Christmas Time Is Here

Our lights are up on the house.  Maybe I can talk my wife into getting a Christmas tree tomorrow.

I love this time of year.

Coping With Pet Grief, Advice from Spark of Life

If you are in grief over the loss of a pet, you are not alone.  An organization called “Spark of Life” deals with grief and has a video on it.  See YouTube link below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=HSFq7BJZtFo&feature=share

Charley Brown and Linus Van Pelt

Life is largely a pain in the ass, moving from one painful episode to another.  How, then, can we achieve a measure of happiness?  For me, it’s the satisfaction of creating art in graphic form, using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop.  Here’s one I created last year using both those programs, Illustrator for drawing the figures, Photoshop to create snowfall.

Grief is the Worst Psychic Pain of All. How Can We Endure It?

I still grieve for my dog, Bogie.  I hate grief, it is the worst psychic pain of all.  How can we deal with it?  I think it’s similar to the flu.  You just have to suffer through it while waiting for it to pass.  In my home I see Bogie everywhere, in the back yard, in the living room where he lay in front of my armchair where I watch TV, at the foot of my bed where he slept most every night of the last twelve years.  I am waiting for scar tissue to cover the gaping wound in my soul.

I know there are many people suffering even more terrible grief than I, like the families in Waukesha, Wisconsin who lost six family members who were run over by a car that plowed into the Christmas parade that they were part of.  I have a friend, a Lutheran pastor, whose 14 year old son committed suicide over some personal pain he was experiencing. He was a talented kid who was a lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol, a member of Sons of Confederate Veterans, and his parents’ only child.  I can’t imagine how painful that must be to his parents.  Also, My best friend for sixty years lost his only son in a car crash in 2001.  My grief pales in comparison.

May God grant us all peace and release from such unbearable pain.

Rose Kennedy had this to say:  “It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’  I do not agree.The wounds remain.  In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens.  But it is never gone.”

 

Ghost-Filled Holidays

I’m not such a bearer of Good Tidings and Cheer this holiday season of 2021.  I am still grieving for my dog who died on October 6.  That sadness bleeds over onto my memories of family and friends who are no longer in this world.  Life goes by fast and I am in the final stages of my own.  I don’t fear dying, I fear living without those I love still around.

Thanksgiving Thoughts

Hope y’all have a warm and lovely Thanksgiving.  It’s just me and my wife this year, kind of sad and boring.  Kids are all living miles away.   

We visited two of our three sons in Los Angeles this week, and drove home to Northern California on Tuesday.  We were amazed at the massive amounts of trucks on the freeway, numerous caravans, or so it seemed.  This may reflect a reopening of the supply chain and a rush to catch up commercial shipments.  If so, we may be able to do Christmas shopping after all.

The hateful left is very angry that three of their felon foot soldiers were shot by Kyle Rittenhouse (clearly in self defense) and he was not boiled in oil for it.  The wart hogs on the View were especially rabid and irrational.  

I tested my commenting system, which is a Disqus system, and found it absurdly difficult to use. Few want to jump through many hoops to comment, and I don’t blame them. I will either fix it or replace it soon.

Kyle Rittenhouse: Justice Is Done and the Left’s Pissed Off

Yesterday the Jury in the Kyle Rittenhouse murder trial delivered their verdict:  Not Guilty on all charges.  While folks on the right celebrated the triumph of justice, the left threw a riot in Portland and its pundits denounced the “racist” verdict and the triumph of “white supremacy.”  Since both the shooter and the shot were all white, the racial accusations were even more false and irrational than usual.

Screwball Democrats in Congress expressed a desire for a federal charge against Rittenhouse, to continue their worthless crusade against anyone who fights back at leftist violence and extremism.  The three thugs that Rittenhouse was forced to shoot represent the dregs of society who were in Kenosha to burn, wreck and ruin businesses and vehicles.  Rittenhouse was there to put out fires, remove grafiti from a school, and defend businesses from arson and vandalism.  The riot began as a leftist effort to protest the justified police shooting of yet another black criminal, one Jacob Blake, who accosted the cops with a knife, even though repeatedly advised to drop the knife and surrender.  Blake survived his wounds and is hopefully recuperating in a cozy jail cell somewhere.  

Once again we see how sides are chosen in yet another Democrat riot:  the left always supports the violent thugs over their intended victims,  always  criminality over lawfulness, and evil over good.  They are the sworn enemies of civilization.  

Behold the three (rotten) apples of leftist eyes.

Life, Death and the Hereafter

On Life and Death

I am not a member of any religion but I do believe in a higher power.  Some call it simply the universe, the source, or God.  I’m not a fan of this life on Earth, because of the existence of death.  I’m now 77 years of age and I have seen so many of my friends and relatives die.   One day they’re here and the next day they’re not.  Where did they go?  Did they have immortal souls or is that just a happy myth?  Absence a body, can they still have memories, retain their personalities, still think?  Do they know they’re dead?

No one can be sure but studies of the near death experience give us hope that these things are true.  Better yet, these experiences indicate dogs and cats and other animals also make it into the heavenly realm.  I hope so, I sure want to see all of my dogs and cats again.

Awaiting the Verdict in Kyle Rittenhouse Trial

The trial of Kyle Rittenhouse has ended and the jury is out.  Kyle shot three leftist rioters during the August 2020 riot in Kenosha, Wisconsin.  Videos and witnesses show Kyle acted in self-defense in fear for his life.  Most responsible pundits say Kyle should be acquitted.  He is charged with murder and other charges.  

The left really wants Kyle found guilty.  They support riots and rioters, hate this country and are determined to change it into a left wing authoritarianism,  either socialist or fascist.  Various leftist spokesmen have threatened more rioting and violence if Kyle is acquitted and this may result in a compromised verdict born of fear and juror intimidation.  I very much hope that Kyle is found not guilty of all charges.  

We are in a civil war with the far left, though it has not yet grown into open violence, the various riots not withstanding.  

Older Than Dirt

Today is my birthday.  I am 77 years old, the same age my father was when he died in 1991.

I have outlived my two brothers, Ted and Dennis.  Ted died at 76 in 2019 and Dennis died at 72 in 2020.  

To outlive my father I need to survive until March 9, 2022, when I will be one day older than he was when he passed.  I figured this out using an Excel spreadsheet.

I certainly do not fear death.  However, my health is excellent for my age and I suspect I am fated to suffer this mortal coil until my eighties.  

Illustrations of Grief

I found a couple of graphic illustrations of the grief I feel for my dog, Bogie.

Sadness and Grief: My Dog Bogie died.

The most beloved dog of my life died on October 6. Bogie was my constant companion for 12 years, dying of lung cancer at the age of 14.  My grief over his loss has been the worst of my life and the pain deep and terrible.

Yes, he was old and it was just his time.  Nevertheless, his absence is glaring.

Bogie was diagnosed on a Monday and died the following Wednesday. So it was sudden and unexpected.  We were driving him to the vets to be put down but he died in the back seat just as we arrived.  We had to watch him in his death throes, and it was devastating and traumatic.

The pain is less now, 5 weeks later, but has been replaced with an omnipresent feeling of sadness.  

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Testing my blogger app

Checking out my blogger app