a miracle every day

Friday, July 23rd, 2010

i'm always more-than-awed by Mother Nature. I've said for 18+ years that "Mother Nature's in-charge; we're just along for the ride." In fact, I coined that phrase many years ago.

While obviously not a precious and complex as the birth of a baby, it is a "miracle", in and of itself. And I take great delight in watching it happen, every Spring, Summer & Fall, particularly so to certain plants. Who could not believe there is a God who makes these things happen?

From the conception and birth of a baby to the opening of a flower, there is no greater miracle that what He provides, and we kmowingly ignore, defile and destroy.

All the pity and shame is upon us for doing so.

Around The Garden Center™

Anything which could go wrong on a Friday — Jennifer leaving us for another job, and both front counter computers failing, almost zero retail customers, watering system pressure crashing —, did. On Friday morning, the two front counter computers "shit the bed" and I put an emergency call into Mark, my IT guy and his bride, JoAnn. He arrived around 3:30pm and we worked until 7:30, but couldn't fix it. We'd saved all the CounterPoint data on an 8Gb thumb drive along with Dad's documents. Mark returned Saturday morning with a new, smaller HP unit RAID 1+0 loaner unit, and new modem (in case the primary or secondary gateways for credit card processing go down) and got us back in business within an hour. He did 3-4hrs worth of work on the #1 computer and got the other #2 front counter computer working, as well. We're back in business. He took the old #1 unit back to his shop to try to restore it. He'll be back Tuesday with my new home HP 6000 Pro unit, outfitted with 8-Gb memory, same as my office unit.

From digging and loading 4 'Otto Luyken' Cherry Laurel shrubs on Saturday morning, my back was hurting all day. I ate some aspirin, had an egg & olive salad sanwich for lunch, and just drank water for most of the day. I've quit using salt, my BPs down to 128/76 from 274/125, and I've dropped 29lbs. No more Allen Bros filet mignons or prime rib everyday, either. I need to get down to 180lbs, from my now 219lbs, and I'm 1/3 of the way there (was 247lbs 6mos ago). Plus, I'll be soon starting the Chantix Regimen to stop smoking altogether, in a few weeks. At almost 61, it's time to try to get my health back.

On Saturday morning, the Lath House water system failed, and we cleaned-out ounces of sand and clay to clear the lines. Kim & Elizabeth & Lee did their absolute best to fill-in, but Jennifer was *irreplaceable after 7 years*. They'll eventually get the hang of it, but right now, it's a struggle, as I have to personally-direct their efforts, despite Jennifer's "list of things to do", which only covers the very basics. Alan may have been "my greatest asset", but "Jennifer were a very, very close second".

I slept until 12:30pm Sunday, with an Saturday-night Ambien C.R and from dead-tired from 3-4 weeks with no days off. Now I have Sundays off for July & August, and then it's back to 7 days a week in September & October for the "50% Off Fall Sale". I even skipped food shopping and just stayed inside with a cold-pak on my L-5 R/S vertebrae all-day Sunday. I did laundry and dishes. It was 96°F/ Heat Index 103°F. I decided to to crash early that night and get into work early on Monday. I didn't even bother to collect the mail on Sunday; I did that Monday morning on the way into work.

Unless some more work comes into the center for beyond the 29th or 30th, I will have to start laying-off some of the landscapers, who can re-open their unemployment accounts, and when work does come in, call them back to do it. I have over 45 design/plan and estimates out there in peoples' hands, but everyone's postponing the work, since they don't know what's coming on January 1st, with a huge increase in property, school and income taxes. Øbummer & Co's Regime has really ruined this country's economy and small business sector, which creates 85% of the country's jobs. The "disposable income sector" — of which I'm a big part — is decimated for years to come under Øbummer & Co's Regime. There is no recovery underway; Øbummer's a lying sack of shit.

