tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-201127012012-02-16T10:12:01.858-08:00<b>"Better a dry crust with peace and quiet than a house full of feasting with strife." </b><i><br> -- Proverbs 17:1</i>Grampynoreply@blogger.comBlogger411100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-64303337399526791522011-11-27T04:54:00.000-08:002011-11-27T05:02:55.206-08:00

Well, maybe I am. No posts since 2008? Yeah, I guess that qualifies for being ignored. Seriously ignoring it. Definitely. Why? I guess it's just too many other things that I'm involved in that are easier to take care of. Posting stuff on a blog usually requires some thought, and I'm one of those people who doesn't like to do a lot of introspection. Maybe I'm afraid of what I might find

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-30467878131534692202008-08-23T10:01:00.001-07:002008-08-23T10:05:37.397-07:00

We all have troubles in our lives, some more than others, but nobody I know lives a carefree life. When my troubles start to mount, I sometimes have the temptation to think “was it something I did? Is God punishing my family and I for something one of us did?” Jesus was approached about the topic of bad things happening to people in Luke 13:There were present at that season some that told him

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-30278112982899187652008-06-22T13:47:00.000-07:002008-06-22T13:57:54.387-07:00

Long time since I posted anything. Lots has happened, some bad stuff but mostly good. I won't go into details except to say that things have sort of slowed down and are getting back to normal for the most part. Still some dark clouds on the horizon, but we're dealing with it and a maybe couple of them have silver linings...ya never know.

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-21389460030749504982008-04-06T05:27:00.000-07:002008-04-06T06:09:54.410-07:00

I'm reminded of a line from an old Beatles tune "I'l have to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time...."Friday morning I was frantic. I had just found out the previous evening that the towing company had been charging $20 a day to store Patsy's car while we had been trying to negotiate with the insurance company of the guy that hit her. We owed over $400 in storage charges.

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-72231669724394022912008-04-02T15:05:00.001-07:002008-04-02T15:39:25.690-07:00

No posts since November? Wow, I didn't realize it had been THAT long. Lots of stuff has happened since my last post, a few good things and some bad stuff as well. Let's start with the good stuff first for a change.David is engaged to get married to a wonderful girl, the wedding is in August. He also has two new jobs in Ohio, both are part time, but between the two of them he should be making a

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-42926067405893474072007-11-12T18:27:00.000-08:002007-11-12T18:55:43.058-08:00

It's been a long day and I'm tired. I was sitting in my comfy chair relaxing and thinking about heading off to bed when I thought about you. My friend. If you're reading my blog, it's most likely that you're one of my friends.I want to thank you for being a friend. Friends are important to me. Friends care about you and how you're feeling. A friend takes time to do more than just say "Hello" and

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-71859097797901424912007-10-27T14:23:00.000-07:002007-10-27T15:04:06.911-07:00

Most of you that read my blog occasionally know I've just come out of a short period of unemployment. I assumed that by accepting a job, I'd no longer qualify for unemployment benefits. That stands to reason, doesn't it? Patsy only gets paid every other week, and we were between paychecks there. Also when going to work for someone you get to skip the first week's paycheck while they do the

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-86168315540920376552007-10-21T06:05:00.000-07:002007-10-21T06:11:52.643-07:00

Well, yeah, I got a job. Not the greatest pay in the world, so I'm still keeping an eye peeled for something that pays better. I took a job with a local furniture and appliance distributor a couple of weeks ago. They first put me in the upholstery repair department but I couldn't do the lifting and bending it required, so they moved me into inventory tracking which is a lot easier on my back.

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-89921787541419861322007-09-20T10:38:00.001-07:002007-09-20T10:52:06.982-07:00

Picking up where I left off, SOMC said I'd have to wait a week to get the needle removed from my hand. I'm an impatient person to start with and that was entirely too long. I jumped in the car (automatic shift this time) and drove to the ER at KDMC in Ashland. Their blood pressure machine worked and they quickly flagged me with high blood pressure and a rapid heartbeat. VERY rapid. Atrial

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-80693851173151994602007-09-18T05:30:00.000-07:002008-12-11T00:47:43.405-08:00

I guess God isn't done with me yet. Many of you probably already know I spent a few days in the hospital last week. You might not have heard all of the circumstances, so I'll fill in the details. It's a long story, so I'll split it up into two separate posts.We have several cats that Patsy adopted a few months ago that hang around outside. Although they are permitted to come in the house

