Two Videos: Ruth Talking and Making Southern Biscuits

I am trying to post two brief video's my youngest grandson made while here between semesters in his second year of college.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Hr9o76dzLchttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxNQ6Tpb9oA

Our Independance Day -Our dependance on God.

When our forefathers declared our independance from England, they declared our dependence on God!

As we walk up the steps to the building which houses the U.S Supreme Court we see near the top of the building a row of the world's law givers and each one is facing one in the middle who is facing forward with a full frontal view of Moses holding the Ten Commandments!

As you enter the Supreme Court courtroom, the Ten Commandments are engraved on the huge oak doors. As you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall, right above where the Supreme Court judges sit, a display of the Ten Commandments!

There are Bible verses etched in stone all over the Federal Buildings and Monuments in Washington , D.C.

James Madison, the fourth president, known as "The Father of Our Constitution" made the following statement: "We have staked the whole of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government, upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.

Patrick Henry, that patriot and Founding Father of our country said:"It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ".

Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher, whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1777.

Grandma in Court

GRANDMA IN COURT

Lawyers should never ask a Georgia grandma a question if they aren't prepared for the answer. In a trial, a Southern small-town prosecuting attorney called his first witness, a grand-motherly elderly woman to the stand. He approached her and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know me?"

Mrs. Jones, "Why, yes, I do know you, Mr. Williams. I've known you since you were a young boy, and frankly, you've been a big disappointment to me. You lie, you cheat on your wife, and you manipulate people and talk about them behind their backs. You think you're a big shot when you haven't the brains to realize you never will amount to anything more than
a two-bit paper pusher. Yes, I know you."

The lawyer was stunned! Not knowing what else to do, he pointed across the room and asked, "Mrs. Jones, do you know the defense attorney?"

She again replied, "Why yes, I do. I've known Mr. Bradley since he was a youngster too. He's lazy, bigoted, and he has a drinking problem. He can't build a normal relationship with anyone and his law practice is one of the worst in the entire state. Not to mention he cheated on his wife with three different women. One of them was your wife. Yes, I know him."

The defense attorney almost died.

The judge asked both counselors to approach the bench and, in a very quiet voice, said, "If either of you idiots asks her if she knows me, I'll send you to the electric chair."

July 4th. Our Independance Day!

Some are so quick to point out our faults. Below is a poem I picked up about expressing why some of us are proud to be Americans.

I watched the flag Pass by one day, It fluttered in the breeze.
A young Marine Saluted it, And then he stood at ease...
I looked at Him in uniform So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cuts quare... And eyes alert... He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men...Like him Had fallen through the years
How many died on foreign Soil , How many mothers' tears?

How many pilots' planes Shot down? How many died at sea? How many foxholes were soldiers' Graves ? No, freedom isn't free .
I heard the sound of Taps One night, When everything was still,
I listened to the bugler Play, And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many times That Taps had meant 'Amen,'
When a flag had draped a Coffin. Of a brother or a friend.
A graveyard at the bottom of the sea ...width and of unmarked graves in Arlington . No, freedom isn't free. Enjoy Your Freedom & God Bless Our Troops. On this Independenct Day 2009... Pray a Prayer for our Country and all our people especialy our servicemen.

Of all the gifts you could give A US Soldier, prayer is the very best.

Father's Day

What Makes a Dad
God took the strength of a mountain,
The majesty of a tree,
The warmth of a summer sun,
The calm of a quiet sea,
The generous soul of nature,
The comforting arm of night,
The wisdom of the ages...The power of the eagle's flight,
The joy of a morning in spring...The faith of a mustard seed,
The patience of eternity...The depth of a family need,
Then God combined these qualities...
When there was nothing more to add,
He knew His masterpiece was complete...And so, He called it ... Dad.
~~Author Unknown.~~

Happy Fathers Day especially to my two sons, Charles Terrell Shaw and David Baird Shaw and to my five sons in law,
Gilbert Lewis Crouse, James Dow Turrentine, Ronald Johnston, Gregg Allan Lewis, Charles Hardy Roszel, all of whom are good fathers to my grandchildren.

Happy Father's Day to my seven Grandsons who are wonderful fathers: Gilbert Crouse Jr., Jack Yoest , Steven Turrentine, Ricky Davis, Joey Johnston, Joshua Hearn, Philip Rogers.

