Evidence of Evolution

On todays MSN homepage was proof that evolution is a fact, not just a theory.  It seems some are touting mechanical devices implanted into humans as evidence we are on the verge of a new step in the evolution of humans.  Gosh, in that case cable TV evolved from antennae. 

Resolutions

     I never have been one to make resolutions, especially for the New Year,  Change is not something that occurs because you will it to be or because it is a certain date.  The last time I made a resolution I failed miserably,  nevertheless my failure did not prevent me from becoming accomplished in my ultimate goal.  Things just took a different twist than I thought it would.  I'm sure that I will eventually be able to do what I had once resolved to do but not because of the effort to do it but as a by-product of other efforts. 
  The gym's will be packed Monday as people begin a new weight loss regime.  Weight loss doesn't begin in the gym and people expecting to go to the gym for a few minutes for a half-hearted workout a couple times for a few weeks in January are soon disappointed when they don't lose weight or feel better. In fact, they probably go home sore, eat to comfort themselves, feel worse and weigh more, get depressed and give up.  No, weight loss begins at the table and has little to do with how much or how little one eats.  It has more to do with what one eats and drinks and how and when that food is consumed. 
  Going to the gym has more to do with shaping and strengthening our bodies  and actually very little to do with weight loss. 
  As far as quitting smoking goes, good luck with that one.  If you focus on what you are losing then you will never quit.  Focus on what you are gaining.  Use every aid you need to and you don't have to choose just one.  It is a nasty, unhealthy, expensive addiction that can be beat and you will be so proud of yourself that all the smokers in your life will hate you for it. 
    If I have something I would want to change it is how I spend my time.  Since I retired I have spent time fixing up my yard, taking care of the church property, helping my Mom, studying and learning, and doing many things for other people.  Starting now, I am going to spend more of my time being attentive to my wife  and doing things with her and for her. 

Double lesson on Sunday

  We did not have Sunday School on Christmas Day so this coming Sunday, January 1, 2017 church will begin 15 minutes early so we can teach the lesson from the 25th as well as the less for the 1st.  
I don't mind teaching two lesson at one time but these two lessons are radically different.  Glad I'm not the teacher.  I have secretly been looking for my replacement for a few years now and have not found anyone knowledgeable enough to teach an interesting class or someone I could stand to  listen to for even half an hour. 

  The only person qualified to teach the adult Sunday School class thinks Sunday School is his opportunity to deliver a mini-sermon.  I did manage to get another person elected as my substitute teacher and he has taught a couple of times.  His first lesson was awful.  He was intimidated by my style and try to over teach but needed up reading to the class the onions of learned men which was not only dry and boring but well over the understanding of the class.  His second lesson was much better.Still, he isn't the person the class needs.
 
   Not one to give up, I looked to one of the new members and he is teaching this Sunday.  If he is well received by the class then I will take steps to turn the class over to him.     

letter to brother

Today I wrote my brother a letter letting him know that I still love him in spite of his transgressions
but I still expect him to do the correct thing, especially since a great dishonor was done to our mother. 
  I understand his motivations for doing what he did but not his justifications nor will I tolerate his denials or his blame shifting.  The best thing to do is own up, make right and then move on.

Dishonesty in the Brotherhood

    I have two brothers, one older and one younger, and we have never been close.  I may have mentioned a time or two that my brothers, particularly my older brother has not only never warmed up to me, he often has been hostile.  I have always believed that a person tends to kick against his own evils.  How often does one read about the President of the local substance abuse agency get pulled over for drunk driving, or the local bully who singles out gay people to harass and then gets caught in a homosexual act.   I think that is true of some preachers who rail against one particular type of sin only to have it discovered that was his vise. 
   I mentioned preachers because they tend to be more vocal and have speaking opportunities that most of us do not have but I believe this truth crosses all lines of work.  The policeman that takes bribes, the law and order politician that is caught embezzling, the husband who constantly accuses his wife of cheating while he is having an affair, and the murderer who attempts to aid the police in solving the latest murder. 
    All these many years my older brother has accused me of trying to scheme to deprive the family of their inheritance when Mom passes away and has blocked every effort I have made to help her up until a year ago when she ended up in a rest home.  Of course over the years he had convinced my Mom that I was untrustworthy so both .he and my younger brother have financial power of attorney but I was left to handle her financial affairs with no access to the necessary information. 
  After I had successfully gotten Mom qualified for Medicaid  older brother took over paying the bills except that he never really paid them.  Each month I wrote the checks and had Mom sign them.  Mom has been on Medicaid for a year now and she is broke.  It shouldn't be but she has $24.00 left in her account.  She receives $90.00 a month from the VA which cannot be used to pay bills with but there it is, gone too. 
  I asked my younger brother for help.  Fortunately he is a CPA and he discovered   that my older brother has taken out over $4,000.00 from Mom's account to pay his own bills with.  I'm going to give him a little while to make good then I'll let the law take over if he continues to say he isn't responsible for all of it, implying that I was dishonest too.  This time I have proof. 

double success

ration   This is being posted from my new computer.  I successfully access my blog.  The only disappointment for the day was that both the banks and post office are closed today b meaning some important documents will have to wait a day or two longer to get mailed. 
   I hope you had a Merry Christmas.  I did.  Our Christmas play went well and we had two ladies get saved.  I visited Mom and discovered her in good spirits in spite of her having double pneumonia.  Even though yesterday was Christmas it was still Sunday and we had a handful at church.   It seems to me that if there was one day a Christian would want to be in church it would be the day we celebrated the birthday of Christ.  I realize that there is a lot of preparation to be done for Christmas dinner and the kids want to open and play with their presents.  It reminds me of the time that Jesus stopped by to visit some friends.  One busied herself in the kitchen making dinner and trying to make everything just so so while her sister just sat at the feet of Jesus.  Jesus reminded the lady that the one who sat at his feet did the more needful thing for He wasn't always going to be with them. 
  I believe dinner can wait, the toys aren't going to disappear, and the children aren't going to die before church services are over.  To me it just goes to show where our hearts really lay. 

Success

Everyone likes to succeed.  I got a new computer and but my old desktop in the living room.  It seems I could not connect to my wireless network so I worked all day yesterday trying to figure out how to connect my computer wirelessly.  Last night I had an idea so I tried it this morning.  It worked. 
   Now my next project is to get my blog up and running on my new computer.  It seems I forgot to record the address and I didn't run cables between the computers to load info from one to the other.  Hopefully my next post will be from my new computer. 

Not what I wanted for Christmas

My wife and I usually don't exchange gifts at Christmas time.  We seldom even put up a tree.  We do love the Christmas season and are normally busy doing things for others.  We prefer to get something expensive sometime during the year.  One year we purchased a gas fireplace insert, another year it was living room furniture, another time it was new computers.  This year we didn't need anything really so I bought something special for her and she did the same for me.  We even put up a tree, howbeit a 2 foot desk top model with lights but it is big enough for us. 
  We never have friends stop over and family lives to far away.  I'm glad because this way no one is disappointed when we find other things to do so we don't have to see each other.  Well, that last statement isn't exactly true.  I do have some family members that I care a lot about. 
  Anyway, my wife and I had not planned on anymore expenditures this holiday season but our heat pump started acting up again.  Some kind of part was not working properly and had to be replaced.  The part itself was inexpensive but the labor to replace the part would be almost the amount of the entire bill, estimated to be around $1100.00.  The unit is almost twelve years old and we have spent  a lot of money keeping it repaired.  Enough. in fact, to be enjoying a new one so instead of repairing this hold unit once again enjoying a new one is exactly what we are going to do. 
  We were told it would be installed by Wednesday.  Our present unit is a Trane and I really didn't want another one.  Our new unit is going to be a Coleman.  The kind I'd really like cost almost twice as much (and maybe cheaper in the long run but there is never a guarantee).  I think the Coleman is a pretty good unit.  I sure hope so.      It's not exactly what I wanted for Christmas.

Christmas Program

The church had its annual Christmas program today and, although short, it was highly effective.   Two ladies got saved tonight.  If you don't know what that means, I'll explain.  It means that a person admits they are a sinner (which doesn't mean they are bad people) and acknowledges that they need a savior and accept what Christ did on the cross and agree to live the remainder of their lives under the leadership of Jesus. 

My semon went well.

