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Happy Saturday!
Today’s quote is from an author: “None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
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back to top56 Comments to “Whirled Views 7.12”
I see on Drudge that Putin is visiting oil rigs in the Russian artic. They have lots of oil in the artic in Russia. As they said, valuable oil, gas, diamonds and gold. Are they going to risk their polar bears for that? There is more oil available than has been used so far, but the Russians and Arabs will have it. But their artic is probably not like the Grand Canyon.
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I have no idea who said it, but I am jumping up and down with excitement waiting to find out!
Seriously, I find having a four-year-old-granddaughter does help maintain enthusiasm in this often depressed and cranky old man.
It is tricky, though, figuring what kind of comedy works on toddlers and preschoolers. I don’t remember if I told this story here, so you can flame me if you want for senile repeating, but one day as Random Granddaughter was getting ready for bed with Mommy (her birth mother) in her upstairs bedroom, I suddenly heard her laughing hysterically.
When I inquired the source of the merriment, I learned that as Mommy was holding out RG’s pajamas to her, Sylvie (their cute little cat) ran through the pajamas and then headed downstairs with the pajamas over her.
My granddaughter thought the sight of pajamas running downstairs by themselves was the funniest thing she ever saw in her four year old life.
Unofficial theme for today’s something light: what amuses your grandchild? (Children and spouses OK, also, because I believe in tolerance.)
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RIP, Tony Snow.
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RN, though I have no grandchild,as a cat owner, I laughed along. Cats do some crazy stuff. They’re not as sedate as some people think.
Tony Snow was a nice guy. He’ll be missed.
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The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit issued a 7-4 ruling Friday to lift an injunction against the South Dakota informed consent abortion law. Read about it here.
http://tinyurl.com/5mfz8e
From the link;
“The court said U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow a state to “use its regulatory authority to require a physician to provide truthful, non-misleading information relevant to a patient’s decision to have an abortion, even if that information might also encourage the patient to choose childbirth over abortion.”
“The South Dakota act defines a human being as “an individual living member of the species Homo sapiens, including the unborn human being during the entire embryonic and fetal ages from fertilization to full gestation.”
Finally some common sense.
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Laura M., your post was a shock. I had to go to Drudge and check it out. I liked Tony Snow. He used to sub for Rush. A class act. I will miss Tony.
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“A woman’s life is more important than Planned Parenthood’s bottom line”.
Rank Heresy!
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“To have faith is to believe in truth, believe that truth confers special power on those lucky enough to get a little insight, and to know in our hearts that all these things come from God, which is why we should never get too cocky about our successes.”
“In many cases, a bout with sickness stretches your soul, opens your eyes, and introduces you to a world of unimagined grandeur, possibility and joy.”
- Tony Snow
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Pauline, how is the car accident victim?
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RN, my 6-y.o. went to a summer camp program this week offered through his school, and on a couple of days we gave an 8-y.o. boy a ride home. The two boys swapped “jokes” back and forth most of the way home, laughing uproariously at things I didn’t get at all, like, “Which side of a baby has more toes?” “The right! Get it? Right!”
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Enthusiasm has returned to our home times three and it is wonderful. The ten year old was up at five and the nine year old before six and they are outside watering strawberries and their cheerful laughter fills the air. We are blessed.
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MMacMurray: No. I still don’t get it.Baby? Toes? Right? Toes-Right, Baby-right. ??
I’m glad it isn’t important.
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2,10, My five year old tells the weirdest Knock-knock jokes.
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Orange.
Orange who?
Orange poo-poo head, mommy.
I’m beginning to suspect he doesn’t understand the concept.
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Just as we often don’t “get it” when it comes to what makes a child laugh, so I don’t get what makes modern TV sitcoms funny. I guess raunchy humor and constant put downs are what make people laugh, instead of the situations and funny ways they are handled made the watchers of 50s’ and 60s’ sitcoms (thus the name: situation comedy). I have watched The Office on occasion, and find it more like the originals than the rest.
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“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
I saw this at work in my MIL. I even used to say that she seemed to hate any show of enthusiasm at all. She would scowl & give a very sarcastic “whoopee”, or she would even “yell” at the person showing enthusiasm.
She seemed to be “old” deep down in her spirit, & she was quite miserable. Very sad.
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My husband was discussing humor with his third and fourth grade Sunday School class: “Kids your age don’t have a sense of humor.”
“Yes we do!”
He smiled. “Really? Tell me a joke about yourself.”
Aghast puzzlement.
He continued: “See? Until you can laugh at yourself you don’t have a sense of humor.”
