SoCS: Love, Hate, and Yes, I Like that TV show, Plus: Dogs with Sticks.

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “stick.” Use it as a noun or a verb; use it any way you’d like. Have fun!

Love is not always easy. To be honest, there are people and things that are hard to love. I admit to saying I hate some things. Maybe I don’t hate any particular person, but I hate it when people are mean and act like bullies. In order to save ourselves, sometimes we have to love people from a distance. Like people who are critical, or talk constantly, know it alls, who might have a good heart somewhere deep down, but after a while they can be toxic.

Back to love. How to stick with love….. I suppose it’s possible to remember that God loves everyone. But God doesn’t hang around with everyone all the time (I’m guessing here.) God can assign angels to hang out with someone. God, please don’t assign me to hang out with a critical know it all who talks all the time, after I die. I try to be good, and that would be hell. Why do I keep going back to that?

Love! I can pray for someone from a distance, even if I want to hit them with a stick. Sticks should never be used for hitting, except in self-defense. Sticks are better for poking things. Gently. But be careful what you poke. Don’t poke a skunk. Don’t poke…

Wait. What was that movie? Oh, it was in a Young Sheldon episode when one of the kids questioned a compliment and Mee Maw said, “Don’t poke at it.” Or maybe she said, “Don’t go pokin at it.” Yes, I like that show. I didn’t watch it for a long time, thinking it would be…. IDK…shall we say, not my cup of tea. But I have discovered it’s funny and comforting. Mee Maw (played by Annie Potts) is Sheldon’s grandma. She’s usually sassy, but not always. I wish I could be a little more like that sometimes, even though some things she says might not be aren’t very loving to her son in law. (Is she like my alter-ego? Would I even like her in real life?) Anyway, she loves her grandkids, daughter and even, deep down, her son in law. Love always wins.

One time we saw Mee Maw’s human side when she secretly tried to use Sheldon’s new computer and cautiously picked up the mouse like it was a microphone and said, “Hello?”

I couldn’t find that video. But here’s another one that’s typical Mee Maw.

I had zero intention of writing about Mee Maw and Young Sheldon, but that’s where the stream went. I never thought I would like a show like Young Sheldon, but anything is possible. We need a little easy comedy.

I was going to share a video about dogs carrying big sticks. Marley has done that, so there must be a photo.

Marley got him a stick.

Here’s a short video of a smart dog, Theo, figuring it out:

If you really want something, don’t give up. Be like Theo. Keep trying!

FYI, Youtube has lots of video of dogs with big sticks.

~~~

For more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit our host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Yesterday, Today, and Scrambled Eggs

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “yes.” Find a word that starts with “yes” or use the word “yes” as is. Bonus points if you start your post with the word you choose. Enjoy!

The first thing I thought of was the Beatles song, “Yesterday.” Such a sad, but pretty song. “Why she had to go, I don’t know, she wouldn’t say, ” That’s a mystery right there. But the clue may be that he said something wrong.

It’s funny how things can seem so wrong but eventually turn out right. Funny and good. I don’t long for yesterday, though I might have in 1972 the day after 15-year-old David, my first boyfriend, moved so far away with his family. Today, the 66-year-old David, now my husband, is leading a spiritual “Cursillo” weekend at the beach. I’ll be joining them Sunday for the closing service.

Who would have guessed? Neither one of us.

God can take something wrong and, in time, make it work out better in a way we never expected.

Just goes to show….

Yesterday is history.

Tomorrow’s a mystery.

Today is a gift.

That’s why they call it the present.

I stepped out of the stream a bit to research the song, “Yesterday,” and came across this little piece of fun. Now I want scrambled eggs but will have to find a substitute since I’m vegan, like Paul changes chicken wings to tofu wings since he’s a vegetarian. I can always have a tossed salad without the scrambled eggs, but that’s another song…. from Frazier.

Have a wonderful day!

~~~

For details on the Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit our host, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Scotch Tape, 8 Track Tapes, Duct Tape, and My First Airplane Flight with David as Pilot

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tape.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Use it any way you like. Enjoy!

It’s Friday evening at 8:16. Earlier this afternoon, after reading the prompt, I became curious about the history of tape. Seems like it’s a relatively recent invention in the big tapestry of time. Tapestry, by Carol King is one of my favorite albums, by the way. But we will come back to music, if the stream goes that way.

