Grown Up!

Look how grown up all these kids have gotten. This is the crew of young adults at our house on Thanksgiving. I'm just sad that my niece Mary wasn't able to be in the photo.

Call me Forrest

Forrest Gump once said, "Stupid is as stupid does". He also said, "I am not a smart man, Jen-nay".

You can call me Forrest Gump today because I am not a smart man. Today I "TRIED" to put up the family Christmas tree. Keep in mind I have been putting up the same Christmas tree for more than 15 years. I should be able to do this in my sleep, right? Wrong.

I spent more than an hour trying to get the upright piece to stand firmly in the base. In the past this step has taken mere moments. This year I wrestled with it, struggled with it and fought with it. I could not get the stupid thing to hold. I finally got it into a precarious position, but I thought it would be "good enough". I put all the branches on and had just begun to put the lights on when the inevitable happened... the tree fell over! I called for assistance and Tami came to the rescue. I stood the tree up, held it in position as she laid on her belly and attempted to secure the upright piece. As she was struggling with it, I looked across the room and saw the problem. The silver ring that secured the whole tree stand had been idiotically forgotten by yours truly... Forrest Gump. I let out a yell that scared Tami. The moment I saw it, I knew where I had gone terribly wrong.

It was easy after that. I lifted the tree out of the stand. Tami put the locking ring in place and I put the tree back into the stand which was now assembled properly. What should have taken an hour took more than 3. On top of that, half of my lights were not working. After a trip to the store, the lights were twinkling on the tree. This usually simple job, turned into a real ordeal. But in the end, the tree is up and ready to greet holiday revelers when they enter the Meyer home.

Here is a photo of the culprit. Imagine trying to assemble the tree without the silver ring on top. No wonder this was such a debacle.

I am NOT a smart man.

The Mannings

If you're not a football fan, you won't get the joke below. However, if you ARE a football fan, you may find the cartoon somewhat humorous.

The Manning family is NFL royalty. Dad, Archie, was a professional quarterback for the New Orleans Saints. His sons, Eli and Peyton are both Super Bowl winning quarterbacks. The joke here is that Eli has been having a down year and has thrown a lot of interceptions. Peyton recently became the all-time leader in touchdown passes.

Christmas season is here!

Thanksgiving is behind us and now it's directly into... Christmas!

Today the christmas decorations will be pulled out of storage and the tree will go up in the next few days. I'm not ready. I'm not ready. I'm not ready.

Speaking of Christmas, I am already saddened at what it has become. Tami and I just finished watching some videos of Black Friday shoppers. The mob scenes were unbelievable. There were fights, stampedes and people getting arrested. All this in the name of saving a few bucks on a flatscreen TV. The behavior of the American public is an embarrassment. We should be ashamed as a nation. With this greedy behavior, it's no wonder the rest of the world hates us.

This Christmas season I will not lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. The birth of my Savior. God incarnate who came to earth to save the soul of a sinner like me.

We have a winner!

The smoked turkey lived up to the hype. It was out of this world! Tami and I have already decided this will be a Thanksgiving tradition. In fact, Pit to Plate smokes turkeys all year long and we may get smoked turkeys for other occasions too. Yeah, it was THAT good.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Mr. Obvious- The Turkey

I don't condone listening to the Bob and Tom Radio show. Most of their material is pure trash. Many years go I listened to it every morning, but I realized it was negatively affecting my brain. I haven't listened to the show in over 5 years. However, every now then they produce something clean enough and funny enough that makes it blog-worthy. This audio clip is an example of that. Listen and enjoy this Thanksgiving gem.

Happy Thanksgiving - Turkey Drop

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Second only to Christmas as the best holiday of the year. Of course no Thanksgiving would be complete without this classic clip from WKRP in Cincinnati. This is quite possibly the funniest clip in the history of TV. If not, it is by far the funniest Thanksgiving TV clip of all time. ENJOY!

Yum!

I picked up the smoked turkey today. It smells heavenly! I can't wait to dig into that bird.

Apparently we're late to the party on this smoked turkey thing. When I picked it up, the clerk retrieved my ticket from a box that easily had 300 other tickets in it. I thought this would be a well kept secret, but the number of tickets in that box told me otherwise. I have a feeling this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

I did learn one thing. You must completely thaw and clean out your turkey before dropping it off at the smokehouse. Thankfully we followed the rules, but judging by the number of signs hanging in the restaurant, other people have dropped off frozen turkeys. That practice is severely frowned upon. Here is a picture of our bird before we dropped him off. He looks ready for action!

