The Muse is Loose

(Tap Tap Tap) Hello! Hello? (Is this machine working? Is there anyone out there reading? We have been gone more than two weeks!!!) Halo! Hello! I don't think I see a soul out there, but here goes!

Hello dear readers. Ann and Dale are back in Rockport. We have been here all of....two hours. From the last time I blogged I have ridden in ....an ambulance going to ER with ME in it! An American Airlines plane flying to Dallas... an American Airlines plane flying to Fort Lauderdale, Florida... a 900' cruiseship called the CONSTELLATION. A near worn-out missionary's truck driving the backroads of Colombia. A lifeboat from the Constellation (no it wasn't an emergency. it was used to take us ashore where the ship could not dock). A reject fiberglass boat that would never pass an inspection in US of A. A sight-seeing van. A three-wheeled bicycle that towed three of us plus the driver. Calvin loved that bike-taxi.A tour bus. A "hayride trailer" pulled by a tractor. We were in a "jungle".
A fifty-two foot motored sailboat that took us whale-watching. Emily steered it most of the hour return. She was cool! I am sure forgetting some.

The trip was absolutely fantastic. It was near perfect until we met the snafus caused by customs in San Diego. The system could do for some improvement. The food was...well.... just like you have heard about. Most of it in our restaurant I had never heard of. I ate everything from snails(escargot) to lobster. No bologna or SPAM! The food and service was top-notch. I will tell you a bit by bit account when I find my diary and rest my eyes.

Thank you for your every prayer. My heart cooperated and I had no problems. Ann was a trooper and stayed up with me through every step and place. I saw no place I had rather live than here in the good old USA!

Many of you have been on one. You know about it better than I. This was my first trip on a big ship since the USS Butner carried me to Germany in 1955. Not quite the same.

Fort Lauderdale had cruise ships everywhere! This is a BIG business. It is like going to a major airport. Immigration and Customs (Home Security) is waiting to give you a shock, with long lines and shakedowns. Prepare to remove your shoes, belts, coins, watches, and anything else they wish. I wondered if profiling EVER comes into play. My wife, leaning on a cane, and bent a bit with gray hair and a grandmotherly look surely does not profile to be a terrorist! If she was smuggling anything on, it was EMU Oil or Extra Strength Tylenol. I was so relieved our heads were not shaved at the end and we were told to, "Give me twenty"!

After clearing customs and boarding this ship called the Constellation, it was like entering a Christmas wonderland with elves everywhere to serve! The ship could hold its own with any five star hotel. A giant Christmas tree adorned the grand foyer. Beautiful decorations were most everywhere. Our room was 7070. It had a nice little outside balcony where one could watch the seas and whatever. There are elevators at several places. They are glass encased, giving views
as one elevates or descends. They ran all the way to eleven where one could jog or walk a track around the outside deck. Swimming pools and sauna were on the tenth floor. They were popular for many. I walked on by on the way to the buffet area. A formal dining room was also available with reserved tables! We were faithful to attend. There were enough forks and knives at my plate to supply our house. I didn't see a paper plate on the entire trip! Our table had a head waiter and assistant. They were efficient and pleasant. They placed your napkin in your lap. You had no choice but to be couth!

I enjoyed the library. See a book you want to read? Take it! No librarian or two cents a day fee for late returns. Someone came twice each day to change sheets or prepare the beds for sleeping. Emily was our guest. She slept on a comfortable sofa bed. there was always a chocolate delight in a shiny pack waiting on the pillow.

We attended a worship service. The minister was an upbeat, "all's right with the world" female. I called her Dr. Feelgood. She was okay. The second time around I went to the library and read the Gospel of Mark all the way through. That made me feel good.

There is more. I will afflict you with that later. It really isn't the real world, but it is a nice and fun world. It isn't heaven, but closer than some of those folks will get, I'm afraid.