“Scotch” tape was a brand name and a household marvel in the 50s and 60s. It was developed to help make a dividing line between paint colors on cars staring around the 1920s. Before Scotch Tape, there was glue and paste, wrapping things in paper, and string. There was a video I watched not long ago about wrapping presents in cloth – like small blankets or bandanas. Very cool way to save resources and reduce waste.

After Scotch tape became a common household tool, there were tape recorders. Or maybe tape recorders were about the same time or earlier. When my dad was overseas in Vietnam, he sent a recording of himself talking to Mom for her to play on the tape recorder which had two small reels. Later there were 8 track tapes that took the place of vinyl record albums, but not completely. I still have a box of vinyls that held up way better than 8 track tapes. But you could play 8 tracks in your CAR! and that was amazing at the time. When David and I dated in the 70s, he had a case of 8 tracks that he brought with him when we hung out with friends. I’m sure Jethro Tull was one of the tapes. Then there were cassette tapes. Sometimes the tape player would eat the tape. If a whole loop came out without breaking, you could sometimes wind it back in with a pencil and it might still play. Then there were VHS tapes for the TV, another amazing invention at the time – to be able to record a TV show or watch a movie whenever you want was quite a revolution for someone who liked TV.

Oh, remember taping posters on your wall as a teenager? Now, it’s considered tacky, but back then, it was fun.

Tape. So many ways to go with this. Duct tape is pretty versatile. I had a coworker years ago who said he (or someone else) needed duct tape on their mouth to keep from saying something inappropriate in a staff meeting.

I have a picture of duct tape on windows somewhere.

Speaking of windows, I have to be careful next time I fly with David in a small plane to not look out the side windows much. Motion sickness has always been a problem for me. Dramamine has usually helped a lot in big commercial planes and on boats, so I figured two Dramamine would work for my first private plane trip with my husband David as pilot. I didn’t quite throw up but came very close.

The first half of the 30-minute flight was interesting as I made myself think of something other than my fear of heights and that I might die. It was fascinating to look down at the Atlantic Ocean and intracoastal waterway. I took a bunch of pictures which probably didn’t help. After turning around to go back to the airport, I started feeling worse and worse nausea to the point of feeling miserable for the second half of the flight.

Before our next flight, I’m going to research additional motion sickness remedies, including pressure points on top of medication, and I’ll try to minimize looking down over the side…. next time.

Our flying club rental

Seating

Dashboard

Roads and waterways

Carolina Coastline

Inlet

Pier and Waves

Large brush fire

Waterways and Beach

David flying toward Carolina Beach

David did an excellent job as pilot. I’m proud of him for working hard to accomplish his flying goals. There are not many people I would trust to fly me in such a small plane. I hope next time, I’ll be able to enjoy the flight more.

~~~

For more on Stream of Consciousness Saturday, visit

our hard working host, Linda Hill,

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Heartbreak, Healing, Angels, and Goats

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “heart.” Use it any way you like. Have fun!

I’m almost finished reading Glennon Doyle’s book, Untamed, which I think was recommended by Laura at https://riddlefromthemiddle.com/ (Correct me if I’m wrong, Laura.) It’s been a while since I am probably the slowest reader in bloglandia. The book has lots of gems about relationships with self and others and being true to ourselves. A couple nights ago, I read about purpose. She wrote that whatever breaks your heart, that is where your purpose lies. (I’m paraphrasing from memory.)

She listed my heartbreakers in her examples: animal cruelty and environment. This doesn’t mean I have to save every animal and the planet as I had hoped from the idealism of adolescence. Anything is possible, but we can at least do our part in our own little corner of the planet to heal what breaks our hearts.

If another person breaks our hearts, finding our bigger purpose helps along with crying and pampering ourselves. Small steps, small tasks of healing are okay. Because we have to take care of ourselves, too.

“Follow your heart but take your brain with you,” is a quote in my short book about finding a healthy relationship. (See sidebar) We need both heart and brain to make good decisions.

…

(I wrote the above yesterday afternoon, thinking maybe that was it for this SoCS. Good enough.)

A few hours later, I watched PBS news about the earthquake in Syria and Turkey that has killed many thousands of people. (23,000 people.) I watched a father crying, heartbroken, at the death of his child. He said they were used to missiles from planes – acts of war, but this was an act of God.

I don’t believe God would do this. But I don’t really know. Would God allow this to happen? An age-old question. There are heartbreaks we can do little about. But we can, at the very least, pray. Watching the father crying for his lost child, I wanted to put my arms around him and prayed for angels to hold him in his grief which cannot be removed, but maybe can be softened a tiny bit.

We have natural endorphins in our bodies that help reduce pain. Our physical pain would be worse without those natural endorphins that go away if replaced repeatedly with synthetic drugs/opiates which may then lead to withdrawal. Maybe if the angels didn’t hold us in our grief, the emotional pain would be worse. It’s bad enough that we have earthquakes and floods. Humans need to stop killing each other.

Sigh. What can we do? Our part is all. Do small things with great love, like Mother Teresa said. Be kind. Pray for the wounded and grieving. Thank the angels.

A painting I did several years ago

At Blueberry Lane Farm Animal Sanctuary, I don’t do much. Just cut up produce for Thursday lunch and feed it to the pigs and chickens. Then I go hang out with the old lady goats. This past week, I also went on Monday since some volunteers were out of town. Seeing me twice in one week, the old lady goats, Esther and Delilah, came to me on Thursday, wanting me to brush them and pet them, even after they knew I didn’t have any more carrots. Delilah has never done that before. So, I sat between them and brushed them and pet them which turned into giving them mini massages…. with great love.

I don’t know why this picture of Esther and Delilah got so small. I don’t remember cropping it.

Please click on the picture to see the sweet old goats.

goats

Sanctuary Angel at the Goat Barn

