50 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 5-11-17”

  5. Tomorrow is a teacher workday so it feels like the weekend has arrived. I can even go to market in the morning later than 6:30. Only 20 days of school left.
    Morning, Chas. Good night

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  6. Good cool foggy morning to ya’ll!! How I am enjoying this misty foggy Colorado forest morning…drinking in the heady scent of pines while holding a fresh cup of coffee…oh man…life is good! 🙂
    Continuing to keep Kevin in prayer this morning while trusting all is well…
    I’m off to work in just a bit….have a most blessed day….

    Liked by 4 people

  7. I am currently reading a book called Cyber Storm by Matthew Mather. Interesting but not riveting. Three stars. The point is that we are woefully unprepared for a real cyber attack. The situation takes place in winter in New York. People are trying to survive.. That’s the story. Some interesting insights. New York doesn’t have a week’s worth of food on hand. No provision for heat and other necessities. People haven’t bathed for weeks and lice show up. Where did these lice come from? Are they created when people get dirty?
    But the point I wonder is. Why is the electric grid and water system on the internet?

    Greensboro and most smaller cities could survive a cyber attack. New York, Boston, etc. could not survive for long.
    Our leaders know this but will do nothing.
    There is a phrase people use: “Kicking the can down the road.” I call it “Not on my watch”.
    I used to work with an Air Force Lt. Col. He had previously been stationed at a missile launch site in (N Dakota, I think). He was ready to send nuclear missiles out if ordered. But he was relieved that it didn’t happen “On his watch”. I gathered that he was most happy that it wasn’t on his watch than the fact that it didn’t happen.
    I could be mistaken, but I think that’s what our leadership is doing now. “Our actions are leading to disaster but I will be re-elected and disaster won’t happen on my watch. “

    I will be 87 this year. Such a disaster isn’t likely to happen on my watch. But I worry about the rest of you.
    I really do.

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  8. Re: my 8:59.
    It’s winter. Snow is on the ground. there is no transportation. People can’t leave New York. That’s the problem.

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  9. Good morning!
    I think I have mentioned that two of the electives I’m taking this semester are Latin and Greek. Each day for each of them, I’m supposed to do a vocabulary quiz to help me memorize the ever increasing list of words. I go over the lists each evening with my mother on the phone, as she says she enjoys it and it gives her something else to think about. One of the new words added last night to the Latin vocabulary was terra, earth. It is in the feminine gender (Latin has masculine, feminine, & neuter) and a discussion ensued between my mother and I about how most languages with gendered nouns characterized the earth or ground as feminine. My mother said she didn’t realize that the term Mother Earth had such ancient origins, as she had viewed it as a modern innovation stemming from the feminist movement. I pointed out that the earth in the Bible is given feminine personification, such as in Romans 8:22 where the creation is pictured as a woman in childbirth, or Genesis 4:10-12, where God uses the feminine pronoun when referring to the earth receiving Abel’s blood. That prompted me to look up the term for ground from Genesis 1; the Hebrew word is adamah, and it is indeed a feminine noun.

    The Latin and Greek professors have both commented on the uniform consistency in both languages to make ideas such as wisdom (Latin: sapientia; Greek: sophia) feminine, which is what Hebrew does as well (Proverbs 1:20-33, 2, 4:1-13, 8, 9:1-6). Both professors have pointed out that those feminine virtues were then made into goddesses. That further confirmed a theory I have about pagan gods and goddesses and their names, which is that the thing the pagan god represents, for example the sun or the moon, was named before the thing was worshipped as a god.The name of a god such as Thor would have been derived from a word with no religious significance. In Thor’s case, that would be thunder, so that Thor’s day, Thursday, is actually named after a weather pattern. Such a theory is in line with what Romans 1 says about the origins of pagan worship, “changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.” All those things mentioned are good things, created by God and named by Adam (Genesis 2:23). Their existence and their names are not the problem. The problem is those who refuse to glorify their Creator as God (Romans 1:21).