  I preached Sunday night and my message was well received.  At least I made my point.  I know the pastor doesn't much care for my lessons or my messages.  Almost every time I preach he has an off handed commit to make the next time he preaches.  Just because the preacher doesn't agree with me doesn't mean I'm wrong.  He claims he studies all the time and I don't doubt that buy his study methods and mine are different. 
  His father pastored for 47 years and saved his message outlines.  I'm almost positive that the pastor selects and outline, copies and pastes the supporting scriptures , and then studies the message to insure he can deliver it properly.  I don't have message outlines.  I do sometimes read a book or listen to a message and develop my own outline from that but most often I originate my own message.  I study by reading commentaries, books by preachers,  reading the scriptures, or listening to preachers on the radio.  I try to stick to things that I can validate through study of a wide variety of opinions and not just by telling others what someone thought or what I think. 
  I will never say things like "once saved, always save, If saved always saved, or you have to get right in order to live right in order to die right.  If those phrases were found in scripture then I would have no problem using them but those phrases never occurred so I don't.  Even the idea that one of those phrases could be correct does not occur.
   Yes, salvation is a simple process and it is true that one can be sure of ones eternal destination, but there is something lacking in those canned phrases above.  I also know after salvation we are freed from the penalty of sin but we are not freed from the obligation to obey the Law.  Christ fulfilled some of the requirements of the law and paid the penalty of disobedience for us but we are duty bound to surrender our selves to Christ and live our lives as if he is living his life through us.  It is neither as complicated as it sounds nor as simple as some people make it. 
  In any case I support my pastor in his efforts to do God's will and will not undermine his efforts even if he does that to me. 

computer problems

   From time to time we all have computer problems.  My internet security expired and didn't renew because I had changed my credit info and didn't update my info.  I'm not saying I got hacked but my system became unstable.  I had to purchased a new router so I could have a secure connection and then I had to do a system restore to stabilize my system.  It seems to working fine now.
  I know I had been working with an unsecure network and north state was no held in remedying the situation.  Until 2 weeks ago there had been no problem.  I decided to ley Windows Defender take care of my internet security which I suppose was a mistake.  It may have been that my problems began after my security was cut off and before I restarted Defender. The program worked good when it was Security Essentials. 
  Even so, I ordered a new computer in which there is no tower but it is consider a desktop and has the touch screen technology.  I need a better computer in the living room ( I have one connected to by big screen TV ).  The one there is so slow. Gosh we have lots of computers.  I have two desktops and a laptop and my wife has two laptops and is getting another one.  I don't use my laptop for much; just to make a DVD of the church services on a Sunday afternoon. 
  I need a reliable computer to print the church bulletins and to find information on to help me prepare lessons.  I don't know how we did it without computers.  Well, I do and we didn't do it quite as well. 

Advise Not Taken

In an earlier post I talked about a man that was about to receive a large settlement from disability and what I thought should be the best way to handle his new found gains.  I don't believe he followed my advise because he paid for Christmas dinner for the entire church at the Pioneer last night.  He has been driving a "rental" car the last week which I believe is the "new" car (2016 model) he was thinking about buying. 
  We had another man get a lump sum from disability about 3 or four months ago.  He purchased a picnic shelter for the church and bought some new clothes and a used pickup truck.  He didn't attend the dinner last night because he was broke.  Two years ago a family won a large settlement from an auto accident.  It seemed like they traded cars every three months and were all the time grabbing the check at church functions.  It was youth night and the youth director was taking the kids to Sir Pizza.  It was the mans daughter's birthday so he picked up the tab for all the pizza.  There was the preacher and his wife, the youth director, his wife, and two kids, this guy, his wife and his four kids and the oldest ones wife, his brother and his wife, and his ex-wife and her husbands and three children plus eight kids from the youth group and then some other folks I have no idea who they were. 
  The group had ordered eight individual pizza and 8 extra-large pizza's plus salads and drinks.  The bill was in excess of $300.00.  Any way, the man and his wife are now separated mainly because he spent thousands of dollars and had little to show for it.  She has her money and a new guy and he has a run down trailer, an old pickup truck medically problems, and no real job. 
  Getting a lot of money is not a cause of celebration.  For my birthday a friend gave me a lottery ticket (a $10.00 scratch off) which cashed in for $1000.00.  I gave a tenth to the church, a tenth to my friend and a tenth to my wife and purchased some new clothes with the rest.  A thousand dollars is not new found wealth
  I retired six years ago and I still have most of my retirement fund and all of my pension.  The total amount of my retirement fund was only four thousand dollars more than one mans back pay on his disability yet several months after receiving it he is too broke to go to a church dinner. 
  Most people are poor because God can't trust them with money. 

bLACK sHOOTER KILLS TWO OFFICERS, SELF

     In the comment section of the articles I've read about this incident, the sentiment has been mostly complaining that the articles do not mention the shooter was a African-American  and complaining that if the shooter had been white that being white would have been the central focus of the article. 
   When I was a college student in Huntsville, Texas I worked for the local newspaper.  One day the paper published a story about a young boy that was struck by a car and killed when he was out riding his bicycle.  The article mentioned that the boy was a black kid.  As it turned out there were two kids the same age with the same name and the one killed was not the black one but the white one.  Of course the parents were upset that the paper misidentified their child.  From that time on the policy became to never mention a person's race unless it was crucial to the article.  I've adopted the same
philosophy for my own speech.  I hear so many people tell an innocent story and if it involves a person of color that fact is always mentioned no matter if  what the person did was good, bad, or indifferent.  I now always leave the race part out.  What difference does it make?
   It is true that when one drives through neighborhoods at night that in predominately black neighborhoods one will see people standing around while one seldom sees this in white neighborhoods.  Seeing this makes one think that everyone in the neighborhood is a thug but if one were to travel overseas and drive through poor villages late at night one would see much the same thing.  This behavior is indicative of boredom with fewer social activities and not ones character. 
  I also realize that where there are young people gathered together with not much to do the likelihood of those young people to commit a crime increases but that is due to boredom and the mob mentality
rather than then color of ones skin.  The truth is that there is very little difference between the races besides the color of our skins.  That should be seen as a distinguishing s characteristic and not a defining one. 

Trump lied about Carrier deal

A Union official said Trump lied about Carrier deal.  Sorry people but being a tattle-tale, protesting, and whatever else losers want to complain about Trump will still become a sitting President.  Roy Cooper lied about solving the problem at the SBI crime lab but he is still going to be the Governor of North Carolina.  Hillary lied about a lot of things but people still voted for her. 
  Studies say the average American lies 70 times a day.  Don't know if that is true but one lie a day is probably one lie too many.  The fact that someone lies is not news.  What is news is when that lie hurts someone or is perjury. 
  The worst lie that anyone can tell is when they lie to themselves about their own relationship to Jesus Christ.  You are playing with your eternity. 

big look Da Nang

Anyone a part of this effort?  Big Look Da Nang that is.

BAD DECISION OR NO?

I have a friend who has fallen on hard times.  He lost his job after a series of mini-strokes and his wife was already out on disability. His car was reposed when he couldn't keep up the payments.  But now things are turning around for him.  His disability was approved and he will shortly get his first check along with back pay of around $20,000.00.  His plan  to purchased a used vehicle.  The one he has picked out is $12,500.00 of which he plans to pay $10,000.00 and finance the rest, the pay off the remainder of his bills.  That would leave him essentially broke again.  Then there is the matter of his reposed car.
   I suggested that he get his old car back which would cost him $750.00 (two payments and the towing/lot fee)  the have fixed anything that is wrong with the car.  I then suggested he open a checking account and an investment account with an automated draw of $200.00 per month to a max of $300.00 a month.   At an average draw of 7% interest  over the long haul he would make $1050.00 a year in interest  on $15000.00   and draw down $2400.00 at a draw of $200.00 a month.  The interest would pay for half his car payment, he would still have a nice nest egg in case of an emergency
  Once his car is paid off (three years, I believe) maybe his credit score will have improved enough to afford him the ability to purchased a car at a lower interest rate.  He could get a credit card with a low ceiling and pay it off every month to build his credit faster.  Six years ago I could not borrow a nickel even if I had a dime as collateral ( a situation created because someone embossed $30,000 from my business and left me in debt).  I now have a credit score of 806 and a small car payment.  I did finance the building my church is using.  I could pay the loan off and carry the debt and make a little from interest but then I would have to pay federal income tax on the amount of the loan which would cost me more than the current plan is. 
  I think my friend would be better off investing the money instead of buying something that will depreciate.  I know the newer car is nice but it isn't needful.  What do you think?

being hungry has nothing to do with it.

  People, especially dietician and those who think they know how fat people should eat think that it is about being hungry.  It's not.  Sometimes it stress, sometimes it's boredom, and sometimes it is just because we like the way something tastes and just want more.  It is seldom about being hungry. 

military discounts

Both Home Depot and Lowes Hardware give veterans a discount; however, Home Depot only gives discounts to disabled veterans while Lowes honors all. 

