Countrydiction

I am hitting the asphalt, going to spend Christmas with my sons and daughter-in-law, Leo, Sara, and Zack. Felis Navidad!!!

ATHEISTS PROTEST 'GIVING TREE' REUTERS: U.S. Christians fight against secular Christmas "Christian Conservatives Say It's 'Christmas' Time" Christmas or Kwanzaa, Diwali, Ramadan, Chanukah or the Winter Solstice Parade Organizers Say Christmas Carols May Be Offensive To Others Ban on Christmas leads to court fight School bans saying 'Christmas' Christmas book banned from class Parents sue district after teacher censors 2nd-grader's story Christmas is THE NEW “C-WORD” Public Schools and the ACLU Play Scrooge This Christmas Christmas Trees are Banned from Public Buildings in Pasco County Religious exhibit ruled illegal, removed from park's entrance **************************************************** The above headlines are just a sampling of the deleterious impact that 'political correctness' is having on the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ. The television, radio, and internet are co...

1. The violent-free election in Afghanistan is an amazing event considering the state of affairs in that country a short two years ago. 2. Peaceful revolution in Ukraine will send shockwaves around the world for freedom seekers. Not everyone in the world has access to unfettered news so they will not hear about the momentous events there. In fact, busloads of democratic loving people from Kiev are deploying to the hinterlands to inform their countrymen who have been kept in the dark by the Russian supported apparatchik (power structure). 3. A hero for the world's atheists, Antony Flew, a British philosophy professor, has apparently become a deist, to the dismay of his disciples. Flew released a video in which he said that, based on scientific evidence, he has concluded that some sort of intelligence or first cause must have created the universe. 4. The federal government (CDC) just announced new data on teen pregnancy/sex. Teens are delaying sex longer, more are ...

It was 22 degrees when I woke this morning...at the same time it was 28 in my hometown in KY. Hope we get some of that warmer weather down here. Talk about timing...I joined the Arbor Day Foundation back in the summer, and for my $10 membership I get 10 trees. Shipments to Florida happen in early December because we can plant trees the year-round. RIIIIIGGGHHTTTT. Well the bare-root little guys arrived yesterday, in the middle of a killer coldfront. At least we don't have to deal with frozen ground here on the sand hill where I live. It will get to the high 50's today so I will get the twigs in the ground, and hope to see some buds in a few months... I fired up the fireplace for my first time and didn't set off the smoke alarm. Man, a roaring fire, hot toddy, and a great novel sure sets the mood. Hold on now...I'm talking ambiance and not urges!

I find everything about this story as suspect. Actually, fantastically unbelievable. A lady does not strangle a 130 lb. dog while the owner of the dog is holding on by its collar!

After an unusually warm Autumn the payback is imminent. Low 30's tonight and moving into the upper 20's for the low temps early next week. This is a good thing because I have to get acclimated to Washington DC type weather because that's where I will spend Christmas with my two sons and daughter-in-law. I'm concerned about my new landscape plants. There are advantages to planting in the fall such as developing good root systems, or at least giving them a headstart before the hot summer weather ahead. But, I risk the tender plants in the cold fronts that come in the winter. Another peculiar thing about fall planting is that the deciduous trees have lost most of their leaves and I'm wondering if it's normal seasonal behavior, or are they not taking to their transplanting and are dying on me. So, I've been checking the little guys from time to time by pinching off branch tips to see if they are green or not. Looks like I'll be anticipating spring ...

I've always considered running a primitive sort of past-time. Nothing is more natural, physiologically speaking, than running. Notice the first thing a toddler does after he learns to walk. Soon he is zipping all over the place, with his torso preceeding his little legs for momentum! Now research proposes that running was key to human evolution. My training is going well. I ran eight miles yesterday out on a dirt road on the Eglin AFB reservation. It had been about a year since I ran that far in a training run (I did a 13 miler in a race a couple weeks ago). I ran 24 miles for the week, last week, and I haven't run that many miles in a week in a few years. My goal for a couple years has been to get my weight down to 160 lbs. I was at about 180 there for awhile, but now am hovering around 165. The point is to be able to see my ribs, and I can't distinguish them yet...