Thanksgiving Eve

Today is Thanksgiving Eve. In my much younger days I used to go out for a good time on one of the biggest party nights of the year. That was a lifetime ago! How how things change! Today I will be cleaning the house and performing household tasks in preparation for our big day hosting the whole family for Thanksgiving dinner. It's all part of growing up I guess. In a few hours I will head out to pick up our smoked turkey. It's going to be a great holiday! I can't wait!

And for what it's worth... I will not be doing any shopping in the next few days. Black Friday has given way to some retailers being open on Thanksgiving. I think this is so shameful. Nothing is sacred anymore. I am waiting for stores to be open on Christmas day next. So sad!

More Thanksgiving Fun

The Thanksgiving fun continues...

Turkey Day?

This morning I heard a radio host refer to Thursday's holiday as "Turkey Day". I'm not such a prude that I have a real problem with this moniker. I'm okay with a playful name for a holiday as long as the real name and meaning behind the holiday are not lost. Thanksgiving is exactly what it is labeled. A day of giving thanks. More specifically it's a day to thank God for his provision and blessing throughout the year. I enjoy the humorous side of Thanksgiving too. That's why Thanksgiving being called Turkey Day doesn't bother me that much. Enjoy the holiday, everybody!

Smoking a Turkey

I posted a few days ago about the turkey I "shot" in the frozen foods aisle. Once I got the big gobbler home, Tami decided we needed to do something special with it. Last night at church, our friend David Claire gave us just the idea we were looking for. He said his family takes their turkey to "Pit to Plate BBQ" every year. This barbecue restaurant in Mt. Healthy smokes your turkey for the reasonable price of $1 per pound. You know that heavenly, smoky flavor I'm talking about, right? Just think of the pulled pork, chicken or brisket at any southern bbq joint and you can almost taste the smoked turkey we will savor on Thursday. Tami dropped off the turkey today (Monday) and we can pick it up any time after 11:00 A.M. on Wednesday. On Thursday all we have to do is heat the smoked fowl in the oven and we will have a turkey we will never forget. I can hardly wait!

I am glad to let "Pit to Plate" smoke my turkey this year. These guys are bbq experts and will smoke it to perfection. I tried to smoke my own turkey once and it didn't go well at all. I couldn't even get the thing lit. Da-dump-bump! Sorry, everybody. I know that was a really bad joke, but I couldn't resist :-)

But I am serious about getting our turkey smoked by a bbq restaurant.

Thanksgiving Week

It's Thanksgiving week! One of my favorite weeks of the year.

There are only two days of school this week. My whole family is coming to my house for a glorious celebration of food and fun. The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is on TV followed by (of course) football.  It's time to put up the Christmas decorations. And most importantly it's a time to thank my Great God for his provision for my family this year. I am truly grateful for the boundless blessings the Lord has bestowed upon me this past year. There are so many it would take me a million years to type  them all.

Putting seriousness aside for a moment, this whole week puts me in a jovial mood. I'm not really sure how to explain it, but I just feel giddy. You will be able to see it evidenced in this week's blog posts. Not a lot of hard hitting news... just good, clean fun!

Schoolhouse Rock

If you grew up in the 70's or 80's, you probably remember Schoolhouse Rock. These short little cartoons gave lessons in Social Studies and grammar. If you know about Schoolhouse Rock, you will remember one of my favorites. The Bill on Capitol Hill. Saturday Night Live recently did a spoof on this cartoon. It took a shot at Obama's executive order on immigration and it's one of the funniest things I've seen in a while. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

No pressure...

Tonight I taught a bible study lesson to my small group from church. That may not sound like a big deal, but it certainly was to me. For starters all seven of the other people sitting in the room probably have more biblical knowledge than me. That's pressure enough. However the bigger deal to me was one of the seven people in the room was our Pastor. No pressure, right? Nothing like teaching a Bible lesson to your own Pastor. Yikes!

All went well though. The lesson was satisfactory and I was basically happy with it. It seemed a bit choppy and it didn't flow as well as I would have liked, but overall the lesson accomplished what it was designed to do. Essentially it was one sinner talking to seven other sinners. I can't take any credit for this lesson. All glory and honor go to God.

