Life and Chipmunks

The story of my life. My family and I have a small strawberry patch that we were hoping to get some of our own home grown strawberries this year. One problem, the chipmunks had the same idea.

Chipmunks are ordinarily cute, fuzzy little beings that have nothing better to do than dash around and look cute while small children think of the lovable denizens of Disney lore, Chip and Dale. They can be funny creatures as they chase each other and frolic all the day long. And then comes growing season. And then they turn into malevolent little monsters with only one goal: to destroy, eat, and otherwise ruin your garden. They race back and forth stealing strawberries, tearing up plants etc. So, what does one do? Trap them?

A mouse trap does not work. We’ve tried. The beasts’ necks are so strong they bust the spring on the trap. (Well not really, but I’ve never caught one in them.) Rat traps don’t work. The beings are so fast they grab the bait, dance on the trigger and dart off before the large and bruising piece of metal comes down.

Shoot them? You can’t do it. A BB gun would surely kill them if it hit them. I think I might have knocked off a couple, but if you’re farther away than 5-10 yards good luck. The sound of the air blast alerts them and they zoom off, chittering as they go. Maybe a shotgun blast of birdshot might take out one, as well as three quarters of the yard. A rifle might work but the danger of a bullet ricocheting off the ground and hitting someone is a risk I’m not willing to take for strawberries. Maybe land mines?

But there is a bigger issue here. It is life. Sometimes we have to put up with things that annoy us, simply because doing something, anything is not always the best course. Sometimes we need to think out what we are going to do and do what we are going to do in a measured, controlled response. It also shows that certain things are not rights. We don’t have the right to have a taxpayer subsidized exterminator come out because of our strawberries. It is our own issue and we should deal with it as we see fit, so long as we don’t endanger other lives. Government cannot do for us, we must do for ourselves through individual initiative. It really also makes me realize just how incapable and awe-inspiringly stupid some government ideas are. Like that government knows better what Americans need and shouldn’t own, rather than we do. Why should bureaucrats tell us that we better buy health care, we shouldn’t buy that firearm etc. when they’ve never worked in the health industry and many of them haven’t ever fired a gun? Americans need to vote out the big government socialists and let our ballots do the talking. I think that’s something that even the chipmunks can rally behind.

Random Thoughts!

I’m gonna post my random thoughts on a day when snow has accumulated to two feet in some parts of the yard the electric is blinking under the strain of snow on the lines. Sitting here with the sun coming in the window and warming up after a forty-five minute romp in the snow makes me think. This is what real America is.

Real America isn’t the elitism shown by politicians that have flaunted their disregard for the will of the American people. America is parents and kids enjoying a sled ride down the local hill, a cup of hot cocoa enjoyed with a board game, a snowball fight with friends and family. Real America is enjoying God’s green (and white) earth without constant global warming chatter and anti-oil drilling blather. Real America is reveling in accomplishing something with your hands that the government didn’t hand to you. Shoveling the driveway or the steps. Government just doesn’t get it. Government thinks that everything you can do for yourself it can do for you better. Remember the old post office slogan ‘Nothing stops the post office’ or something like that? Yeah, not so much. Just like government that either can’t do anything in general or what they do, they screw up. So why would we want them running health care and determining how much CO2 can be in the air?

Snow makes the best chair. When there’s nigh unto 2 feet of the stuff, just falling backwards into it makes the perfect seat if it weren’t for the cold and wetness of it. I’ve sat on plenty of chairs, couches, cushions, ottomans, tables and every other piece of furniture meant for sitting and few things can compare to God’s gift of snow.

Cocoa is best served with marshmallows. Even when aspirating or swallowing them whole (which I don’t at all recommend) it makes one of the best drinks one can have after a cold day. Coffee is good (lots of creamer and sweetener), tea is good (but time consuming) but cocoa has them all beat. Nothing but hot water and a packet of cocoa’s needed and it can be gotten right out of the tap water.

Chess is a strategy game with a lot of luck involved. Now I don’t want anyone to think that I’m the next Gary Kasparov or Bobby Fisher, I play on my spare time. But through a casual game I notice that the best strategy is nothing if your opponent doesn’t take the bait. One wrong move and you can change from the hunter to the hunted. Much like Congressional seating.

We have become so dependent on the internet and computers that we must do everything in our power to ensure that our vital defense and infrastructure is protected and shielded from intruders who mean us much harm. Due to the snow, we had lost internet service for several hours (having a satellite based connection has its ups and downs). While we managed to survive, we missed several opportunities to find out important information on something as well as the ability to keep in touch with the outside world. Imagine if the entire infrastructure of the internet were to go down due to terrorist attacks or cyber-warfare from some unscrupulous nation-state. The destruction and damage to our national security would be widespread and we as a nation would slow to a crawl. However, in guarding our infrastructure, we need to ensure that we are also guarding against a growing government that would use such emergencies to deny us free speech and free transfer of knowledge. Government must ensure the security of our networks, from both the outside AND the inside.

So, as I look out the window and marvel at the sight, I am getting a tinge deep within me. It is the same tinge that comes every February. The want of spring. Yes the snow is beautiful, yes the furnace is warm. But by this time every year, myself and millions of others are eagerly anticipating the arrival of spring. Warm breezes, open windows, flowers and going barefoot. Soon it will be here. But for now, Happy Winter to all, and may this year bring a continued revival of the principles that make America the greatest nation on earth. God Bless.

What Thanksgiving Means To Me

Thanksgiving is upon us and it is time for all Americans of good will to give thanks for the blessings we have been bestowed with. But instead of giving the history of Thanksgiving, I will list some of the things that I am thankful for, in no particular order.

