An hour with Scrappy

5:40- Dinner on table, Taquitos and sour cream.  Scrappy begs.  Gets little bits, some chips, licks a plate and an empty cottage cheese container.

5:55- Finish dinner, feed the doggie.  Give him his Cosequin, which makes him feel special as well as helping his joints.  I retire to computer with a glass of milk and sugar-free chocolate chip cookies.

6:00- Begs for cookie bites.  I finish, tell him there's no more.

6:05- He stares at me.  "What do you want?" I say.  Sticks his tongue out just a little.  "I told you there's no more."  He looks at the solo cup of milk.  What, you want to lick this out?"  Barks.  "Wait till I'm done."  I finish, he licks it out.  I go to sit down and watch Barney Miller.

6:07.  Barks.  "What Now?" A long english to beagle conversation follows.  "What, you want out?"  Rooorooo!  I laugh and get up to let him out.  Clean up after him, we come back in.  Sit down to watch Barney Miller.

6:12- Barks.  "What do you want now?"  Goes out to his water dish, comes back.  Barks some more.  "A drink?  It's going right on your head!"  More barking.  Chase him around with the cup of water for a while.  Turn to head for the water dish.  He follows closely.  I pour a couple drops in his dish.  Rooooroo!  Double over laughing.  Pour his water, go back to watching Barney Miller.

6:15- Barks.  "What do you want now?" Grabs his toy.  I take it, try to stuff it up his butt.  He runs around the room, beats up the bathroom rug, plays fetch for a while.

6:20 - He sits on the couch to watch Barney Miller.  I look up from the floor.  "What, now you're done?"  Looks at me and burps.

The strom in the woods

Some shots from two walks- one Saturday night and one Sunday morning- assessing the damage from the storm around here.

Ground Hog Road blocked by two huge Locusts down.

Two sticks driven into the ground

Nope, not crossing there...

All right, Mom, I'm coming!

Laurie saw this from a distance Saturday... it was worse close up.

Ponding water because IPFW thinks all cover should be ripped out to make joggers and socceristas safe from hoods and perverts.

Here I'm going to editorialize yet again.  These poor trees were left when IPFW ripped out all the surrounding cover and destroyed the meadow that HAD been drinking up the rainwater flowing down from the clay-soiled woods.  They replaced the meadow with two terraced soccer pitches, built up with more clay pounded down by dozers and rollers and NO drainage put in.  It has destroyed the hydrology of the entire area, and could have been overcome by anyone with a third grade education who was raised in the country.  Because of this, the area at the foot of the soccer fields get saturated, and with the cover ripped out, these six trees stood no chance.  Anyone tells you Purdue is an intelligent, environmentally concerned outfit, YOU SHOW THEM the next couple of pictures.

Nuff said.

Going into the woods

Blockage #1- this one will take a while to move.  Took a while to go around...

Ahh, here's the other end..

Scrappy, as usual, steps in the water.  Sinks up to his butt, jumps out.

Oddly enough, though the small branches were mostly maple and locust, the individual leaves were nearly all pin oak.

I know it was old, dead, and hollow.  But it stood like a monument.

 I met a traveller from an antique land

Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,

And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,

Tell that its sculptor well those passions read

Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,

The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:

And on the pedestal these words appear:

'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'

Nothing beside remains. Round the decay

Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare

The lone and level sands stretch far away."

-Percy Shelley

This tree was massive... but parked on the top of a ledge...

Just before the bridge

Oddly enough, everything south of the bridge was okay, relatively.  Swamp checks out, too.

Going back up the trail towards home.  All lot of work and planning by IPFW put these trees in a position for this to happen.

Sunday Message: The choice

A lot of people have proclaimed Friday a great day in the history of this nation.  That isn't surprising.  What makes me sad is how many Christians- or those that believe they are- also believe it was a great day for this nation.  I know this is an extremely sensitive subject, so I am going to try and let God do all the talking, and take it step by step.

THE SIN

 22 You shall not lie with a male as [l]one lies with a female; it is an abomination. Leviticus 18.



9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor [f]effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.  I Corinthians 6.




26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.

28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:

32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. Romans 1.

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Note that it is not the person who is an abomination, but the sin.  Note also that one sin is no better or worse in the eyes of God.  However, it IS sin.


