Friday = Wear Red to Support Your Troops

Go here. Buy a shirt. While you are at it, grab the logo above and freely spread it around while pointing people to the web site.

Thank you, and God bless you all!

Full Discosure: I own one red shirt presently. I wore it to work this morning, and, when I got home, I wore it while doing yard work. I got it very sweaty, and could not, in good faith, take my wife to lunch wearing a sweaty shirt. So, I showered and changed into a grey polo. I'm sorry. I'll try to buy more red shirts, besides the ones I have coming from here, so I am not caught short in the future. Please forgive me.

2,996 Project

sticky at top - scroll down for new.

Please follow the link behind the graphic on the left sidebar. Read through the 2,996 site, and, if you have a blog, prayerfully consider adopting one of the victims of the 9/11 attacks to remember on your blog. Thank you and God bless you all.

It's Monday! No, Tuesday!

I wrote this on Monday, sent it home on Tuesday, and I am finally posting this on Tuesday night. My, how time flies...

I’m planning to start a pool on the birth of TMBCitW, and the award would be BlogMad credits. I have some credits set aside, leftover from a gift from prying1, (I’ve been thinking about this for a while now...) and I figured that could be the base of the prize pool.

Here’s what I’ve got figured out so far: I will publish the doctor’s statement of how far along TMBWitW is, as of a certain date. Entries would "cost" 5 BlogMad credits, with three going into the first place prize pot, and two going into the second prize pot. If you don’t belong to BlogMad, then you could join, surf a bit, and save up the credits you needed. The entries would consist of a credit transfer to my account, with an accompanying note as to the date and time block for the birth. Five credits would reserve a half hour block, the blocks would start and end on the hour/half hour. First come, first served, and in the event two people file for the same block the timestamp would determine who gets it.

What do you think? Would you get in on the action?

If I get a favorable reaction, I’ll put the contest up on September 12, 2006, with the evening posting. Be forewarned: I plan on doing a lot of BlogMad surfing in the ensuing weeks, to see how many people I can get into the pool...

My beautiful wife bought me an early Christmas/Birthday present, since she said she was going to be really busy around then. Can't imagine what with. Anyway - I am now the proud owner of a Yamaha bass, Crate amp, and assorted accessories. WooHoo! Mah own git-tar! Now I can return the borrowed equipment and play on my own. It has a sweet, mellow tone - and I haven't put the new strings on it yet, it still has the factory strings! Can't wait to run the fatties on that body...

Hmm, that almost sounded wrong...

So! In the spirit of the giving, Merry Christmas! May God bless you and yours until you just don't know what to do with any more blessings!

Two For One Friday

Two things: the first is from an e-mail that TMBWitW sent to our circle at church. She says it much better than I could hope to:

Well, it has now been 3 weeks since my mom arrived at Sunrise Medical Center in Las Vegas.

Cary & I were going to take a trip up there tomorrow, but she is in a sedated state, so we are re-planning this trip for next Thursday 8/31/06.

We found out today, just about 12:30, that the results of her liver biopsy revealed that she has cancer. It is on the back side and part of the inside of her liver. I do not know what the next steps are; she is too weak right now for them to attempt a surgery (if a surgery can even be done to rid her of the cancer?).

Please continue to pray. I am not sure whether or not she will even know I am there on Thursday, but we will be making the trip anyway.

Thank you ALL for your continued love, support, and prayers. God has truly blessed me with ALL OF YOU!

The second one I just had to share with you, if for no other reason than the weekend is here and let's end on an upbeat, shall we?

Prescott (AZ): A Yavapai County sheriff's deputy patrolling a senior housing development outside Prescott on Wednesday spotted a 5-foot-tall marijuana plant growing between two driveways.

Deputy Justin Dwyer got out, identified the plant and interviewed the residents, spokewoman Susan Quayle said. They told the deputy they thought the plant was "just an attractive weed, and they had been watering it." Quayle said it appeared the plant was growing wild and probably sprouted from a stray seed.

Where to begin?

