Happy Birthday To Jack And Sam III

I was contemplating participating in Wordless Wednesday, then a quick glance at the calendar changed the post's direction. My chicken scratch scribblings noted that today is Jack and Sam III's Second birthday. It seems like only yesterday I was still inconsolable over losing my dear little Miniature Schnauzer of 15 years, Maxie. Where has the time gone?

Above is when they where first settling in (do JRT's ever settle?!) and a rare moment of being sedate. At first they seemed to view us with distrust, as if these strange giants (us) where going to eat them or something equally disagreeable.

I wouldn't do that.

Too stringy.

*lol*

Here they are in a life-or-death tussle over a stick. I buy them nice, healthy toys and what do they do? Play with debris. Go figure.

Now they're sparing over who can stretch the longest.

I've noticed that in many ways Jack Russell Terriers act like cats. As many know, JRT's do not like anything of the feline persuasion. We where warned vehemently about that before bringing them home. "Do not own a cat ..." "Ok, ok," I remember thinking, "I won't own a cat." Well, I finally figured out why. It's because they don't like the competition. JRT's are fastidious, stealthy, alert, love to stretch and never seem to sit still for long. They really are wonderful dogs if one can get past the first year or so. During that time either stay medicated or get a hobby that requires multiple hours away from home. They almost drove us to distraction with their hyper activity those first few months. Now, of course, I couldn't imagine my life without them.

Happy Birthday little guys. I look forward to many years of enjoying your antics.

And if I could just teach them how to ride on the handlebars ... (wouldn't that be a hoot!?).

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ Simple As Can Be

Simple As Can Be 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Berean Bible Society

Printer Friendly Version

Have you ever heard some preacher say: “There are many things in the Bible which are hard to understand but, thank God, the plan of salvation is as simple as can be.”

Well the plan of salvation is simple IF we obey II Timothy 2:15, “rightly dividing the Word of truth.” Otherwise it is far from simple.

The Apostle Paul wrote: “We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law” (Rom.3:28). Yet James wrote: “By works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).

Again, at Sinai God said to Israel through Moses: “If ye will obey My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people …” (Ex. 19:5). But our Lord said, as He sent His apostles to witness for Him that, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved… and these signs shall follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast out demons, they shall speak with new tongues…” etc. (Mark 16:16-18). Thus, according to their “great commission” water baptism was required for salvation and miraculous signs were the evidences of salvation.

Confusing? Contradictory? Not if we “rightly divide the Word of truth.” It was after “the law was given by Moses,” after our Lord’s earthly ministry, after the commission to the twelve, that God raised up another apostle, Paul, and sent him forth with “the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

It was Paul who was sent to declare: “But NOW, the righteousness of God without the law is manifested…” (Rom. 3:21). “To him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). “Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1).

---

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Wordless Wednesday: Rural Georgia

[click to enlarge]

The Great Trane Robbery Or The Air Conditioner Saga

Finally, I am back from the local hotel after several nights of absence. You may well ask what has occurred that I had to leave my comfortable, quiet country home for a local 4 star accommodation? Five days ago, on the 3rd of July, our eight year old Trane air conditioner breathed it’s last. After my husband wrestled the club from my hot hands (I was going to cause it pain too), reservations were made at a Comfort Inn and ice applied to my throbbing temples. The hotel was quite nice but this was very ill timed for our meager savings. Will the sudden expenditures never end this year?! Oh, well, c'est la vie, right? It’s only money. Gee whiz, you know, I’d like to get familiar with our money for more than a few minutes, though, just once. Back to being calm, God is good and necessities were supplied as needed. 

Anyone who has lived in, or had the great misfortune to visit the Southeast during the summer months knows where I’m coming from with our brutal heat. Most modern houses are not made with the idea in mind that there will not be central heat or air. Ours is no exception.

But back to the story.