Multiple heavy-duty t-storms moved through the Southen York County area on Tuesday, dumping almost 2" of rain on us; welcomed as it was, it just came down so hard and fast, it didn't have a chance to soak into the ground very deeply and break "The Ongoing Drought From Hell, version 2010". It did break the heat from 90°F to 75°F, but also drove-up the humidity from 56% to 96%. I did two multiple-phase landscape estimates and emailed them to Rich, my Staff Registered Landscape Architect, for presentation to the prospective customers. Dad stayed home and I had Arthur & Charlie, two of my Landscape Crew members, go up to clean his gutters and saw-up some large limbs which had come down in a previous storm. No retail customers and only two phone calls all day, so I closed early at 4pm and went home.

Deciding to park the Jeep on my sloped, rain-soaked driveway, so I could sweep out the garage, I slipped and fell, injuring my back again. So I called Lee to come in for me and took Wednesday off to rest-up, with the heating pad and cold-paks. I slept-in until 1pm, and then just laid on the sofa with the cold-pak. My remaining 'condo cat' (RIP, Momma Kitty), Murphy, joined me and we slept for most of the afternoon. I did manage to get the garage swept-out, though, after a t-storm woke me, so at least that chore was done.

The “Virtual Cabin” – A Novella™

It was so frigging hot and humid in York on Sunday — 96°F/ Heat Index 103°F — that I decided to go to The Cabin, turn on the AC, and just sleep the day away. At least Jenny would be happy to see me.

I drove in the long gravel drive, parked in the circle turnaround by the front deck, disarmed the building, went in and Jenny was all over me like white on rice. I refilled her food and water dishes, and unpacked a change of clothes. While taking a long cool shower, I decided to make some calls to local loggers about taking down 20-30 trees, and just letting them have the wood for the cutting. Since I'm an Authorized Distributor of the Princeton American Elm tree, I could truck-up 15-20 replacements in the 15gal pots to replace the cut trees, very quickly. They grow 4-6ft/ year and are Elm Beetle resistant. Within 10 years, they'd provide the shade that the other dying trees weren't providing anymore. I could also rent a small backhoe, install & stake them myself in less than a day, by myself.

Things Which Make Your Head Explode™

Americans have become addicted to unemployment compensation, instead of looking for work, whether it be 1 or 2 jobs, to earn a living. The corrupt US Senate passed, by a 60-40 party-line vote, another $34 BILLION dollar unemployment compensation bill, that extends benefits for the unemployed. It's the gateway to entitlements for the newly impoverished, aka "Hope and Change" bullshit. Federal unemployment payments, which last up to 73 weeks, kick in after the state-funded 26 weeks of coverage expire. Incentive to work? None whatsoever. Øbummer's "plan" is working.

Where's the Duct Tape®?

Put this Lohan slut-rag-whore-drunk-scumbag-bitch in the deepest, darkest hole, and throw away the key.

Reverse mortgages are a dangerous thing for anyone to do, and here's why.

Some People Just Need Killing™

This will do it!.

It's not my intention to be the judge, jury and executioner here — that's God's "job" — but rather to "hasten the meeting" so that He can send the following subhuman filth to the "Fires of Hell", "River or Lake of Sulphur", or whatever He deems appropriate. I'd gladly/ happily volunteer, at no cost to any of my Hard-Working, Fellow US Taxpayers, to gladly/ gleefully/ happily headshoot these murderous, lowlife dirtbags of all stripes — their skin-color doesn't matter to me, at all — and rid American Society's innocents (especially our precious children and the frail, defenseless elderly) of them, once-and-for-all. And yes, I'd rather see one innocent man convicted and executed, than 10 murderers/ robbers/ child rapists-murderers freed, to rob, rape and murder again. Hey; call me an "Old Fashioned Conservative"! Too harsh? Nah. Just & RIGHT!

Yes, I agree with the premise of this article, that "the death penalty is a Noahic Covenant with God, in a post-flood world". Well said, Joe Farrah.

Lynne Stewart needs killing for being an anti-American, terrorist-supporting traitor, not a 10 year prison term. I volunteer to put a .45cal ACP bullet through her filthy, treasonous head.

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