"Well, Doctor, what have we got...

the original influencer, circa 1787

...a republic or a monarchy?" 

"A republic," replied the Doctor, "if you can keep it."

That famous exchange between Elizabeth Willing Powel and Benjamin Franklin was recorded in the journal of James McHenry of Maryland at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in September of 1787.

Earlier in that session Franklin affirmed his belief the new constitution would be "...well administered for a course of years, and can only end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, when the people shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.”

John Adams, our 1st Vice President and 2nd President, presciently opined:

Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.  It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

Given the collapsed moral estate of both the electorate and the people who are about to assume power, it's fair to say we've arrived at that point in history to which Dr. Franklin alluded.

The corrupt D's campaigned on "affordability"; since the election they've made it abundantly clear what their true intentions are come January...

...and it ain't affordability.

Perhaps it's time we acquiesce to Dr. Franklin's gloomy assessment, cue the military and embrace a new age of American despotism.

Can you say <Presidente De Por Vida>?¹

 Lord willing, Future President Marco Rubio

¹ c'mon...he's of Cuban descent, and clearly the best man for the job

We're less than two weeks away from my favorite holiday...

...couched in fading autumnal splendor...

...and warm, inviting decor...

our living room, circa 2016

...punctuated by jovial celebration...

well...occasionally, anyway

...and shared with family and friends:

In the short runup remaining, let us prepare our hearts and minds for...

Why is this my favorite holiday?

A couple of reasons.

One, I like to cheer for the underdog, and if ever there was a forgotten holiday, this is it.

Thanksgiving for too many of us is little more than a speed bump on the holiday highway between Halloween and Christmas.

Renamed "Turkey Day" by the secular masses, it's been reduced to little more than gluttony, gridirons and a familial strife of tongues.

More than that, however, it's my favorite due to its historical underpinnings and unique origin as a day we corporately set aside solely for the purpose of giving thanks to Almighty God...see especially <Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation> of 1864.

Thus, for the coming celebration and what we will receive from God's most gracious hand, let us be truly thankful.

¹ O give thanks unto the LORD, for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever.

    - Psalms 107 

We can either clean the cats' litter boxes...

...or 23 Skidoo.

Even if it's sometimes hard to tell the difference, I say we 23 Skidoo:

sunrise this morning, 36 degrees

our "autumn tree" in all its november glory

a look at some of our woodland creatures (note their proximity to colorful fall leaves, evidence their arboreal perch is in fact, an autumn tree, NOT a...well, you know).  there's mr. raccoon...

mr. fox

mr. owl (and others who could not join us today)

my daily job has become keeping the yard clean of falling leaves...so where do they all go?

down the hill in back and watch your step...may not look it, but those leaf piles are a slippery slope straight down to the bottom

A storm is brewing and is due to hit our troubled shores on January 3rd at noon.

That's when all the looney tunes and miscreants will be sworn in for the new Congress in Washington, DC.

This is akin to giving a 13 year old the keys to your Maserati...

...and hoping for the best.

It's not going to go well.

Within 24 hour of the election all pretense of focusing on affordability and putting the needs of the electorate first had evaporated under withering threats of lawfare and persecution.

Left unchecked, the next few years will be a tidal wave of investigative fishing expeditions, government overreach and gridlock.

The D's primary message to their republican counterparts?

Lawyer up.

Some encouragement from God's Word in the face of conflict:

¹⁰ Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.

    - Isaiah 41

later, mcm fans...

And Now, Turning To Political News...

...TRUMP BLEW IT! 

He told America the war with Iran would be over in 2 to 3 months; we're now entering the 9th month of this conflict.

Along the way energy prices have soared, and since almost everything moves by truck, our cost of living has skyrocketed.

Sadly, he recently stated that even though it cost him this historic whipping in the midterms, "he wouldn't do anything different".

Really?

You just tanked the Senate and House at least through the end of your term as president, and you can't think of anything you might have done differently to avoid this disaster?

Here's an idea:

How about if you'd done what you said you would do -

safeguard America by destroying Iran's ability to produce a nuclear weapon, putting an end to the world's biggest state sponsor of terrorism

- instead of wasting months "negotiating" and playing military tit for tat with corrupt liars who chant "death to America", all while our citizenry gets soaked at the pump?

The failure to see that, kind reader, is hubris; a prideful refusal to admit mistakes and correct them.

¹² Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.

    - Proverbs 18

I'm not saying I agree with the morons who cut off their nose to spite their face by voting for D's.

Our patience and pocketbooks have been needlessly stretched to their limits, but this war will end soon.

When it does, costs will drop.

And two more months of the current nonsense is infinitely better than years of D's in power.

