Gratitude Expressed for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar

 

In keeping with the Prophet’s challenge to express our gratitude each day some folks have been sharing their Testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ or their thankfulness for really important aspects of life such as a loving husband, children and extended family to be around or simply the ability to call them on the phone.  I too am grateful for the more important things in life.

That said, this morning I’m most grateful for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar.  Okay, stop laughing and I’ll explain why.

We’re Puppy Sitting for my son while he and his family are out of town on vacation.  Luna is a about four months old, just a guess from how sharp her teeth are, that along with a never-ending supply of energy that is driving the other beasties nuts. 

Yesterday we let the two Senior Puppies take charge of showing Luna the property.  That translates into giving two old fogies a chance to sit back and catch our breath.  After giving her the quick tour of where to go to the bathroom, outside, since this concept apparently was new to Luna; where was I…they took Luna to our next-door neighbor’s hayfield to hunt gophers.

Our Ellie puppy is quite good at figuring out where a gopher is hiding; maintaining attention either to the smell or perhaps movement under the soil.  In any case, Ellie pounced and retrieved a nice-looking specimen, shook it victoriously and then turned the carcass over to her young apprentice. 

A couple of minutes later Luna came prancing out of the hay field, the prize being tossed in the air, shaken upon landing and then tossed again to show off her hunting skills.  I was able to capture some of her theatrics on a short video clip; but our internet connection was too slow to permit sharing that moment.

What has this got to do with being grateful for an Empty Peanut Butter Jar; I’m getting there, be patient.

Luna played with the dead gopher until it was time to come inside for the evening.  I knew that first thing in the morning; well, second thing, after taking care of ‘business, both one and two, that Luna would be looking for the dead gopher.

I was correct.  She found it and immediately began tossing it in the air, maybe to see if there was any life left in it.  Then she gnawed on it a bit, carried it up the stairs to the house and pranced around on the porch, ending up at the other end where we have a shelter built for the puppies to keep them protected when it rains or gets too chilly. That’s where she decided to drop the dead gopher.

I went into the kitchen and grabbed a couple of plastic bags, the kind you take groceries home in.  These make excellent temporary surgical gloves for picking up small dead animals; mice, rats, rabbits, snakes, armadillo; just about anything we find here on our property from time to time. The dead gopher was small and I was able to double sack it to make sure it was packaged in such a way as not to leak or permit odors to escape once placed in our kitchen trash bag.

I washed my hands with On-Guard disinfectant soap and decided it was time for breakfast.  We have some sliced Rye bread that, if lightly toasted, goes well with peanut butter and a glass of chocolate milk.  I’d gotten down to the bottom of the jar and was about to toss it into the trash when it occurred to me, and this was purely inspirational, “Use the Empty Peanut Butter Jar to place the gopher in”. 

So… now the remains of that gopher are secured within a sealed Empty Peanut Butter Jar awaiting its final voyage to the blue dumpster at the end of our private road.  Luna will have to wait for another day to learn about the joys of rolling in the carcass of a dead gopher.  That means I won’t have to give Luna a bath this morning.  So much to be grateful for in this life.

Is it really over?

 

I read a comment issued by an old friend who happens to be a Biden supporter.  She was gloating, as if her intellectual superiority in assessing issues had prevailed, prematurely I might add.  “The election process is over; the final count had been done in Georgia”.  I’ve a great deal of respect for this individual and so rather than go for her throat, a rather crude way of saying we disagree; instead I remained silent, temporarily, which is why I’m writing now.

There is room to wonder what she meant with her remark, it’s over.  In all likelihood a reference to the vote count in Georgia as reported by the major news media outlets, those honorable individuals who’ve presented their propaganda as is if it were factual information.  She believes that Georgia’s vote count assures Biden of the number of Electoral Votes needed to win.

Perhaps she was unaware of those individuals counting the votes in Georgia, the state where several batches of uncounted votes continue to surface, supposedly minor errors in the care and custody of presidential votes that had been cast on, …or even after November 3^rd.  Never mind that the Senate seat which has yet to be determined in Georgia, the outcome will determine which party holds sway for the next several years.

I’d like to think she was selectively ignorant of yet another possibility, that our constitutional republican form of self-governance was over.  I say this because if we as Americans, regardless of which candidate we would prefer to win; if we allow the corruption which has tainted this voting process to stand then we are accepting corruption willingly and without regard for the consequences.

Many on the Biden side are asking for proof of any wrong doing, any at all.  They have some kind of unrealistic idea of how to identify corruption, the intent to manipulate and control the outcome of this election. 

