Saturday, April 4, 2009

Still here

So last evening I went down to practice and we did not have enough show up to make it worthwhile so Charlie B, Tim, Kurt, The Prince and Princess and I went to Noah's Ark for supper and conversation and had a glorious time. Much better than practicing. I was looking around the table and I realized that three of my closest friends were there. I have others and some of them aren't even Masonic.

I overheard someone tell another person that "Masonry was my life" the other day as he handed the phone to her. I hate to tell you guy but there is a hell of a lot more to my life than Masonry. I have friends, I go to plays,movies, and other cultural events.I read books. I meet some friends for coffee (and chocolate), I take pictures. I do blogs (several of them) - I do a lot with Masonry because I enjoy it and I am making a contribution to Masonry and Masonic Orders and that is fine but to say that Masonry is my life means that you don't know me very well at all - even though we went to grade school together (and that was a hell of a long time ago) Yes I do attend a lot of Masonic and Masonic related events but as with any gemstone (and I am an emerald) I have many facets.

When you call me up at almost 5:00 PM on stated meeting night naturally I am not going to have much time to talk as I am still putting things together for the meeting. Being Secretary of the Lodge is a commitment and it takes time (sometimes I think I need to be committed for taking it on) but I am retired after 38 years of teaching. I suppose you might have been able to say that teaching was my life because I put so much effort into it but even then I did many of the things listed above. So you pissed me off with your comment. I doubt that you will ever read this and if you do, perhaps you will think before you talk. In the meantime - "putter around your dusty archives"

Well that is off my chest. I was going to go to Sioux City (yes for a Masonic Meeting) but the weather has promised to be crummy up there today and down here tomorrow. This is Iowa after all and winter likes to hang on. We could get 5 to 6 inches - or nothing.

This picture is from Dom Caristi's Blog (link on the left) - As I have said before he is in Greece and he is doing a super job of posting pictures. In 1976 I stopped in Greece on my way home from Egypt. I am so very glad I did. It is a beautiful country and dotted with places like this. It is worth going over to look at his blog.

Dom likes humor so in his honor I will close this post with a joke someone sent me. I can certainly relate.


A woman calls her boss one morning and tells him that she is staying home because she is not feeling well.
"What's the matter?" he asks
"I have a case of anal glaucoma," she says in a weak voice.
"What the hell is anal glaucoma?" "I can't see my ass coming into work today . "

It reminds me of the disease we used to get in my family. It was called rectitus. And it was when your optic and rectal nerves got crossed and it gave you a shitty outlook on life.

Thanks for stopping by, ARTYAL. Going to the grocery store and may finish my book. I have taken forever to get through it because it just gets me angry everytime I read a few pages and I have to put it away. It is called "Family of Secrets" It is worth the read.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Wordzzle

As always click on the button to see the guidelines.
And don't forget to go to Raven's Nest to see all the others.

Ten Word Challenge will be: apoplexy, doctor, hummingbird, shallow end of the pool, brigadier general, mustard, greed, parallelogram, slumber party, casual


Mini Challenge: Mount Olympus, arsonist, portraits, birch trees, "that car needs a new muffler"

"Oh
doctor," screamed Rhonda. "I think someone is suffering from apoplexy. I was watching Phrog here in the library and Saydie started claiming that she was talking to him on the phone. I think she has let a hummingbird flitter around in her head. She acts like Brigadier Generall Michael Mustard, that person of greed, we found floating in the shallow end of the pool on the parallelogram float, who we would not invite to a casual dinner or a slumber party on Mount Olympus. "

It turned out that he was an
arsonistt who planted all of those birch trees and then painted portraits of his men climbing them. (birch trees grow quickly under the green power) - "Oh my, that car needs a new muffler. It is making such a racket. Why hello, it is LaGi returning from his sojourn."

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: acrobat; grocery store; ceiling fan; dandelion; bumble bee; alabaster; scissors; chartreuse; strenuously; cube


Mini Challenge: iPod; poison ivy; computer; interpreter; optometrist

News Release

News Release
For Immediate Release: April 3, 2008
Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal: 515-281-3901
House Speaker Pat Murphy: 515-281-0817

Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing civil rights

This is a joint statement from Iowa Senate Majority Leader Mike Gronstal and
Iowa House Speaker Pat Murphy on today's Supreme Court decision:

"Thanks to today's decision, Iowa continues to be a leader in guaranteeing all of our citizens' equal rights.

