Anne McCaffrey

The news of the death of Anne McCaffrey at the age of 85 hit me hard. She was an author of more than 70 books and many short stories and was a wordsmith of great power to move my mind.

I discovered her quite by accident in 1992. I was on a flight home and had a late night layover in the Pittsburgh Airport. By that time I had read every book that I had taken with me on that trip. The airport stores were closed and I had hours to wait before my flight home.

I wondered the concourse and saw a tattered book abandoned on a bench.  It was "Dragonquest" by Anne McCaffrey. I do not care for dragon fantasies but I was desperate for something to read. Then I discovered that it was science fiction  set on a distant planet called Pern. Within reading three pages I was hooked on Anne McCaffrey. I now have all of her books and I love them all.

She was one of the great story tellers of our time and I will miss the expectation of waiting for her next book.

Rest in peace master story teller Anne McCaffrey!

Thanksgiving Day History

In 1863, by the way, President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday. He decided that Thanksgiving would take place on the last Thursday of November. 


In 1939 President Roosevelt proclaimed that Thanksgiving would be held on November
23th (instead of the 30th that year) as a way to spur economic growth and extend the Christmas shopping season during the last years of the Great Depression.


Thanks to that idea we now have "black Friday" with some stores opening just before midnight on Thursday. Good grief!


Happy Thanksgiving

Turkeys

There are two kinds of "Turkeys" and through they are related they are not much alike.

The Wild Turkey:

Ben Franklin nominated the wild turkey as our national bird because it is smart and majestic.
It is indeed an intelligent bird that knows its territory like a map. It hunts for food both seed and bugs. It can fly and sleeps in the trees. It is wary of predators and is good at hiding.

 The Domesticated Turkey:

This is a stupid bird that is known to drown in a rain by looking up and keeping its mouth open. Most of them live their whole lives in a cage being fed and cared for so that they grow fat. Humans have enhanced them so that they develop large breast, so large in fact that they can not reproduce with out human help.

They have the same brains but the wild bird uses its brain while the caged bird has no need to exercise its mind at all. The difference is impressive! Now what does that tell us about ourselves?

Learning To Pray

There are a variety of prayer formulas that are helpful for people who want to learn to pray. One is the four steps of prayer that I learned a long time ago and it works well for almost any prayer concern.

1. Praise God - Recognize in your mind and heart who you are praying to.

2. Thank God - Have an attitude of gratitude even in your most dire need.

3. Ask God - Request what  you need and even what you desire.

4. Listen for God - A quiet time of meditation listening for God before you say amen and close the prayer it vital. 

Some people who say that God never answers their prayer never take the time to listen and they miss the answers they are looking for.

May your have a rich prayer life in Praise, Thanksgiving, Asking and Listening.

A funny in my email

My little brother sent me the following:

An 80-year-old Texas rancher goes to the Mayo clinic in Rochester for a check-up The doctor is amazed at what good shape the guy is in and asks, 'How do you stay in such great physical condition?'  'I'm from Texas and in my spare time I like to fish says the old guy, 'and that's why I'm in such good shape. I'm up well before daylight riding herd and mending fences and when I'm not doing that, I'm out fishing. In the evening, I relax and all is well.' 'Well' says the doctor, 'I'm sure that helps, but there's got to be more to it. How old was your father when he died?' 'Who said my father's dead?' The doctor is amazed. 'You mean you're 80 years old and your father's still alive? How old is he?' 'He's 100 years old,' says the old Texan. 'In fact he worked with and fished with me this morning. ' 'Well,' the doctor says, 'that's great, but I'm sure there's more to it than that. How about your father's father? How old was he when he died?' 'Who said my Grandpa's dead?' Stunned, the doctor asks, 'you mean you're 80 years old and your grandfather's' still alive?' 'He's 118 years old,' says the man. The doctor is getting frustrated at this point, 'So, I guess he went fishing with you this morning too?' 'No, Grandpa couldn't go this morning because he's getting married today.' At this point the doctor is close to losing it. 'Getting married!! Why would a 118 year-old guy want to get married?' 'Who said he wanted to?'

Veterans Day

Veterans Day 11-11-11 at 11:11 AM

Let our Veterans know they’re number 1 on 11/11/11 at 11:11 AM!

On Veteran’s Day, Friday, November 11^th 2011 at 11:11AM, a massing of the Colors and Veterans Day Parade will take place in Louisville on West Main Street from 4^th to 9^th Streets for the first time in many years.

This is a unique coincidence of dates (11/11/11) and a group of people have put together this tribute to veterans, their families, current members of the Armed Services and their families.

It includes 50+ Color Guards, the 113^th Army Band from Ft. Knox, a Medal of Honor recipient as Grand Marshall, members of the Tuskegee Airmen as special guests, and members of veteran’s organizations. Other components include displays of restored military equipment and Kentucky’s 40et8 boxcar on display outside the Frazier History Museum. Attractions along West Main Street have arranged special programs for the day, and many will be offering special discounts. 

Voting In Kentucky

We have some funny Choices for Commissioner of Agriculture in Kentucky.

On the one hand we have a Democrat named Bob Farmer who has zero experience in farming. He is a comedian here in Louisville who ran for a joke.

We also have a man named Jamie Comer a Republican who is a farmer who has received huge sums of money from the government in the form of subsidies. While that is true for many farmers Comer is backed by the Tea Party who are against welfare. Comer also advocates legalizing the growing of hemp.

Comer’s political ads invites us voters to vote for the farmer. Which farmer?  Wouldn’t it be technically funny if the experienced farmer lost to a comedian named farmer because he told us to vote for the farmer?

Only in Kentucky