... they thought the plant was "just an attractive weed, and they had been watering it." ...

Think about the ages of the residents ... think about how tall it had grown ... I'll bet it was an attractive "weed."

... probably sprouted from a stray seed. ...

And just where did that seed come from? How long does it take a plant, regularly watered, to grow to five feet? How long has it been since a sheriff's deputy patrolled that area?

Have a good weekend. If you are on the front lines, keep your head down and your courage up. God bless you all, and we'll see you next week.

Wear Red on Friday

Go here. Buy a shirt. While you are at it, grab the logo above and freely spread it around while pointing people to the web site.

Thank you, and God bless you all!

Today’s Word: Obliviots

o-bli-vee-uts: n., persons who are oblivious to their surroundings, and oblivious to the fact they are oblivious; usually accompanied by sense of being the center, and sole occupant, of the entire universe. Very similar to Darwin Award Candidate.

I was at the first major intersection I traverse on my commute this morning, headed south, waiting for the light to change. The north and south turn lanes got their arrow, and the cars in those lanes moved out, in a surprisingly organized manner (considering I am in Phoenix, Arizona). At this point, the obliviot makes her appearance. She started crossing the street from east to west on the south side of the intersection.

The lights turned green for the north-south traffic. Since there was an obstruction, the northbound cars did not move. The southbound lanes (remember, we are in Phoenix, where nothing stops the green light drag race) took off like a shot, crossing the five lanes on the crossroad. Obliviot suddenly stopped walking, in the northbound turn lane, because she sensed impending doom.

Having started her illegal foray across the street, she stood in the crosswalk at the turn lane (I will give her credit for using the crosswalk) watching in amazement as the southbound drivers flew past her. Obviously, we were supposed to stop, and allow her to finish crossing unimpeded. None of us did. I watched in the rear view mirror as she waited for the last of the southbound traffic to clear, and she sprinted across the remaining lanes, only to start sprinting across the eastbound lanes, crossing the street to the north, just as the east/west traffic got their green lights. At that point, I was too far down the street to be able to pick her out in the mirror without loosing concentration on my task at hand; that is, driving in Phoenix.

I do not know if she survived her street crossing foray, but she needs to learn that the people here do not stop for random street crossers like they do in her country of origin. At least, I am assuming they do that in her country of origin; otherwise why would she cross like that? It's not a natural action, that's for sure – very much against the whole "survival" circuit that kicks on in the brain. Well, for some people it does.

God bless you all, please drive safely, and look both ways before crossing the street when you have the appropriate clearance/light/walk sign.

Monday Update

Ten tons of gravel in the backyard - done. Surprisingly enough, I am not nearly as sore as I was last week, with only three tons moved. Maybe I should be physically active more often...

Saturday night's rehearsal went pretty well - I was handed a new piece of music, and did not mess it up too badly. TMBWitW and her best friend and their "Momma" were cracking up because I apparently had a perplexed/lost look on my face most of the time. Yeah, thanks for the moral support, honey. Nothing more helpful than your lifemate rolling in the aisle as you are trying to play...

Friday night, TMBWitW and our adopted parents (T&S) went to a concert at Celebrity Theatre. It's a "theatre in the round" type of set up, only the stage rotates, ever so slowly and gently, as the artist is performing. The opening act was Mark Schultz, who was worth the cost of admission alone, in my opinion. He did a lot of his best stuff, including "Remember Me" and "Letters From War" - a song which I love and cannot listen to at the same time. When the stage started rotating, Mark stopped playing and said "Do we have to do that?" Turns out he gets motion sickness. He was adapting pretty well, until after three rotations the stage started going the other way. He stopped again, in the middle of the song, and said "Wow. That's fantastic." I don't think he meant it.

The main act was Phillips, Craig, and Dean. I hadn't been to one of their concerts in some time; actually, since a Christmas program that the choir I was in at the time sponsored and they sang the front. They've been together for 16 years, and still harmonize like nobody's business. About halfway through the concert, TMBWitW (she's pregnant, you know...) said she wasn't feeling well, so we bid T&S good night and went on home.

