January 25: Ron's Roundup; Medal of Honor Monday; Verse of the Day

The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt departs following an extended visit in the midst of a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, from Apra Harbor, Guam May 21, 2020. U.S. Navy/Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Kaylianna Genier/Handout via REUTERS.

Verse Of The Day,
from BibleGateway.com.

Philippians 4:8 (NASB 1995)
"Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things."

Medal of Honor Monday
from Tara Ross
This Day in History: Four Vietnam Heroes receive the Medal of Honor

The Briefing
by Al Mohler

• PART I: 62 Million Babies Have Been Aborted in the U.S. in the 48 Years Since Roe v. Wade: How Did Abortion Become Thinkable in American Culture?
• PART II: President Biden Wants to Codify Roe v. Wade: Abortion as the Central Sacrament of Political Liberalism in the United States
• PART III: Liberal Catholicism in the White House? What Is the Connection Between Liberal Theology and Liberal Political Views?

Why is the West turning a blind eye to persecuted Christians in the global South?
If we ignore the violence in own back yard, how can we see it elsewhere?
by Madeleine Enzlberger

Longtime MLB home run king Hank Aaron dies at 86
My late father was an unabashed baseball junkie, so as a youngster and teenager, I grew up with baseball games on TV or the radio, the sports pages of both of our local daily newspapers, and the occasional magazine. Along with most of America, in 1973 and 1974, I was enthralled by the historic feats of "Hammerin' Hank of the Braves" chasing and then surpassing the career home run record owned by the late great the Sultan of Swat, George Herman "Babe" Ruth. I read Mr. Aaron's autobiography and was almost immeasurably impressed. The world has lost a great man, a member of not only the Baseball Hall of Fame, but of the elite number that have been awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor that can be bestowed. Goodby Hank. You will be missed.

U.S. carrier group enters South China Sea amid Taiwan tensions
A couple of days ago, fighter-bombers from the Communist China mainland overflew Taiwanese airspace, escalating tension between China and Japan. Later that day, The US sent a strike group led by the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt into the South China Sea, on a routine patrol “to ensure freedom of the seas, build partnerships that foster maritime security”. China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and the Philippines all have claimed parts of the area as sovereign territory.

Coincidentally, I just finished reading the first four chapters of "2034: A Novel of the Next World War" by Elliot Ackerman  and Admiral James Stavridis USN. "Wired" magazine's current print issue was devoted exclusively to excerpting these chapters. The book itself is due out in March. Here's the review published on Amazon:

"On March 12, 2034, US Navy Commodore Sarah Hunt is on the bridge of her flagship, the guided missile destroyer USS John Paul Jones, conducting a routine freedom of navigation patrol in the South China Sea when her ship detects an unflagged trawler in clear distress, smoke billowing from its bridge. On that same day, US Marine aviator Major Chris "Wedge" Mitchell is flying an F35E Lightning over the Strait of Hormuz, testing a new stealth technology as he flirts with Iranian airspace. By the end of that day, Wedge will be an Iranian prisoner, and Sarah Hunt's destroyer will lie at the bottom of the sea, sunk by the Chinese Navy. Iran and China have clearly coordinated their moves, which involve the use of powerful new forms of cyber weaponry that render US ships and planes defenseless. In a single day, America's faith in its military's strategic pre-eminence is in tatters. A new, terrifying era is at hand.
"So begins a disturbingly plausible work of speculative fiction, co-authored by an award-winning novelist and decorated Marine veteran and the former commander of NATO, a legendary admiral who has spent much of his career strategically out maneuvering America's most tenacious adversaries. Written with a powerful blend of geopolitical sophistication and literary, human empathy, 2034 takes us inside the minds of a global cast of characters--Americans, Chinese, Iranians, Russians, Indians--as a series of arrogant miscalculations on all sides leads the world into an intensifying international storm. In the end, China and the United States will have paid a staggering cost, one that forever alters the global balance of power.
"Everything in 2034 is an imaginative extrapolation from present-day facts on the ground combined with the authors' years working at the highest and most classified levels of national security. Sometimes it takes a brilliant work of fiction to illuminate the most dire of warnings: 2034 is all too close at hand, and this cautionary tale presents the reader a dark yet possible future that we must do all we can to avoid."

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See ya next time!

The Old Fart and The Debster, checkin' out!

A family loss, a pet saved, and more ...

We lost my mother-in-law a month ago. At age 92, Mary Miles Hicks finally went home to be with the Lord. I haven't written about that yet, because we are still trying to come to grips with it. But soon I will devote some space here for that wonderful woman, whose greatest accomplishment, in my eyes at least, was giving birth to the Debster.

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Well, I didn't make it to the gym today. That makes five years in a row now! A new record! Go me!

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Earl and Bubba were sitting in the boat, quietly fishing and drinking beer and chewing 'baccy. Earl suddenly says, "I think I'm gonna divorce the Wife. She ain't spoke to me in months."

Bubba thinks on it for a spell, leans overboard to spit, takes a long slow drink of beer, and finally says, "Well, you better think that over some more. A woman like that is mighty hard to find."

