Memorial Day

We cannot repay the debt we owe to those who have given their all for our freedoms. To those who served and survived we can say "thank you." If you have not thanked a service man or woman or a veteran today, do it now. Make it a policy to do it whenever you encounter such an American hero.

"Thank you" to these men and women, near and dear to me, who served or serve in the defense of our country.

Winfred J. Brown, Army Veteran, WWII
Daniel R. Bursch, Army Air Corps Vet, WWII
David L. Adams, USMC Veteran, Korea
Richard A. Prout, USAF Veteran
Robert W. Prout, USN Veteran, Viet Nam
Neil C. Stilwell, Jr., USAF Veteran
Ann E. Dunwoody, Army, active duty
Kenneth D. Lacy, USAF Veteran
Abigail Prout, USMC Veteran
David K. Lacy, Army Veteran, Iraq, reservist
Jeffery M. Teter, USN, active duty
Sheena J. Lacy, Army, active duty

Happy Birthday, Ann

Today's featured honoree is the pretty little grandmother in the lower right-hand corner of this display. This is my first-born's birthday.

Top row, l to r: Ann's mother; Ann's first Christmas; paternal grandfather; father.

Center row: Her sixth birthday; paternal grandmother; Ann's son; maternal grandfather.

Bottom row: Maternal grandmother; Ann's husband; her grandaughter; Ann & grandchild.

Happy Birthday, Ann.

We love you.

(See post below for today's double-header.)

Still Lookin' Good

Today is a double-header! Happy Birthday to my brother-in-law Elvin. For one month and five days each year, we are the same age. Today begins that period of time. My eldest child shares her birthday with her Uncle Elvin; and in the distant days in which they made their respective debuts here in the USA, each was born on a holiday. Are you old enough to remember when Memorial Day was always on May 30? It's true, Believe it or Not. So until the family was spread far and wide across the nation, we had a triple-header on Memorial Day! Then the government fixed that. But the birthdays are still on the thirtieth.

Elvin is a loving and devoted husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. He is a highly-respected minister of the Gospel and has devoted his career to the preaching and teaching of the Word. He has represented his Lord Jesus Christ through singing, evangelistic preaching, pastoring congregations both small and large over the years, and as an administrator.

We love you Elvin. I am proud to call you Brother. Happy Birthday.

Unfriending the Grandkids

Has this happened to you? You receive a facebook friend request from a grandchild. You are so excited! Suzy or Bubba thinks enough of Grammy or Gramps to invite them into their space; so of course, you become friends.

Then the little imp's posts begin to appear on your page. It is not long before your embarrassment becomes just too much, so you "unfriend" the little snipe*.

I love you dearly, but your gutter-mind and rude language is just simply not going to appear before my other friends. You're clearly not ashamed of yourself, so I'll be ashamed for you. And yes, this hurts me more than it does you. Literally, for you won't care and yet I love you so much.

What is happening to our society is truly astonishing and heart-breaking.

*To date, this has happened only with adult grandchildren. I hope the younger ones do not follow in these footsteps.

Pet Meds

A couple years ago, Aaron posted this. I found it too funny not to share, and since it is admittedly internet lore, I feel free to steal it now. Laugh your head off: I did.

How To Give A Cat A Pill
1. Pick up cat and cradle it in the crook of your left arm as if holding a baby. Position right forefinger and thumb on either side
of cat’s mouth and gently apply pressure to cheeks while holding pill in right hand. As cat opens mouth, pop pill into mouth. Allow cat to
close mouth and swallow.

2. Retrieve pill from floor and cat from behind sofa. Cradle
cat in left arm and repeat process.

3. Retrieve cat from bedroom, and throw soggy pill away.

4. Take new pill from foil wrap, cradle cat in left arm,
holding rear paws tightly with left hand. Force jaws open and push
pill to back of mouth with right forefinger. Hold mouth shut for a
count of ten.

5. Retrieve pill from goldfish bowl and cat from top of
wardrobe. Call spouse from garden.

6. Kneel on floor with cat wedged firmly between knees, hold
front and rear paws. Ignore low growls emitted by cat. Get spouse to
hold head firmly with one hand while forcing wooden ruler into mouth
Drop pill down ruler and rub cat’s throat vigorously.

7. Retrieve cat from curtain rail, get another pill from foil
wrap. Make note to buy new ruler and repair curtains. Carefully sweep
shattered figurines and vases from hearth and set to one side for
gluing later.

8. Wrap cat in large towel and get spouse to lie on cat with
head just visible from below armpit. Put pill in end of drinking
straw, force mouth open with pencil and blow down drinking straw.