"You are stopping in Colombia? What kind of trip is that?" Well, our brief visit to Cartagena was one of the highlights for us on the entire trip. With the help of the Edwards we had planned a birding trip there. (Ann, Laura, Emily, and self). We were met by Southern Baptist missionary Bryan.... (not sure if I should mention whole names). He was a great guy. We were taken to the Botanical Gardens, several miles inland from Cartagena. There, monkeys roamed the tall trees with total freedom. Iguanas lay silently and still on tree limbs. Frogs, lizards, birds of all kinds made the trip like a jungle visit for us. Bryan then loaded us in his truck and we traveled to a small village where nearby we had lunch at a local restaurant. Ate outdoors. We were the ONLY tourists! Bryan knew many of the people. I could not tell you what I ate but it was good. He then took us to a nearby village where he parked his truck and we walked the dirt streets and saw children playing, while a friendly pig went wherever he/she pleased. Bryan introduced us to a family. They had a girl Emily's age or about. Smiles lighted their beautiful faces. We could not communicate. (Where do you go after "buenas dias and como esta usted?) Bryan was speaking to them about us. He and his family have served there for almost twenty years. He showed us the front porch where they met for "house church". Most the homes had no front porch. They were mostly made from mud and had dirt floors. There were no window coverings or doors we could see.
They were delightful folks and really loved their Missionary Bryan. We then began the journey back to our ship. If you are not there by the proper time they sail away and you arrange your own transportation to catch up. I did not want to paddle from Cartagena to the Panama Canal!

We stopped at a local grocery and bought coffee for Robert and candy for Dolores. I paid with a credit card. It was several thousand something or other.. Bryan assured me the charge was okay. That evening the elegant five-star restaurant on board wasn't quite as appealing. I had come back to a setting not normal for Ann and I. We had also left one not normal for us. It is good to know "He's got the whole world in His Hands". Those were poor people by our standards. They were rich indeed by the introduction of Christ into their lives. Adios.

Although the ship did not stop in Panama it was our second "big event" following the visit to Colombia.

At noon on the last day of December 1999, the United States passed ownership and operation of this giant waterway to Panama. We were keeping a promise of 100 years earlier.

There had been a dream of a "big ditch" for hundreds of years that would connect the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. Before the canal, it was a month-long, thirteen thousand mile trip by ship from New York to San Francisco. By way of the canal it became 5000 miles, saving 8000 miles! Building it was the largest undertaking ever in such a project. Panama was called a pesthole. Horror stories came from the diseases that struck down explorers in the impenetrable, marshy jungle. A railroad was first built along the general route. The common story was that a worker died for each railroad tie placed down. There were some 74,000 ties! These laborers were mostly Chinese coolies and blacks. A more realistic death toll was said to have been 10-12 thousand. That was for the railroad!

The French took on a serious effort first. Their hopes were led by Charles de Lesseps. After a decade it had cost $287,000,000, which was more than had ever been spent on a peaceful undertaking. It sat, not nearly completed, and with as many as 22000 dead workers, mainly having died from yellow fever and malaria. Many of the engineers and other French experts died. They gave up on the project. It sat, with all equipment, as an unfilled impossible dream.

Rudyard Kipling wrote: "the universe seemed to be spinning round and Theodore was the spinner". He was writing of Theodore Roosevelt.Teddy took on the project. The story is a long one with lots of politics and shenanigans, but it became OUR project! The completion came in August of 1914
just as World War I was beginning in Europe. The records showed 5,609 more lives were lost, most of them black workers. Yellow fever and malaria were defeated. They had to be. It still
stands as one of the greatest man-made projects of all time.

We got up early to watch the first lock open and take in our liner. The gate closed behind as another gate opened to allow water to enter from the other end of the lock and raise the elevation. We then moved through another lock. Our entire trip through the Canal took less than eight hours. I watched with binoculars the jungle shoreline and saw monkeys, a sloth, birds of all kinds and even a huge snake (I mean really big) slowly slither down a fallen tree,

Not one mosquito flew in the air. In fact, I saw not a single one on all the trip. There were several waiting, however, in our back yard.