Let us begin at the begin. I called our usually most trusted A/C Guy Friday one week before the event for something was troubling the compressor. It was “making a weird noise”. (Ok, so I’m not a technician.) He didn’t call back ... didn’t call ... didn’t call … finally Guy showed up early Thursday the 2nd. After much hemming, hawwing and noodle scratching, stated firmly it was the compressor and ordered said item from the closest Trane distributor in Memphis. We further requested it be sent overnight and offered to pay extra for the expense. The A/C Guy did so. The next day, Friday the 3rd, the compressor, tired of living, in revenge tried to destroy the electric breaker, causing the All House Generator to run. Then the local power company had to be dispatched to fix the problem. It seems the Trane was no longer viable. IN SHEER PANIC NOW I yelled at telephoned the A/C Guy again. At that time, the compressor had not arrived as Trane stated that it would. Therefore, I had to stay all weekend at the very nice Comfort Inn, traveling back and to several times a day to be with my husband (he opted to stay behind and watch the dogs and now unsecure house ~ he’s such a good man), eating out because the house was just too hot, and so forth. When the old compressor was still non compos mentis, with me close behind, I urged Husband to buy something, for goodness sake anything, from Wal-Mart that would cool our new sweat(ing) house.

This is what he showed up with:

I don’t know who Haier is

but I want to marry him and have his children.

Hubby installed this nifty little machine in the guest bedroom since it was the only room with the proper size window. Do you know, this little 8,000 btu unit actually cooled a large portion of our 1,200 sf home? That’s amazing.

And happily, as of this morning, the Trane has new guts and mine are still in knots from all the expenditures. What a week! I'll admit it’s been a learning curve. I will henceforth make it my life's goal to have some kind of back up for hot weather. May the Lord lend me understanding that I will learn what He wants me to know from this experience. Right now I’m too busy basking in the cool dryness of modern convenience.

Two Minutes With The Bible ~ The Love Of God

The Love Of God 

by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam

Berean Bible Society

Printer Friendly Version

Millions of people — even religious people — are afraid of God and are struggling to earn His favor. They suppose that salvation is the reward of showing enough love to Him. If only they would believe what God Himself says, that if we are ever saved it will be entirely because He loved us and graciously provided for our salvation.

The Apostle Paul, in the Bible, called God “the God of love” (II Cor. 13:11) and John declared that “God IS love” (1 John 4:8). Thus John goes on to say:

“HEREIN IS LOVE, NOT THAT WE LOVED GOD, BUT THAT HE LOVED US and sent His Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins” (1 John 4: 10).

This is why salvation is so often called a “gift” in the Bible. It is the expression of God’s love to sinners. And so St. Paul tells us:

“[We] were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, BUT GOD, WHO IS RICH IN MERCY, FOR HIS GREAT LOVE WHEREWITH HE LOVED US, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved)” (Eph. 2:3-5).
“…after that THE KINDNESS AND LOVE OF GOD OUR SAVIOR TOWARD MAN appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to HIS MERCY He saved us…” (Tit. 3:4,5).

Does all this mean that God overlooks sin or condones it? By no means! In His love He paid for our sins on Calvary’s cross “that He might be Just, and the Justifier of him that believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). This is why we read in Rom. 5:8:

“…GOD COMMENDETH HIS LOVE TOWARD US, IN THAT WHILE WE WERE YET SINNERS CHRIST DIED FOR US.”

---

To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Schnauzer Puppy Live Cam

We've been lulled into a major summer tedium around Red Bird Acres. I could discuss the news (ugh, no thanks), or the weather (it's hot, no surprise there), or I could talk about how our not very old Trane A/C has suddenly decided to go to Air Conditioner Heaven and we need a new one. Nah, too depressing. Rather than all those exciting topics, I thought I'd share a website that I find mind numbingly entertaining. Try not to show your disappointment in me too much. *grin*



I have a special penchant for Schnauzers. I do love them in all shapes and colors, with their little fuzzy faces, cropped tails, and happy-go-lucky attitude, but after losing Maxie, decided to not own one anymore. They're too much work.

By the way, there are other Live Cam's available at YouTube. It's a pleasant way to waste an hour or two.

Same 'Ol

Not much going on around My Thoughts Exactly this week. Just hangin' out, hangin' on, and hangin' around. Same 'ol, same 'ol.

The Zinnia's and Giant Sunflowers outside my office window are looking particularly delectable today.

