Now, before we begin, we have to set the scene and the mood. So imagine your life is going along quite normally, as it always does. You have pizza on Tuesday, maybe a kale shake on Friday. Then, the invasion begins. Everywhere you go, everywhere you look, everywhere you sniff, there is Pumpkin Spice! Including biscuits, sigh. Mrs B wanted to try these, so she bought them. They are basically cinnamon rolls that you drizzle pumpkin spice "frosting" on after they are cooked.
Now they did taste good, but still, Grands biscuits are supposed to be BISCUITS. So now we are in the proper frame of mind, let us continue the journey of a small town, celebrating harmlessly, or so they think!
First, and always most importantly, is the food. Without the food, the Pumpkin Festival is just a bunch of people walking around looking at stuff. But WITH food, well, that completely changes everything, now doesn't it? Food is like the Force.
“... my ally is the Food, and a powerful ally it is. Life creates it, makes it grow. Its energy surrounds us and binds us. Hungry beings are we, not this crude matter. You must feel the Food around you; here, between you, me, the tree, the rock, everywhere...” ~ Master Chef Yoda
Our first stop is always food alley. We get there around 4:30pm, before things kick off at 5pm. The food trucks are all open but not many people have arrived yet so there are no lines. I got a pepperoni calzone and Mrs B got some sort of breakfast sandwich with avocado. Then because I knew that a calzone wasn't very healthy, I decided to eat my vegetables and have a slice of pumpkin roll. Ahhh, that's the stuff.
Then it was time to visit the Venerable Town Hall. This majestic and gracious building towers over all its denizens, assuring them that the reins of government are in capable hands. Capable enough to run a Pumpkin Festival anyway. But that is all "I" will vouch for.
Next comes the annual perambulation around the Oval. There are many vendors and lots of people and you just never know WHAT you might see. Jack Skellington welcoming one and all. An anorexic cop! And to top things off, a pig on a leash. I kid you not. How can you not love small towns where you can see a pig on a leash in the town oval? *clap *clap *clap
As you make your way around the Oval, not only are there "things" to see, but artwork on windows galore. Motorcycles seem to be a big theme this year. These were done on storefront windows, to give you some size comparison.
Finally, as the sun sets and the dark chill night sets in, when the lights go out and you wonder, "will I die in the next 5 seconds from a homicidal maniac slicing my head off with a razor blade?", THAT is when our Citizen of the Year appears, bringing light and hope to all who see them. They climb the firetruck to the top of the Venerable Town Hall and ceremonially light the giant pumpkin inside, and thus our small town is safe for another year from the hordes of massholes who try to invade us every chance they get.
This event has become a habit for Mrs B and I. We go, we eat, we look and buy, we laugh and we scream and holler to encourage the Citizen of the Year. Then we go home and go to bed, because we're older and tireder than the previous year :-D
I wrote a Rant post about authors and writers and how I perceived them and interacted with them and my thoughts on them in general. It was a powerful post (in my opinion) and I really let go. But as the week went on, I began to wonder. So I went back and read what I had written. The words I had written were not ones I wanted coming out of my mouth or thoughts I wanted in my head.
So I deleted that rant. Just because I "feel" something, even strongly, doesn't give me the license to just shoot my mouth off about it. What's more, because I am a Christian, I am supposed to be showing Jesus' character to those around me, including those I hang out with online. When "funny angry" turns into "real vitriolic disgust", that is crossing a line that I as a Christian cannot countenance.
Ordinarily, I'd just delete the post and you'd never know it was written. But I had written in my monthly roundup that that rant was coming. I probably could have gotten away with just ignoring it and nobody would have cared. Maybe.