~~~

For more about Stream of Consciousness Saturday,

visit our host with heart, Linda Hill

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Boxes, Boundaries, and Cat Dentistry

Today’s prompt for #JusJoJan and Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “out of the box.” Write about the first thing that comes to mind when you think “out of the box.” Enjoy!

So many ideas swirling around the stream which is not a box at all, but there could be boxes of ideas riding along on the stream of consciousness bumping into one another.

The first thing I thought of what how my grown kids are still and always have been outside the box type of people. Can’t imagine how that happened. The things their father and I had in common were art and science fiction. But that’s a tangent to paddle back out of.

I’d rather eat Chinese food out of the box than the plastic. Boxes are easier to recycle as some plastics don’t recycle as easily. I have quite a collection of plastic. You’re supposed to flatten boxes first. That’s one of my soapboxes within the box of recycling. But the Chinese food I prefer comes in plastic mostly with the rice in the white box which I open, rinse and recycle. Been saving those wire handles for some kind of project. Actually used one to hang something once.

Boxes make me think of boundaries. Boundaries can be good protection. But some of them need to be flexible. Negotiables like swearing and non-negotiables like no hitting. We have lots of boundaries to keep Mama Cat and Marley separated. Marley is learning to respect those boundaries. One of the most important boxes in our house is the litter box. Well, there are other boxes that are also important, like jewelry boxes and boxes up in the attic with treasures or junk, depending on your perspective.

Mama Cat was happy to get outside the box – her carrier – after she came home from dental surgery a week before Christmas. She had five teeth removed! I was worried about the procedure and the possibility of having to give her pills post surgery. So I wrote a note to the vet when I dropped Mama Cat off. The vet ended up giving her long-acting pain meds and antibiotics, so I didn’t have to worry about giving her pills. It’s been a long time since I gave a cat a pill, like 30 years ago, and Mama Cat is skittish anyway, but getting better.

The long-acting pain medication was a form of buprenorphine which is prescribed at the facility I used to work for. Mama Cat was practically bouncing off the walls, very hyper, and very affectionate for four days. She also started eating a lot more and is more active since having her teeth pulled leading me to realize she must have been uncomfortable with bad teeth. It’s hard when animals and babies cannot tell you what hurts. She will still go into her carrier to get the food I place in the back, so that’s good, though I hope we don’t have to go back to the vet for a while.

Some cats love to get in boxes, but having spent most of her life feral, Mama Cat doesn’t seem interested. She does like her lean-to cave and small table we added sides to so that’s like a boxy cave. Small children sometimes like to play in boxes, too. When my son was a toddler, he’d sit in a box, and we’d pull him around on the carpet. Do boxes make us feel safe or are they confining? Depends on the situation. It’s usually good to step out of the box, but not roam too far, unless you have a tent or a camper trailer which I’ve been casually looking into. Mama Cat would probably prefer to stay home as long as she can go out on her catio and watch the squirrels.

