2023 New Year Resolution

Posted on by Fred D

Adolph Ochs, the owner of the New York Times, organized the first Times Square New Year’s Ball Drop on December 31, 1907. Save for wartime blackouts in 1942 (the year I was born ☹) and 1943, this iconic event has welcomed in every New Year ever since.

In today’s vernacular,’ dropping the ball’ means to “make a mistake” . . . ever made one? As for this chief ‘ball dropper’. . . not since I just woke up. . . but allow me a couple more minutes to rectify that😊

Since that first Ball Drop 115 years ago our “One nation under God” has woefully ‘dropped the ball’ . . . How??? . . . Why??? . . . there’s 335,829,797 reasons (the population of the United States of America as of today according to Google) . . . and I’m one of those.

Here’s a candid short list of just a half dozen ‘ball drops’ I’ve been guilty of over the past 365 days of 2022:

  • Contemplating on the woulda’, coulda’, shouda’s instead of being grateful for all I have
  • Subtle condemnation of others different social, ethnic, economic, and religious groups
  • Being ‘too busy’ to be there for others in their time of need
  • Disparaging others through self-perceived ‘constructive’ and ‘humorous’ remarks
  • Seeking to be respected at the expense of not respecting others
  • Focusing on what’s in it for me in lieu of what’s in me for it

Compiling this list, the word “others” increasingly convicted my conscience. None of us has ever seen a motive. We can only surmise what motivates others’ demeanor, actions, and beliefs. God’s mercy and grace knows no “others”, only all ragamuffins such as I.

Sooooooo . . . what’s the solution? . . . One-by-One. As much as I’d like to convince my other 335,829,796 Americans to hop on board the Remedy Railroad, it has to begin with me . . . and you.

Therefore, my 2023 New Year resolution, aware there will off-the-rail ‘ball drops’ along the way, is to strive day-by-day to seek compassionate, objective discernment in everything, filtered through Dr. Luke’s healing prescription . . .

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.”

Luke 6:7

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!  All the best for all of His best in 2023

Water’s Frozen Physics

Posted on by Fred D

Physics 101 teaches that heat causes expansion, cold contraction. Thus, hot air is less dense than cold air and rises, while cold air sinks.

Not water . . . this indispensable renegade of physics possesses the unique property of being denser in liquid form than in solid, so ice floats . . . Good thing! . . . otherwise bodies of water would freeze from the bottom up eradicating the sport of ice fishing, and necessitating scuba gear to go ice skating 😊

But . . . why do hot water pipes freeze before cold water pipes?  . . . merely to aggravate homeowners and boost the respect, and income, of plumbers?

Physics 102 explains this frustrating wintertime phenomenon . . . the higher the temperature the more difficult it is for ice crystals to form, causing the water in hot water pipes to super-cool below 32 degrees and freeze faster than in cold water pipes.

Guess whose hot water pipes froze during the recent frigid blast? . . . Congratulations! . . . you just aced Clairvoyant 101 😊

The good news . . . opening doors under the sink; letting spigots drip; and a couple of strategically placed space heaters gratefully alleviated the problem . . . Hooray! . . . definitely preferable to being consigned to a regimen of ice-cold showers 😊

Here’s a ‘nice ice’ pic taken in the creek outside where it belongs and can freeze away! Stay warm, and

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

Brrrrrrrrr!

Posted on by Fred D

50 Degree Rhododendron

Zero Degree Rhododendron

The Great Smoky Mountains has joined much of our nation’s pre-Christmas frigid cold snap . . . the coldest temperatures recorded here in a quarter century!

At our digs up here on the mountain > down in the ‘holler’ > over the ‘crick’, the temperature plummeted from near 50 degrees last evening to flirt with zero this morning . . . an ‘invigorating’ touch of the Last Frontier😊

Unlike her unhinged Alaskan hubby, my refined New Orleans spouse isn’t a ‘cool’ temp aficionado. I explained to her that there is really no such thing as cold weather, just improper clothing. She tacitly complied by layering herself in a decorous assortment of stockings, sweatpants and sweaters (pic strictly forbidden!)😊

Evidently, rhododendrons prefer warmer climes as well, and shrink from ‘cool’ temps as the pics indicate. BTW, don’t nibble on their leaves. They have high severity poison characteristics . . . that reminds me . . . I need to check my dinner salad tonight😊

May this Christmas find you surrounded by friends and family rejoicing together in His birth that conquered death. Smile😊. . . . and stay warm, happy, and healthy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

Never Alone

Posted on by Fred D

A 2018 UK survey of loneliness during Christmas revealed that 17% of people felt lonely during this festive time. I suspect it may be even more in our tragically divided nation.

