Translations

Sunday, August 23, 2020

SUNDAY, 8/23/2020, SUMMARY

Well, I see a blank canvas. Shall I paint on it? I shall!

The Mundane

Mrs. Appalachian Irishman is “enjoying” working again. My former “favorite sister-in-law” and she had been teaching, at the same school, for years. They had carpooled, by each driving, on average, 2.5 days a week. Former “favorite sister-in-law” has decided to enjoy the new cold virus psychosis, by taking a possibly temporary retirement. Well, at least she’s cooking dinner for Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, who doesn’t now have to cook, after work. Will an every other weekend fill up of our car be next?

On 8/17/2020, Monday, we finalized the firing of our former, Texas, mortgage company, and we replaced it with our local bank mortgage, at a lower interest rate refinance. Let’s just get this house paid off, dear! We’re working on it. It won’t be too much longer now.

Last week, 8/17-21/2020, I did the same job, by working at home, on Monday and Tuesday. I then did the same job, by driving to and from the office, on Wednesday through Friday. This week, 8/24-28/2020, I work at home, on Monday through Wednesday, and at the office, on Thursday and Friday. On Monday, 8/31/2020, however and supposedly, I am to endure my last work day, at the office. From 9/1/2020, until the “cows come home,” I go live, working from home fulltime. Well, I’ll see. The bureaucratic insanity of my “govrmint” employer has no limits, especially in the context of this new cold virus. I am still, however, a working man. (I hope you enjoy the song.)

Yesterday, Saturday, 8/22/2020, was entertaining! I did my chores, which included a new cold virus compliant haircut! Mrs. Appalachian Irishman did her chores. Our car, with her driving, got an oil change, at 12:16 PM. Our new ol' truck, with me driving, got an oil change, at the same location, at 12:44 PM. She beat me by 28 minutes! Neither one of us had conversed beforehand, regarding the oil changes. We each had happened to figure it out, after we had started our separate errands and chores. Don’t worry! I beat Mrs. Appalachian Irishman! I checked out at the Tractor Supply, for Molly's doggy treats and food, at 1:03 PM. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman checked out at the CVS, at 1:05 PM. I beat her by two minutes!

By the way, the Tractor Supply provided free masks. The oil change location was a free American mask free zone! I garnered a free mask, which they offered, at Tractor Supply. As I entered, I stated, loudly, “Mask off; mask on!” As I left, I stated, loudly, “Mask on; mask off! I am now a free man, in a once free nation!” The sheep around me did not comment. I stood and still stand! By the way, you’d better start learning Mandarin. I am. I will not get into the poly-tic (many ticks) conversation now. That will wait until a future article! I have far more everlasting thoughts now!

The Everlasting

From 1994 to 1999, as many readers know, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I did mission work in Russia. We got to know a fine man. He and I are still friends and brothers in Christ. (Oh, we are “Farcebook” friends also.) Via “Farcebook,” recently, he informed me of Warren Christian Apologetics Center. I am glad to know that Dr. Thomas B. Warren’s heritage is continued! Decades ago, in my early study of apologetics, Dr. Thomas B. Warren’s debates and victories, against atheists, were formative. Doctor and brother in Christ Thomas B. Warren has been at Home a while now. His legacy continues. I recommend you to the website.

Brother Warren, I will enjoy letting you know that your ground-breaking work assisted me greatly, in the conversion to Christ, of several atheists, in Russia. Through me, the Lord helped other atheists move closer to theism. I hope that someone followed the ground that was sown, to convert them to Christ. We will enjoy a fine theological conversation, once I join you at Home, brother!

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

HOUSE “DOCTOR:” from 5/30/2020 START to 8/18/2020 FINISH (published 8-18-2020)

Introduction

Y’all have some fun with this one! It should be entertaining. Seriously, the work is done, by a good contractor and his good sub-contracted employees!