How much is it used? Since 1914 a million ships have passed that way. The one million mark was hit in October 2010. Vast expansion digging is underway to widen parts of the canal. How much dirt was removed to dig the "big ditch"? Estimates say that 152.9 million cubic meters of material were removed. How much is that? Enough to fill flatcars encircling the world FOUR times. This is a Texas-size big ditch!

I will not bore you with all our stops. You may be gone already! Let me tell you about our favorite city (Ann and I). It was Huatulco, Mexico. You never heard of it? Great! That is one of the reasons we liked it! It was a beautiful city on the Pacific Coast that had a different "feel". Our ship bulletin called it "Mexico's best kept secret...small town charm with all the comfort and beauty of a major resort". It was that and more. They do not lack for beaches. They have three dozen of them. It was not until 1984 that the Mexican government began promoting it as a tourist stop.

As you know we are into looking at birds. Emily, Ann, Laura and I employed an excellent birding guide. He could not take us to some of the places he wanted to go because of recent heavy rains, but he took us to the vicinity of a golf course and that was enough! We saw first-time birds most every direction we looked. The White-throated Magpie Jay greeted us. He has all the attributes of a jaybird and a magpie, but he wears a real fancy crest, giving him a regal appearance, along with his long, fancy tail feathers. A Citreoline Trogon gave some a quick look. A cinnamon hummingbird was easy to see. He was (you guessed it) cinnamon colored! The most exciting bird for me was one we have here, but I had never seen...a Ferruginous Pygmy-owl. (You guessed it again) it was very small. Emily excited the guide when she spotted in the brush a Lesser-ground Cuckoo.They are not often or easily seen.

This is a place I would go back to at first chance. I would want to fly straight there and not take the long boat ride to do it. Huatulco...an unspoiled Pacific coast beauty!

Although we visited Acapulco and Puerto Vallarta I will only mention this last city and try to close out the once-in-lifetime boat ride we were privileged to take. The city is Cabo San Lucas.

Cabo San Lucas is the last Mexican city of any size before one arrives at Tijuana, hundreds of miles up the Pacific coast. No one was begging to stop and spend a day in Tijuana! We weren't properly armed for such an occasion.

Cabo San Lucas is another beautiful setting. It is at the tip of that long strip of peninsula called the Baja. There is an impressive rocky shoreline. The waves have carved the rocks through centuries and made them imposing. There are beautiful beaches as well. Our ship could not dock at Cabo. We had to ride the tenders (lifeboats) into the dock. James and Dempsey were off to surf at a special place. They had a great time, but the Pacific water is cold and they couldn't last too long. Ann, Laura, Emily and Self boarded a 52' sailboat of a vintage type and headed out to look for whales. They had started their migration days before. The captain felt pretty sure we would see some. The boat was also engine powered. Laura and Ann had misgivings about heading into the Pacific on a sailboat. They both have weak stomachs. It didn't encourage them when the capt came around offering dramamine! (sp) He said that the sailboat ride would not be as rough as the one the larger boat we were supposed to go on would have. I think he was right. It was a smooth trip and after about an hour the whale chase began. We saw boats gathering in a pod and knew they were there. After some maneuvering we soon had some large humpback whales really close. These are monstrous creatures! They weight 20 TONS or more. It was exciting. We had to watch our time. You do not MISS the boat! Coming back they raised the sails and increased our speed. Ann and I looked back and the captain steering this huge saling vessel was our ten-year old grand, Emily Duprie! No one was even close to her. She was gripping that huge wooden "wheel" and watching her compass guide. We are out miles from our port and from land and under the sailing guidance of a ten-year old! She STAYED there until we were back in the port area. By the time we were there she had become Ms Cool! She had on her shades and was steering with one hand while she ate an apple with the other. (And they said it took two years to get a license!) Well, Emily is already a pro, for one lady tipped her four dollars when she got off the sailboat. That was a fun trip.

