The Crackerhead Chronicles on FishHawk Droppings

The revised version of [The Crackerhead Chronicles] is has been released into the wild again.  If you have not already read at least some of it, it is an abbreviated account of my life so far.  The revised version has an added chapter.

Come Monday...TCC Cosmetic Procedures

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of (or commentary about) websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

I am now in the process of giving the Kindle edition of The Crackerhead Chronicles a facelift, along with making the text a little more palatable for consumption by the more grammatically obsessed.  Those cosmetic procedures should have been already completed, but good help is hard to find, which our Heavenly Father will certainly attest to after working in and through me for as long as He has been.

Anyway, when you see the new cover on the sidebar of my three sites, be assured that the deed has been done.  The text of the current free version of the book on [FishHawk Droppings] will be replaced by the new and hopefully improved text, which also applies to the downloadable Google Drive docs of each crumb/chapter.

The changes to The Crackerhead Chronicles should be in place in a couple of days.  So, if you have some time to waste, I would sure love to hear what you think about this abbreviated account of my life.

P.S.: The photograph of the osprey was most graciously provided by [Michael Lynch].

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The TribulationTimes Herald-Exhorter]

Come Monday...Dad

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

What comes next (in italics) is The Third Crumb of [The Crackerhead Chronicles].  After that will be the rest of his story.  Well, at least a heavily condensed version of it.

The name of my dad is Fred Marshall Beuterbaugh.  He was born on February 4, 1920 in the small farming community of Blue Mound, Kansas, which is around 65 miles south of Kansas City, Kansas/Missouri.

I do not remember if he was born in a hospital or not, but it sure wasn’t under the same conditions as my mom was.  For my dad’s family was much better off than hers in a number ways.

Sadly, I do not know all that much more about my dad’s lineage than I do my mom’s.  For I was allowed and enabled to actually meet his mother just before she passed away, along with having a fairly close relationship with two of his sisters, but there is so much that is still a mystery to me.

What I do know is that Beuterbaugh is Dutch—Pennsylvania Dutch, if you are so inclined.  For I can remember my dad getting real upset with me over telling him that the name was Germanic in origin.

Okay, the Pennsylvania Dutch part is on me.  For my dad’s bunch eventually settled in the Lancaster County area of Pennsylvania after coming over here from the old country, and I thought it was a nice touch.

Whether or not they were Mennonite, I do not know.  For my dad’s mother and father considered themselves to be non-denominational Christians, and I was not made aware of any evidence of what prior generations were.

Neither do I know just when they came over, but it had to have been before the Civil War.  For Samuel Buterbaugh (same name with a different spelling) served under the Union General Sherman on his march to the sea through Georgia and South Carolina.  After the war, he rode under General Sheridan in a U.S. Army Calvary unit, and later became one of the earliest settlers of Kearney, Nebraska.

My dad’s father was raised in Omaha, Nebraska, and how he came to settle in Blue Mound, Kansas is another part of the mystery.  The same can be said of where he met my dad’s mother, who was about as Danish as one can be.

Anyway, there is no mystery to where the anger in my dad over me insisting that Beuterbaugh is a Germanic name came from.  For he served with the First Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during World War II, and saw his first action when he went ashore on Omaha Beach with the second wave of the division on June 6, 1944 (D-Day).  Furthermore, severe wounds received while out on patrol in the Ardennes Forest region of Belgium several months later at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge landed him in a hospital in Paris, France for several weeks.

It could be argued that being wounded like that saved his life.  For when he woke up in the hospital, he saw his first sergeant lying in a bed across from him, and when he asked him what he was doing there, his first sergeant told him that they were the only survivors from their company.  For what ones were not shot first were crushed to death by the German tanks that had rolled straight over their position a day or so after he was wounded.

As if that was not enough, when he was released from the hospital, my dad was assigned to another unit that helped liberate the Buchenwald Concentration Camp in Germany.  The only thing that he really had to say about it was that it was then that he was glad that the army had stuck a rifle in his hand instead of letting him do what he knew the best, which was run a bulldozer.

You see, my dad was a pipeliner, which is someone who travels around the country (the world, actually) building pipelines for the transport of such things as natural gas and oil.  They can be heavy equipment operators, welders and a host of other things, and my dad was a master bulldozer man until back problems forced him to start operating a ditching machine a few years before those back problems forced him off of the job completely.

It all started when his sister Maxine married Paul Williams, who was a full-blooded Choctaw from the reservation in Oklahoma.  Uncle Paul was also a pipeliner, and he was able to arrange employment for my dad as a bulldozer greaser during summer vacations from school.

