I’ve been assembling these verses for some time. All my life I’ve heard people incorrectly say that they are born good and that their heart will lead them Christ or to heaven (or some other phrase written on a refrigerator magnet). This is clearly not the heart that is described in the bible. The whole premise that we want to do good goes against what the Bible teaches. We are enemies of God, born in sin with hell as our destiny, but the miracle of God is that while we were yet sinners He died to set us free from that sin. Faith in the work of Jesus Christ is the key to salvation but it doesn’t come from our heart, it too is a gift from God. Without faith, nobody would repent and turn to Christ and be saved.
My mom passed and I was give her photographs to scan for my sibs.
I have a slide scannner I bought years ago but never used. I’m still waiting for a boring winter day when scanning slides is more attractive than cleaning the cat box. I digress.
The solution I’ve found is a Canon imageFORMULA RS40 Photo and Document Scanner. I thought it was going to be nice to scan pictures with the auto feeder. This thing is so much more than that. First of all, it will take anything from a wallet to an 8×10. And you can feed it different sized photos at the same time.
If you can stack them up, it will scan them. The biggest challenge was configuring it for black and white or color and then where to put the output files. Once this is done you basically have a button that you press for the type of photos you’re going to scan. The process goes like this.
Drop in a stack of pictures and scan them.
I’m scanning front and back at the same time to pick up on any info on the back of pictures (mostly dates and people’s names) and I end up with two images. Here’s where the cool stuff happens. When scanning completes, you are presented with a batch of images for review. Almost no images are cockeyed. The scanner straightens them although you may have to rotate them to be right side up.
You rarely have to crop anything to the size of the paper because the scanner uses magic to size the image to the size of the paper of that specific photo. Using simple point and click tools, you can rotate, crop, straighten, and minor color adjustments. So far, I found these simple tools were enough. While reviewing I select all the blank backs of photos and delete them.
When finished with the batch, you then save them.
At around 1000 photos the machine started feeding slowly or failing to feed. I just wiped the rollers down with rubbing alcohol. Works like new again.
It’s easier to scan loose photos because you don’t have to pull them out of albums. I did over 200 photos of various sizes in a stack in about one hour even though all the images had a curl to them.
By the grace of God, years ago my mom pulled all her photos out of the old paper albums and put them into 3 ring binders with plastic sleeves. I’m now doing my mom’s photo albums which require me to pull them from the plastic sleeve, scan, then return them to the plastic sleeves. There are 10 images per page and it takes 5-minutes to do a page. I did 600 images in a full day of scanning.
My own photos are still in the Fotomat envelopes (showing my age) so I should be able to scan them in bunches. Now if you happen to find a slide scanner with similar automation, please let me know.
To anyone else, this is just a coffee mug. Maybe from a diner or something. We’ve all grown up with certain kitchen items that bring back our childhood. This is mug is just that. I’d guess a few thousand cups of coffee and tea have been served in this mug.
Grandma’s Bear
This bear could only be found in one place — Gramma’s house. The eyes have been replaced and the fuzz is warn off. No bear has been loved so much.
Delivered at St. Bridgets Catholic Parish, Mesa, AZ
For those who don’t know me, I am “#4”
On behalf of my family I want to thank each of you for taking time out of your busy schedules to be here. Thank you to the choir members and to Father and Deacon, and the volunteers.
I grew up with 5 kids in the family. 6 children were never born. Yet mom named them because she knew that they were persons from conception. They were her children and like all her children she loved them.
The 5 of us who were born are… #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. Over the years we’ve joked about who mom loved most. Was it #1, Ken, #2, Lorraine, #3, Ray, #5 Paula or #4 myself. The answer is none of them. Spend some time with mom and it wasn’t long before you would learn who she loved the most — Jesus. She wrote songs, poems, painted pictures of and about Jesus. Mom wanted everyone to know him.
We are gathered here to celebrate mom’s life — a live well lived. The bad news is that life here on earth comes to an end, we die. The reason we die is sin. It started in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve sinned and part of the curse was death. It’s because of sin that we die. We’re all sinners.
You’re a sinner if you’ve:
Used God’s name as a curse word.
Stolen anything.
Didn’t always honor your parents. …and this is just three of the 10 Commandments.
As a result, we’re all going to die as proof that we’re sinners. Our destiny without Jesus is Hell. Yes, I said hell in church. If you’re not happy with the show you can get your money back on the way out. While hell is not a nice word God made both heaven and hell. He’s not just a god of love, he’s also a god of Justice. The bible is clear that we who sin will spend eternity paying for our own sins that we’ve committed in this life.
That’s the bad news.
The Good News is the one mom loved the most — Jesus!
Jesus lived a perfectly sinless life. And because he was God, only he could pay for ALL our sins. Where we could only pay for our own sins, Jesus could pay for the sins of everyone.
Jesus died on the cross, and just as he rose from the dead — All who believe will rise as well.
MOM BELIEVED!
So the real celebration today is not for her short time on earth – no – we’re celebrating her life in heaven. By the gracious gift of God that was given to her, mom believed in the work of Jesus. That by his payment on the cross she could turn from her sins and trust in Jesus. So today she is writing songs, and poems, and celebrating Jesus with the six children we’ve never met. She is celebrating and worshipping the one she loved most.