I don't know why I thought of this Holy Scripture. I guess it's that God's Word always offers good advice. Wish I was better at not worrying. Sometimes I think if there was nothing to worry about, I'd make something up in case I forgot something. *grin* I know I'm a "work in progress".

Hope everyone is having a worry free day.

You Say ... God Says

A little Sunday inspiration.

Comments are turned off so everyone may rest.

Saturday Tidbits

I've been so distraught over how our government has been given fallen into Marxist hands, plus a minor family "problem", that I decided to venture outside. Yard work solves everything .... right?! *grin* Well, it makes me feel better anyway. Or, will render me unconscious, which is pretty much the same thing.

Whilst puttering around Hubby very kindly repainted (to my specifications, of course) the formerly green squirrel proof feeder near Tranquility Base. After enduring several years of brutal Southeast Georgia heat, the feeder was looking quite ragged, rusty, dirty, yuck, pooey!

For those of you new to my blog, we live way, way out in the country on almost 7 acres. There's tons of room for gardening creativity, as long as whatever it is can endure the intermittent droughts and severe summer heat. In 2013 I landscaped a small area where our very old Blue Jack Oak lives. It's in the front of our country acreage that I dubbed thusly. It was thusly named since, when the weather and the gnats cooperate, I like to swing and read any of my cherished Agatha Christie or medieval history books. I went with bright, vibrant colors because they are so cheery.

I hope everyone is having a safe, secure and relaxing Saturday. I'm going to have a brewsky and watch the MotoGP race. It's still too hot to ride after 10am.

The Byrds - I Wasn't Born To Follow

No Funny Friday today. There's no stomach for humour at this time since, thanks to our lack of law's in America, I realize we are living under a Marxist regime. As one can feel the air heavy with moisture before a rain storm, I can feel an armed insurrection is in the air.

As I stated at Simply Linda's blog a moment ago:

Banning the Confederate flag is a further assault on the South perpetrated by a man who was possibly born, and definitely raised, in Indonesia. He is not an American in his heart. I am a born and bred Southerner, who not only grew up with Confederate flags everywhere but owned some. There was no racism expressed by any of the people I knew that owned them. It's our culture. It pertains to a time in our history when we where all fighting for our sovereignty. I am deeply saddened in my heart about the killings in Charleston. What exacerbated the event was our alleged "President" on National News stated that the flag was racist and "it's in our DNA". He is truly evil and so are any of his followers / voters. I truly believe that The Left wants a race war. This is their desire so they can impose Martial Law with the goal to compensate guns. Then, all hell will break lose. As the Bible says, the earth is the Devil's domain. In our country, this all started when the government removed Christ from the Public Schools. We are empty clay vessels, created that way to hold God within us. When God is removed, the devil steps in. We've gone downhill from there. May God have mercy on us even though we (and that includes silent Christians) are undeserving."He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus." [Rev. 22:20]

Here's a little blast from the past.



I think it's time for road trip.

Very Cool Pizza

Fox Trot

Gosh, it's been hot! The heat index has been well over 100* now for several days. And our area needs rain desperately, not California desperate, but badly nonetheless.

A few days ago, a dear lady at A Haven For Vee, posted a recipe for Very Cool Pizza by The Pampered Chef. Hubby and I tried it this past weekend, and this is what we ended up with:

It's quite good! Served up with beer, it's just like regular pizza only doesn't add to the heat index. What's really fun about this recipe is one can take it's liberties with the ingredients. One secret we learned is to make the bread part at least an hour before wishing to dine. That way the bread is nice and cool. Oh, and also, next time Hubby said he wants to make four small pastry's instead of one large one and cut the cream cheese part in half. It might be less messy that way.

Enjoy!

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary

... how does my garden grow? The vegetables all been harvested. The new ones are planted. The flower garden next to my office is doing splendidly! This is where the five trunk Oak was growing earlier this Spring.

16 May 2015

22 June 2015

It's difficult to see in such bright daylight but this once wooded area is an amazing profusion of color. The flowers are attracting butterflies, skippers, Hummingbirds, and other critters. It's nice having all this "free" entertainment right outside my window.

Punography ~ Funny Friday

It's still dull as dish water this week. (Maybe that's a good thing?) Here's something for the funny bone.

Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii #tbt

"Hawaii, Hawaii, Hawaii". Remember when Arthur Godfrey used to say that on his show? I know, I'm dating myself. *giggle*

In 2008, my husband, me and three other couples that are friends/former coworkers, traveled from here in the Southeast to Hawaii. We spent 5 very long boring days on a cruise through Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL), island hopping all along the way.

Sparky And Da Man

Why am I smiling? Because the Cruise is almost over!

More Photos Here

NCL's cruise are, or where, notorious, which we didn't know at the time. The ship was dirty, the crew surly & lazy, there wasn't enough food, the entertainment lacking and the itinerary was badly done. Upon disembarking at the end of the cruise, NCL forced us to give that worthless crew a tip on our bill from our credit card! (Don't worry, I pitched a Sparky fit worthy of YouTube.) We seemed to spend all our time trying to get from one place to another rather than enjoy the scenery. I will N-E-V-E-R go on a cruise again. Neither of us where greatly enamored by the Islands or their culture any way. But some of it was happy memories too. Like the one above of us at a luau. It was different. One of the days the whole group also lunched at a quirky restaurant, can't remember it's name, where we had huge sandwiches and local beer. The rest of the afternoon was more pleasant. *wink*

All-in-all it was an expensive lesson to learn that we have it really good here in the States. (Personally, I don't consider Hawaii America, just my never-to-be-humble opinion.)

And I plan to stick to two wheels for any future vacations.

With A Snip Snip Here, And A Snip Snip There

I'm not in the Land Of Oz, but I did get a new "do" yesterday.

Before

After

Whaddya think? I know it's very '80s but so am I. Now I'm off to see the Wizard ... *lol*

Everybody Dance Now

Ripley's Believe It Or Not

I enjoy reading about medieval times, so, the little ditty in the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not cartoon the other day caught my attention. Imagine my delight that there is more ancient history new to me to investigate.

Brains much more disciplined than mine have researched the dancing mania of 1518 in Strasbourg, France. There are a number of articles on the internet if one is so inclined. I read one article that said it could have been a disease caused by a mold on their bread that caused hallucinations. Another stated it was the grinding poverty combined with a practice of worshipping “saints”, especially one that was a god of dance, then a mass hysteria ensued. There's probably a multitude of other theories floating around. But no one really seems to know for sure what happened except that hundreds died dancing.

It’s a fascinating read. Has anyone else ever heard of this strange event?

A Few Articles Of Note:

Dancing Plague of 1518 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Dancing Plague of 1518 - Historic Mysteries

Dancing death - BBC - Today

Monday Observations ~ What's On Your Desk Top

It’s June. I’m weary of hearing about politics and watching the stock market crash. Money is such a fleeting thing. Thanks to the government, it has no real value anymore. Thus the "I have a hankerin’ to post silly observations". June in Southeast Georgia is such a boring month. Besides, my hands ache more and more from arthritis. Some days it’s almost unbearable. My greatest fear is that one day it will curtail my riding a manual motorcycle. There are automatics available but, oh, please, that’s blasphemy! *lol* At the moment, the tingling pain and swelling can be temporarily abated with soaking the hands in warm water, Aleve and then wearing a wrist brace when typing or gardening.

I think I want my next big writing project to be rewriting the My Faith section here (I've evolved there and need to express it).

So, this is today’s observation.

Up until yesterday I had a nice summer photo of our heavily shaded dirt road viewed through the V-Strom’s windscreen. I bored with that and this weekend changed it to a brilliant orange canna lily my husband snapped on one of his solitary rides. This one was growing wild against a Stop sign.

By the way, on our rides, we carry the portable Samsung 45-22.5 mm 1:25-63 25 mm HD camera. It’s lightweight, inexpensive to replace, and takes sharp photos when needed.

What's on your Desk Top?

Sunday Musings

I awoke at the unholy hour of 6 am, on a Sunday no less. Since the afternoons have been blistering riding early was the name of the game. This morning was deceptively cool, no hint of the temperature cruelty to follow. I decided to join the inmates at our local watering hole for breakfast. The topic on everyone’s lips will undoubtedly be the weather.

