Sexual harassment claims, brave women versus women out for media attention

I can't say I'm sure what to post today. I have a bunch of things bouncing around in my head. One is the many sexual harassment claims on the news lately and I have mixed feelings about what I'm hearing. The latest one is Bette Midler complaining about Geraldo Rivera before the talk show that she attended 1991. Here is my problem – in the early 90's it was reported Midler showed up to a show very high on cocaine. It was reported that they had consensual sex in a closet. Her professional reputation and what she promoted was that she was vulgar and ribald in as well as a substance user as well and an alcohol user. She provided herself as being a woman who sought out men for sex. The report to me seems like she just wants to get back in the news.
There are quite a number of these that are coming out from 10, 20, 30 and 40 years ago. It seemed make a mockery of women new are coming out bravely reporting harassment and actual rape in timely manner. I would agree that the entertainment industry as well as politics lends itself to sexual improprieties toward women and I wish the best for these victims and hope both industries change. Bringing up old allegations that that were not made in a timely matter should not be picked up by the media and promoted.
One thing that's really strange is that the Billy Bush tape was announced by Donald Trump and his wife as just boy talk, false bragging and locker room talk. The other day it was on the news that the Donald Trump organization is now claiming that that tape was false and made up; created on someone's computer. If that is true why did they acknowledge it as locker room talk? I'm getting pretty sick of this stuff.

Psalm 34 verse 8

I can't think of much support today. Lacy has been in the living room for most of the morning. She has discovered what we call the kitty table. It a long skinny table that is by the West window. Macy used to spend hours on that table and there is a kitty bed there. Slim mass and discovered it yet but getting close yesterday. I've not seen him today. Yesterday Lacy have gone into the garage and was out there for about an hour. Silly kitty.

Today my only report is that I've been enjoying this line in the Psalms. Psalms 34:8 O taste and see that the Lord good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him. This is one distinction between Christianity which is a relationship with God versus religion. The Christian is invited to seek the Lord and can expect an answer if we seek him honestly. Many atheists I have known demand God prove his existence to them. This is not truly seeking him but I find many of them are angry that God does not reveal himself to them. I think it's in Proverbs what it says God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Lacy and Slim are coming out of their shells.

I have not posted for a few days because Dan was visiting and his wife Danielle was here for short time also. All through the holiday weekend and Monday I was never alone and good and use the voice software. It was sure nice visit and Matt came over every day see Dan, Danielle, Atlas and the cats.
Today is just me and the animals. Both of them came out in the living room and kitchen wandered around while Atlas slept on the couch. Then later Lacy went all over the living room and even one over by Atlas, stretched out and sniffed him. He was asleep and never noticed. She is been a bunch of time looking out the front window and there one point where she was sitting on the end of the couch looking out the front window and she looked just like Macy sitting there. She also found a folding chair was on that so she can look out the window.
I'm hoping they get to where they will sleep on top of me like Macy did but I doubt that will ever happened. It's nice to have the distraction of seeing them wander around and sit on top of stuff like the couch. He wanted to let you know that I'm still out there and trying to think of things to put on my blog.

Thanksgiving

Since it's Thanksgiving I will share of a few of the things I have to be thankful for. The list would be incomplete without thanking my caregivers. Primarily my wife, and son Matt. Dan helps me when he is here and remotely helps me with my computers. Tom used to be stationed in Iowa and we saw him at least once a month. There is much more I can say about these wonderful people who make my life worth living but I have discussed them many times on my blog already. We also have Atlas, the wonder dog, for a year while Tom is deployed. He is pretty sweet and I like some of his kisses as long as they're not my mouth. He does like to kiss though.
I'm thankful for my new kitties. It took me 2 months to get over losing Macy enough that I could consider another cat. The one we liked turned out to be part of a bonded pair and we had already liked the other one but not as much as the new one named Lacy. Her body coloring is almost identical to Macy's. We had to think that was quite a coincidence that her coloring was like that and her name is almost the same. Her brother of the bonded pair is almost entirely gray and is a very beautiful cat. Lacy will sit on my lap for 15 minutes or so. Her brother Slim is not very cuddly. He is a strange combination of being timid as well as curious so we see him around the house more. They both seem aware of Atlas and are a little afraid of him. Slim but not seem to be afraid of him and walked right by him now. Atlas is a good boy and rarely chases the kitties.
I wish I could say I was thankful for the benefits of the new MS drug Ocrevus but I think the jury is still out. It seems to have slowed the progression but I had hoped I would get a little bit of use back in my right hand. So far this hasn't happened and my right hand is a little worse than it was last summer. Next infusion is next year and I hope the 2nd one gives me some pop.
I am very thankful that my last visit to my doctor for my coughing and sinus problems. She suggested Zyrtec – D and using the nose spray Flonase. Between the 2 I have very little problems. Still have to cough up things 2 or 3 times a day that's better than coughing all day and night.
Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers and I hope God blesses your 2018.