From then on, my dad was hooked.  For the money was very good—especially during the days of the depression, and tales of faraway places, like South Carolina and Connecticut, fueled the imagination of a boy who knew only the prairie of eastern Kansas.

No, not even an offer of a full scholarship to play basketball for Phog Allen at Kansas University (ROCK-CHALK, JAY-HAWK, K-U!) could dissuade my dad.  For he was going to be a pipeliner, and be the best bulldozer operator that had ever been seen.

Speaking of my dad playing basketball, he once told of his high school team getting beat 100 – 2, and that he had scored the only points for his team on a pair of free throws.  The rest of the story was that the principal called the entire school to an assembly, and after placing the members of the basketball team in chairs behind him so that they could be clearly seen by all, he then proceeded to declare, in no uncertain terms, that he would dissolve the team and forfeit the rest of the games if anything even remotely like that 100 – 2 defeat happened again.  Considering the fact that my dad was the shortest player on the team at six feet tall, and that the rest of the starting line-up consisted of two at 6 feet 10 inches tall and two at six feet seven inches tall, who could blame him?

No, I cannot blame you for thinking that his story is quite a tall tale in and of itself.  For there being so many white boys that tall around a very small eastern Kansas farming community back in the 1930s is hard to imagine.

On the other hand, my wife and I saw an older gentleman, who appeared to have been born around the same time as my dad, have to duck to go under a seven foot tall doorway in a Liberal, Kansas restaurant one night.  So, maybe they just knew how to feed ‘em right back then?

My dad was also quite a shortstop for his Blue Mound High School baseball team.  In fact, he even received some offers to play in the St. Louis Cardinals, St. Louis Browns (that became the Baltimore Orioles in 1954) and Chicago Cubs farm systems, but the money they were talking about was not nearly as much as he was already making pipelining.

So, after sticking around Blue Mound for a year or so to care for his ailing parents upon his return from the war, my dad returned to the life that he loved.  Granted, it was a lonely one, but that all changed when he met a red-headed Cherokee from Arkansas in 1951.

It was just the two of them touring the country one pipeline jobsite at a time until the old adage, all good things must come to an end, bit them squarely on the buttocks in November of 1957.  For that is when I came along.

All was not lost, however.  For in December of 1962, my little brother arrived and helped them to understand that they were not nearly as bad at parenting as I was making it seem.

Alas, it is much to my shame that I still think of my dad with much fear and trembling, and I am talking about genuine fear here.  For after receiving a pretty good taste of what living with constant pain is like, I can certainly see where my dad showed great restraint when dealing with my antics.

Be assured that I am not trying to compare my condition with my dad’s.  For in 1967, it was determined that he had lost one complete vertebrae, along with the discs on both sides of where that vertebrae was supposed to be in his spinal column, from running bulldozers for too long.

Yeah, he knew great physical pain, and he knew great mental anguish, as well.  For after faithfully paying dues to the International Union of Operating Engineers for over 30 years, he found out just how corrupt and incompetent unions can be.  For they refused to give him a pension because of not being old enough to receive one yet, in accordance to their rules and regulations.

He was also reintroduced to just how corrupt and incompetent the federal government can be.  For before he could board the ship to come back home from World War II, he had to sign a waiver of all liability for his injuries or have to stay in Europe considerably longer, and 22 years later, here was the Social Security Administration denying his request for disability compensation the first time he applied.  Furthermore, it would be another two years before it was determined that missing a vertebrae might prevent one from holding regular emplyment.

No, it was not a truly happy day when those checks finally started coming.  Granted, it kept us from going plumb under, but my dad was of the opinion that real men do not accept help like that.  In fact, he absolutely hated Roosevelt and his new deal until the day he died in 1981.

The time of his death is another thing that I am deeply ashamed of.  That is, at least my part in it.  For I was not there when his time as a part of this world came to an end because of not wanting to see the look of deep disappointment on his face when he looked at me.