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Mom didn't live long enough to see her beloved Cardinals choke in the NLCS against the Giants. She would have been very disappointed in her team. I know I am. But, they are still my team, and always will be. A TRUE fan is ALWAYS a fan, even when things don't go as well as we would like. Those fair-weather "fans" that bailed just because the Cards lost the series can go sip their wine and stick their snoots in the air. The rest of us will root for the Kansas City Royals, the other Missouri team, to whip the Giants all the way back to California and into the Pacific Ocean in the World Series. And then, we will sit and stare out the window and wait longingly for Spring Training to begin again in February.

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Gotta give a shout-out to my wonderful niece, Jessica Johnson. She trained as a veterinary technician, and it came in useful for us this week. 

The Debster has an old black cat named Bull. The other day, she asked me if I had seen the cat recently. I thought about it and replied that I hadn't seen him in a couple days. Now, the cat has had a habit in the past of staying out of sight for long periods, only making his presence known if his food, water, or litter box needs attention, so I hadn't paid any attention.

Well, later that day, I went into the pantry in the basement, and found Bull on the floor curled up in a corner. I thought for a second he was dead, but he opened one eye and looked at me, then closed it again. But he wasn't moving.

I picked him up and took him into my office. The Debster called Jess to see if she had any ideas. Jess came over and checked him out. She thought he might have low blood sugar from not eating right. (The dogs sometimes steal his food when he isn't looking, and we don't always catch that right away.)

So, on her advice, we fed him a little Karo corn syrup, just a few drops off the end of the Debster's finger. He perked up some. We got some good moist food, and he nibbled at that, again off the Debster's finger. So, we put him in a box with bowls of food (dry and moist) and water, and continued giving him a little Karo a couple times a day.

Three days later, he is wandering around and pestering everybody, just like his old self. He's lost a little weight, and seems just a little weak and wobbly yet, but definitely on the mend.

Thanks, Jess!

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Many of you have probably heard of the puzzle game Sudoku. I have been doing them for quite some time myself. Well, recently, I discovered a new puzzle game, called "Kakuro". The only place I have seen it is in the web version of our local St. Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper (StlToday.com), under the Entertainment / Comics & Games tab.

It is a lot like a numeric crossword puzzle. 

Here is one from the other day:

Here are the rules, as they appear on the website:

And here is the completed puzzle:

I wish I could find a print version of this that I could take to work with me, to work on during slack periods.

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Speaking of work, I mentioned before that the company I work for had lost its contract with the railroad, and we were all going to lose our jobs. Well, God is good! The company that is taking over the contract has agreed to hire most of us, at our current pay rates. There will be some losses in terms of accrued vacation and so forth, it won't be a union shop, and in general perhaps not quite as good to work for all around. But, at least I will continue working, pretty much as if nothing happened. Same thing, just in a different vehicle. 

Actually, in that respect, I'm looking forward to that aspect of it. The Ford Expeditions that the new company is bringing in are much better suited to the rough'n'tumble usage in a railroad yard than the Dodge Grand Caravans we have been driving. The Dodges are great vans for family use on regular roads, but just aren't built for the rough bouncing and pot-hole filled gravel pits that pass for roadways within the railyard.

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That's enough for today. As always, thanks for reading, and may God bless you!

Ron

Baseball, football, losing a job and getting a new one ...

Gotta love the Cardinals! Here's looking forward to a long run through the post-season, ending with yet another World Series Championship.

As much as I dislike the Yankees as a team, it is kind of sad to see the end of Derek Jeeter's career. He was a real class act.

AND, for just a bit more sweetness, the Packers whooped the Bears. YAY!!

OK. Got all that outta my system, sort of, for now, anyway ...

The Debster is doing so much better. Only uses the cane and/or walker occasionally. Will be a lot better when she gets the other knee done, hopefully soon. Ideally, I'd like to see it done and have her back home from the rehab center before the snow and ice season gets here. Otherwise, maybe wait till next spring. But I really don't want to have her wait in pain another 6 months.

Been babysitting my six-year-old grandnephew for a couple hours in the afternoon four days a week. That little guy is such a joy. Going to be a little sad when his mother finally gets her day-care situation straightened out and won't need us for that anymore.

The company I work for has lost its contract with the railroad. We will all be out of work as of midnight on October 31, when the new company takes over. The new company says it will be hiring most of us, if we are interested. I've heard a lot of bad things about the new company and its personnel-handling policies, making me somewhat leery of them. But, for now I can't afford to be picky. Jobs are just too few and far between.

So, I put in an application about a week ago, and on Saturday morning went to meet with them. They took copies of my Social Security card, driver's license, and DOT physical certificate. Gave me a check-ride'n'drive, which I aced. So I guess they will be hiring me; should know within a week or so. 

One surprise is that if I am hired, my new boss will be my old boss. Brenda left our current company recently, and when I showed up for the check ride, she was there. Found out she has been hired to manage the new branch office they are setting up just for this expansion.

Here's a chuckle for you:

While driving in Pennsylvania, a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust."

(Compliments of Backwoods Home Magazine) 

Well, that's all for now. God bless!