Maybe this fits me: “I often think about dogs when I think about work and retirement. There are many breeds of dog that just need to be working, and useful, or have a job of some kind, in order to be happy. Otherwise they are neurotically barking, scratching, or tearing up the sofa. A working dog needs to work. And I am a working dog.” ― Martha Sherrill

Here we go. Our second new month to give us a new start in a new year. It's Thursday, February 1, 2018, and I do bid you a hearty hello from my world to yours. I am once again thinking about considering whether I should think about retiring from my regular daily employment. Since I am already drawing retirement pay, I typically refer to this particular decision as being when I retire-retire. I do have somewhat of a tool that I'm using as a gauge in helping to guide this decision-making process. In April of 2015, I received an order of 12 red baseball type caps. As I write today's episode, I have 3 new caps left. This means I have used up 9 caps over the last 33 months. That works out to be one cap every 3.6 months. With three left, that means, using the statistical formula as a forecast method, I should be out of new red caps around October of this year. I call this the Red Cap Retirement Planning System. If the Lord provides, I will achieve my 72nd year in my earthly sojourn this upcoming August. If the Lord further provides, I will achieve my 12th year with my current employer in early November of this year. The red cap, the birthday, and the Company anniversary are all factors that are inputs into the decision-making process. Here is the current reading I glean from these indicators: We will have to wait and see. Thanks for being a sounding board as I work towards a final decision. I do appreciate it. (I'm well aware of other factors that could help make this decision for me. I could lose my job. I could have a need to be available for something entirely different than my current schedule. And, many others, I'm sure. Those are in God's hands, along with everything else, and I trust Him. Amen.)

The title of today's visit has to do with dogs and working. We've all heard the slang, 'Working like a dog.' It's been around a long time. It's easy to correlate the working dog, like perhaps a sheepdog, that works from early to late every day. It's also true that at one time laborers were referred to as dogs. Two men who worked to saw trees were referred to as a top-dog and an underdog. While I typically can very infrequently be accused of being as busy as a beaver, I do have the early to late thing pretty well established. I don't think busy as a bee applies that often to me or even the eager beaver designation. I've heard some people who are said to be as slow as a sloth. Maybe someone might be identified as being lazy as a pig, I would guess that has to do with pigs laid up in the mud. I did read one person's response when they said, "I'm not lazy, I am in a power saving mode." Another one said, "I'm not running away from hard work, I don't like to run." I also saw this meme, "Lazy is such a strong word, I prefer to call it selective participation." I'll leave this subject with one final quote from a motivational guru, "The smell of the sweat is not sweet, but the fruit of the sweat is very sweet."

The wife and I watched the annual State of the Union speech by President Trump for a little over an hour. I thought the points he brought up were, for the most part, positive and encouraging. However, the atmosphere within the room was strained at best. There was little for the Democrats to applaud including the standard patriotic lines that typically get everyone on their feet. This toxic environment, unfortunately, defines the state of our political discourse today. Those who hate President Trump cannot see past their hatred. Many of those who say he has trampled on the poor in his policies are actually very wealthy themselves. Perhaps, not as rich as he is, but, they have become very well off in their lifelong career of feeding at the public trough. I saw something recently that looked at the net worth of one senator who has been in Washington for over 30 years. When he arrived his personal wealth was negligible. However, since being there all these years to serve the people he has become a multi-millionaire. One has to wonder how that happens. At any rate, this disdain for the President causes people to ignore things like the good that has been accomplished for their own constituents. Things like the unemployment rate being at an all-time low in their communities and the fact that real wages for the people who voted them into office are going up. Their response: Gloom, despair, and agony on me, along with sitting on their hands. The speech was what we've learned to expect. There was a whole lot of bragging about the accomplishments. This was met with a standing ovation on the part of some, while others frowned their way through the entire speech. It was an upbeat speech delivered to a toxic environment and that made me want to do one thing: Turn it off. (It was my bedtime anyway.) And, so it goes, on and on. Have a great rest of the day and may God add His blessings to each one. Amen. ....More later.