66 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 11-21-16”

  2. All I could think of the photo was, “it’s not improving.”

    I have 2.5 hours to accomplish a lot of writing related work before I go to the gym and then a long day of processing Christmas cards AT work. Guests start arriving soon.

    A brief overview of the calendar while I lay in bed this morning made me see we have a revolving door for the next five weeks: daughter, Hill, dog, daughter’s godparents, daughter, daughter and then we’re all off.

    Somehow in the next couple days I have to buy a new futon mattress.

    Liked by 2 people

  4. Maybe I should make coffee first?

    Here’s an interesting post from one of my out-laws which should work better at our Thanksgiving meal this year, basically, how to do grace with a diverse group of guests, religious wise, but this year I’d also say politically. (Since I’m still irritated with my adult niece’s rude words from three election cycles ago and her mother’s agreement. I’ve been dreading grace on Thursday for that reason. Hmm. is this a prayer request?).

    http://childcenteredspirituality.com/thanksgiving-grace-diverse-group-guests/

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  5. Yep, rustic!

    Michelle, “only” 21? Our house wouldn’t begin to seat that many! (Five around the table, maybe six on furniture in our living room . . . one huge problem with this house is it isn’t set up for company at all, with too small an eat-in kitchen.)

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  7. Meanwhile, back out here, I’m reading Joshua 1 this morning, and my detailed Lutheran Study notes said this: “When we search for faults in our leaders, spew forth loveless words about them, and display a fractious spirit, we rob faithful leaders of the joy of serving the Lord.

    God is at work by the power of His Word to create unity and cooperation between leaders and followers.”

    I’ve just seen some very interesting Scriptural parallels I can hardly wait to meditate upon. Isn’t it wonderful how alive the Bible is? Who can read it just once and think they see all? Lol

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  8. I’d throw a big dinner party but … hahahaha

    So my challenge this morning (looking at the main photo above) is to somehow nail up heavy plastic sheeting to encase the shower-tub so I can at least take showers for now. (The water sprays out a lot with this tentative hookup and I can’t get water on those exposed walls or floor.)

    The first “new” thing to be installed in there will be the window, which comes Wednesday.

    Early tomorrow, a worker comes to install the new wall-entry dog door in the kitchen (since the new sliding door, also coming Wednesday for installation, won’t have one of those space-hogging glass panels in it with the dog door flap at the bottom). That in itself will be a huge improvement for the house — not to mention that the new sliding door will actually lock and unlock from the outside (my current old metal one only locks on the inside by using a nob you twist into the top of the frame).

    Michelle, do you remember if Taps was played at 9 p.m. every night from Fort Mac? I’m doing a story on it — depending on which way the wind blows, new neighborhoods and people seem to always be hearing it for the first time. Seems to me they only started doing it in the past few years, but I read where it’s also standard at all military bases, so maybe it’s only because now we have social media that it’s been noted and talked about so often.

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  9. We were still in Romans 13 on Sunday and, I suspect, we all felt convicted by the pastor’s admonitions not to berate, even behind their backs, the leaders God has placed over us.

    There was also an interesting point in the SS hour — that you seldom see the death penalty being carried out in Scripture for the many crimes deserving of death listed in the Old Testament (adultery, etc.).

    That was the part that was new to me — the second part was something I’ve heard before: that the reason was the high burden of proof demanded for conviction (two eye witnesses willing to accept a like punishment should their testimony be found to be false).

    Most of those on death row now, of course, are there due to circumstantial evidence only.

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  10. I still need to decide on a tub, hoping to do that today so I can get that underway. After that, we can start to piece together the rest of that bathroom.

    We had rain almost all night long last night — not really a downpour ever, but a good steady rain it seemed. 🙂

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  11. I have enough china and crystal for 36 and enough flatware/silver for 40. I will be having roughly that many for B-Family Christmas on December 17th. We will be using Chinette oval plates and contributing to the local landfill. For Thanksgiving there will just be Mr. P. Youngest Son, Soon to be Fiancee’, BG, and the Boyfriend. I will be doubling many of my Thanksgiving side dishes including the dressing to take half to my friend L’s house. She is still not doing well enough post surgery. Yesterday I took ‘Kidney Friendly” soup and cornbread to her. She is on a restricted diet. So much she can’t have with sodium and potassium being the major ones. The doctor has her drinking tonic water for her leg cramps (low potassium). Tonic has quinine in it which is an old remedy for leg cramps and a few other things.