If she were here, she would be praising God and telling each of us to put our faith in the one she loves most — Jesus!
Grandma Leo used to make pizzelle when I was a child. Usually around Christmas or Easter. They have a very unique anise flavor and crunch. I recently discovered that the pizzelle can be rolled and used as shells for cannoli’s. With that, I knew I needed a pizzelle grill. But I hate single purpose kitchen utensils. Why not get one that also makes waffles. It seems impossible to find a new one that is both a waffle and a pizzelle maker. So, I turned to eBay and found what I needed, made by Rival. Tonight, it arrived and I was off to making pizzelle. Yum.
Growing up in Illinois meant that all things guns are bad. Bad people (and maybe a hunter or two) own guns. No consideration is given to self-defense of good people. So, moving to a conservative community with almost zero experience with guns has resulted in some conversations that I never thought I’d have… at church none the less.
A gentleman approaches and says, “Do you shoot 40?” It strikes me as odd that A) someone is asking me if I shoot 40 caliber ammo in my gun; B) that I know what the term 40 even means. C) someone would think that I might the kind of person who shoots guns… at all. Who have I become?
It’s strikes me as odd that I said, “Yes, I do.”
He hands me a paper bag with something in it. It’s heavy. I shake it. It strikes me as odd that I know that sound. It’s ammo.
He then says, “I got this as a white elephant gift at a party. I don’t shoot 40, so it’s yours.” It strikes me as odd that someone would think it socially acceptable to give ammunition as a white elephant gift.
When I got home from church, I looked in the bag. It’s strikes me as odd that I know right off that it’s not just any 40 caliber ammo, it’s hollow-point ammo that one carries for self-defense and that I know it’s quite valuable.
This boy from Illinois is still trying to get the “Illinois” out of my very DNA. Thankfully, more and more, as I learn about such topics as this, I’m becoming more and more “Idaho.”
Dear Commissioner Dan, Your opponent would have thought of this but he’s not around (MIA) so I’m here to help.
We pay a lot of money in taxes to deal with snow, Commissioner Dan! And what do we get for it? I noticed that the county is just pushing the snow to the side of the roads. It’s happening everywhere! If snow costs the county so much money, why fritter it away by leaving it just sit on the side of the road to melt? Why aren’t the commissioners working on a program to recover this valuable commodity and get some kind of return for our tax dollars? We could employ a lot of heavy equipment operators to haul that stuff to market where the hard working people of our community could get a return on their investment. Then we could afford to buy things like sand, glycol and daylight without paying more taxes. In heavy winters, tax payers could get a huge refund. This is the kind of “out-of-the-box” thinking I’m going to bring to the office when I run for commissioner. ~Thomas (A Concerned Citizen)
Commissioner Dan’s Response: Thomas, what the plows do is of course collect the snow and put it in a more concentrated form. Once that is complete, we have a special crew of gnomes that carefully transport the snow using tablespoons to an area where the County converts it to sunshine. Unfortunately, the time it take for collection and conversion is months so we don’t realize the positive affects of the County’s snow-to-shine conversion until about June however, that collected snow provides the extra daylight we all enjoy during the summer months. It’s a secret so please don’t share this info but we cleverly hide this top secret program by telling folks that the days are longer in the summer due to the earth’s tipping at it’s axis. To date, we have been able to keep this secret and fool the public in every County in this country so again, promise me you won’t let this leak out.
This is but one secret program all the Counties in the US operation right under the noses of the citizens without them suspecting anything. I wish I could divulge the secret about ocean tides and the real reason pizza boxes are square when the pizza is round but, well you know, I took an oath.
Originally Posted: 12/12/2018 URL: https://www.facebook.com/dan.mcdonald1/posts/10212570632852511
Out in the sticks where speed limits are generally higher, and critters are more plentiful, no amount of window cleaner can keep up with the bugs. The camera actually did a good job at hiding the opacity of the bug juice on the windshield.
These two signs are in our local public school. The underlying message is that you can be whomever you want to be. That’s fine, but the Bible says that the heart of man is wicked!
When the North Idaho Federated Republican Women were brainstorming for ideas of who will be their next speaker, I have a feeling the same folks who named the organization came up with this one, “Hey, let’s get the country coroners to come in and tell stories and highlights of their jobs.” I really do think the topic will be very interesting and only wish I were a member for NIRFW.
Upon entering church today we were greeted by this display of beautiful tomato plants. I know that people all over the world share stuff, but in small towns there’s a prominence of agricultural items. These are from one of the most experienced and successful (when measured in plant growth) gardeners I’ve ever met. Thank you Marilyn!
Trees grow like weeds in most places around here. I guess technically they are weeds when they grow where you don’t want them to. However, they’re a little more difficult to get rid than your average suburban dandelion. (Click images to enlarge)
Enter, The Biggest Weed Whacker In The World! This beast eats trees and turns them into mulch.
Here’s a shot of a street near home. You can what this beast can do by comparing the two sides of the street.
He hands me a paper bag with something in it. It’s heavy. I shake it. It strikes me as odd that I know that sound. It’s ammo. 
