Category: Random Thoughts

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,420

There is one word in Spanish that I should never had had to learn, tiroteo.  The literal translation is shooting, but they seem to use in the sense of mass shootings.

Obviously with the situation with guns here in the United States, with mass shootings seemingly happening every week, sometimes multiple times, if you are discussing the news with someone in another country, the subject of mass shootings is going to come up.

It is one word/concept that I wish I had never heard of… or learned in another language.

And so it should not go.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #899

yeah I know you did not ask!

I posted a random thought yesterday that read, “Sometimes when I am listening to really good music that moves me, I think, if life has any meaning at all, it is music.”

To which one of my muchísimo subscribers responded, “For me, it’s the music of nature. Sitting on the deck this morning, no one is mowing and all I hear all the birds and the rustle of leaves.”

For me the sound of suburbia has always been the drone of gas engines on lawn mowers, and the 2-cycle engines of  weed eaters and leaf blowers.  Of course, that is getting a bit better as more and more folks are adopting electric lawn mowers and other electric yard tools… at least around here.

The latest “sound of suburbia” for me is the all too many delivery trucks driving much too fast on the shady, tree lined streets of our neighborhood full of children and old folks.

During the pandemic the sound of this neighborhood actually reminded me a bit of my youth as I could hear children playing outside.  Apparently, now they have all gone back inside with their video games.  Oh well.

But when it is quiet, I love sitting on our patio listening to the chirping of the birds, watching the antics of the squirrels and chipmunks and marveling at the acrobatic aeronautics of the humming birds and bumble bees.  And let’s not forget Princess Lily keeping us safe from those same squirrels and chipmunks.  It is good to have a purpose in life.

Occasionally, life really is good.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #7,169

yeah I know you did not ask!

Sometimes when I am listening to really good music that moves me, I think, if life has any meaning at all, it is music.

Yeah, I know…

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #9,809

yeah I know you did not ask!

Way, way back in the day, but not quite Mr. Peabody way back, I used to have a t-shirt that had written large upon on it, “Nuke a Gay Whale for Christ.”

I loved it because it satirized multiple  tropes current at that period of time. I always wondered, though, why they did not get the ubiquitous milk of this time period in there somehow…Got Milk?

What brought this up is that I saw a bumper sticker today that I have seen a few times before.  It reads in large letters, “JESUS LOVES YOU“, and below that in a smaller font is “But I am his favorite.”

I have never quite figured out if the folks displaying these bumper stickers are evangelizing, satirizing or both. Or perhaps, given the epidemic of narcissism in this country, they really believe they are the favorite of one branch of the Christian trilogy.  Going even further afield, perchance, the bumper sticker is referring to that well known playboy, the Mexican Mac Daddy, the gardener named Jesus.

On so it goes upon the highways and byways of the metropolis known as St. Louis.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #330

yeah I know you did not ask!

As the 3.141592  regular readers of my silliness might remember, I have written about the blue birds in our yard in the past.  One such story was Señora’s Bluebird House.

I was mowing the yard today, and the last thing on my mind were birds, blue or otherwise.   As I went along the eastern fence in the back yard I suddenly felt a slight breeze, heard a fluttering sound, experienced light touches on my hair.  I had forgotten about the blue bird house there and as I went by it the occupants were attempting to protect their property.  The blue bird of happiness was driving me away.

Gloom, despair, and agony on me
Deep, dark depression, excessive misery
If it weren’t for bad luck, I’d have no luck at all
Gloom, despair, and agony on me

Deep Dark Depression, Excessive Misery

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #1,193

yeah I know you did not ask!

Definition: Suburbanite – a person who spends half their time trying to get grass to grow and the other half of their time trying to keep the grass in check!

And so it goes.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #6,149

yeah I know you did not ask!

You are sitting in your vehicular mode of transportation.  You are at a traffic light.  The traffic light is red.  You are second in line.  The vehicle in front of you is a Dodge Durango. It is a Chesterfield police cruiser.

The light changes from red to green.  The member of Chesterfield’s Police Department driving the SUV must be involved with his cell phone, his on board computer, daydreaming… who knows.  He does not move.

My question is to you is, do you give this Chesterfield’s finest a little toot of your horn to alert him to the change in the status of the traffic light, or do you just sit there, gnashing your teeth, impatiently drumming your fingers on the steering wheel,  ruing the day you were born, waiting for him to come back down to earth?

I once followed a Chesterfield police cruiser going the same direction as me.  We made three left turns with him making a final left as I turned right.  He never once used his turn signal. I guarantee (as my Cajun coworker use to say,,,drawing the word out)  I was diligently using my factory installed method of indicating a change in direction in order to be courteous and safe… and to avoid any possible ticket.

Can you make a citizen’s arrest for traffic violations?

And so it goes.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #5,680

 

yeah I know you did not ask!

Okay, some of thou may consider this a bit culturally insensitive…

Flipping through the news on my phone this morning, there was a plethora of pictures of the coronation of King Charles III. I had several thoughts, but the one that kept reoccurring was that, for all the world, it looked like an over the top drag show.  Long live the Queen.

I also was expecting a photograph of King Chuckie holding up a can of Bud Light at any moment.

And so it goes.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #4,831

yeah I know you did not ask!

At times, it is so very, very hard being a sarcastic SOB.

I was filling out a medical form, and even though it was a computerized form that could have been carrying redundant information from section to section, it was not.

One question it kept asking, besides my name, DOB, etc., was sex.  It got where it was all I could do to not put “Yes, and often please.” But I kept reminding myself that it was a very tired, old joke, even by my standards.

Why they had not provided a drop down box with the two options – male, female – is beyond me.  A free form text box seemed to be exactly the wrong option for gathering an either/or piece of data .  Perhaps they were trying to be “woke”. It just struck me as stupid programming.

On a related note…

A while back a doctor asked me, “Do you drink?”

“Sure,” I replied, “Scotch neat with a splash of water, otherwise I will take whatever you are drinking.”

Apparently that was an inappropriate response in a medical setting.

And so it goes.

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Rev. Joe’s Random Thought #8,089

yeah I know you did not ask!

Florida is the American state with the highest percentage of retirees.  While folks can retire from the work-a-day world at an early age, most commonly do so in their 60s.  This obviously implies that there are a lot of old geezers in the Sunshine State.

There is an Oscar Wilde quote based on the venerable adage, “With age comes wisdom.” The complete Wilde quote is “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.”

Given the gawd awful politicians that Florida voters keep electing to national and state offices, I do believe Oscar had it right.  There is not a lot of wisdom in Florida’s selection of politicians.  I frequently wonder what is in the water down there, or what they are smoking.

And so it goes.