    I took one of 6Arrows media fasts over the weekend. I made a couple of comments on FB but not many. I realized I was too caught up in too much negativity.

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  12. Some of us friends of Norma are getting together again to go out for Thanksgiving, I’ll pick up Carol to join us this year so I’ll be on the road between here and Hollywood a few times on Thursday. But traffic is usually pretty light. I think Carol said she’d like to drive by her old apartment and some other places, so we’ll probably do that before I take her home.

    Which reminds me, I need to see if I can get the Jeep back in on Wednesday (the only possible day that works for me). That brake light went out again as soon as he fixed it last time and I’m still getting alerts to “check” the tire pressure sensors.

    Unfortunately, we always have to always work the day after Thanksgiving, so it’s never the big long weekend it is for the rest of the country. But we’re kind of used to it. Still, one of the hardest days of the year to go to work, I think.

    I’m happy that Christmas falls on a weekend (Sunday) this year — that means we’ll get the Monday after the holiday off which is a huge treat. And Christmas Eve that way falls on a Saturday, which also is a big help (as we usually work that day, too).

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  14. I’m hearing Taps lately, sometimes just a snippet of it makes its way across town — but it’s broadcast via the public speaker system nowadays, so that’s probably why more people are hearing it.

    ?

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  15. I just caught up on the weekend thread. Now I’m hungry for Mexican food. Mrs L makes her own tortillas with whole wheat and either butter or coconut oil. They’re usually thick and stiff, but have good flavor. I don’t like the store-bought white tortillas, as something in them sticks to my teeth.

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  18. Donna, I’ve heard that about the rare use of the death penalty under the law of Moses as well. Certainly, David was not killed for his adultery, but we don’t really have an account of the day to day workings of the individual communities. Yet, the fact that Joseph was considering divorcing Mary quietly seems to indicate that public stonings were relatively rare. We were talking in SS yesterday about the blasphemy laws and how, during Jesus’ time, they too were not as strictly observed as they could have been, which made the Sanhedrin’s decision to put Christ to death for blasphemy somewhat unusual. Perhaps the infrequent use of the death penalty in Jesus’ day was partly due to the fact that the Romans, while allowing the Jews to practice their own law system, reserved the actual carrying out of a death penalty for themselves, which is why the Sanhedrin had to take Christ to Pilate.

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  20. Ha, poor Chas. That is what we thought, too. We were just going to add one room to our thousand square foot house. Just a room on top of another. And suddenly it exploded into four thousand or whatever it is which explains the seventeen mile walk after climbing out the upstairs window, to the chimney I made this morning. It was a lot more slippery than I had anticipated. But it is done and I am down and that is good.

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  22. I saw that posted last week, michelle — Taps probably used to be played on a live bugle — so it must be the PA system that has spread it to areas where it was just never heard before.

    I’ve been trying to do a feature on this for a couple years but haven’t had much luck with the Air Force communications people, I can’t seem to get across to them the kind of story I’m looking for (last one sent me the full lyrics to Taps).

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  24. The photo that shows the end of the tub — I need to pick a space out, in between the studs, where a tile inset area will go to hold shampoo, etc. Probably the farthest one toward the window wall, either above or below the wood beam?

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  25. Someone also posted this:

    What are bugle calls?

    Bugle calls consist of retreat played at 4:30 p.m. and Taps played at 9 p.m. They are played on the main base in El Segundo and on Fort MacArthur in San Pedro.

    What is the military custom when bugle calls are played?

    Retreat: Military members should face the flag, if visible, or the music and stand at parade rest. Civilians should face the flag, if visible, or the music.

