A decade goes by...

I was wondering what it was like way back when- when the decade and my new blog started.  How's about this from my first post...


This years celebrations included the ceremonial playing of Counting Crow's "A Long December", Dick Clark and his little buddy Ryan Seacrest, and Laurie shooting off fireworks on Farmville. I know, we live the wild life.

For the first time last year, I didn't play A Long December, because for a change I thought the year ended pretty good. I may be back to playing it again, we'll see.  And while Laurie gave up on Farmville a while back, she still plays some 'farm-related' nonsense.  I have no idea if it will shoot fireworks.

Did you know it took 4 months, 18 days, and 69 posts to get my first comment?  And it was my son, at that point going under the ever-so-humble pseudonym of "KCthemainevent".  It would be one month, one day, and 34 more posts before I got another that wasn't family- and it was addressed to Scrappy!

For three years and three months I bothered with 'tagging' the posts- the last time was on a Time Machine postfrom March 1st, 2013, which means that I gave up 6 years and just under 10 months ago.  At that point, my top ten topics were 1- music; 2- Scrappy; 3- stupid people; 4- animals; 5- faith; 6- walks; 7- the KHL (Russian hockey); 8- European hockey; 9- fantasy football; and 10- 1976 (which separated the actual Time Machine posts from the other music stuff).  Has anything changed?  Well, a most-recent 98-post cross section gives us the would-be tag list of: 1- Faith; 2 (tie)- Bible study, music; 4- Proverbs; 5- Martin World News; 6- pictures; 7- stupid people; 8- animals; 9- A to Z study; 10 (tie)- family, memorials, M10.

So yeah, perhaps I bore you less with sports related stuff, educate you more on Biblical matters, and have a better camera.

But here we are- same home, same partner- which isn't bad, when you consider I spent the previous five years in 6 different places, and was only married for 6 years.  Job wise, I'm working on my 7th anniversary, after 15 at one job and 3 months at another.

Just starting a new life with a new canine best friend, after a dozen with Scrappy.  Four grandkids, two by blood, in a five year span.  On my fourth plant manager- one fired, one quit, one died.  Gained and lost a best buddy, a hole you just can't fill.

Became a tither at long last, and the Lord has worked marvels since then.  Saw one med a day turn into six, not counting fiber pills and vitamins.  Gone from, "Yeah, a Coors Light is fine" to "if it ain't craft, you're daft".  Went from a Social Media debate warrior to more of a 'just roll on past' when I can.  Basically learning to let God be God and fools be fools if they like.  As long as they don't 'make a fool of God'.


Tonight I am odds-on to do just like I did that first year- stay home.  Of course, the reason being is that KC and I already did our celebrating last night at BJs.  Did you know Yuengling's now makes a porter with real Hershey's chocolate?  I do now...

Here is allegedly the oldest picture of the decade I have on the computer...

And here is the last picture of the decade...

And it ends where it started... with the back end of a doggie...

You try to get good pictures at this speed...

AKA through the wilderness with Misty...

Beginning our first trip to the Duck Pond

Just try and keep up!

Everything gets her attention...

Note the wood chips and the chewed end- we might never get a good look, but sure we have beavers...

Checking out the river from one of Scrappy's old haunts

Super speed dog

One of three squirrels 'walking the line' she noticed

First time checking out Stony Run...

Three seconds before, this was a great pose

Always easier to catch her when she's watching for squirrels

Scrappy's idea of a trail = my idea of a trail.  Misty's idea of a trail = Atom Ant's idea of a trail.

But, she does blend in...

M10 update (with help) and the songs of December

This week you get the M10 update and the Songs of December- if I can figure out where I put 'em!  Next week, you'll get the update and the year's top 20!  All right, let me flip through my so-well-organized notes...

So like I said last time we did Song of the Month, I don't want to bore you with a list that's a mile long, but among the yearly winners NOT in the top ten are Return To Sender (1962), Mr Lonely ('64), Marvin's I Heard It Through The Grapevine ('68), The Lion Sleeps Tonite ('61), and Turn! Turn! Turn! ('65).  If you have a year you're curious about (1956-1976) and you don't see it, just leave a comment.

But before we go there, let me start out by a big round of thanks to my buddy Tim, who helped break my musical logjam with some thoughts (which I listened to 75% of, lol) and one big tip on some possible future tunage for the M10.  Here's one for you...

Officially making Karen Carpenter athe first contestant in next season's beauty contest...

And now, on to the the first of 2 debuts this week, and it's a 'balance point' of sorts- the M10 will now have had 6 songs by the original ELO, and 6 by Jeff Lynne's ELO.  At #10...






At #9 this week and slipping 2 is Carroll with Fern, which currently checks in at #25 for 2019.

