77 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 1-31-17”

  1. good morning Aj.
    Good afternoon Tychicus
    Good evening jo.
    Just checking in. I thought someone would be here already.
    Cheryl usually grabs first if I don’t. Not counting Aj.

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  2. Things were late getting posted this morning Chas. I had a rough night and ain’t moving very well today. I took something for the pain at 4AM, but it hasn’t really helped. Should be a fun day. 😦

    Liked by 4 people

  4. Well, I’m here, but I’m leaving.

    The hyperbole is becoming too much on the Internet. I can’t imagine what will happen when armageddon breaks loose this morning–because of whomever is nominated to the Supreme Court. 😦

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  5. Good morning to my ailing brothers. Sorry to hear you both need to be feeling better.

    My friend flies home today. We did not get together yesterday. She saw another friend who has breast cancer. Friend had made a lap quilt for her similar to the one she previously gave me. We were both former apartment mates to Friend and were in her wedding over thirty years ago.

    I am planning to lead a book study for WMU so I have been occupied getting ready to be out of my comfort zone. If I am super prepared I will do better.

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  6. I think politically that we are finally getting the change Obama promised.

    The birds are very active this a.m. Miss Bosley is thrilled to be watching them and having me home. I will be involved with the office after the 1st unless I can find a way to help brother work more. It took him two hours to get home from the office on Friday. Four hours on the road to get to and from work is not a good deal. It takes me at least 45 minutes to get there now and it use to take 35 minutes. Atlanta traffic just keeps getting worse.

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  8. We finally got about half an inch of snow a couple of days ago, which makes about two inches this month. (January?!) We were supposed to get another couple inches overnight and into the morning, but when I looked out I was surprised to see everything wet. So apparently instead of snow, we got more rain, and it melted what snow was there.

    My husband thinks we’ll get clobbered in February to make up for it, and I remind him that he said that last year, and instead we went through a winter with hardly any snow. (This winter is already different from last, though, because this winter we got more snow than usual in December, and then much of January wasn’t just barely warm enough not to snow like we saw last winter, but unseasonably really warm; we even got past 60 one day this month, and we got even more rain this month than last January.) Last winter even ended with a really rare treat–spring began in March. I’ve had to wait till May to see bulbs blooming, trees budding out, and the earliest wildflowers, but I’ve never seen all that happen as early as March, in the Midwest. (And that’s a big reason I wouldn’t choose to live here. Six or seven months of leafless trees is too much for me.) Right now I’m thinking we may have two such winters in a row, that we may get spring in March again, or at least early April. (I write that we may get spring in late March and think that is still two months away, if that happens. Yikes! That still seems like a long time! But if it continues to be a snow drought, I’ll take it.)

    I remember often about the year I moved from Chicago to Nashville. I used to yearn for winter to be over, much more so than here, because in Chicago the snow wasn’t pretty and I had to drive in it daily when we had it. My last winter there, it gave a late last hard snowfall Easter weekend (Easter was April 20 that year), and when my U-Haul left the next to the last day in April, there had been no hint of spring yet (I watched carefully for buds on the trees and the first daffodils, and hadn’t seen either yet). It wasn’t going to come till sometime in May that year, so I waited and waited and yet didn’t see it. And then I moved to Nashville, where already the trees were fully leafed out and the bulbs, dogwoods, redbuds, etc. had long since bloomed. I felt as though I missed spring altogether that year, went right from winter into early summer (really it was late spring) and I felt cheated, having gone through winter.

    I’ll take a light winter and early spring over that any day!

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  11. Chas, I won’t be fighting you for first very often. My reason for gloating the day I did get it is that I rarely get on here before 9:30 or so, and by that time you’ve posted several times. When I happen to get on here before 7:00, those are the days AJ doesn’t put up the posts till 9:00 and I’m off and doing something else when it goes up. So it’s rare I’m at the right place at the right time to get it.

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  12. Kim, was it you who has recommended FlyLady several times? I signed up for her e-mails a couple of weeks ago, but I’m about to cancel them. I don’t like daily e-mails from anybody (other than friends) and I always end up not opening them most days; I’ve signed up for e-mails on writing, daily devotionals from Ravi Zacharias, and one or two others, and they simply add to my clutter. I don’t even get them on my “main” e-mail account, just my secondary ones. But I decided it would be worth it for this, and I’d try to be diligent in keeping up with her . . . so she sends several a day? That’s very counterproductive for me. My e-mail is for two purposes: to keep on top of editing work (publishers rarely call) and to keep up with friends and family. I don’t give businesses that e-mail except with a couple of exceptions. (Photo book companies e-mail a couple times a week with special offers, and I give them my primary account so that I can see when they have a good sale.) I signed up exactly two weeks ago, and I just counted and I have 41 unopened e-mails from her (in addition to the ones I’ve opened). If she sent them three or four days a week (none on Sunday, but she could send them daily on other days) I’d try to keep up with them, but not like this.