I’m reminded of the scene from the movie, A Few Good Men, the courtroom scene where the now famous line is uttered, “You want the truth?  You can’t handle the truth!”

Let’s work on the idea that there is a ‘preponderance of evidence’ which would indicate to a rational individual that something seriously wrong has, in all probability, occurred in the voting process.  We’ll save having to prove ‘beyond a reasonable doubt’ for later. In other words, is it possible that the statistical mathematics pointing out voting irregularities just happen to match with algorithms built into a machine intended to count votes, that these 20,000 Dominion machines were not intended to alter the outcome of such a count?  

(Image of Eric Coomer found on Facebook, quote verified)

Never mind that the irregularities occurred in several states around the same time of night after it became clear that Trump was not only in the lead; but was projected to win based on the vote count prior to the unexplained ‘shutdown’.

If your answer is a flat out, No; then you’re not being honest.  Why would anyone design a machine that could be accessed from the internet by way of hidden backdoor passwords, have the ability to discount certain votes while at the same time award a higher percentage to the opponent?  Worse, why would any honest person consider using these machines, their ability to alter an election’s outcome wasn’t exactly a secret? 

The machines in question have been used to assist the outcome of elections in other countries.  The CIA and other ‘three letter government organizations’ are on record as having used them to disrupt elections in other countries. To say this is new information is beyond believable.  Some states refused to use the machines in question because the results offered could not be verified, their being unreliable and corrupt.  But this could never happen in America…

So why did 30 states, to include so called battleground states authorize the use of Dominion machines that were capable of altering election results, changing the outcome in favor of whomever had been pre-ordained to win? 

But you say, that hasn’t been proven in a court of law…  I respond with, “If you’re walking along and see a pile of mushy brown substance, you wipe it with your finger, hold it up to your nose and take a whiff, then stick out your tongue and taste it.  After having puked on the sidewalk you say to yourself, Glad I didn’t step in it”.  Are you that hard to convince that something is amiss? 

Or…are you willing to accept corruption, move on because the outcome went the way you’d hoped it would, your candidate won.? 

If that’s how you feel, then you’re probably right; it’s really over.

 

Your Mother is on the Roof

 My father had a library of stories and jokes that he’d share, usually when we were a captive audience while on a long drive.  What has this got to do with anything… I’ll get to that after sharing one of dad’s stories.

While getting ready to go on vacation Fred stopped by and asked if my dad would feed his cat and look in on his mother from time to time.  He left a key to the house along with a phone number to call should he need to get in touch.

Two days later dad found the cat had been run over while crossing the street.  He called Fred and told him, “Your cat’s dead, got run over by a car”.  Fred could hardly contain his emotions; but at the same time explained to dad that he might have softened the news a bit instead of blurting out, “Your cat’s dead”.

Fred suggested that it might have helped if, perhaps, on the first phone call dad might have said something like, “Your cat’s on the roof and I’m having trouble getting it down.  Then on the next call you could say that the cat fell and you took it to the veterinarian.  That way I’d have been more prepared for the bad news about the cat dying.”

Dad listened carefully, aware that often times he didn’t consider the feelings of others. He apologized and told Fred to enjoy the rest of his vacation.  Fred asked how his mother was taking the loss of the cat.  Dad’s response, “Your mother’s on the roof and I’m having trouble getting her down.”

So what has this odd story got to do with current events?

(Image of Biden’s Miraculous Vote Count courtesy of theredelephants.com)

If you’re only paying attention to how the results of the presidential election are being reported by major news media outlets, Twitter and Facebook then you’re in for one heck of a surprise. 

These folks have already awarded the Oval Office to Biden/Harris even though not one state has officially certified the vote count.  In the meantime, they are ignoring what may be the biggest news story of the century, that being the use of computerized voting machines to steal an election.  They are not only ignoring the evidence of fraud, they are stifling anyone who says otherwise, censoring and containing the spread of facts.

Biden/Harris voters are thinking all is well, that their side has won.  The news media is telling them, “The cat is just fine, enjoy the trip”; not even a mention that, “the cat is on the roof and we’re just waiting for it to come down”…so to speak.

“There isn’t any evidence of voter fraud.  Trumpsters with their whacked-out conspiracy theories are only clinging on to hope.  The news media certainly would have reported something, that is if there had really been corrupted voting machines.” 

But the news media has ignored the truth; swept it under the rug believing the courts would side with the news media’s having already “called the election for Biden”. 

