Thursday, May 5, 2016
Emma Jo (Spaz)
This is Emma Jo, my youngest granddaughter. She told me that she wore boots for this photo because "I like your boots Pappy", and then when I told her how pretty she looked in blue, she said "I wore blue for you Pappy because blue is your favorite color."
With comments like that, how can any Pappy worth his salt not just melt under her spell?
My oh my, my grandchildren know how to steal my heart! And I love it . . .
As you probably remember, I love to cook; the more fancy and complicated the better. For the last 2 years though, I have been so overly busy in my life, that I am lucky to cook one fancy meal a month (not counting grilling).
Last Sunday night, we had the girls over for dinner, and Emma Jo took the opportunity to decorate my unused menu board. Emma loves art, to draw, to color, to be creative. But, she also loves math (and appears to be great at it), which is a true dichotomy to loving art and creativity as the two of those rarely mix and are in great contrast to each other.
Upon seeing her art board, my 'hart' leapt, and it was time again to lavish multiple kisses upon those precious little lips and cheeks. (Emma Jo loves to kiss me too), and don't you know that that is just pure torture for me . . . :-)
She was laying on the floor coloring, and I made the comment to Nini "she is almost 42", and without missing a beat, Emma Jo said "so she's 41", and I didn't even know she was listening.
Then later on, she was sitting in my lap and I was teaching her how to play WWF; which is a fun and highly analytical game of letters. In less than 5 minutes, she had found 10 word combos on the board, and then when she saw this line up in this order: K U L Y, she said "we only need a C, and we could spell LUCKY", to which I said "Wow Spaz, you saw that! That's great, you are absolutely correct."
I love you Emma Jo with all of my hart!
I am a blessed man.
Sunday, May 1, 2016
If I Were The Devil: Please Share
In 1965, Paul Harvey broadcast “If I Were The Devil.” It is amazing that over 50 years ago how accurately he “prophesied” the future spiritual condition of the United States.
Many of his statements were considered ridiculously outlandish at that time in history. Yet, here is where we are and find ourselves today in 2016, with astonishing 100% accuracy of everything that has come true since his broadcast . . .
PAUL HARVEY’S ‘IF I WERE THE DEVIL’
"If I were the devil … If I were the Prince of Darkness, I’d want to engulf the whole world in darkness. And I’d have a third of it’s real estate, and four-fifths of its population, but I wouldn’t be happy until I had seized the ripest apple on the tree — Thee.
So I’d set about however necessary to take over the United States. I’d subvert the churches first — I’d begin with a campaign of whispers. With the wisdom of a serpent, I would whisper to you as I whispered to Eve: ‘Do as you please’, there are no rules, especially with sex and whom you have it with, or of which of the sexes you have it with, even if it is both.
To the young, I would whisper that ‘The Bible is a myth.’ I would convince them thru schools, cultural warping, rewriting the history of America's founders, and the media that man created God instead of the other way around. I would confide that what’s bad is good, and that what’s good is ‘bad.’ And for the old and older, I would teach them to pray after me, ‘Our Father, which art in Washington, give me this day my daily bread…’
And then I’d get organized. I’d educate authors in how to make lurid literature exciting, so that anything else would appear dull and uninteresting. I’d spice up TV with dirty movies, 100's of unfiltered channels, and vice versa. I’d pedal narcotics to whom I could. I’d sell alcohol to ladies and gentlemen of distinction. I’d tranquilize the rest with pills.
If I were the devil I’d soon have families at war with themselves with 2/3rd's of marriages ending in divorce, 4/5th's of children raised in broken homes and paid child care, and not stop until churches were at war with themselves, and nations were at war with themselves; until each in its turn was consumed by each other. I would make sure that this would lead to the acceptance of 100's of millions of babies able to be legally murdered before they could be born.
I would wreck the economy by having politicians trap corporations with the need for higher profit, and I'd create runaway inflation, an uncountable national debt, and the inability of Dad to provide for his family financially without Mom also working full time.
And with promises of higher ratings I’d have mesmerizing media fanning the flames. If I were the devil I would encourage schools to refine young intellects, but neglect to discipline emotions — no, just let those run wild, no more corporal punishment in school or at the home, until before you knew it, children would be shooting children, adults would be shooting children, and you’d have to have drug sniffing dogs and metal detectors at every schoolhouse door.
Within a decade I’d have prisons overflowing, I’d have judges promoting pornography — and then soon after I could evict God from the courthouse, then from the schoolhouse, and then from the houses of Congress.
And in His own churches I would substitute psychology for religion, and deify science. I would lure priests and pastors into misusing boys and girls, and church money, and would have adultery running rampant between the pulpit and the pews. I would make it look like the people that go to church are no different in life than the ones that don't.
If I were the devil I’d make the symbols of Easter an egg and the symbol of Christmas a fat man in a red suit, commercialized, and hated by the time it arrived each year.
If I were the devil I’d take from those who have, and give to those that want until I had killed the incentive of the ambitious to create a society of socialism. And what do you bet that I could get whole states to promote gambling as the way to get rich by promising better schools?