    I don’t check any of my secondary accounts daily, so sending them there is probably not a good option; they’d pile up even more.

    I’m trying to do some of the ideas–for instance, 15 minutes of deculttering several times a day. This week I am going through my clothes to throw stuff out–I already did the underwear and up next is socks, and then moving my clothes around to use space better–and cleaning the fridge. I’ve made progress on stuff, even if most of it is things that can’t really be seen (over the weekend I moved furniture in the bedroom and cleaned underneath), but unfortunately another task needs to be decluttering my inbox by saying no to FlyLady.

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  13. I see those hawks on road signs around here, in places where there are acres and acres of corn or soybean fields with no trees or power lines. And yesterday I saw one dead on the road. I guess it swooped down for dinner and didn’t see the vehicle approaching.

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  14. Cheryl – We also barely had any snow last year, but we also didn’t get any rain, then had a spring & summer with very little rain, so we were in a pretty serious drought. Thankfully, we have been getting more rain since the autumn, & even though we still haven’t had much snow, we have been getting good rain this winter.

    Today, though, we are expecting a few inches of snow. There is an early dismissal of our schools today, & Nightingale is working first shift, so I’ll be getting Little Guy from the bus stop (at the top of our lane) & babysitting him for a while this afternoon.

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  16. Kim, I don’t see such a thing with a quick perusal. It isn’t an option when signing up to get e-mails. I thought that when I went to cancel they might offer me an option to get fewer, but they didn’t.

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  17. I had to pare down Flylady, I think the occasional “light” subscription goes into my promotions basket now. But yes, I also was deluged and couldn’t figure out how people had time to read all that and still do any cleaning. 🙂

    I’m slowly figuring out my new shower which has higher-tech controls than my old set of fixtures. I finally figured out that one turns the water on and the other controls the temperature. My old set had handles for hot and cold and that was it, you just fiddled with them until it was all just right.

    It feels so incredibly wonderful to have a shower in the morning, I still can’t get over it. 🙂

    I’d rather not go in to work today but I guess that’s not an option.

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  18. I need to hit my closets and dresser drawers next in my ongoing 2016-17 house purge, but I’m also pulling out unused and unneeded dishes, gadgets, other things from kitchen cabinets. Amazing how it all multiplies through the years. And it’s hard to really dig in and spend a lot of time on it you work full time, but the big projects around here, especially the bathroom overhaul, has made it easier/more necessary to get to it when I can.

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  19. Michelle, I agree about the hyperbole, especially on social media. It’s reached a point where I rarely go there anymore, it’s just too annoying. This may be the death of FB for some of us who are in the minority, unless things start to calm down and even out again.

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  21. From one of my FB friends today, which sums up what’s become the daily drumbeat:

    “Anybody else having trouble doing anything else other than Trump resistance? Apparently we’re not going to be able to relax for four years. …”

    sigh.

    Liked by 1 person

  30. A QoD: Do you believe the Last Supper took place on the Passover, or on some day close to it? (Saw a little controversy about this on a friend’s Facebook post the other day.)

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  32. Mumsee – It depends on how it is used. There are “friends” I have either unfriended or don’t follow or skim by. But there are some others that actually have interesting, thought-provoking, & respectful discussions on their posts. There is a small handful who are very intelligent/intellectual, & have taught me a lot, or helped me refine what I already knew.

    Then there are the old friends who I like keeping up with.

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  34. I try to post things that are written mostly respectfully (I have sometimes apologized for the tone of something that I otherwise agreed with) & may give a perspective some haven’t considered. I’ve had a few friends thank me for the kinds of things I share.

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  37. We were reminded today, per our ethics code, not to post our personal political views on FB if it’s in any way connected with our jobs (in other words, if we have sources as ‘friends,’ and our posts and profiles are fairly public). I’ve seen a few journalist friends posting political views and it always makes me cringe.

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  39. New plan is to send nine year old out to bring the baby goat up to the porch so I don’t have to get all dressed for the great outdoors two more times each day. We have had snow falling all day. I love the snow.

    Husband and son are enjoying sunny Texas. His quick trip seems to be getting extended.

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  42. Karen, Kim is correct. It was the Passover meal. Jesus ate thePassover with his disciples (Matt 26:17.
    The new Jewish. day began in the evening, probably sundown.
    That means that Jesus was crucified on the same day he ate the Passover.
    I

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  43. Our friend Aji suun noted that FB is a valuable communication tool for her. There are not many forums which are available to so many. I too have found it valuable to keep track of my large extended family. Yes, I get a little tired of the politics, as I did when we had our last election, but I can always scroll past it to what I want to find.