So what exactly was the reasoning for this brainless self-deception that led to our political suicide?

Hard to know how morons "think", but here's a guess:

"I'm really pissed about gas prices and this stupid war that should have ended months ago!

"I'll stick it to the republicans by voting for the people who let 20 million illegal aliens into our country, who pushed inflation above 9% and gas prices over $5 a gallon by June of 2022, who mutilated children's genitals as a form of health care, and invited men into my daughter's bathroom !

"That'll teach 'em a lesson!"

Did you really believe D's meant what they said on the campaign trail?

C'mon...really?

Dana Perino of Fox News interviewed Ro Khanna and asked him about D campaign promises of "Medicare for all".

"How will you do that?" she asked.

He responded by blathering inane talking points about ending the Iran war; since his answer wasn't anywhere near the same zip code as her question she cut him off and tried again.

"How will ending the Iran war provide Medicare for all?"

He literally stared blankly at the camera for several seconds while the neural network that passes for his brain short circuited.

Completely unprepared to provide an actual answer to a real question, he spewed more irrelevance at which point she ended the interview.

Truth:  D's have neither interest in nor answers for making your life better; they only want to <change the demographics of this country>, <destroy their political enemies> and retain power.

That's their agenda, not improving your life.

It is certain prices will come down when Trump finally ends the war.

When they do, three things will happen:

1) our worthless D overlords will rush to take credit;

2) the lapdog media will mindlessly laud them, knowing full well they had nothing to do with it;  -and-

3) hordes of semi-conscious plebes will glance up from their cell phones long enough to congratulate themselves on making such a wise choice at the ballot box.

Rest assured, investigations and lawfare will be the <cirque du jour>...

...for the foreseeable future thanks to the arrogance of Trump and the stupidity of the general electorate.

Hang on...

...it's going to be an ugly couple of years.

On that happy note, let's chat about your favorite subject:

If only that was my current reality!

As hoped in my last blog entry, I did get one final round in - sadly, on "the links at nasty meadows" - but definitely did not play my best golf.

However, did manage to finish with the same ball I started - no small feat on this punitive course¹ - while scratching out an ugly 5-4 win by bogeying 9, so there is that.

Also carded a birdie on 4 and a par on 5 - the 2 shortest par 3's on the course at 108 and 97 yds.

The 2 other bogeys against the 4 doubles were all "meh"...forgettable / regrettable, respectively.

And so my hickory season is officially done for 2026, and I'm loathe to let it go.

Ergo, I've decided to buy a mat...

...and net...

...to use in the garage so I can hit golf balls during the winter.

Won't be ideal, obviously - besides freezing my butt off, I won't truly be able to tell if I'm hitting them straight or not - but at least I'll be swinging my hickories and making contact instead of starting from scratch again next year.

Who, me?  Desperate?

Let's go <Spring!>

¹ there's a resident of this condo complex whose balcony oversees the 9th tee.  as you're preparing to tee it up, he occasionally leans over the railing and calls, "how many balls have you lost?" since that's the defining characteristics of this nasty little par 3 course.  If you could pick up the entire course, turn it upside down and give it a good shake it would rain lost golf balls for at least an hour.

I've bloviated and stalled as long as I can; time to 23 Skidoo:

from the Larry files "up north":

nearing the end of the color season

beautiful sunset pic

ditto

fun with trail cams 'round the ol' homestead:

pretty fox - only saw him once, thankfully

the look on her face says, "oh, really?" (snooty british accent implied)

big buck back for breakfast

rocky on the prowl

typical juveniles trick or treating late at night

in the miscellaneous department:

karen shared this with me wednesday morning

starting to get that november look and feel

doing our best to keep up with leaf removal

"do the words 'do not disturb' hold any meaning for you?"

I tried to stop her - it's only the 1st week in november -  but the diva of decorating shall not be denied

"it's not a Christmas tree," she explained.  "see the fall leaves on the boughs?  it's an Autumn tree...for now..."

Feeling very 2020-ish in the aftermath of Tuesday's results.

For a state like Texas to turn blue?

Never thought I'd see that in my lifetime, and I'm not alone.

Yes, Trump did a dumb thing - a very big, very dumb thing - but the electorate did an even bigger, dumber thing by handing power to the D's.

These are corrupt, immoral people who care nothing for their constituents, only for themselves and their lust for power.

But some of these results are so outrageous, like 2020, that all kinds of conspiracy / cheating theories are circulating, which undoubtedly will end up the same way they did in 2020.

True or not, with D's coming to power and their entrenched liberal judges poised to do their bidding - short of Trump using the military to enforce martial law - nothing will come of these accusations of wrongdoing.

