Get Out! - 05 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 695

Micah 6:8
Exodus 33:1
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today's freewrite prompt word is Eject

That's quite propitious, actually, as I had an ejection-related conversation just yesterday. Gary called looking for some IT help with a USB-SATA adaptor that worked the first time but hasn't worked since - even on a different computer.
I did a little investigation and one of the things suggested (too late in this case it would seem) was to eject the SATA drive just as you would any other USB device before disconnecting it. We shall see if that works, but I have my doubts - it's tough to eject a drive that's not recognized by the computer from which you wish to eject it. Ah, the joys of recovering data from old machines!

That's actually something I'm doing right now - getting pictures and documents off of my Dad's old computers. Yes, plural. He kept all his computers, fearing miscreants might find something important on them if he trashed them. Well, I've found some stuff to be deleted, some things to be preserved, and some things that are puzzling. (Why did he have three different greeting card creators on this computer?)

Fun times, but clearly time to eject.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

No Pączki Yet! - 04 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 694

Micah 6:8
Exodus 12:19
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Wow! On 04 February 1746 the Polish/American military leader, General Tadeusz Kościuszko, was born. Just looking across the country you can see his influence on the map from the place names we've assigned to honor this hero. Why, just in Indiana we find the town of Warsaw right there in Kosciusko county (we couldn't spell it the way he did, I guess). In fact, it's the county seat.
Take a look at a map of these United States and see how many places you can find that recall the exploits of this hero of the American Revolution.
Feel free to log your journey in the comments below.

Today's freewrite prompt word is Drown.

It's not often, but there are times when I feel overwhelmed by all the stuff I have to do - or at least that I think I have to do, or that I've committed to doing. It's not often, but it does happen, and I think that's the closest I'll ever come to knowing what it feels like to drown (I hope that's the closest I'll ever come!).

I have a vague, yet vivid memory of being in a neighbor's swimming pool as a kid (before I was eight based on where this took place). I was sitting in/on one of those inflatable rings when I rolled over so I was head-down / feet-up in the water, stuck in the ring.
Fortunately for me, Dad was there watching and grabbed me out before I had the chance to totally panic and drown. There you go. One more traumatic / heroic memory of childhood.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Les Fleurs du Mal - 03 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 693

Micah 6:8
Song of Solomon 2:11-12
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Today is Doggy Date Night! I think Billie will be getting a good walk today. Yesterday she was neglected in that area as I spent far too much time clearing the heavy, wet snow from the driveway and sidewalk. There wasn't nearly as much as they predicted (no surprise, really), but good grief it was heavy to move.
At any rate, she didn't get a walk, so I need to make that up to her tonight.

By the way, the Soviet unmanned spacecraft, Luna 9, made the first ever soft landing on the Moon on 03 February 1966. I'm not sure what happened to Lunas 1-8, but at the very least their landings weren't soft. The Soviets/Russians have a problem with landing things other than on the Earth for some reason. Mars (the Red Planet! Ha!) sure doesn't seem to like them.
http://iheardacouplethings.blogspot.com/2011/11/russians-asteroids-and-mars.html
http://iheardacouplethings.blogspot.com/2011/12/nasas-opportunity-rover-has-found.html
http://iheardacouplethings.blogspot.com/2012/01/are-russian-space-troubles-from-beyond.html
http://iheardacouplethings.blogspot.com/2012/02/russians-cant-get-to-mars-so-theyll.html

Today's freewrite prompt word is Blossom:

I know there was a TV show called Blossom, and that one of the current Jeopardy hosts played the title character, but I don't really have any memory of it. It might have been the greatest show ever, but if it was, I must never have seen it. If I saw any of its episodes, they must have been bland enough that they made essentially no impression on me.

On a related, yet totally unrelated note, the State flower of Michigan is the Apple Blossom. You know what they say, Si quaeris peninsulam amoenam circumspice!


Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Burn, Baby, Burn! - 02 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 692

Micah 6:8
Malachi 3:1-4
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Good grief, the toll-free and wireless calls are coming in non-stop these days. That's all the information my caller ID can provide, but they all seem to be political in nature, whether actually fundraising or pretending to do a survey, then asking for money.