Soli' Deo Gloria!

Shooting a turkey

Thanksgiving is only 6 days away and Tami and I will be hosting about 25 people for Thanksgiving dinner. I decided that since we haven't hosted Thanksgiving in many years, it would be a good idea to really do it up special. That's why I made the decision to go out and shoot my own turkey. I was expecting it to be a lot more challenging, but it was remarkably easier than I thought. The hunting trip was not without incident though. Read below to see what happened.

Executive Order

This evening our President vowed to use executive order to reform immigration legislation. He is completely circumventing congress and acting on his own. I'm not really sure what has happened to the system of checks and balances, but perhaps Obama has never heard of it. There is no longer any balance of power. The President believes he is omnipotent and needs approval from nobody.

The following cartoons are not related to immigration reform, but with Thanksgiving a week away, I did find them amusing.

Busy and Slow

It's been a busy day for me and a slow news day to boot. Veterans Day was over a week ago, but I thought I'd share this anyway. Heck, veterans deserve honor and respect every day, not just on November 11th.

You know you're getting older when...

This post is mostly aimed at young folks, which seems a bit odd since most of my readers are older. It makes no difference, everybody remembers a time when they realized they were growing up (whether they wanted to or not).

You know you’re getting older when…


Your houseplants are actually alive

You keep more food than beer in the fridge

6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed

You hear your favorite song in an elevator

You watch the weather channel

You go from 130 days of vacation to 14

Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up”.

You’re the one calling the police because the neighbor’s music is too loud

You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore

Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up

Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt

You take naps

Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one

Eating chicken wings at 3 AM upsets your stomach instead of settling it

A $4 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good”

You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time

90% of the time you spend in front of the computer is for real work

You drink at home to save money on the dinner bill later

Snow doubt about it!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Here's two thousand words showing you why I am not at work today.

November 16/17, 2014.

Here we SNOW again!

And snow it begins...

The snow is coming down as I type this and it has begun to accumulate. The forecasters have backed off their latest forecast and the final estimates seem to be 2-4 inches of snow. No matter how you slice it, tomorrow's commute is going to be messy and challenging. I can't believe this is happening... it's too soon!

That escalated quickly

Earlier in the weekend, the weather forecasters were calling for a dusting of snow, maybe an inch at most. Yesterday morning the forecast was upgraded to 1-3 inches and last night it was increased to 2-4 inches. This morning we are hearing 3-5 inches. The severity of the forecast is escalating quickly! UGH! It's only mid-November. I am NOT ready for this garbage.

Snow

It may snow tomorrow. You may have heard... I don't like snow. In an effort to keep a positive outlook on life, here's a pretty photo of Mt. Rushmore covered in snow.

Talking Heads

I love sports. I especially love watching baseball and football in person, but I also enjoy watching these sports on TV. Many years ago I would watch every moment of sports I could. I would read the sports page in the newspaper first and believe me, I would read every last detail. I would follow every player in every game of my favorite teams. I could quote win/loss records, team and individual stats and I would get so emotionally involved with these teams that it would ruin my day when they played poorly or lost. As I've gotten older, my love for sports has not waned. I still enjoy a good game and I still want my teams to win. However, I have also learned to put sports where they belong, which is very low on my list of priorities. I no longer read the sports page from cover to cover. I no longer emotionally invest myself in every aspect of my favorite teams. I still root for them and I want them to win, but I no longer let it mess up my day when they don't. I take sports for what they really are... a momentary diversion (i.e. entertainment). Professional athletes make gazillions of dollars and when their team loses, they are upset, but they quickly get over it. I know these guys hop into their fancy, expensive cars and head out to a high class night-spot, over-priced restaurant or an opulent home. I came to realize if the players on the field don't care about losing, then neither should I.

Another thing about sports that has started to bug me are the so called experts who analyze every aspect of the players and games. There are hours and hours of television and radio broadcasts devoted to breaking down every moment of every game. I love sports, but sheesh, talk about overkill. I have gotten to the point where I mute the television when I watch a game on TV. These talking heads spend a lot of time saying a whole bunch of nothing and I can barely stand to listen to them.

Here's what I mean:

"Well, Joe. The Bengals didn't play very well in the first half. They are losing again."

"That's right, Steve. If they don't turn it around, they will lose their third game in a row. What do they need to do?"

