NOT FAIR!
Navy doesn’t play so AJ wins.
There ain’t no justice no more.
Actually, I can see this turning into a weird season.
Like everything else going on right now.
Morning! Cute little birdie up there….
It’s snowing and it’s cold….and it is pretty but I wasn’t quite ready for this turn of events so soon. I was sort of looking forward to Autumn! 🎄 ⛄️ before 🍂?!!
We’re settling down on the coast from the horrific high heat (which is still an issue inland, however); looking at high 70s to low and mid-80s for the next 10 days. No snow like Nancyjill, sadly, but the more moderate temps will be a relief after the sweltering in 100+ degrees we’ve had in recent days.
The fires are still burning all around us, they’re anticipating windy conditions tonight which could make everything a lot worse.
Yesterday’s holiday shift was very long and hectic and now the “regular” week begins. But first up today is physical therapy at 7:30 a.m. I probably need some decent time off (more than a day at a time or a 3-day weekend) soon, but there’s nothing to do so what would be the point? Staycations were more relaxing and fun when you worked outside the home everyday. Now, I’m here all the time anyway. I’m hoping to push more significant time off until October-November-December. But I’m really starting to drag with the nonstop work. And burnout will come if I don’t take some more time off soon. My former editor (who now heads up our regional investigative team) feels reporters are just getting overworked now, everyone’s expected to do too much, too fast.
Well, in other news, I’m hoping our hair salons remain open for a little while this time, my longer hair is starting to annoy me. I think I last had it cut sometime early this year, pre-pandemic.
And elections are coming up, I only have one local (city council) race assigned to me so far for an advance story, but that’s because they’re planning to use me for some of the statewide/congressional districts. But I need to look up that local race and get going on it this week. We’ll all have numerous races to follow and continually update on election night — which isn’t that far away.
I had my hair cut last week. My stylist has a shop at her home. She is very efficient and follows all the protocols. It felt good to have short hair again.
My plants are alive and well. Just eked over the frost line, no doubt. Tonight might do them in. Everyday with them is a blessing. I have friends that cut theirs down, but I figure why do that when they are still beautiful?
My favorite uncle died last night. He was on hospice (as is his sister’s husband) so it was not a shock. Sadly, I found out on Facebook. I immediately texted my sister and sister-in-law who already knew. Thanks for letting me know. So typical and sad.
Kathaleena I am sorry for the loss of your Uncle. It is a shock and hurt finding important family matters on FB…it has happened to me several times 😢
This drastic drop in weather conditions is causing many with physical ailments today. I am dealing with headache, watery eyes and sneezing of all things. I am going to put up the little pine tree and decorate it for Christmas…that’s just how I am going to roll with this year. Might as well smile at the weirdness of the year and have a little fun with it….I am going to play Christmas music on Pandora too 🎶 🎄
Kare did this winter storm begin at your house?
Good morning,
Bing is singing Christmas here.
We had a significant drop in temps, though not to freezing, and good winds, so my headache was in the middle of the night. But, blessings, all the insects were gone from the blackberries this morning so easy picking (if you overlook the thorns!) Actually, we use my canvas jacket and a cattle prod from the 4H attenders so it helps a lot. And I wear a thick insulated leather glove on my left hand. I seem to get more injuries from thorns while mowing than while blackberrying.
Sorry, kathaleena, it is enough to have the uncle pass away without the added hurt. Praying for you to keep your eyes where they know they belong. You have been such an encouragement to me over the years. Thank you.
Sorry, Kathalena, I sometimes just hate social media.
My plants mostly survived (if barely) the 100+ degree weekend heat. I got everything watered late yesterday. The only one that didn’t “revive” was the potted begonia on my front step so this morning I went ahead and cut it way back. It was so beautiful, but by yesterday it looked beyond sad after all that horrible heat.