Sometimes keeping my mouth shut is the right thing to do. A lot of the time that IS the right thing. But when I write or say something that is wrong, it behooves me to admit it, apologize for it and get rid of it. And I wrote and scheduled that rant. You didn't read it, but I sure as shooting wrote it and I know what I said. I don't mind being the slightly (or even very) grumpy curmudgeon who shakes his fist at those kids on the lawn but I NEVER want to be the kind of Christian who says things about other people that Jesus wouldn't say or go against the precepts of the Bible.
I cannot view anyone as my enemy, because I was God's enemy at one time and He sent Jesus to die for me and for everyone else too. If God can sacrifice like that, then it is my duty as a follower of Him to emulate that. That includes watching the words I write and not misusing them.
I want my rants, even when serious, to be amusing and at most to make you think. I never want them to wound people or be filled with so much vitriol that it hurts to read them. I cannot promise that there will never be vitriol on this blog, but I can promise that I will do my best not allow it. To end this, I think the following picture is the perfect fit. Dark humor is for everyone, not just those of us with good taste!
I loved you: yet the love, maybe, Has not extinguished in my heart; But hence may not it trouble thee; I do not want to make you sad. I loved you hopelessly and mutely, Now with shyness, now with jealousy being vexed; I loved you so sincerely, so fondly, Likewise may someone love you next. ~Alexander Pushkin
Pushkin was the writer that heavily influenced Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky. I vaguely realized he was a poet but for some reason I was thinking he mainly wrote novels. I decided to check him out and this was the first poem that popped up. I read it and laughed, because it is SO Russian. While I might enjoy the melancholia of the Russian writers, boy am I glad I don't have to live like that.
You know, I'm never going to have to write a poem like this and I am incredibly thankful for that. Mrs B was not shy about her feelings for me when we met and now seventeen years later, she loves me just as much. My own feelings have grown in depth too. Seeing what Pushkin wrote just makes me that much more appreciative of what I have been blessed with.
Been a pretty good week and I'll write about it tomorrow for a "My Week" post. But after work Mrs B and I are going to the Cheesecake Factory to celebrate our wedding anniversary. So blogging is taking a backseat, as it should (well, kind of, because there's still this post after all).
It has been 2 1/2 years since I posted "A Sabbath Letter #3". The world is crazier, faster and filled with even more chaos than back then. Thankfully, the Sabbath has not changed and it is still available to any who would seek God's peace. Here is another weekly Sabbath email that I got recently.
A popular New England radio talk show host frequently runs an ad in which he begins, “I can’t remember crazier times than what’s going on these days,” or some such language. Then he advocates going out and purchasing precious metals. Huh? So gold and silver are the saviors? To me such talk sounds like something the Bible calls idolatry.
But I agree with him that the days we’re living in are really weird. Something is out of kilter in the spiritual sphere, and its impact on our spirits is not imaginary. So what are we to do about this? Like most of you, I imagine, I find a lot of comfort in the Scriptures. One evening this week, feeling the pressure, I turned to Psalm 46: “God is our refuge.” That’s enough right there, but the whole Psalm is filled with reason for security, stability, and hope, despite the upsets in the world around us.
So this Sabbath, how about meditating a little extra on the living, timeless, up-to-date Word of God? I even got out a musical version of Psalm 46 and meditated on that for a while. “Therefore will we not fear, though the earth do change…” What a comfort! “There is a River” of living waters… refreshing our souls, right in the midst of tribulation. And concerning the City of God—“God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved”! Not moved, no matter what. Not shaken from our foundations, because they are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, and Jesus is the Chief Cornerstone!
God is good; He remains omnipotent; He holds the reins; His security is not challenged—and neither is ours. Let’s rejoice, sit back, and take it in. Then—send it out by faith to people around us who are deeply distressed. We can make a difference for others.
I am praying that you will find salvation through Jesus and thus be given the peace of the Sabbath today. Christ's blessing to you when you read this.
Several years ago, I wrote up a Post where I listed all of the Various Authors or Series I had on my kindle that I was reading through. Given that I wanted to do less book review posts this month, that meant I had to write other stuff. Lists are easy in that regards ;-) So without further ado, here is the list of authors and/or series, annotated, that I currently have on my ereader.