Be assured that I would not wish what I am having to live with now upon my worst enemy.  Yeah, I know that I am forgiven, but forgiving myself is another thing entirely.  So, do yourself a favor and go spend as much time as you can with your dad before it is too late—even if you do not have a good relationship with him.  For you just might surprised (shocked, actually) by what our Heavenly Father can do to mend broken relationships when it is in accordance to His will.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Trib Updates and Mom

My energy level has been even lower than usual the past few weeks, which has made it very difficult to publish enough material on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter to justify putting up an update here on Saturdays.  Hey, I was only able to publish an [ESPN Additions] and a [WhiteHeart Wednesday] over there the past week.  Therefore, in the hope of not causing myself anymore embarrassment than usual, it seemed prudent to discontinue the Trib Updates series for the foreseeable future, and starting next week, ESPN Additions will be taking its place here on Saturdays.  The following is the audio version of The Second Crumb from The Crackerhead Chronicles.  If for some reason you do not find my voice most pleasing, you can read the text by itself for free [here], along with the book in its entirety, starting [here].  A Kindled version of the entire book can be purchased for one measly dollar [here], and since we could sure use the money, donations of not so measly dollars can be given by clicking on the donation button on the sidebars of all of our sites.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

And

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Come Monday...Kindled

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

The Crackerhead Chronicles is now for sale on [Amazon.com] for $1.00, and I would greatly appreciate published reviews of the book by as many as possible in order to help stimulate sales.  For our situation is looking more and more desperate with each passing day.

Yes, the content of the book has been offered for free for years on here and [FishHawk Droppings], and it still is.  For what I have been given to say has never been meant to be about making money, but we have been sitting here without any income of any kind for almost three months now.

No, not even my Social Security Disability check is still coming in.  For after losing her job last November, Arlynda cashed in her 401K, which left us with more than $3,000.00 in the bank, and the Social Security Administration ruled that I am no longer eligible to receive disability compensation until it can be proven that we have less than $3,000.00 worth of what they consider to be financial resources, which was accomplished late last month.

Well, at least the part about no longer having over $3,000.00 in the bank was accomplished.  In fact, we will drop below $2,000.00 by the end of this week, but until the Social Security Administration says that we are okay in regards to this, we will remain not okay.

Oh, and adding insult to injury, we had to pay back the $653.39 that we had received for November, December and January.  Yeah, when having over a $1,000 a month worth of bills, a government check for $293.02 does not count for all that much, but it is certainly better than nothing.

No, I am not to the panic stage yet, but Arlynda’s deteriorating health is starting to weight quite heavily upon us.  For we just plain cannot afford to pay the almost $1,000 a month [COBRA] cost, and she is now in more desperate need of some of her medications than ever (naturally-speaking, of course).

I am sorry for sounding so vague about her deteriorating health.  I have been hoping that she would be able to write about it herself by now, but it is looking like that is not going to happen anytime soon (if ever).  So, I will publish something about it here in a few weeks.

Be assured that I hate having to beg more than just about anything, but there is also a PayPal donate button over there on the sidebar.  I do not plan on saying any more about it.  Therefore, please do not be reluctant to come by here again.

Oh, and in regards to the reviews of The Crackerhead Chronicles, I am asking for really good ones.  Considering the mindset of many of the regulars around here, it seemed prudent to make that clear.

Okay, if you insist, the review doesn’t have to be glowing, but any reasonable person would have to admit that there is something for just about everyone in the book, I would think.  Hey, there are parts of it that should give even deadly serious atheists a really good laugh!

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Trib Updates

This is a weekly series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter.  Hopefully, this will encourage you to go check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number of truly outstanding authors.  Moreover, I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing member/author, as well.  The “Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of the side-bar should answer many of your questions.  Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam On Saturdays)”  segment before, but it just wasn’t working for me.  Therefore, that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Eagle Rock] has the YouTube video for The Sixth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Wolf Pen Gap] has the YouTube video for The Seventh Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Troop 76] has the YouTube video for The Eighth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Bates Corner] has the YouTube video for The Ninth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: When Dreams…] has the YouTube video for The Tenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: The Best and Worst of Times] has the YouTube video for The Eleventh Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Life After Martial Death] has the YouTube video for The Twelfth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Amarillo] has the YouTube video for The Thirteenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: OTR] has the YouTube video for The Fourteenth Crumb of the book. 

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Round Two] has the YouTube video for The Fifteenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Chicken-Haulin’] has the YouTube video for The Sixteenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Crash and Burn] has the YouTube video for The Seventeenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Amazing Grace] has the YouTube video for The Nineteenth Crumb of the book.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Quite a Cross to Bear] has the YouTube video for The Twentieth Crumb of the book.

[ESPN Additions] gives examples of how the tide rolls.