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-3665461032821877302007-08-31T12:31:00.000-07:002008-12-11T00:47:43.662-08:00

I mentioned in my last post that I didn't expect being rehired by the school to be a slam-dunk, and it sounds like I was correct. With a little more than a week before they have classes scheduled to begin, I finally called the school today to check on my candidacy status. The human resources lady cheerfully told me all about the wonderful qualifications of one of the other candidates whose

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-10726301466468552612007-08-26T09:36:00.000-07:002008-12-11T00:47:43.927-08:00

I think I mentioned in the comments section of my previous post that I was having a little problem with the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services regarding unemployment benefits. For those of you that didn't read the comment, since I was working for a school in a teaching capacity, the standard procedure appears to be to deny benefits to any applicant because they're probably just "between

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-50708643909357266512007-08-07T08:08:00.000-07:002007-08-07T09:37:43.070-07:00

No new posts since May. Hmmm, not doing too well as a blogger, am I? I guess I just ain't one of those folks who can commit themselves to having deep philosophical revelations on a daily basis. It seems the only time I get on here to say something, I end up complaining about something...and I'm sure you folks don't get a big lift from hearing about my problems.So here I am again, rattling my

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-90789971924970299892007-05-15T12:35:00.000-07:002007-05-15T13:08:32.733-07:00

I'm sure you all have heard jokes that contain the "I've got good news and bad news..." It kind of reminds me of the old James Taylor song Fire and Rain.Things around the Graff house have been sort of a roller coaster ride over the last couple of months and I don't see any straight, flat tracks ahead. Good things and bad have been happening on an almost daily basis. Here's just a few of the

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-31061374094495973542007-03-17T10:19:00.000-07:002007-03-17T10:21:58.750-07:00

While driving his car through the streets, a successful musician was contemplating the bitterly cold weather outside and thinking how happy he was to be inside his nice warm vehicle. Stopping at a red light, he glanced over and noticed two men who were obviously down on their luck. Dressed in rags, they were talking to one another on the windy cold street corner. The musician thought about how

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-17497906839268972832007-03-08T13:28:00.000-08:002007-08-31T13:11:39.795-07:00

Grampynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-30829885527782001382007-02-03T10:29:00.000-08:002007-02-03T10:49:23.127-08:00

I ran across a couple of rhetorical questions on some Live Journal blogs the other day. I usually don't pay a lot of attention to stuff like that, but these two made me think a little bit.The first question went something like Does Superman have to exercise? The blogger's commentary went something along the lines of, if the Man of Steel puts on a few extra pounds, does he get winded when

Grampynoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-85690932065289684482007-01-27T04:59:00.000-08:002007-01-27T05:48:15.964-08:00

If you had told me in high school that I would eventually end up being a teacher, I would have laughed in your face. I wasn't the best of students. In fact I was a pretty poor one. It wasn't that I didn't have the potential, I just didn't have the motivation. I squeaked by in most of my classes with a C or less. A few F's here and there, not enough to fail the course, but it surely didn't

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-39690979430018132212007-01-24T17:43:00.000-08:002007-01-24T18:13:15.820-08:00

Well another month has passed without any comments from me...guess it's time to say something else.I switched to the new version of Blogger and lost all of my customized design stuff here, so I suppose I'll spend a little time soon restoring some of the things that were lost if possible. I put off making the switch for a while after the new version was announced, mainly because I'm a person that

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1166442522781241762006-12-18T03:32:00.000-08:002006-12-18T03:48:42.810-08:00

No posts since September. Sorry 'bout that folks. Guess I just wasn't cut out to be a super blogger. Just can't think of much to say that wouldn't bore you all out of your skulls. Plus the blog here was supposed to be encouraging but it sort of turned into an "emo" kind of thing. It's depressing enough to worry about stuff yourself, blogging about it just spreads the depression around to

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1157604478511390492006-09-06T21:25:00.000-07:002006-09-06T22:03:14.186-07:00

I guess I'm a little confused. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing. Jesus told the parable of the persistent widow. From these examples, I kind of get the impression we're being told to pester God with our worries until He gives in and resolves the problem. On the other hand, Jesus said not to worry because God knows what we need and will provide it for us. We're also told not to fear