We would board a tender at 3:30 for our brief run back to Constellation. Next stop would be San Diego. It was 745 miles up the Baja Coast. That evening was New Years Eve. We dressed formally for dinner! Men wore tuxes and the ladies floor length dresses. I wore my one sport coat with a tie (reluctantly). Ann looked great, and wore all her jewelry brought for the occasion. A guard stood near our table for protection. Ann and I celebrated New Years with Nashville, Tennessee on the TV. That allowed us to go to bed at 10:00 our time. After all, we had had a hard day on the sea, whaling.

The college season has finally ended. Young athletes with special skills are making decisions whether or not to continue their education, if they are underclassmen, or enter the pro draft. That isn't a hard decision if they are really good. Others who are borderline as to making the big dollars have a problem. We faced a similar problem when I was in college....it was whether to stay in college and make passing grades or be drafted by the government for an opportunity to see the other side of the world...mainly Korea....during a war. That was a draft many young men were eligible for.

Now....who IS number one as a football team? This national championship bowl game really didn't decide the matter. TCU could argue long and hard that they could have beaten either Oregon or Auburn. The truth of the matter is that this is in constant change through a season. The best team THIS week may not have been last week. It also makes a difference whether one is playing PODUNK UNIVERSITY on one's home field, or OHIO STATE away!

When the pro teams finish up this spring there won't be any doubt about who is best....and worst! The worst teams will be hiring new coaches. The best teams will be trying to keep theirs. All the while, the guys who played the games will take their money and run....or limp into the off season.

Is this crazy or what?

The weather world-wide has been something to behold! Pictures from Australia show great dangers through the violence of rushing flood waters. Today even Brisbane, their third largest city, is under a flood alert as the waters sweep in from inundated areas. Snow and ice storms have shut down airports, including Atlanta. Now they are expecting 8-14 inches of snow in New York City! New England is expecting a foot of the white stuff. The snow will eventually turn back to water and flooding may enter the picture. Sunday morning here in Rockport we had a hail storm and hurricane force winds. The hail was mostly B.B. size so the wind blew it into snow bank-like formations along the highway. Some small tornadoes were definitely about.

There are also violent people bringing devastation to lives and fear to those in service positions. The awful killings and wounding of persons in Tucson show again how easy it is for violent people to go on a rampage. A Las Vegas dancer killed and mutilated his "girlfriend" who was also a dancer. In Omaha a school mourns the death of a vice-principal who was murdered by a seventeen-year old who later killed himself. In Cairo a policeman boarded a train and opened fire on known Christians. Days before a suicide bomber killed 21 Christians leaving a New Year's Mass in Alexandria. There is more but this is enough for now. Violent weather has many explanable reasons. People build in places subject to danger. They live along rivers and sea shores as we do here in Rockport. There is a risk always involved. Others build where the foundation is unsound, and mudslides can send their homes plummeting to the bottom.

The violence being acted out in people is another story. It comes from evil lurking about all the time. It comes from demented and tortured minds, often wounded by drugs and affected by movies and music promoting violence. Have you checked out the titles of some of the movies showing? It is incredible what Hollywood is putting out. They should be held partially responsible, TV is not far behind.

Violent weather and violent people. I will take the weather.

It is shockingly different. That is why it is called the VOLT (I guess). I have just finished reading about the VOLT in the Caller Times. Here is some info they have about it:

It is NOT a hybrid. It is driven at all times by an electric drive unit. It does have a gasoline engine for the purpose of charging the 16 -kWh t-shaped lithium-ion battery. The electric engine is 150 HP and the gasoline engine is a four cylinder Voltec generating 84 HP.

What will it do? It will range from 50 miles to 379 with the gasoline-operation. With gasoline only it gives 37MPG, but 60 MPG with both systems. It is a four-person, front-wheel drive hatchback. The gas engine will decide on it's own when to kick in to give peak operation when needed.

