Do You Ever Look Around and Contemplate the Oddities Found in Everyday Life?

Do you ever look around and contemplate the oddities found in everyday life? Some we create and others happen naturally, but there are those odd few that play out on a television screen.

For instance, even though it was before my time, I enjoy watching the Andy Griffith show. It lacks most of what I find offensive in today’s programming, but one thing always puzzles me. Why are there no bathrooms in the cells of the Mayberry jail?

Something similar is perplexing in Jaws 4. There is a scene where Michael Caine falls off the boat and into the ocean only to emerge with a dry shirt. I don’t suppose it’s impossible, but highly unlikely to a factor of ten. By my way of thinking, there’s not enough alcohol to make this remotely possible . . . nuff said.

I guess you could call this next one a pet peeve of mine . . . nah; I don’t care for that phrase, so we’ll say oddity instead. Have you ever noticed new residential construction with a cedar shake roof? The wood is warm, beautiful, and inviting. Six months later, that same roof looks as though it is part of an eighteenth century structure, slated to be torn down in the near future. Some folks like them and there’s nothing wrong with that, they just don’t appeal to me.

I just traveled around my elbow to get to my thumb four separate times. I guess that’s a good example of taking the long way.

I hope you had a grand Thanksgiving. Christmas is just around the corner. The best to you and yours and may God bless.

Well, Here We are Again, Right in the Middle of our Yearly Food Fest, Also, Known as Thanksgiving

Well, here we are again, right in the middle of our yearly food fest, also, known as Thanksgiving. What’s your favorite part of this holiday; the time off, the unusual amount and variety of food, or mingling with family and friends you don’t normally see?  I suppose there are as many answers, as there are different types of stuffing.

How about these little tidbits of information:

• The first Thanksgiving was held in 1621 by the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag tribe as a fall festival.

• President George Washington issued a proclamation naming Thursday, November 26, 1789 as a “Day of Publick Thanksgivin” – the first time Thanksgiving was celebrated under the new Constitution.

• President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving to be an official U.S. holiday on November 26, 1863. Thereafter, Thanksgiving was regularly commemorated each year on the last Thursday of November. Lincoln did this expressing gratitude for a pivotal Union Army victory at Gettysburg. (www.History.com)

• In 1939, the last Thursday in November fell on the last day of the month. Concerned that the shortened Christmas shopping season might dampen the economic recovery, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued a Presidential Proclamation moving Thanksgiving to the second to last Thursday of November. As a result of the proclamation, 32 states issued similar proclamations while 16 states refused to accept the change and proclaimed Thanksgiving to be the last Thursday in November.

• For two years, two days were celebrated as Thanksgiving – the President and part of the nation celebrated it on the second to last Thursday in November, while the rest of the country celebrated it the following week.

• To end the confusion, Congress decided to set a fixed-date for the holiday. On October 6, 1941, the House passed a joint resolution declaring the last Thursday in November to be the legal Thanksgiving Day. The Senate, however, amended the resolution establishing the holiday as the fourth Thursday, which would take into account those years when November has five Thursdays. The House agreed to the amendment, and President Roosevelt signed the resolution on December 26, 1941, thus establishing the fourth Thursday in November as the Federal Thanksgiving Day holiday. (www.archives.gov)

How about that! You’ve completed your first post on, “Name that holiday.”

Have a wonderful week, and do yourself a favor . . . this Thursday don’t be afraid to eat.

Enjoy God’s blessings and have a bite for me!

It Takes Many Types of Individuals to Make Up a World, and for the Most Part This is a Good Thing.

It takes many types of individuals to make up a world, and for the most part this is a good thing. Although I can’t wrap my brain around the varied thought patterns, I’m “a live and let live” kind of guy. As long as your goals bring no harm to yourself or anyone else, and hopefully, seek to uplift you and those around you through Jesus, I imagine I could jump aboard and share the ride.

That being said, I’ll use this as a non-related segue. Not so long ago, you could purchase a miniature television. Once you reached your destination, plug it in, fiddle with the antennae, and watch, limited to what you could receive over the airways.

