An elderly woman called 911 on her cell phone to report that her car had been broken in to. She is hysterical as she explains her situation to the dispatcher: "They've stolen the stereo, the steering wheel, the brake pedal and even the accelerator!" she cried. The dispatcher said, "Stay calm. An officer is on the way." A few minutes later, the officer radios in. "Disregard." He says. "She got in the back-seat by mistake." (copied)

Good morning and welcome back to the real world adventures from the geriatric brigade. The wife was still ailing some, so the other evening I stopped by to pick up a family fish dinner from the fast food fish joint for our Wednesday evening pot luck supper at our local fellowship. When the young man tallied it up I asked if he was going to give me the old people's discount. He said he would if I wanted him to. I asked if he could tell that I was entitled to it. He said perhaps he could but he had been instructed not to give the discount unless it was asked for. At least I didn't have to show my driver's license. That's the way the cookie crumbles in my world and I do bid you a big ole howdy on this back-to-work Monday, March 16, 2015. I wasn't upset at all with that young man for following instructions. I know my wife wishes that I would. Here's how it goes. She opens the cabinet in the kitchen and announces that she knows I have opened a box. She declares that tidbit based on the fact that, according to her observations, the box was literally ripped open and will never be able to be properly closed again. Why all the details? It wasn't a hit and run accident. No wonder we now have 22 plastic containers with lids on them that require needle nose pliers to open. Maybe I need one of those light bulb coming on moments. Preferably before I rip open a box of cereal.

When I think of all the things I could have been good at it makes me wonder why I never pursued them. Things like opening boxes properly. Learning about how fitted sheets work. Discovering why it's against the law to remove those tags on a mattress. Maybe I could have learned why being patient cannot be acquired with a snap of the finger. There's so many others but I think you get the idea. We all live with those things we wished we would have learned, would have worked on, and those that we could have become effective in doing them. It's like that famous scene in 'On the Waterfront', the 1954 movie starring Marlon Brando. That movie was loaded up with great actors. Karl Malden, Lee J. Cobb, and Rod Steiger, to name a few. I suppose we all can identify with Marlon's character Terry when he pronounces a summary of his life: "You don't understand. I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am, let's face it. It was you, Charley." I had thought of that quote and that's what got me started on this paragraph and I did want to use it and that's why the rest of it doesn't make much sense. So, sue me.

On my way home the other day I listened to an old time radio program on my little satellite receiver. It was the Red Skelton Show from February 17, 1942. They were making jokes about the recently instituted Daylight Savings Time. It had been put in place to help save electrical usage as part of the wartime effort. (The history of daylight saving is pretty interesting. It officially began in our nation in 1918 in support of WWI and after that it has developed into what we have today. More information can be found at: timeanddate.com.) Red said you could tell you were on daylight savings if when you got up in the morning it was darker than when you went to bed at night. I can identify with that one as I use my little flashlight to unlock our shop building here at the Company. It was just beginning to be less needed and then we changed the clocks and I was back in the dark again. But, as you can readily tell, being in the dark is nothing new to me. Maybe that's why I don't open boxes the right way. Being in the dark makes it harder for me to see how. She does read my blogs. Let's see if she buys that one. Then we can move on to fitted sheets. Until next time, may God watch over us all is my prayer. Amen. ...More later.

"Dave: "HAL, I won't argue with you anymore! Open the doors!" HAL: "Dave, this conversation can serve no purpose anymore. Goodbye." Quoted from the 1968 movie, 2001: a space odyssey

You had to know this would be coming. I've waited a long time to use this one. Today's edition could be called, '2001: a space odyssey'. Get it? Okay. Here's the breakdown. It's the 2001st edition and all of them cataloged do take up a lot of space and since I'm the one doing the writing, well, it has been somewhat of an odyssey or adventure. Regardless of that less than applicable reference, I do bid you a hearty hello and welcome to our time together for this Thursday, March 12, 2015. I am very happy to report the wife is on the mend. She is making slow but steady progress each day. I told her the other evening that I was afraid her Tim Conway old-man-walking impersonation might become habit forming. I've read through those liquid diet suggestions and I think we might have found a couple of items she had not known about. For instance, oatmeal. She was very excited when I announced that one. Sometimes in life it doesn't take much to improve our outlook. However, it will be a fairly long trek to the six weeks that typically defines when she might be able to return to a regular diet. Meanwhile, I'm pretty much tied up on things like trying to figure out how fitted sheets actually work. I turned them dudes every way but loose before she finally had to give me some instructions. Who knew? They actually have to go on a certain way.

There's sure a lot of nonsense floating around out on the internet. You cannot trust everything you read and see. I suppose Abraham Lincoln was never more correct than when he made that famous statement, "You can't believe everything you read on the internet." See there? You learn something new everyday. We do have to do our fact checking if we are to maintain some sense of reality as it pertains to stuff on the internet. Everything from doctored photos, political shenanigans, to fish stories of all types that have been manipulated for an audience that has a seemingly insatiable appetite for sharing these kinds of frauds. Some are more obvious than others. Like these headlines: ~ Cannibal eats missionary and gets taste of religion. ~ Lady decides to have only three children after hearing that one out of four are Chinese. ~ Man injured while raking his leaves. He fell out of a tree. ~ Shotgun wedding ruled case of wife or death. ~ Thief who stole a calendar gets 12 months. ~ Moses proved that one can succeed even if they start out as a basket case. ~ One legged waiter hired at I-HOP. ~ Okay. I know they are bad but some days it's about all I can come up with. No. I do not know if they have an app that throws vegetables at the person telling bad jokes. You will have to check that one out for yourself.