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  44. Morning all. I need to be off early today for my prayer time for school. Looking ahead to the next school year, we will only have about 1/3 of our staff. Anyone want to come teach kinder while I am home on furlough? Only until Christmas, I return in January.

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  47. Chas – That’s what I’d always heard, but I came across a discussion in which someone was saying that’s not true. The article Kim linked to gives pretty much the same argument he did. So I wondered if there were differing opinions about that on here.

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  48. DJ – I do have a few Trump supporters among my FB friends who are pretty in-your-face about it.

    It does make one chuckle when someone says something in an arrogant way, or refers to someone else as an idiot or whatnot, & then messes up their grammar or spelling.

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  51. Another friend’s post today (who’s conservative but swimming against the tide in our area)

    I just got a message from a friend. “Why are you not commenting on my posts? Are you on vacation from FaceBook?” My response, “No, just a brief hiatus from some of the angst. I’ve unfollowed, not unfriended, a few of my friends. The constant craziness was making me anxious.” She has now unfriended me. Well alrighty then. I can only handle so much venom and then I have to shut it down. It’s exhausting and ugly.

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  52. It has been very exhausting. I have gay friends and relatives and to a degree I understand some of their angst. I have another VERY conservative friend who is “stalking” me on my friend’s pages and making comments. It isn’t nice at all. I have privately messaged my friends telling them what is going on, who it is, and telling them to block this “friend”. I can’t un-friend him for various reasons, and we all know I am NOT confrontational at all.

    Our former blog friend Tammy has commented on a few things but she is always very respectful.

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  54. I’ve been ignoring FB since a few weeks after the election. My original purpose for getting on 8-10 years ago was to learn what it was about before letting my teen daughter get on, and then to monitor her use. For that I don’t need it any more. But along the way I found that the online presence was a way to connect with long-lost friends, and have been reunited with a few.

    I guess I could just unfollow everyone except closest family and friends to eliminate the drumbeat.

    Even then, though… Over the weekend I got an invitation via Facebook Messenger to join a protest at Detroit Metro airport. Since I want to know when someone messages me I have it pop up on my phone. But I really didn’t want that. It is so wearying…

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  56. Like Kim, I also understand some of the angst, especially among the immigrant community which is huge here. One of my best girlfriends has a son-in-law who is a Muslim from Bangladesh and of course they now have children (my friend’s beloved grandchildren) — he and his parents and siblings have had immigration battles in staying here in the past so are worried under the new administration.

    My neighbors also have told me they’re worried; I assume they’re here legally but probably have numerous friends and relatives who maybe aren’t.

    So in that sense, it really does have the potential for impacting real people and families.

    But … The steady stream of outrage is, as has been said, simply getting to be exhausting.

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  58. I got on MySpace years ago to see what it was as the first of my children were headed that way. I thought, Ick. I got on FB to see what they were up to. I now know. Ick. And so I don’t go there anymore. But most of my children don’t actually FB so much as all the other stuff. Ick. Leave me to my retro flip phone. Okay, it is not retro, it is original.

    Meanwhile, back on the farm. The little fellow fell in the water trough, he was so excited to see us. Fifteen year old daughter said, he fell in . He fell in. Water trough. He fell in to the water trough. Nine year old ran over and pulled him out, raced him to the house to dry him, brought him back for his shot and some antibiotics, fed him, and put him back in the doghouse with the other kids. Fifteen year old son is fixing the water trough so his little gem does not do that again.

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  59. What’s funny about the younger people is they keep fleeing the social media platforms that become too popular with their parents. 🙂 FB is the old-people’s place now.

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  60. Some kind of stabbing rampage near CNN in Hollywood, Carol was at a bus stop near by (Sunset and Cahuenga) and saw an army of sirens go by

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  64. The shooting was reported around 2 p.m. at the corner of Ivar Avenue and Sunset Boulevard but the number of people injured was unclear, said LAPD Officer Aareon Jefferson.

    So that was really close, that’s where the library is and she was coming back from there.

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  65. Chas – Here is the article Kim linked to earlier, which states the same case my friend did. . .

    “Was Jesus’ last supper a Passover seder? From the New Testament accounts we cannot be certain. The main sources are Matthew 26:17-30, Mark 14:12- 31, Luke 22:1-19 and John 13:1-30.

    All are aware of what time of the year it is. All speak about preparing for Passover, but none conclusively identifies the occasion. The “Synoptic” gospels – Matthew, Mark and Luke – suggest a seder connection, even though some seder items are missing or incorrectly identified. The fourth gospel, John, is less likely to be describing a seder and says that the occasion was 24 hours earlier – Thursday as against Friday.

