September 2007

September 1 (Saturday)
LuLu appeared to be much better yesterday.  I watched her play with Sam, so she must be feeling better.

I often work on Saturday.  Computer programming is to me what bowling or golfing is to some people.  That is the fortunate thing about my
job--I do for a living what I did as a hobby before I started to get paid to do it.  Unfortunately this morning I have a headache.  I have been
afflicted with the headache curse since before I became a teenager.  I've had some doozies let me tell you.  I feel like the one I woke up with
this morning is on the wane, but we'll see...

Idaho Republican senator Larry Craig is set to resign today.  He was arrested and plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge regarding a sex sting
that took place in a men's room at the Minneapolis airport.  Here is the thing with me:  all of us, admit it or not, have our "dark" side.  The
difference among us is that some of us have self control or character, others of us do not.  Those that have self control are able to navigate
the temptations of life while those of us who don't get caught in the trap.  But I can't imagine what sort of sexual activity I could get caught
doing in a men's room.  Now, if it had been the ladies room...

September 2 (Sunday)
Everybody is stunned by Appalachian States' "upset" victory over #5 Michigan yesterday.  It is a stunner true enough, but the Mountaineers
are back to back (2005 and 2006) I-AA national champions.  Their only loss in 2005 was 0-24 to LSU.  LSU's only losses that year were to
Tennessee in the regular season and Georgia in the SEC Championship game in Atlanta.  I would say that the Appalachian State
Mountaineers are a team to be paid attention to if you are a D-IA school and you schedule them expecting an easy victory.

September 3 (Monday)
Labor day.  I visited Oakland Baptist a few Sundays ago.  I went to Sunday School at the request of my friend, Steve Morelock.  Steve runs the
repair shop at Bigger's Hardware Store in downtown Corinth, Mississippi.  The big turnoff for me was that everybody there had their pet
"fantastic book" to show off.  What is wrong with showing off the Bible as one's "fantastic book?"  The famous evangelist Dwight Moody said,
"It's amazing how much light the scriptures throw on the commentaries."  Put away those "fantastic" self-help books written by so-called
"Christians," and read your Bible.  The Bible is a much more interesting book to read.

Having said that, I have attended Sunday School at First Baptist of Corinth for the past few Sundays.  Yesterday, the teacher of the class I
have attended (I regret not being able to recall his name, but I will find it out) had one of those books with him and shared it with the class.  
Turns out this was one book I simply adore:  James Michener's The Source.  What a great book that is.  It is a work of fiction, and is in no way
intended to be some sort of commentary to the Bible, but it is interesting that the teacher made reference to it in his lesson.  Nonetheless, the
Bible completely outclasses even that fantastic novel.

September 4 (Tuesday)
As I may have already said, going back to work after a weekend or holiday
does not hold as much dread for me as I'm sure it does for some people.  
I have a job I simply love.  I programmed as a hobby for 10 years before I
started getting paid to do it.  The dogs and cat (Lightly) woke me up at 3:45
this morning, so I decided to go in to work early.  I arrived at around 6:30.  
Lightly (a.k.a. Princess) woke me up by rubbing her face against mine.  She
does that.  At about that same time the dogs went out to bark at something
in the yard -- deer probably.  That Beagle (Roy) sure has an irritating croon:  
makes your skin crawl.

Lightly recently had her tail removed.  She developed some kind of infection
near the base of her tail that just wouldn't heal, so off it came.  I found Roy a
few months ago in the Tuscumbia wildlife refuge.  He was nothing but a
skeleton.  He vomited some large hairy mass (looked like rabbit or rat) for
several days.  I got him some Vet attention, and along with some good grub
he is much better.  He is 100% pure love now.

September 5 (Wednesday)
I love Google.  Who doesn't?  In recent years we (the general public) have become aware that there is a species of sharks that can often be
found inhabiting fresh water habitats.  The bull shark is found all over the world in many places where there is only fresh water.  One bull shark
has even been found as far north in the Mississippi River as Alton, Illinois!  Well, when we were kids (back in the 60's) there was a park on
Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans where we could go swimming.  It was like swimming in the ocean only the water was fresh (well, kinda
smelly) not salt.  We always imagined being attacked by sharks and used to play that we were under shark attack.  It was fun but scary; but at
least we knew there weren't really any sharks in Lake Pontchartrain.  This morning it occurred to me to Google for sharks in Lake
Pontchartrain.  Know what I found?  Yikes!  They've been catching bull sharks out of Lake Pontchartrain for as long as anybody can
remember!  Oh well.  Whew.

