With three days left until my long birthday celebration, here's whats on my mind:

Do you realize Captain Kangaroo is neither a Captain, nor a Kangaroo?

If someone says he has a right to respect, what he is saying is that you don't have a right to your opinion.

One of the greatest organizations out there is "true love waits" here are a group of kids who are defying peer pressure and abstaining from sex until they are married. they are the true heroes in my book. What is more romantic and sexy than to know that you are, and always will be, your lovers first and ONLY partner?

Why don't they invent a peanut butter jar that opens on BOTH ends. Thus we do away with that annoying scraping the bottom of the jar with a knife that we hope is long enough to reach.

One of my favorite movie lines: "we never realize the most significant events of our lives while they are happening. Back then I thought: 'Well, there will be other days'.. I did'nt realize that... that was the ONLY day" Field of Dreams

Where was the Battle of Bunker Hill fought?? Breeds Hill!

Despite the old saying, it is not really that hard to sell a refrigerator to an Eskimo. they often use it to keep foods from freezing.

They say that flying is the safest way to travel. I dont know how much consideration they have given to walking.

Theres not enough Days in October, my favorite month!

have you ever been reading an article that you absolutely hated, but continued to read it till the end??

I am 53 years old and I just found out 4 years ago there is a big difference between sewing and knitting.

Don't you long for the days when the news shows were only half an hour long and only ran once a day??

Question: If you call a tail a leg, How many legs does a dog have?? Answer: Still four! CALLING a tail a leg, does not MAKE it one. Good lesson to learn next time we start to assume something about someone.

Why does my 85 year old mom who has not driven in 20 years get "safe driving" awards in the mail?

Well thats whats in my brain at the moment. Scary Hmmm?? updates to follow, I'm sure!!!

This place is a Zoo!!

Well its not exactly time for my month long birthday celebration, but I took the opportunity of a great late September Saturday to go to the Toledo Zoo! I like this Zoo more than the Detroit Zoo because the animals here seem to be more active. It is almost like they are saying "here we are, come look at us" whereas the Detroit Zoo animals are like.."you here AGAIN??" we're sleeping!

More to see at this zoo than just animals as these poorly posted pictures will bear out. Forgive me if they are out of whack, I am a newbie here. Anyway the Zoo had an old car show going on, and that was fun, and I enjoyed the train ride into the heart of "Africa". Snack time demanded a Waffle cone and I was only happy to oblige my stomach, while I people watched. Watching people at the zoo is very interesting. look at the entrances and exits, whic hare usually the same. I see people coming in with their kids and they are all happy and the kids are happy and they are fresh and rested. Looking at the exit and the people going out and you will see tired and restless kids, and parents who looked like they just went 12 rounds with the animals they just saw. Someone once said tha tthey wonder if in a zoo the animals are watching us more than we are watching them... If thats true, then the question begs.. "who is more entertained??"

But this is a great zoo, and being fond of exotic animals like I am I always enjoy this trip. I guess I am most fond of the animals I know most about. Snakes, Lions and Elephants. theres more to these animals than names on the Chinese Zodiac will tell you.

Zoos are great family entertainment, and the wise parent will include a trip to the zoo on a nice summer day, and remember, these animals may just be watching you!! Holy Toledo! what a zoo!!

LOVE Part 2

OK, its time to do the impossible and try to define love, as defined in Part one. "A steady desire for the loved ones ultimate good, as far as it can be obtained"

First of all, Love is a desire to ACT. Love is not motionless, it must be busy searching out the loved ones ultimate good. Secondly, it is a desire to act SACRIFICIALLY.. Love must cost us something. And I really do not mean money either. Love someone,.. ANYONE, and it will cost us time, it will cost us comfort, we must get out of our comfort zone and put our hearts right on the line. Yes it may cost us money as well, and in some cases as in the case of our brave soldiers, Love may cost us our lives. Show me a man who is not willing to die for the one he loves and Ill show you not much of a man.