"Well Andy Dalton needs to throw more touchdown passes and the Bengals need to score more points than the other team if they want to avoid another loss."

"I totally agree. The other team has more points right now and if the Bengals don't fix something at halftime, they are going to lose this important game."

Here's another:

"Well, Marty. The Reds are losing to the Cardinals again today. What are your thoughts about the game?"

"Jeff it's pretty simple. The Cardinals are hitting the ball all over the park and the Reds couldn't hit the broad side of a barn".

"What about the pitching, Marty?"

"Once again, Jeff, it's a pretty easy analysis. The Reds are serving up home runs like mom's Sunday dinner and the Cardinal pitchers are throwing strikeouts at an alarming rate".

"So, Marty... in your expert opinion, who wins this game?"

"Jeff, I've been around this game a long time. The team that scores the most runs and pitches the best will win today".

"I agree, Marty."

Today I Wore Plaid

Just when you think you know somebody...

Today I threw all my colleagues a major curveball. As a plain, simple and conservative kind of guy I always wear solid colored shirts... ALWAYS! Today I wore a plaid shirt (probably for the first time in my 25 years of teaching), and you would have thought I was wearing a tutu. I have never seen a person's choice of attire cause such a stir. The comments I received were hilarious. Just wait until tomorrow when I wear polka dots... the whole school may fall down!

As I like to say... Always keep 'em guessing.

Mick the movie critic

Yesterday on my day off, Tami and I went out for a nice lunch at Chick-fil-a. We like to support a Christian business :-) Then we went to see TWO movies.

The first was "St. Vincent" starring Bill Murray. It was a heart warming story, but was a little rough around the edges. It was a good movie worth watching and I give it 3 out of 5 stars. We walked out of this movie and immediately purchased tickets for the next one.

The second movie was "Fury". This movie was set in April 1945 and followed a Sherman Tank crew as they rolled into Germany just as Hitler was launching his last ditch effort to turn the war. The tank crew was met with heavy resistance as the Nazis threw everything they had at the invading allies. It was violent, bloody, gory and had very strong language, but this is to be expected in a film that was trying to accurately depict some of the events of World War II. However, the movie was so much more than that. It had a good story with compelling characters. At 2 and a half hours long, the movie had no problem keeping our interest. Some movies are long and feel like it. This movie was long, but didn't seem like it. I give "Fury" 4 out of 5 stars.I recommend it with a warning toward violence and extremely strong language.

Veterans Day

It would be shallow of me to thank veterans today for my day off work. Don't get me wrong, I am happy to be sitting in my recliner rather than standing in my classroom. However, the deeper issue today is thanking veterans past and present for their service to this great nation. It is the brave service of these men and women that have preserved the freedoms I take for granted today.

In honor of these veterans, Tami and I am going to see the movie "Fury" today. This is a World War II flick about a group of soldiers in a tank that were outnumbered by the Germans near the end of the war in Europe. I've heard good things about it. I Will let you know if it's worth watching.

At any rate... Thank you Veterans everywhere!

This made my day!

I received this photo in my e-mail today. All cuteness aside, the funniest thing is the pacifier in his mouth and the nonchalantness with which he wears a bucket on his head.

A pastor I ain't!

Tami and I took our once a year turn at conducting a mini church service at the Western Hills Retirement Community. It was just the two of us with about 10 people in the small chapel. Tami led the singing and I was in charge of the opening prayer, closing prayer and the message (aka the sermon). Before you get too impressed, my so-called message was only about ten minutes long. I talked about the parable of the sower in Matthew 13. It really was nothing special, but it was enough to get the job done. My pastor's job is safe and I won't be pastoring any churches in the near future.

In the end, it was a real blessing to minister to a small group of elderly people. What seemed like a mundane chapel service to us, was a big deal to these folks. There's not much excitement in a retirement community and they are thankful for any visitors that come along... even if the visitors are delivering some pedestrian message from the book of Matthew.

Cuteness!

I just had to share this...

Happy Birthday

Ashamedly I failed to mention my mom's birthday this week. Her birthday was on Monday, November 3rd. I won't tell you how old she is, but the first digit is a 7 and the last digit is a zero.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I know you are feeling old, but you're only as old as you feel and age is just a number. You are so active and so young at heart! When I think of old ladies, you are not a person that comes to mind.

I love you, Mom!