Four Rejected

On 5/30/2020, a Saturday, I started the process. The work needed was: pressure wash house and driveway, restore our seventeen-year-old back deck, and do a bit of touch up exterior paint.

I offered the work to five, count ‘em five, contractors. I fired the first young man, by mutual agreement. Why he didn’t want to visit, inspect, look a man in the eye, and then estimate is beyond me. His “new school” way of doing business did not fit my “way-it-should-be-done” business style!

I fired the other three, for various reasons that I know. One of these three actually came, inspected, looked Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and me in the eye, and then promised his estimate. We never received his estimate. I hope he’s okay.

New Look Home Improvements LLC

Today, Tuesday, 8/18/2020, I made the second and final payment, to the fine owner, Steve, of New Look Home Improvements LLC! Click the link, if you need his services! I recommend his company!

On 7/27/2020, a Monday, his crew had started the work. As of this entry, the work, as agreed, is done well enough!

Good job, Steve (the owner)! I enjoyed meeting and getting to know you and your crew: Greg, “Vern,” and Eddie. I met a few of the other crew, or saw them, but I didn’t have the pleasure of catching their names.

Please give our greatest appreciation to all of your crew for a good job done well enough. You, as the owner, did a good job!

By the way, I look forward to your future work for us. The fake shutters, on the front windows, need fixing or replacing. After a few months of seasoning, the non-composite wood trim (only) -- on our new, 25-year, guaranteed, composite wood deck -- can be sealed.

After a few months, I’ll converse by email and phone with you. We can arrange the future details. May the Good Lord bless you and your family, your crew, and the family of your crew!

Conclusion

I’ll be 80, when the deck will need to be replaced again! Will I live to be 80? What will life be like then? Will we still be living in the same house?

The Good Lord knows. I trust in Him.


Sunday, August 16, 2020

LIFE IS CRAP, THEN YOU DIE (published 8-16-2020)

My usual hiking ball cap -- which a sister-in-law gave me, as a Christmas or birthday gift, several years ago -- has a sown-on image of a hiker being struck by lightning. The caption, beneath that unfortunate hiker, reads, “Life is Crap.” Photographs of that ball cap are in several previous articles, as it hangs on a tree branch, just above my canteen, on the west bluff of House Mountain. I’ve taken many photographs of that ball cap and canteen, sometimes with my outer layer in the image.

The first article today was “8/16/2020, Sunday, Corona Myopia Sidetrack.” Read it, if you want to take the time. Yes, this new cold virus is serious enough, especially to those who are at risk. I predict, at this entry, that the once great USA will never be great again. The decades of ongoing decline (since about the 1930s) had some improvements (e.g., after World War II, Ronald Reagan, etc.). The decline has sped up significantly, due to this new cold virus, the riots, and so forth. “This country is about gone, boys!” Corona Myopia is a gnat in my rear view mirror. I wish that it were for this once great nation.

Now, let’s return to “life is crap, then you die.”

What I Had Started to Write, on 8/9/2020

The following is what I had, as a draft, on Sunday, 8/9/2020. Y’all can read it now.

Howdy, y’all! My most recent article, of 7/26/2020, was two weeks ago. I hope that you have been getting along well enough, for the last two weeks, in the midst of the new cold virus insanity and so forth. We endure.

7/27-31/2020 & 8/3-7/2020: The week of 7/27-31/2020 was my normal work-at-office rotation, as usual lately. The next week (8/3-7/2020), however, I had to endure a second week of work at the office. That was not usual. The set pattern had been: work at home one week, work at office the next week, and switch back and forth. Well, a colleague, who had been doing the same pattern, was exposed to someone, who had tested positive for the new cold virus, with no symptoms. That colleague was tested. She had a positive result, with no symptoms. Her mistake was having to inform the office manager, who had her hands tied, by the state (insanity) guidelines. So, the colleague was in quarantine. That meant that I had to work at the office two weeks in a row. I can’t make this stuff up! It really happened.