At present there are only eight states with participating Chevrolet dealerships. (It is a chevy) Texas is one of those states. 45,000 units have been ordered for the 2012 year. The 2011 model started coming off assembly lines last July. An advance order is necessary. The battery has a 100,000 mile warranty. They have cruise,AC, remote, and Boze music/radio system

The estimated cost for operation is approximately TWO CENTS per miles electrically versus TWELVE CENTS per mile using gasoline. The window sticker price? (I thought you would never ask) MSRP for the 2011 starts at $40,280. Cash or charge?

Maybe this song, written by a truly great Jewish writer, should be in our hymnals. It would certainly have more meat than some of the songs I am hearing. This one was written by Irving Berlin, and was in the 1954 movie, "White Christmas".

When I'm worried and I can't sleep
I count my blessings instead of sheep
And I fall a-sleep...counting my blessings.
When my bankroll is getting small
I think of when I had none at all
And I fall a-sleep counting my blessings.

I think about a nursery and I picture curly heads
And one by one I count them as they slumber in their beds.
If you're worried and you can't sleep
Just count your blessings instead of sheep
And you'll fall a-sleep counting your blessings.

We can always find something to worry about. It may be money, health, relations, work, danger, government, church issues, or a thousand other things. Those will be with us all, and always. Why not just shelve them at the bed-time hour...and instead of sheep to help us fall asleep...count blessings. (By the way, it was "Der Bingle", Bing Crosby, who sang it. Can you remember the tune? Some of you can)

I had written a BLOG about counting your blessings. It is a song written by Irving Berlin. I gave you the words and made some comment about it being as good as some of the church songs we sing......Sunday morning as the strains of the offertory began at the piano I recognized the tune immediately! It was the song I had written about in the BLOG! Lynne Lavender had gone to a music shop and had found the sheet music. She had practiced it and it was the offertory. That was a neat surprise and it wasn't out of place (in my thinking). Guess I will have to be a bit careful what I say could be a church song.

That takes me to the most unusual "special" I ever heard at church. We were in the far country of Minnesota, attending a small Baptist church in the city there. The preacher claimed the song would fit his sermon. I hope it did, but I never figured out how. It was that old Hank Williams number..."Your Cheatin' Heart"! He handed the sheet music to the elderly pianist who had never seen it, and probably had never heard it. It was quite a ways beyond awful. "Please, Lynne, not Sunday morning."

You have to be older to know about the Ted Williams of baseball fame. He was, perhaps, the greatest hitter ever. He was the last major- leaguer to hit 400 for a season. He played 19 years for the Red Sox and ALSO took off for World War II and Korea, as he flew combat missions as a Marine Pilot. He managed the Washington Senators for three years. (They are now the Texas Rangers) He won the batting championship at age 40! He hit a home run in his last time at bat.He is also in the fly-fishing hall of fame. He was a pitchman for Sears for a number of years. This guy had it all. At eighteen the Yankees offered him $200.00 a month to enter the professional ranks. His mother said "No way!". This boy finished his education. That's Ted Williams the baseball player.

Ted Williams, the homeless man with the wild hair, and beautiful speaking voice, burst on the scene January 3. A video captured him panhandling with his hand-written sign. It made him "famous" overnight. He was soon on all the big talk shows. Everyone was reading about Ted Williams, "the voice". He hit a "home run" his first time at bat. In less than a week he had been hired, or offered jobs by several companies....only on his voice. Suddenly, however, this Ted Williams could no longer hit the ball. He began "striking out" every time he came to bat. One of his daughters in a reunion said he wasn't "clean" as he claimed. That proved to be true. Today, this Ted Williams of camera fame is in rehab. We wish him well. He needs to meet the Great Rehabilitator and follow Him. We shall see how it all turns out.

Any comparisons of these two men is strictly through their name. One earned his claim to fame. Another had it thrust upon him and the mantle fell to the dirt. Ted Williams of the street simply struck out. Like the mighty Casey. He struck out.

I don't usually get into political things. I don't even see what I am about to mention as being of a partisan nature. I do not mean for it to be partisan. These are questions troubling me.