Sunday was very relaxing. After church, I sat down and watched the race, and enjoyed watching Matt Kenseth pretty much dominate the race after Dale Jr. had a bobble in the pits. Jeff Gordon was charging, but just didn't have enough for Matt.

That was my weekend. How was yours? Sorry I don't write much anymore. I miss the interaction, and can only get on the home computer when TMBWitW doesn't have homework or a paper to write. Did I mention she is working on her Bachelor's in Accounting? Yup, full time job, full time student, and soon to be a mommy. Quite the dedication, I tell you.

Mom update: Early this morning, she had a cardiac arrest. The medical types (I'm losing faith in doctors right at the moment, bear with me) finally read the notes sent to them (two weeks ago, when she arrived in Vegas), and started treating the lesions on her liver. Oh, and to "reduce the stress" they sedated her - the stress is what triggered the CA, and the only reason she is still with us is because her husband didn't want to leave her alone - so at 3:00 this morning, she spasmed and started bleeding form her mouth. He hollered for the nurse, she came running in, started CPR (or whatever they're calling it now) and the nurse called a Code 99, resulting in a roomful of medical staff doing their best to keep her alive. Now that she is stabilized and in the ICU again, they are treating her problems. Thank you all for your prayers, and if you could continue, we would appreciate it.

God bless you all, and stay safe. Gawfer, I hope you and Mrs. Gawfer had a very boring flight home.

Recycled Friday Post

You know what that means:



Go here and tell Sue I sent you. While you are at it, grab the logo above and freely spread it around while pointing people to the web site.

Thank you, God bless, and Thank You to our troops!

I'm sorry, but I've been moving gravel all day and I am tired. I will try to post more interesting stuff, but with the limited access at work now I don't have the option of posting at break or at lunch anymore. I've got more gravel to move tomorrow, but this evening I am going to dinner with friends and TMBWitW and then we are going to see Phillips, Craig, and Dean in concert. With Mark Schultz. It just doesn't get any better than that.

What a Workout!

I am going to leave the political aspirations of certain ill-bred whiny women out of this post. I'll leave that to people who have more time and desire to commit to tracking those sorts of things, like the Old Ranter.

Me? I'm into the whole "home improvement" thing - you've seen pictures, right? - and this last weekend was no exception.

TMBWitW has decided that the landscape bark didn't really fit what she had envisioned - so it's now composting at the new church property, waiting for the right moment to be used over there. Instead, we are now installing "fish-eye" gravel in most of the backyard. There will also be a patch of grass, with any luck; and a sandbox and playhouse for TMBLGitW when she shows up. OK, I know, I don't have to have the playhouse built quite yet, but I am a project oriented type of guy...

So - do you know how many trips with a wheelbarraow you need to move three tons of 3/8 gravel from the street to the backyard? I quit counting at twenty five - and they weren't light loads, either. Every muscle in my body was screaming at me yesterday morning; today wasn't much better. I'll be doing this again, with a ten ton load, in the near future. Someone miscalculated the area to be covered, by a factor of three, and how deep, by a factor of 2, so the first load wasn't nearly enough. I'll have to fire my project manager or hire a quality control inspector. Anyone willing to help me out next time? Drop me an e-mail...

Some serious news - TMBWitW's mother had a stroke last week, and is still in the hospital. Any prayers anyone would care to offer for the grace of God to be with Grace as she recovers would be appreciated.

I am co-teaching a small group on Thursdays, and we are going through a wonderful series found at the Boston Christian Bible Study Resource web site. Drop me a line if you would like to study along, I will let you know what we are covering each week.

There has been a change of policy at my work regarding Internet access - it is now only for work related purposes, including break and lunch time. That means I'll start getting caught up on my reading, but I'm going to fall behind on my surfing. If I don't visit your site for a while, I have not forgotten about you - I just haven't made it there.

