Category: Animals

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

The legend continues, as we enter the 8TH month of these ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts’:

1. Travis sent me an ‘Untwitter’ (an ordinary cell phone text message) shortly before 2 PM from my favourite Chinese restaurant aqui en Homestead. Apparently he’s eatin’ good in the neighbourhood at the Peking House. NICE !

2.  I’m a ‘Law & Order’ type of guy – not the actual TV shows, but the simple Life concept of law and order. I wouldn’t survive in a world of anarchy and chaos.

3.  Just in time for the long Memorial Day holiday weekend – we may actually experience the effects of an extremely rare cold front here in South Florida with cool and gusty northeasterly winds coming straight off of the ocean and afternoon high temperatures struggling to get past the 80°F mark. Look for it (potentially) on Sunday and Memorial Day Monday.

4.  Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the last official day of the 2007-2008 television season. It will forever be remembered as the season that the 100-day writers’ strike interrupted. It also continued a trend in which prime time network television viewership hit all-new record lows.

5.  I have so many exciting ideas floating around in my brain for Life Pointe Church. Some of these ideas will never see the light of the day, but I think that most of them will in some way either sooner or later. I’m not alone. I hang out every Sunday morning with a whole bunch of my friends who serve, praise, worship, and love Him. They have some really cool ideas for their church. These are our future leaders at the LPC. We are going to spread the Kingdom of God here in South Miami-Dade !

6.  You think I’m old-fashioned ?  This morning I personally witnessed a late-50s-something guy (a co-worker of mine) rockin’ an electric typewriter like it’s 1972 !  He felt right at home on that thing !

7.  Speaking of the early-1970s I had two dogs when I was a little kid. Brandy was a German Shepherd, and Girlie was a sheep dog. Brandy was taken away from me in 1973 because she was digging holes underneath the backyard fence, crawling under it, and then running loose and terrorizing the neighbourhood. Girlie was taken away from me in 1975 because I was allegedly not taking care of her – as a 7-year-old. The real reason why she was yanked away from me is because of the impending arrival of my little brother.

8.  The people that complain the loudest about the rising gas prices are usually the people that waste the most gas with their lousy driving habits. Don’t throw stones at the oil man when you live in a glass house.

9.  I would see Neil Diamond LIVE in concert. Go ahead. Make fun of me.

10.  Florida Power & Light should have a roving team of technicians that fix street lights that don’t work properly. If you’re wondering why there are no lights on late at night or early in the morning on selected streets it’s because they may be on all day long instead. Sometimes it takes FPL several months to the greater part of a year to find out about these malfunctioning lights and then correct the problem. You can help them out by reporting these street lights via their official web site.

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Animals Blogging Driving God Health Travel

Bedtime Stories

This Friday night edition of the ‘Bedtime Stories’ is brought to you by the letter ‘C’, and tonight I’ll be addressing these notable items of interest that all begin with the letter ‘C’ – ‘Cars’, ‘Cats’, and ‘Cholesterol’.

Cars – My 5-year-old car is suddenly a dream to drive in again. Earlier this week I went to Firestone and I bought 4 brand new tires for my car – nice ones too with 70,000-mile warranties. It feels like I’m just gliding along now on a thin strip of air just above the road surface. An oil and filter change, a new air filter, and new wiper blades completed the mini-tune-up. It’s my little birthday present to myself now that I’ve decided to keep this nearly fully-paid-off car for at least several more years.

Cats – 5 cats were part of my life scattered over a 23½-year period ending one year ago tomorrow morning. For many years leading up to Boots’ passing on I pretty much declared that I would go from the animal hospital to the animal shelter in a single morning to get a new cat. That didn’t happen, and it won’t happen at this time or anytime soon. Timing is everything, and in his own way Boots led me to God during his final year with me. Everything happens for a reason, and with God always by my side I will never be lonely again. Alone – Yes. Lonely – Never.

Cholesterol – Lipitor is clinically proven to lower bad cholesterol by 39% to 60% – and that’s exactly what it did to me. After 12 weeks of taking my 10 milligrams dose per day it has effectively plummetted my total cholesterol about 40% from the 220s down to the 130s !  The LDLs, HDLs, and Triglycerides were all in the desirable / optimal ranges. I’m good like that. I’m healthy like that !

And that’s how we roll with tonight’s ‘Bedtime Stories’. Be sure to check out the blog again tomorrow for more fun and surprises, and then on Sunday I’ll be taking the ‘Tossed Salad’ on the road again with a special edition coming to you from InDependence Church in Weston Florida. It’s time to check up on my 3RD-favourite Pastor again (after Travis and Paul), and see how Nathan is progressing up there with his new and developing church.