At least I think I got the story right.
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#9
NNLawyer (and anyone else praying for my husband’s friend),
It turns out his lung is only partially collapsed, one of his arms (which already gave him trouble) is not broken but in bad shape, and he has a concussion.
My husband is going to visit him in the hospital this afternoon.
I had also planned to ask for prayer for my husband as he is preaching tomorrow morning, as pulpit supply at a church whose pastor recently retired (they will be getting an interim pastor but are just starting the process). It will be his first time preaching in a couple years.
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Pauline, I will pray for him, I remember what it was like. Just pray, preach as the Lord leads and believe that what comes of it is best.
It worked for me. Not to the ministry, but it worked.
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Regarding what amuses my child (no grandchildren yet, hopefully not for a few more years at least as our older son is only 16) –
With the 8-year-old, just about anything, at least once he gets started. He can be tickled remotely – just wiggle your hand near him and say “force tickle” and he starts laughing as though being tickled. He makes silly wordplays which he finds highly amusing though the rest of us don’t “get” it (we like wordplays but they have to make sense). Lately he loves reading Garfield books (we have several), and then comes to tell me all about them.
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Question for you agronomists out there. I haven’t seen many honeybees this year. (I saw one today.) I was worried. But I have a super crop of blackberries. I always thought that a bee had to visit each flower to create a small berry on the clump. No bees, many berries. I like it, but it doesn’t agree with what I thought I knew.
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Thanks to Mumsee and whoever else gave microwaved oatmeal suggestions. I just had a delicious bowl of microwaved cinnamon pecan raisin oatmeal with molasses. Though next time I’ll try using a little bit more salt.
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Chas,
I’m no agronomist, but I think some things are pollinated with the wind, and some things need to be pollinated by bees. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
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Pauline – From all you’ve written about your younger son, on here & on your own blog, it sounds like he is a happy, cheerful little boy.
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Karen O,
Mostly he is. I don’t generally tell about the times he has “meltdowns” when he gets frustrated. At school they have taught him techniques to deal with it, and he tries to keep himself under control by breathing slowly and deeply, but sometimes it’s just too much for him. At Cub Scout day camp they found he needed an adult one-on-one with him. When I wasn’t there he had to have someone else.
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Pauline,
When I was a child, I was very ticklish–it wasn’t at all pleasant, and I hid that secret very well. (One time my sister’s best friend reached for me to tickle me at school, and I grabbed her hand rather violently. I may have hurt her, but she was angry that I grabbed her hand so hard. But to me, the idea that kids at school would find out how ticklish I was would have been dangerous–I was literally helpless when being tickled, and found it intensely unpleasant. I suppose no one ever heard of a tickling bully, but the thought terrified me.)
Anyway, my older brothers would tickle me, and I’d dissolve in laughter, and the moment they weren’t touching me I’d beg them to stop. Whether or not they knew how unpleasant it was for me, I don’t know, but I think Mom knew, and she wouldn’t let them tickle me for more than a couple seconds if she was around.
They soon started just wiggling their fingers near me, and I’d laugh, which they thought was hilarious. The remote tickling wasn’t nearly as unpleasant as the real tickling, partly since after the first giggle I could control it, but I hated the sense of being that out of control, that they didn’t even have to touch me and I couldn’t help laughing. I’m blessed now in being physically unable to tickle anyone, for some reason. I was able to tickle one of my foster girls, and she seemed to like it, but she’s the first person I’ve ever been able to tickle. And since my own childhood experience was so awful, I’m glad. (I suspect my mom had probably experienced the supreme unpleasantness of tickling in her own childhood, and I inherited it, which would explain her empathy toward me.)
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We discovered a new family game–speed Scrabble! We played teams last night, and had a ball! Daddy played with the 6 y/o (she grabbed the tiles for him), the 8 y/o was my partner–he made some impressive plays, and the 12 and 10 y/o kids were a great team.
The 4 y/o was too busy pretending to be a baby fox to bother with Scrabble…
A lovely evening.
Any other family games that move along and are good for varied ages? (We really like Boggle and Yahtzee…)
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So, things are looking up for the accident victim! Good to hear. Prayers for the service tomorrow, too.
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My five-year-old just learned to play “Go Fish”. We’re thinking about a vacation next week and need some good car games.
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Pauline, my son has meltdowns that he doesn’t seem to be able to control. I’ve tried teaching him to breath and count, but when he is mad he is impossible to reason with.
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KBELLS,
Michael’s has a good selection of magnetic board games for the car. My 8 y/o is into games the most–sometimes he just plays himself in checkers, etc. if the older kids are lost in their books.