7/27-29/2020: our “mansion” received a much-needed “bath.” The three-day pressure washing job was done! All the mold is off again.

8/1/2020, Saturday: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman must have been feeling her oats! She not only used our shop vacuum to clean out the basement, but she also, with my help, cleaned the master bedroom windows, inside and out!

On that same day, I filed a FTC website complaint, again Bill Hagerty. On 7/24/2020, 7/28/2020, and 8/1/2020, my cell phone received spam texts, from various invalid phone numbers, that wanted me to vote for Bill Hagerty for senate. (I tried to call each number. Each number reported invalid.) I have never given my cell phone number to Bill Hagerty or to his minions. I grew tired of the harassment. Bill Hagerty, the Republican Senate candidate, has a FTC complaint filed against him. I doubt anything will happen. Still yet, I stood my ground!

8/2/2020, Sunday: I had good phone conversations with my three younger brothers, in the context of my nieces' untimely passing (mentioned in the 7/26/2020 article). I also sent postal letters to the husband of my niece and to their youngest daughter, who attained age 14, on 7/31/2020.

Life is Crap

The following is “life is crap” by theme. Enjoy!

Deck: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I had hired a contractor (with his sub-contractor, with the sub, sub-contractors) to do fix-up work on our “mansion.” On 8/4/2020, the correct deck wood arrived (after the incorrect deck wood had arrived, on 7/31/2020, due to 84 Lumber’s mistake). From 8/5-14/2020, our deck is much improved! Our old deck lasted from 2003 to early 2020 – about 17 years. Our new deck is composite wood, which is guaranteed to last 25 years -- without the usual, annual touch up that I had been doing, until 3/29/2016 changed my plans. Hey! I’ll be age 80 in 25 years -- if I’m not Home before then.

Letters: on 8/8/2020, I placed four letters, flagged up, in our mailbox. Three were negative. One was positive.

The first negative letter was to our monopoly water provider. By online mistake, on 7/6/2020, I had paid our monopoly electric provider, instead of the water utility company. That company sent the next bill. I realized my error. I paid the full payment, correctly, online -- including the past due. The water shut off date was later this month. I had set up full payment, for the past due and the current due, well before the shut off date. The water utility company shut off our water, on 8/5/2020, before the shut off date, with no notice or warning! I had the full payment set to issue on 8/7/2020, two days later. Unknown to me at the time, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, who was at home on 8/5/2020, paid the full payment, to get our water back on. We have a credit balance now. My letter to the water utility folks indicated: our excellent payment record (from initial connection, in 2003), my profound displeasure, and my option to fire them! We could have a water-well drilled! Of course, I referenced Ferrell’s Well Drilling, which Papaw Ferrell had started in 1901 and which Dad had continued! I don’t have the reply yet. If I don’t get one, then I plan to drop by, to give them a face-to-face visit, to educate them.

The next negative letter was to Melania Trump. It seems that her husband and she do not have enough money to spend on his re-election campaign. She begged me for a donation. I had to have a little fun!

In July, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman had one of her annual check ups. Her doctor's office never did send an initial bill. She never received an EOB from her health insurance. Her doctor's office sent their first letter, demanding $10.16 now, or my wife would be turned over to a collection agency. My pithy and third negative letter included a $20 bill, with the stipulation that her doctor's office send my wife $9.84 -- or I’d turn them over to a collection agency! The saga ended well, however. On 8/11/2020, a fine man, 15 years younger than me, called me. He had never seen a letter like mine, in his several years of doing his job. We talked for 45 minutes. He understood the point in my letter. He might be able to have those automated letters corrected, eventually. The main point was that he is a fine Christian man and a hiker. Who knows? We might hike House Mountain together!

The one positive letter was to our automobile and homeowners’ insurance company, which we've used for almost two decades. The company owner always sends handwritten birthday cards every year. I wrote him, to express my appreciation for his fine -- as folks call it nowadays -- “business model.” It's the old-school way of doing business correctly!