David Blankenship has written a book entitled, "Fatherless America.” Blankenship states that when a father dies, his fatherhood lives on in the head and the heart of his child if the family and friends seek to keep his memory alive and when they finds ways to help compensate for the father’s absence.He says that in this sense the child is still fathered.

Looking back I know I was profoundly influenced by my mother telling me about my father…how he prayed for me…how on his death bed he prayed for each child by name…that they would come to know Jesus.

I read an article recently entitled, “A Father’s Death Leaves Love Behind.” William Maddox write about his father-in-law, a man he never met because the dad died when his wife was only three.

His wife’s Dad had been a musician who sang in a quartet and had cut a few records. Maddox said his wife’s father’s legacy lived on because his words and music had a profound influence on his wife’s upbringing.

My father, Benjamin Wilson Baird had a profound influence on me even though he died when I was nine. My playmates would sometimes say, “I want to be a nurse “or “I want to be a policeman when I grow up” and I would think, “I want to be a Christian like Papa.” His Christian influence was a greater legacy for me than any amount of money or property he could have left me.

My mother’s dad also died when she was a baby. Mama told me how, when other children would wear a new dress or shoes and say, “my papa bought them for me” she would feel sad and think, “If my papa was still alive, I would have new things.”

I am glad for movements like “PROMISE KEEPERS” and other movements among men to help them and to help us all to realize how much men are needed in the lives of children and how rewarding it is for men to grow old with offspring who love and respect them because of the love and attention they gave to their children when they were young.

I especially remember one man who had two daughters. Both were beautiful young married women with 2 children each when I knew them. For the four years I was pastor of the church where their Dad and Mother were members, on every Father’s day, these two daughters and their entire family drove a great distance to proudly sit with their Dad on Father's Day.

These daughters loving attention to their Dad in his old age spoke volumes to me about a Father’s legacy.

At a Memorial Service at our church Conference a few years ago, Bishop Bevel Jones preached and one of the things he said was about Aristotle Onnasis, who amid his millions, never had a cause he supported. Jones said, “To leave no estate is not a disgrace but to leave no legacy is a tragedy.

As Father's day is approaching, My facebook friend , Donna Shine Wall, published the poem below that has a sentiment for those of us whose father is now in heaven.


Yellow roses grow in heaven,
Lord pick a bunch for me.
Place them in my daddy's arms and
Tell him they're from me.
Tell him that I love and miss him.
When he turns to smile,
Place a kiss upon his cheek &
H old him for awhile.
Remembering him is easy;
I do it every day.
There's an ache in my heart
T hat will never go away.

Class Relations in the 1930's.

I remember clearly sitting in class while the teacher told us there were three classes of people: the upper, the middle and the lower class. We did not, for the most part, question this custom. Socially, people associated with their own class as well as their own race.

There were many class inequities and much class consciousness in the 20's and 30's and beyond. Mill workers were generally considered inferior. Many things that working class people (both black and white) had to endure were not right.

Aubrey Simms (my cousin) and I talked briefly about this when he told me how his father did not want him to get a job in the mill even after it became increasingly difficult to make a living on the farm and unions were making changes such as better wages and decreased working hours in textile mills.

The advent of World War II and the need for textiles for the army made it more respectable. Aubrey's father, my father's nephew said when Papa told him he was selling his farm and taking a job in a Textile factory, "I will go to share-cropping before i will raise my family in a Mill Town."

No doubt the mill owners and officials were paternalistic toward mill workers. Mill hands! People were called "hands"! It is difficult to be intelligent (or so we thought) and perceptive and have to work 12 hours a day for barely enough income to survive.

Before the wage and labor laws, this was the lot of most people who worked in textile factories in the South in the twenties and thirties.

My mother (whether correct or not) felt that the mill officials tried to "run the church" as well as the mill and the town. I think she was right in that they probably did try to exert influence on the churches.

Most probably did the best they could for their times and understanding.
The mill owners and officials felt that they must look after their workers (some of whom were illiterate and superstitious.) As uneducated and lacking in social graces as we were, I remember Mama being disconcerted at the superstitious talk and grammar of a few co-workers and people in our town.

