A little humor…

To start the week…

Since the weather is warming up, it’s time to get the sticks out…

Golfers Creed

Don’t buy a putter until you’ve had a chance to throw it.

Never try to keep more than 300 separate thoughts in your mind during
your swing.

When your shot has to carry over a water hazard, you can either hit one
more club or two more balls.

If you’re afraid a full shot might reach the green while the foursome
ahead of you is still putting out, you have two options: you can
immediately shank a lay-up or you can wait until the green is clear and
top a ball halfway there..

The less skilled the player, the more likely he is to share his ideas
about the golf swing.

No matter how bad you are playing, it is always possible to play worse.

The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination of
the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for
all of your many other errors

Everyone replaces his divot after a perfect approach shot.

A golf match is a test of your skill against your opponents’ luck.

It is surprisingly easy to hole a fifty foot putt … For a 10 on that
hole.

Counting on your opponent to inform you when he breaks a rule is like
expecting him to make fun of his own haircut.

Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts

It’s not a gimme if you’re still away.

The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a
straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large
tree.

You can hit a two acre fairway 10% of the time and a two inch branch 90%
of the time.

If you really want to get better at golf, go back and take it up at a
much earlier age.

Since bad shots come in groups of three, a fourth bad shot is actually
the beginning of the next group of three.

When you look up, causing an awful shot, you will always look down again
at exactly the moment when you ought to start watching the ball if you
ever want to see it again.

Every time a golfer makes a birdie, he must subsequently make two triple
boges to restore the fundamental equilibrium of the universe.

If you want to hit a 7 iron as far as Tiger Woods does, simply try to
lay up just short of a water hazard.

To calculate the speed of a player’s downswing, multiply the speed of
his back-swing by his handicap; i.e., back-swing 20 mph, handicap 15,
downswing = 300 mph.

One of my personal favorites:
There are two things you can learn by stopping your back-swing at the
top and checking the position of your hands: how many hands you have,
and which one is wearing the glove.

Hazards attract; fairways repel.

A ball you can see in the rough from 50 yards away is not yours..

If there is a ball on the fringe and a ball in the bunker, your ball is
in the bunker. If both balls are in the bunker, yours is in the
footprint

It’s easier to get up at 6:00 AM to play golf than at 10:00 to mow the
yard

A good drive on the 18th hole has stopped many a golfer from giving up
the game.

Golf is the perfect thing to do on Sunday because you always end up
having to pray a lot.

A good golf partner is one who’s always slightly worse than you
are….that’s why I get so many calls to play with friends.

If there’s a storm rolling in, you’ll be having the game of your life.

Golf balls are like eggs. They’re white. They’re sold by the dozen. And
you need to buy fresh ones each week.

It’s amazing how a golfer who never helps out around the house will
replace his divots, repair his ball marks, and rake his sand traps.

If your opponent has trouble remembering whether he shot a six or a
seven, he probably shot an eight (or worse).

It takes longer to learn to be a good golfer than it does to become a
brain surgeon. On the other hand, you don’t get to ride around on a cart,
drink beer, eat hot dogs and fart if you are performing Brain
Surgery!!!!

Happy Easter!!!

He is risen!!!

THE EASTER LILY HOLIDAY TRADITION

Each holiday is marked by cherished traditions that bring joy, comfort, and warmth, and provide continuity from one generation to the next. Easter has its share of traditions: egg decorations and hunts; gift baskets and chocolate bunnies, sunrise church services, parades, and, of course, the Easter Lily. For many, the beautiful trumpet-shaped white flowers symbolize purity, virtue, innocence, hope and life – the spiritual essence of Easter.

History, mythology, literature, poetry and the world of art are rife with stories and images that speak of the beauty and majesty of the elegant white flowers. Dating back to Biblical lore, the lily is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. One of the most famous Biblical references is in the Sermon on the Mount, when Christ told his listeners: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; and yet….. Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Often called the “white-robed apostles of hope,” lilies were found growing in the Garden of Gethsemane after Christ’s agony. Tradition has it that the beautiful white lilies sprung up where drops of Christ’s sweat fell to the ground in his final hours of sorrow and deep distress. Churches continue this tradition at Easter time by banking their alters and surrounding their crosses with masses of Easter Lilies, to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ and hope of life everlasting.

Since the beginning of time, lilies have played significant roles in allegorical tales concerning the sacrament of motherhood. Ancient fables tell us the lily sprang from the milk of Hera, the mythological Queen of Heaven.

The pure white lily has long been closely associated with the Virgin Mary. In early paintings, the Angel Gabriel is pictured extending to the Virgin Mary a branch of pure white lilies, announcing that she is to be the mother of the Christ Child. In other paintings, saints are pictured bringing vases full of white lilies to Mary and the infant Jesus.