How to survive post-election Thanksgiving

Ellen Degenerate is making a TV show about how to survive Thanksgiving after the election like the election would really spoil the turkey.  I have no interest in what she has to say.

anti-trump protests

  Sitting the elected President seems more controversial this year than ever; even more so than George W. Bush in either of his elections.  I can understand why but it's the Democrats fault that Trump won.  I'm not sure what they are protesting for or protesting against or whether they are protest for or against anything. 
  Protest in the 60's didn't stop the Vietnam War.  All those protests accomplished is bring in the drug culture that has plagued our country ever since.  Trump was elected President because he had certain policies and he will be sat as President in spite of any and all protests.  I'm not even sure if it is he the protesters object to or his policies but the time to protest was at the ballot box. 
  I'm sure that the protesters were so confident that Hillary was going to win that they didn't think it was necessary to get out and work for victory or to even insure that their party had a viable candidate.  This election was not about which person was best for the job.  It was about policies that have been driving a wedge between us for years.  Black versus white, citizenship rights versus illegal immigrants, English versus Spanish, and states rights versus federal control. 
  With the mandate that we must purchase health insurance many feel that the federal government has overstepped it's boundaries in order to force us to spend money in a certain way but to force those with a descent income to pay more for the same things and to supplement those that cannot or do not choose to pay for their own. 
   Some feel to allow undocumented immigrants to stay in this country and provide them benefits is akin to having ones home broken into and then have the law not arrest them but to actually force you to let them stay and require you to feed, clothe and educate them and then shame you for not honoring their traditions or honoring your own.   I can understand why people are feed up with this system.  What makes matters even worse the government them charges you two to three times as much for health care as you once paid while providing the people that broke into your home healthcare at no or little cost. 
  Hillary Clinton claims to be a child advocate

Unwanted Touching

   It's hard to believe that someone would walk up to an obviously pregnant woman and touch her belly but it does happen.  What would really be bad if the woman wasn't really pregnant but the point is not pregnancy but unwanted touching.  I think it is rude (and it is actually illegal) to touch someone without their permission. 
   I worked in retail most of my working life and occasionally someone would touch me to get my attention.  That really irritated me.  It was my desire to touch them on the nose with my closed hand. 

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act by MSN

Repeal of the Affordable Care Act
Trump has repeatedly pledged to repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) as a high priority, and the Republican-led Congress is likely to agree. So far, details about any possible replacement program are scant, if there will even be a replacement.

   I watched an interview with Mr. Trump yesterday and he said that when the ACA was repealed there would be a replacement in place.  We would not even go two minutes without a replacement in place and it will be cheaper.

  It's a shame the news media can't report the facts but instead choose to spread fear. 

Establishment shocked,

     The headlines read "Establishment shocked as Trump wins.  I understand there are protest against Trump in parts of the country.  Apparently some people just don't understand how a democracy with free and fair elections work.  Majority wins and the minority goes along.  The Democrats had the Presidency the last eight years and the country is the worse for it.  I'm not saying I liked George Bush but in reality his biggest problem was he was to loyal to Donald Rumsfeld. 
  I did not vote for Senator McCain for President so don't think I am a died in the wool, die hard Republican.  I am a free thinking American that votes what I believe to be right.  I wanted neither Clinton or Trump to win as neither is the type of leader this country needs.  Hillary is constantly making bad choices and Donald is a bad choice.  But Donald Trump was elected and he will serve his four years and then we get to vote again.  Until then don't tear the country apart because you don't agree with the majority. 
  In a way it's funny because the Democrats view themselves as open minded yet time  and time again they prove themselves to be open minded about ideas that go against the norm but extremely closed minded about the ideas of people who disagree with their ideas.  Some are now acting like spoiled little brats who are having a fit because they didn't get what they wanted.  No one did you wrong, protesters.  It is just most people did not see things your way this go around.  Many people had to suck it up under Obama for the last eight years. 
  I am not saying that Trump is going to be a good President. Probably not.  I don't think Hillary would have been a good President either.  Presidents don't make policy.  Congress does.  Don't like Trump then defeat him at the voters box by voting overwhelmingly Democratic in two years.  Very few Republicans are scumbags and very few Democrats are either.  Name calling never solved any of our problems.  It is time to work together to find solutions to the real problems of this country.  The fact that our President is a Republican is not a crisis any more that our President being a Democrat has been the last eight years. 
   If Democrats want to prove they deserve having their candidates in office now is the time to provide that leadership rather than complain like spoiled children that didn't get that object of their desire. 

stitches

Monday, on the 14th day of hand surgery, I had the stitches removed.  Since I can't rejoin my water aerobics class I decided to walk.  For my birthday I hope to walk 4.5 miles in an hour or less.  I almost made it Monday but my time was one hour and eight seconds. 
  A little woman was walking in front of me for 3 miles and try as I may I could not close the ground on her.  I was amazed such a small person could walk so fast. 

Miley Cyrus and the Election

  I'm a registered Republican but don't vote a straight ticket.  Sometimes I vote Democratic and sometimes I vote Libertarian.  I did vote Republican for governor because Roy Cooper bragged about fixing the backlog at the state crime lab and I know for a fact that there is still a huge backlog. 
  I had not planned to vote for Trump until Miley Cyrus stated she would leave the country if he won. 
  Today I facebooked her and asked her if she needed help in packing.

Where are his accusers?

    Tiger Woods, Herman Cain, Bill Cosby, and Donald Trump are but a few of the men who have had women coming out of the woodwork claiming they were sexually harassed or worse by these men.  This behavior is not limited to women accusing men.  Piling on is a phenomenon that happens a lot.  When a man in position of authority is accused by one person it seems accusers start coming from every where.  We saw this with the Catholic priests,  with the famous football coach (Sandusky), and in other cases. 
    I am not claiming any or all men are innocent but few of the claims have ever been proven.  Where are the accusers of Herman Cain now that he dropped out of the race?

I voted but I'm not happy

    Yes, I voted early this year but I'm not happy.  The Democratic and Republican candidates are both unqualified for the job.  I almost voted Libertarian but then Miley Cyrus said she would leave the country in case Trump wins.  I said I hoped she would chose North Korea.  A friend of mine said that would be preferable to living under Trump.  I told him he couldn't really be serious. 
  Yes, I am a registered Republican but I do not always vote for the Republican candidate.  Sometimes I vote for the Democrat and sometimes I vote for the Libertarian.  But I always vote and not just in the Presidential elections. 
  This is just the one time in my life I hope neither candidate wins.   

Still Recovering

    I'm still recovering from hand surgery.  As I have mentioned before I suffer from Dupredrenes Contracture, a disease that affections a small percentage of while males in which the little and ring finger of either or both hands will begin to curl towards the palm.   Even though one can feel little pricks now and then the process is slow and non painful.  My little finger on my left hand had been locked into one position  for so long that it can no longer be straightened.  The surgeon did manage to free it from my palm; however, he said that if it pulls down to the palm again that it cannot be operated on the third time.  I will definitely lose the finger I was told.  What he doesn't understand is I wanted the finger removed the first and second time this operation was done.  It is so inconvenient to have ones little finger stuck on the palm of their hand.
   Last week I was supposed to get my third shot for macular degeneration but the doctor said that giving me my "eyeball" shot would interfere with the healing of my hand.  I discussed this with my hand surgeon and he has given his okay to continue the eye treatment. 
  Because of my hand surgery I have been unable to go to the pool so yesterday I decided to walk the 1/2mile track at the Y.  I made nine laps in 61 minutes.  I tried my best to do it in an hour but my shoe became untied.  I don't know if that slowed me down or not but it sure didn't help.  Anyway, my distance and time means that I walked at a pace slightly under 4.5 miles per hour.  That's not a bad clip, especially for a person 5 days away from their 70th birthday.

you can't be serious

  Miley Cyrus said she would leave the USA if Trump won the election and I said maybe she should choose North Korea. A friend of mine said that may be preferable to America under Trump.  Really?
  I can't believe he said that, even in jest.

I voted

    I voted early this year.  I wasn't sure whom I was going to vote for but Miley Cyrus said that if Trump wins she would leave the country.  I hope she chooses North Korea. 

My Last Day

    We have many last days during our life time.  Last day of school, last day on the job, last day in your home or apartment, last day you will ever see a close friend, last day in the military, etc. so this being a last day for me is really no big deal. 
  I have a disease of the hands that cause my fingers to curl, particularly the little and ring finger of each hand.  Tomorrow morning I am having both hands operated on so today will be the last day the tip of my little finger of my left hand touches the palm   and cannot be moved.  I know it will be a painful recovery and really inconvenient having both hands operated on at once but I would just like to get it over with.  My fingers are stiff so it is hard to grip things.  Typing is hard, clapping is impossible, and I cannot put one but one glove. 
  Well, today is the last day I have to put up with the inconvenience of curled fingers and stiff hands.  Soon, my fingers will be straight and more flexible. 

Sign in place

The preacher and I got the new church sign in place Monday morning.  Another man was supposed to build the sign put after 3 or 4 months I figured he wasn't going to build it so I made one.  After I finished my sign and let the preacher know the other fellow called and said his sign was ready.  The preacher thanked him then told him it was no longer needed. 

Numbers don't lie?

