Whimsy...Retirement Plans...BLAH, BLAH, BLAH

SPECIAL THU EDITION of whimsical WED

Why am I ticked off? I'm glad you asked? Because the blatant hypocrisy of the mainstream media--not to mention "She-Who-Should-Be-Indicted-By-Now" BFF * has forced me to post items that some may misconstrue as my support for "He-Whom+I-Have-Not-Endorsed." No, I have NOT endorsed HWIHNE, & some of my items below will lend credibility to my assertion . . . but first I choose to post some other WED Whimsy a day late on THU. **
* That would be "Blind Faith Followers", not "Best Friends Forever" 
** Because after all, it's my blog.

A Faithful Companion Update

I don't think I've posted much about my dog Sammy lately, so here goes. Today I took him for a stroll around Mahoney Park in Northeast Lincoln--a favorite destination when Lois & I lived in Lincoln from 1980-1993, especially when our kids were growing up. We visited playgrounds & softball fields, but I don't recall ever walking the entire length of the hiker biker trail around the park.
      In the last 10-11 years, since Sarah moved back to Lincoln, we've continued to visit Lincoln & we've continued to visit Mahoney Park, particularly taking the grand-kids to the playgrounds. Yet today was my first stroll around the hiker-biker trail w/my faithful companion.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Spiritual discipline. One of my daily prayers is for humility. To be more precise, since my "enforced sabbatical" from LHNE, which began almost one year ago in Nov. 2014, I think the Lord has taken me on a journey toward greater humility. I've posted before that I do NOT particularly enjoy cruising the byways of our great land [& neighborhoods] carrying a plastic bag filled w/doggie DNA. Well, today Sammy deposited quite a pile of doggie DNA by the side of the Mahoney hiker-biker trail almost immediately after we hit the trail. [Something else "hit the trail," not to put too fine a "point" on it. I'm just sayin.'], & I was forced to carry the evidence bag around most of the perimeter of the park. When we pray for humility, God doesn't bless us with humility. He challenges us w/OPPORTUNITIES that allow us to practice humility . . . & that's your 1st sermonette of the day.
• Close encounters of the dog kind. Sammy handled both of them w/aplomb.
• A lesson in natural history.  I love trails that involve soaking up natural history, & soon after our stroll began we encountered a marker entitled "Wetland Invaders." [A great name for a rock band, don't you think? * ] I couldn't help noticing that two of the "invasive" species were "saltcedar" & "knottyseed." I am pretty confident that I came across those names before when I read "The Screwtape Letters" by C.S. Lewis.

* DISCLAIMER from Cornhusker State Blog staff:  The author of this blog is a known 

admirer of Dave Barry. While he resents any implication that his blog is derivative of the aforementioned humorist, let this "aside" speak for itself.

Wonderful, Wide World of Wacky Celebrities

From Norfolk Daily News (10/25):  "Schumer slammed. Amy Schumer is brushing off critics who called her parody of Beyonce's 'Formation' video racially insensitive. The video features a sweaty Schumer dancing to the song alongside Goldie Hawn, Wanda Sykes & Joan Cusack . . . " [Personally, I'm one of the critics slamming A.S. for being hygienically insensitive.]

There Is No Place Like . . . 

Chicago!

From Lincoln Journal Star (10/27):  "'I've been a fan for 90 years' . . . A baseball party 71 years in the making, w/food & frivolity & Carl Ander in the midst of it all, wearing his new Cubs shirt & his old Cubs cap, a lifetime away from the cheap seats at Wrigley Field, where he cheered as a boy . . . " [During the 5 years we lives in Chicago, 1975-80, the Cubs didn't give us much to cheer about. I remained a faithful KC Royals fan, but since the Royals didn't make the World Series this year & we still have good friends who live on the North Side, I'm cheering for the Cubbies!]

Nebraska!?

Ditto (10/27):  "Gov. Ricketts living the Cubs dream. When Pete Rickets was a college student, he used to sleep outside & wait in line to purchase 4 bleacher seats to every weekend home game. All he had to do was leave his apartment above the Sports Corner Bar & Grill at Addison & Sheffield & cross the street to Wrigley Field."  [FYI:  I have been to Wrigley Field, although not during my 5 years in Chicago. Lois went to a Cubs game & even sat in the rowdy bleacher seats. I attended a game years later while accompanying an LHNE Senior Class trip, & I got to see a pre-scandalous Sammy Sosa.] *

* He did not hit a homerun, which may have been for the best.

From Omaha World Herald (10/24):  "Yes, in Nebraska, you can take a selfie w/your ballot . . . " [Other states where this is allowed include MN & CO. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.]

Breaking News for English Majors

Also from NDN (10/??? * ):  "Shakespeare credit. The Bard was not a solo act. Oxford University Press' new edition of William Shakespeare's works will credit Christopher Marlowe as co-author of the 3 Henry VI plays, underscoring that the playwright collaborated w/others on some of his most famous works . . . While scholars have long suspected that Shakespeare's plays included the work of others, new analytical methods helped researchers conclude that sections bore the hallmarks of Marlowe's hand . . . " [Coming soon to Netflix:  CSI Shakespearean England.]

