Pictures- but first, a story

 

So here I am on this week's unplanned staycation.  Why unplanned? This is a story of God's grace.

It starts with Laurie getting scheduled for whatever reason with a Friday to Tuesday vacation (IOW, not scheduled).  I had been mulling over whether to take some of this time off too, but never did.  I thought about it again last night before dozing off.

Waking up Monday, I went through the usual garbage where the Devil tries to tell me God isn't real, and I tell him back, "I know He is because of what He's done for me."  Off to work I go, and suddenly my "brake fluid low" light comes on.  With my vastly outdated knowledge of cars, I thought I'd just stop at the gas station, pop a pint into the reservoir, and off I go.

But God blessed me in that the lady running the station was A) not busy and outside having a smoke, and B) was far more knowledgable about these things than myself. After explaining to me that I was an idiot on the road to disaster (In other words, it don't work like that anymore), I called off work, and let Laurie know I was coming back home.

God blessed me a second time then in that once home and while waiting for my mechanic to open, I went back to bed and listened to David Jeremiah- who "just happened" to be talking about how, God doesn't protect you from tribulation, but stands with you through it.  Just what I needed.

Flash ahead to the service shop, where I found out that I had a rear cylinder leak that basically ruined both drums.  The estimate was such that my next choked words were, "We're going to have to talk financing..."

He sent me a link to their financing company, which after making me go through about a half-hour of hoops, said, "I'm sorry, you don't qualify. We'll send you a letter in 7-10 business days explaining why." Which, I believe, was another saving from God, because if I read the terms and conditions right, it was going to come with a 39% interest rate.

So while Laurie called our financial people to retrieve some more retirement money (you know, retirement, that thing that will never happen for me?), I got with the shop, told them the situation, and they said, "Okay, we'll go ahead and get it done, and when you get the money, come get the car."  That will be at least Wednesday, so I called my boss and told him I needed vacation this week- because, God said, "No, you will take vacation NOW!"  And here we are.

Now, onto a great morning walk!

Misty chooses Groundhog road

Breakfast #1- wild strawberries.  Misty won't try them, they are essentially little bites of water with very limited flavor.

Scrunchy, anyone?

Good morning, Big Guy

Stop for a drink #1.  Because muddy water is so much better than slightly flavored berries.

While Misty hoofs it, this doggie tours the woods on a chauffered cart!

Someone lost a lens from their glasses- right in plain sight, if you haven't lost a lens

I bet you can't guess where the water from the last rain stopped

Approximately our 1-mile mark

Doggie meets dragonfly

We took a slight detour to track down better breakfast- Raspberries!  Now these, Misty loves.

Misty finds a frisbee- again, in plain sight

We stopped off at the creek...

...and there was a deer in the water, down by the bridge!  I've wanted a shot like this forever- but the only chance I ever had, the old camera decided to malfunction

On the way back to our regularly scheduled walk- more raspberries!

Then it was time to hunt froggies at the Alumni Pond

Which got interrupted when we both saw a varmint running down the way!

See him a little clearer there, but not much

Misty, though, tracked down where he went

The view from the Big Hill

We reach the river- and Misty debates whether to jump in right there

A few feet ahead, a froggy

and a teeny minnow riding the surface, so as to be eaten by something more efficiently

Meanwhile, at the Swamp- more froggies!

They were little, post-tadpole buggers- sorry, you need Clark Kent's glasses to see them

But Misty had a blast- almost caught a couple!

This guy serenaded us

Approximate 2-mile mark

Tiger lilies on the rampage

More raspberries!  For a minute, I thought Misty was gonna pick her own...

Lots of mini socceristas out

And the 2 1/2 mile mark- almost home!

Martin World News

 

On the news page for today:

FoxNews: But at least it wasnt CBD, right?

Headline: Graduation cigar saga involving HS lacrosse team boils over as school officials, family attorney trade barbs

This is the beginning-of-my-morning stupid story that triggered this post. Ipswich HS in Massachusetts had their lacrosse team make it to the state semis, when they were forced to forfeit.  What was the crime, you ask? Well...

- Pictures on social media surfaced of 6 graduating members of the team smoking post-graduation cigars, a no-no for them according to their state athletic association.

-They claim they were 'fake' cigars, containing "Chammomile and English breakfast tea", because "they were aware of the rule and didn’t want to jeopardize the team going into their "Final Four" game."

-The father of one of the students was not only the one who posted the pictures, but procured the cigars for the boys, "so the kids could follow the tradition of smoking cigars after graduation."

-While the picture showed to the media just had the boys holding the 'fake cigars', the School board had another picture they didn't release- one where  it " showed smoke and a lighter, as well as the fact that the cigars were significantly shorter than they were in the first photograph." In addition, the photos were all swiftly- but not swiftly enough- pulled off of Facebook.

- and finally, the father produced a receipt for the "fake cigars"- with the date and time of purchase conveniently "smudged out."