Austen. This is pretty self-explanatory I think. I am currently working my way through all her Juvenilia.
Black Widowers / Mythago Wood I am rotating between reading 3 of the Black Widower books by Asimov with 3-4 of the Mythago Wood books by Robert Holdstock.
Coleridge This is a trilogy by Laird Barron about a former mob enforcer named Isaiah Coleridge. Crime fiction is what I think the genre falls into.
Conan Once again, pretty self-explanatory.
Cook / Herron I am rotating between Herron's Slough House series and Glen Cook's Black Company. 3 of one, then 3 of the other.
Discword / Bond 3-4 Discworld books by Pratchett and then 3 James bond books by Flemming.
Dracula / Lord of the Isles 3 of the Dracula Files books by Fred Saberhagen and then 3 of the Lord of the Isles by David Drake
Empire Rising / Vorkosigan Saga Once again, 3 of the Empire Rising books by David Holmes and then 3 of the Vorkosigan books by Lois Bujold
Hamilton This is a split between two "Complete Collections" of Edmond Hamilton and the Complete Dumarest series by Edwin Tubb. I linked them together because of the similarity of their first names. It doesn't take much to get me to "organize" things after all :-D
Hitchcock Those lovely "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" crime fiction stories. I have 5 or 6 of these currently on my Era (my ereader) and 18 or 19 still in my calibre library. I won't be reading them all in a row. I'll read 5 or 6 then replace them with some other trilogy or some such to give me a break and then return to this after Trilogy X is finished. I do my best to keep things fresh.
MHI The Monster Hunter International books by Larry Correia. Once I'm finished what is currently out, I plan on re-reading Correia's Grimnoir trilogy and I'll just place it in this category so I don't have to rename things ;-)
Misc This is for all my standalone books that either don't belong to a series OR I just want to read the first book of a series and pretend it is not part of a series. I'll list these, just because.
Everything Flows by Vasily Grossman
Joy Makers by James Gunn (not that stinking movie guy)
Way-farer by Dennis Schmidt
The Resolve of Immortal Flesh by Rich Colburn
Dune by Frank Herbert
Drumindor by Michael Sullivan
Nonfiction This is the year I am seriously trying to read more non-fiction. Having an actual "category" for it helps tremendously.
Osten Ard These are the fantasy books by Tad Williams consisting of the Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy and then the sequel series Last King of Osten Ard. MST is a favorite from my young adult days, so I hope the Last King works well for my older self.
Pollifax / Alphabet Switching every couple of books between the Mrs Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman and the Alphabet crime mystery books by Sue Grafton featuring the character Kinsey Milhone. Completely different female characters. One I love and so far, one I hate. I'll let you guess which is which.
Ravens Shadow The Ravens Shadow trilogy by Anthony Ryan. I enjoyed the first book when I read it years ago but lost track of them as they came out. I'm hoping I still enjoy them.
Rohmer Much like the "Hamilton" category, this consists of two "complete collections" of Sax Rohmer (I am most interested in his Fu-Manchu books) and William Hodgson (who wrote the extremely weird House on the Borderland with that horrible yet mesmerizing pigman cover). This is my way of reading more older works, but at a slower rate than the newer stuff. More of a slow drip than me chowing them down like a pepperoni pizza.
The Russians Cycling through the complete works of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Turgenev. I'm in no hurry, so going through the collections is once again like a drip feed.
Saga of the Forgotten Warrior Larry Correia's foray into the book writing world of epic fantasy. He's a good enough author that I don't mind reading 2 different series by him, this and the Monster Hunter International.
The Shadow I have 10 or 11 Shadow omnibuses and each of them contains 5 or 6 The Shadow stories. Every time I finish one omnibus, I decide then if I want to replace it with the next omnibus or with a completely different series to give myself a break. Just like with the Hitchcock category, keeping things fresh is Important.
