Pictures

 This week, we start last Sunday- a beautiful day on which we decided to check out the new sidewalk being put in down Clinton St.

For a change, we start out from the back yard

And into the neighborhood beside us

A lot of homies needed to cut their grass

"With thanks..."

"...peas"

On the walk to Walgreens- that poor ol' fence.

After the turn south, our first look at our target

Misty for some reason prefers the straw

Lots of nature on the inside

Misty climbs as the retaining wall begins

Misty watching all the squirrels

About this point, she tries to pull me over the wall- I quickly let her know, "That hurt!"

The retaining wall starts in earnest.  Note: Doggie back on ground level

Yeah, here they really had to carve out some woods

But it drops off quickly

Here we hook up with pre-existing sidewalk

Back to new stuff

Nate Bargatze "Big Dumb Eyes World Tour"

Here's our turn back to familiar ground

Wondering what's going in there

"Now I know where I am!"

Friendly discers petted Misty

"Ooh, doggie ahead!"

Next, we go to Friday after a nap...

This will be a flower post

HEY!  Finally, a Jack!

These guys always remind me of the McDonaldLand french fry bushes

Usually the white violets come up with the purple, this year they were a week or so behind

...and another...

...and another!  They were late this year too, I guess...

Geese begin their assault on Mushroom Ridge

Uh-oh, fisherman on the landing

So Misty jumps in downstream

Seaweed on the nose

Meanwhile, at the horseshoe

Raspberries trying to bud

Something always tugs at the old bridge... me and Scrappy crossed it so many times

Ducks hiding

"Yeah, youse come over on MY side an' I'll moider youse!"

Redwing flies away

Strawberries in bloom

Later at Bob's Bar

Saturday morning was right cold...

But your heroes braved it...

"And, it's a tad windy..."

There's the guys- where are the wives?

Ah, downstream with the babies

"Yeah, this is a bit cold, too"

I gotta say, if you can't find your disc 12 inches off the trail, you ain't trying very hard

Hello, this is the Jack In The Pulpit survey.  You are numbers 4 and 5.

Again, an easy find.  Did they have a sight-impaired tourney yesterday?

M10 2.0.4

 

So this week the latest "Rock'n'Roll Hall Of Fame" inductee list came out.  You can pretty much guess my feelings about the RNRHOF by the quote marks I used...

"Please accept my resignation. I don't want to belong to any club that will accept me as a member.”

                                                  -Groucho Marx

So what I will do is rank the acts and "musical excellence" winners from bottom ( say who?) to top (they should have been in X years ago), IMHO.  I'm sure many of every taste will go agin me, but it is after all, my opinion piece.  But first, let's watch the video for the lone debut this week, at #10...

***********************************************

Okay, here comes my opinion...

-Outkast-  Not my genre, not my taste.

-Salt-N-Pepa- Ditto; even though I actually didn't mind their one song I knew, they had help from EnVogue on it...

- White Stripes-  Okay, Seven Man Army is pretty good, but do you REALLY know anything else of theirs?

Okay, that takes care of the lower rungs; it gets much better from here:

-Nicky Hopkins- one of those 'musical excellence' entrants; he was the piano player on a bunch of Stones hits, including Angie.  I can respect that.

-Carole Kaye- I'll never vote against a Wrecking Crew alum.  If I can be ironic before you understand why, one of the many songs you'll hear her bass line in is Joe Cocker's Feelin' Alright.

-Warren Zevon- I'm not a Zevon educated listener like most of my generation, but I'm not gonna kick because I know he is a cult favorite.

-Soundgarden- Honestly, I'd put them much higher had they done much besides the Superunknown lp.  Always one of my favorites.

And now, that future irony:

-Joe Cocker- Feelin' Alright is about as far as I can handle him, but I respect what he accomplished.

-Cyndi Lauper- Before you dismiss me here, listen to the full catalogue.  Well deserved.

-Bad Company- should have been in at least 20 years ago.  Nobody had a sound like them.

And finally-

-Chubby Checker- the fact that he wasn't in one of the first 3 classes in the RNRHOF in 1986-89 tells you just how illegit this outfit is.

**************************************************

That said, here's the rest of this week's ten...

9- down one for the Smithereens and One Look At You.