THE CHOICE


14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24.




6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.

9 As we said before, so say I now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.  Galatians 1.





29 Shall I not punish them for these things?’ says the Lord.
‘Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?’
30 “An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
31 The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?  Jeremiah 5.


THE CONSEQUENCE


21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [n]miracles?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’  Matthew 7.




9 For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building. 10 According to the grace of God which was given to me, as a wise master builder I have laid the foundation, and another builds on it. But let each one take heed how he builds on it. 11 For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 Now if anyone builds on this foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, 13 each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. 14 If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward. 15 If anyone’s work is burned, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. I Corinthians 3.



THE HOPE

37 Now when they heard this, they were [aj]pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “[ak]Brethren, [al]what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” 40 And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, “[am]Be saved from this perverse generation!” Acts 2.


WHAT A CHRISTIAN SHOULD DO

 2 Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, 2 for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. 3 For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.  I Timothy 2.

6 Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted. Galatians 6.


IN CLOSING

My people love to have it so.

But what will you do in the end? 

Throwbacks and windstorms

So it rained ALL last night here.  And I do mean all.  At 4 AM I was up typing tomorrow's Sunday Message (which will piss some of you off), and the radar made me say, "Either it's just about to end... or it's gonna rotate back over us.

Choose #2.

Weather Underground listed the winds between 8 and 9 AM as high as 52 gusting to 66 MPH.  It was roaring.  Scrappy was getting nervous.  And right when we hauled butt out of bed at 9, there was a loud BOOM.  BOOM.  And the power went out for about fifteen seconds, and then flickered for fifteen minutes.

Moments later, Scrappy and I just HAD to see how bad it was.  And I have some pictures taken a bit later when the wind dropped and the rain slowed (but hasn't yet stopped) enough to survive.

As you can see, not a lot of damage- unless you're a leaf.

You can see a darker area at the creek's edge- that's where the water was at the height of the storm.  About 4 inches across the street at the time, too.

That parking lot on the other side was also flooded earlier.

In the yard, about five yards from the creek.

The great big mural-style banner at the old folks home across the street is now a rag hanging on one post.

At the Shoaff Park entrance.

And the golf course.

On St Joe Road.  Ahead of the branch is, yes, a biker with an umbrella.

FWFD clearing a branch from St Joe Center.

WU said we're at 1.96 inches for today, and .68 yesterday gives us... a buttload of rain.  Supposed to get "moderate" again here in about an hour and a half.  KC texted me this morning:

Told ya we should have bought that kyack

He's right.  With a KAYAK, we could have made it to the river from our front door at 9.


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I mentioned the other night doing a video for Laurie to do a Facebook "Thursday throwback".  Her throwback was playing her Tetris 2 game, which is on the same game as Dr. Mario.  Which means it came out 25 years ago.  She's played ever since, and wanted to share it.  Problem was, she picked a rather deranged director to film it:






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Finally, I have to mention a work-related item.  We are in the midst of changing our fabric vendors, apparently from one low-paid group of Chinese Communists to another.  The first victim, er, fabric to change over is what we call charcoal (others might simply call it gray).

So the last couple months, we have been testing the "contestants" for the new vendor, and are on our fourth different "charcoal".  The first wasn't too bad, and the third I think will eventually win.  The second was horrible- rolled backwards, lots of stretching and defects, 50 yard rolls which means they used up like water.  Then came number four-  The Wujiang The Dragon Textile Company.

I kid you not.

And how did they do?  Well, they put a decent amount of fabric on a very thick core, then place the rolls on pallets that are seemingly stacked very high with only sheets of plywood as dividers so that all of these very thick cores are now crushed beyond redemption.  The suction of my machine cannot pull the fabric "over the hump" at first, so to use it I have to pull several yards off the roll and onto the floor- and God help me if I have to roll it back up.  It is also rolled backwards, and when we put it on the waffle iron (AKA the heat logo transfer machine), it smells strongly of roasted mothballs, and makes you sick after a while.  It doesn't cut well, especially by scissors.  On the bright side, the coating is so smooth it cuts my chalk (line drawing) usage by at least a third.

I don't think the Dragon will make it, either.

The really fun thing?  All the fun mix ups we have had since NONE of the four contenders match each other ( and there was some question on #2 matching roll by roll).