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Our Daily Thread 7-4-20

Good Morning!

Today is Independence Day.

📜💥🎆🎇💥🎇🎆💥📜

————–

This is it, I’m taking the weekend off. 🙂

Anyone have a QoD?

 

 

79 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 7-4-20”

  1. Have fun Aj.
    244 years ago, a group of men gathered to experiment in a new form of government.
    Of the people
    By the people
    For the people.

    It has been successfully copied in other places in the world. Mostly, it seems to me, in English speaking countries.
    We are on the very edge now. About to give it up.
    I see where Russia re-elected Putin in a fair election.

    Liked by 5 people

  2. Good morning! Have a great weekend, AJ. Glad to see the header and know that cases are still being argued in the Supreme Court based on those words and high standards (although the demolition crew has been at work for years against it).

    I wish everyone here a Happy 4th of July! Enjoy some virtual WATERMELON!🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉🍉BURGERS🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔HOTDOGS🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭🌭AND CORN ON THE COB🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖🥖

    Liked by 2 people

  3. Happy Fourth of July.

    Chas, actually Canada, Australia, and New Zealand’s governments are patterned after the British constitutional monarchy, as we all share the same monarch, who is represented in our countries by the Governer General. There are slight variations on the theme. While Canada and Australia have two legislative houses, patterned after Britain’s House of Commons and House of Lords, New Zealand only has one legislative house. Australia and Canada both call their second house the Senate, but Australia elects their senators for a six year term, while their House of Representatives is elected for a three year term. Canada, the eldest of the three daughter nations of Britain, appoints members of the Senate, rather than electing them, and we call our first house, the House of Commons, like the British. We also use many of the same ceremonial forms as the British Parliament, such as addressing the Speaker in debate and the use of the parliamentary Mace.

    Putin has not been re-elected, as there have not been elections. They just voted for a constitutional amendment that allows him to run for re-election again. Right now, he is the second longest serving Russian leader, after Stalin. The amendment will allow him to continue to be leader.

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  5. Somehow the words “Russia” and “fair election” don’t seem to jive in the same sentence.

    As for Independence Day- I’m reminded of something a friend said, “True independence only comes from total dependence on Jesus Christ.”

    Liked by 6 people

  7. My big plans? So far a halfway clean bathroom and kitchen. Black granite countertops in a kitchen are not as easy as they sound. I am fighting a losing battle with a stay at home Papa and a two year old. 🙂

    Next will be toilets and floors.
    Mr. P? He has his mother’s bicycle. It’s about 50 years old and he has decided to refurbish it for me. Everyone needs a project. He wants a bike himself. With his back issues I want him to get the kind that is low to the ground with a seat and back support. He doesn’t want that. We shall see.

    Liked by 3 people

  8. I did get brave and mow about a third of the yard that was in shade. I may have to do one row and take a break over and over with the heat, but we have a stretch of rain forcast and if I don’t do it, the yard will look sloppy. Since I am at home all the time, I don’t want to see a sloppy yard. When working and only at home during the dark hours it did not matter so much. Covid has certainly changed our priorities. Also, the house across the street as well as the house next door are for sale so I want the yard to look nice to encourage buyers.

    Liked by 2 people

  9. That bicycle sounds fun, Kim. Will you ride it on the beach? That is a very popular thing to do on Sea Pines at Hilton Head. We have never done it ourselves. We always hiked with our favorite spots being the Sea Pines Nature Preserve and Pickney Island. I will see if I can find a link for that.

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  11. (11:22) His legs will have to make more rotations with that kind of little bike, sounds kind of labor-intensive.

    Yesterday was busy for me with a lot of movement on that knee, I went to CVS and Sprouts and the ATM, did a couple things around the house. So today I think I’ll take it a little easier but, like Kim, I also need to do some spiffing up in the kitchen & bathroom.

    Talked to the kid next door yesterday, I asked if he’d gotten called back to work yet. He said no, they’ve told him to look for another job. That’s OK, he said, he’s making more money on unemployment than he was working anyway and he has 2 months left of that, how cool is that? He seemed pretty happy about it all. He’s bought a new guitar, listens to his music in the garage all day long.

    We’ll see how the beaches fare today, my guess is some or most — or all — of them will be crowded even though they’re officially “closed” or restricted with no parking lot access. Enforcing these things is always the rub.

    I saw a couple headlines earlier about how Trump’s speech at the monument yesterday was “dark” and “divisive” and (this one was an opinion piece) that it urged America to “go backward.”

    I didn’t read or hear the speech, but read excerpts from it. I’m no fan of Trump’s, as you all know, but I thought he hit some very valid points. It didn’t seem dark to me, it seemed like he said things that frankly needed to be said — and I think it resonates with a lot of people we’re not hearing from right now.