Charlie Brown is doing fine, still sprouting bright-green new growths on its branch tips, but my big pine tree in the backyard, meanwhile, has a lot of brown needles this summer, more than I can recall ever seeing on it, so I’m hoping the tree isn’t dying. It’s been there for a long time, since before I’ve lived here, so I’ve never worried about it until now. It was a former owners’ potted, live “Christmas” tree that they had the gardeners plant in the backyard when the holiday was over.
The Jeep was covered in ash this morning when I went out to leave for PT. Lots of exercises today and some work on the hips and pelvic bones for alignment (part of making up for the compensation that resulted from the knee injury). Some of that is a bit painful, but tolerable, just not pleasant. I was happy to leave. Got home just in time to start the work day.
But I’ll get Friday off to make up for working the holiday yesterday, so it’ll be a short week. And maybe another one next week as I’ll be capping out on my vacation time again by then.
… both sides are already claiming that their opponents will try to steal the election. Both sides are alleging that their opponents will commit fraud. Both Democrats and Republicans are, in effect, telling their supporters to not trust the election results if their side loses. The litigation and protests and the ongoing specter of illegitimacy will be a nightmare.
The time-honored tradition in the United States of the peaceful transition or retention of power, the glory of our democracy, which has been an example to the rest of the world, may come to an end. Another legacy of this annus horribilis 2020.
______________________________
A beautiful walk on the golf course. When I was almost home I saw a bench in the shade, so I stopped and called my good friend in Arkansas. We had long talk until I realized that the shade had left me, so I began to walk home.
Windy here, but it won’t be as hot today. I am hanging out downstairs since my friends are gone.
My daily count. There are 114 days left in 2020. I have never in my life been so anxious for the end of the year…even when I was a child and waiting on Christmas.
In the convoluted, disfunction of family these days, when Auntie V died her son called either my Aunt Cheryl or Elaine. Elaine’s husband Mike callhed his daughter who called me. I’m OK with that.
On the other hand when I called my Aunt Charleen, she found out from her daughter Julie, who found out from our cousin Sherrie (whose mother died in 1994). I think a sister should have called a sister rather than a sister find out from her own daughter. None of it was on FB until I posted something.
We put the FUN in disfunctional. Show me a functional family.
Anyone who needs news in my vast extended family has only to talk with my brother. He is over the family reunion and rarely misses anything. So he shares it all with me although I only know maybe half of who he tells me about. My brother does not do Facebook. I may not remember what he told me about whom, but I do not get left out. In this case, being left out at times would be welcome. It takes all types to make the world confound. What does ‘confoundit’ mean? Is it just a Southern expression? I think it goes along with ‘dadblameit.’
3 Praise to the Lord, Who, when darkness and sin are abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheds forth His light,
Chasing the terrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
I see big sister asked about me yesterday. It’s been very busy around here lately, but I didn’t realize until today I haven’t checked in for a couple weeks. Even Pigskin Picks started without me. I’m going to have to work hard to catch up.
This belongs on R&R,but it’s already old news and will be older when R&R returns. About ten days ago a gale blew through and brought down one of the two main branches of our next door neighbors’ tree, the branch that leaned our way. It clipped the corner of our second story roof, tearing away a couple feet at the end of the rain gutter that connected to the downspout. The gutter is hanging out in space a couple feet from the house.
🙂 My BIL came over the next day with his chainsaw to chop the tree section into smaller pieces, and we and our neighbors stacked it up on the lawn. A week later we paid my son’s friend to haul it all away.
🙂 Since the big branch (8-10 inches thick) didn’t disconnect completely from the trunk, and the break was 8-10 feet above the ground, it didn’t land on the chain-link fence between our back yards. BIL and Flyboy (my son) worked out how to cut the branch away from the trunk without it damaging anything as it fell. A little bit of gutter damage is probably small loss compared to the fence or roof damage we could have had.
😦 The summer had been so dry I’d been watering the lawn for the first time in the 15 years we’ve lived here. NOW it decides to rain like crazy. We have a full-sized trash barrel sitting under the broken end of the rain gutter to catch all the water, so it doesn’t pool right next to our sometimes-leaky basement. Both yesterday and today we woke up to find the barrel full, and had to bail it out to the lawn away from the house.