Warhammer 40K This is a real hodge-podge of whatever WH40K books I feel like reading. Most of WH40K is about the damnable Astartes/Space Marines and I HATE those guys, so I am forced to pick up other books. The problem is that the publisher, Black Library, doesn't make their back catalog easy to figure out what faction is being written about, so I have a very hit and miss approach to the books I add to this. If it wasn't for both Dawie and Mark, I would have given up on this "series" long ago. But they have given me enough help that I have close to another year's worth of books to go. I can deal with that.
Wolfe The Nero Wolfe books by Rex Stout. Only 13 or 14 more to go and then it will be time to start the most excellent re-read journey of all 47 books :-D It just doesn't get much better than that!
YA This is the category I use for all of the non-adult books. From middle grade to highschool to college age, I just chuck them all in here to keep from becoming totally disconnected from those kids who won't get off of my lawn. Right now, I am re-reading the original Earthsea trilogy by Ursula LeGuin. Good stuff!
If you read all of that, color me impressed. My reading rotation is complex, complicated and suited to no one else but myself. However, it works like you wouldn't believe. I haven't had a reading slump since 2015 or so, not even when life was almost unbearably stressful. I read each category one after the other, so I never have a "choice" about what to read next. I've made that "choice" already by including the books in the category. My choices are long range, not book by book, and it has worked for me. I have tried to recommend it to other people but I no longer do that for a variety of reasons. I am satisfied enough that it works for me.
This post is going to start two weeks ago, because I said so. Last week I returned to work after two months of being out due to an optic nerve palsy. I had scheduled my routine eye injection for Friday, so I only had to work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Let me tell you, I was so out of shape that by the time Friday morning rolled around, I was HAPPY to get the eye injection and not have to walk another day. My legs and feet hurt so bad that I had to take a tylenol when I got up Friday morning.
The following Monday was Labor Day, a federal holiday, so lots of people got it off. Of course, Mrs B works retail so she didn't. So I was home alone for the day. You know what I did? I watched Cheers for 7hrs straight. Cheers is a sitcom from the 80's and 90's. By the time Mrs B got home I felt like a zombie and realized it was a complete waste of a day. I was worn out still from work (3-4 days ago!) that I didn't care. I just enjoyed sitting on the couch doing absolutely nothing. Ahhhhh.
Then Tuesday happened, da da dum! I was assigned to a job that I could do by myself with the gps equipment about an hour away. The vehicle I was to use had a slow leak in one of the tires but as long as we pumped it up each morning, it was good to go. Well, 10m minutes from the job site, the patch on the hole gives up the ghost and the tire goes flat in 60 seconds. That van is so noisy that I didn't hear anything, but the steering immediately went supah wonkey and I pulled over. Sure enough, that tire was dead and I could feel the air coming out of the hole. Took me an hour to change that tire. It was big enough that I couldn't lift the spare back on, but thankfully a local cop stopped by and gave me a hand. I was sweating like a pig and upset as all get out (they KNEW the tire had a slow leak but didn't want to get it properly fixed) but at least I was only 10minutes from the site and could get going and grump to myself in the woods in peace. I even told the cop that the day just HAD to get better.
So Naive...
Ohhhhhh. I get to the site (which I remind you is an hour from the office) only to realize I've forgotten a vital piece of equipment that I need to do the job. I call the office and they send someone with it to meet me half way at a local town office. I'm waiting and waiting and finally text the guy, asking where he is. He tells me he is there and wondering where I am. He starts describing what he is seeing and I get a sinking feeling in my stomach. There are two towns that both start with Green but have different endings. He had gone to the wrong town. I let the office manager know and that point he said to just come back, as it was a complete waste of time. So I get a second job, just 20minutes from the office.