    I’ve concluded that half of the country is completely out of touch with reality. Guess time will tell which half it is.

    Liked by 2 people

  12. Ah, I see I’m not alone in my assessment of the speech and the coverage of it

    Liked by 3 people

  13. Happy Independence Day, everyone! That was my highly controversial, political statement for the day. I am also cleaning and planning to do some sewing today and tomorrow. I’m staying close to home and am so thankful that I can shut out the chaos of the world with a keystroke or click of the remote. Enjoy your day everyone! :–)

    Liked by 6 people

  15. Sigh of relief, just in from the monumental task of grocery shopping—$383 later. It gets up there when you only battle through every 2 weeks.

    That’s hyperbole, but something that once seemed easy now feels arduous.

    We’re good for several weeks if need be.

    I’m off to walk before it hits 90. I didn’t finish editing yesterday, so it’s back to the computer for me!

    Liked by 2 people

  16. AJ posted some links from long ago.
    I went back and read some of my previous comments.
    They didn’t make any sense then either.

    Seems the things that make sense to me don’t make sense to the rest of the world.
    I feel sorry for them.

    Liked by 2 people

  17. alive and well in Portland with some fun grands. I will read the posts later. Took a lot of driving to get here as I went over to the coast and back. Beautiful

    Liked by 3 people

  23. I’m watching an alien UFO armada attack some of our battleships off of Hawaii. The ship interiors, as I recall, were filmed onboard the Iowa.

    Liked by 1 person

  24. Wait, it’s the Missouri. They’re twins.

    But the Iowa was involved in some way, I remember hearing about this film from the Iowa museum crew at the time but never saw it.

    Lots of stuff gets blown up.

    Liked by 2 people

  26. My neighbor came by. She wanted to show me a picture from Victoria’s veil. Supposed to be a pic of Jesus from when He was carrying the cross and Victoria approached Him to wipe His face with her veil. Sort of a shroud of Turin deal. What do you say to something like that? She wanted to know if I saw the eyes open or shut because believers see the eyes open.

    Liked by 2 people

  28. DJ is watching Battleship, the movie.

    But it even has a whole bunch of scenes with grids and guessing where the enemy is, like the game.

    Liked by 1 person

  31. I finished mowing the lawn. With long breaks I finished in four hours. I did not hear any other mowers, lol. During one of my breaks I had a long telephone conversation with a friend from church. So I was afraid I would not finish before the rain was expected. As it turned out, on my last section I felt a few raindrops. When I turned the mower off, at that very moment, it started to pour. I ran to the carport with the mower. God is ever so good to give that cooler cloud cover before the rain so I could finish mowing in comfort.

    Liked by 5 people

  34. 😦 No rants and raves.

    😦 June is over already.

    😦 Chiggers. Fortunately they rarely make me itch, but I have a lot of little welts on my legs.

    🙂 It’s summer, the bright flowers are in bloom, dragonflies are out, and many butterflies are out too.

    🙂 I got to do some work on a project that has been “on hold” because of Covid-19. (The project wasn’t on hold, but some of the research was. But we got a way to get in while the building was otherwise empty and got it done.)

    Liked by 3 people

  35. Yep, that’s the movie

    So I finally got out to water the front, I used the side gate rather that the front steps to save my knee. Charlie Brown tree and everything else got a pretty good dousing for at least an hour. Now I’m sitting on the front porch enjoying all the overgrown, beautiful blooming flowers. The red-white-and-blue lights porch should go on shortly — lots of fireworks going off in the ‘hood. It’ll be a very loud night, it’s not even dusk yet. Seems to be a house party in the beautiful white craftsman house with a US flag flying just 2 doors down.

    Liked by 2 people

  36. I think the Iowa has a virtual element with the game, the game and film came out right around the tome the ship arrived in our port in 2012 – I remember doing a story blurb about it at the time, they had something going with the producer so it was good initial publicity for them

    Liked by 2 people

  37. My taxes are in, I got my state refund a month ago and didn’t even notice, aside from feeling pleased at how high my balance was all month 🙂 – need to mail the check off to the feds this week

    Liked by 2 people

  40. Janice our sand is too powdery/sugary to ride anything on. I just barely remember one of my aunts dating a guy who had a dune buggy but those were outlawed a long time ago. They destroyed the sea oats which keeps the sand from eroding.
    Somewhere I read that we export our sand to other beaches but am not sure about that.

    Today I am showing property in the 6-7 hundred range. One of my agents had worked with this couple for two years and they can’t find what they want in Florida so they are crossing the state line today. I hope they like it. I agreed to do a 50/50 split with her on the commission. She is one of the good ones.

