3:56, #550: Yellow Hair

Here it is, 134 years to the day (thank you, Frodo) when George Armstrong Custer passed through the Pearly Gates to his part of the Heavenly Mansion as a result of his unfortunate breaking of that Sabbath morning at the Little Bighorn in 1876. And, yes, good old Glory Hog George had gotten saved at Monroe Presbyterian Church in February, 1865 while on furlough from his part of the Civil War, according to author Jeffry D. Wert in his book, Custer: The Controversial Life of George Armstrong Custer. But, of course, you knew that fact from reading the first Appendix of God Caused the Civil War, now didn't you?!!

I wonder what color his part of the Mansion was painted...blood red, Great Plains green, or maybe a certain shade of Clairol Gold in honor of his Lakota Sioux-given moniker?

3:55, #549: Chipmunks

Here at Camp Cornelius we have a proliferation of the striped little fellows...the picture is Chippy, the first one we so originally named, who appears to be the patron of the bunch near the Grey Havens.
Naming chipmunks is a tenuous hobby, to say the least, since most of the little guys look nearly identical. BUT, behavioral characteristics differentiate them as well as the rest of the kingdoms within the Kingdom, so here we go in another example of my self indulgence here in Internetland.
Chippy apparently fathered two little fellows I call Stonewall and Rocky. Stonewall always scoots away from the food cache we've set out for the birds and 'munks along the loose stone wall running the length of our driveway; hence, his moniker.
Rocky moves in a left to right direction from the Havens Tree Nursery in the ivy across a pile of small rocks I've accumulated at the corner of the Andreas Fault here at Camp Cornelius. Frankly, I think he was a Confederate soldier running across Devil's Den at the Battle of Gettysburg in a former incarnation, speaking in a post-Reformational, Van Tillian, Zen sorta way, of course! ;) The funny thing is that he always moves across the rocks on his return path, too...retreat, I guess as the Union forces of mourning doves, chickadees, and cardinals marshal themselves in the region.
Let's see, we also have JEB...cousin to Stonewall, named after another Confederate Christian General from the Civil War, who always retreats along the concrete ledge running the length of the front of the Library.
Cornelius must live somewhere in the vicinity of our classroom building, so naming him seemed rather obvious, too.
So, you're probably asking yourself, "So What?"
Relax...enjoy what's around you...walk on The Edge and enjoy the view!
Got bird seed?

3:54, #548: Sites

Here's a site for sore eyes...or maybe that should be a site for shore eyesight? Actually I could probably cite some sites that would be replete with sights, but my eyesight would only get shortsighted.

Actually, I'm just experimenting with shrinking down the site so it fits on my computer desktop in toto (not to be confused with Dorothy's Toto) instead of only in part.

I wonder if hindsight has to do with looking at male deer or ghetto booty? Someday we'll look back on this and see yet another sight, Eh?!!

3:53, #547: Stupid Sayings

Did you ever actually THINK about some sayings that have become standards in the American language? Some of them make no sense, some are just plain stoopid!! ;P Here are some f'rinstances:

"As cute as a button." Have you ever looked at a button??!!!...'cute' is not a phrase I would use unless there might be some baby clothing out there with little lambies on the button. 'Round as a button,' 'tarnished as a Civil War button,' 'four-holed as a button' might be possible, but NOT 'cute!!'

Then there's 'happy as a clam.' Just exactly how happy is a clam? Is this a clam at any oyster feed where everybody's slurping down the raw and otherwise cooked oysters without pearls, leaving them thar clams alone??!! ;P

I just spotted 'bald as a cucumber' on a site. Does that mean the guy who's being compared to the cuke also has a whole lot of little bumps on his head and green stripey skin?

If someone has 'not one red cent,' does this mean he's not going to make it in a Communist country? And for that matter, why ARE Commies called Reds? OK...the International Communist flag is all red, hence the name.

If you do something 'in cold blood,' shouldn't you be dead, given that 98.6 is the normal temp?
Well, my Feng Shui album is soothing me so that my shoe is on the other foot...

Oh, yeah...just exactly how smart is a whip?
Got wonderment?

3:52, #546: Ants

I was sitting on the back porch of the Havens this morning observing one of the industrious ants that Proverbs 6 tells me to observe. First of all, while you're sitting around watching ants, are you the Sluggard addressed to get busy in the chapter, or does your observation technique then become the first step in your recovery from sluggard-like behavior?