Can this be National complaint day?

Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I will be filled with the gratefulness for all the blessings in my life. I'm thinking today should be dedicated to complaining! I guess I could complain about MS and how it has crushed me physically but I won't because I get to be here by myself a lot, I get taken care of pretty good, fed well, and now have 2 cats to replace Macy. I'm pretty appreciative of computers but I have to admit it has become a love/hate relationship.
It seems like Siri on my iPhone should be much more functional after so many years of being around. I use it as a safety net to make calls if I problems during the day. Is terrible for actually running my phone. I can open apps but can do absolutely nothing within the app. Seems like it should be improved since as been around for so long.
I'm not limited to using my PC along with a voice recognition software named Dragon Naturally Speaking and the software called Smyle mouse. My biggest complaint is that my old Dragon naturally speaking, 13.5 premium worked so much better than the upgrade to release 14 professional it's ridiculous. Right after I upgraded to 14 thinking it would be an improvement I kept getting calls telling me I could upgrade to release 15 for $99. I talked to a rep and said I am disabled will release 15 be an improvement for me? He said he wasn't sure that I said please check and if it will call me back and I will upgrade. Never heard from him again.
On my living room PC I have a Dell that started with Windows 8. After a year of getting notifications that I could upgrade to Windows 10 I finally did. My bedroom PC started out with Windows 10. It's very difficult for my engineering mind to deal with the fact that both PCs with Windows 10 are very very different. Many apps are different also. I only have voice software my living room PC. I did a Windows update couple days ago and now it barely works with Microsoft Edge. I could use Google Chrome if I want and recently I changed the resolution on my living room PC so that the text was now bigger. This worked for things I did with Edge but Google Chrome text stayed the same as before and I cannot figure out any way to change it.
So as functional as I am with my PCs seems there are so much room for improvement but none of the computer or software people worry about disabled people. It's kind of funny because that's how Dragon NaturallySpeaking got it's start.
My motto for MS is always been "I'll find a way to muddle through" and that's what I still try to do.

Psalm 30 – meditations

 I have been meaning to post this Psalm for a while now but have been posting about cats. I have enjoyed this Psalm for many days, especially toward the end of the day when I am weary, I ask the Lord to just take me home. I especially meditated on verse 9.It's good to remember that this world is the only place that we can offer praise to our Savior who the world cast out and put to death. This world is the only place that we can show our love for him because once we get home we will be with him forever.This world is the only place that many things can be accomplished and have an eternal reward. Loving our spouse, children, others are only available while we are here. I believe once we get to heaven we will know our loves from this world but we will be filled with admiration and adoration for our risen Savior. I wish I were more eloquent. I think what I'm trying to say is that while we are living in the world that cast out true King we earn reward for things that we do and appreciate what God gives us. One Psalm says he sets his solitary in families. I believe that as we appreciate our loved ones, including pets we will take that home with us to heaven. I believe our pets are a gift from God and they will go to heaven in our hearts. One example is the prophet Nathan describing to David that a man a lamb that he loved as if it were his own child. Our hearts can be attached to our pets and this is a gift from God. I apologize for any typos or strangely worded lines. I'm having trouble with the voice software.

Psalms 30:9-12

9 What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?
10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me: Lord, be thou my helper.
11 Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness;
12 To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

I'm having trouble with the voice software.