September 6 (Thursday)
"Just testing the waters," is the phrase I woke up with this morning.  Fox news was showing a replay of GOP presidential hopeful Fred
Thompson's visit with late night talk show host, Jay Leno.  I don't know about you, but I don't want a leader who waits to "test the waters" before
jumping in.  To me that attitude indicates someone who has no convictions for which he is willing to risk his precious reputation.  "Well, I think
I'll test the waters before making any decisions..."  Blah!  I hate that.  Our elected officials are not put into office for the purpose of carrying out
our wishes.  Any elected official worth a hoot will act in accordance with his own convictions and not be concerned with the temperature of "the
waters."

Something in the news today about a research group in Japan finding a link between rising out of bed early in the morning and the tendency to
have cardiovascular problems.  Uh..., the report went on to mention that the majority of early risers are people over 60 years of age.  Uh...,
huh.

September 7 (Friday)
The news this morning is that Portuguese police are ostensibly considering the mother of Madeleine McCann, to be a suspect in the case of
the little girl's disappearance from a Portuguese resort on May 3, of this year.  This brings in mind to me the case of Azaria Chamberlain, a
baby who was purported to have been abducted from a tent by a dingo in the Australian outback in 1980.  Twice I've have had to endure the
horror of watching  a pack of dogs maul one of my cats.  In each case I could only watch and hear it cry out to me for help.  And in each case
all I could do was to wrestle the cat away, only to hold it and watch it breathe its last.  I know the grief that I went through.  I can't begin to
imagine the grief that parents of missing and exploited children must go through.  For all those parents, be it known now that for these few
seconds I am thinking about this.

September 8 (Saturday)
I was in bed by 7:30 yesterday evening, so naturally I was at my computer, working
at 3:30 this morning.  I like the early morning hours, but I prefer 4:30 or later.  I
bought a new phone today.   The other phone was three years old, and the battery
was getting weak.  They said they didn't have any more replacement batteries for
the model phone I had, so I had to get a new one.  I also got that oil changed today.  
I get the 5000 mile synthetic.  Commuting to Memphis costs me 800 miles each week,
so I have to do something to slow down those oil changes.  Also, I got a haircut
and a refill on Bonnie's phenobarbital.  Bonnie has mild seizures.

September 9 (Sunday)
Headache.  Worked a little bit on inventiv software stuff.  Watched almost no football.  
Sick most of the day.

September 10 (Monday)
Tired.  I'm not sleeping well lately.  I could blame the dogs, but all I have to do is put them out.  I have trouble doing that.  I did a lot of mopping
and cleaning yesterday.  Those animals sure are messy.  Today is a good programing day.  I have plenty to keep me busy. I have an idea how
Patton must
have felt when he got the gas he needed after being held up due to a lack of gas.

September 11 (Tuesday)
Was it not on a Tuesday six years ago that the twin towers of the world trade center in New York, were attacked?  All day today we shall hear
this question:  "Why do they hate us so much?"  I'm sure there is no easy answer to this question, but please allow me to suggest one.  I went
to Sunday School and church nearly every Sunday for the first 30+ years of my life.  As a Christian it was drilled into me that the Israelites
(Jews) were God's chosen people and that he had given to them that piece of land over there west of the Jordan River and east of the Sinai
peninsula, thereabouts.  I was also taught that God commanded the children of Israel to completely displace all previous inhabitants of that
land.  I was also told that those previous inhabitants were not displaced and that they reside there still.  Now here is the thing, those people
over there are well aware of what we here in America were taught when we went to Sunday School.  In their minds, do they not see us as ones
who would displace them from what they consider their homeland?  Why would they not be at least paranoid about why we support Israel the
way we do?  Suppose I arrived at your door with the announcement that God had ordained me to displace you and your family from your
house.  Are you going to say, "Well, sure.  If God ordained it, here, we'll get out.  Take my house?"  I doubt it.  So why do we have such trouble
seeing things from their point of view?

September 12 (Wednesday)
Two days ago you couldn't breathe outside because of the heat and
humidity.   This morning I stepped outside and had my breathe taken
away by the cold.  What gives?  Nonetheless, I am way behind on
getting my firewood ready for this winter.  Heck, I haven't even cut any
firewood yet.  Oh, well.  Every day on my way home from Memphis I
pass these guys about a mile from my house.  They are so cool I just
had to snap a picture.  What are they?  Donkeys?  Asses?  Did Jesus
ride one of these into Jerusalem?  Did one of these guys speak to
Balaam?  I guess.

Lot's of good programming going on lately.  The more the merrier I
always say.

Sorry about not having much to say today.