Lots else going on but that’s my slice of life for today.
My Nov 2020 election file is started, with deadlines, schedules, all laid out. Eleven pages of planning compiled by the editors. I’m on for a local city measure + one of the LA County Supes races (advances and coverage), fairly light assignments for me so far; and I’m on a “mid-shift” sked (2-10 pm) for election day, which isn’t horrible. The worst is the “late” sked that makes you stay until the bitter end.
I think I’ve occasionally gotten out of election night coverage, probably in years when there were no races in my regular coverage area. It’s rare that has happened, but nice to work a “normal” shift during the day and then be able to waltz out of there (back when we had a “there” to waltz out of) at 5 or 6 as the night crew is all arriving. Of course, you miss the election night pizza but oh well. Worth it not to work those horrible, late nights. It was fun when I was younger, not so much now 🙂
I think confound means confusing
Confound-IT is a substitution word
Confoundit, boy, you would make a saint cuss.
Dag Blame it, how many times do I have to tell you…
Dag gum (spread that out da a a gummmm) I ain’t never seen nothing like that. Have you ever?
That montage of Lucy ones makes me think of one of Calvin and Hobbes I made in college. Remember the one where his parents get back a roll of film, and in every photo Calvin is making a different face? Well, I took those “faces” and assigned a member of the yearbook staff to each face, and put a bubble to show what they were saying or thinking, and put it up on the wall. We ended up putting it in the yearbook too, I think.
I thought of the Israelites in the wilderness today as a blanket of smoke settled over us and totally blocked the sun. It did even cool things down a bitl
The apocalyptic internet movement QAnon is gaining followers by the thousands, and churches are slow to respond
___________________________
KELLY WOLFE had been dating her boyfriend since January, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that she found out he was deep into QAnon. The apocalyptic internet movement’s central tenet is that a secret Satanic cabal is running the world and using sex trafficking and other nefarious activities to preserve its power.
Wolfe’s boyfriend started talking to her about how 5G networks caused the coronavirus and how suspicious it was that Tom Hanks became a Greek citizen recently (QAnon followers allege he and many other celebrities are pedophiles). Wolfe sent him an article from the Gospel Coalition that states how harmful slander and gossip from QAnon is to the church. He broke up with her.
More recently, she watched a Christian friend of hers dive deep into QAnon on social media over the course of a few weeks: The friend started by posting concerns about child trafficking (World Day Against Trafficking was back in July), then other friends responded by sending her posts and videos about QAnon. Before long she was posting more and more about Q and the “cabal” running the world: “She is almost militant about it now,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe and her boyfriend eventually reconciled and started dating again, and they have agreed to conversation boundaries about QAnon. But Wolfe is at a loss in knowing how to respond to such theories, and she knows of no Christian resources for it. She is not the only one.
In the pandemic lockdown, QAnon accounts exploded in popularity as people spent more time online. Many Christians have sunk so deeply into Q that it fills a lot of their conversations and most of their time online. Cult expert Steve Hassan said he is swamped with thousands of emails from family members concerned about their loved ones who are suddenly deep into QAnon.
Family members and friends of QAnon followers know and love them: They know what the backstory is that caused them to distrust the medical, political, or media establishments, and they understand why QAnon is appealing. People I interviewed, like Kelly Wolfe, wanted to make sure their loved ones were portrayed with compassion and respect.
But they don’t know how to respond when someone slides off the plane of reality and then begins actively recruiting others into the movement or spreading misinformation online. And the church hasn’t provided any help.
Churches, pastors, and denominational groups I talked to had no resources or system for approaching this. Church elders might pull someone aside to talk about spreading misinformation online, but otherwise family members I talked to grasped for a few Christian articles or podcasts online that they could send to their relatives who are suddenly into Q.