 The cursor jumps all over the place, I don't enunciate well and I have trouble saying to correct things. Also when I updated Windows 10 the keyboard is changed and works differently than the last one. Also I'm using the microphone on the computer which is that good. If I plug a microphone in that it is attached so that the speakers don't work because it expects a dual use piece of hardware. I found out this computer is limited this way, has something to do with the chip that uses for microphones and speakers.

New Cat Additions

My stories tend and have been longer than I want, but that is probably because I overthink things. I used to be an engineer and have always been somewhat picky. We had talked to a shelter called Last Hope and they were going to have a pair of cats that they said were a bonded pair but they didn't know when they were coming in. We were sort of waiting for that but it had been a few weeks so I started looking on the Cedar Valley humane shelter the other day. I found 2 small cats that were under 3 years old and one medium cat that was 5 years old. They were declawed so I wanted to go out and meet them. My wife took me out there Friday night. The girl who was helping us didn't think any of the 3 we mentioned were good fits for me. She said the 2 small ones like to bite and the one who was a little older had just been returned and had been in a very foul mood.
We said we didn't want a but wanted a cat that was declawed because it's not good to declaw an adult cat. It's a very dramatic surgery and If declawed they take quite a bit longer to recover because they are usually heavier and is painful for them to put their weight on their front paws. The girl said that they just got to in that were 3 years old and declawed. She mentioned their names as Lacy Lou and Slim Shady. I told her that their website didn't say your declawed but she checked and they were. So we took the male into the cat meeting room that they have and he did not mind if Janette held him and after he was here for a little bit she could hold him on my lap, scratch his ears and he started purring. He was a little bigger than I wanted but I said if the other ones don't check out I'll be glad to have him. Then we wanted to meet Lacy Lou so they brought her in. She was pretty sweet and reminded me a little bit of Macy. Her color 0f her body is very similar but her face coloring is different. She would sit on my lap and she liked it when my wife held her. I got pretty attached to her right away I said she's the one I want. That is when we found out that her and Slim Shady were a "bonded pair". They had been raised in the same home by an older couple. When these people had grandchildren they found out one of the grandchildren was terribly allergic to cats. So they had to give them up. I told my wife well I guess I don't get a cat then and I wanted to meet one of the little ones. They brought in a little black cat named Willow. She is not terribly friendly and my wife tried to pick her up she tried to bite her so we decided she wasn't going to work out. So I was all set to leave without a cat than my wife says "we will just get the 2 of them". To be honest I was pretty surprised. We discussed it at length and I kept saying we don't have to do this unless you want to. Of course with a room full of cats it's hard not to get attached to them and so she told the girl we would take them both and come pick them up Saturday.
I think we're going to change their names little bit and call the girl Lacy boo and the mail just Slim Or Shady. he is almost totally gray so I think that's where they gave him the name. I think will drop the slim part because he's not slim but not fat either. He's a fairly long and we think that is where the slim came from.
Right now they are hiding a lot but we think though move out of the bedroom where they hide after they get used to the house. Janette brought Lacy in this morning and held her on my shoulder and scratched her ears. I can't tell you how wonderful it felt to have a cat on my shoulder again. It took a while to get used to the idea that the next cat would not be like Macy. We had a bond that will probably never be repeated. As well have still going to call Macy my MS cat.

In the photos I am holding Lacy and the other photo is Slim in the front and you can barely see Lacy behind him. They certainly try to stay together and my wife said she is glad we got both of them. Hopefully they will bond with me little bit more as time goes on.

Head Cold – much improved

The cold I mentioned the other day is more or less gone. Thursday was kind of bad was sneezing a lot but then Friday was a lot better. I felt like sneezing most of the day but could stave it off I closing my eye. When I did this tickle would go away and my I would water a bunch. Now it's Saturday and I'm pretty much back to normal. I've been taking Zyrtec – D every day and it seems like my phlegm problem is much better. I had to go to the doctor so that I could take it every day because the pharmacy cut you off after 3 weeks due to people making meth. The doctor also suggested Flonase which I use once a day. Now my coughing seems to be on the wane. I hope it stays that way.

