotten whilst here…. 🙂
    I am on NextDoor Neighbor and find it very helpful knowing what is happening around our neck of the woods….suspicious characters going door to door….loose pets roaming about…coyote den located behind a neighbor's barn….those types of things! And there was a coyote roaming out back this morning….the grands were very excited to watch him pace back and forth at the neighbor's deck!

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  44. I found this on Wiki about devotionals as a simple statement as to what they are. There are so many varieties. Wow! Can’t wait to read what Michelle writes about it. I used the Utmost journal version for several years and have several saved for future use because I liked it so much.

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  46. I have heard of coyotes near a stream area within a mile of us, but I have not seen any right where we live. Miss Bosley will give them the evil eye from the window. That will send them running with their tail tucked under.

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  47. From 2012:

    ____________________

    ATLANTA — The “urban coyote” problem has come to Atlanta at last.

    In recent years, wildlife experts here say, the traditionally Western animals have migrated to the South at a record pace, with more than 3,000 coyote sightings now reported in the Atlanta area annually. They have been venturing toward the East Coast since the 1950s, seeking prey and moving into territory once controlled by a predator, wolves.

    “We’re seeing them all over,” said Don McGowan, a senior wildlife biologist at the Georgia Department of Natural Resources. “Urban, suburban, rural. Everywhere.” And not just in the South. In New York, the police chased a stray coyote through TriBeCa two years ago. In Los Angeles, coyotes have been spotted roaming golf courses.

    Here, coyotes are clearly showing a predatory side. In one case, Joe Feinberg’s 4-year-old Australian shepherd mix, Abby, was attacked last weekend in Roswell, an Atlanta suburb. Abby was mauled in the backyard and suffered deep gashes under her rib cage and on her hip. Now Mr. Feinberg is afraid to let the dog outside at night. …
    ___________________________

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  48. Talking about war: We have had several WWII friends. Few of them spoke much about the war. They preferred to leave it behind. One guy, here in town, was quite busy in the war and decided he needed to talk about it and how God was working in his life through it. He tells it like he was there with the good and the bad. He even laughs at parts. That really bothered some of the others as they thought it not okay to laugh. I think the guy who talks about it has been able to share his stories every year for years at the various schools around here, and people have heard what war is like. Of course, nobody can really know without experiencing it, but his stories make a clearer picture than the history text books. I think he is ninety two now and has been told that there are not any of his group left.

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  49. Talking about wildlife: I saw something big this morning, of the deer family. There were three of them, one a male in velvet. They were huge, standing by the horses, staring at me as I fed the goats. At first I thought they were large muledeer but they did not have the coloring. Or of white tail or black tail deer. They did have big ears but appeared more elk size. But did not have their coloring either. Curious.

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  51. I was on Next Door briefly a few years ago and dropped it — signed back in recently, though, and found a recommendation for a contractor/handyman, so that’s useful as I’m collecting estimates.

    Also saw a photo posted of a coyote lounging at 10 a.m. on the vacant lot across the street from my house. He looked very relaxed, like he was having a good day.

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  53. I know that I have mentioned my dad on here before. He was part of the 101st parachute troops and landed the night before D-day. Also at the Battle of the Bulge before being captured. I am so glad someone sat him down and recorded some memories before he died.

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  54. Well, we made an offer on a house today. Our realtor told us there was already an offer on it, but the other realtor doesn’t think those buyers will qualify for a loan. at least we’ll have enough for a 15-20% down. It’s a 3 bdrm ranch with a full basement, which has another bedroom and a kitchenette. It’s on a big lot with a ravine behind it and a steep hill to get to it. One plus, some friends live three doors down the hill.

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  61. Donna, I have not had a chance to read your coyote stories yet. I am wondering if you have done anything about Roadrunner and Wiles such as a survey as to how viewing that has influenced people’s opinions about coyotes. It would be fun to have some comic relief. Did Wiles change through the years like Mikey Mouse? Inquiring minds want to know!

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  63. Donna – I’m not on Next Door, but our town has a few Facebook groups that keep us all up-to-date on various goings on. People post various items of interest (local events, watch out for guys in a van trying to sell meat, a new business opening, etc.) or ask questions (which electrician would we recommend, what was that loud noise on this side of town, what to do about certain problems, did a certain business close down, etc.) Recently, there was a lot of buzz over a police & FBI raid of a local business.

    And everyone seems to be excited about the Ice Cream Depot downtown opening up again under new owners, after being closed last year.

    Those pages are also where lost or found pets are posted.

    There is one main page that is tightly controlled by its admins (like shutting off the comment section on some posts, or deleting posts on which a debate started in the comments). Because of that, some other pages started up, to allow more discussion & debate. I’m on all of them, I think.

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  65. Yes, we have several community pages also on FB — although it can get cantankerous with arguments & then the volunteer administrators deleting people from them (and then they go off and start their OWN community page in a huff) … the pages are multiplying rapidly. 🙂

    I’ve just recently re-joined Next Door but am intending to be a lurker only there this time around.

    Janice, one of the coyote researchers makes the point that we’ve all been very influenced by the “Disney” view of nature/wildlife (including coyotes). He says that’s created some of the problems in trying to map out a clear wildlife management plan, people now have personified animals so much that any suggestion of trapping, culling, or euthanasia of predator species that are causing problems and risk is automatically (and very emotionally) opposed.

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  67. Sorry, Chas. Your house is a little far to travel to my job.

    Donna- I think we have our share of coyotes around here. Maybe not as many as LA, but then we don’t have so many animal-rights activists. And no dog parks either, that I know of.

    And yes, our house in under contract. Our buyer accepted our price, and we’re scheduled for a June 24 closing.

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  68. Oh, and I just had to buy a lawn mower. I have my first ever brand-new mower. Good thing, as I think the new yard is a big as this one. But then, I think the dimensions given include part of the ravine.

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  70. Michelle, I’ve been away from home about 10 days (will report on that trip on here tomorrow) and just read the prayer threads from my absence. (I skipped around in WV while we were gone, didn’t read all of them.)

    Anyway . . . just read about the horrible loss of your friend Pam, and I’m so sorry. May God give her family and friends comfort. And you know, she was looking forward to the future, but her future was so much better than she could have dreamed, because God was ready to call her home. I was comforted by that thought when my mother died–we were making plans to mover her to live near me, and she was looking forward to living near me, but not to leaving her adopted state of Arizona (39 years–exactly half her life–spent there). But she never had to move, because as good (or bad) as our plans for her were, God had better ones!

    May you find comfort in His love, and that of your family and friends.

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