9. Check label to make sure pill not harmful to humans, drink 1
beer to take taste a way. Apply Band-Aid to spouse’s forearm and
remove blood from carpet with cold water and soap.

10. Retrieve cat from neighbor’s shed. Get another pill. Open
another beer. Place cat in cupboard, and close door on to neck, to
leave head showing. Force mouth open with dessert spoon. Flick pill
down throat with elastic band.

11. Fetch screwdriver from garage and put cupboard door back on
hinges. Drink beer. Fetch bottle of scotch. Pour shot, drink. Apply
cold compress to cheek and check records for date of last tetanus
shot. Apply whiskey compress to cheek to disinfect. Toss back another
shot. Throw Tee shirt away and fetch new one from bedroom.

12. Call fire department to retrieve the damn cat from across
the road. Apologize to neighbor who crashed into fence while swerving
to avoid cat. Take last pill from foil wrap.

13. Tie the little bastard’s front paws to rear paws with
garden twine and bind tightly to leg of dining table, find heavy-duty
pruning gloves from shed. Push pill into mouth followed by large
piece of filet steak. Be rough about it. Hold head vertically and
pour 2 pints of water down throat to wash pill down.

14. Consume remainder of scotch. Get spouse to drive you to the
emergency room, sit quietly while doctor stitches fingers and forearm
and removes pill remnants from right eye. Call furniture shop on way
home to order new table.

15. Arrange for SPCA to collect mutant cat from hell and call
local pet shop to see if they have any hamsters.

Conversely (and for the sake of completion)…

How To Give A Dog A Pill

1. Wrap it in bacon.
2. Toss it in the air

Arthur Gordon Linkletter,

broadcast personality and author was born on July 17, 1912, in Moosejaw, Saskatchewan. The child was abandoned by his birth parents on the steps of a church. He was adopted by the young preacher and his wife.

His story is legend, and it is virtually impossible to have lived at any time over the last sixty years and not know who he was. Throw out his name and you are likely to get a response such as "People are Funny," one of his well-known TV shows. Or some might say, "Kids Say the Darndest Things."

This gentleman loved people and was a highly successful business man as well as popular culture personality. For the last many years of his life he devoted his time and talent to anti-drug efforts, often giving dozens of speeches each year.

Art Linkletter died May 26, 2010 in his Bel-Air home. He was ninety-seven years of age.

Arthur Gordon Linkletter 1912 - 2010 RIP

Cookie Gilchrist,

you are wished a happy seventy-fifth birthday!







Now we're talkin' running-back!

Tasha and Rory

This beautiful afternoon we attended the wedding of my granddaughter, Tasha, and her beloved, Rory. The rural setting was even lovelier than the picture depicts. The happy couple were even more radiant than the picture shows, and all in all it was a fantastic time.

I have a whole chip full of pictures. This one is for you.

Camping

We arrived Sunday afternoon at the bog which was our reserved campsite. Found a somewhat less muddy place and changed our registration. I slept much of Monday while it rained. Tuesday, I slept much of the day while it rained.

Wednesday it rained very little, but it was very cloudy and quite cool. Thursday morning it was bright and sunny, so we enjoyed the last three hours of the camping experience before heading for home.

All's well that ends well. But soggy, muddy and tired (in spite of the extra sleep), we are happy to be home.

Summer Season

Yes, it is only mid-May, but it is time to begin the CCCF camping season. Thus it is that today we will be traveling to a select campground to rendezvous with a couple dozen of our peers.
(Read: old people who have RVs.) There will be no internet connection available at this site, so the best you can hope for is that I will try to catch up with you upon return home. And I hope that you would like it should I post again following this hiatus. Check in, oh, say about the 21st.

Shopping with Vanilla

I had occasion a bit ago to stop at the Dollar General. BBBH had asked me to get some cooking oil. My shopping technique is simplicity itself. I enter store knowing what I'm there for, proceed to item, pluck from shelf and proceed to checkout.

Today as I arrived at the (sole open) checkout counter, simultaneously so did Ms. Late-50-Something Hausfrau from 90 degree angle. We both stopped, ostensibly to avoid collision, she glanced at me, clearly had to see that I had one item. She wheeled her laden cart in front of me.*

I stood patiently throughout her transaction, whistling, and not on lowest volume, the whole time, "Help Me Make it Through the Night." And I was careful as I segued into the chorus to pitch just-enough-off-key to be totally irritating to anyone who is not tone-deaf. Yes, I am good enough to do that. So anyway, as it transpired, one of her items was neither tagged nor in the original bag. Well, clerkie rang up the rest (almost, see below) of the items, THEN Ms. 50+ headed to the back of the store, housewares dept. and eventually returned with item similar to the one she wanted, but still in its wrapper. The clerk scanned that and announced the total.