Health – couple minor updates

In a previous post I mentioned that we received it a denial letter for Ocrevus from our insurance company. I was able to start on it anyway because Genentech who manufactures it supplied it to me for free. Earlier this week we received a letter saying that our insurance will now cover it. I guess this means I will be continuing the infusions next year. My MS progression seems so slowed but is not completely stopped. There are a few things I used to be able to do with my right hand, like running that recline function on my chair. So I guess it is progressed a little bit. Maybe next year with a couple more infusions all notice a higher level of it working.
I suppose I should mention that yesterday I think I have a cold because I get a tickle in my nose and I ended up seizing all but yesterday. This is problematic for me because I cannot lift my hands to use a Kleenex. Today is better, I'm still getting a tickle in the nose but so far I have not sneezed. The tickle is in the right nostril and when it it to me my right I closes and starts watering. This makes a little hard to read things on my PC. After a while my clears up and I can read again so I just have to be more patient. Yesterday I was cold all day and today I am fine so I'm pretty sure yesterday was the worst day of my cold. I have to say that many of these things are pretty annoying when I have MS too. I have to say things like this are "light affliction but for a moment" which I think is in the book of James. Take care dear reader and God bless you!

Reminiscing – Dan and camping

Yesterday a friend of mine posted that she went to the movie "It" because her son wanted to see. She showed how brave we are for kids and it never would have gone to this movie without encouragement. This reminded me of a story of my own that similar but a little different. Most people who know me well know I may big fraidy cat. I tend to be scared of a lot of things and avoid scary movies. When I was younger the movie the exorcist and commercials on TV. The commercials were so scary I have had nightmares about that movie I hold wife even though I never saw it.. I used to take my sons when they turn 18 on a camping trip with the 2 of us only. It was supposed to be a bonding experience.
When my son Dan turned 18 I decided we would take my John boat to an island in the Mississippi near Gutenberg. The islands did not have names just numbers. I don't know what number this one was but is fairly long. The night before we were to go my son went to see the movie "Blair witch project" and just him telling me about it was enough to make me scared. We were the only ones within miles when we camped on the island. In the middle of the island it was kind of a swamp and we didn't go there. We hiked around the entire island perimeter which was fun. That night after it was dark I told my son the scary story involved the island we were on and I told him there had been sightings of a witch at night on that island. I told the locals called it "witch island". That night we heard some things creeping around our tent and I think we were both scared. He asked me if I was a witch and I told him I wasn't going out there to see. We camped in the sand and it turns out there were small turtles in the sand that came out at night.
I thought he knew he I was joking about the name of the island until later that year you mentioned "camping on whitch island". I laughed pretty hard and told him I just made that up because he had seen the Blair witch project will be the night before. It made for a funny story.

Pets – thinking about adopting one

As you can imagine I miss my sweet cat Macy terribly. For 6 years she was pretty much attached to me. Her fur was so soft and I really enjoyed her purr when I scratched her chin. She would always sleep either on my shoulder or between my knees. What found it extremely funny is that when she would jump up on the bed she would never walk on the bed she would walk on top of me to get up to my head and shoulder. Sometimes she would lick my eyebrows and sometimes she would lick my face. Then she would sniff my face and then turned around a few times and laid down in the same way and spot on my shoulder. When I woke up she was often there between when my wife went to work when she came home to get me out of bed.
Now my wife and I are in the process of seeing if we can find a pet to fill the void. Atlas is willing but he cannot get up on my chair and he no longer stays with me in the morning. About 2 nights a week he stays on the bed with me  my wife goes to bed. When my son is not here he is totally attached to my wife. Right now we are trying to figure out if we want a cat or dog. I am more of a cat person but realize that a different cat may not bond with me like Macy did. My wife is more a dog person and so is Atlas. So we're considering both. We're not worried about Atlas because he loves everybody. He doesn't mind cats but cannot figure them out. He wants to sniff them but they don't want him to most of the time so they just leave. When Macy uses sit on the back of the couch he would bring your his toys thinking surely she would like this toy because he loved it. Then she would smack him in the nose and he would go pout because the kitty didn't love him. It was pretty funny seeing at 10 pound declawed cat control hundred pound dog. Atlas is just a big teddy bear with a huge heart. If he could he would cuddle with me during the day but he is too big to fit in my chair.
So we're considering other animals right now and really don't know what were looking for. I think it's one of those things that when we find it we will know but we can't really describe what it is we want.
I keep telling my wife that Atlas wants a kittyof his own!