There’s little to nothing being reported about corruption which has been identified and graphed, mathematically and statistically impossible results have been referred to as ‘glitches’, baseless claims, rather than the result of intentional programming intended to steal an election.

There is irrefutable evidence that millions of votes for Trump were flipped and magically given to Biden; and this happened simultaneously in several machines at the same moment in battleground states giving Biden a presumptive lead and the presidency; but as with Jedi mind control, “Nothing to see here, move along”.

The impossible has occurred and yet the news media refuses to enlighten the public. 

This will be painful to watch as it reaches the highest court.  Trump will be declared the winner, as he should; but what about the public that thought and actually believed the lies which the news media promoted?  They’re going to be told Trump stole the election by having a stacked Supreme Court because that’s the story the media has been repeating over and over.

Can you see where this will further divide the nation?  The propaganda outlets, having long ago given up reporting the news, continue telling the public Biden/Harris have won.

Dark days are ahead as the media sews discontent and chaos, all the while claiming we should all come together and Unite under Biden/Harris.  I hate to be the bearer of bad news; but Biden/Harris are on the roof at this very moment. 

Avoid the Appearance of Evil

Call me ‘Old School’ if you wish; but certain principles of conduct from another era seem to have been lost along the way.  Let me explain…

Several years ago I was given the assignment to check up on a woman from church whose husband had recently died.  She moved into our area and was still in the middle of grieving for her loss while at the same time she had nobody locally to lean on when her emotions got the better of her.

I made it a point to drop by regularly during the month, no scheduled appointment; just a neighborly check by to let her know someone was thinking about her.  She would invite me into the house; but this is where avoiding the appearance of evil comes in.  Instead, I’d suggest we sit on the front porch where her neighbors could see that nothing inappropriate was going on. 

That brings me to the handling of votes and the appearance of impropriety, whether it exists or not, can be proven in court or not; red flags of danger have caught the public’s attention.  Perhaps that should be re-worded, red flags of danger have been ignored by those whose motto is, “Win by any means and to hell with anyone who says otherwise”.

I realize that being a supporter for your political party means hoping your candidate wins; but does that mean ‘at any cost’, to include destroying the fabric which holds your nation together as a constitutional republic?

When I watched a news clip showing poll workers covering up the windows so nobody could see them counting the votes, ignoring the protocols which call for members of the opposing party to be in attendance while the votes are counted, refusing to allow poll watchers during the election and other actions which would lead a critically thinking person to wonder if possible voting irregularities were being carried out. 

When I was in college taking a course in Insurance which involved actuarial statistics to determine risk factors along with other issues that comprised that industry, it became fairly clear that some statistics form the limitations of reasonability and allow for the determination of what is unreasonable.  That’s why people over eighty year of age don’t purchase life insurance; the cost would be prohibitive, that assumes you could find a company dumb enough to sell the policy.

The use of statistics is important when looking at votes.  Certain polling places shut down in the wee hours of the morning following the election and then opened up a couple of hours later proclaiming they’d found thousands of votes…all for one candidate; the laws of statistics chimed in and proclaimed in unison, “Male Bovine Excrement!”.  There’s no way, statistically speaking, that all the votes which mysteriously appeared during the night were all cast for the same candidate, at least not legally.

That said, there are folks jumping up and down cheering for their candidate’s presumptive win, closing their eyes, ears and minds to the likelihood of massive voter fraud; instead, euphorically caught up with, “He did it! We’ve won the White House!”

I’m having a difficult time congratulating the presumptive winners and those who’ve sold out this nation’s constitutional republican form of government for a cheap copy of a banana republic complete with bought and paid for election results. 

Some might claim ‘sour grapes’ because my candidate hasn’t been re-elected.  My gut reaction tells me I’m watching an election process that steals a victory at any price and a public that will not only tolerate evil; but blindly congratulate those involved. 

Putting it all in perspective with lessons learned from the Come Follow Me home study course, which only this past week covered Mormon’s witnessing the destruction of his people, a people ripe with iniquity who delighted in flaunting their evil ways rather than repent.  I had to wonder, did the Lord know this week’s lesson would be a duplicate of what is going on in America nearly two thousand years later?

The idea occurred to me that regardless of the outcome of this election, the steady downward spiral our nation has taken towards socialism along with accepting, tolerating or even so many of our fellow citizens boasting of their evil ways; in spite of all these warning signs, we must place our faith in Jesus Christ and find joy in our knowledge of the gospel.  We have enjoyed the easy life; but the refiner’s fire proves us in our trials, whether we endure to the end is us to us.