[WhiteHeart Wednesday (Catch-Up Edition)] contains videos and lyrics for Following The King, Gabriela and Give Enough.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Not Alone]

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Come Monday...Finally Finished

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

The audible version of The Crackerhead Chronicles is finally finished and uploaded to YouTube.  Be assured that it just about finished me.  For there is still a lot of quit left in me.

A good example of what I am talking about has to do with the audible recording of the 44 minutes and 27 seconds to The Nineteenth Crumb taking over six hours to complete, with that still leaving Gabby squalling like a panther in the background in a couple of places and my mother-in-all trying to hack up a lung in another.  Trixie can be clearly heard adding her voice in another crumb.  For there came times when I was just too tired to make another try, but it was suggested that leaving Gabby and my mother-in-law in might be found to be quite intriguing to those who found the story of my mom’s mysterious cat in The Eighteenth Crumb of particular interest.

On the other hand, it was a labor of love, all in all.  For I had forgotten much of the text, with the following being a good example of something that I found quite delightful to The Twentieth Crumb.  On one particularly bad day, I asked my Heavenly Father why it had to be so hard.  His reply was, “After all, why do you think it is called suffering?”  No, I had not been allowed and enabled to count it all joy {James 1:2-4} yet.  I still haven’t, but I have always greatly appreciated Him putting His delightful sense-of-humor on display for my benefit.  Needless to say, suffering is a very painful subject to touch upon, and a pun was most definitely intended there.  For it is often good to laugh when all you feel like doing is cry, and I did let out a chuckle when He told me what He did.  It was certainly a better answer than I received from the adult Sunday School teacher at my mom’s church.  For in the midst of having a full-blown nervous breakdown after a week where the motors of two brand new chain saws had ceased up when they were desperately needed, all I got from him was, “It could be worse.”

Please keep in mind that I am not trying to think more highly of myself than I should with that.  For as I have said before, I believe that the text to the book was given to me by our Heavenly Father, with even the part that I played involving placing it into written form being more by His hand than mine.

Anyway, I hope you find the audible version of The Crackerhead Chronicles to have been worth the effort to produce.  Each of the following images is linked to where that particular crumb can be found on YouTube.  If you would rather just read the text, going [here] will take you to the beginning of the book, which has been placed in the correct order on FishHawk Droppings.  At the end of each crumb, the audible version of it has been embedded.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Running Out of Time

Alas, I really hate this, but I must announce that I will not be publishing anything more here until [The Crackerhead Chronicles] audible book project is fully ready to upload to YouTube.  For I am trying to upload each crumb/chapter on the corresponding day (such as The First Crumb was uploaded on the first of January, The Second on the second) and here I sit on the ninth of January with only the tenth and eleventh crumbs ready for their day to come.

No, it really shouldn’t be all that much of a problem.  For it is not like I regularly publish epic pieces that take hours to produce, but it did take me over 12 hours to get The Eleventh Crumb ready to upload yesterday, which made for close to a 16-hour day with all of the other things added in.

I am sorry, but I also consider sleeping, eating, visiting with Arlynda and playing with our varmints to be important.  Therefore, something had to go for the time being.

Yes, The Crackerhead Chronicles audible book project really is important—even if very few realize it at this time.  For it is not just an abbreviated account of my life so far.  In fact, it is much more about our Heavenly Father being at work in the life of someone since in the womb.

No, my story is not extraordinarily special.  That is, at least not any more so than everyone else’s story, and this is what should be so interesting about it.  For I do not start really talking about our Heavenly Father’s participation in my daily life until He started making Himself real to me, which can be found in the last two crumbs.

So, at least the first eighteen crumbs should be considered relatively safe for those who do not consider themselves to be very religious.  Hey, there is even some stuff that those who consider themselves as being “spiritual” might really like.  Although, it will probably be more appealing to those who favor the new-age over the old.

Hopefully, The Crackerhead Chronicles (along with the rest of the books that can be read on FishHawk Droppings) will become as much of a treasure to all who are learning just who our Heavenly Father really is as it is to me.  Please, do not take that as being egotistical.  For in the same way as my life is not really my own, neither is the story of it.  In other words, it has all come from our Heavenly Father.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Trib Updates

This is a weekly series that will include a brief summary of the latest articles that have been published on The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter.  Hopefully, this will encourage you to go check out some truly outstanding articles that have been published by a number of truly outstanding authors.  Moreover, I hope this will also encourage you to want to become a contributing member/author, as well.  The “Hear Ye!  Hear Ye!” site explanation near the top of the side-bar should answer many of your questions.  Yes, this series also included an “SOS! (Spam On Saturdays)”  segment before, but it just wasn’t working for me.  Therefore, that will be replaced by a republishing of one of the Trib articles.