* I clipped the date too close to the margin.

Bracing for Retirement

I have been on a long-term medical disability since November 2014. [If nothing else, I'm all about transparency. I think it adds to my credibility . . . Whatever.] It looks like sometime between Nov. 2016-March 2017, I may have to seriously take the big step into early retirement. However, although my current lifestyle would be hard to distinguish from what some would call "early retirement," I think I may need other gainful "employment" besides my current pastimes of volunteer work & writing. So, I will post some possibilities that I'm considering, just to see what kind of feedback I get. My first inspiration was triggered by the following excerpt.

Also from OWH (10/15):  "Tree-Mendous Fall Views Are Just a Day Trip Away."  Ponca State Park, Ponca, NE . . . Platte River State Park, Louisville, NE . . . Mahoney State Park, Ashland, NE . . . " [I've been to all 3 of these colorful locales & can attest to their autumnal brilliance . . . Now run the following idea up your adventure-seeking-spirit flagpole.]

Norfolk Neighborhood Arboretum

Tucked away in the Bel Air neighborhood, just a quarter-mile from Skyview Lake in Northeast Norfolk, the Paul & Lois B & B offers stunning fall colors:  a maple tree is prominently featured in the front yard. Next to the driveway, a tree of undetermined species catches the last rays of the unparalleled Nebraska fall sunsets, streaked by the pollen-saturated harvest skies, which more than make up for the dead branches on the top half of this majestic topiary. Greeting visitors basking in the comfort of the north-facing deck are the four majestic pine trees & their golden-khaki needles, reminiscent of the Douglas fir of the Nebraska Pine Ridge or even--dare we say--Redwoods National Park.
PRO:  Lois could handle that cooking & housekeeping. I could handle the marketing and . . . that's about it.
CON:  Lois is not as agreeable to this idea as possible...I'm not sure that our neighborhood is zoned for a B & B...The maple in our front yard lost all it's leave over a period of 17 hours...Not everyone appreciates golden-khaki needles on pine trees...Guests would have to share living quarters w/my other "faithful" companion.
"CON"CLUSION:  There you have it.

BL.A.H. . . BL.A.H. . . BL.A.H. . . *

* Bloggers Against Hypocrisy

Re:  "She-Who-Should-Have-Been-Indicted-By-Now" . . .                      "He-Whom-I-Have-Not-Endorsed" . . .                                                   "Our P.O.T.U.S.' Proud Legacy . . .

DISCLAIMER!  There is no rhyme or reason to the order in which I've listed these pundits & their punditry, along w/mainstream "news."

"Our New Country:  Women + Minorities Hit Hardest," anncoulter.com (10/26); I read it via Drudge on 10/27.

"Is WikiLeaks Justified?" by Jim Geraghty, National Review Online (10/26); I read it via NRO on 10/27.

"'We Need to Clean This Up': More Evidence Obama Lied about Hillary's Private Emails," by Andrew McCarthy," NRO (10/25); I read it via NRO 10/27.

"The Bottomless Ignorance of Donald Trump," by Steve Chapman," Townhill (10/27); I read it via TH on 10/27.

From LJS (10/27):  "GOP 'war on women' flares . . . " [DEPT. OF HEADLINES I'D LOVE TO SEE:  Meanwhile, Democrat war on unborn women rages.]

From NDN, column by Kathleen Parker (10/24):  "If animals voted, bad for Trump . . . " [DEPT OF COLUMNS I'D LOVE TO READ:  If unborn children voted, bad for Hillary."]

From NDN (10/25):  "Double-digit premium hike for Obamacare. Premiums will go up sharply next year under President B. Obama's health care law, & many consumers will be down to just one insurer, the administration confirmed MON . . . " [No, no, no . . . We were promised, PROMISED, I tell you, that our rates would go DOWN, & we could have our PICK of doctors . . . Wait . . . What?]

From NDN, column by Cal Thomas, (10/25):  "Dems using same tactics of Nixon era . . . " [True confession time . . . In my very first presidential election, I proudly--& arrogantly, I might add--voted for George McGovern, because I pointed out to my father on more than one occasion that Nixon was a crook. *  Somebody pass me the humble pie . . . please?]
* Which he was, but SWSHBIBN's spouse & quite possibly our current POTUS's legacies could conceivably dwarf TD's criminal conspiracies & corruptions.

From LJS, column by Jonathan Bernstein, (10/21):  "It's a shame Clinton wasn't tested in debate . . . " [C'mon, Hillary BFF's . . . even YOU have to admit that this is quite the headline for a column by a left-leaning pundit, syndicated by a Bloomberg View columnist.]

From LJS (10/21):  "Foreign policy elites not sorry to see Obama go. There is one corner of Washington where DT's scorched-earth presidential campaign is treated as a mere distraction & where bipartisanship reigns. In the rarefied world of the Washington foreign policy establishment, President B. Obama's departure from the White House--& the possible return of a more conventional & hawkish HC--is being met w/quiet relief . . . " [Given how her "inactions" & subsequent lies & betrayal of the families of those who were murdered contributed to the debacle in Benghazi, I'm not sure I would use the phrase "quiet relief" . . . ]