AIN'T IT JUST A WONDERFUL MORNING???

GOOD MORNING EVERYONE

GOOD MORNING WATER

GOOD MORNING FLOWERS

GOOD MORNING WATER

GOOD MORNING ROCKS

GOOD MORNING TREE

GOOD MORNING WORLD

A Rainy Day

According to the WEATHER PERSON (trying to be politically correct here) for the East Tennessee Area, we should be expecting rain(off and on) for the rest of the week and maybe a few days longer if the 10-Day Forecasting is accurate.  Ordinarily, I would not be bothered by rain and would encourage its presence I am, during these months of Spring, Summer, and Fall, keenly aware of having to mow the damn grass and while our yard can be mowed in about an hour, it's a pain-in-the-ass to try and mow it in between bouts of rain without letting it properly dry out.

On the positive side of a week of rain, our above ground pool actually relishes the idea of rain because the rain's freshness dilutes the buildup of bad chemicals in the water like chlorine and the stuff that was used to winterize it last fall.  As long as the rain is falling gradually, I can still easily remove the excess water by putting the pool pump on WASTE and if I hookup the hose can also easily vacuum out of the pool any debris on its floor that has settled since the last time I vacuumed.

Yard and Pool Maintenance is relatively easy if one has the proper tools to complete each task...  in my case, I need only a hose, pole, and vacuum device as well as a riding lawn mower...

Personally, I like the rain...  I like the sounds it makes...  I like the relaxing peacefulness it creates...  and, I like how beautiful everything looks afterwards.

IT'S A CONVENTION...

W O W...

Its Just a Little Windy Here...

Can You Bowl Like This?

AG Barr at work...

Economic Forecasting

According to a report from FOX NEWS this morning, our economy will not completely rebound from the COVID-19 Pandemic until the END OF 2021... that's almost 20 months from now...  much can happen during the next 20 months...  and, if it takes these next 20 months, many of our financial investments will become substantially damaged even when and after the economy does, in fact, rebound.

During my working career, I never much gave a rat's ass to whether investment increased or decreased as I was just concerned about my own salary and how much money I was able to save...  and, while that may seem very narrow minded on my behalf, the money I saved never made it into the stock market...   I based all my goals on non-interest bearing accounts which always meant that they would always do a little bit better than my predictions.

Now that I am taking money out of my accounts, I still do not plan for interest earned, but on a simple reduction of the funds and how long those funds will last.  Interest will only delay the inevitable...  that is to say, the depletion of the account.

Right now, those monies will pay our bills until both of us have reached the age of 97 regardless of the interest earned...  so, economic forecasting is of minimal concern to us and our livelihood.

ASSIGNING BLAME

Americans are a fickle group of people and perhaps their diversity makes the problem worse but no matter what happens, Americans want to blame someone other than themselves...

NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS...  and, if they ever do take responsibility it is always down played as if it never really mattered; whereas, when they can blame someone else, it is the worst situation since slavery.  And, gender does not seem to play a big role in this behavior as it happens equally among males as well as females.

We are a PASS THE BUCK generation...  which, in my humble and not thoroughly vetted opinion actually means very little.  And, why do I downgrade myself?  Because, I am NOBODY...  or, what the Beatles wrote in their song, NOWHERE MAN...  opinions are only valid in this country when they come from people who are overly educated and WELL KNOWN or are in POWERFUL POSITIONS, otherwise we ignore them outright.

Clouds in a pool

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On the road again...

Click twice on the white triangle then click on [ ] in the lower right to enlarge to a full screen...

Find the force hon... not the rhythms...

It's about rhythms...

Click on white triangle twice, the click on [ ] in lower right corner to enlarge to full screen...

Sunday Evening

Perfect pool size but without a deck surrounding it...

I spent most of the morning cleaning out the pool on waste and then putting more water into it so reduce the levels chlorine...  it would appear that when we closed the pool up for the winter, we put in more chlorine than was necessary; however, when we had a water checked, it was perfect for the first time in over 10 years other than high chlorine levels which is relative inexpensive to adjust.  In the past, we have spent around $150 to get our pool balanced.  Not sure what we did this time but it worked.

