Most Commented Lifestyle Blogs (2,470)

Practically everyone on CS knows I am a believer in the Almighty God. So this morning when I was called into HR to get the news I was laid off the HR rep looked so teary that I knew she didn't want to tell me. My Supervisor, Victor, could hardly control himself with being sorry I was being let go.

They were full of words of sympathy because I had worked good and they trusted me because of the sensitivity of house building information they
had all over the place. In their computers and in their desks as well. But my training as an Accountant told me to keep my nose clear of privy matter. And I built a great trust with the office staff.

My work was also very good. My super, Victor, never asked me to do anything because he knew I had it covered. The guys in the warehouse all liked me and me them. And so when the part of "references" came up the HR rep and the supervisor saying they would give me a glowing reference I knew I could count on them. They like me, I like them and I had their trust.

I believe that God always has a reason for things. I am about to move to Laughlin, Nevada. I was sad because I knew I had to tell the company I was leaving. SOOOO! When I smiled and told them things have worked out and where I was going it was like jubilation and celebration. And again they told me over and over they would give me all the support I needed!

Am I breaking my arm patting myself on the back? NOPE!!! I am giving God all praise, credit, honor and glory for all HE has done for me!! Amen & Amen!!

Someone suggested why not make a video about a day in your life?

I was dubious and thought it would be egotistical, but I was assured it would be watched. So I did it.

[I note you tube analytics shows an average of 35 people have watched my prior videos. Many just watched part of them and only a few watched the videos in entirety.]

I selected two 'simple' projects that need doing and decided I would make a one day video of me doing them. LoL, here it is day 4 and the second roject is only half done.

My camera is a pocket digital. It saves video in a large avi file. Very large for some reason. A ten minute video saved in avi format is over a gigabyte in size. Shouldn't be, but it is. Firmware in the camera, nothing I can do about that. So I convert each day's shoot to wmv format which shrinks it all down enormously making it practical to upload them to youtube.

A problem I hit is each day's video shoot requires about 6 hours of PC run time to convert the images to wmv format and edited down to 10 or 20 minutes each. That's with Windows Movie Maker (WMM).

Don't get me wrong. WMM does a good job (and it was free), but wow, it is slow to load the avi files and even slower to convert them once told to.

So anyway, somewhere, in each of the 3 days is 5 or 6 hours of time spent converting and editing 5 or 6 avi files into one wmv file suitable for upload.

A second nuisance I hit was since I had selected two back yard projects, I was rewarded with hours of rain at times I wanted to shoot the video. Yes, the camera is waterproof. However, my tools aren't and I am not sure I am either, so no video was filmed during rain showers. Therefore I have had hours of rain each day with nothing happening while the rain falls.

Indeed, even now it is raining, which is annoying, not only because I think I need one more video to complete the series, but also because it is supposed to go over 100 Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) once the rain stops. I would much rather be sitting under the air conditioner then.

Also somewhere in there I had two medical appointments and also a visiting Nurse decide to pop in. Those also disrupted filming.

I was hoping for some feedback from someone I shared them with, but silence.

So anyway, with some nervousness and trepidation, here is 'a day' in my life. Hopefully {perhaps) others will do this too.

The First Morning





Waiting for my Nurse





Repairing a truck tire





Attacking the mowers (day 2)





Attacking the trees





I hope it is not all too boring. One more to make I think to finish project 2 and 'the day.'

the dinner I cooked this evening.

in the woods, your dog, your cat they are your intruder detector. You should listen to them. When your cat is looking out the living room window, then suddenly bristles up and runs and hides in the basement, this is a clue something may be outside. Same when the dog suddenly starts barking at 3am. Of course sometimes the clue something may be amiss is so apparent even human senses can detect it.

We were supposed to get 6 inches of snow today. But it hung around 2 or 3 Celsius all day, so the amount actually on the ground was much less.



It is below 0 C now, so the morning will probably be icy, but tomorrow is supposed to be about 11C, so I expect there will be a lot of soggy mud in my yard by 4pm.

My current cats are not big fans of water. Frozen water they like even less. My Maine Coon ventured out. He got as far as the edge of the brick porch when a small clump of snow slipped off the roof and landed on his head with a ploof.. That ended his interest in going out for the last 15 hours.

I decided to try a new to me product tonight.



Followed the directions and it came out looking (w/spaghetti) almost exactly like the package picture.



Tasted pretty good too. Washed it down with Pepsi and capped it off with Pillsbury Cinnamon rolls with icing and a glass of milk.

After their dinner one of my other cats decided it was his turn to go out. Remember what I said about those subtle clues? It was totally dark by then.
He, like the other cat, got as far as the edge of the brick work and was dabbing at the snow with one paw while giving me a questioning, 'is it safe look?'
I told him it is fine, go ahead. Before he could do so, out of the darkness came a fairly large and unmistakable growl. My cat looked at me, I looked at the cat, and we both turned around and went back inside, barring the door behind us. Nope, my senses ain't that sharp, but even this dumb human got that hint.

I will look in the daylight to see if it left tracks to identify what it was/is. Yeah, sure flashlight and a shotgun crunching through the ice trying to find it. LoL, why? Shotgun is inside where it warm, so am I and my hot cocoa. What I know, not a dog. Not a house cat. I know both growls. Something different. Things occasionally eat the deer in my woods. I know this because now and then I find pieces of the deer. Turkey are legal on Turkey Day of course. So are the deer. What made the growl is curiosity to me. My real motivation for tomorrow is deer and turkey. However, I trust the judgment of my cat. He heard it and decided to go back inside at once. I trust his judgment.

