Welcome to Monday!  I’ve got some interesting stuff to talk about this morning.  I’ve got some praise to give out!  Let’s do that first.

A dear friend of mine whom we’ve been praying for who has had some very weird problems medically.  I don’t want to say more than that because of privacy issues and such, but suffice it to say, that through lots of prayers and apparently through very little medical effort on the doctor’s part, he is healed.  It is a truly wonderful and miraculous thing.  Praise God and I’m so happy for him and his dear wife.

Been talking on line and through email to several friends.  Counseling and reaching out.  There are several people I know who are sick, who have had someone close to them pass away, who are going through some sort of problem, financial dilemma or mental issue and I get this questionnaire in the mail asking me if I think things are better or worse since Biden has taken office.  My mind immediately thinks, “I don’t know a single person, I haven’t heard of a single person, I haven’t seen a single person, other than these left wing democrat liberals who can say that they are better off now than they were when Trump was in office.  And in all honesty, and I do mean truthfully and honestly, most of those democrat liberals that I’m talking about, those TV people, media people and government people, are liars, thieves, and evil people.  They are either outright lying about being better off or they ARE better off by stealing our money.  So no…silly question.  I do not think things are better since Biden has been president.  And now he’s breaking the Constitution.  He’s committing TREASON.  The real question hasn’t anything to do with him committing treason, it has to do with NO ONE DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT!  

Someone, I don’t remember who, said that he ought to federalize the Texas State National Guard.  I’m not a lawyer, I don’t know whether he can do that or not.  But what I do know is that every National Guardsman, everywhere is supposed to take an oath.  And that oath, that I just read, says that they are to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the State of whatever state they are in.  They will defend them against all enemies, foreign and domestic and will bear true faith and allegiance to them. They are to obey the orders of the President, the Governor, and the officers placed over them according to law and regulations.  First priority is to support and defend the two Constitutions.  So, if the President is not obeying the Constitution, he immediately voids himself from any other consideration in the chain of command.  He has to.  Because he becomes a threat to your first priority.  Your second priority is bearing true faith and allegiance to the two Constitutions.  You all know what “true faith and allegiance” means, right?

Words like dedication, devotion, fealty, fidelity, obligation, duty, honor, faithfulness… Putting the welfare of the group, the whole, the country ahead of your own.  The stuff the veterans held up their hands and swore to do and the rest of you might be struggling to come to grips with.  

My point in all this is that even if the President WERE to Federalize the Texas National Guard in order to open the border for the crossing of more illegal invaders, my thought is that I don’t believe it would be a lawful order, because it goes against the Constitution which says it is the Federal Government’s responsibility to defend the state’s borders against invaders, which they aren’t doing.  It also says that if the federal government doesn’t or won’t do so, then the state’s can do so, which is what Texas is doing.  And if the federal government tries to take away their ability to defend themselves, that is tantamount to treason.  And under U.S. Code Title 18 the penalty is … well … severe.

And this is now the third time today that I have gotten on a tangent when writing to someone (or someones) and have gone WAY further than I intended.  So, I’m not going to go any further on this or I’ll end up with emails from people saying that all I talk about is politics and religion when all they want to do is laugh and forget.  Well, all I can say to the ones who just want to laugh and forget is, skip past the words and get to the memes.  For the rest of us who want an intelligent conversation, that’s why I write.

Observations on Growing Older

• Your kids are becoming you…and you don’t like them … 
  • But your grandchildren are perfect!

• Going out is good.
  • Coming home is better!

• When people say you look “Great” …
  • They add “for your age!”

• When you needed the discount, you paid full price.
  • Now you get discounts on everything …movies, hotels, flights, but you’re too tired to use them.

• You forget names … but it’s OK because … 
  • Other people forgot they even knew you!!!

• The 5 pounds you wanted to lose is now 15 …
  • And you have a better chance of losing your keys than the 15 pounds.

• You realize you’re never going to be really good at anything …. 
  • Especially golf.

• Your spouse is counting on you to …
  • Remember things you don’t remember.

• The things you used to care to do, you no longer care to do,
  • But you really do care that you don’t care to do them anymore.

• Your spouse sleeps better on a lounge chair with the TV blaring than he does in bed.
  • It’s called his “pre-sleep”.

• Remember when your mother said, “Wear clean underwear in case you GET in an accident”?
  • Now you bring clean underwear in case you HAVE an accident!