Read this little story out of California for a heartwarming, positive, hopeful piece of news about a segment of our tenderest generation! Which reminds me. I hope to go to church Wednesday to celebrate a major date of the Church calendar, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Then, we celebrate the Memorial of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, on December 12th! The Blessed Mother truly pulls me into the spirit of Christmas. For an indispensible explanation on our devotion to Mary see this offering from former evangelical protestant, Mark Shea

This article from the British newspaper, The Times, gives me the impression that Europe is undergoing their own 9/11. Our 9/11 was the climactic event, although there were prior overseas smaller terrorist attacks against our interests, going back to the 1980's. Western Europe's 9/11 is akin to slowly being poisoned; they've felt a creeping crud which they have suspected was alien to their system. The treatment? Ride it out and hope the immune system stuffs it out. What was this immune system consisted of? Political Correctness, Diversity, Multiculturalism, Tolerance. The result is that a full-blown tumor has broken, the bile has already spread, rapidly causing the body to deteriorate. I'm in a festive mood today. What with the U.N. and its oil-for-food scandal, and paralysis of effect on the genocide in Africa. The MainStreamMedia, epitomized by the Dan Rather fake-documents scandal. The bloody, wretched, desperate, Islamofascists' attempt to stop free election ...

When my Daddy gave me the 'plumbing' lesson which explains how babies are made I was slightly more enlightened than I was prior to. I said 'plumbing' because I received a matter-of-fact, biological, unemotional, power-point display of the mechanics. My hormonal state was still embryonic, so-to-speak, so Daddy was not concerned with the ethics, morality, or consequences of pre-marital sex. He did prelude the lesson with "...when a husband and wife love each other...", so right up front, he put the sex act in the context of good, beauty, and love. Life was pretty simple back in the early 60's. Daddy didn't tell me about phospholipase C-zeta (PLC-zeta). Nobody told me about it until I read about it in this article . One is led to believe that science can skirt the ethical questions of embryonic stem cell research now because PLC-zeta can be extracted from the sperm and used to spur the egg cell to divide and multiply. Since the potential stem cells, ...

One of the great races in the panhandle area is the Navarre Beach Run located between Fort Walton Beach and Pensacola. I have enjoyed the event since the mid-80's and since I moved back to the area recently, after living several years back in KY/IN area where I grew up, I was really looking forward to this early January race. There was always the option of running a 5K, 10K, or Half-Marathon...pretty unique. It always happens to be freezing with blowing winds. The after-race festivities took place at the Holiday Inn on the beach, within it's huge indoor square with a heated pool, jacuzzi, and plenty of space for live music and partying. Most of the rooms form first and second floor rings around the quad and the party spilled into many of those rooms. Just a fantastic scene, rivaling the revelry of Mardi Gra, especially in the rooms of the Louisianians who offered unlimited jumbalaya to all comers. The hotel was severely damaged and the half-marathon is in question beca...

Pat Sajak, the amicable and erudite host of Wheel of Fortune, has pretty well nailed the Hollywoodian silence in the aftermath of the terrorist murder of the Dutch movie maker, Theo Van Gogh. Could the underwhelming reaction be attributed to fear, or to tolerance, or to hate? See what Sajak has to say ...

...according to Sister Larraine who is director of a migrant/immigrant shelter in my hometown in KY. Wilkerson (an employment and training specialist for the county) said some area employers are afraid that some Hispanic workers might be in the country illegally. But Sister Larraine said the law only prohibits people from knowingly hiring illegal aliens. The employers are not required to prove that the people they hire are in the country legally, she said. I doubt that Sr. Larraine refers to the law correctly, but if she does then why even have the law on the books? As difficult as it is to disprove ignorance I would expect that any defendent accused of violating this immigration law would plead ignorance. But what of the universal 'unwritten' maxim that 'ignorance of the law is no excuse?' This maxim is true, generally, because good laws have these standard conditions: that it is promulgated widely and in advance for public knowledge, that its interpretation i...

Got a knock on the door yesterday and a neighbor kid gave me a shock. He tells me that my dog, Oslo, and his dog had pups a week ago. I stalled for a few seconds thinking/hoping he was joking. I said, "how do you know?" and he said they look just like Oslo. I said, "He's only seven months old, almost!" The kid says, he's old enough...I seen him humpin' her. I said, "What are you going to do with them?" He said, do you want one? I said NO. He said he and his daddy are going to take them to the Walmart parking lot at Christmas time, when they're old enough, and give them away. The breeder where I got Oz told me that his mother was only seven months old when she and the father hooked up. Said he'd never seen a bitch bear that early. Looks like she's a grandmother and hardly a year old!