"The court has ruled today that when two Iowans promise to share their lives together, state law will respect that commitment, regardless of whether the couple is gay or straight.

"When all is said and done, we believe the only lasting question about today's events will be why it took us so long. It is a tough question to answer because treating everyone fairly is really a matter of Iowa common sense and Iowa common decency.

"Today, the Iowa Supreme Court has reaffirmed those Iowa values by ruling that gay and lesbian Iowans have all the same rights and responsibilities of citizenship as any other Iowan.

"Iowa has always been a leader in the area of civil rights.

"In 1839, the Iowa Supreme Court rejected slavery in a decision that found that a slave named Ralph became free when he stepped on Iowa soil, 26 years before the end of the Civil War decided the issue.

"In 1868, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that racially segregated "separate but equal" schools had no place in Iowa, 85 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1873, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled against racial discrimination in public accommodations, 91 years before the U.S. Supreme Court reached the same decision.

"In 1869, Iowa became the first state in the union to admit women to the practice of law.

"In the case of recognizing loving relationships between two adults, the Iowa Supreme Court is once again taking a leadership position on civil rights.

"Today, we congratulate the thousands of Iowans who now can express their love for each other and have it recognized by our laws."

I am proud to be an Iowan today as I am every day. The Supreme Court left no doubt in its unanimous decision that in Iowa every one has rights that will be protected and maintained. I am just sorry that the above e-mail came with two links so that I could contribute to the party. Can't we just do some things without asking for money?

Quotes for Today

"It feels really good to work with a US president who wants to change the world and who understands the world."
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy today

“The Iowa statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution,”

Iowa Supreme Court

Now my friends Mark and Terry are  married legally after being together for 32 years.

Found For Friday

An elderly man goes into a brothel and tells the madam he would like a young girl for the night. Surprised, she looks at the ancient man and asks how old he is.

'I'm 90 years old,' he says.
'90!' replies the woman. 'Don't you realize you've had it?'
'Oh, sorry,' says the old man. 'How much do I owe you?'

One evening a Husband, thinking he was being funny, said to his wife, "Perhaps we should start washing your clothes in 'Slim Fast'. Maybe it would take a few inches off of your butt! "

His wife was not amused, and decided that she simply couldn't let such a comment go unrewarded.

The next morning the husband took a pair of underwear out of his drawer. "What the Hell is this?" he said to himself as a little dust cloud appeared when he shook them out.

"April," he hollered into the bathroom. "Why did you put Talcum Powder in my underwear?"

She replied, "It's not talcum powder; it's Miracle Grow."

A police officer pulls over a speeding car. The officer says,
' I clocked you at 80 miles per hour, sir.'

The driver says, 'Gee, officer I had it on cruise control
At 60, perhaps your radar gun needs calibrating.'

Not looking up from her knitting the wife says: 'Now don't
Be silly dear, you know that this car doesn't have cruise control.'

As the officer writes out the ticket, the driver looks over at
His wife and growls, 'Can't you please keep your mouth shut for once?'

The wife smiles demurely and says, 'You should be thankful your radar detector went off when it did.'

As the officer makes out a second ticket for the illegal
Radar d etector unit fitted in the car he had just pulled
Over, the man glowers at his wife an d says through
Clenched teeth, 'Damit, woman, can't you keep your
Mouth shut?'

The officer frowns and says, 'And I notice that you're not wearing your seat belt, sir. That's an automatic $75 fine.'
The driver says, 'Yeah, well, you see officer, I had it on, but took it off when you pulled me over so that I could get my license out of my back pocket.'

The wife says, 'Now, dear, you know very well that you didn't have your seat belt on. You never wear your seat belt when you're driving.'

And as the police officer is writing out the third ticket the driver turns to his wife and barks,
'WHY DON'T YOU PLEASE JUST SHUT UP?!?'
The officer looks over at the woman and asks, 'Does your husband always talk to you this way, Ma'am?'

I love this part........... :

'Only when he's been drinking'


Click to embiggen and read.
New Nail Gun, made by DeWALT.
It can drive a 16-D nail through a 2x4 at 200 yards. This makes construction a breeze. You can sit in your lawn chair and build a fence. Just get your wife to hold the fence boards in place while you sit back and relax with a cold beverage. When she has the board in exactly the right place, just fire away. With the hundred round magazine, you can build the fence with a minimum of reloading. And since your wife positioned each board, she cannot complain that the fence was made wrong. Best part? After a day of fence building with the new DeWalt Rapid fire nail gun, your wife will never ask you to build or fix anything else, ever again.