Have a safe, peaceful, and blessed Friday night everyone, and until we hang out again on the blog or in person remember this:

Chris & Buddy Watching TV In 2005

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Animals God People

Bedtime Stories

One year ago on this particular Wednesday night in May (it was the 16TH of May last year) I spent the final night on my living room couch with my little feline buddy Boots. Without revealing any specific details of that final night let me just state that God was certainly with me and Boots on that night, and He helped me get through it as I watched my buddy of 12½-years suffer in immense pain due to multiple diseases that had ravaged his 14-year-old body. I cried and shed tears onto his soft black hair. Boots knew that he was at the end of his Life, and he rubbed his head against me everytime my emotions got the best of me. It was as if he was trying to tell me that he would be all right, and that I would be just fine too. I think he was thanking me for loving him so dearly for all of those years, and for saving his life a few times as well.

The next morning I took Boots to the Homestead Animal Hospital, and they put him out of his misery. He passed on at 10:14 AM on Thursday May 17TH 2007 (52 weeks ago tomorrow). The staff there comforted a crying me and stated that it was my last good deed for my best little buddy in the whole wide world.

I went to my Life Group that night, but I never mentioned the death of Boots. Just being with my closest friends at Life Pointe Church at the time was all I needed to move on with my own Life on God’s fantastic journey for me.

That’s my ‘Bedtime Story’ for tonight, and I will always remember this for the rest of my Life:

Boots - 1993-2007   

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Animals Blogging Career Food Health Internet Music People Philosophy Shopping Television Weather

Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

You’ve been waiting about 168 hours for this to come around again, and so here it is. LIVE IT UP !

1.  We were treated with a rare mid-May cold front here in South Florida late last night. After sizzing hot temperatures approaching the mid-90s over the past several days we plummeted down to the refreshing low-60s (!) this morning, and this afternoon we’re struggling to reach the mid-80s !  I dig that !

2.  Call me crazy, but “Cotton Eye Joe” by Rednex may just be the greatest hillbilly techno smash ever made. You can watch the original 1994 music video of it via my ‘Bedtime Stories’ from last night.

3.  Last week’s ‘Thursday Night Internet Hoax Hall-Of-Shame’ became our most-read blog entry ever within about 48 hours of its posting. Many of the top search engine terms that have brought all of this big-city rush hour traffic over to my blog include the stores Bed Bath & Beyond and Circuit City – and the words ‘bankruptcy’ and ‘hoax’. Thank You fans of both of those stores for discovering my blog and realizing that it is indeed an Internet hoax. Your stores are open for business. We’re actually getting a brand new Circuit City right here in Homestead !

4.  I ate more popcorn in one sitting at Travis and Kelly‘s house this past Sunday night during the “Survivor Micronesia” finale than in any other previous sitting in quite possibly my entire life and Life. I actually don’t like to eat popcorn, but once I get started with it I become addicted to it. 250 kernels of popcorn later …

5.  The grass is always greener where the sprinklers are – and where the dogs go to play.

6.  I gave blood this morning at a local medical facility in Downtown Homestead. The lady that drew the blood knew what she was doing. She had that needle in and out of my arm cleanly in no time flat. She got what she needed, and I was on my way with no pain or jaundice this time around.

7.  I wasn’t at work from 6 to 10 AM this morning, and during that time I was a wanted man. It seems that everyone needed me and nothing was working right during my absence. Lines began to form around me upon my arrival at work. I nearly had to issue out numbers on little paper tabs.

8.  I enjoyed Breakfast with my blogging brothers Travis and Phil this morning at the Cracker Barrel in Florida City (where all the food is). We mainly discussed blogging and bloggers. Travis and I agreed that LL Phil J’s blog is being subsidized by both of our blogs. It’s all good.

9.  Incidentally I totally adore eating MASSIVE meals with buddies who also adore eating MASSIVE meals. If you’re gonna sit at my table at the restuarant then you best be eatin’ good in the neighbourhood. That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout !

10.  I’m grabbing at straws for this week’s 10TH ‘Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thought’, and that begs me to wonder why would you grab a bunch of straws in the first place ?  If you’re indecisive and don’t know what to do or where to go next then just do something. Put the straws down, and seize that moment. It could be the moment that defines your future and determines how everything else will evolve from that moment forward. Know what I mean, Gene ?