    The National Anthem: Military members in uniform come to attention and salute the flag or the direction of the flag or music if the flag is not visible. If in civilian clothing, military members should stand at attention and either place their right hand over their hearts or render salutes. Salutes should be held through the duration of the music. Civilian members should face the flag, if visible, or the music. Civilian hats should be removed. All vehicles must stop at the first note of Retreat, if consistent with safety and mission requirements, and the driver and all passengers should sit quietly until the music ends.

    SPECIAL NOTE: The National Defense Authorization Act of 2008 contained an amendment to allow un-uniformed servicemembers, military retirees, and veterans to render a hand salute during the hoisting, lowering, or passing of the U.S. flag.

    A later amendment further authorized hand-salutes during the national anthem by veterans and out-of-uniform military personnel. This was included in the Defense Authorization Act of 2009, which President Bush signed on Oct. 14, 2008.

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  26. Someone told me a couple years ago — when I initially was poking around trying to do this story on a slow news week — that there was an older gentlemen who would come out onto his front porch every night and salute while Taps was played.

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  27. What would you do? We have neighbors, in poor health. She had a heart attack a year ago, some major surgery, and has COPD or whatever it is called. I went to bed late, nine o clock I was asleep. At 2:45 in the morning, the phone rang and it was her. But she was not there. So I pondered. She has many times called me inadvertently so it could be that or she could need something and be unable to talk. Should I call back or consider it an inadvertent call. It appeared all of the lights were out making it less likely, to me, to be an accident. I called her, she was asleep and very apologetic saying it must have been her dog. Would you have called to check?

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  29. We had our Nano Thanksgiving with three chairs, all that will fit with son’s table pushed up to the bar/counter between his kitchen and living room. It was enough gathered to give a lot of thanks for God’s blessings this year. We were all there together, and Karen is still hanging in there. Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!

    I just got all the leaves raked and swept from our carport where all the neighborhood leaves seem to have their big annual congregational meeting. Today is garbage pickup day so that worked out. Just need to get with the litter box to do the grand finale.

    I called my brother last night. We are okay. Unfortunately, the computer may be a goner. It is one he had borrowed from his neighbor friend, and it had never had good security installed. I am not sure what will happen. But my brother now works in a store that sells computers and electronics so perhaps something good will come of it all.

    I am considering that Thanksgiving Day may be my day to shop for health insurance. Probably the websites will not be tied up with traffic that day.

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  32. We were not really doing Thanksgiving any bigger than a normal meal this year. We have spent many years having many folk over and I was welcoming the quiet. Now cousin is coming to fix the meal for us. Even better!

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  33. Donna, the history of bugle calls, from way back, is interesting. I wrote a flash fiction story that involved a bugle and read up on the history. I don’t have time to post what I found, but maybe you could use it someway in your story. I think if I recall correctly that such musical calls to action began in the 1500’s?

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  38. Be careful where you put that pooka–which is a great idea–make sure shower water doesn’t hit it or you soap will always be melting.

    You might put a second little shelf in the corner at hand level–we like having those, too.

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  39. Mumsee, is that John Grisham, the novelist? When you talked about your concerns about that book your son brought home from school, the description of its contents reminded me of one of John Grisham’s books that I attempted to read once, A Time to Kill, and I couldn’t even get past the first couple of chapters. Not really a fan of his work – too many bedroom scenes and brutal violence.

    Janice, do you mean that the bugle itself could date back to the 1500s? The first known use of the modern brass bugle is in 1758: http://tapsbugler.com/an-introductory-history-of-the-bugle/. However, horn calls in military action almost predate written records – the Bible talks about blowing trumpets while going into battle as if it was a fact of life. “If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who will prepare himself for the battle?” (I Corinthians 14:8).

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  40. All this talk of death penalties reminded me of this song that discovered I recently, sung by Johnny Cash, a cover of ‘Mercy Seat’ originally by the goth rock group Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds:

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  41. I just had the most amazing thing happen. Someone I know casually stopped by my house to drop something off. I asked her to excuse the state of my house and mentioned my friend L and all that she has gone through recently and that I am doing some cooking for her (I have groceries on the counters and aluminum throw away pans stacked). She asked me if we could pray for L…do you pray? I said certainly and she prayed them most lovely prayer.