I would caution against extremes and hard work and patriotism and moral conduct. I would convince the young that marriage is old-fashioned, that swinging single from night to night is more fun, that what you see from women on magazines, in movies, and on the TV is the way to be.
I would promote multi-culturalism and alternative lifestyles as the norm, and would entice people to coexist and live in peace and harmony with drugs, mysticism, and to love the earth, and to listen to trees.
And thus I could undress you in public, and I could lure you into bed each night with new diseases for which there is no cure.
In other words, if I were the devil I’d just keep right on doing on what he’s doing.
Paul Harvey, good day.”
Saturday, April 30, 2016
WP & Baseball
In one month, WP will be attending his 4th KC Royals baseball game with me. This time, it will be with 16 other members of our family too. I love baseball; you might remember it is my favorite sport. And I love this little boy. He is a precious child, and is learning to play pitcher and 1st base. The games are slow at this age, but I love to watch him. I am so proud of him.
Wednesday, March 16, 2016
Randomness
Once our new home is completed in about 3 months; I vow to return to cooking, something that I love to do. Here are 3 of my most recent cookbook acquisitions. Multiple dozens of new dishes awaiting to be analyzed, conquered, and consumed. (Proper credit must be given to Pam for the magnificent crock pot roast prepared last evening).
Growacet capsules. What the Republican party has been missing for a long long long time. Currently consumed in mega doses by The Donald. Good lesson for other aspiring weenie candidates: Send political correctness speech back to the bowels of hell.
I like Ted Cruz a lot, and his rhetoric resonates with my beliefs. But, if Cruz does not win the nomination, I will be voting for The Donald, as the USA does not need a female criminal running things.
I don't miss cats; but I was able to tolerate them for my daughters sakes. We had several cats, and though I don't remember all of their names, this picture perfectly encapsulates the normal life of a devil cat that once lived in our home.
Laura Ingraham is the most-listened-to woman in America on political talk radio. At age 53, she is brilliant, beautiful, bold; and shockingly ~ still single. Her show "The Laura Ingraham Show" is ranked in radio's Top 10 talk shows, and is heard coast-to-coast in 225 markets. (Tulsa AM1170).
She is the author of several New York Times bestsellers including: The Obama Diaries, Power to the People, Shut Up & Zing, and The Hillary Trap. She is a regular contributor on the Fox News Channel and a substitute host on The O'Reilly Factor.
Laura is a former white-collar defense attorney and Supreme Court law clerk. She is a breast-cancer survivor and a passionate supporter of our military troops. She resides in Washington, DC with her three adopted foreign-national children: Maria, Dmitri and Nikolai.
Mainly because of her acerbic wit combined with her staccato delivery; she is my new favorite political commentator (though I also still love Sean, Rush, Michael, Michael, Rush, Glenn, and twin sister Ann).
~
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Fishing
Kelly Wood is a good friend of mine. He is also a professional fisherman. This is his jersey that he wears during tournaments, and the cool thing about this jersey is the logo of our company that shows on the lower right corner. He also placed our logo on the windshield of his bass boat; a rig so bad and beautiful (for a boat) that it makes fish swim right up to it.
My Dad is a fisherman. Primarily a Canadian fisherman, as he goes there once a year to fish. He has done so well up there over the years that he was awarded the Master Angler award; which I blogged about a few years ago. Dad does not fish locally.
For me; I fished as a young teenager from the shore lines of ponds and caught some really nice crappie. But, after that, pretty much walked away from the sport, and over the last 45 years, have only fished 4-5 times. It sincerely is not that I don't like to fish, I just never took a shine to it. I prefer things that are high energy, risky, high impact, fast. (Like racquetball and roller coasters).
But, in the same breath; I also love to read and write, and though I don't spend enough time doing either ~ it is still a low volume form of stress relief. And back on the high energy side, I love to listen to super loud high energy music, and watch loud guy movies. (Pam says I am going deaf). Maybe so, but I still love the sound of loud when it comes to explosions and music.
I do have a bit of a dichotomy to myself ~ but who doesn't?
Kelly is about to start up his next season of fishing. He will stay on the tournament swing through November, and will work 5 to 7 days a week for these 9 months; then not do much for Dec/Jan/Feb.
Last year, Kelly was ranked #51 in the nation. He expects to break into the Top 50 this year, and has a new boat set to arrive on March 17th that he is salivating about. This is a sponsored boat, and he now gets a new one every 1-2 years from his sponsors.
Good luck Kelly! Hope this is your best year ever.
Wednesday, February 17, 2016
Harlem Globetrotters
As a young boy, the original Meadowlark Lemon / Curly O'Neal Harlem Globetrotters came to the Phillips 66 gym in Bartlesville, and entertained me and everyone in the sell-out crowd for what seemed like all night. (I'd never been so tightly packed into anything like this before). It probably was only a few hours; but I did not want the night to end. The antics, the laughs, the incredible ball handling skills, the trick shots, the more laughs; it was all so much fun. Great family entertainment; so sorely lacking in today's world.
