Merry Christmas!

For those of more traditional Christianity, Merry Christmas! For my friends of an older faith, may your Festival of Lights be bright and filled with joy. I thought I would share these words sent to us by our Metropolitan.

“Heaven and earth are made one today, for Christ is born. Today God is come upon the earth, and man is gone up into the Heavens. Today He Who by nature is invisible, for man’s sake is seen in the flesh. For this cause let us also give glory and cry out to Him: ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, which Thy coming hath bestowed upon us; O our Savior, glory be to Thee.'”

As I noted a while back, the nice thing about having effectively two Christmas days is that one can be given over to family and other things, while the second allows a focus on the religious. Either way, both are a time to reflect on God’s love and the miracle of his life.

May your day be Blessed.

Firelight

I’m continuing to follow events and right now the only thing I’m prepared to say is that too many things are not adding up. Nothing about Las Vegas makes any sense (a SF NCO who can’t make an IED?), and there are gaps in too many things there, New Orleans, and elsewhere.

Parts of this are reminding me uncomfortably of The Attack and if you have not read it I do recommend it. Parts are reminding me of the old Keystone Cops movies. Parts, well, parts of it are making my hackles rise with hints of what is out there.

Interesting that a well-funded and organized demonstration just happened to take place in NYC the day after the attack, just like they did after Oct. 7. No, I don’t believe in coincidences but I do believe in enemy action.

Buckle up as there is turbulence ahead. My advice is to take care of last minute prep and be prepared. Hunker down, avoid crowds and other clear targets. Lot of stuff going on that isn’t yet tripping the coverage but that could change. Be prepared. Keep your loved ones close and your things where you can find them in the dark.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Sandstone

I had planned (and wanted) to do a nice post about 2024 and how I hoped 2025 continued things for us all. Instead, I woke up to the terrorist attack in New Orleans, and am watching things continue to unravel here and around the world.

The attacks on NYE in Europe were no surprise; rather, the only surprise is that they were not larger and worse. Notice those countries where such did not take place or were shut down fast. Then notice where they weren’t. Not a surprise.

I’m trying to hold to the 24-hour rule on New Orleans, as things are in flux. Since the Stasi got involved, and the agent in mouthpiece declared it not to be terrorism (just before getting overridden apparently), I am going to take things with a bit of salt. Perhaps a tun would be a good place to start. And, yes, that is the proper spelling for what I have in mind.

Now, however, a cybertruck has exploded in front of the Trump Hotel in Vegas. Could you be any more obvious?

Heads on a swivel folks, the next twenty or so days are going to be a bit turbulent methinks. Be prepared.

Remember, keep your friends and family close, and your things where you can find them in the dark.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Jimmy Carter

I generally try not to say something about someone who has passed if I can’t say something nice or good. I’ve been searching for something nice to say about this man, especially as I very briefly (thank you Lord!) worked on his presidential campaign.

Though it was in no way intentional, he did enable the craft beer revolution in the U.S. That is, he signed legislation crafted by others and guided through Congress by others that allowed people to brew for themselves. In essence, the bill removed constraints put in place by Prohibition, and when it became law it started the process of modernizing both state and federal law. For the full and real story, read up as it is a good story. However, despite the ongoing tongue baths, it is not honest to say that Jimmy was a true and huge champion of craft brewing.

As an ex-President, he helped Habitat for Humanity get publicity and he was involved in efforts that have boosted tropical medicine and health. He does indeed deserve credit for such.

Sadly, there is not much more good that I can say at this time about him. I grew up in Georgia when he was active, and find that he and Biden do have much in common: they are both petty, vindictive, and not known for holding to the truth. I have to give Carter the edge on that, as a case can be made for hyperbole on his part as opposed to the outright fantasy that spouts from Biden.

The man did more damage to world peace and the advancement of Western Civilization than any outside enemy. What he did to intelligence operations is something from which we have yet to recover. I can’t truly put it as a good, but I will say that outside experts became a thing, and in those days we were referred to as Soviet Watchers, China Watchers, etc. Today, OSINT is not just a thing but starting to be a full-up industry, all thanks to Jimmy’s incompetence and the fact that Ronald Maximus realized that outside, honest, intel was needed.

As president and ex-president, Carter truly screwed over Israel and the Middle East. While there wasn’t a totalitarian dictator he wasn’t eager to fellate he was particularly fascinated with Arafat and slurped him at every opportunity. The damage he did in both facets of his life will take generations to repair, if they can be repaired at all.

Nor was such evil limited to the Middle East. You can find it anywhere he touched, but much of the issues facing South and Central America can be laid straight at Jimmy’s feet. Start with Venezuela and work your way out from there.

There is more, and much more detail, into which I can go. For now, I will leave that for others. I will ask you to pray for his soul, for it is needed and right to do so.

Sorry For The Silence

Long story short: I’ve been battling a URI that has bounced back, and a gut bug on top of that. My chest muscles actually hurt from the coughing, despite the cough medicine. Been dealing with low-grade (degree or two) of fever and chills, but this time it seems to really (maybe) have broken. I generally don’t get URIs, but this thing seems to be related to what I had more than a month ago that never fully went away.

As for the gut bug, I thought food poisoning at first, but presentation wasn’t right and found out that there is a bug going around that fits the bill. Joy. Both at once was a bit much. Trying to take care of myself, plan to rest a lot this week. More soon as there is a LOT going on.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Site Should Be Running Better

Still hope to get at least one “real” post up today, but we will see. Meantime, as the room turns, I did manage to get the new grocery cart put together and ready to go. Really like being able to steer!