September 13 (Thursday)
Not quite as cold this morning as yesterday.  Hurricane Humberto is
making himself felt here in the Mid-South by virtue of the extensive cloud cover.  May Winkler did her thing on Oprah yesterday.  I did not see
it, but I have seen excerpts.  From what I can tell Mary Winkler has a difficult time with the truth.  Denial is what I would call it.  She reminds me
of a few women I have known in my lifetime.

September 14 (Friday)
Warming up again.  Basically finished replacing query names with SQL queries in AdvantageServer.  Today has been rather uneventful so far.
 O. J. Simpson a suspect in a break-in and robbery in Las Vegas?  Oh, well.

September 15 (Saturday)
I cut some firewood today.  Before that I bought a heating and air unit (22,000 BTU, I think) from Biggers Hardware.  It should be delivered next
Saturday.  I have been able to save some serious money on my electric bill by burning wood in my fireplace insert.  I don't think I'll be able to
cut wood as regularly, now that I am commuting to Memphis every day.  So, hopefully, I can keep the bill down with the new unit.

All these foreclosures.  As time goes on I realize more and more what a good deal I got on my place.  $85,000 with a 6.5% rate.  16.5 acres
with a catfish pond.  Man!  I love this place.

September 16 (Sunday)
I had a fire in my fireplace yesterday and today, and probably won't need one again for a while.  I have to say something about this O. J.
Simpson thing.  He has been arrested today on charges of armed robbery or breaking and entering or some such thing.  We're all aware of
the murder trial 12 years ago, in which O. J. was charged with the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman.  In our system of
justice a man is presumed to be innocent of any charges until he is proven guilty in a court of law and by trial in front of a jury of his peers.  If
he is proven guilty then we may assume that he is indeed guilty.  On the other hand if he is acquitted of the charges then he has the right to
be assumed innocent.  It seems to me that for the most part O. J. Simpson has ever been afforded that assumption even though he was
lawfully acquitted.  For all that we would like to presume and indeed assume that O. J. did indeed murder Nicole and Ron, the fact is that the
constitution of the United States guarantees that he cannot again be charged for those murders, nor can he be tried again.  Like it or not that
is our legal system here in the United States.  No better system can be found anywhere in the world.

September 17 (Monday)
I worked with Otis at Corinth City Schools yesterday morning, so I did not attend Sunday School anywhere; otherwise, yesterday was pretty
much uneventful.  No big headache like I had the Sunday before.

September 18 (Tuesday)
A lawyer from Florida was arrested in an Internet porn sting because
he was seeking to have sex with a five (5) year old girl.  Ostensibly
he thought he was chatting with a real girl's mother, but was in fact
chatting with an undercover officer posing as the mother.  We all
know about NBC's Chris Hansen and his "To Catch a Predator"
episodes.  So what is my take on the subject of undercover stings?  
OK, I say embarrass the hell outta these guys,  plaster their picture
all over the television, but you cannot put a man in prison because
of what he thinks.  It is a terrible thing and sick that a grown man
would actually have sex with a minor child, and if he does, lock him
up and throw away the key; but you simply cannot do so to a man
only  on the basis that he thought he was going to have sex with a
child.  I suspect many will disagree with me here, but there it is.

September 19 (Wednesday)
I sleep every night with about five dogs and maybe a couple of cats.  
Most of the cats don't come around when the dogs are where I am,
but one or two do.  There are five cats that exhibit no fear of the
dogs.  This became a detriment to one of my kitties that was mauled by dogs a year ago.  He had no fear of dogs and found himself in trouble
with a couple of boxers who lived nearby.  I believe we are safe where I live because my dogs keep strange dogs away, and they wouldn't hurt
any of my cats--not on purpose, anyway.  Nonetheless, I keep a close watch when my dogs and cats are together.  Oscar, who is a very large
breed dog, likes to grab a cat in his mouth and gently squeeze.  I think the cats like this because I will notice them nudging him as if they want
him to do that to them.  Anyway, I never cease to be amazed that these animals get along with each other so well.  I love my babies.

September 20 (Thursday)
Before I left my house to come to work I went to feed my outside cats.  It was still dark where their food bowl is, but I could barely make out one
of the cats is the darkness who appeared to be asleep in the bowl.  I reached out my hand to stroke it and as I touched its fur it occurred to me
that the fur was a little too coarse for a kitty.  Then I took a really close look.  Yikes!  It was an opossum!  Oh well, at least he didn't bite me.  As
I sit here it has occurred to me that I should have snapped a picture of him, but, I let that one get away.