“I used to appeal to sources, but the entire point is that he doesn’t believe the sources,” Wolfe said. So she has started trying to explore what “the thing under the thing” is that motivates his interest in QAnon: “Are you hating injustice or elitism?” Another idea she has is that he might find human suffering to be difficult to understand in the face of God’s sovereignty, so he “needs to assign a bigger, demonic dark force behind it.”
QAnon followers on one level can be people who are simply suspicious that the system is rigged in favor of elites or that the media isn’t reliable so they have to find their own information. But as they go deeper, Q followers spread conspiracy theories, such as that John F. Kennedy Jr. is still alive or that Mother Teresa was a child trafficker and Dr. Anthony Fauci is her son. Online posts of such false allegations often rest on the ubiquitous Q defense to “do your own research.” …
… REV. BOB AND JUDY PARDON are some of the few Christian specialists nationally who do interventions and rehabilitation for people coming out of isolated, authoritarian groups that twist the Bible to their particular purposes. When law enforcement officers or family members need help with interventions for those in certain destructive groups, they call the Pardons. …
… When Pardon asked him about Q’s prophecies that haven’t come true—such as that Hillary Clinton’s arrest was imminent after Trump’s election—the man says Q gives misinformation to throw off “blackhats,” the agents of the deep state. “All very convenient,” said Pardon.
In QAnon, Pardon sees trademark “cult thinking,” where everything is black and white, good versus evil, but he wouldn’t call QAnon a cult because it doesn’t have the authoritarian structure he usually sees in his work. He thinks of it more as a movement that is “a sign of the times,” that people feel there is no solid place to stand.
“Whenever you have these kind of social upheavals, this stuff tends to rise to the surface,” said Pardon. He recalled that the 1970s saw an explosion of cults. “I myself do think there are powers of evil that are beyond what we see with our five senses … but on this plane of reality that we live in, it’s not always [black and white]. There are gray areas we can’t discern. We’re sinners.” …
______________________________
I may also disappear as there is smoke all around us, and I suspect new fires. We have several in the area but I know longer have a neighbor who is up on all local info so can only look around.
People need to be reading the Word, spending less time on the internet, turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful Face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim….
DJ, we also need to remember the spiritual struggle is not against “flesh and blood” – in other words, it is not other humans who are the enemy. Those humans who work darkness are merely slaves, in need of freedom. My parents and I were discussing this. My father, who is the only member of the household who attends the tiny church, since my mother cannot endure such a long absence from having a place to lie down and rest due to pain, said he was reluctant to return to the church because he didn’t want to listen to all the conspiracy theories – one man he was friends with at the church phones him to talk, and my father said something during one phonecall about wanting a vaccine, and his friend replied “Oh, you don’t want to get the vaccine, they’ll inject a microchip.” I remarked that a key problem of indulging in conspiracy theories was that it caused you to focus more on the sins of other people than on your own.
Wandering Views 
NOT FAIR!
Navy doesn’t play so AJ wins.
There ain’t no justice no more.
Actually, I can see this turning into a weird season.
Like everything else going on right now.
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Haha!
Blame Navy! 🙂
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And Navy did play….
Horribly! Like really bad….
Like 55-3 bad.
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Morning, all. This retired gal is going to hit the trail (not literally, I hope). Have a good day.
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Morning! Cute little birdie up there….
It’s snowing and it’s cold….and it is pretty but I wasn’t quite ready for this turn of events so soon. I was sort of looking forward to Autumn! 🎄 ⛄️ before 🍂?!!
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We’re settling down on the coast from the horrific high heat (which is still an issue inland, however); looking at high 70s to low and mid-80s for the next 10 days. No snow like Nancyjill, sadly, but the more moderate temps will be a relief after the sweltering in 100+ degrees we’ve had in recent days.
The fires are still burning all around us, they’re anticipating windy conditions tonight which could make everything a lot worse.