When we left the hospital the other day, a sweet little old lady volunteer brought the wife downstairs. I suppose they had run out of wheelchairs so they had this chair looking thing that was mounted on wheels and that's what they used to transport her. The little old lady looked like she needed to be pushed. The wife said the pusher hit every crack, every bump, and every undulation that caused her to wince in pain. When they got to the bottom floor the volunteer lady asked the wife if she had had surgery. She said she didn't know about the surgery but when the wife told her I think she understood all the moaning and groaning. I will say this about that. Those volunteer people, most of whom tend to be older folks, they inspire us all in the work they do to assist folks dealing with all kinds of medical issues. The surgical waiting area was what you might expect. Crowded. But, those two older volunteer gentlemen had everything under control. They were consummate professionals and made the experience much easier to deal with. No telling what they did in their working life but their example is one that we all could learn from. Including me. You folks have yourselves a wonderful day and may our Great God add His special blessings to it. Amen. ....More later.

"It's when ordinary people rise above the expectations and seize the opportunity that milestones truly are reached." Mike Huckabee

Who would have ever thought that back in 2007 I would still be at it. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, and it turns out that I am he, as well as, yes mam, today represents the 2000th episode of this long running series. Thanks for showing up on this notable day, on this March 11, 2015. This summer will make it 8 years of my Monday through Friday hunting and pecking on the old keyboard. I've obviously been dedicated to doing it or it would have gone, in fairly short order, the way of the buffalo. Within the blogosphere world that's the typical outcome of most blogging start ups. I am well aware of the arguments about quantity versus quality, but, there's also the purpose to be considered. I started out with the idea of it being The View From My Pew but changed it before beginning to publish to The View From Here. Believe it or not, there are quite a number of blogs that carry both of those titles. So much for originality on my part. Here's what I said about this in my very first published blog from May 7, 2007: "However, I call this blog The View From Here because when it's all said and done, it's the way I see it. You most likely see it differently but that's what blogging is all about. We can speak from our viewpoint, our way of interpreting all the things we have to deal with, and in general, the viewfinder through which we see the world, and especially our world.  One final thought in this opening monologue: I know that without God as the foundation of my life through my identity with His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, there would be little hope in all the ups and downs encountered in this journey called life."

That was 1,999 blogs before today's edition but that sentiment is exactly what I think I have been up to throughout our time together. My greatest fear is that over time I could have become so predictable that my observations not only could have become rote and repetitive but I could be close to producing the 'B' word, as in boring. That's the primary reason I would even entertain the thought of closing out our time together each day. Meanwhile, I will continue throwing up keystrokes until I have time to ferret out a decision. In some ways it has become a part of me but as I stated that's not the driving consideration. I obviously enjoy doing it. I never look at it as a chore even though at times I have done my fair share of staring down the blank electronic page. You wondered what accounted for those days where you went away scratching your head. Well, now you know.

I've met some really neat people along the way via their comments. I do have a loyal reader community and I appreciate each and every one for your patronage and your encouragement. I've never added any advertising or connecting websites, yet, my little blog, spinning out there somewhere on the worldwide web has had nearly 140,000 web views since we started. I sure hope some of what I have shared about the Lord may have ended up in fertile ground because we know that's how He is able to bring forth a harvest. Thanks again for showing up each day and join me in thanking God that we have had this time together. We will see where it all goes from here but know in advance, regardless, I commend us all to God and His love, mercy, and grace. Until next time, may He bless us all. Amen. ...More later.

"Man was designed in a way in which he must eat in order to give him a solid reason to go to work everyday. This helps to keep him out of trouble. God is wise." ~Criss Jami, American poet, essayist, and philosopher

Routine. I suppose after all these years I must admit that I do operate best within 'my routine'. I know. I know. I've heard that old adage, being in a rut is nothing more than a grave with the ends kicked out. Somehow, to me, the routine and the rut are not necessarily the same, although, I remember as a kid going back into the deep woods to hunt where staying in the ruts was about the only way you could get to where you were going, that is, without bogging down. What's that got to do with the price of tea in China? I believe that's the correct idiom to use in response to an irrelevant subject. Okay, here we go again, another day of irrelevant subjects, and these land on Tuesday, March 10, 2015. Routine. It works for me. It has to do with rhythm and repetition. My sleep cycle adjusts to whatever the routine I am following. Nearly every day, regardless, I awake at 3:30 a.m. and make the determination which routine am I following. If it is the work week I hit the floor. If it is the weekend I turn over and sleep for a couple more hours. Then I engage in the weekend routine. No. I do not think I am one of those people who would fall apart if they didn't have a set schedule. I would just invent a new routine to accommodate me falling apart. Or something like that.