Well, I’ve rambled on long enough. If you’ve made it this far, thanks for riding along on the stream of consciousness.

Here are some photos which may be related or not…

Mama Cat feeling better

Marley watching Mama Cat

Leftover Rice in Box

Food box at church

The moon Thursday at sunset

Mama Cat on her Catio

~~~

For more streams and rules,

visit out host Linda G. Hill

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: If I Knew Then…. Does God Roll Her Eyes?

Today‘s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “new/knew.’” Use one, use both, use them any way you like. Bonus points if you use both. Enjoy!

Thanks for the easy bonus points, Linda, since we can use one to say, Happy New Year! and the other some other way. And also a big thanks to Linda for providing so many prompts for so many weeks and years and helping to create communities on wordpress including SoCS, One-Liner Wednesday, and Just Jot it January which I may or may not do. But Stream of Consciousness Saturday has been a good addiction/addition to my week.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have not made the same mistakes. Would I? But then, I would not be the same person. Mistakes give us compassion for others who make mistakes and hopefully, compassion for ourselves which can sometimes be harder. Forgiving the self…. sigh…. is a process, like most forgivings.

If I knew my high school sweetheart would return to me some day, many years later, would I have gotten married to someone else? I suppose so. Otherwise, I would not have become a mother unless I was a single mother, which I was (unexpectedly) for about ten years anyway. But someone knew. God knew. I guess. Wait. What about free will? That’s too complicated to explore right now.

What I know is that when I was 16, the lady I babysat for told me that if David and I were meant to be together, we would be. That really helped my pining heart and allowed me to go on about my life for 39 years until David and I were ready to meet again.

Some things we just don’t know. Sometimes, we have to put one foot in front of the other and hope for the best. But it’s good to know what we know and admit what we don’t.

I know there are a few things I want to do in 2023. Keeping it simple and realistic: Get back to painting with alcohol ink on tile, continuing the de-cluttering process, keep working out, walking, or doing some kind of physical exercise… and love. The word love keeps coming to me. I want to make time for it – romantic, familial, and platonic love. Having reclaimed my inner introvert in retirement, I tend to not seek friends out. With occasional exceptions, I am content to be home with the dog and cat much of the time. I want to listen to my loved ones more and remember that God has a plan for them. I don’t have to try to fix things for them.

A friend on FB shared a quote:

“If you want to make God laugh, tell her your plans.” – Anne Lamott

(Dang! Coulda used that for One-Liner Wednesday. Well, who says I still can’t just because it came along in the stream of consciousness…)

I like to think that when we tell God our plans, God will laugh but also say, “I’ll take it into consideration,” with a smirk or eye roll.

Does God roll her eyes? Is she rolling her eyes at me right now? Does God have eyes? Of course! In some form or other. All seeing eyes.

If my guardian angels knew how much work I would be, especially in my early twenties, would they have signed up? If I get to be someone’s guardian angel after I die, I’ll probably have someone difficult as payback. Oh, but mine haven’t had to work nearly as hard lately! Except when I ask them to look after my grown up children. I can feel my guardian angels rolling their eyes at that.

But here’s the real lesson: If I knew things were going to eventually work out okay, I would not have worried so much. Maybe I’m still learning to trust the timing.

Well, thanks for reading the ramble.

Recent photos from coastal Carolina:

Neighbor’s Camillias

December 13 ~ Hanging on

Christmas Morning

Christmas Morning Ice

May your new year be filled with peace, love, joy, and blessings!

~~~

For more streams and rules about SoCS:

visit our wonderful host, Linda Hill,

by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Feed Your Hopes

 

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “your favorite word.” Decide on your favorite word and use it in your post any way you’d like. Enjoy!

It’s not easy to decide one ONE favorite word. For a moment, I thought my favorite word could be, “possible.” Then I thought of hope. The meaning behind the word, hope, is one of my favorite things. Hope does not have the certainty of faith, but it can lead to faith. If you don’t have faith, look for hope.

I have a bumper sticker that I never put on my bumper. It used to be on a mirror. Now, it’s on my kitchen counter propped by the window. Maybe I’ll stick it on something one day. It says,

Feed your hopes, not your fears.