Yesterday’s holiday shift was very long and hectic and now the “regular” week begins. But first up today is physical therapy at 7:30 a.m. I probably need some decent time off (more than a day at a time or a 3-day weekend) soon, but there’s nothing to do so what would be the point? Staycations were more relaxing and fun when you worked outside the home everyday. Now, I’m here all the time anyway. I’m hoping to push more significant time off until October-November-December. But I’m really starting to drag with the nonstop work. And burnout will come if I don’t take some more time off soon. My former editor (who now heads up our regional investigative team) feels reporters are just getting overworked now, everyone’s expected to do too much, too fast.
Well, in other news, I’m hoping our hair salons remain open for a little while this time, my longer hair is starting to annoy me. I think I last had it cut sometime early this year, pre-pandemic.
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And elections are coming up, I only have one local (city council) race assigned to me so far for an advance story, but that’s because they’re planning to use me for some of the statewide/congressional districts. But I need to look up that local race and get going on it this week. We’ll all have numerous races to follow and continually update on election night — which isn’t that far away.
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Good morning! We are having very pleasant weather today thanks to low humidity.
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Grateful to have power today. I was going to run some errands but town has no power
Time to walk the golf course
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I had my hair cut last week. My stylist has a shop at her home. She is very efficient and follows all the protocols. It felt good to have short hair again.
My plants are alive and well. Just eked over the frost line, no doubt. Tonight might do them in. Everyday with them is a blessing. I have friends that cut theirs down, but I figure why do that when they are still beautiful?
My favorite uncle died last night. He was on hospice (as is his sister’s husband) so it was not a shock. Sadly, I found out on Facebook. I immediately texted my sister and sister-in-law who already knew. Thanks for letting me know. So typical and sad.
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Kathaleena I am sorry for the loss of your Uncle. It is a shock and hurt finding important family matters on FB…it has happened to me several times 😢
This drastic drop in weather conditions is causing many with physical ailments today. I am dealing with headache, watery eyes and sneezing of all things. I am going to put up the little pine tree and decorate it for Christmas…that’s just how I am going to roll with this year. Might as well smile at the weirdness of the year and have a little fun with it….I am going to play Christmas music on Pandora too 🎶 🎄
Kare did this winter storm begin at your house?
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It ain’t Christmas ’till Bing somgs/
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Good morning,
Bing is singing Christmas here.
We had a significant drop in temps, though not to freezing, and good winds, so my headache was in the middle of the night. But, blessings, all the insects were gone from the blackberries this morning so easy picking (if you overlook the thorns!) Actually, we use my canvas jacket and a cattle prod from the 4H attenders so it helps a lot. And I wear a thick insulated leather glove on my left hand. I seem to get more injuries from thorns while mowing than while blackberrying.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sorry, kathaleena, it is enough to have the uncle pass away without the added hurt. Praying for you to keep your eyes where they know they belong. You have been such an encouragement to me over the years. Thank you.
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NancyJill, the storm did not come from me 🙂 I think it started in Alberta – my sister in Calgary had snow Sunday night.
We had a killing frost last night. Plants remaining in the garden were covered, but I’m not sure it was enough. But we don’t have any snow yet.
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Sorry, Kathalena, I sometimes just hate social media.
My plants mostly survived (if barely) the 100+ degree weekend heat. I got everything watered late yesterday. The only one that didn’t “revive” was the potted begonia on my front step so this morning I went ahead and cut it way back. It was so beautiful, but by yesterday it looked beyond sad after all that horrible heat.
Charlie Brown is doing fine, still sprouting bright-green new growths on its branch tips, but my big pine tree in the backyard, meanwhile, has a lot of brown needles this summer, more than I can recall ever seeing on it, so I’m hoping the tree isn’t dying. It’s been there for a long time, since before I’ve lived here, so I’ve never worried about it until now. It was a former owners’ potted, live “Christmas” tree that they had the gardeners plant in the backyard when the holiday was over.
The Jeep was covered in ash this morning when I went out to leave for PT. Lots of exercises today and some work on the hips and pelvic bones for alignment (part of making up for the compensation that resulted from the knee injury). Some of that is a bit painful, but tolerable, just not pleasant. I was happy to leave. Got home just in time to start the work day.