Luke 15 – Father's Servants part 1 of 2

I think I've covered 4 of the 5 subjects in Luke chapter 15 – the prodigal son. I've discussed the prodigal, the father, the older brother and the people who live far away. I have read ministry that addresses all these. My next step is to discuss the group called the father servants. Will I have had many thoughts of them have wondered many times what they represent to us. I think I will discuss that further later.
My 1st thought is that when the sun returned to the father it was with the thought that he would "become as one of his father servants" because they were well fed nice soon because of this they were well treated. When he starts come home the father runs to him and throws his arms around him and there is no mention of being a servant. Is accepted back into the home as a son because that is what he is to the father. This reminds me that God wants our hearts and companionship not necessarily our actions. If our actions stem from a closeness of a relationship with God and those actions are great. If not then they are not acceptable to God. This is clearly born out in the epistles of the New Testament. Also in Proverbs there is one that says "my son gave me your heart".
The older brother felt that is "obedience and service of the father" preempted the father's love for the prodigal the returned. This story clearly shows that he didn't understand the fathers heart.
I hope to post further some thoughts on the father servants.

MS – some recent musings

Recently there was a post on Facebook with a video asking a number of people about their MS. 1st they were asked "what would you tell MS if you could". I have to say the answers were pretty silly and no one was a quadriplegic I guy have become so I thought the answers were not very realistic. Then they asked if you could take a break from MS what would you do. That got me thinking. Course I never get a break from MS I did and could use all of my appendages I think I would get a 6 foot leash and drained Atlas on how to heel. And I would take him for walks around the neighborhood and go down to the creek and let him play in the water.
There was also a poster last week that would dealing with loneliness that goes with MS. I would have to say really don't get very lonely I do miss being around many people especially miss going to the coffee shop. While I don't really get lonely a.m. getting very bored. I have been off work for almost 4 years and I read a lot but not much else to do. Catching up on Facebook is interesting but my days get kind of long sometimes. Some afternoon's I just lean back close my eyes and I wake up an hour later. I find if I take less than an hour nap I get so go to sleep at night. I take much over that I'm awake until 3 or 4 and sometimes I never go to sleep until my wife leave for work and gives me my morning pills. They gabapentin I take for my neuralgia makes me sleepy so I go to sleep fairly easily after I get those pills. The bad thing with that is I have strange dreams and sometimes I am stuck in them and my wife come to get me up. Last week I didn't remember very many of them so it was kind of a good week in that regard. Today I didn't get stuck in a dream state and don't even remember so that is good.
Atlas bark at something about 15 mins before my wife was supposed to come. That he came back and got up on the bed with me and barked a few times. I'm not sure if he came back to protect me or be thought I would protect him. Maybe he asserted the joke about the 2 guys in the woods talking about what to do a bear attacked. One guy says I would just start running in the other guy says you can't out run a bear. Then he says I don't have to out run the bear know the opt out run you!