    Seder elements lacking in the Synoptic gospels are the preparation of the paschal sacrifice; explicit reference to matzah, maror and haroset; the Mah Nishtanah questions; and the father’s narration of the story.

    Wine is mentioned, but not four cups. How can it be a seder when so much is missing, and the event lacks even a rudimentary Haggadah? There is confusion about the timing of the supper: Luke thinks it was “the day of unleavened bread”; Mark and Matthew speak of “the first day of unleavened bread.” In fact in Temple times the paschal sacrifice took place a day earlier. All three use the phrase, “prepare for our (or ‘your’) Passover supper.”

    The truth may be that though the last supper took place shortly before Passover, it was not a seder at all but a talk-feast, a meeting of the fellowship – the havurah – which Jesus constituted with his disciples. The participants would have said the regular blessings over bread and wine, as well as the grace after meals, like devout Jews at any meal: important elements, to be sure, but on their own they do not add up to a seder.

    How about the divergence between John, who places the meal on Thursday evening, presumably a day before the festival, and the others, who make it the actual eve of Passover, Friday night? How can the sources be so unsure?”

    There’s some more at the link. . .

    http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-Ed-Contributors/The-last-supper-a-Passover-seder-348420

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  66. Saw this plea from a former co-worker/reporter, thought of maybe mumsee or ??

    Out of character for me, but resorting to Facebook for a recommendation/help. My wonderful USC grad student mentee is writing her thesis about health care on Native American reservations. She is looking for a Native American patient or a health care professional who works with Native American patients (anywhere in the U.S.) If you know someone who fits the bill, please message, text, email, etc. me. Thanks, y’all.

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  69. On the Passover question, the seder supper as it now stands is a more recent tradition. The current Jewish traditions are derived more from the Talmud than from the Torah. The four cups, for example, appear nowhere in the instructions on how to eat the Passover in the law of Moses (Deuteronomy 16:1-8), but they are mentioned in the Mishnah, which was a collection of oral traditions compiled in the third century A.D. Since the original feast of the Passover simply involved the sacrifice and eating of the Passover lamb and the eating of unleavened bread, one would not expect to find references to the newer traditions in the Gospels.

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  71. American composer Philip Glass turned 80 today. His music isn’t for everyone, but the following piece is of a style I like to listen to at the end of the day when my brain and body are tired.

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  72. I joined Facebook several years ago for a year, at the request of one of my siblings. (One of the children was in rebellion and I was asked to “friend” the child and have some input where it seemed wise.) When we were marrying, the initial need had passed, and I didn’t want people posting “Enjoy your honeymoon!” or other such things that might make it clear my house was empty, so I closed shop a month or two before we married.

    When I went on it, I had the idea that I would be “friends” only with people I knew in real life. I chose not to “friend” anyone from World’s blog, for example, partly because the network would allow anyone who found any of us to find us all, and we had a person or two on there I didn’t trust, especially as a single woman who lived alone, and I’d mentioned my town name on the blog. I also didn’t like the idea that Facebook believed it held the copyright on anything users posted; I had no interest in losing the copyright on any of my photos.

    Before I got off Facebook, I went through and individually deleted all the photos I’d posted and any personal information about me, let it sit rather generically for a week or two, and then got off. If I could friend only whom I wanted to friend, see what I wanted to see, have others see my information only if I wanted them to, have others show discretion in what they post (not the “enjoy your time in California!” one of my friends did once post), know that what I post won’t be stolen by Facebook or people I don’t know, and that it won’t take too much of my time . . . then I’d love to be on Facebook. As it is, the risks of identity theft, privacy problems, copyright infringement, time wasting, rudeness, being thought rude if I don’t accept a friendship request, and several more have kept me away for almost six years since the one year I was there. In theory, I like the idea, but in practice there are too many problems with it.

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  73. Photos can be marked/embedded with your name, always advisable for serious photographers. love sharing good photos but if it isn’t marked with the name, I always go out of my way to intro it with “this is a photo taken by … that I’m just sharing.”

    I agree, I thought at first I’d only be ‘friends’ with those I knew in ‘real life,’ but seeing as how I used it for work-related posts it quickly grew — one of the benefits, though, is I’ve made “new” friends I never would have known otherwise.

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  74. Hmm. My new toilet gurgles when the washing machine is running. Should I be worried? It doesn’t look like it’s anywhere near overflowing or anything, but the old toilet never did that

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  77. Kind of fun — in my line of work, anyway — to run into someone in the community who says’ I’m so-and-so, your FB friend” and I know who they are. 🙂

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