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  42. I did not read his earlier books, but later he had some very good ones. Some that I would not let certain of my troubled children read due to allusions to things they had experienced. But a lot of them dealt with things like the death penalty, the environmental concerns, racism, etc. They were fairly clean and obvious, to me anyway, that he was writing from a growing Christian perspective as a Democrat. He is involved in the Innocence Project. He makes good arguments from a view I have not had a lot of experience with.

    The Chamber gives me great pause on the death penalty, which Donna and Phos were talking about, which is why I brought him up.

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  43. Mumsee, I understand A Time to Kill was his first novel. I’ve tried reading a few others, but had trouble with them too. I’ve not read The Chamber. On the subject of the death penalty, we’ve had several cases in Canada of wrongful conviction. Several were due to a coroner who misinterpreted cases of accidental death in the worst possible light – the murderers would be convicted by his testimony alone. Thankfully, none of them got the death penalty, since Canada abolished hangings (yes, that was preferred method of execution) in 1976. There have been a few murders, psychopathic serial killers, who have documented their own crimes by video or taunting letters to police and victims families which many would have been glad to see executed, but on the whole, the death penalty is not a deterrent to crime – if it was, 1700s England, which hung for many offences, should have been nearly crime free, when in reality it was one of the most crime ridden periods of England’s history – and only very occasionally is the level of evidence high enough to say with absolute certainty that this person and no other was guilty of the murder. Also, many people point out that spending the rest of one’s life in prison contemplating what you did is actually a terrible punishment – there has been a least one murderer which recently pled to be executed rather than have to live with the memory of what he did.

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  44. We had a proposition on this last ballot to repeal California’s death penalty law (it failed to pass so it remains in place).

    It’s a tough issue for me and I remain conflicted about it.

    _______________________________________

    As of 2016, California was one of 30 states in which the death penalty was legal.[1]

    In 1972, the California Supreme Court ruled the state’s capital punishment system unconstitutional. However, in 1978, Proposition 7 reinstated the death penalty. Voters rejected an initiative to ban capital punishment, titled Proposition 34, in 2012.

    Initiative design
    The measure would have repealed the state death penalty and replaced the maximum punishment for murder with life in prison without possibility of parole. It would have applied retroactively to those already sentenced to death. The measure would have also required all persons found guilty of murder to work while in state prison in order to pay debts to victims of the crime committed. Current law requires 20 to 50 percent of an inmate’s earnings to be deducted from his or her wages to pay these debts. Proposition 62 would have changed this range to 20 to 60 percent.[2][3]

    __________________________________________

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  46. I don’t think deterrence is the main reason for the death penalty–I think justice is. The seriousness of taking a life made in the image of God can only be met by the seriousness of forfeiting life. I’m OK with it only being meted out for the most serious cases, and needing to be very well proven. I think the idea that it must be totally pain free is ludicrous (not that I’m arguing that we should look to make it painful, but that it doesn’t matter if it’s pain free–it is human punishment and not the same as putting a pet to sleep). But if the case is well and truly proven, the death penalty is a just sentence. It’s just foolish that our system makes it so complicated that it is super expensive.

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  47. Cheryl, it is true that the death penalty in the law of Moses was because death was the just penalty for taking. However, as has already been noted, even the law of Moses could not make the justice system infallible. With the law of every word being established by two or three witnesses, there would have been many criminals who got off free, despite having done the crime. In the case of someone who was found dead but no one was known to have committed the crime, the leaders of the nearest city simply had to kill a cow to declare their innocence (Deuteronomy 21-1-9). I can think of a case I know of, where there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that the husband had killed his pregnant wife, but because the evidence was purely circumstantial, he could only be found guilty of criminal negligence and is now out of jail. That murderer would have gotten away with the crime under Moses’ law because there were not two or three witnesses to the crime, so I cannot fault our courts. Humans cannot create a perfect justice system. To not see justice for a murder is heartbreaking, but to kill a man who is truly innocent for a crime he did not commit, that in itself is murder. That is why is has often been said of justice, “I would rather have ten guilty men go free than one innocent man die.” It has always been remarkable to me that the first murderer was not executed for his crime, but rather given a life sentence.