Tooth: on 8/10/2020, during my work-at-home lunch, I chipped the upper left molar, which is next to the upper left wisdom tooth. Don’t bite into the seed of a peach then chew! On 8/13/2020, our dentist patched that tooth. Next month, I should have a nice, new crown on that tooth. The only other crown that I have is on the upper right molar, next to the upper right wisdom tooth. Over 20 years ago, I’d bitten into a fast food hamburger that had a chunk of bone in it. That chipped the first molar. Well, two crowns in 20 plus years ain’t too bad!

By the way, 8/10-12/2020 was supposed to be my work-at-home days, followed by 8/13-14/2020 work-at-office -- a split work location week, for some strange reason. My chipped tooth granted me the right to work at home, on 8/13/2020!

School’s not out: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman’s last workday, at the school where she teaches, was on Friday, 3/13/2020. From 3/16/2020 to 6/1/2020, she taught online, from home, as well as she could. She worked a couple of hours or so each day. Her summer break started on 6/2/2020. On 8/11/2020, she had to start “hitting a lick,” by driving to work -- no online teaching. Of course, she endures all the new cold virus regulations and stipulations, which are insane.

Then You Die

Wednesday, 8/12/2020, marked the passing of Lula Frank Amos Wood (6/16/1901 - 8/12/1991). She was my maternal grandmother. I was honored to have performed Granny Wood’s funeral service and graveside.

Granny Wood passed on Home twenty-nine years ago. She enjoyed life, and she endured “crap” in life. (I’m sorry, Granny, for my choice of words!)

We each have joy and “crap” in life. Life has quite a bit of “crap” in it now. If, however, we each have taken up the Good Lord’s free gift offer, then, when we die, we go Home! That's “life is crap, then you die,” in an everlasting mindset. Death leads to everlasting joy, if we're ready.

Granny, I’ll see you at Home! I love and miss you! I’m still your “little Indian chief!” I remember!


8/16/2020, SUNDAY, CORONA MYOPIA SIDETRACK

The following are my “Corona Myopia Checks,” based on the dates indicated. The information is in a rough draft form that I usually fit into a better written form. Corona Myopia is still a gnat in my rear view mirror. I am trying to move on, but the gnat keeps pestering me.

7/14/2020, Tue.

I just wrote down numbers from the usual websites. 2020 TN total deaths, to 7/14/2020, had been 37,391 (36,624 other causes + 767 COVID-19). 2020 TN deaths, by COVID-19 percentage, as of 7/14/2020, were 2.05%.

7/30/2020, Thu.

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Unified Command Tennessee State Government: 1,020 is the 2020 TN COVID-19 total deaths to 7/29/2020.

IndexMundi United States Deaths Clock and IndexMundi Coronavirus Cases - United States of America, as of 10:10 AM. Note: getting the count at 11:59 PM on 7/29/2020 would give the exact percent:

40,395 2020 TN total deaths:
39,375 + 1,020 COVID-19 (7/29/2020)
= 2.525064983% by COVID-19
Again, as of 11:45 AM:
40,408 2020 TN total deaths:
39,388 + 1,020 COVID-19 (7/29/2020)
= 2.5224252623% by COVID-19

Conclusions: approximately 2.52% of 2020 total TN deaths are by COVID-19. Why all the insanity? Why is it so hard to find total TN 2020 deaths by other causes?

I can find on the “Interweb” some details on “2020 USA death statistics by cause:”

2020 current data (as best that I could find) is as follows.

“Top causes of death in the United States: Heart disease, cancer and COVID-19: Up-to-date numbers on how coronavirus is overtaking common causes of death for Americans,” on USA Facts, published 1/20/2022

USA Facts website may be the best source! Note: 7/14/2020 updated. There are various details and stipulations. Hovering over a state, however, shows the percent of COVID-19 deaths to total deaths, by state. TN is 1.9%.

