Defunct

 

 I wrote this piece five years ago.  But each June I reflect on the one-time career and the years that have passed since.  This is a pretty good summary of my thinking, still no l regrets.  I changed only the number of years since retirement, added footnote.

June 30

Twenty-eight years ago today I was officially superannuated.*  Closed out the career.  Retired.

Thanks to time off for good behavior and other favorable considerations, I had actually turned in the keys a few days earlier.  But the record shows June 30, 1990 to be the official retirement date.

You step off the train.  The train moves on.  It is bound on a journey which brought you to this point, but you cannot go now where it is going.  You may go somewhere else by some other means, but that train is gone, and its destination is not your destination.

The beginning of the twenty-ninth year of retirement sparks a bit of reflection.  I am not one for "what ifs" or "it might have beens."  In fact, regrets make up a very tiny package, and I do not carry it with me.  Thus I do not regret that my portfolio might have been more impressive had I stayed longer on the ride.  I not only do not regret, I revel in the choice I made.  I rejoice in my journey along the byways that that train does not travel.

"The laborer is worthy of his hire."  Work is not life; it is an honorable provision of the means for living.  To those who ask, What do you do with yourself?  I say, I am living.  I am abundantly blessed.

*Synonyms for superannuated: old, old-fashioned, antiquated, out of date, outmoded, broken-down, obsolete, disused, defunct

Conversations with Random People --26 #T

Appointment with doctor today resulted in an hour and twenty minute wait in the anteroom and a four-minute visit with the physician.  Fortunately I  was  able to redeem the time, thanks to an affable gentleman  who was  sharing the wait with me.

Conversation rambled down several avenues, most  centering  on agriculture, work, and age.  The youngster (his assessment when he discovered my age) revealed that  he is 67.  He asked about my retirement, and I asked about his.  But he is not retired, still  works full-time.

"I work at several hog confinement operations in Indiana and Ohio, driving an average of 1100 miles a week to make the rounds."

"That's a lot of driving.  What is your mission?"

"I sort and tag animals for movement to feeder facilities and for shipment to market."

"Thanks.  I like my pig meat.  Not so crazy about bacon as some people are, but I really like that loin!"

"Too salty," he averred.  "The bacon I mean."

"How many litters will a brood sow produce in a year?" I asked.

"The average is 2.3 per year, 13 pigs to the litter."
     (That will give me some arithmetic to work with later.)

Then the man mentioned that there were a couple of facilities in the area that  were being sold, not closing, just change of ownership.

"German investment bankers?" I asked.

"No, he replied, "Japanese."

I remarked that I was somewhat familiar with an operation in a certain location.  He laughed and said that that was one of them to which he was referring.  "6000 sows in that facility."  (More fodder for the arithmetic problem.)

Nurse stuck her head  through the door.  "David?"

And you know the rest.

6000 x 2.3 x 13 = 179,400.  Just so you know.

Magic and the Incomprehensible

In my reading a few days ago I encountered this:

     "Science is magic, only real."

No.  Science is the puny attempt of mankind to comprehend the Mind of God.

The endeavor is fated ever to fall short, for as John Chrysostom correctly observed, "A god comprehended is no god."

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.  Isaiah 55:8-9 (KJV)

Enjoy the Day You Have

Lovely yard scenes

and the laugh of the day.

My Daddy

Father, Daddy, Dad.  This man grew up hard-scrabble on Colorado's high plains, raised a heathen, God reached down and drew him into His family when the boy was seventeen years of age.  From that point on Dad dedicated his life to the service of his Master, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and salvation through His atoning Blood.

Dad went home to his Heavenly Father nineteen years ago.  I still miss him, but the love, the guidance, the teachings that he left with me remain with me.

  

Delbert W. Lacy 1910 - 1999

June 14

In this era of sensitivity and warped thinking, here is a message for those who may be "offended" by the display or parading of the American flag.  "Go away.  Go far, far away."

Our Country, Our World

Saturday I was in a local commodities cooperative which is a buyer and vendor of grain crops.  There was a large sign on the office wall which said, and I may not be quoting verbatim here, "All grain purchased here must conform to the standards of the European Union and to those of the Chinese Ministry of Agriculture.  Any other product must have prior approval of the management."

And have you been advised of the EU regulations regarding GDPR?  We are told that "This law is NOT specific to people operating in the EU, it affects all of us that have websites that might be visited from people in the EU. . ."  Further there exist threats of serious financial etc, etc.
And so on and so forth.

"Proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free."

Numbers 11, Continued

While God's manna was in never-ending supply yet the rabble among the people began to whine and complain about the lack of meat, and melons, and leeks, and garlic.   And their murmurs became a complaint among the people.

Moses in  conversation with God.

Moses:  Why do You afflict me with this tiresome people?

JHWH:  Tell the people to consecrate themselves in preparation, for tomorrow they will eat meat.  Not for a day or for ten or twenty days, but for an entire month, even until it runs our their noses.

