61 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 8-20-18”

  4. Cheryl just did beat me. And i think she’s on Central.
    Good morning Cheryl, Aj and everyone else.
    But Jo.
    Sweet dreams jo.

    It looks like the hummingbird feeder is empty.
    They are talking about Anita on FoxNews. When they mention Anita, I think of Anita Carter, the most beautiful voice there was.

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  7. Have you ever actually read the U.S. Constitution? I’m reading a book about its writing and decided to read it. There are things I don’t understand. For one, in Article 1, Section 2 on “The House” and Section 3, “The Senate,” for qualifications, it includes, “shall not, when
    elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.” Huh?
    In Article 3, Section 3, under “Treason” it says “The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted.” What does this mean?
    I realize there are amendments (all of which I’ve not yet read) that may alter these, but this is the original wording.

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  8. Linda,

    “The Congress shall have power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted”

    That has to do with punishing the heirs of a person guilty of treason.

    This should help you sort it out.

    https://www.heritage.org/constitution/#!/articles/3/essays/120/punishment-of-treason

    “Under common law, punishment for treason generally included drawing, hanging, beheading, and quartering. As with other crimes carrying sentence of death, those adjudged guilty of treason and finally sentenced were considered attaint, or stained, meaning dead in the eyes of the law—even before execution. Once attainder was established, the attainted forfeited his real estate to the Crown—a requirement symbolizing lack of entitlement to the benefits of society. Attainder also worked corruption of blood, preventing the attainted from inheriting or transmitting property and preventing any person from deriving title through the attainted. Forfeitures and corruption of blood worked hardship on dependents and relatives in order to provide maximum deterrence. Eventually, Parliament modified the laws of forfeiture and corruption of blood to protect the innocent.

    According to the Constitution, punishment can be set by Congress, but not to include corruption of blood or forfeiture extending beyond the offender’s life. Quite apart from this limitation, Justice Joseph Story notes the explicit grant of congressional power over punishment was intended as a leniency, to preclude the assumption of the common-law punishment’s harshest elements. The First Congress used its constitutional power of declaring the punishment for treason by establishing the penalty of death, with seven years’ imprisonment for misprision of treason.”

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  10. I know this belongs on the “Politics” thread, but Linda started it.
    I thought she had made a mistake, but I pulled out my cop-y of the constitution and it does, indeed, say “not a resident of the state…. which he represents”.
    A quandary here. Every senator, representative I have known has been a resident of said state.
    The Supreme Court must have ruled on this at some time.
    Maybe, like me, everyone but Linda seems to have passed over this for generations now..
    That also means that none of the laws passed since it’s founding are Constitutional.

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  12. I remember reading that in the Constitution and wondering about it. Even mentioned it to husband and a few others. Isn’t it interesting that we don’t do this anymore? Why do you suppose that is, sort of thing. It makes sense because you would be elected by people who would not be gaining from your actions so much as if your actions were looking to the united States view as opposed to my State and what I can get for it. You would have to be of good reputation outside of your circle of friends and family,

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  13. Is that a black chinned hummingbird, which actually has a purple throat? We used to have a lot of those until the hornets drove them from the feeders.

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  15. It’s an empty porridge bowl for that poor little bird. 😦

    I was up early to start the washing machine (was running the dishwasher last night so had to wait until this morning to do laundry).

    It’s going to be cloudy and 80 degrees today, with probably still some relative high humidity (for us).

    Gardener and screen man come today, so I’ll have to work from home through the morning I suppose … Unless I decide to fly in to work early (shortly!) and then come home by noon to get here in time for the screens.

    I really wish I could live without screens on my front windows … The house looks so much nicer without them.

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  17. Morning! That little guy needs to come to my house…all our feeders are filled as of this weekend. He may need to fight for his position however. You should see the wars waged between these little guys…it is cut throat!! Our temps will be in the 60’s today in the forest…autumn is a coming…. 🍁

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  18. My hummingbirds in H’ville didn’t have to fight other critters. Just each other.
    My feeders were 37 feet off the ground.
    They were worse than children. They would fight to keep another bird from feeding, even though they were finished.

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  20. Chas, I’m on eastern time.

    The hummer is probably a ruby-throated male. They look back unless the light hits them right, then they are irridescent. That’s the only species we have in the east.

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  21. Linda, to understand the phrase in the Constitution about not being an inhabitant of the state you represent, you have to go back to the beginning of the sentence. It’s a double negative. “No Person shall be a Senator … who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.”

    In short, you cannot not be from the state you represent. (You must be from the state you represent.)

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  25. I give the founders high marks for grammar, but low marks for readability. I slogged my way through the Federalist Papers a few months ago. It was very enlightening as to what the founders were thinking, but like the Constitution itself it was not easy reading.

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  26. We have the makings of a B-grade horror movie in our backyard. One of Nightingale’s gardens is in the backyard, a few yards from the back porch. To the side of the garden is a pumpkin vine that she has been letting grow as it will.

    That vine has grown several yards away from the garden, curving itself and and heading straight for our porch stairs. It is coming for us!

    “The Killer Pumpkin Vine”. Coming to a theater near you!

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  28. Eeek. Vines. I love them and hate them. They’re usually very pretty which is how they weave their way into your property and house.

    I know an editor who would make quick work of those documents, Kevin. And we’d all be able to understand them in half the words. 🙂 Slash.

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  32. Okay, a belated QOD: How many is “several”?

