Monday, December 28, 2009

Remember These?

Dad is currently in a rehab center where they want to work with him and see if they can help with a few difficulties. He will be there for a couple of months. This will also give a few members of my family a badly needed break.

One thing that we have been doing is going through old boxes and finding old things, including something that I had when I was a kid.


These eleven blade pocket knives were something of a fad when I was ten to twelve years old (late in the 60s).

Their blades included:

Cutting knife
Scissors
Awl
Saw
Bottle/Can Opener
Fork
Spoon
Leather Punch
Screwdriver
File
Cork Screw

While they looked and seemed cool they were overloaded and too unwieldy to really work with and were pretty much forgotten after a few years. And for the record, I don't know of anyone using the fork and spoon to eat with.

Truth is that I had completely forgotten about it until I saw it.

Friday, December 25, 2009

The Gift Of Eternity

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desart knows: --
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand." -- The City's gone, --
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.

We wonder, -- and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragments huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

Horace Smith Ozymandias

Man and all of his works are temporary and, as far as the material universe goes, doomed.

Surely the people are grass; the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God stands forever. (Isaiah 40: 7-8)

But the Eternal has made His presence known.

And the Fact became flesh and settled amongst us and we observed His glory, glory belonging to One Unique of the Father, full of Grace and Truth. (John 1: 14 Personal Translation)

This life is temporary, humanity is temporary, earth is temporary, and the universe is temporary. Only that which exists outside of the space-time continuum is truly eternal.

But for one brief (33 year) instant the Eternal became part of the temporary so that the temporary could become eternal. God became man so that man could be reconciled to God.

When we celebrate Christmas we celebrate Eternity and the One Who brought it to us.

Merry Christmas.

Two By Others.

First off from Don's Mind. It appears that even Ray Stevens has had enough of him.



What can I say but AMEN.

Best Christmas posting is by Beth at Five ft Three. Read and appreciate.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Morning Musings

Wrote these unconnected thoughts while sitting in the shack last night.

Well it's Sunday night, or actually Monday morning. Normally I work Sundays on 2 pm to 10 pm but because of a colleague on vacation I work tonight from 6 pm to 6 am. At least it works out to be more overtime. The plant is going to be open all week except for Christmas day. I have to work regardless but I have trouble seeing why we have people working when the warehouse is overflowing. I kind of mildly screwed up though as I showed up at 1:30 to start because I forgot the unusual hours that night.

Two inexplicable questions about truck drivers. How can someone who can't speak English get a license to drive trucks in America? How come so many truck drivers who do speak English don't know how to read a map? Especially when Yahoo Map will give you corner to corner instructions on how to find us. My Dad worked with my brothers and myself so that we could read a map almost expertly before we were ten. It really isn't that hard to look at a map and figure it out. If I get lost it's because I didn't look at and study a map. I can understand being a few miles away and needing exact instructions but if they are several states away they should be able to look at a roadmap and figure the best way to get within shouting distance from here. In fact I believe I have seen a Trucker's Road Atlas for sale in bookstores.

Another little oddity. On 3rd shift I am required to go through the locker/restrooms and check for leaks, running utilities, overflowing utilities etc. You ordinarily think of a men's locker room being full of "cheesecake" pictures, but there isn't a single picture of a scantily clad female anywhere that a person passing through could see. Plenty of "beefcake" in the women's locker room though. I wonder if those pictures could be consider sexist. Of course we guards are the only males who ever set foot in there. I really don't care but the double standard would probably exist if one of the guys hung a centerfold on the wall of the mens' room.

Last night I went to Walmart and was stunned at how busy it was and I'm glad I got my serious shopping done a couple of weeks ago. I had forgotten my days when I worked in a shopping mall and how crazy Christmas season was.

Early today I was feeling pretty down about the direction our country is headed but I listened to nothing but Gospel music, especially heavy metal gospel, and it lifted my mood quite a ways. In darkest of times we must remember that this world is not our home and that to be a Christian is at times to be at war with the entire world. I think of the martyr Antipas who is mentioned in the 3rd Chapter of Revelation. He was offered freedom if he would simply declare Kyrios o Kaiser (Caesar is Lord) and he refused. He was reminded that the entire world was against him and he gave the perfect answer; If the whole world is against Antipas then Antipas is against the whole world. That's the attitude we need; if the world is against us then we are against the world. So be it. Our King will be victorious. (Curiously Antipas is Greek for "against everything." It was probably a nickname.)

However there was a bit of good news at Copenhagen. The tyrannical left trying to impose the entire world under their thumb under the excuse of the need for climate control ran into a near brick wall. What climate change does exist is natural and these people know it but it's an inconvenient truth that they can't live with. They still can't explain how come it happened on Mars at the same time.

I have received a Christmas present already from a co-worker who gives gifts to all co-workers who treat him decently. It's kind of embarrassing really.

I was astonished and somewhat saddened to hear of the death of Britney Murphy. I never really gave her a thought, she was just in a few movies I had seen over the years, but I don't think she deserved to die.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Still Busy

I think I've been off-line for various reasons for 5 days now. I have a lot of catching up to do. I finally bought a "pocket drive" or "memory stick" so I can use both my computers more. (My laptop is not internet ready at this time.) I was at Mom and Dad's most of Wednesday and Thursday. Friday through Sunday was taken up by errands and work.

Mom is showing more and more signs that her mind isn't what it used to be and she is beginning to show some severe problems. It is beginning to look like we are going to have to take some steps that we really don't want to take. Dad does not appear to be in any immediate danger but he is showing signs that he isn't feeling well either, above and beyond being paralyzed. I am almost certain that this will be the last Christmas with both of my parents, even though I think I said that last year too. I guess it doesn't hurt to be aware of the possibility.

One possible bit of good news is that I just might wind up in possession of the house I grew up in. The house is old and not in the best of shape, but it includes about nine acres of land which I am much more interested in. It is uncertain at this point because there a couple of issues that need to be settled first and it will be March at the soonest before I occupy it, if it happens at all.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Playing Catch Up

First off Mom is home. I'm not sure I completely understand what happened to her. She filled up with fluid which had to be drained. I talked to her last night and she sounded better.

There are, however, some dark clouds on the horizon. Let's just say she is getting very forgetful. It worries me because she is the main care-giver for Dad and if she slips too much we will have problems. Already my brother is doing far too much for them and I live over an hour away and can only give him very limited assistance.

I have a couple of regular posts bubbling in my mind and hope to write soon.

Tuesday, December 01, 2009

Just In

I just now got word that my Mother is in the hospital. I'm not sure at all what the situation really is. No internet access for a couple days again. I'll be leaving as soon work is settled.