Rain

We are finally getting some rain in Randleman.  It started about 7 o'clock and by nine part of my front porch was wet. 

Kitty come home

After much discussion and thought my wife and I have decided to adopt two kittens rather than a puppy.  We have found two we like and hopefully things will work out so we can bring them home soon. 
Please, I urge all pet owners to get your pet dogs and cats fixed so as to not overpopulate. 

Kathy Griffin Refused To Out BFF Anderson Cooper

Good for Kathy.  I don't want to know Anderson Coopers sexual preferences from her or him or anyone else.  Gosh, I just don't care.  I can't understand why it is necessary to announce such stuff.  What, are they wanting brownnie points?  (No pun intended). 

Best and Worst Foods for Diets

It took a study for twenty years to come up with a list of 15 items that were good or bad for ones diet.  I could have picked the same items without doing any research.  Common sense lets you know that spinach and a cup of yougurt is healthier than french fries and a hamburger.  But, lordy, lordy, I don't have that degree. 

I'm ready for the rain

Friday night there was plenty of thunder but nary a drop of rain in Randleman.  The weather forecast for the next several days look promising with a 60% chance today at 1 o'clock.  I'm ready. I have brown grass that crunches when stepped on, big leafy vegetables in the garden that look as if they need to be tossed out if they were in the frig, and low water levels in my fish pond. 

Normally, I go to my garden and loosen up the soil around the plants but the ground is so dry it is like trying to chop up concrete.  Still, I've made my preparations.  I have two feeder hoses running from the overflow valves on my rain barrel so the overflow will run into my pond and not be wasted.  It's always been a trick to fill the pond from the rain barrel without emptying the barrel.  That ususually requires standing in the rain turning off the valve or timing the manuver for a break in the downpour.  The only trick this time will be moving the hoses from one pond to the other when one is full.  And no, I can't have one hose going to each pond as one pond is ten times larger than the other.  I need to ensure the bigger pond is filled first. 

I don't know if it is too late to save my pumpkins or not.  I'm sure their growth has been retarded.  If they are okay, don't forget to come by the church this fall to get your fall decorative pumpkin or one  for a pie or jack o'lantern.  I have three types planted.  But as for today, enjoy the rain. 

squirrels and watermelon

The heat has taken its toll on grass and gardens as well as man and mammal.  But their was one creature enjoying the fruits of the heat wave.  Yesterday I picked a watermelon off the vine that was turning black on one end due to the parent plant not getting enough to drink and jetisoning its fruit in order to survive.  The melon was about the size of a squirrel  so how ther little animal managed to move that piece of fruit a 100 feet away before eating it is a wonder to me. 

I'm just glad the fruit didn't go to waste.

Peaches

If you want some fresh peaches this is the week to go to Ramseur to Millstone Nursery for a good buy.  One peck is only $8.00, 1/2 bushel is only $13.00 and a bushel is $26.00.  They have white and yellow, both freestone. 

Peach week begins Sunday, July 8, 2012.

Everyone gets a trophy

I was wanting to organize a car show but when I was told that there are now 104 categories and that everyone gets a trophy I decided against this endeavor.  Everyone gets a trophy?  Kinda cheapens the value of being a winner, doesn't it? 

News story comments

I like to read and occasionally I will comment on the stories I read.  I also like to read the comments made by others and most are short, opinionated and not well thought out responses to news articles.  Sometimes if an article is on a tragic event, some commenter's can and do get really mean and nasty but no matter what the subject two topics will almost invariable pop up.  One is religion and the other is politics. 

The most disturbing thing I've noticed is the lack or respect people have for each other and how quickly people resort to name calling and racial slurs.  It is really a shame we cannot discuss a topic and even have a difference of opinion without getting angry, race baiting, or name calling.  I seldom have anyone disagree with me but when I do I am either ignorant, stupid, illiterate, or something equally disgusting, none of which is necessary to say to me just because you disagree with me.  I have been known to change my mind on things and I have been know to change the minds of other people. 