And somebody had been messing with the equipment and changed some settings, so it wasn't working right. But I didn't know WHAT settings had changed. I played around with what I knew, but by 3pm I was so angry and frustrated and my feet hurt (I had walked about a mile at this point looking for control points) that I just called it a day. Once back at the office the new guy (who is a licensed surveyor from Texas of all places) showed me what he had changed and what I needed to do to get it back to working order. I didn't even punch him for messing around with equipment that he doesn't know how WE use. I came home, ate dinner and was in bed by 8pm. I was ready to quit my job or do murder or both.
AND THAT WAS TUESDAY.
Wednesday was just another day of getting back in the saddle. I was again by myself, but doing a job that is ok for a two man crew and physically challenging alone. I did it but I wasn't very happy and once again, I just hurt. A body really gets soft in two months and I am finding out just how soft.
Yeah, that soft
Thursday I went back to the job I was supposed to do on Tuesday. No flat tires, no forgetting equipment, nothing. Everything went well. Except. There was a company outing at 1pm at a local beer garden (I don't know what they call them overseas), basically a place for the people of the company to socialize and drink a couple of adult beverages. Paid from 1pm to 4pm. I was told however that the job I was doing needed to be done by tomorrow and to "budget your time accordingly". Which meant that I needed to stay out today to make sure I got enough done to finish up tomorrow. Which meant I got back at 3pm and missed the entire thing. So while my coworkers were getting paid to swill beer and sit on their *&^% asses (like the office people don't sit on them enough!) I was out working in the woods. And the kicker is I'm not sure I'm going to finish the job up tomorrow anyway. I have to talk to the project manager tomorrow about some stuff.
And that brings us to Friday, ie, today. Except I'm pre-writing all this Thursday evening, so it's "tomorrow" for the me of Right Now. I don't know if I'll be home by 5pm or not and if I'm not, I wanted a record of how this week went down before I forget. And because Monday was a holiday, we don't get paid overtime because we didn't "work" on Monday. So any extra hours I put in are just at the regular rate. Not a very happy feeling. If I'm home before this goes live, I'll update it accordingly. I know you're breathless with anticipation.
Oh hurray, halloo! I was out by 3pm and I finished up the job with no problems. My legs and feet didn't hurt either, so I'm definitely getting back into battle shape. To celebrate such a great thing, I ordered an extra large pizza for the weekend. Half for me, half for Mrs B. So now, no matter how Saturday goes, I'll be ok. I feel like I actually thrived today instead of just surviving. Oh, that is a great feeling.
Saturday is going to be a long day too. I have a Men's Meeting with the guys from the Sunday church at 8am. Immediately after that, Mrs B and I go to the SDA church for service. It is the first Sabbath of the month, which means the Pastor is the one preaching and he almost always preaches until 1pm. After that is potluck, so an hour minimum, if not more. I don't expect to be home before 3 or 4pm. I'm exhausted just thinking about it :-D One good thing is that I don't have a post going live on Saturday, so I don't have to deal with the blog that day.
I can tell I haven't done one of these My Week posts in a long time because the words just came pouring out. Hopefully if I can do one or two of these a month that will help with the deluge of words coming your way. So blessed Sabbath to you and yours.
Last Saturday I woke up and in the afternoon went on a walk with Mrs B. I looked down the street and saw two stopsigns. I was seeing double. Got an eyepatch as the double vision was causing me some serious nausea. Sunday I was still dealing with double vision, so called the Eye Specialist. He listened to all my symptoms and recommended I go to the Emergency Room the next morning to get checked out.
Mrs B dropped me off at the ER at 5am Monday morning. I had all the the tests by 11am and then just sat in the ER waiting for the neurologist to go over my results. They moved me into the hospital proper at 8pm and I was in a room overnight for observation. Tuesday morning the head nurse and the Neurologist went over my results. Everything was fine. I hadn't had a mini-stroke, no clots or anything. Basically, my optic nerve in my left eye had "frozen' (it's common for type 1 diabetics). They scheduled a follow up with my Primary for Thursday and Mrs B picked me up around noon time. Wednesday was spent at home recovering and dealing with setting up more appointments.