1. Where is my Invite? If my Invite to the state dinner for the Chinese Premier comes today will it be too late to go? I could eat left-overs in the kitchen. A warmed over lobster isn't all that bad.

2. I saw the protesters for human rights parading before the White House. Afghanistan is the longest war in our country's history....through several administrations. Will THEY have human rights after it is finished or we pack up and leave like the Russians had to do?

3. If we end up in a war with China could we at least get them to use plastic guns with styrofoam bullets? They must have tons of them stockpiled.

4. The health care bill is repealed by the House. Does this mean I can quit reading the 4351 page billI voted in a short time ago? Can I still go to the doctor?

5. Why would it cost $44.7 million to win the job back as Texas governor? Why would it cost $24.8 million to LOSE the race? Is the rebuilt mansion that nice? Are there some perks in this job? Does it possibly mean that only the rich can have the job? Inquiring minds would like to know.

6. If telemedicine is the "wave of the future" as stated will I have to have an appointment or wait an hour before I can use the computer?

7. If Green Bay beats Chicago to go to the Super Bowl will they hire back Bret Fahr for sentimental reasons? Haven't you heard? He is retiring.

8. Why would anyone pay $200.00 to watch the Super Bowl from an outdoor plaza on TV? Can you then say you went to the Super Bowl? Why not watch it at home on TV? Why not not watch it at all?

All these questions are running through my brain. They will be forgotten shortly, like what I had for breakfast.

The next phase for Congresswoman Gifford's rehabilitation will come at TIRR in Houston. This senseless shooting and killings in Tucson has shocked our nation. It is cause for alarm that such violence can become a way of life in our great country. The reasons vary and are complex, but they should bring us to rethink, as a people, what could be happening and what can be done.

She is coming to TIRR in Houston. That is The Institute of Rehabilitation And Research. They treat persons with a range of disabilities from brain injuries , stroke, spinal cord, multiple trauma and amputation, to rehab for MS, Parkinson's, arthritis and lupus. They are among the top five hospitals in the country for this kind of help.

I was a patient there in the mid-seventies following an accident at Glorieta Baptist Encampment in the winter with a group of young people from Wharton. After three surgeries, hyperbaric oxygen sessions, and other experimental events I was finally sent to TIRR to see if they could help. I was to be a patient with them for two or three weeks. After a couple of days I decided I wanted to go back to Wharton. It was not that my condition had improved....I could not stay there as one able to walk about the hospital and be among those with every kind of trauma imaginable. There were young people injured in car accidents and sports who could never leave those chairs. There were some who obviously had little hope, from even the best therapy. That setting, among so many who were so much worse off than me, was a bit of a curative for my pain. I decided I could make it somehow, and be thankful each day for what I could do, rather than complain about what I could not do. Being at TIRR was a giant step in my road back to living with a bit of discomfort. As this cold front bears down on us the old injury is hurting. I will take some Tylenol and go on, being grateful to God (and TIRR) for helping me see others with far more difficult circumstances than mine.

The heading says, "Arctic Blast Engulfs Midwest, Northwest". Temperatures in New England could reach double-digit figures below ZERO! International Falls dropped to 46 BELOW ZERO yesterday morning! It is a very cold 38 ABOVE this morning in Rockport, Texas. It will warm up considerably as the beautiful day progresses. There will be folks in shorts at Wal Mart. They will probably be from Minnesota.

Eureka, Canada can supply one with year-round cold. It is located on Ellesmere Island in the far north of that country. It is called "the world's coldest inhabited place". The average annual air temp is twenty below. In winter that drops to around forty below. It was created as a weather station in 1947. To fly there would cost about $20,000.00. It could cost more than money.

The hottest place one can go doesn't have air travel. It is a one-way trip. It really isn't hard to get there, but impossible to return from. Do nothing and you are booked for future travel. I am not a travel agent, but have spent most of my life in attempting to get folks to book a one-way to the "land that is fairer than day". Would you believe there are still many first-class seats available....and they are free?