Continuing that thought, do you have to take the second step in Sluggard Recovery by becoming industrious, or will the original Sluggard go and recruit seven more Sluggards to sit around and watch the ants with you as the demons did in one of Jesus' illustrations about 'sweeping the house clean' when it didn't work properly?

Oh, and do the ants sit around and crack wise about the stupid grasshoppers during the time in the winter when the ants are 'holed up' gnoshing on whatever it is they gnosh that they gathered during the Industrious Season?

If ants decide to go on a sit down strike, does that become an Industrious Revolution?

3:51, #545: I'm All In

The American language is an interesting thing when you get around to thinking about it. Back in the day (whichever decade you happen to pick, mine is around the 60s and 70s in this case) "I'm all in" meant "I've worked my butt off and I can't possibly lift my arms even to drink that beer that looks so good!!"
Just the other week a buddy of mine used the phrase in connection to Texas Hold 'Em Poker to illustrate Christian behavior in a way which means "I'm totally committed" and when I commented I had never played Texas Hold 'Em but in Five Card Stud I've been given a Royal Flush by the King of Kings, he kindly wrote back and told me that I 'was all in' with my walk...kinda encouraging, actually.
Well, I don't write this to brag. I'm just listening to Alabama's song, "I'm In A Hurry" which states that "I'm in a hurry to get things done...Oh, I rush and rush 'til life's no fun. All I really gotta do is live and die, but I'm in a hurry and don't know why." I guess I'm exhorting you to be "All In" for the Lord but not to run yourself into the ground when fellow Christians want you to so that you're "All In" like Robert Murray McCheyne was when he said, "I've killed the horse and now the message can't get through"...meaning he worked himself to death in Christian workaholic fashion.
Got relaxation?

3:50, #544: Tolkien In Wonderland

I watched Johnny Depp's version of 'Alice In Wonderland'...actually, that should probably be 'Tim Burton's version' since he directed it...last night for the second time and was impressed with some Tolkienesquenesses...hey, if Lewis Carrol and J.R.R. can invent words, so can I! ;P Here's my comparison of two excellent movies:

The obvious first one is that the Good Guys triumph over the Bad Guys when Alice with her crimp style blond hair and shining armor cut off the head of the Jabberwocky in a scene reminiscent of the battle scene outside the Black Gate of Mordor when Sauron's Red Eye (hmmm, Red Queen is the baddie!) comes crashing down to assure the positive fate of Middle Earth. Oh, is Middle Earth situated directly above Underworld?

Speaking of Alice, a.k.a. Mia Wasikowska...she reminded me an awful lot of Galadriel, a.k.a. Cate Blanchett with her crinkle-cut long blond hair both when she was wearing her Chinese-pajama outfit walking back and forth while deciding to fight the Jabberwocky AND when she sailed away...come sail away, come sail away, come sail away we meeeeee...on The Wonder at the end of the movie...heading to The East instead of to The West, of course.

Oh, and did the red card army vaguely resemble ORCS?!! And the white chess piece army had a rather Elvish look about them to someone who's seen 'Lord of the Rings' 29 times!! Oh, notice, too, that the red cards throw down their weapons at the end and desert the Red Queen, a.k.a. Helena Bonham Carter just as the orcs and other bad guys desert Sauron at his downfall.

Let's see, then there's the comparison of Elendil, Aragorn's sword with the Vorpal sword...one has to be rebuilt so Middle Earth's Champion can wield it successfully against Sauron and his minions and the other gets recovered from the Bandersnatch's house so Alice can "OFF WITH HIS HEAD' to the Jabberwocky. ..cool picture for the original of Through the Looking Glass that's in public domain, by the way!

The Battle of the Chess Board reminded me of both the Battle at Helm's Deep AND the Battle at Mordor's Gate with two armies clashing and the Nazgul-wannabe-Jabberwocky getting slain by the curly haired girl just like the Witch King of Angmar got it from Eowyn the curly haired I-was-wearing-my-helmet-I'm-having-a-bad-hair-day warrior of Tolkien's tale.

It's time to open the Gates of Camp Cornelius, so I'll wrap this review for now. It's time for me to 'go snicker snack' but I will be 'galumphing back!'
Got Sword of the Spirit to slay the REALLY Bad Guy and his minions?!!