I found, right here in my own backyard, yet again another example of the attempted eradication of any and all references or influence of Christianity in the public square! I quote part of an article in the local newspaper here: " Holiday Reflections is Sims’ brainchild. The 78-year-old saw similar displays when he traveled out of state years ago and thought DeFuniak Springs needed its own lights. For its first six years, the display was called Christmas Reflections. This year the Walton County Tourist Development Council renamed it to appeal to a wider audience, Sims said." Excuse me if I'm sensitive, but the proof that the secular, liberal culture is intolerant of Christians is constantly being thrust into our faces. The ACLU has had a vendetta against the Boy Scouts for years. See the recent news of the Dept. of Defense relenting to the ACLU's suit to stop the support which military organizations have historically given to the Boy Scouts. See the recent news...

This is my first Thanksgiving without the comfort of reaching out and touching my Momma, whether closeup or from long-distance telephone call. She was always my refuge in a world that is not a settled place. In fact, our universe, i.e., humanity, is racked with pain, fear, confusion, and hate. Many of us understand our lot as the result of fallen man, from the original fault of pride, yet we have hope of redemption or deliverance in the eternal life. Many others see man as the highest creature of a naturalistic evolution of life, so far, and hope that man (or humanity, to be PC) can overcome the basic instincts to create a world of peace, tolerance, and happiness. For those others, my question would be...who would you be thanking on this Thanksgiving Day? Yourself, the lottery, lady luck? I'm trying to focus on the fundamental, essential reasons to be thankful, not material or outward reasons. The essentials are my faith, the love of my family and friends, my h...

I ran in a race Saturday and I'm feeling it today! I had the option to run a 5K (3.1 mi) or a half-marathon (13.1 mi) and I ran the latter. At the 11 mile mark I 'hit the wall.' The lactic acid had finally built up in my thigh muscles to the point where they kind of locked up. So there were a couple walking stints in the last two miles, but I was thrilled to be able to do the distance...and...I got a first place medal for my age division. Afterwards there was a massage and a couple beers, both courtesy of the race director. Got home and soaked in my jacuzzi tub full till I roasted and took a nap. Later, I met some old friends and ate a delicious meal of shrimp and scallops Alfredo on pasta, with some great wine, at the Tradewinds restaurant in Valparaiso. The place was jammed so it was prudent that we had reservations. Everthing was fine until I woke up Sunday morning and could hardly walk on my left ankle! I limped to Church, then I limped to Walmart to get an ...

While working in the yard adding new plants I found this growth on an old tree stump. Lately, I added two Leyland Cypresses. They make the best Christmas trees. Mine are about three feet tall and will grow to 30 or 40 ft. On the corner of my front porch I planted a young Chinese 'Drake' elm, also called a Lacebark Elm because of the delicate flaking off of the bark to leave a mottled orange, brown, and gray effect. It is the same appeal as the River Birch that I planted on the other side of the yard. I'm outside all the time now that the weather is ideal. It's a real pleasure to go spend time in the local nurseries because I am the only one there usually. So many folks have moved to the panhandle from farther parts north that practically everyone waits till spring to do major planting and maintenance, because that's the way you have to do it up north. In this hardiness zone the fall and winter are times to get with it and get a jump on the spring garde...

President Bush is the epitome of a Texas Ranger. With his actions down in Santiago, Chile this weekend, he has further endeared himself in the hearts and minds of those of us who support him. Chilean journalists condescendingly called him a cowboy after he single-handedly pulled one of his personal bodyguards from the midst of a fracas among security personnel. Cowboys are an enduring symbol of America. I'd love to be a cowboy. I ride my motorcycle because that steel horse makes me feel like a cowboy. If the jounalists want to insult the President they could call him a French surrender-monkey, a three-toed Canuk, or a multiculturist Dutchman. But, I don't think he's too upset about being called a cowboy. There should be an investigation of that episode because there are Bush haters who would love to separate the President from his Secret Service en el momento oportuno.