[Jeremiah Was Actually A Bullfrog] has a video and the lyrics for Three Dog Night’s Joy To The World.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Mom] contains the video for the audible book version of The Second Crumb of The Crackerhead Chronicles.

[WhiteHeart Wednesday] has a video and the lyrics for Fly Eagle Fly.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Dad] contains the video for the audible book version of The Third Crumb of The Crackerhead Chronicles.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: From Miller to Poverty Point] contains the video for the audible book version of The Fourth Crumb of The Crackerhead Chronicles.

[The Crackerhead Chronicles: Shell Knob] contains the video for the audible book version of The Fifth Crumb of The Crackerhead Chronicles.

[Not Sam Elliott]

This is an attempt (the first one, actually) to produce an audible version of The Crackerhead Chronicles in my own voice.  If it is not already, it will soon become obvious that I don’t know much about audio engineering, video editing, nor digital graphics.  I have that on good authority, I’m told.  Of course, my darlin’ wife, Arlynda, would be a whole lot more enthusiastic about this project if I sounded a whole lot more like THE CELERBRATED American actor, Sam Elliott.  Hmm, I wonder if there’s an app for that?  Anyway, let’s move on to…

What you just read is the text for the opening of each of the crumbs/chapters that will be uploaded to YouTube.  Since it pretty much explains what is going on and is not included in written form during the videos, it seemed appropriate to use it as the opening for this.

Alas, I really should have a lot more accomplished than I do.  For I only have one more crumb/chapter actually ready to upload, but a couple are awfully close.

Speaking of awful, what I would think would not be all that much has been a nightmare so far.  Suffice to say that I have newfound great respect for those who can simply read something out loud without mumbling and slurring.  Furthermore, those who can add true feelings to what they are reading are most certainly not getting paid enough!

Of course, what they are given to read does make a difference, and when it is not right, their job becomes exponentially harder.  Despite countless attempts at proof-reading, there was/is quite a bit about the text of [The Crackerhead Chronicles] that wasn’t right, and correcting those mistakes has taken a lot time and energy.

In all fairness, I anticipated the actual recording and video editing process as being a lot more fun than what I wanted to participate in.  For I did not even realize that there was such a program as [Windows Sound Recorder] before I started this project—let alone that it was already included as part of Windows 7 on my computer.

Oh, but wait—there’s more!  For I am using a microphone that came with our first computer back in 2000, and I can hardly hear what has been recorded without cranking up the speaker volume to 100%.

So, some amplification was needed, and that has involved two more programs that I never knew existed before.  For [Audacity] can amplify recordings, but it will only work with mp3 and WAV files.  Therefore, [Free Audio Converter] was needed to convert the WMA files from Windows Sound Recorder to a WAV file, and then used to convert the amplified WAV files to mp3 before they are be added to the video.

The video itself has not been as much of a nightmare as I thought it might be beforehand.  For I played around with Windows Movie Maker a time or two before while trying to produce some WhiteHeart videos, and the Windows Live Movie Maker that I now have to work with is easier to get along with in many regards.

Still, if anything was really easy to do, He wouldn’t be having me do it—now, would He?  Sigh.

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]

Come Monday...A Fellow Fatso

“Come Monday…” is a weekly series that will involve a review of, or commentary about,  websites, movies, documentaries, television shows, sports, music, and whatever else may tickle my fancy at the time.  Be assured that these reviews will be generally positive, as in accordance to the Jimmy Buffett song “Come Monday.”  This is subject to change, however.  In fact, I would be most derelict in my duties to neglect going on a rant every once in a while.  For rants promote change, and change can be good—right?  Therefore, since good is generally considered as being a positive force in 99.3% of the parallel universes that I am aware of, even a rant could be considered as being something positive, and a genuine hissy-fit would be even better (so I’m told).

My first impression of this was that she was way overreacting to what was really not a bullying situation.  For I took his email as a sincere attempt to get her to stop being so okay with her appearance.

A close examination of what she says gives some indications that his concerns are justified.  Did you catch her qualifying her acknowledgement of being overweight by saying, “First, the truth is that I am overweight.  You could call me fat, and yes, even obese ON A DOCTOR’S CHART (starting at around the 1:37 mark of the video)?  Another indication occurred around the 2:38 mark: “And that man’s words mean nothing to me.”