At any rate, it's a darned good thing we have our emergency goat from Archie McPhee! When the phone rings, I look at the caller ID and get slightly upset, or even mildly perturbed; but once I answer and share the dulcet tones of my screaming herd of goats with the caller I can - and do! - hang up with a smile on my face.

Today's freewrite word is spark.

I didn't go to church camp as a kid. I did go spend a week at my cousin's house in Indiana, so from my parents' perspective it was basically the same thing, only cheaper. I bring this up because this means I don't know - from experience - all those camp things like cooking in a tuna can over a candle, or telling ghost stories around the campfire with a flashlight shining up my nose, or all those camp songs. I only know them by osmosis.
We (the Moving Vans, that is) were asked to sing and provide the music for an outdoor worship service at Jefferson Avenue United Methodist Church one Summer Sunday. Well, the weather decided that the outdoor service ought to be in the church basement rather than at the park (or at least the powers that were decided that being dry was more likely to encourage worship than was sitting in a driving rain. I tend to agree with that assessment).
At any rate, it was there that I got my first exposure to the hymn "It Only Takes a Spark" as sung by campers. It was far more raucous - and engaging - than the way I would have pulled it out of the hymnal. It really did only take a spark, and the warmth of that day's worship remains in my memory to this day.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

In Just Seven Days - 01 February 2022 - Plague Journal Day 691

Micah 6:8
Isaiah 1:13-15
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

First off today, RIP Howard Hesseman - Doctor Johnny Fever from WKRP in Cincinnati. What a fun show that was. It's really too bad they didn't get the correct set of rights for the music they used in the episodes so we could have the real program show up in reruns. You know, I used to have a cat named Cincinnati, although he wasn't named for the show. He was a great cat.

Anyway, people probably forget about Howard's other credits, including Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, Soap, and the fabulous Billy Jack.

Speaking of Billy, here's a little extra reporting on Billie: a picture of Billie actually being useful.

The Writer magazine has a list of words to use as prompts for each day this month. The freewrite word of the day today is Tension.
Back in my university days, Mom asked about how the women in "those pictures" managed to have their intimates show they way they did. (I'm afraid I don't have any idea how this conversation started, nor how it ever got to this topic). Being a long-time reader of comic books - and the wonderful ads found in them back then - I knew about Charles Atlas, and told Mom it was "dynamic tension." She never liked that phrase from then on. I did explain where it came from, but that didn't matter: the picture was in her head and just as there are things that once seen can never be unseen, there are phrases that, once heard, can never be unheard.
Sorry, Mom.



Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Stop It, Billie! - 31 January 2022 - Plague Journal Day 690

Micah 6:8
Romans 14:1-3
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Dogs are crazy, but each one seems crazy in an individual way. Billie, our current, goat-like dog, likes to eat grass (like a goat) and has discovered the joys of Brussels sprouts as well.
Each year we grow a few stalks of Brussels sprouts in our garden, but we don't harvest them until winter - after a good frost or two and maybe even a nice coating of snow. They stay fresh on the stalk that way, and the cold weather sets the sugars in the sprouts, so they taste far better than the boiled, fart-smelling sprouts of the youth of many a reader here.
I highly recommend doing this.

Unless, of course, you're possessed of a dog like Billie, who seems possessed with the need to eat our sprouts. Being a goat in dog form, she not only likes to eat things that don't make sense, she also capers and leaps in a very caprine way. This means the garden fence is essentially no trouble to her at all. She simply bounds over the fence, eats some sprouts, and bounds back into the yard.

Well, imagine my chagrin at finding that today is Eat Brussels Sprouts Day. I would be more upset had I not just bought some at the market, knowing I needed to replace the once already consumed by Billie.

What a snot she is. It's a good thing she's cute and sweet.

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.

Worship - 30 January 2022 - Plague Journal Day 689

Micah 6:8
Luke 4:21-30
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

For our 9:30 AM worship service we will have our choir singing virtually at offertory time and our standard three hymns for congregational singing. Why not join us to find out who the soloist is? You'll probably be amazed.

Remember, we'll be streaming for all those who can't join us in person, and intend to continue that practice indefinitely. Still, know that we miss seeing you in person - please come join in corporate prayer, praise, and worship as soon as you feel ready.

As usual, today's stream should just appear as the latest entry on our YouTube channel, here.
You'll find all our previous worship videos right there at that same place, and today's stream will stay there as a recording as well. 

Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264