Mama told me that when they first moved to Porterdale, bounded on two sides the Yellow River with three Textile Plants, the large Osprey Mill, one called the Porterdale Mill and a smaller plant on the River called the Welonnie Mill.

Mama said she felt that she had moved to the "jumping off place" in her strange surroundings away from the farm. Many of the rough, non-Christian and superstitious crowd lived “behind the large Osprey Mill”.

My mother told me early on she had thought of Porterdale as a wild and pagan town. Later she as well as the rest of the town developed a intense town loyalty that continues to this day with annual homecomings of people who are descendents of those who lived and worked when the town was owned and operated by Bibb Manufacturing Company.

Mama (with some condescension) was especially horrified to see that when the children would get into fights as they played together. The mothers would often dash out of the house and take their child's side of the argument. Sometimes the mothers would get into loud shouting matches and even physical fighting. Some of the women actually go so mad they "cussed " one another.

Mama said that the children would be back happily playing together
while their mothers were still angry and hostile toward one another.

Sis (my older sister) told me this story: (I was still a pre schooler at this time.) When we first moved to Porterdale, my young brothers, Charlie, Tom, and Jack, were out playing with the neighborhood children and got into a fight.

One of the mothers came storming to our door, saying, "Miz Baird, I've come to 'whoop' you!" Mama opened the door and calmly said, "Well, come right in, Mrs. Smith, and tell me what I've done to need a whipping for." Sis was happy to report that Mama made friends with the woman and did not get “whooped.”

Speaking of cursing or "bad words" as we called it, I never heard even slang in our home. Only rarely in the neighborhood. One day when the little boys were playing out in front of our house at 32 Hazel Street (the larger house we lived in before my father died), I heard my brother Jack say, "Oh, Heck!" I was so shocked and dismayed I was concerned for his immortal soul.

Of course, I did not say anything. Since I remember this so vividly as being in front of the house where we were living when my father died, I was
7 or younger at the time, and Jack was about 12. These brothers (mostly Jack who was five years older than i so played with the boys more than with me) were the ones who taught me how to skate and stood me back on my feet when i fell down.

Skating was a wonderful activitiy for the children in our town . We had long cement sidewalks. God bless the memory of these dear brothers Charley, Tom and Jack.

Before I started to school, my parents were able to rent a house in a "quieter part
of town." I have no memory of women fighting in the streets.

Our neighbors on Hazel Street were mostly hard-working church folks and, like
my parents, although unschooled by today's standards, were intelligent with old-fashioned common sense and a strong Protestant work ethic. They did not seem to consider themselves "victims", nor did they seem to be lacking in self-esteem.

After all, we were made in the image of God and so important and loved that Jesus died for us!

For me, is was a good neighborhood and a great town in which to grow.

Xanthodontous. How Do I Look?

Xanthodontous: (zan-tho-DON-tuhs). Those of us still living in our eight and ninth decade, know we are slowing down. Our hair is becoming thiner and turning gray and we are becoming xanthodontus.

I did not know, until a few minutes ago ( A.Word.A.Day with Anu Garg). I am also becoming xanthodontous. (Greek xanthos (yellow) + -odon (toothed).

So our subject is "Looks," How do I look? Someone said, and it is often quoted; "You do not have but one time to make a first impression." My generation of women, generally speaking, were judged and misjudged on their physical appearance, including a nice smile.

In our recent prosperity years, the nice smile has been made fabulously white and bright with the help of costly cosmetic dentistry.

It is nice that my World War II generation has been labeled, “The Greatest Generation.” Our generation is also said to be ‘dying out” and “dropping like flies” and "not looking good" and becoming xanthodontous or yellow toothed.

Senior Citizen Jokes

I have friends who send me Senior Citizen jokes that fly though the web. The ones below keep making the rounds. We can all use a laugh?

A distraught senior citizen phoned her doctor's office.
"Is it true," she wanted to know,"that the medication you prescribed has to be taken for the rest of my life?"
"Yes, I'm afraid so," the doctor told her. There was a moment of silence before the senior lady replied,"I'm wondering, then, just how serious is my condition because this prescription is marked 'NO REFILLS'."

An older Jewish gentleman was on the operating table awaiting surgery and he insisted that his son,a renowned surgeon, perform the operation.As he was about to get the anaesthesia he asked to speak to his son."Yes, Dad, what is it?" "Don't be nervous, son;do your best and just remember, if it doesn't go well, if something happens to me.…your mother is going to come and live with you and your wife...."