Two things I could never get behind: miniature and airline televisions. I guess the reason being (especially with the mini TV) having to stare at such a small screen, and in the other case, the noise associated with air travel.

Now, I’ve found something that trumps these two dislikes and that would be trying to watch a movie on a smartphone. Please don’t take this statement the wrong way, I wish I was mentally wired to accept the fact that entertainment can be had via ultra-small media.

Alas, I wish I could accept that all good things come in small packages, but this transcends my ability to tolerate what I am unable to tolerate; however, I digress and would be remiss if I failed to wish you a stellar week to the power of 10, and may God bless and keep you.

I Have Mentioned Several Times That I am an Author Through Various Posts on This Blog

I have mentioned several times that I am an author through various posts on this blog. I thought I would make this weeks post an excerpt from one of my novels. Please enjoy.

Chapter One

CLAY STEPPED UP onto the raised walkway.

“I hate this place,” he mumbled, patting his sidearm. He grabbed the door handle and prepared to enter.

Clay was a bounty hunter. His latest skip (if you want to call him that since Clay had spent the better part of two years chasing empty leads) was Sal Ricky—a career criminal with a taste for refined women, as he would consume certain body parts of his victims after performing whatever atrocities piqued his fancy.

Clay stood tall, six foot five. He almost always wore black, except for his blue jeans. He felt it more intimidating.

He stepped into the brothel. A dozen pair of eyes turned his way. Clay removed his sidearm from its holster.

“I’m looking for Sal Ricky,” he announced. After a slight pause, he repeated the phrase. “I said, I’m looking for Sal Ricky.”

“If you want me, all you gotta do is ask,” came a smug response. The voice emanated from a dark corner. In it stood a six foot tall figure. Instead of legs, it sported four eight foot long appendages. These members would shoot forward landing on the ground and allow the rest of the body to move over them like treads on a tank. He could move surprisingly fast when necessary.

“So?” Sal Ricky asked. “What can I do for you?”

Clay moved closer toward the corner and cocked his weapon.

“Don’t play stupid, you ball of snot.” He raised his free hand and pointed a finger. “I’ve been looking for you for almost two years now.” Clay cocked the second hammer on his handgun. “This time you’re all mine.”

Sal Ricky was a hydrak. He lived up to his name, constantly oozing fluid and leaving a trail similar to that of a slug when he moved.

“Ya think so.” The creature lit a cigarette with two human-like hands. The hydrak inhaled deeply, burning up half the smoke in one drag.

“Better men have tried,” he said, finishing his cigarette with a second drag and dropping it into a puddle of slime; the butt hissed as the glowing ashes died.

Clay tightened his grip.

“We can do this the easy way or the hard way. I get just as much for you dead as alive.” Clay smiled out of one corner of his mouth. “It makes no difference to me.”

Sal Ricky crossed his arms which were anything but human. They were muscular with a lizard-like texture and a green color to match. His lower half was bulbous and horizontal to the ground, turning vertical at mid-thorax until it formed his head.

“Don’t you tire of the same old clichés?” Sal Ricky snickered. “Easy way, hard way, alive or dead, blah, blah, blah. After two years, you should know I do nothing the easy way.” His head was square with a round circle on each side. Sal Ricky could spin his neck three hundred and sixty degrees if need be. He had a set of eyes at the upper portion of each circle. One side contained an orifice with which he spoke and took in nourishment. One big tuft of green hair sprang from the center of his scalp, climbed vertically, about a foot, and then flopped over on all sides.

“Have it your way,” Clay said.

Just then, two dark humanoid figures appeared on either side of the slug. The first figure made a move and then slipped on his boss’ excretions, landing flat on his back.

Clay rolled to his right behind a steel column and fired one barrel, removing most of the second figure’s head. The first man, still floundering in the goo, was an easy take out.

Sal Ricky moved toward Clay knocking him to the floor as he passed by.

Clay moved to one knee and steadied himself. He would have but one shot.

Sal Ricky could easily burst through the wall, and that’s what he had a mind to do, Clay surmised. He made sure both hammers were cocked. Cocking them was one thing; firing both at the same time was something you didn’t do unless you had to.

Clay took a deep breath and pulled both triggers.