So here's your chicken or egg moment: what was the cause of this? Stupid parent, stupid kids, or stupid tradition?

GB News: Seems reasonable to me

Headline: Zack Polanski suggests pro-Palestine activist who broke police officer's spine with sledgehammer shouldn't go to prison

Zack Polanski, BTW, is the leader of the British Green Party, which is apparently a holding tank for idiots and lunatics.  My case?  He thinks a 7-year, eight-month sentence is "gut wrenching" and far too long "protesting to save lives in Gaza, with 'terrorism' used despite no jury convicting them of it."

The crime?

-After breaking into an arms factory with 2 buddies, Fatema Rajwani took a sledgehammer and broke the back of policewoman Sgt Kate Evans. Not to mention they caused £1.2million in damages in the factory.  This factory was apparently an arms supplier to Israel.

The UK has become a literal cesspool of stupidity.  Two teenage and younger girls go to trial because one of them brandished an axe at an immigrant who wanted to kidnap and rape the other- after months, the charges were finally dropped against THEM this week.  But the Green party thinks breaking someones back should be a misdemeanor as long as it is in favor of the immigrant.  You try to justify that; I say, if you don't believe that satan is real and ruling in England, you are blind.

Moscow Times: Sounds like just another day on MSNBC

Headline: SPIEF 2026 Was A Tragicomic Encapsulation of Russia's Economic Quagmire

This is a rather long opinion piece on the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), held in early June, by writer Tatyana Rybakova.  It was amusing reading, but I get the average joe will fall asleep weeding through to the good stuff.  But some highlights are fun reading, to wit:

-The conference was pre-opened by a Ukrainian drone attack, which shut down the airport and made some delegations late.  The ones that made it were "entertained" by a pair of media moguls who told the crowd (in her paraphrase) " In brief: if Russia continues its killing and defeats and robs its enemies, grabbing the world by its throat, everything will turn out well for Moscow. But if the war ends, everything would get worse. Much worse."

-There was excitement about having "an American delegation" at the forum.  That definitely unofficial delegation? " ...an architect advising Trump on the construction of the White House ballroom, along with ever-present actor Steven Seagal and Candace Owens, a blogger and conspiracy theorist."

- There was more excitement- and perplexity- when businessman Kirill Dmitriev announced that plans for a tunnel connecting Russia and Alaska "would be signed as soon as tomorrow".  This tunnel, by the way, is speculative at best.  According to a linked article, the "Trump-Putin tunnel" is more joke than reality, with cynics suggesting they should hire displaced Palestinians from Gaza to build it, since they are so good at tunneling underground ( a future job for sledge hammer boy?).  When the disbelieving crowd turned on Dmitriev, he had to admit that the signing was just for a firm to do a feasibility study.

-The Governor of the Central Bank was a no-show, and speculation led to two different 'official stories'- one that she was at a funeral, and then later that she was on sick leave.  This led to the pithy truism by our author: " In Russia, the presence of two purported truths is interpreted as the lack of any truth. "

- Finance Minister Anton Siluanov came out saying the budget is so empty that it will be 2029 at least before the economy turns around.  After which, he tried to calm the crowd by saying that " he noted that people were afraid that tax rises had gone too far, but insisted they hadn’t. "  Sure, buddy.

-Apparently Putin committed a Biden (or Trump, to be honest) when he said that Russia was doing so well that they had conquered "2,400 thousand square kilometers" of Ukraine, when Ukraine only has just under 604,000 square kilometers.  Realizing that they have not yet conquered 4 full Ukraines, the 'thousand' was removed from the official transcript.

-Finally, in the exhibition halls were several displays our author commented on, but her favorite? "The most impressive of all was the stand run by Donetsk separatists, which displayed regionally themed fragrances with names “The Resilience of Metal.” Or “Steppe Wind.” "  Personally, I can't wait for Dove Men+ Care to market a 'resilience of metal' body spray.

Okay, so these were pretty windy posts, let me see if I can find a good, short knockout closer.  

Xinhua:  One picture worth a thousand square kilometers, er, words

Headline:Crayfish-themed parade held in Xuyi, China's Jiangsu

How 'bout some pictures?

 I do have some from the last time the boys were over, back on the 5th...

Drinking a Blue Moon (which the kids 'bought me' for my birthday), and still needed five tries to get a snap with the darn LEDs on...

"I'm Daddy!" because he stole  his barstool

Only one take needed for GOOD beer...

Dancing to 70's music

And now, how about today?

Clouds still a bit iffy- we had tornado watches all last night

Remember when we used to beat the sunrise?  Neither of us are up for that anymore...

There appears to be an overturned footbridge in the creek...

Bunny (dead center behind the chicane)

Misty finds a kids fishing rod

That cloud looked like a giant mushroom

Amazingly, the woods was not buggy at all- but it was muddy.  Misty managed to pull to hard on one patch and I went down KABOOM!  I'm thinking that counts as my bi-annual fall-on-my-butt since we rarely go to the Green Hole anymore.