The legend is told that when the Virgin Mary’s tomb was visited three days after her burial, it was found empty save for bunches of majestic white lilies. Early writers and artists made the lily the emblem of the Annunciation, the Resurrection of the Virgin: the pure white petals signifying her spotless body and the golden anthers her soul glowing with heavenly light.

It seems the thirteenth-century Barthololmeus Anglicus had this in mind when he wrote: ‘The Lily is an herbe with a white flower; and though the leaves of the floure be white, yet within shineth the likeness of gold.” So goes the saying, ‘To gild a lily is to attempt, foolishly, to improve on perfection.” To many artists and poets it seemed that, if any flower could have one, the lily had a soul.

In yet another expression of womanhood, lilies had a significant presence in the paradise of Adam and Eve. Tradition has it that when Eve left the Garden of Eden she shed real tears of repentance, and from those remorseful tears sprung up lilies. The spiritual principle held here is that true repentance is the beginning of beauty.

A mark of purity and grace throughout the ages, the regal white lily is a fitting symbol of the greater meaning of Easter. Gracing millions of homes and churches, the flowers embody joy, hope and life. Whether given as a gift or enjoyed in your own home, the Easter Lily serves as a beautiful reminder that Easter is a time for rejoicing and celebrating.

Ironically, the white (Easter) lily is a native plant of Southern Japan…

To each and everyone I wish you a Happy Easter, in its true meaning and may the sunrise be beautiful! And I wish you plenty of Easter eggs (all found), and Peeps to your heart’s content!

Teh stoopid…

Is getting stronger…

What happened to the hue and cry over the shootings in Boulder, CO???

Turns out the shooter destroyed the left’s narrative… He was Syrian, proposed a Jihad, and BookFace immediately pulled his profile. AND he was on an FBI watchlist… And one other inconvenient point, he drove a half hour to shoot up a King Sooper in a Jewish section of town…

Yesterday, there was an ‘incident’ at the Capital. Turns out rather than a deranged white Pub, the ‘subject’ was a young black follower of Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam that killed one of the Capital Police. Article, HERE.

Oh, and BookFace also immediately yanked HIS profile…

The hoorah over the GA election law passed has gotten almost comical with the mis-statements, outright lies, and the various charges/counter charges… The latest is Delta coming out against the law NOW, but they were for it before they were against it, HERE.  And the GA House passed a bill to take away their tax break on fuel… LOL

The other stupid move is by MLB, but I repeat myself. They’ve decided to pull the All-Star game from Atlanta in ‘response’ to the new election laws…

Following the prodding by President Biden, Major League Baseball made the announcement Friday afternoon that it is taking punitive action against the state of Georgia and the citizens of Atlanta. Commissioner Robert Manfred released a statement that the League has decided to pull this year’s All-Star Game, as well as the MLB amateur draft out of the state. 

Full article, HERE. So, they are going to penalize the ‘little people’ that work at the stadium, plus those who would have made tips/etc. off the people attending, AND the planned memorial to Henry Aaron goes by the wayside… Real smart move…

Another one is the whole kerfuffle coming from the left about assigning ‘sex’ to a child at birth… Really? If there is a penis, it’s a boy, if there is a vulva, it’s a girl… sigh

But no… (bold/italic mine)

“Sex assigned at birth” refers to the label a medical professional gives to a baby when it is born. A medical professional may say a baby is male, female or intersex, depending on what the medical professional observes about the baby’s body. For example, a baby with a vulva will be labeled a girl, and a baby with a penis will be labeled a boy. Some babies may have bodies or chromosomes that don’t fit the typical categories of male or female. A medical professional may label them as intersex. Sex assigned at birth is about how someone else sees our bodies and does not take into consideration how we feel inside. 

Full article, HERE. It’s a baby!!! sigh…

And last, but damn sure not least, the human trafficking down on the border, thanks to the ‘new’ administration policies… 21,000+ kids now in custody, estimated 30% of the children sexualy molested on the way up, no Covid screening, facilities overloaded, sending kids to ‘unknown’ adults without checks on the homes, etc. And more on the way… And most of the MSM are ignoring that.

YGTBSM… You gotta go watch the comparison between Russian and US recruiting videos, HERE.

Kicking the soapbox in the corner before the BP gets any higher… sigh…

So far, so good…

Got my second Wuflu shot yesterday (Moderna), and the ‘symptoms’ are much milder than the first go around…

Got the stiff arm from the shot, and a headache, but not much else.