  Two weeks ago I weighed before going to my MOVE class and I weighed 215.4.  My weight at MOVE was 219.5.  Yesterday I weighed before going to MOVE class and it was 217.0 and at MOVE it was 219.4.  What gives?
  Yesterday I tried to follow my diet plan and stick to my calorie count and this morning I was .6 pounds heavier than I was yesterday morning.  At least my blood sugar reading is the lowest it has been this week even though I did take a pill with a swig of juice two hours ago.  I'm not supposed to do that.  In order for readings to be accurate there is supposed to be an 8 hour fast window (fast like in nothing to eat or drink except water).  So 133 is acceptable. 
  

blood sugar readings and weight

     Last week was a disaster for my weight loss goals, what with a trip to the state fair and my low blood sugar readings.  My average last week was only 105.  That normally would be a good thing but when ones blood sugar is low a person feels hungry.  When one feels hungry a person often times grabs an unhealthy snack to tide the feeling of starvation.  Something sweet will quickly rise the blood sugar level bring back the feelings of normalcy but what happens when the sugar high wears off?  One feels hungry again. 
  Of course a high blood sugar reading can leave a person feeling hungry also but its still a different kind of feeling.  A person needs to be careful with either extreme.  The secret to a healthy life, especially for a diabetic, is a steady blood sugar reading.  Not only does the quick fix to low blood sugar reading throw your body out of kilter but it leads to weight gain. 
  I woke up a few minutes ago and took my glucose readings and they were slightly elevated yet I feel like I'm about to die of starvation.  Even if I consumed a large meal I know that in an hour or less I would be hungry again.  As I understand it, when one's blood sugar drops too low at night one's body can convert fat to sugar raising one's glucose levels.  One is normally hungry in the morning so in ones mind, the feelings one has in the morning from an elevated level is similar to those when ones glucose level is depressed.  Without taking a reading it is difficult to know if ones level is too high or too low.  That's why it is so important to keep ones level's steady.  Failure to do so can lead to an unhealthy weight gain and/or other health problems.
  

EXCLUSIVE: Jamie Lee Curtis Says She's Spoken to Lindsay Lohan About Donald Trump's

Well now, since Lindsey Lohan is now informed I think the election should just be called off.

We tried McDonald's, Wendy's, and Burger King's signature burgers — and the winner is unmistakable

The headline was taken from an MSN article about which chin serves the best burger:  McD's, BK, or Wendy's.  The article claimed the single from Wendy's was soggy, the big Mac was the perfect combo of burger to condiments, and the Whopper had too much bread.  Too much bread?  The Big Mac has a 3 piece bun.  Every time I've tried one, all I can taste is that secret sauce. 
  To tell the truth, the only thing I ever buy at McDonalds is a breakfast biscuit and coffee and I only buy the Carolina burger or chicken from Wendy's.  The burger at BK has that grilled out flavor which I like.  My favorite burger of the big chains is one from Hardees but they hire the dumbest cashiers and I don't always have time to wait. 
   Wendy's has the best customer service by far.  Often Burger King employees make you think you are an interruption of their bonding time. 
  As far as competition goes, Five Guys is always voted best burger but it really is the overwhelming amount of fries one gets that endears people to the chain.  My favorite place for a burger is Highway 55, formerly Andy's.  There one can get a burger anyway and in any size one wants.  They even have a shrimp burger.  I once ordered a burger all the way:  lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, jalapeno peppers,   slaw, and chili, with a side order of Texas Pete hot sauce. 
  Sometimes we eat at the closest place, sometimes we make a conscience choice.   Some like things one way and some like it the other.  I'm just glad we have choices because we are not all the same. 
Therefore I make the bold claim the best burger is the one you like the best. 
 

Trump asked to resign

That is a good idea because Trump is unqualified to be President of the United States.  He may be a billionaire but he seems to be immature and unstable.  But if he resigns that means Hillary would be President by default and she is unqualified to be President  and more dangerous.  I call a do-over. 

The first anything

I'm rather tired of hearing about a person being the first black, female, Spanish, Asian, homosexual,
or whatever they happen to be, to do a particular thing.  We wonder why we cannot heal the racial divide in this country yet in everything we say and do we want to divide, even in the groundbreaking things and good things.  "He/she is a role model for people" or "He/she is an inspiration" or He/she is the "first of their kind" to do or win such and such. 
  If the fact that we are different is constantly shoved in our face then how can I ever accept the fact that we are all equal?  The fact that a cop shot an unarmed man should bring concern from all citizens and not just along racial lines.  One would think that only white cops shoot people and they shoot all black people unjustly.  The only way to insure that all are treated fairly is to insure that none are treated differently. 
   It is a fact that people are drawn towards others that are more like them. If I were to go into a building where I knew no one and I saw a group of men on the left and a group of women on the right I would more than likely mingle with the men.  If I saw a group of white men and a group of black men I would more than likely mingle with the white folks.  If I saw a group of white men dressed in biker garb and a group of black men dressed in business suits I would mingle with the men in suits. 
  What I am saying is we tend to mingle with those people we most closely identify with.  Go to a foreign country and one will discover that Americans who have retired there live in close proximity to each other.  That is why we have Spanish Harlem, China Town, little Haiti, etc. That is why Pennsylvania was settled by the Dutch, we have places called Germantown, and there is such a thing as a Russian community.   
  As long as we keep thinking of ourselves as different we will continue to treat each other as different.

A broken system

  Most people will agree that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are widely unpopular and unqualified for the office of President of the United States of America.  Hillary go the nomination pretty much by default as qualified candidates did not file.  Even so, Bernie Sanders almost beat her which was a shocker to the DNC and the liberal press. 
   Donald Trump won the Republican nomination because he is an IN-YOUR-FACE type of person who shows little respect for anyone or anything who promises to do something about the problems facing America that never seems to go away.  Obama never brags about the "change we can believe in" because the changes that he brought about have only weakened the family and strengthen the future of the Democratic party.  Illegal immigrants and working class people are backbone of the Democratic party and the Republican party is seen as the party of the conservatives and the rich even though the extreme poor tend to be Republican. Go figure.
   A Prime Minister of England once noted that what was great about America was that any young person could grow up to be President but what was scary about America was that any young person could grow up to be President.    I think in this year's election we are seeing the scary side of that equation.  We are still wallowing in a two party political system  in which neither party can truly represent the views of its members and too many people support the party rather than the candidate. 
But it seems the only thing people want to change about our election process is the Electoral College.
The Electoral College is not responsible  for Obama, Bush, Trump or Hillary although some would disagree about Bush. 
    The founding fathers wanted a system that would represent the will of the people  by insuring that people in small states had equal representation with those from larger states, both in elections and in Congress. Originally the founding fathers limited voting to landowners because they tended to be better educated and more interested in the process of law than non landowners.  However congress and the Supreme Court eventually saw that policy as unfair and over time and protests the system was changed.  What the founding fathers did not anticipate was that grossly unqualified people could run and even get elected to office as the supreme leader that few would even follow. 
  Therefore I submit that while the system is broken it is not the Electoral College but the method by which  our two political parties elect their candidates.  We need more than two or three political parties, we need candidates that run on qualifications and platforms and not party affiliations.  One big problem with our current system is that local and state candidates are voted in or out of office based on how well the national candidate does and not always on their own merits. 
  Freeing candidates of party affiliations would allow office holders to vote their beliefs and not by party lines.  It would make for a much better system and better legislation for all concerned.   

Presidential race coming down to the wire.

Tow parties, two candidates, one country and no one really qualified to hold the office of President of the United States of American.  Neither candidate has given any reasons to vote for themselves except to claim that they are not as bad as the other candidate. 

The crud

Don't really know how to describe what has been ailing me.  It's not unlike a cold which I suppose it is really.  It started a week ago with that little feeling in the throat that is different from anything else.  You know you are getting sick.  I grab the Zicam which promises to shorten the duration of a cold if taken at the onset.  Well, this is the onset. 
  Most colds I have start with a stuffy nose and move down into the chest and some start in the chest and end of in the nose but all come with sore throats, chest congestion, coughing, sneezing, stopped up noses and mucous.  Sometimes I think my body is a mucous factory. 
  This illness didn't seem like it was going to last long and I was ready to sing Zicams praises.  Two days of a slight tightness in the chest, coughing, a few sneezes, and then the nasal congestion, and the fifth day I seemed like I was almost well.  Then the night coughing and the mucous came,  I seem to be okay for hours then suddenly my nasal passages turn into faucets running with this thick gel like substance.  It's stuck in your chest, clogs your throat, fills your sinus cavities to the brink of bursting and makes one think that putting a bullet into your brain isn't such a bad idea and then finally it seems to be almost gone but not entirely.  A couple of hours later it starts all over again.   There never seems to be an end although you know from experience it will one day go away. 
   One of the worst things about this crud   is that everyone around you is suffering from it but they have all been to the doctor, some miss functions because they are "so sick" , and there is no one to give you any sympathy.  In fact, everyone else believes their case of crud is worse than your case of crud. 

Chili cook-off

One Way Baptist Church of Randleman is having a Chili cook-off fundraiser.  If you would like to enter a recipe, entry fees are $10.00 per recipe.  If you would like to be a judge, then tickets are $5.00 each. 
   The event is scheduled for run from 11:30 am until 2:00 pm on Saturday October 29th.