I appreciate every single one of my readers; I treasure those of you who stop by even if it's only once, and I cannot place a value on those who are regular readers here. I love all of you, and pray God's blessings on your lives and in your everyday walk. Yearn to grow closer to Him, and know that you were made to worship Him.

God bless, and take care.

It's Friday!

You know what that means:



Go here and tell Sue I sent you. While you are at it, grab the logo above and freely spread it around while pointing people to the web site.

Thank you, God bless, and Thank You to our troops!

Latest From Grassfire

Now, this is ridiculous. They should have received medals; the illegal drug-smuggling scum should have been shot. Accidently, of course.

+ + + + + +


8/9/06

Two U.S. Border Patrol Agents have been found guilty, and now face prison terms of upwards of 20 years for doing their jobs--apprehending an illegal alien at our border!

Even more outrageous, this illegal alien is suing the U.S. for $5 million for violating his civil rights!

I have just signed a petition calling for the President to pardon these two Border Agents and I'm asking you to join with me by clicking here for the full story and the petition:

Border Agents

Thanks!

+ + + + + +

The people at Grassfire will ask for your name and address - if that spooks you out, don't worry - they already know where you live. What they probably don't know is how well armed you are...

The administration is trying it's level best to screw everything up at once - hobbles on the military, insisting on fighting a "limited" engagement; hobbles on the Border Patrol - can't arrest drug smuggling illegals; and trying to promote peace in the middle east when hizb'ollah, al-queda, and islamofacists still exist.

It's time to take the gloves off - tell Israel that we have her back, tell the in-theatre commander that he has full discretion to solve the problem short of nuclear solutions, and kick Mexico's butt. Yes, I said Mexico. The National Guard could probably have a five mile DMZ arranged in about a week - that is, the first five miles south of the border. If anyone is seen in the area, they will be shot. We need to start protecting our sovereign borders. If Mexico doesn't like it, tell them it's time to get their act together and quit encouraging their citizens to funnel north. Any one coming into this country (through legal channels, of course) is held in quarantine (just like the good old days) until their background check comes back. Clean? Welcome to America. Not clean? Line 'em up and execute them for spies. I'll bet that would slow the flow real quick. No, it's not constitutional - but then, they arent' under the protection the rest of us legal citizens are, now are they?

Just For Forneus

(OK, the rest of you can read it too...)

I had been working on an essay-length answer for many of your questions, Forneus. I even tried to work on it this weekend, but alas, life once again rears it's head and I have to live it while it is here. No sense delaying that project.

Then, I ran across this at Snopes. It pretty much sums up what I was trying to say, but it says it from the vantage point of someone who lived through it.

I hope this clarifies why I believe the way I do about the mess in the Middle East, where the aggression is coming from, and what it will take for a lasting cease fire to be accomplished.

God bless you all, and I hope this helps you, Forneus.

Blogslackeritis

I'm a slacker. I was writing an essay in response to some questions that
Forneus had posed, and then the weekend hit.

So, instead of writing an essay, I painted a baby room. And assembled a crib. And moved a desk. And re-set a computer for TMBWitW. And watched the Brickyard 400 (Congratulations to Jimmie Johnson in the Lowe's 48 car). And also managed to do praise and worship rehearsal, run the shuttle, and attend church.

Enough about me. Go here and order your Red Shirt for Fridays. Tell Sues I sent you. It may get you a discount, it may get your price jacked up, or you may get the regular price. Why don't you go over there, order a shirt, and find out?

God bless you all, and Gunz, I've been praying for you. But then, you probably already figured that out.

Red Shirt Friday

It's Red-Shirt Friday. One of my blog buddies, a dyed-in-the-wool Trekkie, has expressed concern about wearing a red shirt. Cube, I want to reassure you, since you are not on the first landing team you should be OK.

I am working on a bit of a response for some questions that Forneous asked. I might have that up Monday.

In the meantime, our adopted Momma sent this out:

WHY PARENTS DRINK...

A boss wondered why one of his most valued employees had phoned in sick one day.