That’s where the top meme above comes from. Fears can roll around in my head like a crazy dance I don’t want to go to, but end up going anyway. Even knowing how to stop them and rethink takes remembering to do it. Questioning your fears would be like, what evidence is there to support that thought of a cataclysmic meteor hitting the planet? Sure, there are plenty of sci fi movies about it, but what are the chances?

Fear: But I want to be prepared just in case!

Hopes: Okay, so prepare some, but don’t dwell on it, especially at 2 AM.

Let’s hope it never happens. Let’s hope for the best, prepare for the worst, but not make a hobby out of preparing for the worst.

Let’s focus on things we can control or change. Like the serenity prayer says, “Courage to change the things we can.” We can change our own thoughts and actions.

Ten years ago, I quieted my fears of falling back into a sick relationship and focused on myself. I began to hope that there was a partner out there for me that would be a good fit. Not someone who had fits, but who would be compatible. In December, David and I will have been married for 10 years. He doesn’t have fits. He is compatible as in open minded, spiritual, practical (which I need) and he loves dogs.

I hope my dog Marley doesn’t catch the snake I saw this morning. It was a black racer. David says we won’t have a rodent problem with that guy around, meaning the snake which is not poisonous. I’m glad I spotted the snake before Marley did. My daughter suggested I put some big rocks out there the snake can hide under. There is already an old rain gutter embedded in the vines as you can see in the photo. I’ve tried to remove that old rain gutter many times, but it was too hard. Now, I’m going to leave it.

Black Racer

I hope the old rain gutter will provide refuge for the non-poisonous snakes and skinks that Marley likes to hunt.

I hope there are no poisonous snakes in our yard. Changing that to be positively stated, I hope the snakes in our yard are all harmless to people, beneficial to people would be even more positive.

Stating our hopes positively is important. I wrote about this in my very short how to book: From Loneliness to Love. (See sidebar.)

Instead of saying, I want a partner who is not crazy. I would say, I hope for a partner who is reasonably sane, stable, and dependable. Nobody’s perfect, but compatibility is possible. First, we need to get compatible with ourselves. God has a plan for when we are ready.

I hope we humans learn to respect planet earth and help her heal. I hope we clean up our messes. I hope we can learn to live in peace and work things out safely. I interrupted the stream briefly, like a nanosecond, to change the negative words in my head to positives. Flipping that switch gets better with practice. Not perfect. Better.

I hope you all have a beautiful weekend full of hope!

Be a hope dealer.

(I just bought her book on hope.)

For more hope, drop by on Tuesday for some good news!

~~~

For more streams of favorite words, along with the SoCS rules,

visit our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS: Washing the Woes Away with a Musically Inspired Meditation

Our prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is: “wash/awash.” Use one, use both, use ’em any way you like. Bonus points for using both. Enjoy!

Wash is one of those words that sounds funny if you say it over and over. It’s fun to say…. washhhhh… extending the sh sound.

Washing machines are good. Can you imagine life without them? Banging clothes on a rock, using soaproot, maybe going naked would be easier, or at least keeping it simple.

When I was about four years old, maybe five, we were staying with my grandmother in Washington, DC. In the basement was a wringer washing machine with two rollers above my head that squeezed the water out of the clothes after they were agitated below. My mom got her thumb caught in the wringers once, feeding the clothes through the wringer, and it was never quite the same. Another time, I tried to help and put a whole box of powdered detergent in the washer. The soapsuds came to the basement steps. It was beautiful and amazing to my young eyes. That’s how I remember it, anyway.

The prompt also took me to this song: “I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta My Hair.” It’s from the musical, South Pacific, which I’m embarrassed to say, I have never seen even though I like musicals. It’s one of those odd gaps that I never saw it.

Wouldn’t it be nice if washing your hair got rid of unwanted thoughts, unwanted addictions, and uncomfortable feelings? They could all just go down the drain. Hopefully they would not get clogged up along the way down.

That could be a guided imagery thing while washing your hair, taking a shower, dancing in the rain, swimming in the ocean, or floating along the stream of consciousness, and letting the water wash away what we don’t want. Get out of my hair, you thoughts and feelings who shall not be named! I will let go of the negative thoughts and feelings, but the lessons learned from experience will remain. Everything will be all clean and fresh – at least for a few minutes, anyway – opening a path to something better.

Clean and open to possibilities

So, I went and looked at videos of the song about washing the man out and thought I might want to watch this movie some time with Glenn Close. Well, not with her unless she’s interested, but the movie starring Glen Close. After reading the synopsis, it sounds like the story contains layers of depth. Do you have a favorite version of South Pacific or a favorite song from a musical? “Singing in the Rain” comes to mind.