Ageing: Eventually you will reach a point when you stop lying about your age and start bragging about it

The older we get, the fewer things seem worth waiting in line for

Some people try to turn back their odometers.Not me, I want people to know "why" I look this way.I've travelled a long way and some of the roads were not paved.

When you are dissatisfied and would
like to go back to youth, think of Algebra.

You know you are getting old when everything either dries up or leaks.

I don't know how I got over the hill without getting to the top.

One of the many things no one tells you about ageing is that it is such a nice change from being young.

Ah, being young is beautiful,but being old is comfortable

Old age is when former classmates are so grey and wrinkled and bald, they don't recognize you.

If you don't learn to laugh at trouble,you won't have anything to laugh at when you are old.

First you forget names, then you forget faces.Then you forget to pull up your zipper.It's worse when you forget to pull it down.

Long ago when men cursed and beat the ground with sticks, it was called witchcraft..Today, it's called golf

Two women met for the first time since graduating from high school.One asked the other, "You were always so organized in school,Did you manage to live a well planned life? "'Yes," said her friend."My first marriage was to a millionaire;my second marriage was to an actor; my third marriage was to a preacher; and now I'm married to an undertaker."
Her friend asked,"What do those marriages have to do with a well planned life?"
"One for the money,
two for the show,
three to get ready,
and four to go.

TWO DOZEN SENTENCES ABOUT SENIORS.

1. God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway, the good fortune to run into the ones I do, and the eyesight to tell the difference.
2. Now that I'm older, here's what I discovered: I STARTED out with nothing...I still have most of it.
3. When did my wild oats turn to prunes and All Bran?
4. I finally got my head together, now my body is falling apart.
5. Funny, I don't remember being absent minded.
6. All reports are in. Life is now officially unfair.
7. If all is lost, where is it?
8. It is easier to get older than it is to get wiser.
9. The first rule of holes: if you are in one, stop digging.
10. I went to school to become a wit, only got halfway through.
11. It was all so different before everything changed.
12. Some days you're the dog, some days you're the hydrant.
13. Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
14. A day without sunshine is like a day in Seattle.
15. I wish the buck stopped here...I could use a few.
16. It's not the pace of life that concerns me, it's the sudden stop at the end.
17. It's hard to make a come-back when you haven't been anywhere.
18. The only time the world beats a path to your door is when you're in the bathroom.
19. If God wanted me to touch my toes, he would have put them on my knees.
20. When you're finally holding all the cards, why does everyone else decide to play chess?
21. Health is only the slowest possible rate at which one can die.
22. It's not hard to meet expenses...they're everywhere.
23. Maybe it's true that life begins at fifty, but everything else seems to wear out, fall out or spread out.
24. There are three signs of old age. The first is your loss of memory; the other two, I forget.
******************************************************

Aging Mildred was a 93-year-old woman who was particularly despondent over the recent death of her husband, Earl. She decided that she would just kill herself and join him in death.


Thinking that it would be best to get it over with quickly, she took out Earl's old Army pistol and made the decision to shoot herself in the heart, since it was so badly broken in the first place.

Not wanting to miss the vital organ and become a vegetable and burden to someone, she called her doctor's office to inquire as to just exactly where the heart would be on a woman. The doctor said, "Your heart would be just below your left breast."

Later that night, Mildred was admitted to the hospital with a gunshot wound to her knee.



Submitted by Adiastar00


Women over 50 don't have babies because they would put them down and forget where they left them.



Three old ladies were sitting on a park bench talking amongst themselves when a flasher comes by. The flasher stood right in front of them, and opened his trench coat.

The first old lady had a stroke.

Then the second old lady had a stroke.

But the third old lady had arthritis and couldn't reach that far.



~~~~~



My husband was bending over to tie my three-year-old's shoes. That's when I noticed my son Ben staring at my husband's head. He gently touched the slightly thinning spot of hair and said in a concerned voice, "Daddy, you have a hole in your head. Does it hurt?"

After a pause, I heard my husband's murmured reply, "Not physically." -- Reader's Digest



~~~~~



The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good frie



Forget the health food. I need all the preservatives I can get.