But I’ll get Friday off to make up for working the holiday yesterday, so it’ll be a short week. And maybe another one next week as I’ll be capping out on my vacation time again by then.
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Veith on the dreaded upcoming election “chaos” we may likely experience:
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2020/09/the-coming-election-chaos/
____________________________
… both sides are already claiming that their opponents will try to steal the election. Both sides are alleging that their opponents will commit fraud. Both Democrats and Republicans are, in effect, telling their supporters to not trust the election results if their side loses. The litigation and protests and the ongoing specter of illegitimacy will be a nightmare.
The time-honored tradition in the United States of the peaceful transition or retention of power, the glory of our democracy, which has been an example to the rest of the world, may come to an end. Another legacy of this annus horribilis 2020.
______________________________
LikeLiked by 4 people
A beautiful walk on the golf course. When I was almost home I saw a bench in the shade, so I stopped and called my good friend in Arkansas. We had long talk until I realized that the shade had left me, so I began to walk home.
Windy here, but it won’t be as hot today. I am hanging out downstairs since my friends are gone.
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My daily count. There are 114 days left in 2020. I have never in my life been so anxious for the end of the year…even when I was a child and waiting on Christmas.
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In the convoluted, disfunction of family these days, when Auntie V died her son called either my Aunt Cheryl or Elaine. Elaine’s husband Mike callhed his daughter who called me. I’m OK with that.
On the other hand when I called my Aunt Charleen, she found out from her daughter Julie, who found out from our cousin Sherrie (whose mother died in 1994). I think a sister should have called a sister rather than a sister find out from her own daughter. None of it was on FB until I posted something.
We put the FUN in disfunctional. Show me a functional family.
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Anyone who needs news in my vast extended family has only to talk with my brother. He is over the family reunion and rarely misses anything. So he shares it all with me although I only know maybe half of who he tells me about. My brother does not do Facebook. I may not remember what he told me about whom, but I do not get left out. In this case, being left out at times would be welcome. It takes all types to make the world confound. What does ‘confoundit’ mean? Is it just a Southern expression? I think it goes along with ‘dadblameit.’
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So I looked them up and see they are substitute words for the “D” curses. Why did I never know exactly?
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I haven’t heard the word “confound” in decades. It doesn’t have a meaning. Just an expression of disgust.
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Isn’t “confound” in a hymn? I need to figure out which one.
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3 Praise to the Lord, Who, when darkness and sin are abounding,
Who, when the godless do triumph, all virtue confounding,
Sheds forth His light,
Chasing the terrors of night,
Saints with His mercy surrounding.
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I’ve never seen the verse, but a great use of “confound”!
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I believe confound is confusing.
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Relieved to see little brother did not fall off the face of the earth, but he got prayed for anyway.
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So is Michelle disappeared with a power outage?
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I see big sister asked about me yesterday. It’s been very busy around here lately, but I didn’t realize until today I haven’t checked in for a couple weeks. Even Pigskin Picks started without me. I’m going to have to work hard to catch up.
This belongs on R&R,but it’s already old news and will be older when R&R returns. About ten days ago a gale blew through and brought down one of the two main branches of our next door neighbors’ tree, the branch that leaned our way. It clipped the corner of our second story roof, tearing away a couple feet at the end of the rain gutter that connected to the downspout. The gutter is hanging out in space a couple feet from the house.
🙂 My BIL came over the next day with his chainsaw to chop the tree section into smaller pieces, and we and our neighbors stacked it up on the lawn. A week later we paid my son’s friend to haul it all away.
🙂 Since the big branch (8-10 inches thick) didn’t disconnect completely from the trunk, and the break was 8-10 feet above the ground, it didn’t land on the chain-link fence between our back yards. BIL and Flyboy (my son) worked out how to cut the branch away from the trunk without it damaging anything as it fell. A little bit of gutter damage is probably small loss compared to the fence or roof damage we could have had.