Because of wearing an eye patch, I can't drive. I have almost no depth perception. So Thursday I walked to my primary drs' appointment. It was sidewalk the whole way, so it wasn't an issue, thankfully. She just confirmed that nothing had changed (or gotten worse) and wrote a dr's note excusing me from work until I saw the Eye Specialist. I am seeing him next Friday, July 11th.
During all of this time, our car is due for inspection. And the sensor to check everything out wouldn't work for the one garage, so they wouldn't even start the inspection. It would cost $400 to replace that sensor. I have to try to find another garage that will do the inspection BEFORE doing all the computer stuff. I'm not very hopeful though. Which means we're going to have get another car by the end of the month.
I am looking at some big medical bills, no money coming in as I can't work and then one of our cars won't pass inspection. Plus there's a bunch of other life stuff which just adds to the load. I am just incredibly stressed out, hence my lack of visiting you all. I am back to responding to the comments on my blog, that's a big step up from even a few days ago.
This exact same thing happened to me about 15 years ago and it took 4-6 weeks to recover. I am NOT looking forward to telling my boss I can't work for over a month. Even with a doctors note, it's just not going to be easy. Because it didn't happen at work, I'm not eligible for short term disability either. So I will probably continue to not visit you for a bit longer. I'll just be sticking around here.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Well, another week come and gone. Amazing how time flies. I'm wondering when I'll get to the stage where I judge things by the month, instead of the week? I mean, I'm thankful I've matured enough to do a week at a time instead of a day at a time, but just like a teenager champing at the bit to be an "adult", I want to be old enough for time to fly by. I have found myself referring to things by who was President at the time and not just the year, so that's a start ;-)
Didn't work a lot this week. I had to take Tuesday off because Mrs B had a procedure where she couldn't operate machinery afterwards, so I had to do the driving and make the decisions while she was still loopy. We went out to a diner afterwards and had some seriously delicious omelets. Mrs B had a cheese omelet with toast and homefries while I had the cheeseburger omelet with toast and homefries. Oh man, we were both so stuffed afterwards, it was great!
Thursday was a rain day. It started raining around 7am and went all day and into the evening. Maybe 25 years ago I would have gone in, but at some point I have decided that being soaked and miserable all day, while accomplishing almost nothing, isn't worth being paid for. So I called out. It helped that the office manager knew the storm was coming and gave all the field crews the option to call out. All of us took that option ;-)
I spent the day putting together my new tv setup. I had bought a 50in tv about a month ago and ordered a tv stand to go with it. There were missing parts and it was a bleeding process to get 8 little feet mailed to me. But I put it all together and then hooked everything up. Tv, soundbar, bluray player and I attached a 25ft hdmi cable for when I eventually will hook that up to my computer to play computer games on. I started at 8am and was expecting it to be a horrific experience. New electronics are picky and have a bajillion options and I was expecting things to go wrong at every step. Imagine my surprise when everything went smooth as glass and I had everything setup by 9am. I was shocked, in a good way. So I turned on the tv and watched the 3 Stooges until Mrs B got home that afternoon. That was a good day :-D
Friday it was back to work and boy, I did NOT want to go in. It didn't help knowing one of the other crew chiefs had taken the day off, so between the rain day on Thursday and having the next Monday off for Memorial Day, he was getting a 5day weekend, the lucky duck. The site we went to was about 90min away. So we had a lot of driving to do. And it was raining up there. Not enough to stop us, but enough to make it "slightly" miserable. On a Friday, sigh. Then we found out that one of the owners of the company said everyone could leave at 2pm if they wanted to. So we took lunch and hightailed it back to the office. It was a 7hr day and 3hrs of that was pure driving. It was a total waste, hahahahaa. But I was out at 2pm and ready to start my 3day weekend. That's a good feeling!