My former best friend, a gay female, and I often disagreed on certain issues yet we remained close friends.  My sons girlfriend and I have totally different views and yet we can discuss things civily and sometimes she sees my point of view and sometimes I can see hers, but often we just have to agree to disagree.     

too many koi fish

I built my pond three years ago and purchased 4 koi and 12 goldfish.  I put my goldfish in the small pond at the top of my waterfall and the four Koi, 3" to 5 " went into the big pond.  Last year my tri-colored Koi layed her egss but was injured in the process and died.  I only had two fish from her first set of eggs  but a good number of the eggs from last year survived.  I sold some to my wifes co-worker and sold some to a pond builder.  After selling off 87 fish I still have 37 babies left.  I want to keep 8 of them and sell the other twenty-five.  They range anywhere from 3" to 7" and are in a variety of colors. 

The rock salt is working wonders as my water is clearing up.  This morning it still had a green tint but I could see to the bottom of the pond.  In the afternoon when the waters are most stirred up the water was still clear enough to see the big fish and the top of my filter.  Hopefully in a few days the pond will be completely clear. 

The rock salt not only clears the water but is also good for the health of the fish, causing them to increase their slime coat and helps rid the fish of parasites.  From what I read, in the next few years one willalmost halftodouble the amount of rock saltto have the same benefits for the fish and in about five yearsit will have noeffect, due to parasites adapting themselves to  withstand the effects of the rock salt.  hopefully it willcontinue to aid in algae elimination. 

If anyone needs some pond fish contact me.  Only one dollar each.  They need a good home.  Next spring I'll probably ask 5 to 9 dollars each for them.

Water Pond care

I learned something new the other day.  I know that adding salt to pond water is good for the fish but pond salt is expensive.  Algae has always been a problem, especially in my large pond.  Even though I had a decent filter, the pond receivbes so much sun that even with the filter, the UV rays, pond plants and algaecide, the algae grows faster than I can get rid of it. 

I learned that I could solve both problems cheaply with rock salt.  Walmarts price of $1.28 for a 4 lb box of rock salt (32 cents a pound) is cheap enough.  Rock salt encourgages the fish to grow a thicker sklime coat which protects them, it kills parasites and algae as well.  In less than 24 hours after addinbg rock salt, my big ponds water is clear enough to see the bottom of the pond.  It still has a little green tint but maybe now my filter and UV light can keep up. 

I have sold 67 fish and still have around 35 left.  I need to sell 27 more fish.  They a a dollar a piece for the year old Koi.  Pet store prices for these fish are normally around $7.99 5to $9.99 each, higher if they are butterfly. 

now that Obamacare is law...

The supporters of ObamaCare cite the provisions as being benefical and it is true that they are.  Yea, it's tough for an unemployeed college graduate to get medicalcoverage and it doesn't seem fair that if you have a preexisting condition that you would be denied coverage.  It is a shame that kids can't receive necessary care because their parents are too poor to afford adequate health insurance. 

It really isn't fair that some people get to live in mansions while others are forced to live in government housing in order to escape having to live in the streets. It doesn't seem fair that my mom cannpt afford repair work on her house and she worked all her life while her friend lives in luxury and draws a bigger social security check. 

A lot of things in life isn't fair.  The insurance system before Obamacare wasn't a good system and while the provisions of the new program seem worthwhile and benelovent, can we afford it?

I am a veteran and went to the VA doctor just to get into the system.  Without even examing me, the VA doctor told me my arm pain was not related to my medications but because of my exercising (walking 5 miles each morning) and he said he didn't believe I was a diebetic, even though I had been treated as one for the previous five years. 

After I was examined, the tests proved I was a diebetic and my personal phycian ran some a test which showed that one medication I was taking was building up in my muscles and causing me to suffer.  My medication was adjusted and the pain was reduced. 

If the VA healtcare system is any indication of what ObamaCare care will be like, proponents are going to be disappointed and we will find that we are paying too much and receiving too little.  Can we really afford this system?

Something to think about.

I certainly don't advocate moving to Canada or Iran.  Conservative principles doesn't make one fanatic any more than being liberal means you have no principles.  There are two funtamental differences between the USA and Iran, one being the God we believe in is a God of love whereas theirs is a God of hate.  The other difference is we have a governmental system build on freedom and their system is not.   

Laws are enforced differently

I purchased a building and had to get a builders permit before the building could be dilevered and I had to make sure it complied with the law.  The county then raised the tax value on my home. 

Over half the neighborhood has outbuildings on their propertyyet Iam the only one in compliance city the codes and the only one that had to get a builders permit. 