Moses: Whoa!  I have this mob of six hundred thousand men and all their dependents and You tell me You will give them meat for a month?   It would take all the fish in the seas.  *incredulity*

JHWH:  Doubter!  Is my arm too short?  Now you will see whether or not my word is true.

Then Moses obeyed the Lord and told  the people what was going to transpire.  And, as promised, the quail came.  And came.  And came and the people gathered to their hearts' content.  But, scripture tells us, even before they could chomp it down the Lord's anger was kindled against them and He sent a plague upon them.  People died and were buried in that place which they named Kibroth Hattaavah which means "The Graves of Lust" for the people who were provided by the Lord with all their needs lusted for more, for what they did not have.  Their desires exceeded their needs.

Sound familiar?

Throw Pillows and Friendship

My blog pal, Grace, recently posted this line on her blog:

And no, I have never, I do not now, and I never will – have a throw pillow.

As I was sitting in our solarium/sunroom/porch glancing around at the decor, this sight met my eyes

 and I thought of Grace and laughed.

Illustration of some important things.  "It takes all kinds."  I still consider Grace to be my friend, and I hope she thinks the same about me.  "People don't have to agree on everything to be friends."  Which calls to mind this, that Opal said of her husband, Earl:  "If we agreed on everything one of us would not be necessary."

Thus I hope to promote that better world in which people can disagree and still get along.

Can't Make This Stuff Up

Went into my local BMV office this morning to renew my driver's license.  Pleasant lady tapped a few computer keys.  We waited.  And waited.  "This is taking a long time," she said.  "Not a problem.  I'm in no hurry, " I replied.

"Oh, did you mail in your renewals for your license tags?'
"I did.  About a week ago."
"That's the problem.  I see it on the screen.  Someone is using your information to process your tag order, so I can't get in."
"Well, I thought it would make life easier for my local personnel if I mailed it in.  Do you suppose they'll be done messing around if I come back in a couple hours?"
"I surely hope so."

Another trip to the other side of town required.

And do you know about "Real ID"?

Thus I need my passport OR birth certificate, two pieces of mail addressed to me.
"Wait.  I get my mail at a P. O. box."
"Then you will need utility bills or something that has your name and physical address."

Heigh-ho, heigh-ho it's off to Big Brother's we go!

UPDATE

I went back to BMV a couple hours after posting this tale.  I found a utility bill, okay.  A second piece of mail?  I found an item from the alumni association of a former college.  Nope, we don't accept that sort of thing.  I had my property tax receipt.  Nope, it does indeed have a legal description of your property but there is no "physical address."

So the helpful lady said, "Do you have a vehicle registration?"  Of course.  Went to vehicle, got its papers, noting as I returned the office that it did indeed have my name on it, but of course it did not have my physical address, only a P.O. box number.  Lady accepted it anyway.  What is up with that?  She could have looked on her computer and got that info.  But wait.  When she did finally get to the computer after copying my stuff, she found she was still locked out because my info was "still in use."  She walked across the store, picked up a phone and called the office where my "other"  business was being conducted.  Seems they were through  with me but some one forgot to turn me off.  No problem; by this time I'm turned off, pretty much.

But it is all good.  Passed the eye exam (with help and nudging and encouragement from the nice Lady) had my photo taken, paid the eleven bucks, restored papers to my possession and I am good to go for three more years!

And here is what the officer is going to have to look at if he pulls me over:

Lady said I could smile but don't show any teeth.  So I did.

Honor

Operation Overlord, June 6, 1944.  Be ever mindful of the fact that your freedom came with a price.  In memory of the Allied Forces who landed on Normandy and never returned and in honor of those who made it back home.

Moses is Building a Leader

Continuing the study of the eleventh chapter of Numbers, I propose a little side journey-- even as the author included in the account.

The elders had been gathered to the tabernacle where the Lord placed upon them some of the Spirit with which Moses was endowed. 

However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them, and they prophesied in the camp.  A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”  (vv. 26,27, NIV)

At which point Joshua, a young man tagged by Moses to become a leader, spoke up and said, "My lord, Moses, stop them!"  Then without any rancor Moses said, "Are you jealous for my sake?  I wish all the Lord's people were prophets."

In complete kindness and grace, Moses chastised the young Joshua.  Jealousy of others engaged in the work of God is not to be tolerated, even if one is jealous for the sake of another!

As Moses disciplined Joshua, even so God disciplines his children.  He tells us that a father who does not discipline his children does not love them.  God loves His children.  (Hebrews 12)  The Lord is building His people.

[We may eventually get around to the. quail.]

Happy birthday, Delbert, my first-born son, who is five years younger than his sister whose birthday was last week.

Night Out

Tipton County Relay for Life

 Survivors

 BBBH always finds fun wherever she is.

 Deuce coupe

m

 Also a deuce

A very nice '37

Cars courtesy the owners.

Tenderloin meal in the Elks dining room.  Good food, pleasant conversation with the habitues of the club.  Thank you, Elks.

Music on the square by The Brassworks.  Thanks, Gentlemen.

Home before 7:30.  It's how old people roll.