The way this event works is you may buy advanced tickets or pay at the door.  If you want to be a cook, your entry fee must be paid by October 10th.  The judges pay their $5.00 fee, get their soda and fixings and then get a sample cup of chili from a cook.  You can go to as many cooks as you want until you have eaten all the chili you care to.  You then drop your ticket into the jar of the maker of your favorite chili.   You go home full of good chili and the cook with the most tickets goes home with a nice trophy and bragging rights. 

  See you there! 

fruitless taljs

  I chatted with my older brother, recently retired, about moving into Mom's vacant house.  If he did so then the house would be maintained, the bills paid, and Mom's investment would be protected and she would be able to leave her children something.  He said he liked the idea but wanted some time to mull it over. 
   I contacted him a week later and he said he still hadn't made a decision.  Yesterday I invited him to meet with me and our brother on a Saturday and he said he would if he didn't have to work. 
  It's his life and if he decided to stay where he is and get a part-time job that's okay.  But why leave me hanging wondering what his decision was going to be when he had already made it.  I just don't see the benefit to Mom or to our relationship my just ignoring me.   I just don't understand why some people are jerks and he fits my definition of one.

GoFundMe

  When I first heard of GoFundMe I thought the page was mainly for losers who failed to plan  and was just wanting others to bail them out.  Now I know different.  I'm sure some of the funds are for cheats and undeserving people but some are needful.
   My Mom was a saver and although she didn't start work until her youngest was a senior in high school she did manage to save a lot.  In the late  nineties when Dad got sick with cancer she paid all of his bills out of her savings.  The last year of his life she paid over $70,000.00 for medicine alone. 
After his death all she had to live on was his social security and what remained of her savings.  She did quite well except she never spent any of the money to take care of her house.  Then the inevitable happened and she got sick.  She ended up in a nursing home unable to take care of herself.  Not only that but at the price it cost to stay in an assistant living home Mom would be broke in a couple of months so she had to apply for Medicaid.  I did what I could with her money and remodeled her home until time ran out.  She was allowed to keep her home and $2000.00. 
  Her social security check is $1130.00 a month.  The social services charges her $30.00 a month admin fee, the nursing home charges her $880.00 a month and blue Cross charges her $260.00 a month.   That totals $1190.00 a month.  Of course even old people in nursing homes need things like clothes and hair care and little things like that.   And of course the house has bills too: water, sewer, gas, electric, home owners insurance, and taxes--let's don't forget about taxes.  So exactly where is the money to come from for this? 
   I live off of social security myself and I have exactly $328.00 a month I can spend on anything I want.  I choose to spend most of it driving to Hickory to see Mom each week.  I take her out of the nursing home and take her to her house, do her laundry, pay her bills, clean her house, then take her to lunch, then take her to get her hair done.  If she needs fruit or writing pens or a special medicine she can't get through the nursing home I do that for her.  I took her to her eye appointment.  It cots about $30.00 a week in gas, $20.00 for our meals, and about $40.00 a month in car care.  As you can see most of my money is spent on her or for her. 
  She won't be able to keep her house much longer as she has a negative income.  She has little of value to sell and if she did sell it, then what?  So I started a GoFundme page for Mom.  Look it up and please help if you can.   

First Shot

   Yesterday I started my treatment for macular degeneration with a thorough eye exam and my first shot in my eyeball.  The shot itself was painless but after the numbness wears off my eye feels like an eyeball does when one gets a loose eyelash in it.  Scratchy.  The eye is red and the part that feels scratched is the part where the injection happened. 
   I take another injection in a month and will be taking them for three years.  It will not be a monthly thing but on a decreasing interval so I will have 21 to 26 shots over the next 3 years, all depending on how my body recovers. 

Drama hopefully will end

Some work was done at the church a few weeks back and the man engaged to do the work made a mistake and pushed some tree stumps across the property line onto our neighbor's property.  The strip of land is 180 feet long but only 24 feet wide and is overgrown so he probably thought it would be okay but he didn't realize his actions would stir all the furry a red headed woman could muster. 
   If the woman had just told us about her concerns we would have cleaned up the mistake and that would have been the end of things but no, she went off like a Roman Candle, trying to dictate when and how the debris is to be removed and wanting the whole property cleaned up at the church's expense, refusing to let the work be done without her being physically present to supervise, threating to sue,  threatening to hire someone else to do the work and sending the church a bill, making derogatory statements about the church's pastor and otherwise proving herself to be a bad citizen 
  Through a check with the legal system it has been discovered that this woman is only the girlfriend of the owner of the property and has no legal say whatsoever.  With negotiations with the real property owner, an agreement has been reached but there is one complication that can undo the whole affair.  The man who is to clean the debris is contracted to conducted a funereal and if  it conflicts with the scheduled clean-up he will not be able to be there. 
  I know everyone involved is ready for this fiasco to be over with.

The Next President of the United States of America

Donald Trump will not be the next President nor has he ever wanted to be.  He has ran for the nomination several times and always resigned his candidacy before getting to far into the election cycle but this years was a surprise, even for him.    I don't think he ever intended to be taken seriously.
   Donald Trump isn't as stupid as he portrays himself to be because if he acted like he had some sense even his supporters wouldn't like him, I'm not saying he isn't a likeable fellow, I'm saying that he would not be liked as a candidate.   He doesn't want to be President.  It has all been about publicity. 
  I'm sure he has made a lot of money by running for office that otherwise he would not have earned.  But now that he is the party nominee he is walking a tightrope.  If he acts like he isn't a serious candidate people will turn against him and all he has accomplished by running will be lost and he will be worse off than he was before he ever thought about running.  But if he runs a serious campaign he jus might be elected and he knows he is not qualified nor does he want that job.  So he has to act like he really wants to win while sabotaging his chances by childish behavior. 

Lazy?

      A change I've noticed about the news one see on the internet is that there more videos than ever. I can see two reasons why.  If the provider can get you to watch a video of a story you are interested in it can force you to watch a commercial first.  I've also noted that some commercials allow you to opt out after a few seconds so forcing us to watch a commercial isn't all it's cracked up to be.  I think American youth have gotten so lazy we don't want to read anymore and the shortened commercials reflect their shorter attentions spans.  If they have to watch for the entire commercial they will opt out and not watch at all. 

   Unless what you are talking about has to be shown, I would much rather read than watch.  The biggest problem with reading nowadays is too few of the writers of server news know how to write to hold a person's interest.  Is communicating through the written word becoming a lost art?  It sure seems so.

a boy in a tree

Yesterday my wife noticed a bicycle laying in the middle of the street in front of our home and thought perhaps the rider had fallen in the ditch.  I stepped out on the porch to check the situation out and heard someone yelling for help.  It seems a young boy was frightened by some dogs a neighbor had let out for a bathroom break and had climbed a tree for safety and he was both afraid of the dogs and of getting out of the tree. 
   I helped the lad down and stood watch for him as he pedaled home as fast as he could. 

Roy Cooper vs. the truth

  I don't know Roy Cooper but I do know he is the current Attorney General of NC and is running for Governor of North Carolina.  I have no idea what party he belongs to.  I do +know he has an ad on TV in which he brags about improving the conditions at the State Crime lab, eliminating the bag log of DNA samples waiting to be tested.   
   I also know that in September of 2015 a man broke into my mother's home while she was there sleeping.  He entered the home through a window he broke and while doing so he cut himself and left DNA on the window, on some money he dropped while fleeing and in several other places in the home.  In other to have an air tight case the prosecutor wants to have the DNA evidence but after a year the State Crime Lab is too far behind so the Police Department in Hickory elected to send the evidence to a private lab so they can move forward with the case. 
   Based on what I know to be true I can say that while conditions at the State Crime Lab may have improved they are still far worse than Roy Cooper would have us to believe. 

Equal treatment

My pastor claims he treats everyone the same yet him and another preacher at the church go everywhere together, not only as just friends but as representatives of the church.  That is fine and I'm glad he has a close friend to do things with but if you never invite any of the other preacher's at the church to join yu don't say you treat everyone the same. 

Proud Poor Folks

  I just checked out an article (actually a picture and a comment)  and the responses of the readers.  It seems like many people are proud of their ingenuity in accomplishing things when they were poor.  That's called redneck ingenuity..   It seems though that some of the respondents were older now and still poor and proud of it but judging from their lack of ability to spell or other compose a sentence or express a coherent thought, I just can't imagine why they are still poor.  

Reality is beginning to set in.

    Went in to the eye doctor yesterday for a routine exam and came out we a big surprise.  I'm quickly approaching my 70th birthday and have been blessed with good health most of my life.  I retired 50 years after taking  my first job and during those 50 years I missed one day because of illness.  Ten or so years ago I was diagnosed with diabetes but until four years ago I was able to control it through diet.  I did have to go on insulin for three months and then to a pill ever since but I never let it interfere with my life.  The only recurring problem I have had that has adversely effected my life is dupredrens(sp)  contracture, which is a curling of the fingers.  I had corrective surgery on my left hand but my little finger on my left hand curled back up and now lays flat against my palm.  I may have to get it amputated soon.
    Now long after I left the eye doctor's I received a call from her informing me that she is referring me to a specialist outside of the VA to deal with some moisture detected behind my right eye.  She said that I have the beginnings of maculate degeneration.  There are two kinds, dry and wet.  One kind will keep progressing until one is blind.  The other kind can be corrected with surgery but that is a fairly recent development.  I can't remember which kind there is hope for and really don't know which kind I have. 
  It seems my aches and pains have increased lately and my body is beginning to deteriorate: pain in my left should, diabetes, dupredrens(sp)  contracture, high blood pressure, triglycerides too high, and now this.  In spite of this I will keep on keeping on doing as much as I can until I can no longer go.  I'm not giving in or giving up nor complaining. 

