Prior Date

Archive Index

Next Date

WITandWISDOM(tm) - July 6, 2007 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work. - Thomas A. Edison, (attributed) Source: Quotes of the Day, http://www.quotationspage.com/qotd.html ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: “Oh, there you are, Jack,” I said as I looked up from planting a geranium. “Where have you been? I haven’t seen you for awhile and I was wondering about you,” I said as I washed off my hands with the hose and dried them on a rag. I walked toward the bench to rest and visit with Jack for a while. I had left my tea and toast on the table next to the bench that I had brought out for breakfast. “Care for some toast, Jack?” I asked as I offered to share with him. I knew that Jack loved almost any kind of bread and he did not hesitate to join me. He seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to knowing when I was having a bite to eat. At any rate, once Jack finished his bread he was content to sit and listen to whatever I had to say with very little comment and he seemed to simply enjoy my company. He didn’t appear to be a bit anxious about anything. It occurred to me that Jack seemed to have perfected the art of listening, which is something that a lot of people could learn from him. He just kept looking at me while moving his head now and then as if to show that he was paying attention. I try to keep an eye on Jack because he was orphaned at an early age. Since I began looking out for him he has lived a fairly sheltered life. He doesn’t really know about the threats that are out there in the world. After all, he is still just a teenager and has a lot to learn but like most teens he is very independent and doesn’t think about the dangers that abound around him. I had a nice conversation with Jack and I cautioned him once again about the perils that exist in his world but he continued to walk around the patio completely unconcerned until the dog came over and then he decided to join me on the bench again. Perhaps Jack is learning to be cautious after all, I thought. I’ve learned a lot from Jack, too. He just takes one day at a time and appears to be content to believe that all of his needs will be met. He trusts that there will always be something to eat one way or another, whether it’s food he has to find himself or a bit of bread that is shared with him. You see, Jack is a little bird. I rescued him from certain death when the cat discovered him under the propane tank. I took care of him until he had feathers and was old enough to fly. Now he flies wherever he wants and usually soars in for a landing on my outstretched hand whenever I call his name. He loves to splash in the homemade birdbath that I contrived from an old platter and some stones. Jack has pretty much learned to make his own way in life now and manages to find food that is generously provided to him by our heavenly Father. He doesn’t worry about anything. Jack seems to have a good life. How do I know? A little bird told me. "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them.” Matthew 6: 25-26 By Pamela Perry Blaine © July 3, 2007 Mailto:pamyblaine@blaines.us Pamela lives in Missouri with her husband, Michael. She enjoys writing, music, and country living. She writes "Pam's Corner" for her local newspaper and many stories have been published in magazines, newspapers, and books such as The Miracle Of Sons, 2The Heart/People Who Make A Difference, and A Tribute To Moms. Her goal is to write to encourage others and to write stories for her children and grandchildren so that stories and family history will be preserved. Pam and her husband have made a CD of several songs she has written titled, "I'll Walk You Home". It is available by freewill donation. More information as well as a clip from the CD is on her website at: http://www.blaines.us/PamyPlace.htm ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Laws of Life Murphy's First Law for Wives: If you ask your husband to pick up five items at the store and then you add one more as an afterthought, he will forget two of the first five. Kauffman's Paradox of the Corporation: The less important you are to the corporation, the more your tardiness or absence is noticed. The Salary Axiom: The pay raise is just large enough to increase your taxes and just small enough to have no effect on your take-home pay. Miller's Law of Insurance: Insurance covers everything except what happens. First Law of Living: As soon as you start doing what you always wanted to be doing, you'll want to be doing something else. Weiner's Law of Libraries: There are no answers, only cross-references. Isaac's Strange Rule of Staleness: Any food that starts out hard will soften when stale. Any food that starts out soft will harden when stale. The Grocery Bag Law: The candy bar you planned to eat on the way home from the market is always hidden at the bottom of the grocery bag. Lampner's Law of Employment: When leaving work late, you will go unnoticed. When you leave work early, you will meet the boss in the parking lot. Submitted by Malladi Murthy in India ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: Don't you drive more safely when you realize you've left your driving license at home? In that case, shouldn't we ALWAYS leave our license at home? Source: Mark Mail, http://mrhumor.net/ ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: The History of Taps The 24-note bugle call known as “taps” is thought to be a revision of a French bugle signal, called “tattoo,” that notified soldiers to cease an evening’s drinking and return to their barracks or garrisons. It was sounded one hour before the bugle call that brought the military day to an end by ordering the extinguishing of fires and lights. The last five measures of the tattoo resemble the modern day "Taps." The word “taps” is an alteration of the obsolete word “taptoo,” derived from the Dutch “taptoe.” Taptoe was the command -- “Tap toe!” -- to shut (“toe to”) the “tap” of a keg. The revision that gave us present-day taps was made during America ’s Civil War by Union Gen. Daniel Adams Butterfield, heading a brigade camped at Harrison Landing, Va., near Richmond. Up to that time, the U.S. Army’s infantry call to end the day was the French final call, "L’Extinction des feux.” Gen. Butterfield decided the “lights out” music was too formal to signal the day’s end. One day in July 1862, he recalled the tattoo music and hummed a version of it to an aide, who wrote it down in music. Butterfield then asked the brigade bugler, Oliver W. Norton, to play the notes and, after listening, lengthened and shortened them while keeping his original melody. He ordered Norton to play this new call at the end of each day thereafter, instead of the regulation call. The music was heard and appreciated by other brigades, who asked for copies and adopted this bugle call. It was even adopted by Confederate buglers. This music was made the official Army bugle call after the war, but not given the name “taps” until 1874. The first time taps was played at a military funeral may also have been in Virginia soon after Butterfield composed it. Union Capt. John Tidball, head of an artillery battery, ordered it played for the burial of a cannoneer killed in action. Not wanting to reveal the battery’s position in the woods to the enemy nearby, Tidball substituted taps for the traditional three rifle volleys fired over the grave. Taps was played at the funeral of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson 10 months after it was composed. Army infantry regulations by 1891 required taps to be played at military funeral ceremonies. Taps now is played by the military at burial and memorial services and is still used to signal “lights out” at day’s end. Taps Lyrics: Day is done, gone the sun, from the lakes from the hills from the sky, all is well, safely, rest, God is near. Fading light, Dims the sight, And a star gems the sky Gleaming bright, From afar, Drawing, near, Falls the night. Thanks and praise, For our days, Neath the sun Neath the stars Neath the sky, As we go, This, we, know, God is near. Someone has added another verse: Fades the light From afar Goeth day, cometh night And a star Leadeth all, speedeth all To their rest. Source: Army Study Guide, http://www.armystudyguide.com/ Submitted by Debbie