    Kizzie, in my mind you weren’t off at all calling your four yards “several”. But Mrs. B and I have a running joke/argument about this. She thinks it has to be more than I think to qualify as “several”.

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  33. Ha, I just used the word “several” in my request on the prayer thread just now.

    I would say “several” is four or more, maybe five or more.

    One is one. A couple is two. A few is three (maybe four?). Several comes next.

    My two cents. Or maybe a few or several cents. 😉

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  36. As used in a sentence: I’ve had more than several mosquito/no-see-um bites this summer.

    There’s a thread going on FB about how awful all the biting insects are in LA this year

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  37. On the popularity of girls’ names (posted by one of our photographers and a mom today on FB):

    “You can go to any high school girls athletic event and yell “go Bella,” 20 girls will feel loved. I think there was a lack of creativity 15-16 years ago.”

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  42. If 1 = one, and 2 = a couple, and 3 or 4 = a few, and 4 or 5 = several, how many are “some”? And when does “several” become “many”?

    See what you started, Kevin?

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  43. I am trying to get ready for a writer’s conference that happens in a few days. Karen is at home and has asked if I can take her for a doctor’s appointment tomorrow. I did not totally commit, but I indicated I would try to work it out. Now. I am remembering Art has to see a new doctor tomorrow or Wed. so I need to go with him. I am struggling with being the only helper in too many lives.

    Son started teaching his classes today, too, at university. I suppose this was the start day for many, although public school has been going on for a week or two already here.

    I entered a few things into the conference writing contests, make that four things being a few. Note it was not five things so I did not say several. I entered in the categories of children’s picture book, flash fiction, poetry, and article. Since this is the first year of this conference (North Georgia Chrsitian Writers) there may not be a big crowd so contest entries might be fewer and thus give me more of a chance to win in at least one category. I know I am hopeful. Our Sunday school lesson was on hope this week. Good topic considering…

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  45. Many thanks for the several good observations from some of you. I have scads of gratitude over this thread. Oodles and gobs and bunches of them.

    Heaps and loads and piles.

    Have we reached zillions and gazillions and bazillions yet? (Not necessarily in that order.)

    Thesaurus.com is mighty helpful. 🙂

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  49. Responding to Janice at 6:56 — sorry you’re feeling all that pressure as the one and only helper in too many lives. Your first calling would, of course, be to your husband. (After God.) Beyond that, can you pare down the other sole-help roles you’re currently doing?

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  55. Yes, Cocoa. Ten years old but still wild. (She was on a tethered leash and owner was just a couple feet away.)

    So funny, though, I looked over and Annie was just creeping toward the front door, you could just see the dog’s outline through the door curtain.

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  56. My dogs are funny, the water sprinkler has been running in front and the noise of water running in the house makes them very wary so they kind of disappear into the backyard or back of the house. Not sure they even saw the strange dog, or if they did they didn’t really react.

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  58. Most pit bulls are sweethearts.

    Here’s an article I shared on Facebook recently. I prefaced it by saying, “I wish this had addressed the concern that so many publicized dog attacks are attributed to pit bulls. From what I have heard and read, there are other factors in those dog attacks, such as the dog being intact (not neutered) males, or being erroneously labeled a pit bull but really being some other breed or a mix.”

    http://lifelineanimal.org/blog/354-facts-about-pit-bull-type-dogs

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  59. Ha! Looking at the link, it looks like the headline would be “354 Facts About Pit Bull Type Dogs”. No, it’s not that long. There are seven points listed, not 354. 🙂

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  60. I am very wary of pits myself. Our Rottie (many are wary of them as well) was attacked by an unleashed pit bull as Paul and the kids were hiking…this was about 30 years ago. The pit chased down our dog (as my husband was shouting to my daughter to drop our dog’s leash) and locked it’s jaws on our dog. Our dog ran down an embankment to a pond…he tried to drown that pit! (The owner of the pit beat his dog over the head with a log until it unlatched it’s jaw…quite a harrowing sight for my family) We had to take our dog to the vet due to dying flesh and the wound was dangerously close to the sciatic nerve. Surgery was needed, stitches, the cone of shame…and a bill over a thousand dollars to boot!

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  61. I too am wary of pit bulls. Yes, they can be sweet. But I’ve read way too many stories about the family dog turning on a child, or a pack of them doing so. Besides, just as with Rottweilers and Dobermans (people in my new neighborhood have both of those breeds), often the dog is indeed a problem . . . because dangerous people have intentionally bought a dangerous dog and encouraged (or condoned its aggression). Or the most aggressive dogs have been bred (e.g., for dog fights or as guard dogs), and this is one of that line. In the inner city in particular, aggressive dogs are popular. Is that pit bull a rescue that had been bred and used to kill other animals or intimidate people, and is its current owner aware of its history and able to control it?

    I love dogs, but I steer clear of wolf hybrids, spitz breeds, and Dobermans and Rottweilers. And I won’t pet a pit bull unless it approaches me to be petted–they aren’t very pettable anyway (close-cropped fur on muscular bodies isn’t inviting to stroking), but I don’t know the dog’s personality or how it has been bred or how it has been trained, and it isn’t worth the risk. So yeah, maybe my neighborhood Rottweiler is a sweet dog–I don’t know–but is it well trained and can its owner handle it, and did its owner buy it because he actually wanted a mean dog? Not knowing the answers to those questions, I keep my distance.

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