PRE-FATHER'S DAY HODGEPODGE

     Welcome back Wednesday Hodgepodge. Our friend and host Joyce is in the process of relocating to another state. A reading of her recent blogs might lead one to believe she is moving to the state of confusion...but I digress. Father's Day is this Sunday. Today is Wednesday, hence another edition of the Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you Joyce and good luck with the relocation! Enjoy this week's Hodgepodge!

1. June is National Great Outdoors Month. Have you spent any time appreciating the great outdoors this month? If so where, and if not do you have any plans to enjoy the great outdoors before the calendar turns?

     Living in New Hampshire, I always have an opportunity to enjoy the great outdoors. I essentially live in the great outdoors. I love the Granite State! We have wonderful lakes, terrific mountains, wonderful seashore. All of these places have beautiful hiking trails. (Okay smartass, and you know who your are, I meant hiking trails along the lake shores!) I love the great outdoors! 

2. What's a current hot button issue for you?

     My current hot button issue are people who expect us to go along with their self deception. Case #1 - Caitlyn (A.K.A. Bruce) Jenner. I don't care how many operations he gets, he will never be a she. He was born male and post surgery he will still be male, only with manufactured female anatomy. 
     Case #2 -  Rachel Dolezal, the former director of the NAACP in Seattle, WA. She was born caucasian to caucasian parents. However, she self identifies as black. She apparently decided at some point in her life that she was black. She even came up with a false narrative about her father having to leave the southern United States because he had a physical altercation with an over zealous white police officer. Her false narrative also included memories of child abuse, being whipped with a baboon whip by her father.
     It seems to me that these cases are like "The Emperor's New Clothes." Only those people who are really cool could see the new clothes. In our cases only really cool people go along with the delusion. I REFUSE TO BE COOL! THE EMPEROR IS NAKED!

3. What's a food or treat that 'disappears like hotcakes' in your house?

     That's easy...Cream Horns. Those flaky pastry horns filled with sweet vanilla cream. They never last long around here! My beloved SWMBO and I just love them. It's one of our guilty pleasures!

4. How hot is too hot?

    Temperature-wise anything above 78 degree's farenheit with 65% and up humidity. If you're talking salsa or other spicy foods, anything above "medium" hotness is too hot. If you're talking super models, there is no such thing as a too hot super model! 

5. Do you have an artistic outlook on life? What does that mean to you?

     I'm not sure I know what you mean. My outlook on life is formed, in large part, by my understanding of the Bible. I play music, I write, I listen to all kinds of music. I love a well acted movie, or a play, or a well crafted song or a well crafted sermon or speech. Like I said, I'm not sure I now what you mean by the question.

6. What's one question you'd like to ask your father, or one you wish you could ask your father?

     I would like to talk to him about his experiences during World War II. He was in North Africa and he participated in the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy. Other than an amusing anecdote from time to time he never spoke with any degree of specificity of his experiences during the war.

7. Something you learned from your father?

     I learned how to play Chess from Dad. I did not become a man until the day that I finally beat him. I knew when he was about to lower the boom on me because he would say after I made a move "That's a really good move in case you don't know it." Invariably, within five or six moves after hearing him say that, I heard the word "Checkmate!"

8.  Insert your own random thought here.

     I have come to know way more about cancer than I ever wanted to. As many of you know, my beloved SWMBO is thankfully currently in remission. She has Multiple Myeloma, the same type of cancer that NBC Newsman Tom Brokaw has. 
     Recently, a dear friend was diagnosed with Leukemia and is currently undergoing chemo treatments in the hospital. He's expected to be there for a period of a month to six weeks. 
     In my life I have had family members and friends who battled valiantly and were either cured or put into remission. I have also had family members and friends who battled just as valiantly if not more and lost their battle.
     I hate cancer! I hate the impact this awful disease, in all it's forms, has not only on the patient but on their family and friends. It's like a hand grenade going off in their life scattering shrapnel everywhere cutting into everyone who is nearby.
     I hate cancer! Thank you for attending my self-pity party!