8- and the same for Lucius and Impressions.

7- Up 3 for the Flaming Groovies and Revolution.

6- and the same for Sam Roberts band and Brother Down.

5- down 2 for Allison Krauss and Richmond On The James.

4- up one more for Linkin Park and Up From The Bottom. 

3- giving up another hard-fought spot, Beabadoobee and Sway.

2- up 2 for Amira Elfeky and Forever Overdose.

And remaining at the top...

...Cole Swindell and Spanish Moss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for singing along!

Wednesday Bible Study: the Chief Stone

 Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee...

It should not be a great surprise that our final stone is God Himself.  Look through Psalms, or Isaiah, and they are full of references to God as the Rock.  But what kind of rock?  So many kinds...

The first one that I thought of was in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel 2...

Dan 2:34  As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces. 

Dan 2:35  Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth. 

This is Christ as the stone of Destiny, who destroys utterly the kingdoms of evil men at the end of time, and then rules over all.  Notice, like on our altars, it/He is a stone cut by no human hand- He is, as it says in the Catholic mass, God from God, cut from God but still God.

Probably the most famous reference was made by Christ about Himself, in Matthew...

Mat 21:42  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 

Mat 21:43  Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. 

Mat 21:44  And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.” 

This is the Christ of Judgment; the scandillon, the Stone of Stumbling.  This was a two-way message to the Jews- if you believe in God but not Christ, you will be broken; if you don't believe either, you'll be crushed.  Then, I was surprised by another reference of chilling prophecy in Deuteronomy:

Deu 32:17  They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. 

Deu 32:18  You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you, and you forgot the God who gave you birth. 

Deu 32:19  “The LORD saw it and spurned them, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. 

Deu 32:20  And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. 

This was the last song of Moses, whom God allowed to see the future end of ancient Israel- the Rock that birthed a people.  But just before this, you get an idea of this reference:

Deu 32:3  For I will proclaim the name of the LORD; ascribe greatness to our God! 

Deu 32:4  “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he. 

Here, God is perfect, a rock unmoved by any force of man.  Another example of this immovability extends out to those who trust Him...

Mat 7:24  “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 

Mat 7:25  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 

Mat 7:26  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 

Mat 7:27  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” 

Note that the man who built without the Rock didn't just see his house damaged; GREAT was its fall- all the way to hell.  But that sure foundation is our shelter- and like I said, it wouldn't take you long reading David in Psalms or Isaiah to get dozens of references, including one of my favorites:

Psa 61:1  To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments. Of David. Hear my cry, O God, listen to my prayer; 

Psa 61:2  from the end of the earth I call to you when my heart is faint. Lead me to the rock that is higher than I, 

Psa 61:3  for you have been my refuge, a strong tower against the enemy. 

I have another one that surprised me; it is not only the Father and Son that are The Rock...

Zec 3:8  Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the BRANCH. 

Zec 3:9  For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 

The seven eyes is Hebrew poetic for the Seven Spirits of God, in other words the Holy Spirit in His seven ministries.  Engraving its inscription means, like we saw with the stone foundation being the Word, which is Christ, the word is inscribed (put on our hearts) by the Holy Spirit.

Of course we cannot forget what I quoted from Jesus at the beginning...

Mat 21:42  Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’? 

The Jews rejected their Messiah; they wanted a political ruler, or none at all.  But, He became marvelous in OUR eyes when He "removed the iniquity of this land in a single day" on the Cross.  See how it all ties together?  Alright, one last reference, and that is the one that started this whole journey for me- my Life Verse and its near neighbors:

1Sa 7:10  As Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to attack Israel. But the LORD thundered with a mighty sound that day against the Philistines and threw them into confusion, and they were defeated before Israel. 

1Sa 7:11  And the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and pursued the Philistines and struck them, as far as below Beth-car. 

1Sa 7:12  Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Eben-ezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” 

1Sa 7:13  So the Philistines were subdued and did not again enter the territory of Israel. And the hand of the LORD was against the Philistines all the days of Samuel. 

And Eben-Ezer means, "Stone of Help."  And when I feel like I can't go on, like I am abandoned to my fate, I read this verse, and imagine all the Eben-Ezers standing behind me where my Lord has saved me.