    Liked by 4 people

  43. I am thankful we got to enjoy Stone Mountain when Wesley was a child. It was great fun back then with the best playground we ever visited around Atlanta. I don’t think it will be as fun anymore. We also rode the riverboat around the lake there with his Kindergarten class as the grand finale to the year.

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Good morning. I attended an outdoor church service.
    It was hot out there, not the sermon, but the temperature.
    It was from James. About temptation.
    Sources of temptation change as you age.

    Liked by 6 people

  45. Morning Chas. I think that I will do online church today with my home church. My son said today is their first day back and they are watching church in someone’s yard with their home group. They do not need a stranger there when it is their first time together.

    Liked by 3 people

  46. We did fireworks in the front yard with the kids. Then we walked down three houses and across the street to a school yard. I have never seen so many fireworks. Some were exploding right over our heads and we could see others any direction that we looked. No fire danger here.

    Liked by 2 people

  48. Janice – It is gracious of you to try to keep your yard looking nice to help out the people selling their house. (Later you mentioned that they removed the sign, but it was still nice of you, and I’m sure you’re glad it’s finished – until the next time.) When we were looking at this house, our real estate agent pointed out that the other two houses and yards on the lane look kept up nicely.

    Michelle – Nightingale does our grocery shopping every couple weeks as well. She may dash in to the local (more expensive) supermarket for an essential or two that may run out, but tries to have enough on hand so that doesn’t happen.

    DJ – “We won.” Well, that’s a relief!

    Mumsee – What is a chicken tractor? I wasn’t aware that chickens can drive.

    Liked by 1 person

  52. I overheard a Katy-corner neighbor introduce himself to the new neighbor who seems to have a black Lab. I did not catch the new neighbor’s name. Miss Bosley’s ears perked up at the sound of a dog barking near our window. Also while listening to the church service I heard a mower buzzing nearby. Priorities in Atlanta!

    Kizzie, I am thankful I got the chore of mowing done yesterday.

    We did not have our Sunday prayer call today. I am missing that special time.

    The pastor enjoyed the parking lot service, especially getting to have the drivers honk their horns to express gladness. I think I would have been too hot today. It would be nice on a cooler day.

    Liked by 2 people

  53. Kizzie, now that the children are mostly grown and gone, we find it helpful to train the chickens to help with the farm work. Kind of a win win as they enjoy the freshly turned dirt for bringing up all manner of tasties.

    Liked by 3 people

  54. No in person church for me this morning. Husband has been taking eighteen year old in for her catholic church and the rest of us come in later for ours. This morning, twenty three volunteered to take her in so husband could go with the family. Eighteen refused to get in the car with her, she wanted dad to take her. Dad has been her servant long enough. He needs a break.

    Just yesterday she said she was going to be really good for the next three months because she believes she can get out of the guardianship then.

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  55. Morning. I am cooking for the boys who are supposed to be here at 2. We shall see…
    Janice I watched a video clip of the “peaceful protestors” at Stone Mountain. My heart froze at the sight and language of it all. Praying against the evil unleashed in our land and asking the Lord to pour down His mercy upon this nation. Mostly I pray hearts of stone to soften to the truth of the Good News ❤️

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  56. Highway 95 is still closed. Selfishly, I hope they get it open before our camping excursion as that is the road to the campsite. Otherwise, probably have to go through Montana and down to Boise and back up. That would be a long trip!

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  58. There was a photo on Facebook that was pretty funny/ironic. A man carrying the Confederate flag is also wearing a shirt that says, “America. Love it or leave it.” The text on the photo points out that he is carrying the flag symbolizing folks who tried to leave it. 😀

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  59. You know what? The world is turning upside down. I wasn’t around in 1915 and as far as I can determine none of my ancestors owned slaves. My father was a history buff and I have been dragged to every Civile Warl Battlefield except Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania. I am NOT at racist but for some of us our history is being ripped from us. It looks fine right now but wait until they come for yours.
    Roscuro, I know you didn’t mean to hit a hot button with me this afternoon but you did.
    I liken some of this to the Taliban destroying temples and monuments. As uset as I am about Stone Mountain, Robert E Lee and others I am just that upset about tearing down
    Geotge Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Christopher Columbus, Ulysses S Grant, and Abraham Lincoln.
    The madness has to stop.

    Liked by 2 people

  60. This madness will not stop.
    It is not about Stone Mountain, or the Confederate flag, or any such. If it weren’t for that, it would be something else.
    Like defunding the police.
    Kneeling for the Star Spangled Banner. (I don’t like the song. I agree with Kate Smith that it should be “God Bless America. But I honor what it means.)
    Or teaching “America never was great”.
    But everyone in the world wants to come here.
    I suggest sending those who don’t like America to go to somewhere they can be satisfied.