Winter Approaches

The weather tonight is fit for neither man nor beast. It is cold, windy, dreary, dark and damp. I believe this foreshadows the days in the doldrums that lay ahead. After the end of daylight savings time, it seems to be the beginning of 5 or 6 months of nothing but dread. I can feel the depressing feelings pressing in on me already and this is only the beginning. UGH!

Election results part 2

And then there's this from conservative internet blogger, Matt Walsh...

"Democrats got trounced Tuesday night, which shows, I think, that people generally reject liberalism when they’re forced to actually endure it in any real sense".

I think that says a lot, don't you? The American voters are fed up and spoke loud and clear from the polling places across the nation. Liberalism sounds good on the surface (to some), but when you actually have to live with it, things are quite different.

Finally, I once again appeal to the GOP. You've been given control of both houses of congress. Now what are you going to do with it? Let's see some action boys and girls!

The power has shifted

The American people have spoken! Political analysts have described the results of yesterday's election as a bloodbath. The Republicans dominated every facet of the election. This shows how thoroughly disgusted the people are with the current administration. Obama's approval rating is at a record low and the ratings for congress are even worse. I believe the majority of the nation has grown to distrust our current leaders to take care of our most basic needs (i.e. keeping the citizens safe, keeping our infrastructure from crumbling etc..). They have shown no leadership in dealing with our border crisis and the massive influx of illegals. They have have failed to protect diplomats abroad (Benghazi etc...). They have dropped the ball in Iraq, Libya, Syria and have been totally inept in handling ISIS (They've stood idly by as these barbarians behead innocent people). The economy is STILL in shambles and 6 years later the Democrats continue to blame George W. Bush. Time to take ownership of the economy folks. And isn't it strange how the marine being held in Mexico wasn't released until shortly before this election. Hmmmm... very curious indeed! What about the IRS scandal... anything ever done about that? Nope!

Now the Republicans have control of the senate AND the house. The question is, what will they do with it? The Republicans need to take swift and decisive action. They need to get to work long and hard. Don't let up! My fear is they won't do much of anything. The fact is I don't trust any politicians... regardless of party affiliation.

Bottom line... the will of the people was expressed yesterday. Obama's own party rejected him and his policies hurt Democrats nation wide. This was a resounding victory for the GOP. I just hope they don't screw it up!

VOTE

Today is election day. I thank God for allowing me to live in this great nation where the people get to elect their representatives in government. I may not always agree with the will of the voters and I do have concerns regarding voter fraud... especially with all the illegals flowing across our borders. Early voting laws and the lack of requirement to show ID allows for extreme suspicion of funny business. But even with all that, I praise the Lord for my right to vote.

BEAUTIFUL!

Abby had her senior pictures taken Saturday. Here are a few samples. In a word... Bee-yoo-tee-full!

One Last Game

Today I watched with sadness Lauren Hill's first and only collegiate basketball game today. For those who may not know, Lauren is a Greendale resident and Lawrenceburg High School graduate. She has inoperable brain cancer and has only months to live. Before being diagnosed with cancer, she signed on to play college basketball at Mt. St. Joseph University. Obviously she is no longer physically able to play competitively.

In a classy move, the university arranged to have the opening game moved up two weeks to allow Lauren to play in "One Last Game". The story has gone national and garnered a lot of media attention. In another classy move, Mt. St. Joe's opponents, Hiram College, allowed Lauren's team to run a set play to begin the game. The play was designed to allow Lauren the opportunity to make an uncontested layup with her non-dominant hand. The play went as planned and Lauren scored the only basket she will ever score in a college basketball game.

This is a gut wrenching story. Lauren is showing such bravery in facing death at a young age and she says she draws strength from a "never give up" attitude. Many people are getting inspiration from Lauren's story. The story is sad and I can't imagine watching one of my children go through something like this. But the real sadness lies in what is NOT being said in this story. Nobody is saying where all this strength and inspiration is coming from. There has not been one mention of God in this whole story. It's amazing how something like this can happen and the Lord is left out of the equation entirely.

Don't get me wrong. I am glad this story has gotten a lot of attention and I know this attention has caused a spike in donations for brain cancer research. I just think it's sad that something of this magnitude does not cause God's name to be evoked.

One of the best

Today is one of the best days of the year. Halloween has passed and the next one is 364 days away. Glad it's over for another year!