The bottom line?

Millions of Christians across the country prayed for a different result, and God answered.

He said "no".

Where to from here?

¹⁷ Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stall:

¹⁸ Yet will I rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.

    - Habakkuk 3

The just shall live by his faith.

Soldier on, mcm fans...

A Reminder As The Day Draweth Nigh...

...get out and vote!  

Like our friend in the pic, we stood in line...

...and voted early this year...took about 50 minutes.

Every time one of the DSA gang opens their mouth...

...something putrid spews out, like "It's not communism, it's common sense!"

This is because they're terminally stupid and have the same intellectual grasp of history as a stink bug.

Anyone who thinks <communism> is common sense...

...should not be allowed to handle anything sharper than a crayon and should never be anywhere near actual governance.

Don't underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups.

Do your duty and Vote on Tuesday, November 3rd.

Our future depends on it.

While we've lived here I've bemoaned the lack of color in our trees during Autumn.

We have a plethora of massive oaks...

...whose leaves typically go from green to brown to down sometime in late November.

But this year we've been pleasantly surprised...

...at how much more fall color we're seeing around the ol' homestead.

Ok, it's not the brilliant reds and oranges of maples but compared to prior years we're really quite pleased.

Over the last few years we've trimmed / cut down a few trees in an effort to create some breathing room; and this fall we've enjoyed much more sunshine than usual.

Whatever the cause, it's been lovely having some autumnal splendor gracing the grounds.

Enough beating 'round yon bushes - time for the All Hallows E'en pictorial, 2026:

your hosts: the mistress of the manor...

...and Gramp n. stein

now ladies and gents, Brace your selves for the not so terrifying, anything but spine tingling, definitely not world famous walk of fear™ !

starring marilyn as you've never seen her, and big frank pretty much the same as always

enter if you dare!

ok, so you dared, big deal.  hey, isn't she supposed to be handing out treats?

you've made it through the tunnel of terror!  what horrors await?

I mEAN BESIDES THE SMILING JACK-O-LANTERNS.

OK, OK, SO WE MAY HAVE OVERSTATED THAT WHOLE FEAR/TERROR/HORROR THING.  REMEMBER, WE'RE TALKING ABOUT 10 YEAR OLD KIDS HERE.

IN ANY EVENT IT'S A PLEASANT STROLL PAST A FEW PROPS...

...ON BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE...

...including the creature from the black lagoon...

...UNTIL YOU ARRIVE AT THE BIG PAYOFF.  UM, SHE'LL BE BACK IN A SEC.

IN THE MEANTIME YOU CAN LISTEN TO THESE GUYS BLOWING THEIR HORNS

And that was pretty much it...had decent weather and a typical turnout with 84 trick or treaters and their parents.

All the kids got some candy, a few party favors and the good news of Jesus Christ in a gospel tract.

The unexpected hit of the night?

These guys...5" tall 3D printed skeletons with fully articulated joints.

We even had one father return and sheepishly ask if we had any more of the skeletons...one of his kids got one, and the other one didn't.

Hooda thunk it?

That’s All Hallows...

...done and dusted for another year.

In the "too bad, so sad" department, I may have played my last two rounds of hickory golf for the year...

at the nasty little par 3 course I frequent only after my regular course closes

...depends on if it rains tomorrow.

If it does, at least I went out with a couple of 6-3 wins.

I tried to play using my featheries, but gave up halfway through the 3rd hole on my first round.

It's just "poofball", like hitting a beanbag instead of a golf ball.

If anyone ever masters the art of making featheries like the originals - which were solid enough to go 140 to 160 yards - then I'll be all in.

As it stands right now, I've given up on them.

Switched to my regular golf balls and soldiered on.

Hoping I have one last round waiting for me tomorrow.

Why delay the inevitable?  Let's 23 Skidoo so we can get on with life:

Larry spotted the real tree creature on Halloween night near his cottage

my bull riding grandson traded in his spurs for an eye patch and the life of a pirate with his beautiful wife

obama's been making jokes on the campaign trail about the trump white house resembling the cheesecake factory.  apparently he forgot about his own prez library.

while sitting outside we heard our resident tree frog loudly chirping...

...and finally spotted him tucked away on a ledge above us

strange goings on up around larry's cottage

 

Don't forget it's time change weekend...

...so set those clocks back an hour.

O Joy - it will get dark before 6 o'clock now.

But take heart, sojourner:

¹ The LORD is my light and my salvation;

whom shall I fear?

The LORD is the strength of my life;

of whom shall I be afraid?

    - Psalm 27:1

later, mcm fans...