Alas, a war against obesity has been declared by many public health officials, and they are taking the fight way too far to the detriment of us all.  For it costs taxpayer dollars to enforce such idiotic rules as restricting the size of sugary soft drinks to no more than 16 ounces and menus having to include how many calories and fat each item has—not to mention drastically changing school lunch menus, which will undoubtedly result in literally tons of food having to be thrown out on account of most kids simply refusing to eat it.

Besides, which “scientific” study do we take as gospel this week?  For as soon as one comes out that claims that a certain amount of salt will lead to babies being born with too much ear hair within three generations, another will come out and claim that the amount stated in the other study is perfectly safe and even recommended!

There is, however, another side that I do believe that Lvingston’s emailer was trying to address.  For as hard as the food Nazis are pushing their healthy eating agenda, many are pushing back just as hard by claiming that we should all be comfortable in our own skins.

No, I am not at all suggesting that someone like Jennifer Livingston should not be placed in the public eye, but she could have done so much more good by just explaining that she has been trying to slim down (like she did [here]) instead becoming so defiant.

Be assured that I do not take any of this lightly.  You see, that is a picture of me that was taken a few years back, and even though I am around a hundred pounds skinnier (insert chuckle here over me using the word “skinnier”) now, I am still deeply ashamed of my physical appearance.

It is something that I have had to live with my entire natural life.  For our Heavenly Father saw fit to create me with an extremely slow metabolism, and if I would try to eat like a normal person, I would surely explode!

No, it is not fair.  For while I could gain five pounds just thinking about devouring a slab of ribs, my brother could eat six very full meals a day and lose weight while I was actually being much more physically active than him, in regards to hauling hay, cutting firewood, building fence and a host of other everyday activities on top of lifting weights and generally exercising like crazy.

Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?  If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.

[1 Corinthians 3:16-17 NIV]

Yes, there is another side to this issue that should be addressed.  For it is being preached from some pulpits that being fat is a sin that just might land an unrepentant chunky-butt in Hell for all of eternity.

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.  For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.  This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance.  That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

[1 Timothy 4:7-10 NIV]

No, 1 Timothy 4:7-10 is not a contradiction of 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.  For what the Apostle Paul was given to convey to the church in Corinth was specifically addressing the fact that some members of that church saw nothing wrong with participating in drunken debauchery, and it is meant to give us all written confirmation of the absolute truth of the matter truly being that our Heavenly Father considers such conduct abominable.

More importantly, let us focus on the fact that it is good for us to want to keep our physical bodies as healthy as possible, but it is not as important as wanting to become as close to our Heavenly Father as He will allow and enable us to be.  For this is what that part about training himself (Timothy) in godliness is talking about—be assured.  For it is also written: Therefore, my dear ones, as you have always obeyed (my suggestions), so now, not only (with the enthusiasm you would show) in my presence but much more because I am absent, work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ).  (Not in your own strength) for it is God Who is all the while effectually at work in you (energizing and creating in you the power and desire), both to will and to work for His good pleasure and satisfaction and delight.  [Philippians 2:12-13 AMP]

Be assured that we can get much, much closer to our Heavenly Father than what most have been led to believe, and it is when someone truly is in a very close and personal relationship with Him that they can be confident of truly being pleasing in His sight.  For instead of making assumptions based upon their own understanding, He will actually tell them what is what, and being pleasing in His sight is a lot more important than looking good in front of a television camera.

Oh, and while we are on this subject, be assured that there is another matter that should not be ignored.  For pride goeth before destruction [Proverbs 16:18], and one of the proudest moments of my generally miserable life was when the drop-dead gorgeous wife of a neighbor came over to the place I had before I met Arlynda to see about renting some pasture while I was out on the truck and I saw her mouth actually flop wide open as I came around the corner of the house with my shirt off.  I also heard her mumble something about my body, and I just shrugged it off in a very manly man way by replying that I had lost some weight since the last time she had seen me when it was much more than that.  For I was still ingesting ephedrine pills by the handfuls, and aside from them allowing me (naturally-speaking, of course) to drive between Salinas (California) and Buffalo (New York) and back without a wink of sleep at least once a week, which is around 6,000 miles round-trip  taking the southern route, ephedrine worked like an anabolic steroid in my system, which gave my muscles muscles.  You can read all about it in the later chapters of [The Crackerhead Chronicles], starting with [The Sixteenth Crumb (Chicken-Haulin’)].

Please Also Visit:

[FishHawk Droppings]

and

[The Tribulation Times Herald-Exhorter]