    See how interesting the study of language can be?

    Liked by 6 people

  11. We have enjoyed a window of sunshine in the rain but it is due to come back today. We have almost finished all of the mowing for now and have four trees to plant before the rains start again. Busy busy.

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  12. Today is Niece’s birthday. Today I get to give her a complete set of pearls that her mother, her grandmother, and her godmother all have a part in giving her (I was the one to finish them). On the clasp will be the tiny baby cross her uncle and I gave her when she was born. It makes me teary eyed just to think of it. She will be getting married next May 5 and I hope to see her wear them.
    I am also thankful to be included in her birthday celebration since after this week with my own precious baby girl, I thought for sure I would be put on the outlaw list and never spoken of or to again.

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  13. Mumsee @9:32, I fear I do not recognize those first two words. Latin has no ‘k’, as the Latin ‘c’ is always hard in pronunciation. So, I cannot tell what connection that beginning phrase has to the ensuing remark about a “farmer’s boy” 😛

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  15. Ah, I see, but that is modern Greek. I am studying Attic Greek, the dialect of Athens around Socrates and Plato’s day. So the Attic equivalent would read something like ‘kalay heymerah’ in pronunciation, Καλή ημέρα in spelling, which means literally, “beautiful day.”

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  16. Buenos dias

    Kim, those pearls sound like such a beautiful and meaningful treasure to pass on.

    We’ve had May Gray for the first part of this month (except for the blistering heat wave that debuted in time for me to clean the garage, of course); today it looks like we’re on track for some steady days of sunshine, but still amid mild temperatures (high 60s).

    I still haven’t heard back from the furniture repair guy who has my bed frame and a cabinet he’s repairing. He said it would all take “several weeks” and it’s been 6 weeks so I suppose we’re still within that expected time frame, though I am getting a little curious about how close he is to wrapping that all up. Once I get that back I can maybe clear some of the things out of the living room to put back in place in the bedroom, though there’s still painting to prepare for as well.

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  18. Greek. Yes, son took old Greek in college and said it was nothing like new Greek. My Greek friend, with whom I was doing Bible study while living in Italy, was concerned with me using an English Bible so gave me a Greek Orthodox one, with signature saying it was approved by the patriarch. It was a parallel version with old Greek and modern Greek on next door pages. She told me she could not read the old stuff at all. I told her I could not read the old or the modern but she helped me as well as she could and I had my NAS to refer to in a pinch.

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  19. Among my verbal bloopers….
    I have a friend who is Greek. He was born to older parents when they were living in Panama, so he is very “old worldly”. His first language was Greek, his second Spanish, and his third English.
    Anyway he came to work in the international department of the company where I worked in domestic sales. It was a natural for me to “show him the ropes” and explain the product. So one day I am explaining my little heart out about dpi, grayscales, etc and he looks sort of confused, and I said, “I know it’s all Greek to you right now, but I promise it will start making sense…….” We both cracked up and laughed about it the rest of the day.
    His mother sent me ONE piece of baklava a week when I was expecting BG. She didn’t want me to get fat.

    Liked by 1 person

  20. Hungry little tweeters in the header. Great photo, Peter.

    Interesting thoughts, Roscuro.

    That necklace has such meaning, Kim. It is/will be a treasure for the wearer.

    We are enjoying son’s visit home. I think I almost talked his ears off yesterday.

    The weather has been very pleasant, and we got to have dinner on a deck at a restaurant by the small airport near where I grew up. We saw the full moon rise. Very special treat.

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  21. Roscuro – When Nightingale was studying to be an LPN, she would sometimes test me on the vocabulary words, then she would answer, & then check to see the real answer. She was surprised that I often either knew the correct answer, or had a good idea what it could be related to. Guess all these years of reading, & learning about words, has had a good effect on me. 🙂

    Something I have thought of before as I read some of your comments, especially when you expound on history, is that it would be interesting to read a discussion between you & YF. You are both highly intelligent, educated young women, close in age (she will be 30 in the fall). I have often felt that she uses her higher education against me, “lecturing” (like a grumpy instructor) me on things I already know, but which she thinks I can’t possibly know because I didn’t go to college. Or telling me that she took a semester in college on a particular subject, implying that she must know better than me. You would give her “a run for her money”, so to speak.