The rest of the day was spent working on my various blogs:

• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• My Cancer Odyssey
• A Bipolar Scorpion
• Reflections:  White Scorpion
  

Tomorrow, I will be replacing some of the decking on our deck outside which is not bad since it has lasted over 10 years...  I would say of the 150+ boards, replacing about 20 of them is not bad after ten years of wear and tear and sunlight.  Although, we have made a point of staining the deck about every 3 years.

Right now, while I am composing this post, I am looking at a ROKU Aquarium Screen on our 50" Panasonic flat screen that is one of the free bonus features that comes with the ROKU device once it is purchased.  I believe it was about $50 but we get just about everything that Cable offers and for $10 and $5 each month we can subscribe to Netflix and Hulu and get everything that Cable Offers that we want to watch plus more and it is a hell of a lot cheaper

Shower With Me Hon...

Your Morning Coffee

Praying

In order to pray, one must first presuppose that there is someone to whom to pray and second one
must believe that one's prayers will be answered, otherwise praying is a waste-of-time...  of course, this is my opinion.

In my mind, I BELIEVE very strongly that there is a CREATOR whether that CREATOR has the name of God or Allah or Yahweh or HaShem or Shiva or Akal Murat...  it does not really matter to me because there is still a CREATOR.  And, the fact that there are so many names for this CREATOR does not mean that some beliefs are wrong while others are right...  it just means that OUR CREATOR gave different people what they needed at the time to believe in a CREATOR...  and most importantly, life after death exists in all beliefs even though the path getting to that life after death may be different...

Since this has been established...  even though it may not be completely accepted...  let/s move on to the topic of prayer.

HOW WE CURRENTLY PRAY IS WRONG...

Every time I attend a formal Church service on Sunday, I realize this and because we pray wrong in Church leaves me to believe that the leaders of the Church do not really understand or follow the teachings of the BIBLE..

In Christianity, Jesus told us that when we pray to HIS FATHER, do so this way:

And yet, all ministers, pastors, priests recite or ad lib their own prayers asking God to provide them will everything under the sun except for maybe repairs on the kitchen sink...  for me, this is wrong...  We should not ask for anything other than that HIS WILL BE DONE...

My Spiritual Affiliations

A Sunday Morning Reflection
When I had experienced my first 18 months of life outside my mother's womb, my parents took me (unwillingly or basically without my knowledge and.or permission) to the United Methodist Church in Alexandria, Virginia to be baptized as a Christian.  However, before that event, my parents had made the decision (again without my permission) to have me circumcised upon birth, their first act of forcing me to become a Christian.

Now...  don't get me wrong, I am glad that I am and was raised a Christian, but the fact remains that it was all done without my permission...  actually, my birth and conception took place without my permission as well... 

I logically understand why I was baptized but I do not logically understand why I was born and given life...
WHY ME?
WHY THESE PARENTS?
WHY THIS LOCATION?

When I was about 50 years old (give or take as I recall) I decided to have myself baptized again and the minister I chose for this activity was someone I respected and with whom I had had numerous religious and spiritual conversations and he understood and respected my need to question.  However, this time and not because of any coincidence, this minister was of the Southern Baptist Belief...  a belief that I did not totally accept even though I respected him.  It was a full immersion baptism whereas my first was a sprinkling of HOLY WATER on the head.

I never understood how that water was made HOLY but at the time it was not that important to me...

SO...  am I a Methodist, a United Methodist, or a Baptist, or a Southern Baptist???

MORNING COFFEE

After taking a piss, giving the cats their morning treat, I put a pod in the Bunn and in 30 seconds I have my first cup of morning coffee...  but before I taste the first hot sip, I pour in 2 teaspoons of Sugar Free Cappuccino Mix, stirring it until it dissolves...  THEN, my first sip...  then another and another and another until, I need to put another pod in the Bunn and repeat the process...

Thank you for these hon...