Happy Easter

 

Have a Blessed Christmas

 

This has been a year full of uncertainty.  You know, being told you are nonessential and you will die or kill someone else if you do something nonessential or if you do just about anything without a mask on.  You know, looking for the whole story about what's going on in the world but getting only what the media decides to tell you.  There are businesses shut down, people out of work, families separated, our nation divided.

It's hard not to give in to fear and despair.  Let us remember that Jesus tells us not to be afraid.

On this Christmas Eve we remember that Jesus, the Word made flesh, was born in a humble stable.  

He will not fear evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.

-Psalm  112:7

Covidity

 


It's been six weeks since a state of emergency was declared here in Michigan.  We've been ordered to cower in our homes.  We wear masks when we go somewhere that is permitted.  When will it end?  First we were told in order to save lives, we'd only have to give up our freedom till the curve flattened.  It has.  Now the bar has been moved.

Yesterday Gov Whitmer said we're still safer at home.  As long as the numbers meet with her approval, manufacturing will be permitted to reopen May 11 provided they take everybody's temperature at the door, don't allow nonessential persons to enter, do social distancing, wear masks, etc etc.  The automotive industry may be permitted to resume operations May 18th.  For those still considered nonessential, the stay at home order has been extended to May 28.

Meanwhile, businesses such as restaurants and hair salons and veterinarians remain either closed or very restricted.  How many of these businesses will be lost?

Hat Tip.  MOTUS A.D.

What of the new normal?  Will we don masks everywhere we go from now on?

Will we retreat to our homes and shut down the economy every flu season?

And what of the nonessentials?  Are they forever second class citizens rendered hopeless in their insignificance?

Have we traded our liberty for an illusion of safety? 

In Before the Lock

I gave blood on Monday.  We entered the nondenominational church's gym through a single door met by a woman who squirted hand sanitizer onto our palms and ordered us to rub it in.  Then she took our temperature.  If we were normal we were allowed in.


Checking in was the same as usual.  A volunteer scanned my donor card then told me to sit and wait.



The chairs in the waiting area where positioned approximately five feet from each other.  I've been giving at this location for years because everybody is so nice.  On this day nobody talked to each other.



When it was my turn to be checked out by a nurse things got even less friendly.  She stuck my right middle finger to check my iron level.  I scored an eleven.  She said that was too low.  I remarked that I'd had a physical about three weeks ago.  Surely, they would have noticed if my iron was low.

Nurse Terse said, you must be 12.5 to give blood.  (One time a nurse told me my iron reading was low due to my cold hands!)  Nurse Terse asked if I wanted to try the other hand.  I'd already put 45 minutes into this venture so I said yes.  My left middle finger scored a 14.5.  I asked how can there be such a huge difference between them?  Nurse Terse said, that's just the way it goes.



Now I was back in the waiting area.  My fellow waiters stared into space or into their phones.  Things were slower today though the woman at the door said many blood donors had cancelled.



At the blood drawing station they sanitized the entire cot after each donor then waited till it dried.

The phlebotomist was nice.  She even smiled at me a couple times.



Now it was time to sit for a minimum of ten minutes to "recover" from giving blood.  Though I've never felt the need, I cooperate and spend that time drinking juice and enjoying the hospitality.  At this location they usually have a table set up with sandwiches and crudites and homemade brownies.  You help yourself family style.  This day of course was different.  Individual tables with a single chair were set up about five feet apart.  Someone wearing gloves served your snack.



The lady who usually offers shoulder rubs was there but didn't touch anybody.

It felt like Us vs Them.  But who is who?

PETA is Cracked

You wouldn't think PETA could possibly come up with ever goofier remarks yet they do.

Here's one.  Some months ago they bought billboard space in San Jose, CA that reads, "Face it, you can't claim to be a feminist and still eat eggs. Eggs and dairy are a product of the abuse of females."

PETA is asking that we, especially "strong women"  go vegan in solidarity with female animals who are being "sexually abused".

We must not participate in the vicious practice of sexual exploitation.  It's eggsploitation!

Sorry PETA.  I lay eggs because I have eggs to lay.  The duck keeper takes my egg away, I move on.  If you want to be scandalized, you go ahead.  I'm not interested in your "rallying cry to stand up to all kinds of systemic abuse" hogwash.

And another thing.  Stop milking this nonsense.  We aren't vegans.  Why should you be?  You aren't somehow supporting us by changing your diet.  Go bother someone else with your fantastical outrage.

This rant brought to you by Bad Dog Ranch.

Your Dog Knows When You're Coming Home

Many dogs get antsy just before their owner is due to come home.  How do they know?

Do they hear your car?

Do they notice how long you are usually gone and have a way to count the hours?  Maybe observe the movement of sun and shadows?

Do they have a sixth sense about it?

Here's an interesting theory:  smell.  Your scent lingers after you leave.  It fades with the hours. Your dog notices how much it had faded concurrent with your reappearance.  Thus, when your scent has diminished to a certain level, your dog knows you'll be back soon.