Having an urgent problem with one of the main computers, he dialed the employee's home phone number and was greeted with a child's whisper.

"Hello?"

"Is your daddy home?" he asked.

"Yes," whispered the small voice.

"May I talk with him?"

The child whispered, "No."

Surprised and wanting to talk to an adult, the boss asked, "Is your Mommy there?"

"Yes."

"May I talk with her?"

Again the small voice whispered, "No."

Hoping there was somebody with whom he could leave a message, the boss asked, "Is there anybody else there?"

"Yes, " whispered the child, "a policeman."

Wondering what a cop would be doing at his employee's home, the boss asked, "May I speak with the policeman?"

"No, he's busy", whispered the child.

"Busy doing what?"

"Talking to Mommy and Daddy and the Fireman," came the whispered answer.

Growing more worried as he heard what sounded like a helicopter through the earpiece on the phone, the boss asked, "What is that noise?"

"A hello-copper" answered the whispering voice.

"What is going on there?" demanded the boss, now truly apprehensive.

Again, whispering, the child answered, "The search team just landed the hello-copper."

Alarmed, concerned and a little frustrated the boss asked, "What are they searching for?"

Still whispering, the young voice replied with a muffled Giggle:

"ME."

Red on Friday - Support Your Troops

'nuff said.

I Support Israel

This is the latest from Grassfire:

Israel is under attack.

Being pushed to the brink of existence by Hezbollah terrorists bent on destroying the freedom-loving nation and its democratic society. But that is only half of the crisis...

Israel is also fighting a battle in the press where they are being maligned and misrepresented as the aggressors in their war against terror.

To this end, Grassfire has teamed with the nation's foremost media watchdog, The Media Research Center to expose the egregious examples of liberal media bias in this current Middle East crisis.

To show my solidarity with Israel on both fronts, I have signed Grassfire's "Support Israel" petition.

I am asking you to join with me and thousands of citizens who support Israel, by clicking here:

I Support Israel

Once 75,000 citizen petitions have been signed, Grassfire will be presenting your petition to the Israel Embassy. Additionally, your petitions will be presented to key media outlets as well--demanding they report the truth about Israel.

By adding my name, I am standing in support of Israel both in their war on terror, and their battle with the media. I am also sending a message to the citizens of Israel that they are not alone in this battle to protect and preserve our democracies.

Won't you join me in this display of solidarity with Israel?

By signing the petition, you are showing support for Israel; while there you have the option of joining Grassfire's mailing list. This is an easy way to stay up-to-date on the happenings in this country, from border security to your rights as a citizen.

God Bless You All.

Especially for Jarhead

Just because I have some down time, and John hinted so strongly - this is the outside of the double doors I installed to replace the old and broken Arcadia door:



I know, I need to trim out the outside of the door. Time, people, time. That, and think about it: manual labor in 110° heat. I mean, really.

Here's where it gets tricky. The door (you will have to take my word for it, my friend and I have both been doing this for more years than either one cares to remember) is square, true, and plumb to a point on the outside patio, measured from the center of the door opening, and equal to the height of the door. In other words, from that point the measurement is the same to the top right and top left, and the bottom right and bottom left, corners of the door. The outside edges of the door are flush with the exterior wall.




The gap at the top right measure 15/16" while the gap at the top left is only 1/8". The dark brown in the pictures is corner moulding, nailed to the frame of the door, to fill in the gap so when I do paint there won't be a big splotch of caulk. Also in the top left picture, you can see where I used caulk for the side fill; that changes in the bottom left corner, where the gap is back out to 5/8":




The gap at the bottom right is 1 1/4". Look at the middle joint of your index finger. On most people, that's about an inch. Go ahead and measure, tell me yours isn't - I'll wait. Remember - I said about an inch.

Here's a shot from the crowded interior:



Pardon the distortion, I was leaning sideways over the breakfast bar (why, yes, I put that in myself too...) and trying to get a straight-on shot.

Well, enough about my home improvement projects. What have you been up to? God bless you always, and keep you safe - especially those of you still on the lines.