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1155762722214258422006-08-16T13:42:00.000-07:002006-08-16T16:09:27.943-07:00

I've been working at my new job now for a little over a month and I have two weeks of teaching behind me. It's a new experience and a little stressful, but I think I'm going to enjoy it once I get used to it.I think I mentioned in a previous post that, although the new job has a better pay rate, I'm actually taking a slight cut in earnings because it's not a full-time job. That didn't bother me

Grampynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1153665116537194842006-07-23T06:57:00.000-07:002006-07-23T07:33:31.770-07:00

One of my main jobs as a deacon with Sunshine Church of Christ is cranking out the weekly bulletin every Sunday morning. It's a job I enjoy doing and it brings a lot of satisfaction when I see somebody smile while they're reading it or they make a comment about something in reference to it. I've been doing it for over 20 years now with only a couple of short breaks for health reasons. I

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1151260164229116172006-06-25T11:06:00.000-07:002006-06-25T11:29:24.250-07:00

I've gotten to know several fellows recently that are about my age and we occasionally joke about being old codgers and chasing the "dagnab kids" off of our lawns. But it really wasn't funny when I read a news item a few weeks ago about an elderly man in the Cincinnati area who shot a teenager for walking across his lawn. The news item disturbed me and I feel a little hesitant about making

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1150944021585018512006-06-21T19:34:00.000-07:002006-06-21T19:40:21.596-07:00

I thanked everyone after Wednesday evening Bible study for their prayers regarding my success in finding a job this evening. Soon after arriving home I received a call from my son Andy to let me know that he's being hired to teach Social Studies full time. Praise the Lord! Keep on praying folks, David and Patsy still need jobs, but the prayers are working. Thank you all for your love and

Grampynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1148677118555750672006-05-26T13:58:00.000-07:002006-05-26T13:58:38.566-07:00

I just found out yesterday that I got the job I've been talking about here for the last couple of months!Starting June 12, I will be working as a computer repair instructor at Scioto Co. JVS in the adult education program. It's part time and a cut in pay with no health benefits, but I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth. We can transfer my health benefits over to Patsy's retirement package.

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1147985797967221492006-05-18T13:49:00.000-07:002006-05-18T13:56:37.980-07:00

Well, I got the chance to interview for the job I've been talking about this morning. I thought it went fairly well, although there were a couple of questions that I sort of fumbled the ball on. A couple of those "off-the-wall" questions that always catch you off guard. "Recall an incident where you weren't able to fix a problem and how you dealt with it." What kind of question is that? I

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1147209690043994602006-05-09T14:06:00.000-07:002006-05-09T14:21:30.060-07:00

I guess it's time for a monthly update.My job search is sort of lingering at the moment. The job I mentioned in previous posts has not started doing interviews yet, but I've heard through the grapevine that my resume is one of those being given serious consideration. I've sent out a couple of other resumes, but none of those are really too promising. I'm also planning to start doing some

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1144559573499350142006-04-08T22:02:00.000-07:002006-04-08T22:12:53.516-07:00

Having been unemployed twice before, I have sort of discovered a few things through experience. One is that the best qualified person for a job isn't always the person that gets hired. Even so, whenever I see a job that I know I would be a great candidate for, I get my hopes up that I'll be the one that gets hired.I knew back in December that I might be looking for work this summer and got the

Grampynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1143829913652302662006-03-31T10:20:00.000-08:002006-03-31T10:31:53.663-08:00

I ran across this today and just had to post it. Sort of puts a modern light on the whole David and Bathsheba thing. Click the picture for a readable image. Thanks to peteykins for the picture and have a happy day!