Is it "once" or "If"?

    Many Christians believe the Bible teaches assurance of salvation.  My pastor claims to be one of those.  He is always expounding that Christianity is a "know-so" religion and if you have doubts about your salvation you are lost.  But he also says that one must "get right in order to live right in order to die right',  a philosophy that seems to teach salvation by works rather than faith.  Our church has lost a few members because he confuses people about what he believes.  Do we or do we not have assurance of our salvation.
  The pastor says he does not believe in "Once saved always saved" but believes that "if saved always saved".  I think such statements only adds confusion and doubt.   I prefer the "once saved" version of that statement.  Christ only died once.  If one could lose their salvation Christ would have to be crucified as many times as a person lost their salvation.  Christ only died once because that is all that is necessary.   To use the phrase "If saved' begins a statement of assurance of salvation with a statement of doubt.  "if saved" sounds like anything but a sure thing.  It smacks of grace plus something else.  We are saved by grace, through faith, and that not of ourselves.  Grace is not conditional.  It is something given to another when it is totally undeserved.  All one has to do to receive it is to be willing to receive it. 
   I know why my pastor says if instead of once.  So many people claim to be saved that do not live for Christ that "being saved" has almost become synonymous with "I go to church or have been to church and I buy into the belief that Jesus Christ is a real person and did good things."   But saying "if"  instead of :"only" doesn't make one more saved  but it does add confusion. 

Nineteen people were feared dead and as many as 24 others wounded after an attack by a knife-wielding man at a facility for the disabled in Japan early on

I suppose the anti-knife lobby will want to enact ginsu knife laws to determine who can have access to knives. ,

From an article entitled "Relationship rules you should break"

"Think getting down too soon is a deal breaker? It might be time to think again, says Greer. "If you feel good about the person, are really attracted to them, and you feel safe with them, it's OK to go ahead and sleep with them," she says. "On the flip side, you can also wait until past the third date." In other words, wait until you're ready, whenever that may be. View our complete list of the best white dress looks from the red carpet."

   Honestly, having sex at all before marriage should be a hard and fast rule.  Anything else cheapens relationships and reduces the chances of fidelity during marriage.  Oh, don't believe in marriage?  Well, that should be an attitude you change.

It's a battle

For years I was able to control my diabetes with a proper diet but eventually I went on metformin.  A few years ago I went on insulin for 3 months but was able to come off it and go with just metformin again.  But after a year my doctor added glipizide to my regimen  but after a couple of years I had to go back on insulin.  The first time I used insulin I gained 33 pounds and never did lose any one it so when I had to go back on insulin again I was afraid of gaining weight.

  So far I've managed to lose 9 pounds (It's been a bout two months now).  Yesterday I suffered my first bout with low blood sugar and it felt horrible.  Last night I gave into my urge for an unhealthy snack (six wheat crackers, a spoonful of peanut butter and a spoonful of jelly).  Yea, it was a nasty tasting snack and my blood sugar reading was way to high as a result. 

  Eating so as to not spike ones blood sugar or let it drop too quickly and all the while controlling ones weight is extremely difficult, especially since taking insulin makes one feel hungry all the time.  I'm not talking about just wanting something to eat but "feeling like your stomach is sucked up against your backbone" hungry. 

Cringe worthy news

    Soon Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee for President of the United States of America.  I haven't always voted Republican but I have never voted for a Democrat who was elected and this year I guarantee I won't be voting Democratic.  What I am most afraid of this year is that either Hilary Clinton or Donald Trump will be elected.  I suppose once the conventions are over and the candidates officially selected we can bill this election as the Lady versus the Tramp.   I suppose the only way out of this mess is the Rapture and if you don't believe in that you still have time to change your mind. 

Black lives Matter

Black Lives Matter.  Of course they do.  I know slavery existed.  I know it was wrong.  I know some people are not going to accept full integration of everyone into their world.  The most segregated institution in America is church, which should be the one place that all races could come together in love and understanding.  There is a problem.
  But how can we, as a people, come together when some use exclusionary terms for their organization?  Negro College Fund, Black Caucus, NAACP, Miss Black America, Black Lives Matter.  While claiming to want equability, these organizations have chosen names   that are exclusionary and are portraying an image or idea that is the opposite of what they claim to want.  We cannot bring unity by choosing to be divisive. 
  America+ isn't a melting pot.  When things are melted together that form a new substance that is a blend of all.  It seems as if blacks and whites come from two totally different worlds.   Blacks and whites have been educated together for 50 years now yet they don't even talk alike.  
  We are all people and our basic needs and wants are the same.  In any good negotiantion the two sides get together and agree on what they agree on and then limit their discussion to the areas they disagree one.  First of all, the two races have to agree that they are all Americans.  That will go a long way to solving the problems.

Dallas

     What happened in Dallas is tragic but all murders are tragic.  I understand why some white policemen are quicker to shoot a black suspect that a white one.  There is a lot of animosity and mistrust between the races.  When integration happened fifty years ago it was hoped by many that by going to school together blacks and whites would learn to respect each other, that eventually all neighborhoods would be mixed neighborhoods, and we would come to view each other as fellow Americans but it is obvious that the tension between the races is just as strong today as it was 50 years ago. 
  Back when CB radios were popular among motorists it became obvious that people don't know how to handle problems.  Disagreements quickly developed into arguments and name calling and the usual results were two angry people and unresolved problems.  Forty years later when people have differences of opinion on the internet many times it results in name calling and two angry people.  If we go into a discussion with the attitude that I'm right and the other person is wrong and it is my job to convince the other person of this fact then we are always going to have disagreements that decay into name calling and angry people. 
   Yea, there are lots of things I don't understand about black people.  I don't understand do-rags, and the cocky way of walking, and the slang they use or why many talk so loud.  I don't understand why s's are dropped off words that need them and added to words that don't.  And what is this doe that they keep opening and closing?  I am beginning to think it is a door but they never say so.  I'm sure there are lots of things that blacks don't understand about whites to. 
   When a person dresses different, walks different, talks different, and acts different, a person tends to be cautious around that person.  I don't care how white a person is, if that person has a face full of tattoos and wears punk clothes I'm going to be leery of them.  Same goes if they are big strong biker types, or little skinny goth creatures.  And what is with the saucers in the ear lope thing.  Gross me out. 
  All that being said, the nicest people I encounter  are young black males.    They are respectful and helpful and always a surprise but not because that are black men but because in todays day and age   rudeness is expected along with selfishness and one is always taken back by random acts of kindness and by that I don't mean paying for someone lunch as a person gets recognition for that but just common everyday courtesies that are not common anymore. 
    If a person presents themselves to the world as a descent, trust worthy individual then they will be accepted but it the impression they give is of a ghetto gansta or a piece of redneck white trailer trash then don't expect me to be anything but cautious around you. 
  As far as the police are concerned, they are jerks to everyone so don't feel privileged.  I've been handcuffed several times and even carted off to jail once and didn't even come close to breaking a law.  A sergeant with the High Point police stole $20.00 from me and a couple of Greensboro cops accused me of being a drug addict and refused to give me the assistance I needed and desired.  One has to remember that people get angry when stopped by the police so much of the interaction police have with people are with antagonistic people.  It's would make anyone leery of a person's intentions when all you receive from most folks is bad attitude. 
   I've been stopped several times when I should not have been but I always remain calm and cooperative.  The police appreciate it.  I keep my insurance and registration papers in a little folder that  is easy to get to without having to open a glove box or search for.  I stay still until the cops approaches, and I keep him informed if I have to reach for anything.  Even when I know the cop is wrong, I'm never show any emotion because I know I will have my day in court if it comes to that. 
  What I want you to take away from this article is that if you want to fit into my world then act like you fit into my world.  If you don't then don't be shocked or angry because I treat you different.  And most importantly,  if you are respectful, understanding, and cooperative with the police then all should go well and end well. 
  When you see things different from another, find the things you and they can agree on and listen as they explain to you the things that you disagree on.  Maybe you will learn to be accepting of their point of view, maybe, you will learn to understand there thought process better and maybe you will still be on opposite sides.  But if you treated them with respect maybe they will learn to be more understanding and tolerant of you.

What paet of customer service do you understand?

