James found this snake in a crevice in a tree. It's a baby corn snake. I saw a shed snake skin in the tree a few days ago and it must have been from the same snake.

James and his new Godzilla posters.

The Best Thank You

James is a typical 5 year old when it comes to when it comes to complaining about not getting enough stuff. "You never buy me anything!" is his typical saying.

Today we had a special moment though. I was in his room admiring his new Godzilla posters with him and he said, "You do buy me a lot of things Daddy, and sometimes I forget to say Thank You."

Thank you James, it's nice to know you really notice.

Just a Weird Observation

Saturday night at work I got a lot of people coming in with bent drivers licenses, so many that I started thinking how weird it was to be getting so many in one night.

Sunday night I didn't get any bent ones but I did get a rash of cracked drivers licences. One after another.

Weird.

Hooray For Hollywood!

Here's a list of 40 things that only happen in movies. Some good, some not so. I watched a number 34 last night.

OK, here it is! I finally got a picture of this deer at night. Christmas is more like Halloween these days.

Abby Normal

I like Ann Coulter's latest column: Live and let spy

It's one or the other: Either we take the politically correct, scattershot approach and violate everyone's civil liberties, or we focus on the group threatening us and - in the worst-case scenario - run the risk of briefly violating the civil liberties of 1,000 people in a country of 300 million.

Of course, this is assuming I'm talking to people from the world of the normal. In the Democrats' world, there are two more options. Violate no one's civil liberties and get used to a lot more 9-11s, or the modified third option, preferred by Sen. John D. Rockefeller: Let the president do all the work and take all the heat for preventing another terrorist attack while you place a letter expressing your objections in a file cabinet as a small parchment tribute to your exquisite conscience.

We need to do some unpleasant things and make some very difficult decisions to preserve this country and weed out and eliminate the anti-American Rousseau-think the left has so stubbornly embraced.

Yes, anti-American.

I should have particularly avoided, as necessarily ill-governed, a Republic in which the people, imagining themselves in a position to do without magistrates, or at least to leave them with only a precarious authority, should imprudently have kept for themselves the administration of civil affairs and the execution of their own laws.

So says the brilliant Rousseau.

Rousseau's ideas about education have profoundly influenced modern educational theory. He minimizes the importance of book learning, and recommends that a child's emotions should be educated before his reason.

It is amazing how much of his nonsensical thinking has infiltrated our society. It is tearing apart and destroying this great country from within and allowing our enemies (and we do and will have enemies no matter what we do) to gain the upper hand against us.

So, accolades to Ann Coulter for standing up for sound thinking.

I've Got Oranges

I forget how long ago I planted this tree but this year I finally have oranges. It's been a few years. They sure look good.

Still Trying

Since I posted the photo of my neighbors deer she has not turned her lights on. I wonder if she reads this? No, I doubt it. But please turn on your Christmas lights if you do.

Our neighbor across the street has the same deer out front but it is standing normally. His lights haven't been on either. They both turn on the lights every night when I don't care but the minute I want a picture ...

Leaf Blower

James helped me clean up after I cut some branches that hung a bit too low over the driveway. He was playing outside while I cut the trees and when I finished he came over and started helping me clean up the branches and I let him blow the sawdust off the driveway when we finished. What I like most is that I didn't even ask for his help.

This Is Where The Left Is Going

Candidate to supporters: 'Islam won!'

"This is a victory for Islam! Islam won! Islam won! ... Islamic power is extending into Canadian politics," Omar Alghabra, the Liberal candidate for Mississauga-Erindale, reportedly declared to his audience of several hundred.

The Bible is almost outlawed in Canada but Islam is just OK with them - even in the government.

And we're going to follow along right behind if the left in this country have their way. In a bill "Expressing the commitment of the House of Representatives to achieving victory in Iraq," 108 Democrats and 1 Independant voted against victory! How sad!

This Glass Snake stopped by for a visit the other day. He stuck around for a few pictures and moved on. Although it looks like a snake, it is actually a lizard.

Why I Love My Neighbors

I noticed recently my neighbor had some Christmas lights in her backyard. I couldn't make out what it was supposed to be - it was a large white blob hanging from a tree with a red circular spot on the ground under it. This morning I took this picture (a bit grainy because of the distance) and I see it is a deer hanging from the tree by it's hind legs. The best I can figure is the red spot is supposed to be blood. What an interesting Christmas decoration! I will try to get a picture at night.

This Was A Secret?

Bush Secretly Lifted Some Limits on Spying in U.S. After 9/11

Under a presidential order signed in 2002, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years in an effort to track possible "dirty numbers" linked to Al Qaeda, the officials said.

Maybe I misunderstood, but I thought that was part of the homeland security laws put into effect after 911. In fact, I remember a controversy over this same thing. I guess it's an attempt by the press to get the country hating President Bush again.

