Quotes

I am currently reading Garrison Keillor's new book and I ran across a couple of quotes that I liked

"Life is complicated, so think small"

"You can't plant corn and date women at the same time. It doesn't work."

"The urge to be top dog is a bad urge. Inevitable a tragedy. A sensible person seeks to be at peace, to read books, know the neighbors, take walks, enjoy his portion, live to be eighty, and wind up fat and happy, although a little wistful when the first coronary walks up and slugs him in the chest. Nobody is meant to be a star. Charisma is pure fiction, and so is brilliance."

"The urge to perform is no indication that a person has talent."

My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
James 3:1

Fresh Paint

It is the time of year when the old farmer's wife (and daughter) looks around the old farmhouse and decides that it needs some redecorating. The old farmer sighs, rolls his eyes, and keeps his mouth shut. I didn't think that there was anything wrong with how it looked.
She spent a couple of weeks tearing down not very old wallpaper, moving furniture, cleaning, taping, and putting down drop cloths. And oh yes, a lot of painting. I did some plaster repair. Matt wired in new light switches and outlets (Hint: make sure that when someone tells you the light went out when that particular breaker was flipped, that they know which light you are referring to!).
So we now have fresh paint. We have an upstairs bedroom that is "river falls" (green gray or blue gray, depending on the lighting), a downstairs bedroom that is "spring view green" and white (the pottery barn look), and the entry/sun room is "sweet rosy brown"(basically the color of dried blood - that will make a statement!).
Which makes the whole house smell like fresh paint.
And by the time I get used to it all, they will want to change it again!
Ah, this old house . . .

That said, I will build me a wide house and large chambers, and cutteth him out windows; and it is ceiled with cedar, and painted with vermilion.
Jeremiah 22:14

Update

Today we received the Pantagraph!?

Maybe the Tribune or the NY Times tomorrow?

Newspaper

I like reading the newspaper first thing in the morning. While the news is still fresh. I know I can get all the news on the web now, but I still prefer the paper. The newspaper is shrinking in size and there are less features, less in depth stories, and fewer pages of news. No wonder people are turning to other sources. But I still like reading the paper.

For most of the last 15 or 20 years we had the same carrier delivering our paper. It would be in the box between 4:30 and 5:00 every morning, unless the roads were physically impassable. Then it would come late after the roads were again passable.

Our old carrier retired, and now we have irregularity. The paper is rarely in the box before 6:00, and often it is as late as 7:30. And if the weather is foggy or raining or snowing or icy or something, it may not show up at all! And yesterday the paper that showed up in our box was the Wall Street Journal instead of the Journal Star! Now I enjoy reading the WSJ, and I used to read it daily, but I'm paying for the PJS.

I've been forced to rely more on the Internet as a news source.

Ah well, maybe someday I'll be reading the morning paper on an iPad or a Kindle.

As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country.
Proverbs 25:25

Eat Meat

. . . Coming soon to a church near you! . . .

I was at a seminar this week that made me sit up and take note.
The animal rights/welfare groups have been pushing their anti-meat campaign since the 60's and 70's and have not been terribly successful. They are changing their focus.
Evolution/secularism doesn't have a legitimate reason for not raising animals for meat. Animals kill and eat each other! Humans have risen to the top of the food chain and have earned the right to eat whatever and however we choose! In nature, some animals enslave and torture other animals before they kill and eat them. Sometimes they don't eat them, they just kill for pleasure! There is no morality in nature!

So the anti-meat people realize that they must make eating meat a moral issue/sin. So they are turning to religion to spread their message. They did their homework and found that the vast majority of Americans claim to be Christians/spiritual. They also know that the majority don't have a clue what that means or what they believe. They have been meeting with mega-church preachers, Christian TV broadcasters, and others in organized religion and convincing them to help spread their message. And some are going along with their agenda. In particular, taking a few Old Testament, Old Covenant verses out of context and exhorting not to eat pork or animals raised using modern production practices.

They also try to use the emotional/moral "pet" angle. "You wouldn't eat Fido would you, so why would you eat a cow?" "If a chicken had a cute face like your little kitty, would you still eat it?" Production livestock are not pets! Just because some people treat animals like children doesn't mean animals are equal to humans. That was never God's intention.

Dominion,n
1. Sovereign or supreme authority; the power of governing or controlling.
2. Power to direct, control, use and dispose of at pleasure; right of possession and use without being accountable; as the private dominion of individuals.

Webster's 1828 Dictionary (The rest of the definitions involved Government control)

God gave man dominion over all living things, and the New Testament gives man the right to kill and eat any living thing.

Genesis 1:28, Acts 10:10-14, I Timothy 4:3,4

Full Moon

We had a couple of warm days following the ice, and then some rain. The ice disappeared along with most of the snow. Then it was back to the deep freeze with frigid temperatures again, with a mini blizzard thrown in for fun. Except for one, the days were mostly sunny and calm, so it was actually comfortable to work outside. This week looks to be milder than last week so I hope we can accomplish big things.
Like haul a lot of manure!

This weekend we had the largest full moon of the year. I saw it Saturday night and again early Sunday morning when I got up to do chores. You could see the surface fairly clearly, but I forgot to take any pictures. I never heard the local coyotes howling (if they did), but then I probably slept soundly.
When I was single and visited friends in Tuscon, Fred Funk took us to the Observatory to look through the giant telescope. The Astronomer on duty had an adapter to attach my SLR camera to the telescope, so I got some neat closeups of the moon on film that night.

In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.
Psalm 72:7