~~~

For more on SoCS, visit out host, Linda G. Hill by clicking HERE.

SoCS: My Personal Bag Boy, Mundane Tasks, and Wonders of the Universe Far and Near

Today’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “bagged.” Use it any way you’d like. Enjoy!

I don’t remember exactly when it was that David first bagged the groceries. Maybe it was during the beginning of the pandemic that he started bagging regularly. It’s a habit now. An endearing habit. Some cashiers are still a little caught off guard by reusable bags. Some automatically go to the plastic out of habit. So, David heads to the bagging position before they can even get started. He enjoys the challenge of organizing groceries in one bag. Sometimes we bring two, but not usually.

Remember when they had bag boys in grocery stores who bagged the groceries and took them out to your car hoping for a tip? When I was a poor 20 something year old, I had to tell them I could take the groceries out myself, even a 50 lb. bag of dogfood. That was back in the days of youth. Now, I’m thankful for my own personal bag boy.

Every now and then, I’ll get a plastic bag if I forgot the reusable. I have a few blue or yellow plastic bags (from Food Lion or Dollar General) since those are my kitchen colors. Plastic bags can be reused for picking up dog poop, though I suppose I could carry some kind of scooper. Thankfully they are making biodegradable dog poop bags. When I traveled more, I used to put my toiletries in a plastic grocery bag, then I realized I could put them in an old (clean) pillowcase. Maybe someday, we won’t use plastic bags anymore. Except for dog poop. Until we get a waste shark for dog poop. That comes from my Good News Tuesday post which included waste sharks in the water picking up trash. Now I’m imagining a land shark going on walks with us to pick up poop. The stream is getting weird now. It would have to be a small shark. Not a shark. Something else. This is going nowhere fast. Quick take that fork in the stream to ~~~

Now I’m lost in the stream of consciousness. No, I am not going back to the waste sharks bagging dog poop. Stop it! Think of something profound. This post started out nice. Sigh.

Oh! how about those pictures from space?

From my friend Jana’s post

My 1440 daily digest brought the story to my inbox with this article from the Washington Post, about beautiful nebula where stars are born. What knocked my socks off were the labels showing how HUGE the universe is and that there are all these other galaxies! Seeing that perspective opens up so many possibilities. In one of those galaxies far, far away, could there be a woman (or some other being) picking up dog (or some other being) poop? Going about mundane or grand tasks – different, but somehow similar? Are there constants of life and death? Maybe on another planet, the trees are in charge, served by birds, connected by mushrooms in an underground network…

There are A LOT of mushrooms around here lately, thanks to the rain and steamy temperatures. That brings us to pictures of fungi including some strange things growing things in my little urban forest and a few roses from my dentist’s office below in the gallery.

Pancake-like Mushrooms

Close up

Tiny mushrooms

Hair growing on a log?

Or fungi?

Or aliens?

Rose Outside Dentist Office

Rose Outside Dentist Office

I LOVE this color!

Small Praying Mantis with purple

I almost clipped that stem with the small mantis.
Glad I noticed it. Had to zoom in close.

~~~

For more streams of consciousness, rules, etc. check out our host, Linda Hill by clicking HERE.

The Second Amendment To The Constitution

Melinda is a republican who proposes common sense gun laws. She gives me hope as I wonder how many other republicans want these reasonable restrictions. We must not let the media focus on extremes and controversy divides us further. We must work together to protect our children.

What does the Second Amendment say about gun rights and what it does not say? 

The 2nd Amendment was ratified on December 17, 1791, along with the other nine amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. While it is a very short amendment, its exact meaning in terms of what types of weapons are protected and what constitutes a well-regulated militia is still in contention today.

Text of the 2nd Amendment

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

What it says is a WELL REGULATED militia has the right to keep and bear arms.

 It doesn’t say what the age limit should be.

It doesn’t say all guns.

It DOES say WELL REGULATED, meaning, or opening the door to background checks and regulated by the government.

I’m a…

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