Then, of course, the scramble through the purse to find the plastic. Swiped, whew! and whee! because there was no problem there. The woman stepped up to gather her packages and I stepped forward and placed the canola on the counter when the clerk espied six cans of paint on the end of the counter. Yours? No, that woman's. The poor cashier looked dazed, puzzled and apologetic, and I said, "Please go ahead and ring mine up, then finish her off." And maybe I really did mean "finish her off." Kidding. So that's how it went down, and as the woman stepped back to the counter for her "second set of purchases" I think she might have glowered at me. Oh, did I mention that I divined that it was the perfect time to pay for my $2.50 purchase with the collection of pennies, nickels and dimes that I had accumulated in my right front pocket?

*I am assuming that she determined that at my age, I had no place to be, nothing pressing to do. Whippersnappers and boomers might consider that at my age I may not have left much time to do anything, hence they should respect what little I have.

Spanish Riding School

Fortunately, we had timed our visit to Vienna such that the Lippizzaners were in training at the Spanische Hofreitschule, the "Spanish Court Riding-School". The horse-master in our entourage, Carl, would of course have never picked any other time! In fact, he, on the way to Wien, had made a side-trip on his own to visit the breeding farm for these magnificent animals.

Thus, we assayed to obtain tickets to view a training session. These are not readily available, and as it happened, (big surprise) the tour companies had snapped up all the available ducats.
So we booked onto a tour group which brought a bus around to the hotel and transported the customers to the Hofberg. Following the performance, there was other stuff on their agenda.

At any rate, our hotel in central Wien was the first stop, and thus we got a ride around the Ring as the driver stopped at other hotels in the city. Then back to the central city to the arena. Needless to say, Carl was enthralled, and it was a pretty darned spectacular performance.

Following the show, we advised the driver that he could proceed without our company (which seemed to annoy him somewhat); and we walked across the street to the mausoleum in which most of the Habsburg ruling dynasty is entombed. This was a very interesting excursion, and I was greatly surprised to see that the citizens of the city still paid homage to some of the deceased, many of whom had been dead for centuries. There were live flower displays at some of the tombs, and especially at the burial chamber of Emperor Franz Joseph, who died in 1916 after a reign of more than sixty-five years. In fact, I watched as an elderly lady laid a large floral offering at his tomb.

Images: Vanilla, with Pocket Instamatic 110.

Sunshine and Torte

This evening in Vienna, we walked the several blocks from our hotel to the famous Sacher Hotel. This with but one thing on our minds-- Sacher torte. It seemed that it was mandatory to enjoy this treat at ground zero. It was a memorable evening, notwithstanding that at the time we thought five bucks for a dessert and coffee was quite steep. Yet can one put a price on precious memories? Have some truly memorable experiences sometimes without counting the fiscal outlay.



After all the intervening years, the walk, the good company and the laughter are still remembered, and the taste of the confection still lingers in memory if not on the taste buds.






Images: sacher.com

This beautiful Sunshine Award was given me by Sitka and Andrea. Woof, woof; and thank you. I find daily sunshine in your blogs!

Holy Roman Empress

A quarter century ago I had the exhilirating experience of Vienna. One of the many highlights of the time spent there was a visit to Schoenbrunn Palace. This magnificent structure is interesting from an architectural and artistic viewpoint, but my greatest interest was in Habsburg history, particularly that period during which Maria Theresa was Empress.

Schoenbrunn was but one of many royal residential palaces. Maria Theresa herself was born and died in the Hofburg Palace.
Maria Theresa was born 13 May 1717 and died 29 November 1780. She was mother to sixteen children by Holy Roman Emperor Francis I, among which were two Holy Roman Emperors, a Queen of France, a Queen of Naples and a Duchess of Parma.

Maria Theresa was Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Queen of Bohemia for forty years. She was Holy Roman Empress for thirty-five of those years. She spent most of this time bearing children, arranging marriages of children, and fighting wars. On this date in 1743, Maria Theresa was crowned King of Bohemia.

At the time of her death, her title was Maria Theresa, by the Grace of God, Dowager Empress of the Romans, Queen of Hungary, of Bohemia, of Dalmatia, of Croatia, of Slavonia, of Galicia, of Lodomeria, etc.; Archduchess of Austria; Duchess of Burgundy, of Styria, of Carinthia and of Carniola; Grand Princess of Transylvania; Margravine of Moravia; Duchess of Brabant, of Limburg, of Luxemburg, of Guelders, of Württemberg, of Upper and Lower Silesia, of Milan, of Mantua, of Parma, of Piacenza, of Guastalla, of Auschwitz and of Zator; Princess of Swabia; Princely Countess of Habsburg, of Flanders, of Tyrol, of Hennegau, of Kyburg, of Gorizia and of Gradisca; Margravine of Burgau, of Upper and Lower Lusatia; Countess of Namur; Lady of the Wendish Mark and of Mechlin; Dowager Duchess of Lorraine and Bar, Dowager Grand Duchess of Tuscany.