We got in a rather interesting discussion in the VA Clinic while we were sitting around waiting to see if anybody was going to fall over. It was a mixed bag of folks, every service except the Coasties again, and all ethnicities represented.

The discussion centered around ‘fairness and racism’ reporting in the media. The consensus was that just about everything now has some kind of ‘racism’ attached to it, either as part of the story itself, or insinuated by the talking heads. And that led to a discussion about how ‘fair’ the reporting was. A couple of Vietnam Vets kinda went off on that, going back to the reporting about baby killers, etc. when they came back from Nam, and most of us could point to similar stories during our times. There was a digression into the counter reporting of police actions vs. Pantifa, and how they are not reporting looting, and when it gets mentioned, they immediately decry the assertion, saying that, guess what, that’s ‘racist’. There was also sad laughter about the whole defund the police movements and what is happening in those cities (which is not being reported). But the real invective was saved for the Capitol and NG troops STILL sitting there. As I was leaving the below got brought up as an example of the bias/leanings/actions of the talking heads…

“I think it’s become clear that fairness is overrated … the idea that we should always give two sides equal weight and merit does not reflect the world we find ourselves in,” he said, asking viewers to let him explain further before “tweeting that headline.”

Full article, HERE.

Go read the folks on the sidebar, I’m going to kick back and not do much today…

TBT…

Sigh… I REALLY miss my 66 Goat…

Back in the day, you could get ‘good’ ads from the magazines and actually get posters from the auto manufacturers themselves…

Ironically, this is the car I had (color, top, etc.)

And the text underneath the ad… Note the ‘cost’ to get a poster…

Why this for a throwback, you ask…

Because I saw one yesterday going the opposite direction on the highway. I ‘almost’ turned around and chased it down, except for the ‘safety cables’ they have in the medians now… sigh

Here’s an actual picture of mine, obviously just after I washed it.

And no, I can’t afford one today… a ‘nice’ one is $60K… sigh…

Oh, and Happy April Fools Day!

Posted in TBT

Book promo…

First up is Cedar Sanderson with a new novel- The East Witch

As always, click the cover for the Amazon link.

The blurb-

Anna’s rescue training kicked in when she tripped over the injured elf. Getting him home? No problem. Getting herself home again? That’s going to be a little more complicated.

Trapped Underhill, in the land of the fae, Anna has to remember everything she knows about fairy tales. Not the sweet happy ones: the stories where Baba Yaga boils you alive and giants grind your bones for bread. Her skills as a hunter and her good manners might be all that keep her alive. At least, if she can keep the Wild Hunt at bay!

Next up is Alma TC Boykin with another in the Familiar’s series- Malevolently Familiar

The blurb-

Caught between the Old Lands and the New . . .

Less than a month after confronting an ancient evil, Lelia Chan, her Familiar Tay, and their allies meet an unmovable object. Meister Gruenewald needs their help. A new danger rises across the Great Sea, one that requires more than just his knowledge and power.

What Lelia and Master Saldovado find in the Old Land triggers a race. Can the shadow mages and their Hunter allies bring a power-obsessed sorcerer to justice? Or will his twisted idea of paradise destroy all they have fought to protect? Light-side magic workers have tried to stop the sorcerer, and paid with their lives, struck down by a creature from Elsewhere. One with a grudge.

Worse than death awaits Lelia and her chosen family if they fail.

Next up, David Tatum with his third book in the Law of Swords series- In Division Imperiled 

The blurb-

THE LAW OF SWORDS: A set of laws written to prevent infighting among Svieda’s Royal Heirs in the event the King dies unexpectedly. One of these laws has never been needed… until now.

IN DIVISION IMPERILED
Divided by a war on two fronts, Svieda hopes to benefit from an expected reduction in hostilities that the upcoming winter snows will bring. With armies of hostile Porosian Elves in training, however, it cannot afford to pause its own operations, whatever the weather.

Euleilla soon finds herself defending the new military capital of Rocky Run from Poros’ Human armies while the bulk of her own forces are at large, scrambling for any advantage they can find against both of their enemies.

Meanwhile, Maelgyn has been called away on a secret mission by Wangdu and Phalra: Finding their uncle, who happens to have been one of Lord Ajiro’s greatest allies in the Ancient era. Is he going to be able and willing to help? And just where are all the Elves in this Elven sanctuary, after all?

Last but not least, John Van Stry with a nice little three book series- Days of Future Past: Part 1 Past Tense

The blurb-

Paul’s been having a bad day, perhaps one of the worst days he’s ever had. And now into the middle of all this, his instructor just got drafted by some mystical goddess to help save a world.