I had a great time at Cherokee this past weekend and I was tired when I got home.  A good tired, yes, but tired nonetheless.  I was glad my new security camera wasn't to be installed until Tuesday so I would have a day to get my head back into life.  I was looking forward to doing yard work too, as strange as that may seem but I do enjoy being outside.  Well, the rain took the yard work part out of my day as my grass will be high before I get a chance to cut it again.  Going to see my Mom each week and working out at the gym three days a week kind of eat away available time for yard maintenance.  I like doing it early when the day is cooler. 
  The other thing I had planned for the day was scheduled for 8 am.  We called them when they had not arrived by 9:30 and was told "Oh, we meant between 8 and 12".  Well, excuse me but if you meant between 8 and twelve you should have said that.   At 1:30 we called back as the serviceman had not arrived and were told they would be here soon.  A few minutes later I received a call saying they would be here between 3 and four.  At four thirty my wife called and explained to them that we no longer wanted the camera.  Then the company started telling my wife she didn't understand that service calls are done on a time range and not at a specific time. 
   
The company started offering her deals but she said no. The service man called and wanted to reschedule but she said no.  He offered to give her the security camera at no cost but she still said no.  He  tired to explain to her that she would receive a call 30 minutes before the service person was to arrive and she explained that didn't happen either. 

   If they could offer the equipment for free to cover their screw-up maybe they should have offered it for free to begin with.  Better yet, when they realized that they could not make the 8 to 12 window they had called and apologized and asked us if it would be convenient to reschedule for later in the day or for another day we would have been more understanding.  But no, they choose to keep us uninformed of what was going on thereby wasting our entire day awaiting their arrival.  I just don't think big companies know what customer service really means. 

Too little time.

I thought once I had finished the remodel of my Mom's house I would have more time to write and to study but it seems I have less.  I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow, one Wednesday.  Then I'm off to Hickory to visit Mom and then I'm taking a few days with the wife for our anniversary.  When I get back I'll have to do yard work, then empty cabinets and create empty space in preparation for the delivery of our new kitchen cabinets.  The day the cabinets arrived I have another doctor's appointment  and then it will be time to visit Mom again. 
  By the time I catch a break it will be time for the doctors to whack off my little finger and then after that operate on the other hand.  By that time it will be eye glass exam time so another out of town trip.  But when it is all said and done I may be able to type and to see what I'm typing.  And maybe I'll have some time to do said writing.   

You are compalinning about what?

Someone who regularly attends our church but isn't a member complained to the pastor that the Sunday School teacher invited her to attend Sunday School.  Say What?

Do you ever feel lke screaming?

  A friend of mine has some strange ideas when it comes to interpreting scripture, which is okay, but when a person begins any discussion with "you will never convince me" then he is right.  It is okay to feel strongly that your interpretation is the correct one.  For example there are those who believe that a person can lose their salvation,  I know husbands and wives can fall out of love and no one can tell me when a couple has crossed the line from love to disinterest or hate and the union broken.  That is why one should never take their spouse for granted.  Even if one does everything right in a marriage it can still fail because your actions don't necessarily dictate the response one desire from their partner.  I have read letters that state " I love my spouse and they do every thing right but....".
 We know when it comes to relationships we need to respond to our partner in the way they want to be responded to rather than by a set of rules.  And so it is with Christianity.  We are taught by scriptures that being a Christian is a relationship with Christ and not adherence to a set of rules, regulations, and laws.  My pastors favorite saying is "You must be born right and live right in order to die right."  That is like saying that you must toe the line or you could lose your salvation.  Just exactly what does one have to do to lose their salvation?  Our preacher and youth minister are fond of saying "if your salvation doesn't take you to church I doubt it will take you to heaven"  I am aware the bible says "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together" but how many church services can one miss before their salvation is lost?  Is this what we should be teaching people? 
   There is a fellow in the church who claims that one can lose their salvation "and you can't convince me otherwise."   Personally I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone I can't depend on  nor do I want to be in a relationship with someone who lives contrary to what they profess to stand for.  One gentleman in the church believes when Jesus turned the water into wine he was providing alcohol to an all ready bunch of drunks.  Jesus is God and it is unfathomable that God would do things contrary to his nature.  It is made abundantly clear in the Old Testament that getting drunk is displeasing to God and an even greater displeasure is shown to the man who puts strong drink to his neighbors lips. 
  In spite of what God has claimed for 2,000 years he hates, in His first act as a man He violates His very principles.  The wedding was a religious ceremony and fermented wine was not allowed to be served.  Jewish custom did not provide for fermentation of the wine as we know it today. 
  I'm not going to run the biblical references for you but I will give you the scriptures. 
Numbers 13:23, Psalms 104:15, Nehemiah 10:37, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 65:8, Jeremiah 40!), and Habakkuk 2:15.     I think it should become clear that wine and grape juice can be the same thing as no juice of the grape is fermented wine while still in the grape. 

The truth about food safety

"One time on a 12-hour family road trip to North Carolina, my parents stopped at Bojangles for lunch. We walked in and saw that that the cashiers were handing out food (fried chicken and biscuits) without any gloves on. I thought it was absolutely disgusting and couldn't believe people were willingly accepting food from the hands of strangers. I sat in the restaurant and got back in the car for the remainder of the drive, refusing to eat anything from Bojangles. I think that was the worst experience — I was forced to smell fried food, but knew better than to eat any."


   Stupid girl.  Just because a worker is wearing gloves doesn't mean safe food handling procedures are in place nor does bald hands mean unsanitary.  Actually food handling gloves are for a customers benefit and has absolutely nothing to do with food borne illness.  Hands with gloves can go anywhere hands without gloves can go.  A worker can wear them when they go to the rest room, Lord knows how long a worker has worn a pair of gloves.  I've even seen cashiers with gloves on. 
  No, what is important is hand washing.  An employee can go to the rest room, take a dump, and come back to the service area and put on a pair of gloves while another washes their hands before putting on the gloves.  Which person do you want handing you food? 
  Not, gloves, hair nets and beard guards are for show, not for food safety.  

… Why This Man Proposed To His Girlfriend Completely Covered In Mud

Someone actually wrote this headline and the editors let it slip by.  I'm not sure who is covered in mud; the guy or the girlfriend.  I'm not going to read the article to find out either.

Tipping

  I like American Roadhouse Express because one doesn't have to leave a tip.  There are lots of things I don't understand about restaurants.  Why do they leave the guest check upside down?  What does tips mean?  I've heard it said TIPS stands for to insure prompt service but if that was true shouldn't the tip be given before the meal? 
  I'm a generous tipper but I base my tips on the quality of the service and not on the quality of the food.  What I don't like about tipping is the waitress in a popular diner where the meals are inexpensive and the business is brisk actually works much harder than a waitress or waiter in an upscale place but for much less.  Go to Golden Coral where it cost $10.00 for all you can eat and watch people tip.  The waitress is lucky to get a dollar out of most folks.  Go to Outback where it costs about $25.00 per person and she gets $5.00 per person.  The waitress at Golden Coral works much harder. 
   I don't think tipping should be based on the price of the food but the quality of the service.  It should be standardized across the board.  It just doesn't seem fair that a person can go into a restaurant and order a sausage and egg biscuit   and have his coffee refilled five times and leave his waitress a dollar tip (20% of his $5.00 total bill)  then later goes to a steakhouse for dinner where the wait person refills his drink once after drinking half a glass before his meal arrived and then offered a refill   after he finished eating and then drops a five dollar bill on the wait person (20 % of his $25.00 bill).  He got much better service at breakfast and based on how hard the wait staff worked the one at breakfast worked much harder.   

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement during a commencement address when he stated that more guns means more terrorism.  While it is true that having a firearm empowers some people to act more quickly to settle a problem by using a weapon against another banning weapons will not prevent acts of terror any more than requiring drivers to have licenses and insurance will prevent traffic accidents.    

sick puppy

     I started on insulin yesterday after 3 months of extra high glucose readings.  The tip of my little finger has experienced some numbness of late and I'm afraid it is a consequence of dupredrens contracture.  In case you are unaware of what that is I'll fill you in.  It is a involuntary curving of the little and ring finger of the hand.  The little finger on my left hand has curved so much that the tip of the finger normally rests in my palm.  I can move it about half an inch.  I am experiencing some curvature in my right hand as well but it may never be a serious problem or it could curl rapidly.

   My concern is that the disease will cause an interruption in the blood flow to my finger so I'm exploring the possibility of amputation.  My father suffered from the same malady and because of his work it caused him problems so he had his amputated. 

  It seems some things that are minor inconveniences when we are young  can become serious problems when we get older.  I have done a good job of controlling my diabetes over the years but the older one gets the harder it is to stay healthy. 
     