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momof5, is that Michael’s as in the hobby/craft store or is that a brand name?
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Hobby/craft store. Check the $1 bins.
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When I was growing up, it was actually a rule in our house that we couldn’t touch my mother’s feet, cuz they were very ticklish.
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Pauline – You have sometimes mentioned the meltdowns. I just think it’s pretty neat that he can be so happy & cheerful with the challenges he faces. I’m sure that is due to having a loving & understanding mom & dad, & also the support he gets at school.
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Chas,
The other bugs and insects also do some of the pollination. We too have a good crop coming on but few honey bees. We have also noticed a dearth in the yellow jacket/ paper wasp population. Don’t know what that is about but they are just not around like usual. Not even around the pond getting water. A huge shortage of swallows as well.
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Having spent many hours on the road and in airports, our kids learned the fine art of reading. On the flight/drive from Okinawa to Kansas to visit daddy, the kids read aloud Little Pilgrims Progress, taking turns by chapter. They got through it more than once by the time we got back to Okinawa. Between times there was the aphabet game for miles and miles and miles and miles and the license plate game.
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We like the game Sequence.
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Chas,
I thought of you when I read this.
A Witty Senior’s Response
A college student at a recent Carolina football game challenged a senior citizen sitting next to him, saying it was impossible for their generation to understand his.
“You grew up in a different world,” the student said loud enough for the whole crowd to hear. “Today we have television, jet planes, space travel, man has walked on the Moon, our spaceships have visited Mars, we even have nuclear energy, electric and hydrogen cars, computers with light-speed processing and, uh .”
Taking advantage of a pause in the student’s litany, the geezer said, “You’re right. We didn’t have those things when we were young; so we invented them, you little s_ _ _ !
Now what the hell are you doing for the next generation??”
I love senior citizens
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Why is Obama ducking the military? Why won’t he do a town hall style meeting with McCain at Ft. Hood? Check out the NYT story below.
http://tinyurl.com/667zcy
From the link;
“Senator Obama strongly supports America’s veterans and military families and has worked hard on their behalf in the Senate,” said Phillip Carter, director of Mr. Obama’s veterans effort and an Iraq war veteran. “While we unfortunately had a previously scheduled commitment on the date proposed, Senator Obama looks forward to continuing the dialogue he’s been having throughout the country with veterans on how we can better serve our men and women in uniform as they serve us.”
Carissa Picard, managing director of the Fort Hood Presidential Town Hall Consortium, said she had suggested Aug. 11 and asked the campaign to suggest other dates if that was not convenient, but after several conversations she had not been able to work anything out.
“I’m having extreme difficulty getting the Obama campaign to commit to this event, and we do not understand why,” said Ms. Picard, whose husband is deployed in Iraq. “We made it very clear to them that if they would commit to the event, we would work with them on dates.”
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Cheryl D.,
I felt the same way about tickling, as did my mother. My husband has learned not to tickle me, as I will kick, and I don’t feel the least apologetic about it. I don’t know if anyone ever actually held me down and tickled me, or if I just heard my mother tell about something that had happened to her, or if it was all the product of my own imagination, but I have a mental picture of it happening to me, probably in a dream (nightmare-type) and being angry and terrified.
I never tickle my son until he suggests it. I can tell sometimes when he’s had enough but doesn’t know how to clearly express that he wants his older brother to stop, so I have to give him the words to say and then insist that his brother do what is asked. As best as I can tell, though, for the most part he does enjoy it. My husband assures me that tickling can be pleasant, though I have to simply take his word for it as I find nothing pleasant about it at all.
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Obama doesn’t like townhall meetings the way John McCain does. He prefers to do a speech rather than answer questions. He will keep the debates to a minimum. He’s been asked, but keeps declining. I think he’s scared.
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Chas, in 12, I never got it either, even after the 6-y.o. “explained” it to me. He and his buddy laughed a lot about it, though.
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Fast games: We play Rummycube as fast game. Rather than waiting fir each person to take a turn, we just play through until someone wins. Another game is Dutch Blitz, which is a card game meant to play fast and furious.
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Pauline, I like your message 40. It shows a lot of care and thoughtfulness in your parenting.
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Re: tickling
A way that I’ve found to play “tickle” without worrying whether I’m torturing a young child is to sit down on the floor and wiggle my fingers threateningly. Then if they want to be tickled, they can come close and I tickle them until they move out of reach. When they’re in the mood for it, this game can go on and on… If not, it ends quickly, but they always stay in control.