Why is that?

hypenated names

Kidd-Gilchrist is the last name of the Kentuck player drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats.  His name got me to thinking about what would happen if the new trend of hypenated names is carried to the extreme.  After all, he could marry a woman with a hypenated name herself and if they passed that name on to their children, then the kid would have a name like Sarah Smith-Jones-Kidd-Gilchrist and if Sarah grows up and marries Paul Johnson-Thompson-Kennedy-Macmillin and has a kid named Bart his last name woulod be Smith-Jones-Kidd-Gilchrist-Johnson-Thompson-Kennedy-MacMillian.  How would you like to write that name on a daily basis? 
I've always thought the hypenated namne was stupid.  Either keep your own, decide which name to use, the husbands or the wifes,  go with tradition, or make a combo name like Kidchrist or Gilild. 

Attitude

I was standing in an aisle looking at a display on the endcap when a woman and her daughter approached me.  Where I was standing wasn't in the area between two sets of shelving but in the main aisle that is wide and runs the with of the store.  The customer and her daughter had plenty of room to manuever around me or even in front of me had they so desired but instead the woman said "Excuse me" but not in the polite term like when someone is asking for forgiveness or in a way for apologizing for having to ask you to grant them a priviledge but in the condescending matter in like "you are in my way and should apologize to me for making my life inconvenient."  You know the tone, like dragging the word out "Excuuuuse meee!" 
  She had plenty of room, and her request for me to move wasn't done because I was blocking her progress but because of my skin color and her attitude.  I refused. Don't even try to bully me.  

Nora Ephron

She is a writer was was seventy-one when she passed.  I never meet her.  I would liked it if I had. 

How to handle disagreements

Sometimes I find myself in a quantry which is not unlike a quarry in that I feel like I am between a rock and a hard place.  Our pastor is disabled.  Although to look at him one would not realize it the truth is he has many health issues and it is difficult for him to do all he needs to do.  To help him he asked a young preacher, just turned 21, to help him.  This young preacher preached a sermon last night using John chapter 21  verses 1-12 as his text.  To explain the verses he stated that "Jesus is the boat." 
Now I will have to admit that his illustrations were unique.  For example he said that "casting the net on the right side of the ship was significate because in heaven the saints would stand at the right hand of the father and the lost would be gathered on the left hand.  But whether the right side of the ship was on the right side of jesus is questionable.  That would all depend on which way the ship was facing.

The story was not a parable so we can't interpret it as such but we must take the events and expain the importance ofthem.  This was a real event, not a parable. Jesus was not the boat as the boat is an inanimate object and can't even be interpreted as a type of Jesus.  Jesus was standing on the flesh, a living breathing creature and not a lifeless object.

My problem is that the man in the pulpit should preach and teach what the bible says and not make up stories about what he things it could mean.  Maybe his intentions are good and his sermon was filled with interesting and valid points, none of what he said is the actual and truthful interpretation of those versus. 

If a man is allowed to stand in the pulpit and and make up  his own interpretations of scriptures then those allowing him to do so are as wrong as he is.   On the other hand, the preacher would most likely withdraw his support from the church and leave the preacher in need. 

Because the semon was full of biblical truths should I ignore the error of treating it like a parable, should I share my concern with the pastor or should I mention my concerns to the young pastor?        

The cookout

Our church wanted to meet member of the community so we planned a cookout, plassed out invitations, invited everyone we came into contact with, and put a lot of time, effort and money into the event.  In some ways it was a success and in other ways it was a disappointment.  I do know we sure missed you there. 

One thing for sure about being part of an event like this, one  learns a lot about other people, who one can count on and which ones are a hindrance.  I did a lot of cooking and played a little horseshoes, the first time I've played in over twenty-five years. 

My biggest disappointment was that only one ballplayer from my team came to the cookout.  But I'm glad he came.  He is a good kid and his dad was a big help to me.  I wish them well. 

A Really Awkward Stance for Sandusky

My wife taped Dateline from last night and we just finished watching it.  As a special at the end of the show, Dateline announced the verdict from the Sandusky trial.  A reporter asked the reporter who had been in the courtroom what things were like in the courtroom when the verdict was read. 
"Sandusky was quiet when the verdict was read, standing there with his hands stuffed in his left pants pocket..."

Try that for yourself. Stand up and stuff your hands in your left pants pocket.  Really awkward isn't it?