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1143768944998043562006-03-30T17:22:00.000-08:002006-03-30T17:35:45.013-08:00

Hmmm, I'm surprised there aren't cobwebs hanging from the HTML tags here. Has it really been over a month since my last post? I've been letting this and my other blog linger for a while...haven't really felt like blogging. I was sick for a week and, well, I just haven't been too inspired lately.I got my formal notice the other day that my current job position is being eliminated at the school,

Grampynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1140994217163143692006-02-26T14:17:00.000-08:002006-02-26T14:50:18.723-08:00

Sorry I haven't posted anything here in a while, I'm still here. Time just seems to slip up on me and before I know it weeks have passed by. I've been fairly active on my other blog, but this one has been languishing for a little while. It's mainly because I feel a need for what I say here to be significant in some way. I'd like for everyone who visits to have something to take with them after

Grampynoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1139276142306945882006-02-06T17:14:00.000-08:002006-02-06T17:42:32.956-08:00

I've got to admit I'm not much of a sports fan. I was always the last kid picked when they chose sides for baseball or any other game. I was overweight, had two left feet, couldn't hit the ball and certainly couldn't catch it. So, for some strange reason, I never developed much of an interest in sports.When Scott invited me to the Superbowl devotional at Innermission Campus Ministry yesterday,

Grampynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1138621364992254702006-01-30T03:14:00.000-08:002006-01-30T03:43:42.396-08:00

I just finished a book the other day by one of my favorite authors, Matthew Reily. If any of you are familiar with his works, you know he writes action adventures. One of the trademarks of his stories is that the action never stops. His heroes go from one nail-biting scenario to another with hardly time for a bathroom break. From the first or second page they're either in a gun battle or

Grampynoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1137204248962960462006-01-13T17:41:00.000-08:002006-01-13T18:04:08.976-08:00

I stumbled across this today and got a laugh out of it. I thought it was mildly humorous, so I'm passing it along for what it's worth...slightly edited for overly offensive verbage.The Hillbilly Ten CommandmentsDon’t read the horoscopes ‘cuz they’re based on the planets, like Jupiter and Mars and those other fellers and heathens and jezebels that were fake gods in that there mythology so if you

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1137016403761876412006-01-11T13:25:00.000-08:002006-01-11T13:53:23.816-08:00

Has it really been a week since my last post here? Wow, how time flies. I've posted a few new things on Boogers For Brains this week, but that doesn't require a lot of thinking. All I have to do is find a funny or unusual news story, locate some clipart to go with it and post the link. Here I've got to do some thinking...and I think my brain is still suffering from paradigm strain.Nothing

Grampynoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1136416078023021522006-01-04T14:44:00.000-08:002006-01-04T15:10:46.293-08:00

This "blogging" thing is fun, but it can be a hassle as well. I have time to work on it, but having the time and taking the time are two different things. Jason posted a new message on the church blog a couple of days ago about new paradigms, postmodernism and such things...some heavy stuff. Things that strain my feeble old brain to think about. I'm comfortable with my "religion" and tend to

Grampynoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1135876935237501862005-12-29T08:52:00.000-08:002005-12-29T09:22:15.266-08:00

Sitting in the kitchen again, this time on my own (or should I say Patsy's) laptop. The new hard drive arrived on Tuesday afternoon and I spent that evening and most of yesterday installing it and getting Windows XP with all of the update patches and hardware drivers reinstalled.Note to Jamie: I should have your laptop cleaned up and ready to bring back to you sometime next week.I've been

Grampynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1135604137826594592005-12-26T04:58:00.000-08:002005-12-26T07:46:09.213-08:00

I'm just sitting here at the kitchen table in the early morning hours, surfing the blogs on my borrowed laptop. I noticed a dab of lemon pudding on the wireless card (sorry Jamie, I'll clean it off before I bring it back), a leftover from last night's Christmas dinner with Patsy's brother and sister. The rest of the family is still fast asleep. It's nice to be able to sleep in on a weekday,

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1135347952352851512005-12-23T05:50:00.000-08:002005-12-23T06:25:52.360-08:00

Christmas is just a couple of days away and Patsy was busy last night doing her "crafty" stuff. For those of you that don't know her, she's a talented artist and enjoys making hand-painted items. One of the things she was working on last night was a picture frame she had purchased for her sister (shhhh...don't tell her). It has little roosters around the border and her sister collects chicken

Grampynoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20112701.post-1135298235754736972005-12-22T16:09:00.000-08:002005-12-22T16:51:38.336-08:00

Dry crusts. Bread crumbs. Croutons, if you want to get fancy. Not very appetizing by themselves. But I'm not really looking at it as food stuff, more as little morsels left behind marking a trail. Yes, the birds came and ate Hansel & Gretel's dry crusts...but I'm sure the birds appreciated them. God gave the Israelites manna in the wilderness. They got tired of it pretty quick. I get the

Grampynoreply@blogger.com3