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  48. I am against the death penalty for the following reason:
    By the time all of the appeals have been made and it has been heard and reheard and stays are put in place and removed…it costs the government more to execute a prisoner than it does to house them for life without parole.

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  50. So the tub/shower tile inset should go higher (rather than lower) toward where the window wall and back (tub) wall connect ? That should be pretty free of water sprays, although maybe a corner thing-y might make sense as well …

    New (very plain) Kohler cast iron tub arrives Wednesday and will have to sit in the backyard until early next week when (hopefully) it can get installed … I’m told water won’t hurt it, in case we get some more rain. 🙂

    Jeep also goes in Wednesday & door and window installers coming that day also. It’ll be pretty hectic. I’ll have to try to do some work that day though I think …

    Progress!

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  53. DJ, look back at some of the Houzz photos of tiled surrounds that we had. You want it higher and possibly at the opposite end of the tub from the shower head. Unless there is room at the front UNDER the shower head. That could be the best place if there is room

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  54. My company decided to do an Angel Tree for the Alabama Veteran’s home in this county. I got my vetaran. Mr. G11. He is former Air Force and an Alabama fan. He also asked for body wash and deodorant (that’s on just about every one of their lists–sad). Anyway, Mr. P was going to a movie so I asked him to stop and get the things on the list. He went to a store called Bama Fever/Tiger Pride (they sell Alabama and Auburn stuff). He purchased flannel lounging pants and an Alabama T-shirt. Then he went to Wal-Mart and got the other items requested. He came home and contacted a former Air Force veteran to ask him to send a hat or something with Air Force on it…a package of stuff will be delivered to my house this week for Mr. G11! There ARE good people in the world who care for our aged veterans. I am sure if this man had any family near he wouldn’t be on the Angel Tree asking for toiletries.
    I have been wrapping presents and fussing about CHEAPLY made wrapping paper, but the bows are nice. 😉

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  56. Roscuro, I have not had time to look back at what I found about military calls/commands so, as I said, I thought it was the 1500s but was not sure. I do not easily retain historical facts in my brain. I am flawed in that respect. Pardon me if I gave the wrong date.

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  59. Janice, I hope you weren’t offended by my correction. All of us make mistakes. I don’t have a good mind for dates either, but your statement puzzled me, so I had to look up the info.

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  60. Roscuro- The Chamber is a good argument against the death penalty. It’s about a former KKK member who gets caught at the scene of a bombing in which someone gets killed. He was an accomplice and reuses to give up the identity of the main bomber, so he goes to prison. The lawyer in this book is his grandson, who, I think, is a recent convert to Christianity and tries to get his grandfather released. I might have some of this wrong, since it has been a while since I read it, but I recommend it to those who don’t know whether to support the death penalty.

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  61. Kim- I’ve heard that tired argument against the death penalty before, and find it weak. What is the cost of a human life? The victim of the crime is dead, but the murderer gets to live? If we still had hard labor as a punishment I would more than likely support life in prison. But prisons are no longer for punishment, but places where they try and fail to rehabilitate hardened criminals.

    The problem isn’t the cost of appeals, it’s the lawyers who don’t want to spoil their reputation by losing a case. If they didn’t get paid so much to defend a criminal, the process wouldn’t be so expensive. Of course, killing the murderer doesn’t bring back the victim. But God established the death penalty for the taking of innocent blood in the Bible, so i still support it for Murder 1.

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  62. Kizzie, thanks for the article by Olasky. It gives some good pictures of the reality of life in prison and the different roads people might take when given that.

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  65. When my son took trumpet lessons the teacher gave him a book of bugle calls. At the get together when my dad died, the only special part was when my son went out on the deck and played Taps. Several commented on how much that meant to them.

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