Today we're leaving for church in about 2hrs and once again, it is foggy, cloudy and drizzly. I hope that is going to help keep the traffic down, as we have to use a major highway and I don't want to share the road with a bajillion people all driving to their summer homes for the long weekend. Once we're back, I suspect I'll either be reading or writing up posts for June. Can you believe it is almost June already? I just blinked and it's the last week of May. Maybe I am getting old enough!
5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. 6 He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he[a] lay. 7 Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead, and behold, he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him. See, I have told you.” 8 So they departed quickly from the tomb with fear and great joy, and ran to tell his disciples. 9 And behold, Jesus met them and said, “Greetings!” And they came up and took hold of his feet and worshiped him. 10 Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.”
Matthew 28:5-10
3 He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.
Acts 1:3
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me….
….13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain….
….19 If in Christ we have hope[b] in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep….
I Corinthians 15:3-8, 13-14, 19-20
I have Hope this morning because Jesus is God. He demonstrated that by dying and coming back to life again. Death has no power over Him and I have put my trust in Him so death has no power over me beyond what God has decreed. What is even better is that YOU can have that same Hope too, if you will turn your life over to Jesus.
Technically, this will cover the last two weeks because January has been just as challenging as December, unfortunately.
Sunday, two weeks ago, I and another guy from church helped an older couple finish their move into a condo. It only took 20-30 minutes and I was inside for about 15min. On my drive home from their place my car engine began overheating and I saw steam coming from under the hood. I made it home safely, but when I lifted the hood, the engine block was just covered in what turned out to be coolant. I figured my radiator had blown, as this has happened before, one of those joys of owning used cars. One of the guys at work is a gear head and said he could install a new radiator. His rates were half those at a shop, so I dropped the Subaru off at his house Friday evening.
He contacted me Saturday letting me know the radiator was just fine. The problem is that the plastic overflow reservoir was missing. Someone had torn it out. He said he's seen this before. Meth heads like them to cook meth in and it takes all of 2 minutes to lift the car hood, rip it out and lower the car hood. So he just had to replace that. Less than half the price of a radiator. Hurray!
But wait, the drama continues...
Saturday it snowed several inches. Since we don't transact business on the Sabbath, we picked up the Subaru Sunday morning. There was a little stone retaining wall covered by snow that I didn't see and I backed into it. I was halfway home when I realized that had popped my tire. Pulled into someone's driveway to get off the road and jacked the car up with the little emergency jack. Only to find I was missing my tire iron to remove the lugnuts. Thankfully, Mrs B was parked next door, as she was following me home. I grabbed the tire iron from that car only to find it didn't fit. Oh, I was not a happy camper! Thankfully, one of the men from church stopped by with a tire iron that fit, so we got the spare tire on and trundled home.
Work has been brutal the last 2 weeks as well. It's not only been cold, but the windchills have kept the temps feeling like -5 to 5F, which just drains me to be out in for hours on end. And next week is supposed to be in the teens too. I'm trying not to think about it too much to be honest.
Mrs B continues to heal up but won't be returning to work for another two weeks.
I had my latest round of eye injections on Wednesday. That's always a good time, sigh. It's my new normal though so I have to get used to it. A combination of Tylenol, advil and a sleeping pill helped the recovery process. I hate sleeping pills because they always make me feel so groggy when I first wake up the next morning. But sleeping a solid 10-11hrs really helps my eyes feel better.
Sadly, while I was hoping to get a new, positive start in 2025, it's been more of the same from the tail end of '24. So now I'm looking forward to the end of January and pinning my hopes on February, hahaha!
♪Get in the Zone, the Judge Zone!♪
How has YOUR month gone so far? Feel free to unload in the comments. It is a Judge Zone, but I'm the only one doing any judging and since I read so much you know my judgements are classy. *raises pinky finger