Love also is a desire to act sacrificially FOR THE BENEFIT OF ANOTHER. Now you may say.."wait a minute..If I do all these things, doesn't it follow that it will be beneficial??" Not really. For instance you may "love" your kids so much you do not want to see them hurt, so as a result, you let them do anything they want. Is that for their benefit?? or maybe you have a loved one who is a recovering addict. Do you give him what he craves because you love him and want to see them happy?? of course not. Sometimes we show love in ways that is not beneficial to others, and some times real love is not met with kindness. we must make sure what we are doing is TRULY beneficial for that person whether they like us for it or not. The old phrase "You'll thank me later" fits here.. and you know?? most often they will!

Finally and perhaps the hardest to do is this point. Love is a desire to act Sacrificially for the benefit of another WHETHER THEY DESERVE IT OR NOT!.. Man is this hard. but sometimes we men know that our loved ones are not acting in a way we would like, so we kind of say.. "forget it. They do not deserve my love at the moment". And we guys can be the same way ourselves. But real love shows itself whether the other person deserves it or not. What do you do when a person we love acts a fool?? do we punt?? give up? or love them all the more. That's the challenge of love.

Men (and women) If you have a love like that, treasure it!! And if you happen to be the one GIVING that kind of love, well my hat is off to you, that's the kind of love we need now.

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. .

The Celebration!

13 Days until the celebrations! You say: "What celebrations??" I say :"let me fill you in" My Birthday is October 25th, and what I have been doing for the last 4 or 5 years is taking the whole month and celebrate it. I will start on October 1st and end around November 7th or so.
Ok, so Why then?? well first reason is that I believe that there is enough in this world to keep us depressed and not enough to feel good about. Birthdays should be a great time to celebrate and enjoy! We always seem to have no problem with finding things to get down about, so why not find something to feel good about??

A Birthday is a great way to feel good about yourself. I know the old line.. "Whats to feel good about?? I'm a year older??" Well first of all getting older does not mean getting worse off. Why can't getting older mean getting BETTER?? Yes our hair may turn gray, but shall we wear that gray as a crown of glory, or a fools cap?? I prefer the former.

Or another line.. "Its kind of conceited to celebrate yourself is'nt it?? lets look at it. Is it egotistical to feel happy you were born?? I am sure there are people in your lives who would be much worse off if you were never born. If not for your sake, then for theirs, celebrate it! I celebrate the day I was born, NOT to tell everyone "hey I'm great, get out of my way"....but rather "Hey, I'm great.. FEEL GREAT WITH ME" Big difference.

So thats what I will be doing and posting updates as they happen. I feel good about myself. There was a time when I didnt, and thats one of the reasons for this blog, to share some insights I learned along the tear laden path to where i am now. And one of these is to Celebrate not only my birthday but the birthdays of the select few in my life who I would be so much worse without. Lets put away the depression and learn to celebrate!! You are invited!!

LOVE... Part One.

Ok, so here I am going to try to do the impossible. I started out thinking "How do you define love"? I know that love should come naturally and there are no 5 easy steps to love. Love takes time to grow and develop. I am no believer in love at first sight, because its usually either lust, or shallow love based on how a person looks. to put a definition on it may seem silly, but the best definition I heard comes from C.S. Lewis who always seems to put things in a great perspective.

"Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved ones ultimate good, as far as it can be obtained"

So how do we obtain someones ultimate good, as far as we can, or are morally allowed to obtain it? Thats coming up in part two so stay tuned!

A Great quote on courage

Check this out. I am putting this in because it is so true, and I do personally have the joy of knowing two people who fit this description. Their deeds will never be known to the multitudes, but they are heros to me because they are living witnesses of this truth.

"Courage takes many forms. There is physical courage, there is moral courage. There is still a higher type of courage - The courage to brave pain, to live with it, to never let others know of it, and to still find joy in life; to wake up in the morning with an enthusiasm for the day ahead"

Heres to you!

