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October 7th, 2021

“早晨 (jóusàhn)”, or “Good Morning!” in Cantonese Chinese.

They finished painting our house and I am painting the little table/chair set we keep on the porch the same color as the trim. It’s taking more time than I thought it would.

We had our first real knock down drag out thunderstorm this week – complete with sheet sideways rain and lightning light shows. We even had a few fires from lightning strikes. The only thing. You could hardly hear the thunder for the universal “AH” that our parched ground, reservoirs and streams gave up when the torrents came!

This week I learned some stuff:
• A couple of weeks ago a friend of mine that I worked with in Germany contacted me via Facebook Messenger for the first time. It was strange and, after some fairly vague small talk, encouraged me to take advantage of this government program that just granted him $250K to buy a new house. It sounded, “ALL TOGETHER NOW” – Too good to be true!!!” So I politely blew him off. This week it happened again with another friend who is local here in San Diego. Well, my first thought was maybe I was too hasty in blowing off my friend from VA. But as the FB Messenger played out, it became clear it was the same deal. So I started researching and sure enough, found out it was a scam. I just hadn’t let it play out long enough for them to get around to asking for some money. They asked for a lot of data to see if you “qualify on their database”. Do not give them anything!! Here is the link describing the details of the scam: https://www.csd.ca.gov/Pages/Consumer-Alerts.aspx This is from CA, but these folks are nationwide!
• October 7th is the 280th day of 2021. Just 79 days till Christmas! Today in 1868, Cornell University holds opening day ceremonies; initial student enrollment is 412, the highest at any American university to that date.; On this day in 1916, Georgia Tech defeats Cumberland University 222–0 in the most lopsided college football game in American history; In 1940, the McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States; Mother Teresa establishes the Missionaries of Charity on this day in 1950; Today in 1988, a hunter discovers three gray whales trapped under the ice near Alaska; the situation becomes a multinational effort to free the whales; Fox News Channel broadcasts today for the first time in 1996; Today in 2001, the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground; The Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-112 to continue assembly of the International Space Station today in 2002; On this day in 2016, In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, the death toll rises to over 800; Claud Ashton Jones, American admiral, Medal of Honor recipient, was born today in 1885; Elijah Muhammad, American religious leader was born on this day in 1897; Heinrich Himmler, Evil Bastard one each, German commander and politician , was born today in 1900; Today in 1905, Andy Devine, American actor, was born; Chet Powers, American singer-songwriter and guitarist for Quicksilver Messenger Service (Dino Valenti), was born today in 1937; today is also Oliver North, American colonel, journalist, and author’s birthday; Mario Lanza, American tenor and actor, passed away today in 1959; And finally, Leo Durocher, American baseball player and manager, passed away on this day in 1991.

Website Update:
This week:
• Week 2 for our “new” Vocabulary Quiz
• A “new” Musical Trivia Quiz Woohoo!!
• It is getting to be soup weather time. This week I made some of that wonderful creamy tomato soup to go with our home made sub sandwiches!
• The Home Page quote comes from a man that knows something about being a champion, former heavyweight champ, Jack Dempsey. “A champion is someone who gets up when he can’t.”

Writing, Ceramics, Stained Glass and Painting Update:
• No change on the painting or stained glass front this week. The painters’ coming forced us to do some serious house cleaning on our plant population. My grandson and I watched in horror as she sentenced several plants we were trying to save to death.
• Grandpa Stories is once again on track to be republished. I am learning the new toolset and it is going well.

Weird-Stuff-O-Meter:
• It is important to be vigilant in your agreement terms and conditions. Most of us don’t realize that we cannot leave our iTunes library to anyone, unlike other assets. Check it out here. If you plan to pay for a service using anything but cash or a cash equivalent, make sure that the vendor hasn’t included caveats that stipulate up charges for credit card payments. Damn, it’s the details that drive our litigious world. I have any idea. Anyone dying should try to take a few lawyers with them. This sad world would be much better without lawyers and politicians. Well, we should keep a few around just to tease and disparage.

Music Update:

Once again, yours truly takes you on another meander through the dusty cobwebs of my music library. I hope you enjoy!

This week’s UJT Radio Program:
• Shawn Mullins — Beautiful Wreck — I just love this guy!!! This one is from his 2006 release, “9th Ward Pickin’ Parlor”.
• John Cougar (Mellencamp) — Jack & Diane — This was a hit single cut from his 1982 release, “American Fool” .
• Leopold Stokowski & The Philadelphia Orchestra — The Sorcerers Apprentice — This was magical for me as a boy. We had learned about “Peter and the Wolf” in school. But going to the movies and seeing all those images from Fantasia coordinated with the music was just exceptional for me. I can still replace the scene whenever I hear the music. Originally released in 1940, it had born re-released many times capturing the new kids growing up.
• Grateful Dead — Touch of Grey — From the Vinyl!!!! It’s been just over a year since this bad boy hit the UJT airwaves! It’s really hard for a die hard deadhead like me to pick a favorite song by the Dead, but if someone put a gun to my head and said choose, I am afraid that this would be the song. It just features all the things I love about Dead music so well. This one came from their “In The Dark” released in 1987.…. “Oh well, a touch of grey.. Kind of suits you anyway… We will get by…” Just makes me smile every time.
• Talking Heads — Life During Wartime — This was at hit single for these boys back in1979! It was from their release,: Fear of Music” This ain’t no fooling around:)
• Dave Mathews Band — Everyday — This is the title cut from their 2001 release. There is just something about this guy, his band and the music that they make that moves me!

That’s it… Do the best you can; Laugh every chance you get; Always remember… The best is yet to come! As always, thank you for being my friend!