Shittim

• Shittim, the plural of Shittah, which is Hebrew for wood from the acacia tree, which appears in the bible.   
• Micah 6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.
  6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
  7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
  8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
• Micah 7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
  17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.
  18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

Bullshirtz Burger

67,77,34,0,B

Deadline for a government mandated product.

The Yahoo homepage had some nice reminders all day today and I found this graphic of the fine schedule.  Git yer "affordable" healthcare by Sunday! (FYI - being forced to buy health insurance does not equal affordable healthcare)...and use eHeath because the $850 million government website still has flaws.  I wonder how long it will take before the fines for not having health insurance will grow to the point where they are actually more than the cost of insurance (and where do those fines go?).  My guess is that the Obamacare system will implode before that happens.  60,71,33,0,B

more Austinians

Adam, Ryan, and Alyssa came bearing gifts...folks from Austin know good beer.  Winner from yesterday's post is Bryan Campbell - send me an email to collect your prize. 53,63,34,0,C

can you guess...

...who owns this property way out here in the SW Texas desert?  First correct answer wins a 2XL Benita memorial t shirt.  Tune in tomorrow to see if we have a winner.  40,53,37.0.C

LAUNDRY

38,51,33,T,W

Monday Meme(s)

a little gun rhetoric...

59,70,44,0,B

The beginning of wisdom...

Sometime fear does not mean what you think...but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

all that jazz

The name of this album is Well, I Should Have...* subtitled Learned How To Play Piano.

Yeah, it's very literal.

Now, you're playing with professional jazz musicians: Scott Kreitzer on sax, David Finck on bass, and Jonathan Peretz is playing drums. Was this an act of friendship, or just a measure of the jazz economy — that you gotta do whatever gig comes along?

They were very nice to do it, and I'm not sure they realized what they were doing until we got there. And then they were mad. But not mad enough to stop altogether. So they went through with it, and they were great.

That is real untapped un-talent.

[About saxophonist Scott Kreitzer] He's good.

Yeah! He knows what he's doing.

He really does. But that's just not as interesting.

Do you think it lacks the complete sense of free-form surprise that you're after?

He's not taking any risks. He just knows how to do it.

How safe, to actually—

[Laughs.] I feel bad for people like that.
NPR interview January 19,2016
    56,68,29,0,B

baggin' bags

Bagged up 76 empty feed bags today.  55,70,33,0,C

tax time

Haven't even paid my property tax yet and I just got a check from them.  52,61,36,0,B

new PT

Part of my new physical therapy involves walks around the property bagging trash that has escaped from the inner sanctum in the past year.  Chupa is always there to provide encouragement.  67,75,38,0,B

sunrise

66,75,40,0,C

Monday Meme

Gotta love memes that throw out some miraculous results involving numbers (like how much free college could we provide for the cost of one jet fighter or how much money does each person get if we just divide up what it cost to advertise Obamacare).  Like most memes, they are all simple/brilliant solutions to all our problems till you do the math.  I was "unfriended" for my comment above for being a "buzzkill".  Is it really buzzkill to point out the false perception of something that makes one feel good or appears to be incredibly clever?  Why don't we just leave "false perception" to politicians... 62,72,36,0,B

not really about a whale...

The book of Jonah is a story about a man coming to understand the unequivocal mercy of God and the repentance of a city with a population of over 100,000.  Now all these many years later, what remains of the once great city of Nineveh is under siege by ISIL.  God's mercy extends to all through Jesus Christ.

Luke 11:30For as Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. 

water bowl

Gotta keep the bowl at least half full or Ben can't fit his head in.  54,63,45,0,W

winter in the desert...

62,71,46,0,B

State of the Leg Address

Still walking with a cane.  Doing a mile a day now to build up my girly muscles after a year off.  Chupa, Frank, and Manny are my physical therapists. They follow me on my 4 daily walks. FYI - I won 8 bucks in the lottery.  Don't bother asking for a loan...I have already given it all away.  58,69,36,0,B

Why you should buy a lottery ticket...

Yes, your chance of winning is not very good and there are a lot of really bad things that are more likely to happen to you.  But compared to the odds of you existing specifically as the person you are today, a lottery win seems like a pretty good bet.  Afterall...you have already beaten infinitesimal odds by just becoming you.  50,61,40,0,B

State of the Union

"Our government shouldn't make promises we can't keep but we must keep the promises we already made."  Barry Soetoro.  48,63,30,0,B

Monday Meme

Before we get into all that "free" stuff that Israelis get that we should be giving our own, let's go over some basics.
1.  Does the US give a lot of money to other countries - driving us even deeper in debt?  Yes. (but that alone is not a catchy meme)
2.  Isn't the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) supposed to provide affordable healthcare?  Yes...but it doesn't.
3.  Is there college tuition relief in the US? Yes...it's called a scholarship.
4.  Should you get a break on college loans? No. You were fully aware of the terms when you signed the legal contract.
5.  Does the money the we give to Israel fund their healthcare and education systems for all their citizens? No.

One final note:  the price of gas in Israel is over $8 per gallon.

46,55,30,0,B

foot bath

Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.

POWERBALL

still have some medical bills to pay off

44,56,35,0,B

0% chance of rain

45,61,45,0,W

house hype

been there, doing that

tiny houses

shipping containers

60,69,37,0,B

finally...some sun for a change

57,66,35,0,B

burros

55,62,43,0,B

Monday Meme

I would have gone with a meme about the "militiamen" but there are already far too many of them.  They range from claiming racist white supremacy...to domestic terrotist hillbillies.  Rule number one in memeworld:  You are not getting news - You are getting an opinion from someone with a specific agenda.  That being said, today's meme follows up yesterdays message.

43,48,39,0,B

The only truth

In a world of lies, the only truth you can ever know for certain will only be found through faith in Jesus Christ.  You have nothing to loose by giving it a try...and everything to gain.

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Titus 2:11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, 12 Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world;

Southwest Windpower

Back in my on grid days when I was researching off grid living, I was pretty enamored with wind turbines.  About a year before I sold out and moved off, I was contemplating a career with Southwest Windpower based in Flagstaff Arizona.  I even participated in an installation workshop at Appalachian State University in North Carolina where Southwest had a test facility for their Skystream 3.7 grid tie wind turbine.  A few months later, I visited their assembly and distribution center in Flagstaff and met with the founder David Calley.  At the time I didn't know his other passion was electric vehicles.  I got my first hint when he got excited about the hat I was wearing...it had .giZmo. on it - my YouTube moniker.  Seems the Gizmo was an NEV (neighborhood electric vehicle) still in production at the time.  Since Southwest abruptly shut down in 2013 and sold off their turbine businesses, Calley has been working toward getting his own version of the Gizmo on the road.  BTW - he also has a patent for those foldable tail fairings you see on the back of big rigs on the highway.  35,38,33,0,B

State of the water supply

2015 was another good year for water... 11.67" of rain.  I am a bit under my total storage capacity of 21,000 gallons only due to the fact that I was unable to maneuver my gas pump into place to top off my creek tanks.  Starting off the new year with 17,050 gallons on tap.  39,42,38,0,W