I don't know if I have ever heard a song by the group In-Sync. I suppose it would not have been as catchy if they had named it Out-of-Sync. But, we all are aware when things are just a tad off. The other night I had a very vivid and weird dream. It was strange. One of the oddities was how that I remembered every bit of it the next morning. I typically only remember bits and pieces. It was one of those that kept me scratching my head throughout the day. If there were symbolic images to decipher, well, I had a pot load of them to consider. That will kind of throw you off a little, but for me, I have to choose what to do about it. Go to a shrink. No thank you but there's certainly nothing wrong with that. Or, file it away and move on down the road. That's what I usually try to do. It wasn't particularly scary but just very odd in the oddest sort of way. What's that? Maybe if I shared some of it, you could help? Good try. But, I've already filed it away, except for those flashes that keep coming back to me. I think I hear the tune from the Twilight Zone playing in the background. (Just kidding.)

I was reading some observations about how things have developed since President Obama took office. He inherited a big mess. There's no doubt about that. However, in the judgment of many, things are in many respects even in more of a mess today. Some have conjectured that it is certainly a good thing for him that he was awarded the Pulitzer Peace Prize before he did anything because I don't think anyone believes we are more peaceful in the world since he took office. I know it's in the eye of the beholder because I do hear those who can't stop praising him for any and all things he is associated with. They are entitled to their opinions but none of us are guaranteed to our own version of the facts. (That is I suppose as President Clinton might say, it depends on the meaning of facts.) I tend to think the general category of 'a big mess' is my assessment, but, that's just me. You know me. The fellow with the occasional vivid weird dream. Here's my advice: You get out there and do what we as Americans still have the right to do: Form your own opinion. Take care and may God bless each one and may God bless this great nation that He providentially gave to us. Amen.  ....More later.

No need to fear, it's only little old me.

Good morning and welcome back, to me, you, and to the any and all that happen to drop by. It is Monday, March 9, 2015, and I am sitting here at my workstation after having been gone for four days. I can tell my little computer missed me. I'm not sure how but it just seems like it did. The wife is doing well. She fought an allergic reaction to the anesthesia for the first three days but that is much better now. We thank God for her progress and for everyone who has prayed for her. She sure does have a lot of folks who love her and I suppose she does exemplify the Bible verse that says if someone is to have friends then they themselves have to be friendly. (Proverbs 18:24) She has been behaving herself and following the strict dietary rules set forth by her doctor. I did notice one thing at the hospital. They are now being run by children. I never saw so many kids doing different things. What's that? They are not that young but I am just getting older? Oh, now I get it. And, thanks so much for reminding me. Do join us in expressing our gratitude to our Great God for His provisions. Amen.

Today we are having ourselves a saturated rain event in these parts. We are under a flood watch and there are indications all around that some localized flooding could occur. I always try to think about the summer months when we are all breathlessly anticipating some rain as we deal with things like today where the water is literally standing all around. I know. You cannot store up the rain water for later months but it is still refreshing to know that our ground is being nourished, you know, in an inundating sort of way. I've pretty much been tuned out for the last several days of hibernating at the house with our patient. Driving in to work this morning listening to the news made it pretty clear that things are pretty much the same, chaos, chaos, and more chaos. Here, there, and everywhere. That's why we all need to find somewhere other than this world for our confidence. My belief is that we must trust in Someone, the Lord our God, because I'm not sure this old world is on its way to getting any better. Not being negative just giving you the facts as I see them.

Okay. It may take me a day or two to get back into the flow. I've actually had some requests that I please not suspend my blogging activities as I approach the 2000th episode this week. Thanks to those who find something of interest in my sharing. We will see how it goes. But, first things first. We have today and as for me and my house, we have much to be thankful for. I do hope we all will spend some time thinking about our blessings that God has provided and allowed us to enjoy. Have a great Monday and may God direct our way as we seek Him and His leadership today. Amen.

Join us in thanking God for His provisions!

Greetings to one and all on this Friday, March 6, 2015. Yesterday was a long day spent at the hospital but God has been so good. The surgical procedure went well and while it will take a few days for the wife to get over the soreness, she has done exceptionally well. We are overwhelmed with all the visits, the messages, the calls, and the wonderful outpouring of prayer support on her behalf. Her sister spent the night with her. You know the one I'm talking about. Her twin, born 18 months ahead of her. We've had folks praying around the world, literally, and that means so much to us. I was able to come home and get a good night's sleep and if all goes according to schedule, we hope to bring her home sometime today. Thanks again and may God bless each one. Amen. I will do my best to be back in my regular place come Monday morning, Lord willing of course. ...More later.

Philippians 4:19 " And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus."

Good morning. It's Thursday, March 5, 2015, and I will be brief since we have this surgical procedure for the wife scheduled for 7 a.m., this morning. I will let everyone know how things go as soon as I can. We are thankful for the many who are seeking the Lord on our behalf. Our trust is in the Lord and His provision. Have a wonderful day and may we all remember to be thankful for all that God has given to us. Amen. ....More later.