Irreverent as it may be,this springs to mind: "Sticky Sticky Stombo..."

Portrait: Maria Theresa, by Moeller

Miss Horne

Nearly a year ago, I posted this tribute to Lena Horne. This beautiful lady made the world in which we live a more beautiful place.




Lena Mary Calhoun Horne
June 30, 1917 — May 9, 2010

JJ and the Pie

JJ visited again this weekend. As you can see here he adapted very well to the circumstances. Cookie even put up with the sharing of his dearly beloved. But his patience was sorely tried when the interloping beast stayed too long on a lap.

And as occupied as Beautiful was with the pets, she found time to cater to my sweet tooth. That, my friends, is a rhubarb pie. And it doesn't look exactly like the picture anymore. I love rhubarb pie. I love elderberry pie, stawberry pie, apple pie, raisin pie, pecan pie. Oh, I love pie.

No, JJ did not get any pie. Neither did Cookie.

John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 8 May 1873) was a British philosopher and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. I was advised by my philosophy professor that Mill was possessed of the most brilliant mind in history. I do not know on what he based this assertion. Mill was, unquestionably, a man of many parts: the true rennaisance man, so to speak.

I Love a Rainy Night,

and it looks as though we're going to have a couple of them here this weekend.


Rabbitt's "I Love a Rainy Night" replaced Parton's "9 to 5" as number 1 on Billboard's Hot One Hundred in 1981.

Edward Thomas Rabbitt 27 Nov 1941 – 7 May 1998 RIP

Lion's Tooth

I made these photos yesterday in the city utility lot across the street. I got this done just minutes before the weed "exterminator" sprayed the area. The blossoms nestled down in the plantain provides an unusual image.

My friend, Chuck, at Secondary Roads posted a neat dandelion story in which he used the little plant as a metaphor for life. Indeed, not only is the bloom short-lived, but an unexpected puff of wind could blow this away!

It is said that "dandelion" comes from the French "diente de leon" for "lion's tooth."

How apt is that? You judge.

Image of lion: predatorconservation.com

ps: I know this is a bit more political than usual, but I have to get to the polls to vote the rascals out. Don't forget to vote.

How We Did the Race

I mentioned last week that we were planning an excursion on Saturday. The big reveal: it had to do with attending a Derby Party in Southern Indiana. Patty and Mark have hosted this annual event for thirty years, and I think I've missed only three times.
Thus disappointment settled here on Saturday morning as we realized we were not up to the drive, and the horrendous storms through which we would have had to drive clinched the deal. We stayed home.

We picture here the manner in which we attended the race. Do you see that somewhere between the breaking from the gate and the final turn I noticed that the lamp to my right was spoiling my pictures? The joys of amateur photography.

I have to say that I have watched numerous horse races on the tube, and the Kentucky Derby is doubtless the best. Not because of the horses or the race, but because as a people-watching venue it cannot be beat. The parade of the mob through the mud to the paddock will long be remembered; and the image of the round lady in the red dress, the mud boots and the humungous bonnet will be forever emblazoned in my memory. Along with others.

And then the interviews with the horsey set prove beyond doubt, if there ever was any doubt, that though we all share a planet, we don't all live in the same world.

Btw, had I bet on my "pick" to show, woulda won a bit of dough.

A Lesson in Acts

The Acts of the Apostles, Chapter 17
Who made the world and all things?
24: God that made the world and all things therein,
How could that be? seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25: Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Are we not all of the same race?
26: And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
To what purpose?
27: That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him,
How difficult is it to find God?
though he be not far from every one of us:
28: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
In what way should we regard God?
29: Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
What now does God require of us?
30: And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Why should we repent?
31: Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness
How shall we be judged?
by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

That man is Jesus, the Christ. What will you do with Christ?
This you must do:

Acts:16:31: And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Rom:10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

May the blessings of His love and the gift of his salvation be yours today.

In Memory

of Ellie on the anniversary of her birth.








Scroll down for another post today.

A Song for Saturday

We are off on a little excursion today. Depending upon the quality of the experience, we may or may not share with you later.

Meanwhile, enjoy a "dang ol' sad song." That's what I call most of the country music that I like. Think Conlee, think Jones, the Hag, Conway, Kenny Rogers, Johnny, Waylon-- you get the idea.