Caught In The Act

Hamsters...the hams of the animal kingdom
always want to get in the act.

Felines also have PMS

and alas, the human species is not the only one that must deal with anger.








Tom Cruise has nothing on this guy!

Tuning Up

I'm rather suspicious of trends...why get on a bandwagon that has lost its direction? As Christians, we are too prone to follow gimmicks. We copy what another congregation is doing because we think it will get us better results. What foolishness! If we follow the latest pattern, we have lost the key and are playing out of tune.






Long ago, an instructor told me that when someone is tuning several pianos at a time, they do not tune them to each other or they will all be slightly off key. First, the piano tuner must tune one piano perfectly and than each new piano is tune to the same key as the original. That is the only way they would sound the same and could be played at the same time. May we all be tuned to Christ and not each other.

If I Didn't Have Dogs...

I could walk around the yard barefoot in safety. My house could be carpeted instead of tiled and laminated. All flat surfaces, clothing, furniture, and cars would be free of hair.
When the doorbell rings, it wouldn't sound like a kennel.

If I Didn't Have Dogs...

When the doorbell rings, I could get to the door without wading through fuzzy bodies who beat me there. I could sit on the couch and my bed the way I wanted, without taking into consideration how much space several furry bodies would need to get comfortable. I would have money.....and no guilt to go on a real vacation. I would not be on a first-name basis with 6 veterinarians, as I put their yet unborn grandkids through college.

If I Didn't Have Dogs...

The most used words in my vocabulary would not be: out, sit, down, come, no, stay,
and leave him/her/it ALONE. My house would not be cordoned off into zones with baby gates or barriers. My house would not look like a day care center, toys everywhere.
My pockets would not contain things like poop bags, treats and an extra leash.

If I Didn't Have Dogs...

I would no longer have to spell the words B-A-L-L, F-R-I-S-B-E- E,
W-A-L-K, T-R-E-A-T, B-I-K-E, G-O, R-I-D-E I would not have as many leaves INSIDE my house as outside. I would not look strangely at people who think having ONE dog/cat ties them down too much. I'd look forward to spring and the rainy season instead of dreading 'mud' season.

If I Didn't Have Dogs...

I would not have to answer the question why do you have so many animals?' from people who will never have the joy in their lives of knowing they are loved unconditionally by someone as close to an angel as they will ever get.

Sign Me Up!

Sadist!

The housing market went bust and now this!

Where's Green Peace when you need them?

They're getting desperate!

Been there...done that.

Lord of the Mark

Like a Viking king you rise, from the ash heap full of lies. Clothe yourself in armor again; wash away years of toil and pain. The warrior in you has never died, the courage there could never hide.

Strengthen your grip by holding your sword. Lead the way as Riddermark’s Lord. Let the horns blow throughout the land. At Helm’s Deep you will make your stand.

Saruman’s aim went wide of the mark. Gandalf’s light broke through the dark. Deception was unmasked in time, so you could rise up in your prime.

Better to end your days in a fight with others against Mordor’s might;
than to waste away believing lies by a master who loves to disguise.

Ride forth like Eorl of old, shepherding your flock in the fold.
Like a dotard you will not die, in a green mound with kings you will lie.

Simbelmynë will adorn your grave, crowning the Rohan you fought to save. Your people will mourn, yet sing your praise.Your ending was a triumph to all your days.

Want A Date?

After visiting Israel last summer and seeing Masada, I
found this article fascinating (like only Spock could say).


A Judean date palm, long extinct, has been "brought back to life" by scientists who unearthed a 2,000 year-old seed of the plant and germinated it. A healthy 4-foot-tall seedling, named Methuselah after the oldest living man in the Bible, now holds the record for the oldest germinated seed.






The seed itself, perhaps the last link to the vast date palm forests that once grew in the Jordan River valley, was first discovered in 1965, as archaeologists excavated the ancient Israel site of Masada. Seeds discovered at the site were put into storage for 40 years.






In 2005, the date palm now known as Methuselah was planted and sprouted. After it germinated, fragments of the seed shell clinging to the roots were carbon dated, placing the age of the date seeds sometime between 60 B.C. and A.D. 95, about the age expected for a seed that could have survived the famed attack on the Masada fortress described by the ancient historian Josephus.

Following the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Roman forces, a group of Jewish zealots retreated to the mountaintop fortress of Masada, a nearly impregnable palace originally built for Herod the Great. These resistors to Roman rule withstood siege from Caesar's army until A.D. 73, when, according to Josephus, the nearly 1,000 people bunkered there burned their remaining stores (all but one food stash, to demonstrate that they weren't starving to death) and committed mass suicide.

The discovery of these date seeds from Masada at about the same time period leads to some intriguing historical speculation.

"These people were eating these dates up on the mountain and looking down at the Roman camp, knowing that they were going to die soon, and spitting out the pits," Sallon said. "Maybe here is one of those pits."

The Struggle

The struggle builds the muscle.
The strain brings the gain.

It takes strength to live right.
It’s so easy to lose sight.

The path of least resistance
will always have insistence.

OASIS

I’ve come upon an oasis of rest in the Lord.
It’s a welcome after the desert of strife and struggles.
It’s not a rest apart from the desert but in spite of it.

LOVE IS TRUE

Everything I love has something true in it.
I cannot love a lie.
I may be deceived by it but I can never love it.