The first thing I’m thankful for is my family. No matter what happens I know that I can count on my family and they can count on me. We stick together through thick and thin and they are my best friends. I can talk with them about anything and they are always supportive of me. Family is supposed to be like that. In my opinion, if the Pilgrim’s families weren’t like that, America would not exist. Families kept the Pilgrims strong and willing to endure sacrifice to get to their ultimate end, which was a free country where they could practice their religion openly.

The second thing I am thankful for is my God and Savior Jesus Christ. I am thankful that He died for a wretch like me. I am a terrible sinner, deserving justice and punishment for my sins against God. But He, being a loving, merciful God provided a way that we might not need to face judgment. His Son’s death on the cross wiped away my sins and removed them as far from me as the east is from the west. Without Him I am nothing, with Him I can be anything. My past is forgiven, my future is sure. Nothing can happen to me that has not been allowed by Jehovah God, El Shaddai, El Sabaoth, The Lord of Hosts. I can live a justified life, and I will live for Him.

The third thing I am thankful for is the troops that serve night and day, ever vigilant, protecting us and the freedoms that we hold dear. As one once said, “It is not the poet that gives us the ability to enjoy words, but the soldier. It is not the reporter that gives us freedom of press, but the soldier. Everything that we now enjoy came through the blood of the soldier.” That is paraphrased a little, but the truth remains. We can thank God for the brave men and women who are serving our country overseas and here at home.

The third thing I’m thankful for is Ohio State football. Though I’ve never gone to OSU, seen a game from the ‘Shoe, or been anywhere close to Columbus they are my team. Six Big Ten championships, 1 national title in the past nine years, a growing and spectacular athlete in Terrelle Pryor and the ever-dominant defense. Next year we can easily be national contenders and we have a good chance of winning this Rose Bowl, which happens to be the first Rose Bowl Jim Tressel has gone to.

I’m thankful for friends that’ll stand by you. I have some friends that hold me up in my Christian walk and share my political beliefs as well. There’s not much else to say about that. But they are something, and someones that I’m thankful for.

I’m thankful for good health. My family has been healthy most of the fall and that is something I am thankful for. While we have practiced good hygiene such as washing hands frequently, sneezing into a tissue and then washing hands and not coughing into the air, overall our health is from God. Because health is wealth, we must be pretty darn welthy.

I’m also thankful that I live in America. With other countries regularly experiencing rioting, election violence, political prisoners etc. we can be thankful that we don’t have to deal with such things. Even with Obama and big government liberals running the show in D.C. we know that when we all get together we can kick the bums out on their bums.

So, I’ll end this little blog note. There’s pies to bake and turkey to prepare. While I won’t be doing as much of that, I will be doing much reflecting on all the things I have to be thankful for. So God Bless you, God Bless our troops, God Bless our leaders (and help them lead wisely) and God Bless America.

Friday Random Thoughts

Friday night has officially become random thought night where I spill my guts on the random things I’m thinking about. It may seem jumbled, it may seem worthless but you know that it is random.

Tomorrow is Saturday. That means for most red blooded American men that we are going to wake up to a full day of college football. For us in Ohio there are two possible outcomes. 1. We can mourn or celebrate a Cincinnati win or loss to West Virginia or, 2. We can prepare for the game that will determine whether the Buckeyes (OH!) are going to the Rose Bowl for the first time in Jim Tressel’s tenure (I-O!). Since I couldn’t give a darn about cincy, it’s all about the Buckeyes baby. My prediction is that the Buckeyes D will show up AGAIN and our O will get it rolling. We’ll be heading to the Rose Bowl by 6:00 P.M. with a 31-10 win.

Politics can be a depressing issue. However it is one that I follow and cover with gusto since it affects the lives of millions of Americans everyday. The latest tidbit is that Janet Napolitano is pushing amnesty again over the objections of the American people. She has declared victory over illegal immigration and states that now is the time to push comprehensive immigration reform. Ultimately there could be a bill by 2010.

I cannot understand guys who think they look good in long hair. Where do they get these notions? The only guys that look good with long hair are Guy Penrod from The Gaithers and… well if I think of any more I’ll let you know.

Technology certainly has progressed since even three years ago. Windows 7 is the best thing my 3 year old laptop has seen. It is stable, fast, responsive, compatible and aesthetically pleasing. While my PC ran okay with Vista, it screams with 7. The networking is easier, the programs are more responsive and Lord knows the UAC is better. My vote is that this is the best Windows version in a very long time. Maybe tied with XP and WORLDS better than Vista.

On a more somber note, we are now finding more and more that ties Nidal Hassan to terrorism and terrorists. Most recently we found out that his business cards were emblazoned with the initials SoA. This stands for nothing but Soldier of Allah. The military didn’t catch it. The FBI didn’t catch it. Do you know why? Because we live in such a PC country that you can’t ask questions about someone’s religion without bringing the wrath of the ACLU on your head. We need to get back to common sense instead of this political correctness baloney. If they would just have looked into him and his religion a little more, thirteen people would still be alive.

Lastly, it seems the last bastions of journalism are increasingly limited to people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. (Not to mention An Informed Mind) No one seems to notice that Hassan was a radical MUSLIM and they are afraid to mention his religion. Americans know that there are a lot of good Muslims out there. But we also want to know that this evil we are fighting is Islamic Jihad, Islamofascism. All the 9/11 hijackers were Muslim, Hassan is Muslim and everyone that carried out the London, Madrid and Bombay bombings were Muslim. Until we open our eyes and realize that we are fighting radicalized Islam, we are going to continue to suffer these attacks.

There are my random thoughts. Feel free to comment and give me some of your own randomness. God Bless you all and GO BUCKEYES!!!