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  22. Seeing the congressmen file out for break in the conference reminded me of a statement Kaiie S. made at a conference once.
    She said, “All men look alike.”

    Each one. Every man was wearing a black or dark blue suit. You couldn’t tell the difference.

    FoxNews has this thing that is trivial, but it irritates me.
    “News Alert” has a meaning to me. It should mean that there is something important.

    But Fox posts “News Alert” all the time and it has no significance

    News Alert The panel is breaking for lunch. :-(.

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  23. Karen, college is just a recording of test scores turned into grades showing a learner’s progress through a course of study. You have the education without the record of progress.

    In the business world what I have found difficult is ladies who are undeniably smart but who do not have a college background who go out of their way to put down the ladies who have a degree. There is definitely a conflict where there is competition to prove who is the brightest. It has been sad to have seen this phenomenon in most places I have worked.

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  25. We had a bear visit us last night. We store our garbage in a bin behind the shop for winter (frozen, no bears) and then haul it to the landfill in spring. For some reason my wildlife officer husband put more garbage back there this spring and a bear came by last night!! The bear made a mess of the garbage, dug a huge hole under our garden shed and messed under the spruce trees beside our front deck.

    And I went out alone last night in the dark to get something from the shop!!!!!!!

    Liked by 4 people

  26. I cant imagine taking two languages at the same time ever again. I took Spanish 6 from 9-10 and Italian 1 from 10-11 and have never felt confident in either language since! I always get them confused when speaking in either one 40 years later. 😦

    Good for you, Roscuro.

    Love the fledgling photo!

    Liked by 1 person

  27. I, who generally sleep just fine thank you, woke up to a nightmare about an evil bear. It was enormous and houses were not a deterrant. I was tired from running when I had to get up. Now I know it was Kare’s husband’s fault for leaving garbage out for the bear. Let him know I am not pleased.

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  28. Michelle and I live in parallel universes except for some obvious huge differences. I took Spanish from seventh through twelfth and Latin from ninth to twelfth and am confident in neither. Sabak al haar.

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  29. Janice, I am probably one of those women. In the state of Alabama you can get a real estate license with a GED. 1. This means that anyone who can pass a multiple choice test can get a license after a 6 week course or online course. It also means that every other woman in the United States has a real estate license and can “show the pretty houses to her friends” or list her friend’s house. They are satisfied with 2 or 3 sales a year to fund their vacation or pay for “extras” and those of us who chose it as a career have to compete with them.
    2. Supposed you did all the work preparing someone’s tax return handed it to them and they said, “Oh, by the way my husband’s, niece’s sister in law just got certified through HR Block. I’m gonna let her send this in and pay her”. How would you feel.
    I truly, truly wish that getting a real estate license was something like a 2 year associates degree so that people would have to know what they were doing. I hate having to do the other agent’s job for them.
    Right now Guy is working with a company on leasing office spaces around the area. They are letting the engineers go look at spaces and getting multiple agents to show them the same spaces. Even one of our spaces we have the listing to, I showed them the space, then another one of the engineers called a different agent and wanted to see it.

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  30. I can read some French but I do NOT speak it. I learned French from a very dapper Southern, African-American Gentleman. He was terrific at rolling his “r-rahs”.
    I got to the University of Maryland and the professor was calling roll. I answered, I am here in French and he through down his pen and wanted to know where the @3(( I was from.

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  31. I took years of Spanish but never used it enough to become proficient. One of my long-term goals, such as they are at my age, is to take another stab at it. 🙂 When I have some free time …

    Kizzie (11:59), I’d buy a ticket to observe that dialogue. 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

  32. It definitely will have to come after traffic school, however. I need to get signed up for an online class soon, I think the deadline is in early June. Was hoping to do it last week when I was off but the garage wiped me out.