At number 8 is our second debut, and this act's first time in the ten.  From the upcoming brand-new lp Weather, here's Huey Lewis and the News!




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I did some checking and found out that coming into 2019, there were only 3 songs that lasted 10 weeks (or more, in one case) on the M10.  This next song makes 8- the fifth this year- and also pulls into a now-3-way tie for the second biggest song of all time on the M10!  That would be Brooke Annibale with Collided (piano version), slipping this week from 5 to 7.

MGMT moves up 2 to #6 with In The Afternoon;

The Derevolutions slide out of the top to #5 with the song currently at #24 on the year's list- It's The Love;

Tennis moves up 2 to #4 with Runner...

Saint Asonia battles up 1 spot to #3 with This August Day;

Khuarngbin and Leon Bridges slide into the runner-up spot with Texas Sun...

And with their first time at the top...

...Criminal Hygiene with Incompletely!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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And that brings us to the Songs of December, in which two acts have two songs in the top ten!  Here we go!

10-

Guy Mitchell with Heartaches By The Number, which won December 1959...

9-

Smokey Robinson and the Miracles with Tears Of A Clown, the winner in December 1970!

8-

...Elvis and Love Me Tender, NOT the winner in '56...

7- 

Sly Stone and Family Affair, the winner in 1971!

6-

...Rod Stewart and Tonight's The Night, the winner in 1976!

5-

The Singing Nun with Dominique, the winner in 1963!


4-

That's right, I had 3 in the top 20!  So there, Beatles!

Elvis and Are You Lonesome To-Nite, which won 1960!

3-

The shocker of the list, the New Vaudeville Band with Winchester Cathedral, the winner of 1966!

2-

Guy Mitchell for the second time, winning 1956 with Singing The Blues!


And THE Song of December....

The Monkees and Daydream Believer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


All right, that's it this week!  See you this time next week for the M10 and the top 20 of 2019!

10 years of Tilting

All this talk about ending a decade reminds me that December 31st concludes the tenth year of Tilting at Windmills!  In honor of which I thought I might do a little something on each year's top post, but ran into two problems- first, Blogger's data seems to play fast and loose with ranking the pageviews, because as I dug into finding top posts for the years that didn't show up on my "all-time top ten" I found a few of them SHOULD have been ranked in that top ten; and second, most of them got inflated by scads of spam.  I have learned that a lot of that spam hit before I got smart and enabled moderation; others attracted spam because I accidentally approved (and then deleted) a spam comment.  As I have no way to separate them, and Blogger's "don't count spam comments" feature only seems to work if you reactivate it right after you do any reboot and most AV scans, the numbers aren't REALLY accurate; but they are the ones I'm going with, and they give a good cross section of how I and the Blog changed over the years.  Without further ado, the Cavalcade of the Years!

2010- "wecanknow"?  Try again

4 December 2010

How many of you remember when a group of ministries collectivized as "wecanknow".com claimed that the Rapture of the Church was going to hit on May 21st, 2011?  As you might have guessed, either Jesus had a 91/2 year 'blink of an eye', or it didn't happen.  Which is what I explained- that no faulty interpretations or Biblical cherry-picking was going to overthrow the fact that in Matt. 24:36 Jesus TOLD us that only the Father knows- or would know.  This one ranked 4th on my Blogger list with 610 pageviews, but at least the 2011 winner was higher.


2011- Or was it week 666?

29 July 2011

This was a harmless little Time Machine post- week #66 of volume one.  At this point, it was just me, and the features were heavily "this week in 1975"-centric.  It included the debuts, songs that were in their 40th, 45th, etc, years since debuting (cutely ended with "Blow out the candles" every week), big movers, the #1 every ten years, and an embryonic 6D that took us from Starbuck's Moonlight Feels Right to Dino, Desi, and Billy.  897 pageviews, which MIGHT have ranked it 3rd had Blogger not skipped it.


2012- Check your references before passing on

20 August 2012

This is the famous "Noah's Ark- Really?" post, in which I took to task both a FB friend who posted a years-old article whose lack of worldwide notoriety had already exposed its falseness (but she never checked the date of the article), and the idea that something made of wood 5,000 years ago had a chance of surviving.  The unfortunate thing was that the best comment came from an anonymous source some 16 months later, and I never saw it until 2 years after the original post!  It was followed up by a well thought up comment by one Ibrahim Khan, and unfortunately was preceeded by a spam comment from someone claiming to be Leela off Futurama...

It made #2 on the list at 1,650 comments, mostly fueled by letting Leela in.  Live and learn!