Watched that end of the Pistons-Pacers game live Friday night. First time I've ever seen Bill Walton speechless! I've turned into a Pistons fan since Tayshaun Prince (formerly a KY Wildcat) joined the team two years ago. Got really excited watching them win the NBA Championship over the Lakers. Call me biased, but here's my take on what I saw Friday night. In the last minute of the game Ron Artest needlessly fouled Ben Wallace by slapping at him instead of the ball. Considering the circumstances of the point spread and time left, I considered that a flagrant foul like Big Ben did. Now Ben goes and shoves, really hard, Artest in the neck area. The benches clear. But here's the deal. Artest backs off and stays clear the way away from Ben, and he inexplicably goes and lays down on the officials table while they are trying to contain Ben. If Artest is injured they should have taken him to the locker room. I considered him taunting by laying there on the table an...

I snuck off and ran without the Oz, so as I'm finishing up my run I'm just out of sight before I turn the corner to my house. Oslo hears me but doesn't know it's me, so for *the first time* I hear him let loose with a "WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO?! It was music to me ears to hear my six and a half month old pup turning into a little man. A couple days later, we were in the house when he heard something outside and jumped on the couch to look outside and he barked a couple times. His nervous system is developing right on time. My alarm system is hooked up!

With a nod to the Southern Appeal blog, I just had to pass this along for the benefit of those who rant about the cold-hearted, greedy, social conservatives not giving a damn about the poor and disadvantaged. Check out this index which shows the philanthropy (generosity) rankings by state. Note that the first 24 states ranked are so-called Red States!

I had some odds and ends in the fridge and cabinet so I made a pauper's feast...whoever can tell me all (there is no meat) the ingredients gets my esteem and makes my wokking world go round! 

I just filled out the application to become a Master Gardener. All I have to do is pay up $90, attend 50 hours of classroom training, pass a 50 question test at the end, and perform 50 hours of volunteer time within one year for the county extension agent's office. The program is active in 45 states and in over half of the counties of Florida. If I'm one of 20 people selected I will learn about plant physiology, insects, plant diseases, care of landscape plants, vegetable gardening, fruit gardening, lawn management, landscape design, irrigation, and communications. What I am particularly interested in is how all this relates to my piece of ground located in my zone of plant hardiness, and what are the native trees, shrubs, and wildflowers. If I'm selected I'll attend my first class on 13 January.

Very sensible advice coming out of Manhattan...ignore this link , and this one at your own peril!

I know, no big deal. But it is a big deal...this is the first bud of the genesis of my new landscape! I bought these, along with a black walnut tree, a couple palms, and some other plants I didn't get the name of. I bought these plants at the ARC, a service for handicapped. The lady told me the plant in the picture was a Chinese Bluebell. I researched and found that it is called Mexican Bluebell, Mexican Petunia, and Florida Bluebell. Later I went to Home Depot and got three different ornamental grasses, which I am going to continue to acquire; pampas grass, muhlenberg (gulf muhly) grass, and some rubrum (purple fountain grass). Got some mexican heather (which I had before at my townhome on Boggy Bayou, and flowering kale. Then later, I went to the local garden nursery and bought two giant crape myrtles (one red, one white) and planted them on a berm on the corner of my property along with the fountain grass. I also bought a nice river birch. Well I'm watering the y...

One of the Bible readings from this morning's Liturgy of the Hours struck me as another timeless piece of scripture. Quoted in part: "...Though the pagans may slander you as troublemakers, conduct yourselves blamelessly among them...Because of the Lord, be obedient to every human institution, whether to the emperor as sovereign or to the governors he commissions for the punishment of criminals and the recognition of the upright. Such obedience is the will of God. You must silence the ignorant talk of fools by your good behavior. Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cloak for vice." We who are practicing Christians struggle with living the Way of Jesus Christ because we are human, with all our feebleness and foibles. To make matters worse, we have to deal with the estrangement (the polite word) from non-believers (pagan, Gentile, depends on your translation). Has it not been worse than ever during this latest campaign and election? The kicker in the...