• You used to say, “I hope my kids GET married …
  • Now, “I hope they STAY married!”

• You miss the days when everything worked …
  • With just an “ON” and “OFF” switch.

• When GOOGLE, iPad, email, modem were unheard of …
  • A mouse was something that made you climb on a table.

• You used to use more 4 letter words …
  • “What?”…”When?”  ???

• Now that you can afford expensive jewelry, 
  • It’s not safe to wear it anywhere.

• You read 100 pages into a book …
  • Before you realize you’ve read it.

• Notice everything they sell in stores is “sleeveless”?!!!
• What used to be freckles are now liver spots.
• Everybody whispers.
• You have 3 sizes of clothes in your closet … 
  • 2 of which you will never wear.

• But old is good in some things:
  • Old songs
  • Old movies
  • And best of all OLD FRIENDS!!

The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express praise for an answered prayer. Suzie stood and walked to the podium.

She said, “I have some praise. Two months ago, my husband, Frank, had a terrible bicycle accident and his scrotum was completely crushed.

The pain was excruciating, and the doctors didn’t know if they could help him.”

You could hear a muffled gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Frank must have experienced.

“Frank was unable to hold me or the children,” she went on, “and every move caused him terrible pain.” We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation, and it turned out they were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Frank’s scrotum and wrap very fine wire around it to hold it in place with metal staples.”

Again, the men in the congregation cringed and squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Frank. 

“Now,” she announced in a quivering voice, “thank the Lord, Frank is out of the hospital and the doctors say that with time, his scrotum should recover completely.”

All the men sighed with unified relief. The pastor rose and tentatively asked if anyone else had something to say.

A man stood up and walked slowly to the podium. He said, “I’m Frank.” The entire congregation held its breath.

“I just want to tell my wife that the word is sternum.” 

I once got sent out of class at school for being too sarcastic.  The teacher yelled at me, “WHAT WOULD YOUR PARENTS SAY IF I CALLED THEM?”

I replied, “Hello?”

She can do nothing without me.

Yes indeed, we did.

Okay, so remember the article from Stephanie on Saturday about the 35 things about  Mississippi they never taught you in school, right?  Well, our dear friend Wouter from South Africa wrote in to throw the flag on #15 which said:

15. The first heart transplant surgery in the world was performed by Dr. James D. Hardy at the Mississippi Medical Center in 1964.

Dad was saying a local English teacher recently convicted of overusing commas…She’s been told to expect a long sentence.

Oh, and speaking of and remembering old cartoons, remember this one from Saturday’s issue…

I was corresponding with Pop Smith about that one this morning and we were both saying how we’ve had days that have started that way.  But to realize that this was part of a Bugs Bunny cartoon, well, that’s what we used to call them, Warner Brothers cartoon, that used to play on TV for little kids on Saturday morning, and nobody thought anything wrong with it…can you IMAGINE this playing now?!?!  I shutter to think of the poor sheltered parents with the poor sheltered kidlets who would be so horribly traumatized by seeing such a thing. 

(Now you know I’m over here laughing so hard that the tears streaming down my face are almost blinding me from being able to see, right?)

Sigh…too much fun…

The sky was looking ominous so I asked Siri, “Surely, it’s not going to rain today?”

And she replied, “Yes it is, and don’t call me Shirley.”

That was when I realized I’d left my phone on Airplane mode.

Um… Wouter?

Many people have written in to ask what different members of the team that I have mentioned in the different issues look like.  What Stephanie looks like or Joe or even Sasquatch or … well, you get the idea.  Well, this…

…

…

this isn’t any of them.

(What?  Do you think I’m crazy?  I’m not going to out ANY of them!  They’ll all gang up and hunt me down in the middle of the night!!)

I KNOW!!  I hate it when that happens!  You empty it, you make a new pot!!  The rule is in my office, the boss gets off at 1500 hrs.  If you empty the pot before 1400 hrs., you make a new pot.  If it’s the weekend and the boss is here until 1600 or even 1700, which normally happens, then up to one hour prior to his departure, there better be coffee in the coffee pot.

Oh, did I mention…I’M THE FLIPPIN’ BOSS!!!

And if I empty the pot, I’m more than happy to make a new one.  I say more than happy, because then at least I know it’s made correctly.

What a great picture!

In my mind I’m still 24,
but my back is 65,
my knee is 77,
and my left hip turns 89 next week.