This morning at a men’s breakfast the issue of Christmas loneliness came up. It brought to mind a story I once read regarding the dismal oppression of feeling alone.

American Indians had a unique practice in training their young braves. After they had demonstrated their skills and proficiency through various hunting, fishing and scouting trials, the young brave’s final rite of passage from youth to adulthood arrived.

On the night of a boy’s thirteenth birthday, he was taken deep into the forest. There, he was left to spend the night alone.

Sleep did not come as the young brave imagined each rustle of leaves, twig snap, and muffled sound in the dense darkness could be a stalking, lethal predator. Throughout the night he huddled frightened, anxiously waiting for the dawn to finally appear.

After what seemed like the longest night of his entire life, the first faint rays of morning began to dispel the darkness. Slowly, the young brave began to distinguish bushes, rocks, and the faint path along which he had been led into the forest.

Then, in an instant, his fear vanished!  His heart leaped with joy! Just a few feet away, armed with a bow and an arrow, stood his father behind a tree. He had been there throughout the night watching over his son.

Our Abba Father stands besides us day and night . . . 24/7/365 . . . armed not with a bow and arrow, but with the love and power of His Spirit to protect us from all the lurking dangers of life’s dark forests.

I pray you’re rejoicing surrounded by family and friends this Christmas season. However, if this finds you troubled by loneliness, may you find comfort in knowing your Creator is standing right there besides you. Reach out and take His hand as He whispers . . .

“Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” –  Hebrews 13:5

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

MERRY CHRISTMAS !!!

The Gift of Others

Posted on by Fred D

Christmas blessings from our home to yours. In whatever circumstances and wherever this may reach you, may it find you and yours resting assured in knowing His Best is Yet to Come!

This momentary adventure called Life is more often experienced in its valleys than on the mountaintops. Suffice it to say my 2022’s sojourn was one mingled with both the depths of failure and the heights of victory. The former of was regretfully of my own doings, the latter was gratefully attributable to:

  • God’s unmerited mercy, grace, and forgiveness
  • Others unmerited acceptance, encouragement, and prayers

Bottom line, this Christmas season thankfully finds Ellen and I still here happily fogging a mirror together, albeit with perhaps a tad less vigor and a few more wrinkles than in days of yore😊

You are one of the many special individuals who astonishingly follow my blog 😊. . . special not because you follow my blog for sure 😊, but special because one or more of your blog posts and/or comments have encouraged and blessed me, and made a difference. Thank you!

A retired pastor friend in Alaska recently sparked a thought of a way this Christmas to reciprocate the Gift of Others you, and countless others, have so graciously blessed me with throughout life. He suggested, “Ask them if there’s something on their heart you can pray for them about.”

Not just another quick, shallow, from the lips “I’ll pray for you” prayer, but a thoughtful, deep prayer from the heart to the One whose heart hears and answers each and every prayer in His time and way, both in Life’s valleys and on its mountaintops.

One of the glorious luxuries of retirement is time, and I’m blessed to be able luxuriate in it. So, if there’s something on your heart you feel you can trust me to pray for from my heart, in absolute total Thee – Me – He confidentiality, I’d be privileged and blessed to do so.

I’m forever grateful for the crucial piece you represent in my Life’s bewildering mosaic God chose to place there . . . it fits! Thank you for making a difference.

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!

Merry Christmas!!!

Fred, Ellen and Bullwinkle

Delightfully Delusional

Posted on by Fred D

Yesterday marked my 29,220 day on terra firma . . . it’s weird being the same age as old people! 😊

My younger, ever-patient spouse, who has tread this planet a mere 25,553 days, consoled me by baking a scrumptious Hummingbird birthday cake (pure manna!), and giving me a shiny, new coffee percolator to ensure the caffeine shot required to jump start my ticker each morning is delivered.  

However, the ultimate age defying technique to prolong youth is RAP . . . not the Snoop Dog rapper form of chanted, rhythmic, street vernacular music ???, but Ole Freddy’s delusional form of Reciprocal Age Perspective.

It’s simple . . . instead of logically attempting to fit 80 candles on a cake and risk setting the house on fire, I become dyslexically delusional, convincing myself I’m 8! . . . can’t wait until next year when I’m 18 again . . . Ellen’s hair just turned 2 shades grayer 😊

Smile 😊😊😊, and  . . .

Keep Looking Up . . . His Best is Yet to Come!