😦 The summer had been so dry I’d been watering the lawn for the first time in the 15 years we’ve lived here. NOW it decides to rain like crazy. We have a full-sized trash barrel sitting under the broken end of the rain gutter to catch all the water, so it doesn’t pool right next to our sometimes-leaky basement. Both yesterday and today we woke up to find the barrel full, and had to bail it out to the lawn away from the house.
Lots else going on but that’s my slice of life for today.
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My Nov 2020 election file is started, with deadlines, schedules, all laid out. Eleven pages of planning compiled by the editors. I’m on for a local city measure + one of the LA County Supes races (advances and coverage), fairly light assignments for me so far; and I’m on a “mid-shift” sked (2-10 pm) for election day, which isn’t horrible. The worst is the “late” sked that makes you stay until the bitter end.
I think I’ve occasionally gotten out of election night coverage, probably in years when there were no races in my regular coverage area. It’s rare that has happened, but nice to work a “normal” shift during the day and then be able to waltz out of there (back when we had a “there” to waltz out of) at 5 or 6 as the night crew is all arriving. Of course, you miss the election night pizza but oh well. Worth it not to work those horrible, late nights. It was fun when I was younger, not so much now 🙂
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Kevin, exciting times! Good to have family to take care of things, though.
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Yes, and we spent more time with our neighbors dealing with the tree than we have in the 7 years they’ve lived next to us!
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So after the pandemic, will open buffets ever make a return?
I’ve always been wary of them, personally. Now probably more than ever?
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Kevin, funny
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Yes, as mumsee said, “confound’ means to confuse. I don;t know when it became a euphemism for the D word.
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2020
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I Love Lucy.
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I think confound means confusing
Confound-IT is a substitution word
Confoundit, boy, you would make a saint cuss.
Dag Blame it, how many times do I have to tell you…
Dag gum (spread that out da a a gummmm) I ain’t never seen nothing like that. Have you ever?
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That montage of Lucy ones makes me think of one of Calvin and Hobbes I made in college. Remember the one where his parents get back a roll of film, and in every photo Calvin is making a different face? Well, I took those “faces” and assigned a member of the yearbook staff to each face, and put a bubble to show what they were saying or thinking, and put it up on the wall. We ended up putting it in the yearbook too, I think.
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Power outage, Mumsee. I’m only stepping in briefly. Not expected to return until Wednesday night.
Confounding.
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I thought of the Israelites in the wilderness today as a blanket of smoke settled over us and totally blocked the sun. It did even cool things down a bitl
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World Magazine’s cover story that just came out is on QAnon.
https://world.wng.org/2020/08/sign_of_the_times
Questions about QAnon
The apocalyptic internet movement QAnon is gaining followers by the thousands, and churches are slow to respond
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KELLY WOLFE had been dating her boyfriend since January, but it wasn’t until the pandemic hit that she found out he was deep into QAnon. The apocalyptic internet movement’s central tenet is that a secret Satanic cabal is running the world and using sex trafficking and other nefarious activities to preserve its power.
Wolfe’s boyfriend started talking to her about how 5G networks caused the coronavirus and how suspicious it was that Tom Hanks became a Greek citizen recently (QAnon followers allege he and many other celebrities are pedophiles). Wolfe sent him an article from the Gospel Coalition that states how harmful slander and gossip from QAnon is to the church. He broke up with her.
More recently, she watched a Christian friend of hers dive deep into QAnon on social media over the course of a few weeks: The friend started by posting concerns about child trafficking (World Day Against Trafficking was back in July), then other friends responded by sending her posts and videos about QAnon. Before long she was posting more and more about Q and the “cabal” running the world: “She is almost militant about it now,” Wolfe said.
Wolfe and her boyfriend eventually reconciled and started dating again, and they have agreed to conversation boundaries about QAnon. But Wolfe is at a loss in knowing how to respond to such theories, and she knows of no Christian resources for it. She is not the only one.