2013- At least it was the Beauty Contest

25 January 2013

This was the first anniversary of the second incarnation of Time Machine, and included Scrappy's selection of Patty Boyd as the Second winner of the Time Machine Beauty Contest...

...legend says she had the longest french fry!  This racked up 535 votes, which would have put it in between 7 and 8 had Blogger counted it...


2014- The Boob Goddess

16 December 2014  

This was a Martin World News post that featured Laurie winning another Super Bowl- her second in a row, and the Fiery Beagles, aka Scrappy, were none too thrilled...

...along with the story of the Boob Goddess...

A JAPANESE woman known as the “Boob Goddess” hopes to rake in cash with a modified rake that she claims can firm a woman’s bust and even enlarge it.
Takiko Shindo is known for something called “Oppai Taisou”, which roughly translates into English as boob exercise massage”.
Her latest advancement in the bustling field of bust enhancement is something called the “Oppai Taisou Hand,” that is basically a pink rake for stroking and brushing one’s breasts, according to Rocket News 24.
The rakish product sells online for between $41 and $54. A commercial suggests it can increase a woman’s bust by three centimetres.

The comment section featured guys offering to BE the rake, and ladies wondering why they would WANT one...  This chimed in with 426 views.


2015- And a legend is born...

23 December 2015

This was a mix of a holiday M10 update and pictures me and Scrappy took that week.  The notable part was the noted-by-Bobby G resemblance of Dent May to myself...

Me "as Dent May" on the next Halloween at Mitchells

This post rolled up 628 views, placing it 3rd on the incomplete Blogger list.


2016- The post-election aftermath, funny side

14 November 2016

This was a epilogue to a post I did about the several candidates for President on the Indiana ballot, as I had found a site that gave the votes each one got in the general.  The star of course in the original post was Detroiter Cherunda Fox, who actually commented on that post, proclaiming that she had already won.  Sadly, that didn't translate into her getting a single vote.  I also did a perusal of some of the 1,780 candidates that filed...

...including perennial candidate Mickey Mouse, former Presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Bill Clinton, along with the possible Jorge Bush; foreign leaders Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, and of course Jesus Christ.  They were joined by a plethora of odd names such as "Touchy the Serial Killer Uncle Clown", "Dog Eating Maniacal Fish Brained Ugly Commandant Be Electe Moose Look-alike Fool That Will", "Coffee and Donuts" (not sure if that is one name or a Prez/VP ticket), and several others that were too crude or too stupid to bother with, including several variations of "Deez Nutz".  A handful of dogs and cats filed as well.


That placed 7th on the Blogger list with 544 PVs...


2017- I shoulda known better

31 July 2017

This was a "Pictures and Spam" post, in which I did my usual skewering of spam comments I had received of late.  The problem came in when I decided to post a spam comment that ironically landed there... which meant that a ton of spam comments would follow! They pushed the post to 478 PVs, good for 7th on the list.  The top of the spam was a comment in Polish that informed me that "building a golf course was only half the battle..."


2018- And now, the Wednesday Bible Study

4 April 2018

WBS has been one of the best things I have done on here, both from the "my learning" and the fun standpoints!  This particular one was in the 3:16s series, in Joshua, about how the Hebrews crossed the Jordan into Canaan at the same point that John baptized Jesus all those years later!  Not sure the reasoning for the views, but it was the lowest set on the list- just 177.


2019- The best for last

11 March 2019

And this was the A Couple Quick Announcements post- one that, unfortunately, I accidentally approved a spam comment for a brief moment, and thus came the majority of the top-ranked 1,967 PVs.  The second of those announcements was the best of the year- where I finally got to announce the upcoming of Grayson "Wiggles" Martin, aka grandson #2.

The best legend about this came much later- only Grandma on Mom's side knew about it, as the kids wanted the gender to be a surprise.  Let's just say there was a "feet first" angle that left NO doubt he was indeed a boy.


So the next ten years will be bespeckled with the adventures of Peanut, Wiggles, and Misty.  Until then,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

MWN: Christmas edition

This week, I thought I might search the news for Christmas stories, and the first one I found is so cool... and so wrong...

Fox News- She likes it!  Hey, Mikey!

I Tried Giving My Daughter The Worst Xmas Gift Ever & I Didn’t Expect This Reaction 😢 pic.twitter.com/44cJytI83m

— LGND (@iamlgndfrvr) December 20, 2019

Her reaction is so precious- but TRYING to give your kid a bad present?  Thankfully, it wasn't a rock, or a snake, as Jesus suggested...


