Happy 19th Birthday to our Granddaughter, Lexie Dee!

Today is Thursday, November 14, 2019, and it is our privilege to pause to wish our granddaughter, Lexie Dee, a wonderful happy, happy 19th birthday. She is a remarkable young woman and is currently a first-year student at the University of Texas, Austin. May God continue to lead, guide, and direct your way. Our love, MiMi and Poppy Abbott.

Another day, another milestone. Yep. You read it here first. Not so much, but, today's edition is my 3,200th blog. I started to say I don't know what to say about that, but, obviously, based on my track record that would not be an accurate statement. The image in the photo is an inflatable object. I put it there intentionally because it has some applications for this particular occasion. Inflate and inflation could both be appropriate descriptions of the many blogs I've written over the past 12 plus years. There's also the word overinflate that might apply, (you know, as in the hot air analogy). The word insufflate has to do with blowing air into a cavity or it can reflect the theological application of breathing out spiritual influence. I couldn't avoid the word conflate since it has to do with combining different thoughts and ideas into one. Deflate is very much on target since I've no doubt let the air out many times and in the process let everyone down. On nearly every one of these occasions I've quoted my grandfather, Paw Paw Mac because his prophetic words about my incessant talking have carried over to my blogging world, "Will that boy ever come up for air?" As the inflated numbers prove, "Not today Paw Paw, not today!" Thanks to so many for hanging in there with me and for the encouragement I've received along the way. And, thanks to God for allowing me to have the ability to sling words onto the electronic page. Amen.

Okay, Bentley here, and it is good to be able to give my side of the story. I hear a lot of talk about my birthday coming up. They tell everyone I'm still learning because after all, Bentley is only one year old. Time for both a fact and a gut check: "According to the American Veterinary Medical Association: The first year of a medium-sized dog's life is 15 years of a human's life. The second year of a dog's life equals about nine years for a human. And after that, every human year equals approximately five years for a dog." They can adjust all they want due to my size and weight but in the end, I'm not the sniveling little puppy dog they talk about so much. In fact, I hear tell that the Master of the House, (I used that designation very loosely but don't tell him because he actually thinks he is.), was actually driving at age 15 and smoking, although I know he is very unhappy about the smoking part. It was a part of his rural culture, blah, blah, blah. And, I inherited the propensity to have an occasional accident from my great Chinese ancestors dating back to a very long time ago. I threw that one out just as a smokescreen, pun intended. If he can blame rural culture, then to me, one excuse is about as good as another. At any rate, this Sunday I will be one year old and I will celebrate my nearly eleven months of taking over this house and property which I somehow inherited. The people who had me before were so poor they had to play cops and robbers with real cops. That may be why the lady of the house handed me as a tiny little puppy to this new guy and I saw him hand her some cash, the green stuff. Lately, I hear my new Mistress of the House talk about how that I am still here but only by the skin of my teeth. To which I say, "Will someone get that lady some anatomy lessons." I found out what she dislikes the most. When I am trying to get her attention, if I growl a little and maybe even let a bark or two slip out, you would think I had committed a serious felony. Sure, they laugh when they tell other people my name is Sir Bentley Barksalot, Esquire, but just let me bark a little and it's get rid of the dog time. Sometimes it's hard for me to let either of them to continue living on my premises but for now, they have been moderately efficient in keeping my water and my food supplied. While they think about some kind of puppy birthday recognition, I'm going to be checking out the adolescent parties that might be available to me. Have a great day and don't worry, there's plenty of secrets from this joint and I've not even gotten warmed up yet.

Take care, enjoy, be thankful, trust the Lord. Amen. .....More later.