Inspector Morse: "Coded messages, murder - right up my street. It's not a bad way to start the day."

I am thankful to report for duty this morning on this Friday, April 17, 2020. Reporting for duty may seem like a trivial matter but there are literally millions of our fellow Americans who would love to be doing just that at their workplace this morning. A lot of people have been posting what they have been watching on TV while in quarantine. We've seen all of the available Father Brown shows, many of the original Miss Marple programs starring Joan Hixson. We've also taken in quite a few of the Hercule Poirot mysteries and the older Sherlock Holmes series starring Jeremy Brett. We like Inspector Morse and the follow-on Lewis along with the young Morse, Endeavor. The wife is a huge Game Show person so it has been on at times. As for news, we mostly stick to a local channel since the network news programs have become shills for the 'everything-hate-Trump' bandwagon. We've watched the news from Israel, I-24, and have found it to be more straight-up reporting than what we get on the network channels here. Yes, we do watch the national Fox channel some, however, it must also be viewed knowing its bent. We do see quite a number of Gospel music programs, preaching, and streamed Church services. We've seen some of the stuff on Netflix but many of their series are hard to watch because of the language and other things they show. Those series I mentioned are BBC, PBS, ITV, and Granada studio productions. That is correct. They all come from across the pond. We find the stories and the production values to be much better than most of the stuff we have here except maybe for NCIS and the old Columbo series. You didn't ask but now you know.

Here's a little insight into what I consider to be humorous. I've written about this several times over the years. This paragraph is from three years ago. ~ I thought I might share some funny things with you but when I look at what people post as being hilarious, well, the years it took for me to invent the word wisdomly tells me that it also makes me completely out of touch. One thread on the internet I looked at was entitled 'the funniest thing I ever saw or heard'. A variety of folks were chiming in with their recollections of something that was really funny. Really? To them, maybe. Not to me. One person lays out an incident and gives all the particulars that constitute to them the funniest thing they ever saw. While I didn't get the joke, the next person says they are not sure they can top that one but they will share their funniest thing anyway. I didn't get that one either. It's not that I didn't understand what they were getting at. I just didn't see anything funny about it. It worries me. I suppose I need to stick to my own stuff. The wife and I were talking the other day about us attending a Bible conference when we were teenagers. Let me be clear here, I was there because she was there. She was there because her dad the preacher was there. A fellow from my hometown was also there. He wasn't young but he had recently surrendered his life to the preaching ministry. They called on him to share a short sermon. One problem. He had a brand new set of false teeth and he was petrified. That combination did not work out very well as he attempted to speak. Those store-bought teeth were not broken in yet and they began to whistle, squeak, and clatter. He was so nervous, he was shaking. They sent for some water. He drank it but his new teeth floated on him and he began to make gurgling sounds. It was sad, but it was also funny. The great men of God on the platform could not laugh out loud but the quivering of their well-fed bodies caused the whole raised floor to shake. I can't be sure, but this fellow may have prompted the well known Southern saying, "Bless his heart!" With all due respect, that was funny. Not some idiotic thing said to someone playing an online game. We were there. Just thinking about it the other day caused us both to laugh. Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I suppose. But, think about it, shouldn't their stories have some kind of punch line?

I continue the CPAP journey. The unit I have is WIFI enabled, therefore, the Company that made the device can access the data and report back to me how I am doing. I am aware there is a 'Big Brother' aspect to them having this access, however, I have been helped by the information they accumulate and report. My best night thus far has been around 6 hours of sleep which is quite a lot for me. Having become more adjusted to the mask, that particular segment produced less than three measured negative sleep events per hour. That's supposedly is really good especially compared to the more than 40 negative events per hour detected in my sleep study test. I am actually only a week into using the system and I believe I am beginning to see some benefit. Our pup, Mr. Bentley, has had some tough adjustments during this shelter in place time, therefore, I've been up and down with him more than normal. That starting and stopping skew the numbers and we continue to work with Mr. Bentley to get him back onto his regular sleep cycle. The wife can become very perturbed with him, but, it's not all his fault with our changed schedules and related quarantine issues. That 6-hour report reflects progress in our working with him. Oh well, enough about my sleeping saga and my puppy dog experiences, however, it is all I had to write about at this particular time. Have a great rest of the day and don't forget to tune in and be a part of the local Church services on Sunday. If you don't have a preference, here's a streaming service that I can assure you will hear from heaven:   https://www.facebook.com/MimsBaptist/  Amen. ......More later.