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  35. Here I am talking about Biddy, a two-minute video which will run in my newsletter next week. My question to you–should I videotape myself again?

    (I can’t tell you how many takes that took–including having to stop it when my neighbor turned on his power lawn mower!)

    BTW, love the irises–my favorite!

    Liked by 5 people

  36. I love it and think it is a good idea. I would not do away with the written word because there are people like me who might be reading this at work or around other people and don’t want to disturb them with a video, but I think your true love and admiration for Biddy comes through in the video in a way that doesn’t come through in a blog post.
    I could almost feel a warm breeze as I was listening. You make her real.

    Liked by 4 people

  37. YF was like that in person, too, before we ever were connected on Facebook. I would be talking a bit about something (one time it was an interesting fact about Marie Antoinette), & she would interject in a voice like one uses when one knows more about the situation than the one speaking. There was always the attitude that she must know more about the subject than me. (Granted, sometimes she did, but not always.)

    One time, years ago, Chickadee said to me, “YF knows everything!” And I too quickly replied, “No, she just thinks she does.” Oops.

    Liked by 3 people

  39. I didn’t know that Trump follows this blog. But I’m not surprised.
    But I’m serious about this. I see no reason that Duke Energy should be accessed from outside it’s network.
    Our work at the Defense Mapping Agency was classified, Top Secret. Our computers were connected. But not outside the building.
    I forgot the details, it has been a couple of decades ago, but most of NY and New England were affected by an outage because they were connected.
    Shouldn’t happen.

    Liked by 2 people

  40. I was tempted to click on “What happened to the cast of Gun smoke.” That and “Get Smart” are the only TV serials I followed.

    Liked by 2 people

  42. Michelle, you have a very nice presentation on the video. Your voice is great for doing that! It was special to hear you. I think the video has appeal for people globally.

    Liked by 1 person

  43. “My Utmost” was among the things I found packed in my garage. 🙂 It’ll go back in the house now. And, oh, all the WWI – era newspapers from the Midwest …

    Chas, you’d like NCIS

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  44. I think it’s OK to get hooked on a TV show once every 50 years or so. You’re due (though it violates the acceptable show initials, as Janice pointed out).

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  45. Wow, Kizzie, I just saw that thread on FB with YF on free speech. Yikes. She seems scarily inflammatory. Wonder if she’ll grow out of that? Talk about being entirely unreasonable and filled with anger. And the four-letter words didn’t help her cause, either.

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  46. Kizzie and Kim, No thank you. My pastor used to say about arg.. err, debating with certain kinds of people, “If you wrestle with a pig, you’ll be the one who gets dirty.”

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  47. Roscuro – Don’t worry, I wasn’t really suggesting that you try it. 🙂 YF is great at building straw men, or changing the argument to something else if the discussion is not going her way.

    As intelligent as she is, I am really surprised at her lack of logic. I think she gets so caught up in her anger that she can’t think rationally. For instance, in that Facebook discussion DJ mentioned, there were at least a couple obvious facts that she wasn’t getting (such as the difference between public & private venues when it comes to free speech). And she can be very inconsistent, posted one thing to refute a conservative view, then posting an idea that is diametrically opposed to that to refute a different conservative view.

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  50. I see my pictures made it. The nest is right outside my bedroom window. That part of the house is bermed such that the base of the transom window is only 7 feet off the ground. So all I had to do to get the picture was hold the camera over my head and snap away. I took 3 or 4 and this one was the best.

    The irises are ones we transplanted form my MIL’s farm to the old house, then to the new house. My oldest daughter transplanted some to her house when she bought it.

    Now I wish i had transplanted some of the peonies, as they are in bloom now and I miss them. I tried some lilacs, but they died. So we’ll get more from the pastor’s farm. His wife has two or three different kinds of lilacs.She also has peonies we can move when the season is right. And a red bud tree or two. This house has lots of big trees, but few flowering plants.

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