As for Paul? Well, he’s really not supposed to be there, and if he thought he was having a bad day before all of this, it just got worse, a lot worse. He’s now on a one way trip, forced to help a man who despises him while at the mercy of the world’s biggest trickster.

Gotta love the Icelanders…

“Hey, what are you doing today?”

“Not much, just chillin’.”

“Wanna go see Fagradalsfjall? There’s supposed to be a party out there.”

“Sure!”

“Break out the Aquavit, looks like we’re going to be here a while…”

*Note- That IS a picture of the actual traffic jam of folks going out to look at the volcano. And no, Icelanders don’t get out much… 🙂

And some fantastic drone footage of the volcano from Bjorn Steinbekk!

And you can go HERE for a livestream of the volcano!

The volcano is about 8nm from Keflavik, so the folks TAD up there are getting some good views of it!

Logic…

Some good points here…

1 – Eleven teens die each day because of texting while driving. Maybe it’s time to raise the age of Smart Phone ownership to 21.

2 – If gun control actually worked, Chicago would be Mayberry, USA.

3 – The Second Amendment makes more women equal than the entire feminist movement.

4 – Legal gun owners have 300 million guns and probably a trillion rounds of ammo. Seriously, folks, if we gun owners were the problem, you’d know it.

5 – When JFK was killed, nobody blamed the rifle. Not once!

6 – The NRA (National Rifle Association) murders 0 people and receives ($$$$ 0) nothing in government funds. Planned Parenthood kills 350,000 babies every year and receives $500,000,000 in tax dollars annually.

7 – I have no problem with vigorous background checks when it comes to firearms. While we’re at it, let’s do the same when it comes to immigration, Voter ID., and candidates running for office.

8 – Folks keep talking about another Civil War. One side knows how to shoot and probably has a trillion rounds. The other side has crying closets and is confused about which bathroom to use. Now tell me, how do you think that would end?

Indoctrination…

Is why we are where we are today…

Why you may ask?

A far more troubling development, is how quickly a significant and powerful minority of Americans grew to believe that America is a fundamentally racist country and that white Americans are somehow uniquely evil by virtue of their birth.

<snip>

The short version is that American youth, since at least the 1960s, with significant acceleration in the 1980s, have been indoctrinated with hostility toward Western civilization in general, with the obvious corollaries of hostility toward whites, the nuclear family, Christianity, private property and men. Perhaps most troubling is the view that Western civilization and the aforementioned categories are uniquely evil and responsible for the lion’s share – if not all – of the world’s evil.

Full article, HERE at Ammo.com

Since I’m old enough to remember the 60s pretty well, this is MY perception of what happened…

The ‘center’ of the progressive left, in those days, was Bezerkley on the outskirts of Oakland. This was also the time period when drug use was peaking among the young (primarily marijuana with some LSD thrown in around the universities). This was also when Haight Ashbury became a community based upon counterculture ideals, drugs, and music. The first head shop, Ron and Jay Thelin’s Psychedelic Shop, opened on Haight Street on January 3, 1966, offering hippies a spot to purchase marijuana and LSD, which was essential to hippie life.

The combination of the two led to protests against the Vietnam War, Selective Service, and the military. Many on the left ran to Canada, got bogus deferments, or claimed to be gay to get out of military service.

The upshot was that while there were patriots, most of them were going in the military to keep from being drafted, while the left ‘managed’ to stay in school, wangling more deferments, staying in school longer to get masters and PHDs.

They also found they could feed off the government trough during the day as ‘educators’ while protesting/getting high/having ‘fun’ with the students at night. They also started taking over the teacher’s unions… A bit of history on those, HERE and HERE. Note the Communist influence in the NY teacher’s union going back to the 1920s…  And then there is the NEA, link HERE. And a current ‘example’ of professors, HERE.

The NEA, among others has been a political organization from the git go… Witness what is happening today Chicago, SFO, and other major cities over restarting in person schooling…

Anyhoo… The left got control of the education system starting in the 70s, and began indoctrinating the children, first in colleges, then in high school, and now all the way down to first grade.

IMHO, the schools have been dumbed down, social passing is now the ‘norm’ (can’t have anybody fail), everybody gets a ‘participation’ trophy, etc… And they have been indoctrinated day after day about how ‘bad’ the US is, its history, its capitalism, etc…

And now they’re going after math as being ‘white supremacy’ if you want to get the right answers… sigh…

I’m glad I’m old and won’t be around to see what happens next… But I will also admit ‘we’ were complacent. We were working hard at our jobs, based on the ethics we were raised with, to do better than our parents. And by and large we did… the cost was that we didn’t pay as much attention as we should have to what our kids were being taught. And now we’re reaping that…