Well, it's not hot any more!

51º with misty rain and wind 8-10 mph here in La Feria, TX.  A little miserable, especially compared to the 91º and bright sunshine we had just 2 days ago.  Today is definitely a long-sleeved shirt, long pants, long socks with cowboy boots day!   Did read where it was 10 degrees in Clarinda with snow on the ground.  Still much better than that!

Was in the 40's as we ate breakfast this morning.

Since our air conditioner wasn't working this last week, the several days of upper 80's and lower 90's were days of all open windows and several fans running.  Not now -- running the furnace now.

Last night (Friday) we visited with neighbor Donna Montgomery who had just been moved to Golden Palms Rehab, which is right near Valley Baptist Hospital, where she had been a patient for 2 weeks.

Phyllis, as Activity Director, 
was in charge of a Veterans 
Day Program on Friday.

Morris Azure, from North Dakota, and Don Ferguson
from Nebraska, took down the old flag.

New flag raised.

I read a short description of the writing of the National Anthem and then read all five verses of it.  Lee Saunders then interviewed each of the Veterans who had been recognized, giving their branch of service, years of service and a little about what they did in service.

I then showed the 4.5 minute DVD written and performed by Terry Smith "You Traded All of Your Tomorrows"

and doughnuts and apple cider or coffee was served.  The group photos above were then taken.

I had worked many times on painting the hand railing and
frame to neighbor Harold Neher's platform.  Worked only 20 minutes or
so each time, because more than that I tended to get sloppy.  So did all of it,
including much of the bottom frame.  I was sitting on the floor, beside the can
of paint and had just done the last brushing of paint---when I turned and caught
the can and spilled the paint!  right on the carpet on the cement.  After mopping it
up quickly with some towels I had been using as paint drop cloths, it almost looks
like a map of the 48 states -- needs a little more Texas and Florida.
You know, though, some good artists do leave a signature or mark on their paintings?
Maybe that is mine.  Will have to see about the damages with Harold.

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A farmer named Clyde had a tractor accident. In court, the trucking company's fancy hot shot lawyer, was questioning Clyde. "Didn't you say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine,'?" asked the lawyer.

Clyde responded, "Well, I'll tell you what happened. I had just loaded my favorite cow, Bessie, into the..."

"I didn't ask for any details", the lawyer interrupted. "Just answer the question, ...please. Did you, or did you not say, at the scene of the accident, 'I'm fine!'?"

Clyde said, "Well, I had just got Bessie into the trailer behind the tractor and I was driving down the road...."

The lawyer interrupted again and said, "Your Honor, I am trying to establish the fact that, at the scene of the accident, this man told the Highway Patrolman on the scene that he was just fine. Now several weeks after the accident he is trying to sue my client. I believe he is a fraud. Please tell him to simply answer the question."

By this time, the Judge was fairly interested in Clyde's answer and said to the lawyer, "I'd like to hear what he has to say about his favorite cow, Bessie".

Clyde thanked the Judge and proceeded. "Well, as I was saying, I had just loaded Bessie, my favorite cow, into the trailer and was driving her down the highway when this huge semi-truck and trailer ran the stop sign and smacked my John Deer Tractor right in the side. I was thrown into one ditch and Bessie was thrown into the other. I was hurting, real bad and didn't want to move. However, I could hear old Bessie moaning and groaning. I knew she was in terrible shape just by her groans.

Shortly after the accident a Highway Patrolman came on the scene. He could hear Bessie moaning and groaning, so he went over to her. After he looked at her, and saw her fatal condition, he took out his gun and shot her between the eyes. Then the Patrolman came across the road, gun still in hand, looked at me, and said, "How are you feeling?"

"Now tell me, what the heck would you say?"

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CRITICAL LIFE LESSON ."Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"..

There was a chemistry professor in a large college that had some exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab, the professor noticed one young man, an exchange student, who kept rubbing his back and stretching as if his back hurt.
The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist regime. In the midst of his story, he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked: "Do you know how to catch wild pigs?"
The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said that it was no joke. "You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come every day to eat the free food".
"When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence". "They get used to that and start to eat again.
You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side". "The pigs, which are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat that free corn again. You then slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd".
"Suddenly the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity."
The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening in America . The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, tax exemptions, tobacco subsidies, dairy subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare entitlements, medicine, drugs, etc., while we continually lose our freedoms, just a little at a time as the government forces us to participate in many of these programs whether or not we want to.
One should always remember two truths: There is no such thing as a free lunch, and you can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself. If you see that all of this wonderful government "help" is a problem confronting the future of democracy in America, you might want to share this with your friends.
God help us all when the gate slams shut!

Quote for today: "The problems we face today are there because the people who work for a living are now outnumbered by those that vote for a living."

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Catchya' later, Lynn