O. J. Simpson got out on bail yesterday.  I don't consider myself to be naive, but I guess it's possible.  I just don't really care what happens to
O. J.  As I have said before, and what I have tried to convey is that the O. J. Simpson saga is a very strong testament to the greatness of our
country's way of doing things.  In the old days and in the Old Country a person could go to prison for simply not paying his bills.  In many
places around the world even today a person can go to prison because of his religious or political beliefs or simply because the powers that be
want to put someone in prison.  The constitution of the United States affords every citizen the right to due process of law.  It is incumbent upon
the government to prove culpability beyond a reasonable doubt.  And if the government fails to do so and a defendant is acquitted of the
stated charges then that person is entitled to the assumption of innocence and can never be tried for that charge again.  How much better can
that be?  So even if you think that O. J. "beat the rap," you can thank God that you live in a country where you are allowed accumulate debt,
renege on that debt, and still maintain your freedom.

September 21 (Friday)
"Free the Jena '6'."  That was the headline in this morning's Commercial Appeal (Memphis).  Let me see if I have this straight:  Six boys
physically assault another boy, causing extensive damage to the boy's face and putting him in the hospital, and we don't believe that the boys
that did the assaulting should go to jail?  "Yeah, but the boys that did the assaulting were black and the boy that was assaulted was white, and
there were some nooses hanging from a tree."  Doesn't matter.  White, black, purple, or green, assault is assault.  Nooses hanging from a
schoolyard tree is something for which you suspend someone from school.  Physical assault is something for which you send someone to jail.  
Do you have it straight now?

September 25 (Tuesday)
Ha!  You thought I would be writing something each and every day.  So did I.  But, as well-meaning as I may have been, I have to admit that
from time to time I will be missing a day or two.  I am working on a new computer today.  The other computer will be going into the shop for a
checkup, so I have had to transfer everything over to this machine for now.  I attended Sunday School at First Baptist again this past Sunday.  
Friday on my way home from Memphis I passed a place where I have seen a very young puppy.  
Yesterday (Monday) morning on my way to Memphis I set out one of those small animal traps to
see if  can catch him.  No luck so far.

September 26 (Wednesday)
Well, I caught something but it was not a dog.  It was a cat.  I didn't get close enough to
determine its gender, but it looks to be only a few weeks old--less that six months.  I'll have to
keep it until I can deliver it to the Corinth Alcorn County Humane Society (CACHS).  I called the
director, Michael Boston as soon as I had the cat in my truck.  I'll take it over to the shelter on
Saturday morning (hopefully I don't get too attached to it before then).

September 27 (Thursday)
















September 28 (Friday)
Another Friday.  Yeah, it's TGIF.  But honestly, I coulda stayed longer today.  I had one of those brain-bending problems that I worked on this
week and just minutes before quitting time (4:00 for me) it finally came together.  I truly wanted to keep going, but because of the long drive
home I had to leave.  I had a couple of days like that this week, where when 4:00 came around I wanted to stay but had to force myself to shut
it down and leave.  Yeah, In know.  It's difficult to believe.

September 29 (Saturday)
I delivered the kitty to the animal shelter today, and it was a difficult thing for me to do.  I do so get attached to those babies.  The little thing
shook like a leaf every time I got near him.  It killed me to leave him behind.  I also delivered a puppy--about two months old--to the shelter.  I
found him wandering around in the middle of the road.  I swear, if it were legal I do think so I could find some use for that .22 of mine (not on
the dog).  Michael Boston is the director, but Loretta runs the shelter.  Michael has done one handsome job of organizing the place to the
point to where besides a great website, the shelter adopts animals out all over the country.  Loretta is the perfect person the run things,
though.  She is a hard worker and cares very much for the animals.  She is stronger than I, however.  I couldn't handle the grief that comes
from dealing with the idiot public she has to deal with.

September 30 (Sunday)
Today I deliver my computer to Otis to get fixed.  I have the one I work with in Memphis, so I'm still in business.  The weather is beginning to
cool off.  Gotta get that cooling/heating unit installed and cut some more wood.  
He's (or she) back! It was dark and I was a little unsteady but I did snap this picture
of my opossum friend who showed up again this morning.  He is a little scary
looking, I know, but oh so cute!  And I checked my trap on the way to Memphis and
know what I had in it?  A baby possum!  I let it go, of course.  Looks like I may not
get the puppy I saw last Friday.

I have been reprimanded for catching and retrieving the kitten.  Something in me
cannot argue with the position that animals should be left alone--even stray dogs
and cats; but I am definitely of the opinion that people ought not let their animals
run loose if their animals haven't been spade and neutered.  Pets shouldn't be
allowed to run loose, and they should be neutered.  I have retrieved many very
young kittens and puppies.  It is a shame to see so many of these abandoned and
helpless creatures, and shame be on any person who would "dump" a litter of
puppies or kittens.