Photo controversy highlights black women in Long Gray Line

16 black women just graduated from West Point and posed for a graduation picture in dress uniform, complete with swords, and with their fists raised in the air.  They just didn't understand why the picture would be controversial. 
   During my high school days the band would play a certain song every time the football team scored a touchdown but after integration the song wasn't allowed to be played anymore.  If your relatives fought in the War Between the States and you fly a flag or put up a statue, or belong to an organization that remembers the contributions of those brave soldiers that fought and died in the war, then you are labeled a racist.  You can name any organization after the color of your skin except if you are white and not draw the ire of the community.  One can tell blonde jokes all day long but for goodness sakes don't call anyone "nappy headed" or you will find yourself out of a job and in a lawsuit. 
  I don't know how many women graduated with these 16 in the photo but I am willing to bet there were more and probably some of them were not black women but they were excluded from the photo.  maybe there is no cause to believe the picture was politically motivated but if all the non-black women had taken such a picture then I'm willing to bet it would have been labeled racist and heads would have rolled. 
  There once was a blog entitled "big pieces of chicken" and the writer of that blog complained
that at events at the Greensboro coliseum white did not come over and sit in the same sections black people were sitting in and said it was because white people were racists.  I suggested he swallow his racist pride and go sit in the section s that white people were sitting in that way he could demonstrate his willingness to break the color barrier and show himself friendly.  Racism  works both ways and so does the solutions. 
  When I had a part-time job at a convenience  store, sometimes customers started pumping their gas without using a credit card or pre-paying for the gas.  When customers do that there is always the possibility of a drive-off.  One evening after the sun had gone down, business was extremely slow and it had been a while since I had a customer but about the same time two people pulled up to the gas pump.  One was pump 10 and started pumping   gas without prepaying or using a credit card.  Pump 10 is the pump most likely to have a drive-off as it is futherest from the store and harder to see a license tag.   The driver was also young, the age group most likely to leave without paying.  That particular customer was also female, pretty, and dressed in a bikini.  The other driver was pumping gas on pump six and was a middle aged black male who had used a credit card at the pump.  Pump 6 was in direct line of sight to pump 10. 
   I wasn't interested in him as he had pre-paid via credit card for his gas but the other driver was a different story.  Besides being attractive she was a potential risk and for that reason I watched her to insure she didn't drive off.  Of course, the man came into the store and started accusing me of being racist because I was watching him.  I asked him to look at pump 10 and then decide who I was watching.  He left but didn't apologize. 
  All I'm saying is that what one looks at as racist isn't always so but sometime what one doesn't see is.   

Another stupid article

MSN has an article titled "23 foods we have been eating wrong our entire lives".  I don't know about you but I just open my mouth, shovel something in, chew and swallow.  Anyone do it differently?

A different South

     This isn't the South that I grew up in.  I grew up in the rural South where it seemed everyone went to church, policemen were former neighborhood bullies or those that were to much of a drunk to keep driving their cabs, where blacks had their own neighborhood and place, where ruthless bank robbers could be hero's but  most citizens were so honest stores sold newspapers on the honor system.  There were lots of things to like about the old South and there were a lot of things to not like also. 
   For one thing, why good church going people who believed Jesus died on the cross for everyone still found it justifiable to exclude a good portion of society from dignity.  Even if the races remained separate everyone deserved to be treated with the same amount of respect.  The majority had no cause to hate the minority.  Even so, the redneck, outhouse owning, backward living barefoot half toothless character of cartoons were far from what the average Southerner was like.  That idea is as far from what a Southerner truly is as the idea that a Yankee is an educated, tolerate, highly advanced form of life that can drive in three feet of snow with nary a problem.  Being more subtly about ones vices doesn't make them more virtuous. 
   Honestly, I miss the old South.  Not the part about separate but equal because there was nothing equal or fair about that policy.  Today even with integration the equal part just doesn't seem to exist.  It's been a hundred and fifty years since there were legal slaves in the country.  I believe it is past time both races forget and forgive that part of our heritage.  The part of the South that I miss was the part were family's stayed together and gathered at Grandma's house on Sunday's after church for a chicken dinner and a soda in the back yard under the shade tree. 
  I miss the part where strangers said hello to each other and were often seen stopping to help one another.  I miss the part where a man's hand shake and his word meant something.  I suppose that part of the South has moved on too and now times have given away  to an era of selfishness where people want to act like they want to act and one has to force them to behave, where people do illegal and immoral things but the people who are hated are the ones who stand up for what is right. 

National Association of the Easily offended

  I go to the YMCA for an arthritis exercise class done in the heated pool.  Sometimes one of the men who used the pool or the gym will come into the locker room and parade around in full nakedness as if I would really enjoy looking at their nude and wrinkled body, which I do not.  I know that some exposure will happen when people get into a confined area in which they have to shower and change clothes but there is no reason to walk to ones locker which is on the bottom and bend over while totally naked when their is a person sitting on a bench   putting on his shoes. 
   I totally understand that such behavior is offensive and can be avoided.  But that is not the kind of offensive practices I am referring to.  I am talking about intellectual intrusion where my thoughts or ideas are deemed offensive to you yet you feel that your thoughts and ideas are enlightened and
should be accepted by me.    I'm sorry about that but I have already been down the road where I questioned my beliefs, studied the alternatives, and applied them to my life and am sure of the results.  It is your right to disagree with me but not to call me names and bring hurt to me in one or more ways because my belief system is different. 

My parents didn't teach me that.

The red headed controversial alderwoman from Randleman, NC posted a video of a Negro man
claiming that it was white people that decided to call him black but he didn't see color.  Yea right. 
First of all, the term "black" was first used by the Negro people but then they finally decided on being called African-American but recently have decided that they would just as soon be called black so do not blame white people for that one.  Back then white people had a name for them that is not politically correct today. 
  Secondly, my parents didn't teach me to call people names.  I didn't learn to call people japs, or spics, or wetbacks, or any other derogatory name.  They did teach me the song, "Red, yellow, black, or white they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Do they get credit for that? 
  Thirdly, black people are just as prejudice as white people are.  White people just happen to be the majority and hold political and economic dominance  but if the situation had been reversed then we would be the oppressed ones. 
  I served in the military overseas and in areas that had never seen white or black people before a military base was put near where they lived or they happened to move to the area.  It certainly wasn't my parents that taught them negative things.  It seems many of them learned these things from observing the behavior of people. 
  I detest irreverent people but I like people that act descent.  I don't care what you look like or what color your are or where you are from.  I do care how you act.  
 

Fit Moms Chontel Duncan and Stacie Venagro Gave Birth to Healthy Baby Boys!

If the world, or least Americans, are not getting dumber and dumber my uncle's a monkey.  Read the above headline: two women give birth.  No, one woman gave birth.  It isn't possible for a woman to get another pregnant.  I believe in tolerance but I also believe in telling the truth.  Two women can not and have never been able to make a baby.   

Trump is afraid he will win.

 The election of 2016 seems to be coming down to the rejects of 2008: Hillary and the Donald.  Hillary is serious about being President while Donald Trump just wanted free publicity for his on-going business concerns.  This year it backfired and people thought he might be a good candidate. 
  Our system of government only works if the populace is educated.  I'm afraid the American population isn't as educated as they would like  to believe.  They can't get their faces out of their electronic devices long enough to pay attention.  Americans ability to express themselves via the written world has seriously deteriorated.  Computers, once thought to be the gateway to knowledge, is only a platform to watch movies and play games.  Many of the news stories on the web are now presented in video form. 
   It seems the American public wants to smoke as much marijuana as they want without being arrested for it, drive as fast as they want without being ticketed for it, party as hard as they want without being held responsible for their actions, want to be paid as much as possible for doing as little as they can, and if they screw up, they want everyone else to pitch in and bail them out without themselves having to face the consequences of their actions.  Americans want to live in an idealistic world were everyone is love, respected, and well taken care of but where everyone really means themselves. 
   Donald Trump is not Presidential material.  We live in a real world where we have real enemies and they want to do us harm.  They consider most Americans infidels and to be honest, they might not be too far off the mark.  But being an infidel gives no one the right to do us harm.  To survive as a  country we need to change some things.  Donald Trump is not the person to lead this nation to bring about these changes.
  

diet soda in the news: again

The article was titled "What diet soda is doing to your body"  and indicates that diet soda is bad for a person.  What exactly is it that is bad for a person?  Soda is carbonated water, sweeter and flavoring along with preservatives.  All soda has carbonated water yet it isn't regular soda or carbonated soda getting the bad rap.  Regular soda doesn't contain sugar  but corn syrup or corn sugar which diet soda doesn't have.  Diet soda has an artificial sweetener that regular soda doesn't have  but it isn't the sweetener that is getting the bad rap.  The other ingredients in sodas vary from drink to drink: that's what makes them different. 
  So exactly what is the problem with diet soda?

Not so buddy

Just read an article on MSN that was entitled "He retired at 33, so can you."  Sorry but I passed that milestone 35 years ago.  My brother retired yesterday  but the rich brother is still working.  Go figure. 

neighbors yard

  This is what I have to look at everyday.  The shed in the backyard is not finished and the fenced lot on the right of the house is for yappy little dogs.  He has an untagged yard machine which he rides on the streets, blocks the road with excess vehicles and broken trailers, and is constantly swapping junk
but is always bringing more than taking. 
  Bot only is the place an eyesore the man is drawing disability but is constantly working, building, tearing down, loading and unloading junk.