    Liked by 2 people

  63. Kim, we have been having discussions about the same thing in Canada, as we have plenty of racists in our history too, and some places have been renamed and some statues have been removed, and in a few places, there has been vandalism – a statue of our first Prime Minister was recently doused in red paint. I love history, but my research has led me to realize that the history of my beloved country, for I love Canada as much as any American patriot loves the US, is by no means all good, and that the bad must be told. We cannot just choose to remember the glorious bits. To ignore how my people have caused others to suffer, particularly when that suffering continues, as it does, is to place my country as an idol before my calling as a Christian. As a Christian, even the land of my birth is a land of strangers, because I am a stranger and pilgrim. I hold love for my homeland gently, because it is not my home forever. I seek it’s peace, but not at the cost of those who are oppressed.

    I have mixed feelings about removing statues and memorials as there is that Proverb about not removing the ancient landmark – although, the Stone Mountain memorial is not actually very ancient, only completed in the 1960s. But the landmarks that Israel put up, which is what Proverbs refers to, were to remember God. And when a memorial became perverted into demonic cult objects, like the brass serpent Moses made was, they were destroyed. The man who headed that gathering in 1915 was a Methodist itinerate preacher. He used a Bible as well as a burning cross in his ceremony. To pervert symbols of light into symbols of hatred for those who bear the image of God is devilish (James 3:9-18). And God is not mocked. I have often thought the church in Canada is dwindling because of her participation in the oppression of the First Nations and Inuit, and last week, the pastor of my church said we should consider that maybe God is shrinking our church for a reason. He is the one, after all, who truly directs history.

    Liked by 1 person

  64. Perspective has been lost. All history and historical figures really exist in gray areas. I view the monuments more as telling a story, both the good and not-so-good, from history. Fallen people in a fallen world with fallen episodes that ideally should be seen as such.

    What we see now with the unthinking destruction of statues or monuments is a blanket, broad-brush approach that it’s all “bad,” it was all racist, evil, or whatever; there is no deeper or more nuanced story to be remembered and acknowledged or pondered as a part of the historic story they represent.

    We’re in an unthinking era (social media anyone?) of chaos and snap reactions and hatred and violence — and it is hard to watch.

    Liked by 4 people

  66. No, DJ, nothing new. The Protestants were, in their day, great iconoclasts, with the Covenanters and Puritans smashing stained glass windows and beheading statues, and the radical Reformers and Anabaptists of Europe rioting and smashing the interiors of churches. Oddly enough, history remembers them as being in the wrong, as it does the Byzantine Iconoclasts who not only smashed imagery but persecuted those who used icons in the Eastern church. This too shall pass.

    Liked by 1 person

  67. Being asked to be the pool reporter for the opening of the temporary homeless shelter tomorrow, something I wanted to avoid doing.

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  68. Dealing with eighteen year old is taking quite the toll on husband. Prayer for his sanity and patience to continue. And wisdom on when to tell her no. And whether we should place her in a facility, if we can find one willing to take her.

    Liked by 4 people

  69. It’s a bit warm here today, house is in the low 80s, but at least there’s a good cool breeze coming in the south windows. I’m trying to do some of my exercises for the knee but it’s hard in the heat.

    I declined the pool reporter job (my editor said it was up to me, not a big deal to them), not sure they’ll get anyone for it, but we are sending a photographer — the whole thing is being live-streamed anyway. It’ll just be the mayor and other dignitaries making the usual remarks, not really a huge deal, very ceremonial. Easy to cover remotely and we’ve written about this shelter so much already there’s just not a lot that’ll be new.

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  70. I suppose smashing things and tossing statues into the lake gives one a visceral pleasure. 🙂 Still, somewhat mindless and I’d also of course take issue with those who did those kinds of things in the past for what, at the time, seemed to be the Protestant religious cause.

    Chas, I’m glad you got to church today.

    Once it cools off a bit more I’ll go out to water the plants in the back and the hanging baskets out front. I took down the 4th of July lights earlier, hoping everyone by now has run out of fireworks. Last night was quite the DIY spectacular all over town.

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  71. I watched “Steel Magnolias” last night, hadn’t seen it in several years. Such a good move.

    My favorite character in that had to be Shirley McClain.

    Liked by 1 person

  76. And, because it’s that time of year, we have a brush fire burning in northeast LA Co.

    No containment yet.

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  78. I talked to my parents tonight. Tucson sounded crazy last night. They said people were shooting off guns until late, along with the fireworks.

    And the mountains of my youth are on fire. The Santa Catalinas north of the city are experiencing their biggest fire ever. Here’s the story: Crews focusing on cleanup; Bighorn Fire is 75% contained.
    “It has scorched 118,897 acres — about 186 square miles — according to a Sunday morning update.”

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