The elimination of pro teams, week by week, came down to one from Pennsylvania and another out of the cheese country of Wisconsin. They won, on a very cold day, the privilege to visit Dallas and the incredible stadium there.

It is hard to get excited about rooting for either team. There are memories of defeats that still linger in Cowboy minds. There are also remembrances of great quarterbacks like Terry Bradshaw and Bart Starr. Neither team Sunday played it's best for the entire game.

Football is so much like life. Few of us do our best all the time. We fumble and get intercepted at the worst possible times. We sometimes do our end zone antics as if no one else helped us get there. We get called and penalized when it really wasn't all our fault. We lose our footing and go down hard when we could have scored. We want the game ball instead of throwing it back to the referee. There is always someone better out there to face us in what we do.

The Apostle Paul gave sage advice to all who take the field in the game of life. "Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize.......of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13-14)

There you have it. A winning game plan for Believers.

It should be of GREAT concern to all of us to read or hear about FOURTEEN police killings this month. There have been ELEVEN officers shot in the last three days across fourteen states.

These men are our first line of defense from criminals of all sorts. When violence is directed toward them at will it becomes frightening. So often, as is the case in Florida, a thug with a record as long as your arm was the perpetrator. What was a man who had been sentenced for armed robbery doing running free? A U.S. Deputy Marshal was also shot.

When I was growing up policemen were respected AND feared. When they said, "Stop or I'll shoot",
they meant it! Now days it is: "Stop or I will try to catch you. Don't worry, I won't shoot at you until you try to shoot me." That doesn't work very well. The one firing first has all the advantage. These multiple-round automatic weapons are deadly. One doesn't have to be a good marksman to spray over an area. They hark back to the twenties and thirties when the Al Capone types had "tommy guns".

The media fills up with scenes when some police treat a person violently in arrest. They aren't around as much to take pictures of a bloodbath for policemen. We are living in a violent and dangerous time. Our police and law people need all the help we can give them.

A maniac in Tucson pleaded "not guilty" to his mass murder actions. He should be tried next week and sentenced the next. Instead, we will be hearing about it for years, and millions of dollars will be spent in the process. Not right.

Mexico is a perfect example of what can happen without strong law enforcement. Last weekend gunmen sprayed a park in Juarez (across the river from El Paso) . Two had been playing soccer there. They died with five others. That brings the deaths in that city to more than 3,000 in the last year. One can SEE Juarez from the United States!

Driving by the Corpus Christi library this morning I saw a person talking on an outside pay phone. Such instruments are hard to find. Cell phones have replaced them.

In my younger years the PHONE BOOTH was a common instrument. They would often be in a hotel lobby or at bus or train stations. Sometimes they were simply at a busy downtown corner or at a gas station. They were on college campuses.

Several things were assured with a public phone booth: They would smell like stale tobacco smoke. You'd carry that aroma with you after being enclosed in one. The phone book, if there at all, would be riddled by torn pages or even sections missing. Often the phone book had walked off. That was, of course, when you desperately needed it to find a number. Now you would have to pay an operator for the number.

Phone numbers would be written in every available space. Sometimes a name would be there. Hardly ever was there graffiti or four-letter words. A certain respect still existed back then.

When you quickly needed to make a call the booth would be occupied by some love-struck girl or guy trying to patch up a relationship. Local calls could go on forever. They usually did. The person inside never looked outside. They didn't want to see your anxious look. However if you had just entered a phone booth to make a call, a line would soon form outside and you were made to feel guilty for even being there.

Long distance calls cost. An operator or voice would be heard telling you to deposit such and such amount...for three minutes. It was easy to drop a coin on the floor during the deposit episode. It would roll into some secret hideaway where you and the metal cord could not reach. While you searched, that voice to "deposit" could be heard again and again.

Three minutes would go by quickly. The voice interrupts with another call for money. Now it was hang-up time. You are hoping all the information needed was taken care of.

