Saturday, June 18, 2011

Life goes on.

As I have mentioned already on Facebook, our good friend for many years, Jack Kolb, passed away this week.  Even though we knew he had been ailing, this came as a great shock.  We will be honoring him in several ways, in the near future.

Jack would have wanted us to continue with the things we normally do, so I'll do some blog entries once again.  (Incidentally, I am beginning to get lots of comments from readers in the United States.  I still continue to get comments from Asia on a regular basis.)

Welcome to the world, Luka Nebraska!

01.  The Rapture.

We're still waiting.

02.  Priorities.

Children selling lemonade near the current Golf Extravaganza were about to be fined for operating an unlicensed business.  When someone pointed out that local homeowners in the same area were renting their driveways to contestants for up to $500, the "lemonade stand prosecutors" relented and let the children continue, but to save face, they insisted that the kids move their stand a bit farther from the action.   (The kids plan to donate their proceeds to charity.)

03.  Church and State?

A lady arranged to conduct a class at a local senior center with the title:  "The Study of Man."  It was advertised, I'm told, to be a history class.  It was actually a Bible study class and was shut down for a short time, because it was felt that a religious session was inappropriate at a Government-run facility.  However, upon a closer reading of rules and regulations, it was deemed to be ok for the group to continue.   To my surprise, I have not seen any letters to the local newspaper about this issue.

04.  Church and School?

A member of the North Carolina Church of Body Modification has won a legal battle to wear a nose stud to a local High School.  The school folks decided to give in to the demands to avoid wasting money on a legal fight. 

What is this desire to mutilate oneself?  Members of my family also engage in this practise, and I really can't complain, because they are all nice persons.  If they do this to make themselves look different, I would say that in so doing, they now look like lots and lots of other people. 

I'm guilty as well, since I have a tatoo.  But my excuse was that I was drunk when I had it put on. 

I started shaving when I was eleven years old, and as a Freshman in High School, I grew sideburns.  Very few other kids were able to grow them.  A couple of years later, as the other kids began to shave, more and more sideburns showed up.  So, I shaved mine off.  You can see that I kept trying to be different. 

Also, for a while, members of one of my gangs wore suit jackets on Sundays.. without any shirts underneath. Sometimes we would knot ties around our necks as well.  Older folks would shake their heads and predict dire futures for us all.

05.  Police are still combing the area...

A thief in Texas stole thousands of dollars worth of human hair from a wiggery.   He concentrated on Remy hair, which comes from the heads of Indian women.  Other thieves, in Michigan and California,  are also targeting hair salons and hair accessory stores..

http://www.inhairco.com/


06.  Ya gotta eat your veggies, baby...

An article in the Social Security Alumni Association newsletter cites the need for fiber in the American diet.  They mention a UCLA study that found that normal-weight people eat about 33% more diettary fiber and 43% more complex carbohydrates than overweight people.  Americans need 25 to 30 grams of fiber per day to remain healthy.  Keep count of your fiber intake for a couple of days and see if you are eating enough.  Fiber is mainly found in vegetables, fruit, whole grains and nuts.

07.  Church and Military?

During a recent trip to the Gettysburg battlefield, we were directed to a large statue of a female figure with a long noisemaking trumpet pointed from the Confederate lines toward the Union lines.  The guide mentioned that this was supposed to represent Saint Barbara, who is the "saint of artillery"..   the statue was placed there by the State of  Louisiana. My  brother Joe probably knows about it, since he is a Civil War buff.

Check it out! Saint Barbara is blowing a vuvuzela at the Union troops!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40650647@N03/4669557091/




08.  Happy Talk..

North Korea conducted a happiness study and concluded that North Korea was the second happiest country in the world.  China was first.  Cuba was third.  The United States was dead last. 