COURAGE

Is it possible to be a courageous man and still be afraid? and can being afraid actually help you be courageous?? Well the answer to both questions is YES. a courageous man can be afraid of the consequences of his actions, but he does it anyway if its the right thing to do. The coward, refuses to act because he is afraid, the courageous man acts despite being afraid.

Notice I said IF IT IS THE RIGHT THING TO DO. walking into the Lions cage at the zoo is not courageous, if there is no right reason to do so. It is foolhardy. Even if someone was inside and in danger, it is still a foolhardy man who rushes in when there are other options. being afraid, in these situations KEEPS us from doing foolhardy things.

the Lion in the Wizard of Oz was courageous due to his coming to the aid of Dorothy, despite anting to run on several occasions. the courageous man will act in spite of what may happen to him. A good cause or a good woman is worth any risk.

Being afraid can actually help us be courageous in that it makes us more careful. If we are not afraid of danger and we must act, then we may rush in with no plan, and endanger our lives as well as the ones we love. Fear makes us ever cautious, when we must run into the fray.

For those who dwell in fear, do not lose heart. you are in good company. If the need to act for someones well being at the expense of your own arises, fear will help you meet that task with a plan, and with calm but brave action.

Man microvaves popcorn. Thousands dead!

http://www.physorg.com/news108190731.html

Well heres the laugher of the day, and one more reason not to believe any of the paranoia coming out of the health and safetly business lately. So now its not just the deadly rays emitted by the microvave oven, but now its popcorn fumes. thats right, it appears the latest entry in the things that can kill us is fumes emitted from the buttery flavoring of popcorn once it is heated. I cant believe they actually do studies on this. I wonder whos money they are wasting to find out this stuff.

the good news is that no one on the outside world seems to be taking this seriously, and for those who do, and do not want to give up lucious popcorn, heres an idea. eat it right out of the packet! Dont bother to microwave it at all. eat it as is. light, toasty and crunchy. and live longer too! as for me, pass the popcorn!! and don't spare the butter.

What do real men eat??

No, I am not going to answer that question really. I am just referencing that old book that talked about men and their habits, "Real men dont eat Quiche" Was the title. I defined Character and integrity earlier in this post, and in later posts, I will detail courage and honor. but now I want to introduce everyone to an interesting blog which you may feel is out of place. It has to do with knitting and life. Yes, knitting. And before you give me that old story about knitting not being for men, well bring that up with Rosevelt Grier. You may remember him, the huge defensive lineman for the Los Angeles Rams, part of the Fearsome Foursome of that great Rams defense? well he sewed and knitted, and anyone who didnt call him a man was in trouble.

I myself do not knit, but I know an entertaining blog when I see it. and if there is any man who does knit, well this can be a valuable stopping point, and any woman of course who is confident enough to come to my Lodge here may also find useful information at my dear friends post.

Do real men eat Quiche??? maybe, I dont know... but real men have been known to knit. Remember its not what your hobbies are, but rather what your moral compass is. Enjoy, and feel free to be a knitting man. or woman! just check out my favorite blogs.

Character

I just wanted to share a great definition of character and integrity, and that is what you do, how you act, when NO ONE IS AROUND! Sometimes, when there is applause to be had, or praises to drink in, we all seem to do the good and right thing. but how do we act when there is no one to praise you, and no one to shake your hand. Are we just as honest and honorable??

I remember as a child visiting grandma. You remember grandma, the kindly old lady with the smelly house who gave you lost of candy?? well mine always allowed me to roam through the house, which I did. ( except for the basement where the monsters lived.. really!!) anyway, I remember being alone in the sitting room and seeing an open drawer with money in it. Not a lot, but just grandmas loose change. now I could have easily taken it and gone my merry way, but I left it there.

Now thats a kids story to be true, but where do you think these character, or lack of character traits originate?? when we are kids. Are we men of honor?? Get alone and see how we act.