CNN:  Generosity- if you look for it

CNN ran a story about the Christian Assembly Church of Eagle Rock, CA, working with an outfit called RIP Medical Debt to pay off $5.3 million in medical debt for 5,555 Angelino families.  A great story- but finding it?  After seeing only two stories on the front page- one about a columnist who still gives out Christmas cards and the other about Mariah Carey making more money off her song- I decided to search "Christmas" on their site.  And while the first story that came up was about Christmas music, the next three were about Eddie Murphy on SNL last weekend, "To see how Trump is changing America, look at India", and a campaign advertisement article on Cory Booker campaigning in Iowa- all of which nicely fit into CNN's agenda, though I seriously doubt they have anything to do with Christmas...


Much in the same vein, the BBC's first headline featuring Christmas read, "The story of impeachment, by a Christmas choir:  How President Trump's Impeachment inquiry unfolded, as sung by the Washington International Chorus."   Thank you for making it easy to make you idiots look bad.


Mirror Online- Come again, Santa-zon?

British Amazon customer Danielle Long wanted to buy herself a Christmas present- a gadget that holds phones and such and clips to your bed.  It retails at $6.46 American.  But it showed a standard delivery expectation of mid-January, and she thought she'd see what an expedited delivery before Christmas would cost.

That, folks, is a $12,936.56 shipping charge.  And they STILL can't get it there for Christmas!!  Needless to say, she'll be getting a late gift to herself.  Mirror online says, "Amazon has been contacted for comment."  Betting it will be something like, "Well, after all, our delivery guy IS swimming it there from China..."


Moscow Times:  A different way to look at Santa

In St Petersburg, they celebrate on the 21st with the Grandfather Frost Race.  You get a costume (some of it optional, apparently), and a hat; you have to bring your own beard, though.

News AU:  And they didn't figure on this?


Obviously, Australia- at least the Westfield Parramatta mall in Sydney- never watched the famous "Thanksgiving Turkey Drop" episode of WKRP in Cincinnati.  They decided to fill hundreds of balloons with gift certificates and drop them on the Christmas shopping crowd.  Those of us who have seen the episode, or at least have common sense, knew what would happen next...

But as a mass of balloons was dropped from a net, the bargain-grab turned dangerous as the crowd rushed forward to grab them, creating a crushing stampede.

Panicked shoppers desperate to escape ran in a frenzy, toppling onto one another and knocking down barricades. People watching from the levels above could only watch in horror as the chaos unfolded.

Twelve people were treated at the scene; five of them had to be taken to hospital for further treatment, including four men and one woman, a NSW Ambulance spokesperson confirmed.

Three victims taken to Westmead Hospital were suffering serious issues including traumatic chest injuries, neck and back pain as well as nausea and dizziness.

The rest of the victims suffered minor aches and pains to their neck, back and ankles.

And once again, the Mall "has been contacted for comment".

Meet Misty

All is quiet now.  I am sipping a beer and watching my little family sleep.  That family got bigger today...

Meet Misty, our new doggie!  She is a Heeler mix, and is just the sweetest, gentlest dog...

...until you take her for a walk...

Now, I have picked up my pace of walking, to get more exercise out of them, since we lost Scrappy.  We finally dropped to that new pace just under a mile into our first walk!  I have a leg that might never be the same!


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The story of Misty goes like this:  Two Fridays ago, we went to look at a dog at Allen County AC&C.  This dog was way timid, and I didn't feel comfortable with our ability to bring her out of it, despite the fact that she finally sort of warmed to us- about an hour into the visit.  When we got home, a man I already owe a lot to named Tim posted on FB a video of Misty at the DeKalb Humane Society, and we decided to check her out.

Saturday last week, we went to DHS, but a lady had taken her to foster her.  While I was assaulted by a room full of friendly cats, Laurie filled out an adoption application.  Once approved, it would allow us to visit Misty at the foster's home.

Tuesday, we got the okay, and foster mom Courtney contacted us to set up a visit- which ended up being this past Friday.

Friday, after I tried hard to take us to the wrong town, we met Misty.  She was in a foster who also housed as permanent pets a mini-chihuahua, a pit bull, and a black lab- oh, and a cat.  After those were put away so everyone could concentrate on the matter at hand, we met Misty.  To say it was a great visit would be an understatement.  We would have to go to DHS in the morning, pay for her and get the paperwork needed, and then go back and pick her up- all before about 9:15 AM to meet her and her BFs schedule.

That night, we hit up Wal-Mart for the essentials- food, toys, and a cage that (being the only one in stock ) could prolly fit one of the bears at Black Pines.  Then, a long winter's nap until morning.


Today (as I type), we hit up the DHS, where Laurie fought to do paperwork against a phalanx of friendly felines, including one that insisted on eating the ziplock bag Misty's chip info was in.  A short while later, she was on her way to her new home.

She seems to be really happy- and I know we are!  Stay tuned for the further adventures of Misty, right here!