09.  Happy Tom:

Bragging time.  We have already eaten 4 red cherry tomatoes grown on our back deck, and we have twenty or so green ones about to turn red.   We get all-day sun on the deck and have lots of pots and four "earthboxes" set up.  I'm more of a successful farmer here on a small deck than I was on my acre and a half "farmstead".   However, I am glad to see the results my daughter, Diane, is having on that piece of land.  Her flowers, especially, are spectacular.   She posts pictures of her flowers on facebook. Now, I will try to post a picture of one of my tomatoes here.


Friday, June 10, 2011

"Rapture and Weiner and Such, Oh My!"

Well, we are still here... or maybe this is the "END TIME"...  just look at all the tornados and earthquakes  and tsumanis and heat waves.. and Congressmen and Candidates making fools of themselves... but people in the public eye have always done stupid things.. by anybody's standards.

This morning, I woke up in a mild depression when I encountered the following things:

o All of our lights and fans were on for some mysterious reason.
o Our cat had thrown up in 7 places on our main rug and once on the kitchen floor.
o The radio reported that the stock market has continued it's downward trend and I'll probably be poor  again soon, if not already.
o The US. credit rating is heading to "junk" and Congress is playing political games about it.

Besides that, I'm very worried about the health of two close relatives and a dear friend who is in the hospital.

However.. there are developments that are making me lose my depressive state:

o  It's kind of interesting to follow Congressman Weiner and his strange adventures.
o  Newt Gingrich's Presidential campaign staff has quit on him.
o  Sarah Palin is learning facts about the early days of our Nation.

And.. Elaine and I are anxiously awaiting a new addition to her family.   That will be a joyous occasion.

Here  are other items interesting me this morning:

01.  Losing Weight

I have now lost 24 pounds since last December.  My plan is to lose 1/2 pound each week and reach my target weight exactly one year from today (June 2012).  Hey.. I took a long time to put it on; so, if I take a long time taking it off.. maybe I'll keep it off.

I believe that the only diet that works is to reduce calories and increase exercise.  I was pointed to a marvelous free online program called  http://www.loseit.com/   ..  by signing up for that program, one sets a target weight goal, and the program calculates a daily caloric limit to try for.  Each evening, one can enter all of the food that one has eaten during the day as well as any exercise taken.  The program provides the calorie counts for foods eaten and exercise taken.  At first, it may be amazing to see the amount of calories that one is unwittingly putting into one's body.  For most people, facing up to calorie reality is a great motivating force.

The program allows for "friends" to swap motivational information.  My son is now using the program, as well as a granddaughter and some acquaintances.   Try it.. you may be surprised at how well it works.

02.  Green Thumb?

Last week I finally was able to fill my 4 Earthboxes with soil, dolomite, fertilizer, water and vegetable plants.  I have planted squash, tomatoes, bush beans and cucumbers.  The plants have doubled in size in one week.  Hopefully, the stink bugs will not find their way to my deck.

I also planted specialty tomatoes given me by my daughter, Diane, a master gardener if there ever was one.  Each of these is in a pot by itself and we already have picked 4 red cherry tomatoes to eat.  Much more tasty than the cardboard Super Market ones.  There are 5 large green ones ready to turn red in this hot weather.   I still have 4 hanging baskets of flowers to put up. 

Last year, we grew some specialty lettuce and thought that they had died down with the frost.  But this year it is back again and as fast as we pick it, more grows.  I thought it was a cool weather plant.. but it seems to like the 100 degree days we are having.

03.  Global warming?

It's not even Summer yet and the temperature has been hitting in the high 90's for quite a few days.  Yesterday, it was 100 in some of the places that I visited.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.  We keep the house at 76 degrees and thereby are able to function almost normally.   I wonder if this weather is the cause of our cat's throwing up.  Or maybe she is just bulemic and trying to keep her kittenish figure?

HOLD IT!  FAMILY NEWS!

Elaine's daughter just gave birth to a baby boy.  So, I have to sign off right now and switch to family activity. 
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