Random thoughts... I recall numerous times in my travels overseas when someone would point out that their grievance with the USA is aimed against the president and his policy. They emphasize that their ire and disgust is NOT directed to the American people, or the American culture. On the contrary, I have seen too much anger and invective hurled at the people of 'middle America' and what we stand for from arrogant, contemptuous, sardonic spewers from Old Europe. I am mighty grateful and relieved that the majority of Americans have emphatically disavowed the Kerry idea of a 'global test' for the conduct of our own affairs. What I'm alluding to here is the French Disease (You don't have to be French to have it). I learned, for the first time last night, while watching a documentary about WWII that Hitler had not even completed his conquest of France when in the summer of 1942 the American navy was attacked by the French navy off the coast of North Africa. ...

I was out in the garage this morning pouring a bowl of dog food for Oslo when I heard some rattle, sorta like from a little rattlesnake or a windup toy soldier ratta-tat-tatting on his tin drum. I look all around, then glance at Oslo who was doing a little teeth-rattling shiver. Cutest thing I ever saw. It was only 55 degrees...I guess soon the little guy will be shivering from teeth to tail, because it will occasionally drop to freezing temps up here in the sandhills of the panhandle in Jan and Feb. 

*Warning: Those who are sensitive to profane language (and/or have a high regard for the basic goodness of the human race) should avert their eyes... Is this just an aberration or is this fellow representative of the liberal elite?

The little dark cloud was like the early exit polls...soon overwhelmed by the happy sunny cloud of the impending Republican ascendancy!

Be proud you're a rebel, cause the South's gonna do it again, and again! Last night I went to bed at 6:00 p.m. with the intent of waking later when votes had been counted and results from around the country were in. I woke up at midnight, found out that trends were pointing to a Bush win. So I immediately tuned in to Dan Rather to enjoy watching and hearing him squirm! This morning I was waiting with intense satisfaction at 8:00 for Katie Couric to come on and the Today crew did not dissapoint. They were all wearing BLACK this morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Two or three segments of the show were on the subject of the Supreme Court. Katie is concerned about the possibility of Bush cleaning up some of the federal activist judges. Go W!!! While going to some commercial breaks Today played cuts of the Dave Matthews band. I soured on them during the campaign because they 'rocked the vote' for Kerry. Now I think they sound quite quaint... To quote the great Churchill, to the Brit...

I am four weeks into my new running training plan. And I'm excited because I am injury free. Usually when I come off a long period of little or no running, I try to come back too damn fast. With my program, taken from marathontraining.com, I am progressing at a rate that will preclude injuries, unless I trip over my pup, Oslo, or an armadillo or something. I would love to run another marathon, particularly the Marine Corps Marathon in Wash D.C. The problem is that that one is in October and training is just too difficult in these hot/humid summers to be ready in October. I'm looking at some late spring races out in CO, SD, and WY. I've got some cousins I've got to visit in CO, so if I time it right...

A 'source' takes a potential politically damaging story to CBS news, who, under Ratherbiased circumstances, turn down the opportunity. So, the source goes to CBS's ideological clone, the New York Times, and they jump on the story like a terrier on a rat! Supposedly, the U.S. military has allowed 380 tons of controlled weapon materials to go missing. A week before the 2004 general election the headline jumps off the NYT front page, top-of-fold. Kerry and Edwards don't take a breath before condemning Bush for a massive error in the conduct of the war in Iraq, emphasizing Bush's failure as a leader. Wellllll....Kerry should have taken a breath because the news cycle was not one day old before we hear that NBC News had a news crew embedded with the 101st Airborne Division when they arrived at the storage depot the day after troops first arrived in Baghdad. The conventional weapons were already missing!! There is much more behind this story supporting the content...

My friend Alma who worked at the internet cafe, and me, in Guatemala...and yes, I was giddy. Can you blame me?!

With a quiver and a quake, I launch my weblog! I considered taking this step for quite a while, realizing that I can be very frank and honest about how I feel about who I am and the circumstances of my earthly existence. Like most bloggers, I have strong convictions which will surface occasionally. Also, related to the name of my blog, 'Country diction,' I am a bona fide contradiction. This will be apparent to anyone who happens upon this blog. I was born and raised in the 'country' in western Kentucky . Once I enlisted into the military and started a family I experienced years of the urbane, suburban lifestyle, in deference to my family and because I despised the wasted time of a long commute. Now that I'm semi-retired I have returned to the country, and I, along with my American Bulldog pup, Oslo (Ozzie), intend to remain here in the Florida panhandle in all its glory, beauty, and remoteness. One will find in this blog a variety of subjects, i.e., religi...