Isaiah 11:6-8  The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.  The  infant will play near the cobra’s den, and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.

I saw that picture and that scripture just hollered out at me.

Just got another message … comment from Evan and I’ve got to share it.

Yup, we’ve run many similar memes in the past.  It’s truly amazing to me when the stats are actually presented.  And yet the anti-gun crowd still think it’s the guns that are the problem.

Stephanie sent this great link to the story behind a great old psychedelic rock song of the sixties.  

Incense And Peppermints by Strawberry Alarm Clock – Songfacts

Okay, here’s the link  https://www.songfacts.com/facts/strawberry-alarm-clock/incense-and-peppermints

And that allows me to do something that I LOVE to do… THIS:

To all you youngsters out there…to the question you are about to ask, the answer is “yes”.  These are the kinds of songs we listened to when we were young.  And the answer is also “yes”.  To the other questions you were thinking of.  This was 1967 when it came out, so of course we were pretty much baked while listening. 

That is WAY TOO Funny!!!

BENEFITS OF A GOOD VOCABULARY!

I recently called an old Engineering buddy of mine and asked what he was working on these days.
He replied that he was working on “Aqua-thermal treatment of ceramics, aluminum and steel under a constrained environment.”
I was impressed until, upon further inquiry, I learned that he was washing dishes with hot water under his wife’s supervision.

Once you lick the frosting off a cupcake it becomes a muffin…
and muffins are healthy.
You’re welcome.

Me in high school:  Eats a supreme pizza, a dozen donuts, and a 2-liter bottle of coke at midnight…loses three pounds.

Me now:  Goes up a pants size every time I swallow my own spit.

And he’s doing a damn fine job of it so far!!!

They have the nerve, the absolute gall, to stand up on the podium, in front of the cameras and say that the reason they need to cut the barb wire in Texas is so that the Border Patrol can get in and Patrol the Border to make sure that there are no illegals crossing into our country.  And what do the do when the cut the wire?  They let illegals cross the border into our country.  LIARS!!!

Yeah, I know it’s an old joke, but it’s still funny.

I got this email from Pop Smith:

A few weeks ago you posted a pic of a melted candle.  I knew I had a similar one saved somewhere that I had taken

your pic

One I had taken after a hot summer

Pop Smith

That is way cool.  I like your melted candles much better, Pop! 

And while we’re talking about emails, I got this one from Vincent:

The “ DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOUR CHILDREN ARE ? “ was said, on Channel 5, at 10pm , just before the 10 o’clock news, many years ago, if I remember correctly; in NYC.

Vi

And that may have been where I heard it too since in Central Jersey we got the Philly and the New York channels.  Especially after Dad had a telephone pole installed in our backyard (he worked for Jersey Central Power & Light, Co. after all)  and put our antenna on top with the newest thing at the time…a rotor.  A rotor was a little motor attached to your antenna so it would turn and face the direction you wanted and fine tune your signal.  These were the days before cable TV.  

And now, a couple of Dart-centric entries curtesy of Stephen B.

Trying is NEVER failure!  Giving up, ALWAYS is.

The missus asked what I was doing on the computer.

I said I was looking for cheap flights…

She got all excited, which is strange as she’s never shown any interest in Darts before!

In High School I was so excited to become a Senior.

I’m not too excited now.

That has GOT to be a little intimidating!

Texas Rangers?

THE FIRST RULE OF THE OCD CLUB IS TO HAVE A SECOND RULE SO THERE IS AN EVEN NUMBER OF RULES.

I know this person.

Canadian Fun Fact:  It is illegal to lock your car doors in downtown Churchill, Manitoba Canada in case someone needs to escape from a polar bear.

You know, that’s probably a very good law.  A better law though would be, DON’T LIVE IN CHURCHILL, MANITOBA CANADA BECAUSE OF THE POLAR BEARS!!!  Just sayin’

A human fart can be louder than a trombone.

I discovered that fact at my daughter’s school concert.

Today I went on thesaurus.com and searched for “ninjas”.  The computer told me, “Ninjas cannot be found.” 

Well played ninjas, very well played.

You never know what I have up my sleeve.

Today, for example, it was a dryer sheet.

“I’m looking for the girl-next-door type.  I’m just going to keep moving house until I find her.”

Okay, so having just listened to a podcast where they talked apologetics this last cartoon made me laugh until tears came rolling down my cheeks.  But with that my dear, dear friends, we’re going to call this episode complete!