I eased the metal steed onto the dirt road as the sun was peeping over the horizon. The well worn rubber kicked up small clouds of dust around the first curve but on approaching the second curve it was feather the clutch, lean back in the seat, give it the gas, and force the 467 pounds of uncooperative steel through the shifting sand. Then I could cruise to the end of the lane without the drama. It was a lovely morn. There was a light fog gently drifting on the neighbor’s cow field. A few clouds teased from high. “No rain for you,” they seem to taunt. “Tease”, I mumbled back through my helmet. But I could smell the damp. Rain would be God’s special blessing right now.

After I was happily sated by eggs, bacon, whole wheat toast and grits, it was back in the saddle. Time to head home before they’ll be frying the eggs on the sidewalk. It was a satisfying way to start the day.

What can I say. Life is good.

"This is the day that the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it."

Psalm 118:24 NKJV

Funny Friday ~ Just Miscellaneous Fun

Not much going on in our neighborhood, so, thought I'd share some funnies.

And on that silly note, I'll say 'bye for now! Hope your weekend is blessed, happy, and profitable.

My Tail Is Dragon

Hallelujah, we both have our laptop computers back and they seem in tiptop order. It was so unusual to have both our computers crash at the same time. Thankfully, I didn't miss the internet too much until it was time to pay the bills. Then it became a bit of a bother. It seems our Computer Guy did a bang up job, as always.

I have finally returned from the four day excursion to that foreign land known as western North Carolina. Not being a mountain person I get homesick real quick. My preference is to enjoy them from a distance. That said, though, the enjoyment level was high this time. We stayed at the San Ran Motel in Robbinsville, NC. The photos make it look cleaner than it is. [cough] It must have been built in the 1950s. Upon closer inspection it's obvious the owners never spent a dime on renovations or extensive cleaning. The town has bupkis by way of entertainment or eating establishments and Graham county is "dry". Next time we'll stay in Franklin or perhaps Cherokee where all the grownups are. Much more to do there.

My husband is a member of an on-line forum for CB-1100 owners. One day, these fine specimens of human kind all decided it would be grand to meet at The Dragon and hang out together for a few days. That's what brought us to the area.

More Photos Are At Shutterfly

Yep, that's me in the forefront! On May 28th I rode the Tail Of The Dragon At Deals Gap and lived to talk about it. My 2012 Suzuki V-Strom DL650 carried me many treacherous, nail-biting, butt puckerin' miles last week. Steve, of course, was on his red 2013 Honda CB-1100. The photo on the left shows Steve (yellow helmet) keeping an eye on my performance. After the grueling 11 miles which turned into 30 minutes or so traversing repeated switchbacks, blind curves and slow Harley's, our group stopped at a now forgotten rest area to compare notes. Steve stated that I rode like a champ. Thankfully, he didn't see the hard save I did about 10 minutes into the journey where I came perilously close to going over the edge with a sheer drop. The Dragon almost claimed another victim! I'm just thankful I wear clean underwear after that little "moment".

The link to all the vacation photos above have just been uploaded. It may take me several days to label them all. But for now, enjoy! I'll be around to visit everyone's blogs soon.

I hope you have a fantastic week.

Computer Crash

I can't believe this! Both of my fairly new HP laptop computers have "crashed" at the same time. I think the culprits in both cases is malware. (I really wish we where publicly executing these blasted d*&^% people who create and perpetrate this stuff.)

As some may, or may not, know we live way out in the country. Finding reliable competent anything is far and few between. Our only trustworthy computer repair person lives more than an hour north of us in Hazlehurst. Even he is not reliable about showing up at work on time (just one of his funny quirks). Plus we are leaving for a much needed mountain mini-vacation to western North Carolina tomorrow. So, it appears we and the computers will be separated for a spell and I will not be available for commenting or posting until next week. I do apologize but unless something unforeseen happens (like the computers magically fix themselves ... *roflol*) I probably won't be able to visit any of my wonderful friends blogs until sometime next week. Also, have turned off the comments here temporarily.

Life is funny, isn't it. *sigh* I remember back when we didn't have all these wonderful modern "conveniences". Our live's where simpler, cheaper, and a lot less stressful.

'Til then ...