Atlas – Big Teddy Bear

I think I mentioned it before but Atlas doesn't spend as much time on the bed with me at night or in the mornings since the cat is gone. I think he liked it that he got close to her and sometimes she would let him sniff her and a really likes her. Of course she pretended to never like him. Well this morning he stayed on the bed after my wife went to work and he would put his head on my foot. I think he was trying to reward me because I never scolded him yesterday for barking at weird things. I've tried scolding him but since I can't drive my chair over by him and scold him from above he just ignored me now. Yesterday I just didn't have it in me to scold him so I think that is why he cuddled with the this morning. In honor of this I will post a couple Atlas stories
he is a big old teddy bear and loves everybody. He is still a Labrador and seem to need to bark at some people were in the driveway before they get to the door. He is kind of scary if you don't know him but it is a big teddy bear once they come in. There was a guy here last week to put new batteries in my ceiling lift. Atlas scared him with his barking so when he came in he stayed away from him. Matt was here to let the guy and Andy pulled Atlas back. The guy changed the batteries and while he was in the bedroom Atlas laid on the living room floor. The guy came out of the bedroom and came halfway down the hallway and then froze. He said "he's looking at me". Atlas was lying there not to be moving and the guy was scared of him. He seemed very happy when Matt got Atlas in the guy left as quick as possible. We told him that he was a big old teddy bear but he was still afraid of them. We've never found anyone else who was afraid of him so it was kind of funny.
Atlas is pretty bright and picks up on patterns of behavior very quickly. In the afternoon I listen to music on my iPhone. Then when I see my wife pull in the driveway I use the Siri function and tell my phone to pause the music. Now when I do that Atlas runs over to the window starts barking because he was glad my wife is home. What's funny is that whenever I tell my phone to pause to music he jumps up and runs the window and barks even if there is no one out there. A few weeks ago I called up the Siri function and he started barking before I can tell it what to do and somehow his barking made by phone call a former coworker. I can't move my hands so I'm not able to hang up my phone and so went to that person's voicemail. It was kind of funny that Atlas is barking called somebody.
One more story. When the weather is right we would leave the windows open. Every day the mail lady, who was close to retiring, delivers a male and would say hide Atlas while he was barking at her. She knows he's a big sweetheart so she was ever afraid of him. One day he stopped barking at her and grabbed one of his toys and ran over to the door. He waited there for her waiting for her to open the door and play with him. Course she didn't even know he was there but it was hilarious. Is bark is so ferocious but all he really wants to do is make friends. He is pretty entertaining.

Good/bad moods – I have them both

I don't want to give people the wrong impression about me. I don't feel I'm this great example of a Christian. I struggle daily with my disease and with life in general. The Bible mentions "the comfort of the Scriptures". I have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ my Lord. It says in Romans "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God is raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved".
Sometimes I have Bible lessons will and I enjoyed. Through so many Bible teachers better than me but I want to share a little bit because the Bible also says "I believe therefore I speak". Most of the time I feel like I am barely hanging on to the difficulties in life by my fingernails. I believe the Bible and believe I will end up with Jesus in heaven while I'm here I find this very difficult to deal with. I have a hope set before me and includes heaven but have no idea how many years I'll be stuck in this body. It pretty much given up hope that my physical condition will improve in any way shape or form. The new MS drug seem to of stopped in advancing so fast and I appreciate that. The other side of the coin is that my insurance company has denied paying for it because "is not medically necessary". So I will only continue to get it as long as the manufacturer provides it to me. We also can appeal their decision but I don't know if I'm really ready he emotionally.
I have really felt like posting but think it's important that I share my thoughts when I can. Yesterday we lost the Wi-Fi connection until afternoon so I couldn't post.. I am not sure what I would've posted. The whole cat thing kind of depressed me because I realize I am the weak link in the chain. I don't think a cat is going to just bond with me immediately like Macy did. When I took her home she cried in her carrier and I unzipped the top and reached in and scratch your ears and she quit crying. We bonded at the shelter and on the way home. Then she spent a number of weeks a hiding under the recliner's getting acclimated to her new home. I don't see how we can find an animal with my condition like it is so I'm a little bit bummed about that. We still have Atlas here so hopefully I'll share some Atlas stories. It pains me terribly that I can't throw the ball for him. He loved chasing balls and bring them back. I do have a few funny stories that I'll share later.

Cat visit

The Foster of the cat we were interested in brought him over yesterday. I would say it did not go very well. The cat was very skittish because of the drive from Bettendorf and being in a carrier most of the afternoon He didn't like to be in the living room. My wife would go back and get him and try to bring them over to me. I found I couldn't pet him or scratch him and made me realize this was unfair to the cat. I'm not sure about pursuing this anymore.
It really made me feel the power that MS has over me. To be honest a cut to my denial and I felt horrible the rest of the evening. At this point in time and it seems like there's no way to pursue getting another pet. I went to bed last night pretty much devastated. I felt what MS is taken from me acutely. I missed having Macy and the use of my arms and hands more so than I ever have. I tried to be upbeat and positive but yesterday it was impossible for me.
I'm going to have to sign off now my voice thing is working very strangely today and my voice is very faint.