In the pandemic lockdown, QAnon accounts exploded in popularity as people spent more time online. Many Christians have sunk so deeply into Q that it fills a lot of their conversations and most of their time online. Cult expert Steve Hassan said he is swamped with thousands of emails from family members concerned about their loved ones who are suddenly deep into QAnon.
Family members and friends of QAnon followers know and love them: They know what the backstory is that caused them to distrust the medical, political, or media establishments, and they understand why QAnon is appealing. People I interviewed, like Kelly Wolfe, wanted to make sure their loved ones were portrayed with compassion and respect.
But they don’t know how to respond when someone slides off the plane of reality and then begins actively recruiting others into the movement or spreading misinformation online. And the church hasn’t provided any help.
Churches, pastors, and denominational groups I talked to had no resources or system for approaching this. Church elders might pull someone aside to talk about spreading misinformation online, but otherwise family members I talked to grasped for a few Christian articles or podcasts online that they could send to their relatives who are suddenly into Q.
“I used to appeal to sources, but the entire point is that he doesn’t believe the sources,” Wolfe said. So she has started trying to explore what “the thing under the thing” is that motivates his interest in QAnon: “Are you hating injustice or elitism?” Another idea she has is that he might find human suffering to be difficult to understand in the face of God’s sovereignty, so he “needs to assign a bigger, demonic dark force behind it.”
QAnon followers on one level can be people who are simply suspicious that the system is rigged in favor of elites or that the media isn’t reliable so they have to find their own information. But as they go deeper, Q followers spread conspiracy theories, such as that John F. Kennedy Jr. is still alive or that Mother Teresa was a child trafficker and Dr. Anthony Fauci is her son. Online posts of such false allegations often rest on the ubiquitous Q defense to “do your own research.” …
… REV. BOB AND JUDY PARDON are some of the few Christian specialists nationally who do interventions and rehabilitation for people coming out of isolated, authoritarian groups that twist the Bible to their particular purposes. When law enforcement officers or family members need help with interventions for those in certain destructive groups, they call the Pardons. …
… When Pardon asked him about Q’s prophecies that haven’t come true—such as that Hillary Clinton’s arrest was imminent after Trump’s election—the man says Q gives misinformation to throw off “blackhats,” the agents of the deep state. “All very convenient,” said Pardon.
In QAnon, Pardon sees trademark “cult thinking,” where everything is black and white, good versus evil, but he wouldn’t call QAnon a cult because it doesn’t have the authoritarian structure he usually sees in his work. He thinks of it more as a movement that is “a sign of the times,” that people feel there is no solid place to stand.
“Whenever you have these kind of social upheavals, this stuff tends to rise to the surface,” said Pardon. He recalled that the 1970s saw an explosion of cults. “I myself do think there are powers of evil that are beyond what we see with our five senses … but on this plane of reality that we live in, it’s not always [black and white]. There are gray areas we can’t discern. We’re sinners.” …
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I may also disappear as there is smoke all around us, and I suspect new fires. We have several in the area but I know longer have a neighbor who is up on all local info so can only look around.
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People need to be reading the Word, spending less time on the internet, turn our eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful Face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim….
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I know longer have a neighbor….what in the world.. I no longer have a neighbor who keeps me informed on all the local fires.
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DJ, we also need to remember the spiritual struggle is not against “flesh and blood” – in other words, it is not other humans who are the enemy. Those humans who work darkness are merely slaves, in need of freedom. My parents and I were discussing this. My father, who is the only member of the household who attends the tiny church, since my mother cannot endure such a long absence from having a place to lie down and rest due to pain, said he was reluctant to return to the church because he didn’t want to listen to all the conspiracy theories – one man he was friends with at the church phones him to talk, and my father said something during one phonecall about wanting a vaccine, and his friend replied “Oh, you don’t want to get the vaccine, they’ll inject a microchip.” I remarked that a key problem of indulging in conspiracy theories was that it caused you to focus more on the sins of other people than on your own.
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Microchips hmmmm —
stay safe mumsee
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