Christmas without it somewhere over the front door frame, or around the tree, or someone slipping up behind you with it proves to be a lot of fun, and without it during a Christmas gathering there is no fun in getting an unexpected kiss. Found plenty of mistletoe images, but had problems posting them, so I'll be creative for the fun of it all.

bam! mistletoekiss on your forehead Angel-face!

History-Mistletoe was held in great reverence by the Druids. They went forth clad in white robes to search for the sacred plant, and when it was discovered, one of the Druids ascended the tree and gathered it with great ceremony, separating it from the Oak with a golden knife. The Mistletoe was always cut at a particular age of the moon, at the beginning of the year, and it was only sought for when the Druids declared they had visions directing them to seek it. When a great length of time elapsed without this happening, or if the Mistletoe chanced to fall to the ground, it was considered as an omen that some misfortune would befall the nation. The Druids held that the Mistletoe protected its possessor from all evil, and that the oaks on which it was seen growing were to be respected because of the wonderful cures which the priests were able to effect with it. They sent round their attendant youth with branches of the Mistletoe to announce the entrance of the new year. It is probable that the custom of including it in the decoration of our homes at Christmas, giving it a special place of honour, is a survival of this old custom.
oooooowait!..here comes a big juicy mistletoekiss for you Miclee
The curious basket of garland with which 'Jack-in-the-Green' is even now occasionally invested on May-day is said to be a relic of a similar garb assumed by the Druids for the ceremony of the Mistletoe. When they had found it they danced round the oak to the tune of 'Hey derry down, down, down derry!' which literally signified, 'In a circle move we round the oak. ' Some oakwoods in Herefordshire are still called 'the derry'; and the following line from Ovid refers to the Druids' songs beneath the oak:
'---Ad viscum Druidce cantare solebant---.'
Shakespeare calls it 'the baleful Mistletoe,' an allusion to the Scandinavian legend that Balder, the god of Peace, was slain with an arrow made of Mistletoe. He was restored to life at the request of the other gods and goddesses, and Mistletoe was afterwards given into the keeping of the goddess of Love, and it was ordained that everyone who passed under it should receive a kiss, to show that the branch had become an emblem of love, and not of hate. http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mistle40.html
bettter watch out Robert, here comes the mistletoe

A Kiss Beneath the Mistletoe
In the forest, mistletoe is a bit of a scourge, a parasitic plant that latches on to trees and feeds off of them. But at Christmas, it becomes a symbol of romance. So where did the tradition of kissing beneath the mistletoe come from? The plant’s association with romance dates back to ancient Norse mythology. By the 18th century, stealing a kiss beneath the mistletoe became a common practice among British servants and the tradition spread from there. According to the tradition, it’s bad luck to refuse a kiss beneath the mistletoe. After the kiss, the couple is to pluck one of the berries from the plant. Once all the berries are gone, the bough no longer has the power to command kisses. So if you hang a bough of mistletoe this year, make sure it has plenty of berries on it. http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2014/12/23/why-kiss-under-mistletoe-stories-behind-christmas-traditions/

Jim, you're standing under the mistletoe

mistletoe kisses to everyone...

Have you inner peace.. ...in this moment of time..?

I went fishing today. We slipped at first light on a wind still but heavy overcast morning. We even had a few drizzles but when the clouds lifted, the sun was merciless. Wearing a hat on the big water does not help much. The sun gets you off the water and it got hold of me properly.

The water was a bit murky and we had no luck on the first reef we tried. After forty minutes of nothing, we moved off to another reef. I got my first bite before the sinker hit the bottom properly. Jimmy hooked one before I had my fish on the boat and we got all excited but then it went quiet again. Just as we were about move to another reef, Patrick hooked another red roman. Then I got a white stump nose and Jimmy landed another red roman.

By then three of us had two each but Basil, the owner of the boat, had nothing yet. We had just started mocking him when he hooked something big that put op a hell of a fight. While he was fighting with his fish, I landed another red roman. When he got his ‘fish’ close enough to see it, he discovered that it was a small shark; about a meter in length. He had to cut his line and the stream of words that followed, cannot be repeated here. Not the stuff that we learned in school.

Then it went quiet again and just as we were about to haul in to move again, Basil opened his account with the biggest fish of the day. That is about how the day went. A little flurry followed my long periods of nothing. In the end, Patrick got six, Basil and I got five each, and Jimmy had to settle for four. I must add that we got about ten other fish but they were under size and went back into the drink.

All in all, a disappointing day but the consolation is that I won’t be gutting fish all evening. Three red romans and two stump nose are better than nothing. Maybe we will have better luck tomorrow. The plan is to go to sea again.


Have a good day or what is left of it.

...give up your beliefs or religion for someone you love ? or would you hope they would join you in yours ?


This is a question for both religious and non religious alike.

If you would not then why not ?

It is 5:30 a.m. here and I was just laying down. Obviously, I could not sleep otherwise I would be asleep right now. Anyhow. The kitchen window is open and I can hear the birds chirping outside. I have no idea what those noises all mean, but be sure they mean something to their species.

Just how intelligent is our species? I have heard it said on more than one occasion how our human language limits us. I guess what they mean by that is there is so many things we could convey to each other but it is simply missed with words.

As the birds are doing their sounds, it made me realize, they are surviving as a species. I mean, they seem to be happy...if birds can be happy. They seem to have offspring, provide for their young, and teach them of the ways of the world with flight.

Our species seem to want to abort their young, complain rather than do and solve, neglect our young, neglect others, and put only ourselves first.

I am not aware of too many animals in the world that are actually harming the only environment that they need to leave in. Or, when is the last time you seen a fat cat....and I am actually talking about a fat cat not some rich guy...hoarding all this food that he/she does not need while its neighbor is starving to death?

Now you know why I do not sleep.....or rather, now you know why I should be sleeping.

The most beautiful part of the body is the eyes..do you agree???