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Peter L,
We have had a lot of fun times with Duthc Blitz.
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Okay, let me try that again:
Peter L,
We have had a lot of fun with Dutch Blitz!
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Friends,
See my latest post where I blog about sola-scriptura affirming binarians, the United Church of God. As binarians they believe the Father and Son, but not the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. While I don’t agree with their religious fundamentalism [I have a hard time believing the Bible to be inerrant as they do] they are spot on right in their denial of Hell and provide good scriptural justification for their views.
I linked to a great video of theirs where they explain their biblical grounds for rejecting eternal damnation and I noted the traditional teachings on Hell, ala Jonathan Edwards make the Christian God into a terrible monster, certainly no better than an “Allah” who would send 19 highjackers into the WTC and reward them with virgins.
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Pauline, how did the message go? I remembered to pray for him.
Bob Buckles #38, that’s partly correct, but I wouldn’t have said it that way. In many ways, this younger generation is smarter (Not IQ wise, there is no difference, but more “savvy”.) than ours. My granddaughter, just starting as a nurse makes more than my wife did at the end of her career.
But I worry about them, especially mine. They have never had the experience of real hardship. When my son was growing up, I envied for him the experience I had about not having something I wanted. I had to delay satisfaction, work hard and plan. Also, entry level jobs were not available as they are now. (e.g. Chick-fil A my granddaughters worked.)
My generation doesn’t have to be taught to conserve and recycle, we just do. I worry about what would happen if they really face hardship, not having experienced it.
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Chas,
I think it went well. Lots of people said how much they appreciated it, though a lot of people will tell the preacher that regardless. Jon wondered if it flowed well enough, and I said I thought so, but of course I know where he’s going with it because we’ve discussed it ahead of time, so it’s hard to say how it would sound to someone else.
He said afterward that he felt the usual sense of rightness in being there giving the message, as he knows he was called to do, even if he doesn’t know if most people listening will respond positively. He really would like to do more preaching (we’ll be back at that church Aug. 24) – he said he kind of wished he could just preach and not have to deal with all the other congregational stuff (I don’t know how much he really means that, but it is trying to deal with people’s unreasonable expectations of a pastor that causes so many to burn out or quit).
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Pauline, I know. People will always tell the preacher, “I enjoyed the sermon.” But you usually know how it went, whether you had the freedom to get the point across.
I never discussed my sermons with anyone beforehand. But in business, I had dry runs on every briefing. Strange, huh?
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mumsee@46&47- I can tell you play it a lot, since you can’t think straight after a game. I love the game, but my daughter is just too fast for me to beat her. Yet I continue to try!
Sometimes, we play Skip-Bo w/out taking turns, just playing on. It is a riot!
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Last week we had the McCain forgetting or pandering post about which football team it was.
Well I say McCain is a rank amatuer. You want pandering? I give you B Obama to LaRazza!!!
http://tinyurl.com/6dmxkl
He’s good.
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And we had the Phil Gramm “whiners” post too. Wow, it’s a whole different story when you have more info, like is given in this blogcriticsdotorg opinion piece by Dave Nalle.
http://tinyurl.com/653cm2
Things like;
“What no one is going to dare to say in this campaign season where everyone has to suck up to the voters, is that Phil Gramm is right. Gramm, unlike most politicians and media talking heads, is an actual economist. He was an economics professor at Texas A&M for 12 years. He was an economic business consultant for almost a decade. After leaving the Senate he went into business as a Vice President at UBS. He may be gruff and uncharismatic and look a bit like a turtle, but he knows the economy, knows what he’s talking about, and he’s telling the absolute truth, no matter how politically unpopular that happens to be.”
“Most of those attempting to use Gramm’s comments against McCain are using the comments out of context, or just selected sentences as shown in the quote above which came from today’s episode of Meet the Press. Even the Washington Times article paraphrases most of Gramm’s lengthy remarks. But most of what is in the article doesn’t seem to have made it to any other news outlets, especially Gramm’s lengthy and detailed explanation of his remarks. The media wouldn’t want to get bogged down in the facts of the issue, because that would interfere with their efforts to promote the “mental recession” which Gramm talks about.”
Here are the facts, many of which Gramm brought up:
And then it goes on to give his detailed explanations as to why the “whiners” are wrong.
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And while your at the link in #53 (realclearpolitics), check out the one to the right side speaking to the AFofT. And when your done, ask yourself 2 things.
1. Is this the way to fix education?
2. How are we gonna pay for all this?
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Surely, liberals would never use comments out of context?!
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