Fast forward 50 years, and I am at the BOK two Friday nights ago with 15 members of our family enjoying the latest rendition of the HG troupe. The night was just as awesome. We started the evening with a large family meal at Spaghetti Warehouse (meal was forgettable, but the companionship was superlative), as we also got to celebrate Ava's 10th birthday.
The evening performance by the HG was enjoyable from start to finish, and focused on the kids all night. Special things were done for the children before, during, and after the game. They had been in town all week doing civic and charitable work, and had another game scheduled at the BOK on Sunday afternoon.
Half time was a special group of kids doing "Thriller" (yes, that Thriller), and they did great. Then there was a group of extra special 5-10 year olds (boys and girls) that go to this special basketball school to learn basketball skills, etc. They too put on an amazing performance. (They were not special as in mentally or physically retarded, they were special as in talent).
The sad part about the whole evening was the attendance. There were less than 3,000 people at the event. I knew going in that it was not going to be a sell out; but I never would have thought it would have been so poorly attended.
My grandkids LOVED the night as much as their Pappy. I only hope that the next time they come to town that the crowd will be larger. Children of today need nights of escape like this to make memories. Memories that will last 50+ years, like they have with me.
Now THIS is what I call fun!
Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Mom's
My daughters are such good Moms. The raven haired bombshell beauty with the killer smile on my left is Angela (35), who is Mom to Ava (10), and Emma (7). The gorgeous blond with the killer smile on my right is Jackie (almost 37), (not to be confused with my wife), who is Mom to Will (9), and Owen (6).
That's me in the middle; shocker that I'm only 40 in this picture. I am known to my daughters as Dad, Pappy, and "The Man In The Hat". The last one is a moniker that just keeps popping up everywhere in my circles of influence; so I'll just go with it.
I had to dine alone a few weeks ago for dinner; and Chick-Fil-A was my location of choice (2 original sandwiches sans pickles, and a chocolate shake sans whipped cream) did me just fine for the evening.
I was surrounded by Moms. And young children. Seriously everywhere. I do numbers; you know that. While enjoying my food, I did analysis of numbers of course. Pam would be have been figuring out what was going on in their lives; I just wanted to play with numbers...
Mom jeans #1 (30?) to my right had 2 daughters, both incredibly well behaved, like both of my daughters were.
Mom jeans #2 (35?) to my right, immediately in front of Mom jeans #1, had 4 sons (I am one of four sons), and 3 of the 4 were hanging from the ceiling, the window, and the underside of the table. 1 of them was obedient, and he was the darling of his Momma's eye. He reminded me of Will.
Mom (professionally dressed) #3 (27?) directly in front of me had 1 son and 1 daughter, neither older than 3, and this young Mom was super stressed. She must have had a challenging day at work.
Mom (also professionally dressed) #4 (30?) directly behind Mom jeans #2, and 2 sons, and 1 daughter; and they were continually hitting and running from playground to food, food to playground, and playground to food. The Mom never looked up from her texts the entire time I was there. The daughter was boss Mom (like Ava), and was doing her best to make sure her siblings ate while playing.
Mom (also professionally dressed) #5 (40?) sitting behind me had 1 teenage son. This son was quite engaging, and I heard him talking to his Mom during the whole meal. He reminded me of Owen.
Mom (shabby dressed) #6 (45?) had a big table pushed end to end, with 6! children (3 boys, and 3 girls) crowded around the table. I can't imagine trying to corral 6! children (ages 2 to 12) in a place like this. 2 of the 6 were ADD, 2 of the 6 were quiet as church mice, and 2 of the 6 were constantly in a state of fighting with each other. This Mom looked stressed beyond her years. Her Emma though is the only child that made her smile, as she whispered things into her Mom's ear a few times that only her Mom could hear.
My analysis determined:
1) Where were the Dad's? None of these 6 families had a Dad present. Were they still at work? It was 6:30. Or, quite possibly, were these all single Mom's? Or both? Since the divorce rate in the USA is now at 70%, that means that 4 of these 6 were probably single Moms; a sad-sad situation.
2) These 6 families had a total of 18 children for an average of 3. Throw out the high of 6, and the low of 1, remainder of 11 into 4 leaves 2.75 as a mean. My sample group was not large enough, or we might have had the national average of 2.4, though there were 30 other families (minimum) with children that I did not process by evaluation.
3) That I was (and am) thankful that Pam never worked outside the home while we were raising our daughters. And, that neither of my daughters have worked outside the home either by raising their sons and daughters.
I understand that most Moms have to work in today's world, especially the single Mom's. Which is another thing that I am so thankful for; my daughter's marriages. Jackie is rocking along at 15 years, and Angela has clocked in at 10 years and counting.
I love you girls. Thanks for being such great Moms to my grandkids. I probably don't say it enough like I used to all the time when you were younger. But, I am so very proud of you.
I love you each with all my heart.
I am a blessed man.
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