USA rank by highest to lowest cause of death: heart disease, cancer, COVID-19 (3rd of 9), chronic lower respiratory disease, stroke, Alzheimer's, diabetes, influenza/pneumonia, septicemia. Note: hover over each, to get the number totals.

2017 with some 2018 details: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)2017 Stats of the State of Tennessee, with various links to click.

2018: TN Department of Health, General Health Data: Death Statistics.

2017: BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, Top 10 Causes of Death in Tennessee.

8/14/2020, about 3:50-55 PM, CORONA MYOPIA CHECK

TN

IndexMundi, United States Deaths Clock: as of 8/14/2020, at about 3:50 PM, 42,212 TN 2020 TOTAL deaths.

IndexMundi, Coronavirus Cases - United States of America: Total number of reported cases of COVID-19 and Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) Unified Command Tennessee State Government: as of 8/13/2020, 1,313 TN 2020 COVID-19 total deaths.

Thus, as of 8/13-14/2020, the 2020 TN COVID-19 death percentage of total 2020 TN deaths, so far, is approx. 3.11048%.

USA

IndexMundi United States Deaths Clock

2020 TOTAL USA Deaths by State, as of 8/14/2020, at about 3:55 PM.

The total is 1,778,484 2020 TOTAL USA DEATHS, so far, by my calculation.

State

Deaths per year

Deaths per day

Deaths in 2020 so far

Alabama

53,879

148

33,459

Alaska

4,819

13

2,993

Arizona

60,523

166

37,585

Arkansas

31,322

86

19,451

California

282,520

774

175,448

Colorado

39,116

107

24,291

Connecticut

31,149

85

19,344

Delaware

9,454

26

5,871

District of Columbia

5,677

16

3,525

Florida

211,692

580

131,463

Georgia

86,319

236

53,605

Hawaii

12,748

35

7,917

Idaho

13,308

36

8,264

Illinois

110,004

301

68,314

Indiana

62,175

170

38,611

Iowa

28,809

79

17,891

Kansas

25,230

69

15,668

Kentucky

46,074

126

28,612

Louisiana

46,343

127

28,780

Maine

14,335

39

8,902

Maryland

51,453

141

31,953

Massachusetts

58,564

160

36,369

Michigan

95,983

263

59,606

Minnesota

43,200

118

26,828

Mississippi

31,536

86

19,584

Missouri

60,141

165

37,348

Montana

9,870

27

6,129

Nebraska

15,582

43

9,677

Nevada

25,610

70

15,904

New Hampshire

12,125

33

7,530

New Jersey

75,723

207

47,025

New Mexico

18,388

50

11,419

New York

164,817

452

102,353

North Carolina

94,312

258

58,569

North Dakota

6,250

17

3,881

Ohio

117,750

323

73,124

Oklahoma

40,266

110

25,006

Oregon

36,563

100

22,706

Pennsylvania

133,439

366

82,867

Rhode Island

9,802

27

6,087

South Carolina

50,744

139

31,513

South Dakota

7,337

20

4,556

Tennessee

67,977

186

42,2141

Texas

202,786

556

125,932

Utah

17,443

48

10,832

Vermont

5,634

15

3,499

Virginia

69,729

191

43,302

Washington

58,587

161

36,383

West Virginia

22,567

62

14,014

Wisconsin

50,393

138

31,295

Wyoming

4,971

14

3,087

Puerto Rico

28,821

79

17,898

1 NOTE: two more deaths, from about 3:50 PM at 42,212, to about 3:55 PM at 42,214.

IndexMundi: Coronavirus Cases - United States of America: Total number of reported cases of COVID-19:

Coronavirus 2020 - United States of America.
Total number of reported deaths: 167,110.
Date of report: Friday, August 14, 2020.

As of 8/14/2020, the 2020 USA COVID-19 death percentage of total 2020 USA deaths is 9.3962%.