Looking for cat and an Atlas story

At one time we're thinking about getting a small dog that could be a lapdog for me. After looking at one online and missing out on it I started to rethink it. I have come to really appreciate dogs but it seems difficult to find a smaller dog that would be housebroken already. I started looking at cats online and check with a shelter here called Last Hope. They have a 4-year-old cat is declawed and we're going to get to meet it tomorrow I think. Is in the foster home now with other dogs and cats so we're sure it will get along with Atlas. I hope he works out and finds it comfortable to sleep on top of me. As one of the many things I miss about Macy. I'm trying not to get my hopes up too much and I don't expect this cat give me like her. It's kind of nice to have a cat around. The always seem like there either sleeping or doing something that I would laugh at. If it becomes a lap kitty during the day that would be even better but who knows with cats.
One thing there is about Atlas is that he barks at lots of stuff during the day. When my wife is here he or than ever barks at stuff. She tapped him on the nose once and that was all it took. He knows I can't do anything about it so he walks and lots of stuff. I don't mind it be barks it UPS or FedEx guys but he really shouldn't bark at my wife for our son who comes over.
I don't think he realizes it buys his "protector" bark is the same as it is "I'm glad to see you" bark. One day he was barking at the mail woman who knows his name and talk to them when the windows are open. Then he ran over and grabbed a toy open she would play with him even though the door was shut.
A guy came over the other day to work on my ceiling lift because they needed new batteries. My son was here so he could control the dog in case the guy was afraid of him. Atlas must intimidate people even though he just a big teddy bear. The guy came out of the bedroom after working on the left and seemed afraid to come down the hallway. Atlas was lying on the floor and the guy was intimidated because Atlas was looking at him. Poor little puppy is so misunderstood. He really wants to be everybody's friend but he still dog and feels that requires him to bark at things.

The Prodigal Son – the "obedient son"

I have really procrastinated following up on the prodigal son story. Mostly because I feel somewhat inadequate sharing and posting. There have been books written about this chapter and I am not sure how to make it concise enough. I'm going to give it a try but if this wet your appetite there is a book written called the "Prodigal God" by Timothy Keller.
The 3rd main character is the elder son and one who considers himself to be the obedient son and from our point of view he is. We would look at him and say he is an upstanding citizen. Some of the things he says though reveal what's in his heart. I'm not sure where in the Bible it is but there is a verse that says that "man looks on the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. The "obedient son" actions and speech let us into a little bit of what he really thinks.
He tells his loving father that that he has served faithfully for many years. It's obvious from his attitude and desire to grasp the heart of the father. The heart of the father longs for companionship with his sons and views the return of the prodigal is a great thing. The obedient brother does not see it that way. He is angry at the father because he has rejoiced that the prodigal returned. Is anger and attitude of not going in the celebration shows how little he grasps the father's heart. This "obedient son" looks at his years of faithful service not as serving the father but somehow using it as a lever to force the father to appreciate him. When we look at this from God's point of view we have to say that is missing the point. If we were to spend our entire lives never breaking any of God's principles we would still have to say all we have done is what we are supposed to do. There is no forcing God to accept us because we think were good enough. Roman says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. One principle the obedient son thinks is that the father is now a debtor to him. We have to remember that God will not be debtor to any man and cannot be. He. Is our Creator and we is owed everything. One other thing the oldest son says is that the father ever killed the fattened calf so he could celebrate with his friends. This may be somewhat subtle but lets us in on his attitude. He didn't want to celebrate with the father but wanted to celebrate with his friends. He exaggerates the failings of the prodigal based on what we are told earlier. There is no mention of spending his money on harlots it that is where the obedient son takes the discussion. Either he knows more about the situation then he is letting on or he is exaggerating the failings of the prodigal.
So from the outward as we see these son who is always there and he says enough to the father to make us realize that he does not understand the fathers heart of love. The father's heart overflows toward the prodigal because "he was dead but now he's alive". Jesus said he came to save sinners. In Luke 15 also mentions that there is joy in heaven among the Angels over one sinner that repents. When my favorite hymns says:
softly and tenderly Jesus is calling calling for you and for me.... Oh sinner, home!