New Book On The Way

A new book by Ronald L. Dart is being published and is available at prepublication prices in paperback and hardback.

It is called "The Lonely God"

"The Bible doesn't contradict itself, but it often runs sharply counter to what we expect. The truth is often presented to us in the form of a paradox. Part of the problem lies in the limitations of the human mind. The very idea of God exceeds our grasp. Traditional views hold that God Himself is the only uncreated entity that is. Everything and everyone else was created by Him. But then that means that before God created the things that are, He was alone.

How is it possible that an infinite God should ever find himself lonely or wanting anything. What in the world was He doing when He created this world and put man on it? What is the purpose for mankind? Is it possible to understand God? Yes, but only on His own terms, and only by His own revelation. When we try to go beyond what He shows Himself to be, we risk creating God in our own image. But God has not left us in the dark.

The Lonely God is about understanding and knowing God as He wishes to be known, not necessarily as we wish to know Him. The picture that emerges is disturbing. God is not only kind, merciful, forgiving, and longsuffering. He is dangerous. This is why the Bible speaks of the fear of God. This insightful, instructive, and provocative book, The Lonely God, will change the way you think about God. Order this book today and save with this special prepublication offer."

It's a well written, clear, thought provoking book. I highly recommend it.

Bad Movie

I just watched the Dukes of Hazard movie. It was terrible, I'm sure glad I didn't pay to see it. Bad jokes, bad acting, bad writing - and the Dukes are on the wrong side of the law even if the cops in the movie weren't dirty. What's the difference between the Dukes and drug dealers? I don't know. They just didn't do this movie right. Some of the old Burt Reynolds movies had him doing the same but he still had some redeeming qualities, a reason to like him. I couldn't find a reason to like the Dukes in this movie.

Crowds

I stopped at Walmart this afternoon to pick up a few things and the lines were crazy. I just wanted a few food items, I wasn't Christmas shopping. They need to have a line or 2 for people who are not Christmas shopping. Where do all these people come from anyway? Where are they all year long? I went to Publix instead - no lines.

Something I noticed though. I hadn't thought about it before, I don't really care, but seeing the lines brought it to my attention.

The stores I have been to are not decorated for Christmas. I didn't see any Christmas decorations at Walmart at all, no Christmas music, no sign Christmas is near except the lines and the Salvation Army guy out front (and they have eggnog). I don't think he had a bell either, don't they usually have a bell? They don't even have all that many toys out. In the past they have actually moved a whole section of the store to make room for more toys and closed the garden center to turn it into a Christmas center.

Maybe the malls are decorated - I'll never know.

Catching Up

James was riding his bike Sunday while I was working on my car. He told me to watch him do a trick, so I did. He rode on the grass, up the hill, he started slowing down and he fell. As he was on the ground, still tangled in the bike, he turned toward me and said, "That's not it!" I started cracking up, it was so funny. I wish I had a video camera, it was perfect.

My car (Pontiac) is not perfect. The electrical system self destructed. I replaced a fusible link last week. It was running fine but after a few days I went to get something out of the car and noticed the interior light didn't work. I checked and none of the lights worked - at all. I've been looking for a car so I wasn't very interested in fixing it.

Then the other car (Cadillac) started acting up, almost the same thing - no lights. The problem was intermittent, it wasn't a fuse. But if I don't have lights I can't go to work and I needed to fix this one. I just went through the wiring, taking out and cleaning the fuses and grounds, checking the connections and finally fixed it. The problem was in some mega fuses that were hidden under a panel in the engine compartment. They were just corroded, I cleaned them up and haven't had the problem since.

Sunday I fixed the Pontiac. It was another fusible link, a different one, and a real pain to get to. I still don't trust that it won't happen again because I'm thinking there was a reason why they blew in the first place. I won't drive it except locally and I have AAA so I can get a free tow home.

I've been looking hard for another car. I found one I liked and it was priced right but when I went to buy it, they were closed (Friday, after Thanksgiving), Saturday I couldn't go, Sunday they are closed and Monday morning bright and early the car was gone. They sold it Saturday. I was very disappointed. I believe there was a reason it didn't work out though, it was an incredible deal and like they say, you don't get something for nothing.

I have my eye on another, a 2002 Chevy Impala, but I'm not ready to buy it yet. It costs more than the other but it's in near perfect shape - almost a little too perfect. It checks out on Carfax and I have gone over it carefully - it's on a raised platform and you can go under the car - look for signs of flooding or some sign of wear beyond the rest of the car but it looks good.

We'll see, if it's there when I'm ready I just might. I can't find anything else close in the price range I need. The Impala is on the upper limits of my price range. I'm keeping my eyes open.