A married Irishman went into the confessional and said to his priest, 'I almost had an affair with another woman.'

The priest said, 'What do you mean, almost?'

The Irishman said, 'Well, we got undressed and rubbed together, but then I stopped.'

The priest said, 'Rubbing together is the same as putting it in. You're not to see that woman again. For your penance, say five Hail Mary's and put $50 in the poor box.'

The Irishman left the confessional, said his prayers, and then walked over to the poor box.
He paused for a moment and then started to leave.

The priest, who was watching, quickly ran over to him saying, 'I saw that. You didn't put any money in the poor box!'

The Irishman replied, 'Yeah, but I rubbed the $50 on the box, and according to you, that's the same as putting it in!'

There once was a religious young woman who went to Confession. Upon entering the confessional, she said, 'Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.'

The priest said, 'Confess your sins and be forgiven.'

The young woman said, 'Last night my boyfriend made mad, passionate love to me seven times.'

The priest thought long and hard and then said, 'Squeeze seven lemons into a glass and then drink the juice.'

The young woman asked, 'Will this cleanse me of my sins?'

The priest said, 'No, but it will wipe that smile off of your face.'

A man was just waking up from anesthesia after surgery, and his wife was sitting by his side. His eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're beautiful.' Then he fell asleep again.

His wife had never heard him say that before, so she stayed by his side. A few minutes later his eyes fluttered open and he said, 'You're cute.' The wife was disappointed because instead of 'beautiful,' it was now 'cute.'

She asked, 'What happened to beautiful?'

The man replied, 'The drugs are wearing off

Muldoon lived alone in the Irish countryside with only a pet dog for company. One day the dog died, and Muldoon went to the parish priest and asked, 'Father, my dog is dead. Could ya' be saying' a mass for the poor creature?'

Father Patrick replied, 'I'm afraid not; we cannot have services for an animal in the church. But there are some Baptists down the lane, and there's no tellin' what they believe. Maybe they'll do something for the creature.'

Muldoon said, 'I'll go right away Father. Do ya' think $5,000 is enough to donate to them for the service?'

Father Patrick exclaimed, 'Sweet Mary, Mother of Jesus! Why didn't ya tell me the dog was Catholic?


An elderly man walks into a confessional. The following conversation ensues:

Man: 'I am 92 years old, have a wonderful wife of 70 years, many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Yesterday, I picked up two college girls, hitchhiking. We went to a motel, where I had sex with each of them three times.'

Priest: 'Are you sorry for your sins?'

Man: 'What sins?'

Priest: 'What kind of a Catholic are you?'

Man: 'I'm Jewish.'

Priest: 'Why are you telling me all this?'

Man: 'I'm 92 years old .... I'm telling everybody!'




Have a great week-end. Thanks for stopping by. Hugs, J-bear.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

A couple of things

Tonight was the third time we had the Consistory Meet and Greet or the "Consistory Club" as I am calling it. You can see that some folks stood around and visited.
Others sat on the couches. We all had a nice time visiting with one another. I enjoy going to these and sitting around and visiting. After it was over Kurt and I went over to Centro's for supper. It is a nice way to get to know one another.

Gas in Des Moines is 10 cents a gallon cheaper than it is in Ames. 30 miles difference. I save money every time I go to Des Moines if I get my gas there.

The UPS guy brought my wine the other day. It required an adult signature. The guy knocked on the door and by the time I got out of my chair he had stuck a note on the door and had taken off down the road. I yelled and got in the car and tried to catch him. I ddn't get him but I called UPS and complained and the supervisor went out and got it for me. So now I need to find a place to put the wine.

Thursday Morning

I actually fell asleep last night writing this post. When I woke up Craig was on and he has some motor mouth woman on who did not let him get a word in edgewise. He cold do nothing except sit there. Every time he tried to say something he interrupted and talked over him. Manic - it was awful. So I shut it off and went to bed.

I hate this time of year. I hate having to deal with the bureaucracy. I will (probably) be ready for taxes but I have to find a new tax person. There are some people I just will no longer deal with in my life. Having negative treatment over and over from some individuals just causes me to walk away. But then you know that about me if you are a regular reader of this "thing" this "thief of time" this blog. And now I have things to to. Like finish the minutes I took last night and then go read my blogs. After all I need to keep up with people. Have a great day!

Thanks for stopping by, Hugs, j