I-Phone, cell phone, whatever kind of gadget users, should give your little phone a kiss or a hug. You CANNOT imagine how great they are when compared to the PHONE BOOTH. I can faintly hear the voice....."deposit seventy-five cents, please!" . (That's my lunch money!) .

It did not matter to the violent men firing at a fleeing truck in Mexico who they might be. They wanted that truck. They had no way to know these folks were missionaries. It didn't matter if they were.. These are mean and violent people caught up in a passion for money and power. Sam and Nancy Davis were about seventy miles into Mexico from Reynosa, on the Border. This is the Zetas drug cartel territory. These are the hoods who killed 72 Central and South American migrants last August. What are two more persons to them? Nothing! They wanted that big 08' truck for the business.So Nancy Davis died in a hail of automatic weapon fire. Sam raced for the Border and across the international bridge in the wrong lane, trying to get his dying wife to the hospital. It was too late.

Does the cause we claim bring protection among the violent in this world? I think not. Paul, the apostle could have shown his scars to attest that God's servants here on earth are vulnerable to the attack of Evil. Jesus could add a comment. We do know His special protection at times. I do not doubt that at all. It is not, however, a blanket protection, allowing us to go and do as we please among those who can harm us. They will, and do, when it meets their needs.

Jesus told the twelve as they left on a missionary trip, "Behold I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16)

How would sheep be the safest from wolves? They would stay clear of them. They would avoid contact. When faced by a pack they would not challenge them.

Last month we traveled inland from Cartagena, Colombia with one of our Baptist missionaries. Ann asked him how safe that might be. His answer was that FIVE years ago he would not have taken us through the area. We could have been easily kidnapped. This man knew his territory. He knew where and when to go or not go in that Country where his family lives and serves.

Our sympathy and prayers go out to this family who lost Nancy Davis this week. They were over there serving the Lord. They are added to the myriad numbers who through the centuries have fallen for the cause of Christ. It is not an easy road, or a safe one.

I heard it on one channel as a possibility so switched to another and the weather guru was saying the same thing. He didn't tell us to get out tire chains, sleds, and skis. He did say it would be the coldest weather of the year, this arctic front, and it has just the possibility of freezing drizzle and snow. I will believe it when I see it. It just isn't going to happen this February week! I just set out some spring flowers Friday. I even used Spray n Grow this week. I still have a hundred plus grapefruit hanging on our one tree. No, No, No! No snow, snow,snow.

That Christmas Eve a few years ago when we got the huge snow...WE were in the Hill Country visiting our kids because it was supposed to snow there! We missed the historic first snow here since the thirties! Maybe Ann and I should head for the Hill Country.

I am predicting, here and now, NO SNOW this coming week! I stand behind my prediction. If it snows enough to whiten the ground I will go out in it in my swim trucks and have a picture taken. The picture will appear on this BLOG! I have had a pneumonia shot and the flu one too. But do not worry. It will not happen! Remember....you heard it here first. NO SNOW!

Monday it seems The Weather Channel has now joined the crowd and is predicting for us "winter precipitation" on Thursday or Friday. I know you, like those guys last evening on TV, are thinking "winter precipitation" means SNOW. Not so. Winter precipitation is any winter-associated moisture falling from the sky. That can include mist, dew, rain, icy rain, sleet, hail......or snow. They simply jumped to extreme conclusions and came up with the snow call. It happens all the time in the news and weather business.

I have received the "jabs" from some of my skeptic readers. Do not worry... if, by some one millionth chance a snowfall occurs, I will be in it with my swimsuit attire.....unless of course my work calls me away. IN THAT CASE I will be asking Ann to fill in for me. I haven't asked her yet but am reasonably sure she won't mind. She even has a fairly new swim suit. It is black, and so the contrast with the white snow and her reddened skin will make a beautiful picture. I could possibly be out selling my grapefruit crop later in the week, It is threatened by the freeze. Will keep you posted. I'd rather you not say anything to Ann about the possibility of filling in for me, although I KNOW she won't mind.