That's more likely than the dog reading the clock on the microwave, isn't it?

Wait just a darn minute!  Check this out!  Maybe it's ESP.  Go to 6:39  here=>      When everything else is ruled out....

Now that Tree is Cherry

A couple years ago, a big wind blew down a tree.

It landed, in part, on a nearby cherry tree.  The cherry tree suffered some damage.  Not only that.  For months, the cherry tree suffered the indignity of having a fallen tree lying on it.

 Eventually a ranch hand removed the tree debris.

Some ranch hands are easily distracted.

In spite of all that dillydallying, the cherry tree rebounded.

With gusto.

Matthias

Today is Saint Matthias day.  He was the one chosen by the apostles to replace Judas.  Peter and the others understood the importance of maintaining the office of the twelve witnesses to Jesus. Thus, they asked the Holy Spirit to tell them which guy He wanted to fill the opening.  (Acts 1:15-26)

We don't know a lot about Matthias.  We're told in Acts that he was a disciple from the time of John the Baptist through the ascension of Jesus.  In other words, he was on the bench all along ready for the call to join the twelve.  He was eventually martyred while giving witness to The Word.

As we move through the Easter season let us remember what Jesus said to the apostles on the night Judas betrayed Him.  I give you a new command.  Love one another as I have loved you.   
(John 13:34)

My Look Back at 2018

Some things I noticed.

Dogs of the milquetoast type tend to have the most menacing growl.  (Happily, Clover only uses it at play.)

Some serious and independent dogs are the ones in most need of a hug.  (Lily seems comfortable with the fact that we are on to her.)

It is hard to find part time work when you have to be home before dark.

Robert Shaw is still my favorite actor.

For the very first time in my life, I got excited over the grand opening of a store.












You get more writing done when you set a goal rather than wait for the muse to strike.  Since I've been writing a minimum of 1,000 words a day, the chapters are piling up.

Now that Henry is five years old, he lifts his leg to pee.

Finally, and most significantly, it's been a strange year largely for reasons I don't care to explain.  An important thing I've learned is I must accept that God has a better plan than I could ever come up with.  It's a blow to my notions of self reliance, which is evidently just what I needed.

Stuff that's Happened Lately

The mower sits as dormant as the grass.

The rain barrels have long been empty.  The squash plants are wilted.

  Finally.  A glimmer of moist hope.

Meanwhile, the humming birds are unconcerned for sugar water is not rain dependent.

There was an incident in the night a few weeks ago.  The power went out and the top of the electric power pole was on fire.  While guys in a firetruck watched, utility workers put the fire out and restored power.  Then a couple days ago, power men in multiple trucks appeared.  They cut off the charred part of the old pole and put a nice new pole next to it.   They added more lines for "communication".

Communication with what or with whom has not been explained.  What we need is a little irrigation to cultivate a suitable conspiracy theory.

July 4, 2018

   

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. 

-Thomas Jefferson

A Public Service Announcement

Lily offers a few thoughts for today, Thursday March 29, 2018.

Spring is the time to get your blood test for heart worm.  It doesn't hurt!  Well, hardly at all. The Vet Techs are nice.

Springtime means the ground gets soft and your people become agitated about MUD.  There is nothing you can do about it.  Your best bet is to cooperate when they want to wipe your feet.  Trust me on this.

Today is Opening Day in Detroit.

Go get em Tigers!

Thank you.  Good bye for now.

Let's Look at Dog Eye Movements

Some researchers from the Department of Equine and Small Animal Medicine at the University of Helsinki conducted a study on the effect of oxytocin in domestic dogs.  Oxytocin is a neuropeptide that effects social behavior and emotional reactions in mammals.  It is commonly called the "affection hormone".

To see what adding more oxytocin might do, the researchers taught a bunch of dogs to rest their chins on a little bar (like at the eye doctor) so their eye movements and pupil dilation could be measured while they looked at pictures of unfamiliar human faces- some angry, some happy.  One group of dogs were given a placebo of nasal saline, the other group was given nasal oxytocin.

Dogs that snorted saline reacted more strongly to the angry faces.  Dogs that snorted oxytocin reacted more strongly to the happy faces.

The researchers concluded that oxytocin, when snorted "changes the allocation of attention and emotional arousal in domestic dogs".

What does this mean?  Well, similar studies were done with humans and monkeys but the results were not the same as with dogs.  The oxytocin caused the dogs to focus on the happy faces while the other species only reacted less strongly to both the happy and angry faces when under the influence of oxytocin.  Researchers think this selective response in dogs will maybe "facilitate communication between humans and dogs" (and monkeys and dogs, presumably).

It's clear to see, that there's still some kinks to be ironed out.  For one thing, in general, monkeys and people don't consider looking into someone's eyes as threatening as dogs do.  Does this skew the results?  It is difficult to imagine that it wouldn't.  Maybe the researchers will look into it.

Read the study here.