I also finally sat down and worked through some issues with site and hosting. Thanks to support at said hosting, was finally able to get in and do some critical upgrades, tweaks, and other delights. Even sprang for a paid plug-in upgrade since it was on sale for $30. All should reflect in a better experience for you and for me. Nice to have those issues dealt with.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of the day goes. I have some things I need to do, but am unsure if trying to go do them is a good thing. We will see. Onward.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Posting Delayed

There are things to discuss, from Russia to thoughts on stocking OTCs in emergency kits. Unfortunately, I woke up to the room spinning and dancing in ways I haven’t seen since one unfortunate morning back in my undergraduate days.

The vertigo seems driven by my right ear, and this morning I realized my right sinuses were not clear and the right ear has pressure. Explains the unusual vertigo, which made doing morning prayers a bit of a challenge. Afraid my bows and such were very slight and careful today. Upping the vitamin C, have started taking my carefully horded decongestant, and annoyed I can’t find the emergency bottle of Afrin. Thinking lots of water and hot tea a good thing today too.

Hope to get a post or two up later. I also have to assemble my new grocery cart (thank you to those hitting the tip jar!) as the upgrade is needed. New cart lacks four-wheel drive, but the front wheels swivel which means I don’t have to pop wheelies to steer and it holds almost twice the weight of my current cart. Which means in reality I can handle a third again the weight of my current cart without damaging the cart. It also has a liner to prevent things from falling out.

Did I mention that the new cart (and old until I sell it) have a place in my bugout plan? Yep, if I have to leave by shanks mare or other transport, I plan to use the cart as well as ruck, etc. Already have an idea of how to attach it to a bike at need. The more modes you have for each step, the better. It’s not huge, but you might be amazed at how much you can get in, including large containers of water.

More soon I hope.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Droning

Holding fire on speculation, but will simply note a few quick things:

If memory serves, the Chinese have practiced launching drone swarms from container ships (“civilian”) before. If memory serves, there was a Chinese man arrested in California not all that long ago for flying a drone into/over restricted airspace. If memory serves, the Chinese were buying farmland and other real estate near major (inland) military bases for years (with some of us jumping up and down and trying to get it stopped). Was some of that near Wright-Pat?

Now, as to the White House playbook. Isn’t the response to the drones eerily similar to the spy balloon fiasco?

Oh, and don’t forget all those healthy and in-shape military-aged Chinese males that have come across the southern border in the last couple of years.

The more I watch, the more convinced I am that multiple parties are going to do something stupid ahead of Jan 20. I really hope not, but am not going to bet on it.

Just some quick musings…

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Back, I Hope

With luck, I’m back to more regular posting. Life has been a bit chaotic, but a number of good things are going on right now. If I didn’t say it before, it appears that after three years the government has finally agreed that getting hit by lightning is disabling.

Still waiting on paperwork and other delights. It also may solve my insurance portability issue as I have been informed I have no choice but to go onto Medicaid. It’s a bit confusing right now as to when that happens and how, but hopefully sometime before that takes effect I will get all the proper paperwork. Anyone with any inputs on Medicaid, supplements, etc. let me know. The one thing I do know for sure is that my prescriptions are covered.

Still waiting for the final round of neural testing, and to hear back from the ENT. Hope to get both done before things shift. Will see.

As all the medical testing wraps up, looking at options on finding a new place to live locally. The previous reasons for staying here (medical primarily, and Church) still hold, and the insurance transfer won’t occur until some time next year. So, am finally starting to look around at options.

Quick word to all the real estate types who are using AI to handled chats, e-mail, etc.: It sucketh mightily and you need an option to get to a human rather than deal with a poorly coded AI system. I’m trying to talk with one place here where the AI keeps “intercepting” and responding to my e-mails even when a human is trying to get back to me.

Not rushing right now, as getting medical and disability issues taken care of is the primary goal. I want to take my time and see what happens on several fronts, so that I can be sure I’m making the best choices at that time. Besides, I’m hoping the housing market starts to settle down a bit here in the new year. It would be nice.

One of the places recommended to me as a possible place to move is a ‘senior living’ apartment complex. I’m not sure whether to be amused, insulted, or interested. My inner self still thinks I’m about 20, though the body just laughs.

As I mentioned before, I am getting to check out some preparedness items and want to get some posts up soon. Waiting to see if a few other things work out so I can add them to the mix as well.

Oh, I’m also experimenting with making my own beard oil and balm. The prices charged are outrageous IMO, especially as there is no such thing as a sampler anymore. First attempt went well, though my use of liquid smoke, almond extract, and rye whiskey for a faint scent may have backfired. It does smell good, but it also can smell like bacon cooking, which makes me hungry… Will post more on this later.

It is going to be a busy week, but hoping to get several posts up. Keeping my eye on things as best I can, a lot of what is going on seems to be various players pushing as hard as they can before Trump is sworn into office. That does indeed include Russia, China, and Iran. Here’s hoping no one does anything stupid there or here (hint, swamp and various rats are also pushing as hard as they can here as well).

More soon.

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.

Vacuum Recommendation?

As part and parcel of making any local move, I will need to get a new vacuum cleaner. Right now, looking mostly at Hoover or Shark. Several people have highly recommended the Shark, with Hoover coming in second. What are your thoughts?

Getting hit by lightning is not fun! If you would like to help me in my recovery efforts, which include moving once we have medical issues cleared up, feel free to hit the fundraiser at A New Life on GiveSendGo, use the options in the Tip Jar in the upper right, or drop me a line to discuss other methods. There is also the Amazon Wish List in the Bard’s Jar. It is thanks to your gifts and prayers that I am still going. Thank you.